Colin's posts

She had a bit of a rough landing, but it was nothing too bad. The worst that happened was that she lost her balance and ended up stumbling back and falling into an old office chair that rolled back as she landed in it. But other than that, she was fine.

She was inside what looked to be an office. An OLD office. An office that looked to have been abandoned and out of use for decades upon decades, if the dust and debris were anything to go by.

She knew she was in the right place. This was a large factory. Or it used to be, before the company went belly-up and the place was left abandoned and condemned.

Cain had violent tendencies when he got stressed, so he ended up buying the place, as well as the little bit of property around it, so he could come to it and... let a little steam out.

Which was precisely what she was hearing.

Down below her, outside the office, she heard banging, crashing, smashing... and yelling. Yells of stress... frustration... anger. It was Cain, and from what she was hearing, this was the worst she'd heard it, as she'd been with him once or twice in the past when he went to do some de-stressing. And this was, by far, sounding more violent and physical that she'd ever heard before.

Hal just sighed heavily.

"...wait, a plane?" he then asked, before thinking about it.

"Does this have to do with Cain?" he asked her.

"Yes." she replied.

"Then speak." Hal told her.

"I wish I was where Cain is right now." Lunet spoke, clearly and concisely.

"Very well." Hal responded. "Concentrate on your destination for the next 5 seconds." he told her. "And the next thing you know, you'll find yourself where you ought to be." he informed her.

"Just tell me when you're ready."

"Uh..." Azazel muttered.

"Yeah, uh... one second." he said.

"Hear me out." he told her.

"Your father is... well, he's a djinn, right?" he asked.

"Can't you just... I dunno, wish yourself to where Cain is?" he asked further.

"If it's SO important that nobody knows, can't a wish get around that?" he then inquired.

"Regardless, you deal with it your way. Bye for now." he finished, before ending the call and allowing her to ponder what he'd said, while het got the books that he thought were needed for the unit...

...unaware they were now completely redundant.

"...." Azazel was silent for a moment, before she heard a muffled yell of a curse.

"Can't believe we forgot." he said.

"We need those ASAP. The alchemy knowledge within is crucial for stopping the crisis at the Unit." he told her.

"..." he was then silent, before blinking.

"A plane ticket?" he asked.

"You really have to resort to that, huh?"

"I don't know." Azazel responded.

"I highly doubt it, seeing as he probably doesn't want to be disturbed at all." he told her.

"So you're gonna need someone to mana you there, meaning someone else is going to need to know where this secret place is." he reasoned.

"Or you can find your own way." he shrugged.

"Regardless, I wish you the BEST of luck." he then told her, a hint of venom in his tone, before sighing.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"Cain and I have both been very stressed as of late, seeing as we were trying to help Aedan with the Unit crisis, and we're missing critical alchemy books."

"...you do." Azazel responded.

"You have explaining to do." he told her.

"And where is Cain? I don't know." he said. "But at the same time, I DO." he went on.

"He's gone to where he goes when he needs to do extreme de-stressing." he then informed her.

"Been gone for a few days now." he continued.

"So he must be working a lot out of his system... wherever he is."

Hal just shook his head.

"That daughter of mine." he said.

Meanwhile, the phone rang for a few seconds, before it was answered by Azazel.

"Callamachi residence." he answered.

"If you're looking for Aedan or Cain, neither can come to the phone right now." he said.

"So if you want to speak to either, leave a message."

"Mmhmm." Hal mumbled.

"I'll let your mother know you're finally home." he told her.

"She's been a bit worried about you as well." he continued, before pausing.

"...speaking of dying and death..." he then went on. "Have you let Azazel or Cain know about this?" he asked her. "I bet you haven't." he guessed.

"Seeing as neither of them sleep or dream, so Leonard wouldn't be able to contact THEM about your little extended away time." he continued.

"Don't let ME tell you what you should and shouldn't do, but... you may want to update at least Cain about this." he suggested. "After all, if he truly does love you, odds are he's worried out of his undead demonic skull."

"I know you tend to get engrossed in projects." Hal responded. "However, THIS little stunt smashes all previous records you've set for yourself, my dear." he told her bluntly.

"By a LOT." he added.

"You're lucky for two reasons. The first being that, 3 weeks into silence from you, Leonard visited me in one of my dreams, and told me what was happening, so I would stop being a nervous wreck about you." he informed her.

"The second being that Chloe has already been more help than one could ever expect." he said further.

"We'll talk about this later, when I'm actually physically able to return home."

"...excuse me?" Hal responded, sounds VERY incredulous right now.

"Didn't even notice?" he asked.

"I noticed pretty quickly." he told her.

"When you don't respond to texts or emails or calls for about three weeks, I tend to get a little concerned." he continued.

"And what's been going on!?" he exclaimed.

"You haven't even checked my messages at all, have you?" he asked. "The Unit has been under a massive crisis or two for the past 3 months." he told her further, now awaiting her response to that.

She received silence on the other end for a moment.

"Ah, Lunet." he said.

"Good to hear your voice again." he commented, relief in his tone.

"I'd ask if you've finished your big project with Leonard, but... well, it's already here." he said further.

"Still, not surprising it's taken you this long." he commented.

"Chloe seems like a very elegant piece of tech."

Savra shook his head.

"Comparatively, we're the same age." they said.

"Raiju live for a long time." they went on.

"They often serve multiple dragon masters." they continued.

"Generally of the same bloodline."

"May as well make yourself known to the medical wing." Nate shrugged.

"...try not to make people's headaches worse." he then muttered.

---

As she made her way to her bedroom, not only did she notice that the house was empty... it seemed like it hadn't been lived in for... months. Literally.

Everything was as she remembered it, down to minute details. Including the fact that her father's bedroom looks as it had last time.

For all intents and purposes, it was like she had never been gone.

...except for a noticeable layer of dust covering everything.

Ilias nodded in response.

"Of course." he said.

He then excused himself, left, and made his way back to the lab. When he arrived, Robyn and Chloe were still there.

"Worked like a charm." he told them, but more specifically, Robyn.

"Ebony is back, and the med wing's gonna need more serum." he continued.

"So someone's gonna need to run it there, whether it be me, or someone else."