A Case of Mistaken Identity | James

[Theo Dean]

Theo was tired of the rumors. He didn’t know who had started them but ever since he had gotten back to camp he had been hearing about how people had seen him places that he had never been, doing things he had never done. It was ridiculous. Clearly this was all just a case of mistaken identity or someone’s poor attempt at trying to prank him. He wasn’t having it and that meant putting an end to all this craziness right now before things got serious.

Fortunately the rumors seemed to center around the Hephaestus cabin so that made things easier. Theo couldn’t honestly say that he had been here before. Hephaestus kids were all about doing things and, well, Theo wasn’t so why go by and visit them. That in itself should have been enough proof that he wasn’t hanging out around the Olympian’s cabin but still the rumors persisted and that meant one thing. The quickest way to fix all this was to go to the Hephaestus cabin and prove there was no Theo doppelganger hanging around and ruining his slacker reputation.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do when he found the source of all this misinformation. He had a few spells prepared and his jacket glowed faintly with enough magical symbols and runes to insure a wide variety of chaos depending on how things went. One thing was for sure though. Nobody was going to mistake him for being a Hephaestus kid after this. If somebody wanted to mess with him then it was a mess they were going to get.

Walking up to the Olympian’s cabin Theo knocked and waited for an answer. He wasn’t sure how many Hephaestus campers there were but it wasn’t his style to go bursting into a place unannounced, at least not when he was missing an audience. Besides, this was still probably just some misunderstanding. In which case he was going to have to find another target to fire all these spells at like maybe the people who kept bringing him all these ridiculous stories.

[JAMES BEHR]

James wasn't expecting this day to happen like this.

He knew he needed to face his Doppleganger eventually, but he wasn't expecting to meet him in his pajamas. Yes, James had been asleep when the knock came at his door. He opened it, rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times before the person before him came into clarity.

His jaw dropped. "So, you're the infamous Theo, eh?" he asked, trying to sound casual as his heart was pounding loudly in his ears. He. Looked. Just. Like. Him. It was freaking him out, in all honesty. He didn't want to show that though. He cleared his throat, lifting a hand to give an awkward wave.

"Erh, I'm James," he said, suddenly very aware of his pajamas.

Theo Dean

[Theo Dean]

When the door finally opened Theo definitely hadn’t expected to be looking right into a mirror. If anything he believed he was going to clear up this whole mess up until the very end when the guy, him, was standing right there in the doorway in his pajamas. Theo stared at him for a long moment completely unable to believe it until his mind started playing catch up to what the other him was saying.

Infamous? Infamous?! There was only one him, one Theo Dean, and here was this other him trying to call the original him infamous? Theo narrowed his eyes and began to walk around this other him looking him over. He had seen the face often enough in the mirror but actually being able to see himself, all of him, was just odd. When he came back to face the guy he took another long moment to stare at the other him. Like it or not the rumors were true this guy, James or whatever his name was, was him. Some how. Some way. “What the hell is going on here?”

[JAMES BEHR]

James held still as his clone started to walk around him. He didn't really mind, it was kind of a big deal and the guy probably needed to process whatever the heck was happening to him. James waited, giving the guy a chance to speak first. James wasn't surprised that he was mad, even if James wasn't. James could tell that even if they looked the same, they were rather different people-- that was clear. "I can honestly say I have no idea," he said, raising his shoulders up in a shrug before dropping his shoulders and shaking his head. "I think we should figure this out, to be honest. Erh- that is if you're willing and not about to kill me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

[Theo Dean]

“Kill you!?” Theo cried in surprise at the other him’s statement. “Chill out man. That’s a bit extreme. Besides, it would be…weird.” The son of Hecate shook his head to clear the idea from his mind. Killing someone that looked that much like him would have been like killing himself and he just didn’t want to think about it. At least this other guy seemed to be as confused about this whole mess as he was though admittedly he was handling it much better than Theo was himself.

