Colin's posts

"..." Ash was silent as he looked at his hands.

"Our mana..." he said.

"I admit... the feeling of that rune inside me... it's... almost overwhelming." he told her.

"This power that resides within me... knowing what I can do... it can be maddening at times..." he went on.

"...I feel like such an idiot." he then growled.

"I guess Vanessa feeding my brother and I the information that you willingly gave us up was such a constant, I just instinctively believed it..."

Ash listened to what she had said, and something seems to slap his mind into gear. What Rowena was saying was the exact same thing that his aunt had told him. Had been telling him.

Was continuing to tell him.

But even though he'd heard her, it never clicked. Until now.

And he started to realise that if she had wanted his soul... it would have been done already. She wasn't acting like she was infamous for.

"...I..." he stammered.

"Daman it." he cursed, leaning against a nearby wall.

"So you didn't give us up. You didn't CHOOSE to rampage through Europe?" he asked.

Ash looked ready to snap at her, and just made his way over to Hazel. He looked ready to pick her up and leave... before he just looked at her in silence, before sighing heavily and looking back to Rowena.

"Tell me something." he said.

"Why were we given up?" he asked.

"Why did we have to suffer under Vanessa Encrae?" he asked further.

"...just tell me THAT."

Ash almost fell over when she revealed who she was, and he was immediately on the defensive.

"Y-you!" he exclaimed.

"No wonder Hazel's mana acted like that!" he said. "She told me it was essentially programmed to go off near a Fyrane's mana! Or... well, sort of? Maybe?" he went on, suddenly getting confused.

"She mentioned she had a built-in thing to try and capture you for Vanessa..." he mumbled, seeming to get lost in that train of thought, before shaking his head and looking at Rowena sharply.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why bring me out here like this?" he asked her.

Ash looked between Hazel and Harmony, trying to process all the information that he had been given. However, all it had done was give him more questions than ever, and make him wonder just WHO Harmony was.

He then looked to Hazel on the couch, and sighed.

"Right." he said.

"You are correct in stating that she is a victim of Encrae." he confirmed. "I've been trying my best to give her a better life. But it's... well, it's not been easy." he admitted.

"Also, you? Why YOU?" he asked her.

"Who ARE you to cause this to happen?"

@sorrowthemad: The weekend, she be here!

"Her mana is... well, it's chaotic." Ash replied.

"And it reacts defensively when... it thinks she's in danger..." he went on.

"But why...?" he started to ask, before shaking his head.

"And she eats. Barely." he sighed.

"I try to get her to eat more, but she keeps eating just barely enough to survive." he continued.

"Damn Encrae..." he growled under his breath.

"...oh! Oh DAMN IT!" Ash exclaimed, seeing this.

"Her mana is acting up!" he warned Harmony. "She has no control over it, and it's acting up as a defensive measure for... something!" he said further, as he stepped back as far as he could.

"Hazel!" he then said to Hazel.

"Hazel, how bad?" he asked.

"What's going to happen?"

"Makes sense." Ash responded.

He then made his way to the extra bedroom and looked at it.

"...woah." he mumbled. "This is pretty spacious." he said. "And it's just the extra bedroom?" he asked.

"Mmhmm." Harmony responded.

"You're winning me over, here." Ash chuckled.

"Hazel, what do YOU say?" he then asked.

"A pool?" Ash asked.

"A pool." Harmony confirmed.

"Not bad at all." Ash chuckled.

"So a pool, and extra bedroom, and the actual apartment is over there." he went on.

"Interesting set-up." he commented further.

"Already, I'm impressed."

"Yes... yes, let's." Ash responded.

He'd hoped that Harmony wouldn't take Hazel's curt responses, and initial refusal to enter, as her being rude of anything. He would try to explain if he needed to, but for now, he thought it best if they just went with it.

"Let's go." he told her, as they started to head towards the stairs that led down to the apartment.

"Is the only access through the main building?" Ash asked her.

"Or is there a way that leads directly outside?"

Ash didn't have time to say anything more, before Hazel ushered him back inside, and deeper into the building. He tried to look back at her, but her insistence kept him moving forward.

And they kept moving forward, until Harmony was back in sight.

"Uh... sorry..." he apologised to her.

"There was a bit of a... thing...? I guess...?" he 'explained' confusingly. And with confusion in his tone as well.

"Anyway, you... mentioned brownies." he then said.

"I'll take one, sure." he told her. "Do... YOU want one, Hazel?" he asked Hazel.

"Wh... I... wait, what?" Ash stammered, as he watched her stand up and turn around.

When he swore he saw her eyes being turbulent, and then swore he saw lightning strikes inside them, he took an unconscious step back.

"Hazel?" he muttered.

"Hazel, what...? You just said you couldn't come in her... and now...?" he went on, shaking his head.

"Hazel, what's WRONG?" he asked her.

"If this place isn't going to work, then we'll just leave now." he told her, his frustration peaking to the point of almost getting ready to angrily cry.

"No, Hazel!" Ash almost exclaimed.

"No, I don't want you to leave." he told her.

"I want you to have a place to live. A nice place. Not a cramped place." he said further.

"I want you to just... come inside and give this place a chance." he went on, in an exasperated tone.

"...but whatever." he then mumbled, turning around.

"Guess that's not happening." he said under his breath.