hadriel_logs | Event Log: Dead Ringers

Entry tags:

Event Log: Dead Ringers

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Dead Ringers event!
Where: All around the city
When: January 16th-January 25th
Warnings: Evil doubles, so we can assume manipulation, violence, murder, and maybe some nasty words

Everything seems normal on the morning of the 16th - actually, everything seems normal about the city for the entirety of this event. Nothing is strange, nothing is obviously wrong. Well, except that the population has mysteriously doubled, and the new residents each look exactly like one of the old residents. So weird! Definitely not ominous at all.

At least until your new double gets down to business. After all, their only goal is to ruin your life, and that can take any form. Smashing your favorite coffee cup? Telling your worst enemy they're right? Kissing someone else in front of your girlfriend? Brutally murdering you and then hiding your body in a closet so they can more effectively destroy your life? The possibilities are truly endless, and the only way to protect yourself is to kill your double first. They're not really open to negotiation, after all - but they sure might pretend to be in order to trick you.

So watch your back, and try to make sure that really is your best friend and not an evil clone masquerading as them. Boy, that would be awkward. If you can stick it out until January 25th, good for you! But if you didn't manage to and your double survives until the end - well, just as a final 'fuck you', there's a chance you'll come back to life and remember every awful thing your double did. Hey, at least that'll make it easier to fix, right?

► This log covers January 16th-January 25th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If your evil clone happens to take you out, please let us know here, and remember that you will not revive until the event is over.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[a: evil twin (open)]

[Adam's double is not in the city for very long - his days are numbered, and that number ticks down incredibly quick. But for the first couple days of the event, he can be found around the city.

If you happen to be at the clinic, you may come across him organizing supplies. Or at least that's what it appears to be - in fact, he's putting everything in exactly the wrong place, making vital medical supplies just that much more difficult to find in an emergency. Petty? Yes, and in just the way the real Adam would never be. But unless you look closely, it'll simply look like he's doing his job.

Otherwise, you might meet him on the streets. Adam has been in the city for more than a year, he knows his way around. It's not uncommon for him to help newcomers with directions, help people find shelter, direct them to the clinic. And his double is so ready to be helpful too. If he sees someone who looks confused or upset, he'll approach.]

Hey, are you okay?

[How nice of him. Naturally, whether you run into Adam's double on the streets or in the clinic, he'll miss no opportunity to destroy your opinion of his original - and, if possible, to make you feel bad about yourself, too. Or hey. Punch you in the face, if it seems like a good idea.]

[b: does this count as murder or suicide (closed to ronan)]

[Something is going on. Adam knows that much, though more than that he can't be sure about. Whatever it is, though, it's making him uncomfortable. But there are no monsters rampaging through the streets, nothing obvious - so he'll continue living his life. There's really nothing else to be done, after all.

He usually goes to the orchard around this time, to tend to the trees and bushes and to collect fresh fruit for their house. So he's going to go, as he would normally, but - if something is going on, he'd rather not be alone. Maybe nothing will happen, but Adam would always rather be safe. And it's not so strange for him to go with Ronan. They spend so much time together.

The walk to the orchard is peaceful enough. The city seems fine. The orchard is peaceful too, and Adam's shoulder relax a little. He'd rather not let on that he was worried.]

Maybe we can find some of the weird egg-shaped ones that taste like strawberries.

[c: post-self murder (open)]

[This has not been such a very good week. Adam doesn't particularly want to be at home, and while he's probably safe enough out in the city - his double is dead, after all - he doesn't want to tempt fate by wandering around. His usual haunts, the orchard and the clinic, are also places he'd rather avoid for now.

So he goes to the library instead, where he hasn't spent much time since his early days in the city. After realizing how few of the books were in any language he understood, he focused his energy on more useful things. Right now, though, it's a quiet, calm place where he might have a chance to order his thoughts.

He pages through a confusing book, lacking any sort of concentration, until his reverie is interrupted by a sound. He looks up then, brow wrinkling, instantly tense.]

Hello?

