derailing | open rp post; kristoph gavin

[During those days spent in Gatewater Land's haunted mansion, one thought had been prevalent in Colias Palaeno's mind: The second they'd leave that place would signify that the worst was over. So it'd seemed at first glance after the 'game' was won. Sure, they were in the future, but they were alive and they were free. Everyone had spread out to return to their usual lives. Sadly, the fact remained that Palaeno had been wrong in his assumption. The second they left that house had marked the beginning of a whole new world of trouble.

Agent Lang had taken him home to find that, well, he was already there. Another Colias Palaeno, eight years older and with eight years more experience as ambassador. A Colias Palaeno who did not witness the horrors brought upon a group of people by the Proto Badger. He wasn't the only one, either. Apparently, it was the same situation for Maya Fey, Larry Butz, Simon Keyes and quite possibly a few others. The people from the past weren't supposed to be here and only now did it become truly evident why. Were they really just fakes? Mirror images created by that badger? Palaeno could never hope to challenge his other self- his real self. Everything he thought he'd had... He'd lost it. Perhaps he'd never had it to begin with.

His other self had been gracious enough to part with some of their finances. Of course he'd been. If the roles had been reversed, Palaeno would've done the same thing. Even so, the legal consequences of mirror clones were enough to cause a massive headache. He'd had to prove over and over that, yes, he really was Colias Palaeno. He'd had to retell the story of the events in that haunted house over and over as well. It could take years for these matters to truly become settled. What was he supposed to do until then? Stay content with his tiny rental apartment, unable to do the job he'd devoted his life to? What a nightmare.

So he found himself wandering the streets in a bit of a daze. What else could he do with his time? Nothing. It was a good way to stave off insanity. ...If it wasn't already there, anyway.]

[To say that he'd expected to run into Palaeno again would be an overstatement.

It's not that they'd parted on bad terms, because they quite simply hadn't; the last time they'd seen each other had been awkward, surely, but it had come with the promise of prison visitation and some strangely calm banter and...perhaps too much discussion of poison to be entirely normal, but if that was the worst of it then they had done rather well for themselves, all things considered.

And speaking of doing rather well for oneself, it seems that Kristoph certainly has been; at the very least he seems to be more or less put-together and all the blood from the mansion doesn't seem to have stained his hair on any sort of permanent level, and perhaps most importantly he's most certainly not in any sort of solitary confinement cell - there's no legal precedent for literally anything about his situation, for one thing, and for another...well, it pays to have family in high places. Klavier had always been far more sentimental than Kristoph was in general, and from the look of it the idea of just abandoning his brother hadn't really settled well with him, and the point is that this had eventually led to unfrozen assets and somewhere halfway decent to stay, and a lot of awkward attempts at conversation that became much more tolerable when Kristoph just set the bar for his expectations on the floor and hoped Klavier wouldn't manage to trip over it somehow.

To Klavier's credit, however, he never brought up any of the...impending tremendous existential crisis that was Kristoph's current status; he hadn't really seemed able to decide what he thought of this entire mess, seeming to alternate between seeing this as Kristoph being granted a second chance at not horribly fucking up on good days, and on particularly bad days he seemed determined to interpret him as being a weirdly docile stranger who happened to share his brother's appearance for some unknown reason - but either way, it wasn't really something they discussed, and Kristoph was content to keep it that way. It wasn't something he cared to think about either - as long as it kept him out of prison, he was more than content to just leave it be - and he was likewise content to not think about what had happened to everyone else at the end of the experience in the mansion. It's something he would have considered eventually, just because escapism isn't exactly his thing - usually it's quite the opposite, usually it's entirely too much overthinking - but for the time being, remaining self-centered and unconcerned is what's going to keep the whole thing from doing his head in.

Of course, all of that becomes decidedly more difficult when elements of it are left up to chance; he really hadn't expected to run into Palaeno again.

And yet he's outside today, and there is a rather familiar mane of blond hair over there, and normally he would leave the entire thing alone were it not for the fact that Palaeno's looking a little...not all there.

Fine. Approaching it is, then.]

...Mr. Palaeno.

[The greeting is a light one, at least.]

It's been a while.

[Had Palaeno expected to run into Kristoph Gavin again? No. He hadn't put too much thought into it, either. He'd seen Detective Gumshoe and his men storm the mansion and for the first few days or so, he'd assumed all the convicts were in prison, where they belonged. Then the story of the law being unable to double punish criminals reached him and ever since then, he'd been more worried about running into someone like Matt Engarde. In fact, there were a few times where he'd been unable to fall asleep for the longest time because he could've sworn he'd heard something creak in a neighboring room. He hadn't had a drop of coffee since that incident either. A shame, because he used to enjoy it, but Engarde ruined it for him to the point where even the smell makes him sick.

