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It's possible that the Cooper household has seen more bizarre processions than the one currently descending from on high upon it. But it's pretty damn unlikely.

For one thing, we have the girl with the wings made of light and the tentacles made of light and the face made of tired relief that she might actually be able to land now and stop lugging around this stranger and his deep-sea lovechild. Which by amazing co-incidence brings us to Gabriel, the aforesaid stranger (though not quite as strange as her), who is somewhat distracted by the determined snuggles of a wee baby krakenling who woke up some time ago and felt the need to make his presence known. Flying a little way below them, suspended from a wearily humming jetpack, is Steve the Genius, who finds this whole picture somewhat amusing.

So, look out. Here they come.

...

Flatly: "Val, there's a ship in the field. Is there something you should be telling us about this place?"

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"There's also bunkers made out of earth," Marley grins as he wanders over to Steve. "Good to see you didn't get eaten by any squid." No, he hasn't noticed the krakenling yet.

Quietly, to Val: "Told you so."

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP.

Don't mind Gabriel. He was just taking a nice innocent walk in the lovely... uh, ramshackle field... and now suddenly and without warning he's staring at himself. Or, what's worse, a slightly older him. He's met Eden and Claire. YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S THINKING. (Besides 'why didn't Inty see this coming'... she did say the transfers weren't predictable.)

He stands and looks freaked from a safe distance. ...Mainly because the freaked is of too great a volume currently to permit actual movement of the approaching or running variety.

"Yeah," says Val to Marley as she carefully sets down her burden, just as quietly.

Then:

"...Gabe, sweetie? Don't look now, but there's another you over there and he kinda looks like he just swallowed a bee. You got a twin I don't know about?"

Hey, it's the first thing that springs to mind!

"You guys been talking about me behind my back?" asks Stephen, equally quietly, but with a shade of extra amusement. Also, to Mar: "You wouldn't believe how close I came, though." Nod towards Spots.

...other Gabe whut.

"...It might be an alternate you from this dimension," he adds to this Gabriel (helpfully and tactfully!). It takes a few seconds, though. Theory and practice are such different beasts.

"...er," says Gabriel, looking at his alternate self helplessly.

"...I'm not going to hurt you? I have a baculite!"

Look! A KRAKEN IN A DIAPER. MOST HARMLESS THING EVER. REALLY.

Okay, Marley is officially bewildered.
"... You have a squid. In a diaper." Blink. "Why do you have a squid in a diaper?"

Beat.

"Why are there two of you?"

What's a baculite? DO YOU KILL PEOPLE WITH IT, OTHER-HIM?!?

"Who are you?" he demands at last. (Sorry, other people, you are kind of non-existent or at least banished to his periphery vision for now.) If the answer is any kind of watch brand, HE IS OUT OF HERE QUICKSMART.

"I'm as clueless as you are," Val tells Marley with a shrug.

"Steve? Any idea?"

"...My name's Gabriel," he says slowly, peering at other-him.

WTF IS GOING ON?

"Split dimensions in which Gabriel's a visitor and the guy over there's the local version of him? ...The really jumpy local version?"

Cautiously. Because we all saw what happened to the Cretaceous theory.

Marley doesn't know what happened to the Cretaceous theory.

"Maybe he's crazy." Mildly.

All you mad friends of other-Gabriel, you're mad. You all get the patented Teen Gabe Evil Eye of WTF.

"...Really? You don't... have any other name?"

It's the blossom of hope in the desert of impending freakout. Or something.

"Gabriel... Gray?" he tries, clearly searching for the mysterious key that will unlock the door of this bizarre person's sanity.

"Mama!" cries Spots, and Gabriel does his best to look as though he isn't cradling a very cuddly squid.

Without much success.

"...could you take Spots and give me my box back?" he asks of Steve, a little desperately.

The box is duly unstrapped and handed over.

With a bemused face, and an only half-joking: "You'd tell me if you were hiding any dark depths of insanity in that head, eh?"

"Yes, of course."

Gabe is as confused as you are! Trust him!

Also, BOX OMGYAY. ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD.

Here, have a squid.

...Okay, so it seems that this isn't the other-him that made Eden freak out and Claire cry. But still, it's another him. Which is weird. Especially as by virtue of mathematics there are apparently three of him now.

(Though he's the real one, obvs.)

"...Inty's here," he says grudgingly. Then adds quickly: "But she's my Inty."

