Colin's posts

"...good attitude." Ash responded.

The two of them quickly headed to Cass's office, where Ash knocked on the closed door.

"Dani?" he said through it.

"Enter!" she called back.

He then opened the door, allowing the two of them entry.

"Dani, we have someone here looking to join the ranks." he told her. "Someone that found this place on her own."

Ash was silent for a moment, before it connected.

"...you were pumping us for info." he realised.

"And you took all that info, and somehow managed to FIND this place." he said further.

"...well then, all right." he shrugged.

"Let's go see Dani." he told her.

"She'll decide whether or not you're a fit for this place."

"Yeah, hey." Ash greeted her when she stepped inside.

"And... this place is... generally not a place you can get to unless... at the very minimum, you have coordinates." he told her.

"Yet.... here you are." he said.

"So she's actually your sister?" the door sentry asked.

"Yeah, it's her. No mistake." Ash responded.

"But let's ask ANOTHER question." he then said to Alice. "WHY are you here?"

"Ah, I-" the one on the other end stammered for a moment.

"One moment." they said.

She then heard some muttering and mumbling, before hearing Ash's voice.

"Alice!?" he exclaimed.

"Holy crap, come in!" he said, as the doors in front of her started to open slowly.

"You've got some explaining to do."

The one on the other end was silent as they heard that.

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

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"How did you...? You just found your way here, yeah?" he asked her.

"I did." Alice confirmed.

"...how!?" was the exclamation she received.

"Makes sense." Ash responded.

"At least there's that." he said further.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Been a few days since we talked or anything."

"Sure." Ash said in response.

"And yeah, good chance she'll be sleeping on the roof." he agreed.

"I heard the thunder, and the rain and wind are picking up a little more." he said further.

"Hope she'll be okay."

"Uh-huh." Ash said.

"And right, forgot you have electric. Never mind." he then said.

He then descended back down and closed the hatch, making his way back downstairs again.

"Storm on the way." he told Rowena.

Before Ash could say anything, they heard thunder in the far distance.

"...yeah, storm." he said.

"Anyway, good luck with dealing with all the knowledge you'll be gaining." he told her.

"You'll probably need it..." he sighed.

"Just don't get hit by lightning or something."

"...and I'm sorry that I've caused you to take this road of intenalisation." Ash responded.

"I'll just go." he told her.

"Enjoy the rain, or... well. whatever it is you enjoy about it." he said.

"Looks like it'll storm soon." he finished, before starting to go down the hatch again.

Ash gritted his teeth slightly, and turned around.

"...so you'll bottle up this knowledge and keep it to yourself until something goes wrong." he said.

"All because I was the final straw." he added.

Vicki had expected Ash to react better than he did. He hadn't. And that had done it.

There was no telling how the future would have been had he reacted properly... and now there was no way TO know. He'd reacted with ire, and that had caused her to make the decision to internalise all this.

And for that, he felt like garbage.

"Sorry I brought this up again."

"DAMN IT ALL, that's what I'm saying to AVOID!" Ash half-screamed, slamming his fist down onto the roof, sounding near-ready to just cry.

"...but I can't stop you from keeping to this decision." he then said.

"I'm sorry my reaction has caused you to decide to bottle up the information you receive." he told her.

His tone was now defeated.

He felt like shit.

He'd reacted in haste and irritation, and now Vicki was going to keep this to herself.

For all he knew, this would drive her to be a shut-in, slowly going insane.

And it would all be his fault. He'd tried to apologise, he'd tried to right this, but there was no changing this, it seemed.

"How about you DON'T do that!?" Ash almost snapped.

"How about you don't deny whatever special ability you've been given?" he asked her.

"How about you don't put any stock into what your stupid brother reacted like?" he asked further.

"Look, I'm sorry I acted the way I did, ok?" he asked.

"But whatever power you have, it apparently supersedes a celestial promise." he told her.

"So that's something, at least."

"Forget last night." Ash said.

"I was stupid." he told her.

"You did nothing wrong." he continued.

"I'm sorry." he apologised.

"If you don't want to tell me how you know these things, don't." he finished.