Let's Talk About... Wait, What? [Oberon]

[Oberon Sparks]

Okay, Rose not having a problem with him having a power was the best thing he could possibly have hoped for. Having her be into it, particularly in that way, was so far out of left field he wasn't even considering it yet. That was just so far outside what he typically thought possible that it just didn't occur to him.

Oberon put his arm around his girlfriend again when she hugged him. This was weird enough; he didn't need her feeling bad about anything. It wasn't her fault he hadn't told her that there were five other people who looked and sounded exactly like him running around town at times. "It won't confuse anyone, I promise. Most of the time, we all kind of respond to everything." And they did. Between themselves, and Jude sometimes, they rarely spoke. Words just weren't needed, because in the end, they were each just a part of the whole. It was other people who got confused, not them.

Rose's next questions were met with a low, exasperated groan from Oberon, a nervous chuckle from Ben, and an amused grin from Obie. The two duplicates looked at each other for a moment, then Obie answered her. "No, our little Oberon has never had a real girlfriend. Or a boyfriend."

"Yeah," Ben chimed in, "That would be Obie."

"Right." The first duplicate nodded, then continued, "Oberon's straight, but I think you guessed that already. So is Ron, Benny, and Ben. Though Ben is..." Obie held out his hand, palm down, and wobbled it slightly in a way that most people would interpret as "slightly gay." After receiving a sharp elbow in the side from the man in question, Obie continued, "But I'm gay, and Ronnie....well, I think you just have to meet her." Yes, Oberon had told her about the duplicates, but nothing about their personalities. Perhaps Rose would best be served by just meeting Ronnie herself.

No, the duplicates weren't going anywhere, particularly after Rose very clearly said she wanted them to stay. In theory, they were risking being reabsorbed, but they didn't actually think Oberon would do that at this point. Like it or not, they were out, and Rose knew about them, and if he reabsorbed them now, Rose would know he made them disappear because they were just embarrassing for him to have around. "No," Oberon said with a deep sigh, "no, they don't have to go..."

At least when it came to her, he was a pushover.

[Jude Wilde]

Jude usually didn't arrive home at this time of the evening. Usually he was home when the school day was done - all classes ended by 4, so he was generally inside the firehouse and playing video games with one of the duplicates by that point. Unless he had to do something, like paperwork, or conferences, all that boring teacher stuff. But today, he had had a special training session with one particularly hard-to-train student that lasted for two hours. It was a fairly successful training period, but by the end of it they had gone to the kitchens and stolen popsicles, but the student didn't seem to mind that. In fact, most students like that Jude was a laid-back trainer.

But finally, the teacher was trailing down the street, a grin on his face, flip-flips in hand, marveling in the last bits of warmth the sun was giving off before it slid down the horizon within the next couple of hours. The brunette gave off a slightly smoky smell from a slight mishap with the pyrokenetic he was working with, but he wasn't too worried that he would suddenly burst into flames in time soon. Most of the time his mimicking wore off within in hour or so. Though it hadn't been an hour yet, he sort of ignored that factor.

Turning around the corner and hopping up the steps, he pushed the door open and took a sharp breath inward, before yelling, "Honey, I'm hooome!" He shoved the door shut with his barefoot, tossed the flip-flops into the hallway and slammed the backpack he had on onto the counter. The smell of food waifed in from the outdoors, the cracked windows letting in the scent of burning coals and cooking meat. He heard his Puli panting heavily, probably from running around the yard so much. "Ben, where are you? I'm gonna kick your ass in MarioKart!" He yelled up the stairs, not spotting any of the copies wandering around. Well that was odd. Glancing into the living room, and still seeing no copies, he wondered why they weren't roaming around. "Huh," He scratched the back of his head, noting the paused game on the television and the abandoned controller on the coffee table. A sudden prickling feeling roamed down into his finger tips, a burning sensation was the only preface to a sudden burst of flames coming from his fore arm. "Whoa!" The mime shouted, stumbling backward and waving his arm, trying to extinguish the flames. "Oberoooon!" He shouted, making his way through the kitchen and jumping outside where the man was grilling, he frowned, "My arm's on fiiiire," He said, waving the appendage again with no avail. He took no noticed to the two duplicates standing beside the original.

