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om_mainClaudia wants to put her new team-mate's doggie senses to the test so enlists a troop of Jamies.
Claudia was on a mission, and while technically she wasn't supposed to be in the boy's wing, dropping by to knock on a door wasn't forbidden. She'd knocked on this particular door more than once, although this time, it was for the other occupant of the room. Or was that occupants? She still wasn't quite sure what to think of Jamie. Treating them all the same was the general rule, but sometimes the dupe you were talking to wasn't a carbon copy. But that was exactly why she was here.
"Hey," she said, after a soft knock. "Got a minute?"
"Come in." Was immediately chorused. The room itself held 7 Jamies in total, all spread out now that Jack had (very sadly though they supposed that they couldn't really blame him) moved out. One Jamie was on the laptop, another was lying on a bed reading, three on the floor playing poker and two more on the other bed getting very competitive over a video game. They'd paused it as the door opened though, to see if the visitor was interesting enough.
"I see you didn't waste any time spreading out now you've got a single," Claudia said, grinning at the scene. "Although it must be hard to bluff against yourself."
She looked for a spot to lean or sit, and grinned even wider. "I've got an experiment I want to try with Sirius on tracking skills. Think I can get some volunteers to go play hide and seek in the woods? Nothing like having a control group that smells the same..."
"Is she saying we stink?" One card playing Jamie asked another as the third looked up to Claudia with a grin and told her "It's not as hard as you'd think actually."
Book reading Jamie put it down, still open at his page and now resting on his stomach. "So, basically you wanna start a Jamie scavenger hunt?"
"Why would I say that? Everyone has a scent, so yeah, pick one and have a particular extra like cologne then see whether it's enough," Claudia said, grinning a little. "It'd be a great way to test things. All scientific."
She figured it was easier to just treat them as the same guy, since they pretty much were, although some of them had differences. "So, want to try?"
After a babble of discussion, six out of the seven agree more than happily with the seventh claiming he had plans soon and mumbling something about the dance room. Most of the Jamie's ignored that, though there were a couple of smirks.
"We're not signing up to be, like, mauled are we? I've seen those police sniffer dogs on TV." The Jamie now on Claudia's immediate left suddenly asked.
"It's not in the plan," Claudia said. "Taking down a person takes a lot more experience for the dog, and we're still talking about getting Padfoot enrolled in some of those classes. Because, well, y'know, be prepared. Still, if there were going to be anything like that, we'd bring out the padded suits."This is just figuring out where we can go, and making sure it's subtle enough to be tricky."
"Tell us how many you need and we'll head out there." One Jamie offered since multiplying that much inside could cause damage and Uncle Charlie had lose patience for that about 6 years ago. At least.
"Just outside or inside too?" Outside seemed a better idea but best to check, see how big a test it was.
"I was assuming outside. Inside's a lot easier because there's less going on," Claudia said, shrugging slightly. "It's mostly about the idea whether or not he can track that well, but no sense making it easy. I figure we give you all a certain amount of head start, and then he's got to pick the odd one out."
The volunteers were all mumbling consent and nodded as they started to get themselves into gear.
"We'll start heading out, guessing you want as many of us as possible?" The Jamie nearest to Claudia asked, he was possibly Prime and if not had at least taken charge of the ramble.
"A small group might be better. Wasn't thinking much beyond about half a dozen to a dozen to start. Hand one of you a bag of beef jerky or the like and then we see how things go," Claudia admitted. She was okay with ideas, but sometimes planning took more. Especially when there were people involved.
"It just seemed logical to go to our instant crowd for numbers."
The small troop of Jamies saluted her, all grinning widely.
"Your wish is our command." Possibly Prime assured her.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret that?" Claudia asked as she pulled out her phone to message Sirius.
The dupes simply cackled as they filed out of the room.
***
Some time later, everyone and their dupe were gathered around in a clearing out away from the usual school traffic. "So, I'm thinking we give our crowd about five minutes and then we start tracking. Any arguments?"
There was a lot of murmuring and chatter but no arguments from the soon to be hunted Dupes.
"I won't watch any of you go." Sirius added as he gave them a collective once over playfully. Jamie's power was one that interested him several ways, he couldn't deny it. "Just gonna be following my nose."
"Just so long as it's the nose and not the teeth." One Jamie felt the need to say. Sirius smirked as he locked eyes with the dupe and his eyebrows rose suggestively.
"I only ever bite those who ask me nicely to. You gonna ask me, Madrox?" Mean? Maybe but it was interesting with so many Jamie's around to see the different reactions. At last a few were interested even if they didn't admit to it. Sirius could smell it.
"You can save your homoerotic fantasies for later, Black," Claudia said, smirking a little. It was interesting seeing how the reactions were different, but what it meant might be disturbing when you weren't trying to explore different aspects of your psyche. "Especially since I'm keeping an eye on you while you hunt."
She glanced at her phone, flipping over to the timer. "Five minutes."
"Spoil my fun." Sirius pouted at her for effect as he made a show of turning his back on all of the Jamie's and pretended he couldn't here the muttering as they left- at least one of the Jamies were being told off apparently.
"Don't want him to be too distracted, do you?" Claudia said, starting the timer. "You're really a piece of work, you know that, right? Cute and cuddly may be going for you, but..."
"Who me?" Sirius asked as he glance over at her. "I'm sweet and innocent Claudia, haven't you heard?"
"Uh-huh. About as innocent as I am." She just figured it was worth it to play this so the Jamies had a good head start. And he was fun.
"Naturally." Sirius's grin grew, less innocent now. "I was just reassuring the boy, you know."
"You want to give him even more of an identity crisis than is already evident?" Claudia teased. "Some things are fun, some are just manipulative. I just don't like watching stuff like that"
"I just wanted to know how they'd react. It was an experiment not a crisis. I'm not that cruel, you know." He hardly thought he was being manipulative. He wasn't making any of the dupes into it, he was just seeing if any were.
"So you're looking for the ones who want to play ball?" Claudia said, shaking her head slightly. "I don't know what to tell you."
"I was just curious, is all. Aren't you? It's a fascinatingly fucked up power."
"Says the guy who could use his power to lick his own balls," Claudia pointed out. "It's interesting, yes, but not that interesting. Pulling out subconscious thoughts is a little weird for me."
Sirius burst out laughing loudly, "Is that the first thought you all have about my powers? Can't say I've ever actually tried, sorry to disappoint."
"No, it isn't. Although I'm sure sniffing people's crotches isn't high on the list of things I'd try, either. I also don't think you've been experimenting with redefining the term 'doggy-style,'" she said, shaking her head slightly. "I don't think about other people's powers much because in my case, it's kinda hard not to be a little jealous."
