"....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.

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..."

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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."