M: Esha nodded, patting Prudoria once more and allowing Askad to take over the comfort, then walked over to Edel to resume her work.

"What they need is something rich with nutrients," she explained, "normally after the birthing process, the mother and whelps would eat dragon fang fruit, named so for the shape of the fruit, and the creature that eats them.  However, since the fruit is now extinct, we have to get a little creative."

The eternal summoned a water-filled cauldron into the fireplace and began adding various ingredients to it, some were common spices and plants, and others were fantastical like the salamander skin and various other creature parts.  Byron and Quinn were already jumping around Esha for some soup, the smell was incredible to them.

Apparently, the dragons weren't the only ones who were excited about the meal, as Wales suddenly walked in like he smelled what was cooking.

"Hey there Wales," Esha chuckled, "did you smell it too, you can have some, it's just about done, just needs to simmer for a few minutes."

N: The Welshman nodded as he invited himself in, and when he glanced over at his father, he jokingly asked, "Did you just have another kid?"

"Wales, seriously," England answered disappointingly, but he chuckled at his son as he excitedly walked up to Esha. "Is there something special about the soup," he asked, also joining the Eternal, "is there something that attracts dragons? It smells like a perfectly ordinary soup to me, although I would be concerned about some of the ingredients."

"Whatever it is," Wales spoke as he tried to stop the cubs from leaping at the cauldron, "it smells amazing."

M: "Well, it's supposed to be a replacement for dragon fang fruit, so it kind of has to be appealing to us," Esha shrugged, "and true, someone like you probably shouldn't eat this, though I have yet to see what would happen if someone did.  Either way, it's like making special food for domesticated animals, it has everything that meets all our nutritional needs, and at the same time is delicious."

"Hypothetically speaking, what do you think could happen if someone without dragon genes ate that," Askad asked.

"Your insides would figuratively catch on fire, probably," Esha guessed, "we're dragons, we need heat to survive, unless you're an arctic dragon, not a lot of heat where they live."

After her rant, she taste-tested the soup to see if it was ready, humming in satisfaction at her cooking.  She poured enough for everyone, giving Edel and Mira an extra serving, then got some for herself and Wales.

"I'm telling you Wales, once you have a taste of this, you'll never want to eat anything else," she claimed, "this is paradise in liquid form."

N: Wales grinned as he carefully held his bowl in his hands, and watched it as he sat himself at the table. Grabbing himself a spoon, he got himself a spoonful of the soup and gingerly took a sip.

England happily watched as his son's eyes widened with wonder before quickly finishing off the soup and leaning back in his seat. "Don't encourage him, Esha," he chuckled, watching as the Welshman closed his eyes with content on his face, "otherwise it would be impossible to feed him anything else."

"Look whose happy," a voice cheered from the door, and in came Scotland as he walked over to Wales, "someone made you something special, huh? Was it this?" When his son nodded, the Scot proceeded to grab a small spoon and try some of the soup that was left at the bottom.

Luckily, everyone yelled at him to stop before it entered his mouth, and when England explained what could have happened, his eyes widened in horror as his hand instinctively lowered the spoon and spoon-fed his son.

M: Esha burst out laughing at this, she didn't know why it was so funny to her, though it made Askad curious.

"That really does make me wonder what would happen if a non-dragon ate the soup, you said you weren't sure after all," he said.

"Well, if you're that curious, be my guest," she chuckled, offering him a spoon, "if you're willing to put your body on the line for science, I can't stop you."

Askad chuckled at this, though that could have been an attempt to hide his worry. Nonetheless, he took the spoon, muttered a quiet prayer, and carefully sipped the soup.  Everyone waited to see what would happen, but the only thing that came of Askad was a small frown and an exhale.

"It's a bit spicy, but not that bad actually," he declared, "could use a bit of salt though."

Esha playfully punched him in the arm in response, continuing to eat her soup while the naga grabbed a bowl for himself.  Prudoria got bold and also tried a bit, and he actually seemed to enjoy it better than Askad did.

"Well, I guess that debunks the too-hot theory," Esha declared, "I was sure that the salamander skin would have made it too much for people not born of flames, sorry if we scared you, Scotty."