Sirius had been amused until her last statement which just had his curious. "Why jealous?"
"Compared to the flashy talents out there, I totally got the short end of the stick," Claudia pointed out. "Mine's just a slightly altered perception, or maybe a more integrated subconscious, but basically, there isn't anything that I do that is really out there. I just put things together faster, and that isn't always a good thing. Sure, I could name my own price at any engineering or computing firm anywhere in the world, but you know what the people who can pay those kinds of bucks would want to do with anything I did."
"Not all powers are fun but, hey, at least you're not disfigured like victor or untouchable like that Kevin kid was." It was only after saying it that it occurred to Sirius that he might have sounded a little glib and heartless. "I didn't mean, you're feelings are very valid I just meant, you know. big showy powers aren't everything. That's all."
"But compared to anyone else, I could have been left where I was and never have been certain I was a mutant," Claudia said, quietly. "Not that it would have been all that great for me."
She shrugged, and then the phone timer went off. "Well, there's there end of this Hallmark moment."
Not knowing what to say, Sirius shifted instead. Padding over, he nosed at her hand affectionately and hoped in said enough to her.
He then waited , needing to be presented with some of whatever he was tracking to know the scent.
Claudia knelt, ruffling the Padfoot's ears and giving him a good scratch before pulling out the sample of the beef jerky they were using today. She didn't think they wanted to try colognes or perfumes until they knew which were too strong or too weak.
"Go get 'em, boy."
It was slow at first, Padfoot moving gradually through the woods with his nose glued to the ground. So many woodland smells, complicated smells all over the place and then all the overlapping Jamies. It was almost overwhelming.
She stayed with him, watching to see what he picked up, and where. Claudia hoped she hadn't set the bar too high, since the Jamies would smell alike. Well, at the worst, they'd just end up unraveling the individual scents until they found the right one. Maybe it would have been better to try this inside, or just to line them up for practice.
Well, once they finished, they could talk about it.
Focusing in his almost-puppy state was not always easy, Sirius was a teenager and so therefore his dog form was young too and that meant attention issues. He was following the scent but bouncing around Claudia in loops was fun too.
Claudia didn't really mind watching him play, but every couple of loops, she's stop and pull out the sample to remind him what he should be doing. Perhaps something like this might have been easier with a wolf because they understood hunting a lot more than just roughhousing. "Where are they, Padfoot? You find anyone yet?"
Aaaaand he was back on track after a little sniffing and a cheeky chomp of jerky he bounded off on the trail again, this time starting to pick up speed. Occasionally barking back at her in a clear 'Well hurry up then!!'
Luckily, Claudia was used to the fact that Sirius was an annoying little shit, or possibly shite, and had extra jerky to make sure he could steal some as she raced after him. Hopefully being chased wasn't going to require too much being called back to task. It was still amusing as hell. And she really did like him.
And Padfoot had found a Jamie, not the Jamie he was looking for but worth a pause anyway. Dog shifted to boy form within an instant. He circled that Jamie, pausing behind him and grinning over his shoulder at Claudia
"This is not the droid you are looking for." He told Claudia with a chuckle. "But which one is it, is there a way to tell who is who, I wonder?"
"Even if I knew a way to tell them apart, do you really think I'd tell you?" Claudia said, smirking at Sirius. "You only want to know the difference so you can make them squirm or join you. No offense." The last bit to the Jamie they'd found.
"I'm not sure I get the obsession with telling you guys apart."
"Mostly people just wanna know if we're clones or if we actually think for ourselves." The Jamie supplied, used to it all really.
Whilst Sirius merely protested "Join me? I'm not starting a cult, darling."
"Unless you all share some kind of creepy hive mind, you'd have to be able to think for yourselves," Claudia said, chuckling a little at the idea of people thinking that. "Otherwise it would make taking every class really confusing."
She grinned even wider at Sirius' cult comment. "What teenager doesn't have fantasies about twins, or even more?"
Sirius cackled with delight "See?" He said to the Jamie "She tries to tell me she's so young and innocent and I'm the pervert but look who's talking about banging twins!"
"I never said I was innocent. And you've got some more twins to find, furface."
Sirius made a show of rolling his eyes and then winked at the Jamie before shifting and bounding off into the trees without warning.
Claudia gave a put-upon sigh, and shrugged. "Shall we follow and see how many more of you we round up before the end?"
"Alright then." The dupe grinned though couldn't help asking as they headed into the trees again "So, you have a thing for twins huh?"
"Never had the opportunity to do more than the odd daydream," Claudia said, smirking. "Why, you offering?"
"Well, play your cards right and you never know." The dupe smirked right back playfully.
"I'll keep that in mind. Save a spot on my dance card next party, maybe," she said, eyes twinkling as she gave him a once-over, just because. "Because as fun as making out in the woods might be, the part where the people waiting come back to watch isn't high on my bucket list."
"I'll bear that in mind." Jamie grinned right back before adding "I've no idea which way Black went though, think he's missing us yet or just trying to hump another me?"
"He went this way, at least at first," Claudia said, starting to move in a general direction. The happy barking would probably help soon if they weren't out of earshot. "Sometimes I think he goes whichever way will get him the most column inches."
"You think he's bi just for the press?" Jamie asked, he hadn't given Sirius or his sexuality any thought to be honest.
"Oh, no, not like that, I don't think he's faking it or anything. It's just that one of the things going on in the back of his head is how certain people will react, or whether it will make his twitter feed explode, that kind of stuff," Claudia said, shrugging. "I still haven't gotten past the playgirl centerfold version as far as who he really is."
But then, that was how some people were. She knew about his parents' bigotry, but while that might have started him on the path, it didn't make you stay there. "You get to try out a lot of stuff just because you can be everywhere, right?"
"Interesting leap, trying to ask how much like Sirius I am?" He wasn't offended, more amused by the non-sequitur
"No, just thinking you could act on a lot of things most people keep bottled up. Or have one dupe go try something that makes the majority of you uncomfortable. That kind of thing. I don't know how I got there, it's just...a stretch for most of us singletons to imagine life as a plurality."
"Uh, you do realise in the end we all join up and every experience is shared? So no, we don't do that uncomfortable thing." Jamie pointed out, in the distance barking guided him onto which way to go. "We have rules anyway, so no one does anything the rest of us don't wanna have to live with."
"I just can't imagine it, because when that happens, how do you keep things straight? Or even just try to keep a calendar or datebook. Some days it seems like you can't turn a corner without running into you." Claudia didn't get it. Because her talent was more trying to keep what she could do from enabling things she couldn't control. "My biggest nightmare is ending up like Oppenheimer. Because of what kinds of advances I could jumpstart before anyone realizes the downsides."
