Oceans Brawl

Participants:

ff_kendall_icon.gif robyn7_icon.gif

Scene Title Oceans Brawl
Synopsis Listen to the oceans brawl, I'll find you and then I'll crawl
Date June 14, 2021

The Pelago


It's surreal, watching the rain fall in another world, staring out at flood waters from inside the husk like remains of one of New York's skyscrapers. One Robyn Roux has even been in before. It feels haunting. It lends itself to a sort of detachment, a form of disassociation that comes with staring into a reality that isn't yours and having to accept it.

The light rain outside doesn't help. She'd spent most of the last names poking her head around, seeing what she could find and what she could learn - particularly about her other self. But also, how to get around. Lacking her own boat save for a small dingy she'd secured their first day, with her limited knowledge of how to pilot such a thing, has been a bit of a burden, but at least the ferries help out. For now, at least.

Placing her hand against the gnarled, metallic wall of the building, Robyn stares at it for a moment before turning to look back at the market once more. It would be a long time before she got used to this, it just doesn't feel right to her.

It probably doesn't help that she has little she can offer in the way of bartering for anything they need, but that's not why she's here anyway.

The way communities are built into the husks of these slowly rotting buildings would be awe inspiring in any other context. Still a small smile creeps it's way to her lips as she takes in life in the Pelago, for better or worse.

She'd certainly have to get used to it, all things considered.

There's little variance between days in the market of the Pelago, so it's not unusual for Kendall to show up with the excess fish he caught earlier in the day. Despite the fact that fishing is a common occupation, food is always in demand, especially if one is good at catching some of the tastier or useful varieties.

Traveling quickly across the market, Kendall's attention is on the shopkeeper working on behalf of one of the agrokinetics, since they're too busy growing stuff to waste time selling it. He doesn't take very long to trade the line of small, dried fish to be used for fertilizer for the gardens, and then, looking down at the vegetables he was told to get, he grimaces and walks down a different path past where Robyn is lurking.

When he passes her though, he looks up, then reaches over to grab her hand. "Hey, what're you doing hanging around here, it's too noisy…" he breaks off and squints at her. "The hell did you do to your hair?"

Instinctively Robyn jerks her hand back as Kendall takes it, looking over at him with widened eyes. She looks hauntingly familiar to him, aside from her dark, curly hair and the long scar running from the tip of her lip up to her eye on one side. For the briefest of moments, even her expression is familiar, like deer caught in headlights.

She hadn't processed the owner of the voice until she saw his face. Kendall was one of the last people she expected to see. Her heart races in her chest, taking a deep breath as she turns away. It's not that she doesn't want to see Kendall, but…

"I promise you, I'm not who you think I am," she grumbles out, fingers curling as she pulls her hand closer to her chest. "Laisse-moi tranquille, s'il te plait1. She's been avoiding people she "knows" until she has her bearings of the place, but this is just her luck.

Confusion is replaced with shock, then suspicion, before settling on anger, which is not a familiar sight to Robyn. For Kendall's part, he's tanner and his own hair is a lighter shade of brown, but no drastic differences, unlike her.

When she jerks her hand out of his and turns away from him, he sets his bag of groceries on the ground and grabs her by the shoulder to pull her back around to face him. "Who the fuck are you, and why do you look like my friend?!" Oh no, he's not going to let someone parade around with that face without a damn good reason, or at least an explanation.

He pauses to briefly consider his options, then sets his jaw and a knife appears in his hand. "Start talking, doppelganger."

Her jaw clenching, Robyn's eyes flick down to the knife in Kendall's hands, shoulders tensing. His friend. Even here they knew each other. Somehow, that doesn't bring her any comfort at the moment. If anything, it makes her anxiety spike a considerable amount. Slowly, she slips a hand into her back pocket, eyes going half lidded. The knife isn't real - probably - if she has to guess, but that doesn't mean she isn't taking this seriously.

"Don't, kid," is a statement flat and drained of emotion out of necessity. "Don't make a mistake like this today." She'd contend she isn't his friend, but… she kind of is, though this isn't the time for a cross dimensional thought experiment. This is hard enough as it is.

Staring at him for another long moment before reaching up and plucking his hand from her shoulder, fingers pressing into his joints with a strength he might not expect from her.

"I'm not a kid!" That, at least, is a constant. The movement of her other hand is noticed, and then she's grabbing him with a tight grip. Kendall hisses and moves forward to slam her into the wall, knife coming up threateningly under her chin. And if Robyn thinks it isn't real, well, all she has to do is move her chin down and feel for herself.

