Colin's posts

"...oh dear." they mumbled.

They tended to her as best they could, before one of the medics arrived and looked her over some more.

"Come on. To the med bay." they told her.

With that, the two were off, and the question was posed to her about her being there, besides her arm. She answered again, talking about the power shift, but this time, the person she was talking to seemed to have some idea as to what she meant.

"Oh!" they exclaimed.

"I wonder if you mean Vicki coming here and taking Vic's place." they said.

"We'll have a medic take a look at you, stat." they told her, as they called for someone to escort her to the med bay.

"And... shift in power?" they asked.

"What do you mean by that?" they asked further as they sat her down and looked her over, giving her an initial once-over.

"Also, how bad is your shoulder and arm?" they then inquired.

"Broken? Bruised? Worse?"

Almost instantly after she knocked, it was answered by one of the guards.

And they looked horrified to see her. In a concerned sense.

"Good heavens!" they exclaimed.

"Come in, come in, quickly!" they told her as they ushered her in and shut the door behind her, barricading it again.

"Are you all right?" they asked, before pausing.

"...wait, of course not." they then said.

"Why else would you come HERE?" they asked rhetorically with a sigh.

When he put his hands on Ryker, the man jolted to awareness, and brought a hand to the side of his head.

"Huh!? Wha!?" he exclaimed.

It was at that point, the strange colouration on half of his body seemed to rescind itself, seeping into Ryker's left eye, causing it to turn pitch black for a moment, and then disappear entirely.

"...ow." he mumbled.

"That was a sharp pain." he said.

"Oh, hey you two." he then greeted Eke and Savra.

"Welcome back."

"...I see." Taylor responded after a pause.

"Well.. thank you for telling me that." he said.

"It's something, at least." he reasoned, before walking into the bathroom.

It might have looked like her info hadn't changed his attitude much, but she could tell it did something for him... especially when she heard light whistling as he worked on the bathroom.

It was slight, it was soft, but it was there.

And it was upbeat.

Taylor froze in place when he heard that.

"...wh... what...?" he asked, looking at her.

"How...? How do you know?" he asked her.

"Like... what makes you say that?" he clarified.

As he spoke, there was definite hope in his tone... but caution as well.

She could tell... he was scared to hope, but it wasn't gone. Not yet.

As soon as she finished recalling her mana stream back, and pondered the options the result could mean, Taylor came back with several supplies.

"Hey again." he greeted her.

"Anyway, I'm going to get to work." he told her. "Lemme know if I start becoming a bother." he said further.

"I'll start with the bathroom, though that should still be decently clean." he went on.

"But... start there, work out from there." he shrugged.

"...pretty desolate-looking out there, huh?" he then asked with a small sigh.

The stream of mana seemed to start to go out into the world... but then it stopped... and looked like it wanted to go back to her. But it didn't. It went off to the left, and continued on from what she could see.

She then noticed that same stream of mana come from the other side, off to the right, and continued on to the left.

And then it did it again.

Which meant that her mana stream was just... circling the building.

Constantly.

Taylor looked around, before nodding.

"Right." he said.

"Yeah, I think I can... definitely do some things here." he told her.

"Actually, on that note, I'll be right back." he then said.

"Getting a broom, a dustpan, and some cleaning supplies." he continued.

"Vic might not have been big on cleaning, but damn it, if you're going to be in here, it may as well at least be hygienic!"

"Well, that should end soon." Taylor told her.

"There anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"Even if it's cleaning or organising or anything?" he offered.

"I know you're devoting almost all your time to this, so... if anything, I can make things a little neater or more tolerable in here." he reasoned, as he looked around slightly.

"Yeah, just... lemme know if there's anything."

Taylor looked confused for a moment, before shrugging.

"I'll keep trying." he said.

"Can't hurt, anyway..." he mumbled.

"Sorry to bother you." he then apologised. "I'll get out of your hair." he told her.

"Oh, and there's a good chance you'll be able to mingle about by the start of next week." he then said. "People are starting to realise you're not Vic, or that you're not going to attack, at the very least."

Taylor looked out the window, to the sky, and just bit his lip.

"I hang in there." he said.

"Or try to, anyway." he said further.

"Every night I pray that we find salvation, but... I don't know, I wonder if it even works. If it's even worth doing." he then admitted.

"I keep hoping that heaven will help us. Save us." he continued.

"But each passing day, that hope wanes a little more."

Taylor then nodded and entered the room. He sat down at one of the small tables with a paper and pen, before writing down about 10 key people, 2 of which being himself and Ash.

"Here." he said, handing it to her.

"Vic never wrote them down as she had them memorised, but... well, you're not her." he reasoned.

"But there you go. 10 people to contact, and the inputs to reach them." he said.

"...you doing all right?" he then asked, concern in his tone.

"Only one way to find out." Ash responded.

"Anyway, see ya." he told her, before leaving.

About 30 seconds later, Taylor showed up.

"I heard the last bit of that." he told her.

"Because I'm willing to bet he didn't share how to contact what person, want me to write down some key people and numbers?" he offered.

"You don't need to be blindly pressing buttons to find a number, or speed-dialing the wrong person, seeing as that device doesn't have a proper contact's list." he then reasoned.