"Why don't we just agree that we're all equally lucky to have each other. I couldn't imagine being with a greater woman than you. Hm?" During the hug, Stahl notices a stiff spot on Sumia's back.
"-Huh?" Sumia put the moment aside for a second, and she tried to peek down at her back. "I..I guess I've been a little tense lately..I mean, a lot has happened just in the past weeks…is that normal?"
Lon'qu started to clean up all the wooden swords and training dummies, replacing the equipment that was completely obliterated. He was feeling quite hungry, and wished to stop by the mess tent later.
"You can? How?" Sumia gasped, she was amazed alone at the fact that he noticed what she was covering up for so long. "..You're not going to try snapping me in half..right?"
"You?" Sumia eyed him with suspicion. "Well I don't think I can believe it until I see it." She stated, taking a seat back on the bench as she removed her armor from her arms and breastplate, then -
"A-Alright.." She croaked, feeling second thoughts flooding her mind. She flinched several times, and even gritted her teeth. "Right there..ouch..." She hoped he did actually know what he was doing.
"Okay, I'll start with just a little pressure. Don't be afraid to tell me to press harder." Stahl starts, hoping Sumia will realize that she has no reason to fear what will happen.
(MI) *wispering voice* Lets leave. NOW! (H) *In a voice barely audiuble that Stahl could barely hear* Right. *Halt,Darkly and Michael slip out without bothering Stahl and Sumia*
'...I'll be in the mess tent, Oscar.' Lon'qu left the pavilion, and let his hunger lead him to where the food was. As he drew closer, he thought he saw a strange man, a dog, and a vine monster dash ↓
Sumia just held her breath and ignored the intensifying pain in her lower back. She knew enduring it now would fix it in the long run, but she jumped and couldn't stay still regardless. "Ow. Ow. Ow.."
out of the mess tent. Fearing that he was hallucinating because his blood sugar was critically low, he quickened his pace and entered the tent. Unfortunately, he failed to realize that ↓
Stahl and Sumia were still in there. He froze when he saw that Sumia was seemingly in pain from Stahl's massage. '....................................................' He tried backing away slowly ↓
Hey Lon'qu... Yea... Don't go in there, but I have some venison at the cabin if you want it. [BTW Michael is starting to look like a human with green skin, and he looks like a Merc.]
"Urk..no..." Sumia winced, but took one for the team and masked her obvious discomfort. "It'll just get worse if it's not treated.." She had no idea how possibly weird they sounded out of context.
"Sumia, if I'm hurting you even more doing this, I really don't feel comfortable continuing. I hate seeing you in pain, but I can't keep this up if I'm making it worse."
"What? It's not going to kill me. I'm going to be in more pain if I'm this tense any further. I'm alright." She insisted. Sumia could be the most delicate Shepherd, but her determination was stronger.
"Okay then, I'll try to be more gentle." Stahl resumed the massage therapy worried that he'd do more harm than help. He could only pray otherwise, so he did.
'GAH!!' Startled by the sudden reappearance of his hallucination, Lon'qu sprang up and rushed into the mess tent for safety. He scrambled into the furthermost corner of the tent away from the door ↓
and hid under a table. He disregarded trying to avoid being spotted by Stahl or Sumia; It would just be another apology he would have to make later. '...M-monster... Green... Vine...'
Momentarily shocked by Lon'qu, Stahl ends up getting a great idea. "Sumia, I'll be right back. Just wait here and don't move." He walks into the barracks and picks up a kneader. "This'll work."
Jolting dramatically, a crack was finally heard from Sumia's back, and she screeched, though it was impossible to tell if it was from Lon'qu who darted across the tent like a rat, or from her back. ↓
Stahl returns with the kneader. "Sumia, I remembered that with more sensitive backs, it's sometimes better to use a kneader than just your hands, would you be willing to try this?"
Sumia watched as Lon'qu just sort of fell, and before she could react Stahl was back. "U-Uh..oh, I think I feel better now, actually...but Lon'qu may need that.." She spoke softly, then took the ↓
kneader from Stahl and tried reviving Lon'qu, knowing kneaders weren't typically suited for bigger jobs. "Actually…could you maybe grab a recover?" She rushed to grab a bucket of water and dumped it ↓
Staring at unconscious Lon'qu, she took the recover and used it as well. She wanted to know what he was so frantic over, and why it compelled him to hide in the mess tent.
The recover seemed to have successfully awoken Lon'qu. '...Urg... Wh-Where am I...?' His vision focused, and he saw that he had somehow made it into the mess tent, and that Sumia and Stahl were ↓
standing over him. He had somewhat forgotten the events of the previous few minutes, and jumped to the conclusion that they were finally acting their revenge upon him for his earlier outburst. He ↓
stiffened, and prepared himself for the worst. '...S-Sorry...' He decided that he deserved whatever was coming for him, and didn't struggle. '...Just... make it quick...'
Still unsure of even how to react, Sumia blinked, then cocked her head to the side. "What? What are you talking about?" At this point she was deeply concerned for his mental well-being.
"..Mad? What reason do I have to be mad at you?" She questioned, then slowly extended her hand. "I think you need some food or water. Are you feeling alright?"
"Okay..let me help you out." She carefully escorted the malnourished man to take a seat, then quickly started throwing food at him. She was more cautious with the beverages, that she set down gently.↓
'...Sh-should be enough... Th-thanks Sumia...' Lon'qu started to hungrily wolf down a large portion of the food, mostly forgetting his manners. He spilled a good deal of the water, as his hands were ↓
very shaky and he couldn't grip the glass correctly. He started to regain his strength, and before long could actually think properly as if he didn't have a concussion.
