"In all seriousness, how do you expect to catch a large cryptid with a butterfly net?" William asked, crouched down behind Sheska, holding his own.
Sheska merely put her's over his head. "Like that," she said seriously, then put a finger to her lips. "Now we have to careful or we'll scare it away!" she hissed.
"Scare what away?" William grumbled, then yelped when Sheska tugged on the net, using it like a leash.
"Shhhhhhhhh!" Sheska placed her fingers on his lips that time, then slowly began to creep forward, pulling William along.
Sheska heard what sounded like the crackingly of electricity. "William! Stop before you scare them away!" Sheska hissed, turning back around only to shriek in terror and fall backward.
Instead of William under her net, it was a large, hairy, humanoid creature with fangs jutting out of its bottom lip was staring at her with blood red eyes. It gave a low growl, its face distorting into something truly monstrous.
"Will! Stop it!" Sheska yelled, giving a sharp tug on her butterfly net, making the creature whine in protest instead of growl. It came forward and flopped down in her lap, turning back into William.
"Does that count as catching a cryptid?" William asked, looking up at her. Sheska huffed and moved some strands of blond hair out of his face.
"You're impossible, you know that Bill?" Sheska asked, smirking at his pout.
"Technically you did capture a cryptid. I'm not supposed to exist," William pointed out, then groaned when Sheska stood up, leaving him on the ground.
"You don't count, plus I wanna keep you," Sheska said, walking back towards camp.
"Why are you going back?" William asked, sitting up. Leaves were stuck in his hair and grass to his back.
"You scared away anything that could be nearby!" Sheska said, stomping her foot.
"I think your scream was louder than my talking," William said, wrapping his arms around her shoulders when she turned around, pouting. "Besides, haven't you heard that most cryptids are nocturnal?" He asked.
Sheska gasped in dismay. "I forgot! Oh no what if we woke them up from their sleep? What if we scared away their food?"
"I doubt it. Besides, you're going to find out tonight aren't you?" William asked, putting his chin on her head.
"Yes we can!" Sheska squealed, jumping in happiness, only to headbutt William in the chin. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," William groaned, holding his face with one hand as a few sparks went off.
Sheska snatched his other hand, and dragged him towards camp. "I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Sheska rapidly apologized.
"It's fine, calm down," William said, only to yelp when she tripped over a tree root, pulling him along with her.
Sheska groaned, trying to wiggle out from underneath him. "Wiiiilll! You're heavy! Get off me!"
"Who's fault is it for being on you though? So don't start complaining about how heavy I am," William said, rolling off of her.
"Well...how does stargazing sound to you?" Sheska suddenly asked meekly, turning over to sit up.
"Stargazing?" William asked in confusion, glancing down at her leg, but they were covered by jeans. "Are you hurt?" He asked in concern.
"I think I twisted or sprained my ankle," Sheska said weakly.
"I can pack up camp and bring you to the hospital," William offered, only for Sheska to reach up and snatch the collar of his shirt.
"We are NOT leaving until we at least see a cryptid!" Sheska hissed, bringing William close to her face. "And not you!"
"...Touche...but we are going tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, got it?" William asked, prying her fingers from his shirt.
"Got it!" Sheska said, nodding her head then yelping when William picked her up. "BILL!"
"What? Don't call me that, and besides, you can't walk," William said, making sure he had a firm hold on her before walking back to camp.
"I could've used a crutch…" Sheska mumbled, burying her face in his shoulder.
"Would you really have prefered it?" William asked, setting her down at the tent entrance. He got a meek 'no' in response. "Thought so," William said grinning, then crawling into the tent, coming out with one of her books and a compact kit. "Hungry?"
"Not yet," Sheska said, taking her book from him, then patting the ground beside her. "Do you think we need to go to sleep before we go hunting?"
"That's your call. I don't need to sleep remember? You can decide your own bodily limits," William said, sitting down next to her and crossing legs.
