DUPLICITY: IC INBOX

[theansweris]

[text ~ voice ~ video ~ in person]

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[permanentlyexhaustedbird]

It will be a week or so after New Year's Eve when Ed will find a package delivered to him. Inside will be a handheld video game console that originated from Duplicity and a couple of games of different varieties.

Inside is a note from Tim.

'I'm sorry I missed Christmas but better late than never?

Merry Christmas.

Tim Drake'

Action

[prideinbattle]

[ After all that she's been through she's desperate for anyone who would show her some shred of decency. She just wants all this to go away. Every other time she's tried to explain herself she's been misunderstood but this one seems different. She'll take a chance and maybe he can help her. She shows up at the coffee shop and finds him just as easily as he said she would. Settling in across from him she regards him with a sideways glance. ]

I gotta say it really surprised me that anyone would want to hear what a creep like me would have to say.

I use prose, but I'm cool with you using action spam.

[theansweris]

He regards her quietly, taking in the slightly alien features of her hair and eyes. He has a hot chocolate cradled in one hand, the other taped up with physio tape around the thumb.

"Don't internalise their words and names. They aren't worth you beating yourself with their judgement." He scratches under his chin, down the line of his mark. "They don't understand you and they don't want to understand you, just shame you for being different.." He offers out his drink warmed hand to shake. "You can call me Ed."

[prideinbattle]

[ That really is reassuring to hear. There isn't much that's ever shaken her confidence this much. She relaxes somewhat as she shakes his hand. He's right. They don't matter. She'd give her name in return but since it's already been announced on the network he must already know. ]

This is why I don't trust humans.

[theansweris]

"I'm human."

He's going to be up front about it. He's human, perfectly boringly so. "If that's going to be a problem, say so now."

He picks up his drink again, sipping it.

[prideinbattle]

You've already made more of an effort to understand me than anyone else so I'll make an exception.

[ Maybe it's naive to think this time will be different but she hasn't got many options.She just needs someone to talk to. ]

Are you familiar with androids?

[theansweris]

"The concept, but only from fiction in my world. Were you given many chances to socialise with humans before you came here?"

Because Ed didn't get much socialisation, and it's why he was damaged like he was. Had trouble with people. Riddler had observed that much in the GCPD.

[prideinbattle]

The only humans I ever saw were the ones I worked with in the military.

[ She shakes her head. Her comrades weren't exactly the best for conversation. Or the best example of humanity for that matter. There was never really any free time. She only existed to do her job. ]

[theansweris]

Riddler nods, genuinely understanding. "See, when I was young, I wasn't given a chance to socialise. Most people, not just humans, people, learn socialisation from exposure, while they're still developing identity and opinion and structured thought. I was denied that. So were you. All the things they take for granted, we have to learn intellectually, rather than having it hard wired into us. And they have little tolerance for the fact that we're different. Social difference makes them feel threatened, so they lash out. To be part of society, we need to be able to blend with them."

He hopes this makes sense so far.

"Tell me what happened and we can dissect it, to understand it from their perspective."

[prideinbattle]

[ So they have that in common. It would explain how he could see what was going on just from the conversations on the network. To her it sounds like more example of humans being awful only this time to each other. She takes a moment to sort out exactly how to explain. ]

Well to start with, I met Connor at a festival. I was happy to find another android here since the only other one I knew of was the one I had just gotten out of a contract with because he abused me. We hooked up and I didn't realize I had feelings for him until he told me the next time we met that he was in an exclusive relationship now. I never had feelings like that before. Didn't even know I could.

[theansweris]

He listens attentively, nodding his understanding. "You came out of an abusive relationship. You met another android, had brief relationship?"

A one night stand? A few dates? Did they discuss emotions?

[prideinbattle]

It was just that one time but it meant a lot to me. I thought that he felt the same. It really hurt that he wanted to be with a human instead when we've had experience with them treating us like we're not even people. I only wanted to tell her not to hurt him.

[ She tenses her shoulders with her fists in her lap. ]

[theansweris]

"I understand that," he agrees. "There was a woman I greatly admired and had fondness for. And when her boyfriend was leaving bruises on her, I stepped in, told him he had to stop. And he publicly shamed me to make me back off. That I 'didn't understand how things are with a woman like her'."

But death doesn't stick here, so that's not a solution this time.

"What was it that you did that they're all up in arms about?"

[prideinbattle]

Being shamed for trying to help is the worst. I didn't harm her and as long as Connor's alright then I won't interfere. They keep going on about stalking. But I'm not sure what they consider that to be exactly.

[theansweris]

Ed is the worst person to be explaining this, but Riddler does his best. "Stalking is following someone without their knowledge for your own gratification. Basically. People don't like being secretly followed, they like to decide what to share with others."

He might have stalked a couple of people.

"Tell me what actions you took between when he told you there could be no further relationship between you and when Alfred lost his temper."

[prideinbattle]

I saw them together once and then I went to talk to her the next time I saw her alone. I thought I could confide in Alfred about it after it went badly. But then this happened.

[ If she had known he would punish her like this she would not have told him. She was used to being hurt physically. At least with that no one else needed to get involved. ]

[theansweris]

"Where was she when she was alone? Was it in a public space? I need more information than you're giving me, give me... a tactical rundown of the build up and meeting. I can't dissect what I don't have."

[prideinbattle]

I recognized her as she was going into a bookstore in the down and then I went in after her and talked to her inside. There wasn't really anything to it before that. I was just going about my day. It's not like I planned this.

[theansweris]

"All right, so you saw him and her together. Then when you saw her go into a store, you followed her in to speak to her. Tell me what was said."

[prideinbattle]

Yes. Okay well I told her I was concerned about whether she could be trusted. I guess I did threaten her when I said that if she hurt him I would come for her. She thought I was a stalker because I would do anything for him even if he didn’t notice me. I didn’t mean that I was going to watch him!

[theansweris]

"Honestly, it sounds like they jumped to conclusions. But, something I've learned, most human women are raised in a culture of fear. They're often made to feel helpless and vulnerable, which is enhanced in this city, so someone more physically capable in inherently somewhat threatening."

This is another thing learned from listening and studying. Gotham has problems, but has usually had a lower sexual crime rate than many cities (and a much higher violent crime rate).

"But I think this woman over reacted. And probably interpreted your bluntness as threat. Most people like lots of explanation and cushioning of terms with uncertainty. I don't know why. But they do. They think being blunt or confident is arrogant and demanding."

[prideinbattle]

That's something I don't know much about too. Our kind have no sexual parts. We don't learn about these kind of things. And the few women I knew in the military were high-ranking officers, so pretty different from this one.

[ She thought it was overreaction too. Hearing him agree makes her feel validated. ]

[theansweris]

"Well... sometimes people who have been hurt are hyperreactive to anything like the same hurt. Someone I know was betrayed and he was very on edge about it happening again. Any hint of betrayal and he would overreact unless I could talk him down. She might have done this."

He thinks. "Is Pennyworth your contract holder?"

[prideinbattle]

That would explain it.

[ Going over the conversation in that context does at least put some reason behind it even if she can't personally relate at all. ]

Alfred? Yes, we were assigned together. Why? [ She reaches for the dog tag that serves as her collar and identification to feel the raised letters between her fingers. ]

[theansweris]

"I know him. We come from the same city, but not the same point of time. Given the company I know he keeps, I'm not surprised that he took the moral high horse without listening." He should have known better than to trust someone who was on good terms with Gordon.