Colin's posts

Ashley paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"I..." he stammered. "Not leaving without telling you won't be an issue." he told her. "Just... for various reasons, I don't see it being a problem at all." he mumbled.

His voice sounded almost guilty as he said that... but it was easy to guess that the thought of him doing so to her now was... well, it was unsettling to him. It was a stark 180 from how he'd previously been, but... it seemed that her caring for him while he was injured and truly vulnerable had been what was needed to get him to see things for how they were here.

"And I'll eat anything." he then said.

"If it's food, I'll eat it. If it's something I can eat and will make me not hungry, I will eat it." he stated.

@sorrowthemad: Fingers crossed then. Seriously.

@totalanimefan: Yeah, sometimes cats can be QUITE clingy. He seems to be a decent balance, though.

"...at the moment, I'm not going to ask." Ashley sighed.

"Anyway, I just... wanted to say all that." he said.

"And not have Lindsay hear it. I don't need THAT weighing on him." he reasoned.

"But now that I've said it, I feel a lot better." he admitted.

"Thanks for listening."

"O... oh..." Ashley stammered.

"Yeah. Yeah, that... that IS a good reason." he said.

"On that note, Lindsay is already really good at the violin." he told her.

"Already he plays really well." he said further.

"You must be a REALLY good teacher."

"...StoneFire Cats, huh?" Ashley asked.

"Yes." Anya confirmed.

"I will be on the lookout then." Ashley told her.

"And I'll tell Lindsay as well." he continued, pausing again.

"Also, what's wrong with downstairs?" he asked her.

"Why are we not to go there?"

"Yeah." Ashley responded. "I do." he said.

He then paused for a moment, before thinking about something. He looked like it was legit serious, but he then seemed to just dismiss it. And then he thought about it AGAIN, before sighing.

"By the way." he mumbled.

"Just want to say I like how your home is right near some forest." he told her.

"Are we allowed to explore it?" he asked.

Ashley nodded his head, even though it was buried in her side.

"Okay." he replied.

"No basement. No burning." he truncated back.

"We can do that." he assured her.

"..." he was then silent again, before he quivered slightly, and withdrew himself from the embrace, using his arm to wipe across his eyes.

"Please don't tell Lindsay about this." he told her.

"It might make him worry."

Ash didn't say anything in response, but he did lower his head a little, just enough that she couldn't see his eyes. He sat there for another moment in silence, but before she could potentially say anything more, she saw them; a pair of tears that feel from his face, landing softly on the floor.

Then, he just turned to her and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her side.

She heard muffled soft sobs for a few seconds, and then he spoke.

"Thank you." he said.

"Thank you." he repeated, as he held onto her like his life depended on it.

Ashley just sighed.

"It's something I worry about daily." he said.

"my survival... Lindsay's..." he admitted to her. "I just... I don't want him to worry. I don't need him panicking and being worried about me and stuff." he told her further. "So... I needed to be fine." he said.

"I needed to be confident. I needed to be able to care for the both of us." he went on.

"...guess, in the end... I couldn't..." he lamented.

"But... I don't feel like I need to be that way HERE." he then told her.

"I feel... like I can... relax a little..." he finished, and Anya could see that Ash had been forcing himself to be the 'grown-up' between them in so many ways, and for so long.

Ashley flinched a little, and shrank down some when he saw the spider, but he then nodded.

"...okay." he said further.

"Whatever... whatever works." he told her, as he tried to relax a bit.

"I've been feeling this way for... a bit." he said. "About... I don't know, a week or so?" he guessed.

"Started after I tripped down a small bit of stairs, and has just been getting worse since." he went on.

"Doesn't feel as bad right now, though." he finished, awaiting the spider.

Ashley nodded again.

"All right." he said, as they made their way to the couch and sat down on it. When they did, Ashley fidgeting a little, before sighing heavily.

"I... didn't slip in the pond." he admitted.

"I guess it looked like I did, but... I didn't." he told her.

"I started to get woozy and the world started spinning." he continued.

"...and then the world went black."

Ashley shook his head in response.

"No." he replied.

"I just don't want Lindsay to hear this." he told her.

"So... not out by the water, and preferably while he is bathing." he said further.

"If that's now, that's fine. Otherwise, the next time this situation comes up."

Ashley accepted the package and opened it, looking inside... and being shocked when he saw what was there. Shocked, stunned, and surprised.

"...woah. Shoes!" he said.

"These look so good, and so comfy!" he said further, before looking back at her.

"Thank you! So much." he told her.

He then paused again, looking a little more solemn now.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

She was met with silence for the first few seconds, but before she had a chance to truly start thinking they had left (and before her home spiders could tell her anything), she saw Ashley poke his head around a corner.

"Hi." he greeted her.

"Welcome back." he said.

"Lindsay and I were playing around outside and he fell into some mud. So he's down by the water washing himself and his clothes off." he then explained, to tell her why HE had just responded to the call.

"Wasn't too long ago, either, so he'll be a bit." he then said.

"There was a LOT in his hair."