Of course, he's still confused as hell by all this, so anger seems to be a good outlet. "I think it won't go good for you if you don't start talking. What did you do, kidnap her and replace her? Where is she?" It's a little flimsy, Kendall doesn't even know if she's missing, but it seems… plausible? What other possible reason could someone have for looking exactly like someone else? "You some sort of… face changing Evolved?" He glances down to her other hand, a little worried. If she is armed, and actually knows how to fight, he's not sure how it'll go.

Well, This isn't what Robyn expected. The Kendall she knows is hesitant about getting into any confrontation, which makes it that much easier for this Kendall to abruptly pin her against the wall. For a moment, her eyes widen, almost scared as a breath is knocked a bit out of her. She really should've known better than to call him kid. So much for just… disappearing after being noticed.

But replace her? It's possible she could have had a scar like hers because of the flood, but… Robyn doesn't immediately respond, eyes again going half lidded as she sinks a bit against the metal wall behind her. It creeks as she slumps a bit, angling her eyes down at the ground. "Please don't," carries more than a bit of sadness to it. "I'm not-"

That probably isn't going to work if he doesn't take it this time.

Kendall hesitates, because damnit it's still his friend's face looking back at him despite the scar and the weird hair. Plus, he didn't really know what he was planning to do with her past threatening her with a knife. It's not like he was going to just stab her.

Resolve weakening, he pulls back and lets her go, confusion winning over anger now. Judging by her reaction she wasn't trying to trick him like he originally thought. "Who are you, anyway? Why do you look like my friend?" Both questions from earlier are repeated, this time in a less… explosive manner, though he still has his knife out.

For a moment, Robyn considers following through with either relocating Kendall to the ground, or back to the wall where he had just been holding her - that's her instinct after all these years, and it's something she know she's more than capable of doing.

But even as her hand wraps around the grip of a knife of her own she'd claimed after arrival, she finds herself unable to follow through with anything too drastic. Not with Kendall looking back at her. Drawing the knife, she makes a show of flipping the grip in her hand so that the point is angled upwards.

"Don't go around brandishing knives at people," she offers. "Not if you don't know what they've got." It's the kind of advice she'd give his counterpart on her world, even if it's the last thing she would ever expect him to do.

His questions, though. This is exactly what she was hoping to avoid. Maybe she should've stayed with the others. "Don't worry about me. I'm just passing through." Which answers neither of his questions. But then, a pause. "Actually, on second thought…" Because, well… if someone knows her, maybe she can at least get some information on where to find her.

The knife doesn't seem to surprise Kendall, but his gaze flicks from it to her and back several times. "Nothing I can't handle." he retorts, his knife suddenly stretching out and transforming into a sword, which casually gets stabbed into the ground and leaned on. How about bringing a sword to a knife fight? "Don't think I can't kick your ass if I wanted." Can he though, or is this more bluster?

"You could say we were very close, so she better be fine." His words are more aimed at ensuring Robyn knows exactly how much trouble she's supposedly in for rather than revealing any deep secrets; Kendall is still somehow convinced that this duplicate is here for nefarious reasons. "Why do you want to know?"

Oh good, a sword. An illusory one, but Robyn can't help but think about how people told her she wouldn't need hers, that it was okay it got left in her home timeline. That little bit of vindication is overshadowed by Kendall's overconfidence. His threat earns a sigh, his comment about them being close a look of suspicion. The knife is stowed away and she shakes her head and one hand raised up.

With a snap, Kendall's world becomes darkness. In the moment after, he feels one of his legs swept out from under him, sending him toppling to the concrete. It's only one he's on his back that the darkness recedes, Robyn standing over him looking down. "Ready to talk, or are you going to keep being a brat?"

Kendall flinches when the world goes dark, and there's a strangled yelp when he's knocked off his feet. The sword disappeared as soon as he let go of it, and he lands heavily, certainly not knowing how to fall properly. He's stunned for a moment even as his vision returns, and then with a scowl he makes one of those canes with a nice hooked head, looping it around her weight-bearing foot and tugging hard on it. No, he's not ready to stop being a brat, apparently.

She had been expecting some sort of retaliation, but the hook that Kendall forms being solid is a new wrinkle she wasn't expecting. Could her Kendall do that? Is it even an illusion at that point, or some sort of matter creation? The agent part of her brain is racing to identify an ability and how to counteract it.

Thankfully, she's able to plant her weight enough that, while she's knocked a bit of balance, she doesn't fall. Once stable, she kicks her foot free of the shepherd's crook and shakes her head. "You know what, never mind, Kendall." It doesn't even register to her that she just said his name. Instead, she just turns and starts to walk away.

