Colin's posts

It seemed that Emerald didn't even acknowledge his sister's presence until she actually touched him and helped him to his feet. Once she did, though, he seemed to snap to his senses, and looked at her. He was no longer a quivering ball of nerves, but she saw that he still looked QUITE unnerved and uneasy.

"Ah... I..." he stammered.

"A-Aedan..." he said further, before his mouth seemed to go dry, and he found himself unable to speak. However, before she could really comment on that, or formulate an initial opinion, he shook his head again to try and clear himself.

He then took a small breath, before telling her everything he could; what he and Aedan had been talking about, the interruption of the patient being rushed down the hallway, how Aedan had acted, what she looked like, what she had said, and when she left.

"...she... she looked like she was ready to... to..." he continued, before finding himself unable to speak further, and shaking slightly.

Emerald was almost petrified now, but he shakily did as she asked, removing his hand from her shoulder, and bringing it close to his chest, alongside his other hand. He looked at her with nervousness and fear in his expression, before taking another step back.

"O... O-k-kay." he stammered.

"Go and... and do w-whatever you need to do." he told her.

At that moment, he felt little more than prey to a predator. Less than that, even. That analogy gave some hint that he could possibly escape. He may as well have been dinner on a plate for her. A peanut that she merely needed to crack the shell of.

He put a little more distance between her, and pressed himself up against the wall again... MUCH flatter than before... so she could pass him if she so chose.

He just hoped she managed to leave before whatever was taking hold of her potentially got FULL control.

Emerald looked over towards Aedan, and what he saw nearly caused him to jump back, away from her. Thankfully, he managed to suppress his gut reaction enough that it merely manifested as an unconscious step back, but still.

He'd not seen her like this since... well... ever. The closest he'd seen her in such a state was the day before her monthly 'feeding requisition', but even then, her eyes were generally only pink, and she barely resembled something that was 'dead'.

But this? This was more than he'd ever seen before, and he couldn't deny it... it scared him.

"A-Aedan?" he stammered.

"I... uh... sure, yeah..." he then managed to get out.

"Are... are you all right?" he asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her, or bring her back to earth, or suppress whatever was causing this to happen to her.

Emerald seemed to be intrigued and enticed by this proposition.

"Really." he said. "I admit, I've been around a lot of placed with Rylie, but I've never actually eaten very many burgers, aside from the occasional fast food one." he told her.

"So I AM curious as to what that place is li-" he started to say, before they heard commotion before them, and Aedan could sense... something. Something that was... almost heavenly to her senses.

It was at that point, a team of medics were rushing someone on a stretcher down the hallway... and it had to have been bad, if they were resorting to this, and not a mana transport. The person on the stretcher had bandages all over their head, and they were soaked with blood. It was clear that they had received an extremely serious wound to the head, and time was a factor.

"MOVE!" one of them yelled.

Emerald reacted first and stepped back against the wall, using his other arm to lightly push Aedan out of the way as well, as the team rushed by.

"...yeesh." he mumbled, seeing the injured person up close and personal for a few seconds.

Her last comment seemed to bring Ilias fully back, as he face flushed for a moment, which led to him clearing his throat. Quite loudly.

"Ah! Well... ahem, yes, well, indeed, anyway!" he said, shifting the subject desperately.

"Come on." he told her, as the two of them started to walk deeper into the lab.

"Kiah's in lab room D. However, we need to knock before just entering." he warned. "She's working on some potentially volatile compounds, and knocking will prevent her from getting startled." he went on.

"...which, in turn, prevents something even MORE volatile from happening." he finished.

Ilias' reaction was... swift.

"NO!" he exclaimed, as he turned away from her, obscuring the burger from her vision. As he did so, ALL of his snakes were on high alert, hissing at her in a warning tone, telling her to back off.

As he looked back at her, she saw the reptile in his eyes for a brief moment, almost like he was a predator, ready to defend his catch from another carnivore.

However, that only lasted about a second, before he looked more normal, and cleared his throat.

"Er... ah, I mean, no, no! No, that's perfectly all right." he told her.

"I will happily and graciously accept this as repayment for helping you."

Ilias sniffed the aroma coming from the box, and his eyes widened a little.

"Woah... wait, what?" he stammered.

"Is... is this from... Burger Baron?" he asked her.

Aedan just chuckled and nodded in response.

"Holy cripes!" Ilias exclaimed. "Even their basic burgers are at least 20 bucks." he commented, before opening the box and looking inside, freezing again when he saw what was in there.

"...no way..." he muttered.

"I know you said it meant a lot when I helped you move stuff, but... THIS?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I will NOT refuse this for a microsecond, but... you sure?"

Ilias was silent for a moment, before shaking his head lightly.

"Uh... right then." he said. He was clearly still confused, but decided that it wasn't worth dwelling on. Perhaps she was just having an off day. For all he knew, he was imagining things... he HAD been working harder than usual all day.

"Anyway!" he continued.

"And extra stuff for future use?" he asked. "Awfully smart thing to do." he chuckled.

"Thanks a lot." he said further with a smile.

"Normally Kiah or I would do it, but we can't afford to be away from the lab for extended periods of time, let alone the Unit." he then sighed. "Frankly, I'll be glad when this testing is done so I can go out for something to eat."

After a bit of a pause, she saw the one she had called out to approach, his brown hair a little ruffled, and 3 of his green snakes poking out, looking around, before they seemed to fixate on her.

They moved about, twisting around each other and undulating about, but they were always keeping their eyes on her for... some reason.

"Hello, hello." Ilias responded with a smile and a wave.

"Managed to get everything?" he asked her, before pausing for a moment.

"Also... y'okay?" he then asked. "You sound a little... I dunno, like you're starting to get close to your... er... 'feeding date'." he commented.

"You can head to requisitions to get what you need before we proceed with this." he offered.

Hal was stunned for about 3 seconds, before he shook his head and reached forward, placing a hand on hers.

"Hollie..." he said.

"You're right." he told her.

"We need to discuss moving, or a live-in nanny." he agreed.

"If we're going to have a baby, we need to have this worked out." he said with a smile.

"This is our future, after all."

"Surprised me, too." he responded.

He then paused when she said what she did, and made her propositions.

"...ah..." he stammered.

"Wait... wait, wh-?" he started to ask, before it dawned on him.

"......are you saying....?" he then asked her, pure shock in his expression, but faint hope in his tone.

Lindsay just winced when she said that.

"I'll recoup the costs." he told her.

----

He sat down across from her, and sighed.

"She told me not to." he told her.

"And yes, I mean that." he said.

"Her soul is now... eternal." he finished, knowing she'd know what he was talking about.

She couldn't see it, but Lindsay looked immensely saddened and guilty.

"Well... there you go." he said.

"You just concern yourself with Ilias." he told her.

"We'll leave this as something that wasn't meant to be, and results unknown." he finished.

Again, a lie. He knew what the results would be. And he cursed himself for presuming he knew how to change the world.

Lindsay sighed as well.

"Well, maybe this is a sign." he said.

"Maybe we should treat this as a failure." he told her.

"I know you weren't 100% in it from the start." he went on.

"...as time went on, I wasn't, either." he then lied.