duplicity inbox | un: prince

[rosebyanyother]

"Morrigan Prince. I'm afraid I'm too busy to answer at the moment, but leave a message and I promise to respond as soon as I'm able."

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[fuckinabucket]

[ In truth, Sally had already been looking for half an excuse to spoil her friends a little; she still doesn't feel fabulous about missing Christmas, so when Duplicity's culture offered up a chance she thought, well why the fuck not.

Peter's gift appears to be a small metallic box (about the size of a large wallet)that opens into a red pallet of lipsticks on a few folding trays. There's a huge variety of shades sectioned into neat little squares, and a few rows of different types and tinges of gloss as well. The compact set folds out with a small mirror, and a little hidden tray containing two different two-tipped brushes for application.

... Well, actually, there are two hidden trays, but the second is not so easy to locate as the first, not quite so obviously apparent. And it takes a little pondering and pressing to unlock, not too unlike a puzzle box.

Inside is another smaller pallet with six squares, each with a rather curious label:

1. Vermilion Visions
2. Sanguine Sleep
3. Blushing Berserker
4. Titian Truth
5. Puce Paralysis
6. Scarlet Secret Undercoat

There is also a printed note attached which reads: ]

in case you get into a little trouble

or want to have some fun

PS--don't forget about the undercoat ;)

[ This is the entirety of the intended gift, but since when does stuff go according to plan in Duplicity? Ala the town's latest wonderful screw up, extra presents have come along uninvited. A very glittery, very small red thong is one. A bright red glass dildo that looks suspiciously like a rocket ship is another. And what kind of person gives an obnoxiously large dildo without some strawberry flavored lube.

Future Sally: fuck this fucking city and everything it fucking stands for. Fuck. ]

[rosebyanyother]

[Well! The first gift is fascinating and thoughtful and Peter is very enamored by it. The note is curious and Peter ends up quite literally puzzling over it a bit until he finds the second secret compartment.

...But first there's the extra presents, which he is...confused by. Not insulted by but...well, as much as Sally has idly flirted with him, she's never made any real kind of advance on him. Not that this is an advance. He doesn't find it horrifically inappropriate either. It's just something new.

The next time he sees her - poking his head into the living room in the early evening and then disappearing for a second - he carries the dildo in one hand, expression curious.]

I wanted to thank you for the gift you sent. I can't wait to try out all those shades. Particularly the special ones.

...But I have to ask, where did you pick this up? Did it come from a catalogue? I'm not sure how practical it is, really, but as an art piece.....

[It's the rocket ship design. Peter just isn't sure how comfortable it would be.]

[fuckinabucket]

[ By now, Sally knows that some of her gifts have arrived to her friends with one or two 'extras', so she isn't completely dumbfounded when she turns ( from her comfortable lounging position on the couch ) and spots-- oh dear jesus christ. This is HER house too how did the mail ninjas sneak them past her?! ]

Oh for fucking fuck's sakes [ she mutters under her breath, not without feeling her face heat up unpleasantly. She shifts and stands in stale exasperation, standing extra tiny sans six inches of heel. Incidentally, not many people ever see her without her shoes. ]

I have no idea where that came from. The gifts I sent out keep showing up with... with... unintentional extras, and it sounds like a bloody awful excuse to be a shit-- but I promise I'm not. I really didn't...

[ Okay now that she's actually looking at the thing...]

... is that a rocket ship dildo?

[rosebyanyother]

It is, in fact, a rocket ship dildo.

[Knowing that she didn't actually send this part - presumably not the thong or lube either - makes Peter's expression shift to an amused smile. He regards the strange sex toy in his hand for a moment more and then sets it down.]

Don't worry, I believe you. [With a blush like that....well, it isn't as if it couldn't be manufactured too, but honestly Peter doesn't think so.] And honestly I wasn't upset in the first place, just a little...bewildered.

Really, though, the lipstick palatte is wonderful. You're a sweetheart.

[Peter makes his way over and then bends down to kiss Sally on the cheek.]

