Ghosts of the Past, Griffin and Caleb; Open

[Caleb]

Caleb leaned back, looking surprised at Griffin's words.

"I'm not saying goodbye, Griff. I'm not going anywhere."

He was insistent, almost sullen.

Saying goodbye meant leaving. And Caleb was not leaving. Didn't Griff listen to what he had just said? He had no reason to leave. To cross over. He wanted to be here.

If he ever did, sure he'd ask that. But he wasn't. So he wouldn't.

[Griffin]

Griffin was taken aback by the fierce emotion behind those words. Even if Caleb didn't show it as fiercely on his face, Griffin felt almost blasted with the negative. For a moment, Griffin had a bit of an out of body... feeling all sorts of echoes of emotions, of needing, of business unfinished, of hurt. Griffin swallowed hard and looked at Caleb, nodding slowly.

"I understand..." Griffin said slowly and softly, knowing that he really did understand. He -felt- it after all.

"So I'm gonna be seeing you around more," Griffin said with a smile. "Might be that I get to know you better than I did before you..." Griffin flinched a bit at the memory. He remembered each were that died. So many of them, so very many of them.

"I won't tell anyone that you are around. I promise."

[Caleb]

This seemed to mollify him.

"I've always been there. Now you'll just know." He smiled back, slightly rueful. "And I'd like to think it'll work out that way for everyone. Hard to get to know someone when you're half-crazy in a cage."

[Griffin]

Griffin winced and nodded in agreement. Everyone who had gone through that hell had a brotherhood and sisterhood among one another. Truly, outsiders could only imagine what the labpack had been through. And the losses had been great. Too great.

Running his fingers through his damp hair to get it out of his eyes, Griff wondered how sorry of a state he looked. He smiled again at Caleb.

"It is really really good to see you again Caleb. I wish... I wish you were still alive so you could enjoy this more. Freedom." Griffin shook his head. "I can't believe how small the world is... that somehow I got pulled in with your pack. They saved us, Caleb. Dice came back. I know you didn't like him... and he did do horrible things to us, but he has changed. Truly he has."