"It wants to eat." So, in a way, yes. It was attracted to their power, to what they were, what they had.

It wasn't like how Cillian Quinn was attracted to that power, though. How many coveted it. They wanted to hold it in their fists, rise above others, be able to assert themselves as superior.

This thing did not want to be strong. It did not want to rule over others. It just wanted to eat.

"Why is it so hungry?"

He wants to know. But who could he ask? Who would know the answer?

Gavin swallows, nervous.

"And it's getting worse?"

How long before Chu-e Choi was no longer? How long before the hunger consumed everything he knew about his friend?

In a way, this is worse than the death he'd slowly been steeling himself for. Chu-e's time is limited and Gavin's known for a while now, has been preparing himself for a hard goodbye, but this... this was worse.

"Can you, uh. Control that?"

A vague gesture to his arm, where he'd previously been watching the crystals emerge and retract.

"Is it you doing it, or...?"

"I think so."

Was it getting worse? Would he even be able to tell? So far, it seemed like he hadn't been able to... attacking people, losing snatches of time, doing god knew what else. This was the most himself he had felt in a while. Wasn't that fucked up?

"Huh?"

It takes a moment for him to put two and two together, before he finally fully turns to face Cillian Quinn.

He flicks his fingers again, crystal expanding back up his arms, both of them this time, until it hides under his clothes. It expands off his fingertips, thin strands of black crystal that writhe.

"Yeah, it's me." Lifting his hands up, the strands of crystal interlock, forming hearts.

There's a crawling discomfort that presents in the furrow of his brow as Gavin watches the crystalline growths sprout and shift and, eventually, form the shape of a heart between Chu-e Choi's fingers.

"That's kind of terrifying."

He laughs, but it's weak with the strain of stress and exhaustion.

Arceus, he'd kill for things to be normal between them again.

But it's still Chu-e, still the best friend that felt like a brother, and so Gavin endures his own discomfort and resists the urge for distance.

"I guess that kind of makes you an Avatar, too." In so much as he had some degree of control over his freaky crystal powers. A beat, then, "You gonna let Walsh know?"

I won't tell if you don't, is quietly implied. Choi's been through enough experiments.

"I don't really thing it 'picked' me." No, this whole situation was a lot different than what Lugia had given to Cillian Quinn. Lugia and Gavin seemed compatible. And, well.. if he was compatible with this thing, that probably wasn't a good sign.

"May as well." The crystal retracted, the horrible clinking sound going with it, and Chu-e huffed when it was back under his skin. "I don't think I can handle the needles, though. Might pretend it won't let me deal with them, or something." It wasn't like Walsh wouldn't find out eventually, anyway.

"... I also don't know if it's good to mix whatever this is with MAGMA. I got it from licking a fingernail clipping, flames knows what something more biological would do to someone." If it was a mercy, kill them.

"No," Gavin agrees, grim. "It's more like you're it's... host."

Lugia wasn't inside of Gavin, wasn't controlling him in the way that Necrozma had done for Chu-e Choi several times at this point. There was communication between them, cooperation.

A sympathetic grimace is offered about the needles. Gavin doesn't like them, either, but knows Chu-e has been through much worse.

"I can back you up if there's questions. Say I tried to stick you for one of our M.A.G.M.A tests or something."

He doesn't like the idea of lying to Walsh but a little white lie for Chu-e's comfort, well... as long as the boss didn't find out.

"I'm with you, there. I don't want to see this... well, spread."

He hates to refer to Chu-e's condition like his friend is Patient Zero of some terrible disease, but...

"Man, I would have to be the start of, like, some zombie invasion. Just my luck." Clicking his tongue, Chu-e sighed and shook his head. But, it wouldn't do any good to sit and wallow in it any longer. He could be depressed about it when he got home. They still had loose ends to tie up here in Sootopolis before they could move on.

"Isn't there some movie where a guy gets a parasite, and, like, bonds with his body? And people really wanted them to fuck?" Chu-e frowned, as if this was a very serious thing to say. "You don't think it wants to fuck me, right? I already have a boyfriend. Will I need to find a way to turn it down?"

Deflect with humor, as always.

Cillian Quinn

"Maybe not," Gavin counters, as much for scientific theorizing as for his friend's conscience. "I mean, we don't know that it's contagious. You got me pretty good and I haven't started sprouting crystals."

Gavin, too, falls back on humour as a defense from the discomfort that has sprouted in lieu of any crystalline growths.

Chu-e Choi's humour sees Gavin's expression pinch in horrified fascination.

"I hope it doesn't want to fuck you, man. Or me. It better be like, food-hungry, and not some thirsty space alien trying to bone."

He can't keep a straight face through that, busts up laughing about halfway through.

Arceus, he misses Chu-e.

"Actually, wait, let's think about this."

Said, as before, with much more severity than needed.

Idly, Chu-e sat down, took off his shoes, dipped his hot and sore feet in the water. He was suddenly very, very tired.

"Let's count the benefits here. People have tentacles fetishes, right? It could totally do that for us. Like, some real anime shit. Just gotta get the schoolgirl uniforms."

Man, maybe it was kind of sad for Necrozma that it had decided to live inside of Chu-e and not the other way around.

Cillian Quinn

He can't bring himself to get closer, but Gavin sits down in the sand as Chu-e Choi does. A soft huff of breath escapes him.

"What, are you gonna set it up with an OnlyFans?"

It feels strange to smile after all the tension of Sootopolis. Like his muscles are struggling to remember the function, like he's still stuck in the mindset of fight-win-survive. But it's good, too, some of the stiffness bleeding from his shoulders.

"Maybe. Like... actually, I don't know if pokemon and human stuff is allowed on there. I wouldn't think so. Might need to look somewhere darker. Like Deviantart."

Groaning, Chu-e leans back further, laying down on the ground, letting the sand stick to his clothes and skin as he stares up at the ring of sky. It still feels surreal, and soon the crushing reality of responsibility will come back down on them, but for now Chu-e is okay with this. Just him and his best friend making jokes and taking a few moments to themselves.

He's tired, and Chu-e recognizes it as the distinct kind of tired that's more than just body, something deep inside of him. It hurts, a little, to breathe. Yet, it's in the unsure middle ground where he can't tell if it's psychological or physical, if it's body or mind breaking down first.

For now, though, he can push it aside and just exist.

Cillian Quinn