Colin's posts

"Right." Nate responded.

He noticed that her words and phrasing had been... shorter. More succinct. More to-the-point. She wasn't nearly as chatty or friendly as she had been in the past, but he understood it. What she had gone through was... traumatic, to say the least. Quite frankly, it was amazing that she was even talking THIS much. He was just grateful that she wasn't completely shutting herself in, mentally OR physically.

"All we can do is keep trying." he told her.

"...just keep moving forward. One step at a time." he sighed.

"Anyway, I WILL let you know when Virgil's here. PLEASE don't just wander off, okay?"

"...I see." Nate responded.

"That's... that's not good." he said.

"I mean, it's helpful that you can sense it, but... well, that can't FEEL good." he clarified.

"..." he was then silent for a moment, before sighing lightly.

"Thank you." he told her.

"For going out of your way and helping those afflicted... even though it's clear you're suffering from it."

"All right, thanks." Nate responded, before they ended the call and he hung up.

He was then silent, before making his way back to Erica's room, where she was having her injuries tended to.

"Virgil will be brought here in a little over an hour." he informed her.

"I'll let you know when he's here. Or, odds are YOU'LL know, really." he then sighed.

"Regardless, little over an hour."

"...I don't think clarity will be an issue, here." Nate admitted.

"Pretty sure all Erica needs to do is isolate what made Virgil act like this in the first place, and then do her thing." he said.

"That being said, if that IS an issue, then she'll just have to wait." he went on.

"Quite frankly, your powers and abilities are... frighteningly strong." he admitted.

"...nevermind scary..."

"Hm." Nate mumbled.

"At least you both seem to be fine." he said.

"As for when... well, knowing Erica, she's going to want to do this ASAP. However, she very recently helped Cameron, who gave her a broken nose and bruises around her neck in the process." he informed her.

He then paused for a moment, before letting out a sigh.

"But due to the advanced treatments and mana we have here, that can mostly be dealt with in an hour." he admitted.

"So if you can, bring him in in about an hour and a half, if possible."

"...right." Nate muttered.

"Well, Erica says she can reverse it." he told her. "Get Virgil back to normal. Before all this crap went down." he said further.

"But... well, her being at your place might not be the best thing for her right now." he then admitted.

"So I have 2 questions for you." he went on.

"Firstly, how are you and Jake doing?" he asked. "Secondly, think you can safely bring Virgil here?" he asked further.

"Indeed." Nate said, calling someone in to care for her, and then making his way to a phone. He picked it up and dialed the home phone number of Anya and Jake, as this was not a social call.

He waited for a few seconds, before it was answered.

"Yes?" Anya said into it.

"Anya, it's Nate." Nate responded.

"...how's Virgil doing?" he asked.

"Right." Nate replied.

"For now, YOU need that broken nose and those bruises tended to." he told her.

"I'll have someone tend to that, while I try and get in contact with Anya and Jake." he went on.

"..." he was then silent, as he turned around and started to leave.

"If those affected by your copy can spread it with the same amount of potency... then this is FAR from even CLOSE to being over..."

"Yeah, Ash touched Kiah." Nate responded.

"Pretty sure, anyway." he said.

"...and if the 'infected', as you call them, can spread it as well... then this is serious." he told her.

"We have no idea how many have been touched by those that..." he went on, before pausing.

"Jake was almost killed by Cameron." he muttered.

"And he's surely touched Anya by now..." he went on, his face growing more and more pale.

"For starters, you are NOT going to Anya and Jake's." Nate insisted. "He can be safely brought here, that I know for sure." he went on. "So... yeah, just so THAT'S known." he muttered.

"And, like I said, I'll try and find out WHERE Kiah IS, exactly." he then said.

"Apparently Ash has been acting weird since he took her away from here, so... I don't know." he sighed.

"I've heard he's quarantined himself away from others." he went on.

"Just hope HE hasn't fallen victim to this... but the imposter never touched him, so... I dunno."

Again, he sighed.

"I'll contact Jake and Anya, and have them bring Virgil here." he told her.

"As for Kiah... I'll try." he said further.

"She was acting weird, and her rune was acting up on its own, so Ash took her somewhere she couldn't hurt anyone." he informed her.

"I'll try and find out more info on that."

"Kiah? I don't know." he said.

"The only one that WOULD know is Ash, and nobody's been able to contact him for a bit. We'll keep trying, though." he told her.

"As for Virgil... I think Anya's been keeping him." he went on.

"...yeah. Yeah, pretty sure last I heard, Anya's been keeping him... subdued." he continued.

"No. I don't know any more than that. And no, I don't want to know any more than that." he stated further.

"... just thinking about it gives me the willies." he admitted with a shudder.

Nate narrowed his eyes when she asked who else. He knew that if he told her, she would go and find them, and then she'd probably come back hurt. Again. And he hated the thought of it.

Then again, the look in her eyes stated that she was NOT going to let up on this, and he knew that if he didn't say anything, there was a very good chance that she would just keep trying to find them on her own.

With less direction.

So he just sighed heavily, and in resignation.

"I'm powerless here." he lamented.

"Virgil." he told her. "Pretty sure Kiah as well." he stated.

Nate looked ready to continue to chastise her, before he visibly faltered... both verbally AND slightly physically.

"W-wait. What?" he asked.

"Alicja? She's... wait, return to work soon?" he asked her.

He then just let out a heavy breath and stepped forward, getting a closer look at her nose.

"You visited Cameron." he stated.

"And he tried to kill you."