N: "No, no, it's a good thing you stopped me," Scotland nervously chuckled, "it's a little-known fact that none of us can handle spice that well, especially England here."

The Englishman frowned, "I'm not that bad."

"I think the Mandorians beg to differ, especially from what I've heard of what happened to you when you last visited."

The country grumbled a bit but he quickly turned his attention to Mira as she squealed a bit, so he carefully rested her near the fireplace for warmth and continued to spoon-feed her. He even laid down next to her so he was at her level, petting her occasionally to comfort the child.

The Scot just watched as his husband took care of the cub and smiled. "Reminds me of the time he was taking care of you," he reminisced as he patted Wales' shoulder, "you were a wee boy back then, and he was so careful around you it was crazy, scared that whatever he did would hurt you. He would always keep you near the fireplace, holding you all the time, and would never leave you unless we pried him off you."

The Welshman glanced over at his father before looking up at the Scotsman, "is that why I always stayed indoors when I was a kid?"

"That's definitely the reason why," Scotty laughed wholeheartedly before sighing, "the man's love for the small, feeble ones, I can never fully understand it to this day."

M: "Well, it's probably because he lives with BE," Esha suggested, "that man crushes the small and feeble under his rule, as with any empire, being exposed to that, not to mention what he's done himself, made him realize how much he pitied the little ones and wants to do what he can to help them grow stronger than those who he used to be like."

"I honestly can't tell if you're being serious or picking on England again," Askad said, "we all know you two still don't see eye to eye after what happened all those months ago."

"I'll let you figure that out yourself," she shrugged, "because I don't really know either, but one thing we can agree on is that this version of England is clearly the best."

N: "I'm right here, you know," England grumbled before sitting up and continued to feed Mira, "you don't have to refer to me in the third person if I'm right here."

After he had finished feeding the cub, he placed the bowl to the side and carefully placed her in his lap, smoothing down her fur to help her go to sleep.

"In reality, my son Albion didn't help me realize anything, and I have reigned as king much longer than he has," the country explained, "it's just that I'm lucky now to be relieved of my duties as leader of the entire kingdom, now I can relax and just live life without the constant scrutiny of other kingdoms and empires."

The Englishman paused for a bit, wondering if he would continue, but he shrugged anyway and continued. "I was a different person when I was king," he admitted, "I ruled with an iron fist and didn't let anything slip from my control, and because of how I led, I've made many enemies. To show weakness of any sort to your enemies is basically a nail to your coffin, and trust always came with a price, and sadly I left that legacy for BE to bear after me. We have our softer side while ruling, don't get me wrong, but it was always kept hidden, and BE hides his side better than others."

M:   "Not everyone does," Prudoria pointed out, "some people always show their soft side and it helps their rule, like Mandoria, others don't even know what a soft side is, like Prussia."

"You should have met our former chief," Askad chuckled, "he was defiantly an equal mix of the two, he had a lot of rules and restrictions, but was so caring and considerate that it never bothered anyone.  Every once in a while there would be someone who really pushed his buttons, but he never lashed out, if something was frustrating him he would have me deal with it so he didn't make any rash decisions."

"From the sounds of it, it seems that ruling of kindness died out with the eternals," Esha noted, "Mandoria is an eternal and he was a kind ruler, imagine that."

N: "I mean Fa was alright," England mentioned, "and Scotty here wasn't that bad."

"I would have been perfectly fine if you weren't trying to attack me every second," the Scotsman huffed, getting a small smirk from the Englishman.

"Anyways," he continued, "I don't think it's good to always show their good side. Now hear me out, if a king is always kind, others may use that to their advantage and reap their own rewards, but if a king is always cruel, the ruler would repel their subjects from them and shorten their own reign. The only good thing is to do a mix of both, to be kind but not be afraid to do the necessary evil."

"But Mandoria isn't helpless," Wales reasoned, "he can defend himself and he is wise."

"That is true but there is no way that came without a cost," the country reasoned, "the reason why I tended to steer myself away from the 'kind' rulers is because I can only guess the amount of strength it takes to restrain themselves, and I could never know their limit. It's easy to piss off any unkind ruler, you know their limits and their actions are easy to predict, but it takes a special kind of person to anger a good person, and their anger is much more than any unkind ruler."

