saw what she just saw too. Cynthia's face was frozen in position, and she couldn't mouth out a single word. The whole dillemma overwhelmed her. [this is it., this is it i need a minute ths just omg i]

[What've I done?! This is just plain wierd!] Stahl was now realizing how everyone except for Donny had seen that and went as white as a ghost. He felt extremely self-conscious after that.

Lon'qu could sense the awkwardness of the air around them. And when Lon'qu can tell that a situation is awkward, you have a problem.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Cynthia finally regained her ability to speak. "This..this…just…this is it..this just happened guys. This literally just..happened…." She still felt skeptical.

Lon'qu was unsure of what to do. '...Well... Uh... It was nice meeting you, Oscar. ...I'm just... going to go... over here now...' Lon'qu hurriedly shuffled away from the group, and left the scene.

(Oscar) "I have to help him with a thing...so uh, bye." Oscar not so smoothly runs after Lon'qu.

Sumia's anxiety came crashing in and like she suspected, Cynthia sprinted towards the other two. Sumia subconsciously dropped Stahl, in disbelief that her daughter's teasing was actually true.

Stahl begins rocking back and forth in the fetal position, muttering to himself, "I can't believe I did that." repeatedly.

Sumia rapidly shook her head back and forth trying to rationalize what just happened, and calm down Stahl. "It's just..a huge coincidence..if anything I should be yelling at them furiously right now."

Forgetting Sumia, Stahl continues to mutter deliriously. "No. How could-not possible. L-Lon'qu...pay...you've done."

"Lon'qu must pay." He mutters to the point of it not being audible. Stahl grabs a nearby bar of soap, and with his water bottle, begins washing his mouth out.

Lon'qu had ran off to the mess tent, but noticed that Cynthia and Oscar had followed him. He stopped finally, thinking that he was a safe distance away from Stahl and Sumia.

Sumia stopped talking after she realized he wasn't acting rationally. She sighed, lifting her hand, and she slapped him in the face with all her might. "S-Stahl, get a grip! Sheesh.."

(Oscar) "That seemed like a much better idea in my head. I don't know if I'll ever unsee that."

Sumia's slap brings Stahl back to his senses. He drops the soap before he started using it and sits up, rubbing his cheek. "W-what is wrong with me?" He wonders out loud.

"I told you Oscar, I warned you about this..why didn't you heed my words..?" Cynthia shut her eyes tightly, though neither of them were in her sight. Sumia frowned, and steathily took the bar of soap↓

before her daft fiancé could notice. "There is nothing wrong with you at all. I promise." She reassured, and she kissed his forehead, half-supporting Stahl, and half-smiting the others who complained.

Lon'qu had been silent for a long time, wondering if Stahl or Sumia were plotting his demise. From what he witnessed earlier, it didn't seem either of them were very happy with him.

Cynthia was there with Lon'qu in that department. All of this nonsense started because of her, but Lon'qu did contribute in his own way. "It's okay Lon'ny, they don't even know we exist right now."

'...Are you sure? ....Do they hate me?'

Cynthia nonchalantly swished her hand in the air at his question. "Nuh-uh. That'd be a stupid reason to hate someone! Regardless, you're like family to me." She grinned up at Lon'qu, winking cheesily.

Lon'qu managed a faint smile. '...You're family to me too. ...All the Shepherds are. ...You all mean the world to me.' Lon'qu tried not to sound too mediocre. '...Although...' ↓

Lon'qu gestured to Oscar. '...You have a real uncle now. ...You can stop wasting your time with me.'

The girl was brimming with glee to hear such words coming from Lon'qu. She cackled, but stopped abruptly when he seemed to recluse. "Wha-no! I-It's not like that! Sure, I'm super stoked to have ↓

another one, but that doesn't mean you're not anymore!" She sulked, wondering how he easily lived his life shutting people out. [gosh its late,,i dont wanna keep you up with me so go when you please!]

'...Really?' It had been a while since Lon'qu was loved back by another. It was an odd feeling. '...Th-thank you. ...M-means alot.' [It's fine... but I guess I'll be leaving now anyways. Goodnight!:D]

Cynthia was pleased to be accepted. She'd spent so many years looking up to him and thinking he was cool, and now he genuinely appreciated her. [,,my kokoro is brokorO,,,, ;n; but goodnight vince!!]

Stahl wakes up still huddled into a corner outside and after a brief moment of confusion, he recalls the events from the day before. "Oh gods, what did I do?!"

[Guys i'm gonna be on this weekend possibly]*Reaches Ylisstol and rides to camp with Halt and Dog*

Perhaps Everyone will welcome you... (H) I hope they will... I hope they will. [(H)=Halt (D)=Dog (MI)=Michael (MA)=Mustafa]

Sumia surprisingly was awake first that morning, and found herself doing what she could to prepare food. She had rejected help from Cynthia repeatedly, so her daughter watched her struggle.

