The white-eyed god stared at the tiny redstone shard slowly burning through the colored paper and red TNT wrapping, knowing well that it wouldn't take longer than a minute to eat through the material and activate the bundle of fuses or just melt right into the gunpowder and ignite it in an instant. He relaxed his posture as eyes flickered back to the woman's face as she stood next to the deadly hazard, her expression contorted into anxiousness and dread as seconds passed by; she was on the fence with her choice he could tell. Her levels of fear spiked and yet she refused to run, though it didn't take long for her posture to shift uncomfortably as if she was ready to bolt on instinct alone. Herobrine didn't know why she would do such a reckless thing, but he was determined to win and be done with this mortal and begin his purge of anything that brought Notch to light, especially humans.
"I'd say you have about thirty-five or so seconds left woman, I must admit, you've got guts to still be standing there when that shard could easily sink through and cause an immediate explosion. If anything, the perfume coating the wrapping might be delaying the inevitable, if that is the case then allow me to thank you at the very least; the food you gave me last night was indeed very satisfying." He noticed her expression lighten at the mention of the meal she shared with him, he refrained from smirking; his words had an effect it seemed.
"You have been a very interesting and captivating mortal, going against your programming to survive and facing me head-on with and without fear, you've earned my respect; being one of few ever to do so. You're so clever, much more than I thought. It's ... impressive." He paused. "This is your last chance to flee woman, times about up." As he said this a small flickering flame began spreading over the bundled explosive and white smoke began to rise from it, a sizzling sound could be heard. "Then so be it."
Stephanie shook her head, tears still flowing. Her fingers coil into her palms, she had to remain strong, she couldn't coward out now, not with what was awaiting her if she failed the challenge. Her thoughts of being blown apart collided with the thought of her watching her brother and friends being slaughtered by Herobrine and his monsters, it appeared that her gamble had failed and now all that remained was the anticipation of death, yet Herobrine's compliment of her cooking and the respect he now had for her joined in the culmination of thoughts on top of what she had felt for him. Then her will to survive kicked in and she immediately tried to dash away from the explosive; it went off only a few milliseconds later, and intense light as well as a loud all-consuming sound overtook her senses.
An earsplitting ringing sound resonated in her ears as a hot fiery feeling rushed up the side of her right leg, along with a numbness developing in both of her feet from the powerful shockwave. A heavy slam had her crashing to the ground and hitting her head hard enough to knock her unconscious nearly, her eyes remained tightly shut as dizziness settled in. To the woman's distress, she was still conscious, still alive as the ringing in her ears was soon replaced with the sound of her own screams of agony. Her right leg burned with a strong ferocity and she could barely feel her right foot at all, Stephanie dreaded to open her eyes and refused to move, not now in knowing that she had survived a powerful explosive from such a close range and was probably missing parts of herself. Her whole body shuddered and shook from the blast of the explosion, her breathing ragged and heavy from pain, fear, and stress.
A soft disgruntled huff escaped Herobrine's lips, the man then growled with aggravation.
Stephanie dared to open her eyes to see Herobrine standing a few feet away from her, running a hand through his hair as he visibly seethed with narrowed eyes and fingers flexing in his vexation. He was no longer in his circle and appeared to be somewhat blurry in her sight. Her eyes then close and she lays her head back down on the grass as tears flood her face and her head spins, soft pained gasps escape her lips as she lies there and takes shaky breaths, her leg hurting so badly as did her right hand. Trembling, she carefully brought her hand up close to survey the damages; after blinking away the tears she saw it was intact but some of her skin on the side and bottom of her palm and a few of her fingers were burnt. Her ring and pinky finger were damaged, as well as the upper part of her wrist.
For a few minutes, she focused solely on breathing after being rattled by the explosion, she was shaking so much and still trying to process everything that just happened. Every little movement she made was excruciating and time seemed to crawl as her lightheadedness faded.
Steph tried to steady her breaths as adrenaline flooded her system and began dulling the aches and pains to a more bearable degree, she then lifted her head up with a grimace; afraid of what she might find of what had happened to her. To her surprise, she still had her legs and feet though numb aside from the large burn from ignited gunpowder that left half of her right leg in a bloody and burnt mess. It extended from the side of her ankle all up her calf, to her kneecap, incinerated half of her jeans and even her boot on that leg along with a few layers of her skin that had been singed off and left a bit of her muscles in a few places damaged and exposed.
