Colin's posts

Nate nodded in response.

"Duly noted." he said.

"Oh, she DID give me some advice, though." he told her. "Maybe a way to help me calm down a little more, in the future." he continued.

"Oh?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, she said that Rebecca has a really nice singing voice." he told her.

"Suggested I listen to it. Says it'll 'change my life'." he went on.

"So maybe I'll ask her to sing for me, if she can or is willing to, after she's feeling better."

"Thank you." Nate replied.

"Odds are I'll squirrel myself away to that little desk in the storage area, and work there, stepping away from time to time to put away more of the shipments that have recently come in." he told her.

"As a study-break kinda thing." he reasoned.

"....." he was then silent, thinking about something.

"So... Ebony seems... well... kinda nice." he commented.

"Not quite as nice as Alicja, but... still, pretty nice, overall..." he mumbled further.

Nate just sighed.

"I can't." he said.

"I mean, if I DID take a day, I'd probably still be here, as there's some... uh... well, it's party-time around my dorm, and while nobody's TOO rowdy, there's enough of it to make it hard to concentrate." he explained.

"So I'd probably still just be here." he said.

"And if I'm going to be HERE, I may as well work." he shrugged.

"At this point, I'm just counting the days until I'm away from those drunken parties and headache-inducing shenanigans."

"....." Nate was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"I see." he said.

"That's... alarming." he commented. "To put it bluntly." he said further.

"But she'll live, and that's what matters." he reasoned.

He was then silent, and looked at Angela.

"Never a dull moment here, is there?" he asked with a light laugh.

"Yeah... yeah, all right." Nate responded.

"...thanks again." he then said to Ebony.

"You snapped me out of it back in the room, and more permanently out here." he told her.

He then paused for a moment.

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

"Is that why my cheek is so sore, and stings?" he asked, not realising the cheek she had slapped was... quite pink.

"Does it have something to do with you managing to get me to say where Rebecca was injured?"

Nate just sighed.

"I know." he said.

"From what little I remember, it was... just in the nick of time, then." he said further.

"I'm relieved." he commented.

"I'm glad that she was saved." he continued.

"....not sure if I could have forgiven myself if she died because I froze up, even if... it wouldn't technically be any fault of mine..." he admitted.

Nate shook his head.

"Never mind me." he said.

"How is Rebecca?" he asked.

"Looking back on it, her life-force... beyond what I physically am incapable of describing... was very weak." he commented.

"Did you manage to help her in time?" he asked her.

And this was proof enough for Angela that Nate was pretty much up to par, if he had the wherewithal to ask about others before himself.

Nate nodded in response.

"Yeah... yeah, I think so." he replied.

"I feel a LOT better now." he told her.

"My brain doesn't feel twisted in knots, and I don't feel like I'm about to be literally and metaphysically twisted into a pretzel stick." he went on.

"So already, that's an improvement. I'll take it."

"....." Nate was stunned to hear this.

"Ah... I..." he said.

"Wow." he mumbled.

"That is... that's some heavy stuff..." he said. "To massively understate it." he added.

"Sorry it happened to you." he apologised.

"...Nobody should be forced into anything as horrific as THAT..."

"....oh, I... I see..." Nate managed to get out.

"Who.. who would do such a th-" he went on, before the gears started to turn.

"...she'd mentioned experimentation." he remembered.

"And spoke of dark elves with a venom in her tone I'd never heard before in my life..." he continued.

"Did... a dark elf do this to her... you... both of you...?" he asked her, clearly unsure as to how to properly word it, but trying.

"Or am I REALLY stretching with that conclusion?"

"Duly noted." Nate responded.

"So... you're Ebony, huh?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I'd ask if you're another personality inside of Alicja, but... your aura wouldn't have changed." he then said.

"It's like you're a completely different person." he went on.

"Including even mana." he added.

"Am I... right? Wrong? Close?" he asked her.

"Oh?' Nate asked.

"Interesting." he said.

"Maybe I'll ask her one day." he commented, her smirk falling under his radar at the moment.

"When... she's feeling better..." he mumbled.

"Regardless, thank you." he told her.

"You saved my life back there, more than likely."

"...oh! I think I was warned of that when I first came here." Nate replied.

"I... hm." he then mumbled.

"It was... Rebecca? She was the hurt one, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Ebony responded.

"So the other one is Levi, logically speaking." Nate reasoned.

"Real bright one, you are." Ebony said to him.

"HIS life-force I could look at." Nate then told her, ignoring the little comment, but sighing, as he realised his statements had been on the obvious side. "At least, for a short while." he continued. "Rebecca, though... she was... I just... yeah." he muttered.

"Suffice to say, THAT drove me over the edge."

He didn't even have time to react, before she kissed him.

And this wasn't a peck. He was genuinely shocked, stunned, and... well... he liked it. He actually started to (try to) reciprocate the kiss, and Ebony broke it after a moment or two.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Y... yeah." Nate replied, his face redder than before.

But his eyes were back to normal again.

Seemed that such a sudden shock to his system was just what was needed.