[Ronan isn't stupid. He can sense that something has shifted in the city and, more importantly, he can sense that something is up with Adam. He's learned by now, to trust Parrish's instincts, and so when Adam is feeling paranoid, Ronan can feel his own brand of anxiety ticking up in the back of his head.

But the orchard is calming- it's familiar, if nothing else, and it seems like Adam is doing his best to relax around him, so Ronan tries to do the same, and glances around the trees, his lips pursed in thought.]

I don't know if they're in season.

[But then again, what is in season here? What are seasons in this place? Ronan knows a bit about farming, but Sorrow's odd alien trees seem to defy all of his knowledge.]

We might get lucky.

[It's not totally impossible, anyway. Adam starts looking around, inspecting the trees to see how well they're doing, picking some of the fruit. He's still alert and observant of what's around him, though, which is why he sees the movement down the row of trees.

It's probably nothing. He goes still anyway, peering down the row. He hopes it's nothing.

And for a moment, that's what it is. There's a long moment of silence before the other Adam steps out of the trees and walks toward them. His gait is just like Adam's, careful but subtly confident, and his eyes are sharp. He's smiling, though, which is still not something terribly common for the real Adam, not unless Ronan is around.

But, after all, Ronan is around. Adam realizes that and straightens up, stiff, stepping between his double and his boyfriend. He doesn't know what might happen, but he knows it won't be good.]

[Ronan doesn't quite register what's happening until it's too late. He sees Adam there, out of the corner of his eye, and he's further away than Ronan thought he was, but he hasn't really been paying attention because of his own search for the ripe fruit- but then he sees Adam again, closer, where he'd expected him to be, and Ronan straightens up, alarmed and focusing the two of them in his same field of vision.

This is- not ordinary. Ronan can only blink stupidly for a moment, before he reaches out and touches Adam's shoulder- the real Adam, the Adam he remembers coming here with. It seems like he's put immediately on the defensive, and while Ronan doesn't think that anything like this can be good, it also feels wrong to distrust something that looks so much like the person he loves.]

Wait.

[He takes a deep breath then, focusing on the boy in front of them.]

...who- or what- the fuck are you?

[Adam, on the other hand, distrusts his double instantly.

It's strange looking at it and knowing it's him. Is that how he looks to other people? And what does it mean that this creature is here, with them? Adam doesn't know, but he can't think that it's a good thing. Maybe after all those years of looking at his own face in the mirror and quietly disliking it, it's impossible to treat his double with any kind of trust.

The double looks between the two of them, brow furrowing, distress flitting through his eyes. He addresses his words to Ronan, not Adam.]

Ronan, come on. I'm Adam. What are you doing with that - thing?

[It's the oldest trick in the evil clone book. Try to sow confusion by implying the original is the double. Adam's double is as smart as him, he knows it probably won't work, but it'll be interesting to see how Ronan reacts.]

[The response startles a laugh out of him, a sound that's more hysterical than actually funny. Ronan looks from the boy next to him to the boy across from him wildly, and his fingers move to Adam's wrist, holding him tight, like if he lets go then he'll forget which one he came here with.

That's not true, not really, but it's starting to feel that way.]

What, both of you?

[He takes a deep breath- this is unprecedented, but not entirely outside of the realm of possibility, all things considered. Something like guilt and fear and horror flood him all at once though, when he realizes-]

...did I dream you?

[Would he even know?]

[Adam's double looks sad for a moment, like Ronan has said something that really hurt him.]

You don't remember?

[The real Adam doesn't like this at all. His spine is ramrod-straight, his shoulders tense, and he isn't moving from between Ronan and this person who looks like him. It can't be real, it's a trick of this place - but for a moment Adam, too, wonders if Ronan dreamed this other Adam.

But no. He would have known. To dream a whole person - Adam doesn't always feel the things Ronan dreams, but something like that would drain the ley line significantly. He would know.

He thinks.

The other Adam speaks again.]

It was a good dream. You didn't want to let me go, so you brought me back.

No.

