M:   Prudoria breathed out in relief that Iremacht wasn't upset, he wasn't scared per se, just nervous based on Kenneth's reaction to the entity. After the human got himself a drink and they all cheered, Prudoria took a rather large sip but almost spit it out, not expecting the much stronger taste.

"Woo, that's an interesting taste," he said, his face scrunched like he ate a lemon, "it's not bad or anything, I've just never tasted something like that before."

 He put the drink down before he accidentally spilled it, then started smoothing out his feathers that were standing on end, "I don't want to sound like a newbie, but maybe I'll just stick with the light stuff."

L:   "Nothing wrong with being a lightweight," TU said, chugging his wine in one go. "You need less of the shitty stuff to feel the bliss of the effects."

"Have you been teaching him to be an alcoholic while I was gone?" Unlike TU, Iremacht sipped his wine like a man of class. "Unless alcohol helps him control his powers, contrary to popular belief?"

 "Nein, nein, of course not!" TU said, waving his hands. "We made quite a lot of progress today, right Prudoria? Oh, but I did want to ask you about one thing we can't teach him."

TU made flapping motions with his arms. Iremacht understood and continued to sip his wine as he thought about it.

"Before you suggest it, I'm not asking Wehrmacht," he said. Both TU and Kenneth deflated in disappointment.

"He's the most trustworthy one!" TU protested.

"Have you forgotten Prudoria is half-Prussian? You know how Wehrmacht feels about that. Nein, not Wehrmacht."

TU muttered under his breath, "It's just because he's your father..."

Ignoring him, Iremacht continued, "I think ... that perhaps the Mandarians will be a better option. I've just struck a deal with Poldara, actually, and we're going to meet for lunch next week anyway. I'll propose the idea to him then."

"How are the Mandarians any better?" said TU. "Prussia killed their father!"

"And their father's genetics are in Prudoria. It will have to cancel out."

M:   "I'm ok with either," Prudoria shrugged, understanding what was being discussed, "I read a few books earlier about Prussian and Mandorian culture, you know, to get to know who my parents were and their real families. From what I understand, I am Mr. Mandara, Mr. Mandara Army, and Mr. German Empire's half-brother, and in turn, Wehrmacht's uncle."

He paused as he thought about that, and looked to Iremacht and TU in an odd way, "now that I think about it, does that make me your guy's grand uncle?"

L:   "Let's not think about that," TU said with an uneasy laugh while Iremacht covered his mouth to stop himself from spitting out his drink.

"The Mandarians are centuries old, for real," Kenneth explained to Prudoria. "You just told me you were in your mid-thirties. For real, though, you're only thirteen!" He closed his eyes, as if trying to map out the tree, but immediately shook his head at the disturbing thoughts.

"I wouldn't get chummy with the Mandarians just yet," Iremacht said to Prudoria. "I don't know how they will react once they know you exist. They might tell the world, in which case there will be a lot of people who will want you dead."

"Like that asshole EU," TU piped up.

"NATO too. ASEAN, maybe, if he thinks China can recreate you. I can convince UN not to take sides but he can't do much against giants like America or Russia, who will surely want you dead since you're a countryhumans-killer."

M:   Prudoria's brows furrowed, yes he understood that he wouldn't be well-liked, but he didn't expect his life would be so much in danger, it genuinely scared him.

"Um, on second thought, I think I want Mr. Wehrmacht instead," he said nervously, "if the Mandarians would be that dangerous then I don't think I want to meet them anytime soon. If Mr. Wehrmacht is your dad then I think it would be safer to meet him instead, plus Kenneth said his wings looked like mine so I find that cool too."

The more he thought about the dangers of meeting his Mandarian relatives, so to speak, the more scared he became, muttering, "I don't want to die," as his shield started to manifest from his fear.

L:   This was the first time Iremacht had seen Prudoria's shield. His first reaction was to poke it; it shouldn't have surprised him that there was resistance but his eyes lit up nonetheless.

"Is this one of the magical powers you were talking about?" Iremacht asked TU without turning away from Prudoria.

"Ja. It happens when he's nervous." TU patted Prudoria's shoulder. "It's alright, you're not gonna die. We won't let you. We've dealt with all of those people before, and we can handle them just fine. We've got your back, Prudoria."

