[ a motherfucking lie, actually - derek'll be letting his boyfriend know about this dude the second they get in touch, just because, well, who knows what information might prove useful to have one day? may as well add "there's a guy in some multiverse out there who poisons people for fun" to the long list of ultimately useless miscellanea they've filed away over the years. ]
There's an inherent gamble no matter what you do. However, food tends to be safe, for the most part, so long as it's purchased from a day to day business. Things like specials, snacks offered at galas - that's what you need to avoid. Notable food tends to be problematic. I suggest starting a garden if you're in private housing, though. Fresh produce.
Find someone willing to feed you. Either out of the goodness of their hearts, or in exchange for work. Favors. Eat those god awful cafeteria sandwiches at the dorm. Dumpster dive. There are options.
[ he's not going to suggest getting a dom, because, you know, fuck that, but. it's certainly an option. ]
doesn't seem like very many people here are doing anything out of the goodness of their hearts i tried digging through the trash out behind this fancy place on the upside and some lady tried to sic those guards on me said i was stealing like she would have taken my money if i walked in there and tried to sit down too bad those assholes are slow
you draw the short stick too then? i assume you did if you know how shitty those sandwiches are
Sorry. About her. People are like that. Even back home. Assuming we're from the same place. I can get you some food. If you're okay with accepting food from a stranger immediately after I warned you against doing something like that.
Longer stick than most. I was a Dom for a year. Designations get swapped, sometimes. I take it that's another thing you didn't know.
yeah, no. didn't know that either. what's the point of orientation if they're not gonna tell us anything other than how to be a convincing chair or whatever and that we have to bone three times or do not pass go do not collect $200? that blows though.
[ billy's... hesitant, about the food thing, though. not because he shouldn't trust a stranger, but because he doesn't want to take something from someone in the same boat as he is. if this guy has a whole list of options on how to get a bite to eat without having to sell a part of one's soul, chances are he's probably done one or two of them. hmm. ]
i'm good on the food, though. i don't want to take what's yours. my friend's got a stash, and i'm not starving just yet. but anyway, are you really a stranger anymore? i know your name's derek, that you're part of the tattoo club, you've been here for a year. we should have matching friendship bracelets at this point.
Devil's in the details. They want you to abide by their culture, but they don't want to tell you all the things they can do to you. Bienvenido.
[ he wants to tell billy that if he changes his mind on the food thing, derek has plenty of food, a house, and is in a committed relationship with a dom he trusts, but. he knows how slippery these slopes can get for him. one minute he's trying to help someone with their emotional problems, the next they're dying on a bank vault floor or turning into a lizard and killing kids. the less done here the better. ]
Just asking. If you had been thirty, or something, I could have told you to figure this shit out on your own..
[ but seventeen is rough. ]
Don't really do bracelets. Friendship necklaces, maybe. Those matching BFF ones. Two sides of the same heart.
and you think i can't because i'm 17? those sandwiches wouldn't be the worst thing i've eaten. i can figure it out if i have to i was just trying to see if there was an easier way, maybe something i didn't know seeing as there's a lot, apparently, that i don't know are you like 30?
[ billy isn't - mad, he's not particularly offended, just. maybe a little ruffled for like 2.5 seconds. and then he's over it, because he's more interested in joking about dumbass necklaces. ]
which half would you be BE FRI or ST ENDS i think it'll look pretty sweet next to the lock i already wear
Edited (idk it bothered me) 2021-04-03 01:58 (UTC)
Didn't say that. Met plenty of clever teenagers. Just think it's fucked up that you're here. Seventeen's too young.