"And you know how," Scotland asked.

"Most of the time, you see Fa holding back Faeder, right?"

"Aye?"

"Have you ever seen it the other way round?"

"Nay?"

"And that, my friend, is how I know."

Just as he finished speaking, BE walked into the room, and confused when he saw everyone there, he asked, "Am I missing something?"

M: "Lunch, Esha made it to help Edel and Mira," Prudoria smiled, showing him the soup, "it's delicious despite being just for dragons and dragon countryhumans."

"But if your heat tolerance is anything like everyone else's, I'd be careful," Askad warned, "since it's for dragons, it needs to be able to warm them from the inside out.  I think the reason Prudoria and I can have it is because I'm cold-blooded and he's half Mandorian."

"But hey, at least Wales likes it," Esha shrugged, "I'll be sure to make it more often, because like I said, you wouldn't want to eat anything else after this, right buddy."

N: "Yup," Wales nodded, getting a chuckle from both England and Scotland, to which BE raised a brow in curiosity before being received his own bowl of soup.

"Are you sure you want to try it," England asked with concern, "it's spicy."

The empire shrugged and tried a sip of the soup, and for a moment he didn't react to it as he tasted it. After a moment, he calmly placed the bowl on the table, got himself a glass of water, and downed the whole thing. Wales just chuckled a bit as he watched his brother pour himself a second glass, he took his bowl away from him and finished the soup off.

"How," Scotty asked, "did you not die?"

"Wanted to build up my spice tolerant for a bit now," he explained, "it's been slow but it's so that I don't start dying in front of Sir India, who would always try to find a way to kick me out of his country." He turned to Esha and said, "It's good soup, although it could do with a bit more salt."

M: Esha jerked a glare at Askad, who started laughing at BE's response, Prudoria wanted to test out the salt idea and grabbed a salt shaker on the table.  "Yum, it sure did need some salt, try it, Esha," he agreed.

The eternal relented and took the salt from him, shaking out a bit and mixing it well, when she tasted it she hummed in surprise, "That is pretty good, I'll have to add that to the recipe later."

After a while, everyone had finished their soups, the dragon family had all fallen asleep together from their warm and full bellies, Esha and Askad went back to what they were doing, though Prudoria hung around, sitting at a window sill and staring out it, much like Sabeth did a while ago, organizing his thoughts.

N: BE watched Prudoria carefully, and as both his fathers and his brother left, he decided to make his move. Pulling up a chair, he brought it over to the Prussian and sat down, letting a moment of silence settle between them before starting.

"Prudoria," he began, "I have given you time to heal and to get your bearings around my home, and I hope you have settled down here. I got to admit, there have been many unanswered questions about your arrival, and although the others may be content about them being left unanswered, I am not. To build the security of this kingdom, I would like to ask you how you were able to come into Great Britain undetected?"

M: Prudoria glanced at him, unsure of what to say, sure he wasn't as scared of BE as he was before, but was still afraid of his wrath, especially after he heard what happened with Castile and Sofia.

"I traveled at night, as well as flying well above the clouds after I taught myself how to fly," Prudoria explained, "Aslan helped out a lot, carrying me when I was too weak to fly, finding places for us to hide out during the day."

He tapped the glass with his finger, a small raven etched itself into the glass, then a transparent bird emerged from the glass and hopped onto the country's knee, where he gently pet its head.

"We came into the actual country from the southwest coast, there's not a lot of towns over there, so flying at night from above the clouds would be impossible to be spotted from the ground."

N: "I see," BE hummed as he scratched his chin, leaning back in his chair, "but, if I could ask, why did you come from the southwest? The Kingdom of Prussia is towards the east of here, and seeing that you were tired and hurt when you arrived, you could have saved yourself the trouble of flying over Dutch and French land just to go over to Cornwall."

M: "That's where the wind was blowing," Prudoria dismissed, "I was watching a lot of birds and it looked like they just flew with the wind so they wouldn't get so tired.  And I didn't fly over those places, I came from the east and when we got to the coast of the mainland is when we took the long way."