 "If Prudoria wants Wehrmacht that badly, can't we invite him?" Kenneth asked Iremacht. "I can ask uncle Bundeswehr to ask him for you - "

"Nein," Iremacht said firmly. "We ask the Mandarians. Zalia already knows and I bet she's hinted to Poldara. Besides, Poldara's daughter is just like you, created by humans to destroy countryhumans. He'll have sympathy."

M:   Prudoria whimpered, he didn't like that idea at all, "m-maybe I can just learn by myself, it shouldn't be that hard, y-yeah, all you do is flap your wings and you go up in the air, n-nothing to it, right?"

The more Prudoria was panicking, the brighter his shield glowed, to the point that it was almost blinding. Small bolts of electricity bounced off in random directions though it didn't hurt anyone, but the terrified entity didn't notice, he just kept muttering to himself until he went silent.

He was as still as a statue, his shield was still very bright but he was almost emotionless, then all of a sudden he jumped up from his seat, pressed his hands against his head, and screamed, "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

His shield expanded like a shock, making a loud crash as the blue transparent wall extended throughout the estate, shutting off every electronic it came into contact with. When it was over, Prudoria stood there for a few seconds, then collapsed unconscious to the ground, the burst of energy completely draining him.

L:   The billiard room was pitch black until Kenneth fished out a backup flashlight that he always kept on him for when he needed to search storage. Turning it on revealed TU's panicked and guarded stance and Iremacht's shocked face.

"Clearly," Iremacht finally broke the silence, "that ability needs work. Where's Prudoria?"

Kenneth shined the flashlight around until TU spotted Prudoria on the ground. He tried to wake him up but realized quickly that he had passed out.

"Scheisse," TU muttered. "Out cold. I'll get him to the infirmary. Hopefully, the nurses can still help him out."

"I'll check on the rest of the estate," Iremacht said. "The staff should all be following protocol and staying put at their stations until further notice. Ken, come with me."

As he passed TU, Iremacht added, "When he wakes up, I want you to reassure him that everything is going to be okay. It seems his force field reacts to his emotions and if he isn't calm when someone visits, he'll explode again. That would be a horrible first impression."

M:   About two hours later, Prudoria started to come to a bit, blinking his eyes open and quietly groaning. He was confused as to what happened and why he was in the infirmary again, but the memories slowly returned and he groaned in frustration.

"I'm such a mess," he grumbled, "I can't believe I overreacted again, why do I have to do that all the time?"

He tried to sit up but he was still rather weak and had a splitting headache, so he remained lying down and tried to go back to sleep.

L:   "Prudoria?" TU had been half asleep in a chair beside Prudoria's bed when he noticed Prudoria move a bit. "You okay? Take it easy."

He poured a glass of water from the water jug on the bedside table and offered it to Prudoria.

"That was pretty crazy," TU said with a good-natured laugh. "I can't believe you shut down the whole house! They're trying to get the backup generators working but you might've fried a few of those too. Don't feel bad though, I honestly think that was awesome. Well, hopefully, it doesn't happen in here again, but I look forward to seeing it outside."

M:   Prudoria did his best to sit up and took the glass, nodding to what TU was saying but wouldn't look him in the eyes. The country didn't really feel bad, he knew that EMPs didn't affect people, he just felt embarrassed that he freaked out again.

"I'm such a loser," he muttered, "why must I overreact over such little things? I've only been here two stinking days and all this happens."

He put down his water and hid his face in his knees, "why do I have to exist, why do I have to be such an emotional mess, I just don't understand."

L:   "Rule number one of being alive," TU said, "don't question your existence. Rule number two, don't beat yourself down. We're all messy with certain things and professionals at others. Take Iremacht for example, he's a master of organized crime but a mess when it comes to relationships. You might be messy with emotions - which, by the way, takes everyone time to figure out, especially when you've only experienced the actual world for two days - but you're super skilled at swords, you can blow shit up with magic, and you escaped the facility all by yourself."

TU paused as he thought about what he'd just said, then added, "Huh, that IS quite a lot you've done in two days. I'm almost scared of you. Speaking of which, there's nothing to be afraid of, Prudoria. I'm sorry about Iremacht, he's really stubborn and believes his ideas are the right way to go. Most of the time, that's held true, so I hope you can be brave and see how it goes with the Mandarians. They're NOT going to kill you, I promise."

