Colin's posts

By the time she got back to her home, she was practically trudging. She felt like she was slogging through waist-deep sludge when she unlocked the door and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her, and started to walk forward, before she caught her reflection in the full-length mirror she had in the entryway, so people could check themselves over before they left, and when they came home.

And something stood out immediately.

She was wondering why she hurt so much in that one spot, and now she knew. The point where she had been 'shoved' was wet. And red. And it was spreading out alarmingly quickly.

She had been stabbed. And she'd walked home while bleeding out. From the looks of it, it hadn't been dripping, so she hadn't left a blood trail... but it looked like she was mere minutes away from just dripping blood onto the floor there.

She was alone at the bus stop, and was waiting for close to 10 minutes, before one of the ones she was looking for pulled up. The doors opened, she got on, paid her fare, made her way through the decently packed bus, and found a seat to sit in, which she did. Given stops and schedules and routes, she estimated that this would be about a 15-20 minute ride, and she hoped nothing would happen.

However, this was not the case. It seemed like it would be, as when she heard a stop called out, she knew the next one would be hers. She was practically home... and then she saw it happen.

A fight had broken out elsewhere on the bus... and she witnessed one of the participants stab the other in the gut with a concealed knife that they had.

This caused panic to ensue throughout the vehicle, with people either trying to get away, or subdue the one with the weapon, and the bus had come to a screeching halt, causing the passengers that weren't seated to fall forward and land in small heaps.

Though tempers were starting to flare more than ever now... except for the one that was sitting directly across from her, as the male seemed to be... oddly and alarmingly zen about this, to the point where they looked ready to just adopt some sort of meditation position.

"All righty then." Az responded, sighing lightly.

"I'm going to make one more sweep of inside the building, report back to you, Izea, and then start collecting information." he said further, before bidding farewell to the two and heading further inside.

He was the only one allowed to go in and out of the building, as he seemed to be immune to what had happened, and what could happen... with the exception of Roxie, but nobody had seen her lately. Odds were good she was off on her own once more.

Erica could see that Azazel was worried, too. Already, Aedan was still not faring the best, and now this was happening. He and her were really good friends, and he was quite worried about her.

Normally he wasn't so keen and gung-ho to check his demonic contacts, as he always tried to distance himself from that world as much as he possibly could, but this time he was more than willing to throw himself back into that world, if it meant he could help her.

"Understandable." Azazel responded.

"Yeah, the fact that we don't know what this is... is concerning, to understate it." he commented. "So we need to find some sort of inkling as to what the hell is happening." he reasoned.

"Anyway, I'm going to start digging into my contacts and info-networks." he then said.

"Izzy, I'll keep in touch with you periodically as I find things out." he told the security guard.

"And Erica, I'll come see you in a 2 days, at the latest." he then informed Erica.

"Excellent idea." Azazel said to Erica. "The archangels may very well know if something weird is happening in the world." he reasoned, before looking over towards Izzy.

"And good idea as well. Having more people out finding info is always a good idea." he reasoned.

He then just sighed, and looked towards Erica again.

"Anything else we can do for you right now?" he asked her.

"Or you gonna be okay for now?"

"Well, at least there's no new shit cropping up." Azazel sighed. "Things aren't getting better, but at least they're not getting worse." he reasoned, looking absently into the building.

"But... means I can spend a day or two trying to come up with answers." he reasoned.

"I'll check up on you and touch base in a couple of days." he then told Erica.

"I just hope these incidents don't continue." he said further.

"Anyway... try and stay safe, okay?" he asked her. "Just... yeah, just try and make sure you don't get hurt in any of these incidents that may break out close to you." he finished.

"Which is the frustrating part." Azazel sighed. "Like I said, if this IS your curse mana at work, then it's doing so in a way that... well, given what myself and the demonic world knows of it... shouldn't be possible." he told her.

"Your markings and such aren't THAT nuanced and elegant, hell-wise speaking." he said. "So I am 99.9% sure that this IS NOT your curse at play." he stated, trying to comfort her.