Prudoria paused for a moment, then reached into his pocket and took something out, handing BE an arrowhead that still had a bit of blood on it.  "Just because you didn't hear about me doesn't mean I wasn't spotted, I was shot in the shoulder by a few hunters right before Mandoria and Royal found me, Aslan attacked them while I ran away, blacking out after a while, and when I woke up I was in the infirmary."

The little glass raven tweeted and flew onto BE's head, nesting in his hair and making Prudoria smile.  "Also, I want to say thank you for letting me stay, I know how much of a pathetic coward I was before, scared of even leaving the infirmary, but thanks for putting up with all that."

N: BE frowned when the bird landed on his head but he waved off Prudoria's thanks. "Don't worry about it," he replied, "at the end of the day you were a scared country who needed shelter, and I'm fine with providing one."

The empire paused for a moment as the real question bugged his mind. "Why here," he asked blatantly, "why Britain? There are many other kingdoms that surround Prussia, and many would have kept you, whether from kindness or out of spite, because no one likes him. You could have gone to the Swiss, they defend their country pretty well and it is a neutral zone. You could have gone to any of Mandoria's allies such as the Ottomans or RE. Even if you needed a body of water to separate you and Prussia, the Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden are closer to you. How did you know that you wouldn't be kicked out of my kingdom from how Prussia described me to you; how would you know you would be safe, and how would you know you wouldn't just be imprisoned for just the fact that you resemble Prussia, no matter if you claimed to be Mandorian?"

M: "I don't think you understand what little I had to lose, and how much I had to gain" Prudoria muttered, "any imprisonment you gave me would have been a hundred times better than the prison I was already in, I was basically taking a Hail Mary, following the path I thought Mandoria went.  That's really why I came here, not just to get away from Prussia, but to find my real family."

Prudoria unbuttoned his shirt, just enough to reveal the Prussian eagle branded onto his chest, running his hand over the scar.

"I didn't know if I would be safe coming here, I didn't know anything, all I knew what that Mandoria was here and that he would protect me," the country looked BE in the eyes, "wouldn't you do that, wouldn't you risk everything to get to the people you know would protect and care for you.  At that point, I didn't care if I died trying, death would be preferable to one more day with that monster."

N: "I've been in your position before," BE grumbled as he carefully removed the glass raven from his hair before handing it over to Prudoria, "not to the exact detail but there was a moment in my past when I was taken away from my family and all I wanted was to be reunited with them."

The empire sighed as he stood up and grabbed his chair, and he looked up to the Prussian, "Thank you for answering my questions. Now I better understand your situation and I may judge it accordingly. But remember, I can never trust you fully, and don't take it personally, it just comes from a personal experience. It's the same for everyone, even the ones closest to me, and it's something that you just have to get used to."

With that, he picked up his chair and returned it to its original place before heading out of the hall.

M: Prudoria watched him until he was out of sight, thinking over those last words as he pet the raven.  "I guess we're more alike than I thought," he muttered, "I wouldn't trust me so easily either, I still don't completely trust people here, it's only fair."

He gave the bird a few more scratches before returning it to the window, where it melted back into the glass like it never existed in the first place.  After sitting there for a few more minutes, he decided to go find Johann, he wanted to make sure he was ok after that trip down memory lane.

N: Johann decided to hide out in his favorite tower, the second comfort place after the stables to quieten his mind. He would have gone to the stables, but the cold winter wind would have made it freezing to stake out, so he decided to go to a place of comfort.

The Mandorian just laid on his back on the sofa, now half his stuff just sprawled everywhere since he also sleeps there on occasion, and he just stared up into the pointed ceiling.

He was so out of it that when Prudoria opened the trapdoor into the room, he helped and jumped up before dropping behind the sofa and landing roughly on his arm.

"Oh, it's you," Johann muttered as he rolled himself onto the sofa again, rubbing his shoulder, "I guess someone told you about this place, huh?"

M: Prudoria was startled himself when Johann jumped off the couch, but shook it off and nodded, "Yeah, Rowen said that you came up here when you were upset, so I figured you would be here after what was talked about earlier."

