Stephanie sighed calmly, feeling at ease in the sunlight of the beach.
This time of the day is an absolutely ordinary day for her to relax in, and it's her favorite thing to do too on a lazy day!
Relaxing in the sunset on the beach, with no annoying people, no annoying badly behaved children, nothing that can interrupt her relaxation.
She was sitting on a log that was washed up on the beach shore before she even got there, luckily all dried up and not wet for her dismay, as she stared at the sun setting over the watery horizon, enhancing a breathtaking landscape for her to watch, making the air cold and damp that she could see her breath. The sky was in a gorgeous luminous rosy tone, with the clouds turning slowly into a light peachy color.
She had her long brunette hair and wires in series of contrasting colors, over to the middle of her back, and she is wearing her traditional pair of opaque blue square glasses with round corners, a blue, white, cerulean, peacock, and sky cameo sweater with a hoodie that is enormous that reaches down to her thighs, with pockets on the sides and a silver zipper in the front, and with frost hems at the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the clothing. She is also wearing a pair of blue jeans, that is down at the bottom of her ankles, and light purple, light blue shoes with white shoelaces. Around her neck is a silver chain necklace with a golden pendant on it, hidden underneath her sweater. Oddly, on the right side of her head, is a stripe of dyed blue hair, that is braided in a long line, and held up by two black tiny rubber bands.
Her tanned almond skin color on the back of her left hand and on her face was showing in the sunlight from underneath all the clothing, and she stretched out her metallic spine. It was becoming stiff from sitting for an hour, so, she gets up from the log that was perching on and decided to talk a stroll on the beach, to stretch out her legs from perching too long. As she walked through the shore, she glanced at the different sized, smooth or bumpy white rocks that form from the saltwater that washes up on the shore or other interesting rocks that are beautiful. While she was wandering around the beach, thinking of another way to find some other 'good' family than the previous one that she is living with right now when she noticed something odd that washed up on the shore.
The unusual object was standing out from the sand that was washing up around it, was slightly glinting in the remaining sunlight, and it was poking upwards from the corner. She walked over to the odd shape on the beach and crouched down, observing the unfamiliar object for a few minutes, before reaching over to the exotic piece and touched the unusual object with her left hand. It was a piece of metal, almost feeling like her metal arm, except more rough than her smooth arm. It also felt like it was used a couple of times by a soldier before she got here. Curious, she stood back up, until she overheard a herd of seagulls cawing. She glanced at the odd cawing noises to the left of the beach that she is on and noticed an assembly of birds, crowding around another foreign object, cawing and pecking, as more birds appeared and landed right next to each other, pecking and cawing along with the other birdies.
They were white seagulls with yellow beaks, and very annoying. She repeatedly catches sight of them all over the place back at her home, stealing food from other people, and cawing loudly, annoying other humans. Her mother calls them "rats with wings", and she agrees with her. They absolutely are "rats with wings". She felt intrigued about the crowd of seagulls surrounding the object on the beach, so, she walked over to the group, thinking it was a poor baby turtle that got lost on its way towards the water. When she reached over to the group of seagulls, and the birds scattered away from Stephanie, leaving the object in plain sight for Stephanie to look at.
To her shock, it wasn't a baby turtle that accidentally got washed up on the beach, it was a young man, lying on his left-hand side, as a thin, not too deep wound is on his cheek, bleeding slightly from the size, which is a minor cut and on his arms, like the mark on his face, except a couple of them. He is covered in moist sand, and his clothing is wet from the saltwater on the beach, and unconscious. He has chestnut short hair, with fair skin color and wearing a plain white shirt, with buttons on the front and shoved into his pants, and over the garment is black suspenders that are clipped to his belt around his waist, with wood colored pants that are shoved into his walnut boots, with brown shoelaces.
She saw his injuries and felt a pain of sorrow for him, observing the wounds on his covered body in sand, noticing they might get infected if she completely abandons him alone, so she was reaching over to him to hoist him up slightly to mend his injuries, until a loud hiss hissed at her, and she froze stiff, wondering what was that hiss and thinking it was someone pranking on her, but she saw a large brown snake, coiled around his left extended arm in front of her, hissing at her, baring fangs at her.
She frowned at the snake in annoyance that the serpent hissed at her and hissed back in its language that it is speaking, "Slifai."
