Fractales (Evony)

[Lyra Caruso]

Leaving one world for the next was easier with every passing day. There was still much to explore in the reflective world, Lyra had not managed to uncover all of the secrets of this world just yet. Naturally there were limits at her level, that she had seen for herself at a previous encounter with the other that could access this world. Lyra obviously could enter, exit, move as she pleased until she reached the edges where she could no longer continue from entry points. As long there was a reflection, she could see the world through different windows.

But more and more, one world was becoming more comfortable than the other. The longer she tested theories, contemplated possibilities in the reflective world, the more time passed outside. She had even been late to a class or two, but certainly, that was not a matter either. There were possibilities here, a world she could safely observe. Or spy, depending on the level of interest. Or invade, given the passage of a certain holiday.

And even then, there was absence, something uprooted that had always existed.
But in the other world, the ache of absence would dissolve. The feeling there exuded a state of dreaming, physically effortless and wonderful.

This is what drew her into this world again today, shutting the journal shut and slipping it beneath her pillow. The dark haired girl reached beneath the bed and drew out her entrance mirror, the embarrassingly gaudy mirror with an art deco frame. Screw anyone that thought it to be tacky, it was awesome to her!

Lyra would fall in headfirst, the physical world immediately nothing but a squared window above her while steeped in the haze of deep violet. Lyra floats through the space, past many shaped windows with both unfamiliar faces and the familiar scenery of Hammel.

But there was no desire to prank them as the girl had many times before. Distort reflections, quick images to trick the eye, just to see the reaction on someone’s face.

Why bother today?

The overwhelming desire to just remain, and watch.

Existing in the world away.

Forever?

Yeah…that word did not sound so bad. There was no harshness here, far away from the world, far away from homesickness and the unease of life.

A rare smile crosses her face. None of that, in light of the thoughts that haunted her mind, sounded so bad at all.

[Evony Vasiliev]

Gleaming silver streaks of light faded into a violet haze, zipping past silently and swiftly like flashing spectres. Evony still did not know what they were and wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to, several times had the skinny swindler thought to chase after them, but the thought of getting lost always harrowed her. The mirror world was still a gigantic mystery, a weightless void that offered no answers, just doorways into every nook and cranny capable of showing someone their reflection. No one could see the girl, she was an invisible audience hiding behind a plane of glass, or in the metal of a spoon or behind the screen of a laptop. She was a ghost, a revenant or just another creepy metahuman stalker.

What the ever-shifting dimension could offer her was respite from the stress of the real world, it was like an omnipresent escape-hatchet that was willing to swallow her whole whenever she just wanted to run away.

As it stood, life at Hammel had only become more unbearable and the reflection world was her welcome relief from it all. Her body buzzed with the aching rush of her potent desires, but Evony knew sating them would not come as easily as it used to. The thief's nagging kleptomania was hampered by a toxic guilt and her burning need for something physical seemed unjustified and rather shallow. The girl did not want to put a reason as to why these urges were backfiring, but she knew, all too well.

Those angry brown eyes couldn't follow her here and yet no matter how far she hid, she still felt them on her. The cold glare of rejection and anger lingered in Evony's mind like a parasite, sucking away all of the zeal she once held so dear.

So it was in the heavy silence of her endless world did Evony retire, hoping that it could provide her with some peace.

Some passing reflections showed mothers coddling babies in nurseries, others depicted young lovers frolicking around in the mess of tangled limbs, wet kisses and greedy touches, but the vast majority of the 'windows' showed little more than the menial and mundane activities of people at work. People doing what people did.

Evy tried to stay and watch, give all of her attention to something, anything really but these fleeting episodes of strangers lives didn't satisfy her. She wanted what they had but loathed to linger around, it would only serve to make her own situation even worse.

After several minutes (hours?) of hapless wandering did she finally feel the heavy tug of something in the vast interior of her world, like gravity was slowly shifting and twisting into something else. Evony had only experienced this once before but she knew what the cause was, or so she hoped anyways.

The other occupant had arrived.

[Lyra Caruso]

Silver cracks glittered beneath the violet haze with the coming of the other occupant. Monochromatic facets vaguely visible to the naked eye gloss the points that would fade into darkness and encrusts around the windows into the lives of shapeless strangers. There is a small tug, a slight pop in her ears with the change in the atmosphere, all changes that was lost to the younger girl. If it had been any other time, Lyra would have known, the changes would have sparked her usual reactive awareness to life. Instead, she only flicked a gaze, seeming completely absent of focus on the world(s) around her.

