Colin's posts

Rene raised an eyebrow.

"Ah... no." he said. "No I haven't." he told her.

"However, I DO know my Latin." he then said further. "And I know that you essentially said something along the lines of 'parasitic fire', or the like." he went on, sighing.

"While that... is plenty descriptive already, I need details." he continued.

"So crash course me."

The receptionist raised an eyebrow, before going to their phone.

"Paging Dr. Calder to intake, paging Dr. Calder to intake." they said. Rowena was well-known because of who she was, and the fact she was known to be a friend of Rene's, and she was holding an orb of ice mana, made them listen to her.

"We'll see how long it takes." they told her.

And it did not take long at all. Rene showed up in a couple of minutes, and was immediately surprised to see Rowena there, and with a orb of ICE mana, of all things.

"Ah... come on, Rowena." he said to her, opening the door to allow her further into the hospital.

"Walk and talk."

Vincent looked unimpressed for a moment, but then sighed.

"I expect answers later." he told her.

"But for now, seeing as I am sure time must be of the essence right now..." he went on, before creating an orb of ice in his hand, and Rowena could already feel the chill emanating off of it.

"Here." he said.

"Hopefully THIS will satisfy whatever you need it for."

Wherever he was, he wasn't there for long, as seconds after she called out his name, a small whirlwind whipped up in the corner of the room, and Vincent appeared in the middle of it. It died down quickly and he sighed, before making his way over, a book under his arm.

Which told her he had been at his study.

She looked at the book and saw it was about old and borderline ancient maladies. Seemed he was seriously trying to help.

"Yes?" he asked.

"You discover anything?" he asked her.

"Parasites!?" Andrew exclaimed.

"...I see." he muttered.

"They feed on heat, do they...? Explains why the cooling petals seemed to work well..." he reasoned.

"But they can't handle the cold. Got it." he said further.

"I'll go and do that ASAP." he continued.

"And I'll relay this information to Anna as well."

Andrew looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" he mumbled.

"Right. Firstly, I'm good for heat removal." he told her. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm pretty all right at the moment. No lingering heat mana or anything." he assured her.

"Secondly, what is there to share? She went down and I got Ash here to take her to OLA. Tried to keep her temperature down with cooling petals." he went on.

"And thirdly, treat them? How? Why?"

"...." Luke was silent as he saw the flames, before sighing.

"Of course." he said.

"...probably wise." he admitted.

Meanwhile, Rowena heard Andrew from inside.

"Door's open!" he called back.

"Come on in! I'm in the den!"

Lucas' eyes widened when he heard that.

"A parasite!?" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Then we need to-!" he started to say further, before his expression was that of sheer unadulterated pain... causing him to collapse and crumple onto his back again.

"Ah! Ahhh...! Ow-ow-ow..." he moaned.

"Ohhh THAT was a bad idea..." he murmured.

"But something needs to be done!" he said to Rowena, still panicking.

"Eh? Rock roots?" Luke muttered.

"Uhhhh.... hmmm." he mumbled further. "No. Don't think so." he said.

"Hm. Fair enough." Rowena responded. "I'll be-" she started to say further, before Luke interrupted suddenly.

"Oh!" he exclaimed.

"Wait! Yes! Mom does!" he recalled.

"She's got some... very fragile plants downstairs. I think notably a Fairy Fern and some Emerald Rose." he remembered. "And she grows Rock Roots to help stabilise them." he explained.

"Why?" he then asked.

Luke was wincing for a moment, breathing hard and rapidly, before he slowed down to a more regular rhythm.

"Yes." he said. "Much." he told her.

"Thank you." he then said to her.

"I've just been laying here, not moving, because it's hurt like a bugger to move." he then mumbled.

"And I've been worrying about Kelly." he sighed.

Luke paused for a moment, confused about her first statement, but then gestured to his palms and thighs.

"I think there might be some heat lingering." he told her.

"The paste my Mom used is working wonders, but there's a small persistent burning feeling in my palms and legs." he said.

"So I think there's some left in there." he reasoned.

"If you could help, that'd be great."

"Sorry, Mrs-" Luke started to apologise, before stopping short.

"...Rowena." he said.

"And sudden? I... don't think so?" he answered. "I mean, looking back on it, we had a day or two where her temperature was higher than normal, but it was assumed her mana was just flaring up from stress and stuff." he told her. "But the sudden spike was out of nowhere." he continued.

"As for marks and bruises, no." he told her further.

"...and maybe her eye colour was a little duller, thinking back on it." he then stated, recalling his memory.

Luke looked over towards her, and waved slightly.

"Oh, hello Mrs. Remmington." he greeted her respectfully.

"And what happened?" he then asked, before sighing.

"Well. Kelly had been feeling under the weather, but nothing too bad, until recently when she just collapsed in the kitchen and I caught her and she was radiating a lot of heat, but I didn't want to let go, until my Dad forced me to and put Kelly on the couch, where he tried to keep her cool, and then Mr. Fyrane showed up and took his daughter to OLA where she's being cared for." he said in one breath, before pausing and taking another breath.

"Then Mom showed up and put special paste on myself and Dad, who got bad burns from where we were holding Kelly, and now Kelly's being cared for in OLA and Dad and I are recovering from the burns." he finished.

Vincent froze when he heard that.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"I said that Ash was saying that she's not changed, but Kelly-" Rowena started to repeated, before Vincent interrupted her.

"I get it." he said.

"This isn't good. At all. To state the obvious." he growled.

"There anything I can do to help?"