[But he doesn't sound sure about that- more horrified than anything, as if his worst fears are all coming to life. Ronan shakes his head, not even attempting to get in front of the Adam next to him for some form of protection, and instead simply stares at the Adam a ways away, scouring his brain for any of the recent dreams he may have had about him.

There's so many. Even with Adam next to him on most nights, Ronan still finds himself dreaming about the other boy with a clockwork regularity. He's accidentally taken things from his dreams before, but he's been so careful- so careful not to take anybody.

How could he have been so stupid?]

I couldn't, I- [Ronan squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and swallows everything down- the dread, the apprehension, the sudden blinding wave of guilt- and he lifts his head again to stare down the double with the smallest nod.]

...okay. Okay, this is fucked up and I didn't mean to, but- okay. We'll figure it out.

Ronan, no.

[It's the real Adam this time, because he can't let Ronan believe this. He can't let him think this is his fault.]

You didn't do this. I would have felt it - you know I can feel the ley line surge when you make something big. I would have known. I didn't feel anything.

[Adam is not one hundred percent sure of this, but he says it as if he is. He might doubt - he might have some uncertainty - but he doesn't want Ronan to have any doubt in his mind. And though he may not be certain, he does think that's true. He used to feel it before, a surge and then a weakening. Not when Ronan takes small things, that barely registers, though if he tried he could probably feel that too. But large things - that's undeniable.

He would have felt it. He has to believe that.]

This is something else, it wasn't you.

[He keeps himself between Ronan and the other Adam. If the other Adam isn't a dream - which he isn't - he's something else. And whatever way Adam looks at it, that can't be good, especially considering the way his double is trying to get under Ronan's skin.

His double is not ready to give up just yet. He tries to keep Ronan's attention, to confuse him more, a look of concern and fear on his face:]

He's lying to you. He felt it, he knows what I am. He's lied before, hasn't he?

[He looks to Adam when he speaks, quiet, trying to make sense of it. He doesn't know what this other boy could be if not a dream, but he wants to believe that he wouldn't do something so stupid and irresponsible, even if all signs seem to point toward it.

Ronan's gaze shifts over toward the second Adam when he tries to take over, his brows drawing together for a moment, before he reaches for Adam's hand, clutching his fingers tightly around the other boy's.]

I trust him.

[Adam could be lying, sure, but he knows how much Ronan hates lies. Ronan is aware of Adam's tendency toward brutal logic, and he's willing to admit that putting unwavering trust in him could result in being lied to- but more than anything, Ronan believes that Adam's ends are his ends and Adam's justification of the means is also his. He trusts in Adam to find the best solution in a way that's a hundred times more nuanced and thoughtful than Ronan's own violent means.

He doesn't want to think that Adam is lying, but even if he is, then Ronan trusts that it's for good enough reason- and so, trusts him regardless.]

Let me trust you, [he finally decides to say, the words thick on his tongue as he steps forward, shoulder to shoulder with Adam, never taking his eyes off of the double.] And don't fucking lie to me. What are you?

[Hearing Ronan say that he trusts Adam is - well, not a huge relief, because Adam already believed that he did, but even so he is thankful to hear it. He doesn't want Ronan to doubt himself, he doesn't want Ronan to believe he would do something like that. All the more because Adam is starting to get the creeping suspicion that this isn't going to end well.

He stays quiet, waiting to see what his double will say. The other Adam straightens up, looking hurt.]

I'm just a copy. But I don't want to be - I want to be more than that. Ronan, please. Help me.

[He approaches them, walking closer, and the real Adam stiffens, watching him warily. He doesn't know what the point of it is, but he doesn't like the way this version of him is trying to fuck with Ronan's head. Adam is here to mitigate it, but he can easily think of what might have happened if he weren't. This is dangerous. This other Adam - Ronan might want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but Adam thinks that's even more dangerous. He takes hold of Ronan's arm.]

Don't listen to him. We should go. This isn't safe.

