[ Konstantin's very careful as he crawls onto the bed — movements slow, every muscle tense and locked, trying as hard as he can not to disturb the fretful thing inside of him. But it's impossible not to be so uncomfortably aware of his own body, of the wrongness to the way it feels, and he's breathing shallowly as he slowly eases himself into his usual side of Vasiliy's bed. ]

No— thank you, I don't need anything. [ A beat as he looks up at him, trying to use the techniques he's familiar with to ease his own breathing. Every movement of it, every lift and sink of his chest and his stomach, can be felt by the creature. And it's still upset, confused, very much still awake and likely not to sleep any time soon, perhaps suspicious of this new experience, what might come next. ]

Just your company, would be nice.

[ It's maybe a little needy, and Vasiliy has no obligation to sit with him, but by now Konstantin knows that he'll want to, is the thing. He can't imagine the other man willingly parting from him; it wouldn't be in the EMT's character.

He lets his head carefully lean back against his pillow with another soft hiss of pain, but lying still helps. ]

Hopefully this isn't how it'll be every time we have to feed it.

[ Konstantin keeps looking over at the other man as he speaks, and all of it makes sense; it's nice to hear someone voice such sense aloud, to have someone else there to listen to about it. In the facility.... he had an ally and even a companionship, to some extent, with Tatiana, despite their differences in moral matters, but they couldn't speak like this. Not freely. Not without being watched.

But he's never had anyone helping him the way Vasiliy is. Without any trace of fear or judgment. He stays quiet for a few long moments before his eyes drift down to look at his own body, something he's more and more loath to do these days. ]

You're right. And it's... very intelligent. Enough to understand when something's different from what it's used to. Its norms.

[ But he has to wonder what its norms were before its invasion of him. In its natural environment. Maybe gruesomely eating humans is just as strange for it as anything else. ]

It only knows to eat humans because that's what the researchers fed it. We can teach it to stop, can't we? With enough time. [ ...A pause, a breath, and perhaps, a risk to address it again, something he hasn't ever since that first strange night when he'd woken and realised it had been out of him but hadn't so much as bothered Vasiliy— ]

I mean, it doesn't try to eat you. It doesn't seem to view you as food at all. So... there's hope.

[ Hope that he doesn't have to be as much of a monster. He doesn't know what he'll do if this thing decides animal blood isn't enough, if it refuses to keep eating this way. He can't drink the blood of humans. He can't. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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 .