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Old 05-05-2014, 03:42 PM   #1
ericthered
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Default [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Chandra Morgan dreamed of cold and wind blowing though a campus of sorts in a forlorn prairie. men and women walked around in crisp blue uniforms, complete with coats, boots and caps, somewhere between police and military in nature. It was quite a cosmopolitan group: people of all races and genders walk the grounds.

In its halls, lectures are given on many languages and skills, on history, but also on historical skills. How to build a fire from scratch. How to shoot a bow, and how to make it from scratch. How to impersonate nobles (this seems to have multiple cultures it applies to). How to navigate by the stars.

Chandra dreamed of ... herself, but not herself. A young woman who rather than studying medicine had some fascination with history. A young woman with the same face and a different name: Chandra Gopal. Not her original name, but not an english name either.


Chandra Morgan woke up naked in some else's bed. opening her eyes, she saw that it was a crowded dormitory, with two beds, two desks, and several uniforms in the closet. The room was quite clean, and the clock read almost noon. Several pictures were up, including... a picture of her village and the burned house.

The door opened, and a woman came in. Or rather, Chandra's other self, the one from the dream, dressed and with her hair done as she had dreamed it, stepped into the room.
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Last edited by ericthered; 05-26-2014 at 11:26 AM.
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Old 05-05-2014, 04:30 PM   #2
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Her first waking moments, with her clothes missing and someone else's room around her, give Chandra little cause for doubt.

Rohypnol, she thinks acidly. One of those charming young men from the seminar, no doubt. Serves me right for not keeping my drink in plain sight the whole time.

A quick check shows nothing damaged or sore. Oh, good. Then he's still hoping to have his fun. Let's see if we can't make it entertaining.

She readies herself on hearing the door open -- only to have her entire train of thought derailed at the unexpected sight of a woman. No, not just a woman. Herself!

Hating herself for playing to stereotype, Chandra clutches the covers to her exposed chest.

"If this is a practical joke, you've got a rather original sense of humor," she says dryly. The light English accent gives a bizarre sense of normality to the situation, covering the confusion she feels.
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Old 05-06-2014, 04:55 PM   #3
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

The other Chandra looks astonished, and responds in thicker english than Chandra would have "Umm... the jokes on me, if so. What are you doing in my bed? And... why do you look like me?"

She sits down on the opposite bed (which has no covers... Chandra doesn't appear to have a room mate) "And who are you anyways?"
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Old 05-06-2014, 05:53 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
The other Chandra looks astonished, and responds in thicker english than Chandra would have "Umm... the jokes on me, if so. What are you doing in my bed? And... why do you look like me?"

She sits down on the opposite bed (which has no covers... Chandra doesn't appear to have a room mate) "And who are you anyways?"
The situation is insane, utterly unbelievable. But a prospective doctor has to deal with the unexpected. And in any event, the other woman seems a civilized sort.

Well, she would be, wouldn't she? Chandra thinks in a moment of levity. She indicates the picture of the burned village with her chin.

"Judging by your choice of photographs, my introduction may be less than surprising," she says. "Chandra Morgan, at your service. Er -- you'll forgive my not rising, I hope."

She adjusts the bedsheets for a little more security. Though if this really is what it appears to be, I don't exactly have any secrets from her anyway!

"As for what I'm doing here, I must confess I am as baffled as you," Chandra continues. "I went to bed in my own flat -- wearing considerably more than this, I might add - and woke up here as you see me. Wherever 'here' may be, that is."
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Old 05-07-2014, 03:57 PM   #5
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Chandral Gopal is surprized at a few things. "Morgan? Your last name is Morgan? and yet you recognize the fire... You lived through it as well then? But then how is your name Morgan?"

Gopal pulls out some underwear and a uniform from the closet and dressers. "Here, but this on. You just woke up here? that doesn't make any sense at all..."

OCC: the accent is Indian.
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Old 05-07-2014, 04:24 PM   #6
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Chandra Morgan accepts the clothing gratefully.

"Nothing about this makes sense, yet here we are," she says, rising from the bed. "Remind me not to be so disparaging of people who talk to themselves."

She tries at first to dress beneath the sheet, but eventually gives it up as a bad job and discards it, continuing with only a bit of (literal) self-consciousness. She is no longer even surprised that the uniform fits her. As she fastens the shirt, her eyes go to the same picture that drew the attention of the other Chandra.

"Yes, my name is Morgan. No, it's not my birth name, nor the name of a husband. And yes, I recall that village as well as an 8-year-old child may." It takes all her reserve to suppress a shudder. "Often in my nightmares."

Her hands reflexively straighten and pat down the uniform, though it hardly needs it.

"A distant relative from England took me in. Distant in manner as well as in blood. He gave me lodging, books, an education. Little affection, but after what I had left behind me, all I wanted was calm, safety and quiet -- and those he gave, so long as I stayed out of his way."

"I knew him as Uncle Morgan. Eventually, I took that name as my own. I suppose it was a way to close the door on a painful past and turn my eyes to the future."