Victory! A small one, sure, but he tripped her up and she didn't immediately kick his ass. He scrambles up to his feet, the hook disappearing. "Wait a minute!" Kendall was going to say something else, but then pauses, blinking a few times. "Hey! I never told you my name, how did you know that?" He squints over at her. Oh look, the suspicion is back. "Are you still trying to pretend to be Roux?" Roux, not Robyn. "It's not working, you know."

Oh look, he's going to follow her now. Maybe he can annoy her into revealing more information.

Roux.She'd heard her counterpart referred to as such several times now, but actually hearing never gets less strange. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she offers, her pace quickening in the hopes of him deciding following her wasn't worth the effort.

At least this answers her concerns about having to "pretend" to be Roux for when they meet her mother.

Oh no you don't. Kendall already decided he was going to follow this doppelganger, so he increases his pace, following her. "Oh yeah? Try me! Lemme guess, you're an evil clone." That might give Robyn a sense of deja vu from a world away. "Anyway, fair's fair, since you somehow know my name, you need to tell me yours."

Suddenly he jerks to a halt and looks back the way they went, then back at Robyn, frowning. Shit, he forgot the veggies. If goes back, she might escape. He quickly turns and then flings a suddenly appearing line with a hook to snag the bag he left on the ground during their little scuffle, then drags it over like he was reeling in a fish. Then he turns back to make sure Robyn didn't run off.

Definitely some sort of matter creation. Robyn can't help but wonder if this is something her Kendall could push himself to, if he could make his illusions some sort of solid. It's not unheard of, she's met people who can take the insubstantial and make them substa-

Wait. That's not the point here, she has to remind herself, staring ahead at Kendall as she turns back to her.

"'Fair's fair' doesn't exist." Slowly she stops waking, having moved what she considers an acceptable distance away from prying ears. His comment about the evil clone pings both amusement and a hollowness in the pit of her stomach. Morality is relative, would she be considered the evil twin here like she had thought of other versions of herself?

Then there's the million dollar question. It's clear he's going to keep persisting, and no amount of action short of violence is going to dissuade him. So, instead she just goes right for it.

"Robyn Roux," she offers in a low voice. "And if you want to talk more about it, I'd rather do it somewhere a little more private."

Well shit, if that's the way things are going, the evil twin thing might not be too far off. "Are you serious?" Kendall stares at her with a frown. Ok, so if she was trying to replace Roux for whatever reason, surely she would have done research, and at least would know her name. The rest of Robyn's words derail that train of thought, however, bringing it to a screeching halt. "Um, wait, what? I'm not into… I mean, that is…" frown. "Are you trying to seduce me?" God, Kendall, really? Just… say it like that?

No, Kendall. That is absolutely not what she meant.

It takes Robyn a moment to register the words seduce me, but the moment she does her whole face pales, and then her cheeks seem to take on a soft glow as her eyes widen. "Oh my god, it's 2010 all over again," she remarks out loud and not at all in her head like she had intended. "You're an actual child. No I'm no- Christ I-"

Well, now she's the one who's flustered. This is so very different from dealing with the Kendall she's come to know, and yet at the same time horrifyingly familiar.

With another shake of her head and a deep breath, she rolls her eyes and turns away. "Trust me, it is the furthest thing from my mind."

"Hey. I'm 28. And that didn't stop us th…uh." Wait no. For a brief moment, maybe because she's flustered and that seems more of a Roux thing, Kendall forgot this was not the right one until it's too late. Shit. Fortunately Kendall doesn't literally glow from embarrassment like Robyn is, and he decides to check the bag of vegetables to make sure they're not, uh, bruised or something.

"A-anyway, it's the furthest thing from my mind too, trust me!" Well at least they agree on something.

"Act like it." When he gets flustered in turn, Robyn raises an eyebrow out of curiosity, but how quickly he moves a long preoccupies her before she can think too hard about it. She watches him for a moment later, still half turned away, before she finally starts walking away.

"Anyway, if you want to talk about it, sure, follow me. Otherwise, let it go. Just know I'm not trying to replace your friend." She's hoping Kendall at this point picks the latter. She knew something like this happening was inevitable, but… why did it have to be Kendall? Her throat is tight as she swallows down her concerns. At least people in the Pelgao have been primed for this by Liz and Magnes' little adventure.

Kendall settles down when she assures him she does not, in fact, have anything nefarious planned, and since he had already decided on following her to get answers, he shrugs. "I'm not planning on letting it go, you still haven't explained why you stole her face." Pause. "And then damaged it." Oh, yes, Kendall noticed that. Hard not to, really.

"I didn't-" Robyn's lips quirk side to side as she stares at Kendall for a long moment, one hand reaching up and running fingers over her scar. Her shoulders sag a big, arm falling back to her side. "I've had this scar for a decade running," she near whispers, voice a bit shaky. She lives with her scars every day, but rarely are they so plainly questioned. "Comes with memories of one of the worst months of my life."