[ he ignores billy asking how old he is, just like he ignores the sandwich comment - better not to pry, he figures, though it doesn't take a genius that if billy's cool with dorm cafeteria food, he probably hasn't had an easy life so far. either that, or he's one of those little shits who eats dirt and worms for a dollar. derek knew a kid like that in third grade, so. ]
Stends. Befri sounds like a cream for something you don't want people to know you have. Stends at least sounds like a name. Or a word. You wear a lock? Like, a padlock? Does it mean anything, or do you just like it?
how does stends sound like a name? who would name their kid stends? kids are mean mom as well slap a kick me sign on their back before sending them off to school.
mostly i just like it. sid vicious used to wear one, so i guess it's kind of like an homage to him but mostly i just like how it looks punk thing i guess
I meant more... getting your life upheaved. Being brought somewhere like this. Dark and forceful and far away. You should be at home. Figuring out what you want to do with your future. Having fun with your friends. Getting high, getting in trouble, doing stupid shit. Just sucks that you've had that taken from you.
Stends is basically my boyfriend's name. Move the E, swap the N and the D out for something else. Done. Kids will kick whoever they want to kick regardless of their names. So. Stends. Also, fuck you. You said I could choose which part I wanted. That's the part I want. Go get me my necklace.
Anyway. Didn't think I'd be talking to a punk kid any time soon. Sid Vicious, huh? Not the worst taste in the world. Sometimes just liking something is sentimental enough.
[ billy... kind of wants to laugh. in fact, he does, quiet and to himself, just a bitter exhale of air through his nose. everything this guy thinks duplicity did to him, his father did to him first. sold him off to the mob, sent him to a fucked up school, took any hope of a decent future from him, turned his home into a nightmare. sure, duplicity is fucked up, but billy can't say yet that it's that much worse than home. ]
this place isn't so bad.
[ and that's all he has to say on that. ]
so, what. your boyfriend's name is steve? samuel? wait, neither of those work, nevermind anyway, relax. you can have stends if you want, all i was saying is it doesn't really sound any better than befri you're the one who came right out trying to make befri sound bad right before sacking me with it
you make it sound like "punk kids" are a rare breed or do you mean that like you're too good and pure to voluntarily talk to a rat like me i'm gonna be real sad if you don't want this necklace anymore
[ questioning billy is the last thing on his mind - if he had to choose between being stuck in duplicity or being back home in 2005, he would choose duplicity, despite everything. if billy's home is hell, then there's no doubt about it: this place isn't so bad. ]
No, you were right the first time. Steve. If you meet a guy going by Batman on the network, that's Steve. Tell him Derek said hi.
Rare breed where I'm from, at least. California in 2012 tends to thrive on dubstep, electropop and lacrosse games. Don't see much counterculture anymore. Haven't seen much punk around here, either. Kind of on your own, I think. Still want that necklace.
batman? seems like a missed opportunity to go by captain america
[ what does billy know, he goes by jizzledim. he hardly has room to be judging usernames. ]
2012? nah, no way. that's like 25 years in the future, dude even if that did make any sense, punk can't be dead don't tell me that i've never even heard of dubstep sounds like an old timey waltz kinda thing are you into it?
I would not date someone who liked Captain America.
[ goody two-shoes motherfucker. ]
I'm not. You might like it. It's loud. Not melodic. Thrash metal's little sister. I'll send you some. I think I can do that through chat, actually. Hold on -
[ derek goes quiet, for a minute, but -- eventually, he attaches some skrillex bullshit he once plunged from the depths of stiles' itunes library when he was backing it up onto his phone, just in case he ever went home again. he sends it without comment or warning. take it, he hates it. ]
Anyway. 25 years, huh. You from the 80s? Time isn't linear here. You're going to meet a lot of people from a lot of strange times. 2012 isn't so bad.