The country took a moment to observe his surroundings, nudging a pile of dirty clothes on the floor, "Looks like you've really taken over this spot, I guess no one comes up here often, it's a bit cold for my taste though."

Not really knowing what to do, he sat on the floor next to Johann and asked, "Do you want to talk about it, I probably understand it better than anyone since we're about the same age.  Actually, that's a dumb question, of course, you don't want to talk about it, what I meant to ask is if you're ok."

N: "I was about to rant about how I don't want to talk about it," Johann grumbled before rolling over to his side so his back was facing Prudoria, "and I don't know how I feel. Sometimes I'm over the moon, but other times I'm in a deep pit of nothingness, just me and my thoughts."

The Mandorian tried his best to forget, but the more he talked, the more he remembered his time at Prussia, and his eyes began to water on their own. In response, he decided to grab a pillow and cover his face, not wanting his half-brother to seeing him this way.

"I don't know why I feel like this," he whimpered, his voice muffled by the pillow, "I sometimes feel like I don't deserve being here, that it was pure luck that Saxon found us, but I always hear Hezyka's voice saying that that's wrong and I never deserved it. I just feel shit all the damn time and I can't get rid of the feeling, and I hate it. Ich hasse alles davon (I hate all of it), Prussia, losing my home so many times, thinking about this in general. Ich hasse es (I hate it)."

M: Prudoria let Johann get it all out, mostly because he didn't know what to say, and even when the Mandorian was finished he still didn't know how to help.

"You know, there's something Prussia used to say that I actually believe is a good thing," he said, "he would say that it's good to be angry, that anger gives you the strength you need to keep fighting.  Hatred is a form of anger, so rather than let that hate boil inside of you, turn it into the strength you need to keep going by showing it you won't bow to its iron fist."

He paused to mess with his feathers a bit, then added, "For me, fear gave me the strength to get here from Prussia, you saw how weak I was when I came here, I couldn't eat or drink with that collar on, I shouldn't have made it.  I found the strength I needed by turning my fear into determination, my anger into hope, and now here I am today with you.  If you turn your negative into a positive, you could make it anywhere."

N: "What do I do with all of it, Pruds," Johann asked, "I'm already in a new home; I already have anything I could ask for and the people I love are around me, but I still have all of this inside me and I don't know what to do with it. I don't want to hurt anyone, and there's no point striving for a better future if I'm already there, so I just lie here and keep it in."

He paused to take a breather, trying to recollect his thoughts but failing. "I don't want to be angry," the Mandorian admitted, "I do, but I don't want to hurt anyone. I was angry once, way before you came, when Alaric confessed about something he did, and I felt so angry that I-I..."

The Mandorian went quiet, and he curled up into a ball, quietly sobbing into the pillow for a couple of minutes. When he had finally stopped, he uncovered his face, revealing his red puffy eyes, as he wiped his tears away. "But it's ok," his voice wavering, and he dryly chuckled at the false statement, "I can put on a smile, and as long as I don't think about it, it won't affect me, right?"

M: Prudoria was concerned with how Johann was breaking down in front of him, he knew he was not the right person to comfort his half-brother, he needed help from people who spent more time with him.

"You really shouldn't fake it until you make it, I know that it doesn't work like that," he said, "I also know that I am clearly the worst person who should be comforting you.  What you need is someone to bear your burdens with, having more than one pair of shoulders is what really helps."

He thought about it for a second, technically he should take Johann to their parents, but he thought that there may be someone else better for the job, "hey, do you want to go visit Gwen, I think she's a perfect person to share your frustrations with, after all, you told me about wanting to help her get away from her mom, surely she would want to help you as well."

N: Johann went silent for a moment, thinking about the proposition, before saying, "I think I know where she is." He slid himself off the sofa before grabbing a large coat and throwing it over to Prudoria, "you'll need it if you're coming."

With that, the Mandorian began to descend down the tower, only barely registering that the Prussian was behind him, and when they reached the open court at the bottom, he ignored the open doors into the inside of the compound and headed straight to the woods. Ignoring all the protests to wear proper outdoor clothing, he marched ahead through the snow until eventually they reached the tree line, and from there he followed a track of footprints that went further into the forest.