Needless to say, some of these guys really shouldn't be allowed back on the streets.

He doesn't notice Kristoph until the man speaks up, and even then it's a slow realization. He stops walking, turns to face him, smiles in reflex at the greeting and only then does it really hit him.]

Oh! Mr. Gavin! [There's a split second of fear, which dies down when he remembers there's very little to be afraid of. They're in the middle of a street. There isn't anything Kristoph could do to him even if he wanted to, right? Would he want to? They parted on relatively pleasant terms, but the situation as they'd foreseen it back then didn't come to pass at all.]

...I apologize for being unable to keep my promise, but... Well.

[...Well, thankfully he wasn't expecting the guy to have cultivated a sense of tact since they last spoke, goodness.]

Even if you had, the person you were visiting probably wouldn't have recognized you, would he? So there aren't any hard feelings, as far as I'm concerned.

[Yes, well, he would've visited this Kristoph Gavin, obviously, not the other one. Not the supposedly real one. That would've been even more awkward than this encounter is.

Hahaha...]

Ah, that's good to hear. Things have certainly been... hectic, haven't they?

[That...wow.]

...That's the politest way you could have possibly worded that; consider me impressed.

Hah... I've had many years of training in that sort of thing.

[Training that will now go to waste, because he lost his job to himself. It's better than losing his job to someone else, he supposes, but that doesn't change that he was robbed of the thing he was most passionate about.

Oh, how much it hurts to smile right now.]

I take it you've been well enough?

...Something like that. I have family in the area, at least, so that's been making the entire thing a bit less difficult - though I'm sure you can imagine why that isn't really saying much, in the end.

[After all, it's not as though the situation can possibly be made much worse than it is.]

[Don't talk to him about family. You know where his family is? Halfway across the world. It's a rather cruel irony how this whole incident comes as a blessing for the convicts, who basically get a second chance at life, while someone like Palaeno gets nothing but a few leftovers his 'real' self can spare.]

Yes... I suppose that would be troublesome. It isn't as simple as 'water under the bridge', so to speak.

Ah...I assume you've been having difficulties, then. You did seem a bit out of sorts just now.

[Granted, he can't say how much he would actually want to hear about it, if that is indeed the case; it's more something said through courtesy than anything else. Just the same, it's...out there, proper offer or otherwise.]

[Some of his politician instincts are screaming for him not to share details of his private life, especially the negative kind, but... Damn it all, it's not like he's a politician right now. He doubts he'll ever get a position like that again.]

Difficulties is an understatement. The world doesn't seem to have a need for two of me and everyone prefers the man who wasn't seemingly conjured up by the ghost of a lunatic in a badger suit. [Is he bitter? Yes. Yes, he is bitter.]

[...Palaeno, was that...was that an opinion just now? An actual opinion, that wasn't buried under so much "I'm fine/it's fine/everything is fine" that Justice would tell you to knock it off for being over the top?

Holy shit. He's almost proud of you.]

It's both frustrating and utterly understandable, isn't it? I'll admit I wouldn't have believed that our current circumstances are anywhere near what they actually are if I hadn't had it verified for me several times over.

[He imagines he'll verify it for himself one day; at the same time, intentionally giving himself an existential crisis does not sound like the best idea he's ever had, so he'll leave it be for the time being - at least, until morbid curiosity wins the day. It almost always does eventually.]

[Considering how many fucks he had to lose in order to become careless enough to voice said opinion, he'd much rather have stuck to that 'I'm fine' mentality. Being frustrated and anxious all the time is far too tiring.]

No matter how ludicrous, the facts are undeniable, so we can't hope to fight it. We can only find a way to live with it.

[Which is easier said than done, of course. How do you live with the knowledge that you're most likely just a cheap mirror image of the real thing? That everything you thought you worked for might be nothing more than a copy of someone else's memories?]

[And he can't really deny that there's an immediate response to that, something that he's not particularly interested in voicing to anyone, much less someone he's known - in the grand scheme of things - for less than a week; it's...too much like a confession, maybe, the sort admission best kept to oneself. So just. Let him toy with his glasses a bit, and even if he's frozen up a little his response is still calm, if a bit dissonantly so.]

