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[Master of Plots]

The sound of bagpipes were quite loud, and getting louder, as the group approached them. They came upon a large hill, and climbed it. The horse followed Finley closely and dutifully. When they reached the crest of the hill, they saw what was making the noise.

It was Finley.

Except, it wasn't. It looked like Finley, mostly. But he was....colored.

His hair seemed to be changing colors, from blue to green, then green to yellow, and yellow to blue again. His eyes were pink. His clothes had been replaced a lime green tuxedo, and he was playing a bright orange bagpipe.

Next to him, there was Ellie. Except, of course, it wasn't Ellie. She was wearing a black toga. Her hair was a deep purple. Her eyes were totally white. She had an abacus in one hand, and a dark blue bag in the other.

Finally, there was Reggie. Reggie was naked, except for a compass hanging around his neck. He was holding a trident made of glass. His hair was white, and it looked like he was wearing shiny silver-glittered lipstick.

The bagpipes stopped as the group of doppelgangers looked upon the Jake Rescue Team.

[Finley McTaggart]

As Finley had suspected, talking became nigh impossible as they neared the piping, and they had to climb a hill to get at the source. The horse followed along, and the Driver was increasingly certain it was related to his missing supercar; but they had no time for such discussions.

At the top, he stopped and stared at the piper, who looked like someone had cloned Finley and dumped a rainbow on him. He had to process this, and try to shake off the reality show feeling he was getting. No Lina, though... could they not copy vampires or something?

"Aw," he muttered as the music stopped and the trio stared up at the travelers. Now what? Shoot them? He certainly had the guns for it...

[Isolina Cadena]

That was...

They were...

Was that a patrol? Lina didn't really know what to expect thanks to the fantastic intel they'd received, but if they were tailored toward visitors then it seemed likely that they were somehow intended to interact with them. So either they were bestest buddy soulmates now forever or they were going to fight over who was the real one or something.

That naked guy was Reggie.

Oh wow.

Lina tried not to look but there wasn't really any unseeing it. That was a naked guy, and in fact it was this guy, though obviously lots flashier and... and naked. That was a naked guy. Why? Did that mean something?

"Um."

Finley was going to shoot everyone or Ellie was going to squeal in horror or Reggie was going to throw pants at the other Reggie and Lina was the fastest and they were here for her foster dad so she needed to say something that wouldn't start a fight because if they didn't have to fight that would be better, right? Could they just get along? Who else could handle that? Lina was Persistence. She and people were good, right? She was good at people. She... she thought. She used to think so, anyway.

She was the fastest so she had to say something before Finley shot someone.

"Hi."

[Ellie West]

"Oh my God!" Ellie yelped as if on cue. She covered her eyes and then peeked through her fingers. "You aren't wearing clothes Reggie. Why is your twin person naked?"

But there were other concerns at hand. "What is that thing the me is holding?" The dress was nice, though, in an award show sort of way. A little overdone for the day time. "Do you think they have weapons? Do we have weapons? I don't have a weapon."

[Reggie Blackwater]

"I don't goddamn know!" Reggie whined, his voice tight with embarrassment. "He's not me, I'm wearing clothes!"

Reggie drew his cutlass. "I've got a weapon," he said. "Finley's got enough for the rest of you if you want them."

[Master of Plots]

OtherEllie pointed at them and whispered something to OtherFinley.

Naked Reggie stepped forward.

"Hey." He answered back to Lina.

[Finley McTaggart]

Okay, they were capable of speech. Fashion, not so much; rainbow!Finley wasn't much of a clone if he couldn't figure out that you were supposed to wear a kilt whilst playing pipes.

For the moment Tag made no threatening movements, but he had a hand on the grip of his revolver in a casual sort of way. Lina wanted to talk, and he didn't see any trouble letting her talk for now; hopefully she was aware that if things went SNAFU he'd handle it with extreme prejudice.

[Isolina Cadena]

His eyes are up there. His eyes are up there.

Lina was not sure whether there were any graceful way to comment on his lack of clothing, so the best she could probably do was to... at least try not to be a complete goon about it.

"So... um."

Was she seriously having small talk right now? Was that going to happen?

It so was.

Until one of them lost patience with it, which would hopefully be soon.

