Welcome to Clone Club

Participants:

alix_icon.gif chess_icon.gif eve_icon.gif kimberly_icon.gif luther_icon.gif

Scene Title Welcome to Clone Club
Synopsis Chess and friends find and collect her genetic identical, before the Praxis sisters can.
Date September 30, 2018

Louisiana somewhere


The drive from New York to Louisiana is the span of a full day and a full night, only stopping for gas, restroom or food. But those twenty-some hours crammed into the corners of an automobile — especially one designed for power over comfort — have a way of settling into the muscles and nerves of the travelers. Especially for the one who with every mile grows closer to an impossible task, of telling a stranger they’re not only related but identical, not only sister, but clone.

Not to say the trip hasn’t had its moments of levity. There were silly car games they taught to Alix, like about punch buggies (there were six, two new, four old, three blue, one red, one orange, and one black), “I spy” and the license plate game (they only found 12 different states, unfortunately). There were singalongs to songs played on the CD player of Eve’s Mustang, There were jokes and stories and laughter. But now it’s time to be nervous, to remember the reason they’re here in the first place.

Chess rests her head against the back seat window. She should be sleeping, having been the last driver, but this close to their destination’s end, there are too many questions bouncing in her brain to keep her mind quiet enough for slumber. She’s given up even pretending, and instead her eyes are open, dark irises reflecting in miniature the view outside, the unfamiliar flat, lush green of Louisiana that rolls past.

The trip has been eye-opening for Alix and Chess both. The route from New York to coastal Louisiana is a hop-scotch of ruined and abandoned cities interspersed with rural communities springing back from the brink. The drive around the perimeter of the ruins of DC was a particularly sobering one, getting just close enough to see the shattered remnants of the Washington Monument.

Discovering that Alix doesn't know how to drive was another learning experience. Which has left Chess behind the wheel for too many hours than would normally be fair with that division. Fortunately, it means Alix can lounge in the passenger seat. She didn't intend to keep Luther wedged in back there, even if he weren't driving, but imagining him squished back there produces a stray laugh every now and then.

Coastal Louisiana is mostly underwater these days, making navigating the flooded streets an exercise in stopping and starting. Much of the region was demolished not necessarily by war, but also by nature. A few hurricanes during the war took advantage of the weakened infrastructure, and levee after levee broke, retention ponds surged, and the ocean crept in to reclaim the bayou. Flat-bottomed riverboats ply what used to be roads in places, and in spite of the destruction it seems that the people of Louisiana are keen to rebuild and move on.

Their determination has Alix transfixed. “Why don't they leave?” She asks to no one in particular.

“All the single ladies, all the single ladies.” The driver of the vehicle currently being the owner of the Mustang, Roxy. Who still purrs beautifully, the various bullet holes and signs of the war have been patched up or painted over. The rustic red and black coat it sports now shows the signs of travel, dust, bugs on the windshields. Eve has been behaving this trip, or behaving as much as she can. Brown eyes hidden behind sunglasses flick up to the rear view mirror and her hand not on the steering wheel goes to bring the joint to her mouth, smoke billowing out behind them fast as they zoom down the street. Leaving the smoking thing hanging out the window so she doesn't hotbox the car, “It's home for them Butterfly. Some people don't have the stones to leave, so much history. So much family. So much love and memory.”

A reflective expression creases the space between her brows, “It's hard to start over. Brave even, like you.” Eve has been delighted to meet Chess’ sister, clone, whatever. She's delighted and another Sister Seer at that, blessed be. She had screamed to the sky as she initially met the woman. There had been other outbursts but this trip had turned out to be a not so bad one after all. Eve whether stoned or sober drives like she's been doing it her whole life, the road is second nature for her. Eric Mas wanted his girl self sufficient. He might not have planned on his girl learning how to make explosives and blow things up but she has hopefully made him proud in heaven.

The wind from the rolled down window whips through her wild mane of dark hair, the sleeves of her earth green dress billow and fly as a small trail besides the car. She sniffs for the outside but only smells her cannabis, there could be worse smells.

Despite his arm being in a cast but out of the sling, Luther has taken a turn at the reins of Roxy for a stretch. But presently, he's yielded the more leg-roomy passenger seat to the one with the most need to experience it. He happens to be sitting behind her, knees angled, free arm dangled over one cap and the other laid closer to his torso. He snatches a few bits of sleep here and there, though evidently he's a fairly light sleeper, despite the noises and bumps of traveling.

Or it's just not comfortable for him to sit in the back, but he'll endure it, and just indulge the stray laughs at his expense. It's one of those road bumps that jostles him awake again, and he blinks the sleep away with squinted gaze around to find that they've reached the flooded southern state. Rubbing a knuckle against the side of his eyes, he catches the question and remark from the seer. A glance turns on Chess, checking in. "Hey. You doin' okay?" he rumbles out, brow lifting in added inquiry.

