open } take the time to know yourself not a clone or a fraction of someone else

[cloned]

Who: Kon, George, Dipper, YOU!
Where: Bathhouse
When: over the course of the event
Rating: PG-13 tops, probably
Summary: Exploring a strange place is always a good idea. Definitely. Especially when there are weird bizarro shadows lurking around. But what's the worst that can happen, right?
The Story:

[Starters in the comments! If none of the scenarios work for me, let me know and I can put something personalized.]

Comments

Kon - shadow

[cloned]

Kon obviously isn't the type to stay where it's safe. He's too interested in exploring. And it's not long before he comes across… someone familiar. He stops, freezing in place.

"No. No way."

The shadow version of Kon smirks, bald head gleaming. "Surprised? You shouldn't be. This is who I was made to be. The son of the father that wants me. I am Conner Luthor."

Kon shakes his head, glaring. "No! That's not me. I'm a hero."

"I'm no hero." Shadow Conner laughs. "That's Superman. I may share his DNA, but I'm not him. I'm a copy, and I'm nothing like him! He's just perfect in every way. Lex, though, Lex isn't perfect. Lex hates Superman. Just. Like. Me."

Kon - safe zone

[cloned]

Once Kon's shadow is defeated, he stays out, flying around and patrolling for people in need of help. He's a hero, even if he sometimes has villainous thoughts, even if some of his DNA comes from a villain. He's not about to let his dark thoughts rule him.

He also spends a lot of time in the safe zone, comforting friends or helping people who might have gotten hurt. These fights aren't just dangerous physically. They're dangerous mentally too, if they're anything like his fight. The least he can do is listen to anyone who wants to talk.

[slapfight]

Peridot doesn't seem to need comfort. Or maybe she does- she is currently sprawled on the ground with her arms and legs splayed out, staring at the ceiling and groaning. She has yet to grab Lapis and decide to go on an adventure. This is the story of how she came by that decision.

But first it's time to annoy other people with her whining.

"This is so boring."

[cloned]

"Boring's better than dead, shorty." Kon has not been staying in the safe zone, but then again, Kon's a superhero. He can take a lot more than most people. Sure, he knows Peridot is less likely to actually die than to just poof into a rock, but still.

[slapfight]

Peridot hrmphs. "As if any of those Shadow clods have the capabilities of destabilizing my form. The only reason I'm still here is because it's pointless to engage the event."

It'll be over soon.

But not soon enough.

Hrgh.

[cloned]

"What do you mean, pointless?" Kon gestures out towards the rest of the bathhouse. "People need help out there."

[slapfight]

"It's just Wonderland's latest experiment." She pushes herself up onto her elbows, explaining the situation as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The only way to avoid becoming caught up in it is to simply not engage. The people out there are just making problems for themselves."

Georgia (and Shaun) - shadow

[choosetruth]

It's too damn hot. Georgia, normally as covered up as she can manage, is down to a tanktop, and she's still miserable. So she takes Shaun and goes in search of something that can cool her down.

She's not sure what she's expecting to find, but what she does find is herself. Or at least, someone who looks a whole lot like herself. Except she'd never let herself be seen like this, crouched in a corner, arms wrapped around herself, eyes uncovered by sunglasses, tears streaming down her face… the woman in front of Georgia looks weak. Exposed. Vulnerable.

"I'll never be good enough," the shadow says. "Ninety-seven percent isn't enough. I'll never live up to the original. Everyone knows it." She looks up, meeting Shaun's eyes with her big, wide brown ones. "Especially you. That's why you're still talking to her."

[beatupgrass]

Rocket's fur is damp and this so absolutely miserable for him, he's had moments where he's had to stop and pant like a damn dog. Bathhouses were not made for small furry mammals. This means he's dragging a bit behind George and Shaun, so he only catches the tail end of it, and doesn't quite notice the crouched figure at first.

"The hell, Georgie? I know it's hot, but now ain't the time to start-" He stops short, realizing that there's a third person in this party, and the reality is almost worse than the fact that, for a hot minute, he thought George was having an ironic breakdown.

"... The hell is this?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun is trying to ignore the shadow George, though it's hard with her looking so hurt. He's never been very good at letting that kind of thing go--especially from George. he glances over at Rocket when he asks about her. "Fucked up. That's what it is."

[choosetruth]

"It's nonsense." George scowls, turning away brusquely. She's uncomfortable enough around other people showing this much emotion. When it's herself....

She just wants to leave as quickly as possible.

The shadow has other ideas, though. "Liar," she says standing up, though her cheeks are just as tear stained as before. "But I'm always lying, aren't I? Can't tell people how bad the nightmares are, can't tell people how much I'm hurting, certainly can't tell people that I'm anything less than perfect. Even if I know in my heart it's true. I'm a mess. I'm a liar. I'm--"

"Not me," Georgia finishes, slicing a hand through the air angrily. "I don't know what you're supposed to be, but you're not me. Everyone knows I'm no liar."

[beatupgrass]

Rocket bristles a bit and reaches up to tug on Georgia's pant leg. "She clearly ain't gonna put up a fight. Let's just leave her here to feel sorry for herself."

Never mind that there's some truth in her words- he knows it because he knows his own heart and his own lies about how much is going on internally. But if he won't admit that there's something amiss inside him, he's not going to force George too.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun grits his teeth. His own Shadow had been easy enough to deal with. Since George died and he got a version of her in his head, there aren't a lot of secrets he keeps from himself anymore. It was easy to recognize the parts of himself he didn't like very much and accept them for the parts of him they were.