[fuckinabucket]

[ Well then, a glass rocket ship shaped dildo. Maybe they can use it as interesting decor? A conversation piece? If Sally can look at it and not feel too horribly embarrassed. It helps that Peter's being so gracious about it-- that's certainly not the only reaction she could have gotten. She's relieved to hear he believes her, too-- maybe a little too much, as though she's accustomed to people not taking her at her word. ]

I can't say I blame you; I'd be bloody bewildered unwrapping that thing, too

[ The affection surprises her-- enough so that she looks mildly befuddled about what's happening right until Peter kisses her on the cheek. It startles her that she didn't see it coming-- that her brain was not accordingly cautious, especially considering she had just gifted him a special pallet with some less than ideal effects. She doesn't think he'd use them on her-- and that surprises her, too. This trust that she keeps forgetting she has like a pet that's adopted her.

She feels her face heat up again and doesn't care much to suss out why; friendship's affection is almost more awkward for her than the romantic kind; she understands what a man wants from her, when it comes to that kind of thing.

And she knows this isn't the same. For a long moment she just looks at him with an oddly innocent surprise, until a faintly flustered smile splits her lips and she looks away sheepishly, almost shyly and touches where her skin is warm from the little kiss. ]

You're very welcome. I'm... I'm happy you approve. Maybe I'm not such rubbish with gifts after all?... Unless you just poisoned me. That could also be it

[ she's teasing him, a little laugh leaving her as she dares a glance towards his face. ]

[rosebyanyother]

[In all honesty, it's hardly a surprise to Peter that Sally looks momentarily taken aback by his little bit of affection. People like them...they don't often get aimless affection sent their way. He would understand all too well that thought about affection that wants something, that's seeking something.

People like them, they're used to being used. (And using, of course, lest either of them be absolved of that. Peter knows what he is.) It's a shock when someone wants...nothing.

Though, really, in the long run Peter does not want nothing. It's why he smiles a bit at Sally's teasing there at the end. Though he is also smiling at her entire response. There's a certain amount of softness hidden behind an otherwise amused smile.]

Poisoning you would be a terrible mistake on my part. Where else am I going to find a contract partner quite as charming?

[It's flattery, of course, Peter could, he assumes. But it would be more work than he wants to put in.]

Whoever told you you're bad at gifts is clearly wrong.

[fuckinabucket]

[ Maybe it's a boon, this safety net of mutual dependency for at least an effortless comfort of living. They get to tell themselves it's easier to have the other around than to not, and it's a little too easy to leave the notion more or less undisturbed.

Except when stupid feelings get in the goddamn way and muck everything up. Doesn't matter what kind they are, romantic emotions aren't the only kind that make things complicated. But maybe she can just quickly enjoy the affection and then sweep it away without looking too closely as to why. ]

That's true; I am among the best of us [ she follows his flattery with playfully light arrogance, even if at her very core, she feels the opposite is true ]

No one told me, I just didn't really... have anyone to practice with? Giving gifts too, I mean. [ she frowns, carefully placing herself back onto the couch like a secretly self-conscious cat playing it cool ] Uhg, that sounded a bit depressing, didn't it? I did know people. Most of my classmates were boys, and if I gave one of them something, it would drive the other girls crazy. And the other boys, for that matter. At the time, the last thing I wanted was more needless drama

[rosebyanyother]

[Peter listens, coming around the other side of the couch to settle himself there too. They've talked a bit about themselves while they've had this arrangement but not very many personal things. He's curious.]

It sounds like you were popular, even back then.

[Popular....or hated. Probably popular though.]

[fuckinabucket]

I suppose you could put it that way [ she's a bit sarcastic, but the sentiment doesn't do too much to crumple her comfortable composure. This is not really her favorite topic, but at the same time, Peter is so far and removed from her world and its stupid social constructs that its a bit easier to talk to him about it. She doesn't want their amiable little conversation to devolve into something pitying-- people don't often know what to say after something like 'my whole family was killed when I was thirteen' thing. ]

I... guess you could say I lost my family to the war, and some bastard thought it would be smashing to write an article about it. Small towns, always lacking for finer entertainment

Plus, I was always rather brilliant. I aced all the advanced Mathematics and Chemistry courses, even though most of my classmates were boys, because it wasn't every girl who could talk her way into those seminars

Maybe I would have been a whole lot less interesting if we had a decent local pub