Colin's posts

That response alarmed him, though he kept it internal.

"....Erica." he said.

"I would like you to undergo an examination." he told her.

"Just a standard one." he then assured her.

"I want to make sure that there are no hidden physical or mental problems potentially brewing." he continued.

"You don't even have to come into the Unit for it, I can have someone brought here, if it would make you more comfortable." he then offered.

This was NOT the Erica he was used to, and that strange marking was setting off all the alarms in his head... though he wondered if he was just being paranoid.

Hal was stunned for a moment, frozen abut the marking he swore he saw.

He then shook his head and accepted the water.

"Well... we might not be friends, but I DO care about you..." he told her.

"And I wanted to check up on you." he said.

"See how you were doing. See how the recovery process is going."

"....bottled..." Hal mumbled.

"And yeah, I know..." he said.

"Wasn't Azazel helping with that?" he then asked.

"Wasn't he coming around every third day or so to be with you so you could sleep more soundly?" he asked further.

"Is that not helping?" he asked her.

He knew about the problem, given what Aedan had said, but he wanted to know what Erica would say about it. How she would respond.

Hal was... flabbergasted, to say the least.

"Ah..." he stammered.

"I... well, a water, I guess?" he said, before shaking his head.

"Erica, are you all right?" he asked.

"You look... worse." he said further.

"It can't be nothing... can it?" he asked her.

"....." Hal was silent as he regarded her.

"Erica..." he said.

"Oh, Erica..." he mumbled.

"You don't look good. At all." he commented.

"What's happened?" he asked, though he could guess.

"Want to talk?"

As soon as she left, he disappeared from where he was, appearing in the backyard of Erica's place. He had no time to keep up looks or formalities, he was worried about how she was doing now.

He quickly made his way to the front door and rang the bell.

"Erica?" he called in.

"It's me, Hal Sharp!" he said further.

"......" he was then silent, and slightly bit his lip.

'She wasn't doing the best the last time I saw her.' he thought. 'PLEASE let her still be doing at least SOMEWHAT okay...'

Ryker cleaned up the remnants of dinner and gathered sleeping bags for them. Once they were laid out, he made sure there was enough firewood for the night.

"All right." he said.

"Guess we're good." he commented.

"All we need is to wait for the sky to start to darken."

Hal nodded in response.

"I shall do so." he told her.

"In fact, I shall do so immediately." he said further.

"Now then... is there anything else?" he asked.

"Anything more you wish to discuss with me?" he asked further.

"If so, now's the time to say it." he reasoned.

"Otherwise, when I say I will check on her immediately, I DO mean that." he finished.

"Hm." Hal mumbled.

"Yes, I understand." he said.

"I'll seriously look into this." he told her.

"This is something that I cannot afford to gloss over. For Azazel's sake, as well as Erica's." he reasoned.

He then sighed, and shook his head.

"Urgh." he grumbled.

"I TRULY hope there's a simple explanation for this." he muttered. "But I've been through enough never to assume it's anything benign." he lamented.

"Hmmm, I see." Hal mumbled.

"You're right, little things that would be unnoticeable, or easily dismissed." he said.

"But aggregate them together, and you get some concern." he reasoned.

"And this incident with Erica? That's just not right." he went on.

"What could it be, do you think?" he asked her.

"Any ideas?" he asked further.

"...." Hal seemed to be stunned as he heard that.

"I..." he muttered.

"That... certainly does not sound like Azazel." he commented.

"Such an action is not characteristic of him, and such a reaction to being confronted about it is certainly even more alarming." he went on.

"Haven you noticed anything else?" he asked her.

"Granted, that alone is enough to raise some warning flags, but are there any more incidents?"

Sure enough, she was there before him. But she was only waiting for another 15 minutes or so, before the man himself showed up.

"Oh, Aedan." he greeted her.

"I shouldn't be surprised you're here early." he chuckled. He then stopped, however, when he saw her expression.

"You look like something's weighing on your mind." he commented.

"Shall we talk inside my office?"

Cain nodded in response.

"I'll be sure to keep a close eye on him." he told her.

"If things get worse, we may need to test him." he continued. "Mana-test, that is." he clarified.

"But I know that's... kinda difficult to do on a demon." he then sighed.

"Anyway, I'll get going, and talk to you later, Mom." he told her.

"...really hope this is just something that we're blowing out of proportion." he mumbled.

"That would really be nice." he finished, before breaking away from her and heading off.

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

"Oh dear." he said.

"That... doesn't sound like him at all." he mumbled.

"Yeah, you probably should bring that up with Sharp." he agreed.

"I'll let you know if I notice anything more... egregious, we'll say." he then told her further.

"Because already it's weird. If it gets worse, that will be majorly concerning." he reasoned.