Colin's posts

Ash paused as he heard that.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really." she responded, as Ash accepted the brownies.

"...never would have guessed." he admitted.

"They're amazing." he complimented her.

"Seriously, I never would have guessed that they're diabetic-friendly."

Ash paused and thought about it.

"Y... yeah." he said.

"If that's all right. I could smell them when we came in, and they smelled delicious." he told her.

"...and I know that if I were to go back without at least trying one, I would have REALLY regretted it later." he then admitted to her with a small chuckle, before looking at Hazel again.

"So... yeah. I'll take some back. Discuss things with her, and then get back to you." he summarised.

"Not sure WHEN, admittedly... depends on when she wakes up."

"...yeah, that's fair." Ash admitted.

"She's a master of manipulation. Odds are she told JUST enough truth." he muttered. "Because of course she did." he growled.

He then just sighed, and shook his head.

"Look, I... Aunt Rocky has vouched for you countless times in the past... and you got my number from Vincent." he told her. "So... asking me to trust you implicitly so soon is not possible." he said bluntly.

"But, if nothing else, I trust THEM." he went on.

"And... and... I admit... there's part of me that wants to trust you, like I trust them." he continued. "So doing this... moving in here... would be a big step towards that." he admitted further.

"Right now... this arrangement rests on Hazel."

"Ah... y-yeah..." Ash responded.

"Um... yeah." he said again.

"Sorry, I'm... I'm at a loss for words right now." he admitted. "What I've believed my entire life is coming crashing down around me, and my brain is saying this should have happened a long time ago." he told her.

"Nevermind the fact that Aunt Rocky kept telling me what you're telling me... I should have REALLY started to doubt that info, as Vanessa told me it." he continued.

"And I'm pretty sure everything she told me was a lie." he went on.

"So... one would think I would have started to question the 'information' about you a lot sooner..."

Ash looked at Hazel again, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"That... might be the best idea?" he admitted.

"I want to talk with her and see if I can't find out if we can find a way for her to live here. This is a really nice place in a beautiful area, in a nice country." he reasoned, looking around.

"Overall, it's really prime real estate for mine and Hazel's situation."

"...there's a bigger deciding factor here." Ash responded.

"Hazel." he said.

"If she can't live here... than neither can I." he told her.

"If we can find a way for her to live here and coexist with you... then... then..." he stammered, Rowena easily being able to tell that he was struggling with saying what he wanted to.

"Then... sure." he managed to get out.

"I'll... I'll give this a shot."

"..." Ash was silent as he looked at his hands.

"Our mana..." he said.

"I admit... the feeling of that rune inside me... it's... almost overwhelming." he told her.

"This power that resides within me... knowing what I can do... it can be maddening at times..." he went on.

"...I feel like such an idiot." he then growled.

"I guess Vanessa feeding my brother and I the information that you willingly gave us up was such a constant, I just instinctively believed it..."

Ash listened to what she had said, and something seems to slap his mind into gear. What Rowena was saying was the exact same thing that his aunt had told him. Had been telling him.

Was continuing to tell him.

But even though he'd heard her, it never clicked. Until now.

And he started to realise that if she had wanted his soul... it would have been done already. She wasn't acting like she was infamous for.

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

"Daman it." he cursed, leaning against a nearby wall.

"So you didn't give us up. You didn't CHOOSE to rampage through Europe?" he asked.

Ash looked ready to snap at her, and just made his way over to Hazel. He looked ready to pick her up and leave... before he just looked at her in silence, before sighing heavily and looking back to Rowena.

"Tell me something." he said.

"Why were we given up?" he asked.

"Why did we have to suffer under Vanessa Encrae?" he asked further.

"...just tell me THAT."

Ash almost fell over when she revealed who she was, and he was immediately on the defensive.

"Y-you!" he exclaimed.

"No wonder Hazel's mana acted like that!" he said. "She told me it was essentially programmed to go off near a Fyrane's mana! Or... well, sort of? Maybe?" he went on, suddenly getting confused.

"She mentioned she had a built-in thing to try and capture you for Vanessa..." he mumbled, seeming to get lost in that train of thought, before shaking his head and looking at Rowena sharply.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why bring me out here like this?" he asked her.

Ash looked between Hazel and Harmony, trying to process all the information that he had been given. However, all it had done was give him more questions than ever, and make him wonder just WHO Harmony was.

He then looked to Hazel on the couch, and sighed.

"Right." he said.

"You are correct in stating that she is a victim of Encrae." he confirmed. "I've been trying my best to give her a better life. But it's... well, it's not been easy." he admitted.

"Also, you? Why YOU?" he asked her.

"Who ARE you to cause this to happen?"

"Her mana is... well, it's chaotic." Ash replied.

"And it reacts defensively when... it thinks she's in danger..." he went on.

"But why...?" he started to ask, before shaking his head.

"And she eats. Barely." he sighed.

"I try to get her to eat more, but she keeps eating just barely enough to survive." he continued.

"Damn Encrae..." he growled under his breath.

"...oh! Oh DAMN IT!" Ash exclaimed, seeing this.

"Her mana is acting up!" he warned Harmony. "She has no control over it, and it's acting up as a defensive measure for... something!" he said further, as he stepped back as far as he could.

"Hazel!" he then said to Hazel.

"Hazel, how bad?" he asked.

"What's going to happen?"

"Makes sense." Ash responded.

He then made his way to the extra bedroom and looked at it.

"...woah." he mumbled. "This is pretty spacious." he said. "And it's just the extra bedroom?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." Harmony responded.

"You're winning me over, here." Ash chuckled.

"Hazel, what do YOU say?" he then asked.