You Stole my Face (Wicked)

Tiberius had always prided himself in being a punctual person. If you were tone at a job interview at ten in the morning, you could count on the boy to be there an hour early, chatting lively with the receptionist about mozart or oscar wilde, getting to know them. It was important you also had connections, which, Ty supposed, was one of the reasons he was elected as cabin leader. He knew lots of names, faces to match. Connections got you places in the world, one couldn’t deny that, and certainly not Tiberius Winters. So now, instead of actually being punctual, he was going through the cabin’s many rooms in search of a wayward sibling. There were bound to be at least some, because there always were. So far, Tiberius had found that there was a girl holed up in the bathroom, trying to put on makeup so as to look dazzling for everyone else. Vanity, Tibs found, was a problem found in most of his half-brothers and sisters, and it was a problem that he couldn’t stomp out of them no matter how hard he tried. Ty had tried the version of authority where you’re sweet and kind, and he told that particular girl that she was beautiful no matter what she looked like; she could have a hairy wart on the end of her nose and it wouldn’t make a difference to him. Clearly that had upset the girl, because she cried and wailed and made her mascara run. Tibs left her where she was, knowing that all the apologises in the world couldn’t fix her feelings. 

Now the cabin leader was making his rounds in the boy’s section of the cabin, and so far he’d found no stragglers. However, there was one more bedroom to check, and so Ty promptly walked in, hands behind his back and walking casually. He wore a white collared shirt with a black cardigan, and for once his outfit wasn’t rumpled and wrinkled. For once in his demigod life, however hazy his memories may be, and however lacking in modern speech he was, Tibs wanted to get his ducks in a row, so to speak. When he walked over to the last bed, he found that there was a moving lump beneath the blue blankets. The top was a hat of hair, as dark as ink, as shiny as oil, and as silky as a raven’s feather. It wasn’t unlike his own. Tiberius nudged the boy. “Good morning,” He said to him. “It appears you’ve missed breakfast, not to mention your other siblings. No matter. There’s still time to go and eat, although I suggest you hurry up.” When the now awake boy sat up, Ty looked into his face. He was looking at himself, he was looking at a mirror.

Tiberius was very shocked and confused at the boy sitting in bed in front of him. He took a step back, just to be sure that he wasn’t in danger. The boy looked almost exactly like him, save for the rounder face and the more rugged, devil may care look. HIs clothes were absolutely horrible, looking like something from the dumpster. The demigod’s eyes flashed a sudden grey, instead of the calm blue they had been before. He couldn’t remember… Why couldn’t he remember? Was this boy, this stranger, a shapeshifter come to mock him? Tibs had never seen him before, an effect this great on him would have had an impact on the way he saw the world. “I…” Honestly, Ty was at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say? Surely he wasn’t expected to carry on a normal conversation? “I don’t…” Slowly the cabin leader was getting his words out. Tibs’ sentences must be thought out carefully in such a manner so he wouldn’t offend or frighten or set off the boy in front of him. Ty noticed that the other one wore glasses, something he hadn’t needed for many years now, and only added fake ones for an accessory. “I don’t comprehend? I didn’t steal your face? I was born with this face?” His sentences were ending in questions, but what more could you expect from a very confused Tiberius Winters?

Tiberius had always known the history of his family. His mother, Lucy, had married his father, Bradley, at age 23, and together they’d had Charlotte and Gabriel and Eponine and Victor. There were no aunts or uncles, no grandmothers or grandfathers, no cousins. Ty’s immediate family was all he’d ever known, and so this boy in front of him had come as a shock. Who was he, and who had brought him here? Maybe it was one of Kronos’ followers, sent to Tibs to annoy him and drive him mad with confusion, as they had done that many times. Even if the boy would have denied it, he could very well had been an excellent actor. Anyways, the way the identical boy spoke to him offended the young cabin leader. He? An impostor? “That’s quite a stupid notion, and I’d have to disagree. Although you are correct on one notion: I am rich. Very much so.” Tibs said, with a fake smile showing on his features. There was nothing wrong with his outfit, nothing at all. There was nothing to do about the insult but carry on and ignoring it. Besides, it didn’t hurt that much anyways. When the boy started to change, Ty got flustered. Was this what normal children did, change in front of each other? He’d never done that, as the demigod respected a little known thing called privacy. Then he was asked his name. and Tiberius slightly bowed, as was his custom of greeting. “I am Tiberius Winters. Might I ask whom you are?"

   Ty didn’t know who this boy — Val. was, or why he was in his life, but he was a bit skeptical about him. “Not normally, no. This is a rare occurrence.” He ran his hands through his soft black hair, trying to figure this strange event out. Tibs prided himself in being one of the most intelligent boys in the camp, surpassed only by one or two athena campers, but when he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for Val… Well his mind drew a blank. It infuriated him. He waved his hand at the boy when he commented on their last names. He had no time for something so trivial. Both of there names also ended in -us, and happened to be of roman origin, but you didn’t see Tiberius fawning over those facts. “Oh yes, it’s hilarious. Positively hysterical.” When the boy asked him yet another question, Ty rolled his eyes and groaned. He paced the floor of the cabin. Why were his siblings so stupid and dull? “Seeing as I don’t even know what that is, I would have to say no."