The rain that was only background noise now pounds the bistro windows like a verdict. In the amber office light, Tommy and Erika stand with Donatello's terms still hanging in the air, heavier than the thunder.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
The storm is louder than the room.
Erika turns her blind face toward the glass, listening to the deluge as if it is speaking for the whole family. Her posture stays straight, but her shoulders tighten once, just enough to show she feels the same pressure.
Erika
So that is what this is, a warning with a lot of noise behind it.
Donatello's approval still lingers like smoke, but the weather outside makes it feel conditional in a new way, as if the world itself is reminding them that one accepted promise can still be drowned by the next demand.
Erika
If the family changes its mind later, I need to know whether you keep standing with me when it gets ugly.
The rain slams harder against the dark wood and the office seems to shrink around them. For one long beat, the promise they just won feels less like safety and more like the first crack in a dam.
“"I know we've only been dating a couple months . . . But i love you, and i will stand with you forever . . . If you'll stand with me?" I say as i hand her an engagement ring”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +1)
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
I know we have not been dating long. I love you, and I will stand with you if you stand with me.
Tommy opens his hand between them, and the ring catches the amber light before the storm can swallow it.
Erika
He is not asking for convenience. He is asking for all of it.
Erika
You are serious.
Her fingers close around the ring with careful pressure, then still.
Erika
If I say yes, I am not a guest in your life anymore. I am in it.
Thunder rolls over the roof, but inside the office the air changes, the old arrangement gone and something larger taking its place.
Erika
Tommy, does your family understand what they are getting now?
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Erika’s answer to Tommy’s proposal
+ New Item Acquired
Engagement ring
“They're gonna kbow what they're getting. And if they don't like it then to Hell with them all.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +1)
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
They are going to know exactly what they are getting.
Thomas "Tommy" Capozzi
And if they do not like it, then to Hell with them all.
Tommy lets the words settle in the rain-heavy hush, and the office seems to take a breath with him.
Erika
That is not bravado. He means it.
Erika
Good. I do not want a man who bends when the room gets loud.
Erika
I want the one who stays standing when they start measuring the floor under us.
She turns the ring in her palm, then closes her hand over it like a decision finally made, not borrowed.
Erika
Yes, Tommy. I am in it.
Quest Complete
Get Erika’s answer to Tommy’s proposal