Colin's posts

Her vision, while still fuzzy, seemed to be clearing up. The man approached her, and set a bottle down beside her, on the small stool there.

"When you feel strong enough, drink this." he told her.

"I'll be right back." he said.

Then, before she could say anything, he disappeared in a bubble of red mana before her eyes.

As her vision came back to her, she could see she was probably still in the dead part of town... and in one of the abandoned buildings, most likely. It looked modest and shabby, but there was one thing that was alarming.

The blood.

Blood stains were EVERYWHERE. On the furniture, the walls, the floor... and some of them were NOT small, in the slightest.

She saw the figure look around, before they were engulfed in... some kind of mana. She couldn't tell what, but it had engulfed them, and when the mana had dissipated, she had a vague sense of being inside.

And she was on a far softer surface than the ground from earlier.

"...I apologise." the male then said.

"This is going to hurt. A lot." he told her. "But it's necessary for your survival. Please. Just trust me." he pleaded.

Then, before she could rightly even TRY to respond, she felt pain. Immense pain.

It almost felt like her blood was starting to flow BACKWARDS, if she were to describe it, and then it became very difficult to deal with.

She'd had experiences with pain in the past, but not like this.

"Scream if you feel you must." he told her.

She had no idea how long she had been laying there for, but one thing was for certain; she was losing consciousness, and things were starting to go fuzzy for her, in terms of her vision.

That's when she heard footsteps... that were seemingly coming straight for her.

"...good heavens!" a male voice exclaimed, before the footsteps quickened. After a few seconds, she was suddenly rolled onto her back, and she saw the outline of a person with light hair... wasn't sure what colour it was, but maybe it was brown. Then again, her colour perception was messed up now as well.

"...I see." he mumbled.

"Hang on." he told her.

"You have precious little time, but I'm going to save you!" he continued.

"Can you hear me?" he asked. "Give me some sort of sign you still have some lucidity."

Nate was silent as he watched her go... before sitting down in the chair that was behind him.

"...hoo boy." he muttered.

"Nathan, Nathan, Nathan..." he mumbled to himself.

"Do you have ANY idea what you're doing with this person?" he asked himself further.

He then paused a moment, and smirked.

"No. I do not." he answered. "But life's an adventure, and now's a good time to start feelin' brave." he told himself, standing up and slightly pumping his fist.

"My life... my FULL life... starts NOW." he declared.

Nate took an involuntary step back.

"I have my limits." he said.

"I may be shy, and I may be naive, and I may be on the meek side, but I'm NOT afraid to lay down boundaries." he told her.

"I'm glad to hear that Alicja feels the same way that I feel for her, and that YOU seem to have no objections to me, seeing as you two seem to be the most prevalent personalities." he explained.

"If ANYTHING is going to happen between the two of us, do NOT think I will be a doormat." he then said further.

"I can go with the flow, yes, and someone else taking charge is fine and all, but don't push it TOO far on me, y'hear?" he asked.

"O-oh." Nate responded.

"I... I see." he said.

"Well, I... that..." he stammered, before chuckling.

"Guess it works out for the three of us, at least." he commented, deciding not to fully touch on her comment about taking him to bed.

"But... I mean... well, yeah." he said further.

"I'm... glad to hear that." he commented.

His face was now red. Straight up red.

"I-I-I-I-..." he sputtered on repeat for a few seconds, before regaining himself slightly.

"Wow." he said.

"...wait..." he mumbled.

"Ebony?" he asked.

"And... knew she wouldn't do it?" he asked further.

"Why?" he inquired.

"Does she not reciprocate, but YOU do?"

Nate just smirked.

"Hence why I said 'since I started to work here'." he told her.

"Lunet entering my life is, without a doubt, the turnaround for my life, and for that I will be forever grateful." he continued. "But I met her BEFORE working here." he went on.

"...." he was then silent, and thought for a moment.

"Would 'meeting you in the best thing that's happened to me since meeting Lunet' be more accurate?" he then wondered aloud.

"...but that has the connotations of there being a competition between you two." he then reasoned.

"I mean, I have no romantic interest in Lunet, unlike you-" he went on... before realising what it was he just said aloud, and then freezing up, his eyes widening.

Nate sputtered and stammered for a few seconds, before shaking his head slightly.

"I... uh..." he muttered.

"Well, I mean... that is..." he stammered further, before sighing.

"Perhaps..." he admitted.

"I mean... well... I DO like you, Alicja." he then told her.

"Like... a LOT." he went on.

'Meeting you is one of the best things that's happened to me since starting to work here."

Nate paused for a moment.

"With... with you?" he asked.

"Seriously?" he asked her.

His face started to turn a little red now.

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

"That would be great!" he finally got out.

"I'd love to stay with you." he told her.

"You live, essentially, between here and my school anyway, so... yeah, the commute will be super easy, too." he went on.

"...at least, I THINK you said that, anyway..." he added, thinking about it now.

Nate looked at her, and groaned.

"That's putting it lightly." he said.

"My neighbours. They just. Won't. Shut. Up." he told her.

"Exams are coming, and I'm losing time. Sleeping is hard, studying is hard." he went on.

"And I can't stay with Lunet. She's away with Cain." he continued.

"...and hotels and motels are too expensive. Also, shelters and hostels are... scary places, sometimes..." he then mumbled further.

"It's... hell."

Nate just shrugged.

"If you say so." he said.

"I'll happily do so." he assured her.

"But if you want to do it yourself, or whatever, then cool." he said further.

"Then yeah, I'll probably disappear into storage for the time being." he reiterated.

"If you end up needing me for anything, you'll know where to find me."

Nate nodded again.

"All right." he replied.

"I'll... see if can find a way around that." he told her.

He then shook his head slightly, and looked around.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Well, before I... try to continue with my work, see if I actually CAN put in any hours, is there anything that needs doing more urgently?' he asked.

"If not, I'll default to storage organisation."

"........a-ah." Nate stammered, before sighing heavily as well.

"I see." he said.

"So Ebony was... all right." he mumbled.

"Well, thank you for the warning." he told her.

"I'll... not be seeking out a performance from Rebecca, then." he said.

"But... a Siren?" he asked.

"Wow. Once again, I didn't know they were actually a real thing."