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[prettywithawill]

Wherever this was, it wasn’t where Valkyrie was supposed to be. Not that it wasn’t lovely; the beach and the ocean and the trees and all of that. It would make a nice vacation spot and she could do with a holiday after all, she’d just saved the world again and she never really got much of a holiday after any of the times she did that

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[giftless]

The trouble with apple trees, as Edmund had learned many, many years ago in a land separate from our world called Narnia, was that the apples farthest out on the branches ripened first and were often the best. This is true of trees in our world, too, and of the trees on Tabula Rasa, which made picking them, when you only wanted one or two or three, rather much an exercise. Edmund couldn't simply hit a branch and watch the apples fall. He had to go up and grab them.

He had succeeded in picking two quite easily, but now he faced a challenge of grabbing a third. He didn't need a third for himself, as two apples were quite enough, but Edmund thought Charlie might like one and there was a perfectly ripe on just there. But as he reached out to grasp it, he lost his grip on one of the two he carried in his hand. "Blast," he muttered to himself as he felt it slip, then glanced down with alarm to see it falling straight for a girl's head.

"Sorry!" he called out, which wasn't a warning at all because there wasn't enough time for a proper

[prettywithawill]

Walking along the trees was much better than walking out in the hot sun along the beach. Her black trousers and jacket did not lend themselves to this weather at all when they weren't magically adjusting her temperature.

As soon as she heard the warning called out, all thoughts of the heat left her and she rolled to the side, feeling a light bump against her side as she was coming up in a defensive crouch, hands ready to strike at any attacker that might happen upon her.

The apple that fell to the ground beside her would have been so dead if it had tried anything. Glancing up into the tree, she saw a boy about her age, crouched out on one of the branches. Once she saw how handsome he was, she straightened up and tried to look like less like she was completely mental.

"Ah, thank you for the apple, really though, you could have just climbed down and handed it to me," she said, reaching down to pick it up.

[giftless]

That was quick. Edmund would have rocked back on his heels, except that didn't really work with how he was situated in the tree just then. Impressed by her agility, he let his eyebrows rise as he nodded his head. Arya probably would have caught the apple in her mouth and gloated over it, but Edmund could still appreciate that this girl had some sort of fighting skills.

"Sorry," he repeated. "I'll remember that for next time," he promised, playing along. Really, she could have been put out by his mistake, but it was much better that she took it so easily. "I got greedy. I should have known better."

[prettywithawill]

"Alright, I look forward to the next apple then presented to me properly then," she said, glancing up at the young man in the tree. It wasn't really something she was used to seeing, young men climbing about in trees for apples. The apples did look delicious though.

"Do you need someone a bit lighter to climb out to the end of the branch? Keep in mind if you so no, I may infer that as to you saying I'm fat."

[noonelaughed]

Chris hasn’t seen Thalia since Maxxie’s birthday. Maybe while they’d been in the compound at the same time or they’d passed each other on the path or something, but he definitely hasn’t properly spoken to her since then. And to be honest, he’s not even entirely sure that it was her he’d spoken to her then, he’d been so off his face that night. All of it had been one big fuckin’ blur of lights and music and dancing, really.

It’s still proper weird though, what happened between them, and Chris knows it’s mostly cause of Effy and Tony. If she were anyone else, it’d be just like any other time, wouldn’t it?

“Alright, Thalia?” he asks, when he sees her in the compound, looking a bit lost.

[prettywithawill]

The Compound was apparently crazy-central, which made it a bit disappointing when it didn't seem all that crazy. It all seemed very mundane, really. Magical island with no magic (which was beyond frustrating) and the Compound almost seemed like some sort of university rec center. Her first order of business was going to be finding the crash room to stay in tonight and then finding a hut immediately. Sleeping with a bunch of strangers all around was just creepy.

She was wandering around when she heard the guy call out what he thought was her name.

"Not Thalia," she said with a sigh, rolling her eyes. She knew it wasn't the guy's fault, she'd met one person already that looked like her, but it was annoying. "Not Effy either. I'm Valkyrie."