[ billy doesn't actually know enough about captain america to make any conversation about the man or question why derek doesn't like him - all he knows, really, is that his name is steve and he once punch a nazi or something. sounds like a not-bad dude.
anyway, he's suddenly got music to listen to. technology is fucking wild, man - and so is this song? ]
i was just gonna say this sounds like modernized? reggae but then i got to what i assume is the dubstep part of it and i can't decide if i like it or it it's definitely weird, but not necessarily in a bad way it's like synth, kind of? but like on acid or something you got any more music? show me what you like
anyway, you know that makes you sound kinda looney bin, right "time isn't linear here" i mean i'll take your word for it but that definitely sounds kind of crazy what's 2012 like definitely gotta be different from the 80's
[ derek supports the nazi punching. it's the not-being-batman-after-his-boyfriend-made-him-only-care-about-batman thing that he has issues with. ]
I'm not going to send you music that I like. I'm going to send you the hits.
[ this brand of shitposting is more stiles' style than his own, but that's kind of why he's doing it - the excuse to go through stiles' library and link some of the more stupid shit from the past twenty years is a fun way to spend his time, he thinks, and giving a billy the worst possible insight into the future's state of music probably isn't the worst thing he's done to a teenage boy since becoming an alpha. he lines up a few songs.
one, two, three, four, five... what else. oh, duh. can't forget this one. or this. derek floods billy's inbox without comment, then only speaks up again when he's done. ]
Those are considered some of the best pieces of music in our time, so. Hope you like them. Music doesn't differ much from songs like those anymore. Anyway. Yes. 2012. I don't know where to start. Cities are bigger? Ask me something about the future, I guess.
[ oh, holy fuck. if this is what music is like in the future, billy should have just - let his father beat him to death.
... alright, a little dark. but jesus, literally all of these songs are fucking terrible, with the exception of maybe one, but he'll never admit which one it is. it's not good enough to admit it. ]
if punk really did die and this is what took its place, i don't want to live to see the future holy shit what happened to the world that this is what's considered the best let's start there, i guess
[ ... ]
actually, first is reagan still kicking it i mean there's no way, right, he'd be like over 100 so i guess i'm asking when he kicks it
[ you know. might as well see if marcus ever follows through on his big ol' plans. ]
I'm just fucking with you. Punk's still a thing. Slightly departed from The Ramones, but as aggressively anti-authoritarian as ever. I'll find you some songs you might like. Reagan died in '04. Alzheimers, I think. Why?
[ derek was a linkin park, limp bizkit, evanescence kind of kid, but he thinks if anyone can appreciate bands like blink-182 or mcr or fall out boy or whatever, it's a kid from the 80s. he'll start billy off with some green day and work from there - he attaches a file, american idiot.mp3, then focuses on reagan again. ]
I get it. Fuck that guy. Well, this might not help, but I should tell you that history isn't really linear around here, either. The guy's dead for me, but for you, he might end up being - I don't know - some Robocop cyborg creep hoovering around town kicking grandma's legs out beneath her while she's trying to walk her dog. Nothing you learn here is gospel for your own world. So. Basically, embrace being in a perpetual state of sexually-charged chaos, and you'll do just fine.
[ american idiot is fucking lightyears better than all the other bullshit derek has sent him so far, so derek earns a little of his credit back. billy listens to it the whole way through, struggles for a good minute or two trying to figure out how to save it from his messages to his phone (because there's gotta be a way), gives up. he'll ask somebody else, later. ]
see, this is what i'm talking about i can dig this you're telling me stuff like this isn't popular anymore?
are you kidding? perpetual state of sexually-charged chaos is my middle name easy ha ha
[ he fuuucking wishes. perpetual state of lowkey anxiety about his life and his family, more like. but whatever. ]
so you've got a boyfriend in a place like this lucked out, didn't you did you meet steve here?
No, it has a following. Just wanted to mess with you a bit. Wasn't lying about dubstep being popular, though. Kids these days.
[ there's a pause, as derek tries to decide if he feels like being open about his relationship with stiles any more than he has been, but - honestly, he's not even telling billy his fucking name, so like, he's not exactly tearing open his chest in an extreme display of vulnerability here. may as well answer. ]
No. He's from home. Spent the last few years with him. Didn't really end up together until we arrived here, but. Always thought we'd get there in the end.