"It can get pretty confusing, that's why there's rules and stuff like with dating. We gotta talk to the others before we date to prevent accidental cheating or whatever. And do I sound like moron for not knowing what an Oppenkeimer is?"
"J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project. One of the people who tried to force people to come to grips with the fact that science without understanding is science without morals or boundaries. Most often mentioned for a mistranslation of a line from the Bhagavad Gita, 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'"
It was hard to think about, because she saw how things linked up, what lead where, and if she let herself, it would be something that could create things that would be at least as devastating as the bomb.
"Oh right." Well what the hell did you say to that? "Uh, I know it's your mutation and all that but my advice? Just say no to nukes."
"The nuke thing is more of a metaphor. But weapons design is where the money is. It's not so much a question of making a difference as making the right kind of difference," Claudia said, glancing off. "People will come up with that kind of stuff without my help, but I won't be the one losing sleep in the end. I'm just making sure you get the perfect piece of toast instead."
Whatever Jamie was about to say was lost when the big black dog came running at them full speed, barking loudly and excitedly.
"Think he's trying to tell us something?"
Claudia couldn't help a laugh at that. Sirius had great timing. "Think little Timmy fell down a well?" she deadpanned.
"Guess we better go see!"
The dog looped them twice, butting them playfully in the right direction before bounding off again.
"I'd say we could race, but you're already at the finish line, too," Claudia teased, even as she started jogging after the big black dog. She considered asking about the rules with dating, but the topic had moved on. "So see if you can keep up."
The Jamie jogging just behind her started laughing as he felt the empathic link twinge a little. It wasn't constantly active but always there in the background.
"Wherever Sirius is, pretty sure he's got more than one of me there." He told her as he veered left to dodge some gnarly tree roots. What he didn't add anything about was the feedback of emotion he was getting through. He wasn't sure which dupe it was from anyway, maybe not even one playing the game. Besides people sometimes got weird about the link.
"Well, hopefully it isn't from being pounced. Although I wouldn't put it past Padfoot to be enthusiastic like that," Claudia said, grinning. She had pretty much assumed all the Jamies out here had been the ones to come with. "What would you say the chance of bonus participants is?"
"I'd say 50/50." Jamie grinned back. "What's the chance of him not having pounce in puppy form?"
"I can't recall him ever knocking me down on purpose," Claudia said. "We've got squad practice together. On the other hand, wound up and excited with all the instincts going like that? Not sure it won't result in collisions and/or leg humping. Depends on whether he's too much of a puppy."
"'Too much puppy' he can lose himself in the dog? That's...alarming really."
"You try going from a bipedal, vision based animal to one that's scent-based, and add the instincts that go with it. He's still Sirius, he can think and reason, but the priorities aren't quite the same. I think it's easier for him to get lost in the moment."
They rounded a few trees and found several Jamies laughing, one on his back with a Padfoot on top of him (very Tigger and Winnie the Pooh) wagging his tail and chomping greedily at some jerky.
"Yeah, yeah I can see." The Jamie who'd been jogging with Claudia nodded before adding "I wasn't judging him you know, I mean you didn't need to get so protective." Defensive even and, honestly, Jamie had just been curious.
"Sorry, it's instinct. I'm still getting used to the way things are here," she said, feeling ashamed by her snap. "Sarcasm's a self-defense mechanism. I was pretty much on my own before this, even if it wasn't on the streets."
"No idea what it's like to be alone," Jamie admitted, the others were all more interested in goofing off with the dog anyway. And he wasn't going to comment on the 'on the streets' thing because they weren't allowed to talk about that stuff. "It's cool, I get it though. Humour is pretty much my best defense too, humour and lame pop culture references.
"Must be nice," Claudia said, smiling at the picture of the Jamies and the dog.
"So, you find the right one this time?" she asked Sirius.
Tail wagging even more, the pup barked happily back at her before sniffing around the Jamie on the floor, searching for more treats.
Claudia reached in her pocket for the baggie of jerky, but didn't pull it out just yet. "So, are you the bait today?" she asked the prone Jamie. "Or do I have to try to call him off?"
"I was, he's already eaten the lot though." He was laughing as he told her that, petting and playing with the pup in a way that made it clear that at least this Jamie had pretty much forgotten it was actually a fellow student.
"He's a brat like that," Claudia said, unable to keep the silly grin off her face. "C'mon, boy, want some more?"
Sirius could be so adorable.
With excited yips the big, black furball abandoned the grounded dupe to launch himself excitedly at Claudia instead.
Claudia went down on her knees so she could brace properly for the incomming furry missile, and grinned even more as she tried to shield her face and open the bag of beef jerky at the same time. "All right, all right, I get it, you won. Good boy."
It still felt kinda silly to talk to him like a dog, but if they were going to play in public, outside of the school, that kind of acting might be needed. Still, it was impossible not to enjoy being around such a big friendly animal, and the excitement was certainly catching. "This is the last of it, and then we should round up the other Jamies. Wouldn't want them to spend the rest of the day thinking they're supposed to hide out in the woods."
"If it saves time we can try using our link to call them, I mean it's unreliable at best but saves us wondering about the grounds all afternoon." A Jamie offered.
"And we have way more interesting things to do, right?" The Jamie next to Claudia added with a grin, stooping to pet Sirius the happy pup with an affectionate scratch behind the ear.
"And deprive our budding tracker the chance to show off some more?" Claudia joked, fishing out another piece of jerky to hold out carefully to Sirius, not wanting to get bit. It was more that it would hurt than she was afraid of getting sick. And, well, if she got bit, she'd prefer it not to be an accident. "What do you say, Padfoot. Want to go herd the others in?"
She smirked at the Jamie petting him, knowing just how nice it could be to be around Sirius as a dog, even if it did make things a little confusing. "He's a sweetheart, when he's not being a pain in the ass. Not that I'm doubting a little psychic summoning would help."
"You seem to be more keen on him in this form." The Jamie joked as he straightened up again and the dog, having pulled the jerky from her hands, had started to trot away at a more leisurely pace that before. "Is that the way to your heart? Being trainable?"
"I don't know that I'm more keen on him. He's just a lot less exasperating, I guess." She didn't know, really. "I'm never really that good around people. Much better at keeping everyone at arm's length, I guess."
"Even twins?" Was asked innocently.
"You really want to follow up on that twin thing, huh? Should I ask what the dating rules are?" Claudia said, unable to stop a faint blush from rising.
