Colin's posts

Jake nodded as the door was harshly shut in his face, before rushing outside. He looked around, before heading to where there was a small river, and a clump of large bushes. Once there, he looked around, before taking off all his clothes and hiding behind the larger bushes that were there.

Once they were obscuring him completely, he allowed what needed to happen... happen. He gritted his teeth as the skin-like scales all over him started to rise up and seemingly peel off of him, revealing fresh, slightly green-tinted scales underneath. He clenched his fists and clamped his eyes shut, as the scales fell off in large clumps, landing around him. Then, at the very end of it, he initiated the final part of the process, and expelled any foreign presences in his body. It was a purification and shedding of both the inside, AND the outside.

However, his body recognized Vanessa's mana as foreign, even if his mind hadn't... and when he completed the 'ritual', his eyes widened with clarity.

"...she had no desire to help me." he said quietly. "I was little more than a resource to be run into the ground." he said further, looking back in the direction of the underground complex.

He was feeling extremely conflicted right now. And it wasn't because of any loyalty towards Vanessa. He remembered that child that was still there. That child had to be helped. But he knew that if he went back there, Vanessa's mind controlling drow mana would certainly take hold again, and he would be lost to her, trapped once more... until his current cycle ended. But who knew if he would survive that long?

He also knew that, if he ran, before he could get any help (who would listen to him anyway?), odds were good that Vanessa would have abandoned the place, for fear of him returning with reinforcements.

'If only I was still in contact with Sydney...' he cursed mentally, as he grabbed the tattered and dirty clothing that he had discarded earlier.

He clamped his eyes shut once more as he redressed himself, and gathered the discarded scales that he had shed, rolling them together into a crumpled ball.

'I have no choice.' he realized. With that, he ran. He ran away from the complex, and he did not look back. He ran until his legs were tired and aching, but continued to run. He had to get away from her, and that was all there was to it. It was all he COULD do, and he hated it.

-Years and years later-

A gorgeous young woman was walking down the street, on an errand for the one she lived with. She had been told to go to the market to get fruit and vegetables, and she was not in a position to argue or deny him... for... various reasons.

As she walked, though, she overheard some people talking amongst themselves, seemingly trying to hide their conversation from prying ears. They weren't doing the best job, though, as she was clearly hearing parts of the conversation... and very interesting parts of it, as well.

"...shedding like a reptile..." she heard one say.

"...see those slitted eyes?" another asked.

"Not human.... a demon...?" hey another asked.

"....old cereal factory, I heard..." the last one said, before it turned into murmurs and whispers.

Ryker was silent as he heard that.

"...........you know what?" he asked.

"That... that's a decent point." he admitted. "Just... yeah. That's a good point." he muttered.

"Well... then do you have a plan?" he asked. "At least, on how to safely collect some of that crap?" he asked further.

"May I be excused to go outside?" Jake asked.

"It's... it's time for me." he said.

"My cycle is ending, and I don't think you want my sheddings left here in any way." he told her.

That was the thing about Ramaarin. Like snakes, they shed their outer scales every so often... and they needed to be out of sight to so it, so they weren't discovered, and so they could clean up the evidence of them existing.

"I promise it won't be too terribly long."

Jake was silent, before doing as he was told. He deposited the payload where he was supposed to and then headed back to his room to wait for further instructions.

However, after a few minutes, he paused for a moment.

"......" he was silent, before getting up and making his way through the halls. He made his way to a specific room, where he knocked on the closed door.

"Mistress?" he asked quietly through it.

"Of course." the attendant responded.

The months passed, and eventually Jake and the child were separated for different training. Jake's conditioning for the cold was getting greater and greater, but Vanessa kept raising the bar again and again.

She was also having him run various... 'errands'... for her. Many of which were unpleasant and most certainly immoral.

He was now returning from one such errand, carrying a bag filled with... items. It was quite heavy, and it seemed to be stained on the bottom with a crimson red liquid.

"Mistress?" he called in as he descended into the hidden lair.

"I have returned with what you asked."

"Time and a half?" the attendant asked.

"....very well." he said.

'Is she TRYING to kill him?' he wondered.

"Back to swimming! Now!" he then ordered them, to which Jake and the child jumped into the water immediately. The attendant then pressed a lever down, causing a good amount of ice to tumble into the water, lowering the temperature.

"How long until your next check-in?" he asked Vanessa.

"And what sort of improvement are you looking for?" he asked further.

The attendant was obviously nervous around Vanessa. She was in a bad mood, it seemed, and he didn't want to suffer the repercussions of whatever had ticked her off previously.

"Indeed." he finally responded.

"Regardless, as you can see, both subjects are improving." he went on.

"That being said, is there anything else you'd like to do to them for training?" he asked.

"Or shall I proceed as usual with them?" he asked further.

The attendant was instinctively scared when Vanessa said what she did, before turning to Jake and the child.

He brought his fingers to his mouth, and whistled, causing the two of them to emerge from the water, rush over towards Vanessa and the attendant, and stand at attention.

"Improvement has slowed slightly, but is steady." the attendant told Vanessa, gesturing to the boy. "Nothing to concern yourself with, he's pushing past his limits almost every day." he told her.

"And the Ramaarin has seen drastic improvement." he continued.

"As you can see, he's no longer entered the state of hibernetic shock, and the water is actually 13 degrees colder than a month ago." he reported.

Sure enough, a month later, a swimming session was being held. The same one from a month ago. The same one that they'd been doing constantly.

The attendant was watching Jake and the child in the water, before sighing and looking at the papers.

"Mmhmm..." he mumbled.

He wondered when Vanessa would show up. He had findings to report to her.

And he wondered how she would take them.

"....yes, mistress." the attendant responded.

He then looked towards the child.

"You." he said.

"Y-yes!?" the child responded, snapping to attention.

"Use your flames to warm him." the attendant told him, gesturing to Jake.

"And then we'll work on your physical resistance." he went on.

"Y-yes." the boy responded, before gently using his flames to bring Jake's core temperature up.

"And you KNOW mistress hates it when you stutter." the attendant then warned.

Ryker's eyes widened for a brief moment, before he followed Eke to the door.

"Well... guess I can't deny any of that."' he admitted.

"All I'm saying is not to be reckless." he then told him.

"Seriously. We just need to execute a bit of care, here." he went on.

"We've already seen what carelessness leads to..." he mumbled further, before sighing quietly.

"Heh." he then chuckled.

"Looks like someone's maturing." he commented with a small smile.

Ryker raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"You are NOT touching that stuff again." he said authoritatively.

"Not after what just happened." he told him.

"....though my 'other me' says otherwise." he then muttered.

"Ugh, he's a little more emboldened suddenly." he grumbled.

"Regardless, if we're getting more of it, it's NOT via you gathering it." he said definitively.

"10... degrees." the attendant repeated, writing down things on the paper he had.

"Got it." he said.

"On another note, the child is making remarkable improvements." he then told her.

"He can deal with the temperatures at least 60% better than last month, and his time holding his breath under the water is up by 35%." he informed her.

"So there's SOME good news here." he continued.

"He may plateau for a bit, soon, however." he then warned Vanessa.

Ryker nodded.

"Yeah." he said.

"That... would be bad, to understate it." he agreed.

"Question is, what do we do about it?" he asked.

"What CAN we do about it?"