Colin's posts

"...." the man behind the newspaper was silent for a moment. He almost seemed TOO quiet and still... before he slowly lowered the paper, sheer awe, fear, and anxiety in his eyes.

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

"Name... please." he told her.

"And... and reason for needing to speak with the one in charge." he added.

'She... she looks like a dryad.' he then thought. 'But... I've never felt such pressure while in the presence of a dryad before...'

"...I see." Zeke muttered.

He then placed his hands on the crystal when she brought it close enough, and she felt him supercharge it with his mana. The crystal now seemed like it was from the celestial realm, itself.

Maybe it was. There was no telling WHERE Hal had pulled it from, so to speak.

"Now it just need to be placed in the house." Zeke said.

"Anywhere... centre-ish, would suffice."

Hal watched her leave, and sighed.

"...I really hope we can stop this before the unthinkable happens." he mumbled.

Rose made her way back down to the medwing, and found Zeke in the room that Olivia and Angela had been given. Zeke was sitting in between them and looked to be getting ready for something, when he noticed she returned.

"Hi-" he started to say, before stopping.

"Woah, hello... not-Alicja." he finished, sensing it was another soul, and then seeing the crystal.

"...and that is one heavy-duty chunk of crystal." he commented.

"Very good." Hal responded.

"Then go. Get that done ASAP." he told her.

"...and when Alicja and... whomever else is asleep in there... wake up... tell her/them that I'm sorry." he then said.

"That rock was kept up high specifically to stop people from touching it, but I should have had the foresight to have moved it with these quakes happening." he reasoned. "So that is fully MY responsibility." he accepted.

"So tell them my sincerest apologies." he finished.

"For now, get this crystal plan into action, poste-haste."

Hal took it all in, and nodded.

"I see." he said.

"Well, glad I could help facilitate the preservation of those fae." he told her. "Angela would never forgive me if I had done nothing." he then reasoned with a small sigh.

"...hold on." he then mumbled.

"So what's happening to Angela, and Olivia..." he continued. "It must be the same thing." he continued.

"If Ezekiel appears to be fine, it would be the sensible explanation."

Hal snapped his fingers, and the next thing Rose knew, she was holding a... sizeable... crystal in her hands. And she could almost FEEL how durable it was, and how it could contain celestial mana.

"All right." Hal said.

"Now." he muttered.

"Share with me." he went on, leaning back in his chair.

"What do you need that for?" he asked.

"What has Zeke discovered?"

Hal paused for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Right, I forgot your mana's strong enough to grant you the ability to be sensitive to what I am." he muttered.

"I have none." he told her.

"So wish." he said.

"I'll answer your question afterwards, and then YOU'LL answer why you need this." he added, bringing his fingers together.

Hal just sighed.

"Very specific imagery there, Rose." he commented.

"And she was hit with a chunk of SombraStone." he told her.

"And yes, I realise it may have been foolish for it to be in such a place when quakes are more common." he said further.

"But she's asleep, and will be for a few hours." he continued.

"Worst that'll happen is a bruise on her shoulder."

Hal was quick. He caught her before she collapsed to the floor. He set her down in one the chairs, before using his mana to move the rock somewhere else, cursing as he did so.

"Damn it." he said.

"I didn't think of THAT happening." he growled.

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

"What did she want to say...?" he wondered.

"What has Ezekiel found out?"

"See ya." Ilias responded as she left.

Alicja then made her way to the receptionist's office, and then knocked on Hal's door again.

"Come in!" he called to her.

She stepped into the office, and Hal sighed when he saw her.

"...good news or bad news?" he asked.

"As I'm assuming this has to do with Angela and Zeke and such?" he asked further.

"Or is it something else?"

As soon as she did, she heard him sigh.

"Maybe try the boss." he said.

"He can generally perform miracles." he told her with a light chuckle.

"If anyone can get you such a crystal, HE can." he reasoned.

The real reason he was suggesting it was because, due to being involved with Kiah, he knew what Sharp was. However, he didn't know if Alicja knew. Or anyone else in there. So he decided to make it as ambiguous as possible.

"Weather, most likely." Ilias responded.

"It's been unpredictable as hell." he said.

"Torrential rain, borderline hurricane winds, mini-quakes..." he listed off.

"And we have a smooth generator to main power switch." he went on.

"Quite a few places in the Unit have been affected, but the switch-over was smooth." he explained.

"It's just a matter of time before the entire building is on generator power, and then electric crystal power."

"Oh." Ilias muttered.

"No. No, we NEED all the crystals we have for the electric mana." he told her. "And even then, they wouldn't be good for holding celestial mana. They're not strong enough for it, plus they are tuned to specifically hold electric mana." he continued.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"And I'm pretty sure we don't have anything close to that here in the lab, at all." he added.

"If I could help, I would. But... sadly, I can't." he lamented.

Ilias just sighed.

"Well, the main power's out." he told her.

"And our backup generators can only last so long." he went on.

"So we're planning on using some high-capacity crystals to store electric mana, and use THAT to power the building when the initial generators go down." he explained to her.

"I'm just keeping notes on when the power starts to go out, so we can prepare to use the crystals as soon as we need to."