IC: CUDDLR (EUDIO)

[royalpassport]

JEFFERSON (21) I AM A TRAVELER AND ADVENTURER SEEKING COMPANY IN THIS NEW LAND. TELL ME A STORY AND I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT ONE OF THE WORLDS I'VE VISITED.

✓       ✕

YES <span style="font-family: times; font-size:40px; color:#2EB82E;">✓</span>

NO <span style="font-family: times; font-size:40px; color:#CC0000;">✕</span>

OLD CUDDLR PROFILE (1/28/2017 - 5/1/2017):

I've traveled to many lands, some of which you may have read about in storybooks. A fun fact: Dormice make for terrible tea party guests.

No cuddling on the first date.

OLD CUDDLR PROFILE (9/21/2016 - 1/28/2017):

Single father who hasn't been on a date in more time than I care to admit. Let's start with getting to know each other over tea.

(Please stop calling me a 'DILF'. I'm not sure what that means, and I don't want to know.)

Comments

[royalpassport]

Doesn't ring any bells. But admittedly, my knowledge of music pre-1960 is lacking.

[ He mainly just made due with whatever music collection came with his mansion of sadness.

And... Oh. He really needs to take that word out of his profile now that he knows what it means. ]

Somebody finally told me what that particular word meant. I should update my profile. It's not exactly giving the impression I'm aiming for.

[vote]

Your folks big musical influences? If I took after my dad it'd be all Elvis and the Dixie Chicks.

And while now I obviously want to know what impression you're trying to give off - that's four words. It was just the first one. I met a few other mes in my time here but none of us've had kids before.

[royalpassport]

It's more that I stumbled into my tastes. I found this record collection a while back. Mothers of Invention, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, artists like that. So your dad's a big country fan, and you went in the opposite direction?

[ Okay. FAIR POINT ON THE WORD COUNT. That gets a chuckle out of him, at least until he reads the rest of the message. ]

I wonder why that is. My daughter

[ He tries to figure out how to word things, or if he should even talk about her at all. But then he hits send without finishing that sentence annnnd so he quickly types something else out, a followup message. ]

hasn't lived with me in some time.

How many of us are there?

[vote]

Airplane and Hendrix. Nice. And yeah, I kind of swing the other way from my family in most things. Even my twin bro and I had this whole Backstreet/NSync war going on.

I think there's one more guy with our face around lately. I never really spoke to him, keeps himself to himself, pretty much.

Daughter, huh. What's her name?

[royalpassport]

I was the same, with my parents. They never really approved of my life. So: Backstreet vs NSync? Which side did you fall on?

Interesting. I wonder if I'll ever stumble upon him.

Her name's Grace. She's 10.

[vote]

I was always more of a Timberlake than a Carter man. Gotta admit it wasn't all down to the music but, that helped.

It's a small enough place to stumble over most people, eventually.

And that's a pretty name. Ten, jeez.

[royalpassport]

What made the one better than the other?

[ Sure, he's passingly familiar with the bands because, well, he spent a lot of time listening to the radio over the years. But the names of the actual members just go RIGHT OVER HIS HEAD. ]

It suits her.

You mentioned a twin brother. Is he identical?

[vote]

Honestly? For Doug it was the clean cut image I guess. He liked a band he could rock out to in his tuxedo shorts. I was into NSync for the dance, the whole Justin-Britney drama and there was this rumour going round that he had a monster cock.

Which wasn't actually inaccurate.

So anyway, now that I've shared my childhood crush - Dougie's not identical. And for the most part he got the good genes, I'm the scraps.

[royalpassport]

'Monster cock' certainly brings some interesting images to mind.

[ Mainly because Jefferson's mind goes RIGHT TO THE LITERAL there. He's seen or had close brushes with too many monsters in his travels. ]

No offense to your brother, but he rocked out to Backstreet Boys in his tuxedo shorts. How are you the scraps?

[vote]

If you google for photo manips the image doesn't have to stay in mind. But I haven't done that for years. Like at least two.

Style might be one of the worthwhile genes I picked up. But Doug's the smart one, he got the ambition, the tact, the whole staying on track thing. He's all set for taking over the family business.

Me, I'm a derailment.