George's Shadow is harder to deal with. He can see how upset George is, even if she's pretending not to be, and he's finding it just as uncomfortable to face her. So he's mostly trying not to--focusing on his real sister instead, as if things weren't confusing enough for him, having more than one George around.

"Yeah. Let's go."

meme about how i heard you like ricks so i put a

[wriggedywrecked]

Honestly, fuck everything. The one upside to this event is that Rick's Shadow isn't particularly...fast. Rick could easily lose him if he wanted, and has done so. This is about the fourth time that Shadow Rick has resurface, however, and since shooting him also doesn't work, Rick has decided to accept his fate. Without actually accepting it, of course.

"It's fine if you don't want any candy. More for me."

The Shadow Rick is snacking on sugar-free Werther's as he putters after Real Rick, his walker clanking against the floor with every step.

"Literally die in a fire."

Rick is heading for some voices he heard, since maybe someone in here will just shoot him and end his suffering. No such luck, though, because it's George, with accompanying George, and also Shaun.

"Aw, fuck."

Rick comes to a stop and puts his hands on his hips, which gives Shadow Rick time enough to catch up. He squints at the gathered and shakes his bag of shitty candy.

"Any of you whippersnappers w-want a Werther's?"

you gonna roll for us, rick?

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun glances over, raising an eyebrow. ...Weird. Of course, everyone's shadow is kind of weird, it seems. "My mom told me never to take candy from strangers, and you look pretty strange, alterna-Rick."

[choosetruth]

"Everything about this situation is strange," Georgia says, eyeing the other Rick.

"Maybe I'd like candy," the shadow says. "Maybe I'd like to trust other people enough to accept things from them. Maybe I'd like to make more friends."

Georgia grits her teeth, looking up at the ceiling. "This is fucking garbage."

[wriggedywrecked]

Shadow Rick tosses a candy directly at Shaun's head.

"You bite your tongue, sonny. Is that any w-way to speak to your elders?"

"They're sugar-free, so it's like t-trying to eat a chlorine tablet."

Shadow Rick shuffles over to Shadow George and holds out the bag of candy.

"There you are, miss, t-take all you want."

"I tried shooting him and it didn't work. Whaddaya say when, when this event's over, I nuke Wonderland. Good plan, right?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"I'm not what you would call respectful when it comes to my elders, so--yeah. It is."

He turns his attention toward real Rick. "I am one hundred percent on board with this plan."

George - safe zone

[choosetruth]

She prevails eventually. She always does. She thinks she should feel better about it. Accepting herself, weaknesses and all, is supposed to be a good thing, right? But she just feels tired and a little lost. She doesn't like vulnerability, especially in herself. Accepting she has it feels more like losing than like winning.

She doesn't leave the safe zone much after that. She does what she always does when emotions are too much for her: she writes. She scribbles notes for the article she'll do when the event is all over and drinks her body weight in Coke. For once, it's not all about the caffeine, though that's a big bonus. She's just too damn hot to do anything else.

Dipper - shadow - closed to Mabel and Wirt

[krmvgivv]

Of course Dipper and Mabel would go exploring. How can they not? This place just begs for exploring. But they aren't expecting to find too much of interest.

Or at least, that's what they told Wirt, which is probably the only way they managed to get him to come along with them.

And then the sound of giggles floats down the hall. Dipper looks at the other two, then takes off running. There, at the end of the hallway is… Dipper. More or less. The kid is way more cheerful looking than Dipper ever looks. When he sees them, he produces a handful of confetti and throws it in the air.

"You found me! I knew you couldn't stay stuck with all the stuffy old grown-ups downstairs for long. You want to have fun!"

[powerofmabel]

Despite Kanji's warning, Mabel's eyes light up and her hands fly to her face. She bounces a bit in place and looks from Dipper to the alternate Dipper for a few seconds, before finally blurting, "Boy do we ever!"

She's gonna bound right up to him if Dipper and Wirt don't stop her.

[singloversing]

Wirt was not a fan of this plan at all but somehow he's here, getting dragged along by the Pines twins as usual. He doesn't even have enough time to say "Guys, I don't think this was a good idea" before suddenly Dipper is running down the hall. He...doesn't really want to run after whatever it is, but being by himself is definitely way worse.

Though...maybe not worse than running into another Dipper. He immediately tries to make up for what Mabel's said.

"N-No! No, absolutely not. We were just...passing through! W-We don't want any trouble and we definitely don't want any fun whatsoever."

[krmvgivv]

Dipper grabs the back of Mabel's sweater before she can run up to his doppelganger.

"Mabel, no. We don't know what that thing is!"

"Oh, please." Dipper's shadow giggles. "You think you're so smart but you just overthink everything all the time. Isn't it obvious? I'm you!"

[powerofmabel]

Mabel stops trying to run towards the doppelganger and looks between him and Dipper again. "I mean, he does have a point... Not about the being 'you' part though. He looks more like... boy-me. In a way that you're not boy-me."

Because she knows he's going to say it. She might not be as intelligent as he is, but she knows her brother, and she wasn't lying to Ishimaru when she says she can pretty much guess what he's going to say when she feels like it.

[singloversing]

"Actually...yeah, it's pretty uncanny," Wirt agrees, looking from one Dipper to the other. "It makes you guys look like triplets and it's super weird."

Dipper, Mabel, and this odd Mabel-Dipper who seems to be a halfway point between them.