The snake stopped hissing at her, by shutting its mouth, as if it understood her language that she is speaking towards it and uncoiled from around the unconscious man's arm and abandoned her and the man alone, by going underneath a rock that is halfway up from the ground, to sleep in the shade and keep its body warm from the nighttime coldness. After the snake disappeared, she sighed in relief and reached again towards the man, until she stroked his skin and realized the skin is genuinely ice-cold.
'If I abandon him here to get blankets from my camp that I made earlier when I got here for him to stay warm until I haul him to my place, he's going to die or worse, someone else might kidnap him. Let me see if he's alive still.' She thought to herself.
She reached over to his neck with her left hand as her right hand was propping his head as her other two arms that popped out from her sides, below the front upper limb, were underneath him, holding him up in place, since her left hand isn't metal, and she gently pressed two of her fingers, her first and middle finger, against his neck and felt a never-ending rhythmic thump of his heartbeats in a steady rhythm that never ends for a long time.
'His heart is still beatin', that's a good thin'. Now, how to warm him up from bein' cold.' She thought to herself. 'Wait a moment.'
She slapped her forehead with an annoyed look on her face as she winced softly to herself.
'I always carry somethin' warm! I'm an idiot! First, let's get him out of the cold ocean water.' She thought to herself.
She gently placed her hands underneath his armpits, being careful to not unexpectedly stroke him or to graze him with her sharp claws that accidentally comes out sometimes, while her two other arms were on his sides for support and dragged him to the shore, where there are dry land and grass. When she reached the grass of the dry land, she then went back to his left side where he was earlier where she saw him and took off her own blue cameo sweater and placed it on his body, his arms poked through the sleeves, and she zipped up the garment, to keep it on while carrying him to where she camped before.
Stephanie, revealing her light blue long sleeved shirt, placed her left hand on the front of the garment and whispered, "By the warmth of the sweater, return the heat and warm up this poor man from being cold of the weather."
Like magic, the colors of the sweater turned from the previous tones, turned red, black, orange, and yellow, and she felt the warm heat coming from the sweater, not too much to cause his skin burnt from the heat, like heater wise, and she sighed in relief that her sorcery still works on clothes. Being extremely careful with him from abandoning him out in the coldness, she placed her right arm underneath his legs, at the knee joints and placed her hand behind his back, instead of the back of his head because it would make his neck sore when he awakens. She gently places him, against her chest, not her breasts to make it embarrassing when he awakens and carefully stood up to her full height, being careful to not rouse him up by any startling movements and started to walk back over to a tent that she made, that is luckily magical for her to place him inside.
She carefully entered her shelter, which is a private pitch up tent and inside was enormous than outside, and she walked over to a couch of hers and gently placed him on top, on his side and stood back up to her full height, now can move her arms since he's not in her arms anymore.
'There, that's much better for me to move now. Let's prepare some tea for him.' She thought to herself, glancing over to where the kitchen is.
She walked into a kitchen and finished making tea, adding some sugar inside, when her excellent hearing heard soft groaning, from the man that she saved outside.
'He's awake! That's good.' She thought to herself after she had finished making a bottle for him and her.
Her flask is a light blue bottle, with a dark blue screw on top, with a white cover.
The man's bottle is a light green bottle, with a dark green screw on top, almost similar to her, except green, with a really dark green cap.
She reentered the living room and noticed he's awakened and looking confused, as he was gazing at the mysterious sweater that someone placed on him. Now that he's awakened, she can right now see his eye color and it is light hazelnut. She gently smiled, relieved that he's awake and came closer.
"'Ey," she called to him, hoping to not frighten him.
He jolted in startlement when she called over to him, glanced over at her and caught sight of her, as she gently smiled at him.
"I see you're awake. Found ya against the ocean shore, while I was lookin' 'round the shore." she explained, setting the green bottle of tea down on the table in front of him, and held onto the blue one in her hands. "Just in case if you were thinkin' that I placed somethin' in your tea, I merely prepared tea, nothin' else. In addition, keep the bottle if you want."
He was silent for a moment, as they stared at each other for a minute, before she sighed and placed the bottle down, on the table, sitting down in front of him.
"It's alright, mister. I just saved ya. Wouldn't be surprised if I left ya alone on the beach." she softly replied, assuring him that she isn't a threat to him.
"Are you sure about that?" he finally, but hoarsely asked.
She gently smiled and nodded her head, responding to his question about her assuring.