Sumia watched in amazement at Lon'qu's hidden talent of eating like a complete slob. She didn't mind of course, and did not have the right to mind as she was engaged to Stahl, and Cynthia would be ↓
her daughter one day. She hastily brought over napkins for Lon'qu, and wiped down the table where he accidentally spilled the water. "You don't recall seeing anything earlier?" She asked sheepishly.
"Well, um..you came running in here moments ago, claiming to have seen something..you passed out before you could tell me..." Sumia tried to spark his memory, she was dying to know what scared him.
[I realize now that you are in the Eastern time zone, which is two hours ahead of mine, so when I think of leaving at 12 AM here, you're still up at 2:00... So... Sorry for keeping you up this late.]
A single recollection entered Lon'qu's mind; a memory of what he saw earlier. '...Oh. ...I think I was hallucinating earlier because of my low blood sugar... Well, I saw a large, green, Risen-like ↓
[ahh gosh it's okay vince!! i'm not a morning person at all and i actually have insomnia so its not like i'm tired or going to be asleep anytime soon. plus it's the weekend. dont worry about me :>]
monstrosity outside of this tent. ...It said something about taking me to it's cabin... *shudder* ...I was obviously just seeing things. ...Sorry for running in here for nothing.'
"What? Outside?? Taking YOU to its cabin???" Sumia clearly wasn't following, though Lon'qu had made his statement easy to understand. Then she remembered when he had burst in. "-Oh, uh..I don't think↓
you ran in at a bad time? …Though I can understand taken out of context that could have been a slightly…awkward situation to happen upon.." She squeaked, feeling embarrassed as she flushed a little.
'...I'm feeling much better now. ...Less vision blurring... thanks for that.' [I actually have insomnia too... It's one of those traits you wish you didn't inherit.]
Unsure if Lon'qu was thanking her for the food she supplied, or sarcastically replying on behalf of what he ran in on, Sumia raised an eyebrow. "L-Lon'qu...did you just..?" [oh i know it's terrible! ↓
"..I cannot for the life of me tell if you were thanking me or insulting me..I did not cut you out to be the sassy type." She confessed, feeling slightly stupid and misguided.
'...Wha-? ...I'm thanking you.' Lon'qu was slightly confused. '...You're always very kind and helpful... I'd never think of giving you insult.' Lon'qu checked his head for sizeable bumps or bruises, ↓
"Oh..of course..." Sumia smacked her palm to her face, not believing she could be so airheaded sometimes, but there was also a sort of relief to it, knowing Lon'qu thought of her to be an asset than ↓
[oh, uh, sure temporarily i could try her. i don't know how good i'll be but i'll give it a shot.] Up early as usual, Cordelia went into busy-body mode and restocked everyone's weapons, organized ↓
every single book in the library, polished everyone's armor until they all sort of glowed, and then stuffed her old "Make Him Fall for You in a Fortnight" copies under furniture to be gone forever.
Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Cordelia faced whoever it was, but with one look she discovered 'who' was more of an 'what'. She screamed, stumbling to her feet as she ran out of the barracks. Meanwhile↓
Sumia just watched again as Lon'qu worked diligently to clean up. It was her instinct to try and help but he was having none of that, then she heard a woman scream. "..Did you hear that?"
Out of nowhere, Cordelia burst her way into the mess tent and heaved over panting, resting her hands on her knees. "Risen..risen in the barracks! It's..it's reading and..it has sentience!" She moped.-
Sumia figured Cordelia had just seen what Lon'qu was so fearful of the other night. She sighed, grabbing the shaking girl by her arm and leading her to a seat. Sumia looked at Lon'qu, clearly stumped.
'C-Cordelia? Wait, RISEN? ...Then we have to go!' Setting down the plate that he was holding, Lon'qu retrieved Ragnarök and Carnwennan from the corner of the tent. '...Was anyone hurt?'
Following not too far from Lon'qu, Sumia grabbed a blessed lance. Cordelia shook her head from the table, regaining her senses slowly. "I think it's in the barracks.."
Sumia jumped ferociously and thrusted her lance. It saved Lon'qu's life that she shut her eyes, rendering her accuracy, and she only stabbed his sleeve. "What IS that!?" She shouted at them both.
'GAH!' Lon'qu was hit on the side of the head and cut on the arm, and in shock, fear, and rage, he drove Ragnarök as hard as he could towards the creatures body.
*Michael dodges the stab, breaking the spearhead lodged in his arm off the shaft, and disarms Lon'qu and hands him the training sword and Rangörök and then hands the spearhead to Sumia* Im sorry.
Sumia dropped her lance instantly once she saw she caused more trouble than assistance. She yelped as if she took the hit for Lon'qu and rushed to grab a staff. She returned, not before falling flat ↓
[Well, looks like I missed a lot.] Hearing Cordelia scream, Stahl, Oscar, and Donny all take up arms and charge at the beast. "How bout theis!" Donny yells as he gets a crit with a Killer Bow.
'No, it's fine. I'm okay.' In the chaos of Stahl, Oscar, and Donnel arriving, Lon'qu shrugged off his wound and returned his gaze to the creature. Suddenly, Peeko dive bombed out of the sky and ↓
As matters got weirder, Cynthia came out of nowhere wearing one of her capes and masks she saved from her childhood. Even more weird, she was maintaining a handstand. "Look! Look at what I can do! ↓