"Had I waited even a few milliseconds longer, you wouldn't have legs, you would have been dead." His voice came out cold and grave, but also softly with a hint of relief. "Damn it woman, I should have let you die."
But he didn't. Stephanie stared at his back as he was now facing away from her, he only appeared to have a few small patches of burns on his pants around the right side of his body; meaning that he had teleported next to her in the midst of the explosion and shoved her away before it could fully consume her. He took the brunt of the blast and saved her. This realization had the Stonewall sibling gaping at him in both surprise and thankfulness, she was still panting too heavily to speak as she stared at the man at a rough patch of burnt grass and kicked-up dirt. She had been certain that her gamble failed, that he was going to let her die, yet he had not.
With trembling and aching arms, Stephanie pushed herself up onto her side with both hands and wobbly limbs keeping her off the ground, her tousled hair slipped down past her shoulder and hung freely. She breathed a sigh of relief and felt a few more tears trickling from her cheeks and pelting down to the grass below, she had almost just died horrifically and it left her quaking with fear and relief. Her fingers dug between the blades of grass and into the soil and roots for balance as she tried to gain her bearings, her head still spun and her ears softly rang to her annoyance, but she was alive. Herobrine had been moved, he left his spot when he said he would not. Steph looked back over at the man to see him now approaching her, he threw the challenge to keep her alive.
She honestly didn't know what to feel about such an action at that moment, not with all the painful sensations and whirling thoughts collecting in her aching head; but if there was one thing she knew she was feeling it was gratitude and compassion for the guy.
"You're smarter than I gave you credit for, woman. Foolish, but clever; getting me to accept a part of the deal of not using my powers all so that you could put me into such a contestable position in which I had no choice but to accept loss no matter which option I chose. I didn't expect you to blow yourself up instead of me, and that was your plan all along. I am not a man who simply loses or suffers loss, not anymore. But you played me as much as I hate to admit it, it would have been so easy to let you die."
"You didn't," Stephanie muttered with a soft hiss of pain as she cautiously moved her leg over so that she could sit on the grass and better examine the damages. Her eyes dart from the large burn back to the god. "There's some good in you, that proved it if nothing else."
The man snorted. "Did you not hear? I am not a man to suffer loss."
"You still lost though."
His teeth gnashed as he turned away from the woman, feeling as if his cloak of pride was being yanked at. "The challenge? Yes." He huffed with hot aggravation and slung his arm out as if to stop the defeated feeling from rising further. "But you played me with a competent tactic no matter how impulsive and dangerous it was, you're naive and yet cunning; an impossible contrast. I hate losing, but I admire your grit. You held out long enough to keep yourself in the range of death, going against your natural instincts, your own coding, to win. I can't help but be fascinated by it." He turned back around, his expression was a touch more softer and he folded his arms. "You're lucky mortal. If I still had full access to The Archives Mod, I could have let you die and just used a command to revive you and respawn you back to your previous state right before you were blown up. I would have won. I would never have suffered any loss from this challenge and would have you to myself for a couple of hours and be right on my way to the slaughter of millions. But I don't have full access to you or any dead humans, not anymore."
Stephanie shifted herself to relax a little better before giving him a quizzical look. "Archives Mod?" She asked, "What is that? What do you mean you could revive me, or once could? Are you saying that you used to be able to revive the dead?"
"It's another thing not to bother delving into the specifics since it's so complex, but every human and mod has many savestates, from birth to death. Every five seconds a savestate of a human or a specialized living mod is made and archived, I once had access to these savestates and could revert a mortal to any point in their life at will, but it was taken from me, locked away for abusing the power as you can imagine."
"How?" The woman questioned with suspicion.
Hero angrily sneered, arms falling to his sides. "Doesn't matter nor concerns you how. I can still interact with the savestates of mods, but not with humans. That makes you very fortunate on this particular occasion because I still want you around, I want to have and possess you, to fulfill my carnal desires. It has been too long since last feeding my flesh with the flesh of another." He said more darkly with a grin and slight twitching of his fingertips as his eyes soaked in the curves of her body, his expression however; soon dropped a bit as the woman barely reacted to his depraved admission. Almost fearless and expectant? He tilted his head a little and raised a brow at her in confusion, starting to wonder if she wanted him by the current look in her eyes.
