2013.07.02 - Full Disclosure

It's another hot, cloudy day in New York City, although, compared to a few days in the past weeks, it's positively mild as the temperature hovers in the low 80s. Days like this guarantee a turnout of people flooding into Central Park to take advantage of the green spaces and cooler shade. Fern is no different, and often comes to the park to escape the heat in her small Harlem apartment. 
 
While she haunts no part of the park regularly, her favorite spots are in the northern end, closest to home. The North Woods are often cooler, especially by the brightly flowing Loch. Just off the beaten path, quite literally in fact, she's found a stone to sit on, by one of the Loch's many little created waterfalls. She's close enough to be able to dip her toes in the water, and it appears she has, to judge by the wetness puddled around her feet and her laid aside sandals. Shifting her hands back behind her, leaning to prop on the support of her arms, Fern stretches her legs out and basks in a sliver of sun that filters through the canopy of leaves. She doesn't seem concerned about getting dirt on her sundress, and sighs contentedly, concentrating on the bubbling of the water and not the occasional sounds of others passing by. 
Jamie came to the park because hey, every New Yorker does love to come to the park. Plus having been a country boy for a while this is the closest he gets to home. Walking around the park he does spot the young lady he ran into once before at least. And always the friendly guy Jamie heads on over and sits down next to her. And yes even in the nice New York summer heat he is wearing his long trench coat. "So how is the water?" Hey it's better than do you come here often.
Fern looks up over her shoulder as she hears someone approaching, straightening, then smiling as she sees a recognized face. "Hi there," comes the bright greeting, and she scoots over a bit, probably needlessly but in a welcoming way, as Jamie sits. "It's wonderfully cool." She's getting used to seeing people a bit overdressed for the weather, it seems fairly common among the special folks for one reason or another. She knows a few use it to hide mutations, or costumes. A lean has her fingertips in, barely wetting them, and she flicks a couple droplets at the man. The clouds move, blocking out the shaft of sunlight, and the shadows of the trees dance on the water. "How are you? It's been a while." 
Jamie sits down by the lady, he only wears the trench coat cause he makes that thing look good. The water is flicked at him, oh that is an act of war you know. He reaches into his trench coat and produces a water gun, which he uses to squirt at Fern. "I'm good, how about you? And yeah it has been a while. Not since that little fight in Central Park." Well it maybe wasn't a little fight. But hey, she learned he was a mutant in that fight. "So what'cha been up to? Anything good?"
There's a squeak as the first shots hit Fern, but she's laughing as she twists to minimize the impact. "Hey! That's not fair, my fingers were barely even wet!" She reaches over to slap lightly at him, the intended blows falling short of her target without making contact. She's still giggling as she turns back to look at him, "Oh, you know. Same old. Stumbling across trouble in the park, getting pulled out of the path of danger. Just another day. How about you, staying out of trouble?" is tossed back lightly as she reaches up and pushes her hair back out of her eyes. 
"I don't stay out of trouble. That's just no fun you know." Hey getting into trouble is fun, life is boring at that. He doesn't move at the slap, even though she does miss at that one. "All's fair in love and water fights. Just be thankful I don't have the water balloons on me." Cause he would totally use them if he did. He looks at her, "And you know doing the whole PI thing, among a few others."
"I'll say a prayer of thanks tonight before my head hits the pillow," Fern promises with a grin. Heck, if she had some she'd use them too since he's made this war. She nods at his words, studying him, pausing a moment before responding. "Ya know.... speaking of a few others.... I don't suppose you just have a lot of brothers, hm?" It wasn't exactly hard to notice seven of the same guy after Jamie snapped out his dupes. There's a curious note to her question, more than anything else, and she doesn't seem to think it an especially odd topic to stray into. 
He smiles at her when she says the first part, "Well I am an only child." He smirks at that one, should have figured this question was coming up, "I'm a mutant, that's my power. I am able to make exact copies of myself, and well use them for various things." He reaches down and just dips his own fingers into the water, "It's how I'm a good PI, and have done so much. I can send them out to learn and experience things. When I remerge with them, I know what they know."
Fern's a good listener, and it shows in her attentiveness to what Jamie says, the way her eyes easily hold on him. "That sounds pretty neat, actually. I'll bet you've done... well, just about everything. It doesn't seem like there are many limits to that ability." She watches his fingers dip into the water, perhaps just a little wary of another liquid assault on her person. "Can you only make a certain amount, or as many as you want? And are they all exactly like you? Even how they act?" With the gentleness of her tone, it not exactly prying, although she does seem full of questions. 
"Well they can only do what I can do. So well physically they are limited to a regular human. Most of them are the same, however there are a couple of them that have been different from me. They can be different aspects of my personality." He picks his fingers up and flicks the water at her, like she did to him, "Also the time they spend away from me can sometimes change them. As for the limit, I have no idea how many I can make. But for a given area I like to stay around 50. I have a hive mind with the ones in a certain range. So having too many of them can be overloading."
"So... they can kind of become their own person while they're away from you? Do they ever not want to come back? To live their own lives?" Fern wrinkles her nose at the flick of water. "And a hive mind... that means if they're in that range you all, like... share a mind?" There are a few moments between Jamie's latest water "attack" and her retaliation, but Fern does lean over with this last question and lightly thwap him on his trench coat covered arm.
 
