Colin's posts

"..." again, Sharp was silent, before falling back into a nearby chair, and placing a hand over his eye in a frustrated manner.

"Damn it." he cursed.

"I've tried so hard to keep that woman's influence away from this place." he said.

"Was it all for nothing?" he asked. "HOW did she manage to get through these defenses!?" he exclaimed.

"I wish I knew how to help. I wish I could give you more info." he then told her.

"...but if your daughter is involved... then not even THAT avenue will work..." he lamented further.

"What!?" Hal exclaimed.

"Damn it." he cursed. "Of course she is." he growled.

"..." he then paused for a moment, thinking about what could have happened... and started coming up blank.

"I..." he stammered. "I don't know." he told her.

"Seriously, I can't think of ANYTHING that could have gotten her influence into me, or taken pieces of my soul." he admitted further.

"I'm sorry, but... I just... I can't." he lamented.

"...." Hal was silent for a moment... a good, long moment... before he turned around and looked at her.

"I... I..." he stammered.

"I just tried to seriously attack and harm you." he realised.

"And right now I am feeling... far less remorse for it than I should. And that should scare me. But at the moment it just makes me feel uneasy." he explained to her, biting his lip.

"Ohhhh, this confuses me." he mumbled.

"And... ah, sorry about... what I tried to do." he apologised.

Hal had to admit, she shocked him a bit with that. He took an unconscious step back, his eyes surprised for a moment, before he narrowed them again and took another step closer towards her.

"Do not test me, dark elf." he hissed.

"I don't care who you are, what you do, or anything like that." he told her.

"I will NOT let you stop this." he finished.

She then saw his mana aura flare up a little, as orbs of arcane energy formed in his palms. He was seriously going to come at her with all he had. And he did. He brought an arm back, and launched it right at her.

Hal just looked back at her, and glared.

"Get. Out." he told her.

"I am in charge here, this is MY domain, and you are trespassing." he said.

"Remove yourself from this office, and this building. NOW." he ordered her in return.

"Or I will forcefully remove you, MYSELF." he threatened.

And Syraene could tell this was not hot air. He seemed fully ready to at least try.

Jake didn't seem to react at all to what she said and did, just let the orb come to him.

And he then felt... slightly better. Enough to look in the direction she had gone with concern.

"...good luck..." he mumbled.

When she had reached the door, and had kept knocking, she heard Hal's voice.

"BUSY! SCRAM!" he yelled, his tone sharp and curt.

That did not stop her, though, as she continued to knock. And knock. Until she was practically pounding at the door. His shouts did nothing to stop her, and eventually, she heard him stomping towards the door.

"WHAT!?" he screamed, as he yanked the door open.

Jake paused and raised an eyebrow.

"Me, too?" he asked.

"Some shit?" he asked further, before just sighing lightly.

"At this point nothing surprises me." he admitted, shaking his head.

"And goooood luck with that." he then stated. "He has his best and strongest defenses up." he told her.

"I've seen him stressed, but this is... a bit much." he then shrugged.

"..." Jake was silent for a moment, looking her up and down.

"Okay." he said, flicking his tongue out.

He then buzzed her in, though she could see if was half-hearted.

"Could've just barged in, anyway..." he mumbled.

"Fair warning, boss has barricaded his office." he then told her.

He nodded in response.

"Got it." he responded.

"I'll check on them immediately, and send you a mental missive on their condition." he told her.

"Because yes, it seems that this is NOT natural. At all." he stated. "Rowena attacked Rocky, and Vincent seems to not care about it. So Rocky is going to be hiding away in Norway for the time being." he reported.

"And I do not know just how badly the other 2 have been affected." he then admitted.

"Regardless, I'm off." he finished, before quickly taking his leave, leaving her alone in the office.

Leo paused again, and nodded.

"Right." he replied.

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, souls have been being... taken. Piece by piece." he told her. Syraene just looked unimpressed, as he was not telling her anything new. "And it seems like it's random. No souls are missing the same collection of pieces as another." he went on.

"...but I've noticed that, in all the souls I've checked, they're always missing one piece. And it's the one piece missing that they all share." he continued.

"And it seems to be the piece where things like... oh, how do I put it...?" he wondered. "Critical thinking? Wariness?" he said further.

"Basically, with that little piece gone, the victims are a lot more likely to just let something slide."

Leo nodded in response.

"I shall do so right now." he told her, before pausing.

"And when I get back, I have some more info about those affected." he then said. "Something I noticed when I was checking up on them." he said further, but then sighed.

"However, I'll tell you AFTER checking on those you've told me to." he stressed.

"I assume you'll be remaining here for the time being?" he then asked.

Leo paused for a moment, before closing the door behind him, and nodding.

"I am." he responded, stepping forward, closer to her now.

"And the fact that you're asking about souls in specific... or... rather, that you were able to specifically assume why I am here... means that this is not something that just the people I checked are going through." he lamented.

"Who." Syraene practically demanded.

"..." Leo was silent for a split-second, biting his lip slightly. He knew she wouldn't want to hear this, but he had to.

"Vincent Remmington. Hollie Remmington. Rowena Fyrane. Hal Sharp." he listed off, succinctly and informatively.

He was silent for another moment, before grabbing the rest of the tea he had left, drinking it rather hastily, and then making his way to the kitchen. He gave the mug a quick clean and a rinse before putting it in the drying rack, sighing, and disappearing from where he was. He appeared back in his home in Egypt, made his way to the couch, sat down in it, and 'left', knowing Nakia would know what was happening.

He then found himself in what looked to be a cross between an office building, and an ivory temple. It was weird to behold, but... the creator had odd tastes. He quickly made his way to a room in specific, where he saw it was rather... crowded. People were all trying to say something, while a dark-skinned elf was sitting behind the deck in the back, looking quite unimpressed and frazzled.

Leo gritted his teeth, clenched his hands into fists, and then unclenched one of them, bringing his fingers together by the tips, making a circle, and bringing it to his mouth. Once he did, he let out a whistle that was shrill enough to calm EVERYONE down. Quickly.

"Everyone. I need to speak with Miss Syraene. NOW." Leo told them, everyone seeing a seriousness and command in his demeanour that was... honestly never seen.

"If you refuse, I hereby invoke my right as second-in-command to have an emergency meeting with the head of the Order, no matter the circumstances." he added, flexing a power he had that... he had never used before.

Leo just nodded slowly in response.

"I know." he said. "I have no intentions of that happening." he told her.

He then paused again, scratching at his chin.

"Also, I'd say you have another 2 hours to get what you need from your home." he reported. "The stuff I used to knock out Vincent and Rowena will last for a bit." he reasoned.

"So yeah, use that time wisely." he warned.

"Make sure you snag what you need, so you don't have to go back there for a good long while, potentially."