People lived their little lives around her, completely oblivious to the idea of being watched. How many of them lied? Hid painful, truthful words? How many of them looked into the mirror and never see how terrible they truly were? Lyra sneered at so many and often times distort the images just for the sake of reaction. Right now, she could not even muster the energy or care to glare at them.

And reaction she was lacking on her part. In fact…her fingers felt numb. Why?

A passing glance shifts to her fingers, which was starting to fade into violet haze to join the rest of the world around her.

“Huh…interesting.” She mused and punctuated the statement with a listless laugh.

Movement from the corner of her eye, she finally noticed the other occupant and focus sets in the gaze given to her. The only other person that knew this world, that was able to encroach on this space freely – and yet, there was no visceral reaction from the younger girl as there normally was. Instead, she lifts her hand with the disintegrating fingers at the direction of the other.

“Look," Apathetically spoken. "I’m turning into dust. Or fading into dust, I think.”

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony caught a glimpse of the younger girl through the shimmering fog, only having the body flicker away like a mirage soon after. The colliding 'worlds' seemed to gradually renovate themselves so that it could comfortably fit two entities. Evony had made peace with the fact that Lyra possessed the same gift as hers, although having her 'interior' distorted was always a bit too unfamiliar for comfort.

A passing wave of purple dust momentarily swamped her vision and by the time it faded into the oblivion, the other girl was as clear as day. Well, clear as she could be.

The Blue Bird noticed Lyra's barely visible hand before it was given proper attention to, offering a cocked eyebrow and pursed lip as an immediate response. Evony did not know every single rule that governed the reflection world, occasionally there was a new discovery, but disintegrating body parts? That in itself forced a moment of macabre curiosity to take hold of her. At least it provided some distraction from the voices within.

"I don't think that's good...never happened to me before." She mumbled, furrowing her brow as she carefully slinked forward, staring at her hands in the process just in case the same was happening to her. Even though she wasn't on particularly good terms with Lyra was still some level of compassion that told her to show some concern. Lyra was young and reminded the thief of her own younger sister, much to her chagrin.

"Maybe you've outstayed your welcome or something..." Evony shrugged, stopping near an arched window looking into what appeared to be a library. No one was present but a cat.

It was weird, stopping to have a chat in the middle of nowhere, literally.

"See anything interesting today?" Evony asked quietly, nodding to the endless stream of windows before taking another quick glance at her own hands.

Still normal. Good.

[Lyra Caruso]

The response Bluebroad (was that the name she called her by...sounded right) gave to the gradual disintegration should have triggered some sort of response from the younger one. Lyra's expression remained placid however, only looking at the glittering flecks of violet with a dissonant calm. The girl was sparks and flames, the word "mild" never seemed to suit her and did not suit her now.

"It...doesn't hurt or anything." She responds, the words from miss azure locks diffuses through her intangible form. There were vague recollections that something like this happened before, but for the life of her, Lyra could not recall actually WHEN it happened. Something about ponds-

Overstaying? Is that a thing?

Ah, the first tinge of actual thought that wasn't so placid! The dark haired girl glances around the windows, where shadows and unfamiliar faces live their lives without any knowledge of the pair of watchers just beyond their own reflections. Lyra's eyes narrowed, but for once, not at the interloper but at the closest of the screens, looking out into a random room. A girl putting on makeup while her phone was on speaker, lips moving but sound barely audible.

"Interesting." Lyra closed her eyes. "Nah. Same phony bullshit. People pretend too easily, pretend to be interesting but offer nothing but a vacuous existence."

A small pause in her words. Maybe she realized her thoughts were flowing too easily, spilling over where normally it shouldn't. Where was the dam that held her thoughts away?

"Playing decent. It's why I like it here, why I can be here. You see people for what they are, for who they are when no one is looking, without masks."

Maybe that was the interesting part after all. Fine, she can recant her statement if Miss Blue decided to call her on it. The impassive brown eyes turn to Evony, acknowledging she was still there. This girl probably didn't even care to hear all of that out of her. Lyra crossed her arms, hiding the dissipating hand away from view.

"Fuck all, nevermind my rambling. I doubt you see it that way. Anyways, I asn't here too long to see anything interesting...I think. I don't fucking know, time seems to be running together when I am here. Is that supposed to happen?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

The younger girl actually surprised Evony, considering their last bout which involved lots of screaming and a bruised boob it was a pleasant yet peculiar change to have her be so passive. Not one to provoke trouble when there was little gain from it, the Blue Bird granted the younger girl time to explain the strange new development.