[royalpassport]

[ He goes ahead and does a GIS for it and... oh. Well, now Jefferson knows that he's no size queen. ]

That just seems like it would be painful.

What's the family business? There's something to be said for forging your own path and all that.

[vote]

Not painful, it just takes work.

And I agree. But there's forging your own path and there's forging a path for the whole free world so I guess he'd still have me beat there.

He's gonna be president one day. Just like Dad.

[royalpassport]

Quite a bit of work, it seems. Then again, I'm out of practice with all things intimate.

Judging by the politicians and royals I've known, I'd say you're better off staying out of the family business. What do you do?

[vote]

Hey, to each their own. It's not like practice actually makes anything perfect. But, in some cases it can be fun.

Me? I don't.

[royalpassport]

True. I find the imperfect experiences more memorable, anyway.

That may be another thing we have in common.

[vote]

That's a nice way to talk up being a mess.

If you've got more bottles than food in the refrigerator and a talent people keep calling a gift that you never managed to put to good use, it could be uncanny.

[royalpassport]

'Mess' is one of the nicer descriptions I've heard, to be honest.

[ It beats being called insane over and over again. ]

More: haven't left my house in years. My talents have gotten me into enough trouble for several lifetimes.

[vote]

Yeah? Maybe we do have some things in common.

So you're agoraphobic? How are you handling that while you're here?

[royalpassport]

I wonder what else we share.

Not as a rule, but for a long time, I might as well have been. Adjusting to all of this has been trickier than I thought it would be, so I try to give myself a reason to leave the apartment at least once a day.

I'm curious: what's your talent that other people call a gift?

[vote]

Well, I know what it's like to be stuck in the house. Three days and I'm going crazy but, it's been a lot longer than that.

And it's...

I could show you, but you'll need to turn on video, or audio, either.

[royalpassport]

[ Having a video chat with a doppelganger? Well, why not. It might be more than a little surreal to see himself with a different demeanor-- clothes, body language, manner of speech-- but he can't help his curiosity. So Jefferson turns on the video and peers at the screen with interest. ]

All right. Show me?

sorry for this hideous slowness

[vote]

[A quick intake of breath because, yeah okay that's definitely his face. They're around the same age, and if one of them looks a little older or younger you could put it down to the varying degrees of state pampering in their lives.

TJ's a little shyer in the almost-flesh, his first reaction a quick smile and blush, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck as he glances down.]

Well that was... quicker than I expected. Hi. Okay - hold on.

[While he picks up his phone and carries it through a slightly cluttered apartment, books and string lights scattered on surfaces. Cosy, but a little messy. Not unlike the resident. Anyway, the piano he sits at is a gleaming grand. It took him a while to afford this, but it was worth it.]

I'm gonna go with an easy one. Okay, so it's not as impressive thesedays, I know, but I taught myself this when I was eight.

[It's a piece of Liszt]

no worries! I'm absurdly slow rn myself

[royalpassport]

[ This whole notion of talking to 'himself' was a lot easier in theory than in practice. Jefferson could turn the video feature on and speak without hesitation at first, but once he sees TJ on the other end, it's as if he's looking in a mirror with a mind of its own. Almost, anyway. Though they're practically the same age, and even have very similar hairstyles (unlike Curtis and his doppelganger), there are enough differences in their respective demeanors that Jefferson can look at TJ and know that he's not actually the same as him.

Where TJ's a little shy, Jefferson's gaze is more... intense. ]

Hi. [ He sounds a little more uncertain now that the strangeness of this is starting to sink in more. Luckily, with TJ moving to the piano, Jefferson has something else to focus his attention on. It's funny, he had one back in Storybrooke, himself. He'd play it sometimes, though he never learned how to, really. The 'other' Jefferson did, however, and if he cleared his head and surrendered to that fabricated set of memories, he could, too. He didn't even know the names of the pieces or the composers, and he could never keep it up once conscious thoughts crept into his mind again. It wasn't something he'd do often, because he'd been so desperate to keep himself-- his true self-- as separate as possible from the intruder Regina put in his head with her curse. Giving in would only blur the lines.

Given that, it's at once fascinating and disturbing for him to watch TJ play. ]

It's... [ He blinks. ] You taught yourself that as a child? I'd say that's impressive.