There had to be some kind of logical explanation here. This James guy couldn't really be his twin. If he was then he should have been over at Hecate not Hephaestus. That and you would think he would have heard something about the fact that he had a brother. Still, that left more questions than it did answers. What was he? “Alright so look…You’re a Hephaestus guy right? For sure? No magic powers, talking to animals, clouds of mist swirling around you kind of stuff going on right? Not even a little bit?”

[JAMES BEHR]

The guy was right. It would be incredibly weird to kill someone who looked just like you. He shuddered at the thought. "All right, got it," he agreed. Soon the guy was asking about his abilities, trying to assure that he wasn't a son of Hecate like him, it seemed. James gave a little shrug and nodded, "Yeah, sorry bro. Hecate is in my blood. Resistance to fire, technokenisis, the works. I don't see any form of magi and animal affinity in me one bit." He groaned, stepping out of his cabin door and shutting it behind him.

"I mean... how could two Godly parents have identical twins? That's crazy. Granted, are Hecate kids born or are they just like... gifted? I'm assuming that's your parent. That's what I've heard, at least."

[Theo Dean]

"Twins? No way. Couldn't be." And yet Theo really didn't have any better options. There was just the tiny, minuscule problem of the actual how it could be possible. Theo didn't know and he didn't really think it was possible to know at the moment considering the limited information they had. "Okay let's say you're right. We really are identical twins just somehow from two different godly parents. I don't know how it could work but let's just run with this. So that leaves the question of what do we do next?"

Theo scratched his head. Pondering this crazy stuff was giving him a headache. It would be odd enough if they just came from different mortal patents but gods? He supposed they could do some pretty freaky stuff but he was going to have to seriously question his mom's motivation here. Still, it was the best explanation they had. "I think we definitely need to go to Chiron about this. Maybe he knows of some kind of godly paternity test or something...the Olympian equivalent of Maury or something."

[JAMES BEHR]

James shook his head and pursed the bottom of his lip in a little frown of confusion. What were they supposed to do next? They both stood there for a second, probably looking identical in their confusion, until Theo spoke again. "Ooh! Godly parenting test. Good thinking," he snapped his finger in the guys direction. "But... another option is that some God is just playing a trick and one of us really was born looking like something else. But, eh, that seems rather complicated..." not any more complicated than being twins from separate Godly parents, but eh. What were you going to do?
"I guess we could go see if he's available now- erh - do you mind if I chance out of my pajamas?" he asked, gesturing down to his clothes and almost forgetting that he was still in his PJ's.

Theo Dean

[Theo Dean]

“I think we’ve gone way past the realm of complicated. Somebody certainly has a poor sense of humor here because I can’t see how this would work out.” Theo shrugged. In his opinion this was a pretty stupid joke if it was one. His face was perfect and it was weird finding out that he had been sharing it with someone else his entire life without even knowing about it.

“PJs? Right...” He said as he suddenly turned his attention back to James realizing that he was decked out in his pajamas. “Oh yeah go ahead man. Gods, hopefully we don’t have the same fashion sense too. This is going to be so freaking weird.” Theo shook his head and sat down on the porch to try and gather his thoughts. “Go ahead and get changed. I’ll wait out here and try and make some sense of this big mess.”

[JAMES BEHR]

James nodded in agreement as Theo said that the culprit must have a poor sense of humor. He, however, had a great sense of humor and could always find light in the situation. However, he sensed that Theo wasn't really feeling the jokes at the moment so he decided to keep his mouth shut... for the time being.

James did chuckled when Theo said he hoped the didn't have the same fashion sense. James was sure that they did not from the way Theo was dressed right now. In fact, James didn't really take fashion into account anyway so... he wasn't sure if he even had a 'fashion sense'.

"Be right back," he said before slipping into his cabin. He changed into some jeans, his camp t shirt and put on a black zip-up hoodie. Well, it was simple and easy which was what he liked. He came back outside in a manner of minutes.

"A'ight. To Chiron!" he pumped his fist into the air and quickly brought it back down. "That is, unless you've solved it in the three minutes I was gone?" A joke had to slip through, of course.