"What's the point in having a mutation like this if I can't make a girl's fantasy come true." Jamie joked with a wink before adding. "It's mostly stuff like checking in with Prime, making sure no other dates are happening. Multiple mes, accidental two timing is a possibility if we're not careful." There was other stuff too of course.
"What girl wouldn't say no to having her own harem when she wants it?" Claudia said, teasing. She resorted to teasing, because honestly, she didn't know what to think. "I guess I'd have to know you better before we can talk over living out fantasies like that."
"Sounds good to me. We can hang out without the pup sometime." Not that Sirius wasn't awesome in his own way. This Jamie and Claudia were now bringing up the rear of the party, other Jamies ahead following Sirius with a few glancing back. Some curious, others smirking.
"What do you usually do for fun?" she asked, pretending not to notice that several of the other Jamies were checking her or maybe them out. "When you're not just playing with yourself."
And there may have been a snort at that phrasing because Jamie so wasn't mature at all. "All sorts. Sports, tv, video games, gynmastics, dancing, hanging out, to be honest there's so many of us that most of us have tried most hobbies at some point."
She'd meant that way, of course. "Sadly, I'm pretty much your typical geek, although I do have a thing for music. Guitar, classic rock, that kind of music, although I'll try anything once. Well, anything without a serious risk of permanent damage. It isn't so much what hobbies as which ones are what you gravitate to when there's just a big block of time to make go faster," Claudia said.
"For example, I like video games, but most of them get pretty boring after a while because I learn the mechanics and then it's just doing the right thing at the right moment and racking up time. So that's where the Cherry Bomber started. Sniping the assholes who go after newbies or killsteal or all those other nasty things people do online. Apparently, I've become a boogeyman that people don't really think is real and all kinds of amusing shit."
"Now that is awesome." Jamie told her with absolute genuine awe because, hell yeah. Before realising "Oh, oh, yeah that rings a bell, think I've heard of you. Awesome, good to know you're real."
"Some things are easier when you're a ghost," Claudia said, grinning. "Although I think we could put together one hell of a raiding party sometime. Maybe even invite a few others in on the game."
She couldn't help thinking an army of one would be loads of fun, whether they were talking gaming or music or what. "So let's say I want to do something with one or more of you sometime. Dancing, music, games, whatever you want. Think you can find time for that?"
"Course I can," With his power, time and availability was a little different from most after all. "Give me the word and I'm all yours."
"Is there anything you can't do?" Claudia teased. "Pick a time or activity or something?"
She wasn't really sure, but it would be fun to at least try. "Summer's here, so it's not like I've got huge demands on my time, either."
"Otherwise I wouldn't get a look in, right?" He joked back with a grin
"Play your cards right, and you may get more than a look," Claudia said, mischieviously. She started looking for Sirius, just wondering how many more Jamies were left. "Although I won't guarantee this won't be too much for me to handle. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, after all."
"Hey, no need to make warnings. I know my mutation isn't easy for everyone, there would be no offense from me, at all." He might be a lot, A LOT, of things but he wasn't going to be that guy.
"It's just weird to have had a conversation one time, and realize you had it with someone else with the same face, sometimes. You're all pretty good at faking, though. Practice and all?"
"Where we join back up and divide, usually most of us share memories, if the other dupe that's met the person hasn't joined back up though, yeah it can get confusing. Sometimes we might play along if it for the best but mostly we'll own up." Jamie told her as they moved through the trees, approaching a throng of Jamies and Sirius's barks, though the dog was nowhere to be seen. "Depends on the situation, what would be more awkward, you know?"
"I'm still working on wrapping my head around some of that. It's kinda like quantum entanglement experiments. Hard to tell what happened when and where," Claudia said, shrugging aa little as she tried to pick out just where the barking was coming from. "Mutant powers are just plain weird, sometimes."
"For me, linear lives with only one person are weird. I can't imagine it, I've never had it. But, yeah, I'm still aware I'm the weird one at the end of it all.
"Only because there's something like seven billion more of us linear folks," Claudia pointed out. "At least you aren't precisely alone in your weirdness. I once did a stint as the only goth in about a hundred square miles."
Which wasn't even vaguely comparable and Jamie was suddenly remembering his conversation with Cersei about how most people have no understanding of what it's like to be not born as singular. Cersei's experiences weren't identical to his but they were the closest he knew anyone to have.
"Goth huh? I gotta see pictures of that!" He said instead, half joking and half genuinely intrigued.
"Sadly, yes, I do. Although I realized I look better with my usual red and an accent or two than going black and pale. That and the whole pleather thing, ugh," she said, with an exaggerated shudder. "We all make mistakes, don't we?"
"True, though I can't say I've ever made any pleather related mistakes myself....that I know of."
"Wouldn't you know? Since you all share memories," Claudia had to ask. It was interesting to think about.
"Not if it was a Jamie who's been independent since doing it." And, yeah, ok, maybe he was gonna definating end up weirding her out. Damn.
Maybe not so much weirded out as headache-inducing. "Ah, so if it happened in the last day or three, there's a chance the you I'm talking to might not have caught up? Or do you strike out independent for long periods?" she asked, still intrigued.
Then she realized how she might sound. "If I'm prying or anything, feel free to tell me to just shut up."
"It's fine, really, I'm used to curious people. Scientist parents." He waved off the apology with a smile. "I needed a lot of me to be in every class. Not sure how many I've lost track of to be honest. They all come back in the end though." Mostly.
"Scientific inquiry only goes so far," Claudia said, chuckling a little. "So nobody decided to try to live as if there weren't any others for a bit? Is there an upper limit to how many you can have out and about?"
"There's only a limit if we go too fast, like when we sparred with Xavin. We ended up outnumbering hir but too fast and had to wave the white flag." Jamie explained, ignoring the messier question.
"PE at this place is something else," Claudia said, shaking her head. They had to be close, because the barking was definitely louder. "You think you'll be game for playing bait again? Gotta be both harder and easier since you should all smell pretty much the same."
"Definitely, just say the word and we'll be there." He agreed as they came around a large tree and found a collection of Jamie's, apparently left to their own devices a wrestling tournament between dupes and Sirius (now in human form once more) had broken out. Go figure.
"I feel like I should have brought popcorn," Claudia said, eying the match with amusement. "Wonder how much I could get for a video of this?"
"Depends on how many people out there are as twisted as you." The Jamie beside her teased.
"What can I say, it's not like there are a lot of ways I can get pocket money, and Sirius does have a reputation to uphold," Claudia said. "That there are a bunch of toned male bodies involved is just that much more frosting."
Jamie laughed (what else could he do?) and asked "Well, you wanna drool over that or do you wanna grab a drink with me?"
"I have this funny feeling that I'll get to watch this scene a few more times, so let's go with option b. Think they'll notice?"
