Colin's posts

Jaden turned around from where he was at one of the kitchen counters, and paused when he saw Bast.

"..." he was silent, processing this, as Bast stepped forward.

"Please to finally meet you, sir." he said to him. "Sebastien LeBlanc." he introduced himself, extending a hand.

That's when Jordan saw it in her father's eyes; the realisation of it all, and his previous attitude come crashing down in an instant. Almost instinctively, he reached his hand out and took Bast's.

"...Jaden Sherwood." he responded.

"Alexandre and Lilim's son, yes?" he asked.

"That's me." Bast confirmed.

And again, Jordan saw a look of 'ohhhh I am in SUCH deep trouble' in her father's eyes. He felt bad about such preconceptions about Lex's kid, and was outright intimidated by Lilim.

"Fair enough." Bast responded.

"Kitchen!" she heard her father's voice call back.

There was something to it, too. A little impatience, some trepidation, a vague hint of being unimpressed... he was preparing himself for the absolute worst. And Bast could hear it, too.

"Heh." he chuckled lightly.

"Well, ladies first." he told Jordan.

"Let's rip this bandaid off, shall we?"

Sebastien just sighed and nodded.

"All right." he replied, putting his shoulder bag and backpack down on the floor.

"Let's do this." he said.

The two of them then made their way downstairs, with Bast admiring the place. He had to admit, the home was beautiful. It was spacious, yet homey. Looked like a really comfy place to live.

"So, who else is home right now?" he asked her.

"Or is it just you, me, and your Dad?"

"..." Bast was silent, before poking his head in and looking about the bedroom. He then withdrew his head, looked at her, and nodded.

"Got it." he said.

He then jumped through the portal, landing on his feet beside her bed, and stepped out of the way so she could jump through next.

He wouldn't lie, part of him was a tad nervous for this.

He wasn't sure WHY, either. She and him weren't together. Nor would they be together.

Right?

Sebastien just sighed with a small smile when she said that.

"Yeah, fair." he admitted.

"I can't hide that fact." he said. "But what can I say? It looks good on me." he chuckled, as they got closer to the trees.

"Anyway, I'm good when you are." he then said.

"Just gimme a brief warning before you do it." he continued.

"Oh, and where, exactly, will we be landing?" he asked. "Ie: what sort of surroundings should I be expecting?" he clarified.

"Just so I can get my bearings that little bit quicker." he reasoned.

He paused briefly when she said that.

"Ohhhhhhhhh boy." he mumbled.

"THAT should be fun." he said further.

"Either it'll turn his attitude RIGHT around, or drive him further into his current attitude." he reasoned. "Depends on his thoughts about Dad and Mom, respectively." he added.

"Regardless, should be fun." he concluded.

"Does your Mom know about who my family is and such?" he asked.

Bast just laughed when she said that.

"Can't argue with that." he told her.

"And we really DO need to be careful about whether we're seen or not." he added with a small sigh.

"So." he then said.

"Is your father just SO ecstatic to meet me?" he asked he with a wry snicker.

"From what I've been able to gather, you've given him quite the mental image of me."

He took a drink of it, and his eyes widened a little.

"He really does!" he declared.

"And thankfully, all I needed to bring with me fit in overhead and personal item, so I don't need to grab any luggage from the carousel downstairs." he told her.

"As for finding a place to mana from..." he went on, thinking about it.

"We may need to do it off-premises." he suggested.

"Just so there's security evidence of us leaving." he reasoned.

Jaden looked over to Kalin, before sighing.

"Yeah." he said.

"Buuuut there's a bit of a story you're gonna want to hear." he told her, gesturing for her to come in and shut the door. "If you have the time right now, that is." he added.

----

She was waiting for another 10 minutes or so, before she heard the announcement that the plane she was waiting for had landed... and then she was waiting for another 15 minutes more, before she noticed that people were finally starting to trickle into the airport from the plane. After another few minutes, she saw Sebastien walking out with the others, looking around, scanning for her.

She waved to him, and he saw her, making a detour right to where she was.

"Welp, here I am." he said.

"Flying can be such a pain at times." he mumbled. "But regardless, I'm here." he added with a smile.

And now Jaden was conflicted. She could see it.

He turned away and looked to be mentally wrestling with himself, before growling slightly.

"Moving. On." he said.

He then cleared his throat, loudly, and opened the mini-fridge that was beside him. Inside were a variety of drinks... but there were bottles of lemonade that stood out to her.

"Grab something to drink if you like." he told her.

"I'll bet you're probably feeling a bit parched."

At that point, she almost could SEE the switch in his mind get flipped to hard 'Dad Mode'.

And he looked at her sharply.

"We'll just SEE about that." he told her.

"I fully intend to see whoever this is that thinks he's got a free pass to corrupt you." he told her further.

"As your father, it's my job to protect you from the evils of this world, and the other worlds as well." he continued.

"And I'll let myself be eradicated from existence before I let my daughter be dragged down to Hell, whether metaphorically or literally." he warned.

He just smiled softly.

"I can't tell you what to enjoy and what not to." he told her.

"Just please don't turn out like my fanbase." he then pleaded.

"PLEASE. I can only deal with those kinds of people for so long." he continued. "I used to be able to tolerate it, but as I've gotten older, their superficial emo pain and goth darkness just grate on my nerves." he went on.

"It's only because of Lindsay and the mindfulness and calming mental exercises he taught me that I can get through non-show public appearances now." he then admitted to her.

"...that being said, they genuinely enjoy my shows, and I'm happy to give them those moments of happiness in their lives." he added, his tone sincere. "And those that genuinely find some solace in my shows from what may be a genuinely low point in their lives make it all worthwhile for me."

Jaden nodded.

"That's good." he said.

"I admit, I'm surprised." he told her.

"I figured you would have gone the way Darryl did when he got older, and just didn't want to see them any longer." he continued.

"Not that I blame him." he continued.

"...eventually all children want to distance themselves from their parents." he said quietly with a small sigh.

Again, he sighed.

"I know." he told her.

"I ought to get a mana checkup, just to be safe." he agreed. "I'll schedule one ASAP." he assured her.

"...well, aside from those little... whatever the hell they were... seems it went well." he admitted.

"Crowd seemed to love it, and I noticed more activity for the bar and such. Guess these kinds of shows are worth it." he reasoned.

"How about you?" he asked.

"You have fun? Aside from... well... that?" he asked her, gesturing to her hand.