Because this Gabe has an Inty, right? ...Right?

Total confusion!

"Who's Inty?"

Inty was attending to some necessary bodily functions! Damn biology.

She hastily reassures her Gabriel that a) don't worry, this isn't the scary one, b) no, he doesn't have an Inty where he comes from, and c) ...Gabe probably doesn't have to worry about otherGabe wanting to usurp his place as regards Inty. Um. Really he doesn't. (cough) Aheh?

a) thank God, b) doesn't that mean he's going to be the scary one? and c) ...what is she implying?

(Insert familiar disclaimer here with the swinging what way and the sheltered yay.)

...

"Intuition," he explains shortly (in what isn't actually an explanation of any great help), folding his arms -- and yep, any lessening in suspicion is made up for threefold.

"--oka--"

Blink.

Excuse this Gabriel a moment; he's just gotten a goodly wallop of understanding round the ears.

Gabe should recognize the feeling, though not perhaps from the outside like this.

"...um."

Lost. For. Words.

b) Not if Steve can help it, apparently. He's already well on the road that leads away from the terrible place that forged Sylar out of the innocent, lovable heart Inty knows so well.

And yes, her-Gabriel. You're hers and she loves you and the appearance of a second you does not, in fact, change this.

c) Oh good grief, figure it out would you? --This last was not meant to be transmitted, but Gabriel's good with picking up on these things. The narration reassures him that it's delivered with nothing more than fond exasperation. His shelteredness is cute, really it is.

Mainly from the Steve reference, Gabriel figures it out.

Never mind that this is really the least of their problems, real or imagined, right now.

This Gabe didn't get that particular part of the transmission.

PLZ EXPLAIN, OTHERSELF.

OR AT LEAST SAY SOME WORDS. OUT LOUD.

THISGABE DOES NOT THINK HE WILL EVER BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THAT FEAT AGAIN.

FLAIL.

"...You!"

No expansion seems to be forthcoming, but rest assured that the sentence was planned along the lines of 'prefer the company of other men'. With continued flailing.

...All right, Gabriel will allow that this is preferable to killing people. Marginally. But really, the poor boy is Catholic. You just don't drop these things on him, not when the person concerned is to all intents and purposes him.

Psst.

He hasn't actually figured this out for himself, yet.

...Gabes can be slow sometimes. Don't worry, Inty still loves 'em. (Hers more than this stranger, naturally, and not just because he doesn't swing that way.)

"I... what? Do I have something on my face?"

Granted he'd probably have to have Great Cthulhu on his face for otherGabe to be looking at him like that, but that doesn't prevent this Gabriel from wiping frantically at his rather prominent eyebrows.

But... but... WAUGH! What if it's some kind of reflection on thisGabe? What if you can catch it?! WHAT IF OTHERGABE STARTS LIKING THISGABE AAAH THAT WOULD BE MESSED UP AND SCARY.

...Can Inty tell him that they won't have the same connection? Can she please?

On the outside, he's just going to shake his head and flail some more.

Don't be foolish, Gabriel.

(From most people that wouldn't be an answer.

From Inty, it's every reassurance he needs.)

After that one bizarre blow, Gabriel received nothing more.

Which means he knows enough to realize otherGabe is having a conversation with his... girlfriend? What the heck? --but not enough to have a clue what they're talking about.

"...um," he says after a moment. "I think-- she said--"

The Sylar watch.

The one he's (they're) working on.

HE HAS IT IN HIS HANDS LOOK.

Very careful opening of the box.

"--you didn't have this," finishes Gabriel, holding it with every care.

"Would you, ah, like to work on it with me?"

A peace offering. Gabriel wouldn't offer to let just anyone mess with the workings of this precious piece. Gabriel knows that.

But it is, essentially, himself he's talking to. So surely that's all right.

He's made quite a lot of progress on this beauty in the last two years, it might be noted.

The reference to Inty would make thisGabe veeeeeeeery suspicious if he didn't have the lady's own word that what they have is still unique.

As it is.

OMGWATCH.

Gabriel is very suddenly right next to Gabriel. No, really. It's so sudden that it's like he didn't even cross the intervening space. ...It has to be said that there have been less successful peace offerings.

"You're serious?" he breathes, giving it a reverent stare. A lot of progress indeed. It's gorgeous. (And that's not just in reference to its looks.)

"...Yes."

It's firm despite the hesitation.