Lon'qu saw that Sumia was preparing food in the mess tent, but kept his distance, unsure if she was still cross with him.

Oscar was honing his skills with the sword, as he'd barely survived a Risen ambush before his arrival. Stahl, meanwhile, was still isolating himself in a corner from absolute embarrassment.

'...Hello, Oscar. ...Practicing?'

Eventually Sumia just gave up, and her daughter ate her ruined dishes clean. She didn't have the heart to tell her mother that her cooking was awful, nor did she care much for the taste of food when ↓

she was hungry. Either way, Sumia was glad to see someone enjoying what she scrapped together and made. She wondered what the others were up to, but preferred to just spend the morning with Cynthia.

"Yeah, way things are now, I can barely hold my own against a small group of those Risen. I need to toughen up and quick."

Soon, the lack of food for the last day or so causes Stahl to give in to his stomach. He drags himself into the mess tent, grabs a slice of bread and eats it in solitude, in the farthest corner from ↓

his fiancé and future daughter. He couldn't bring himself to sit with them out of shame.

Cynthia stuffed her face as she noticed her depressed dad drag his way in. She didn't stall skipping her way over and sat down right next to him. "Hey Dad! What's eating ya?" She giggled at her pun.

Knowing full well that she would stubbornly follow him, Stahl just lays his head with the back facing his daughter. "I don't want to talk."

"W-What? Not even with me?" Cynthia gasped, hearing the unheard of from Stahl. She put the incident beside her, and subconsciously assumed he had to. "Why?" The tone in her voice was pained.

"...I don't want to talk and that's that." He slightly scoots away from her. "It isn't you, it's me."

"Oh..okay…" Cynthia frowned, and miraculously left him to sulk. She returned to her mother and stared at her empty plate.

Stahl, feeling guilty, walks over to and sits with Cynthia, giving her a hug as he does so.

"Huh?" Cynthia peeked awkwardly up at her father, confused at his quick change. "Didn't you - are you okay?" She felt somewhat concerned, thinking he hit his head on a wall or something.

Stahl shrugs his shoulders before continuing to nibble on his piece of bread.

"Uh..did you run into something again..? I don't see a bump on your head." Cynthia masked her happiness with her confusion. She thought he hated her for a second.

Stahl grins slightly. "No, not that baby girl." He then ruffles her hair, making it look almost as cowlicked as his.

Stahl suddenly begins snickering, which slowly turns into a laugh so hard, he nearly falls over. He'd finally understood how ridiculously he'd overreacted.

Having literally no time to react, Cynthia watched as Stahl carelessly fell to the ground laughing. "..He hit his head on something. Or now he did." She sighed, scooting off the bench and tried to ↓

pull him up with no prevail. "Sheesh, I didn't cut you out to be the drinking type.."

'...I see.' Lon'qu wanted to get to know Oscar better, maybe talk and learn more about him. '...Would you like any help?' Lon'qu always welcomed an opportunity to train, and training with Oscar was a↓

"Wha? I don't drink! I just realized how foolish I'd been acting. It's actually quite funny." He thought to himself, 'Who really cares if I supposedly drool over Sumia? Ha!'

good excuse as any to avoid Stahl and Sumia. Maybe he could kill enough time for them to forget that they were mad at him, although it was unlikely.

Stahl gets up to get himself a proper breakfast, but not before giving Cynthia a hard glare that said, 'I dare you to push me.' Getting some chocolate chip pancakes, he sits down with Sumia.

[oh shoot sorry lemme delete that then] Glaring right back at him, Cynthia honestly didn't know what his deal was, but instead she eyed his food with a sort of longing. Being the airhead she was, ↓

Sumia had no idea of the subtle tension between her daughter and fiancé, and she smiled when Stahl joined. "Oh, hi! You seem to be in a good mood today. That's quite a lot of pancakes." Sumia teased.

"Yeah, I guess it is an awful lot of pancakes. Would you like some? I saw you were having trouble there."

"Oh? No, it's alright, I already ate." She boasted, trying to convey that she made something edible, though Cynthia had other plans. "Well, if she doesn't want any..."

"You wolfed down all that food and you're still hungry?! Grab a plate and come here then!"

"Well, IF you insist.." Cynthia scooted the whole way with her plate, slyly grinning and greeting her new food. Sumia couldn't believe that her daughter ate as much, if not more than Stahl.

"Here you go then." Stahl puts four of the ten pancakes on her plate. Meanwhile Oscar, with Lon'qu's assistance, had an odd surge run through his body during training.

"Yes…" She whispered, then effortlessly devoured her gift pretty fast. Sumia sighed, questioning if Cynthia had ever been feminine, or at least cared about such things, then Cynthia burped. "Whoops."

Oscar ran up to a dummy. "Face my blade!" His sword glows green as he strikes five times in quick succession. Stahl grabs a napkin and wipes Cynthia's highly meesy mouth up.

