[b][i]Ashton Andrews[/i][/b]

Ashton froze, realizing that he screwed up badly. Flashes of being ran through by Mono's troops filled his memory, and he knew he was going to die again. [i]On second thought, bad idea to be a control freak. Very bad idea. I should not have done that. And now I endanger the people around me -[/i]

Then, opportunity came as a Cat Demi-Human went up to him and offered to buy his 'magical device', and the young man said quickly, "Here's the deal; get us away from here and onto a safe place, and you can have it! What do you think?"

He was gambling on whether the Cat had fighting skills well as money, gambling that said fighting skills matched that adventurer, gambling that that cat didn't actually care about 'Cultists'. Ashton Andrews was also gambling that he was in the right this time.

And yes, he had noticed Aaron's renewed attempt to plead for mercy. On seeing that, Ashton really wanted to take back his offer to the Catboy and change his course of action. But then he remembered how pleading for clemency had failed before, and this memory was coupled with the practical realization that the small adventurer would never believe that the device didn't run on Magic; science was hard to explain to people who didn't have that as part of their curriculum. That said, at least there [i]was[/i] a curriculum and literacy was reasonably widespread, judging from the many shop signs in the city. Enough tangents; time to see if his plan worked.

He faced Kimura, admiring the other boy's bravery in trusting the authorities. He then turned again to the Catboy, "Make sure to take my friends as well and I'll teach you how to use it."