Colin's posts

"I can do that." Jaden replied, standing up.

"Where is she out there?" he asked.

"As in, general direction." he clarified.

"Because I can do whatever it is that's needed of me." he told her further.

"I'll do what I can to help."

Jaden shook his head quickly.

"No, no, it's fine." he said.

"I can help and stuff." he told her.

In truth, he'd been trying to leave for a number of nights prior, but he always stopped when he got to the front door, and then ended up sitting down on one of their couches to think it over, which ended in him being asleep.

So he guessed there was no leaving here. Not on his own volition, anyway.

"What do I need to do?" he asked.

Jaden had been looking and feeling on the antsy side ever since he'd been there. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable there, or scared of Racquel and Demitra, but... something was off, inside him.

However, when Racquel asked her question, he looked a bit confused.

"Somewhere to call my own to sleep?" he asked.

"Well... yeah, sure." he said.

"But... are you okay with my staying here that long?" he then asked her.

Jaden thought for a moment as Racquel asked if he had any questions.

"Um... can you tell me where we are?" he asked.

"Are we still in the forest I was in? Or elsewhere?" he asked her.

"Or... is that something not to be told?"

".....sure." Jaden replied.

"I suppose so. That'd be nice." he told her.

"Um..." he then mumbled, thinking for a moment.

"I'm Jaden." he introduced himself.

"But... you probably already knew that."

"Okay." she heard Jaden say in response.

About 3 or 4 minutes later, Jaden stepped out of the room, clad in the clothing he had picked out.

"These feel a lot better." he told her.

"Thank you." he said.

"And thank you for letting me sleep in that bed." he went on.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked her.

Jaden's eyes widened as he saw all the clothing.

"Oh..." he said.

"Oh, wow..." he mumbled.

He then set the tea down on a small table nearby, and started to look through all the clothing, eventually settling on a simple combination of greys and blacks, that looked about his size.

"These look like they'll fit." he commented.

"Okay." Jaden replied.

He then paused, and smelled the tea.

"...smells good." he said.

"Smells better than the times I've had it in the past." he told her.

"It's the same plant, but it seems... better, overall?" he then said, sounding a bit confused.

"It is healthier or something?" he asked.

Jaden looked at the boiling water, before accepting the drink.

"Thank you." he said.

"....do you have fire mana?" he asked her.

"Because I don't think that water was boiling when you let it out of the barrel." he commented.

"Or is it something else that heated this water?"

Jaden watched the woman head off, before slowly following her.

"I... hope Miss Demitra will be okay." he said.

"She... she saved me. Twice." he said further.

"And... she fed me, and let me sit by a warm fire." he went on.

"...she got hurt because of me..." he then mumbled.

"Let me know if you need me to do that again." he continued.

"I'm not sure if I got all the poison." he admitted.

Jaden let the shirt fall back down, covering the mark again, before turning around and looking at her.

"...that would be nice." he said.

"I've been wearing these clothes for... a while." he admitted.

"I've tried to clean them numerous times, but... just water can only go so far." he lamented, shaking his head a little, and sighing quietly.

"...safe..." he then mumbled suddenly.

"Never thought I would find a place that I could call that." he admitted.

"This means... more to me than you can ever imagine." he told the woman.

Jaden just nodded.

"Okay." was all he responded with.

He then turned around, so his back was towards her, and lifted his torn and dirty shirt. Once he did, the woman saw something extremely cruel.

His back was covered in cuts and scars, but the focal point of it all was right in the centre of his back, between his shoulder blades. It was... a mark. An emblem, one could have said. But it was one that nobody wanted to wear. It looked like a corrupted version of the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol, with small inverted pentagrams where the smaller circles should have been.

It was the mark of a dhampir. A half-breed. And with how crudely it had been 'carved' into his back, the woman could tell it had been done by a mana hunter's weapon... probably a special bladed whip of sorts. But it marked Jaden as neither human, nor vampire... and isolated him from both groups, making it easy for them to identify him... and go after him.

"This is why." he told her.

"The ones that did this to me let me go... and called out to me, saying I would never find peace in this world." he finished.

Jaden bit his lip when she asked her question.

"I..." he stammered.

"I can answer that with something to show you." he told her.

"It... it should... tell you all you need to know." he went on.

"Is there... somewhere more private to do this?" he then asked, looking around. "Or... or is it okay, here?" he asked her further.

"I just need to take off my shirt."

Jaden's eyes widened for a moment, and he covered his mouth with his hands, looking horrified.

"I..." he stammered.

"I guess I should tell you." he sighed, a sense of resignation to his tone.

"Humans. The people." he told her. "They're the first group." he said.

"And... vampires."