Spying an ajar door to a room currently unoccupied, Robyn clenches her jaw. "Come on," she near commands, albeit quietly. Without another word, she turns and steps into the small, vacant room, almost immediately moving to lean against the far wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. This is just… so overwhelming for her. "Just… come sit down, Kendall."

Kendall steps into the room after her, tensing up as his gaze sweeps the room. No ambush, so that's good at least. "If it's all the same, I don't think I'm going to tell you where she is, since apparently you have it out for her or something."

He approaches her after the visual sweep, then sits near her with his back to a wall, then crosses his arms and regards her with a raised eyebrow. "All right, start talking, then. Robyn." He wrinkles his nose as he says her name, shaking his head. No, that's weird.

"I don't have it out for her," Robyn offers back in a low voice, "I am her. Sort of." That's not helping the "evil twin" argument, is it? "If you don't like calling me Robyn, you can call me Quinn." Yeah, she saw that head shake, and yeah, she doesn't go by Quinn anymore, but maybe it'll make all of this a bit easier. "But that is my name. Robyn Janestine Roux, born to Charlotte Roux and raised- well, I guess that part doesn't matter."

A beat passes, and she looks over at him, a sad look in her eyes. Kendall's been a good friend of hers, to be faced with a version of him so distrusting of her, it hurts in a way she didn't expect. "You're still into comics here, right?" Because maybe that'll make it easier to explain. "Have you seen her recently?" another quick question, one she doesn't expect much of an answer to.

Kendall rolls his eyes. "I saw her in one place yesterday, but if I expect to see her there again it's an exercise in futility, she goes wherever she wants. And never tells me if she plans on leaving for long stretches of time, either." The last bit is added more to himself, though the introduction draws a snort from him. "Janestine? Hah." He holds his hand out and summons a dainty little teacup, pinkie prominently outstretched. "Would you like some tea, Janestine?" Oh lord.

When she mentions comics, though, Kendall frowns. "I guess. Not many nowadays, if you haven't noticed. Only so many were left in the library." Kendall pauses, though. "What do you mean, here? And why do you know so much about me?" Yep, he's still suspicious of you.

The look Robyn gives Kendall is withering, her patience clearly starting to thin. "Kendall, I need you to talk less and listen more." And she's going to keep calling him by name if that's what it takes to wear him down. "Because I know you. That's how I know so much. Sort of. You'll- I'll get there."

Pulling her legs up to her chest, she takes a deep breath. "Okay. Comics. Not my forte, but the best way I have to explain this." Ironically, only something she knows much about because of people like Kendall. "You have - had - DC and Marvel here, right? Did you ever read something called Crisis on Infinite Earths? Or did you have the Marvel Ultimates comics?"

Oh lord, this is going to be rough.

Kendall sighs, rolling his eyes at her, and clasps his hands around his knees. "Yeah, yeah, Loki leading the Avengers-" how's THAT for a Deviant? "-and the Red Lanterns saving everyone." He'd say more, but she told him to shut up. Rude.

"Crisis on Infinite Earths…. or alternatively, the Multiverse?" Kendall may be behaving like an idiotic twerp but he isn't stupid. He pauses and squints at Robyn. "Are you suggesting you're from an alternate reality?" Kendall snorts at that. "Boy did you pick one. This isn't exactly a great vacation spot."

Well, that's certainly something. Even with Robyn's limited knowledge of comics, that's a hell of a difference. "Not Thor? Huh." There's an absent moment where she blinks and processes that thought, before focusing her attention on Kendall. "I'm not suggesting it," she notes very matter of factly. "That's exactly the case."

With a scoff, she shakes her head and looks at the concrete in front of her. "Not that I expect you to believe me, and I don't blame you if not. But that's what it is. And I'm not exactly here by choice, so you know."

"Thor? It's because Thor died due to Loki's actions that made him join the Avengers in the first place, there was this whole redemption arc and everything!" Kendall pauses, and snickers. "Well, that and his mom seems to have told him to. Well maybe not literally but…" he sighs. "Now we'll never know." Wait, what were they talking about again?

Oh, right.

"So… assuming you're telling the truth, how did you get here? Magic portal? Opened a wardrobe expecting to find Narnia?" He's not as skeptical as he sounds, given Robyn is living proof right in front of him.

"Science. Terrifying, awful science." All of those are accurate descriptors of what's brought Robyn there today. "I'm not the only one, and it's not the first time this has happened." Her brow furrows, looking back up at Kendall curiously. "She never told you? She… I have it on good authority that she's met some folks like me before."

