Colin's posts

Ash just narrowed his eyes.

"Excuse my lack of knowledge on things I wasn't supposed to know about." he said.

"I'm going to get some supplies." he told her.

"Food and such." he went on.

"I won't be gone long. 20 minutes or so." he continued.

"...don't listen to anyone saying anything venom-laced through the door." he then sighed.

"From what I could gather, and not from just the people ranting about it or blaming them about it, it stems from something Kiah and Alice were doing. Whether that was together, or if two things converged into one, I don't know." Ash lamented.

"A lot of info got lost and confused because this happened so alarmingly quickly." he told her.

"As I said... 250 years." he muttered.

"Pretty short amount of time for the world to go to shit." he continued.

"I suspect... I don't know, maybe a virus or something?" he suggested with a shrug, minor frustration in his tone.

"..." Ash paused when she asked her question.

"I..." he stammered.

"I don't know of Kiah or Alice's statuses." he admitted. "For all I know, they're deep in hiding, for fear of what people would do if they saw them." he told her, shaking his head.

"As for anyone else... aside from me..." he continued, thinking about it.

"Well... Vito's still alive." he said.

"Leo's still around." he continued. "...not alive, but you know what I mean..." he mumbled further.

"...and last I heard, Darrel and Sammy are still alive, though I haven't heard anything from them in months." he added.

"...ah." Ash muttered.

"Well, admittedly, this was done last-minute, to prevent the erosion and corruption from finally taking full hold of Vic." he admitted to her. "It... was what we did to save her soul." he sighed.

"However, she DID leave some notes for you." he then said, making his way to a small banged-up filing cabinet and opening it.

"She had some things written down for you, as well as some things that Alice had written down." he continued.

"They're encoded, and only she was able to start to decipher them. Perhaps YOU can help as well."

"...it will." Ash confirmed.

"But at a much slower rate than Vic." he then stressed. "Because, well... technically speaking, that soul doesn't belong in that body? And that disconnect slows it down." he said.

"In addition, if we manage to get you back to your time, the process will reverse. Or, it should, anyway." he continued.

"At least, that's what Vic theorised, and the research she did seems to back it up." he then said.

"Regardless, we need to act like you're on a timer. And we need to work pretty fast." he confirmed.

"To try and save the future."

Ash raised an eyebrow.

"Locked up in here...?" he asked, before pausing.

"O-oh..." he stammered.

"I'M not locked up in here." he told her.

"...YOU are. Or... were. Or... rather, Vic was. Is." he verbally stumbled further, before shaking his head and growling.

"I hate not being able to word things right." he cursed.

"Vic... the you from THIS time... was infected. Her soul was eroding away at an alarming place. So, in a last ditch attempt, we... orchestrated a swap. Between you and... her." he explained.

"...even though it... wasn't a 'swap'... per se..." he then admitted, looking away.

"More like... she sacrificed herself so you could be brought here. To maybe find a way to stop this from happening."

Ash just shook his head.

"I don't know." he said.

"All those that blame either only do so based on what they've heard, and even then... it seems like it's more about just blaming someone now." he sighed.

"However, that is a minority. Those that harbour ill will, anyway." he added.

"Many people blame them, but will not do anything rash." he assured her.

"But I do not know what either could have done to start this... this... whatever-this-is."

"Mouth." Ash responded.

"Well... mostly." he said.

"There are... sparse... records, but they mostly are accounts of after this went viral. If you'll pardon the expression." he told her.

"But for the most part, the origin of this is verbal." he sighed.

"And many people blame Kiah." he then said.

"Or Alice." he added.

"You don't realise it, but your question is very accurate." he responded.

"What happened to the world? It went to shit." he told her.

"The masses are grotesque abominations, sapping mana from living beings and spreading sickness and disease." he continued.

"Very few places are safe. This building is one of them." he went on.

"...one of the last bastions for humanity. For... normality. For... anyone that's surviving."

Ash smirked.

"Time." he said.

"You're in the future." he told her. "By a decent margin, mind, I would say." he continued, thinking about it.

"What were you doing before this happened?" he asked.

"I was finishing up an exam, and then headed home." Vicki responded.

Ash paused when she said that, his eyes widening a bit.

"...never mind that statement." he said.

"You jumped ahead about 250 years or so."

Ash paused for a moment.

"Why does your head feel like it's been in a vice?" he asked.

"Probably a side-effect of the rather drastic event that just happened." he told her, answering her question, but not answering it. Before she could respond, though, he went on.

"And where are you?" he asked further.

"The Council HQ." he answered her.

That's when she looked around and took in her surroundings more fully. And saw that the place looked to be... ramshackle, to put it lightly. Furniture was broken, debris was everywhere, books were piled haphasardly, papers were strewn about... it did NOT look like the Council she knew.

Rather, it looked like the ruins of the Council.

The man just sighed heavily.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"Something only YOU would know..." he went on.

He then thought for a moment, and nodded.

"I killed a person that was considered a child. For the good for the future." he told her. "And the only reason you know that it because of your premonitions of times past." he said further.

"I distinctly remember that you wanted to speak with me alone, and were even wary of Kitt being in the vicinity when we spoke of it."

He merely chuckled when she addressed him as such, after a moment of surprise.

"Heh. Haven't been called THAT in a while." he admitted.

"Means it really DID work." he said further, wiping his eyes with his arm.

"How about that." he commented, seemingly looking into the void, before turning his attention back to Vicki.

"Yeah." he said. "It's me. Ash." he confirmed.

"Feeling a little disoriented, I assume?" he asked her.

"Vicki!?" Ash asked, trying to see if she was responsive.

"Shit! VICKI!" he shouted.

He was thankful she was breathing, but... she needed help. Now.

---

The next thing she heard was a voice.

"Welcome." the male said.

She knew that voice. She'd just heard it. But it sounded... different. It was him, but... at the same time, it sounded like a man that wasn't the one she assumed it was.

"Odds are you're very confused." he commented.