[Phil's scent is ever-so-slightly different now compared to what it was before they'd left on their mission, the rot seeping a little deeper, spreading its poison just a little further. It would seem as though Mika isn't the only one who didn't emerge from their experience unscathed, unfortunately, though unlike Mika he can't point to any one specific thing as being the cause... rather, it was an inevitability, the eventual physical consequence of his lack of medicine finally catching up to him.]
I...
[He too pauses, hesitates. It's unpleasant, feeling like the still-unhealed wounds from that day are being jarred open once again, and he couldn't meet Mika's eyes even if the other were to choose to look at him.]
... what you said back in the City. Do you... truly believe it's human nature to be stupid and selfish?
[He's not sure what he wants the answer to that to be, honestly. 'No' would make him a hideous exception to the rest of humanity, but 'yes' would be just as damning in its own way with the implication that his actions were simply a function of what he is.]
no subject
I...
[He too pauses, hesitates. It's unpleasant, feeling like the still-unhealed wounds from that day are being jarred open once again, and he couldn't meet Mika's eyes even if the other were to choose to look at him.]
... what you said back in the City. Do you... truly believe it's human nature to be stupid and selfish?
[He's not sure what he wants the answer to that to be, honestly. 'No' would make him a hideous exception to the rest of humanity, but 'yes' would be just as damning in its own way with the implication that his actions were simply a function of what he is.]