Herobrine let the thought drop for now and returned to the topic at hand. "Let's just say that I have limited interaction with humans after they're dead, otherwise, I'd abuse the Nether of it all and kill my enemies a dozen times over; especially your brother." He chuckled with a frenzied look on his face. "I'd love to put him in a death loop just for the fun of it, for ever putting me to shame. I'd come up with so many ways to torment him and it would be endless entertainment, I'd make him wish he never existed." He finished with a delighted hiss.
Steph chose to ignore the comment about her brother's potential suffering, she was more interested in this Archives Mod and its use and now limitations in Herobrine's hands. Such a thing has Notch's name written all over it, meaning that Herobrine must have known her creator for a decent amount of time to be allowed even such access to a thing like human saved states, whatever that entailed. Herobrine had to be somewhat close to Notch in some way to begin with to be given power over the living and dead, only someone trustworthy enough could be trusted to hold that kind of power.
"But you don't have that power anymore, because you abused it in the past?" Her head tilted in her curiosity. "How did you lose it then? Was it Notch who took it from you?"
The man's fingers coiled tightly in his palms, his patience thinning. He frowned deeply as his eyes flared slightly. "I've already warned you not to use that name, you'll pay the price if you continue to mention it. You're lucky enough to still be alive when I had originally no plans of letting you win."
"But you'll still honor your word? Give me and my people another week?" She softly challenged, her expression resolute and yet also trusting.
The white-eyed man seethed quietly to himself, knowing that he didn't have to honor his end of the deal, but he wanted Stephanie to keep coming around, to touch him, to give him the company that he secretly enjoyed and fill a missing gap within himself that he desperately wanted to keep full. He hated losing but the woman was such a distraction he didn't mind having around, especially if she was so willing to be near him. He didn't have to stop the war; he could just move on somewhere else and continue it, for now. With that thought he decided he'd allow her the win and keep the deal going to savor her presence a little while longer and see what more she had to offer him, how much further it could go. It wasn't a complete loss in this regard, he may even get that second worship session he so greatly desired.
A low grunt of irritation and anticipation escaped him. 'Patience.' He reminded himself and felt the coiled tension in his fingers slacken. "Mmm, I'll keep my word woman, so long as you continue to meet with me and provide entertainment. And I want, no, demand worship this time. Before the next challenge." He said more calmly with narrowed eyes. "I'm expecting you to fully satisfy me this time around, especially after giving up a win on your behalf. So you better get that song finished and a dance ready for me in the coming days, while you're at it I want a better offering than simple fruit. Don't forget to wear a dress."
'So demanding now?' Stephanie let out a soft sigh and relaxed in place with her head tilting back, just glad that she gets another week to get closer to the murderous lunatic and another chance at trying to change his mind. He might be tough-talking here, but she knew for certain now that he was pretty fond of her to accept losing the challenge with how prideful he was. That and the fact that he admitted to not planning to save her but doing so regardless meant that he either really wanted to have her or she actually meant something to him than a tool of revenge and amusement. Maybe both. She hoped on the latter reason at least considering that he had been treating her better for the past few days now, but either way, she was still alive and had more time to hopefully come up with something to reach out to this man and pull him back from the precipice of insanity with his goals. Getting rid of humanity now could lead to a desolate world, one without life except for one wretched, bitter, and lonely soul.
'One more week.' She affirmed herself.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Herobrine found himself staring at the soft skin of Stephanie's exposed jugular with a hungry twitching lip before redirecting his attention to her injured leg, thankfully the searing hot gunpowder cauterized most of the surface blood vessels so she wouldn't bleed much. Still, such a burn had caused quite the damage and her adrenaline rush wouldn't last for too long. If he was going to take care of it; now would be the time to.
He walked over to the woman and knelt on a knee right in front of her, she shifted her head forward and looked at him with a slight surprise seeing Herobrine in such a low position. Her expression crinkled up as he plucked a few fibers of her pants out of the long wound as well as a few blades of grass and carefully brushed tiny clumps of dirt away. The woman winced and sat upright from the growing tenderness he poked into.
"That hurts!" She hissed as he brushed a few bits of debris out of her red and greyish-black burn, the burn spanned half her leg and began hurting more as time passed.
"Well if you want me to take care of it then you'll just have to deal with a bit of pain, I'd rather do this with a clean wound unless you want debris trapped beneath your flesh." He softly griped.
The woman bit her lip and forced herself to remain still, though it wasn't easy with the return of the tenderness. "Can't you just use a command and heal this?" She asked with a pained gasp as he touched her exposed muscle, not even the adrenaline flow prevented the ache from a direct touch.
