Colin's posts

If Jaden hadn't been sitting, he would have fallen to the floor. Hell, he almost lost his seat as it was, he recoiled so strongly. His lip quivered slightly, he was shaking a little, as he seemed to be completely dumbfounded now.

"P-P-Preg...nant...?" he finally asked. "You... you're sure?" he asked further. Desiree just gave him a look of 'really...?', which caused him to clear his throat and compose himself a little more.

"Right, you would be." he answered himself.

"But... but... how?" he asked. "I mean, I know HOW, obviously..." he went on, getting a bit flustered now. "But... the odds..." he continued. "It's so improbable." he stated.

"...heh." he then chuckled, a small smile on his face now.

"How far?" he asked. "You don't look it at all." he commented.

"It's not your bank account, is it?" Jaden asked.

"No." Desiree replied. "Not in any way shape or form." she assured him.

Jaden was silent again for a moment when she answered, before just shaking his head, sighing heavily, hanging his head for another moment, and then looking back at her with a smirk.

"Then you know what? I lied earlier." he said.

"Go ahead and blow my mind with ANOTHER bombshell." he told her. "Though, if it's not your bank account, I fail to see what could be considered 'another bombshell' after THIS reveal." he admitted. "However... I am far too curious for my own good. So even if I was still more staunch in my previous statement about no more mindblowers... I'd crumble. I'd wanna know." he then said with a laugh.

"Have at it."

"...." Jaden didn't know what to say to that, immediately.

"I.... hmmmm." he mumbled. "I admit, I DO like the suite we have in the tower..." he admitted. "But... well... perhaps an actual house WOULD be nice to have..." he went on.

"I mean, the place doesn't really hold any special meaning for me. I've made memories there, sure, a lot with you..." he continued. "But it's not like it's been in my family or anything. It's an apartment." he chuckled.

"So if you think you might want to find a bigger place, like a house or something, I'm all for it." he assured her.

"...also, don't tell me the number. Not yet." he then said. "I've had my mind blown enough for one night, methinks." he smirked. "But suffice to say, we can definitely start looking for another place somewhere." he reiterated with a thumbs-up.

"But only if YOU want to find a new place, too." he stressed.

Jaden was silent, before sitting beside her.

"Desiree." he said. "When I fell in love with you, I promised myself that I would be with you, stick by you, no matter what." he revealed. "And when you reciprocated that love, that only strengthened my resolve." he went on.

"The only way I am not going to be with you through this, is if you push me away. And I mean SERIOUSLY push me away." he assured her.

"For better or worse, richer or poorer, ups and downs, whatever. I am going to deal with this as YOU deal with this." he promised her further.

"So. Desiree. Let us do this thing." he said. "With pride, with dignity... like the power couple we now are." he added with a small smirk. "Let's show these paparazzi that they don't scare us."

"Hm." Jaden mumbled.

"Well, for starters, don't you worry about me." he told her. "I've been in the spotlight before. I've been demonised by tabloids and such, and all that good stuff." he said dismissively.

"But this is a different situation, really." Desiree countered.

"...fair." Jaden admitted.

"Well, only one way to find out." he then said further with a small smirk.

"I certainly hope you can continue your shows, though." he then added.

Jaden nodded.

"Yeah. I do." he said. "You OWN this company, this empire. You're the CEO. You... the benefits you'll receive, the MONEY you'll get... I... I can barely fathom it." he went on, before pausing.

"Wait." he muttered. "I guess this means that you're the primary breadwinner of the household now." he realised.

"By a loooooooong shot." he added with a chuckle.

"Hell of an upgrade." he laughed. "So... wait, how are things going to change... uh... for your life, in terms of work and such?" he asked. "You gonna be a hands-on or hands-off type?" he asked further.

"What all it going to be required of you as CEO/owner?"

"I see." Jaden responded.

"Well, I won't tell anyone." he told her. "I'm willing to bet you kept this information secret for a very good reason, so... I shall not spread it, now that -I- know it." he promised.

He then paused for a moment, thinking about something.

"Is... this what he meant by you would get what's coming to you?" he asked.

"Did... did he have a moment of non-corrupted clarity before he died...?" he went on, looking around again, and then focusing on Desiree. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"...wow, holy shit, you look even more gorgeous than usual in that dress, in this moonlight." he stated bluntly, in an abrupt topic change.

"Sorry, that just... literally hit my brain." he apologised.

Jaden put a hand to the side of his head, as he came to terms with what she had just told him. It seemed... surreal. A big part of his worldview was now proved to be... wrong. He'd always thought that Deryck has just been rotten from the beginning, but now he'd learned that nothing could have been further from the truth. His mother had ruined him, corrupted him to the core. Or at least... tried to, anyway. Seems she succeeded, but Deryck had managed one last bit of subterfuge before he was too far gone. And that blew Jaden's mind.

"I... wow..." he said.

"I guess... the saying really IS true." he muttered. "Monsters aren't born; they're created." he said further, before looking at Desiree again.

"...I feel... kinda like an asshole now." he admitted. "But... I mean... did anyone else know about this side of Deryck?" he asked her. "Or does anyone else know currently?" he asked further.

"...Marcus aside." he quickly clarified. "Pretty sure he's a given and doesn't count here..." he mumbled.

Jaden looked... EXTREMLY skeptical as to what she was saying, and looked ready to snap... before he just sighed. Heavily. He had a bit of a defeated look to his eyes, and just slumped forward some.

"I want to argue that." he said.

"But I can't." he admitted. "The fact that Marcus was in there as a blockade against him makes the story SO much more believable." he admitted, before looking around.

"But... I mean... he was that sort of guy?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, but I've cultivated the image of a man that NEVER liked you. ALWAYS made things miserable for you. But now THIS happens?" he asked. "That doesn't fit in with my mental picture of him." he admitted.

"Was that picture... wrong?" he asked.

"Because this really seems... fishy... for the man I came to know and despise."

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."

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."

"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, 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.

"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.