@theodean

[Theo Dean]

Theo sat down on the porch and rested his head in one of his hands as James went to get changed. He wasn't sure what he hoped to accomplish in those few minutes between when the guy who shared his face left and when he came back but he set his mind to the task of working through this puzzle. He was normally pretty good at figuring puzzles out but as far as this one went he had to admit that he was stumped. There really was no rational explanation and yet this couldn't be a coincidence. It was too freaky to be a coincidence.

By the time James had come back, thankfully not dressed in the same clothes Theo was himself, the son of Hecate had gotten no further trying to figure out the mess than he had been when he started. That being the case he could think of nothing better to do than head to the big house and hope to find some answers there. He didn't know what help the old centaur would be but it was better than nothing and this time it looked like they really didn't have much of a choice.

Theo glanced up as James returned, even chuckled a little at his statement. He was glad at least someone was finding some humor in all of this. Unfortunately he really didn't have any good news for him. "Sadly no. This is some messed up shit let me tell you what.” Theo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Come on. Soonest begun, soonest done or something like that. Let's go see the horse man.”

[JAMES BEHR]

ames nodded and shrugged as Theo beckoned them onward toward the Big House. "What I don't know is... why hasn't Chiron talked to us about this already? I mean, in his defense, I don't really go to the Big House that often," she shrugged, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets as they walked. He glanced over at his doppelgänger and then quickly turned away. It was weird enough seeing his own face but it was even weirder seeing his own face moving beside him. James hunched down, trying not to have the same posture as Theo did.

(Theo Dean should we ask Char or Rache do be Chiron for us or should we just skip past that?)

[Theo Dean]

Theo thought about James' comment and shrugged in response. Chiron should have known something but there was no telling what the old centaur's motivations really were. "I'm not really around consistently." He offered by way of explanation. "I mean I didn't even know you were here until I came back and started hearing rumors. It's not like the Hecate and Hephaestus cabin do that much together so we might not have even met otherwise."

Thinking about his cabin made him wonder how his siblings were going to take this. Saph would probably flip her lid when she found out and he couldn't really blame her either his lid was pretty flipped right now too. "All I know is that horse has some serious explaining to do when we get to the big house."


(Yeah that might be good. Especially if we are going to be doing big plot stuff. Let me know what you think)

[JAMES BEHR]

(So for some reason the Chiron account isn't working. We're trying to work it out but I have permission to be Chiron so I will just NPC him through James for now.)

James nodded as they approached the big house, equally hoping that Chiron would have something helpful to say. James opened the door, stepping in toward the Centaurs office and knocking lightly on the door. After a moment of silence he turned to Theo, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe he's not-" then the door swung open and the centaur was standing there, smiling and nodding.

"Ah, I was wondering when you two would show up. Come in," he said. Just as elusive and mysterious as ever. He moved to the side, gesturing to the chairs by his desk. "Please, sit. I'll answer your questions the best I can,"

he said. His eyes soft and kind.

James moved quickly to sit down, "Thanks Sir. Erh- I guess we're wondering... why didn't anyone get us to meet before? I mean, didn't you think it was odd?" he asked, looking to Theo for confirmation about the question.

Theo Dean

[Theo Dean]

Theo walked with James to the Big House in silence. Silence want usually Theo's thing, he liked to hear himself talk, but this day had been too whacky, too crazy for him to enjoy cracking jokes or even amuse himself by casting spells as they went. There was just too much to think about and as they walked Theo continued to try and puzzle out some meaning behind the day's events and this other who, oddly enough, shared his face. He wasn't sure what answers they could expect but he hoped they would find something out from Chiron.

As they reached the centaur's office James knocked. It took Chiron a moment to answer but when the door was opened the pair was greeted with the centaur's smiling face as if he had been expecting them. That was a little disconcerting as a part of Theo had hoped the old centaur hadn’t known anything about what was going on. It was better than the alternative of him keeping something from them after all. In either case Theo wasn’t so sure how he felt about Chiron’s warm grin. “Yeah that’s what I’m wondering.” He said as he moved into the room to join James with his arms crossed. ”What’s the big deal keeping this all a secret?"