“Not feeling brave,” is a quiet reply to Luther, though the comment from Eve was aimed at Alix, but she smiles, a tired thing that betrays the nervousness and fear that’s kept her awake more hours than not. “You?” she asks back, a glance to his casted arm, and a shake of her head for his taciturn chivalry that allowed the much smaller Alix to sit shotgun without protest from the man.

She takes a look out the window, catching sight of a faded green sign that alerts the drivers of the roadway to the upcoming exit, 2 miles in the distance. “That’s the turnoff,” she says, a little louder, for Eve’s sake. Chess then sits up from her slouched position, running a nervous hand through her hair. “Maybe someone else should knock on the door,” she says suddenly, glancing at Luther — he’s seen her fearless and calm in the heat of battle — this is not that warrior but a frightened young woman, worried about what she’s about to bring down on another.

And not just another. Her sister.

The sign for the off ramp is crooked on its frame, and off of the crumbling highway the city of Abbeville, Louisiana looks like a ghost town. The rural city center just off the highway is full of boarded up storefronts and empty parking spaces overgrown with grass coming up through cracks. Some buildings are flattened from hurricanes of old, never rebuilt and overgrown with Louisiana swamp grass and new growths of trees.

The war didn't destroy Louisiana, the collapse of government infrastructure did.

But outside of the city center, there's signs of life. The gymnasium of an otherwise collapsed school serves as a covered market, with a hand-painted wooden sign propped up against the wall indicating the availability of milk, eggs, and other staples.

Everything is flat and green here. Rising water levels have flooded numerous farms and fields and left some houses looking more like dilapidated islands against the reflection of the sky. But further inland where the address they're following leads, things become marginally higher and ostensibly dryer. That this excursion is leading to a trailer park is perhaps unsurprising, and dozens of identical white FEMA trailers are stacked side-by-side across the street from the roofless remains of a school and a collapsed church.

The trailers look relatively new, likely part of the post-war reconstruction effort, and thousands of people appear to be relocated here judging from the number of trailers, people out in the morning sun, and vehicles parked everywhere.

“Is it like this everywhere?” Alix wonders aloud, though in not much more than a mumble. “It's so different here in America…”

Taking the exit with an eye to the surrounding area and the sign, the pale woman frown. More signs of what they had to endure for freedom. Eve enjoys that freedom but the price was always visible never fully beneath the surface, especially out here. “I volunteer as tribute.” Obviously she would, to meet the Chesstra sister.

Alix’s question has Eve giving her a quick glance, “Right after the fighting stopped,” the main fight at least, “I traveled around the country..” her frown deepens, “It wasn't looking all that great.”

"I'll live," Luther's reply comes with a reassurance in the tone if not the words. Plus, he's the only guy here, and long road trips… he hasn't been drinking much. For reasons. But, rather than think about that, he's focused his attentions on the sisters and their demeanors, the way they're handling the world respective to their comfort zones. "Some places are doing better than others, I hear," he notes to Alix as he also takes in the sight of the FEMA housing. "But… yeah. The war did a number on us all."

The glance from Chess earns a wry twist of a smile from Luther, especially as Eve volunteers. "You'll be fine." He rolls a shoulder, looking out to the housing again. "Besides, it'll be weird enough just seein' the two of you in person that you might not need to say much at all. Let 'er do the asking if she wants."

Chess stares out the window, that pensive expression so nearly a scowl drawing her brows together, and she shakes her head at her sister’s musings. Eve’s realistic and Luther a bit more optimistic; her own answer is a little flatter. “Some places are worse. The Dead Zone’s like something out of a movie, from what I’ve seen and heard,” she says a little darkly.

Her glance goes back to Luther and she smirks. “Are you saying I look weird?” she says lightly, before reaching up to hand Alix the address she had clutched in her hand the last several miles. “You can see better than I can back here. Here’s the number,” she says, because Alix is in the navigator’s seat and can more easily spot the number they’re looking for.

She looks to Eve, squinting a little skeptically — should the exuberant psychic be anyone’s first contact? She glances at each of them, perhaps trying to view them like a stranger might. With a sigh, she shrugs. “Fine, but best behavior, Mad Eye. Like a two in the Eve Mas richter scale, all right?”

Alix can't help but side-eye Chess at that explanation of Eve intensity. As they pull up to the cookie cutter trailer matching the address on the slip, Alix unlocks her door and steps out, pulling back the seat to make space for Luther and Chess to squeeze out on her side, if they want.

“Should I…” Alix looks to the trailer, then into the car. “Should I do anything? Watch anything? Or is that— ” What was it Lynette would say?— “an inherent invasion of the reasonable expectation of privacy?” It's a mouthful.

“Marvelous.”

