*Cesar's smile falters, and the doppelganger has won this round. Lazarus isn't his anymore, and it brings him no joy at all to think of the young family crumbling, and a new father falling back-first for a too-light impact in a bathtub full of glass--*

*The caress at his thigh steals his thoughts, and his lips part, not quite drawing in air. He doesn't reply for a few seconds. Yes, Ryuzaki just knocked this round clear out of the water, too. Trying to regain lost ground, Cesar leans his face closer, staring him eye to eye.*

{You even copy his echoes, if you still get anything at all. Is that the real reason you're doing this? You're copying a list he wrote of everything and everyone he won't do? Is there anything about you that's original?}