It's weird to talk about someone who is ostensibly her like this.

"And a boat," she adds after a moment, managing just the smallest of smiles at her own sass. "I know you because I know you where I come from."

"Hm… now that you mention it, there is this one guy who said he'd been to another world, but I thought he was talking about getting abducted by aliens or something. You know." Kendall taps the side of his head. "She did disappear for a few years and won't tell me what happened, too…" he sounds grumpy when he relates that, frowning off into the distance.

"So you know me because you know… another me? Damn that's weird to think about." Then he turns back and stares at Robyn. "Weird to see you too, couldn't be any different." Which makes it harder to understand how he confused her for Roux.

"Really?" Again, Robyn seems surprised. She doesn't pick out any one thing, just- she's surprised by about everything at this point. "I have a feeling I know where she went, and why. Not my story to tell, though, if she hasn't." Sorry, Kendall, that mystery goes unsolved a bit longer.

"Anyway, yes, it's weird. It's as weird for me as it is for you. The Kendall I know dislikes the idea of hurting anyone, much less pulling a knife on them and shoving them into a wall." Yes, there's a hint of disdain in her voice, but it's actually hard to tell which Kendall it's aimed at. "You don't even know the half of how different we are. But that's neither here nor there." Looking back at Kendall, she looks him in the eyes. "Can you take me to her?"

There's a flat look when she describes the other him. "Must be nice. Sounds like your world didn't have a bunch of people actively hunting you down to murder you. He sounds like a pansy." But that's neither here nor there, and when she asks him a question, the guarded look returns. "I'm still not convinced it would be in her best interests. I don't know what it would do to her to suddenly meet someone that looks like her. It might upset her."

Rather than dwell on that, Kendall tries to change the subject. "I can't imagine your world is worse than this one. What's it like?"

Pursing her lips, Robyn considers how to approach all this next. It results in a long pause before she sighs and closes her eyes. "There was no flood," she admits, "we managed to prevent it. But life isn't exactly cushy where I come from." A hand reaches up, scratching at the back of her head. "You'd be wrong, though. I've spent a lot of years hunted."

"On my world, my mom was an artist and I was a musician. And then… our government decided that Evolved- Specials, whatever you call them here, were too dangerous to live." This is an exhausting story even just to tell, Robyn slumping a bit in her seat. "So yeah. Slowly hunted. Some of us put in cities that were basically camps. Until finally, revolution."

Her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "I was one of those revolutionaries. Rather well known for it where I come from, actually. Revolution turned into civil war. We won, reestablished a new government, and are working on rebuilding a ruined country." A rueful laugh escapes her lips as she shakes her head. "It cost me everything. My career, my fiance, my…" She stops, swallowing audibly. "My mum. Friends. People I loved. Now I work for the government." More of a personal history lesson than what her world is like, but still.

Kendall is quiet when Robyn describes her world, hugging his knees tighter. "At least you're able to rebuild. At least your war is just one country. This? The world was drowned to get rid of people like us. We can't rebuild from this, we can barely survive as it is. I lost my parents and everyone I know, and I doubt there's a single person who can claim otherwise."

There's a short stretch of silence, and he looks away. "There's probably still people who are out there who want to kill us all. A few years ago, they attacked us again, blowing up the Empire State building and killing all our 'leaders'. So you said your war is over and you won… ours is still going on, except we can't fight back and have no idea where the enemy is. I've had to kill someone who was trying to kill me, and I'd do it again if they came after me or the ones I care about." He grits his teeth, and large, deadly looking spikes appear in the air around him. They shoot off at the walls around him, but they're intangible and vanish as soon as they hit something. He closes his eyes tight and takes a deep breath. "But not every…. Evolved can fight. They'd probably die." Well that explains Kendall's sudden aggression when they met.

"I'm not here to argue who has it worse," Robyn notes with a roll of her eyes. He asked a question, she answered. "It doesn't matter now anyway…" A deep breath, and she looks back at the ground in front of her. "Unless something drastic happens, this is my home now."

Looking past Kendall, Robyn's expression sours a bit at that thought. "I have a question for you." She thinks she knows the answer to this, but it's more important that Kendall know it. "As far as you know, what's the one thing she- Roux-" Lord that's weird, "wants most?"

"Guess it's even more important that you know how it is, then, if you're planning on staying. Not sure why you'd want to." Kendall opens his eyes again, looking over at her.

The sudden question knocks him off balance though, and he blinks, confused. "What she wants most? Uh. I'm not exactly sure. For things to go back the way they were? To be able to play again? Probably her mom. Yeah." The first one was probably projection, who wouldn't want things to go back the way they were? "Yeah, probably her mom." He repeats after a moment of thought. Being able to play music was also important, no doubt, but not as much.