'...You seem very skilled.' Lon'qu hadn't seen a swordsman as talented as Oscar in some time, and didn't believe him when he said he couldn't hold his own against a group of Risen. ↓

'...Where did you learn to wield a blade?'

"Hmph, I've no idea how I just pulled that one off! Seriously, I'm not very skilled." In the mess tent, Stahl decided to pull Sumia and Cynthia into a somewhat awkward and cheesy family hug.

Sumia was just as cheesy as Stahl, and didn't mind the giant hug, but Cynthia coughed up the remainder of her pancakes and watched traumatically as her food fell onto the ground. She screamed, ↓

startling her poor mother. "Gracious, Cynthia. What's the matter?" Her daughter's voice was clearly distressed. "It's gone..my pancakes..." Then Sumia shook her head violently back and forth.

In an attempt to calm Cynthia down, Stahl force feeds her a bite of his pancakes. He then kisses Sumia's forehead to get her to stop violently shaking her head.

Shockingly, Stahl managed to subdue both Cynthia and Sumia. His daughter quit pouting, and almost forgetting that her real parents were dead, burst into tears and couldn't stop crying hopelessly.

(H) Hmph? *Grabs more pancakes from the kitchen* (MI) Theres some left if you want them... (Thinks to himself: Man... This family is a bit akward, even after them not noticing us slip in.)

Stahl begins focusing on Cynthia, trying to calm her down. "Shh, it's okay baby girl. No need to cry."

[Hey John] (MI) *Wispers* Halt, let's go. (H) Agreed. *Michael,Halt, and Darkly walk out* [Darkly is the tame wolf/dog]

"Daddy's here Cynthia. You don't have to cry, I'm here for you." Stahl turns his head to Sumia and mouths the word help.

Choking on her own tears at this point, Cynthia couldn't make any words due to excessive sniffling. Sumia frowned, unsure of where her sudden change came from, but she tried reassuring her too. ↓

"Cinthy, I can't imagine how fast you had to grow up. It's okay to cry when you need to." She added, countering Stahl's consolation. "We love you so much.." Cynthia's breathing became less ragged.

[Goodnight guys im gonna be on tomorrow but on and off through the day.... *Yawn*]

Stahl makes room for Sumia in the family embrace as Oscar continues training. "Oh gods, I need to take a breather." Through all of his training, Oscar went from level 5 Myrmidon to level 20.

Finally calming down, Cynthia was an even bigger and sloppier mess than when she had food stuck on her face. It didn't matter to Sumia, who pulled her bangs out of her drenched eyes and kissed the ↓

top of her head. "S-Sorry.." Cynthia finally squeaked, stiffening her posture, and wiping her face with the table cloth.

"Just know that we'll always love you baby girl." Stahl let a single tear slide down his face as he embraced his daughter in a bear hug.

"I know.." Cynthia replied, then seemingly out of nowhere changed her demeanor. She inhaled, then sort of just fell asleep on her parents. Sumia wasn't sure how to react, and bit her tongue. "Uhhh.."

The two had finished training, and Lon'qu was feeling dreadfully tired as well. While Oscar had gained 15 levels during the session, Lon'qu had gained about... none. Wiping sweat off his brow, Lon'qu↓

still thought that Oscar was being too modest of his abilities. '...Seriously... *huff* ...I could learn a thing or two from you...' Lon'qu with his measly 11 EXP, felt inadequate compared to Oscar.

Whispering, Stahl tells Sumia, "I'll tuck her into bed, then we can spend some time together. Does that sound good?"

Oscar turns to Lon'qu. "You'd best be kidding there. You only got so little out of the training because you're already powerful as it is. Someone like you needs actual combat for a chance to grow."

*Halt and Michael fire longbows nearby at targets 300 yards downrange* (H) A Ranger practices until he gets it right. *Hits the bull's-eye* (MI) Damn... Nice shot! *hits the target an inch away*

'Either way...' Lon'qu sipped water from a canteen. '...You're no average swordsman.'

Sumia nodded, and very carefully placed their exhausted daughter into Stahl's arms. She gave him one of her trademark looks, probably daring him to drop her if he wanted to face her wrath.

(H) Thats enough practice for today, but you are improving very fast brother. (MI)Thanks.. Wanna get something to eat? (D) :D(H)Sure, why not? Your dog approves. *Slips into the mess hall unnoticed*

Stahl carefully carries Cynthia to their tent and lays her down on the bed before pulling the covers over her. "Sleep well baby girl." He kisses her forehead before returning to Sumia.

Pleased that Stahl returned without hearing a single thud, Sumia gave him a giant hug. "You're such a great father. She and I are lucky to have you."

Only half as lucky as I am to have the both of you though." Stahl says as he hugs Sumia.

"Oh hush. I'm so klutzy that I don't know where I would be without your help with her. She can be a handful at times, too, but I think it's because she bends over backwards to impress you." She added.