But he did take notice to the unfamiliar black-haired woman standing against the fencing, "Oh hi, you must be Rose who likes apple and Monty Python!" Kind of a long title, but it's the first things he learned about the woman. "Nice to meet you," He offered the hand currently on fire, before noticing that it was, in fact, engulfed in flames before frowning once more and trying to shake the fire away again.

[Rose McGovern]

Rose couldn’t help her interest in that way. If she had clones or duplicates or whatever they were, she’d probably get up to all kinds of fun things. Either that, or send one to work while she lounged all day. Yeah, that would probably be a good option. Send one to work so she could play.

She snuggled into his side, honestly not feeling bad about any of this. In fact, she was happy. There were no more secrets between them now. And she couldn’t wait to meet the other three duplicates. “That’s good. So, are they easy to tell apart? I mean, I’m looking at all three of you, and it’s really hard.” She wanted to be able to tell who she was talking to, whether it was Ron or Benny or Oberon. (She so, so didn’t want to kiss the wrong one. Unless there was a threesome involved.)

The duplicates’ (and Oberon’s) reactions to her question were absolutely priceless. Ever better was their answers. “Never? Aww!” That earned Oberon another hug, and a gentle kiss to his neck. “It’s okay, Ben.” She listened to Obie explain, giggling a little at his description of Ben. “Well, he did kiss Oberon.” Sorry Ben, Oberon isn’t the only one she’ll tease. One thing that did get her interest was the mention of a her. A female version of Oberon? She wanted to see this. “Oberon! You didn’t tell me one was a girl! Can I meet her? Please?” She wasn’t above whining, obviously.

She might have been happy about the fact that Oberon was letting the duplicates stay. But the call from inside the house made her pause and glance up. The voice didn’t sound quite right for another duplicate. Then, she grinned. Jude. It had to be Oberon’s roommate. “He calls you honey?” That was too perfect. She’d expected to meet him, but... suddenly this meeting was a little... weird.

Yes, there was Jude. (At least, she was assuming it was Jude.) But his arm was on fire. “Oh my God!” Rose let go of Oberon just enough to step behind him. It wasn’t that she was afraid of fire, or even of Jude. It was the fact that his arm was on fire. “Um... yeah. I guess that’s me. Hi.” She’d shake his hand, only it was, y’know, on fire. “Oberon? Is this... uh... normal?

[Oberon Sparks]

Now that Rose had confirmed that she was, indeed, his girlfriend, it seemed like she was kissing him a lot more. Which would have been awkward, if they weren't just in front of Ben and Obie. Actually, Oberon was a bit proud, because it was usually one of the other two who had a date.

Ben blushed slightly, but it wasn't a quarter of the amount Oberon usually did. "Hey, I only did that because you asked and I lost rock paper scissors."

"And that's not a kiss anyway," Obie added, with a grin, "That's just practice."

And again, Oberon wanted to absorb them and have done with it.

"Honey, I'm hooome!"

That man needed a muzzle.

"Not a lot. He's kidding." Oberon had hoped that he would be able to avoid a meetup between his girlfriend and his roommate, at least for a few more days. He had barely just introduced her to the strangest part of his life, and he wanted her to be able to digest that a bit. (Unless she was still thinking about him kissing Ben. Though Ben had been the one doing the kissing, he would like me to point out.) She didn't need a double-dose of crazy today. As much as he loved his best friend, now probably wasn't the time to...

And Jude's hand was on fire. Because life apparently didn't have anything better to do to day than fuck with him. Oberon winced as his roommate waved his hand erratically trying to put out the flames. Mimics pick up traits along with abilities, so he knew that he wasn't going to get seriously burned, but still. Ow. In a flat voice, he deadpanned, "Stop, drop and roll?"

Outside of that, he had nothing to offer. Instinctively, he took a small step to the side, putting Rose a little more behind him. He trusted Jude, in general, but wasn't going to risk his girlfriend freaking out any more.

Until Jude started running his mouth. He didn't care how well-received the glare he shot Jude would be. "No, it isn't normal, but it's not unusual either. His power is mimicry and sometimes he picks up stuff he can't control. Rose, this is Jude, the infamous roommate. And yeah, Jude, this is Rose."

