[Open Post] Feeling more like himself...

[silvereyedphage]

He couldn't completely give himself a clean bill of health: the burns still need to be dressed twice a day, but they're healing better than he expected, given their severity. The stab wound has finally healed over, though he's likely to have a scar on his back for the rest of his life, however long that ends up being. He credits this to Belize's

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[emocaliban]

I know I dropped...but typist thought they should meet again.

Cal's been nervous lately, though he couldn't say why. Perhaps there is no why. Maybe he's just nervous. All the same, though...he keeps his gun close, and one eye over his shoulder. Some of his feelings are pretty good.

However, the feeling when coming across this one isn't quite so nice. Even if there is a little bit of a sensation of like knowing like. Perhaps because of that.

"Hey," he says, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "You're not dead. Good job."

Second try, due to HTML wonkiness, likely human error...

[silvereyedphage]

Hee, quite all right: I was hoping they'd meet again someday

There's precious little in any worlds he's crossed that Muraki is afraid of. This young man is one those few things, and while the man might be quietly pleased to make Cal's acquaintance, it's a cover for the fact that the phage has now run screaming into a far corner of it's host's hypothalamus.

He chuckles, gently, even pleasantly, taking that jab in stride. "I was in bad shape when we met, but fortunately, a young gentleman patched me up; the rest was in the hands of nature and my own vigilance," he says. "I didn't get your name that first day, though I suppose it was no situation for pleasantries."

[emocaliban]

Caliban has no idea of that, and is currently watching Muraki with some of his usual wariness but more...considering. He can't quite help it, with the something that echoes to some inner piece of him he really wishes didn't exist, but...

After all, why judge by feeling alone? Instincts aren't infallible.

But they're pretty good.

"Yeah, I did notice that," Cal drawls. "Kind of hard to miss. Fast recovery, though." He pauses, a second, and then shakes his head. "Caliban. Is my name, I mean." He's gotten out of the habit of aliases. After all, the people who need to know names to fuck you over may well see through that lie.

[silvereyedphage]

"I heal fairly quickly, but that seems to be part of my constitution," he says, casually, even with a faint smile. "I'm Muraki," he adds, bowing his head deferentially, though his inner self is now starting to whimper, begging him to cut the conversation as short as possible.

[emocaliban]

Good, no question about the name. Give the boy a cookie. "Yeah, that's fairly obvious." Things that heal fast are things to be wary of, in Cal's opinion, but then again...he'd like to know exactly what he's dealing with and how dangerous it is. "Sure I'm glad to meet you and all that. Where're you from?"

He'd guess Japan, but he's learned not to assume.

[silvereyedphage]

"I'm originally from a small town outside Tokyo, but when the city sprawled out, the town and my family's estate ended up within the city limits," he says.

Keep the conversation mundane, he thinks, as much to reassure the quivering phage as to keep calm, and this won't go so badly...

[emocaliban]

"Fascinating," Cal can't help but drawl, and is still studying his eyes. Something's weird about them - or about one, really, slightly different from the other - but eyes aren't always symmetrical, is he making a big deal out of nothing just because this weirdo gives him the creeps?

"Hey, that's a novelty, though. A city I've actually heard of. New York. Sort of. More or less."

[silvereyedphage]

He laughs gently, keeping it light. "Yes, this place can, at times, seem like it should be a hotel connected to some sort of of United Nations for any number of fantastical realms."

[emocaliban]

"Good way of putting it," Cal says, and his nostrils flare slightly. Something smells. Fishy. And furthermore...

There is a vicious piece of him that is grinning like a skull, and he doesn't know what it wants.

Caliban sits down. "So. How've you been doing?"

He wants to figure this out.

[silvereyedphage]

"I've had my better days and my worse days during my recuperation," he said. "My own restlessness got the better of me at times: doctors don't always make the best of patients." To say nothing of the phage's restlessness, though he'd almost rather deal with that than it's current fearful whining.

[emocaliban]

"So I've heard. Probably means you haven't run into too much fucked up shit, though, am I right?"

There is something that wants to come out and plaaay and he wasn't even aware that it was there. Neurgh.

[silvereyedphage]

"Nothing to speak of that would really mess with someone's mind, aside from that night when the moon turned the color of blood," he says, with a small shudder. "It was late at night and I couldn't sleep since the pain-killers I was taking had stopped working in between doses, but that light kept me awake nearly till the damn moon finally set."

[emocaliban]

Cal glances out the window, almost as though he expects to see it. And grimaces.

"You'll get worse," he says, abruptly. "Trust me on that, that's not even close to the worst some things can do."

[silvereyedphage]

His visible eye blinks and he gives Cal a confused and worried look. He has a feeling about what the younger man could be referring to, but he has to be certain. "What do you mean?" he asks.

What else could *HE* possibly be afraid of...? his inner self whimpers, but he mentally smacks it for being so childish.

[emocaliban]

Cal grimaces. "Never mind. Hopefully it won't become a big deal again. Not that I'm an optimist." Snort. That'd be funny. He looks back at Muraki, and seems a little surprised to see his expression. "What, stuff like that never happens in your home world?"

[silvereyedphage]

"There have been eclipses there, but this seemed unusual," he says. "And there was something heavy in the air that night... like a poisonous vapor," he adds, with a dark note of something like concern. He should know: he spoke to the source of that poison...