Colin's posts

"....." Vincent was silent for a moment.

"Firstly, my apologies about being loud." he started out with.

"Secondly, I DID find Christopher." he told her.

"And... well..." he stammered, before shaking his head.

"Casey, can we talk?" he asked.

He knew that she wouldn't like that response right away, but he wanted to talk to her about what he'd discovered.

"I need to tell you some things." he finished.

"...." Vincent was silent, but nodded.

"Right." he said.

He then vanished from where he was, appearing back in his home, in his den.

"Casey!?" he then called out, looking around.

He wasn't sure if she was in the den, elsewhere, or even still here.

Chris just looked away at the last statement. It showed that Syraene still suspected that he would go back to his old ways. It hurt, but he couldn't blame her. He couldn't blame anyone for thinking that.

Vincent was just sighed, and sighed.

"I can try." was all he said.

"I need to go back and talk to her." he said further.

"Take whatever storm is headed my way."

Vincent was silent and looked at Chris.

"I..." he stammered.

"I can try." he said.

Chris then lifted his shirt, and Vincent tried to use his mana to help. And while Chris felt a little better... it was minimal at best.

"That... no. I can't do any more." Vincent told them.

"Casey's put some of her most potent necromancy into that... I can't do anything." he went on.

"The only one that CAN... is Casey." he said.

This caused Chris to sink a little in despair.

Vincent just sighed in response.

"...no. No, there isn't." he said.

"I... came to find out what's going on, and I found out what's going on." he reasoned.

"I just... never in my wildest dreams thought that it would be something like THIS." he admitted.

"And Casey isn't going to like this, I won't lie to her." he went on.

"Regardless, I'll be leaving now." he said.

"And YOU." he said to Chris, before pausing.

"Never mind." he muttered. "I'm sure you've heard the whole 'thin ice' stuff from everyone else." he reasoned. "No need for me to chime in on that repetitive chorus."

Ryker had just finished laughing, and looked at Eke.

"Huh? Oh, sorry." he apologised.

"Didn't realise how loud I was being." he said.

"Yeah, clearly, I'm home. And don't mind my sitting on the floor." he went on.

"Just looking back on my life and laughing."

"......" Chris was silent, before thinking about it.

"I... hm." he mumbled.

"I suppose that... IS an option." he admitted.

"It is." Vincent agreed.

"But is that running away from my past?" Chris asked. "Like, does that show that I'm really, actually, a coward, and can't face up to what I did, so I hide behind a new name?" he asked further.

"...I don't pretend to be a psychologist, or a psychiatrist." Vincent chimed in. "But Christopher Jenkins was ruined a long time ago. He never had his chance to be who he was, and a long sordid history of use and abuse may have ruined that completely." he said.

"You're already starting a new identity. A fresh start, once can say. So a new name might be just what you need to help YOU remove the shackles keeping you attached to your past." he went on.

"Believe me, it's hard to believe such words coming out of my mouth, towards yourself, feels extremely strange. But I can see that the things you did in your past were... well... an extension of Vanessa's claws." he then sighed.

"It wouldn't be right to have you bare the full burden of her sins." he finished.

"...." Chris was silent for a moment, before nodding.

"I'll consider it." he said. "And bring it up with Dr. Fyrane." he added.

"Is her concern valid?" Vincent asked Chris.

"I don't know." Chris replied.

"All she's known is who I used to be. How can I blame her for thinking that way?" he asked rhetorically.

"Just because someone says they're different, and that they've changed, doesn't mean they have." he went on.

"And you have." Vincent stated.

"I like to think I'm on the road to trying to begin to make up for my past." Chris responded.

"I don't think I ever can. I've done too much, scarred too many, but maybe I can show that the Christopher Jenkins that people once knew is long gone. And is never coming back."

Vincent just groaned.

"She might." he said.

"I'm sorry." Chris apologised. "This is all my fault." he said further.

"No." Vincent replied.

"You have blame in this, yes, but it's not ALL your fault." he told him.

"This is just so many different things coalescing together to make the perfect storm, so to speak." he continued.

"I still don't like you. And I can never forgive you for what you did to Madison." he then told him further. "But... I must learn to not be shackled to the past. I need to try and move on, as hard as it may be." he went on.

"...and part of that is acknowledging that you have a right to try and have the life you were denied."

Ryker walked inside, the demon giving control back.

"......." he was silent for a moment.

"Geez." he muttered.

"MORE reasons to continue living?" he asked the air.

"...guess I shouldn't complain." he said further.

"Man... how did it all come to this... from wanting to end my own life, and that being impossible... to THIS?" he went on, before he just leaned against the wall, slowly collapsed to his ass, and started to laugh at himself.

Chris just sighed.

"I'm not asking for anyone to accept me." he said.

"Heaven and Hell knows that you're all within your rights to ignore me." he went on.

"But... but Dr. Fyrane has been showing that... if I can prove to be someone good... to be who I could have been without Vanessa or my sister... then maybe even someone like ME has a right to live." he told Vincent.

"....." Vincent was silent, before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Casey is NOT going to like this." he said.

"Like what?" Chris asked.

"The fact that I actually agree with you two." Vincent muttered.

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he asked.

Chris sighed and responded by lifting up his shirt and showing the wound on his chest.

"...good lord." Vincent said quietly. "That... I was unaware she was even capable of inflicting wounds of that calibre." he commented.

"She is." Chris responded.

With that, the three of them started to talk, but it was mostly Chris giving Vincent a truncated version of his life story, but getting all the important parts in.

"...so you're completely free of Vanessa's control, and Lindsay is helping you try and find out who you are." Vincent said. "Is that correct?" he asked.

"It is." Chris confirmed.

"And you believe him?" Vincent then asked Syraene.

Vincent just shook his head.

"I didn't know about it until now." he said.

"Casey informed me of it." he went on.

"And 'freak', you say?" he asked.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"...yeah... yeah, that's about right." Chris said quietly as he entered the room.

".......Jenkins." Vincent greeted him, venom in his tone.

Vincent just nodded.

"Very well." he said.

He then made his way to the den, and sat down in one of the chairs.

'Right.' he thought.

'Casey probably won't like what I have to say after this.' he went on.

Syraene seemed to trust Chris... and he trusted the dark elf implicitly.

But he was still confused and annoyed at what was going on.