Either way, it's good to have someone. This place thrives when it isolates you. Low points can make you feel like you need to lean on the structure the city provides, and that's never a good place to be. So. Lean on your pack. Find good people. Not that you asked for my advice, but. There it is.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ a motherfucking lie, actually - derek'll be letting his boyfriend know about this dude the second they get in touch, just because, well, who knows what information might prove useful to have one day? may as well add "there's a guy in some multiverse out there who poisons people for fun" to the long list of ultimately useless miscellanea they've filed away over the years. ]
There's an inherent gamble no matter what you do.
However, food tends to be safe, for the most part, so long as it's purchased from a day to day business. Things like specials, snacks offered at galas - that's what you need to avoid. Notable food tends to be problematic.
I suggest starting a garden if you're in private housing, though. Fresh produce.
[ shit, he should start a garden. ]
no subject
seems kind of rigged
[ get a dom, duh. but fuck that. ]
no subject
Eat those god awful cafeteria sandwiches at the dorm.
Dumpster dive.
There are options.
[ he's not going to suggest getting a dom, because, you know, fuck that, but. it's certainly an option. ]
no subject
i tried digging through the trash out behind this fancy place on the upside and some lady tried to sic those guards on me
said i was stealing
like she would have taken my money if i walked in there and tried to sit down
too bad those assholes are slow
you draw the short stick too then?
i assume you did if you know how shitty those sandwiches are
no subject
People are like that. Even back home. Assuming we're from the same place.
I can get you some food.
If you're okay with accepting food from a stranger immediately after I warned you against doing something like that.
Longer stick than most.
I was a Dom for a year. Designations get swapped, sometimes.
I take it that's another thing you didn't know.
[ ... ]
How old are you?
no subject
didn't know that either.
what's the point of orientation if they're not gonna tell us anything other than how to be a convincing chair or whatever and that we have to bone three times or do not pass go do not collect $200?
that blows though.
[ billy's... hesitant, about the food thing, though. not because he shouldn't trust a stranger, but because he doesn't want to take something from someone in the same boat as he is. if this guy has a whole list of options on how to get a bite to eat without having to sell a part of one's soul, chances are he's probably done one or two of them. hmm. ]
i'm good on the food, though.
i don't want to take what's yours. my friend's got a stash, and i'm not starving just yet.
but anyway, are you really a stranger anymore?
i know your name's derek, that you're part of the tattoo club, you've been here for a year.
we should have matching friendship bracelets at this point.
[ ... ]
where are you from?
and i'm 17. why?
no subject
They want you to abide by their culture, but they don't want to tell you all the things they can do to you.
Bienvenido.
[ he wants to tell billy that if he changes his mind on the food thing, derek has plenty of food, a house, and is in a committed relationship with a dom he trusts, but. he knows how slippery these slopes can get for him. one minute he's trying to help someone with their emotional problems, the next they're dying on a bank vault floor or turning into a lizard and killing kids. the less done here the better. ]
Just asking.
If you had been thirty, or something, I could have told you to figure this shit out on your own..
[ but seventeen is rough. ]
Don't really do bracelets.
Friendship necklaces, maybe.
Those matching BFF ones. Two sides of the same heart.
no subject
those sandwiches wouldn't be the worst thing i've eaten.
i can figure it out if i have to
i was just trying to see if there was an easier way, maybe something i didn't know seeing as there's a lot, apparently, that i don't know
are you like 30?
[ billy isn't - mad, he's not particularly offended, just. maybe a little ruffled for like 2.5 seconds. and then he's over it, because he's more interested in joking about dumbass necklaces. ]
which half would you be
BE FRI
or
ST ENDS
i think it'll look pretty sweet next to the lock i already wear
no subject
Just think it's fucked up that you're here.
Seventeen's too young.