"Also, like I said, you should take some tea, looks like you haven't drunk nor eaten anythin' in a long time," she assured again to him. "It's as well as because of the sore throat of yours."
He nodded again and picked the bottle up from the table, popping off the top of the lid and took some swigs of the tea inside, before finishing and closed the top.
"Thank you, ma'am." he thanked, now his voice sounding clearer than before.
"It's no problem, really, you don't need to thank me for savin' ya. You should thank yourself that I found you in time," she assured again.
He nodded his head, answering to her assuring again and recalled something before, as Stephanie felt curious. He gasped in shock and quickly stood up worriedly, and Stephanie captured the look.
"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding slightly worried and nervous about his actions.
"I-I need to go back to the battlefield! My commander might be furious I am missing!" He exclaimed in fear and shock, while Stephanie listened to his bickering.
She sighed and got up to her feet from the couch, as he continued his bickering.
"He might actually get furious at me because I chicken out! Or maybe I-!" he paused when Stephanie placed her finger to his lips, gently shushing him.
"I'll help you. Besides, the battlefield that you came from is miles away from where we are in the middle of the ocean." she calmly assured him again.
His eyes widen in slight shock, as he gasped softly.
"H-How? I-I-" he stammered, in shock, before getting gently shushed again by Stephanie.
"Take it easy there, I'll explain everythin' to ya if you explain everythin' to me about what happened before I came here," she replied, before sitting right next to him. "Also, we haven't introduced ourselves earlier since you were knocked out, but my name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."
"James, James Smith Daniel." he introduced back to Stephanie, still slightly nervous and worried about her.
Since she is about half his size, she's scary to imagine when you are that small!
"Alright, since you don't, believe in me, 'bout what I'm doin', I'll start on my story about how I recognize your emotions and where you halfway came from, and you'll start on yours, 'kay?" she explained, making a small deal with him.
"Okay," he answered, still not sure about what is not going on around. "I remember I was on a military boat with the crew members that we were assigned to a different fortress to attack, while I was the paperboy around, sending papers to the areas, while I collect them too, when our ships were attacked by Blackguard's airplanes, and I was trying to send an S.O.S. to the base that we were attacked when I suddenly blacked out, and now, I appeared here."
Stephanie listened to every word that James explained, and she thought to herself, while James looked worried.
"Just a curious question, are you from Blackguard?" he asked.
"What?!" she exclaimed, startling James. "Chuck no! Why should I join Scarface?"
"'Scarface?'" he questioned in confusion, confused about why she exclaimed like that.
"The reason why I entitled him that is that he has a scar over one of his eyes," she explained. "Have you ever seen his ugly mug lately?"
He shook his head no, answering her question about him.
She sighed and sat up slightly.
"Alright, my side of the story…" she paused. "It's an extremely long story, but, to make things short, I was "upgraded"." she quotes with her two fingers. "Into a whole different person and I couldn't turn back. So, you see me like this."
He nodded his head, understanding each word that she explains.
"So, with the "upgrades"." she quotes again with her two fingers. "I have a 6th sense where I can feel someone's emotions, like you for intense, and I can see the past with my powers too." she briefly explained.
"So, you understand what I'm feeling?" he questioned, understanding what she is explaining. "And I guess you slightly saw what happened earlier."
"Yes, right now, you are feeling intrigued, and your worry and suspiciousness are gradually disappearing," she answered.
He felt more curious as he glanced down at his hands, wondering if she can touch what she can feel and Stephanie noticed he is still wearing her sweater.
"Though, I have one question for you to answer," she replied.
He glanced back up at her from his hands.
"What is it?" he asked, sounding slightly interested, but curious.
"Do you feel warmer than before?" she asked.
He looked down at the sweater that he is wearing in confusion and glanced back up at her.
"Yes, I oddly don't feel cold anymore," he answered.
"Good, my sweater helped," she replied, reaching over to her garment.
Instantly, his cheeks went rosy, almost like the color of the red on the sweater, as she placed her hands on his shoulders.
"T-This sweater belongs to you?" he squeaked in shock.
"Yeah, I didn't bring a blanket for ya to stay warm as I made camp here. Therefore, I used my magic along with my sweater to make ya warm," she explained, as she unzipped her sweater from him, noticing his clothes also dried too. "It's not what you think, though."
He sighed in relief as she turned the sweater towards her and placed it on, as the tones on the garment returned to the primary colors that she was wearing earlier.
