Colin's posts

"....I can't." Aly replied.

"I was going to suggest you get help, but that would probably do more harm than good, given your history. What you've told me of it." she then said.

"So... never mind. Just... forget it." she said quietly.

"I just worry about these memory blanks, and how you get all foggy when you try and remember them." she admitted further.

"It's not a part of your condition, so it worries me that you might have something else going on that we don't know about." she then added.

Some time later, Levi stirred.

He groaned as his vision came back, and he looked around.

"...wha...?" he muttered.

He then looked beside him, saw Ally laying beside him, and his face turned red.

"Ah... ah... ah..." he stuttered, before it hit him.

"...wait..." he mumbled, sitting up a little more.

"Everything's... okay?"

"......." Aly was silent as Eke blanked out again, before sighing.

She then waited for a moment or two, and then snapped her fingers in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.

"That is a little concerning." she admitted.

"These bits where you cannot remember something, and blank out? It's worrisome." she told him.

"I..." she started to say further, before going quiet.

"Nevermind." she finished, looking away slightly.

"Yep." Ash responded, shifting the jar a bit, and then lifting Kiah up in his arms.

"Come on, Kiah." he told his cousin. "I'm taking you to where you can get help putting this stuff back INSIDE you." he said further.

He then looked at Ally, and nodded.

"Thanks, kid." he told her.

"Also, don't leave him alone for too long." he then warned, looking at Levi.

"If he wakes up alone, he may think he went insane and killed everyone."

Ash watched her enchant the container, and his eyes widened a little.

'...there's a LOT more to this girl than meets the eye...' he thought.

He then shook his head a bit, rejoined reality, and lifted the condensed ball of mana in his hand. He brought it over to the jar and gently dropped it inside.

"Close it! Now!" he ordered Ally.

She promptly did so, and after a moment or two, Ash sighed.

"Welp, the jar didn't shatter, so you did it, kid." he told her, taking the jar out of her hands.

"If you can enchant a container, that'd be nice." Ash replied.

"Other than that, nothing, really." he added.

'....hmmm...' he then thought.

'She's describing behaviour completely opposite to what I've been seeing, in terms of this Angela.' he thought further.

'Is it something as simple as burnout?' he wondered.

'Or is what happened here connected somehow?' he wondered further.

"Not particularly." Aly replied.

"Sometimes you do, but given your situation, that's natural." she assured him.

"We just need to make sure you don't fall into the trap of dwelling on your future too much." she then said.

"How about this?" she then asked.

"You think no further ahead than... 5 months." she told him with a small smirk.

"That work for you?"

"See, that's not painting her in a good light." Ash replied.

"But it's not my business." he said.

"And you're welcome." he added, in relation to Levi.

"Just be there for him when he wakes up." he told her.

"He's going to be scared and confused when he does, most likely." he went on.

"I'll leave once I have all this mana collected, and see if I can't put it back where it belongs."

Ash just sighed and placed another hand in the mana sludge that was on the floor. When he did, it all started to pool close to him, and he started to concentrate it in a smaller area.

"Good question." he replied.

"I have yet to see this 'Angela' person." he told her. "If she's supposed to be in charge here, or head medic, she's not doing a good job." he commented.

"I might take her to see a medic friend I know." he went on.

"She's a real miracle worker." he added with a bit of a wry smirk.

"By the way, HE'S okay." he then told her, gesturing to Levi.

"He should wake up fine and dandy, back to whomever he was before all the crap with the Ancients happened."

"Hold it!" Ash commanded.

He then placed his hand on the substance, causing a weird grey path to extend from where he was, to the door.

"Walk on that." he told her.

"You keep walking in THIS stuff, you'll lose your damn feet." he warned.

"I get you want to help. but don't recklessly hurt yourself." he finished, thanking every being that was considered his superior that Ally didn't know just how hypocritical he was being with that statement.

"Well, that's not normally something to cause concern or alarm." Aly replied.

"A varied diet is ALWAYS good." she said.

"All we can do is wait and see if this trend continues." she then told him.

"For now, let's not worry about it TOO much, okay?" she suggested.

"Just focus on the here and now."

"...that IS a symptom, yes." Aly sighed quietly.

"But that is manageable as well." she told him.

"I can make a caplet that you'll need to take twice a day, but it should keep your appetite strong." she said further.

"Eke, I can't stop the flow of time." she then muttered. "But I CAN make it so that you're remaining time is comfortable, and free of suffering." she said further.

"You'll see." she added with a small smile.

Ash was silent as Ally made her offer.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Maybe." he said.

"You know any spells for warding off stuff?" he asked.

"Because this is definitely an outside force influencing this." he told her.

"And it needs to be stopped. NOW."

Ash just sighed.

"She's bleeding." he replied.

"Bleeding mana. Bleeding her lifeforce out, essentially." he told Ally.

"And something's happened to cause it. Some outside force." he went on. "I know this, because it's trying to make it happen to ME, and even though it's succeeding to a small degree, I'm managing to minimize the damage." he explained.

"Damn it." he cursed again, before looking at Kiah.

"Let's see if we can't temporarily get you to stop dying." he told her, concern in his tone, and his eyes.