Colin's posts

"Neither do I." Ryker said.

"I've been homeless my entire free life." he told him.

"So I know squat about real estate and all that." he went on.

"You're an elder dragon, maybe that can help us." he then said further.

"Like, maybe someone might be willing to give us a hand because of who you are."

Zeke was silent as Angela said what she did, and the questioned him about his recent reckless behaviour.

"Uh... well..." he stammered.

"I mean... well, maybe I was careless this time..." he said. "And last time... and perhaps the time before that..." he then mumbled, trailing off a bit.

"But it's coincidence!" he insisted.

"It's not like I'm intentionally letting myself get hurt." he then told her, glancing off to the side.

'...maybe taking missions where there's a higher chance of it...' he thought to himself.

"I'm not suicidal or masochistic or anything."

As she applied the cream, she saw Zeke relax. Visibly and noticeably.

"...ahhhhhhh." Zeke moaned.

"That feels good." he said.

"Like..... REALLY good." he told her, before pausing.

"The cream, that is!" he quickly said further.

"Feels minty!"

Ryker was silent as well.

He didn't know what to say here. So he said nothing.

"Where are we going once we hit the edge of dragon country?" he then asked.

"Do you know?" he asked further.

"Or we playing all this by ear?"

"Cool!" Zeke called back to her as she left.

When she was gone, he chuckled to himself.

"Heh... she even gets kinda mad at me." he said.

"Well... exasperated, and isn't afraid to show it." he then muttered.

"She really IS something." he commented further, smiling to himself.

".....she... she really is." he seemed to realize.

'...oh my... I've actually been doing this.' he then thought, as he fully came to another realization.

"Ohhhhhhhh Zeke, what are you doing...?" he mumbled to himself.

"Sure." Ryker responded.

He then went to the tent and packed everything up silently, making sure they had everything.

"Right." he said.

"Have everything." he told Eke.

"That way." he said further, pointing in the direction he'd come from.

"Let's go."

Zeke just chuckled nervously again, and turned around so she could see his back.

When he did, she saw that there was a pretty extreme burn there, as well as throbbing demonic mana in it.

However, she could see that Zeke's own mana was fighting back the demonic mana, but while he normally could fend it off and smother it easily, the combined energy of the 5 of them was just enough to be a match for him. So it wasn't getting worse, but it wasn't getting any better.

The burn itself was intense, and if anyone else had received it, they would have been in VERY bad territory, to the point where emergency medical treatment would have been needed.

"How's it look?" he asked her.

"..........maybe." Ryker replied.

"Odds are that's our best option." he said.

"We'll go when you're ready." he told her. "Or as ready as you'll ever be." he then clarified.

"For now, we can stay here for however long." he went on.

"Odds are the wildlife will leave us alone for a bit." he reasoned.

"...or they'd better, if they know what's good for them."

Zeke just laughed nervously, and scratched the back of his head.

"Eh-heh, sorry." he said.

"The team I was on ended up facing some demons." he told her.

"They concentrated their fire on us, and I shielded those that were with me with my back." he said further.

"Seems taking 5 demon blasts at once is a little past my limit." he added sheepishly.

"But at least I protected the others."

"......haven't really thought about it." Zeke admitted.

"Doubt I'll stay home, though." he then said.

"If Mom and Dad find out about this injury, they'll overreact." he muttered. "Mom'll worry about me, even though she'll say it's fine, and Dad'll take it as reason to train me even harder." he grumbled.

"I'd rather not deal with any of that." he said.

"So the deskwork may be the preferable option here, as much as I hate to admit it." he finished.

Ryker continued to look forward silently.

"I don't know where we can live." he then told him.

"We have little money, and no way to earn it." he said.

"And what you've been doing in the past probably won't work in getting a place to stay." he went on.

"But I DO know some things about building places. I've had to do so in my past a few times." he then said. "I should be able to construct us a log cabin of sorts. It'll do us for the warmer weather."

"N-no, no." Zeke replied.

"...though I DO appreciate your bluntness." he muttered.

"Regardless, it was just something new for me." he told her.

"Caught me off guard, I suppose." he went on.

"But thank you for the info." he then added.

'I shouldn't pry any further... lest I truly DO reveal something I don't want revealed.' he thought to himself.

"Guess I'll be out of commission for the next little bit, though." he then mumbled, looking at his wound.

Zeke seemed a bit taken aback at first, and then raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"I hardly think I'm going to fall for one of our medics because she's not afraid of me." he told her.

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!' he cursed mentally. 'Play it cool! Talk normal! Keep it up!' he told himself.

"It was merely a refreshing surprise is all." he said.

"I'm glad she treats everyone equally. It's what a proper medic should do." he told her, before pausing.

"And by that, I mean professionally, attitude-wise, of course." he then added a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his head.

Ryker grabbed what was offered.

"Good morning." he said.

"....or afternoon. Whatever." he said further.

"I'd ask if you slept well, but I think we both know the answer to that." he went on.

"Did you at least sleep soundly?" he asked.

That's when Eke would have noticed the 4 or 5 wolf bodies that were strewn about... clearly they had attacked during the night, and Ryker had fended them off.