Colin's posts

"I agree." Jake said in response to her comment about it being nice to sit and chat with an intelligent person, as well as the rarity of said situation.

"And other questions? Hmmm." he mumbled.

"Why Russia?" he asked.

"Why do you live in Russia?" he asked her.

"I realize the answer is probably something as simple as you were born there and such, but your accent is... very light, for someone to have lived there for long." he then commented.

"And I apologize if I offend you with any of that." he then added.

As soon as Eke ate the candy, he felt his cold symptoms become far better and a lot more tolerable. He wasn't completely cured of it, but he felt like he was in the last stretch of it, where he had a slightly runny nose and a barely scratchy throat.

"Why would we want to stop it?" the man then asked.

"In all seriousness, you know as well as I do what that much uncontrolled magic can do. Especially mid-level." Ryker chimed in.

"...this is true. My host wouldn't survive it." the man admitted.

"Well, the quick and easy way is to have one that can handle that magic take it into themselves." he then told Eke.

"I can agree to that." Jake responded.

"I mean, one is free to do whatever they like with their life, but some things are just... well... meant to be a perfect fit, I suppose." he said.

"It also helps that my natural talents help with my being a security guard as well, I suppose." he then added.

"Regardless, it's nice to actually just chat with someone, you know?" he finished with a small smile.

"A fair question." Jake admitted.

"I guess it's because I never really had much security in my life." he told her.

"I didn't know what it was to belong, and whenever I did find something good in my life, it never lasted long." he continued.

"The place where I work now is a haven for those like me, so I want to protect it, I suppose." he continued.

"What better way to do that... then security?"

The man looked at Eke, and narrowed his eyes.

"Please don't sneeze in here." he said.

"Poor thing has a cold." Ryker responded in an almost condescending tone.

The man then sighed, before digging through a desk drawer and tossing a small candy-like thing to Eke.

"Eat that. I don't want you getting your cold germs in here, potentially tainting my results, so that take that to clear things up." he told him.

"As for knowing how to stop it, of course I do." he then added.

"....hmm, that would be... problematic." Jake responded.

"But fair enough." he said.

"Thanks for your input." he told her, as their food arrived.

"Ah, fast, as usual." Jake commented with a smile.

"After we eat, we can head back to my place." he then told Anya.

"And you can do whatever you feel needs to be done."

"Huh... I see." Jake replied.

"Sounds like a rare one to get here." he went on, taking a drink of the coffee he'd had when she arrived.

"But sure, thanks." he told her.

"How big of a worry are we talking about here?" he then asked.

"As in, how many would there be?" he asked further. "What's their reproduction cycle like?"

"I don't mind." Jake responded.

"Seriously. Spiders are not something that weirds me out or anything." he assured her.

"As for any that are alarming, you're free to look if you want." he then told her.

"I mean, most of the ones I've seen are common house spiders, but there's been one that's looked different from the others." he went on.

"Noticed it a few weeks ago." he said further. "It's got a black body, except for a bluish stripe on the abdomen." he described it to her.

".............hmmmmm." Jake mumbled, thinking about it for a moment.

"That... is a very good question." he said.

"I... well... hm." he muttered further, seemingly in pretty deep thought about this.

"Probably somewhere in the 20's? 30's?" he finally answered.

"I see no more than 6 or 7 of them out at a time, all around." he went on. "So it's probably a safe bet that there's about 5 times as many hidden in my walls." he chuckled.

"They're fast little buggers, and good at hiding."

Jake just shook his head.

"They don't bother me, so why should I have a problem with them?" he asked rhetorically.

"Besides, they're very important to the ecosystem." he went on.

"I think they're just misunderstood is all." he said further with a sigh.

"That being said, I respect them enough to know which ones are dangerous, and the ones to stay away from." he then continued, looking right at her.

"Some of them are right dangerous."

The man grabbed one of the vials, and started to work with it.

"What have you learned so far?" Ryker asked him.

"It's mid-level magic." the man responded.

"....really. Mid-level." Ryker said. "Odd to find it on the surface." he commented.

"Whoever the fool was that tried to tame this, he met with a particularly nasty end." the man then said further. "A shame I missed their demise."' he added with a smile.

"Especially the eyes turning to paste and leaking out the skull." he laughed.

Jake just shrugged.

"Not scared of them." he said.

"Not completely in love with them, but they don't scare me, and I don't hate them." he went on.

"They impress me a lot, as well." he continued.

"One time I looked up and saw a butterfly caught in a spider's web, and the cocoon it had emerged from was literally a few inches beside it." he then told her.

"All I could think of was 'what a clever girl'." he added with a light laugh.

"An arachnologist? Really?" Jake asked.

"Huh. Fascinating." he said.

"Admittedly, not something I've encountered a lot." he then said further, thinking about it.

"But still. Fascinating." he reiterated.

"What made you choose that profession?" he asked her.

Jake just smiled as Anya said what she did.

"I think getting to know each other is a good idea." he agreed.

"I guess I'll start with employment." he went on.

"What do you do?" he asked. "What brings in the money for you?" he reiterated.

"Myself, I work security for a government agency." he continued, pausing for a moment.

"I can tell you more when we're back at my place." he then added.