"No." His tones came out harsher than intended and so softened his voices. "For one, I've already used a few commands on you recently last night and I'm not risking the command block's power reversal again and risk falling into human hands. Secondly, you chose to risk your life on the challenge to beat me, so deal with it. You're lucky I can help you heal this severe damage rather quickly outside of a command, I imagine it'll take most of the week to do so, but in that time your leg should be restored and be as if nothing happened to it. Same with your hand, though it'll likely heal much faster with its lower severity."
Steph shook her head in disbelief. "How so? Because I'm definitely going to be scarred by this. I don't even think I'll be able to walk. Especially with a burn this bad, this deep. I'll be lucky if I can stand by the time the next challenge comes around. How am I supposed to dance then? I'm not even sure what I'm going to tell my brother, or hide this for that matter." She stated with a hint of distress.
Herobrine growled, his eyes met hers and she stared at him. "You forget that you're talking to a god, I don't need commands to take care of this."
"Well, unless you have some magical elixir then I don't see how." Steph lightly protested.
"Remember that spider bite on your foot?"
The woman blinked and then nodded. "Yeah, it's nearly gone now, or so what I saw this morning when I checked on it. What about it?"
"An injury that deep would take an average healthy young human nearly three to four weeks to fully heal it, and it would leave a scar."
Stephanie gaped a bit. "Mine didn't scar."
"Exactly, and it healed within a matter of days," Herobrine added as he held out his hand and summoned particles in the air to form a diamond dagger that soon floated above his palm, he took the weapon by the handle and this caused the woman to grow worried with him holding the blade so close. "You know, there's a reason why you healed that bite and those bruises so quickly, it's why I healed that cut from your diamond ore within a matter of minutes." He fidgeted with the dagger in hand, trailing a finger along the sharp end on the flat side of the blade, staring at it. "As part of my modification, I heal very quickly with my powerful blood. Healing injuries used to be nearly spontaneous with the additional power of the command block, though that is no longer a feature; for the humans' sake at least." He growled with irritancy, again annoyed by Notch's actions to nerf his power. "But even now after that debuff, I still heal at an incredible speed." He whispered as he placed the dagger over his palm and coiled his hand over it slowly, wondering back to that time that his brother would tend to the wounded on the occasion; stating what helping others was like and how rewarding it felt.
...
"If you can help one human out as I do on the occasion; then I believe that you would see in them what I see, feel what I feel."
...
Something about that notion almost made him reconsider helping the woman in front of him, he may have already helped the lady once, but doing it with her conscious and watching made him frown deeply. He hated Notch, he didn't want to do as the man wanted him to all those years ago. Yet here he is, in that same damn position with the kind of creature he hated most, about to do as his brother always insisted he do. The woman better be glad that he wanted her alive and well, he thought to himself. Hero griped the dagger and slashed his palm open with a quiet hiss as he dragged the sharp end across his flesh.
"What are you-" Stephanie stared at the self-inflicted wound, grimacing at the sight of blood now spreading across Herobrine's open palm before watching the blade disintegrate and scatter like dust in the wind. Then with wide eyes watched as he took his bloody palm and without warning; pressed it into her burns. A loud agonizing cry escaped her lips as intense heat and sharp stinging sensations spread throughout her injured limb as if he had pressed hot coals against her.
Herobrine found her trying to pull away and instinctively kick him off to be very annoying to deal with, it would disrupt the healing process, and though he enjoyed human screams; it just wasn't the same when regarding this young woman.
"Stop moving." He commanded through clenched teeth as the lady tried to free herself from his grasp, he pinned her good leg down to the ground by her ankle then tightened his hold on her other leg and made her writhe and cry more unintentionally in his growing anger. "Damn it woman, listen to me!" His rage was making the situation worse, her tears were the evidence that he finally noticed. But the way she writhed and arched in pain sparked a bit of desire in him, it gave him an idea.
He kept his bloody palm tightly clenched over her leg and climbed over her to keep her from trying to scoot away. Hero then threw his other hand over her mouth to silence her cries of pain, her breath hit his palm and sounds came out muffled. "Ssshhh... no need to scream little anomaly. It'll sting for a bit but it'll also induce a more rapid recovery. The more you move the worse it'll be, tough it out woman, and let the blood seep in. The more the better, the faster the healing will be. Let it work, or do I have to distract you?" He whispers as he leans his face in close to her ear, his words are seductive as he moves over her a bit more to keep her pinned down with his weight on her. "Do you need a distraction from the pain?" He asked huskily with a small grin and pressed more of himself against her, his lips pressed into her neck and he inhaled her scent then lifted his face to gauge her reaction.
