video

[aglonby]

[ the feed comes on to show a boy with very tall hair and a much shorter girl with scratches on her face over her eye, one looking rather cheerful and the other less so. ]

Hi hi hi everyone, I have an important question. [ he holds up a finger, tilts his head as if a thought had just occurred to him. he's so preoccupied he was going to launch himself into his spiel without even introducing himself. ] I'm being rude. I am Henry Cheng, and we were wondering —

[ the not so tall and in fact very short girl interrupts. ] We're looking for someone we know! [ she pulls a little face, looking over at Mr. Henry Cheng. ] A few people, actually. [ okay, maybe that was a little rude. she murmurs something unintelligible and takes a step back. please, proceed. ]

And that was my lovely friend Blue. [ he gestures with a flourish toward her, shoots her a wink, absolutely unbothered by the interruption or her outburst. ] As she said, we are looking for someone. Multiple someones. I'm sure this place has a list of sorts, yes? A quick way to CTRL-F a friend's name and find out their status?

[ he looks a bit more serious, then, like underneath the cheerfulness he's exhausted. his next words are very earnest. ]

We would appreciate any info. Thank you.

[ in the background, Blue begins tromping away, shedding dead leaves for some reason, and can be vaguely heard to say 'maybe we should've mentioned Gansey by name' before the video ends. ]

Comments

[oceiteres]

[ Well, that... ] Actually, what I can do here apparently isn't that different from what I do at home. I can't figure out how to control part of it though.

[ Is it not smart, talking about this? She's not sure. But Cosima is really easy to talk to, actually. So. ]

[doubleblind]

[Cosima can't hide her interest, but it's curious, and in no way malicious.]

How different?

[oceiteres]

Well. [ She pauses a second. Actually, she's not sure how to talk about part of it. She'll just say the bit that's easier to explain. ] At home, I'm kind of a battery for psychics. I can make their readings stronger if I'm in the room or touching something.

And here, it says I can do that, but with everyone's powers.

[doubleblind]

Seriously? Wow, that sounds like an amazing ability.

[oceiteres]

I'm sure it's like a lot of abilities. It can be good, but it can be bad too. Hopefully I can control it here. [ At least she's sort of gotten the hang of it at home. Kinda. ]

[doubleblind]

If you want help practicing it, let me know. I can't see strengthening my powers going wrong so if you enhance them too much or something... It won't be an issue.

[oceiteres]

Oh. [ A beat. ] Thanks. That would probably be a good idea, right? And it's like you said, I don't think it could hurt. Well, that depends on what your powers are, too.

[doubleblind]

Cell regeneration and making copies of myself.

[oceiteres]

[ Hmm. ] Like dopplegangers? [ Honestly, it's a miracle she avoids the word "clone" here. ] That's my-- [ um. ] I know someone else who can do that, but I don't know all the details. Can I ask how it works?

[doubleblind]

Your who?

Mine are different than Gansey's if that's who you're talking about. Mine are less, uh, organic. [Less clone-like, she thinks, but doesn't say.] They're copies, that's the best word for them. Exact copies of me. They're not very permanent. I have to be somewhat close to them to keep them functioning and control them. I'm lucky I live close to work or sending one off to boring meetings would never work...

[oceiteres]

Yes, that's who I meant. [ Her... boyfriend? She's not really said as much aloud, has she? ]

You do that? [ She sounds a touch amused. Just a touch, mind you. Very little bit. ] Send them to your boring meetings?

[doubleblind]

[Cosima's already assuming as much, though she's not about to make Blue reveal anything she doesn't want to. It's probably been a disorienting enough of a day without having to evaluate her relationships.]

Sometimes. I also send them to my sister's place for lunch if I get caught up in too much work. Alison freaks out if I'm late, and they're much more punctual than I am.

[oceiteres]

[ In this particular case, that's sort of helpful. She'll take it. ]

Does she know that it's not you-you? [ Still amused. Or something like it. ]

[doubleblind]

She caught on when they started being too punctual. I've started telling them to show up at least ten minutes late.

[oceiteres]

[ Blue stares for a second, then sort of snorts out a laugh. ] That's a pretty interesting precaution.

[doubleblind]

I'm a pretty interesting person.

[oceiteres]

I believe that. And not to diminish what you said, but it seems like there's a lot of interesting people here. [ Interesting in all sorts of ways. ]

[doubleblind]

[Cosima nods with a wave of her hand. She's not offended at all. There are definitely people there who are way more interesting than she is.]

Definitely. This place is full of interesting people.

[oceiteres]

I guess it attracts interesting people? [ Or are we supposed to believe they're only interesting when you give them superpowers, because Blue wouldn't buy that for a second. ]

[doubleblind]

Dude, that's my theory too.

[oceiteres]

I wonder how they decide then. [ She is kinda curious about this... ] They must think Henrietta's interesting, there's a lot of us here.

[ She doesn't even properly understand who "they" refers to, honestly. ]