Daniel hooked the lantern up next to the window in the back of the cabin then looked to Specca with a curious smile, the nixie watching him with a timid expression now.
“Um… what did you have in mind for us?” she asked, her mind racing of many possible things the boy might do with, or to, her. Daniel chuckled then sat down on the sleeping blanket against the wall and motioned for Specca to come closer. The girl smiled bashfully and slowly came closer to him, getting down on her hands and knees to crawl over before sitting next to him, her tail sliding back along the wall behind Daniel as the boy watched her with an intrigued smile.
“Well, this is like a first date for us, in a way,” Daniel pointed out, with Specca nodding with a blush.
“So I thought, what would I want to do with Specca on our first date?” Daniel asked with a curious smile.
“I don’t know, what would you want to do with me?” Specca asked, growing even more excited for whatever the boy had planned. Daniel paused for a moment then reached to the side and pulled his backpack over to them, opening the flap and then presenting it to Specca.
“First, I want you to pick out your favorite book from what I have here,” he said casually. Specca looked at him with wonder then to the books in his bag.
“Um, ok,” she said as she reached into the bag. She glanced over the titles then lifted a book out with a curious smile, wondering where Daniel was going with this. Daniel set his bag back over on the side of the cabin and looked at the book the girl had chosen.
“Ah, The Temptress’ Key, that’s a rather good one,” he said in agreement.
“I’ve read it quite a few times back in Ashwood, I love the romance and action scenes so much. So, what now?” Specca asked curiously. Daniel smiled then gently slid one of his arms around behind her, the girl watching with surprise as he lifted her legs up with his other arm then brought her over to sit on his lap, the girl trembling a bit with a blush on her face as the boy held her upright against his shoulder while his other hand rested on her legs.
“Daniel?” she asked under her breath, her heart feeling like it was going to leap out of her chest from him holding her like this. Daniel smiled at the girl then glanced to the book she was holding.
“For our first date, Specca, I’d like to read your favorite story with you,” he said gently.
“What?” she asked with wonder.
“I like to read, and so do you. So I thought, the ideal first date for the cute girl I found hiding in the library would be a good book to read with her,” Daniel reasoned. Specca jumped with a small squeak and blushed further.
“C-Cute? Me?” she asked shakily.
“Yes, you. Is this ok for a first date for you?” Daniel asked curiously. Specca glanced down to her lap then looked at Daniel with surprise as she realized something.
“Daniel… I’m not… wearing… any…” she said softly, remembering that she was sitting on Daniel’s lap bare bottomed. The boy glanced down to her skirt then to her with a shrug.
“I know, I don’t mind, you are how you are Specca, there’s nothing wrong with that,” he assured gently.
“Daniel,” Specca said softly as her tail slowly slid around his waist and held onto him, the girl using her reptilian appendage to keep him close. The boy smiled at the girl then glanced to the book in her hands, not minding the unique way of her holding him at all.
“Is this an ok idea?” he asked. Specca nodded slowly as he looked into her eyes, the girl feeling her heart beating faster for the boy than before.
“Yes, it’s… it’s perfect,” she said with a tear forming in her eye.
“Glad to hear it. I’ll try to keep up with you on each page,” he said with a wink. The girl smiled lovingly at the boy then looked to the book in her hands.
“As will I with you,” she said, knowing that she may have trouble focusing on the story by reading it like this. Daniel nodded then kissed her cheek, the girl jumping with a small gasp as she looked to him with wonder.
“We’ll read it together until you fall asleep, then I’ll tuck you in for the night. Sound like a date?” he offered. She slowly held a hand to her cheek as she blushed brightly then nodded with a warm smile.
“Sounds perfect to me, Daniel,” she said softly before looking to the book. She opened it to the first page and held the book so they could both read it, the girl resting her head on his shoulder as she cherished being with him like this. The boy held the nixie on his lap as he enjoyed their private night together. Sure, he did feel his heart beating faster from holding her close like this, not to mention that the girl was naked under her skirt while she sat on his lap, but he wasn’t sure still if he loved Specca or cared for her deeply as a friend. Still, he was sure of one thing, he was glad he had her in his life.
