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[assassin_daddy]

Jᴀᴄᴏʙ Fʀʏᴇ "I'm no criminal. I just do as I please."

 

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[handleyourshit]

"Mmhmm," she agrees, and can't help but quirk her crooked smile because she'd had the exact same reaction to the idea that Jesus was talking about her and making decisions behind her back - even if she's not entirely surprised. Jesus gonna Jesus.

But she can nod with confidence, anyway, that it is from a place of concern. "It is. And he's annoying about it sometimes, but Jesus is good at seeing opportunities. They want to help."

She sets her fork down, too, and sets her chin on the back of her loosely curled hand, watching him more openly now.

"Enough about them though." For now. Things are still complicated with Vrenille and if she and Jacob have any hope of any kind of partnership, that's definitely going to come up again - but not now. "What do you think?"

[assassin_daddy]

He takes the opportunity to pick up his mug, hot and steaming, letting his fingers be warmed against the side. He's broken his fingers countless times, and the cold makes old pains ache, and it is getting cold in Duplicity again. Subway, the housing for submissives who have become Duplicity citizens, doesn't have heating.

It doesn't have much of anything, but the lack of heating is what he notices most.

"I think it could be benefit us both. If you can stand the idea of it, and it isn't something you find abhorrent, I have no qualms. But there are some things I would want to have written in to any agreement."

He needs to make her aware of those, just put it out there. He's only had contract with people he loved. He'd never been in this position, needing one for convenience. It brings to mind the things Vrenille said, about the Submissive having an equal amount of control.

"I'm sure you do as well. I expect some of them are the same points, truth be told, but we need to put it out on the table before we do anything serious."

[handleyourshit]

It's tricky to even know what to say, what to offer; what's most important to her in the context of a contract? She can put on an act for everything else, but this involves another person. This involves another life, and as she's seen happen - as she's been told - they do have the potential to really fuck things up for each other.

And Rosita does not have the best track record when it comes to working with other people. Not the worst either though, and she rubs her fingertips together in a fidget she's not entirely aware of.

"I have a rough draft I've been working on here and there. Just something off the generic one they hand out, a starting place." She smiles briefly, but it's one of the dry ones that doesn't reach her eyes: "I was working as a paralegal before the world ended, if you'd believe it. Never thought I'd be using that skillset again."

She doesn't move to get it yet though. "I'd want it to not be miserable for us if at all possible, and ideally we wouldn't fuck each other over intentionally. I'd want as much wiggle room as we could hammer into it - I don't trust easily, and I don't see that changing any time soon, but I don't need that fucking things up for people. For you. So, honestly, as little as I can manage to change about your life is good for me: sleep with who you want or don't, work where you want or don't, live where you want or don't, and if I can swing the titles to your places with whatever I have saved up then I will, and they're yours."

She raises an eyebrow - his turn.

[assassin_daddy]

What she says is sensible, and very much what he was hoping to hear. She's mentioned before who that she doesn't trust anyone, and if he'd had her life, perhaps he wouldn't either. As it is, he simply nods to her statements, accepting the information, and appreciating the honesty.

"I don't intend to fuck anything up for you. We both need contracts, and more importantly, we should all be trying to look after each other. I know that's not an easy thing to do when you don't know other people's motives, and you don't trust them as far as you could spit, but we were all brought here by the city, and we have to try and be united against them."

He knows that's a big ask, and maybe she'll think it's too simplistic a view. Maybe it is, but it keeps him going.

"I think we've got some fundamentals in common- I want you to be free to do what you want, who you want, where you want. I want some freedom for myself, to have my business and my friends, and not be at anyone's beck and call. I will do everything I can not to get you in trouble. I can't pretend I'm a saint, but I don't think you are either." He pauses, at the mention of housing.

"I have a place, in the Up. It's called Broken Hollow. I think I mentioned it before. I want to live there. I don't much like these buildings. But I don't know what will happen, about the Arena. I'm sure Vrenille will let me have Hollow and the Eagle. Or at least, they transfer to you. I can't own them. Ever. But the Arena is his, by rights. "

[handleyourshit]

The thing is, he sounds like someone she used to know - but also that she used to know a lot of people, and that's part of the problem. So many people are temporary. So many causes only last as long as the thing that united people in the first place, and that's good, that means Rosita has been on the winning side far more often than not - or at least the surviving side - but it also means she's seen how everything breaks up after. How it just vanishes.

