What's In A Name?

[grantuseyes]

Micolash sits cross-legged on a table. Strewn all around him are ink pots (some overturned and spilled), parchment paper (in stacks and scattered alike), pens and nibs and a few sticks of charcoal. His fingers are stained with ink and there are a few splotches somehow on his face and on his pinstripe trousers, along with a dark handprint on the metal collar of his cage. The side of his left hand, the one he's currently holding a pen with, is smudged even worse with black.

There are discarded drawings all around him, some that look like false starts on some manner of monsters. Some are just pages crammed with drawings of eyes, or scrawls repeating phrases or rambling prose. Some are crumpled up into paper wads or have half-hearted attempts at scratching out or erasing the contents.

The parchment Micolash currently has in front of him is being scrutinized by the scholar. Looking over his handiwork and trying to determine if it passes whatever muster he's going for. It's certainly a drawing of SOMETHING.

Whatever verdict he's pondering, it doesn't prevent Micolash from looking up and addressing whatever person is wandering close to his work station.

"What does your name mean? Do you know? Do you care?"

Comments

[chiron_survivor]

There's something so very normal about his answer that she's unsure if she should take it at face value. "Isn't this how you looked before?" she asks. "When she knew you? I, um, I suppose the cage is different..." He's so proud of that darn thing, though. One would think he'd be eager to share with Rom his invention, and how it protected him when he...

Oh.

Idly, she smooths out her scarf, as if to counteract his nervousness. "I think she'd be happy to get back in touch with an old friend," she says gently, hoping that's true. "Whatever things have happened in the meanwhile, you can work that out."

[grantuseyes]

Micolash laughs like it's a reflexive twitch and bites it back again quickly hard enough that his teeth click. The look in his eyes is briefly apologetic and embarrassed as he didn't mean to do that.

"Wouldn't that be nice? Were it that simple?" He sighs, wistful. For once, he doesn't even feel like getting into it. Every other time his bizarre history, actions and origins come up, Micolash is usually so glib about launching into overwrought explanations. But he wouldn't know where to begin with this one. A mental mindfield the second he tries to determine the best way to explain. So let's not begin at all.

"...I think She'll like you," Micolash finally concludes instead with a hesitant smile. A much nicer (and more certain) thought.

[chiron_survivor]

It isn't like him to leave a topic like that, but she doesn't rush to fill the silence, or press with more questions. For once, his desire to not explain himself is highly relatable. Things weren't so simple in her relationship with Caspar, either.

She smiles instinctively, a little flattered by his comment. "I hope so." She hopes that interacting with Rom will be a little more comprehensible than her encounter with the Brain of Mensis. Or at least, far less painful.

"I should get going. I have some books to return to the library." Her time in the Nexus is unfortunately always limited, and she'd like to end this conversation on a good note. Their last conversation ended well, too, she'd like it to continue to be a trend. "Let me know when you have more drawings to show me."