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[slavophile]

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𝚄𝙽: 𝚀𝚄𝙴𝙴𝙽 — ̶̛̦͈̟̯͇́̃͗̆͢UN: ➶̳̿͟͞
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[slavophile]

( rubbing one eye, relief floods as he pulls the phone down, still unable to read through the haze of exhaustion before bringing it back up to his ear. )

Um. I'm in my apartment. It's - ( he sighs, stifling a yawn. ) I guess I was tired, I... what time is it?

[caputium]

( being intimately familiar with coming to with a surge of adrenaline, oliver's ahead of the curve. he has a lead on william of a couple of hours, enough time to grapple with waking up in the down sans felicity and finding that the restrictions are more stifling than before. )

It's May. ( he cuts to the chase. ) I woke up a few hours before you and things aren't as we left them.

[slavophile]

It's - ( May? ) How did we - what's - you were asleep too? May?

( Well, he did learn that surge of adrenaline from his father, so excuse him if he fiddles for a second to put his father on speakerphone as he retrieves his modified tablet to try and -- suss out anything. it will take a few minutes for his eyesight to not go in and out of blurriness, but he damned well will try. )

[caputium]

I don't know. It happens here. I was. An entire month.

( he hates dropping this on him, being the one to once more rip the rug out from under him and force william into stumbling steps in a blind panic. being unprepared gets you dead and so he doesn't feel too terribly. )

Make some coffee. Take a shower. Take a minute. ( and then, maybe, he'll tell him that felicity's gone home. )

[slavophile]

( it's not dropping it if you have no choice but to, dad. and he's had other bombs drop. it's fine. the blurry vision is subsiding at least. )

I will, I just have to --

( throw himself into the network, posts, videos he scrolls through. )

... What happened?

[caputium]

To the city? ( it reminds him of slade and the days of mirakuru. when it comes to crime running rampant in poverty-stricken areas, the rise of warring gangs isn't too surprising. ) Anarchy, from what I can gleam. I haven't been out much yet.

( if they had been awake, they might have been able to slow it. change the tide, something. he's not sure if it's worse in the down or it's just another kind of oppression. )

[slavophile]

Good.

( Wait. He pauses, looking down at his phone. )

I mean. It's good that you're safe. I don't know what I'd do -

( He lost him once. Almost twice. )

The -- there are no traces of Sin Guards in the Down. Not in any public videos. But. There are in the Up. Is that a clue? Where are you?

[caputium]

You don't have to find out. ( not won't. oliver can't promise that here or star city. for now, it's a bridge they don't have to cross. he pulls in a slow breath, makes a quiet introspective noise, permanently in distaste with his position in duplicity. )

I can handle it. I'm safe. I'll be okay even if that changes. ( not that it will. ) I'm in the Down. I became uncontracted while we were sleeping.

( detatchment is easier. )

[slavophile]

( his father okay and in one piece doesn't mean he can't be taken to places like -- )

The People Zoo is in the Up now. You're right, everything changed.

( he pauses again, realizing his father doesn't have free reign of the Up. realizing that with - wait. )

Why - ( he was... Felicity had... ) Did they - is it retaliation for the, the uprising?

( or on second thought, don't answer that. don't answer. because he knows how contracts work. he knows what happened. he doesn't need Oliver to say it. )

[caputium]

Yeah. ( it's what he can push out. yeah, everything has transformed. overnight for them, a month for everyone else. felicity had to endure the insanity, the violence, the uncertainty, and she lost him ( them ) again. there aren't words for that. there aren't apologies. john would tell him to do better, to aim for penance, yet he's clueless as to how to go about correcting the sins he keeps committing.

he wants to laugh about the bit in reference to retaliation as if either one of them were present enough to fight tooth and nail. and oliver surely would have until he couldn't so much as crawl. ) The important thing is that you're in your apartment, okay?

( they didn't touch him. )

Everything else, it's going to work out. ( short, clipped, like he's saying it for himself because if he doesn't, then william will want to see him. )

[slavophile]

( john and felicity and everyone would understand if this was out of their control. if they were under the influence of whatever coma had overtaken them. and there is no duo better at making things right than these two.

retaliation could've involved everyone. maybe... felicity had retaliated. while her family slept.

but, his father's clipped response. if it doesn't confirm everything. )

You should be here. I can get you here.

[caputium]

No. ( perhaps, over time, he's improved with letting people help him push the boulder up the hill. when he fails, he prefers to be crushed in solitary. he can't regress to the man void of vulnerability, jagged where he should be soft. he needs a moment ( a moment here being defined as a day, at minimum ). ) I don't want you coming here. You might be putting a target on your back.