"Nah, let's get outta here."
Claudia was on a mission, and while technically she wasn't supposed to be in the boy's wing, dropping by to knock on a door wasn't forbidden. She'd knocked on this particular door more than once, although this time, it was for the other occupant of the room. Or was that occupants? She still wasn't quite sure what to think of Jamie. Treating them all the same was the general rule, but sometimes the dupe you were talking to wasn't a carbon copy. But that was exactly why she was here.
"Hey," she said, after a soft knock. "Got a minute?"
"Come in." Was immediately chorused. The room itself held 7 Jamies in total, all spread out now that Jack had (very sadly though they supposed that they couldn't really blame him) moved out. One Jamie was on the laptop, another was lying on a bed reading, three on the floor playing poker and two more on the other bed getting very competitive over a video game. They'd paused it as the door opened though, to see if the visitor was interesting enough.
"I see you didn't waste any time spreading out now you've got a single," Claudia said, grinning at the scene. "Although it must be hard to bluff against yourself."
She looked for a spot to lean or sit, and grinned even wider. "I've got an experiment I want to try with Sirius on tracking skills. Think I can get some volunteers to go play hide and seek in the woods? Nothing like having a control group that smells the same..."
"Is she saying we stink?" One card playing Jamie asked another as the third looked up to Claudia with a grin and told her "It's not as hard as you'd think actually."
Book reading Jamie put it down, still open at his page and now resting on his stomach. "So, basically you wanna start a Jamie scavenger hunt?"
"Why would I say that? Everyone has a scent, so yeah, pick one and have a particular extra like cologne then see whether it's enough," Claudia said, grinning a little. "It'd be a great way to test things. All scientific."
She figured it was easier to just treat them as the same guy, since they pretty much were, although some of them had differences. "So, want to try?"
After a babble of discussion, six out of the seven agree more than happily with the seventh claiming he had plans soon and mumbling something about the dance room. Most of the Jamie's ignored that, though there were a couple of smirks.
"We're not signing up to be, like, mauled are we? I've seen those police sniffer dogs on TV." The Jamie now on Claudia's immediate left suddenly asked.
"It's not in the plan," Claudia said. "Taking down a person takes a lot more experience for the dog, and we're still talking about getting Padfoot enrolled in some of those classes. Because, well, y'know, be prepared. Still, if there were going to be anything like that, we'd bring out the padded suits."This is just figuring out where we can go, and making sure it's subtle enough to be tricky."
"Tell us how many you need and we'll head out there." One Jamie offered since multiplying that much inside could cause damage and Uncle Charlie had lose patience for that about 6 years ago. At least.
"Just outside or inside too?" Outside seemed a better idea but best to check, see how big a test it was.
"I was assuming outside. Inside's a lot easier because there's less going on," Claudia said, shrugging slightly. "It's mostly about the idea whether or not he can track that well, but no sense making it easy. I figure we give you all a certain amount of head start, and then he's got to pick the odd one out."
The volunteers were all mumbling consent and nodded as they started to get themselves into gear.
"We'll start heading out, guessing you want as many of us as possible?" The Jamie nearest to Claudia asked, he was possibly Prime and if not had at least taken charge of the ramble.
"A small group might be better. Wasn't thinking much beyond about half a dozen to a dozen to start. Hand one of you a bag of beef jerky or the like and then we see how things go," Claudia admitted. She was okay with ideas, but sometimes planning took more. Especially when there were people involved.
"It just seemed logical to go to our instant crowd for numbers."
The small troop of Jamies saluted her, all grinning widely.
"Your wish is our command." Possibly Prime assured her.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret that?" Claudia asked as she pulled out her phone to message Sirius.
The dupes simply cackled as they filed out of the room.
***
Some time later, everyone and their dupe were gathered around in a clearing out away from the usual school traffic. "So, I'm thinking we give our crowd about five minutes and then we start tracking. Any arguments?"
There was a lot of murmuring and chatter but no arguments from the soon to be hunted Dupes.
"I won't watch any of you go." Sirius added as he gave them a collective once over playfully. Jamie's power was one that interested him several ways, he couldn't deny it. "Just gonna be following my nose."
"Just so long as it's the nose and not the teeth." One Jamie felt the need to say. Sirius smirked as he locked eyes with the dupe and his eyebrows rose suggestively.
"I only ever bite those who ask me nicely to. You gonna ask me, Madrox?" Mean? Maybe but it was interesting with so many Jamie's around to see the different reactions. At last a few were interested even if they didn't admit to it. Sirius could smell it.
"You can save your homoerotic fantasies for later, Black," Claudia said, smirking a little. It was interesting seeing how the reactions were different, but what it meant might be disturbing when you weren't trying to explore different aspects of your psyche. "Especially since I'm keeping an eye on you while you hunt."
She glanced at her phone, flipping over to the timer. "Five minutes."
"Spoil my fun." Sirius pouted at her for effect as he made a show of turning his back on all of the Jamie's and pretended he couldn't here the muttering as they left- at least one of the Jamies were being told off apparently.
"Don't want him to be too distracted, do you?" Claudia said, starting the timer. "You're really a piece of work, you know that, right? Cute and cuddly may be going for you, but..."
"Who me?" Sirius asked as he glance over at her. "I'm sweet and innocent Claudia, haven't you heard?"
"Uh-huh. About as innocent as I am." She just figured it was worth it to play this so the Jamies had a good head start. And he was fun.
"Naturally." Sirius's grin grew, less innocent now. "I was just reassuring the boy, you know."
"You want to give him even more of an identity crisis than is already evident?" Claudia teased. "Some things are fun, some are just manipulative. I just don't like watching stuff like that"
"I just wanted to know how they'd react. It was an experiment not a crisis. I'm not that cruel, you know." He hardly thought he was being manipulative. He wasn't making any of the dupes into it, he was just seeing if any were.
"So you're looking for the ones who want to play ball?" Claudia said, shaking her head slightly. "I don't know what to tell you."
"I was just curious, is all. Aren't you? It's a fascinatingly fucked up power."
"Says the guy who could use his power to lick his own balls," Claudia pointed out. "It's interesting, yes, but not that interesting. Pulling out subconscious thoughts is a little weird for me."
Sirius burst out laughing loudly, "Is that the first thought you all have about my powers? Can't say I've ever actually tried, sorry to disappoint."
"No, it isn't. Although I'm sure sniffing people's crotches isn't high on the list of things I'd try, either. I also don't think you've been experimenting with redefining the term 'doggy-style,'" she said, shaking her head slightly. "I don't think about other people's powers much because in my case, it's kinda hard not to be a little jealous."
