Welcome to Gaia! ::

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" Lewis inquired as he rebooted his laptop. "You didn't have to come all this way."

"I wanted to apologize." Jam stood nervously in the middle of the room before choosing a seat. "I didn't mean to snap at you over the phone."

"That's totally fine. No need to be upset about it. Was that all?"

Jam steepled her fingers. "You might remember that my parents had me made to be an entirely non-aggressive person. I don't lose my temper, and I definitely don't get annoyed with people. But recently, I woke up feeling so angry that I yelled at my parents when I came downstairs. I couldn't even stay calm when my professor poked fun at me during class. I even started to want to focus on my music recordings rather than my studies. How could I even think that!?"

"And?"

"You're the scientist. Figure it out! Over the past few days, I'm feeling more and more not like myself! It's like I'm becoming Phyllis."



(maybe this was a little overkill)

Danica finished her plate and waited for everyone to finish.

"No that's ok. My parents will understand that I stayed here." Danica said smoothly and looked at Peony. "It'll be so much fun!" She squealed a bit.

"Awesome! Let's go!" Danica said happily.

Jam entered the hallway and shut the door to Lewis's office behind her as quietly as she could. Full of bitter resentment, she wandered further down the corridor. Should've known that Lewis wouldn't take her seriously. Should've known that he'd laugh. What was it that made her think he'd understand? How could he, anyway, when he wasn't a Double, and he hadn't experienced the feeling of being tailor-made to someone else's tastes? To become like her Original, Phyllis, was to lose what sense of self she had left as a Double.

(going to edit later, seems like we're not in a rush)

((I feel so sad for Danella but she's so weirdly amusing!))

"Yippee!!" Neti yelped and led the way upstairs. "YOU!" she hollered at a maid. "Call us down when dessert's ready!"

"y-yes m'am" the maid stuttered and Neti continued to her bedroom and flung open the double doors.

"Welcome to the Realm of Queen Neti!" she said, flopping an old princess hat on her head with a silly grin. "Anyways." She discarded the hat on the top of a pile of clothes and other stuff lying on the floor and hopped over her bed to the CD rack.

Looking through it for the CD Mariah had just given her, she said, "You know how I just suddenly left like, 25 minutes before you came or something? It was..." she turned and nodded gravely, as if that alone conveyed what she meant. "that other pink-haired girl.

"She said she wanted to talk to me very much and had something I 'would like' for a few minutes and told me to meet her at the ice-skating rink she usually went to. Obviously I would know which one because I've got her memories and all that good stuff. Most of it's useless though, because it's all about sports and school and volunteering.

"But I'm rambling. So I met her there because I wanted to see what she would give me. And guess what? You won't believe it--THIS!"

She unveiled the autographed CD with an exaggerated flourish and searched Danica and Peony's faces for excitement.
---

Mariah was standing outside the opened back-door with an eye on the only door to the building Danella was in. Her dark clothes blended well into the shadow of the pillars and she was waiting for Danella to appear, wondering if Danica had left her any clothes at all. She wanted to call, but decided against it--Danica and Peony might be in the middle of something important, and she might blow their cover anyways.

School starts day after tomorrow...let's just hope we get this crisis figured out before then. And then there's the problem with the Steven/Tiffany/Kevin situation, of course, but that's a different matter that'll resolve itself in December anyways. I'll be able to concentrate on school and athletics again for a few months...hopefully. That would be --what?

She crept towards the door and felt a few footsteps echoing through the halls inside. Lewis is leaving work then, I suppose? I wonder if he'll come out this way...

"Of course of course," Neti said. "I"ll just find my CD player...it should be somewhere in my closet... OH! I've also got nail polish and other stuff! We can do each other's nails later!" She wandered into her huge closet and began rummaging and humming loudly.

Danica sighed. "We have to knock her out and take her with us. We can leave a note saying we went to the movies or something, but we have to get going." She said.

Danella walked with her arms covering her down the street. She was crying and whimpering.