"Well, that's good." Evony nodded, blinking back her fatigue as she gave the nearby window another glance. The cat was now sunbathing on top of a bookshelf near an open shutter. What interest lay in the room died with the lack of activity happening within.

Although the thief granted Lyra an exasperated level of tolerance there was something that urged her stay, why she did so she wasn't entirely sure. In truth, maybe Evony just missed people's company, the sort that didn't rely on fleeting moments of lust or miserable emotional ties that caused heartbreak. Something mutual and platonic, even if it was with someone as peculiar as the snarky brunette.

The Blue Bird found herself giving Lyra a wan smile, subconsciously nodding along with the observation. Lyra was clearly smart, even if she did have that horrible accent.

"People aren't the best actors." Evony muttered listlessly, swaying weightlessly in the violet fog. "You can't fault them on wanting to be appealing though, sometimes it's all they have. That fake and stupid but comforting little facade of theirs." The girl mused, not entirely sure why she was partially defending the very people she laughed at from behind their mirrors.

"Don't worry about it." The skinny swindler flatly stated, disregarding Lyra'a 'ramblings' with a wave of her hand. "Well, a few 'doors' down you might see what's left of some shady banker cheating his firm." She smirked dryly, nodding in the direction of where she came from. "And time...I don't even know if it exists here. I actually think this place makes up its own rules on the spot...all I know is that if I stay too long I may get stuck here." She frowned, glancing around at the contorting interior of their combined dimensions.

[Lyra Caruso]

Not a smart-ass remark slipped from Lyra this time for the frown plastered on her face made her dissatisfaction with Bluebroad's explanation quite clear. All that they have? Tough shit! How was anyone supposed to deal with the reality of...anything if all they had was a mask? The younger girl has to shut the entire thought down immediately before she spiraled into some long rant about things that did not matter at the moment.

In fact Lyra had been moments away from tossing a smart-ass dagger of a remark at the thief's expense...but the idea of seeing what Bluebroad had tipped her head to was actually pretty appealing. What WAS left?

"Ahfuckinhell." She muttered after small hesitation and a dubious leer, propelling herself towards the pointed direction from sheer force of will and curiosity. Why not? A sidelong glance to her hand, where most of her fingers had dissolved to the violet mist prompted the first stirring of worry. While the If her current somewhat-companion had the worry of getting stuck after too long, what were the chances this was something along the same lines?

Pity she had no one else to really ask BUT the azure-haired thief about these sort of things.

"So...when you, like mean getting stuck." Lyra turns to face Evony while still in transit, making sure the sleeve of her hoodie covered the apparent deformity with a small shake of her arm. Windows flashed by, nothing but glimpses of many lives making up Hammel and some of Pilot Ridge as well.

"What do you mean by that?"

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony allowed a safe distance between Lyra and herself, it was weird enough having another person use her 'private' domain but it was a another thing entirely for said girl to be the sort to punch boobs when angry. The mere memory gave the thief a moments amusement, thinking back to the time where things just happened because they did and nothing had been stained with drama. Simply having the nostalgia smack her in the face, or boob, was enough to keep Evony transfixed on Lyra.

The temptation to watch some middle aged man fumble around in an office that was clearly not his snagged Evony's curiosity as it had Lyra's and she found herself floating in the window's direction.

"Look at him. Thinking he'll get away with it." Evony uttered, scrunching her nose at the sheer lack of professionalism in the would be criminal. Even if it was a bit hypocritical for Evy, of all people, to judge a thief...this man was simply too sloppy.

Turning back to Lyra, the thief granted her cocked brow and pursed lips. If the younger girl was worried it was beginning to show through. Glancing at the handless hand the thief tried her best not to look concerned, no point freaking out Lyra even further, or herself for that matter.

"Well...I mean, you know. There's a possibility that staying too long will...how do you say it?" Evony's European was beginning to slip through and after a moments contemplation she snapped back to attention. "It's like swimming in a lake in winter and there's ice slowly forming on top. The longer you stay under, the harder it will be to break through the 'ice' when you want to leave." She nodded to herself slowly, somewhat proud of her metaphor.

"How long exactly do you think you've been here...?"

[Lyra Caruso]

Lyra watched the man fumble in the office with an impassive stare. She was not into thievery but even to the younger girl, it was very clear this dude was so going to get caught. Oh, he could try to do all the right things, but if she learned anything from marathoning The First 48, there will almost always be something left behind leading to the culprit.

