Again, Jaden was confused. More so than ever, now. She'd mentioned his clothing was hanging on the door of the bathroom, and his shoes were on the counter. She was already off to the bedroom by the time he found his voice.

"...wha...?" he muttered.

He then just shrugged and shook his head, before heading to the counter, and looking at the shoes.

'...these are premium brand...' he thought, then heading to the bathroom. He checked the door and noticed that their was a gorgeous black and red suit on it. One that would compliment him perfectly, but one that he could tell would have been... borderline prohibitively expensive for her.

"The hell...!?" he wondered, but realised that he would get NO answers until later.

So, 45 minutes later, he was showered up, his hair was dried, and he made his way to the bedroom with his new clothing and shoes.

"Well... you're right about inevitable questions." he told Desiree, tucking his long hair into his black woolen beanie hat.

This was just a new layer of confusion for Jaden. Granted, he knew his current hat was older, fraying, and a little threadbare in certain places, but it wasn't THAT bad, was it? And he was going to need it for where they were going?

"Uh... right..." he said.

He then left and check on said hat, only to find that it was as she said. Like his current, but overall nicer, with beautiful decorative embroidery. He raised an eyebrow, taking his hat off and allowing his long golden locks to cascade down his back, before getting the new hat and using his mana to enchant it, allowing his hair to seemingly collapse inside it as he put it on.

"Love that little hair portal I made." he chuckled, making sure the hat was on properly. He then proceeded to get ready with his new shoes and clothing, before going back into the bedroom and looking in the full-length mirror they had there.

"...damn..." he muttered. "Never looked THIS swanky before..." he admitted.

Jaden's eyes widened, and his face flushed a little as he saw Desiree slip into the dress and make her way over, asking for help with the zipper. He seemed stunned for a moment, but then shook his head lightly and composed himself, before aiding her in her request. He pulled the zipper up, and stopped when he got near the top, seeing the logo of the company on the zipper. Before Desiree could say anything, he finished the job, and looked at his suit, seeing the same marking on the front pocket of the jacket.

"...what the...?" he muttered.

"Wait, this looks..." he said further, trying to wrack his brain.

"Oh, what's the designer company...?" he wondered.

"Point is, Desiree, isn't this stuff WAY above our pay grade?" he then asked.

"Where'd these come from?"

Jaden, now utterly bewildered, made his way back to the den, and sat down on the couch. As he did so, he wondered what in the ever-living HELL Desiree was on about, and what was going on.

These nice clothes? Not their thing. Mostly because it was so expensive. And what was this about HIS pay grade? She made less than him. But suddenly these were affordable for her? And when did she get the sleeker and smaller hearing aids? Had she ever used them before?

The questions raced through his mind, before he just leaned forward and massaged his temples.

"Ngh." he grunted.

"I had BETTER get some answers tonight." was all he said to himself.

Jaden looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah..." he said. "Yeah, I'm ready to go." he told her, standing back up and smoothing out his new suit. He made sure it was all straightened up, before noticing the branding again; the symbol on the pocket, that was also on Desiree's dress. It had been familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He'd seen it before, he was sure, but it was barely escaping him. He didn't pay too close attention to the fashion world, but he had picked up information though osmosis over his lifetime, and the fact that this was evading him as it was, was starting to irritate him.

"Anyway, let's... let's go to wherever you need to go." he told her.

"..." he was then silent, before thinking hard.

"Wait." he said. "Ohhh, I recognise this brand, I know it." he stated, wracking his brain now. "Future Vogue!" he then exclaimed, snapping his fingers.

And he wasn't... wrong. But he wasn't right. The REAL name of the company was simply Mariana's, but 'Future Vogue' was an unofficial nickname that many had given to it, based purely on how the company would always seem to set the trends for the fashion industry. Whatever they designed would be what was 'in', hence the nickname.

"Wait, what?" Jaden asked.

"Mana suppression clothing?" he asked her. "I... well, that IS new, I admit. Haven't heard of THAT before." he admitted further.

"Also, I was right?" he asked. "Huh, nice." he said. "I mean, some of the people I've met and hobnobbed with have said it a few times, but... well, all I know is the name and the emblem." he told her.

"I know jack about the company itself, other than it's stupid-expensive." he continued.

"And... yeah, we shall. Let's go to... wherever, I guess." he finished, wondering how SHE knew of the company, and seemingly so much of it. She seemed even less into fashion than he was.

And his confusion was still apparently, but he remained silent. He figured the answers would come in due time.

Jaden, meanwhile, was... overwhelmed and overloaded. She could see that.

"Wh... wh... wh..." he stammered.

"Where... where ARE we!?" he asked her. "This place looks fancier than any place I've ever been to!" he told her. "So much clothing. And the photos? And magazines?" he went on, looking at the gem and becoming fixated on it.

"Ohhhhhh wow..." he murmured, stepping closer towards it, and then looked at Desiree.

"Wait, why do I feel like I'm surrounded by Mana Hunters?" he then asked her.

"Ow... ow, my head..." he then groaned, instinctively sitting in one of the chairs at the conference table.

"Barriers?" Jaden asked. "The ones my sense of smell get through?" he asked further. "Or... I just..." he stammered, not even sure what to make of everything right now.

It seemed he had been able to smell something he wasn't supposed to? Was that bad? Had he messed up? He still had so many questions, and she had not answered ANY of them. In fact, she'd asked her OWN question.

"Am I all right?" he asked.

"I don't know." he said. "I don't know where I am, what's going on, why we're HERE, wherever this is..." he listed off, before just looking at the gem and sighing heavily.

"Right, you said to touch it." he mumbled, reaching forward and doing as he was told, the gem taking some of his mana, and causing his hand to have the 'pins and needles' sensation.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, pausing again and looking at her.

"...did you you say 25 stories?"

Jaden was silent as she got up, and he followed suit. The two made their way to the stairs, and he stopped again.

"Hold up..." he said.

"YOUR company?" he asked. "This... this is yours?" he asked her, as they began to ascend.

"Desiree, what's... please. Tell me what's going on." he said to her. "All this is overwhelming. Immensely." he told her. "I don't know what is happening. I mean, I sorta do, but I can't reconcile it." he clarified.

"So... can you try and make a poor confused Dhampir understand?" he asked.

"...other than you apparently being a rich-bitch now."

Jaden's jaw almost dropped when he heard that. He could only stare art her blankly for close to 10 seconds, before he finally managed to blink, and somewhat bring himself to reality once more. He started to piece it together slowly. The first was recalling her mother's name, as it hadn't been mentioned much. Secondly, the fact that she had been THE Mariana Niell. Then came how this had been her brother's company after her passing. Those were easy enough to get to, and past. They made sense, he understood the words, and comprehended them.

But then came her brother, Deryck, leaving the company to her.

"No. No, no, no, no." he said. "Hold on, wait, no." he repeated.

"Your BROTHER... left this company... to YOU?" he asked her.

She nodded slowly in response.

"Bu... wha... I... tha..." Jaden then stammered. "That... that makes no sense." he said. "He did everything to make your life miserable, made countless attempts on your life." he commented.

"WHY would he do something like this? That... that seems so out of character for him."