Colin's posts

Ash and Deidra watched her go into the bathroom, before they looked at each other.

"Guess we're off." Ash said, to which Deidra nodded.

While Casey was in the bathroom, and when she started to clean herself, she remembered just how good it felt to wash. The relief of getting clean once more. And Ash had been right, the water in there got to a wonderfully warm temperature. And the products he had in there felt good as well... surprisingly refreshing, soothing, and cleansing.

When she finished up, she dried herself off and placed the large loose sweater over her, which covered her completely. She stepped out of the bathroom, and saw Ash sitting in one of the chairs, with a small pile clothing beside him. Deidra was still there as well, and she smiled at Casey.

"Felt good?" she asked her.

"Cool." Ash replied.

He then made his way to a smaller closet, and gave her a couple of towels. After he did that, he dug around in a third closet, until he found a large hoodie sweater, as he said he would.

When he gave it to her, it was clear that it would cover her completely, and probably reach down to her knees.

"Admittedly, I don't have much clothing for a kid." he muttered. "I can quickly grab some clothing for you while you're in the shower." he then said.

"And I'll help." Deidra told her.

"Ash can be a bit clueless when it comes to clothes shopping." she chuckled.

"Well, nobody says you have to." Ash replied.

"And there." he said, finishing up the blankets.

"Now you have some heavy makeshift curtains around your bed." he told her.

"Want to take a shower?" he asked.

"The water in there gets pretty damn nice and warm." he said. "Plus, I dunno how long it's been since you had a shower or bath." he added with a shrug.

"Hmmmm..." he mumbled, looking around.

"And I have some large hoodie sweaters that you can use as a robe afterwards if you want." he added.

"I work for a guild." Ash responded as he put up the blankets.

"People send requests to the guild, and Hunters are sent out to get them done." he told her.

"It can be anything, really. Stopping a criminal that the authorities are having trouble with, information gathering, deliveries, stopping dangerous animals, capturing dangerous animals, you name it, we do it." he said.

"Well, within the law, of course." he added.

"There ARE rules to follow."

Ash just shrugged.

"Never really thought about it." he said.

"I'm not really home all that much, anyway." he told her, grabbing some particularly large and heavy blankets.

"Comes with the territory of being a Hunter." Deidra commented.

"....yeah, see, I didn't mention that to her." Ash said to the spirit, as he grabbed some storage crates, stood on top of them, and started to attach the blankets to the ceiling with heavy tacks, so as to erect some makeshift 'walls' around the pull-out bed, to give Casey some privacy.

Ash looked around as she asked her question.

"Hmmm." he muttered.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

"I know." he told her. He made his way to the couch that was there, pulled a lever on the side of it, and then opened up the front, revealing it to be a pull-out bed.

"This should work for now." he said.

"I'll find better accommodations soon." he told her. "For now, I hope this will do." he said.

He then went over to a closet and took out some blankets and sheets.

"I've got a pile of pillows in my bedroom." he said. "Grab whichever ones you want."

"Well, there wasn't much left to do." Ash told her.

"Now then..." he muttered, as he grabbed the containers, made sure most of the lights were turned off, and they then headed outside, to which he made sure the door was shut and locked.

"Right." he said, looking back and forth.

"Take my hand." he told Casey. When she did, they disappeared in a burst of black flames, the dark curtains of flame surrounding her... but they disappeared as quickly as they came, and she found herself in a bachelor apartment... but it was actually pretty spacious for a bachelor apartment. If anything, it could be considered more of an open-space plan.

"Here we are." Ash said.

"You always DID live humbly." Deidra commented.

Ash nodded and tossed her a small bronze key.

"There you go." he told her.

He then quickly put everything else in takeout containers and stacked them on top of each other.

"There, done." he muttered.

"All that's left is to wait for Casey." he said.

"Well, I'm not a necromancer, but maybe I can help with that." Ash responded.

"Or at least try." he said further.

"Oh, right." he then muttered.

"I need to finish up clearing this place before we need to clear out, ourselves." he told her.

"Can you do me a favour and lock the door to that back office?" he asked.

"We should be ready to head out then." he said further.

"I assume you can come with." he then said to Deidra.

"Of course." the woman replied.

Ash just smiled.

"Well, nice to actually meet you, Casey." he replied.

"You know my name, it's Ash." he told her.

"And this..." he went on, gesturing to Deidra. "This is your doing?" he asked.

Casey just nodded.

"So you're a necromancer, then." Ash said. "And a powerful one, too." he then added

Ash just shrugged.

"If it happens, it happens." he told her.

"Material possessions aren't really my bag." he said.

"And I need to thank you properly for this." he went on, gesturing to Deidra.

"She's strong, all right." the woman replied.

"Especially for a child."

"Wherever that is?" Ash asked.

"Well... I mean... if you need a place to stay, I have space." he told her.

"Not much, but it's inside." he went on.

"You're free to come back with me if you want." he said, scratching the back of his head again.

"You always were a sucker for a hard-luck case, Ashie." Deidra commented.

"Well, I do what I can, because I know what it's like." Ash mumbled in response.

"Ah... ah... ah, wait!" Ash then exclaimed.

"Wait, hold on!" he called to her.

"Please! Hold on!" he said, before looking at the woman that had just appeared.

"Er... one second." he told her.

"Of course." she replied with a smirk.

"Where are you going?" Ash asked the girl.

Ash looked at the locket, and the strange carvings on it.

"Eh?" he muttered.

"Well... all right." he said.

"If you say so." he told her.

He then put the locket on, but something was puzzling him. Why had she made sure nobody was around. Those that would be here would be early janitors, and they wouldn't care.

He also wondered what the weird carvings were, but he had a feeling he'd find out soon enough.

And sure enough, as soon as he put on the locket, he saw a woman with blonde and red-streaked hair standing before him, which caused his jaw to gape open.

"..D.. D... D..." he stammered, unable to form words, before looking at the girl.

"Is... is what I'm seeing real?" he asked her, as the woman before him merely chuckled under her breath... though the girl still heard her.