Musings by Moonlight [Ravenous]

@"Ravenous"

Murphy stared vacantly over the ocean before him, the ash of his cigarette tumbling to the sand. His usual haggard features had deteriorated until he looked like several miles of very bad road... God, it had been a shitty night. First he'd been thrown out of a bar, physically, over a case of mistaken identity, then he'd locked himself out of his dorm room and had to break in, half drunk and exhausted, but neither of those compared to the nightmares that began as soon as his head had hit the pillow.

As with any dream he could only remember bits and pieces of it, and none of it seemed to make any sense when put together. He remembered fire, and the people trapped within it. He remembered knowing it was his fault and that it had been a choice he'd made that had led to it. He remembered friends, looking at him in fear and agony as they were burned and devoured by the flames. Worst of all, though, he remembered laughing.

He idly noted that his smoke had finally gone out and flicked it out into the ocean, watching it get slowly pulled out to sea. Just another god-damned sleepless night.

@"Ravenous"

The sudden, wet embrace snapped Murphy out of his reverie. Groggily he glanced at his assailant, "Who the f- Rayne?" in his surprise the dark thoughts retreated to the back of his mind, out of present attention. He clumsily returned the embrace, squeezing her tightly. "Ah, I'm just out here thinking. Got to use my brain at some point, yeah?" Up close the dark circles under his eyes were clearly worse, and his eyes were more than a little puffy.

"But what of yourself? What brings you out here this late, surely not for a late night swim?" He gave her a once over, appreciating how the dark swimsuit accentuated her pale skin and curves nicely.

@"Ravenous"

Murphy's tired face split into a genuine grin, "Ah, don't worry about it. This coat's been through a hell of a lot worse." He tilted his head slightly when she mentioned the relaxing properties of a nightly swim. As a rule he'd avoided large bodies of water whenever he could, a sudden flare up of his power could spell disaster for him if he was alone. "Well, I'm afraid I'm a tad aqua agoraphobic so I don't really swim."

It occurred to him that he knew little about the woman other than her power set, and that she seemed to be a hopeless optimist. "Has something been bothering you then? I mean if you need to unwind you... ah, never mind." he redacted, realizing he might be overstepping his boundary as a mere acquaintance.

@"Ravenous"

Murphy nodded and offered her his arm in an exaggerated manner, "Suppose you're right, Rayn. Lots of beautiful beach out here, makes you almost forget that we're effectively isolated from the outside world here." His free hand swept down instinctively for another cigarette but he actively forced himself not to give into the kick. Instead he snagged the small silver coin from his pocket and began to idly play with it as they walked.

"College huh? Any idea what you're looking to study? Oceanology perhaps? Or marine biology?" he chuckled "I mean, with your gifts I have no doubt you could excel at either."

@"Ravenous"

He almost pulled away from her squeeze out of surprise more than anything. It had been... a while since he'd had any physical contact that wasn't either inflicting injury or attempting to heal said injury upon his person. It was... nice. He managed to keep himself from doing so, however, and instead returns the squeeze in kind. He tried to smile again, though it wasn't quite wide enough to seem genuine. "I'm alright Rayn, really."

It wasn't a total lie, he was alright in this immediate moment at least. Though a small cynical voice was stirring in the back of his mind, reminding him of all the friends he'd lost thanks to his 'gift'. Perhaps it was right, maybe she would leave as soon as his bad luck began to affect her, but a minute part of him, a part he'd thought long since snuffed by his own paranoia whispered, but maybe she won't.