She has done the most amazing things in her life, united with others for a reason, or against some enemy or another, or both; things she would have never imagined she could do in the life she used to have. As the person she used to be. She did a lot of it by following Rick Grimes, and now - it's an easy line, easy to say and easy to believe in and much harder to hold - here's someone else saying they have to look out for each other. Band together. Have each other's backs.

But Rosita knows not everyone will make it, and she knows you can't trust everyone to have your back the way you have theirs. She doesn't disparage his comment, but it's also blatantly obvious she doesn't quite buy in either. She just listens.

She just nods.

"Live where you want or don't," she says again, because she does remember him talking about it, remembers how he's felt his affinity shifting away from the city. She gets that. She glances around the suite, a place she was assigned and that she appreciates as a locking door and a place to stash the things she hoards, but that she feels no attachment to, that can be taken from her as simply as it was given. "I don't have anything here. Even before the old world fell for me, I didn't. So I don't have anything to prioritize over something you want."

She presses her lips together, considering that. "And he's attached to it?"

[assassin_daddy]

You can't promise your goals and dreams will always be the same as someone else's. Jacob, sat at her table right now, organising his first contract with someone he doesn't love since he got here, feels that very keenly. But even if it isn't forever, he will try not to let this woman down. He will try not to allow the city to hurt her. If that's letting her tell him what helping her looks like, he will accept that.

"Thank you." It's important. He loves London. He loves protecting it's people, running across its rooftops, but Duplicity isn't like London. He wants some space, from the big glass buildings, from the noise, from the bright lights and future trappings. He wants the Hollow, quiet and safe. Easy to guard.

"If we sign this, it's ownership passes to you. If you want to live there, the city will consider that your right, I think. There is enough room there. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms. You can see it, if you want."

He makes the offer, because it seems... fair. Right. She might feel better, away from the city too.

"The Arena was owned by other Submissive of his. A guy called Oswald, who inherited it from someone else. When Oswald went away, it went to Vrenille. And I ran it because... well. It was my area of expertise. I fortified it a bit. Made it safe from the other gangs. But it wasn't mine."

[handleyourshit]

She told Jesus only days ago that he's the only one in this entire city that she trusts enough not to feel insane around; who, by his very existence and the fact she doesn't have to explain anything to him, makes her feel more stable, more confident that she didn't just dream the insanity of their world. She knows she didn't, but sometimes other people say or do things that grate so strongly on her, that she has such an instinctive reaction to as wrong, that she begins to wonder if she's the one that's missing something.

Normally she lets it go. But they're trying to build a partnership here, and she isn't good at it, but she knows that going in on bad faith brings disastrous results. So she hesitates, draws a deep breath, and leans on the trust she has for Jesus in his ability to see things she doesn't - and on the things Jacob has told her, that she believed he meant at the time. She tries.

"There's something you need to understand about me, if this is going to work. And I'm not... looking for approval, or an opinion on it, or advice. I know myself. I don't really care if other people think this makes me a bad or a good person or any of that. I know what works for me." She doesn't have the contract in front of her, so she gestures around the apartment to bring the city and its bullshit into the conversation.

"This is a place that still gets away with something as arbitrary as laws. Where a piece of paper and what it says on it still matters enough that people, large groups of people, act on it. But I'm from somewhere that all that broke down. All that went out the window the second there was no one to support it - and a piece of paper is just a piece of paper, and a law is just an idea until someone else enforces it. All there is for me, what matters most to me, is what is and what isn't."

If it sounds harsh that's because it is, because at its foundation Rosita's world is black and it is white and grey is a luxury she tries to shade in but doesn't always manage.

"Ownership of the Hollow may be in question because of a name on a piece of paper, and because a group of people choose to believe in an idea. But as far as I'm concerned it's yours, because it's yours. Full stop." There's more, but she needs to be sure she's being clear on this, that he understands this - because it translates to the contract, too, which is more of the same.