M:   Prudoria remained silent as he listened to TU, just taking in his words and the comfort in them, ultimately letting a small smile grace his lips.

"Thank you," he said, "I needed to hear that, I just wish that I wasn't so scared all the time. I just feel like I'm more sensitive to everything, but I don't know how to handle it."

He absentmindedly wrapped his arms around TU's and hugged it tightly like an emotional support plushy, "thank you for being here, I feel safer with you around."

L:   "Ja, no biggie," TU said, feeling very awkward with Prudoria's hug. "That's what training's for. You'll get the hang of it soon enough and then one day, Prudoria, you're not gonna feel fear anymore. The world is gonna fear YOU."

 The lights flickered and slowly glowed brightly. TU squinted at the sudden brightness but his discomfort quickly became relief.

"Looks like the lights are back on! Crisis averted!" He wagged his index finger in front of Prudoria. "Let's pretend this blackout never happened and not tell Schwitzy. Iremacht agrees it's the best move. She'll make you pass out indefinitely with nonstop training if she finds out."

M:   Prudoria chuckled nervously, not really sure if he was joking or not, he wouldn't put it past Schwitzy to do that though.

"Yeah, that sounds good," he agreed, letting go of TU and taking a sip of water, "I guess that means she's not here huh, sorry if I chased her off with what I said at lunch, I just felt like she got away with too much, but I know it's not my place to tell anyone off when I still barely know you all."

He fiddled with his wing a bit, fluffing out the feathers as he didn't know how to continue the conversation.

"Sooo ... Iremacht isn't mad at me for freaking out earlier?" he eventually asked

L:   "Neither of them are mad at you," TU assured him. "Schwitzy had some business to take care of. She's always been the lone wolf type. She doesn't like being around the same people for too long so we give her space when she needs it. I agree with what you said to her at lunch though. She has a bleak outlook on life because people were bleak to her when she was young - they still are now but they fear her more. But I think we should try to be happy about what we have like you said."

He shook his head at Prudoria's last question. "No, Machty isn't mad ... just thinks you have some work to do, which we all knew already."

TU remembered something and tilted his head curiously at Prudoria. "So what were you and Kenneth talking about? You seemed to be getting along well with a human! This is a development."

M:   "Yeah, I'm surprised myself," Prudoria nodded, "I would never have thought I could bond with a human, especially so soon after my escape, but Kenneth is different somehow, he's nicer and seems to understand me in a way. We weren't talking about anything important, mostly he was trying to explain to me how his uncle is a countryhuman."

 The country was cut off by a yawn, he was still rather tired from his outburst, yet changed the subject to something else, "I'm kind of hungry, am I allowed out of bed or do I need to wait?"

L:   "If you're up for it," TU said, stepping back to let Prudoria get out of bed. "Kenneth's uncle? Oh, you mean Bundeswehr! There's a good cop for sure. He's real nice to us and never tries to hunt us down. That's how we've been able to base here in Germany for so long. In any other country, we'd have had police on our tails every second."

TU called one of the maids to send word to the kitchen ahead of time. A tasty snack would be nice right now.

"Lucky for you, you made friends with the perfect human," TU continued. "Kenneth is the only permanent human staff here. He isn't subject to the frequent rotations we do because Iremacht trusts him very much. Plus he makes great drinks. Kenneth's family has been with the German family for a few generations, ever since Ken's grandfather served them in World War 2." He tapped his chin with a slight grimace. "Although I think there was some complicated drama and switching of sides. Don't remember."

M:   Prudoria hummed in interest but didn't comment, it sounded like a personal thing that he shouldn't ask about, though it sounded interesting nonetheless. The country was a little wobbly on his feet at first but quickly recovered, following TU out of the infirmary.

"I still don't know if I want to meet the Mandarians," he suddenly said, "I read about what happened that day when my parents fought to the death, and how only one was victorious. Now it's not so much I'm afraid of what they would do to me, but it would probably really hurt them seeing me, a reminder of that terrible day for them, I don't want to do that to them, they don't deserve it."

(And that was the last response before Luv retired from Countryhumans, it's sad that we never finished this, even more so that he won't be around anymore, but he will never be forgotten)