(no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: The Outsider and anyone who wants in on the Marked plot
Where: All over the Barge
When: During the Marked plot

Once Cheradenine gets his power, he can't resist using it. Most of the time, he just uses it for getting work done faster or seeing what sparring with himself is like. Seeing two Cheradenines working side by side in the halls or common areas is easy to do.

But sometimes he'll prank people a little, talking to them and then making a doppelganger appear behind them or having a doppelganger walk past in one direction as he's walking in the other. Nothing too complicated, just enough to cause confusion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ed's sitting in a chair on the deck, enjoying a glass of rum when the double Cheradenines start working nearby... which makes him squint at the sight of them, then squint some more at his drink.

"Dammmit!" he exclaims. "Maybe I've finally reached my limit," he adds with a sigh.

One of the Cheradenines turns around and stops cleaning. "Are you that much of a lightweight?"

The fact that only one of them turns and speaks makes Ed stop squinting and narrow his eyes instead, because if he was seeing double, they'd both be doing and saying exactly the same thing, right? Right.

He shrugs, the corner of his mouth twisting. "Maybe not, after all."

"Did you not have the weird dream?" he asks, waving the hand that has the Mark on it. "A lot of us did."

"Uh... no?" Not that he recalls, anyway. "Is this some Barge crap, or something else?"

"It was whatshisname. The Outsider. Though he goes by V...something, now. He showed up in a dream. Let me duplicate myself."

"Huh. And you consider this to be a good thing? Seems a bit creepy to be watching yourself, outside of looking in a mirror."

"It lets me get more work done. And I can surprise people, this way."

"More work done, but do you feel twice as tired? Might not be worth the effort if so." He'll raise an eyebrow at the next part. "What kind of surprise?"

Cheradenine grins. His double disappears from beside him.

"This kind," his double says, from behind Ed.

Ed jumps slightly and immediately pretends he didn't.

"You forgot to say 'BOO'."

The double disappears again, then pops up just in his peripheral vision. "Boo!"

Thankfully, he's a little more prepared for that 'surprise' so he just waves a hand and smirks a little. "TOO LATE."

"Worth a try," the real Cheradenine says, making his double vanish.

Ed watches the vanishing act with neither relief or disappointment. Yeah, it's just kind of weird.

"So, is this gonna be a permanent thing for you?"

"I think so," he says, "Vi, uh, Zivosky didn't say anything about an end date."

"Well, I guess it's convenient that you can just make the extra you disappear? Rather than accommodate any needs he might have." Extra food, extra bed, extra toilet time, etc.

"He's a double of me, not a whole new person," Cheradenine says, "like a hard-light hologram."

Marc, who is constantly on the lookout for Barge Twins due to personal reasons, double-takes.

On Marc, this just looks like blinking for slightly too long.

Same outfit...

He doesn't even say anything, he just goes to poke one of them in the arm to see if he's solid.

It is solid, though they both jump when he pokes the one, turning in unison to look at him. "What was that for?"

"Seeing if it was an illusion. Why have you got two bodies?"

"Magic!" the real Cheradenine says, brightly, "I had a weird dream and now I can make a double of my self."

"This is an Outsider thing? Zivosky."

He kind of ... wants that.

"Yep! It's handy. Though, I assume he had other options for people, since I haven't seen anyone else doubling themselves." What the other things are, he's not sure, but he doesn't quite get magic. He likes it, but it's not something he understands.

"Huh. Lemme see your hand?"

Is the Mark invisible when they're all awake?

He holds out his hand. The Mark's there, on the back.

"You, uh, if you ever get sick of having a cool superpower, I think the guy's warden's kinda PO'd that he did all this. Can probably get that thing removed."

Just saying.

Edited 2026-09-15 03:38 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only