The thwap, well that's enough for him to create a dupe, "That's how I do it by the way. I need some type of impact, I have gotten it to the point where I can snap my fingers to create one." He touches the dupe and reabsorbs him just to give Fern a demo, "There is a dupe who went to study religion for me. He ended up becoming a preacher, and got married. He doesn't want to come back. And I refuse to force him back. He should be able to live out his own life." He pauses for a break, then continues, "Yes we share the mind. I'm the prime but I get input from all of my dupes in a certain range."
Fern snatches her hand back, surprised by the appearance of another Jamie, right down to the trench coat. She watches the "demo" with wide blue eyes, no sign of fear in them, but a certain amount of wonder unhidden. "Wow," she says softly as the duplicate is then gone, back with the original. Her eyes narrow suddenly, but there's a light tease in her gaze rather than suspicion, "So how does anyone know if it's you, or if you've sent out one of your henchmen?" 
Jamie has a little evil gleam in his eye when he says the next part, "You don't. For all anyone knows real Jamie could be at home right now watching Sponge Bob in his underwear." He does a wink at that one, "But there are a few dupes out there doing some things. So what about you, any hidden secrets that you have?"
There's a momentary look of horror on Fern's face as she echoes, "Sponge Bob? Good heavens, I'd expect you to have better taste than that." The look falls, immediately replaced by her wide grin. The choice of viewing material seems to bother her far more than any mention of being in his underwear as he does so. Sounds like a typical night in, to her. The redhead shakes her head in the negative, "I'm afraid I'm horribly normal. From a small town in Ohio, and we didn't have anyone like you there. Not that I know of, anyway. It's been.... interesting, meeting people like you who can do things." 
"Don't mock Sponge Bob, it is truly a misunderstood show. Plus it's great in the morning with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs." Hey Cocoa Puffs, underwear and Sponge Bob are a great morning routine. "Well at least that you are finding it very interesting. I'm sure most people would be afraid of it." He smiles at her, "So if you don't watch Sponge Bob, what do you watch?"
Fern rolls her eyes, but it's an indulgent gesture, matching the smile that lingers on her lips. Her shoulders shrug, "It was a little scary at first. But I've met a lot of nice people who can do things." The question of what she watches draws a pinkness to Fern's cheeks as she admits, "I don't have a television. I read when I'm home, but I like to spend time out in the city. It's so different from home, it seems like I could find something new to do here every day for the rest of my life." 
"Guess I don't realize how little time the regular people have. Just seems a lot easier when you can do like 25 things at once." He smirks at that one, cause hey he can do 25 things at once, and more. "The city does have a lot to offer. It is pretty incredible here, compared to well everywhere. There are dozen of things to do in this city. Great food, Broadway, places like this. There is just so much to do here." He gives her a smile at that, "So what do you read?"
There's a soft laugh at Jamie's words, and Fern tosses back, "Maybe one day some scientist will figure out how to accomplish that for the normal people like me." She leans forward, plucking up a leaf before it tumbles over the little waterfall, and flicks it at Jamie, sending more droplets flying at him. "I like to read things a lot of people scoff at," she says lightly. "I was just talking to someone about books yesterday, as a matter of fact. My favorites are Stephen King and Dean Koontz." The leaf twirls lightly in her fingers. "Do you like to read? Um... any of you?" is tacked on with her own smirk. 
"Maybe, if you want I can lend you a dupe to do a few things for you. Like he can clean your apartment for you and stuff!" Hey there's another idea, rent out dupes to do stuff for people. Unlimited labor force for the win. He sits there and lets the droplets hit him, he totally deserved that one so lets it happen. "I read a lot as well, it's a great way to learn things. And I do have a fondness for Stephen King. His stuff is just a good read." He smiles at that one, "Nothing wrong with reading the stuff people Scoff at, they're just silly sometimes."
Fern laughs softly, "That's a nice offer, but my apartment is so small there's no room for dirt." She sets the leaf back in the water, watching as it tumbles over the falls and swirls away with the current. "King is supposed to be publishing a sequel to The Shining this year. I've already got my name on a waiting list at the library. And I find that most people are just generally silly much of the time, so they can scoff all they want." Her words are interrupted by a soft deedle-deedle-deedle sounds, and she shifts, fishing her phone out of a pocket in the seam of her sundress. "Shoot, it's time for me to start heading toward Brooklyn. Gotta work tonight." There's disappointment in her voice at a nice afternoon being interrupted. 
"Sequel to the Shining. I think I'll have to pick up that one as well." His head turns and watches the leaf swirl away, "I know a few people that aren't silly. But everyone should be required to have a silly part of the day. It would just make the world a much better place." He smiles as he says that one. And then she announces that she needs to go, "Well that sucks. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around. Or I could walk you towards Brooklyn."
Fern pushes herself up to stand, scooping up her sandals without an immediate intent to put them on, her other hand absently brushing any dirt from her skirt. "That'd be nice, if it's not taking you out of your way." Again, her smirk surfaces, "But, I'm sure if it were you could always just send a duplicate off to do whatever you were going to do and walk with me anyway." She steps over to the side of the rock, dipping first one foot, then the other into the rushing water, leaving wet footprints on the surface beneath her. "But you walk with me, not the duplicate," she admonishes lightly. 
Jamie stands up with her, "Make a deal with you. It won't be my duplicate, and whenever I run into you I'll let you know right away if I'm the duplicate or not." He smiles and steps besides her, "But I have no where else to be right now. So it will be my pleasure to escort you to where you need to go." He offers her his arm, in case she wants it.
The assurance of disclosure brings a bright smile from Fern. "Thank you, that's really nice of you. I know it's still kinda you, but it'll be nice to know." There's no hesitation as she loops her arm into his companionably, moving to walk back to the path and off through the park with him. "While we walk, you can tell me everything you've learned from all of your duplicates," she jokes, knowing that such a conversation would probably take a lot longer than a walk, from what he's said. As they stroll off, she's already asking more questions, starting with, "So, the Shakespeare in the Park... was it you or a duplicate?" 
Category:Log