Though the other two had already kind of confirmed it, was he supposed to be making introductions now?

Obie, because he was both cruel and unusual, gave Jude a wide grin. It was a look that frequently came across as creepy to Oberon, but that was because he rarely saw himself make that face. But what the duplicate said was worse, "Yeah, this is Rose. It turns out she does exist."

[Jude Wilde]

Jude grinned at Oberon's obvious exasperation toward his antics - he was used to it, Jude knew well, but the fact that his arm happened to catch fire the fire time he met his girlfriend..? Yeah, that took some skill. The mime waved at the girl once his roommate did confirm that she was who Jude suspected her to be. His Puli, Staples, was flopped on the ground panting, his ears purked as he looked at his master. A small whining sound was detected from the dog, as he registered that yes, this would probably be a bad thing had his master not already been completely mental. Really, this dog goes through so much.

The boyish adult pondered his best friend's solution - that was what they had been taught in school, so it was probably the best bet. But Jude really didn't feel like laying on the ground right now. So instead, he did the next best thing, which consisted of bounding over to the side of the firehouse and turning on the water outlet, and soaking himself in the chilly tap water. Which, in his mind, was more effective and far more enjoyable than stop-drop-rolling.

His t-shirt dripping with cool water, he scratched his head and grinned up at the gothic woman. "Nice to meet you Rose!" The oddly innocent smile could melt any heart. Or at least he thought so. "I'm sorry, I was working with a pyroken-... Oberon, did you tell her about Hammel yet?" Jude stopped in the middle of his sentence, realising that it'd be bad to mention those other sort of private matters around someone outside the school - they were obviously instructed not to do so under any circumstance.

"Uhm... Do you ... like... turtles?" He asked, trying to save the awkwardness of the sentence and only succeeding in making it worse. But he was back to smiling again, so he was obviously unfazed by the unusual air settling around them.

[Rose McGovern]

Rose was, by nature, an affectionate person. Kissing, hugging, randomly pouncing on her friends, it was all part of her. Oberon would have to get used to it.

“Aw, Ben, are you sulking?” She grinned over at the duplicate. Secretly, she was thrilled that any of them were willing to do something like that, on command. Yes, Ben had just scored points. Of course, so had Oberon. For not sending the duplicates away.

Just kidding? That was no fun. Much as Oberon might have wanted to avoid this meeting for a little while, she was ecstatic. Finding out her boyfriend was a meta-human with a wicked power, and now getting to meet the roommate he’d talked about so much? This was a great day. Double dose of crazy? Bring it on.

For everyone’s sakes, Rose had been hoping that this was semi-normal. That Jude didn’t have a habit of lighting his own limbs on fire for entertainment (or shock value, she wasn’t sure). Though she wasn’t scared, she couldn’t say she wasn’t relieved when Oberon moved a little more in front of her.

Apparently, it was a good thing they lived in the old firehouse. She watched in surprise as he bounded away and soaked himself with the water. Well, it was a solution. Perhaps not the best solution, but a solution. At least she had Oberon as a human shield against the cold spray. (Sorry, buddy.)

“Mimicry?” She could only imagine the fun a person could have with that. “That is so cool!” Apparently nothing was going to actually faze her today. Not duplicates, not Hammel, not... okay, Jude’s hand on fire had been a little weird. At least it was out now.

And damn, Jude had an adorable little smile. “Hi, Jude. Nice to meet you to. Now you’re not... y’know. Flaming.” Yes, she’s well aware of what she just said. The little smirk on her face proved it. His explanation made sense, however short it was, but she had to laugh as he trailed off and tacked on the question. “It’s okay. He told me about it.” She gestured vaguely to his duplicates. “And I got to meet Ben and Obie.” Hopefully, she’d still get to meet the others. Particularly Ronnie. As for his question, well... “I like turtles. But I like things with fur more.” Like Staples. And Ellie. And Cricket.

Back to normalcy. Well, as normal as things seemed to get around here. Rose glanced up at Oberon. “I think you’re burning the burgers.”