[ he ignores billy asking how old he is, just like he ignores the sandwich comment - better not to pry, he figures, though it doesn't take a genius that if billy's cool with dorm cafeteria food, he probably hasn't had an easy life so far. either that, or he's one of those little shits who eats dirt and worms for a dollar. derek knew a kid like that in third grade, so. ]
Stends.
Befri sounds like a cream for something you don't want people to know you have.
Stends at least sounds like a name. Or a word.
You wear a lock? Like, a padlock?
Does it mean anything, or do you just like it?
no subject
don't say getting laid.
how does stends sound like a name?
who would name their kid stends?
kids are mean
mom as well slap a kick me sign on their back before sending them off to school.
mostly i just like it.
sid vicious used to wear one, so i guess it's kind of like an homage to him
but mostly i just like how it looks
punk thing i guess
no subject
You should be at home. Figuring out what you want to do with your future. Having fun with your friends. Getting high, getting in trouble, doing stupid shit.
Just sucks that you've had that taken from you.
Stends is basically my boyfriend's name. Move the E, swap the N and the D out for something else. Done.
Kids will kick whoever they want to kick regardless of their names. So.
Stends.
Also, fuck you. You said I could choose which part I wanted. That's the part I want.
Go get me my necklace.
Anyway.
Didn't think I'd be talking to a punk kid any time soon.
Sid Vicious, huh? Not the worst taste in the world.
Sometimes just liking something is sentimental enough.
no subject
this place isn't so bad.
[ and that's all he has to say on that. ]
so, what. your boyfriend's name is steve?
samuel? wait, neither of those work, nevermind
anyway, relax. you can have stends if you want, all i was saying is it doesn't really sound any better than befri
you're the one who came right out trying to make befri sound bad right before sacking me with it
you make it sound like "punk kids" are a rare breed
or do you mean that like you're too good and pure to voluntarily talk to a rat like me
i'm gonna be real sad if you don't want this necklace anymore
no subject
[ questioning billy is the last thing on his mind - if he had to choose between being stuck in duplicity or being back home in 2005, he would choose duplicity, despite everything. if billy's home is hell, then there's no doubt about it: this place isn't so bad. ]
No, you were right the first time. Steve.
If you meet a guy going by Batman on the network, that's Steve.
Tell him Derek said hi.
Rare breed where I'm from, at least. California in 2012 tends to thrive on dubstep, electropop and lacrosse games. Don't see much counterculture anymore.
Haven't seen much punk around here, either. Kind of on your own, I think.
Still want that necklace.
no subject
seems like a missed opportunity to go by captain america
[ what does billy know, he goes by jizzledim. he hardly has room to be judging usernames. ]
2012?
nah, no way. that's like 25 years in the future, dude
even if that did make any sense, punk can't be dead
don't tell me that
i've never even heard of dubstep
sounds like an old timey waltz kinda thing
are you into it?
no subject
[ goody two-shoes motherfucker. ]
I'm not.
You might like it. It's loud. Not melodic. Thrash metal's little sister.
I'll send you some.
I think I can do that through chat, actually. Hold on -
[ derek goes quiet, for a minute, but -- eventually, he attaches some skrillex bullshit he once plunged from the depths of stiles' itunes library when he was backing it up onto his phone, just in case he ever went home again. he sends it without comment or warning. take it, he hates it. ]
Anyway. 25 years, huh.
You from the 80s?
Time isn't linear here. You're going to meet a lot of people from a lot of strange times.
2012 isn't so bad.
no subject
anyway, he's suddenly got music to listen to. technology is fucking wild, man - and so is this song? ]
i was just gonna say this sounds like modernized? reggae
but then i got to what i assume is the dubstep part of it
and i can't decide if i like it or it
it's definitely weird, but not necessarily in a bad way
it's like
synth, kind of? but like on acid or something
you got any more music? show me what you like
anyway, you know that makes you sound kinda looney bin, right
"time isn't linear here"
i mean i'll take your word for it but that definitely sounds kind of crazy
what's 2012 like
definitely gotta be different from the 80's
no subject
I'm not going to send you music that I like.
