Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Her other personality

           Jimena flicked the gramophone on from across the room using her Watcher power. She sighed and relaxed as the cover of The Mind Electric began to play. She closed her eyes and leant back in her chair, soaking up the music. It was surprisingly difficult to simply flick a switch with her powers; brute and blunt force was much easier than light precision.

           You'll get better eventually. Herodias said kindly. Jimena hummed in acknowledgement as she tried to tune out the world around her by sinking into the sound of the music. But it didn't work. Two words rattled around her mind uneasily. Two words. Two days. Two days left until the Watchers attacked. Two words that she wouldn't forget anytime soon.

           Herodias and Martyn were living reminders. Jimena didn't blame Martyn for anything; he couldn't help reminding her about the Watchers just by being there. It was just that he would have never been in this world anyway without the Watchers' interference and his fate seemed inexorably linked with them. From being an evolutionist to a lifer and then their favorite puppet...

          But Herodias was a different story. Jimena didn't really know what to think of her. Sometimes she was nice but then she would get a mood swing and become really scary. Usually it happened whenever someone disrespected the Watchers, or whenever someone did something that she thought counted as disrespecting them. Jimena wondered what her deal was. Maybe Qiron just made her like that on purpose. 

           He didn't. Herodias spoke up. But I wasn't always like this either. She added cryptically. Jimena rolled her eyes. "You're just like him, you know." She said aloud. "Always so mysterious and high on a kite." She pictured Herodias wrinkling up her figurative nose at the assessment and description. 

           Jimena waited for an answer or maybe an uncomfortable mental prick at the worst case but instead Herodias didn't say anything for a great deal of time. Then she quietly asked, "You think I'm like Qiron?" There was something in her tone that Jimena didn't understand. "Well, yeah." She said. "I think you are." 

           There was a strange emotion blooming inside of her that Jimena was pretty sure belonged to Herodias. She just didn't understand it at all. She didn't understand her other personality. Herodias was just... weird sometimes. But really scary at other times. Jimena gave up her halfhearted attempt to understand her other personality and just tried to succumb to the music. Except two very specific words kept on rattling inside her mind. 

            "Oh, this music again?" Martyn asked, stepping into the room. Jimena lazily opened one eye and hummed. "Yeah, it's really catchy and I would've wasted my money if I didn't play it all the time." "I don't think that's how you do it." Martyn frowned. "Says the person who was stuck in a mineshaft for years." Jimena pointed out. "Says the person who had at least two amnesias." Martyn shot back. 

           "Says the two people who probably can't pick up social cues." False said as she stepped into the room as well. "Says another person who does the exact same thing!" Everyone else said. There was a bit of a pause before everyone started laughing. "Well, we're quite the socially awkward menagerie." The other False said. 

            "Yeah," Jimena said in agreement. She leaned back in her chair and listened to the music. Everyone else did basically the same thing. For a while they just sat there doing and saying nothing until Jimena thought it was getting too quiet. Of course, it had nothing to do with the constant clocks ticking away in the background. She just wanted a distraction to avoid thinking of what happened at the end of two days. 

           "Can someone just talk?" Jimena blurted a little too loudly for it to be natural. False and Martyn looked at her and then at each other. "You just did." Martyn pointed out. "Yeah, but... anyone got any interesting conversation topics or something?" Jimena asked. False and Martyn paused to think. "Okay... uh... what's it like to have another personality in your head?" Martyn asked halfheartedly.