Yay! Nimrod X Sechrazat boat moment! Actually the original story was intended to be an IblisXOC -yeah I know I'm obsessed with Iblis. However, and because my imagination is literally uncontrollable, as the character of Sechrazat started to unravel I thought I'd be too cliche you know, the bad guy and the girl who has an evil father and blah blah blah. Instead, I'm going to turn the story sequel (I've already started it) into an Iblis love story. And yeah if anyone is willing to help come up with a title, I'd really appreciate it.

So credit to Hanban915 for the chapter title (your reviews are really inspiring xp) and I hope you enjoy the awkwardness that follows ;)

XOXO,

Nameless

"Uhum..."

Sechrazat jumped up. She turned around to see Nimrod holding a plate of something that was supposed to be roast lamb. It emitted a horrible smell, something like raw meat, and didn't seem intimidating at all.

"You wouldn't come downstairs so I thought..."

"I'm not hungry," she interrupted him, "But thank you," and smiled. Nimrod insisted, extending the plate.

"The locals said its the best course they have to offer," she nodded bitterly and turned her head away. "And it could be the only thing worth out of this journey..." She sighed and closed her eyes, inhaling the smell of sea.

"There's nothing worth out of this journey," Sechrazat stated and lowered her head, fixing her gaze on some dolphins that danced around the racing ship. Nimrod smiled and gently neared her.

"Don't say that. There's always the experience. At least you don't have to worry you'll end up like those grumpy old ladies who spent all their days wishing they had made the most out of their lives," he reassured her, handing the lamb. She smiled, only at the thought of it and turned to face him and the so-called dinner. Nimrod gazed at her expectantly as she took the plate from his fingers and, careful not to spill any on her shirt, took a lamb bite. For a minute she chewed and chewed on and on. Then, she hastily turned around and spit in the water. Nimrod laughed. "How's the taste?"

"Wew...It tastes like sweat!" He laughed even more as she continued to spit and lick the inside of her mouth. "If that's the best they serve here, imagine how the worse would be!" He giggled.

"Nevertheless, my Mousaka was great," he commented.

"Yeah, I bet it tasted like feet," she teased and removed some stray hair from her face. He giggled again, before awkward silence fell upon them. "Thank you," she paused, "for the dinner. It's nice to know someone noticed my absence."

"Actually, Aizit was the first to notice. He seems to be worried about you..." he noticed the disappointed look on her face. "We all are." Another bitter nod.

"Aha..." She used the fork to dumb the rest of the lamb into the water. Nimrod frowned.

"Um...Do you want to share with me what it is that bothers you?" She froze and accidentally dropped the fork into the water as well. It had been so long since she last shared something with anyone. However, Iblis was right about her vulnerability. The company of John, Phillipa and Nimrod had changed her. She missed the honesty and the innocent, and all the virtue she once had but lost, due to the circumstances. Sechrazat shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm...a little upset. With all that's happened," she admitted, looking away. He nodded, trying to thing of something to say.

"You mean, all that has happened today, or in general?" She sighed.

"In general. And today. It...every time I see him, Iblis, it reminds me of all that happened, you know...back then. And...it's sort of...unbearable," another sigh.

"It could always be worse..." She snapped.

"How? How could it be worse? I've been trapped like this all my life! Lost my best years to this madman! Do you think I like carrying an insect around all the time? Well, I HATE INSECTS! Especially the ones that sting! But guess what, I can't abandon him, for then Iblis will find me and IT WILL be worse. Actually, the WORST! You have no idea what he's put me through, how much I should hate him! And still, I feel guilty I left him like that...this poison could kill him and I just abandoned him there..." she started to cry softly, "Father would be so proud of me..." Nimrod unfolded his arms from around his torso and softly placed a palm on her shoulder, pulling her closer to a hug. "Don't..." she stopped him, as the scorpion crawled on her chest. "I don't know how Goliath might react..." she sobbed. He nodded and carefully moved his hand around the back of her neck, and leaned her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and sobbed.

"I'll help you. I promise."

The next morning Mr Groanin woke up feeling more nausiated than ever. He slipped out of his cabin bed, climbed up the stairs, took a good look at the busy deck around him, and walked to one of the sailors who was on his kness rubbing the floor with a metal brush.

"Hey you, lad!" Groanin neared him. The sailor turned around and pointed at himself. "Yeah, you! Could you answer me a question?" The sailor nodded. "Are we...on a boat?" The sailor giggled a little and nodded.

"Yes, sir. You're on the Desert Rose, sir," he smiled. Groanin rubbed his chin with his only hand, and looked a bit farther to see everything one could find on a boat. Yes, he was most definitely sure he was on a boat. Also, he was most definitely sure he was dreaming; for in no way would he ever embark on a boat for real.

"Ahoy, there, mate!" Captain Sebastian, an average sized handsome man, walked from behind him. Groanin turned around hastily. "How's your sleep?" He asked, warmly placing his big palm on the man's shoulder.

