Colin's posts

Lindsay chuckled in response.

"Indeed." he said, as Ashley sat there, creating a small orb of black fire in his palm, and the crushing it. And then creating another, and squashing THAT one, before sighing quietly.

"Maybe best to use Lindsay's fire." he said.

"Not sure if mine would be best..." he went on.

"If we're cooking over an open fire... mine might add a weird flavour or something, I dunno..."

"...I don't like them already." Ashley commented.

"Seems they are VERY stuck in their ways." Lindsay said. "So perhaps it best if we avoided any contact with them at all costs." he reasoned, as he looked around some.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"I assume we'll be sticking to woods and forests and such?" he asked.

"Stay off the beaten paths?"

The boys thought for a moment, pondering the question.

"I... no. No, don't think so." Ashley said.

"I dare say we haven't." Lindsay told her. "We've met a few mages, but... well, we don't meet people for long. They mostly got angry at us for trying to steal stuff." he lamented.

"So we don't have any real knowledge of them." he admitted.

"...are they really such bad people?" Ashley asked her.

"Well, we're used to it." Ashley responded.

"Though we're in a much better situation, as compared to before we met Anya." Lindsay reminded him.

"That is true." Ashley admitted.

"So, overall, we'll be fine. We have each other." Lindsay finished with a smile.

"Heh, yeah." Ashley chuckled in response.

"...would they not have listened to you, though, Anya?" he then asked the demon.

Ashley and Lindsay just sat on the ground and leaned against the tree.

"I don't know." Lindsay replied.

"I don't, either." Ashley lamented.

"But yeah, we can keep an eye out." he then told Anya. "Maybe we should look in the next town." he suggested.

"...it might be wiser to hide in the wilderness for a bit, let the band of hunters pass us, and then set up in a town they've already been to." Lindsay commented. "Otherwise, we'll just keep abandoning house after house." he reasoned.

"...hm, fair." Ashley admitted.

The boys nodded and then made their way to their rooms. They were there for only a couple of minutes, before they returned, looking at Raph.

"Amazing. You got it all." Lindsay commented.

"And it's all safe and sound." Raph assured them.

"I took everything that would have been too cumbersome to carry, and put it in the safe place with everything else." he told them further. "And after you leave, I'll make sure this place is barren." he added.

"As I said, it'll be suspicious either way, so might as well save everything possible."

Raph nodded in response.

"Thanks to our long-standing relationship, as well as other reasons..." he went on, being vague for Lindsay's sake. "...the spiders understood what was happening, understood what I was doing, and they went along with the instruments." he reported.

"So everything that was down there, is in a safe place." he assured her, before pausing.

"Except the meat room. You'll need to decide what you're taking and leaving, and I'll make sure what remains is thrown to the wilderness." he assured her.

"...never noticed how different it feels without that gateway thing down there..." Ashley commented.

"I think because we've never known this place WITHOUT it." Lindsay reasoned.

Raph and the boys watched her go, and Lindsay then turned towards the man.

"So... you really want to help her?" he asked.

"I do." Raph responded. "I have my reasons, but know that I have nothing but her safety as my sincerest concern." he promised. "And yours as well." he then added.

"Yeah." Ashley agreed with a nod.

"Will we see you again soon?" he asked.

"Soon enough." the man told him.

Raph just shook his head.

"Yeah, but I was gonna try, at least." he said.

"Regardless, that rift is the ONE thing you need to tend to before heading out." he warned. "I'll make sure this place is EMPTY by the time that crew gets here." he promised.

"Won't it still look suspicious?" Lindsay inquired.

"I'll be honest, there's no way to be 100% under the radar here." Raph told him in response. "No matter what Anya does now, she'll either be discovered, or look highly suspect." he said further.

"...so she really has to just leave here." Lindsay concluded.

"Things really aren't fair for a demon trying to just peacefully exist in this realm." Raph shrugged.

"...life doesn't seem to be fair..." Lindsay commented.

"We're living proof of that." Ashley reminded him.

"Oh... right." Lindsay responded quietly.

"Life isn't really fair, or UNfair. It just... is." Ashley then said to him, as they reached the house, and stepped inside. When they did, they saw that Raph had just finished gathering the things that they would be taking with them on the road.

He looked over towards them, and sighed.

"I'll finish up here, taking your more precious things to a secure location." he told them.

"And I am CLOSING that rift in the basement." he stressed.

"..." Lindsay was silent, and still looked skeptical... but he then sighed afterwards.

"Well... at this point, not sure we have much choice." he said. "If you trust him, and it seems like Ashley trusts him, then I will. For now." he told her. "Or, at the very least, I'll go along with this." he added.

Ashley just sighed as well, though more quietly.

"Good." he said, as the house came into view.

"...I'm going to miss this place..." he lamented softly.

Lindsay faltered a little when she said that, and slowed his pace a little, though he was still moving. Ashley noticed this, and looked over towards his brother concernedly, and hurriedly.

"Come on, we need to hurry." he told him.

"Can... can we trust mister Raphael?" Lindsay asked.

"Huh? Why?" Ashley asked in response.

"Anya is a demon... he's an angel." Lindsay replied. "Don't... don't angels have some sort of compelling nature to... stop demons or whatever?" he asked them further, which made Ashley pause a moment.

He had no idea how to answer this, without giving his brother more info than he was sure he wanted.

The boys quickly finished up packing, looked at each other, and then dashed to where they were beside her, on either side.

"What do we do about the house?" Ashley asked.

"And everything inside it?" he asked further.

"Sadly, I doubt we'll be able to do anything for them." Lindsay sighed. "Considering just how hurried she is, I get the feeling we may already be on borrowed time." he lamented.

"..." Ashley was silent, obviously not liking hearing that.

The boys paused for a moment.

"...so... so we have to leave... because of US?" Ashley asked. "If we weren't here, then you wouldn't have to leave?" he asked further.

"I think it's less that, more... we have to leave, as opposed to fight." Lindsay responded. "She said she can take them on, herself, if we weren't here." he told him. "However, even if she were to fight them, and defeat them, the odds are all-but-certain, that she would still need to leave the town, considering what would happen in the ensuing conflict." he reasoned.

"So it's because of US that, instead of fighting them and then fleeing, we are simply fleeing." he stated.

"...oh." Ash mumbled.

"Unless I read that wrong?" Lindsay then asked Anya.