[assassin_daddy]

He listens, giving her his full attention, because she started off saying this was important, and he wants to prove to her that he takes this seriously, that he will listen and he will act on what she tells him.

Once she is done, he nods, mulling it over and taking his time to try and understand and be certain that he understands.

"It's hard for someone who hasn't lived that to understand, but I will try." Laws for him were always sort of irrelevant, but the Creed ruled your life. It's no different.

But he doesn't go into that. He just has to try and remember that for her... Nothing is true, everything is permitted. That was how she lived.

"Thank you. I appreciate that. The Eagle more than anything else." He fixed that place up with his own two hands, with friends, and it's important to him. "I'll show it you, if you're in the Down and want a pint."

[handleyourshit]

"I'd like to see it," she admits. "Not because of - any of this. I was already curious. The rest of this just makes it messy."

Which is her objection. She remembers what Jesus said - how for him, the contract means he'll never know for sure if someone supporting him is social obligation or genuine care for him - and even though she doesn't have any such complications, she doesn't know if the same is true for Jacob. He's certainly using the language the city uses first and foremost, and she doesn't yet know how much of that in turn is because he's bought into it, because he thinks it's most pertinent to this conversation, or if he thinks that's what she'll need the most explanation for to move forward.

"And I'm not saying I don't understand that there are hoops we need to jump through in order to have the smoothest time possible here. I understand that. But they're just that, to me: hoops. Things we're saying or doing to get people to mind their own business so we can go about ours. So yes, I'll go to the fucking courthouse or whatever, I'll sign whatever needs signed and pay whatever needs paid, and I'll write my name at the top of a piece of paper that proves ownership to anyone else who might care. But that doesn't give me a right to what's yours. Does that track? Does that sound like something you can work with?"

She understands on a mental level that somehow, someway, there are people in this city that believe in these contracts, that value these arrangements and these roles as vital. She doesn't understand it - beyond the sanctity of an agreement and the weight of someone's word in general - but she doesn't have to in order to understand people are different, and have different ways of thinking and living.

[assassin_daddy]

"This is all just for the city, I'm aware." He says, and offers her something of a smile. She's being very good, making it clear that she is just doing what the city requires of them, making sure that its by the books, satisfactory to those in charge. But it's not something either of them believe in. It might seem to her that he's following the party line, but in truth? This is strange for him. He's never had a contract like this before, where he hasn't been romantically involved with his partner where signing with them was something they wanted so they could be together enjoy living together.

This feels... like a business arrangement. Distant and removed in a way that he'd be used to signing off on supplies or property, not his own freedoms. Because she's right, they could fuck this up for each other. At the end of the day, this city has the ability to hurt them, really hurt them, and she is considered his keeper.

"The last time I did this... it was a bit different. And I'm a little out of practise. But I understand what you're saying. And I appreciate it."

He doesn't think she's going to fuck him over. He hopes he has a good read on her. He hopes Vrenille isn't wrong to trust Jesus. He hopes... a lot of things, really. That this isn't actually the end of his relationship with the other man, but he isn't sure.

"It tracks. All of it. If you want me to read over a draft of that, I can do whenever. Just let me know."

[handleyourshit]

"I have a copy in the coffee table drawer," she admits, but then, she's the one who called this meeting of sorts. She should be prepared, given the topic and her own decision to invite him here.

She doesn't move to get it yet, though she nods to acknowledge that they've made it this far anyway and arrived more or less on a level with one another. But: "That's not to say we can't agree between us to whatever we want. We can set terms of an alliance or... whatever we want. I may or may not be interested in being a Dominant, but I... had a team, once. I have a community, I have people."

She doesn't trust easily, sometimes at all, but she sees the value in working together.

"What was it for you? What's your ideal? What else do you need to know is being covered?"

[assassin_daddy]

"I thought you might." He says, because it seems like something she would do, be prepared have read the suggested contract the city provides and then allows people to tweak, within what it considers reasonable. "Do you want to look at it woth a slice of cake?

