laytondressing | 'Cause Descole's a Creative Genius

[Unfortunately, his double is rather fond of the rafters as a transportation method.

This is... the first time she's encountered a double of herself, for all her awareness of them. It doesn't surprise her that he's male - everyone she's met has seemed confused by her gender. It does surprise her a little how... relaxed he seems, though. The simple fact that he's just openly playing piano like this, something which means that he's not entirely concentrated on his surroundings, on anyone who might sneak up on him, on anyone who might try to hurt him... that's surprising, for her. ...but then, she knows already that not every world has a Layton like hers, and she'd been known to occasionally let her guard down in the days before that.

Dropping down from the rafters behind him, she rights herself, pulling her cloak tight around herself, and then calls out.]

Are you new, double?

[In the middle of some French words, he turns around violently, jumping himself out of the seat and gasping at the site. The woman looked just like him, masked, cloaked and incognito in all, but she was a woman.]

[Slightly embarrassed he let his guard down, he crosses his arms in front of him. He hated when people saw him play music.]

Double? What are you talking about?

[She snorts, just a little. Well. The reaction is probably similar to what her own would have been, if she'd been in his position. She's not in that position, though, what with having been one of the first here.]

This place... it's some sort of thing that draws us all in from different worlds. You're Jean Descole, I presume? Because I am, too.

[With his weight shifted, and trying to push the music out of his mind, he nods with his eyes narrowed behind his mask. He has a hard time believing it, but everything he'd been through, he wouldn't deny it. This woman certain does remind him of himself and considering he had been thrust into this place, he was in no position to fight against her theory.]

So you're me, I'm you, and I was pulled inter-dimensionally? I guess that makes a lot of sense. Jean Descole in a different world is a woman? How fitting. So I take it, other than that, you're just as clueless as I am, as to what this is about, how we get out, and who else is here?

More or less, yes. I have a relatively good idea of who;s here, however.

Oh, there *are* others. Isn't that comforting.

[He smirks through his sarcasm, but his expression quickly changes as he stares back at the Grand Piano.]

I was looking for a way out.

...it depends on whose presence would comfort you, double.

[Descole shrugs, watching him closely. She's interested to see what the reaction will be to her answer.]

It would appear that there's no such thing. None of us has managed to escape so far, and conventional exits have yet to do more than simply deposit us back into the building's lobby.

I don't like the sound of that.

One does not simply get stuck. This has to be a trick, a fun house of sorts. There's always a way out.

[Calmly and collected, Descole walks over to the taunting piano and plays a few measures with one hand. There has to be a way out, he thinks. And this woman is an impostor.]

...perhaps it is a trick, yes, and perhaps there is a way out. But I'm afraid that nobody has found that, yet, and I'm not exactly inclined to be looking for it, personally.

This place is... preferable to what I know, to say the least.

[She can at least sleep a little better here, knowing that the Layton from her world has yet to arrive. Silently, she watches him play, tilting her head to the side a little.]

[He has no reason to trust her, but in her words, Descole finds himself trusting her words, though it all seems highly improbable, it's not impossible.]

[Still, playing, he looks up from the keys and stares at the wall, now playing on autopilot.]

So, what is it you're looking for...double.

[She's... not entirely sure whether to actually answer that question. But, on the other hand, it's only herself, right?]

...safety. Somewhere where... where I don't have to worry about Layton.

That's what I'm looking for.

Layton...

[He's trying to understand what she means by that and he sighs. He's trying to find safety as well, but Layton is the least of his worries.]

So, Hershel is different where you're from?

...he's a monster, where I'm from.

The... the Triton boy left him, and he went insane.

A monster? That hardly sounds like the Layton I know.

[In his world, he has a monster, but Layton is not him. Could this be a substitute for the evil in his life? No, she is an impostor. Remember that Jean. Do not fall for it.]

How is he a "monster"?

...well, he held me captive, and then mutilated and tortured me. Perhaps not like the Layton that you know, but... he wasn't like the Layton I had known before that.

[Except... except that he had been like Layton, even when he'd been carving her up. Descole gags at the thought of it, covering her mouth and looking away from her double.]

[He notices her expression change and turns a bit. Whatever she went through was the same as him. He had been tortured and abused, but he wasn't about to tell his life story. Well, but what if it was only himself?]

Physical torture is hellish, isn't it?

...quite.

[She shudders, putting her hand up to cover the mask over her good eye.]

...particularly from Layton.

[Descole walks over to her in puzzlement. He obviously wants to know what's going on, but how do you go about asking someone about that? She reminded him too much of himself. How could he talk to her? He had an overwhelming feeling that he needed to.

[Quietly, he starts.] What did he do to you?

[Descole just... babbles, a little. She's told enough people about this since arriving here that she'd expect it to be better, but instead it's just more painful every time. This is her double, though.]

He... he gouged my eye out. Took a knife to my back and legs and whipped me with a rope when he didn't have me completely tied up. Carved his name into my chest. Made it so... so anyone would know, afterwards--

[She cuts herself off, hiding her face in her hands.]

[He looks down ans shakes his head. He hopes not to have to explain his abuse he went through.]

[She's so fragile and so hurt. He knew her pain, and he knew what that felt like. But Layton?]

Did you have parents?

[It's the only way he can sympathize. Say something similar.]

[She shakes her head, not moving her face from her hands.]

T-they've been... gone for as long as I can remember.

[Peering up through her fingers, she bites her lip and worries it with her teeth.]

Why do you ask?

Because I did.

[He shakes his head worried, about what he should say.]

One of my parents was abusive. I know what it feels like. This isn't like you. You are me, after all. I've had my world torn apart, and I have had my plans ruined repeatedly. But I've been able to be strong enough to go through it. I think you can.

[He wasn't sure what to say. Descole doesn't want to see his equal upset, it brought back memories. He hopes he gains her trust so she can maybe help him out.]

[Shuddering again, Descole lets her hands drop. It's been long enough since what Layton did to her that - honestly - she doesn't believe her double is correct. She doesn't even know how to go about starting, because living like this has become her life. Avoiding Layton, knowing that no matter how hard she's hiding, if he wanted then he could find her.

She doesn't know how she'd go about even trying to 'get through it' and end up with some sort of passable imitation of a normal life if she gets out of this place. And... the one thing that she tried to do to help with that was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.]

I... I think you're overestimating me, double.

[Descole smirks and shrugs. He knows the life she's living. Running from an abusive man, trying to hide and throw away your whole self and who you were. He knows this life because he's living it as will. And he hates it.]

Well, if you're me, then you know what we've been through. We don't have to be too scared. I think we can seek asylum here, anyway.

Y-yeah. More or less.

[Except that new people seem to be arriving every day, and Descole has already gotten to the point where she can't sleep for fear of her Layton being one of them. The calm of those first few days - when she'd been the only one here - are long gone now, and she knows that she's a jittery mess. She doesn't know how to change that, though, never mind what her double says, because the knowledge that Layton isn't here doesn't stop the nightmares, or the memories even when she's awake.]

There's... no control over who arrives here, though. But the fifteenth floor should be safe for the moment, I suppose.

[She's rather proud of that workmanship, if she's honest.]

I've rigged the place to look like it's unsafe, in the hopes that any people who are unsafe will be turned away from it. There's enough floors in this building that I hope people won't be too suspicious about one of them apparently being out of bounds.

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