Colin's posts

"I feel fine, I feel good." Lindsay replied.

"I feel happy, I feel like I can do anything." he told her further, which was a bit of a misspeak, she assumed. Odds are he meant he WOULD do anything... which was a little on the unnerving side.

However, she could also sense that his tone wasn't the same as with the adult males she'd had it come into contact with.

It was odd.

He sounded, and seemed, devoted to her, but it was in the way that a young child would be devoted to a parent, with unconditional loyalty.

Lindsay was silent again for a moment, before reaching out and touching the webbing. And as soon as he did so, he paused, almost froze, for a few seconds. Then he withdrew his hand, looked over towards Anya, and stared at her for a second or two.

Then, before she could really say anything, he walked over towards her, sat down beside her, and hugged her.

He hugged her and held her close, much like a child would to someone they trusted.

And Anya could guess that this was born of his natural feelings for her, overall, but the webbing had helps exacerbate it just that little bit.

Lindsay did look scared and nervous at first, but he gently set down the violin and took a closer look at the glittering webbing.

"...really?" he asked.

"I've... never heard of anything like that before." he said.

"I didn't even know such a thing was POSSIBLE." he went on.

"And what would a small amount... DO?" he then asked her.

"How... devoted would I be?"

Lindsay did as she said, and sure enough, his grip was correct now. He was quite pleased with himself... but then he heard her statement about her having ways to convince Ashley to stay.

"...huh?" he muttered.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Convince him? How?" he asked further.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that, as he sensed there was a lot more to that statement than what she had said.

She could see how much Lindsay appreciated that. And that hearing that was something that it seemed he'd wanted to hear for a VERY long time, as his eyes and posture became MUCH more relaxed.

He then paused again, and looked at the violin. Recalling how she'd held it earlier, he assumed the position... decently. There were a few things off, but it seemed like he had already gotten the basics in holding it.

"Like this?" he asked.

"I just went with how I saw you, and how it seems to naturally fit."

Lindsay paused, and had a blank expression for a moment... before it very clearly turned into a smile. An honest-to-goodness smile. There was happiness and relief in it, as he looked at her.

"It does feel better." he said.

"I guess... I just wanted someone to tell that to. Someone to talk to about it." he told her.

"Other than your brother." Anya added.

"Well... yes. When he wants to talk about it." Lindsay replied. "He... he doesn't talk about it AT ALL." he admitted. "Every time it seems like I'm going to talk about our past at the lab, he shuts me up and says 'it's in the past, leave it there and let it die'." he informed her.

"Thank you." Lindsay responded.

"And... I'll remember that. Three knocks and ask for light." he then said, and she could tell he was committing that to his memory.

"...at least the door is locked, though." he then sighed.

"Anyway..." he mumbled.

"Sorry to... talk about such things." he apologised.

"I'm sure my past is not something anyone wants to hear..."

"...I... I see." he said.

"Well... Ashley's probably not going to but that." he told her. "He harbours... great anger and resentment towards our mother." he said further. "And that is understating it." he added.

"A-anyway, the reason I reacted as I did to downstairs, is that it was cramped and dark." he then said.

"And it was underground." he went on.

"Much like the lab my brother and I were trapped in." he continued.

"For a moment, my brain thought I was back there..."

Lindsay went through... a few emotions when Anya said all she did. He looked disheartened when she said she'd met their mother. Surprised when she said that she didn't scare her. A little saddened when she raised the questionable nature of her own soul... relieved when she assured him she wouldn't kick them out because of their family name... and then VERY confused with her last statement.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Lied to? What do you mean?" he asked her.

"About what?" he asked further, taking a few steps forward.

Anya really could see how naïve he was. It was clear he knew that Vanessa Encrae was not a nice person, to say the least... but the thought of him being lied to by... anyone, even HER... seemed to shock him.

Or, perhaps, this was just how she had conditioned them to think.

Lindsay flinched for a moment, but then nodded.

"...yes. I am." he confirmed.

"And my brother is Ashley Fyrane." he told her.

"...please don't kick us out, or tell anyone who we are..." he then said quietly. "We won't be accepted by the outside world... because we're freaks, and because we're Fyranes." he continued.

"Mistress told us of how mother abandoned us, and wrecks havoc on the world."

"...that's the first time I've ever heard something like that." Lindsay admitted.

"Mistress always kept saying we had no place in the world." he told her. "That we were lucky she saw us fit to even keep there with her. That the outside world would want to destroy us." he continued.

Anya just sighed heavily.

"Are you comfortable telling me who the one you refer to as 'Mistress' is?" she asked.

Lindsay nodded slowly, before looking around, almost nervously, as though he were checking to see if something... or someONE... was there. He then gestured for her to come closer, which she did, and he leaned close, too.

"...her name is Vanessa Encrae." he whispered.

"..." Lindsay was silent for another moment, looking away some.

"I..." he stammered.

"I'm not... I don't... know what I am." he told her.

"I was... a human." he then said. "And... and they took a phoenix... and took some of the stuff that makes a phoenix and phoenix... and forcefully combined it with the stuff that makes me, ME." he explained.

"So... I'm not a human. I'm not a phoenix." he said.

"I'm an oddity. An outcast. A freak."

Lindsay seemed to brighten up when he heard that.

"Really??" he asked excitedly.

"Really." Anya confirmed with another laugh. "Maybe." she stressed.

"That would be wonderful!" Lindsay responded, before pausing.

"...maybe." he then said, sounding more subdued now.

"Maybe?" Anya asked.

"...I don't know how angels take to freaks..." Lindsay admitted quietly.

"...this world is so amazing." was all Lindsay responded with. "So much to know... so much to learn..." he went in, as he seemed to be seriously thinking about his past now.

"...so much I was shielded from..." he mumbled quietly.

"Are you... sad?" he then asked.

"You were an angel... now you're a demon. Does that make you feel bad or angry or sad or anything?" he asked her.

"Because you seem really okay with your life right now." he commented at the end.