Colin's posts

Lindsay looked around at the glass that was coming up around him, and started to laugh... maniacally.

"HOW CUTE!" he yelled.

"You think THIS will protect them!?" he exclaimed.

He then yanked all of the vials off of his body, and threw them all down onto the floor below him. As soon as it did, they started to bubble and froth, steam rising up from it. Lindsay then looked at Hazel, as the glass actually surrounded him.

And his expression turned serious for once.

"...it's never the end." he said. "I will always come back. And even if I don't... Kiah is still out there." he reminded them.

He then looked down slightly, before he started to laugh... low at first, deep as well... until it grew into full-blow crazy laughter that echoed through the room... before it was cut short by what looked to be a massively volatile explosion inside, everyone seeing that Lindsay wasn't lying when he said it could level the building.

Hal and Lucius were silent for a moment, before she heard a snap and a clap... and she felt it. The sensation of control. She had the reins of a wild unpredictable horse, and for now, it would listen to her.

Lindsay raised an eyebrow when this happened.

"Hm?" he mumbled.

"You honestly think you can take ME down?" he laughed.

"Hazel...?" Ty addressed her quietly.

"Hazel, what are you...?" he started to ask, but found himself unable to finish the question.

Lucius was the one to grant THAT wish. He clapped his hands, and Nixie disappeared from where she'd been appearing in the half-djinn's arms... which he wrapped around her securely.

Lindsay just laughed again when that happened.

"How quaint." he said.

"Dear..." he then addressed Nixie. "Do everything you can to break free from his grasp." he ordered her.

"Even if it means seriously injuring yourself, or him." he went on.

"Do not stop until you are free, or one of you goes down." he chuckled.

Hal and his son looked at each other, before Hal snapped his fingers, and everyone knew how to counter what had been done to Nixie. They learned that it was extremely nasty, but deceptively simple to cure her.

However, they ALSO learned that she had very little time left. An hour, at the very most.

Lindsay just chuckled when he saw the expressions.

"Yes, yes, a shame..." he said.

"And she's fighting it, too. Or trying to, anyway." he told them.

"She's a fighter... fighting a losing battle."

Hal was silent for a moment, before snapping his fingers. As he did so, Lucius appeared beside him, clearly confused.

"Wha...? What's going-?" he started to ask, before he noticed Nixie and Lindsay.

"NIXIE!" he exclaimed, but Hal put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing anything rash.

"...seems Hazel has an idea." he told him.

"Looks like it." Lindsay agreed with a chuckle.

"Know what? I'm intrigued." he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever it is you have in that head of yours, let's see it." he told her.

"All is futile when compared to the advancement of knowledge, so let's turn this INTO some knowledge." he declared with a louder laugh.

"Huh?" Hal mumbled.

"He's-" he started to say, before thinking about it.

"He should be closeby, actually." he told her. "The cafeteria is close to... well, it's near a place where he goes a lot." he said further, glaring at Lindsay and not wanting to give more information.

"...why?" he then asked.

Lindsay meanwhile, seemed gleeful that Hazel was cooperating, but he had a quizzical expression to him as well.

"What are you planning, my dear?" he asked her almost tauntingly.

"I made her a good little girl." Lindsay replied.

"She put up a little bit of a fight, but all I took was some Doll Daisy extract, combined with some simple Zombidill, and she does whatever she's told." he went on, gently pinching Nixie's cheek.

"Why you..." Drake growled, before Lindsay put a finger up.

"Now, now, now..." he said.

"Patience. The adults are talking." he told him, before laughing at his own joke. The type of unhinged laugh that still managed to send a chill down Hazel's spine, despite it's newfound regidity.

"But there's not much time until it's permanent." he warned. "Decisions need to be made, my darling perpetual test-subject." he told Hazel.

Lindsay just laughed out loud, as everyone else (except Nixie) took an unconscious step back.

"Lots of things!" the Fyrane replied.

"However, YOU may very well wish to calm yourself down, my dear." he then told her. "I can tell that your mana is offering protection to everyone around here, but it's doing nothing for everyone else in the building." he warned her further.

"As for why I'm here... I'm here for YOU." he then told her.

"Come back with me, and not only will this building and all in it be spared, I'll even give the antidote to this one here." he offered, patting Nixie on the top of her head.

"Ah-ah-ah." Lindsay said, waggling a finger at her.

"Close, but no cigar." he told her. "LindsAY." he corrected her.

"I am NOT that little coward from that ripple dimension." he said further. "...though... I wonder if...?" he started to muse, before shaking his head slightly. "Oh, I digress!" he declared.

"You have a lot of gall to come here!" Hal growled, looking ready to attack... but before he could, Lindsay opened the jacket he had on, revealing dozens of vials of... something.

"One move on me, and all these explode... with the force and power to level this entire building." he warned.

This caused Hal to stop completely, as well as Ty and Drake, who had been approaching as well.

The stranger just smirked.

"Well, maybe that's because-" he started to say, before Drake burst into the room.

"FYRANE!" he yelled.

"THAT'S A FYRANE! No WONDER I could sense it, and it seemed familiar!" he shouted further.

Then, before any of them could react properly, the stranger overturned the table, causing the three of them to take a few frantic steps back, and he then stood up quickly, taking Nixie with him, and removing his cloak... revealing himself to be Lindsay Fyrane.

And he looked... frightening, in Hazel's eyes.

The hair, the muscles, the overall face... it was Lindsay. No denying it. But his hair was far more disheveled than she was used to, his seemed a little more twitchy, but his expression was something that was chilling. His eyes were hyper, his pupils shrunken slightly, like he was overexcited about something, and his mouth... his mouth seemed to be in a permanent state of a twisted grin, the likes of which she'd only seen Vanessa on the worst of the worst days for the dark elf.

"In the fle-e-e-e-sh!" the man declared in an overdramatic and hammy tone, and Hazel chillingly recognised it as the voice from when she had been held captive when she woke up.

When they walked in, Hal could immediately see that something was off with Nixie... but he decided to partially brush it off, and exercise caution.

"Welcome back, Nixie." he said as they approached.

"How was the gathering?" he asked her.

"And who's this?" Ty then asked.

"A nomadic survivor?" he asked further.

Hazel, meanwhile, had a strange and vague ominous feeling about the stranger... but she couldn't tell WHY...

"........" Drake was silent for an extended period of time, fixated on the stranger.

He then decided to slowly follow.

There was something about this stranger that didn't sit right with him... on more than one level.

As they walked, the stranger whispered to Nixie.

"Check to see if we're being followed." they said.

"I feel like we are."

Drake's jaw dropped slightly when he saw her and heard her. She seemed... completely different from when he saw her last.

"Ah..." he stammered.

"N-Nixie?" he asked.

"Are... are you all right?" he asked her, before the stranger placed a hand on her shoulder.

"...she had a run-in with a weird plant." they said meekly.

"She'll be fine in a few hours."

Drake paused for a moment as they passed her... and Nixie said nothing to him.

At all.

Didn't even acknowledge his existence, it seemed.

"...eh?" he muttered.

"Hey, Nixie!" he called to her. "What's up?" he asked, catching up to them.

"You all right?" he asked.

"...and who's the new person?" he asked further.