"Agreed."

Callie also agreed that stupidity transcended things like borders, race, creed, and age. As a whole, people were just idiots. It was almost, but not quite, heartening to know that Hoenn was having the same problems that Kanto did.

Yet, it seemed like the time for a topic change, a less grim topic between strangers.

"Have you been enjoying the sauna?"

If FERNANDO SILPH didn't want to talk, though, she would happily let it quiet down.

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579

"Better be careful so you don't stagger onto the stage when you get that trophy." Was said to John Sullivan, a small grin on her face. Didn't that start soon?

"Wouldn't be a good look in front of the crowd." She raised a brow at MATIAS SILPH but gave Eva Morales a very subtle elbow.

Reaching over, she tried to snatch the drinks from the two boys. Hopefully with help, if Eva caught on. If she succeeded, they would be drank down quick and smoothly. Only on success.

"Which means more for us, Eva!" The benefits of being in the loser's circle.

"It's easier to get a face-to-face with a Gym Leader." Eva Morales was right, though. They didn't put the faces of scientists on shirts, even if the woman deserved it. Actually, she wondered if Eva would think it was funny if Callie managed to find some bootleg T-Shirt of....

Later, later. This was a serious moment. Kind of.

"Of course." Was the answer to MATIAS SILPH' question. Hell, he should have known better to even ask. While she loved the idea of seeing her friends again, why else would she come here?

John Sullivan

It takes her longer to reply to MATIAS SILPH' question.

She considers, briefly, lying to him. But he could always see right through her.

"I think the same as yours."

To fight them.

"Sure there is. They show you lived." That's what Callie's scars meant to her. They were ugly, horrible, vile things she had endured at the hands of heartless people.

But they were proof she had survived.

"Who cares if they stare? They don't know what you've been through. Piss on them."

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Raziel Beckett

"It's nice here. I like Mauville." Thanks to John Sullivan, it was now her home.

She mulled over some of her words before shrugging.

"Some of the people don't seem very bright." Which was her biggest criticism for the region as a whole.

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FERNANDO SILPH

"You shouldn't. You should wear it with pride."

Which, maybe Callie was placing some of her own pride on Raziel Beckett, but that's really how she saw it.

Maybe it was just her coping with her own altered looks, but she really did think you shouldn't feel the need to hide your scars like that.

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"I found him." A simple explanation as ever to Eva Morales's question. But, well, that wouldn't do to settle their racing minds, would it?

"Recently. I was in Johto for a few months before that, recovering." A small frown tugged at her face, knowing she was about to ruin the happy mood. Dreading it.

"Before that, I was captive in Kanto."

But, they could talk in detail about that later.

"When I came here, I heard that one of the Gym Leaders was from Kanto. I didn't know who was still around or where anyone was. It seemed like a good place to start." This was the most she had spoken in a long time. It left her feeling lightheaded.

MATIAS SILPH John Sullivan

"I could." MATIAS SILPH was always an option. A wealth of knowledge to fill in the blank spaces her captivity had left.

"But I think I'm scared to ask." Somehow, each of them hanging in a mental limbo of 'alive or dead' in her mind was easier. On good days, she could just pretend they were all well and fine and happy somewhere else.

"Calliope Marks."

She gives a fond glance over towards Salem as he scolds Raziel Beckett.

"Sometimes. That's why I came here." Relaxing in saunas and hot springs were good for such injuries.

She traced her cheek, to mirror Razz's scars.

"Do yours?"

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Callie only answers after she's settled. The steam is nice. She'd missed simple pleasures like this in captivity and intended to make the most of them while she could.

"You can stare if you want." Is answered back. Callie's voice is low and soft but not shy. Glancing back up, she nods to Raziel Beckett lightly.

"I'm not ashamed of them."

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About the time Raziel Beckett feels most comfortable, most relaxed, most exposed, Callie would happen to walk in.

Her modesty is wrapped in a towel as she enters but that's about all. Unlike Razz, Calliope Marks is not ashamed of the scars that litter her skin. One half of her is burned and scared, from her head to her feet, the skin mottled and twisted and ugly.

When she spots Razz, she glances at him and nods, but her single working eye does not linger, she simply goes to slip into the hot water.

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"Ah." The name itches at the back of her mind, too. FERNANDO SILPH. One of the myriad of children adopted? Callie had only ever been very familiar with MATIAS SILPH, who was one of her good friends. The others were more fleeting. Meetings with the blood- Silph son had been short at best, and they had been years ago.

"No, Kanto." It is not said pridefully but it is without remorse. She does not hide or choke on the word like she has heard some do. It is fact and that is all.

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heat points: 740