"Now, this base you mentioned earlier, do you know where it is?" she asked after she had finished putting on her sweater.
He thought for a moment, while Stephanie glanced over her shoulder to outside, noticing the sun outside is rising, which means that the following day already started.
"I can't remember, Steph," he answered, after a moment of silence. "The only memory that I remember is the attack."
She glanced back at him, noting his anxious look as he was looking down at his water bottle that she gave him and thought for a moment to herself until an idea popped into her head.
"Hey, one question, are you afraid of heights?" she asked.
He glanced back up at her eyes from looking at the bottle in his hands, looking confused.
"No, not really," he answered. "Why?"
"You'll see," she answered back, gently hoisting him up from the armpits after he placed the bottle down on the table, lifting him upwards from the couch.
He felt nervous and frightened at the same time when she completely hoists him up from the couch. She places him down on the ground, and he noticed she's taller than him, and he's only up to her chest since she grew during the pastime.
"Huh, you're really short," she remarked.
He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed at her remark.
"Just to letcha now, I'm actually used to be short too," she added.
"How short?" he questioned, not sounding annoyed anymore.
"About, 5'0," she answered. "Now, I'm 6'2."
"That is short," he replied. "I'm only 5'2."
She gently beamed and walked behind his back, placing her palms on his shoulders, gently leads him back outside, in the sun and closed the tent, before using a spell without him noticing, to make it disappear into thin air and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Stay absolutely still or else what I'm doing can be a little frightening," she explained.
He was going to ask questions about what she is doing when he felt something gripped underneath his armpits, and he panicked, thinking it was someone else, and he turned the other way around, hearing, "'Ey! I told ya to-!"
He swiftly turned the other way around to see who is behind his back, to merely recognize an unknown person than Stephanie that is a female, and he fell backward on the ground, butt first.
"See? I told ya that might happen," she replied, carefully taking two steps towards him.
The figure that was behind his back is a half bird, half human type of figure, that is oddly wearing Stephanie's blue cameo sweater, her blue jeans, and the opaque blue and black glasses, but no shoes. Instead, the female has a white feathered face, with the same steel blue eyes, a normal sized yellow beak, long featherings in the colors of light blue, white, and turquoise trailed behind her back, a white body from underneath the cameo sweater, and legs of a chicken, except have black claws the size of chicken talons, and wings on the back of her shoulders, and in the colors of white, light blue, bluish green, sky blue, and many other tones as are blue. At the rear of her back is a long tail of feathers, the size of a doctor's coat's end, in the same colors as her feathers on her wings.
She knelt down slightly, as she reached up with her right hand, which is four talons and with one talon, with the claw like a fingernail would when cut, and pushed her glasses to place.
"Geez, what a way to move around," she remarked, kneeling down on one knee, oddly sounding like Stephanie. "Also, in your shock and curiosity, and suspiciousness, it's, nevertheless, still me, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen, shapeshifted into a harpy."
"Y-Y-You can shapeshift?" he gasped, shocked to notice another mysterious power than the ones that he saw earlier.
"Yes, there is more than what is this," she replied, hoving up in the air for a moment, before coming back down to the ground, landing softly in front of him.
"There's more?" he questioned in curiosity.
"Yes, but, I'll save that for a secret. Now, let's find your base, explain everythin' to your commander, and we'll find out from there," she explained, before hovering again in mid-air, and being careful to not scratch him with her claws, she softly turned him around back first towards her, and hooked her bottom talons underneath his armpits, as the other three, gently wrapped over his shoulder, like how a hawk would to a prey.
"First, before I could fly off, I'll letcha know I'm gonna fly right now," she warned.
He answered by nodding his head, and she started to flap her wings until he felt the ground left his feet, and curiously, he glanced down, noticing that they are flying. He glanced back up straight, concerned that if he gazes at the ground an extremely long time down, he might actually pee himself. She leaned over slightly for herself to fly normally like any bird would and fly straight, gradually across the ocean sea, without any problem of carrying his body.
He felt frightened at first that he's essentially getting carried by a harpy that might accidentally drop him back into the ocean, but, eventually, the fear slowly disappeared, noticing she isn't letting go with him to the ocean water, but instead carrying him where he came from. Right now, he continued believing in her, even though he doesn't believe in her completely, he has to defeat the Blackguard that he mentioned, or else something worse might happen. For a little while, he has to see what else she might do.