I'm going to send you the hits.
[ this brand of shitposting is more stiles' style than his own, but that's kind of why he's doing it - the excuse to go through stiles' library and link some of the more stupid shit from the past twenty years is a fun way to spend his time, he thinks, and giving a billy the worst possible insight into the future's state of music probably isn't the worst thing he's done to a teenage boy since becoming an alpha. he lines up a few songs.
one, two, three, four, five... what else. oh, duh. can't forget this one. or this. derek floods billy's inbox without comment, then only speaks up again when he's done. ]
Those are considered some of the best pieces of music in our time, so. Hope you like them. Music doesn't differ much from songs like those anymore.
Anyway. Yes. 2012. I don't know where to start. Cities are bigger?
Ask me something about the future, I guess.
no subject
... alright, a little dark. but jesus, literally all of these songs are fucking terrible, with the exception of maybe one, but he'll never admit which one it is. it's not good enough to admit it. ]
if punk really did die and this is what took its place, i don't want to live to see the future
holy shit
what happened to the world that this is what's considered the best
let's start there, i guess
[ ... ]
actually, first
is reagan still kicking it
i mean there's no way, right, he'd be like over 100
so i guess i'm asking when he kicks it
[ you know. might as well see if marcus ever follows through on his big ol' plans. ]
no subject
Bad taste.
I'm just fucking with you. Punk's still a thing. Slightly departed from The Ramones, but as aggressively anti-authoritarian as ever. I'll find you some songs you might like.
Reagan died in '04. Alzheimers, I think.
Why?
no subject
i'm into like
depeche mode, agent orange, bad brains if you know any of them
so anything with a similar sound to them would be rad
also no reason, just curious
kind of a shithead, so i just wondered
[ :) ]
no subject
[ derek was a linkin park, limp bizkit, evanescence kind of kid, but he thinks if anyone can appreciate bands like blink-182 or mcr or fall out boy or whatever, it's a kid from the 80s. he'll start billy off with some green day and work from there - he attaches a file, american idiot.mp3, then focuses on reagan again. ]
I get it. Fuck that guy.
Well, this might not help, but I should tell you that history isn't really linear around here, either. The guy's dead for me, but for you, he might end up being - I don't know - some Robocop cyborg creep hoovering around town kicking grandma's legs out beneath her while she's trying to walk her dog.
Nothing you learn here is gospel for your own world. So.
Basically, embrace being in a perpetual state of sexually-charged chaos, and you'll do just fine.
no subject
see, this is what i'm talking about
i can dig this
you're telling me stuff like this isn't popular anymore?
are you kidding?
perpetual state of sexually-charged chaos is my middle name
easy
ha ha
[ he fuuucking wishes. perpetual state of lowkey anxiety about his life and his family, more like. but whatever. ]
so you've got a boyfriend in a place like this
lucked out, didn't you
did you meet steve here?
no subject
Wasn't lying about dubstep being popular, though.
Kids these days.
[ there's a pause, as derek tries to decide if he feels like being open about his relationship with stiles any more than he has been, but - honestly, he's not even telling billy his fucking name, so like, he's not exactly tearing open his chest in an extreme display of vulnerability here. may as well answer. ]
No. He's from home. Spent the last few years with him.
Didn't really end up together until we arrived here, but.
Always thought we'd get there in the end.
You have anyone from home?
no subject
[ since derek is calling people "kids". ]
oh.
that's cool, i guess.
[ kind of like - really romantic, actually, in a weird sort of way. ]
yeah, i've got someone
i mean he's not my boyfriend, we're just friends
but he was here for a little bit before i got here
no subject
[ so, you know. ]
Either way, it's good to have someone.
This place thrives when it isolates you. Low points can make you feel like you need to lean on the structure the city provides, and that's never a good place to be. So.
Lean on your pack. Find good people.
Not that you asked for my advice, but. There it is.
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