A longer confession than she had ever made to anyone. She meets the other Chandra's eyes.

"And yourself? Will you be in any difficulties for letting an unknown twin borrow your kit? I can't imagine your unit lends these out casually -- or is this some sort of police academy?"
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Old 05-09-2014, 02:41 PM   #7
ericthered
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Gopal: "You're not talking to yourself, your talking to someone very like you. For one, we were raised by different people. I know nothing of our uncle morgan, though it may be good for me to look him up. After the fire. [there is a little shudder here... she obviously remembers it as well and with the same horror as Morgan] I was taken in by a neighbour family. They moved to the city shortly afterwards. They adopted me for legal reasons, sponsored me through school, and... here I am."

"Leaving the past behind... I suppose I took a similar route. Rather than embracing the future... I went farther into the past, joining the infinity service. Of course, here we are, looking at our old past."

"You're in something of a bind for just showing up here. I'm assuming Carlton Zimmerman isn't president of the united states where you're from? didn't think so. This is... this is the infinity patrol academy. We're somewhere between police and military, though its probably closer to the police. It will be decently difficult getting you off of this world... sorry. You are on the world used to train new officers for the infinity patrol. We are able to go from world to world... places where history happened differently. One example would be us. You grew up in england, I in india. Different people. Different History. Same Origins."

"The trouble is, You're being here will be considered a major breech of security, and I don't want you to end up in a prison. You don't know how you got here?"

"By the way, what are you studying? Surely you aren't becoming a cross-world epidemiologist with training in low tech and minimal instrument medicine?"
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Old 05-09-2014, 03:19 PM   #8
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

"Cross-world, no, medicine, yes," Chandra Morgan responds automatically. "I'm a first-year medical student at King's College. A chance to repay my new home for what it gave me, if you will."

Though her outer manner is calm, her mind is racing. The prospect of prison for something as simple as waking up in the wrong bed is bewildering. Now if the bed had been Prince Harry's, I could understand ...

She flirts with the thought that this is some odd dream, then dismisses it. She's come to know her dreams uncomfortably well, this needs to be treated as real until proven otherwise.

"I don't suppose there might be some alternative to prison?" she asks, as evenly as if discussing the weather. "My emigration, if you will, was a little bit less than voluntary."

It crosses her mind -- the two of them appear to be physically identical, at least. If she could restrain the other Chandra, she could probably be free of the entire academy before the switch was realized.

And then what? Life as a hunted fugitive on a world you don't know? That's not avoiding prison, that's deferring it.

She drags her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"So alternative worlds are known, but traveling them through a nap isn't," she muses, trying to put her twin's information together. "Or is it merely unusual? If I bedded back down, would I leave as easily as I came?"
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Old 05-12-2014, 07:00 AM   #9
ericthered
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

"I've never heard of travelling in your sleep, unless people are speaking retorically, and then they don't mean it. I've heard of people who can do it without conveyors... extremely specialized and expensive equipment... but never in their sleep. Usually it takes a great deal of effort. So I don't know if just going back to sleep would work. This is your first time? Lanata*"

"Your best bet for staying out of prison is to pretend to be me for much of the time, until we can safely get you out of here. If I can get Gopper and Smith in on it, we'll be fine... They're a pair of friends I know. Gopper is next to me alphabetically. They live to pull off things like this. The main trick is probably us from being seen together."

*Hindi swear word.
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Old 05-12-2014, 09:40 AM   #10
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Default Re: [IC] Lost in Dreams (Chandra)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
"I've never heard of travelling in your sleep, unless people are speaking retorically, and then they don't mean it. I've heard of people who can do it without conveyors... extremely specialized and expensive equipment... but never in their sleep. Usually it takes a great deal of effort. So I don't know if just going back to sleep would work. This is your first time? Lanata*"

"Your best bet for staying out of prison is to pretend to be me for much of the time, until we can safely get you out of here. If I can get Gopper and Smith in on it, we'll be fine... They're a pair of friends I know. Gopper is next to me alphabetically. They live to pull off things like this. The main trick is probably us from being seen together."

*Hindi swear word.
"Great minds think alike." She says the words in Hindi and allows herself a smile. The language is not one she cares to use anymore, but knowing that she and her "sister" have a private channel of communication is a useful thing.

"I hope you have time for a crash course of sorts," she continues. "There are quite a few things that are second-nature to you that I'm going to need to know -- class schedules, how this academy and patrol function, personal details." The smile turns wry. "If you're dating someone in this ... well, reality, I'd rather not find out the hard way."

She returns to English and tries to recall her twin's Indian accent. "It also might be best if I talked as little as possible until we've resolved this one way or another," she says, attempting to duplicate the rhythms and stresses. "Except with you and these friends of yours. They won't let anything slip?"

(For the rest of the conversation, and as long afterward as necessary, she is going to listen carefully to the other Chandra and try to practice the accent to gain familiarity, as noted on p. B24, so that she can become able to use it with her Acting skill.)
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