"Idiot. He's getting caught, he's leaving too many traces."

Lyra muttered at the man before she shot a dubious gaze at Evony, the entire irony of the situation was hard not to take note of but probably not enough to verbally note. It was more than obvious! Instead she more paid attention to the concept of getting stuck here. The brunette had not even considered the possibility of being stuck in a place like this. Since WHEN?! And while it didn't quite explain what was happening to her, the older girl's analogy made sense enough to draw some insane conclusions.

"Umn..." Her eyes dart, mentally taking inventory of her time here...which she wasn't exactly sure about. The fractals of the reflective world is obscured time itself. It may have felt like minutes from entering, exploring (or brooding) and exiting; there had been a few times Lyra had noticed that a couple of hours had passed. Her eyes briefly glanced to the sleve-covered hand.

"Not too sure." In all honesty. The girl's brow lowered, her frown pensive with the situation. Evony's analogy...Lyra points to her with her good hand. "Okay, so if it's like ice freezing over water for you...that implies by experience, you know to keep your form here. But you can still get stuck beneath the ice after too long." She shook her finger, bear with her thought here a second.

"Is it entirely possible for someone without the experience behind them to not just get trapped under the ice but..."

She held up the dissipating hand in hopes Evony was getting her point, which was now gone to the point of her wrist. The glimmers rose from the stump and dispersed in diffrent directions, lost to the violet haze and monochrome facets.

Was it time to panic yet?

[Evony Vasiliev]

Regardless of how much she wanted to keep her attention on the bumbling would-be thief on the other side of the mirror, Evony's eyes found themselves increasingly vexed by the other tenant in the weightless void. Although she attempted to retain a level of calm for Lyra and her own sanity the very nature of the new development conjured a new-found sense of paranoia. What was happening? Why had this never happened to her?

For all the thief knew, the Reflection world was governed by something chaotic, something that the tangible world did not abide by. Here time was flattened and gravity was non-existent, what rules did exist were either discovered by accident or made up just to safeguard against anything bad possibly occurring.

But there was one thing Evony knew for certain and it was the simple rule she followed whenever she wandered the great violet expanse. Never stay too long.

When Lyra made her suggestion, Evony felt a sliver of dread touch her core. What was happening to this girl was freaky and in a place where no one could hear you scream the thief was beginning to stress. "Lyra, just...let's think this out." She whispered in her most even tone, backing away from the mirror to the ransacked office and stepping towards the younger mirror jumper.

Of all the things to happen, someone was slowly getting erased in a realm that offered no help.

Clasping the girl on the shoulder, the skinny swindler did her best to keep her eyes solely on Lyra's face. As afraid as she was, there wasn't much point stressing out the victim even more. "Just...see if you can breach that mirror." She ordered gently, nodding towards the nearby window, now lacking in the middle aged criminal. There was no point suggesting Lyra jump through the mirror, what would happen if she remains handless in the real world as well?

[Lyra Caruso]

Bluebroad was trying to remain calm, that was not lost on the younger girl, but was her bravado doing the younger reflective jumper any good? The fact the thief did not seem to know if this happens was a little unsettling to learn. Still, Lyra was trying everything in her power not to panic herself. Her? Panic? Fuck no! She was kinda missing a hand here but this could not possibly be permanent!

Right?

Lyra followed Evony’s motion towards the mirror, which was now clear of the criminal and any other figures. The corner of her lip twitched, wanting to voice some sort of sardonic opinion. On second thought, Lyra had no better ideas to voice. Besides, no one was there anymore to witness this weird turn of events and it seemed to be the most logical option.

“Right…okay.”

The girl floated towards the mirror, feeling the worry rise as she closes the gap. What if she jumped out and her hand didn’t? Would she have to live with a stump? Oh shit, did Bluebroad happen to know first aid at all, she could not imagine there being a clean cut. Too late to ask! The girl passes through the mirror feet first, aware of the shift from reflective world to reality as her feet touched the ground and the rest of her phases through-

KLUNK!

Well, ALMOST all of her. Lyra snapped her head back to see the end result.

“Ah, fuck me.”

Most of her arm had phased through the reflection, all except the point of her wrist that had phased away in the reflective world. The girl pulled once, then twice, but the mirror still did not give way.

“Uhhh…Blue!” Lyra shuffled close to look into the mirror. She pulled once more in a small vain hope to have her wrist and hand come through, but another audible KLUNK only further defined the situation. The girl phased her head through the mirror with far more concern on her face.