She goes quiet beneath him, only letting her tears slip as she stares into his hypnotic glowing eyes. Stephanie's body betrays her with a soft shudder, as he removes his hand from her mouth and brushes an auburn strand of hair from her face before thumbing away her tears.
"There we go, nice and quiet. Now," He leans back a little, examining her. "Are you going to be still? Or do I need to keep you beneath me all night?" He chuckled to himself and leaned back in to inhale her scent once more. "You probably wouldn't want that, it would be too tempting in such a position to try and resist doing... other things. I'm sure you get the idea, Stephanie?" He said with a hint of lust in his tones.
"Listen, I know it hurts, but if you want your leg healed then you'll deal with the pain. Understood?"
The woman reluctantly nodded.
"Good." He wiped away a few more of her tears and carefully moved off of her to go back to crouching in front of her leg, he smeared more of the crimson down her exposed burn and finally pulled his hand away. It'd be a few more minutes before the cut across his palm started to heal, but he could already tell that his blood was going to work on the woman's leg with a quick scan. He then summoned a roll of gauze to his uninjured hand and began unraveling it.
"You know, you're the first and only human that I have ever done this for; I've never wasted my time and life essence like this on a mortal until I came across you. But you're so different from the typical humans I come across and kill, so filled with fear and yet fire despite being clearly incapable of fighting. Heh. Using my sense of pride to goad me to challenge you in spite of all of your weaknesses, all that hidden courage in one so small and frail. So accepting of your fate but still fighting with what little strength you possess, being clever and able to tempt me with even the slightest of touch. You sure are something unique, woman. I don't know what yet, but I'll eventually find out." He says with a light frown as he starts to carefully wrap her leg up. "A human can't just so simply enrapture me, I hate humans.
"Thank you."
Her voice came out soft and sincere, this caused Hero's gaze to meet hers for a brief moment before he returned to focus on his current task. "Should you really be thanking your killer, your defilier? I'm only delaying the inevitable, why say such things?" He asked, somewhat confused as to why the human would appreciate his help or anything at all from him, from the start and up until now.
"Because any good action shouldn't go without some merit, even from someone like you; having a little kindness is better than having none."
"Teh. Woman, if you knew the extent of what I have done throughout all the years of my life in this world, kindness would be the last thing you think of when speaking to me."
"I know a fair amount already, you forget that I like history." She said with a tilt of her head and a light smile, now that he was dressing her burns she felt like she could relax more and be honest and open with the man like she would with a friend.
"But all those history books don't count up a quarter of my deeds, I'm a modification made specifically for death and affliction. A curse, a challenge to the unfortunate living. Killing and torment is an undertaking that I have kept for many generations, sparing little to none in my wake; even after becoming a god. There's not supposed to be any good to be found."
"Yet you're here, just saved my life, and now wrapping my wound. Either someone taught you some semblance of kindness or you learned it through another. Otherwise, you would never have shown any to me at all, you wouldn't have healed the spider bite and my bruises, you wouldn't have protected me from mobs at any point, and you wouldn't have talked to me or wasted your time giving me some company. You certainly wouldn't be here right now doing what you're doing if death is all you had in mind, there's some good in you; albeit buried and forced behind a gate. ... Metaphorically speaking." She added.
Heobrine swayed his head from side to side, unconvinced of such foundationless and weak words that only hopeful fools spout to ease tension amongst crowds. "It was all a means for my benefit, all of this, even now, ignorant mortal. I want your leg healed so that I get a dance and worship out of you, I keep mobs away because I want you alive to satisfy my carnal desires if it weren't obvious enough by now. My motives are clear enough are they not?" He fussed with narrowed eyes lightly shining again with warning.
"Then why heal and wrap the spider bite if it wasn't lethal? Why fix my glass horse or book? Why waste time showing off your command powers? Especially the good ones? Why light all my lamps in my home last night? Why thank me for the food I gave you? Why do all of these small kind gestures if you don't have any good in you? You can deny it all you want Herobrine, but some of your actions show more than a murderous manipulative creature, even if it's not often or to any other person. A little good is better than no good."
"And you say this to your killer as if it actually means anything?" He faintly mused.