"I don't have much of a choice." There's a solemn tone to those words, a grimace across Robyn's face as she slumps back against the wall behind her. "One way trip and all that." And that was before someone came in and destroyed their best means of returning.

"Her mum." Well, that tracks with what Hall had told her at least. "You're not sure me meeting her is in her best interest, right?" Robyn thinks for a moment before nodding. "And… You're right to think that," she admits quietly. "If I hadn't been so… overexposed to other versions of myself, it'd upset me too. Hell, it has before." Slightly different circumstances, but it counts to her.

"But I know where my- her- our mum is." And there it is. "And I think Roux deserves to see… her again." There's a clear but of emotion creeping into her voice - it's not just Roux who wants to see her mom again.

"Hrm." Robyn dropping that little tidbit has Kendall frowning, and he shakes his head. "I don't know. You still could be planning something, and you're not exactly inspiring confidence there." He's not subtle about his distrust of her, but he doesn't seem very subtle in general. "I'll ask Nadira. She'd probably know what to do here. I don't want to do anything to upset her, and if you say you know where her… your mom is without actually knowing, that would hurt her more."

Kendall doesn't feel confident that he could make a good decision about this. He needs an adult.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Robyn runs a hand down her face. "Nadira. Of course you have to ask Nadira." Pursing her lips, she sits up a bit - that's the second time her former friend has come up since she got here. "I haven't seen the Nadira I knew in years. This will be interesting."

She says this as if she's coming along, even.

"Here's the deal, Kendall, cards on the table." There's hesitation as she says that, like she's not sure if she could continue. "I'm here with some others because my world is facing an apocalypse. One we're ill equipped to handle." Slowly she pulls herself up to her feet. "Because my parents are dead in my world. So… we're going to see them here instead. I wouldn't lie about seeing her again. To you, or to her."

"An apocalypse. You don't say." Kendall rolls his eyes again. "All right, I guess you can come along to meet Nadira. It doesn't make sense though, you said this was a one way trip, so why are you bothering trying to save the world you came from? Just let it die." Kind of a cruel thing to say, to be honest, but it is what it is.

"So you're telling me, if you'd known the flood was coming, but stopping it required a one way trip out of your timeline… you'd say no?" Robyn is well aware of the hypocrisy of the statement, which is probably why she doesn't let that thought linger much. Same for the thought that she should tell him that they aren't safe from this particular apocalypse.

"I thought the same thing at first," she notes, looking down at him from where she stands. "But someone made it very clear to me how selfish that line of thinking was. How much of a disservice it is to my friends." A pause, and a deep breath. "How much of a disservice it is to my son." And there that major difference between them is.

"So let me make something clear to you." Her tone is even, bordering on quiet and impassive. "One way or another, I'm going to find her. I would just rather do it the right way, by her, and by her friends."

Kendall shrugs, looking off to the side. "But if I'm not there, and won't ever be able to go again, I don't see much point." He didn't have any sort of epiphany like Robyn apparently did. "How would I even know if what I did even worked? Or if something would happen after that that would ruin everything you sacrificed to do?"

But that's just something they'll have to disagree on.

The news that she has a son though causes a raised eyebrow, and he looks her up and down. "Son, huh. Was it with the… other me?"

He might be saying that to distract from Robyn's other comment as he thinks it over.

"Because we still have ways to communicate with where I'm from." Between Elliot and Nova, interdimensional communication was one of the few things they had fairly sorted for the moment. "We'll know if what we send back fails or not." Hopefully. If they can't leave before then, well… Robyn isn't exactly big on faith these days. "I wouldn't jump across the universe on a hunch."

Kendall's question elicits a genuine laugh from her, paired with a mischievous smirk. "No. It's not you, though I treat you like it sometimes. My son's name is Matthew." Not knowing the reputation of the name Parkman, she decides to keep that and the fact he's adopted to herself for now. "He reminds me a lot of you, though. Loves video games and comics."

She's about to continue when she stops, brow furrowing as she tilts her head. "Wait, you said- with-" And that's when Robyn chokes on some roughly swallowed air, eyes widening. "You?" The laugh that follows is much more nervous and awkward than the one before it. "Oh- my god, no, no, Kendall. No. Lord. Why- would you think that?" It's more disbelief than anything else that rings in her voice.

"Assuming you mean the other one. Video games don't exist anymore either." Kendall sounds resentful about that, like that is the worst part of this situation. He accepts the fact that his other version, despite being a bit of a loser, is also into nerd stuff. When she starts laughing, though, he scowls. "Wow, that's rude as hell. What's so funny about it?" He's definitely insulted at her reaction, and when she makes it abundantly clear they didn't have that kind of relationship, he's not too interested in hearing her talk about her son if he has nothing to do with him. But anyway.