“Blue, I think this a real fucking problem!”

[Evony Vasiliev]

If being a metahuman came with a manual then life would have been so much more easier, especially for those possessing obscure powers unheard of by the masses. In her mind, Evony was trying to recount everything she had learned during her time in the Reflection world. Trial and error was all that worked and the thief was especially learned in the physics of her private little dimension. But that was all. The possibility that Lyra's world possessed different rules seemed silly, but there were distinct comparisons to be made between the two.

What they were besides the aesthetics were lost on the increasingly nervous mirror jumper.

She lingered by the mirror, eyes flickering from the real world to the younger girl, coaxing her with a hopeful grin. In all honesty, Evony had no idea what she was doing and this idea was the only thing she could come up with on the spot.

So the thief watched on as Lyra's feet went through, followed by her knees then her thighs and all the way up to her neck. A relieved sigh passed through her lip, although it escaped too early. The hollow KLUNKsent a shiver down the thief's spine and a frown quickly replaced the momentary relief.

If there was a hand to push through, Evony would have done something. But there was nothing, it was like the void didn't want to let go.

"I don't know what's happening!" She panicked, clutching her hair and hoping something would come to mind. "Have you been eating properly? Taking drugs or sleeping well?!" She ticked off her fingers, scrambling her mind for a possible answer. "have you been stressed lately?" Evony asked in a softer voice, although her words were drenched in concern.

"Where did you enter from?" Evony questioned, curling her fingers around a lock of hair before looking back at the clearly frightened girl. "Maybe you can only exit from there..."

[Lyra Caruso]

Upon hearing the panic in Evony's voice, Lyra releases a frustrated groan, masking her own growing panic. Fuck, the only other person that she knew of that HAD this power and not even she had an idea what the hell was happening! Mirror jumping had DRAWBACKS? Who knew?

"REALLY, woman?!" Lyra snapped as she pulled herself back into the reflective world. "Does it look like I do any drugs?!"

Well she drinks, but not moreso than any other underaged kid in her age group. Plus she had not been drinking anything apart from Monster or a Coke as of late. While neither sleep nor vice was a thing to the girl, the question of stress quelled the rise of further annoyance. Lyra furrowed her brow and casts her gaze aside, opting to look at anything around her but the other mirror jumper.

"Ugh, bitching at you, ain't even your fault this round." She grunted, more to herself than towards Evony. A brief look to her hand. She had not dissolved any further than her wrist, but it was unclear if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Came in from the mirror in my room. Might as well try that."

The girl murmured with her gaze still averted, floating back in the direction of where they had met up. She gazes upwards, fickers of other lives passing by before floating upwards. Her room would be obvious: it was the only one with one wall painted green and black with a smattering of a pink and yellow Xs. Various quotes and symbols in different colored sharpies marked the rest of the walls untouched by paint. Lyra finally turned to Evony and pointed up to the mirror leading in her room.

"After you. Might need you to get something to cut me out if this doesn't work. Also, don't steal anything."

[Evony Vasiliev]

Evony could do nothing more but offer the younger girl a sheepish shrug of her shoulders, attempting to hide the oh-so nervous grin that played just behind her lips. "It could've been an option!" She sighed, running a hand through her hair before glancing back into the endless void. The entirety of this situation was incredibly ridiculous and here she was, fussing about a missing hand.

Thankfully, whatever 'illness' had latched onto Lyra was yet to affect the blue haired waif and after a moment's recollecting herself and attempting to regain a semblance of calm Evony finally gazed back at the girl, hopeful that the new idea would succeed. The trip back to Lyra's bedroom was a short one, albeit one drenched in tension. What if this didn't work either?

Hovering by the girl, Evony floated through the weightless expanse with nary a noise but the sound of her own heartbeat. In truth, she was becoming increasingly paranoid as to what was happening with the younger girl, to the point that her eyes would constantly flicker to the missing hand, just in case it would spread.

Lyra didn't look sick, but things always tended to break reality in this world.

"Okay." She nodded, only stopping to look at the girl and offering a hopeful smile. "You got this." and with that she hopped through the mirror, landing in the girl's room and feeling the oxygen rush back into her lungs. Taking in several deep breaths to steady herself, Evony looked back at the glass, knowing what lay beyond it.

"I'm right here, grab my hand if you want." The Blue Bird offered, talking to her reflection and the handless girl floating behind it. Her fingers brushed against teh glass, ready to clasp whatever came through.

She wasn't going to leave.