Colin's posts

He accepted the doll and grimaced as he held it.

"Detestable thing." he growled.

He then closed his eyes, concentrating on it... and almost instantly, his eyes popped open.

This woman did not fear much. To say she feared nothing wouldn't be too far off, honestly. However, even SHE felt a little nervous when she saw the pure anger in Gabriel's eyes. He looked at her, and it almost seemed like he was about to pass judgement on her, himself, right there and then.

But he didn't. She saw the anger was still there, but she knew the new look in his eyes. He was now making quick plans, but he looked at her once more.

"...tell me something." he said.

"Did he mention anything about amassing an army or waging some crusade against someone?" he asked her.

"The answer will change my plans." he told her, setting the doll back down. He knew she would need it to undo what she did... and he was forbidden from taking artefacts from humans anyway, or interfering with them without clear consent.

Of those that it reached, one of them seemed to have recognised it first... and therefore, by their own rules, they were the one designated to answer the call. And they weren't happy about it.

Already they were in a bad mood, even more so than usual, but they'd dealt wit this woman before, and were NOT looking forward to doing it again. They were not eager to be in her presence.

However, they couldn't ignore it.

About 10 seconds after she finished her prayer, she looked and saw a pillar of light appear a few metres away from her, and when it died down, she saw the archangel Gabriel standing there.

"...yes?" he asked curtly.

"Must be bad if YOU'RE calling out to us." he commented.

He just grinned as he looked at her, contrasting her with the ruins of the building.

"Beauty." he said.

"It's never permanent." he lamented.

"So... let me appreciate YOUR beauty... before you are little more than a husk for that curse to command." he told her. "Or... rather... a husk for me to command the curse with." he chuckled.

Unbeknownst to him, however, there was a third party that was privy this encounter.

"...." Balphegor was silent as he looked her over, and saw her obedience.

"...excellent." he said.

"You will make a fine addition to my army against Lilith." he told her, as he started to lead her through the mall, casually knocking out and injuring any that got close to them.

"And... hmmm..." he mumbled, looking her over.

"Yes, I think it should be complete and full." he finished, pondering something.

Her tearing her arm away was so abrupt and violent, it surprised him.

And the spreading curse was alarming him.

"Erica!" he snapped.

"Erica, come ON!" he told her, before seeing JUST how bad she was.

"Oh... oh, no..." he mumbled.

"That's it, I need to suck some of that curse OUT of you!" he told her, grabbing her arm again. However, just as he started to drain her of her curse energy, a strange sinusoidal blade emerged from his chest, someone having stabbed him from behind.

He looked at the blade, before looking at the one who had done it, his eyes a mix of hatred and fear.

"Bal..phegor..." he stammered, as the demon withdrew the blade, causing Azazel to let go of Erica, and stumble into the water.

"Now that THAT pest has been taken care of..." Balphegor said, looking at Azazel, and then Erica.

"Shall we go?" he asked her mockingly.

The change was nigh-instant. Children started to either bawl loudly, throw tantrums, or started to run about with inexhaustible exuberance, people were crying intensely, laughing out of control, getting angry at each other... but it was a lot of the last one.

So much so, that, much like the incident in the café, fights started.

And one fight turned into a larger fight... which meshed with another fight. And soon enough, it was like a massive brawl, with security being called in, police on their way, or already there, and EVERYONE was out of their minds.

Except for a couple of people... arguably. Erica had remained sitting there, not even caring when she was shoved into the fountain. She merely stood up and walked out of it, sitting back down at it like it hadn't happened.

And Azazel had been there, grabbing something that Roxie had asked him to pick up while he was in the area. He'd been dodging and avoiding people, knowing this HAD to have been Erica's doing, and when he saw her at the fountain, he started to forcibly push past people.

"ERICA!" he called out to her.

"ERICA, HANG ON!" he said further.

Again, Gabe was silent.

He wasn't sure if this was supposed to be happening. Was it? Was THIS the fate of all those with the curse?

If so... he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Anyway..." he then said.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Feel like you need to rest or anything?" he asked further. "Because odds are you'll need to take it easy for the next little while." he reasoned, gesturing to her fresh stitches.

Gabe wasn't going to lie, this trend of her not remembering things and being a blur was concerning him.

This couldn't be the work of the curse... could it? She HAD lived longer than anyone else in the past with it... was this part of its progression? Was this something that would have happened to the others?

He didn't know. And he hated that.

"I see..." he said.

"That's unfortunate." he commented.

"At least you seem to be all right now." he told her, looking her over.

"...Miss Edwards is quite the doctor." he admitted at the end.

Zeke looked over towards Gabriel, and looked like he was about to say something... but didn't. Instead, he grabbed hold of Angela's hand, and they both disappeared from where they were.

Once they did that, Gabe dispelled the field.

"Ugh." he sighed.

"Well, at least that's done." he said.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"During the flare up, and such." he then clarified. "How were you injured?"

Gabe just crossed his arms over his chest, and waited for Angela to do what she needed to do.

She did, and it wasn't very long before Erica's wounds were tended to, dressed, cleaned, everything.

"And done." she said.

"Good, good." Gabe replied.

"Thank you." Zeke told her.

"Want me to take you back to the Unit now?" he asked.

Zeke looked shocked and worried about what had just transpired. He didn't even think of the effects of the curse on Angela. He was about to try and suggest something, before he noticed Gabriel looking... irritated.

Almost angry.

"...oh boy..." he mumbled.

"ENOUGH." Gabriel said in a booming voice, stamping his foot down and causing a visible golden translucent semi-circular bubble of mana to come out from him, spreading out and engulfing the kitchen.

"It's a neutralising field." he said.

"Now..." he said to Angela. "I believe you have a patient to tend to... yes?" he asked her, and Zeke could tell he was holding back the ire and impatience.

"...." Gabe was silent as she said that.

It was, quite frankly, the most roundabout response he could have been given. He really did not know how to properly take it, so he defaulted to aloof ambiguity. He figured that was safe right now.

"Fair." was all he replied with.

At that point, off to the side, Zeke and Angela returned, having used Zeke's mana, and Gabe sighed.

"Well, let the medic tend to your wounds." he told Erica.

"Don't need you developing complications."

Gabe removed his hands when she said all that.

"I see." he responded.

"Well, then." he sighed, before slowly rising to his feet.

"Would you like me to leave right now?" he asked her.

"I can do that right now, and if you so wish it, you will never see me again." he told her further.

And in the back of his mind, there was a slim, nagging doubt. Could she be right...?

Gabe paused when she said what she did... especially at the end.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"What... what do you mean by that?" he asked her.

To him, it almost sounded like she was correlating her sudden getting worse with... him. His presence.

But that couldn't be it, right?

"I assure you I am NOT even capable of causing your curse to flare up as it has been."