Colin's posts

"Eh." Rene responded.

"Medical emergencies are my thing." he told her.

"This is a relief." Ash muttered.

"Indeed." Rene agreed.

"If you need any more help, let me know." he told them.

"Especially if it pertains to this individual with the random mana."

"Keep thinking that." Rene said, as he started to prepare his water mana.

He worked on her for what seemed like an eternity, but it was only about a half-hour.

He withdrew his mana from beneath her eyes, and sighed.

"Well?" Ash asked, as Rene tied some cloth around Ashley's eyes.

"Give it a few hours." he told them.

"Ashley, when you notice light starting to filter through the blindfold, take it off. It means your nerves are healed, and you just need to start to use them again."

"Lay back." Rene responded.

"And have a high pain tolerance." he told her.

"What I'm about to do is going to be very uncomfortable, and painful at times." he went on.

"Fixing optic nerves is never pleasant." he said further.

"And the sooner we start, the more effective it'll be."

"Well, that's why I'm here." Rene said.

"To fix that." he told her.

"You can do that?" Ash asked.

"Potentially." Rene responded.

"Then why didn't you help Andrew, pre-draydin?" Ash asked.

"One, the tech and mana advancement wasn't there." Rene said. "Two, length of time. The longer one waits, the harder it gets to repair." he continued.

"...oh. Right." Ash muttered.

"Now, let's see about getting that vision back, Ashley." Rene then commented.

"Uh... right." Ash responded.

"I see." he said.

"Care to fill the one that's here to help in?" Rene asked, clearing his throat.

"She's blind." Ash told him, gesturing to Ashley.

"Blind?" Rene asked.

"Blind." Ash said.

"Please describe it to me." Rene then said to Ashley. "Nothing put blackness, white space, does it feel like your sight is hidden behind a curtain, can you be more specific?" he asked her.

Ash was silent as Ashley had her mini-rant about Hazel's mana.

"Well, you're doing better than me." Ash responded.

"I didn't know that her mana behaved in such a way, and did... things like... that..." he mumbled.

"Wait..." he then said.

"It activates when you touch her?" he asked.

"Because I held her hand a few times... is something happening to me?" he wondered.

"I mean, I didn't go blind..." he then mumbled, as they heard a knock on the door.

"It's me!" Rene called in.

"Right." Ash said, going to the door and opening it.

"What's the issue?" Rene asked, stepping inside.

"....indeed." Lindsay replied after a moment.

"This way." he said.

He then led her to one of their bathrooms, and handed her a pair of towels, as well as a large cloth robe.

"Please do clean yourself up, as it seems like it has been a while." he told her. "And put on the robe afterwards, simply because you shouldn't be putting on dirty clothing after a shower." he reasoned.

"Will you be all right alone?" he asked her.

Lindsay raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"Toys for others..." he repeated.

"At any rate." he then said.

"You and I have much to talk about." he told her, figuring he had his work cut out for him in terms of breaking down the barriers and walls that Vanessa had built up.

"Are you hungry? Or perhaps thirsty?" he asked her.

"I can make you something, and then maybe you ought to consider having a shower and getting a clean set of clothes." he then offered, and suggested.

Lindsay was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"I see." he said.

"Yes, that was something she would do." he told her.

"Ash was called a failure as well, because he was apparently incompatible with dragon DNA." he said further. "So they settled for Salamander." he went on.

"And I was often called one as well, when I didn't meet target goals." he then said.

"It hurts." he told her.

"And when you hear it enough, you start to believe it."

"Hm?" Lindsay muttered, looking at Hazel.

"Lower?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"From what I remember, you were one that she spent the most time on." he commented.

"How did you rank lower?" he asked her.

"And was that something that Vanessa said to you directly?" he then inquired.

"You're blind!?" Ash exclaimed, as Lindsay dialled his phone.

"Rene, get over to the manor, please. Ashley needs your help." he said into it.

"Yes, ASAP." he said further, before hanging up after a moment or two.

"He's on his way." he told them.

"I'll go downstairs as well." Ash commented. "See if I can't do anything to help." he said.

"Meanwhile, I'll chat with Miss Hazel." Lindsay said.

Ash and Lindsay were silent and taken aback by what had just transpired, but Ash knew something serious was up when Ashley staggered back from Hazel.

"....Ashley?" he asked.

"Something serious is going on, isn't it?" he asked.

"Huh?" Lindsay muttered.

"Ashley doesn't react like that unless something BIG is outta whack." Ash reasoned.

Lindsay scratched at his chin, examining Hazel a little.

"Perhaps..." he said.

"She might need mana help as well, but I might be able to help her in terms of uprooting what Vanessa has placed in there, mentally and emotionally." he went on.

"Should we enlist the help of Anna and Rene?" Ash asked.

"Probably." Lindsay replied.

"She'll probably need some serious cleansing and detox."

"I'm not sure, either." Ash admitted.

"It's why I brought her here. I couldn't think of anywhere else." he told her, as Lindsay showed up from upstairs.

"All right, who's her-" he started to ask, before pausing.

"...I... I..." he stammered.

"I don't believe it..." he said.

"Miss Hazel?" he asked, stepped up closer towards her.