"......I'm sorry?" Vincent asked her.

"Oh boy." Steff muttered.

"Violent? Uncontactable?" he asked.

"All right, those do NOT sound like qualities I want in someone that's going to be close to my adoptive daughter." he said to Aimee.

"I don't want him hurting you." he told her.

"And I don't want him disappearing on you, leaving you behind with potential scars from knowing him."

"........" Vincent was silent as Aimee said what she did.

Steff was quiet as well, before he slipped out of the room, not wanting to get caught in any potential crossfire here.

"See you both later!" he called to them as he slipped away.

"Aimee, I'm serious." Vincent commented.

"I don't want you being hurt. Physically or emotionally." he told her.

"I worry about you. And I don't want some unreliable violent person getting close to you." he continued.

"He doesn't sound like a safe person, at all."

Vincent was silent as Aimee said what she did.

"....hm." he muttered.

"I might want to meet this Yuri fellow." he told her.

"Just to see what kind of man he is." he said further.

"After all, there are a lot of people on this earth capable of hiding their true nature." he reasoned, looking out the window and sighing.

"Sadly, it's said that only those in the afterlife truly wear who they are on their sleeves." he mumbled.

".............." again, Vincent was silent, before looking at her.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Is that so." he said.

"Aimee LeBlanc, I can tell when you're deciding to have fun at my expense." he told her.

"You are deliberately withholding information." he said further.

"ARE you having fun?" he then asked.

Vincent just pinched the bridge of his nose when Aimee said all that.

"Your literalness is a real pain sometimes." he said.

"But I want you to have your individuality." he told her.

"I don't want you to feel like I don't trust you." he went on.

"Because... I do."

"I'll think about it." Vincent responded.

"As I said, I want to give you your freedom, and let you be in charge of your decisions." he told her.

"So for now, I'll back off." he said.

"...but I will want to meet him in due time." he went on, before pausing.

"For now, I need to concern myself with going to the market soon." he continued. "We're running low on fruit and bread." he reasoned.

Vincent nodded in response.

"If you like." he said.

"Actually, I'll make up a small list of what we need, exactly." he told her.

"Give me 10 minutes." he continued.

"Oh, and I'll make sure you have the money needed." he then added.

Vincent watched her go, and sighed.

"...I need to learn not to smother her." he said.

"She's an adult now. She needs to make her own decisions." he told himself, before shaking his head.

With that, he grabbed a couple of cloth shopping bags and set them on the table. He grabbed a slip of paper, checked their cupboards, and wrote down all they needed. He then set it on the bags, alongside a small coin purse filled with money.

"And there we go."

Nothing seemed to happen for a few moments, before a familiar figure stepped out from the trees behind Aimee, and made his way over towards the girl.

He stepped up behind her, and Aimee could see his reflection in the water, peeking out over her.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"What is it?" he asked further, a small hint of a smirk on his face.

"You called me for a reason, yes?"

"Heh." Uriel chuckled, sitting down beside her.

"Well, seems it's cake for you." he told her.

"How did it go?" he asked. "The mana maturation, that is." he clarified.

"I assume it went smoothly?" he asked further.

"No real... complications or discomfort, or anything?"