After a particularly memorable night, Flora's eyes snapped open at exactly 5 am. She had no idea why she woke up that early; she
never woke up that early, especially not after an insane workout like she'd gotten she'd gotten last night. And why was her heart beating so fast? Was it love?
No. It was anxiety. Flora sighed silently. Now that she'd had a full night for her thoughts to marinate and the fire in her loins had been sated, she needed to resolve the situation she'd found herself. She'd gone from zero lovers less than a week ago to
five, a staggering multiplication she'd hardly had time to come to grips with. And already these various lovers were coming to blows out of desire to spend time with her. It was a less pitiable problem than her previous forced chastity, but she didn't want to make anyone happy. But how much more can one folf do?
Not much, she admitted wistfully. And that's when an insane idea popped into her head. For several minutes she lay perfectly still, chest and legs pressed up against Emma's, almost hoping the vixen would wake up and remove any chance Flora had of exploring this idea of hers. After all the bed was quite warm, and there's no chance Flora got a full night's sleep. But finally she gathered up the willpower to extricate herself from the covers. She needed to resolve this soon as possible, for everyone's sake.
Hoping Emma didn't mind if she borrowed some clothes (her robe was in dire need of cleaning), Flora slipped on a skirt and blouse, blushing somewhat at how feminine her outfit was. Emma was definitely more girly than Flora, she didn't own a single pair of jeans or a T-shirt.
Flora slipped into the hallway and quickly retraced her steps to the part of the labs where Taga lived. Quickly she located the elder rat, who had indeed made good on his promise and decorated the walls with slips of white paper.
The man was sitting in a meditative stance, and cracked one eye open. "Hi. You're...awake early," Flora remarked politely, smiling awkwardly.
"I'm meditating. And you're interrupting," he answered simply, reclosing his eye.
"I'm sorry about that. If you want--" Flora started, but the man cut her off.
"No, its too late. Meditation is like a souffle; interrupt it before it's finished and it'll deflate before your eyes." The man got to his feet. "But I'll forgive you if you've brought me another gift."
"To, uhhhh, duplicate?" Flora gulped. "I might have. But I wanted to know a bit more about it first."
The man frowned. "I am not an exhibit on a guided tour!" he protested, folding his arms.
Flora sighed and fished around the pockets in her blouse. Locating a spare button sewn into the hem of the skirt, she pinched it off with her claws and passed it over. "I just want to get to know you a little. What's your name?"
"Marly," he replied eagerly, snatching the button and turning it into a short stack within a millisecond.
"And Marly, is there a limit to what you can duplicate? What happens to the original?" she asked.
"Duplicated items shouldn't stay apart for long," Marly replied, spreading his arms around his relatively barren cell. "Else I'd have decorated this place a hundred times over. I always re-merge everything before 24 hours pass. I can always tell which is the original." To demonstrate he selected a specific button and used it to flip the others along the ground like a game of tiddlywinks.
"Have you ever duplicated a living person?" Flora asked, mouth going slightly dry.
"Oh, of course. I used to charge people for the privileged." Marly flipped a button into the washbasin. "Got a little too successful, that's how I wound up here."
"What used to happen to those people?" Flora urged.
Marly began to detect the urgency in her voice and cocked an eyebrow. "Something tells me this isn't just innocent curiosity." Flora shifted her feet. "Those days are behind me, I assure you. But to answer your question; there were no complications, most of them loved it and I re-merged each of them within 24 hours. I got a little bit richer, they walked away happy, and I never asked questions."
"Please do that to me!" Flora burst out. "I need to be in two places at once! My friends are counting on me!"
"Girl, don't be daft." Marly duplicated a new set of buttons due to flipping all his old ones into the basin. "Management would know it was me in a heartbeat. I could get in a lot of trouble."
"I'd stay away from myself," Flora urged him. "And I'll bring you a new trinket every time.
Both of me would! You can even make requests!"
Marly chuckled and shook his head. "I desire no particular items more than anything else," he assured her. "If you're hoping to sweet-talk me into this, it won't work. And have you considered not splitting apart your very essence just for the benefit of other people? Surely you don't me to tell you that's a bad idea."
"There must be something you need," Flora pleaded. "Something you'd never told anyone. This is your chance. I'll help you. We can help each other."
Marly paused. "You're making a mistake," he grumbled. "But there is something you can do for me." He held his hand out. "Deliver a message from me to Taga. Don't tell her it's from me."
Flora stuck her hand through the bars. "Deal!" She expected Marly to shake it, but instead he tapped her palm lightly, and suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Flora grunted and covered her eyes, and when she looked again she was staring right into her own eyes. Another fully-fledged Flora, dressed in the same blouse and skirt.
"Oh my god!" Both Floras gasped.
Marly nodded approvingly. "Damn, that was a good one. I surprise myself sometimes, even got all the clothes right."
"Wait--" said both Floras, planning to ask who was the original, but then both broke off when they interrupted each other. Both looked at Marly, then at each other, then their jaws dropped open as they realized they were sharing identical thoughts.
Marly chuckled. "Here. Let's get some talking turns down. It'll settle out after that." He held his button up. "Smooth side up, lefty talks first, bumpy side up, righty. capiche?" He flipped the button. All three watched as it landed.
"So I get to talk first?" one of them said.
"Wait, I thought I was left," the other protested.
"Then why didn't you talk first?" the first asked.
"Cause you're in the way so I couldn't tell what side the button landed!"
"Ladies," interrupted Marly. "You're welcome. The less time you spend together the better the memories will be, trust me. And you've got a deal to follow through on." He glanced at left Flora. "You leave first. Go do your things. Other one, you can leave in like fifteen minutes, after delivering my message. Meet back up here by tonight and I'll rejoin you and put this all behind us."
Both Floras nodded, and the chosen one headed back up the hallway. Returning to Emma's room, Flora removed her clothes, put them neatly back in the drawer, and resumed her spooning of Emma.
I hope other me has fun with Yurei today... * * *
Meanwhile, the other Flora walked over to Taga to see if she was awake. "Hello?" she said softly. It was far darker at this end of the cellblock, and Flora couldn't even tell where the older woman was, or if she was awake.