[noonelaughed]

It's really obvious that she's not Thalia or Effy when she actually talks, and Chris blinks a few times, surprised. He'd been sure this was going to be a really fuckin' weird conversation, but this is just mental.

"...shit," Chris says, then scrubs a hand over his head, mussing his hair. He wonders if Tony knows yet that his sister has another twin walking about.

"That's gotta be proper weird for you, I'll bet."

[prettywithawill]

"It definitely hasn't been a lot of fun, that's for sure," Valkyrie said. It had been rather annoying, actually, but she knew there wasn't anyone at fault. They all couldn't help it if she looked exactly like two other people.

"Be glad though. The first guy who mistook me for Thalia ended up on the wrong side of a judo through. So I think I'm getting a bit better at dealing with it, yeah?"

[findherwayback]

The girl had her face, but it wasn't Effy. Thalia could tell that a mile away. There was something wrong in the posture, in the exact colour of the hair. No, this was a new one.

Sooner or later someone was going to tell this new girl about her. There was likely going to be denial and confusion, possibly even anger and all she could hope was that this one wasn't teetering towards crazy. That this new girl wasn't as broken as Effy was. That she wouldn't need to be watched.

Stepping out from the treeline, hand fingering the silver bracelet on her wrist, she shook her head. "I'd be careful if I were you," she called. "Never know what's lurking around here."

[prettywithawill]

If she hadn't already learned from the other girl about the idea of doubles, Valkyrie would have sworn she was seeing her Reflection. She must be who the Percy boy thought she was though, Thalia. The hair color was right and the build closer to her own (although she could admit with a hit of jealousy that maybe the other girl looked slightly more muscular) and the whole posture was more her. For some reason that made Valkyrie rather dislike her.

"Never know what someone else is capable of either," she said, not liking how the other girl's words sounded like a threat. "Maybe the lurkers need to be careful of me."

[findherwayback]

There was a voice in Thalia's head that commented that she was getting too old to deal with this stuff. That was a lie. The world that she had been born into had been weird and would stay a weird place until the day that she died. She had resigned herself to it a long time ago.

This one looked more like her, enough for confusion but nothing more. Shrugging her shoulders, her fingers absently brushed the circlet that was now around her neck instead of nestled in her hair. "Maybe," she said with a lazy smile. "That's usually the safer way to play it. Keep them on their toes."

[prettywithawill]

The girl didn't threaten back, which was nice and made Valkyrie relax just a bit. She still stopped a good distance away though, not wanting to get too close to the other girl. If she did, she'd be tempted to see if she could spot just how similar they were, looking for small details that she'd only ever seen on herself.

"You must the Thalia," she said, tilting her head just a bit. "There was a boy, Percy, who thought I was you."

[missingthekeep]

Hers is an instantly recognizable face, striking features that set her apart from some of the others with lookalikes who come and go on the island as surely as the tides. Sean doesn't know the others well enough to be sure, but there's an unfamiliarity to the girl that has him wondering if she isn't either of the ones he's seen walking around with those same features. In the end, he supposes, it doesn't really matter.

"Afternoon, lass," he says with a polite nod from where he leans against the outside wall of the Compound, tapping the leftover contents of his pipe out onto the ground so he can refill it.

[prettywithawill]

Valkyrie had only just gotten here, so the sound of an Irish accent didn't make her homesick, but it was nice to hear all the same. It made her wonder if there were more around, perhaps there was even some sort of community.

"Afternoon. And good to hear the sound of someone from home," she said, giving a small smile to the man.

[missingthekeep]

"Likewise," Sean says, eyebrows raising momentarily in pleased surprise at the sound of the girl's accent. "Have ye been here long, then?" he asks, though he already knows the answer. The importance he places in manners can rise and fall like the tides, it sometimes seems, but he's in a good enough mood now that it's high for the time being.

[prettywithawill]

"Just got here today, actually," she said, her smile going it. It was still a bit much to take in and would have been even more difficult if she hadn't known it was possible to go to other dimensions.

"Still trying to wrap my head around it all. How about you?"