Colin's posts

"Suit yourself." Ryker said to him.

With that, Eke saw the familiar black aura surround Ryker, signalling the change in control.

"Competently done." the other Ryker told Eke.

"Reckless, but competent." he went on.

"Regardless, feel free to collapse wherever." he finished, as the shack came into sight, and Ryker picked up his pace.

Jaden's jaw almost dropped when he heard that.

"The... MORTAL adoption system?" he asked.

"Good Emelie Almighty, we're lucky you didn't turn into some raging hunter, blindly killing anything and everything that wasn't mortal." he commented.

"Just... the absolute fortuitous coincidence of being adopted by mages in that system." he then muttered.

Darrel then sighed, and shook his head.

"So...." he muttered.

"What do you do?" he asked Abby.

"Where are you at in life?"

Jaden crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at Abby.

"....two hunter lines." he said.

"One from the Judgemental Eye, and the other of the Silver Tongue..." he went on.

"...Discerning Eye..." Darrel corrected him quietly.

"Both are correct, one's just more commonly used." Jaden told his son in a bit of a blunt tone.

"Regardless, it seems you were truly born to hunt those like us down." he said to Abby.

"...but... she hasn't..." Darrel started to protest, causing Jaden to merely sigh.

"Indeed, which makes it even more impressive that she hasn't actually done anything, despite having had a number of opportunities." he commented.

"Yeah, wasn't making a comment about that." Ryker responded flatly.

"Wasn't even saying it was impressive for you." he continued. "I was saying it was impressive overall." he said further.

"Doing something like that after blood loss is a feat." he went on, as he started to walk ahead of Eke.

"I don't care if you're strong, I don't care if you're frail, when something is impressive, it's impressive. That is all. Nothing more. Nothing less." he finished.

He then started to pick up the pace, exhaling loudly through his nose, as the sky began to severely darken.

"I'll be giving control to the 'other me' when we get back." he finished, giving a heads-up to Eke.

Jaden raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"Eh?" he muttered.

"You're not?" Darrel asked.

"But that doesn't make sense." he said.

"I can clearly sense-" he started to go on, before Jaden cleared his throat, interrupting him.

"Wait." he mumbled.

"What... part of what Desiree said is untrue?" he asked.

"The 'hunter' part... or the 'half' part?"

".....hm, I see." Jaden replied.

'I don't seem to sense any mana within her.' he thought to himself.

'At least, if she has any, it's foreign to my own senses...' he went on.

'But... why are my vampiric instincts sending out danger signals?' he then wondered.

He snuck a quick look at Darrel, and he could see that his son was feeling a little on the anxious side as well. As though he could sense it, too... but he didn't seem to be as bothered by it as Jaden.

"Well, fair enough, I suppose..." Jaden then muttered further.

Ryker pursed his lips a little.

".......can't argue THAT..." he admitted.

"Can't argue that it worked, either." he went on.

"I guess I'll just be happy we succeeded, and that you weren't hurt." he continued.

"Especially in your state of... well... blood-loss, essentially." he then commented.

"Seriously. That was hella impressive."

".................I see." Jaden replied after a pregnant pause.

"Dad?" Darrel asked, sounding very concerned.

"It's fine." was all Jaden said in response.

"But all right then." he went on, before looking at Abigail.

"What do you know about your mother?" he asked.

"Other than how to have exactly found her." he then added.

"This explains it." Jaden said.

"Now..." he muttered, looking at Desiree.

"Might I be so bold as to how this happened?" he asked.

"What sort of... series of events that led to this young woman coming into existence?" he asked further, gesturing to Abigail.

"...is this really something to be talking about right now?" Darrel then inquired.

"Yes." Jaden responded.

"It may be uncomfortable, but it IS important backstory."

Ryker smirked subtly.

"Heh. Fair enough." he said.

"I can understand that." he said further.

He then got up and held the leaf under his arm.

"Ya did pretty good, there." he went on.

"One scratch from 'em would have meant BIG trouble for you."

Eke snapped through the stalk easily, and the snapping head of the plant fell to the ground, twitching, but lifeless.

"......." Ryker was silent as he witnessed this, before looking at Eke.

"All right, we're done here." he said.

"Watch out, though, the other heads are still snapping at you." he then warned, though it seemed like Eke was JUST out of range for them.

"Geez, this things mouth protrusions almost look like teeth." he mumbled, looking at the severed head beside him.

"Extremely." Jaden agreed.

"Such connections are... exceedingly well-informed, and potentially tell us that none of us are truly safe." he said further.

"....sounds like you're being dramatic, Dad." Darrel commented.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Jaden responded. "But what we DO know is that it seems Desiree has a daughter, and she was found by her somehow." he went on.

"...and... all this is news to you, right?" Darrel then asked him.

"Yes." Jaden confirmed.

"Hell, as far as I was led to believe, I was Desiree's first-" he went on, before Darrel quickly spoke.

"AH-AH-AH DON'T NEED TO HEAR THAT." he interrupted.

Both Jaden and Darrel were seemingly stunned, frozen in shock.

However, Darrel shook his head a little, and broke the silence.

"S-sister?" he finally asked.

"....wait..." he then muttered.

"I thought you said that I was an only child." he said to Desiree.

"You are." Jaden said, finding his voice.

"At least, I was led to believe that..." he then clarified quietly.

"..................." Jaden and Darrel were silent for a moment, before Jaden put the phone away.

The former then sighed, shaking his head.

"Right." he said.

"Darrel. Come on." he told his son.

Darrel just sighed and nodded, before the two of them made their way inside the dressing room.

"Well... here we are." Darrel said, trying to break the ice a bit.