To the agreement of her being the one to knock on the door. Eve pulls the car over and shuts the engine off, patting the dashboard. “Thank you my sweet baby, I'm gonna wash you so good. Who's a good mustang, huh? Who's a good mustang?” Asking her vehicle as she kisses the steering wheel and climbs out of the car. Boots crunch the ground underneath her.

Eyeing the trailer, Eve pats herself down and shakes her hair out. Not looking in the side view mirror instead she just walks up to the trailer and turns her head towards the others, “A three it is!” Before knocking on the door loudly, “Hello!” Before the sister that they are looking for even has come to the door. She's never met clones that she knows of, it's all very exciting though she feels for Chess and how strange and intense this situation must be for her. Eve also believed this was a miracle! Finding family always was.

“Well, you do,” Luther teases back at Chess on the subject of looking weird, “but you’re just as weird as the rest of us.” Says the man with the stubbled jowls that quirk back in a smile. The release of Luther out into the wild New Orleans scape sees the man gratefully stretching his limbs after the car ride. He sends Alix a look that tries to be reassuring. For the two clone sisters, he simply says, “Just say hello.” The rest, he believes, will come in time. He lingers outside of the car, leaned back against the frame of the vehicle, watching the front door as Eve tromps up boldly. “Good thing she’s precog. She’ll know when to duck,” mutters the man quietly under breath.

After climbing out of the backseat, she stretches, rotating her neck to work out some of the stiffness that comes with leaning her head against the glass in a small back seat for so long. She shakes her head at Luther’s words. Clearly this is a bad idea.

“Two,” she says a little more firmly to Eve’s back as the precog makes her way to the trailer door. She leans against the Mustang, crossing her arms, a worried expression drawing down her brows and the corners of her mouth.

“I really hope this isn’t going to make things worse for her,” she breathes out softly. Not for the first time.

For a moment, there's only silence - no real response to Eve's banging on the door from inside the trailer, not even the sound of movement. But as Eve gives another loud knock, a voice suddenly cuts through the air.

"Oh shit, hold on! Hold on!" The thudding footfalls from inside the trailer are audible as the occupant rushes back and forth inside - the pulled shades keep anyone inside from being visible, though one blind does bend a bit, like someone inside is trying to look out of it. It bends back after a moment, and then the door to the trailer swings open.

Standing on the other side is- well, the definitely have the right trailer. The face that greets them is a dead match for Chess, save for the dyed auburn hair with roots that have started to show, unbuttoned flannel shirt, and low cut t-shirt she wears, leaning in the doorframe with the toe of one booted foot tapping on the floor. She looks excited for a moment, eyes squarely on Eve.

And then that excitement falls away. "Oh, you're not- um, can I help you?" She doesn't seem to notice anyone else at the moment, expression sour as she zeroes in on Eve Mas.

I'm not sure that's how that works,” Alix says quietly as an aside to Luther, not moving any closer to the trailer than he has. As she stands there and the door opens, Alix’s back straightens and she looks somehow surprised to see the woman greeting Eve.

Anxiously, Alix looks back to Chess just to confirm that she hasn't bolted, then swallows nervously and looks back to the trailer. Alix’s eyes go distant, her stare unfocusing and pupils widening to swallow her irises as she peers into the beyond, looking for signs of a trap.

“I'm not but I am.” Eve nods excitedly at Kimberley, she doesn't widen her eyes at the woman who is the genetic identical to her friend Chess, instead she dips her head. “I'm Eve! Pleased to meet you!”

Waving her pale hand she hops back a step and waves a hand at the others behind her, “Sooooo,” hands clasped behind her back, “I have your sister here and she's pretty anxious to meet your if we could steal some of your time? We have questions as might you.” Said gently Eve looks over her shoulder at Chess before back to Kimberly, “This be freaky but I swear it makes sense.” Holding up her hands in a sign of surrender, they come in peace. “Boomer? Come say hey to your sister jeez, dead ringer.”

Generally speaking, Luther remains inscrutably stern-looking as he keeps his attention on the trailer door. His head tilts, an arched brow lifting at the sounds of the woman inside. He straightens when the door swings open, standing at attention almost. “Huh.” His response to the sight of the very familiar looking young woman there. Luther also glances back towards Chess and Alix, the former getting a short ‘go on’ motion of his good hand. No shotguns in hand. So far so good.

When the door opens, Chess’ arms drop from that defensive posture, hands moving to her pockets, then back out again. Her weight shifts, off the car door and onto her feet as she stands a little straighter to stare at the woman that’s her genetic identical. A sister, if made in a lab.

Her lips press together, and it does look like she might turn and walk away — run away — for a moment, a nervous energy coiled in her muscles like a tiger pacing in a cage. She looks to Alix, but sees her other sister in her clairvoyant state, probably unable to see her glance that’s like reaching for a lifeline. Luther’s reassurances make her take a deep breath and she nods jerkily. Her feet only take her a few steps forward, close enough that Kimberly can see it’s not just a trick of the light or someone who has a passing resemblance to them.

