<9> "That being said..." he started, then took a long, deep breath. This was the first time ever that Summer had seen him struggle for words when talking to [i]her[/i] in particular. "Beyond having to tell you that I adopted you, I have firmly stood by the idea that you are my daughter and I am your father. Looking at things for how they are, the truth is that we do not share blood. Even so, I intend to call you my daughter until the day I die. I suppose what I am trying to say is...." The gears in Summer's head began to turn as she worked to process what her father was getting at. "You mean... it's... okay?" Rainier exhaled sharply through his nose. "I feel like I'd be a horrible father by saying that." "You're not a horrible father at all," Summer insisted as her confidence came flooding back to her. "Dad, I love you, and I'm sorry I... violated you... but it got me thinking a lot last night-" "You and I both," Rainier admitted. There was a slight quiver in his own breathing, but no matter how uncomfortable he was, his piercing blue eyes remained fixed upon her. "Summer... I am a simple man. I joined the militia very young, and I fought for years for the Alliance before the massacre in Shattrath. My parents were long gone even before then. Having a life-mate is a complicated and foreign concept to me, but taking a mate for physical relief is something we all must experience from time to time." It was here that Summer recalled vividly what her uncle had said the night before, and her lips began to move before her mind could hold it back. "You... you still have mates?" "Every so often," Rainier admitted honestly. "Never when you've been in the house. I didn't think it was my daughter's business to know, nor have I intended to settle down. Everyone has needs." One of Summer's long eyebrows raised higher than the other as she scrutinized him. "Who?" "What?" "Who do you bring back?" she added, a small smile crossing her soft lips. Rainier furrowed his brow at this. "And how is [i]that[/i] your business?" "I'm just curious," she admitted, but didn't back down. "We're talking like adults, not family, right?" "So it would appear," he returned and shifted a bit more uncomfortably in his seat, but did not elaborate. Summer's mind continued to reel with an excited curiosity. "Ms. Johannson?" Rainier leaned back in his seat and crossed his muscular arms defensively over his chest. "A few times, yes." Her head tilted sideways. "Ms. Portage?" The elder warrior scoffed. "No. Not my type." Summer leaned forward in her seat. "And what about Ms. Larford?" This one made Rainier flush much more. "Yes." The landlady was roughly his age anyway, and she was perhaps friendliest to him compared to most of the tenants in the building. Many of the men couldn't stand being around the intense warrior for very long, and while Rainier would never admit it, Summer knew he could be quite the ladies' man when he wanted to be. Her triumphant discovery of her father's personal life made Summer swell with giddy glee, and she felt she simply had to ask, "Was she your 'friend' who stopped by yesterday?" Rainier was not accustomed to being put into an uncomfortable position, and while there wasn't anything really wrong about being honest with his daughter, the warrior was struggling more with the realization that Summer was more an adult than his little girl now. "Yes. She left a few minutes before you got home last night." "I see," Summer added, her body significantly more relaxed in her seat. "So... what would happen if I... you know... just... asked you?" Rainier hesitated to bite on this question, his stoic form wavering just a bit. "Asked me what?" "If you wanted to fuck me," she stated much more boldly than Rainier had expected. "Language!" he chided immediately. Summer scoffed at this. "Dad, you say much worse on a regular basis, and we're not in public." "Be that as it may-" "You're avoiding the question," she countered, this time standing up sharply from her seat. With their height difference, this was the only instance where Summer was taller than her father, and only by the last inch of her long, pointed ears. "What would you say if I asked you that?" Rainier sighed softly. "I... would consider it," he admitted helplessly. He couldn't lie to his daughter any more than she could to him. "You've grown into a beautiful woman, Summer. I can't deny that." Part of her had expected his answer, but still she clearly reeled at the blunt nature of his response. "R-really?" The elder warrior's gaze hardened. "Something like what you're suggesting would require a great deal of trust and understanding. I trust you with my life, and I would hope you'd do me the same courtesy." "Meaning...?" Summer pried a bit more hesitantly. "Meaning we make sure to keep things to ourselves at all costs, and we [i]talk[/i] when we have issues or... needs. If someone finds out who doesn't like it, the guard will be knocking at our door, and I don't have near enough sway to get them off our backs for something like this." Summer struggled hard not to let a well of giddy glee show. The blood elf had appeared, for all intents and purposes, relatively normal and vanilla-ish even to her close friends. Last night, however, something had most certainly awakened inside her upon hearing of her father's love life, and that passion seemed to be swallowing her more and more by the moment. The series of fantasies she'd had the night before came rushing back all at once, but the only outward sign of it was the crimson that burned hot in her pink cheeks. A new one, however, surprised even herself as she imagined what it might look like for Rainier to have the tidy Ms. Larford bent over the very kitchen table she sat at. "And what about your lady friends?"