Colin's posts

"All I can do is go and see." Ash responded.

"See ya." he told her, stepping back slowly and disappearing in a burst of black flames. He appeared at the ticket booth area, his mana able to get through the barriers, and almost fell over from being disoriented.

"Woah..." he mumbled, shaking his head a little and righting himself.

He then started to make his way further inside.

"Hello!?" he called out.

"....oh, terrific." Ash muttered.

"And I've just been feeling like crap since I helped out Anna and Rene with Kelly." he told her. "I absorbed a lot of the heat from her, and started to feel a little off, then Mom told me to go home and relax and stuff, so I have been." he said further.

"Can't help with Casey, though." he mumbled.

"Anyway, I need to go to Kaia's theatre troupe and deal with a situation regarding a Fallen halo." he then told her.

"The one that called me seemed pretty adamant about my getting there ASAP. So I just wanted to tell you I'm headed there now."

Rene was silent as he heard all this, before nodding.

"Ah... well, all right then." he said.

"The main thing is that Emelie isn't being affected by it." he told her.

"And I'll wait on my questions until Ash gets here." he then added.

Meanwhile, Ash groaned as he hung up and phone, and slowly trudged his way out of bed, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Urrrgh..." he mumbled, forcing himself to stand up, and labouriously put his jeans on over the boxers he was wearing.

"Duty calls." he told himself, before walking out of the bedroom.

"Lindsay? Ashleigh?" he called out.

Rene was silent for a moment, unpacking what had just transpired, before deciding to merely focus on the last question.

"Over there." he said, gesturing in the direction of the locked door Emelie was behind.

"Emelie Raziel is in there." he informed her. "And that corruption you say you feel is coming from a strange halo-like headgear that seems to be firmly attached to her noggin." he continued.

"And that... thing... is the ONLY mana inside her." he went on.

"None of her own mana. At ALL. In ANY and ALL senses of that statement." he stressed.

"Seems she showed up here all beaten and battered. I was called in, fixed her injuries, tried to remove it, ended up being flung back and suffered serious nerve/muscle confusion, and a brief surge of sheer hatred for everything. Though THAT was VERY brief." he assured her further.

"Done deal, then." Rene told her.

"I can teach general fighting and combat. Like, SUPER basic stuff, as lantha combat is... quite different from others when you delve below the surface, but certain ground rules are the same." he said.

"I know people that fight with different kinds of blades, those proficient in various unarmed styles, just let me know what kind of thing everyone here will want to be good with, and I can set up sessions." he went on.

"But if there's anyone here that wants to be an all-rounder, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, I can handle that more than well enough."

"Hmmmm." Rene mumbled.

"How much does this bother you?" he asked.

"Which is to say, how badly do you wish to change the situation?" he then clarified.

"Depending on your answer, and your availabilities, I may be able to help you." he told her, scratching his chin.

"I, myself, am a proficient warrior, and I know people skilled in various disciplines, armed AND unarmed."

Rene just took a drink of it black.

"This is fine." he told her.

"And it's scary that almost everyone here has no combat experience?" he asked.

"To put it in more dramatic terms, yes." Kaia responded.

"I'm sure you all have your unique talents to compensate for it." Rene then told her. "You're a vampire. That alone should get you out of a lot of situations like that. You're just naturally stronger. And a Yuki-Onna can bring temperatures down to where an opponent would be risking hypothermia." he continued. "...admittedly, that's just something I read, though." he added at the end.

"Ah, I see." Rene responded.

"Makes sense." he said.

He took the coffee and sighed.

"Thank you." he told her.

"Well, I'd say there's no more need for me to hang around, but maybe I should stay." he then said.

"We don't know what sort of dramatic effect sudden removal will have, assuming it can be removed."

Rene just shrugged.

"I have no idea who this person is, or why you think they can help, but... sure." he said.

"Just seems like that headgear just rejects anyone touching it." he said further.

"That being said, I DID fix up her injuries, so she's in no danger in THAT regard." he then assured them.

"Lucky she found here way HERE, where people could contact people that could properly help. And is friendly to those like her."

"....chaos." Rene said.

"Chaos and corruption." he said further.

"It was like... light. But it wasn't warm light. It felt... foreboding." he continued. "Like it was tainted. But not... like tainted mana. Like it was corrupted, as I said before." he went on.

"But there were hints of good in it. It was like... a strange in-between of good and evil, but it wasn't neutral." he continued.

"And when it briefly coursed through me, I felt unbridled and unrelenting hatred. For... everything."

Rene didn't say anything as they left the room and she shut the door behind them, locking it. Of his three questions he has asked about this 'Vae' person, Kaia had only answered one of them... after seemingly ignoring him before. But at least he had an answer to what was arguable one of the more important questions he had asked.

He then looked over to Kaori, who was relatively nearby, and sighed.

"If she starts knocking or asking to come out, don't let her out." he told her.

"For all we know, she'll be violent when she wakes up." he said further.

"That weird thing on her head could be doing ANYTHING to her state of mind."

"......." Rene was silent, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Fine." he said.

"I just need to pack my things up back into the medkit." he told her.

He then got up and did so rather quickly.

"And lock the door if you must." he said. "This is YOUR place after all."

"Huh?" Rene muttered.

"Vae? Who's Vae?" he asked her.

"When she will get back?" he asked further.

"And... why would she possibly know anything about it?" he continued to inquire.

"Because whatever that thing is, it's NOT doing Emelie any favours. At ALL." he stressed. "It's like it's causing serious turmoil and chaos in her body. And with her own mana gone completely, I don't think she can fight off whatever its effects are." he warned.

"We have NO idea what kind of Emelie will wake up when she regains consciousness."

"Ugh." Rene muttered.

"Well, she was beaten, battered and bruised, and had various injuries over her body." he told her.

"Those I managed to fix up." he assured her.

"...but I did mana scans." he then said. "She's an elf. She's supposed to be God. There is NONE of her mana in her body, Godly or even ELF." he stressed. "...but there IS mana in there. Strange mana... worrisome mana." he went on.

"Then I noticed the weird halo on her head. So I tried to take it off." he continued.

"...which sent me flying back with a jolt, causing some SERIOUS temporary muscle-nerve confusion."