[Ronan is even more unsure, and his posture is wary as the other Adam moves closer. Adam- the one next to him- is gripping at his arm, insisting that something is wrong, and... well, of course something is wrong. There's another Adam in front of them both, and he's admitting to being a dream that Ronan must have taken out- but then, the real Adam next to him doesn't believe it.

What's the alternative? What else could he be but a dream?

He's lied to you before, hasn't he?

In the end, it's the cruelty of that. Adam may have guilt and regret and self loathing, but Ronan would never intentionally dream a creature that would hurt him- not even if the creature is wearing his own face. (He remembers though, an Adam with a mask, an Adam that ripped off his own skin- but that's different, that's a dream doing it to itself... right?)

He shakes his head once, pulling back, away from the impostor.]

What do you even want me to do? [He asks, ignoring the request to leave, but not the wariness- Ronan knows that Adam is uncertain and so his tone now is suspicious, aggressive.]

I can't change what you are.

Oh, Ronan.

[The other Adam looks worried now, even distraught, shaking his head.]

I know you're loyal, I know you want to stand by him, but - I just don't understand. You know he's going to leave you in the end. This is a great little honeymoon, but when you go home he's going to college and he won't look back. You'll be alone. I know it's true. I am him.

[That's quite enough for Adam - the real Adam. This started out unsettling and it's only getting worse. He can't look at this thing, this creature that looks like him, and watch it playing so hard on Ronan's fears. He has to do something, but Ronan seems unwilling to leave.]

You're not going to accomplish anything. I'm right here, I'm going to tell him everything you're saying is a lie.

[He addresses his double directly, and the double only looks at him, and for a moment turns its attention from Ronan to speak to Adam:]

Please. You know it's all true.

[The words cut through him, preying on his fears rather than his logic. He knows Adam loves him and he knows that Adam wouldn't turn his back on him- he knows that Adam will come back, he knows that Adam will move in with him at the Barns when this is all over and help him around the farm and help him raise Opal and live with him in their peaceful eternity- he knows that.

But at his core, Ronan is afraid to be alone. He's afraid to be left standing there, holding all the pieces while everyone he's ever loved walks away from him. Adam is going to leave, he knows that, his dreams know that, they've told him that Adam won't come back- but he can't believe it. He won't. He might have been happy alone if he'd never known Parrish, but a future without him now is not a prospect that Ronan is willing to entertain.

He doesn't believe it and, in not believing it, he knows he's being lied to.]

He's coming back.

[Ronan says firmly. In the face of lies, as always, he finds his anger beginning to mount, even against a creature with Adam's face. Ronan looks at the boy next to him- the real boy- his eyes narrowed into a glare, and he offers him a small nod, I believe you, before rounding on the duplicate.]

But you can fuck off.

Edited 2017-01-29 15:46 (UTC)

[It's an unutterable relief to see Ronan so easily and completely take his side, back him up like that. Believe him. Adam will come back, he always will, he's always intended to. But this creature with his face is trying to get under Ronan's skin. Trying to upset him, or trying to make him doubt the real Adam - Adam can't be sure which, because it's the same result in the end.

His shoulders relax a little as the double's eyes narrow. Its countenance doesn't change, exactly - it still has Adam's cadence, his bearing and his speech patterns, the faintest hint of a Henrietta accent. But with the rough finality of Ronan's words, Adam's imposter is frustrated, annoyed at the mischance of running into Ronan with the real Adam here.]

This would have been a lot easier if you were alone. It's clear you believe anything he says - must feel good to have that much power over you.

[If he can't make Ronan doubt Adam, he'll do whatever else he can to drive a wedge between them. Adam's double is as smart as he is - he knows the game is probably up. He knows Ronan is unlikely to listen to him and Adam is unlikely to let him get away with anything. But he's here for a reason, and he isn't going to abandon it so easily.]

I'd have put it to much better use, of course.

[Ronan brushes off the comment like it's nothing- if anything, it makes him stand up a little taller, prouder of the effect that Adam has on him. Unlike Adam himself, Ronan has never taken offense to the insinuation that he is owned, and he doesn't mind people thinking that now. It's not entirely true of course- Adam would never want to control him the way Gansey sometimes does, and Adam is always so careful to approach this as equals, rather than putting either of them in a position of power.