Sheska immediately took that as invitation to crawl into his lap, and lean back against his chest. She wiggled around for a few moments before settled down.
"Comfortable?" William drawled, resting his head on hers, peering down at her book.
"Very. Now be a good chair and don't move around too much," Sheska teased, then squeaked when William wrapped his arms around her waist, then moved his head to her shoulder, his breath tickling her neck.
"Try not read too fast," William said, shooting her a smirk.
Sheska squeaked again and wiggled in his lap, then fumbled with her book, trying to get to where she left off.
"Why so flustered?" William asked, his warm breath running across her cheek.
Sheska turned bright red, practically slamming the book open in her lap. "I-I'm not flustered!"
"Then you're doing a good job on acting like it," William purred, his hair falling to the side of head.
Sheska looked at him, her eyes going blank before she pulled the book up to her nose, breathing deeply. She accidently clipped William in the face with the cover of the book.
"Two for two today aren't we?" William asked, putting his hands on hers, and pushing the book back into her lap. Sheska was almost literally steaming.
"Ah ah ah ah...Read! Let's read!" Sheska shrieked, pushing his head with one hand. "Book! Here! Read!"
"That's an interesting vocabulary you have going on there," William teased, putting his head back on her shoulder.
Sheska merely whimpered, trying to turn to the next page, only to claw at the side of the book. William sighed, causing chills bumps to run down her back.
Finally, after about an hour, Sheska calmed down enough to read. A few times however, a hand would stop her from turning the page, making flustered at the simple touch.
"You do realize you've only read about ten pages?" William asked, amused. "All within an hour?"
"I could've read more if someone didn't keep someone didn't keep stopping me!" Sheska hissed, turning to face him.
"I wasn't that slow," William protested.
"And it's gonna get dark soon! I won't have any light left to read by!" Sheska growled.
"You'll be cryptid hunting then," William said, pouting at her.
"Twisted my ankle, we're stargazing, maybe a cryptid will walk up on us, besides you," Sheska said, squirming.
"Then I'll carry you," William said. "I can do the hunting, you can enjoy the ride."
"Really?" Sheska asked. "You'll trek all over the woods, carrying me?"
"Yep. I'll even be quiet," he said with a grin.
"Then hurry up and get our stuff together!" Sheska said, sliding out of his lap. "We're wasting daylight! We have to prepare!"
"Don't you mean me?" William grumbled, sliding into the tent and grabbing her "cryptid hunting kit."
"Make sure it has the pepper spray!" Sheska called out.
"So you want to make a big scary monster mad?" William asked, checking then tossing the kit at her, only for it to shoot past her, into the woods.
"William! You threw too hard!" Sheska scolded.
"I see that," William said wryly, going into the woods to retrieve it.
A few minutes later, a bigfoot like creature came out, sniffing the air while Sheska was attempting to cook on a fire.
"Very funny Bill. Where's the kit?" Sheska asked, only to narrow her eyes when she was ignored, and the creature began to sniff her tent. "Realistic yes.. But could you please get the kit?"
The creature howled and swiped a hand through the tent, cutting it straight open.
"Um William...could you please stop?" Sheska asked meekly, then shrank down when the creature turned towards her, storming her way. It roared again, vile smelling breath engulfing her. She screamed and threw the hot can of beans at it.
It yowled in pain, when the hot contents spilled over its fur, then look at her in utter rage.
"I….I….I'm sorry?" Sheska whimpered, crawling backwards. "You're….you're not William are you?"
Before the creature could take another step towards her, William came flying out from behind her, tackling the creature.
"Will!" Sheska screamed in surprise, then flinched when the creature, dug its claws into William's side, only for him to retaliate by beating him with a metal hand.
"Um um...Beat the cryptid William!" Sheska cheered, watching as the tussled , almost wrestling before William slammed his metal hand into the creature's head, knocking it out cold.
William grunted and got off the creature, red sparks flickering as he lifted it up by the scruff of its neck. "So…..would you say this hunting is a success?"
He got a small nod in return.