“Hey,” she says, her voice a little breathless. “I’m Chess. Francesca.” She wrinkles her nose at the proper name, but given she knows her sister’s name, address, and entire dossier, it seems only fair. “I’m, um. Glad to see you.” She takes a breath. Holds it.

Kimberly stares at Eve for a moment, before looking around at the others that stand in front of her trailer. Her eyes only land on Chess when she speaks up, and once they do she gives her twin just the absolute flattest look. She scans the crowd one more time, before turning and disappearing back into the trailer, door closing behind - not slammed, but certainly with a bit of annoyance.

A moment passes. Another. A third. It borders on a solid minute or two before the door opens again and she pokes her head out.

"You're still here?" With a roll of her eyes, she steps out all the way this time. "I don't know what this-" a word punctuated by moving a finger in a circular direction at Chess - "is? But whatever your scam is, I don't have time." She crosses her arms, quirking an eyebrow expectantly at them.

Alix is frozen in a mixture of anxiety and dread the whole time, watching the interaction — if you could call it that — with a suddenly focused tension. “It seems safe,” she whispers to Chess, regarding the area. Though Kimberly’s attitude seems at the very least to be resentful and suspicious.

Then, Alix fires a pleading look to Luther of all people that practically begs: do something.

“I mean you are welcome to poke and prod at Boomer here to see if she's a shapeshifter or something.” Is said as Chess and Alix’s sister shows back up at her door. Eve knows that someone could easily show up mimicking Kimberly’s appearance and the rest of the world knows that now too. Especially if they have an ability. “If you have a way of doing so? Hm hm. Might be tricky, you’ll have to have faith.”

The pale woman hops back down the way to Luther along the way she nudges Chess forward, “Knock em dead… Not dead. That is a metaphor Boomer.” Eve whispers hotly in her friends ear before she takes a run and a leap, landing right next to Luther. Looking down at her legs, she woman smiles before looking over to the tall man. “I’m back in business baby.”

In those uncertain moments when Kimberly stares flatly at her newfound twins, Luther stands poised almost like he's waiting for the turn-and-bolt of any one of them. That Kimberly doesn't do quite what he's anticipating but instead disappears into her trailer causes the man's eyes to narrow with suspicion, his shoulders gaining a line of tension in the way he shrugs at Chess. And they wait. One… Two… Eve. The seer's abrupt landing beside him earns her a low grunted exhale from the tall man and a note, "Keep it at two, remember, Ducky?" He reaches over to pat the prophet a couple of times on the shoulder, a physical touch reminder.

"No scam, Ma'am," Luther responds to Kimberly's inquired demands. The look from Alix spurs him on as well to aid the sisters in an approach. He takes a couple steps forward, drawing attention with physical presence. "Listen. We've come a long way from New York City and if you could spare us a few minutes of your time, that'd be much appreciated. Would hate to have come all this way to meet you, to just have to turn around without a proper introduction."

He's noticed the woman's initial excitement coming out of the trailer, too. And so he presses lightly, adding in mildly, "Were you expecting another appointment?"

When the door shuts, Chess’ brows furrow, and she looks uncertain of what to do. She takes a step forward to go knock on the door again, just as the woman who looks so much like her comes back out. Her eyes dart to each of her friends as they speak in turn, before she looks back at Kimberly.

“You were adopted, right? You — we — were born in China and adopted out to American families,” she says quickly, words coming out in a sudden breathless rush. Those facts should be known to her sister, as they were known to her. She bites her lower lip, before speaking again. “We came all the way from New York. To meet you. But also for your sake. If you don’t want anything to do with me, there’s things you should know, yeah? For your own safety. I don’t want to scare you, but I want you to know that before you shut the door on us again. At least I can leave knowing I tried, you know?”

She takes another breath. “These are my friends. Luther, Eve. Alix.” She glances at Alix, her expression contrite after reducing her from sister to friend, but there are some facts that are too complicated to throw out at the stranger just yet. “We’re not here to scam you. There’s plenty of people in New York to mark for that, if we wanted, right?”

At first, Kimberly looks almost bored as Chess offers her explanation. She pointedly ignored Luther's inquiry. Raises a hand and motions for Eve to step away - her hand is almost in the seer's face, a bold motion ignorant of any of the many reputations Eve may have.

As each of Chess' friends is named, her eyes move to each other them, still suspicious. She steps up to Chess, peering at her, examining her. Eyes narrow, hands reach up like they're going for her cheeks with intent to pull at them like this were some kind of cartoon - she stops short, though, head tilting somewhat to the side. "So, what, if not scammers-" She pauses, like she's seriously considering what they've had to say for the first time.