"It does, to me." The woman said more sternly. "Whether you kill me or not, you've done some good. And for some reason, I'm starting to think that I'm not the only one you've been kind to before. You may have been a cruel man with many deaths to your name and may still be, but sometime, maybe a long time ago, you had a friend or family even; who showed you what goodness was." Steph paused as she noticed the man tensing up defensively, his posture only coaxed her to continue. "I wouldn't be here or alive for that matter had you still been this killing modification you speak of. I don't know your whole history and none of the historical records of you ever mention anything but violence about you, but you know virtue and I bet there's more of it in your heart since meeting me."
Hero snarled. "Don't be delusional, favors do not equate to virtue."
"Love is service, you know that? No matter how small it is, you chose to help me quite a few times now without me having to ask or even hint at assistance. Like right now, I didn't ask for your help; you approached me." She frowned as the Mob King ignored her, his expression hard. "If you're not that modification that you started as from the beginning, then what changed? When? Who? Why can you choose now not to kill? To help? You can let down your guard and tell me, I'm no threat to you. You're keeping something to yourself, clearly. Are you avoiding it to not feel something? Pain? This traitor you spoke of last night, is that the reason?"
The man once again ignored her despite his growing ire with a deep scowl.
The woman sighed, this man was so obstinate, even when the evidence was right in his face. He's hiding or denying something and Steph was determined to find out what as soon as she gets him at the right moment, if that ever happened at this rate. Must he always be quick to anger and defend his pride? She wondered and watched as Herobrine tied the gauze and leaned back a bit before checking his work over to make sure she was thoroughly covered.
"Thank you, again. Really." The lady started as she looked at her leg and then back to him, she offered him a small smile that soon fell to his unyielding scowl.
"Leave the gauze on and don't tamper or remove it for a couple of days at the minimum, you'll likely not be on your feet for the rest of tonight and mostly likely not anytime tomorrow either. It'd be a good opportunity to work on the song."
"Great." The woman sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, her eyes falling to the ground. "More excuses to make more lies to tell, not a preference of mine. I'm not even sure how to hide this from my brother." She said with much frustration, but she didn't hold onto the feeling; she was alive and her plan ensured another week of survival. More time to make a change while she still drew breath. The Stonewall sibling moved her gaze back up to the man who had been staring quietly at her; seeming to have calmed considerably, she faintly beamed at him. "I suppose that you'll take me home now then?"
Her words brought an annoying realization to the man, his meeting with his generals had to wait. It would take time to move a few of his armies elsewhere as well as put the main mods on hold for the time being. Herobrine growled lowly to himself, knowing that it meant he'd have to change a few things in his plans and bring them to a halt for an extra day or so depending on how long it takes to shuffle the masses of his infantries. This of course would mean having potentially more rebellions by foolish mobs in the Netherrealm as well as his current generals confronting him for answers or issue complaints. More headaches than he's willing to suffer. He considered just killing anyone of them bold enough to question him, they're all replaceable after all.
Hero didn't even answer the woman, he just placed a hand behind her back and looped the other underneath her kneecaps before scooping her up into his arms and walking back towards the village.
'Not in the mood to talk again huh?' Stephanie thought but didn't openly press on the matter since he seemed to have already answered her question as he walked her through the woods.
After a couple of silent minutes, Stephanie relaxed in his hold and leaned her head against his hard chest, her face feeling a bit warm as she listened to his heart powerfully beat. She had never been packed around in such a way, but it was nice and she felt safe. He was still silently fuming, that much she could tell by his tight grip on her and his heavy breaths. Still, she felt inclined to lighten the mood; or attempt to at the very least.
"Once home, you're welcome to stay for a while. I have a nice collection of books to read, oh and I can make us some dandelion and honey tea; I haven't met anyone who doesn't like it yet." Stephanie's smile slowly fell as she waited eagerly for a response but received none, he didn't even look down at her. Perhaps he was just deliberating to himself? She thought.
Feeling a little dejected, Stephanie decided to distract herself from the awkward silence by closing her eyes and humming softly. She had no song that she wanted to hum to but rather craft her own with how she felt at that moment, letting the tones shift as she searched for a melody that she liked.
"What are you doing woman?" The man asked as he finally spoke, feeling the gentle vibrations against him as the soft pleasant sounds filled his ears.
"Hm?" She stopped and looked up at him with a slight grin and finally met his eyes after being ignored for long enough, she relished the way the moonlight painted his tan skin in the dark. "I'm trying to find a melody that I think would fit your song, maybe inspire some lyrics or tone of a theme. If it's bothering you, should I stop?"
"No."