Colin's posts

"..." Azazel was silent as he heard the interaction between Callie and Vanessa, before sighing and shaking his head.

'...I'll give her credit. She's good.' he thought. 'Without using her mana, she can get by on her own charms and... natural gifts...' he went on, looking at Vanessa's curvaceous and voluptuous figure.

He had to admit, if Vanessa were anyone other than Vanessa... he'd have no hesitation to make moves on her.

Adym then paused, and winced a little.

"Right." he said.

"This way." he told them, turning right as they reached another fork.

"Yeah, we're close. SUPER close." he confirmed, telling Vanessa that Vyran was, indeed, in her quarters, as that was where they were headed.

Azazel snorted a bit when she said that.

"Sure." he said.

"That you're coercing him into." he told her.

"I... I... ah..." Adym stammered, clearly flustered, before Azazel smacked him upside the head.

"Focus!" he snapped.

Adym then shook his head and nodded.

"Right!" he said. "This way." he told them, stepping forward.

Azazel merely looked back towards Callie and gave her a quick wink.

Adym paused when she said that.

"I... I see." he said.

"That's... that's, ah..." he continued to say further, but Azazel interrupted again.

"That's the way she is." he finished. "No need to say anything more on it." he told him.

"Right..." Adym sighed.

Azazel paused when he heard that, but smirked to himself. He had a comment to make, but... he would wait for it. This wasn't the time for such a thing, even if he WAS chomping at the bit to get under her skin.

Instead, he focused on the second part of her explanation, and sighed.

"I see." he said.

"A shame she had to die in this place like she did." he lamented.

Adym, however, seemed to be horrified to hear that.

"You'd kill other elves so readily?" he asked Vanessa.

"Not a dark elf? You're inferior, and will be used until your are no longer useful, and disposed of." Azazel answered for her.

"...hm." Azazel muttered.

"Maybe." he said.

"if I recall, though, wasn't he the biggest simp you ever had around?" he asked her, before pausing.

"No, wait..." he then mumbled.

"For you to not trust him like that, or be suspicious of him like that, his blind devotion to you must have been starting to wane." he reasoned.

Azazel raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"...so you slept on a nexus." he said.

"Essentially." he clarified.

"Admittedly, I didn't expect to hear THAT, though thinking about it, I guess that makes sense." he then admitted.

"If anything, it would keep your passive control over those outside the complex strong, and make it so you wouldn't need to focus so intently on it." he then reasoned with a small shrug.

Adym was silent again for a moment, before nodding.

"R-right." he said, as he continued to walk. As he did, they could see he kept a hand to his head... probably out of reflex, but perhaps it was to help tell when there were subtle changes in his headache.

"You'll be FINE." Azazel insisted.

"Sure..." Adym responded, still a bit scared.

"...left." he told them.

"We need to be headed in the general left direction." he said, turning a corner to head in that same direction.

"...." Adym was silent as Vanessa said what she did, in the tone that she did.

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

"Oh, don't worry about it." Azazel interjected. "If she allows you to be seriously hurt, she jeopardises the success of this. If she tries to control you, the same thing happens." he went on.

"And she's made it abundantly clear she wants Vyran gone as much as the rest of us." he continued.

"So... I'll be safe?" Adym asked, stepping forward, and starting to slowly move past Vanessa and Azazel.

"Mostly." Azazel responded, causing Adym to flinch and freeze in place.

"She hates everyone that isn't a dark elf. Or her own wood elf soy-boy. I suspect she's going to take some pleasure in you getting hurt a little." the demon then shrugged.

"Unless she dares to state otherwise." he added.

The woman was silent as she watched Eke do this. She didn't seem to react at first, but Eke could tell. It was working.

"W-well..." she stammered.

"It technically ended yesterday, but since you're buying so much, I CAN apply the special customer appreciation discount we had going. It takes off as much as 75% of the cost." she told him.

"..." she was then silent as Eke put a little more into it.

"...which is to say, it will take off a solid 80% of the cost." she corrected herself.

Azazel had overheard the conversation, and rolled his eyes.

"I'm still on your side." he told her.

"I'm just indulging in my demon-side." he said further. "Because, yes, Demon IS equivalent to Void-Dweller." he confirmed.

"I'm a good guy. I'm a bad demon. But I'm still a demon." he reasoned with a laugh.

It was at that point, Adym stopped briefly, and put a hand to his head.

"...ouch." he growled.

"Ok, we're DEFINITELY headed in the right direction of... well, of Callie's father, anyway." he told the group.

"Fair." Azazel shrugged.

Adym gripped Callie's hand, and walked with her, biting his bottom lip slightly.

"...I think so." he whispered back.

"...the one that's supposed to be on OUR side is scaring me, though." he admitted.

"The fact that he's agreeing with this... woman, is... it's frightening." he went on.

Az looked at her, a bit of surprise in his expression... but he then smirked.

"Pitiful creature." he said, lightly nudging the body with his foot.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." he snarled.

"..." Adym was silent, and looked concerned, seeing this supposed new side of Azazel.

"Heh." Azazel then chuckled.

"Too bad you didn't get to watch him suffer."

The group followed her, with Adym looking at the dead bodies that were strewn about... the sheer amount was terrifying. Or it would be, had he not already seen enough death in his life, much like any and all of the cruxes.

However, he noticed they had stopped, and saw Vanessa and Azazel looking at something. The smoke was starting to clear JUST enough that bodies were starting to be vaguely recognisable in the distance, but the two of them were staring at one in specific.

"...huh." Azazel mumbled.

"Is it just me, or does he look like he dragged himself to that point, given the position he's in?" he asked Vanessa.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't feel his soul is there, he's definitely gone, but... seems he had some more agony than the rest here."

Adym merely nodded and stood up, albeit shakily.

"I'm okay." he said.

"...you sure?" Azazel asked.

"That transport was just jarring and... weird." Adym replied.

"...oh. Right. Wood elf." Azazel remembered.

"Well, seeing as I'm pretty sure Vanessa wasn't actively trying to make you a braindead puppet, you'll be able to shake it off shortly, I'm sure." he then reasoned, looking at Vanessa once more.

"Let's move." he told her.