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[coppelganger]

crystal | letters | in-person

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[youwonscience]

You mean the root of clone disease? Shit.

[The reality of having to face that, eventually, is something that never really goes away, for all she talks about it little these days. She knows what happens if she goes too long without treatment -- she thinks about it every time she leaves Kirkwall, the possibility of something going wrong on the road, not having the option of spirit healing at length.]

I can't say I'm surprised Leekie was in bed with the military, in some ways. You don't get that kind of funding from everyday grants, it was going to be the military or rich people hoping to live forever or something. Still.

[coppelganger]

Yeah.

[ Again, Sarah hesitates, and then continues in a rush: ] Look, I know it's a lot, and you don't remember, and we don't have to talk about it all. But you should know there are other clones. The military raised a bunch of boy clones. They're our siblings, biologically. We're Project Leda, they're Castor. It's important, so... you should know. [ God. It sounds so stupid blurted out like this. ] I'm sorry.

[youwonscience]

Wow. That's... a lot. Have you met any of them? The Castor clones.

[A pause, then:]

You don't have anything to be sorry about, you know.

[coppelganger]

[ She's just going to not respond to the second part, because Sarah's self-loathing knows no bounds tbh. ]

I have. They're all working for the military. Not good guys. They were raised self-aware, like a bunch of steroid-fueled Rachels. [ Shit, does Cosima even know who Rachel is? Sarah isn't sure, but she doubts it. ] One of them broke into Felix's flat and held a gun to Kira's head, before.

[youwonscience]

Oh my god. She's OK? You're OK? Shit, I mean, I guess maybe it's been awhile for you, but still.

[She knows Rachel's name, enough about her for the comparison to make sense broadly, even though they haven't met.]

[coppelganger]

Pretty recent. I sent her to stay in Iceland with her dad for a while. She's alright, I guess.

[youwonscience]

I hear Iceland is pretty.

[It's a lot to process. She exhales, audibly.]

Is that how you ended up captured? Going after them after one threatened Kira?

[coppelganger]

No, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Y'know, as usual.

[ She's trying to lighten the mood a bit. ]

[youwonscience]

Shit, Sarah.

[But it succeeds, in that Cosima laughs a little.]

It's weird, you know. I've been here so long on my own... before you and Helena showed up, it sort of felt like my life at home was more and more kind of unreal. Not like it didn't happen, obviously, but just... distant. And now there's so much that you've lived that I don't even remember being there for.

[coppelganger]

I feel that way too. Not for the same reason, just... you don't remember, Helena doesn't remember. It's almost like it didn't really happen.

[youwonscience]

I'm sorry. I wish I did.

[Not because it sounds like it went well, exactly, but so Sarah felt less alone. Gently, a joke:]

Just wait until, like, Alison from five years ahead of you inevitably shows up.

[coppelganger]

[ Sarah laughs, genuinely amused at the thought of Alison showing up, even if she is from some point in the future. ]

I'm not sure she'd be able to survive in a world without PTAs and homeowners' associations.

[youwonscience]

Oh my god, are you kidding? [Laughing a little:] She'd be seneschal in like, two weeks, maximum. She'd force a merchant into reverse-engineering glue guns and glitter so that we can send out real invitations to shit. The entire base operations project would be running scared.

[coppelganger]

Shit, you're right. She would bring suburbia to Thedas.