"Is there anything like a proper workspace in this house?"

Or can they, y'know, make one? Any available flat surface will do, really.

There's a nice big desklike dresser in Inty and Gabe's room that would serve perfectly well.

Let be known that Inty is clearing off unrelated debris at this very moment.

"In our room." (Yes, plural 'our'. Please to not be taking this the wrong way?) "The dresser."

Relevant information thus transmitted, he is free once again to look at the watch. OtherGabe has no idea how great it is to see the little designs and painstakingly worked-out mechanisms in practice. (It obviously still needs a lot of work, BUT. That is what he is here for, ne?) It's -- well, it's a good thing that Inty's picked up the word 'awesome' from somewhere, because it fits this situation to a tee.

"How old is it?"

"Old? I've been working on it for two years now."

Gabe makes a vague motion that probably translates to 'let's go work on it! Right now!'.

And hey, he's not going to say boo about otherGabe living with Inty. She's clearly a very nice woman and Gabe is glad other-him has found happiness with her. (Ignore the surge of envy. It's not like Gabe is totally friendless and alone. He has Spots! And Steve! He just, y'know, doesn't have a GIRLFRIEND NRRRRGH.)

But all of that is clearly a secondary concern, because the important thing here is working on the watch! Yes! LOOK AT THIS BIT. AND THAT OTHER BIT. AND THE BIT OVER THERE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO GO BETWEEN THOSE TWO, WHICH IS WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO NEXT, AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP?

"C'mon, Steve," says Val, tugging on her brother's (http://community.livejournal.com/shatterverse/29259.html?thread=2632523#t2632523) hand. "Let your new buddy get to know himself." And she won't even tack on a masturbation reference there! "You better catch up with me 'n Mar. There's a supervillain on the loose - forgot to mention it."

Both hand-tugging and the resistance therof are made difficult by the sheer volume of kraken currently taking up Stephen's arms. Look out, Val, your hand is within range and you are therefore a squiddy cuddle target. Perhaps it feels a kinship with you.

"...Oh, you're joking." Facepalming is also, tragically, off-limits. "Well, I guess I should be glad that you haven't gone after him yet, at least."

...Has she?

"I pissed him off a little, but don't worry, I've got Mar for backup when I do go after the guy. Right, Mar?"

"Right. And you're here, now, so we have you on side, too." Marley would give Steve a playful shoulder-punch, but that would mean putting his hand near the baculite.

Marley can have all the baculite he wants. Spots certainly seems excited by the prospect of all these new people to cuddle.

...Stephen hopes fervantly that he doesn't slime again.

"I'd be a lot more use with Vader," he admits. "I knew I should have built those heat-seeking missiles into this thing." Indicating the jetpack.

"Please." She nudges him. "It's good just having a genius around, okay?"

"Okay." Smile. "I'll be in charge of making the plans, and you be in charge of ignoring them and rushing in headlong."

It works!

"Don't be a cunt, Stevie."

Fond hair-ruffling!

"What, you haven't missed it?"

Good-natured eepflailing!

"'Course I missed you. You're still a cunt."

Yeah, Steve's totally getting the crap hugged out of him now.

Val figures he won't mind.

No objections here. She'll have to be careful of Spots, of course. It's not for his safety, just that he's decided to join in the hug with joyful little burbles and much tentacular invasion.

...Which reminds him.

"While you're still overjoyed to see me, can I capitalise on that and ask you a favour?"

"Depends," she says instantly. "What's the favour?"

...also, Spots, you're getting cuddled back with some tentacles of Val's own. This is awesome because it means she doesn't need to TOUCH you, you gross slimy baculite baby.

Spots adores the tentacles! They get latched onto determinedly, and hugged the crap out of.

Steve makes shifty eyes.

"...The baculite sort of needs a pool."

Sigh.

"You're going to make me fly water in, aren't you. Fine, fine. If you can figure out a way to dig and line the damn thing by the time I get back. --fuck, the little guy needs saltwater too, don't he. So you'll have a while, then."

And with that, away she goes.

The things she does for you, bro.

Oh, wow, looks like he's going to get insta-pool. "Thank-you!" gets called after Val's retreating back.

Also, he's waving one of Spots' tentacles for him (for all the four seconds before said tentacle insinuates itself into his fingers), and doing a passable impression of the kraken's little burbly voice. ...But they don't make it any less sincere!

...

...Um. Marley, you didn't see a thing.

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