Which isn't to say he's finished this course yet, he intends to finish what's on his plate, but he's bookmarking it, lwtting her he plans to look at it. Showing willing.

"I think we have a good foundation to work on. And maybe we put something in about... renegotiating terms at the halfway mark. Or before. If things don't work for either of us, we have the chance to change things." He pausesand gives her a slight smile, one that makes his hazel eye bright his mischief. "Like if you want to move poker nights to Wendesdays. That will require renegotiation."

The string of questions makes him sigh softly, and lean back on the dining chair, holding his tea to his chest.

"When I signed with Vrenille, I was in love. I didn't much care about the details, because I knew him. I knew he wasn't going to put bullshit in the contract, I just wanted to be with him. He put the terms on the table he knew I'd like, because he cared about me." He shrugs then, taking a long swallow of tea. "Before that, I was contracted to someone else I cared about. You know how it is, you're young and everything is perfect. Like a summer romance."

He turns the rest of her questions over, trying to think of what they've missed. "I can't think of anything else. Not right now. But if something crops up, we can add it before the official thing is signed. How long do you... have?"

He needs to know, so he doesn't waste time that could risk her ending up in a lot of trouble.

[handleyourshit]

He smiles at her and teases; she raises an eyebrow, sly in return: "Oh, you think you want a poker night, do you? Didn't know you had a masochistic streak." But then they don't actually know much about each other, do they?

Which means she listens, and for all that it probably seems she would dismiss something like that - love, and trusting in the agreement between them on the strength of it - something around her eyes softens faintly before she drops them to push cooling casserole around on her plate.

It's different because they don't care about each other, is what he's saying. She only nods, and presses her lips together.

"The 20th," she answers without really thinking about it. "There's time. And look - I know people we care about said this was a good idea, but it's still up to us. If we don't want to - if you don't want to. It's no harm, no foul. I'll figure something out. I always do."

[assassin_daddy]

"I'm saying Poker night is Friday, and you have an open invitation." He replies, "I'm not saying I'll let you win."

Frankly, he doesn't care who wins. It's a social thing, a way for people to unwind a bit, to have fun without the city's expectations. He was guessing she might play and he's glad to hear she does. It'll be good, a way to get to know her.

Of course the other implications that he enjoys pain, is a little more intimate than anything they've otherwise come close to. They have mentioned there is no expectation of sex, but in a city based around that, sometimes it can't be avoided.

"I'm not opposed to a bit of masochism." He adds, as if it's an off-hand comment, casually thrown out there. Let her do with it as she will. She might have got the impression he's only interested in men. And for his part, he has no idea what she's interested in.

"Ill sign with you." He tells her, shaking his head. "You're right, Vrenille suggested it and I know Jesus and he had their heads together working it all out. I wouldn't have come up here if I didn't like you. You're independent and fierce. Who wouldn't admire that?"

[handleyourshit]

"The last time anyone let me do anything," she returns, "I couldn't reach doorknobs." But she cocks her head slightly at the comment, but it's true that it's so far off anything they've talked about, she isn't going to pick it up right now. They're still feeling each other out in every other way, she's not about to go there.

"Believe me, plenty of people," she snorts, rolling her eyes, but she's not worried about them. She's interested in the man sitting in front of her, who describes her that way and came up here anyway. It's still a little strange sometimes, hearing that from others. Not as strange as it once was, but she relaxes a bit anyway.

"Then finish up so we can get to the cake," is her response instead, and she takes another mouthful herself.

[assassin_daddy]

"That was last week was it?" As they're both near enough the same height, he has no qualms about teasing her about hers. She means her childhood and he's well aware of that.

"You can't please everyone. I don't see the appeal of wanting someone to cling to you. In the world's we're from? That's a liability." It's nice to feel strong and brave, he knows that. But he doesn't need someone else to appear helpless in order to feel that way. Besides, there's something in knowing your friends, partners, family can protect themselves.

He nods, happy to finish off the rest of them meal, then collect the dirty plates to take back towards the kitchen and set them in the sink. Then he can bring a slice of cake each out for them.

"Let's have a look at this legal document of yours then, Miss Lawyer."