After several chapters Daniel looked to seeing Specca sleeping peacefully against his shoulder, the nixie having a small smile on her face while she was breathing softly. The boy slowly set the book down on the floor and watched as the nixie slept in his arms. Her tail had loosened slightly from around his waist; however it still remained around his hips, as if even in her sleep the girl refused to let him go. Daniel admired the girl’s overall beauty, with her peaceful nature and deep mind being her defining points in his book.
“She really is something, that much is for certain,” he said quietly to himself. He gently lifted the girl up in his arms and moved over to lay her down on the sleeping mat, carefully laying her down before removing her glasses and setting them on the floor above her pillow. Daniel put out the flame in the lantern then lied down next to the sleeping nixie, pulling the blanket over while her tail slid out slightly to the side. The girl rolled onto her side to face him while nuzzling her cheek against her pillow, her gentle smile remaining on her face as a few strands of her hair dropped down near her nose.
“Sleep well, Specca,” Daniel said before leaning in and kissing her gently on the lips. He leaned back and pulled his boots off, setting them down on the floor near them before he laid down, resting his head on his pillow while breathing out in content.
“I love you,” Specca said softly, with Daniel looking over to see the girl’s eyes opened slightly as she smiled at him. Daniel smiled in return, with Specca scooting over and holding onto him as she rested her head on his shoulder again.
“Sleep well, Daniel,” she said quietly before falling asleep again, with Daniel closing his eyes as he felt the nixie resting on him.
Specca sighed softly as she recalled how her night with Daniel went. Even more to her joy, she apparently slept through Daniel’s snoring completely. She didn’t even remember hearing him snoring once during the night, even though the other girls told her that they woke up to him snoring like he usually did. Of course, what did wake Specca up were the girls yelling out her name when they found her clinging to Daniel in the morning still, with her tail having once again wrapped around the boy’s waist. After everybody had calmed down, with Daniel regaining his senses after waking up to all the girls shouting and arguing that come the morning the girls’ ‘quality time’ with Daniel was over, everybody had carried on as usual for the day. The other girls, although jealous of Specca’s turn, didn’t treat her badly because of it, since after all they were expecting the same thing for themselves very soon. But for Specca, her ‘date’ with Daniel was on her mind all that day, something that she loved every moment of and was again counting the seconds until her next night with him.
“Specca? You ok?” Triska asked. Specca blinked then looked to her curiously as the teen was watching her with a raised eyebrow.
“What? Yes, I’m fine, why do you ask?” Specca asked.
“Because you just plotted our route to go in circles over there,” Triska mentioned while pointing to the map. Specca looked to seeing that during her daydreaming of her night with Daniel she had been drawing in a circle on the map over and over again.
“Oh, sorry, I lost my trail of thought,” she said as she quickly worked to correct the blunder. Triska nodded and glanced to seeing Daniel again looking ahead as he held the reins to Lucky.
“Gee, I wonder what from,” she remarked knowingly while looking to Specca with a slick smile. Specca glanced to her then looked back down to the map with a blush, remaining silent while her tail curled up behind her. Alyssa and Squeak watched her curiously while Triska leaned closer to the girl.
“So, what happened with you two last night anyway, we never got an answer from you all day. You were both really quiet, sounds like nothing happened at all,” Triska commented. Specca glanced to her then looked up with a shrug.
“Maybe he muffled my cries of pleasure and ecstasy rather well, did you ever consider that?” she asked casually. Looking around she saw the other girls staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths. After a while of silence she giggled and shook her head.
“Relax, he was a perfect gentleman with me all night, we didn’t engage in anything like what you’re thinking,” she assured. The other girls breathed out in relief as Specca looked down with a gentle smile.
“We just read a book together,” she said softly.
