well, i've made so many new friends, with open arms they've let me in

[m1895]

Who: Vasiliy (m1895), Konstantin (sputnik), others as starters are written!
What: Assorted Jan/Feb non-event happenings.
When: When the characters are interacting.
Where: Where the characters are interacting.

Content Warnings: Graphic-ish description of slaughter of a bird, animal death, blood, vomiting, alien parasite, possible Yezhovshchina/torture/execution mentions.

Comments

[sputnik]

[ That's a very good point — and touches on thoughts he's nursed here and there, but rarely voiced aloud. ]

I've wondered about that. What it must have.... fed on, out there.

[ So much about the clearly highly adaptable creature is still an unknown. What even is its true nature? If there had been no human interference, how might it have evolved differently? ]

I wonder if it had even eaten at all, yet. Maybe it was only just born. It seems... young.

[ It was a strange move, for it to force its way into him, damning itself to a host of unknown species, to an unknown world. It didn't seem to know what it was doing. Perhaps it had panicked. ]

[m1895]

It could have been confused. You were probably the first human it saw.

[ And, for some reason, its immediate response to that was to... climb into his body, and hide. ]

Maybe it mistook you for the host from its planet. Or its mother. There are some fish that swim into the mother's mouth to hide.

[ He saw it on a National Geographic special in the breakroom, although he only caught that fragment of it during his fleeting opportunity to eat. ]

[sputnik]

[ He can't help giving a little laugh at that, amused even through the horror of it all. What a mental image! The thing, infant-like, thinking he was its mother and seeking refuge in his mouth. ]

Really? It does seem a bit fish-like, at times. It seems like... a mix of many creatures. Maybe that's what it was thinking.

[ Despite its capability of adaptation, the transformation into something so deadly, the little creature does spend nearly twenty-three hours of its time hiding inside of him. And now.... all of its time. ]

Maybe it was never meant to exit its host's body at all. Just stay inside, like any parasite, feeding on what its host eats.

[ It's... a disturbing idea, to be certain, given how large this particular parasite is, but.... if he could keep it inside of him with no risk to it harming anyone, that would be the ideal option, wouldn't it? Maybe feeding it the animal blood like this truly will keep it from ever needing to emerge from him here. ]

[m1895]

[ Vasiliy makes a quiet sound of agreement. ]

If it prefers blood, it wouldn't have been getting enough to eat by staying inside of you. Maybe that's why it left. To find food.

[ Beat. ]

Or maybe it was trying to go home. Looking for a way back into space when it knew you were asleep.

[ It's an odd feeling that settles over him when he says that—it's a gruesome thing, and a parasite, hurting someone he cares for very deeply. But it's a sentiment he can relate to, even in an animal, this idea of being in an alien, unsuitable environment, of every thought being preoccupied with a return to the conditions in which one is comfortable—the conditions one evolved to live in. ]

[sputnik]

[ That's a thought to be sure, one that makes sense. The thing is capable of adapting to its environment in phenomenal ways, but the fact remains that Earth isn't its natural environment. Neither is he. It had to adapt to its host not feeding on blood himself.... It had to leave, in order to find nourishment. Maybe the fact he's drinking blood himself for it now... will be better for it, ultimately.

But it's that next thing that gives Konstantin an odd pause, a flicker of thought that pulls his brow a bit. Admittedly, it's something he hasn't thought much about yet. It's been too easy to perceive the entity only as an invader, as a thing that forced its way into him, tethered itself to an unwilling host body. But it isn't.... happy here on Earth. It isn't thriving; its existence has been stressful for it, confusing. Surely it would prefer to be back in its own world.

Does it know? That it can never return there? Does his little passenger know that it's a prisoner here for the rest of its life, however long that may be? ]

...It might have been. I don't think it ever had some.... agenda, on Earth. No plan to go here. It ended up here by accident.

[ He falls quiet for a moment, and when he speaks again, it's very softly, careful not even to breathe too deeply. ]

It's settling. I think it's tired .