Sirius had been amused until her last statement which just had his curious. "Why jealous?"
"Compared to the flashy talents out there, I totally got the short end of the stick," Claudia pointed out. "Mine's just a slightly altered perception, or maybe a more integrated subconscious, but basically, there isn't anything that I do that is really out there. I just put things together faster, and that isn't always a good thing. Sure, I could name my own price at any engineering or computing firm anywhere in the world, but you know what the people who can pay those kinds of bucks would want to do with anything I did."
"Not all powers are fun but, hey, at least you're not disfigured like victor or untouchable like that Kevin kid was." It was only after saying it that it occurred to Sirius that he might have sounded a little glib and heartless. "I didn't mean, you're feelings are very valid I just meant, you know. big showy powers aren't everything. That's all."
"But compared to anyone else, I could have been left where I was and never have been certain I was a mutant," Claudia said, quietly. "Not that it would have been all that great for me."
She shrugged, and then the phone timer went off. "Well, there's there end of this Hallmark moment."
Not knowing what to say, Sirius shifted instead. Padding over, he nosed at her hand affectionately and hoped in said enough to her.
He then waited , needing to be presented with some of whatever he was tracking to know the scent.
Claudia knelt, ruffling the Padfoot's ears and giving him a good scratch before pulling out the sample of the beef jerky they were using today. She didn't think they wanted to try colognes or perfumes until they knew which were too strong or too weak.
"Go get 'em, boy."
It was slow at first, Padfoot moving gradually through the woods with his nose glued to the ground. So many woodland smells, complicated smells all over the place and then all the overlapping Jamies. It was almost overwhelming.
She stayed with him, watching to see what he picked up, and where. Claudia hoped she hadn't set the bar too high, since the Jamies would smell alike. Well, at the worst, they'd just end up unraveling the individual scents until they found the right one. Maybe it would have been better to try this inside, or just to line them up for practice.
Well, once they finished, they could talk about it.
Focusing in his almost-puppy state was not always easy, Sirius was a teenager and so therefore his dog form was young too and that meant attention issues. He was following the scent but bouncing around Claudia in loops was fun too.
Claudia didn't really mind watching him play, but every couple of loops, she's stop and pull out the sample to remind him what he should be doing. Perhaps something like this might have been easier with a wolf because they understood hunting a lot more than just roughhousing. "Where are they, Padfoot? You find anyone yet?"
Aaaaand he was back on track after a little sniffing and a cheeky chomp of jerky he bounded off on the trail again, this time starting to pick up speed. Occasionally barking back at her in a clear 'Well hurry up then!!'
Luckily, Claudia was used to the fact that Sirius was an annoying little shit, or possibly shite, and had extra jerky to make sure he could steal some as she raced after him. Hopefully being chased wasn't going to require too much being called back to task. It was still amusing as hell. And she really did like him.
And Padfoot had found a Jamie, not the Jamie he was looking for but worth a pause anyway. Dog shifted to boy form within an instant. He circled that Jamie, pausing behind him and grinning over his shoulder at Claudia
"This is not the droid you are looking for." He told Claudia with a chuckle. "But which one is it, is there a way to tell who is who, I wonder?"
"Even if I knew a way to tell them apart, do you really think I'd tell you?" Claudia said, smirking at Sirius. "You only want to know the difference so you can make them squirm or join you. No offense." The last bit to the Jamie they'd found.
"I'm not sure I get the obsession with telling you guys apart."
"Mostly people just wanna know if we're clones or if we actually think for ourselves." The Jamie supplied, used to it all really.
Whilst Sirius merely protested "Join me? I'm not starting a cult, darling."
"Unless you all share some kind of creepy hive mind, you'd have to be able to think for yourselves," Claudia said, chuckling a little at the idea of people thinking that. "Otherwise it would make taking every class really confusing."
She grinned even wider at Sirius' cult comment. "What teenager doesn't have fantasies about twins, or even more?"
Sirius cackled with delight "See?" He said to the Jamie "She tries to tell me she's so young and innocent and I'm the pervert but look who's talking about banging twins!"
"I never said I was innocent. And you've got some more twins to find, furface."
Sirius made a show of rolling his eyes and then winked at the Jamie before shifting and bounding off into the trees without warning.
Claudia gave a put-upon sigh, and shrugged. "Shall we follow and see how many more of you we round up before the end?"
"Alright then." The dupe grinned though couldn't help asking as they headed into the trees again "So, you have a thing for twins huh?"
"Never had the opportunity to do more than the odd daydream," Claudia said, smirking. "Why, you offering?"
"Well, play your cards right and you never know." The dupe smirked right back playfully.
"I'll keep that in mind. Save a spot on my dance card next party, maybe," she said, eyes twinkling as she gave him a once-over, just because. "Because as fun as making out in the woods might be, the part where the people waiting come back to watch isn't high on my bucket list."
"I'll bear that in mind." Jamie grinned right back before adding "I've no idea which way Black went though, think he's missing us yet or just trying to hump another me?"
"He went this way, at least at first," Claudia said, starting to move in a general direction. The happy barking would probably help soon if they weren't out of earshot. "Sometimes I think he goes whichever way will get him the most column inches."
"You think he's bi just for the press?" Jamie asked, he hadn't given Sirius or his sexuality any thought to be honest.
"Oh, no, not like that, I don't think he's faking it or anything. It's just that one of the things going on in the back of his head is how certain people will react, or whether it will make his twitter feed explode, that kind of stuff," Claudia said, shrugging. "I still haven't gotten past the playgirl centerfold version as far as who he really is."
But then, that was how some people were. She knew about his parents' bigotry, but while that might have started him on the path, it didn't make you stay there. "You get to try out a lot of stuff just because you can be everywhere, right?"
"Interesting leap, trying to ask how much like Sirius I am?" He wasn't offended, more amused by the non-sequitur
"No, just thinking you could act on a lot of things most people keep bottled up. Or have one dupe go try something that makes the majority of you uncomfortable. That kind of thing. I don't know how I got there, it's just...a stretch for most of us singletons to imagine life as a plurality."
"Uh, you do realise in the end we all join up and every experience is shared? So no, we don't do that uncomfortable thing." Jamie pointed out, in the distance barking guided him onto which way to go. "We have rules anyway, so no one does anything the rest of us don't wanna have to live with."
"I just can't imagine it, because when that happens, how do you keep things straight? Or even just try to keep a calendar or datebook. Some days it seems like you can't turn a corner without running into you." Claudia didn't get it. Because her talent was more trying to keep what she could do from enabling things she couldn't control. "My biggest nightmare is ending up like Oppenheimer. Because of what kinds of advances I could jumpstart before anyone realizes the downsides."
