Colin's posts

After she'd left, Nate regained himself a little, and shook his head.

"Wh-what...?" he started to ask, before looking in the direction of Terra's voice.

"It's okay!" he called back. "I think this was just an unfortunate accident!" he reasoned.

"It was." Hal confirmed.

"I know you have lots of questions, but she's here to help Angela and Olivia." he told him. This seemed to tell Nate all he needed to know... or, really, all he cared about at the moment, and the medic dipped behind the counter, hiding away.

"I can't see you now!" he called to Terra.

Hal stood up, and nodded as well.

"This way then, please." he told her.

With that, the two of them left the office and made their way through the corridors, with people poking their heads out to investigate what the hell that presence was every so often. Nobody interrupted them, though, and they made their way there in good time.

"All right..." Hal mumbled, looking around.

"Now where's-" he started to say, before something dawned on him.

"Wait... oh, no..." he said quietly, as Nate suddenly approached.

"Agent Sharp, what's-" the medic started to ask, before he witnessed Terra... and seemed to just stop in his tracks, seising up entirely.

"Well, they're all in the medwing right now." Hal responded.

"My receptionist is just screening calls for me, and appointments are on a 'first-come-first-serve-assuming-I'm-in-the-office-at-the-time' basis." he mumbled, shaking his head a little.

"Yes, it's a little hectic here, to massively understate it." he muttered further.

"Anyway, what I'm saying, is that I would be more than happy to escort you to the medwing, myself." he told her, grabbing a key from one of the filing cabinets.

"And let you know where you'll be staying, of course." he added.

"...ah! Right." Hal said.

"Well, firstly, the 'LeBlanc' I am referring to is Ezekiel LeBlanc, the son of Uriel, the Archangel, and Aimee LeBlanc, the necromancer." he told her. "Though I'm sure you already know who he is, thinking about it..." he then muttered.

"Anyway, the 'two' I was talking about are Dr. Angela Edwards, and her daughter, Olivia Edwards." he continued.

"Neither are technically fae, but they DO have fae mana and DNA in their bodies." he said. "...and this has been wreaking havoc on their bodies, as well as the fae back at their home." he went on.

"Ezekiel found that he can use his celestial mana to create a 'sanctuary area' of sorts, and massively slow down the withering/rotting effects on fae." he explained. "He currently has the crystal at their home keeping the fae safe, while he, himself, is doing so for Angela and Olivia." he finished.

"Hm." Hal mumbled.

"Well, whatever's happening in the Antarctic must be big." he said. "And volatile, to understate it." he went on. "I'll need to send agents that can deal with anything." he continued.

"...King and Callamachi, probably." he continued.

"LeBlanc is too busy with keeping those two alive..." he went on, before shaking his head a bit.

"Sorry, distracted with thoughts." he apologised to her.

"Regardless, if you'd like, we can offer you a dorm here." he said.

Hal nodded in response.

"Antarctic. Got it." he said.

"I'll see if I can't send some agents out there to investigate." he told her.

"...and don't hesitate to use my power if you think it'll help, or get desperate enough." he then said further.

"I want to do all I can to try and help you... the planet..." he continued.

"This... this is something we've never experienced before." he mumbled.

"Who the hell has the power to DO this...?"

It seemed she really did know how Hal was. Or had an idea. Or was just being cautious.

Literally, he had been a split-second away from raising his hand to snap his fingers, before she looked to him and said what she did. Her tone and look put actual fear into him, and he just sat where he was.

"I see." he said.

"Well, that IS true." he admitted.

"If you're not willing to take that risk, then... there's not much I can do." he lamented.

"...you're welcome to stay here if you wish." he then offered, not sure if that was anything really special or helpful or not.

That last sentence hit him hard. Now they were on a hard timer, and it was a short one.

"...I see." he said, a heaviness to his tone.

"Well, it's time we ramped up the investigation of this, and try and find out who's doing this." he told her.

"...in the meantime, is there anything we can do for YOU? As in, your avatar." he then asked her.

"Even if it's just a very temporary Band-Aid solution to help you stay collected." he went on.

"Let me know if there is."

Hal was stunned, to understate it.

Before him stood an avatar of the very planet they lived on. Literal Mother Nature was sitting in front of him. However, he knew this was no time to be star-struck or dumbfounded with awe. She had just given him some vital information.

A lot of it wasn't good, too.

"Ohhhh dear." he said.

"This... this is even worse than I expected. This was deliberately orchestrated." he commented.

"I assume that's why you seem a little... er... chaotic or unhinged? At least, that form, anyway?" he asked.

"Because what I sense is NOT a dryad's mana." he told her.

"And it's not a changeling/shapeshifter's mana, either." he went on.

"Yours is a mana that I have never felt before. But at the same time, paradoxically, I feel like I've felt it my entire existence, ever since I was first brought into this world." he continued.

"...and Terra is the name that technically IS your name... among others..." he then mumbled.

As he spoke, Terra could see the gears in his head turning. And it seemed like they'd managed to connect a fair bit already.

"...if I didn't know any better..." he muttered. "Judging from the sheer power I feel emanating from you... this isn't your real form." he then said. "And I don't just mean in looks. I mean, in... every literal sense of 'you'." he added.

Hal paused when she said the last part.

"...it was not." he confirmed. "I intended to make a crystal that could hold celestial mana, yes, and I did. However, that was FAR stronger than I had intended. If someone were to get ahold of it, it could mean danger." he continued.

"But given the current use for it, that should not happen." he reasoned.

"I'd ask how you know... but given your... presence... this pressure... I get the feeling that's nothing for you." he went on.

"..." he was then silent, and looked right at her.

"...Terra isn't your real name, is it?" he asked.

Hal was silent for a moment as he beheld the woman.

"...hello." he greeted her.

"Have a seat." he offered.

"Now... let's get straight down the business, how can we help you?" he asked her.

"And I mean that literally. Because I can tell you are NOT doing the best." he commented bluntly.

"I don't mean to be so forward, but I sense that time's a factor here."

Jake was stunned to the point of being motionless when he heard that.

The first thing he realised/processed was that she had said that Anya was safe, and had told him her location.

"I..." he stammered, before it dawned on him. His subconscious had been worried SICK about that, he'd just been too stress and preoccupied with what was happening to give that worry proper attention. "Thank you." he said. "That... that lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders that... I just realised was there. Now that it's gone, I see it was there." he told her.

"Thank you." he repeated.

He then paused again, as something else hit him.

"Wait..." he said. "That's... that was my name. My real, actual name. And... and that rolled off the tongue like you were an actual Ramaarin." he commented.

"How...? When...? But..." he stuttered, SO many questions arising from that alone, before he just shook his head.

"Know what? That can wait." he said, figuring the severity of this situation could make his questions wait.

"Thank you again for telling me about Anya."

"......" the guard was silent again, before pressing the button on the comm to directly link him to Sharp.

"Boss...?" he said. "There's... there's someone here that... looks like a dryad, but... but they're NOT a dryad. They say their name is 'Terra'." he told him.

"Does this have anything to do with the tremendous presence I feel?" Sharp asked.

"...I believe it has EVERYTHING to do with that." Jake responded.

"Send them up." Sharp told him.

"Got it." Jake said, before releasing the button.

"...need... need someone to escort you?" he asked her.