( william's ... an easy mark. he hates to think it because he's brilliant, impressive in technologically crippling someone. )

I don't belong there. ( not without felicity. ) I can do some good here. Keep people safe. Make sure they get where they're going, that they aren't being extorted. ( because he heard something about a cage and about fees, and it's not unusual for criminals to charge a protection fee. )

[slavophile]

( he didn't fail. they didn't fail. )

No, dad. I can - the app just asked me. SWINGER. It's just about signing up. If my information is in order, I can go anywhere. Yours, too.

( do this for him. )

You can also run afoul of the wrong type of person. Dad, I'm not saying you can't handle yourself, but we don't ... we don't know everything that changed. Or, I don't. ( he knows what his dad does. he punishes himself. he takes it on the chin and then he disappears. ) Don't shut down.

( Don't shut him out.

He knows now. Felicity is gone. His dad thinks he has no one. Thinks that if William ventures out that there's a target on his back. If he doesn't go out, then he's shirking a new system he has to fit into. He's not staying inside. Not forever. )

[caputium]

( when he shuts his eyes and hangs his head back—not praying but thinking—he can picture william at eleven, fourteen, distantly but not so long ago, arguing with him because he wanted oliver to show him he cared. he wanted his father to fight for him like he fought for everyone else. his free hand clenches at his side. the temptation to pull the curtains shut and sit in the dark for twelve hours is more alluring than showing up. )

Okay. ( he crosses the room and sinks to the edge of his bed. it's cramped, shoved back into a space with two beds. ) I'll register with the app. They — um, need my name? Designation? To turn find my phone on?

( he jests faintly, making the strenuous effort of not tapping out, not hiding. it's exhausting. william lost felicity too, he doesn't need oliver to vanish on him in addition to that. )

[slavophile]

I think so. I haven't read the terms and conditions. But, it's official. It doesn't mean you can't keep Green Arrowing. But, it does mean that, maybe if you want to Green Arrow, you may not be able to with your phone on you. Let me work on that. See... what I can do.

( this still isn't coming here. this isn't letting him help. this isn't accepting the shelter he's offering. but it's one thing that will lessen william's worrying. )

If you're not coming here, I will be coming here. If you think I don't need to see you in person, at least once --

( with Felicity gone, something neither have them acknowledged in person. he closes his eyes again, trying not to get worked up. trying to be the clever, funny, geeky william. and not the untrustworthy workaholic he became. )

Who are you living with?

[caputium]

What you're saying is I'd be going in blind and without backup, for now. ( the need to throw himself into the thick of it and walk away from a beating is strong. sometimes, there's nothing like an injury to remind oliver that he's still alive. ) I didn't say I wouldn't come and see you. I want to set it up right. Get my papers in order. Do they count as traveling documents if they're electronic?

( watch him hyperfocus on insignificant details to get through this, to tiptoe around the chasm inside of him that threatens to swallow him whole. )

I assumed it'd be the same person I was living with before, unless they contracted and deciced to move out. I haven't seen anyone yet. It used to be Katherine.

[slavophile]

( yes. he would. he's saying that, but he's not trying to say that. he doesn't mean that. )

They only count if they're electronic. They're mandatory.

( it helps for william to worry about his dad, the Green Arrow, and not his dad the grieving husband. )

Okay. It's probably Katherine. I could look for you if you'd like. Records are pretty public. Do you want me to check?

[caputium]

I'm getting them in order as we speak. ( there's an echo if they're both on speakerphone now, though nothing unbearable. thankfully, he's had practice with making his voice carry. registering himself with the system is annoying but it isn't as if they don't already track everything. oliver's fairly convinced they're chipped somehow. they come into the city in a hospital gown of all things. )

No. It doesn't matter. Whoever I get thrown in with isn't going to have much say in it. We'll make it work. If it is Katherine, we're at least civil.

( once he's accepted the terms and filled in all the boxes, he tucks the phone back up against his ear between his shoulder. he can't promise he won't go searching for trouble because he is who he is but he can address what he's glossing over to placate his son. )

I'm not going to disappear.

[slavophile]

Good. Me too. ( William gets his in order a bit faster, always nimble with his keystrokes. William also worries they're chipped. But, it's a different priority. Funny, had none of this happened, had they not fallen asleep maybe they wouldn't be thinking in such drastic terms. Really, the city can blame itself for him and his father's more nefarious plans when you think about it. )

Only?

( Civil is something, but it doesn't sound great. he knows his father doesn't rub everyone the right way. but, he's his father. )

You also couldn't hide here if you wanted to. Which... sounded more like a threat then I had intended.