"It can get pretty confusing, that's why there's rules and stuff like with dating. We gotta talk to the others before we date to prevent accidental cheating or whatever. And do I sound like moron for not knowing what an Oppenkeimer is?"
"J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project. One of the people who tried to force people to come to grips with the fact that science without understanding is science without morals or boundaries. Most often mentioned for a mistranslation of a line from the Bhagavad Gita, 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'"
It was hard to think about, because she saw how things linked up, what lead where, and if she let herself, it would be something that could create things that would be at least as devastating as the bomb.
"Oh right." Well what the hell did you say to that? "Uh, I know it's your mutation and all that but my advice? Just say no to nukes."
"The nuke thing is more of a metaphor. But weapons design is where the money is. It's not so much a question of making a difference as making the right kind of difference," Claudia said, glancing off. "People will come up with that kind of stuff without my help, but I won't be the one losing sleep in the end. I'm just making sure you get the perfect piece of toast instead."
Whatever Jamie was about to say was lost when the big black dog came running at them full speed, barking loudly and excitedly.
"Think he's trying to tell us something?"
Claudia couldn't help a laugh at that. Sirius had great timing. "Think little Timmy fell down a well?" she deadpanned.
"Guess we better go see!"
The dog looped them twice, butting them playfully in the right direction before bounding off again.
"I'd say we could race, but you're already at the finish line, too," Claudia teased, even as she started jogging after the big black dog. She considered asking about the rules with dating, but the topic had moved on. "So see if you can keep up."
The Jamie jogging just behind her started laughing as he felt the empathic link twinge a little. It wasn't constantly active but always there in the background.
"Wherever Sirius is, pretty sure he's got more than one of me there." He told her as he veered left to dodge some gnarly tree roots. What he didn't add anything about was the feedback of emotion he was getting through. He wasn't sure which dupe it was from anyway, maybe not even one playing the game. Besides people sometimes got weird about the link.
"Well, hopefully it isn't from being pounced. Although I wouldn't put it past Padfoot to be enthusiastic like that," Claudia said, grinning. She had pretty much assumed all the Jamies out here had been the ones to come with. "What would you say the chance of bonus participants is?"
"I'd say 50/50." Jamie grinned back. "What's the chance of him not having pounce in puppy form?"
"I can't recall him ever knocking me down on purpose," Claudia said. "We've got squad practice together. On the other hand, wound up and excited with all the instincts going like that? Not sure it won't result in collisions and/or leg humping. Depends on whether he's too much of a puppy."
"'Too much puppy' he can lose himself in the dog? That's...alarming really."
"You try going from a bipedal, vision based animal to one that's scent-based, and add the instincts that go with it. He's still Sirius, he can think and reason, but the priorities aren't quite the same. I think it's easier for him to get lost in the moment."
They rounded a few trees and found several Jamies laughing, one on his back with a Padfoot on top of him (very Tigger and Winnie the Pooh) wagging his tail and chomping greedily at some jerky.
"Yeah, yeah I can see." The Jamie who'd been jogging with Claudia nodded before adding "I wasn't judging him you know, I mean you didn't need to get so protective." Defensive even and, honestly, Jamie had just been curious.
"Sorry, it's instinct. I'm still getting used to the way things are here," she said, feeling ashamed by her snap. "Sarcasm's a self-defense mechanism. I was pretty much on my own before this, even if it wasn't on the streets."
"No idea what it's like to be alone," Jamie admitted, the others were all more interested in goofing off with the dog anyway. And he wasn't going to comment on the 'on the streets' thing because they weren't allowed to talk about that stuff. "It's cool, I get it though. Humour is pretty much my best defense too, humour and lame pop culture references.
"Must be nice," Claudia said, smiling at the picture of the Jamies and the dog.
"So, you find the right one this time?" she asked Sirius.
Tail wagging even more, the pup barked happily back at her before sniffing around the Jamie on the floor, searching for more treats.
Claudia reached in her pocket for the baggie of jerky, but didn't pull it out just yet. "So, are you the bait today?" she asked the prone Jamie. "Or do I have to try to call him off?"
"I was, he's already eaten the lot though." He was laughing as he told her that, petting and playing with the pup in a way that made it clear that at least this Jamie had pretty much forgotten it was actually a fellow student.
"He's a brat like that," Claudia said, unable to keep the silly grin off her face. "C'mon, boy, want some more?"
Sirius could be so adorable.
With excited yips the big, black furball abandoned the grounded dupe to launch himself excitedly at Claudia instead.
Claudia went down on her knees so she could brace properly for the incomming furry missile, and grinned even more as she tried to shield her face and open the bag of beef jerky at the same time. "All right, all right, I get it, you won. Good boy."
It still felt kinda silly to talk to him like a dog, but if they were going to play in public, outside of the school, that kind of acting might be needed. Still, it was impossible not to enjoy being around such a big friendly animal, and the excitement was certainly catching. "This is the last of it, and then we should round up the other Jamies. Wouldn't want them to spend the rest of the day thinking they're supposed to hide out in the woods."
"If it saves time we can try using our link to call them, I mean it's unreliable at best but saves us wondering about the grounds all afternoon." A Jamie offered.
"And we have way more interesting things to do, right?" The Jamie next to Claudia added with a grin, stooping to pet Sirius the happy pup with an affectionate scratch behind the ear.
"And deprive our budding tracker the chance to show off some more?" Claudia joked, fishing out another piece of jerky to hold out carefully to Sirius, not wanting to get bit. It was more that it would hurt than she was afraid of getting sick. And, well, if she got bit, she'd prefer it not to be an accident. "What do you say, Padfoot. Want to go herd the others in?"
She smirked at the Jamie petting him, knowing just how nice it could be to be around Sirius as a dog, even if it did make things a little confusing. "He's a sweetheart, when he's not being a pain in the ass. Not that I'm doubting a little psychic summoning would help."
"You seem to be more keen on him in this form." The Jamie joked as he straightened up again and the dog, having pulled the jerky from her hands, had started to trot away at a more leisurely pace that before. "Is that the way to your heart? Being trainable?"
"I don't know that I'm more keen on him. He's just a lot less exasperating, I guess." She didn't know, really. "I'm never really that good around people. Much better at keeping everyone at arm's length, I guess."
"Even twins?" Was asked innocently.
"You really want to follow up on that twin thing, huh? Should I ask what the dating rules are?" Claudia said, unable to stop a faint blush from rising.
"What's the point in having a mutation like this if I can't make a girl's fantasy come true." Jamie joked with a wink before adding. "It's mostly stuff like checking in with Prime, making sure no other dates are happening. Multiple mes, accidental two timing is a possibility if we're not careful." There was other stuff too of course.
