Colin's posts

Chris accepted the paper, and started writing. He was only writing for about 10 seconds, before he handed them back to her. When she accepted them, she saw 7 names written down on the paper.

"Listen." he said. "Those names need to taken to Hal Sharp, and YOU need to deal with them." he told her.

"They're double-agents." he revealed. "But... not by choice." he said. "They have stealth mana in them from Vanessa to hide from sensors and such. It activates temporarily when she wants it to, they answer any and all questions and requests for information, and when it wears off, they feel like they collapsed from exhaustion or whatever she tells them." he explained.

"I was defaulting to going through what I've heard those plants say in the past, which made me realise that... well, that it wasn't good." he concluded.

"I'll... whatever, if I figure out who this mystery person that I'm no doubt going to feel haunted by is beforehand, I do. If not, I'll prepare myself for another violent attack of sudden conscience or whatever." he went on.

"For now, those agents need to be 'cleansed' or 'detoxed' or however you want to refer to it." he finished.

Chris just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, all right, I got that part." he said. "He's the one in charge here, what he says, goes, blah blah blah." he muttered.

"But... hmmm... you're doing nothing but giving me cryptic vague pseudo-hints about who this person I'm supposedly VERY familiar with is." he went on, seemingly thinking hard about it.

But he then paused for a moment, seemingly coming to a realisation.

"Right, the fact that I'm defaulting to my current problem-solving path for this is not good for this place." he told her.

"Is there a piece of paper around? I need to write down some names."

Chris was silent again, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Figures. Guess it's all I'm about good for these days." he lamented.

"...wait, hold on, what?" he then asked.

"Well acquainted?" he asked her. "Okay, than can mean several things, but... can I get some specifics?" he asked further.

"Like... I should know JUST how hostile they're going to be. HOW badly I messed them up in the past. Just how much of a bastard I was to them. Come on, throw me a bone here." he went on.

"How awkward and guilt-laden is this gonna be?"

Chris just sighed heavily.

"...sure." he said.

"Firstly, the stipulations on my health and well-being are VERY generous." he told her.

"Secondly, might as well do SOMETHING here so I'm not dead weight that just serves to remind certain people that had horrible pasts." he muttered.

"...but WHAT?" he asked her.

"Seriously, the hell can I do here, and what would they ALLOW me to do?"

Chris just sighed quietly and nodded.

"Okay. Do whatever I'm told, except kill myself." he truncated.

"Better than Vanessa." he sighed.

"...at this point, probably better than I deserve..."

"I know." Chris responded.

"Believe me, I know that. Now." he said further.

"I was stupid." he went on, seemingly growing angrier now. "I didn't listen to what people were telling me." he continued.

"I thought she cared because she kept me around." he growled.

"I thought she might have at least thought I was worth more than the others." he mumbled.

"But no! I had to see her and Azari together before I got the hint!" he then burst out, sounding ready to just cry in pure rage and sadness now.

He just shrugged.

"I'm at the mercy of everyone here. And yourself." he said.

"..." he was then silent, before looking around.

"...finally free." he mumbled.

"...she never loved me." he then muttered. "Never cared." he went on.

"Even changed my species for her..." he said quietly biting his lip.

"...damn it." he cursed quietly at the end.

He reacted immediately by grabbing the table and gripping onto it tightly, the mana invading his body and mind. He was surrounded by dark elf mana once more, his vision clouding up and becoming foggy, as he felt like he was falling into a bottomless well.

Didn't hurt as much as he was used to. That was something, anyway.

After she finished putting all the mana into him, he just laid there on the table, silent and still.

He looked over towards her, and sighed.

"Right." he said.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Willing to bet they're not going to want me taking up space here in the medical wing." he reasoned. "And odds are most people here will try to kill me on the spot if they see me." he continued.

"...can't blame them." he mumbled.

Chris just shrugged and laid back down.

"Whatever." he said.

"I've endured pain in the past. A lot." he told her.

"So just do it." he then muttered. "Do it and get it over with." he said further.

"There's not much I can do to stop you." he sighed, before pausing and thinking.

"Ah... or IS there?" he wondered. "Whatever, if there was, I don't care to think about it."

"..." Chris just looked at her in silence for another moment, before sighing again.

"I really want to say it doesn't matter." he said. "I just want to say that... it's just me. Who the hell cares." he went on.

"...but I don't want to be a puppet." he mumbled.

"I... I want to... actually interact with Ayla again." he admitted.

"But... well, do whatever you want with me." he then told her.

"Admittedly, whatever you can or would do to me would be justified." he lamented.

"But I don't want to go back to how I was with HER." he growled.

Chris just shook his head.

"I didn't." he said.

"I managed to get them out of the complex, but I could only get to the teleport pad on that island." he told her. "The one with the curse... Erica, I think?... is the one that got us HERE." he revealed.

"But still. All that matters is that they're all right." he went on. "Well... for the most part, in Ayla's case." he then added.

"...anyway, back to the 'up to me' thing." he sighed.

"Might as well tell me what you're talking about."

Chris was silent, before looking away.

"Damn her." he cursed quietly. "Damn her to hell." he said, venom in his tone.

"...wait, what about... uh... the little girl? The teen?" he then asked. "Is SHE okay?' he asked her.

"And what about the one with the cursed arm?" he asked further.

"Are they both okay?' he inquired.

"Did I get them out in time?"

"...." he was silent for a moment, before seeing that he wasn't physically restrained. He guessed it was because the woman was there, and odds are she promised to deal with him if he got out of hand.

He then sighed, and slowly rose to a sitting position.

"Right." he said.

"Before anything else. Before you say anything more, I have a question. Well, several, but I'll ask the big one first." he told her.

"Sure." the woman responded.

"...is Ayla okay?" he asked her.

Nate nodded again, before pausing.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Ebony went off with your brother?" he then asked. "Why?" he asked her further.

Sariel didn't say anything, just smiled and at him, waved, and headed off, leaving Nate absolutely befuddled.

Ebony had mentioned that her past had come back recently... was that related? What was going on? This was confusing him, to massively understate it.

"...looks like I have questions for Ebony when I see her next." he muttered to himself.

--

His world of blackness was slowly filled with light, as his blurry vision suddenly cleared a little, and he was staring at a white ceiling.

"...ngh. Huh?" he mumbled.

"What...? Where...?" he muttered, trying to ignore the headache he had.