Warped Within | Stephen Strange

1 - Reflection

"So you're going on a date with the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"I guess I am."

Sura chuckled, using her one arm to prop herself up as she lay back on Tessa's bed, "Isn't he...a little old for you Tessa? I mean, ten year age gap?" She pursed her lips, whistling.

Tessa hummed playfully, "Just because you're jealous."

"I'm just saying he's only two years older than myself." Sura shrugged, grinning, "I'm kidding, you know I am."

"Well," Tessa said, pulling out two dresses from her wardrobe, "There are no guarantees this leads to anything so, if it doesn't, you have my blessing to go after him next."

Sura pulled her hand to her chest in a dramatic gesture, "Why, thank you." She paused when she saw the two dresses, "Oh, you best going for that lil saucy black number."

"Not the red?"

"No, black, definitely! Suits you more...and Tee, I guess."

Tessa's face fell at the mention of Tee as she turned to hang the red dress up in her wardrobe again. It had been weeks since she had felt Tee's presence and without her Entity's voice, she had felt oddly alone. She had even put this date off in an effort to meditate more in the hopes of finally coaxing Tee out again but with no such luck. She wondered if the Entity had left her, but then, if they had, surely she wouldn't still be as powerful and skilful as she was with her sorcery. Equally, if they had left, she was sure she would have felt the separation judging by the pain she had experienced the first time. Her worst thought was the idea that Tee had died somehow and that she had been completely oblivious to their cries of help or that their death had been as quick and as silent as snuffing out a candle.

The sorceress knew she couldn't keep thinking like that though and now, with the date rescheduled to tonight, she was just trying to move on.

"You still haven't heard from the Entity, have you?" Sura questioned softly when Tessa turned around.

"No." Tessa shook her head, a shine building in her eyes, "Sorry, I just, I know you two are friends - "

"We're friends too, Tess."

"Yeah, I know, but I just - I don't want you to think I'm purposefully depriving Tee of interaction - I just - I can't, they're - they're not there."

Sura put her hand on Tessa's arm, "I believe you...they may just be resting after everything that happened."

"Maybe..."

Sura sighed, letting a thoughtful silence settle for a moment before smiling, "C'mon, throw on that dress. You have a date with a very handsome Sorcerer Supreme and doctor." She smirked, "Two for one; I imagine that'll be fun in bed - "

Tessa's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped as she playfully whacked the Master, "Don't! That's not even where my mind's at - "

"Yet!" Sura wiggled her eyebrows.

The sorceress had no words and so rapidly grabbed the dress from off her bed and rushed into her little en suite to get ready. Sura chuckled as she watched the young woman race off and hide.

"Don't take too long." Sura rose her voice a bit as she strolled over to sit on the bed again, "Remember, you don't have to imagine it if you choose your words carefully tonight."

"Sura!" Came a muffled yell from the en suite.

Master Abara just giggled.

In the bathroom, Tessa had shut the door and with a low chortle, and had rested her head against the grain of the door. Of all the images she needed in her head, it certainly wasn't such a smutty one as Sura had suggested. But her laughter died down as she thought about Tee, about how she knew that if her Entity were still there, they couldn't have resisted in teasing her, even if it was just a small bit.