話し　hanashi　花死
an excerpt

Caleb sprawled on his bed and stared absently at the ceiling, trying to focus on tracing shapes and objects in the textured plaster. It had become a ritual for him to distract himself from any thoughts he might have by altering his view enough to see as many animals or pieces of furniture as possible in the textures after feeding. Bastion wouldn't bother, and would even recount the hunt out loud for anyone with a glass to the door to overhear (something that bothered Caleb to no end; Bastion didn't know the meaning of secrecy, sometimes).
He found another bucket of popcorn in the ceiling plaster before rolling over and shoving his head under his pillow and gripping it tightly. It made breathing slightly difficult and provided an adequate distraction from the recent memory of the robber in the alley's blood. It had been, what, sour? Caleb had had better before. It was probably what the man ate. Maybe his occupation of beating up innocents for their money made him rotten figuratively and literally. Maybe-
Caleb gave up and threw the pillow at the wall, of which it fell short. He growled, sat up, and scanned the mess that was his overcrowded room before getting up and picking his way through the sty to the door. He poked his head out, trying to forget the bitter taste still lingering in his mouth, and looked up and down the hall briefly. He shut his door quietly and made his way into the small common room, glancing at the television screen briefly before focusing on Bastion. "What's on? Anything good, decent, and or distracting?"
Bastion looked up, bemused. "Ahh, maybe. I'm not paying attention, really." He paused. "Jiminy Cricket got your brain?"
Caleb grimaced and slipped into another chair. "That's a good way to phrase it, if you have to bring it up at all."
The screen flashed from channel to channel quickly – Bastion wasn't even watching it as he held down the CHANNEL UP button and stared at the top of the box. "Well, it's kind of too obvious not to mention." He rolled his head to look at Caleb. "You shouldn't let it bother you, you know. Really. It's not really like it's your choice. THEN you could legitimately hate yourself, but it's just like them eating hamburgers."
Caleb stared back before sighing and rolling his eyes. "That's... really not a good comparison. Hamburgers don't walk and talk."
Pursing his lips childishly, Bastion jabbed the controller at the brunette. "They USED to walk and moo, everyone knows that, and that doesn't stop them from killing more cows for more hamburgers."
Caleb snatched the remote from Bastion's lax grip, glad to see the screen stop flashing from channel to channel. "Not all of them. People protest, they won't eat the meat."
"That'd be tree huggers and vegetarians. I'm sorry, but we don't really have a vegan option. If we did, I'd tell you. You're no fun when you're guilt tripping." Bastion sighed and settled deeper into his chair, watching the screen as Caleb surfed at a more moderate and sedate pace. "There's never anything good on Sundays, give up."
The channel surfing stopped suddenly on a B movie, and Caleb tossed the controller back to Bastion absently. "Let's watch some zombie gore, yeah? That seems slightly entertaining."
Bastion snickered. "Blood and guts, yeah? I thought you were feeling guilty?" He slid a suspicious smirk towards the brunette.
Caleb settled into his own chair with a pleasurable stretch. "Ah, but here I can sympathize with the poor little humans and laugh as they chop all of the zombies up with shovels. That's quite priceless entertainment, Bas."
Bastion snickered again. "Priceless, Caleb, priceless." He sighed, smiling. "You do know it's not really your fault, right? It's nature. That's the life you have now." He paused, hesitated, and glanced at Caleb, who was staring at the television screen. "That bastard robbed people because he wanted to, not because he had to. Didn't you notice his thoughts?"
At that Caleb shivered and grimaced. "No, thank you, I'd rather not accidentally find out that the person I'm about to kill is the backbone of their family." He frowned at Bastion and shook his head. "No, I try not to."