Colin's posts

"Yeah, no worries." Adam replied.

"Come on, then. Let's get this show on the road." he told her.

With that, they started to wade through the tangles of sharp thorns, and the vines were, indeed, providing protection from the thorns that surrounded them.

However, she noticed that they were being scraped and eaten away by the thousands of thorns.

"Figured as much." Adam muttered.

"Let me know if you start feeling them against your legs." he told Callie.

Adam nodded.

"Right." he replied.

"I'll get to work, then." he told her.

With that, he placed his hands on the soil, and concentrated.

"Don't be alarmed." was all he said to her.

Then, before she could respond, vines sprouted up from under her feet, and started to wrap around her legs, individually. Once her legs and part of her torso were covered, Adam did the same to his own legs and torso.

"Don't know how long these'll last." he admitted.

"But we should be able to get through a lot of these thorns before they give out."

Adam just sighed.

"I... cannot argue that." he admitted.

"I can't think of any other options, seeing as they won't listen to me." he said.

"But... hm. A switchblade?" he asked.

"Callie, just how fine and controlled are you with your abilities?" he asked her. "Would it be possible to manipulate some sort of ice blade, hard enough to do the job?" he asked further.

"Otherwise, all I can think of is myself growing us up something to be used as 'armour'." he finished.

Adam looked at the thorns, before getting closer towards them.

"Hmmmmmmmm..." he mumbled, staring even more closely.

He then gingerly touched his finger to one of them, and concentrated.

"....nnnnno." he said.

"They don't seem to be hazardous." he told her.

"Well, in the sense of toxins and what have you." he then clarified.

"They'll still hurt, as they'll scrape and scratch and all." he said further, before turning and facing her again.

"You think we ought to just barge on through?" he asked.

"I can agree to that." Adam replied.

"But we'll need to get past these defenses." he told her.

"Just... these thorns... we won't be able to manoeuvre them properly, without getting hurt." he said.

"We'll need to find a way around." he continued.

"By the way, did you discover any paths or anything like that?" he asked her.

"......." Adam was silent as he heard that.

"You're right." he said.

"And... listen." he then said, pausing, and listening to their surroundings.

"Nothing." he commented.

"No chirps, no chitters, no growls, no grunts. Nothing." he said, as he got a bit closer to her.

"It's... eerie and unnerving. This place is usually teeming with life." he told her further, as he started to look around, this time more towards the canopy.

"...something must be scaring them off."

He accepted the makeshift icepack, and placed it on his injury.

"It is." he said.

"Hurts like a bugger." he told her.

"But yeah, this isn't going to be easy." he commented.

"It got as violent as it did against ME, which means we'll need to stop this at its cause... whatever it may be." he explained, looking around.

"And we need to do it quick."

"Uh..." Adam stammered, before sighing.

"I wasn't." he said.

"But... one of the trees got violent with me..." he told her, before explaining what had happened, and showing her the resulting bruise he had.

"And my vision got wonky and weird, so I put these on." he said further.

"I can see well enough without them, but I kinda-sorta need them at times." he told her. "And glasses aren't a very common fashion here in Adaminia, so I generally go without, to avoid detection, or standing out."

"Ugh..." he grunted, shaking his head some.

"Great." he mumbled.

"Just great." he growled.

He then took a case out of his pocket, opened it, withdrew a pair of prescription glasses, and put them on.

"Guess I should wear these." he mumbled.

"Callie!?" he then called out, as he made his way towards where he heard her footsteps.

"...ngh." he grunted, as he rose to his feet.

"All right..." he mumbled.

"That failed." he said to himself.

"Looks like things aren't going to be that easy." he said further, before looking at Callie.

"It almost worked." he told her.

"But then it suddenly went completely wrong." he continued.

"...clearly." he finished, before lifting his shirt, and seeing his newly coloured abdomen.

Adam brought his hand to his chin, and looked at the thorns.

".........hm." he mumbled.

"Yeah." he said.

"We really do." he agreed, before walking over to a tree, and placing his hands on it.

"I'm going to see if I can try and communicate with the forest." he told her.

"Get it to see we're here to help."

Adam was silent in response, at least at first.

He then just coughed a little.

"Not just you." he told her.

"This is alarming." he said further. "It seems like the forest is going into some serious defense measures, but it's not sure where to throw them." he went on.

"Just... this can't be good." he continued.

"If this keeps up, the forest may... die."

"....indeed." Adam replied.

He then looked around, scanning the area.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Our best bet is to find a cave or cavern of sorts." he commented.

"Come on, let's look around." he said.

"Call out if you find something." he told her.

"......hm." Adam mumbled.

"Maybe." he said.

"Depends on what's being down to them, or whatever." he told her.

"I just... it's horrible to think about." he whispered.

"Sends chills down my spine."