Eyes alight over to Eve, then back to Chess. "You're not'a shapeshifter or somethin' then? You're-" yes, actually her sister.

“Long lost twin,” is how Alix frames it, flinging a furtive look to Chess as she does so. It takes her a moment to step up to Chess’ side, shoulders tense and teeth worrying at her lower lip. “This isn't much of a conversation for outside voices, though. Maybe we could come in and…” she looks around the trailer park, then back to Kimberly. “And not talk where everyone can hear?”

“No. I explode things,” says Chess, ineloquent at the best of times, and this isn’t quite that. She stares back at Kimberly — despite being the one to bring the strange situation to her twin’s door, she looks somehow more awestruck than the woman they’ve come to see. “So weird,” she murmurs, words soft so only Alix is likely to hear them.

She looks back over her shoulder, when their travel companions don’t step forward, and then back to the auburn version of herself. The others will keep watch as two sisters introduce a third into their strange family unit.

“That’d be good. You don’t have to come anywhere with us, but there are things you should know.” She glances at Alix, before touching her shoulder. “About our family.” One corner of her mouth comes up in a half smirk. “Alix here is one of us too. Like a fraternal twin.” It’s complicated.

"Blow stuff up? And ya wanna come into-" Kimberly glances back over her shoulder at her trailer, and then back at Chess and Alix with narrowed eyes, taking a deep breath, she leans forward and pokes Chess in the forehead, as if taking one last test at her shapeshifter theory. WIth a sigh, she rolls her eyes and turns back around, waving for them to follow her. "Just try not to blow anything of mine up. My insurance is high enough as it is."

"I mean, it's not like I had plans," is grumbled as she pushes open the door, first making her way to a phone to attempt to fire off a text.

Once their inside though, and it's a more intimate - read: cramped - environment between the size of the trailer, the small bed, a single seating spot, and such, she turns to watch Chess with a sense of wonder in her own eyes.

"Is this what I look like on a bad day?" ruins that moment, though.

Something about Kimberly's brusque manner ticks off a box in Luther's mind, and the man has to adjust his expression to head off the twitch of a wry humored smirk. He moves to follow after all three 'sisters', having to duck somewhat in the cramped trailer but not looking uncomfortable in the space. Curiously, he examines the furnishings as if the objects would tell the story of this long-lost sister of the young woman he regards as his war-daughter.

But. As Kimberly goes to text someone, Luther takes note of it. "Look, it's not like we're here to ruin your life or squeeze you for cash or anything," he rolls out, "but you better sit down and hear Chess and Alix out about this family stuff." Luther cuts a quick glance to the other two, then Eve, then back to Kimberly. His brow furrows. "You might be in danger. Through no fault of your own, but… we figure you should know."

All the talk of danger has Alix bristling. As she comes up the unfinished front porch into the trailer, there's a look of unfamiliar that replaces her tension. Looking out the slatted blinds, the clairvoyant seems more concerned with the neighbors than anything. A few have stepped out onto their small pitches, watching the exchange from a distance, and continue to eyeball Kimberly’s trailer from afar. They don't get many visitors out here.

Peeling herself away from the window, Alix comes over to stand beside Chess, offering her a side-long look, then back over to Kimberly. “Thank you for… for being willing to listen to us. The world’s a crazy enough place without having to convince—” the next word is heavy in her mouth, “family that we mean well.” Glancing back at Eve, Alix seems a little anxious of the dreamer, and then looks back to Kimberly.

Quietly, Adam Monroe steps out of the kitchen in a slouchy, gray sweater of cabled wool. He has a crisp, red apple in one hand that he brings up to his mouth, biting a chunk out of with a snapping crunch. Adam’s blue eyes track over to Eve, and as he pulls the apple away from his mouth it's bleeding, and blood runs down his chin and neck, smeared over his lips.

Eve promised she would be a two. Eve has been mostly silent besides a few ‘ahhs’ and ‘you don't says’ while tapping her chin. The pale woman doesn't want to ruin this for her friend and family. She has a history of doing so and so as Eve stands next to Luther picking at her pinky nail with a intent look on her face, the mental gymnastics of the doing the worm in the loud nightclub inside in head evident. All of that stops as the face of that blonde motherfucki— “Mothe—oh.” Stumbling back into Luther’s side, Eve’s eyes are wide and jet black as she views the man eating the apple.

“Gross!” Ugh!

The seer reaches out as discreetly as she can and lands on Luther’s arm. Nails biting into his skin as she opens her mouth in a silent scream, face twisted in a mix of horror and curiosity “Oh oh oh, incoming. Beep beep. We have a transmission, beep beep and it's bloody. Roger roger.”

Eve really did try to stay at a Two.

When Kimberly’s hand pokes her in the forehead, Chess scowls, her hand snapping up but stopping short — violence doesn’t solve problems like this, she can almost hear Miles murmuring to her. She presses her lips together and turns to give Alix a sort of ‘what-the-fuck’ look, eyes widening with an additional silent comment of ‘can-you-believe-this-bitch?’