[handleyourshit]

She scoffs at him, but she can take it as well as dish it and settles it with an amused, warning wave of her fork: watch it, mister. She's not a child anymore and she will push back. But she's not the least bit threatened or offended so she lets it go.

And she nods to the rest - in all honesty, she struggles with connecting to people she thinks will be a liability, not because they are somehow any less but because they are probably shortlived. Because they are a sure bet for hurting her when they go, when she can't watch their backs and they can't watch their own. She's seen the strongest people she knows get torn apart in front of her, beaten or blown to pieces, caught by a stray shot and bad luck. What is there to keep weaker people safe, then?

This is what she thinks about while she finishes her food, while she allows Jacob to clear the table and bring back dessert. She occupies herself with collecting the contract draft she put together, then, and moves to bring the scotch over after setting the papers in front of him at the table.

"Paralegal," she corrects, then explains: "I had several more years of school left before I could be a practicing lawyer. Paralegal is a position that helps licensed lawyers build their cases by collecting and organizing evidence and researching laws, so they start getting familiar with the process."

She sets a glass in front of him along with the bottle, her refilled water in front of her. "Nothing in there is set in stone. It's all negotiable, so if something pisses you off, just tell me and let's take a shot at it."

She's made a lot of edits over the weeks she's been working on it, most of them pretty standard and geared towards giving any Submissive in a contract with her as much autonomy as she can; the only really bold move she's committed to paper is a line about how no company employee or city official, no one outside of the participants in the contract, may punish the Submissive in any way or at any time without her explicit permission.

[assassin_daddy]

They come from very different places. In his world, in his time, the average life expectancy is 40. He's hit that marker, but a lot of people do not. A lot of children do not. If you make it to double digits and you go to work in a factory, then you may not hit 20. Its worse if you end up being sent down a mine. But that's just the way life is. For everyone. Unless you're rich, but fuck those bastards.

People have to keep going. They have to, because the other choice is to die too. And everyone has too many people depending on them to give up.

"We don't have that word. Trainee lawyer is probably what we'd call you." It's good to know that a woman is allowed to train in that sort of field too. They've inly just started letting women be doctors, and even then it's few and far between.

He gives her a nod of thanks for the glass but he doesn't reach for any alcohol at this point, just looks over the pages she passes him.

"You spent a lot of time on this right?" He asks as he reads, an obviously approving note in his voice.

[handleyourshit]

She's noticed of course, between his dress and some of the things he's said, that they're likely from different times; she also knows all too well that in most of history women haven't been treated well, or anything approaching fairly. He's looked her in the eye, spoken to her respectfully, not tried to do worse than his dismissal of her when they met - but they've already agreed not to hold that against one another as the end all be all - so she doesn't think anything of it really. She has medical knowledge, which she's used in the field; no one has 'let' her do anything since the old world fell, and she likes it that way.

But she doesn't scruple to watch him as he reads, only looking away to glance down at the page herself to see where he's at in the document. Studying, not merely staring, waiting to hear the verdict. Waiting to hear what she's missed, since he's done this before and she hasn't.

"I did," she admits. It's a piece of paper and it won't stop her from doing something she thinks needs to be done, but that doesn't mean she isn't interested in doing it right for whatever protection it might be able to offer. Why not build a wall, even though it's possible to fend off a walker without one? It would be stupid not to.

[assassin_daddy]

He tries to be better. Better than when he's come from, better than the general ideas of the time. Sometimes he manages that, because he's been brought up in a group that gives women as much power and responsibility as men. He tries to be more mindful of the fact not everyone is a white man, and he had Henry in his early adulthood to help him understand things more from other people's experiences. But he knows he's not perfect. Thankfully, he's sure Rosita will tell him when he goes wrong.

"I don't know if the city are going to like that bit about needing your permission to publish me. I'm a known trouble maker." He says glancing up at her with a grin. "Or I was."

What they've discussed regarding property isn't in there of course, but he knows this is a draft. He nods his approval.

"I think for charity's sake we add in the Eagle and Hollow, and then I'm happy."

[handleyourshit]

Her smile goes rueful when he mentions that line, because yeah, she knows.

