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[doubled_speed]

[Enjoy the screen coming alive with Tommy, local fast person. The world beyond him is a blur of sparkles. With the way his hair is going in the wind, he clearly was running somewhere.]

Okay, two things on the current state of the world.

I've repeated my test to try and and get to the new blinking light. Like Cayde said, someone's fucking with us. It doesn't matter how long or how fast I run at the thing. It's always the same distance away. Which, you know, wouldn't be so bad if it was reality warping, or like world maps in old school video games where you're actually just circling the world in an impossible loop or something.

No, the amount of distance you walk toward the thing is how far you need to come back. So at the moment, I'd seriously discourage expeditions, guys, gals, and all other designations. If that thing is just as far away when I've gone fifty miles, it's not something we can get to by traditional means.

[The colors behind him blurring on the screen now take on a decidedly pink tinge. Yes! He's getting into a fucking zone of hearts.]

In other news. No. I am NOT responsible for the glitter. But FUCK it makes me look amazing I bet. If you see a cloud of sparkles in the distance, that's me. Or is about to be me by you. Can any of you communications people set up, like, a network thing? That pings my phone off yours, like a GPS? So I don't accidentally go blazing past someone and leave them covered in a cloud of my sparkling dust?

Not that some of you wouldn't look amazing in rainbows and hearts and stars. You know, in my flawless opinion.

Comments

[kyley_b]

My mother would be so proud.

[Tommy has a really nice smile.]

And that happens in adolescence. Jeez. That must have been a shock. Same with your twin?

[doubled_speed]

[Of course he does. He's made to exude confidence, because if he did anything else he'd think too much and just remember that he hated himself a bit.]

Oh it was a hell of a shock. A lot of things happened at once. And you'd have to ask Billy. I wasn't around when he manifested.

[kyley_b]

[It has the side effect of making Kyle wonder if he'd needed braces as a kid.]

Well, is his hair white?

[doubled_speed]

[Dude, mutations really help for a superior bodily form.]

Nope. Black.

[kyley_b]

So however it happened the physical changes were different. Which since you don't have the same powers makes sense. Guess that makes you fraternal and not identical.

Well, the white is nice. Very fashion forward or something. [Kyle, look at your hat. You don't know what fashion is.]

[doubled_speed]

My uncle has white hair. And my grandfather. Him it's probably coincidental. Pietro might be because of his powers.

[Tommy laughs.]

Yeah, here's the thing though. Beyond hair and eyes, and the fact that my body is runner fit, we're identical. Give me black hair and contacts, and you wouldn't be able to tell us apart. Magic.

[Fashion forward, huh? Nice.]

You don't know fashion. I think.

[kyley_b]

So this was all blood family you never knew? Wow. My little brother is adopted but he doesn't talk to his birth parents.

[Yeah, it's runner fit alright.] Dude, that's fucking bizarre! Contacts, too? Did your eyes change?

...okay, no. What gave me away? The fact that I look dressed to go hunting?

[doubled_speed]

Oh man...

[Tommy sighs. The guy is probably drunk enough for this now.]

They both are and aren't my blood family. And no, my eyes were always green. But the first time we were born it was with auburn hair and our eyes matched. Go on, ask the question. 'First time'?

[kyley_b]

Okay, I will: first time?

...so you were a ginger?

[doubled_speed]

Kinda sorta.

[Tommy pours himself a drink. Should just do that.]

My mom is a magic user, who warps reality a little, and a synthezoid. My mom sorta used magic and the fragments of a demon's soul to make us, without knowing about the latter part. A dark magic user thought we were part of his missing soul and took us and one really creepy situation later, we were dead. Our souls retroreincarnated though. Born again, but before we were ever born. Two different families.

[kyley_b]

So not THAT red. Dammit.

[Kyle listens, and okay, his eyebrows raise the more Tommy explains, but he doesn't DISbelieve him. Mostly it's just a lot to try and make sense of.]

So. Do your families know?

[doubled_speed]

[Yeah, not quite that red. But he's shocked to hear Kyle isn't saying it's wrong.]

The Kaplan's, Billy's family, knows. The Shepherds can die in a fire for all I care or they care. Our original, soul-family knows entirely.

[kyley_b]

...wow. Uhm. Okay, I'm sorry, it sounds like they weren't good to you.

But you do have a family now, at least.

[doubled_speed]

[Tommy just keeps a smile in place. Yeah, they were miserable.]

I do. A good one. Found and otherwise.

[kyley_b]

Good. They don't have to be blood to be family. You know, I've learned something-- [This is punctuated by a finger pointing at Tommy.] --and that's that there's some bonds that matter a lot more than genetics and history.

And I can't fucking picture you with auburn hair.

[doubled_speed]

[Tommy laughs. Yeah, this kid is hilarious with a bit of intoxication.]

Well, first of all, imagine it with curls. Apparently we had curls.

[kyley_b]

Oh fuck you, you went from an better version of my hair to THAT?! Ugh. God is a dick.

[He pulls his hat off, revealing way, way too many deep red curls.]

So at least you got off lucky THERE.

[doubled_speed]

Better?

[Tommy reaches out, fingers teasing his hair.]

Damn, that looks good. You're so lucky. My hair gets people looking at me weird, or people who have a fetish for my uncle or grandfather.

[Lucky? Tommy laughs.]

It's not good, Kyle. I get problems from my hair.

[kyley_b]

[He allows it this time, because he's drunk on fruit.]

Are you kidding?! It's like if Ronald McDonald had a Jewfro. I have a closet full of hats back home just to hide it.

But it looks so cool. And it's all silky. Why would anybody give you shit about it?

[doubled_speed]

[Well, it definitely looks nice, And Tommy approves.]

Why hide it? It's hot.

[Silky. Tommy laughs.]

I promise you, my hair is hella rough. And they do it because racism.

[kyley_b]

[Kyle chokes on the water he unfortunately chose to drink at that precise moment.]

I'm sorry, WHAT?! Dude. Don't fuck with me.

You're fucking kidding, do they not have bleach on your earth?

[doubled_speed]

A, not fucking with you. B, bleach doesn't get this color.

[Bleach yellows while it 'whitens'. Tommy's as white as snow. No roots ever show. Curtains match the carpets and whatever. It's natural. And that's weird without him being an albino.]

Like I said, uncle and grandfather. They're famous mutants.

[kyley_b]

Absolutely fucking with me, this shit is a disaster.

Bullshit, I've seen girls at school with white hair. Okay, maybe they have dark roots but still.

Ah, shit, so there's a public perception. Fuck. Well. I'm sorry. Where I'm from people would just think you're a model or something.

[doubled_speed]

Never this white.

[Tommy tweaks a curl and grins.]

You know how much less 'fucked because of winds' my hair would get if I had curls like yours? That's got more staying power than hair spray. Not that I'm not hot already, but I still think it's pretty awesome.

[Wait, what?]

Model?

[kyley_b]

How would YOU know, huh? You're not from my dimension. So there.

I assure you all that would happen is that you'd wind up with one huge knot instead of something you might be able to comb out.

Yeah, dude. Models are all like... you know, they can have unusual hair it adds to the appeal