Colin's posts

He sighed.

"I don't joke about that." he said.

"At least I don't have to try and explain it." he continued, as a black... mass... slowly emerged outside one of the larger windows in the room.

Then an eye opened on it. And another. And another. And another. Until there were no less than 60 eyeballs looking right at her.

"My mind is not a nice place to be." Levi said.

"My roommates are... difficult." he added with a wry and disconcerting chuckle.

The thing just continued to stare at Brie... almost with some sort of... interest.

"....." Levi was silent as he heard that.

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

"Well, guess we both have our problems." he muttered, still seeming to be less-than-impressed... but she could also hear some fear in his tone.

"...by the way... things aren't going to get nice here." he warned.

"They don't like intruders." he said.

Just as he said that, it seemed like the entire area darkened, as though it became dusk... but unnaturally so.

"I've also been betrayed by a supposed friend." he replied.

"I've been kidnapped." he went on.

"Left alone, and abused." he continued.

"Right now, things aren't going so well." he muttered, a little passive-aggressively.

"....but you know all this." he finished.

"Good part of my life." Levi replied.

"I was good." he said.

"Until recently." he went on.

"This is like my mental stability." he told her.

"...it's getting less and less stable."

The guitar was... all right, but she could tell that there was a hint of discord to the notes.

Levi was silent, before he stopped playing, and looked at her.

"...hello." he replied.

"Well. You've done it." he said.

"The inner sanctum of my mind." he told her.

"Welcome."

If her goal was emotional damage, it worked.

The forced nature of it, the info that had come before it, and how this could be considered cheating... it was too much for him.

Which was what she expected.

-

When she 'came to', she saw that she was just inside the doorway of what seemed to be a mansion, looking around. It looked like an old manor, abandoned and slightly decrepit, like something out of a book.

It was quiet as well... until she heard faint noises coming from somewhere in the house.

"...but it got better." Levi said.

"I realised life could be so much better." he told her.

"I was shown just how good things CAN be." he continued.

"...are you saying that our friendship meant nothing?" he then asked her.

"Nothing at all?"

Levi, immobile and weak, looked at her.

"...why?" he asked.

"Why?" he repeated.

"I thought... we were friends..." he said.

"Why, Brie?" he asked her.

Chris just laughed.

"I am nothing." he said.

"It is nothing more than a fool's pipe dream to think of escaping Mistress." he told her.

"...not... that... I want to..." he suddenly stammered.

"Which is to say... no, that... I mean with..." he continued, before shaking his head.

"Shut up!" he yelled, opening the jar and allowing a blade of wind to escape and nick at Lilim's side.

Chris just sighed, some resignation in his tone.

"......I know." he said.

"I know this does nothing to you." he muttered.

"If Mistress ever found out, I'd surely be thrown to the curb, or worse." he lamented.

"At least this is good for you." he said further.

"And I can't even say this isn't working." he went on.

"....damn it." he mumbled, taking a special jar out of the case.

Chris just growled again, opening the case.

"More pure-aligned mana torture." he told her.

"Various elements." he continued.

"Something is bound to stick, or be effective." he went on.

"Least, that's the theory, anyway." he added.

Chris just growled.

"I swear, I WILL gag you." he threatened her.

"And yeah, yeah, unfathomable forces and all that malarkey." he dismissed, though there WAS some weight to his tone.

"Also, I know you want me to scram." he said.

"Every time I show up here, it means torture, as ineffectual as it is." he went on.

"I'm sure you tired of it and blah blah blah."

He flinched when she said the last part.

And she saw it.

It might have been subtle to anyone else... but it was clear as day to Lilim.

She'd hit some sort of nerve with that statement.

"Ngh." he grunted.

".....hmph." he muttered.

"Just... shut up..." he told her.

Chris froze for a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"I..." he stammered.

"I mean, well, I..." he stammered further, before thinking about it.

"Well, no. I don't." he admitted.

"But I don't have that clearance." he then reasoned.

"I'm not allowed to do so."