"Well if you're going to go anyway I'll see what I can do. But if you plan on dragging Roux off anywhere you better believe I'm going to come too." And there's that stubbornness again. Looks like Robyn is stuck with him now.

When Kendall is clearly offended, Robyn's amusement quickly tapers off. ""Sorry, I just… you and me? I'm… how well do you know Roux?" Sha shakes her head, still smiling slightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean. It's just… more than a little unbelievable to me."

But there's more important things to discuss at hand. "Who comes isn't my decision. This is an exception," she notes with a shake of her head. "We're going far, I'm afraid." Her shoulders rise in a shallow shrug. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to take me to… wherever Nadira is, I suppose. Is it La Mer?" Because that would be… weirdly amusing to Robyn, "and we're going to get this figured out."

"I know her very well, thank you very much, but it really isn't your business no matter if you're some sort of alternate reality version of her." Hmmph. "La Mer? No, she's probably at home. Or doing her splashy thing." Nadira does manipulate water, after all… and Kendall seems to be implying they live together, which adds another layer of what the heck kind of relationships this guy has.

He's not sure what is so amusing about it, but shrugs. "All the more reason to go. I'm definitely not letting her go off with a group of strangers to who knows where. And if you try to kidnap her, I'm definitely not going to allow that." He thinks about it, narrowing his eyes. "How many of you are there, anyway?" He hasn't heard anything about a sudden invasion so it might just be a few people.

"How many?" Robyn quirks an eyebrow. "A few. Unless you mean how many of me." She stares at Kendall for a moment, arms crossed and still like she's thinking about something, until there's an electrical snap and-

"An' the answer t' that's two. Kinda." The voice - Robyn's voice, though with an unfamiliar accent - speaks almost directly into Kendall's ear, snickering as she stands up straight beside him. "Y' know, when I'm allowed t' be out an' all."

Robyn's dupe crosses around Kendall to stand beside her primary form, looking smugly amused. "Why so defensive anyway? Y'gotta crush on 'er or something?" Robyn, for her part, blanches a bit - or glows? - even though her dupe is just saying what she was secretly wondering to herself.

"No, I meant-" and then there's suddenly someone else there, causing Kendall to jerk away, immediately lashing out with a baseball bat and having it go through the duplicate and crash into the floor as he moves in the opposite direction, his breath coming in panicked gasps as he scrambles to his feet. He stares at the duplicate, then at Robyn, and he clenches his teeth. "The fuck are you doing?!" He gestures at this other Robyn with the bat, pointedly not making it vanish.

"If you're going to pull shit like that, no way in hell am I going to help you, what the fuck is wrong with you?" He glares at the second one, then at her.

"I wasn't meaning for her to scare you," though from the way Robyn looks at her nails, she was expecting something. "She's made of light, but she has a bit of a mind of her own." With a look over at her dupe, she frowns. "Let's maybe not do that again. It's confusing enough with there being two of us already."

As if three might be a bit much.

With a bow of her head, Robyn smiles. "I apologise."

"I don't," the duplicate notes, before giving a little laugh. "Just kiddin'. Sorry, didn't mean t'scare you. Still curious 'bout you an' her though."

"Don't be invasive," Robyn chides, before looking at Kendall. "She can keep an eye on things for me while I'm occupied, or back me up and such." She turns away from Kendal, making her way towards the door - to which the dupe snaps to in an instant. "Like helping me track down Roux."

A pause, and she thinks about what she just said. "I'm sorry," she repeats. "I know that sounds like a threat, it's just… it means a lot to me that I find her. Clearly she means a lot to you so… what can I do to convince you I mean her no harm?"

"We used to date, if you're so curious about it." Kendall replies shortly. "And before you get any ideas, we both agreed it wasn't going to work out and broke it off, but we're still really close." This is when the bat finally vanishes, and he crosses his arms. "Did you forget the part where I said I was attacked by people trying to kill me? How did you think I was going to react?" Half of his anger is probably due to the fact that he did get scared.

When she apologizes, though, he jerks a nod to accept it, though doesn't offer any apology of his own for attacking her light clone. When it zips over to the door, he keeps a wary eye on it. "Well first off, don't try and pull anything else. And keep that thing away from Roux." He is not going to start treating the light clone as a real person.

"I'm not a thing, I'm actual. I like the other one better," Robyn's dupe remarks incredulously, prompting a look of annoyance from Robyn herself.

