"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
here he was: a friend, but no longer one he remembered, as odd and mismatched and fragmented his memory had become. this was a face he thought he would see, a scent he faintly remembered (though, as all things were, had been polluted by time) though not while he was in this position, behind a counter and his palms around his hourly cup of tea, trembling slightly as he swallowed thickly, and quickly pulled up his mask; thankfully, he had only looked over his shoulder, and half-turned so that the unmarred side of his face was shown.
“a-ah. i apologise. i thought it was someone i knew.” the lie was easy, practiced. there were suryans who had come and gone and some of them he knew, or had heard of. the group of people who belonged to the latter almost often had him wishing for something to calm him down. at least now, he had it, though he couldn’t drink it for as long as the mask obstructed him from doing so.
“was there anything you were looking for, sir? a scent for yourself, perhaps...or a present for someone important?”
