Jaden just laughed a little.

"Means I can still get away with my act." he told her.

"Even mages, while knowing mana is involved, usually don't go to portal magic as an answer." he explained.

"SO much fun." he then snickered.

"Anyway, what do I recommend?" he asked.

"Well, their mushroom carbonara is amazing." he said. "They have a really good penne bake." he went on.

"And yes, their spaghetti and lasagne are both good as well." he then told her.

"Basically, anything on that menu is good, but what I mentioned really stand out."

"Cool." Jaden replied.

"Mushroom it is." he said, accepting the menu.

"As for me, I'll probably get the spaghetti. Simple and good." he told her.

"Want any sides?" he asked.

"Garlic bread, or anything else?" he asked further.

"Oh, and drinks?"

".........." Jaden was silent as Desiree said what she did.

"Wha...?" he asked.

"I... I didn't make my offer, thinking you had to pay for it." he said.

"That would have been... kinda dickish of me, to be honest..." he admitted.

"..." he then paused for a moment, and sighed.

"But I get the distinct feeling I'm not going to win this argument." he said. "Am I?" he asked her.

He then grabbed a small notepad and pen, and wrote his email address on it, lightly tossing it towards her.

Jaden caught it and put it pack on the little table, before shaking his head.

"All right." he said.

"I won't argue." he muttered.

With that, he proceeded to make the order, getting some extras, like sides and desserts and drinks, before hanging up the phone and sighing quietly.

"It'll be here within an hour." he told her.

"Anyway." he then said.

"What made you want to be a magician in the first place?" he asked, making conversation.

Jaden was silent for a moment... before sighing quietly.

"I... yeah, I think I can understand that." he said.

"It... really sucks that you had to... well... learn that there's nothing wrong with being a mage." he then commented.

"But at least you did learn." he reasoned.

"And it's really cool that being a magician helped with that."

Jaden nodded.

"Yeah, that makes sense." he said.

"And yeah, it seems things really have worked out for you and your mana." he commented.

"Good. That's good." he went on.

He then paused for a moment, thinking about something.

"So, uh..." he stammered.

"You like movies?" he asked.

"We can watch one while we wait for the food."

Jaden was silent for another moment, almost processing what she had just told him.

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

"Wow." he said. "I was NOT expecting that answer." he admitted.

"And I like horror as well, though I tend to gravitate towards more psychological ones." he told her.

"But a good bad-slasher movie is always something I can appreciate." he then added with a small chuckle.

"I'll see what's playing." he said, turning on the TV.

"That channel... ScareTV, I think?... always has something playing."

"I'll say." Jaden responded.

"I never would have expected it." he told her.

"Ah, here we go." he said.

"ScareTV has... well, it's a half-hour into 'Return of the Swamp Stabber'." he commented. "And... ScareTV-2 has 'Keep Quiet' coming on in about 12 minutes or so." he told her.

"Got a preference?" he asked.

"100% agree." Jaden replied.

He turned it to the channel, and what they saw was someone apparently getting jumped by someone hiding behind a tree... and then credits.

"...ah." he said.

"They really wanted a sequel, so they sequel-baited." he muttered.

"And it never happened." he went on.

"Shame. Was a decent movie overall. Looks like we saw the last second of it before the credits." he laughed.

"I know, right?" Jaden responded.

"I mean, they clearly had him fall into a trash compacter. And it was never shown that he had supernatural abilities or anything like that, he was just some dude." he went on.

"And then they pull this, showing massive injuries?" he went on.

"Yeah, no." he said.

"Odds are they would've pulled the whole 'gotcha, it was Satan, OOoOOoOOOoo' bunk."