Ronan understands and appreciates that, but it doesn't change the fact that the insults to the contrary don't bother him at all.]

Too fucking bad. Are you a shapeshifter?

[That's still the important part of this whole thing, Ronan thinks. Figuring out just what this thing is- if it's something that either of them caused, or something more sinister entirely. Maybe it won't change anything, but Ronan would feel much better knowing that there isn't something out there wearing Adam's face 24/7.]

You're dumb as fuck, so you're definitely not a clone of Parrish.

[Adam's double rolls his eyes. His voice is dry, almost amused.]

I'm the new, improved version. You can throw all the insults you want, but if he hadn't been here, you'd be eating up every word I speak. We could have owned this place, you and I. You never use your abilities the way I know you could.

[He nods his head at the real Adam.]

He knows, too. He thinks about it sometimes. What you would do for him, and what he could do with that.

[Adam's shoulders tense. He hopes Ronan doesn't believe that - at least, not the way it sounds, as if Adam is plotting things, as if he has some hidden desire to use Ronan's powers for his own gain. It's true he's thought about the things Ronan could do if he wanted to, but it's not something Adam would ever take advantage of - would ever want to take advantage of.

He thinks Ronan knows that. But hearing it like this, in his own voice from his own lips, is unpleasant and dangerous.]

[Ronan stiffens just a little at that, we could have owned this place, because it sounds like somebody he knew and that person isn't Adam at all. It sends chills down the back of his neck- not because of the implication that Adam has thought about the potential of his dreaming, but at the double's willingness to use it in such a way.]

That's not what it's for.

[He finally says, his voice a little hushed. Sure, there's weapons- there's destruction and things he could use to rule this tiny little cave- but Ronan has never cared much about that. He just wants a few pots and pans to keep them eating, an instrument to learn and play, some medicine for the clinic. Ronan has never been one for aspirations and he thinks that Cabeswater prefers is that way.

After all, look what happened to Kavinsky.]

He knows that, [Ronan is confident about that at least, and he glances toward Adam with his chin tilted up.] He wouldn't abuse it.

[There's a pause though, and Ronan reaches back into the hem of his jeans, his fingers tightening around the hilt of the pistol before he pulls it out, keeping it aimed at the ground for now. He doesn't really think that he could use it- he's never really shot at anything and meant it- but it's there in his hand, a threat in and of itself.]

People who think shit like that tend to wind up dead.

You really want to hurt me? But I love you, Ronan.

[The double is careful to look distraught, upset at the thought, because he knows it will bother Ronan. And it's not so untrue - he has all of Adam's memories, all the pieces that make Adam who he is. He knows why Adam loves Ronan, what lead to that feeling, the intensity of it, though the feeling itself is expressed in an entirely different, far more destructive and manipulative way. That doesn't mean it isn't there at all - though, of course, the double will only use that emotion for its own ends.]

You could do so much. We could. I'd take very good care of you. You could be my pet. Just like the real one, right?

[He smiles, then, and it looks far more like the real Adam than it should when those words are coming from his mouth. A little cautious, just a touch uncertain. Like he's not quite sure he should be smiling at all, like he's still wary of happiness.

The most disturbing thing about this, for the real Adam, is that. The way his double still looks like him, talks like him, even while saying things he would never say. How much of the feeling behind that is real, how much is just a show? He knows Ronan would never believe this thing, he knows that whatever it feels can't be real, he knows that it's probably lying to get what it wants - whatever that is. But it's too dangerous. All he can think about is what could happen if this thing ever found Ronan on his own. It looks just like Adam, and it's more than clear that it can imitate him. Even if Ronan caught on, it might be too late, he might get hurt - or worse.

His eyes flicker to the gun in Ronan's hand, and he speaks before he can convince himself not to, low and urgent:]

Ronan, give me the gun.

Adam Parrish | open & closed

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