Nez heard a knock at his door. He was already awake, unable to fall asleep. Too many thoughts in his head.

"It's open" he said, clutching the gun under his pillow just in case it wasn't someone from his group.

Phisena entered the room. "Am i bothering you?".

Nez shook his head. "Not in the slightest" he replied sitting on the edge of the bed. "Do you need something?".

"No... Yes... I don't know...".

Chuckling at that answer, Nez pointed at the chair across the room. "Sit down and tell me what's going on".

She did as he told.

"I have a question".

Nez got mrore comfortable on his bed, which was the most comfortable he ever laid on in his life. "Ask away".

"Why do you think people hate Devil Touched so much, but not beastfolks, or ogres, or... animated dolls?". Phisena pushed her glasses further up her nose. "What's the difference?".

That was a good question.

"Hmm" Nez mumbled. "Well, aside from the fact that Devil Touched are the product of infernal influences... I'd say because they weren't supposed to be like that".

"What do you mean?".

Nez tried to explain better: "When someone creates an animated doll, that animated doll comes out as the creator intended. When a beastfolk is born from beastfolks, that is how it's supposed to be. Same for ogres and humans".

He looked outside the window. Even if it was late, the city was still bustling.

"But Devil Touched... We are an anomaly caused by dark and evil forces. And nobody knows why it happens, or what causes it". Nez smiled in the dimly lit room. "Add the fact that we can do some pretty scary stuff...".

Phisena scoffed. She was pouting like a child, almost. "That's so unfair".

"Nobody ever said life it's supposed to be fair".

Nez learned that the hard way. But it was a valuable lesson that let him shake off the past and start anew.

Phisena got up from the chair and sat down next to Nez on the bed. "But this way, a lot of Devil Touched will act as they are perceived as a reaction to their environment”.

“That's true” Nez agreed. “But you also have to consider that we do have some... malevolent tendencies. The devil blood in our veins isn't only for show. It's harder for one of us to behave appropriately according to society”.

“But you're not like that”.

Nez wished it was the case.

“I'm no exception”. It was something Nez didn't like to talk about too much, although this time he felt more at ease. “I simply chose to not let that side of me take control”.

Phisena leaned towards him without saying a word. She placed her hands to she side of his face, as she did once before, and intensely looked in his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Nez asked, his squished cheeks distorting his voice a little bit. His heart rate went up.

She kept staring. “Do you think I can choose who to be as well?” she finally asked after what seemed like an eternity.

“Why not?”. Nez was surprised by that question. The answer was pretty obvious. “Animated dolls aren't bound by any spell or contract to do their master's bidding”.

“I know. It's just... Our creators or masters look after us, and without them we have no purpose”.

Nez let her keep touching his face. It was actually quite soothing.

“It's good to have your life already planned out” she continued. “I'm to compete against my siblings to become the next archmage, and I'll eventually choose a partner among my master's creations”.

“A partner?”. Nez frowned.

“Yes. It's nice to have someone to share your life with”. Phisena spoke like she was just repeating the sentence from a textbook. “And all of my master's animated dolls are good looking”.

For some reason, Nez didn't like to hear that. It didn't prevent him to catch the hesitation in her voice.

“I take it you don't actually want that... You are already disobeying your master by studying different magic disciplines”.

Phisena started to tremble. “I... I don't like my master, nor my siblings. They are all so pretentious”.

Nez snorted a laugh. “It seems like you have things figured out already. Seriously, you don't need advice from me”.

“But I want it”. Phisena still held his head. “I don't have many friends... actually, my only friends are Delilah and Bortheus”. She made a depressed face. “I can't talk to them about this stuff”.

I know how it feels.

Growing up, Nez never had the chance to have actual friends.

There was only one person who stood besides him, but he wasn't sure he would have called her a friend. She created more problems than anything else.

“Hey” he said, to both send those thoughts away and to attract Phisena's attention. “Do you want to get out of here?”.

“You have to rest” she scolded him. “We have our second match tomorrow”.

“It'll be fine!”. Nez took Phisena's hands and moved them away from his face. “We won't have anything to do until the afternoon at the very least. I'll just sleep in”.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Phisena bit her lower lip and tightened up her hands around Nez's fingers. “Alright” she conceded with relief.

Nez smiled.

----------------------------------------

“Here you go”. Phisena gave Nez the caramel apple she just bought for him.

“Thanks. I'm sorry you had to do this”.

He tried to get one himself, but as soon as he approached the stand, he got yelled at by the owner.

Nez ate a bite out of his snack. He had to admit: the owner was a jerk, but he made some really tasty caramel apples.

“Is it good?” Phisena asked.

“Oh yeah. It's great, actually”.

“Can I try it?”.

Nez turned to her in surprise. “I thought you didn't eat”.

“I don't need to, but sometimes I get curious about the taste” she explained with a smile.

He pointed the apple towards her. “Chow down”.

Phisena took a bite from his hand. After chewing for a little while, she gave a thumbs up. “Not at the level of the royal chefs, but pretty good”.

Nez couldn't avoid laughing heartily in front of that little weirdo.

She was always so direct, and yet introverted. She always managed to light up Nez's mood. And her hair was such a pretty pink...

“Do I have something on my face?” Phisena asked.

Oh no, I'm staring.

Nez immediately averted his eyes. “No, no! You're face is perfect... I mean, there's nothing on it”.

He could have sworn she hid a faint smile behind her hand.

A couple of guard approached them. They had their flintlock rifles already in hand, although not aimed. “Is this individual bothering you, ma'am?” one of them asked.