"What girl wouldn't say no to having her own harem when she wants it?" Claudia said, teasing. She resorted to teasing, because honestly, she didn't know what to think. "I guess I'd have to know you better before we can talk over living out fantasies like that."
"Sounds good to me. We can hang out without the pup sometime." Not that Sirius wasn't awesome in his own way. This Jamie and Claudia were now bringing up the rear of the party, other Jamies ahead following Sirius with a few glancing back. Some curious, others smirking.
"What do you usually do for fun?" she asked, pretending not to notice that several of the other Jamies were checking her or maybe them out. "When you're not just playing with yourself."
And there may have been a snort at that phrasing because Jamie so wasn't mature at all. "All sorts. Sports, tv, video games, gynmastics, dancing, hanging out, to be honest there's so many of us that most of us have tried most hobbies at some point."
She'd meant that way, of course. "Sadly, I'm pretty much your typical geek, although I do have a thing for music. Guitar, classic rock, that kind of music, although I'll try anything once. Well, anything without a serious risk of permanent damage. It isn't so much what hobbies as which ones are what you gravitate to when there's just a big block of time to make go faster," Claudia said.
"For example, I like video games, but most of them get pretty boring after a while because I learn the mechanics and then it's just doing the right thing at the right moment and racking up time. So that's where the Cherry Bomber started. Sniping the assholes who go after newbies or killsteal or all those other nasty things people do online. Apparently, I've become a boogeyman that people don't really think is real and all kinds of amusing shit."
"Now that is awesome." Jamie told her with absolute genuine awe because, hell yeah. Before realising "Oh, oh, yeah that rings a bell, think I've heard of you. Awesome, good to know you're real."
"Some things are easier when you're a ghost," Claudia said, grinning. "Although I think we could put together one hell of a raiding party sometime. Maybe even invite a few others in on the game."
She couldn't help thinking an army of one would be loads of fun, whether they were talking gaming or music or what. "So let's say I want to do something with one or more of you sometime. Dancing, music, games, whatever you want. Think you can find time for that?"
"Course I can," With his power, time and availability was a little different from most after all. "Give me the word and I'm all yours."
"Is there anything you can't do?" Claudia teased. "Pick a time or activity or something?"
She wasn't really sure, but it would be fun to at least try. "Summer's here, so it's not like I've got huge demands on my time, either."
"Otherwise I wouldn't get a look in, right?" He joked back with a grin
"Play your cards right, and you may get more than a look," Claudia said, mischieviously. She started looking for Sirius, just wondering how many more Jamies were left. "Although I won't guarantee this won't be too much for me to handle. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, after all."
"Hey, no need to make warnings. I know my mutation isn't easy for everyone, there would be no offense from me, at all." He might be a lot, A LOT, of things but he wasn't going to be that guy.
"It's just weird to have had a conversation one time, and realize you had it with someone else with the same face, sometimes. You're all pretty good at faking, though. Practice and all?"
"Where we join back up and divide, usually most of us share memories, if the other dupe that's met the person hasn't joined back up though, yeah it can get confusing. Sometimes we might play along if it for the best but mostly we'll own up." Jamie told her as they moved through the trees, approaching a throng of Jamies and Sirius's barks, though the dog was nowhere to be seen. "Depends on the situation, what would be more awkward, you know?"
"I'm still working on wrapping my head around some of that. It's kinda like quantum entanglement experiments. Hard to tell what happened when and where," Claudia said, shrugging aa little as she tried to pick out just where the barking was coming from. "Mutant powers are just plain weird, sometimes."
"For me, linear lives with only one person are weird. I can't imagine it, I've never had it. But, yeah, I'm still aware I'm the weird one at the end of it all.
"Only because there's something like seven billion more of us linear folks," Claudia pointed out. "At least you aren't precisely alone in your weirdness. I once did a stint as the only goth in about a hundred square miles."
Which wasn't even vaguely comparable and Jamie was suddenly remembering his conversation with Cersei about how most people have no understanding of what it's like to be not born as singular. Cersei's experiences weren't identical to his but they were the closest he knew anyone to have.
"Goth huh? I gotta see pictures of that!" He said instead, half joking and half genuinely intrigued.
"Sadly, yes, I do. Although I realized I look better with my usual red and an accent or two than going black and pale. That and the whole pleather thing, ugh," she said, with an exaggerated shudder. "We all make mistakes, don't we?"
"True, though I can't say I've ever made any pleather related mistakes myself....that I know of."
"Wouldn't you know? Since you all share memories," Claudia had to ask. It was interesting to think about.
"Not if it was a Jamie who's been independent since doing it." And, yeah, ok, maybe he was gonna definating end up weirding her out. Damn.
Maybe not so much weirded out as headache-inducing. "Ah, so if it happened in the last day or three, there's a chance the you I'm talking to might not have caught up? Or do you strike out independent for long periods?" she asked, still intrigued.
Then she realized how she might sound. "If I'm prying or anything, feel free to tell me to just shut up."
"It's fine, really, I'm used to curious people. Scientist parents." He waved off the apology with a smile. "I needed a lot of me to be in every class. Not sure how many I've lost track of to be honest. They all come back in the end though." Mostly.
"Scientific inquiry only goes so far," Claudia said, chuckling a little. "So nobody decided to try to live as if there weren't any others for a bit? Is there an upper limit to how many you can have out and about?"
"There's only a limit if we go too fast, like when we sparred with Xavin. We ended up outnumbering hir but too fast and had to wave the white flag." Jamie explained, ignoring the messier question.
"PE at this place is something else," Claudia said, shaking her head. They had to be close, because the barking was definitely louder. "You think you'll be game for playing bait again? Gotta be both harder and easier since you should all smell pretty much the same."
"Definitely, just say the word and we'll be there." He agreed as they came around a large tree and found a collection of Jamie's, apparently left to their own devices a wrestling tournament between dupes and Sirius (now in human form once more) had broken out. Go figure.
"I feel like I should have brought popcorn," Claudia said, eying the match with amusement. "Wonder how much I could get for a video of this?"
"Depends on how many people out there are as twisted as you." The Jamie beside her teased.
"What can I say, it's not like there are a lot of ways I can get pocket money, and Sirius does have a reputation to uphold," Claudia said. "That there are a bunch of toned male bodies involved is just that much more frosting."
Jamie laughed (what else could he do?) and asked "Well, you wanna drool over that or do you wanna grab a drink with me?"
"I have this funny feeling that I'll get to watch this scene a few more times, so let's go with option b. Think they'll notice?"
"Nah, let's get outta here."
