"Okay, so, just remember that they can be or do ANYTHING. If you give them ANY information, they will take advantage of it. Try not to give anything away, and if you do, don't believe anything that they do."
"Wow, Katelyn. That might be the longest you've ever talked. We get it. Imps can be horrible." Laurence said, jumping from one foot to the other, "Now can we just go?" "Hold on. We need to figure out how to do this. If we just barge in, we'll get nowhere," Aphmau replied. "We should go in pairs." "I'll go with you," Laurence said, but Aphmau didn't appear to hear him. I start to ask the same thing, but it trails off into a mumble. "So, let's say, Garroth, you go with Laurence. Dante goes with Aaron, and Katelyn and I go with Dmitri and Nekoette." I nod, and there's a general murmur of approval."Aw, why do we have to go with you?" Dmitri whined, "Because, Dmitri, if you get killed, we don't want your mothers and father killing us too." Katelyn replied, her arms crossed.
"So, let's go," Aaron said after a bit of planning, "We'll go this way, you go that way, Garroth and Laurence go that way, and we come back in, say, an hour?" "Yep, sounds good. Let's go already." Laurence said, clearly bored of planning. "Yep." Katelyn said, already halfway up the beach. "Wait, Katelyn!" Aphmau called out, "Cm'on, Dmitri, Nekoette, let's go." I walk up the beach and Laurence follows quickly.
"When will she just drop this whole imp thing? I mean, they don't even live near phoenix drop." Laurence says after a while of looking for imps. "I dunno, but I think it's kinda fun, actually." I reply. "Eh, I guess."
We walk for about half an hour, then we start talking about Aphmau. I don't remember how, but he decides to bug me about telling her how I feel. "I just… I just want to wait for the perfect moment." I reply, not sure myself if I was being truthful. "You have to stop putting it off," says Laurence, hacking through a tree branch with his sword, "Just tell her. If she wasn't even slightly interested, she'd probably be dating me." I punch his arm playfully, "Shut up," "I'm serious, Garroth, she probably would." "What about Aaron?" I debate, still not sure if I'm telling the truth or just putting it off. "Well, she must be at least somewhat torn, or they'd be official." "Sure."
We walk in silence for a bit longer, Laurence getting more and more aggravated. "THIS IS USELESS!" he finally screams out, "Why don't we just split up?!" "We… did…" I respond, confused. "INTO GROUPS!" he takes a deep breath, "We can cover more ground with each person going different directions." "I'm okay with splitting up." "So, then, you go that way, I go out towards that side." "Sure," I say, shrugging, "Wait, what was that?" "What was what?" asked Laurence, turning around, "It sounded like a rustle in the bushes," I draw my sword and go up to the bush, but I don't see anything. "Never mind, probably just the wind." "Okay, let's go then." "Okay. See ya." I run towards the middle of the island, sword still drawn.
I see nothing for a good 20 minutes, when I suddenly see Aphmau through the trees, muttering to herself. "Oh, hey Garroth. Where's Laurence?" she says as she sees me, "We split up. He was a bit annoyed at finding nothing. Where's Katelyn?" "Same story, actually." "Oh cool. Found anything?" "No. Hey Garroth, can I tell you something?" "Yeah, sure…" "I've been waiting for the perfect moment, but… I really like you…"
"Wh-WHAT? Your serious?" "Well, yeah. I didn't want to say it in front of Laurence, but I want you to be my boyfriend."
I don't know what to say. I've liked her forever, always thinking she was unaware, thinking of me as just her guard, or just a friend. I'm astonished. Suddenly, I think, and comprehend what's happening. What if she's an imp? We were talking about Aphmau just before. "Why don't we get married?" I try not to listen, but part of me is gripping on to the slim possibility that it is actually Aphmau. "We could have a beautiful cake, a whole ceremony, a purple and white dress," It's not real. I tell myself over and over. It's not real, it's not real, not real! "We could move into a two story house, sit around on Sundays, cuddle on the couch," Not real, not real, "IT'S NOT REAL!" I scream out, angry at myself for having to repeat this over and over. I start walking away as fast as I can without running, but she keeps following. I cover my ears and keep telling myself that it's not real.
Suddenly, over the noise of the imp, I hear another voice; "GARROTH! LAURENCE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Another Aphmau appears over a hill. "Garroth! Where's Laurence?" "He's…" I suddenly wonder if this Aphmau is real either. I think back to all the explanations Katelyn gave, sure that there was something to tell imps apart from real people. I wrack my brain. Nothing. "Garroth, what's wro- oh." "Oh what?" I ask. "It is the real me, not another imp." "How do I know?" "I… I don't know. Just trust me, okay. I promise it's me." "You'd say the same, real or an imp. What's the proof of either?" Suddenly, without warning, she kisses me. Right on the lips. I'm not sure if this confirms or disproves my suspicions. If she was an imp, she'd do anything to get me to go with her, but something just feels so right. I want to pull away, but everything is telling me to stay, to kiss back. I fight against everything I feel, willing myself to pull away. I pull my body away, feeling the suddenly cold air. "I need solid proof." I say, thinking out loud, praying she'll understand, "My gut is saying it is you, but-" "It's okay Garroth. I understand." I go through everything I remember Katelyn saying, looking for a hidden meaning. Suddenly, I get it.
"Imps must improvise where there is a blank…" I say out loud. "Yes… yes of course." She takes off her shoe. "Is this okay?" "Those look like Aphmau feet. Big, stinky Aphmau feet." "Hey!" "We should probably go find Laurence. We separated." "Sure." She grabs my hand, and her fingers intertwine with mine. I blush, but she doesn't seem to notice, or maybe she just doesn't care.