Before Nez could react, Phisena crossed her arms and stared daggers at them. She seemed furious.

“No, he's not. I'm having a great time, actually. It's you who are bothering me”.

The guards flinched. “We apologize. When we saw this Devil Touched so close to you...”.

Phisena made a frustrated grunt. “He wasn't doing anything weird, it was clear as day. And he can get as close to me as he wants”. She reached to grab Nez's hand without looking.

“Oh... We...”. The two guards were left speechless.

“I'm relieved to see such a level of commitment to your duties” Nez commended them with an affable smile. “It's thanks to people like you that the streets of Colisburg are so safe”.

The guards exchanged a puzzled and uncomfortable glance.

“You deserve a reward. Can I offer you one of these delicious caramel apples?” Nez asked, shaking his snack at them.

“We're on our shift...”.

“Then tell me where can I find you once you clock out. I'll bring them to you personally” Nez insisted, slightly tilting his head backwards.

“No need! Forgive us for our intrusion”. The guards immediately left.

Nez took another bite off his apple. “Such upstanding guardians of the law” he commented.

Phisena, still holding his hand, started to pull him along. She stopped only once they got to a small park, where there were less people around.

“How can you stand being treated like that?” she asked after sitting on a statue's base. She kicked her feet in the air.

Nez shrugged. “Once I realized there's not much I can do about it, I stopped being upset”.

There was no use fretting over something he had no control over. In the past it only led him to be angry at the entire world, and that anger brought him in a very dark place.

Phisena leaned on her elbows. “That takes a strong will”.

Maybe she was right, but Nez thought of it as simply not repeating past mistakes. And besides, he wasn't accustomed to get so many compliments.

He quickly changed the subject.

“Are you worried about tomorrow?” he asked.

“Our next opponents are renowned arena fighters. They have three expert mages and two bruisers, so we can expect them to be able to focus on our weak points with high efficiency”.

“You're worried” Nez concluded.

“Only a little” Phisena sulked. “The thing is, I'm not gonna be of great help. I'll run out of energy very fast if I try to counter three other mages”.

Now that he thought about it, Nez never saw Phisena use a weapon even once. Not even her staff, perfect to hit people on the head.

“You'll have to blow them away with your charm” Nez said jokingly.

Phisena laughed. “I wish I could... blow them away... But maybe I can blow them up!” she said with increasing enthusiasm. “You're a genius!”.

Nez highly doubted it.

“What did I say?” he asked, while his friend jumped to her feet.

“Follow me. We need to find a quiet place”. Phisena took off running.

Keeping up with her without any problem, Nez tried to make her say what she had in mind. But to no avail.

She rushed to the furthest spot from an arena that she could find, where there would be nobody around.

She stopped in an alley, then turned to Nez. “Teach me how to shoot”.

“Excuse me?”.

“I want to learn how to shoot”.

So Nez heard her correctly...

Seeing his confusion, Phisena took a sphere out of her bag. It had different sections with symbols, similar to certain fancy puzzles with rotating parts. “This is the solution”.

Nez looked at that strange item. “I fail to see why you need to shoot”.

“You'll see. Come one, take out your gun and show me”.

Seeing her resolution, Nez couldn't tell her no.

Time to hold a crash course on shooting a firearm, I guess.

He gave his gun to Phisena, showing her how to hold it and how to aim. He taught her all that he could think about, keeping in mind that she didn't have the same reflexes or sharp senses he had.

Phisena was a patient and captivated student. That had to be much easier than the magic arts she studied, and yet she gave it her all.

Nez found a few bottles scattered around and placed them on some empty boxes. “Try a few shots”.

He got behind her and helped her take aim. As he slowly moved her arm, he was surprised of how warm her skin was.

She pulled the trigger, but missed the target.

“Take the next shot after you exhaled. And don't tense up your shoulders”.

The second time she hit a bottle.

“The recoil isn't as hard to deal with as I thought” Phisena said. She took a good look at the gun. “Good thing I took care of it”.

She then gave the gun back to Nez. “I have a grasp on the basics now. I'm not gonna use a handgun anyway”.

As he put his weapon away, Nez was about to ask her if she intended to buy a rifle. But Phisena grabbed his face again.

“You're making a habit out of this”.

This time, she pulled him down and then kissed him.

Nez froze up for a second, completely caught by surprise, before he relaxed.

“Please make a habit out of this” he then said, a little dazed.

Phisena adjusted her glasses. “I hope I wasn't inappropriate”.

In Nez's book, a gentle kiss like that was as far from being inappropriate as it could be. He saw way, way worse than that.

“You weren't. I just didn't think you'd... You know... With someone like me”.

Phisena blushed a little. “I actually really like your eyes, they don't bother me at all. Your teeth too”.

Nez wasn't really referring to that. It wasn't the first time a woman found his features exotic and fascinating, but it has never been that personal. There was never affection towards him.

Seemingly reading his mind, Phisena put a finger on his mouth. “I'm fine with everything else too”.

A weird pain, strangely sweet, spread through Nez's chest. “I bet a lot of your master's animated dolls will be heartbroken”.

Phisena dug her face on his chest, shaking with laughter. “They were boring, anyway”.

Once they got back to the inn, they said goodnight to each other. Phisena had to work on whatever she had in mind, and Nez needed to sleep.

However, he found it even more difficult than before.

He never thought someone could harbor genuine feelings for him, a Devil Touched.

I really have been around the wrong people all my life.