She follows their gracious hostess into the tiny trailer, glancing around curiously, hands shoved into her pocket and then flashing back when Kimberly asks her question.

“You know what? Let’s let Ivy have her,” she says flatly, and it seems she might be happy to leave it at that, leave Kimberly with that remark, as she turns abruptly toward the door. But she wheels back around to point her finger at Kimberly, unaware that Eve is seeing things none of the rest of them can.

“We came her from fucking New York City to save your swamp rat ass. Because that is what family fucking does, okay? I don’t know you. I don’t owe anything to you. We’re blood. We’re fucking genetically identical, and not just because we’re twins, and I’ve put my life on the line to come here to make sure you were safe, because blood means something, yeah? And my friends came here because they’re my family by choice, which means you, by virtue of being my family by blood, are their family, too, so be a little grateful, Kimbo.”

It’s a lot of words from Chess, usually terse at best.

It’s only then she notices Eve clinging to Luther like a scared cat. “What?”

"Excuse me? You're the one who just kinda…" Kimberly spins a finger in a circle again obliquely, ""showed up and all." She stares at Chess for a moment before rolling her shoulders. "Ya look just like me. It's just-" Rude comments aside, "kinda… hard to take in. It's like looking-"

She stops abruptly, looking past Chess as she points to Eve. "Is she high?" The inflection at the end carries a sense of "and does she have more?", though the sentiment goes otherwise unvoiced.

Eyes close and she holds both hands out in a stop motion, taking a breath as she refocuses herself. "Like… you always hear about this kinda stuff in movies or shows or books, but not… real life." Now is when that wonderment that was in her eyes earlier slowly starts to return. "Ain't many places to sit, but, I mean… you're here. Not gonna kick myself out, much less- you, I guess."

Steady on, everybody. Luther stands as much to the side as he can. The position he hunches into is a familiar one, his muscle memory taking on the posture from years ago when he was an unassuming bum wandering the streets of New York. With Eve beside him, though, he's not as invisible as he thinks he is.

And good that he's not, because he's there to catch Eve, glancing down at the seer. Her hand grabs onto his good arm and the nails digging in make his features twitch. "What is it?" he asks as quietly as he can. But it's not like he hasn't heard Chess' tirade either, and the look he gives the clone-sisters shifts from one to another to another is a worried one.

The cramped trailer suddenly seems more so to the man, like a trap waiting to spring. Luther stares at Kimberly, but answers with a short shake of his head. "She's a precog," comes his reply, short and simple, like everybody's supposed to know what that might entail.

Adam stares at Eve, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. As he drops the apple to the floor, a bone white snake rises up from behind him and slithers across his shoulder, splitting out of its skin to reveal a night black snake with vibrant gold eyes.

Alix, not seeing what Eve’s prophetic hallucinations reveal, merely affords a worried look to Luther, then over to Kimberly. “We came hundreds of miles… to see you. You're like us, Kimberly. You're Evolved.” Alix isn't sure whether Kimberly even realizes she is or not. “I can see things far away, Chess can…”

There's a moment of hesitation.

“What do you do?” Alix asks Kimberly, rather than continuing that train of thought about Chess. After all, it's a dangerous ability.

“They'll kill you.” Adam whispers to Eve as the serpent coils around his neck, “to save themselves.” Then, as smoke rises off of his shoulders, Adam and the serpent catch on fire and are rapidly engulfed in flames. “Your friends will abandon you.

Any and all words from the people in the trailer regarding her fall on deaf ears, all of Eve’s perceptions taking in the man in front of her and him only. Until that white snake slithers out and sheds itself. Eve hops into the air with a scream while shaking her head. “You don't know!! They would NEVER!

She's even missed Chess giving her sister a stern talking too, sad.

Chess and Luther know this side of Eve and if something isn't done about it she's sure to spiral out of control while having one of her episodes. “Watch out!” Throwing her hands out in the direction of the flaming Adam and snake though he doesn't really stand there, no not at all. Black eyes are widen by shock and Eve’s hand continues to absently grip Luther’s good arm. “Liaaaarrrrrrrr.” A deep growl coming from the back of her throat.

When Kimberly doesn’t punch her or throw them out, Chess exhales, eyes darting from Eve to the newest member of her strange family. “It’s a lot. Trust me, I know,” she murmurs, quieting again to listen for Kimberly’s response to Alix’s question.

But then Eve is acting like a frenetic kitten reacting to something the rest of the room can’t see, launching herself at invisible windmills. Chess’ dark eyes widen, and she throws an apologetic look at Kimberly, despite her rant just a moment ago.