"Fine...I suppose. Could you pinch me?" Groanin asked, extending his hand.

"Er...I don't see a reason why I should but...If you want me to..." Captain Sebastian pinched Groanin's only arm with his chubby fingers. The butler jumped up from the pain, rubbed his eyes and looked around again to realize he wasn't dreaming. He was on a boat, for real!

"Mornin' Captain," John appeared from behind them.

"Look who's up so early," Sebastian caressed the boy's hair. "How'd you do, lad?" John shrugged and smiled.

"Good, I suppose," Phillipa came out of the cabin hall as well and stood next to her brother. Captain Sebastian caressed her hair, too. From below-deck his wife, Anna, whom he'd always take with him on his every journey, appeared.

"Oh," the Captain said smiling, "Children, I'd like you to meet my wife, Anna. Come here, sweetheart," he extended his hand and she neared him, wrapping herself around it.

"Hello, children," she spoke with a distinctive Greek accent and softly caressed Phillipa's cheek. "Such beautiful children...Are you siblings?" She asked.

"Um...twins, actually," John said and almost immediately received a caress on his own cheek.

"Twins...your parents are so lucky. So nice..." her eyes became a bit watery, even though she continued to smile.

"So, mateys, who's in for a nice breakfast? Our cook makes traditional fish omelet every morning!" Sebastian rubbed his hands together excitedly. The children looked at each other and Groanin made a gross face.

"Sounds lovely," Sechrazat's voice was heard from behind them. She had her hair caught up and the scorpion was crawling around her neck nervously.

"I'll go have him make some, then!" The Captain said and hurried down below-deck, where the kitchen was. Sechrazat smiled.

"You're not actually going to eat it, are you?" Phillipa asked worriedly. She laughed and shook her head.

"Nope. But you mustn't ever tell them you don't like the food here. Captain takes offense..."

"We'll just have to make it disappear then, I suppose," Nimrod, who had just woke up blinked and stretched as he too walked out of the cabin hall. Sechrazat shrugged.

"Whatever floats your boat," they all laughed at this last comment. All except from Groanin, who was having a real bad time.

"They seemed to like us a lot," Phillipa said. "Such a nice couple..."

"Yes," Sechrazat agreed sort of sadly, "It's a pity they can't have a child of their own. Sebastian wants it so bad..." They children frowned disappointed.

It turned out they didn't have to make the food disappear, because Aizit, who was really hungry -as always- enjoyed the fish omelet so much, he ate everyone's share as well. Nimrod produced a traditional English breakfast for them, which they all enjoyed. The rest of the day was spent around the boat, with Phillipa gazing out of the ocean, Aizit gazing at Phillipa, John doing various chores around the boat-he actually found it very exciting to be a sailor, and Groanin locked inside his cabin. At about seven o'clock in the afternoon, Captain informed them that they'd ran a little late, meaning they'd reach Lebanon sometime during the night. So everyone agreed they'd take turns sleeping, for someone had to stay up and watch when the ship was about to arrive. They decided to split in couples; Groanin and Phillipa, John and Aizit and Nimrod with Sechrazat.

Mr Groanin spent his guard mumbling about how horrible this ship is, and the stomache that had been following him ever since they left Great Britain. Aizit had taken their luggage with him from their hotel in Athens, but forgot -actually left behind on purpose- Groanin's baby food. The worst part of it was that now he'd have to find new baby food in one of those filthy Arabian super-markets, otherwise he'd be obliged to consume the much more filthy Arabian food. Phillipa used her focus word to make an MP3 player appear, where she'd listen to her favorite songs instead of Groanin's jibber-jabber. The next to stay up was Aizit and John, but the older djinn took their place for the boys simply wouldn't wake up. Feeling sorry for all she'd put him through, Sechrazat pleaded her partner to let John sleep a little more, and enjoy the soft lullaby-like rocking of the Desert Rose.

It was 3.47 am, the sky was as starry as ever and the deck almost empty. Nimrod snapped his fingers and produced two chairs and a wooden dinning table. Sechrazat rolled her eyes.

"Show off," she groaned and sat opposite him. With another snap appeared a set of red candles, and two glasses of red wine. He also made a set of red napkins in case one of them spilled the wine- for the ship was gently rocking as it shifted through the waves.

"So," said Nimrod taking a sip of his Merlot and not knowing how to go on.

"You don't have to say anything," she interrupted him, for she really didn't want to hear anything. In the soft candlelight he looked more elegant than ever. She on the other hand, felt less beautiful than ever. How could any woman seem beautiful when an insect was crawling around her chest? Especially to a man with such fine taste, as Nimrod. He smiled. His smile was beautiful, not because he was handsome -like Iblis- but because he was honest. You could see in his eyes he was purely honest. In my eyes he can see I'm binded to an evil djinn, she thought.

"Nevertheless, I will be honest with you," he continued. "There is, I believe, a way in which I can help you...recover from the effect the binding has had on you." She crossed her long fingers together and , resting her elbows on the table, placed her lower jaw on them.

