lair / june 22nd / @suvaris
he was standing in the balcony overlooking the garden, joint in his hand, just to silence the voices in his head. not actual voices, not that kind of insane, but the endless thoughts that never led anywhere good. hence the joint in the sunshine, taking a beat to take in some kind of peace.
then he saw azra slink out of the shadows, settling back on the bench with a measure of relaxation no-one else seems to have had in a while. he was going to dissapear down to talk to her when a second azra turned the corner, a hesitation that was far more familiar on her shoulders.
was he hallucinating a double for her as well?
but then they started to interact and he remember that only he was real and he watched with half an ear, theories and questions that he didn’t really understand (or care to) being thrown back and forth.
then the conversation stared to heat up (or cool down, judging from the way that he started to shiver slightly in the warm june air), the double losing its relaxed self-confident air, taking on a more predatory stance and he shifted his weight, ready to jump down if she needed him to interfere.
the words, the accusations, they echoed in his own brain and dammit this was why he was smoking. love, care, impossibility, and he agreed with the clone even as they were wrong and the clash of two lies battling in his head hurt.
but if those two were the same, and his was the same, but they were both talking about being more powerful - he started to regret not listening earlier, then azra was swinging, desperate in her attacks.
violence threatened, when miniature mountains started to erupt from the ground, and he stumbled as the floor shifted. he stared in shock (apparently he could still be surprised) as azra started to run into the building, then as the reflection moved in a way that could not quite be described as human, cackling in a way that gripped his spine.
there was no universe where azra was like that, so perhaps reflection wasn’t the best word.
he continued staring, wide eyed, as the - the clone - seemed to evaporate into the shadows.
then the world came crashing back down as the joint burnt down to his fingers, causing him to drop it and reflexively grind it under his foot, before looking hear azra swung open the doors. he vaulted down, transporting himself for the last moment to not feel the impact, then chased her in.
“ azra! “ he shouted out as he ran in, ducking through the closing doors. “ azra! hold up a second! “