"Astoundingly, you're not helping," Robyn remarks with a deadpan tone - and that's about when Kendall's words really catch up to her. Pausing in the middle of beginning to say something, she slowly looks back towards Kendall. "I'm sorry, did you say you dated?" Her eyes have widened noticeably, staring at Kendall like he has the sun blooming out of his chest. "That- I-."

If Kendall wanted to break her, he may have succeeded, her expression growing more and more the more she pieces together comments from earlier in the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, let's move along now." Kendall looks annoyed at her blatant disbelief, rolling his eyes and heaving a sigh. The clone is glared at skeptically, but he doesn't otherwise comment, instead returning his attention back to Robyn, who seems to be having some sort of conniption. He sighs again, leaning back on the wall and frowns at her as he impatiently waits for her to continue. "So….?" he prompts, waving a hand towards Robyn's face. Flooded Earth to Robyn.

Robyn remains silent, both of them in fact. The dupe's eyes flit back and forth while Robyn stares straight ahead absently. "Hhhhhhhhhhhhhuh," slips out of her mouth just as absently as the look on her face. "That's just- very unexpected."

It takes another moment before she blinks and look over at Kendall and frowns. "Not- that it was you, just…." Taking a deep breath, she swallows audibly. "Never, uh, mind. Yeah, let's get going I guess." She's definitely been thrown completely off and hasn't recovered; her dupe just stands next to her silent and frowning.

With a shake of his head, Kendall pushes off from the wall and starts moving for the door again. "All right, but I hope you don't weigh more than Roux, I don't feel like borrowing anyone's boat." He noticed her strange looks earlier when he used his ability, and wondered about it. "Hope you're OK with riding in a boat that doesn't exist." He smirks at her. "It usually stays solid, but who can tell for sure this time?" Oh yes, absolutely being a brat.

"Let's… not." Robyn stops at the door frame again, letting out a sigh. "Water and I don't get along, and I think I've had enough panic attacks about it for a lifetime." There's no comment from her dupe - in fact, it seems to have vanished in the moment since she zipped ahead of them. "I'm almost certainly heavier, and I just- I guess I'll find my own way there, if you tell me the bearings I need to follow."

This isn't ideal by a long shot, but Robyn isn't going back in the water if she can at all help it. "When you say it doesn't exist… your illusions are solid, aren't they? Like the shepherd's crook you made earlier. You could've actually hurt me with that knife." There's maybe some accusatory subtext to be found there, but Robyn looks more nonplussed than anything else.

"Heh." Yeah, so she is afraid of it. "Well you're in the wrong place if you're afraid of water. It's kind of everywhere in case you hadn't noticed. As for bearings, uh… south of the Pelago, around where the edge of Manhattan used to be. But it's hard to see, only a few stories above water among a lot of others. Find a boat and I can lead you there, at least."

When Robyn asks about his ability, he shrugs. "Yes, they are. It's the only reason I survived the Flood." Kendall states matter of factly. "If I hadn't made an inflatable raft that I could climb on, I would've drowned. As it was, Nadira still had to pull me out because it… didn't last longer than the water actively rising." He closes his eyes and turns away from her, crossing his arms defensively.

"Yeah." is added after a moment. "I could have easily stabbed you. Or shot you, if I wanted, they last a few seconds after I stop touching them. And there would be no murder weapon or bullets. The perfect crime." He turns to face her at that, spreading his arms out. "I could kill you here and no one would even know." The way he avoids looking her in the eye gives lie to his words, however.

"I'd like to see you try, kid." If Kendall is going to be a brat, so can Robyn. Lips pressed thin, she stares at him for a long moment. If Kendall thinks she is soft because they didn't have a flood, he has another thing coming. "The solid illusions are impressive," she offers as a bit of a olive branch. "My Kendall can't do that… yet. I don't even know if he's capable of it. His illusions do amazing work tricking people, though."

Waiting for Kendall to get a bit ahead of her, she sighs as she catches up next to him. "I got here somehow, didn't I? I'll meet you at… wherever we're going."

"Eh. I don't care too much for letting a lot of people know what I can do." And yet he was perfectly willing to show Robyn through some misguided attempt at intimidation, but whatever. "Anyway, go back to where we were and keep going south, there's a sort of pier there. I'll be waiting, I guess." Kendall doesn't sound super enthusiastic about it, but if she really wants to come along… he looks her in the eye, then turns sideways and vanishes, almost like he became a 2D object. A vanishing trick, at least, is something that might be a bit more familiar.

"I hate this," Robyn mutters with a roll of her eyes as she starts along back to where she arrived. "I hate everything about this." Still, it's hard to keep just the slightest smile from creeping on her face.

Even if it does fade almost as soon as she remembers the actual conversation they just had.

Oh well.

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