“Sorry. She has visions sometimes,” she murmurs. “So the Cliff Notes version of why we’re here,” she feels like she has to get to it in case Kimberly ejects them all based on Eve’s outburst, “we’re the remaining survivors of a science project back in China. Somehow tied to Praxis. And they’re trying to find us so that whatever they’ve done to us isn’t found by anyone else. You’re the only other one I could find, but records suck, so there could be more.” The weird science-fiction summary out of the way, she takes another breath, eyeing Kimberly to make sure her sister — her identical — is still with her. Another glance goes to Eve, though she trusts Luther to keep her from accidentally launching herself through the trailer’s windows.

"A whatcog?" It's not that Kimberly doesn't watch the news and such, but the common evolved lingo seems have largely escaped her. She stares blankly at Luther for a moment, and then over to Eve. "She didn't, like- get anything outta the woods or anything did she? They grow some weird mushrooms out there, and- not that I would know, they make kinda…" The way she twirls a finger at head level would indicate the word she is looking for is loopy.

Ultimately, she chooses to ignore Eve's rambling - one bizarre situation at a time is all Kimberly has the patience for. "A science project?" She frowns, and it's unclear if she understands at first. "Like- I think I heard about somethin' like that on the news once…" She means The Institute, but she at least seems to grab the basic concepts at play at least. "So wait, there's- and they're-"

Kimberly purses lips looking rather uncomfortable - but she doesn't make any attempt to throw out Chess and Alix. Her eyes drift over to the latter, before she holds up a finger - hold on - and moves to open one of the trailer's windows, before moving to the other side of the room and picking up a baseball. "You there," she says, pointing to Luther. "Can ya throw a ball straight?" She softball tosses it to him, before looking back to Alix. "So, um, what I do is kinda hard to describe?" She's clearly a bit ill at ease, but she continues on otherwise despite her nervous glances. One hand rises up, held out with her fingers spread, palm facing Luther. "Can ya hit the palm of my hand an' trying not to break anything. Hard as ya can."

Anyone paying close attention may notice the glint of a penny she's at some point slipped into her other hand. "Dunno like, what to call it or how to explain it. One of those science-y types was around for a while, they called it, um- kinetic transference? Whatever that means."

"A prec— no." Luther's attempt to explain anything is forestalled by the intensifying of Eve's visions and her reactions to them. He's ready when her hands throw out, quickly stepping around so that he blocks her view of the others and vice versa. Eve gets to hang on to the cast while he takes care to wrap his free hand around Eve's outstretched arm. "Ducky, hey… look at me. Look at me." He keeps his voice down, a steady rumble and focused on the seer.

He's still hanging on to Eve when the sisters go into their talk, the reveal of their reasons to even be here. It's not until he's made sure that Eve's calmed back down, talked off the ledge, that he turns back to Kimberly, Chess and Alix. His brow lifts, then he's got to catch a baseball tossed his way. Looking down to the baseball, the man glances up skeptically given their cramped trailer walled surroundings. "Maybe you ought to do this," he suggests to Chess instead, offering out the ball to her.

Eve’s panicked episode elicits a squeak of surprise from Alix, who immediately steps behind Chess and rests a hand at her half-sibling’s elbow. Wide eyes stare at Eve, all the way through Luther trying to calm her down. It's clear from her reaction that Alix doesn't handle situations like this well. Doesn't handle the unpredictable well. Or, maybe it's just the shouting.

At the mention of kinetic transference Alix’s eyes widen. There's a look of recognition on her face, something familiar, and she offers a sidelong look to Chess with furrowed brows, then looks back to Kimberly.

Gentle,” Alex says as she takes a step back and away from Chess, just in case — you know — the trailer explodes.

Beside Eve, now, Adam lays a hand on her shoulder opposite of Luther. “They won't have any choice,” he whispers as he leans in closer to her. “You took a bite of the apple.” And Eve tastes blood in her mouth.

“Aaaa! I just don't think you know them well enough!” Leaping into the air at the touch on her shoulder, Eve looks wide eyed at the blonde immortal to her side. “I.. uh..” nervous glance towards Luther and then back to Adam, “I'm really more of a banana kinda gir- huhgnnnhhgggggg.” Eve makes the sound of vomiting though no bile comes forth, yet. Her knees grow weak, this is not how it's supposed to happen. “Y-yo—” choking out as the rest of the people go on with their conversation. The pale woman thinks about it, they would never kill her! Maybe lock into a box.. and that would be if she was real naughty. Blinking those demonic black glittering eyes.

Chasing Adam wasn't real naughty was it? Shaking her head side to side as the iron taste continues to consume her taste buds. No no, this is what they want.

Eve blinks up at the ceiling and shaking her head from side to side more and more violently, her body shaking as she grips onto Luther’s good arm and begins to sink to the floor slowly, eyes jet black and staring forward in horror.

