Cedric took a deep breath as he looked over his mindscape. Normally, when he made illusions of living things, he had to painstakingly control every last aspect of them - like an intricate marionette on intangible strings. But the illusions he’d made of himself earlier… they moved and spoke without him consciously making them. The possibility of having accidentally created intelligent life alarmed Cedric, so he, of course, quietly ran an experiment where Andie and Dyllan couldn’t see. By talking to an illusory clone of himself, then Dyllan, and then Andie, Cedric confirmed in no uncertain terms that the illusions were not alive. Nor were they separated off fragments of his psyche, like his shadow and ego had been. No, it was absolutely clear that there wasn’t a shred of personhood within the illusions. Not because they weren’t convincing - on the contrary, it was because they were too convincing. Far far too convincing.

It was something most people wouldn’t notice. Subconscious predictions of behavior were vague, allowing for a wide range of behavior to still fall within the territory of “expected.” So, naturally, for people who primarily used these methods of predicting human behavior - aka the bulk of humanity - being surprised by the behavior of others was unusual, and uncomfortable.

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But Cedric used conscious, calculated methods when predicting the behavior of his fellow humans. Methods based on experience, education, and knowledge of the individual in question. His predictions were specific, and humans were complicated. When speaking with others, surprises were constant. One after the other, little surprises - always with the little surprises. Hesitation where there shouldn’t be, attention wandering when they should be focused, or using one word when they should use another. Cedric’s calculations were too precise to be consistently accurate, outside the broad strokes. Sudden outbursts he saw coming a mile off, but the subtleties eternally eluded him.

But the illusions always acted exactly how Cedric expected. They were not him. They were not Andie, nor Dyllan. They were mirrors that reflected how others expected them to behave.

Concerningly, the illusions of himself had surprised him… but not during his experiment. Only back with Andie and Dyllan, and only when one of his two very real friends had been paying attention to his very not real illusion.

So it wasn’t just his expectations they could reflect.

Cedric shook his head and tried to focus. The more unsettled he grew with his new abilities, the more anxiety his Nightmare had to feast upon. Time to move on to another power. A power that was truly new to him, and not just an evolution of something familiar.