"But... yeah, as you have said, it begs a lot of questions." he lamented. "The big one being 'If you aren't causing this... who or what IS?'..." he went on, shaking his head again.

"I'll go through the contacts and info network I have to see if ANY answers pop up." he finished, before looking at Izea.

"I assume things have been... well, the same here?" he asked. "Bad, but not getting worse?" he asked further. "Or, to get more to the point, think I'll need to step in within the next... day or so?" he then inquired.

"All right." Azazel responded with a nod. He then stepped forward and extended his hand towards her. When she accepted it, taking it in her own, she felt some of the mana from the curse be sucked out of her. It wasn't an awful lot, and even though she wasn't feeling necessarily 'bad' before, she had to admit, she felt better.

They then released the grip as Azazel stepped back, paused a moment, and shrugged.

"Nope. Not more potent or anything." he confirmed. "At least, not that I could sense." he said.

"So whatever's happening, I'm reasonably sure it's not your curse mana." he told her. "Or, at the very least, it's not OVERTLY your curse mana." he then clarified.

"...granted, that makes these happenings a little more confusing, admittedly... maybe there's something bigger at play, and you happened to be unlucky, being in the wrong place at the wrong time." he suggested.

"Regardless, I'll look into it."

Azazel was quiet as he pondered all this, thinking about what Erica had said, and how her arm hadn't been acting up, despite the occurrences leading to the conclusion that it HAD been.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"I'll see if anyone in my information channels know about about such an event." he told her. "Or anything similar, anyway." he added.

"In the meantime, even if it doesn't seem to be acting up, want me to take in a bit of your curse mana?" he asked. "Take it down to a little bit lower levels? Maybe you just have a more potent spike happening." he suggested.

"If nothing else, my taking in some of the mana will confirm or deny that." he then reasoned.

Azazel brought his hand to his chin, and thought for a moment.

"Hmmm." he mumbled. "That DOES sound like curse shenanigans." he admitted.

"Yup." Erica agreed.

"...but I don't see or feel your curse acting up." Azazel told her.

"Seriously. It seems like it's fine. Well... yeah, fine. Normal. More or less." he went on.

"Bottom line, does NOT seem like it's flaring up."

Azazel raised an eyebrow as he heard the conversation, before Erica turned to him.

"Az, you're here, you see anything off?" she asked him.

"Eh?" Azazel mumbled, looking at her arm.

"...seems a little... squirmier than usual. Maybe a smidgen more writhing, but... nothing out of the ordinary." he told her with a shrug.

"Why?" he asked.

"Something going on with you?"

As she approached the building she worked at... she sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to get inside. Not past the security checkpoint, anyway. But that was fine, in this instance. She didn't actually WANT inside. She wanted to speak with a specific member of security, and given when she knew about the current schedule, she would find them working right now.

She stopped at the front doors, and when she stepped through them, not only did she see the one she was looking for... what looked to be a quite-young girl sitting at the security desk, but she also saw her friend, Azazel.

The latter looked over and waved.

"Oh, hey Erica." he greeted her.

"..." the cop was silent, before looking towards the café, and the ensuing brawl, as his eyes narrowed.

"Well, you take care, then." he told her.

"Time to enforce some order." he muttered under his breath, before running in the direction of it.

And Erica could tell... he'd seemed kind and caring at first, but now it seemed like he was spoiling for a fight... especially since he hadn't called for backup, or didn't look like he was going to observe any protocol.

He was going there to join in.

As she walked away, she saw that the brawl was getting worse in some areas, but other that had managed to escape seemed to be faring a little better with their emotions... but only slightly.

It was frustrating for her, and also doggedly confusing.

And again, she heard the police sirens. Headed towards the café where she had just been.

It was at that point, a on-duty police officer stopped her.

"Are you all right, Miss?" he asked. "You appear to be walking with a noticeable limp."