...Believe me, I'm aware.

[Right. You just mess with your glasses, Kristoph. Palaeno will idly wring his hands in the meantime. Ever since people started drawing attention to his 'suspicious' behavior, he's come to suspect that this nervous habit of his is probably a major contributing factor, but once again he can't bring himself to care.]

... I don't suppose you know what became of the others who were in the same position as you? [He means the convicts. More specifically, he means Team Engarde. Please tell him those two decided to drink and drive or something equally life-threatening, so he can stop worrying about either of those maniacs.]

[...Good lord. You lost so many fucks in that mansion that it looks like the world may actually owe you a few.

As it stands, Kristoph at least has the basic decency to be amused at the question rather than offended.]

I'm afraid that I don't - it's not as though we occupied the same social circles, legal status notwithstanding. If anything, I'm content to avoid them.

[Eh. He'll regain those fucks when he feels like it. Everyone's allowed a burn out every twenty years or so. In fact, considering the whole Manny thing, he was probably overdue for one.

And yes, now he realizes just how stupid that question was. Cue more nervous handrubbing!]

Ah! My apologies, I didn't mean to assume...- I was only curious if you'd heard something from... from anyone, really. [Like pompous prison guards, Mr. Wright or whoever else might fit into noteworthy degrees of separation.]

[...You tried it, Palaeno.]

My brother is a prosecutor; I imagine he's heard something regarding all that. We haven't really discussed the incident in full, but I see no harm in asking him if you're that curious.

[Granted, that comes with the implicit understanding that communication channels of some sort are going to be left open in some way, but so it goes.]

[Bless you, Kristoph. That whole communications channels implication is sort of going over Palaeno's head right now, because all he knows is that he hasn't had a good night's sleep in weeks and he's being given a chance to have peace of mind. ...Assuming the news won't be something like "Team Engarde was seen prowling the streets at night."]

Would you, please? That would be wonderful!

[Incidentally, it's really cute how you keep assuming that anyone from that game will want anything to do with anyone else that was there and everyone will just continue...aggressively milling around in groups.]

I don't see why not; it will do us both some good to know for sure, I think.

[I MEAN HE WOULD IMAGINE KLAVIER WOULD HAVE TOLD HIM NATURALLY BUT GUESS WHO DIDN'T TELL KLAVIER ABOUT THE EGREGIOUS HEAD-SMASHING COURTESY OF TEAM ENGARDE.]

[He can't pretend to know what goes on in the heads of death row convicts. That's Kristoph's area of expertise. All he knows is that the Wright Anything Agency had some expansions, so there's definitely group milling going around in particular circles. Besides, even if they weren't forming a little gang, those guys are dangerous enough on their own. Add to that the lingering sense of paranoia that the badger's mindgames instilled in him and... Well.

Reason enough to worry that he'll one day have one of those fellas breathing down his neck. Though he doubts Kristoph is fretting over the same thing, even with those words.]

Yes... Yes, I suppose it would.

[He's not exactly fretting, but that's probably because the amount of paranoia he was dealing with in that mansion was pretty much his standard Wednesday.]

If it's any consolation, we may have reason to believe that Engarde is no longer our problem - if I recall correctly, he had some...issues with someone who was in there with us.

I've no idea about Keyes, but at the very least I haven't seen him.

[Issues with someone? That's right, Mr. Doe was chasing Engarde after they were free to go, wasn't he? Palaeno learned that the hard way when Matt used him as a human obstacle. ...Literally. Was it really something that serious?]

Oh... Well, that's a relief to hear, at least! If Keyes is wise, he'll stay out of trouble from here on out.

[There's also Mr. Armando, but Palaeno isn't too worried about him. That man had his moments of intimidation (and lashing out at a teenage girl), but he turned out to be relatively nice.]

[Kristoph actually quite likes Mr. Armando, bizarre commentary toward him that was verging on flirting aside; the incidents with Dahlia were a little on the strange side, admittedly, but on the other hand sometimes you just have to lash out at little girls if they're presenting a problem.

Or something.]

We can only hope...is there anyone else you're particularly concerned about?

No, not particularly.

[Though, speaking of being concerned... Well, he doubts Kristoph would be concerned about this, but he might as well share what little information he has. It's a bit of a trade, assuming Kristoph hadn't already heard about it himself.]

I heard that Mr. Blackquill was released from the hospital a while ago. Considering the state that he was in when we left the house, that news certainly came as a relief.

open rp post; kristoph gavin

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