Colin's posts

Rene was silent as she said all she did.

"That's pretty fatalistic." he commented.

"Tell me." he then said.

"Do you even care anymore?" he asked.

"Or is this a case where you've surrendered yourself to some nebulous arbitrary fate or something?" he asked further.

"Because you've seemed to not give a shit since you were in the hospital." he commented.

"Yeah, no cutting arms off." Rene replied.

"And it's an herbal tea of sorts." he told her.

"See... your mark seems to make people's emotions get extreme." he said.

"I'm pretty sure I can craft a liquid that, once consumed, will suppress emotions, and stop them from welling up and taking over." he explained.

"Obviously I'm the one drinking it. Not you." he clarified.

"Beyond that, the mage school I'll be applying you to will help with control on your end." he then added.

Rene was silent for a moment.

"Ah, yeah, I didn't put those papers away." he remembered.

"Hm." he muttered.

"Well, to answer your question, yes." he told her.

"I have." he said.

"And remember when you told me that you would keep your arm unwrapped once hell won't break loose when you did?" he then asked her.

"I believe I have found a way to make that situation happen."

As she said what she did, Felix showed up and rubbed up against her leg. He mewled and purred lightly, before jumping up onto the table so she could pet him.

When she started, she heard the front door open.

"Ugh." Rene grunted, stepping inside, carrying a couple of small paper bags.

"Geez. Hard to find quality ingredients these days." he said absently, as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Erica." he greeted her when he saw she was there.

She hadn't actually SEEN Rene much since she got out of the hospital.

He said he was working on getting her enrolled into a new school, but that would've only explained a portion of his disappearances and solitudes.

When he wasn't at the hospital, he was elsewhere. Hunting things out, or researching things. And when he WAS home, he was always burying himself in papers and other work.

This time, when she got back, she found a mess of papers on the kitchen table, filled with words and names of things she didn't understand. However, there was one thing she DID understand:

A diagram of the markings on her arm.

".........." again, Rene was silent.

He wondered what was going through her head right now.

Did she even care about anything any longer?

Was this borne of her markings, or something else? He didn't know, he wasn't a psych.

But this was concerning him. Greatly.

'...is this going to get worse before it gets better...?' he wondered.

Rene was silent for a moment, and scratched at his chin a little.

"See, I take that as a challenge." he told her.

"I need to do some research." he said.

"Regardless, expect a visit from some lawyers soon." he went on.

"If all goes well, by the time you're discharged from here, you'll be under MY care."

"I'm going to get my friends in here to ask you a series of questions." Rene told her.

"And after that, they'll get the paperwork going so that your legal guardian will be me." he went on.

"Because nobody has been able to locate any of your biological family." he continued.

"And you said you'll 'keep it unwrapped once hell won't break loose when you do', eh?" he then asked.

"Enlighten me. You know of any way to make that situation happen?" he asked further.

Rene made his way over towards her, and sighed.

"Two things." he said.

"One... you really need to let that arm heal." he told her. "Your insistence on keeping it wrapped is going to cause you some serious problems in the long run." he said.

"And two... I've been speaking to some lawyer friends of mine." he went on.

"What would you think of being taken into my custody... officially?" he asked her.

Rene sighed as he walked down the hallway.

He needed to speak with Erica.

But it seemed she was shoving everyone away, and taken to wrapping her arm, which, in the long run, would prove to be extremely dangerous for her.

He made his way to her room, and knocked on the door.

"Erica?" he said, opening the door and stepping inside.

Rene watched her leave, before starting to think harder.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"...she wouldn't do well in the system..." he said, referring to foster care.

"Maybe I can call in some favours from some lawyer friends..." he went on.

"See to it that I can take her in... permanently." he finished.

He knew that Erica was... different. It was clear to him now that those wraps were concealing something of great power. And she needed to learn how to control it.

So, with that knowledge, and new resolve, he made his way back to his office to make a series of calls.

Rene gritted his teeth behind his lips, and growled.

'Expelled...' he thought.

'No... no, I can't let that happen!' he declared internally.

'She doesn't deserve to be expelled! She deserves an... education...' he thought further, before starting to come to some sort of realization.

'...an education... but was that the ideal school...?' he wondered, as Erica's arm came back to his mind, and things started swirling and churning away in there.

"....oh, Erica..." he said quietly.

"What did they do to you?" he asked rhetorically.

He then shook his head, and started to check her over.

What he found was to be expected, really. She had bruises all over, scratches, scrapes, some cuts... she was a mess.

But Rene couldn't help but feel immense shame and guilt in seeing her like this.

"...my fault..." he said.

"This is all my fault." he mumbled, as he started to clean her wounds, and tend to them.

Rene placed a hand on his chest, and almost collapsed under the weight of his own concern.

'...I...' he thought.

'This... this is...' he thought further, before looking at the nurse.

"I'll take care of her." he said.

"She's my responsibility. She is under my care." he told her.

"It would be completely and utterly neglectful of me to NOT tend to her wounds." he reasoned.

"Go and help the other patients."