Welcome to Gaia! ::

Clones set his teeth on edge. Clones were going to be forever wrapped around his mind in steely wires, a pressure that would never subsist. A clone had done him a kindness, a clone had pulled him from the proverbial fire when everyone else had left him to burn-- but his touch had scorched its own marks across Leslie's mind. Forever would mercy and safety be intertwined with the thought of an unscarred Taym, a hand heavy on his shoulder and steady on his head.

The final blow came without Leslie's full awareness, just a primal fear awakened in him manifesting in the form of physical retaliation. He wanted to set himself aflame, to douse himself in gasoline and purge from himself the darkness.

But that would be impossible.

He settled on a teeth-bared snarl, de-summoning his weapon in a snap with shaking hands. Leslie extended one of them to ******** if I know. Death and Life have a pissing contest going, probably. Life's got some. Don't know s**t beyond it."

He grunted non-committally, not meeting her eyes. (Not that that was really an option, given the height difference. But, still: a tactic of avoidance.)

"Yeah, no problem." Leslie fished out a cigarette, not offering Claude one, and lit it. "Sun, yeah? Don't have to know much to do your s**t. Should maybe learn not to hit like a girl, though." The corners of his lips had turned upwards, but less wild, less hungry. Less cruel.