Colin's posts

Jake looked over towards her, paused for a moment, narrowed his eyes, and then sighed.

"Yep." he replied.

"She's taking some time off from active work for a bit, but she found someone to help her recover." he told her.

"She'll be fine in about a week or so." he said further.

"But knowing her, she'll be up and working again in 4-5 days." he chuckled.

"...how are YOU doing?" he asked.

"Was her involvement worth it? You doing okay?"

Azazel returned the hug, and waved to her as she left, not stopping until she was out of sight.

He then turned back into his house, shut the door, looked at the horn, and thought.

"Odds are she'll want some leftovers for easy meals for the next day or so." he reasoned.

"Couple of pizzas should work perfectly for her." he said, before going to make the order for her, and have it directly delivered.

He then paused for a moment, looking at the horn again and thinking harder.

"...he clearly had some kind of control over her markings..." he mumbled.

"I wonder..." he continued, trailing off a bit and making potential plans.

Azazel nodded in response.

"Yeah." he said.

"He's a prisoner in his own mind, his body forced to do the whims of whatever daughter Lilith gives him to." he told her.

"A fitting punishment." he growled.

"And you're welcome." he then told her, before chuckling.

"Yeah, odds are you're right." he said.

"That IS your way, to wait until someone forgets, and then repay them."

Azazel just sighed.

"Well, as it stands, Balphagor is nothing more than a hollow doll." he told her. "He has no personality left, no scraps left of who or what he once was." he went on. "It is the worst fate that can befall a demon." he continued.

"If this were reattached, he would still be doomed to an eternity of servitude, but he would have his personality and memories and everything back." he explained further.

"Essentially, give him... well... I mean, he has awareness right now, but it's like he's locked inside his own mind. This would free him from that and allow him to speak freely and such." he said.

"And yeah, that's the catch-22 of it all." he then muttered.

"It'd be a waste to just have it sitting around doing nothing, but a shame to have it destroyed." he sighed.

"I'll think of something, though."

Azazel just smiled again, before grabbing his phone and entering something into it for a few minutes.

"All right, cool." he said.

"It'll be here in 5 minutes." he told her.

"Let's get you to the door." he said further, getting up and grabbing the horn.

"Still dunno what, exactly, to do with this thing, if anything." he mumbled.

"Cain and Aedan would probably explode with scientific curiosity at it, though." he chuckled.

"...but even if it IS Balphagor's... it seems a shame to have it destroyed, one way or the other..."

"..." Azazel was silent for a moment.

"Yeah... your car's not here..." he admitted.

"And I'd offer to teleport you, but... I really don't think you want to experience ANYTHING infernal right now." he mumbled further.

"I mean, if you want, I can call you a cab." he then offered.

"If I recall, it's only about 15 bucks from your place to mine." he continued. "...maybe between 20 and 25." he said.

"So yeah, if you have a headache brewing, perhaps a drive home may be safer? More comfortable, at least?" he reasoned.

Azazel nodded.

"Of course." he said.

"You'll want to contact Sharp, of course." he went on.

"He deserves to know about what happened." he told her. "ALL of it." he stressed.

"But you can do that soon." he reasoned, before smirking.

"And I just realised I haven't ordered you in that food I promised a bit ago." he told her.

"Want me to have something brought right into your place?" he asked.

"On me." he offered.

Azazel just smiled a little as he held her close, before letting go of the hug.

"Yeah." he said.

"I know." he told her.

"But I still want to help." he went on.

"You deserve to have your life return to normal." he continued.

"...as normal as it can get for you, anyway..."

Azazel sighed again.

"I'll help in any way I can." he told her.

"You know that." he said.

He then leaned in and hugged her, holding her close.

"We're friends." he said further.

"Friends help each other out." he reasoned.

"I just wish I could do more."

"...." Azazel was silent for a moment, before getting close to her and sitting down beside her, dropping the horn on the table in the middle as he did so.

"Hey." he said.

"If there's any way we can help you earn those savings back, tell me." he told her.

"I know that Cain and Aedan can often use an assistant for some of their work, and you know they're highly resistant, if not immune, to your markings." he reminded her.

"I'm sure they'd be willing to pay well for the occasional help." he said further.

"Or maybe ask Sharp for some assistance."

"ONE-HUNDRED GRAND!?" Azazel exclaimed.

"That absolute bastard." he growled.

"...." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Well, now you'll be allowed to at least try and get that money back..." he mumbled.

"However long THAT takes..." he said further.

"...still. That absolute asshole." he grumbled, venom in his tone.

Azazel sighed.

"He won't." he said.

"...I have one of his horns." he told her. "I watched her break both of his horns... before she gave one to me... and then ordered him to demolish his other horn with his own two hands." he went on.

"...and he did. I saw it." he continued.

"Lilith also warned me that if I gave him his other horn back, the consequences would be dire." he then added.

"So yeah. You're free of him. Completely and utterly." he told her.

"...though I get the distinct feeling you're hiding something from me, in terms of your business with Balphagor..." he then mumbled.

Azazel nodded.

"Yeah, him." he said.

"Well... and... hm." he then mumbled.

"Right, I'm going to truncate this down a LOT." he told her.

"After what I interrupted, he left, and you were on a timer to be nothing more than a hollow shell of a puppet for him." he said. "Through the combined efforts of myself, Anya, and Lilim... Lilith decided to intervene." he continued.

"Mostly because Balphagor was now a thorn in her side that needed tending to, so she had him reverse all he'd done to people on the surface over the past 2 years, which included you." he went on.

"...and then she handed down the ultimate punishment..." he muttered, looking at the horn in his hand again.

Azazel was silent, before taking a deep breath, exhaling, and looking at her.

"Let's start off... well, simple." he told his friend.

"Your markings were acting up, so we parted ways. I then did not see you or hear from you for about 3 days, so I went to check up on you, and return the container you gave me that had a bunch of brownies in it." he explained.

"I found you on your couch, apparently recovering from a massive spike in your markings' activity." he went on.

"I stayed with you for a while, and then left when you said you were all right." he continued.

"...then, shortly after that, you called me and the line went dead, so I rushed here and... well... found you being attacked by a demon by the name of Balphagor." he then revealed, figuring now was a decent time to stop, in case she had any questions.