Jon had almost been able to forget how unnatural he had made people's reactions to hearing about clones. Almost, but not quite. Worry flickered across his mind, but only for a moment, as he explained "It's a cloning machine."
"Really?" replied Paul, a little surprised but hardly shocked... as Jon of course knew would happen. "Did you use it?"
"Oh, yeah, I did," said Jon. "My clone's on the floor below. She's rooming with a friend of mine."
"'She', hmm? You made a clone who's a girl? Do you and her, er., sleep with each other?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Sorry, man, I didn't realize it was private. It's just that there are only so many reasons you might want a clone and if you made a girl there's one big obvious reason."
"It's not a secret that we're together but our business is our business. Anyway, what's your major?"
They made a little small talk and Jon then started to unpack again. It was silly, needless to say, to worry that anyone would think the clone was unusual when he had specifically wished that they wouldn't. The only way he'd ever have to worry about it would be if someone else had magic. But nobody around him had magic. Or did they? He'd have to talk this over with Jonnie.
Jon glanced around but Jonnie wasn't there. Am I missing her already? he wondered. Maybe I am, but we will need to talk about this and figure something out. It's been far too long. For all I know Zoe could have been into magic and I already lost my chance to find out.
Once Jon had finished he told his new roommate "See you, I have to talk to my clone about something" and quickly left. He knocked on Jonnie's door and it opened, to reveal the familiar face that was almost his own with a bit more curves and no stubble. Behind Jonnie was Karyn. They had pretty much finished unpacking and the room looked like it was half Jon's own room and half Karyn's, which was far from unexpected.
"Hi!" said Jon.
"Hi!" responded Jonnie. "Well, looks like we're finally done. How's your roommate?"
"Oh, he seemed nice enough. And I did mention you, because I had to tell him what the machine was. Which reminded me of something we've been planning to do for a while. See if there's anyone else with magic."
"You didn't come here for that, did you?" said Jonnie.
"No, I guess I didn't. I just wanted to see how you and Karyn are doing. And after all those months with both of us sharing everything, it seems strange not to. Anyway, why don't we go and eat something. I think they opened the dining hall by now...."