“A book? That’s all you did, read a book?” Alyssa asked. Specca nodded and looked over to see Daniel sitting in the driver’s seat of the caravan, the boy looking around at the sights of the passing wilderness while his hair fluttered a bit in the breeze. The nixie smiled lovingly at him as she felt her heart beating faster with her growing love for the boy.
“Yes, it was the best book I’ve ever read in my entire life.”
In the world of Eden, danger lurks around every corner, even more so when traveling through the outerlands. Bandits and marauders were a real threat out in the wild, as well as the monsters that roamed the lands. A confrontation could occur at any time, a choice between fighting or fleeing may not always be an option, and one may need to rely on their instincts to survive the dangers they come across. However, not everything that seemed dangerous or evil really was, sometimes appearances could be deceiving. If one wasn’t certain whether they were facing an enemy or not, it was always best to choose what to do carefully.
After all, even those that were good in nature could still look like monsters.
*****
Flying up in the sky two butterfly girls were seen making their way across the outerlands, with one of them carrying a small human child in her arms. Emily clung to Luna tightly as the butterfly monster held her securely, the young child’s hair fluttering in the wind while she kept her eyes shut tight. Even though she was blind it was of course her natural reaction for being scared, and she had a good idea that although she couldn’t see for herself, she was very high up in the sky. Flying next to her sister, Falla was scouring the land below them in search for Daniel’s caravan, watching as they passed over the land with no sign of the travelers or their ride.
“Dammit, I hope they didn’t get too far ahead of us this time,” Falla muttered.
“You ok, Emily?” Luna asked as she saw the child keeping her face buried in her shoulder. The girl shook her head while holding onto Luna tightly.
“I don’t like this, take me down, take me down!” Emily cried out.
“But Emily, you’re safe up here, I promise, nothing’s going to hurt you,” Luna replied with concern. Falla glanced to the kid then looked around at the landscape below them.
“She’s right, Emily, down there you would be in more danger then up here, it’s much safer-” she started before looking back over and gasping with wide eyes, watching as Luna was spiraling around gleefully while holding Emily close, the young child now screaming as Luna was laughing maniacally with a twisted smile on her face.
“ISN’T THIS SO MUCH FUN? WEEEEEEE!” Luna screamed out as she laughed out of control, with Emily shaking her head wildly as she felt herself spinning around in the air.
“No! Please stop, stop! Please, Luna! You’re scaring me!” Emily cried out with tears forming in her eyes. Luna stopped and looked to Emily with a curious expression, the child then frantically trying to hold onto the monster as Luna had stopped her spiral so that she was upside-down in her flight.
“Scaring you?” Luna asked curiously.
“DON’T DROP ME! PLEASE!” Emily cried out desperately.
“Luna! Stop that, you’re just making this worse for her!” Falla yelled out.
Luna spun around to fly upright again with Emily crying and trying to push her away.
“Let me go! Put me down right now, you’re crazy!” she cried out.
“Crazy?” Luna asked with a hurt expression. Falla groaned then flew over and took Emily away from Luna, the human scrambling around in her arms while Luna watched her with worried eyes.
“Calm down, kid, she wasn’t going to drop you; she’s just got a little condition, ok?” Falla grunted as she tried to hold onto the human. Emily looked back towards the sound of her voice then over to where she could hear Luna crying softly.
“A little condition? She was laughing like a crazy monster,” Emily said nervously.
“I’m sorry, Emily, I… I didn’t mean to scare you,” Luna whimpered. Falla shook her head then motioned down towards a nearby wooded area, the two then flying down with Emily holding onto Falla nervously. They landed on the grass and Falla set Emily down before turning the girl to face her.
“I’m sorry about that; my sister… can get a little carried away sometimes. She can’t help it. Trust me, as ‘crazy’ as she may seem, she’s harmless,” Falla reassured. Emily looked towards the sound of Luna crying, the butterfly girl holding her arms around herself and looking away with remorse.