Alix’s wide eyes catch Chess’ attention, and she touches her lightly on the shoulder, to ground her a little, remind her she’s there. She catches the ball that Luther passes to her, but it’s not the time for show and tell. Eve’s sinking downward pulls her eyes that way, and she shakes her head at Kimberly.

“It can wait,” she says, moving to kneel next to Eve, touching her face lightly. “Eve,” she murmurs, her voice soft. “We’re here. RIght here. Whatever you saw — it’s not real or it’s not happening right now. We can stop it, okay? Come on back now, Mad-Eye.”

Her eyes go then to Kimberly. “Can she have a glass of water?” she asks. “I’m kinetic manipulation, by the way. Wonder if our batch was all kinetic abilities.” Chess looks over to Alix, to see if she has any information on that topic — probably not, if they were all thought dead.

When the ball isn't thrown her way, Kimberly sighs and rolls her eyes. "See, that's so much easier than trying to explain it," she says quietly, before motioning to her refrigerator. "There's some bottles of water in there. Sure, she can have some. Does she need like- some medicine or something? Cause all I got beyond that is, uh," Kimberly looks off to the side, voice pitching a bit lower. "Some weed I was saving, but if it'll get your friend to stop freaking out…"

She watches Eve for a moment longer, clearly somewhere between concerned and intensely disconcerted, teetering on the edge of uncomfortable. The word batch finds her chewing at her lip.

"I don't- I wasn't great in science so I'm not… really sure what they meant, but like…" She motions to the baseball in chess' hand. "It's like, if you threw that, as soon as it hits my hand, it just dead stops like it wasn't moving at all, right?" She holds up the penny. "And then I flick this and somehow it moves just as fast as the ball, like it stole all the momentum, yeah?" Momentum in this context is probably one of the most sciency words she knows.

She furrows her brow as she moves to sit down. "Found out when some hunters accidentally shot at me, but the pellets just, like- stopped when they hit me. Hell of a bruise and it didn't do my shirt any favours, but I wasn't hurt. And then I threw sticks at them. It wasn't pretty." There's a hesitation in her voice, like she's not sure why she's telling this story. "Don't really talk t' many people bout it, honestly. Tends to just annoy people 'round here."

Luther's still hanging on to Eve as the seer remains stuck in her waking vision. Soon as the precog's knees weaken, he's wrapping an arm around her to prop her up, clutching her to him in support. "You're alright Ducky, you're okay," he says, a quick glance cast to the trio, especially on Chess' use of the word batch too. Someone else will need to grab that glass of water while his hands are full with the precog.

The description of the woman's ability gets a blink from Luther along with the arching of his brows. "And you can aim it? Like, the penny, and the sticks…" He blinks again, frowns and shakes his head. "If you aren't expected anywhere," he notes after a moment to adjust his stance, "this might be better figured on the way back." Realizing his word choice is vague, Luther tacks on, "Or maybe we can put up at a hotel somewhere and talk more over dinner. Or something. Where the neighbors aren't going to get curious."

“We shouldn't stay here much longer,” Alix says in a hushed tone to Chess. “Luther’s right, the neighbors might say something. If we get recognized, if my sisters come through here… if they suspect…” Shaking her head, Alix looks back at Kimberly with brows furrowed.

“We need to tell her everything.” Alix seems determined, briefly glancing to Eve in spite of this, then back to Chess again. “She's not going to like it.”

At the very least, Eve’s visions seem to have stopped.

The ghostly pale woman takes a moment as she is held by Luther and consoled by her explosive friend. Eyes remain closed but her eyelids flutter and face behind the skin, wine colored lips open and close as she mumbles to herself, “Never… you don't.. you don't say that. Never.” Shaking her head from side to side the seer grows distraught with a twisted expression on her face before she snaps out of it taking a deep breath as her eyes snap open and fade from the ink black to natural brown.

“I..”

A look to her left at Luther and then to the right at Chess all while blinking, “Wha..” parting herself down to make sure she still had all of her limbs and pulling at her teeth, yep all there. The seer looks over to the rest and speaks one name, “Adam. Taunting.” That explains enough without having to go into detail and Eve winces as she feels the beginnings of a headache coming on. Rubbing her temple she slowly stands to her feet and begins to stagger towards the door, air would be nice yes.. Before she whips around to face Kimbo and the others while hanging on Luther’s good shoulder, “What kind of weed did you say? Is it Blue Dreammmm?” Her head lolls to the side.

“Useful,” Chess says, regarding Kimberly’s ability when the other woman describes it. She glances at Alix. “Halfway between me and Ivy, sounds like,” she adds, whatever that means.

The mention of Adam draws her dark eyes to Eve and her expression darkens. She nods to the words of those around her. “Agreed.”

She turns back to Kimberly, her eyes searching the face she knows all too well, and yet it belongs to a stranger. “So. You want to take a road trip?”


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