"I'm all ears."

"I was hoping you'd be all compromises. But I suppose it's a good start," he joked. She didn't find it funny. "So," he took another sip of wine, which by the way she hadn't touched by then, "I trust you are aware with the theory of homeostasis within every djinn...You know the virtue and vice within all of us, and how your tribe genes can affect that..."

"Don't bother. I've done as much research as anyone on that part. But I admit, I never knew there was a way to change what you are, I mean until I met Iblis." He nodded, sort of sympathetically.

"I understand he's changed you a lot. I can recall some memories of you as a child and...well," he chuckled, "you were much different." She nodded and raised a brow. In the soft candlelight her eyes were almost transparent, with two thin pupils in the middle.

"Do go on with your solution, please," she said.

"Alright," he took a deep breath and another sip of Merlot, "I cannot undo the binding. That's something only Iblis has the power to do. And, of course, the Blue Djinn, which, in case you haven't heard, is not going to be my mother for that long."

"I know. I'm sorry for that," she fiddled with the wine glass, making him notice her long, neat nails. Nimrod had the dangerous for a djinn habit to bite his nails, and hers made quite a big impression on him. They were very long and perfectly shaped. He withdrew his glare from her hands to her lips as she continued to speak. As an Arab, her lips were big, round shaped and juicy. It made some strange thoughts occur to him, but he skipped them and tried to focus on what her lips spoke, rather on what they looked like. "I expect your sister will take over next, right?" The question in her voice made him snap back to reality. He looked at her sort of bewildered.

"I'm sorry, I was...someplace else," he smiled, "Could you repeat please?"

"Um...never mind, it's not that important. What was your point anyway?" He tried to remember.

"Ah...my point. My point was that," she noticed a spark in the sky as he spoke. "I can help you, if you help me," as he spoke, a spark moved across the dark sky, leaving a bright tail of light that tore the darkness in two. She gazed up, open-mouthed.

"Shooting stars? I hate shooting stars," she mumbled.

Both his eyebrows flew up and he sat back on his chair in shock. "Oh and why is that?"

"Well...you know...when mundanes see a shooting star...they...wish," she blushed.

"And?"

"And sometimes I feel like fulfilling those wishes..." she continued to blush looking away.

"So what?"

"Well...that's what generous djinn do."

"Is there something wrong with being generous?"

She sighed. "Ah, I know where you're going with this," she jumped up, spilling some of the wine on the table. He smiled and gestured her to sit down again. She did as asked.

"Would you be honest with me, Sechrazat?" he gently asked. She hesitated, for just a tiny moment before she answered. It was the hesitance of someone who could hear a little voice inside their head saying "SAY NO!" while all they wanted to do was say yes. She nodded. "Was it your choice to be a Shaitan?" She looked down at the spilled wine and frowned.

"Why are..."

"Just answer," he placed his own elbows on the table and his head between his palms. This way they were only a few inches away from each other. She avoided his gaze and sat back on her chair, moving away. The woman blinked, looked away, swallowed the wine all at once, but he was still there, staring at her expectantly. And she felt as if he'd never give up.

"No," she bitterly stated. He smiled and sat back as well, taking a final sip of wine.

"Do you want to be a Shaitan, Sechrazat?" She rubbed her eyes and took some dark hair away from her face.

"No."

He desperately wanted to say "I thought so," but thought it wiser not to. He streched his hand on the table toward her, his palm wide open. She gave him a confused look.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you," he extended his hand even more, but she didn't move. It was as if someone had glued her on the chair, with a horrified look on her face. "Take my hand," he pointed out. She shook her head. "Sechrazat, I don't mean any harm. If you want me to help you, you must help me as well!" he said. She would still shake her head nervously. "Trust me," he gently said. But it still had no effect, so he started to withdraw his hand and looked down disappointed. However, before he could slide his arm off the table, he felt a firm, warm grip on his wrist. Sechrazat had her eyes fixed on his palm. He softly re-opened his hand and she slid hers on it. For half a minute nothing happened, yet all of sudden, the deck became warmer, the two djinn closed their eyes and Captain Sebastian, who was in his cabin, softly cuddling with his wife as they would finish their lovemaking, had a... -as silly as it might sound- hunch. Yes, he had a hunch that this time their biggest wish, having a child, was about to become true.

Sechrazat opened her eyes and sharply withdrew her hand.

"You used me! You absorbed power!" she exclaimed and jumped up, now spilling all the wine on the table. Nimrod threw a sad look at his ruined wooden table and stood up as well.

"It was only to..."

"Why? Why did you lie?" her eyes watered as she backed off.

"Please, just listen I..."

"I'm tired of listening, Nimrod!" She shook her head, "Shame on you," and quickly paced away, almost ran all the way to the cabin hall. Nimrod sat back on his chair and buried his forehead between his palms.

"Why do I even bother sometimes?" He wondered and filled himself another glass of wine.