Colin's posts

Before Jaden could really say anything, Kalin left.

He then sighed, and collapsed into a comfy chair that was in the room.

"...she scares me sometimes." he said.

"She can really scare some sense into people and calm any situation. Usually with implied force." he went on.

He then extended his arm to another comfortable chair across from him.

"Have a seat." he offered.

Jaden just shook his head.

"The problem isn't with you." he said.

"I... well... no. No, I'm pretty sure the problem's with me." he said further.

"...." he was then silent, and shook his head some.

"Look, it's clear that I made a horrible first impression." he then went on. "...to massively understate it..." he said further, scratching the back of his head.

"Maybe... I can get a second chance to make a first impression at some point?" he asked.

Jaden raised an eyebrow.

"I would imagine so." he said.

"Those look to be expensive headphones." he told her.

"But surely this Leo would understand." he went on.

"The circumstances were... well... extenuating." he reasoned. "Surely you can't be blamed for that, due to your life being in danger." he went on.

"But I don't know this person, so.... yeah." he shrugged.

"Regardless, they don't look to be TOO damaged." he then added.

"......" Jaden was silent for another moment, and then sighed.

"Har, har, har." he muttered.

"And yes, it has to be you, then." he said to Desiree.

"I mean, I remember stalking some asshole that was going after a young woman." he went on.

"He was about to kill her, but I killed him before he could." he continued.

"And then the woman... you... disappeared, leaving your headphones behind." he said further.

"I hung onto them, because otherwise some crack-head would try and pawn them off for chump change."

Jaden put his arms up defensively, and put his palms out towards them.

"Woah, woah, woah!" he said.

"I get it, I get it!" he told Kalin.

"Holy cow, I get it, already. I'll calm down." he promised, as he got to his feet.

"Jeez, I'm sorry..." he grumbled, brushing himself off and straightening his hat some, making sure his bangs were out of the way of his face in the process.

"I'll listen." he added, fear still in his tone... but it was a different kind of fear. It was more of a fear akin to a child being scolded by a parent... and he knew that all too well. When Kalin was angry with him, she and his mother became VERY similar.

And he did NOT want a situation like that to occur.

"So... you're NOT the one that I saved the other night?" he asked Desiree.

Jaden had been panicking internally, wondering what he was to do now.

He was frightened, before him was someone that would be considered an enemy, and it seemed that Kalin was officially collaborating with her.

He closed his eyes and awaited his fate, before he heard the interaction between the two of them. This caused him to open one of his eyes, and look at the pair of females.

"....eh?" he muttered.

"I'm... confused." he said.

"Hold on, YOU'RE the one from a couple of nights ago?" he then asked Desiree.

"Eh?" Jaden replied.

"Wait, you head-" he started to say, turning around... and then freezing when he saw her.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, falling on his ass.

"Yes! Sure! Go ahead!" he exclaimed.

"If they're yours, take them!" he told her.

He then threw a black blob at the wall beside him, which formed a hole in said wall, before starting to race towards it.

Jaden, meanwhile, had just managed to calm himself down, and had been looking at the pair of headphones from the other night.

"Hm?" he muttered.

"Door's unlocked!" he called to Kalin.

"Come on in!" he said, setting the headphones down in front of him.

He then got up, took a few breaths, and made his way to a trunk that was behind him. His back to the door, he got down on one knee and started rummaging through it.

"Mm." he mumbled.

"Where the hell IS it...?" he asked.

Jaden continued his performance, shocking the new people and impressing everyone as usual. He finished it off with several daggers being thrown above him, and all of them landing blades down in his head.

After a few seconds of them being there, he took them out and gave his usual small bow at the end of every performance.

Once he did that, he went with a lighter audience interaction, choosing to lean down by those in the front rows and slap some hands, allow others to shake his hand, that sort of thing.

After that, he did what he always did when he went lighter on the audience interaction, and threw several handfuls of autographed photos in front of a large fan, blowing them out to the entirety of the audience.

While they were all trying to get a photo, Jaden started to sweat more heavily, as he felt the presence of the eye once more, and quickly retreated to his dressing room backstage, where he shut the door and sat down in the chair in front of the large mirror, taking deep breaths and composing himself.

Jaden watched her go, and smirked when she disappeared.

"Indeed." he replied.

"Heh." he then chuckled, as he turned on his collar mic, and the curtains rose, and the lights illuminated him and his sword.

"....well then..." he said, looking around.

"I suppose many of you are wondering what it is that I do." he commented. "And I can see that a lot of you have looks that are telling me to 'impress you'." he said further.

"You're all judging me. And I can't stand it." he went on, his voice flat.

"So I guess I'll just have to make it so that I don't have to deal with the judging." he finished... before promptly plunging the blade straight through his throat.

Jaden nodded again.

"Right." he replied.

"I just need to concentrate on the show." he said further.

"Need to make it good, after all." he reasoned, picking up a sword and twirling it in his hand.

"Need to shock the newbies." he smirked.

"I love seeing them freak out."

Jaden was silent as Kalin said all she did, and then sighed.

She was right, and he knew it.

"Yeah." he said.

"Yeah, you're right." he admitted.

"I just need to calm down. Just need to breathe." he muttered.

He then put his hand on his chest, and started up his usual breathing exercises. He couldn't be nervous. Not with the kinds of shows HE did. That was the difference between life and death for him.

"Yes. Yes, it is pure." Jaden responded.

"But... but there's... there's more to it than that." he said.

"I... Kalin, the Eye is out there." he went on.

"The Evil-Seeing Eye." he continued.

"There's someone out there with that eye, Kalin." he reiterated, before shaking his head once more.

"I... I barely saw it. But I KNOW it's there." he finished, sweat starting to pour down his face now.

Jaden just shook his head again.

"Kalin... in... in the crowd." he said.

"I... I felt it." he told her.

"Come to think of it, I felt it before, but I was too distracted to notice." he then went on, seeming to go off on a bit of a tangent.

"There's strong mana out there." he then said further, bringing the topic back to the present.

"Mana that... well... isn't nice for someone like me." he continued, which she knew would be a massive understatement. Whenever Jaden said something like that, it generally meant the mana would kill him.

"Just means my audience interaction will be... well, possibly a bit more limited." he then finished.