[caputium]

We're... friends? ( tentatively. they haven't hit it off the wrong way and the conversations they've had have been good. oliver wants to protect katherine. whoever she'd been before, they all have histories, she seems like she wants to do better here. he knows what starting over is like. he doesn't know her well enough to branch beyond that. admittedly, he spent most of his time with felicity and william, when he wasn't out at night. ) We're friendly.

I don't need to hide. ( yet. ) It looks like they want my exact route. Where I'm going, what time I'll be there. Specifics. I know what you meant. If we felt exposed before, we're under extreme scrutiny now.

When do you want to meet up?

[slavophile]

It doesn't sound like it.

( Not that that inflection. But, sure. Friendly. William does not need to dig underneath to what that means. But, he guesses it wouldn't, would it? Oliver had Felicity. And their second wedding, the one he'd missed. )

I don't know, according to a friend Doms were murdered not long ago. Maybe - do local digging. Tell me if it's really safe for me. Unless, getting here, it's not a hassle.

( That's a lot of scrutiny. He hadn't tried to put any routes in yet. )

So it's like Uber on tracker steroids.

[caputium]

We could be if I was better at making friends. ( he is when it's beneficial, when he lets down his walls. now? he's not sure he wants any friends right now. he needs them with the current state of affairs, more so now than before with a ready-made contract in his back pocket. ) Have you checked in with any of yours?

( pot, kettle .. maybe. family comes first and he wouldn't trade that for anything, he's glad that's ingrained. this is something he won't talk about with william — not in its entirety. coping, dealing with losing his wife, having to meet quota. finding his footing won't be simple. they have that middle ground to relate with each other. making contracts with strangers now. )

Either way, I can meet you at the crossing point. You would be safe as long as you gave me notice.

It's like what the SCPD wishes they could inject us with.

[slavophile]

You -- were mayor. ( That's all he has there. His dad's not good at making friends. He won't lie that he is. He sighs. ) One. I didn't make many. ( And he doesn't want to tell you about the eighteen year old he's been sleeping with. ) I should tell my ex-husbands I'm not gone. Shouldn't I?

( family before everything, unless the world needs them. then he would sacrifice himself and his family would live. )

It's what they did inject us with. ( Wrists. ) In the 2030's.

( He pauses, probably longer than he should as he goes over to his door. There's a note that was slid underneath, one he reads, his stomach dropping. He hasn't spoken for a few minutes by the time he forgets his father's there on the line.

He sounds far away. )

The crossing point, right. Should take about fifteen, twenty minutes. It's secure.

[caputium]

I was notoriously unlikeable as mayor. ( his campaign was spearheaded by the media from the beginning. he likes to think he did some good while he was there for the police department, for quentin, operating in the light in laurel's memory. there's a lot of ugliness and chaos when he reflects in everything from barry messing with the timeline to prometheus and ricardo diaz, and ultimately his secrets and duality that assisted in decimating everything and everyone around him. ) I don't know. Were you close? On again, off again? Maybe if you want them to speak to you again and not think you're as careless as disappearing for a month feels.

( william can't see him squinting like he's trying to figure out the dynamic of multiple ex-spouses. how do they holiday? also: why is it that serious? in a land of whips and handcuffs, marriage is still laughable. sure, he remarried, but he and felicity made fun of every aspect that duplicity ( probably deliberately ) misinterpreted. )

How did you get around it? The microchipping.

( he's unusually quiet, long enough that oliver notices the lack of focus, if only because it means he has more heavy lifting to do in the conversation if william's distracted. )

Should I head out now?

to action

[slavophile]

Also, ultimately arrested. ( was that when he was mayor? those years all bleed together. he'd gotten it wrong with felicity, too. ) Not close, no. We each had another date after the fact -- which sounds like I'm telling my dad I'm playing the field.

( no no no. luckily? he gets distracted by the piece of paper before Oliver brings him out of his head. it's also not serious, dad. but they were allies. )

We didn't. Well, I hacked it once by keycard, but not the checkpoint. That was unhackable.

( right, they're talking. )

Yeah. I'll -- grab my coat. Is it cold out? I'll be there. Leaving now.

( he ends the call, setting the paper down and gets his things together. never mind that his hair is longer and he's sporting facial hair now. no. he focusing on pushing one foot forward. only one husband is in the city now. ex. ex husband. methos. but he's focusing, holding his phone, ready to be checked if need be. it takes only ten minutes to get to the check point, but he gets into line and it feels like forever as he waits in the line. maybe his father will beat him to it.

they didn't discuss who was meeting who on which side. )