"How're things?"

[Master of Plots]

"Strange." He answered. He rested his trident's bottom on the ground and leaned on it a little.

"So, are you the leader?"

[Isolina Cadena]

Was Lina the leader?

Well, the mission had sort of been her idea. She had decided on their objectives and was responsible for protecting them because they were herd even though Finley brought a lot of valuable expertise, but this wasn't his mission. If it were... well.

Well, it wasn't.

"I decided to come. They're helping me, so... I guess this is sort of my thing, yeah."

It was getting easier to ignore the nudity, which was... good. Probably.

Still couldn't unsee it.

Lina... wasn't... as sorry about that as she felt like she should be.

"Why do you and my friends look similar?"

[Master of Plots]

"Why do you and my friends look similar?" He asked. He pointed at Reggie.

"Especially him."

[Ellie West]

Ellie decided to stay a little bit behind Lina. This was too weird for her tastes. Better to let everyone else sort this out before she made any sort of decision about what they were doing.

"I like your dress!" she called helpfully, and then was quiet again. Kill 'em with kindness. That's what her mom said. Ellie's mom said a lot of things and they were generally pretty okay advice and it didn't seem like it would hurt here. "And I don't think you look that much alike," she lied. It seemed like th would make fake Reggie happier.

[Finley McTaggart]

Finley looked at rainbow!Finley, eying the pipes in his arms enviously. The kids seemed to have it all under control, for now at least.

"Oi, pally," he said to his double. "Got any decent bitter 'round 'ere? We've 'as us a screwy sorta day, so we 'ave." It was never a bad time for some good bitter, in his estimate.

[Reggie Blackwater]

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Reggie challenged his doppelganger. He was distinctly uncomfortable and that made him feel aggressive. He looked around and made sure no one was staring at his copy's junk.

[Master of Plots]

OtherEllie and OtherFinley looked at their copies, then at each other, then at OtherReggie. They didn't answer. They hung their heads instead, looking at their feet.

OtherReggie looked disdainfully at Reggie Blackwater for a moment, then turned back to Lina.

"You should keep your subjects more in line."

[Reggie Blackwater]

"Her subjects?" Reggie exclaimed. "Does that mean you're not a prince?"

[Isolina Cadena]

Suddenly at ease now that Lina had started conversing, everybody began talking at once. Ellie was trying to play peacemaker and Finley wanted to get companionably drunk and Reggie was understandably upset that everybody could gaze upon his re-colored nude glory and... well...

...That didn't work. Apparently the Chaos Zone had an oddly rigid hierarchical structure.

And... she was on top.

O...okay...

Lina had... pretty much had enough of that kind of logic, but she could play along with it for now because frankly it wasn't unfamiliar. It was just terrible. Still... well... it was what these people expected?

Reggie's double wasn't answering him, either. Apparently Reggie was going to get ignored because he was simply a possession of Isolina's and as a result it would be inappropriate to speak directly to him without going through Lina. Perhaps it would even be disrespectful to Lina to ignore her claim over them. Why were people always like this?

"I like them how they are, but thank you for your advice. I'm here looking for someone who got pulled in. I need him back."

[Master of Plots]

"Who is it you seek? Is it..." He held a up a finger and turned to face OtherEllie.

"Tommy." She said, her voice meek and low.

"Is it Tommy?"

[Isolina Cadena]

Isolina shrugged one shoulder.

"No. I know where Tommy is and I'm not exactly pleased with him right now."

Tommy.

Tommy was fine. Tommy was home.

He was safe at home and this was all his fault.

"This one is older. Old enough to be my father, but he obviously isn't. His name is Jake. About this tall--" Lina held a hand up around the height of his head. "Brown hair, at least when he left. He was wearing glasses when he was pulled in, but I don't know if they got broken. I need him back as soon as possible."

Lina was going to have to apologize to everyone for this later. This was awful.

[Finley McTaggart]

Subjects? What? Finley didn't like that beaten-down look the other two suddenly had, didn't like it one little bit. It didn't feel like it was time to start shooting, though.

Even so he drew his revolver, letting it dangle in one hand at his side, stepping forward to more directly support Lina if shit started going down. He doubted any of these others could out-shoot him if it came to speed.