theansweris | DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

wait what?

[There's a pause as he goes to look what his phone has sent, which is only because this seems to have been happening all over the place suddenly.]

shit
sorry Ed
that...was definitely not what it sounded like

It wasn't?

Because it sounded like you were telling someone that a guy had come around to urinate on them.

yeah nah it was
...figurative pissing on?
y'know like when a guy walks up to someone he's seeing and grabs their ass while they're talking to someone else just to make sure everyone know they're "his"

Staking a claim.

I understand. It's still not a visual I ever wanted or needed.

territory marking, yeah
honestly I regretted it as soon as I said it the first time but shit's been wild round here lately
I mean even more than usual

Oswald was quite territorial for a while. It was awkward. Mostly because he be rather rough with people.

yeah I can't imagine Oswald walking up to you in the club, smacking your ass and saying "hey babe"
pretty much *ever* actually

There was screaming at people for talking to me. Among other things.

...among what other things exactly?
wait when was this?

In person. Not on here.

When he had those little wings.

you in the lab? I'll come down

If by lab you mean the metal ball. Yes.

Vrenille can remember clearly how Oswald was with him when he had those little wings, minimal though their interactions were. He remembers Oswald waddling around the house after him, asking him an endless stream of suspicious, accusatory questions: You’re going somewhere? Where are you going? Who are you going to see? What are you going to do with them? What will you do afterwards? When will you be back?

He can’t imagine he was much better with Ed. So he’s already sighing as he steps through the door to Ed's workspace, almost anticipating a headache already.

"What did he do?"

Riddler's been puttering away anyway, and he keeps doing so while Vrenille asks him that question.

"Accusations that I was developing feelings elsewhere. Reminders that apparently Ed fell in love and Oswald killed her and would do so again. A couple of bodies required disposal and the Arena had to be shut down so I could clean up the evidence."

Thinking of the overly possessive, grumpy squawking he'd received, Vrenille assimilates all of that right up until the word bodies, which absolutely brings him up short.

"WHAT?!"

For a moment his jaw hangs agape. "You're telling me Oswald's killed people? Here?? Recently??"

Riddler waves a hand dismissively, clearly not considering murder to be that big a problem. "Don't worry, there's no evidence of it. No bodies, no blood, no bullets. I'm very good at clean up, and Ed's possibly better. Nothing will trace back. And it was the Down, I doubt anyone bothered investigating."

Anyway, it happened because of something the city did to Oswald, that makes it their fault and problem. Clearly.

"That's--" The possible continuations of that sentence fall through his mind so fast they end up in a large jumbled heap at the foot of his mental stairs, and there's a delay before he manages to finish-- "not the point!"

Dwayna's breath, where does he even begin??

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing this?!"

But he can practically hear that answer already, even without Riddler supplying it: Because you didn't ask, you idiot.

Riddler looks baffled as to what the fuss is about. "Why would I tell you? I took care of it. No bodies, no evidence, no believable witnesses, in the Down." He waves a hand dismissively. "Why would I tell you? There was nothing for you to do about it. It was already done."

"Because he...killed people."

Vrenille already knows the utter futility of that answer even as he gives it. Clearly Riddler doesn't care about it from any sort of moral perspective, and he's pretty sure Oswald isn't going to give a rat's ass either. And yet--

"I...kinda feel like, y'know, maybe you guys should tell me if you're killing people?"

Yup, this conversation sure has completely gotten away from him not even a minute in.

Riddler tilts his head slightly and very clearly doesn't get it. "Well... it's not like it was premeditated. Oswald just sort of... blew his top because he thought Ed or both of us were going to run off with some random woman. And we cleaned up."

What more do you want, Vrenille?

"...Why would he ever think that you'd--?" He shakes his head. Whether they're talking about Riddler or Ed, the thought of either of them running off with a random woman now, at this point...but then clearly Oswald wasn't at his most level-headed during that whole wings phase.

"Look, I'm glad that you kept him outta trouble, really. That's a relief." He's sure none of them want to see Oswald hauled off to the People Zoo.

"I'm just worried 'bout the impulse control. What if you weren't there to clean things up for him?" Translation: he's troubled by random, senseless murder and Oswald lashing out lethally the moment his feathers get a little ruffled.

Riddler shrugs. "Apparently, Ed did it before. According to Oswald. He was definitely not thinking clearly." Oswald has been emotional, but never to the detriment of business like that.

"I'm fairly sure the city was affecting him. And... where else would I be?"

"The woman who he--" vague hand gesture. "Yeah, I remember, but that's nothing like--!" Oh sod it. There's no reason to try and argue how irrational the fear was when they've already established, precisely, that it is irrational.

Not thinking clearly is putting it lightly, but, "Look my point is he can't go off killing people just 'cause he's not thinking clearly! And anyway, you can't be with him every minute of the day."

It scarcely needs saying, he thinks, since obviously Riddler is here right now and Oswald is out somewhere on his own. It's not as though his relationship with Ed and Riddler mean that Oswald has stopped living an independent life.

They have established that there was nothing rational or even vaguely logical about Oswald's outrage and jealousy.

"It's less that I can't and more that we both choose that I not be. Ed would probably quite happily follow Oswald around all day with a lack of anything else in his life, which was another hilarious piece of the hypocrisy of that day, but I digress. Oswald has things to do, people to see, and I would go mind numbingly bored and start taking drugs recreationally to try and alleviate the incessant screaming of my own mind. And really, if the city didn't want things like this to happen, they shouldn't orchestrate it to, should they?"

"I think you'd both drive each other batty," Vrenille mutters, half to himself, as he shakes his head. Ultimately, though, he just has to sigh, deeply. Very deeply. It's hard to argue with Riddler placing the blame squarely at the city's feet that way.

"Yeah, yeah I guess," it's true, but he doesn't like it. And he doesn't like his suspicion that trying to confront Oswald about this would lead him no farther than he's gotten with Riddler. At any rate, he's not getting anywhere with it now, so he just accepts it as beyond his control and changes the subject.

"By the way, Hakkyuu's back in town."

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