"It may not fly," she agrees, "But if no one strikes it down outright, I might be able to argue off it if I ever need to try." She meets his mischievous glance head on, raising an eyebrow in reply as if to challenge it: don't. But then she makes a motion with her hand for him to slide the papers over to her, picking up the pen she brought over for further edits.

"I'll talk to Vrenille, see what needs to happen to transfer those properties officially over so you won't get any shade about being there. And we can add a reassessment option just in case," she offers, because she liked that idea.

"Although - I know with the housing situation, a lot of the city expects us to live in the same place, to spend time together. I don't care about that, I'm not exactly using the spare room, so if something did come up and you need a space - this is what I have but it's fine if you needed to use it. Just I should warn you about a few things if that's the case."

[assassin_daddy]

"It may not," He agrees. "But put it in. If they don't read these things and it doesn't get picked up, as you say it only benefits us. Well. Me."

Jacob takes a moment to recover from the gut punch of sadness at the mention of Vrenille and instead focuses on Rosita, nodding. "Good idea. I've no idea what's involved in any of that. My little submissive head can't possibly understand the complexities." He rolls his eyes, obviously this is a very stupid idea.

"Thank you. There's a spare room at the Hollow too, so it goes both ways." He says, and he is truly grsteful for that consideration. He hopes it won't be needed, but in this place? There are floods or sudden blizzards and sometimes living out in a cabin in the woods is a bad idea. Likewise, sometimes it's a bad idea to live in the middle of a crowded city full of sex pests.

"These things? They include not surprising you by climbing in through the window I suppose?"

[handleyourshit]

"That's what she said," she mutters mostly under her breath, flipping to the right page of the draft and beginning to write in the margins under her previous notes. This is how she almost misses the way Jacob reacts to Vrenille's name, except she glances up right at the end to see how serious he's being about his comments about the transfer, if he really thought she was trying to say what he's saying in hyperbole.

It doesn't make her happy, stepping right in that sore spot; but she can't possibly avoid it altogether, and she wasn't being malicious. Better, she thinks, that he builds up a callus sooner than later - or decide to do something about it. Not her problem, yet. Certainly not where she's been invited, either.

"They do," she confirms, going back to writing. "Also that if you think I'm asleep, don't try to sneak in. Just wake me up. I'll go right back to sleep and we'll both be a lot happier if I know you're here from the drop. And that Jesus has a key, but he likes to break in anyway sometimes. Wherever I am, he's welcome as far as I'm concerned."

No one else gets this consideration from her, but she offers the warning because she's aware that considering Jesus's involvement with Vrenille, that might be a sore spot, too.

[assassin_daddy]

Jacob knows she's not doing anything to cause him hurt on purpose. She has no logical reason to do so. Frankly, no one in this situation is deliberately trying to hurt anyone else- she's doing him and Vrenille a kindness by giving them some space away from each other, and they both clearly need that. But of course she also isn't going to jail, or the people zoo, which is worse.

In his mind, the problems he and Vrenille need to resolve are just that: for the two of them to resolve. They aren't anything to do with Jesus or Rosita, although perhaps now it's been made their business.

"I'll remember that. I don't think anyone breaking into your home would survive the attempt." It's interesting to know that about Jesus however. Perhaps at some point he will get to see those skills put to the test.

"If you're at the Hollow, Vrenille has a key. Only fair that your friends come over too. But just let me know? I try to ask questions before I stab people, but if it's the middle of the might, I make no promises."

[handleyourshit]

"He won't get stabbed," Rosita chuckles, fond and exasperated. She worries about Jesus, she'll chew him out for being reckless, but he's one of the most competent people she knows, too.

Then again, he got stabbed by a walker. She shakes her head. "We'll have to hang a sock on the doorknob or something. And for the record - historically, no, they haven't." Survived breaking into her home. She might have to take a longer game than she likes, but with only one glaring exception, she's put down every asshole that tried to take what was hers - or did.

She slides the contract back over for Jacob to look over with the additions, holding the pen out to him. "It's not that I want to put Jesus above everyone, all the time, just so you know. It's just really important to me he never doubts I'll back him up, or that he's safe with me."