Guessing that Gwyn would be there, he wordlessly followed the path until they saw a column of smoke up ahead, so the Mandorian began to pick up his pace until they broke through and reached a campsite. There was a small campfire with a single tent, and near the fire sitting on a log was the Welshwoman. She turned around, startled by the noise, and was confused to see the both of them there.

"Jo, what are you doing here," she asked, her voice filled with concern, "and why don't you have a coat?" When she didn't get a response, she asked, "Are you ok?"

"Nein," Johann replied quietly, hanging his head low, so Gwyn quickly got up and gave him the biggest hug possible, but feeling how cold he was, she gave him her thick overcoat before leading him to the campfire to warm him up.

She let him lie down on the log with his head resting on her lap, so she gently played around with his hair while he vented out his feelings. Eventually, he tired himself out and fell asleep, to which Gwyn placed a small kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you for bringing him to me," she thanked Prudoria, "he takes time to open up and it's nice to know that he feels safe around you to do so.

"We haven't been introduced properly, the name's Gwyneth. Marshmallow?" She held out a stick with a roasted marshmallow on the end.

M: "Sure, I never had a marshmallow before," Prudoria shrugged, taking the stick and examining the treat, "I mean, I had plenty of sweets before, mostly as treats from my caretakers, but never marshmallows, I wonder why they're even called that?"

He wiped the snow off a nearby rock with his wings and sat down, eating his marshmallow and savoring the crunch and the stickiness.  He asked for a few more so he could do some roasting himself, and especially enjoyed it when the marshmallow would catch on fire, it was very satisfying.

"My name's Prudoria, by the way," he said after a bit, "I don't really know how much Johann told you about me, he's told me a lot about you though. I figured you were a better person to bring him to than our parents, you seem to be someone he's more comfortable sharing things with."  He looked around at the campsite and asked, "Why are you out here in the cold though, I know it has something to do with you're mom but you could come to the compound, or ask Esha if you could borrow her cave, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

N: "I've been camping out since I was a kid" Gwyn explained as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through Johann's hair, "and yeah, it kind of has something to do with my mum."

The Welsh paused for a bit to collect her thoughts, "Whenever I felt I wasn't wanted at home, my dad would let me go out and camp with him and we would have a great time away from my mum. That was until ... they divorced when I was a teen and my dad moved away, then some years later we hear that he died fighting in one of BE's wars in the mainland."

She shuffled her feet, uncomfortable in the situation she put herself in, so she smiled a bit and said, "So long story short, I've been doing this for a while now, and it reminds me of back when I was with my dad."

M: Prudoria nodded in understanding, not really finding much to add since he had no experience with things like this.  Luckily, the conversation was forgotten when a twig snapped in the woodline, and when they turned in that direction there was a large black wolf with red eyes watching them.

"Oh, hi Sabeth, what are you doing out here," Prudoria asked, beckoning the eternal over.

"I saw you and the Short-life run out here and I was concerned," Sabeth murmured, his voice surprisingly quiet for a creature of his build.

"Well, you don't have to worry, we're just chatting," the counter country said, "come on over, Gwyn won't bite."

Sabeth limped over, his paw still tender from the bear trap, and sat close to Prudoria as he introduced them, "Gwyn, this is Sabeth, he's an eternal who survived the Jacobite attack, it's a long story, he's still uncomfortable around humans, and really only talks to me, no one else."

N: "Well I hope we become more acquainted in the future, Sabeth," Gwyn nodded, "and I'm sorry for what happened to you."

Shortly after she spoke, Johann rolled over to his side but forgot that he was on a log so he just fell into the snow. Gwyn tried her best to stop him, but instead the Mandorian just dragged her down too as he woke up in a start. She chuckled a bit as she helped orientate him, and once he was aware of where he was, he finally sat on the log, holding his head.

"Are you feeling better," Gwyn asked.

"It feels like someone just threw a brick at my head."

"Well," she shrugged, "from how you were earlier, you really put yourself through a beating. Next time-," she patted his back to get his attention, "-don't be too harsh on yourself.

