Wilmington, North Carolina.
February 4th, 2005.
It was a fine Saturday morning at the Okajima residence, the sun had risen not too long ago and the skies were clear with barely a cloud in sight. However during this time of day, only one of the Okajimas was awake; Riley who went out of her room and to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. Normally she'd go wake her parents up by jumping on the bed or shoving them around, but she was extra hungry today. Riley then grabbed a chair to help herself reach the pantry easier before climbing on top of it and opening the pantry. There was quite a variety of cereal but today, she went with Froot Loops.
Riley then went and grabbed both a bowl and a cup with the chair for extended height before opening the refrigerator, wanting some milk to drink. The jug of milk was half full so thankfully it wasn't as heavy so Riley wouldn't lose her balance. Once she poured the cereal in her bowl and the milk in her cup, Riley smiled brightly, ready to eat some delicious breakfast. And the best part? She managed to do it all by herself! With all that said, Riley grabbed a handful of cereal and began munching down.
As she ate her cereal though, Riley felt a strange wobbly sensation in her lower jaw but ultimately ignored it and kept eating. She then drank some milk as well before continuing to eat with the wobbly sensation getting noticeably stronger before suddenly disappearing after gulping down another handful of cereal, leaving something near her tongue. Curious to see what it was, Riley stopped eating her cereal and pushed the seemingly foreign object closer to the front of her mouth before spitting it out. What Riley saw, however, morphed her innocent curiosity into sheer horror as she picked up what just came out of her mouth: A tooth. And it wasn't just a tooth, she realized it was her tooth! Upon checking a sudden empty space in her mouth with her tongue, Riley's dread only grew further until suddenly…
She let out a loud room-piercing scream that shook the entire house to its core and startled her parents, waking them up from their otherwise peaceful slumber. Rock was frantically looking around the room in confusion while Revy grabbed one of her guns on instinct thinking a home invader had broken in and harmed their daughter. It didn't help that they also heard Riley's crying become louder and louder as she rapidly stormed into their room with a bawling expression on her face. "Woah woah Riley, what happened?", Rock asked as he went to comfort and calm her down in a tight embrace while Revy was preparing herself with a battle-hardened expression. "I-...I was eating ce-cereal…", Riley tried to explain through distraught whimpering. "Uh huh, and then what?", Rock further asked. "A-and and then…my TEETH STARTING FALLING OUT!", Riley shouted as she tearfully held the recently fallen out tooth.
Rock and Revy immediately fell silent with the latter collapsing back onto the bed and dropping her beretta onto the floor while the former took a deep breath and sighed. "Riley, it's okay.", he assured. "No, it's not okay! I'm gonna lose all my teeth!", Riley snapped back. "This is a normal thing that happens to kids.", Rock gently explained, "Once they become old enough, their little kid teeth start to fall out. It's not going to happen all at once and then after some time, they grow back as big kid teeth.". "Oh…", Riley sniffed now having calmed down at least somewhat. Rock hugged his daughter once again and lightly ruffled her hair before giving her a small kiss.
"Y'know if you woke me up first, I could've made breakfast for you.", Rock said. "I know, but I was really hungry…", Riley replied, "And I got everything by myself.". "Oh, how'd you do that?", Rock curiously asked. "With a chair.", Riley answered. "That's awesome, but remember you could always just ask me or your mother for help.", Rock reminded her. "I know.", Riley said. "Anyway…since your first tooth just fell out, you'll have to eat softer food so I'll go make you some scrambled eggs.", Rock said standing up from the bed, "Also, you might get a visit from the Tooth Fairy later!", he playfully added.
"Who's the Tooth Fairy?", Riley fascinatedly asked which her father chuckled to. "Oh, someone very cool. I'll tell you all about it in just a bit!", Rock proclaimed as he led Riley out of their room before turning his head to his motionless wife, "Revy, are you coming?", he asked. Revy could only blankly stare at the ceiling in disbelief and a degree of embarrassment over the fact that she was up and ready to potentially kill someone over a baby tooth. Rock tilted his head in confusion, "Revy?", he called out to her, "I'm going to make eggs now, do you want?". Revy didn't even look at her husband as she rolled herself back onto the bed, grabbed a nearby pillow before taking a deep breath, and sighing loudly into it in a disgruntled tone. "...Is that a yes or a no?", Rock flatly asked. "Just lemme lay down for a bit then I'll go…", Revy muffledly answered before seemingly knocking out again.
"Okay if you say so.", Rock shrugged before turning away and closing the door to let Revy rest for at least a little while longer. Of course to preserve his wife's dignity, Rock made the silent promise of not telling anyone outside the household of the events that had just occurred knowing Revy would not hear the end of it if Dutch, Benny, or worst of all, Eda were to hear about her little blunder. On the bright side though, a new milestone had been reached with Riley's first baby tooth coming out.
Of course that means visits to the dentist, an all new challenge that awaits them.