Colin's posts

He looked at her hand and sighed again.

"We'll have Rene take a look, just to be safe." he said.

"And I don't know what happened there." he told her. "I have better control of my mana than that, and I don't think I can even create portals with THAT level of power." he went on.

"...hmmm." he then mumbled.

"Kalin was mentioning there being a 'tingly' feeling in the atmosphere earlier..." he recalled.

"I wonder if that's connected..."

"....well..." Jaden muttered in response, before thinking about it.

"I'm fine." he told her.

"Which is to say, I'm not hurt or anything. So that's good. And the crowd didn't seem to notice, to THAT'S a relief." he went on.

"But... I've never seen a portal act like that before." he admitted. "It was strong. TOO strong." he continued. "It was as though it just wanted to suck up everything that was near it. The sword... and ME." he went on.

"It was all I could do to just keep the sword where it was... and I know I have YOU to thank for allowing me to continue on without it getting bad." he said further.

"But still... that was unnerving. And a little on the frightening side." he admitted.

"Anyway, do you need medical attention?" he asked her.

"Enter!" she heard his voice call out.

She opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her, and Jaden looked to her, a worried expression in his eyes.

"Jordan!" he exclaimed.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I... I could smell the blood coming from where you were." he said. "It was... well, I could smell a lot of it, shall we say." he muttered.

"But are you okay?" he asked again.

The rest of the show went off without a hitch, it seemed, save for another incident where a portal seemed to be too strong, but he had been able to compensate for it, and she hadn't needed to intervene. The crowd loved it, as they always did, and when he gave his final bow, they cheered and hooted and shouted. As he started to disappear back stage, Jordan saw him look at her, and she saw the concern in his eyes.

Even if he hadn't known that she'd helped him, she was sure he could smell her blood. And even if she would stop bleeding relatively quickly, however, a slice was a slice, and it had bled a decent amount.

She knew he was worried about her.

And he was. He made his way back to the dressing room, and just paced a bit. He couldn't go out and see her, as the crowd would be wild and ravenous, so he had to wait there for her to show up.

"...what happened back there...?" he asked himself.

'And is Jordan okay...?' he wondered further.

He watched her go, and nodded to himself.

"All right, Jaden... let's do this." he told his reflection.

He then grabbed his case of swords, and left the dressing room, as the announcer started to speak to the crowd, and they were all revving up and cheering loudly.

At her table, Jordan could see how excited they all were, and watched as the curtains rose, the blackness remained, and then the mood lighting shone, slowly illuminating Jaden, as he stood there with one of his favourite katanas in his hand.

He looked confident, he looked almost imposing, he looked indifferent and cold, it was like he was a different person entirely up on that stage. As though a doppelganger had somehow taken her father's place in the little time she hadn't seen him since they parted ways at Kalin's club.

He then pointed the blade out towards the crowd and spouted some dark words about life and swords... that she knew he didn't mean, but he sold it. Every single time, he sold it. He was more than a magician... he was an actor.

And the show went on, splendidly for the first bit, but when he 'stabbed' himself with one of his swords, Jordan noticed something. It was slight, but it was there. And she only noticed it because she knew him. Perhaps Kalin saw it too if she was paying attention.

She saw the hand that was holding the handle of the sword was shaking a little... and his expression was strained. It was as though he was.... fighting something. Which was when she noticed that it seemed like he was using all of his might to try and pull the sword back out of the portal he had created on himself, and the strength of it seemed like it threatened to not only pull the blade through it entirely... but Jaden, as well.

He raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"Tingly?" he asked.

"...must be a high-energy crowd or something." he said.

"Well, all the better, then!" he then reasoned, before getting to his feet and nodding to her.

"Oh, by the way." he then said.

"If Jordan wants some alcohol... I won't say anything if you won't. It'll be okay. Just one. For tonight." he said further with a wink... but showing her JUST how naïve he was to his daughter's activities.

Jaden recoiled for a moment, before looking at her and smiling after a pause.

"...thanks, Kalin." he said.

"I guess I'm a little predictable." he admitted.

He then looked back in the mirror again, straightening his hat and making sure his bangs were out of his eyes.

"Right then!" he then said, sounding more chipper.

"Let's get this a-rollin'!" he told her.

"Let's give 'em a good show!"

Jaden had been staring at himself blankly in the mirror when she asked her question, but snapped to attention immediately, clearing his throat and nodding.

"I'm good." he told her.

"You go do what you need to." he said.

"Hopefully this crowd isn't a rowdy one." he commented further, before looking over himself once again in the mirror.

He wondered... how long could he keep this up?

When would he need to retire due to 'old age'? Or what excuse would he need to give so that he could bow out without people getting suspicious of his seemingly eternal youth?

"Not really." Jaden replied.

"Just be careful." he told her.

"Try not to get too involved in the ones that are obsessed." he said further.

"Don't need some sort of brawl or incident breaking out in Kalin's club." he reasoned.

He then grabbed his phone and sent Kalin a text, letting her know Jordan would be accompanying him for his show.

"We'll see if Kalin can get the arrangements done. She's far better at it than I am."

Jaden just waved his arm, and a portal appeared above her, dropping a small satchel in her arms. Inside were 5 VIP passes.

"Grab one." he said.

"Just toss the satchel on the couch after." he told her.

"I'll make arrangements so you fly out with me." he continued.

"And hotel arrangements, too." he added.

"Make sure you have things packed and ready. But really, it'll be considered 'overnight'." he finished.

"Yep." Jaden responded.

"Was convinced that your mother was 'a devil', and that she was 'sent to interfere with God's plan to bring myself and her together'." he went on.

"..." he was then silent for a moment, and shook his head.

"She legit planned to remove Desiree from the equation." he continued.

"And apparently she had some kind of 'love potion' that she was going to use on me to make me 'realise my destiny with her'." he said further.

"It was checked out after she was stopped, and it was pretty much a mind-control concoction. So, scary stuff."

"Saturday morning." Jaden responded. "Back again on Monday morning." he told her. "It's meant to be a 'limited time special' sort of thing to help generate more revenue." he said further.

"Or... well, to put it another way, marketing." he added with a very small smirk.

"And sure." he then said.

"If you want." he told her.

"I have some VIP passes if you want one." he continued.

"They almost never get fully used anyway, as so many of the people that would want them are creepy and stalker-ish." he added bluntly.

"...." Jaden was silent again, pondering her responses.

And thinking about what he had said recently.

And also thinking about what Darryl had commented not a few minutes ago.

He then sighed, and searched his memory for an answer to her question.

"Sunday." he told her.

"Kalin's club." he went on.

"Why?" he asked.

Jaden was silent, before sighing.

"Whatever works." he told her.

He was then silent again, before looking right at her.

"As for how long, ask your mother." he went on.

"We can convert the gym room to a guest room, but that would take a lot of work." he muttered further.

"So might as well be your room. It's clear you've already gotten close to him, in secret."