The Mandorian just grumbled a small 'ok' before realizing that he was wearing his girlfriend's overcoat, so after a small bicker over who should have it, they ended up sharing it and huddling together.

"Worried about your cub?" Gwyn lightly joked, pointing at the Mandorian, "he's awake now." Johann only grumbled a bit from being called a cub, to which the chuckled before muttering a small apology.

M: Sabeth growled in his throat a bit, thinking the cub comment was in reference to him, but Prudoria pat his shoulder to calm him.  "Nope, Sabeth couldn't care less about Johann, unfortunately, he was worried about me since the eternals tend to view countryhumans as the same," the Prussian explained, "why don't you go back inside, I saw that you were still tender so you shouldn't even be out here, we'll come back later, promise."

Sabeth nodded in agreement and headed back to the compound, Prudoria stuffed some snow into a cloth he had and gave it to Johann like an ice pack.

"So Gwyn, I don't suppose you want to come back with us," he then offered, "I don't really want to stay out here much longer but I feel like leaving you alone with Johann is not a good idea."

N: "I think that's a good idea," Gwyn nodded, "isn't that right, Jo?"

"I don't wanna move," Johann groaned as he leaned on her, "can I just stay here?"

"Not happening. Get up and wait with Prudoria here as I pack my stuff away," she ordered, so the Mandorian reluctantly stood up and stood by the Prussian, wrapping himself tightly with the coat as he watched her pack away, and eventually she came around with everything on a small sleigh.

When the cadet saw the Mandorian eyeing the sleigh, she laughed, "No, you may not ride it." To which Johann pouted, getting an extra laugh from the other. After the fire was put out, the trio made their way back to the compound, and once they arrived, the Mandorian beelined towards the library where he found a sofa and collapsed onto it, closing his eyes as he slowly dozed off.

M: With Johann out of commission, Prudoria was left to give Gwyn a tour, since he figured that since she was just a cadet she hasn't spent much time in the building.  They wandered around, the Prussian showing Gwyn his favorite hangout spots and introducing her to Ireland and Anglo, his two best friends.

They walked around some more until Prudoria spotted Saxon, who still had Odrus sleeping on his shoulders, causing the young country to laugh.

"Hey Saxon, I like your new scarf," he called over to him.

N: "Why thank you," Saxon replied nonchalantly while Gwyn laughed along, "and nice to see you too, cadet."

"Same here, sir," the cadet answered, trying to suppress her giggles, reaching out to pet the cat, "and who is the lovely cat?"

"Odrus," the entity smirked, to which he further grinned when the Welshwoman slowly retracted her hand in surprise, "it's alright, let's see how he would react."

Gwyn raised a brow but went ahead anyway and began to pet the Eternal on the head.

M: Odrus reflexively flinched at the touch, but then started purring and stretched as he was woken up.  He opened one eye to see who was petting him, only to purr louder and lean forward for more scratches.

"I think he decided to reject humanity and become a full-time cat," Prudoria chuckled, giving the feline more attention, "if I could shapeshift I would do that too."

"Sometimes you're just too tired to be punked," Odrus muttered, "I don't mind being a pet today, as long as I can regain my energy."

N: "I kind of like you as a cat," Saxon smiled, joining in as he rubbed right under Odrus' chin, "it's just really peaceful and soothing, plus you're a pretty good neck warmer."

"You like peace," Gwyn asked in confusion, "I thought that you were all about war and violence."

The entity shrugged, making sure not to knock off the Eternal, "Whenever I can, I will like some peace and quiet, and try to stop a war," then he paused for a bit, "unless I started it."

M: Prudoria and Odrus chuckled, then the other started kneading Saxon's shoulder from contentment, earning more chuckles from the Prussian.

"A neck warmer and shoulder massage, now I'm getting jealous, is there any chance I could steal you for a while?" He laughed.

"Nope, not even a little bit," Odrus declined, "I'm happy right here, and you can't make me budge."

N: "Yep, leave him alone," Saxon reaffirmed, then proceeded to hum in enjoyment to the massage, getting more laughs.

"Well it seems that the Head of Insurgents is busy," Gwyn smirked, then she turned to Prudoria, "so you're the tour guide, what's next?"