"What?" He shakes his head and the pain stops, for the moment, leaving behind a dull migraine to bloom behind his eyes.

Steadier, he wipes the blood from his nose on the back of his hand. It still oozes on his upper lip, streaking his face.

[attr="class","beck"]forgetting, or perhaps ignoring, he snaps a hand up and grabs choi by the jaw, then squeezes.

"tell me the last thing you remember."

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

"We-" He blinks, previously unclear eyes livening back up. Chu-e's hand finds Theo's wrist again- no pinch this time, just to jerk it away.

"Don't do that." A warning, snapped out, teeth bared; much more like the young man he was years ago in that moment than the sickly shell he felt like now.

[attr="class","beck"]there's no resistance to the jerk; he releases, then retracts.

choi's warning is reminiscent but he chooses not to dwell on it. not now, anyway.

"what do you remember?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

Irritation floods him. Chu-e feels more like a cornered animal than a person, hunger bleeding through.

"We were talking about what Underbosses do." There is a bit beyond that but it gets fuzzy.

Chu-e hates these feelings of losing himself, piece by piece.

[attr="class","beck"]"then you bled, then you lashed out at me."

he raises his wrist.

"then bit me like a mosquito."

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

The last bit has Chu-e screw his face up again. One could practically see the question marks popping off his head.

"A... mosquito?"

[attr="class","beck"]"a mosquito."

confirmation comes when he scratches at the wound, itchy.

"let me see your hands."

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

Chu-e does not take kindly to being bossed around.

Yet, he still offers over his hands, palms up, like a child might to show they weren't the one who painted the wall red.

They're smooth and clean, no sign of mysterious mosquito siphons or crystal.

[attr="class","beck"]his eyes narrow as he studies choi's palms. they're clean, so he relents and lets go.

"i don't know what's going on with you, choi, but i'm worried."

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

"I told you. I'm dying." But that would only explain some of it, wouldn't it? Lapses in memory, randomly bleeding, losing balance, mood swings.... but....

Pensive. It was something, at this point, only himself, Cillian Quinn, and Lulu Flint knew. Should he... tell Beckett?

[attr="class","beck"]"that explains little."

he shows frustration.

"what aren't you telling me, choi?"

[attr="class","noodles"]Chu-e Choi

"Crystals are growing inside of me."

It explains little but- it's there, in the air between them.

"They saved me from getting my head cut off, once. A few days ago they saved me from getting my chest ripped open, too."