"A-Ahh! I’m sorry...!" Lily’s face was red. "I didn’t want to hear it..."
"I—I should have gone to sleep, covered my ears, or done sothing better, but... I couldn’t do it."
"I... just couldn’t stop myself from doing it..."
"Why do you think that is?"
"I don’t know...!" Her voice was full of anger. "I was taught that... that kind of thing is private and sacred... only for married people who loved each other."
"B-But... it didn’t seem wrong to hear you, and Mara does that almost every night... It felt... right... or maybe... normal."
"Pretty much the sa." Rex said, "It was all of those things."
"But she’s already married!"
"Yeah, I know that she’s married. And she’s very unhappy in that marriage as well."
"It’s not about breaking the rules for Mara and ... It’s about finding connection and fulfillnt where they really are."
Lily sat on a log that had fallen down and hugged herself. "I can’t stop... thinking about it."
"What I heard... and about how it must feel."
"That’s a normal reaction," Rex said softly, sitting next to her but keeping his distance. "You’re interested in it, and there’s nothing wrong with that."
"But still...! It doesn’t feel right... Just thinking about it makes feel like I’m going against my family’s values."
"Or maybe," Rex said carefully, "the values of your family don’t take into account how complicated people are."
"They tell you the rules, but they don’t tell you why they exist or when they might not apply..."
Lily looked at him with eyes full of despair. "Rex, I’m so confused... about everything..."
"About what’s right and wrong, what I want, and who I’m supposed to be..."
Rix smirks and asks. "Do you want to know a secret?"
She nodded.
"Everyone is confused, you know that? So people are just better at keeping it a secret."
"For example... your brother seems sure of everything, but I know he has doubts."
"Your mom looks calm, but she’s having trouble with her own problems."
"And the only thing that makes them different is that they don’t say so."
"But you admit it," Lily said in a soft voice.
"I admit it because it’s tiring and dishonest to act like I know everything."
She was quiet for a while. "Can I tell you sothing...? Sothing I’ve never told anyone...?"
"Sure, you can always count on with every secret you have."
Lily’s voice was small when she said, "There was a boy..."
Rex felt alerted right away and seed like she could predict where this conversation was about to be going.
"When I was a kid... maybe thirteen or fourteen. Marcus was the boy’s na..."
"Before we started traveling, he lived in our village..."
Rex listened patiently as she went on.
"He was a few years older than ... He was strong and kind, and he made feel like I was important, not just as Elliot’s little sister."
"I thought so highly of him... maybe even loved him like kids do."
"What happened then?" Rex starts to get invested, knowing that Lily seems to have a childhood crush.
"They had to leave his family... because of so kind of business problem, they lost everything and had to move to a different kingdom."
"He didn’t even say goodbye the right way... He just left a note saying he was sorry." Lily’s eyes filled with tears. "I waited for him to write, to co back, and to show that I ant as much to him as he ant to ."
"But... there was nothing..."
"Nothing but... silence..."
"That must have hurt," Rex said softly.
"Yes... it did... by a lot that I kept thinking... maybe I wasn’t interesting, pretty, or good enough for him to care about."
"And now I wonder if I’ll spend my whole life waiting for soone to see the way I saw him..."
There it is... the green flag that she raised accidentally, which Rex could use as a chance.
Rex went for the attack by reaching out and softly turning her face toward him. "Lily, pay attention to ..."
"If Marcus didn’t see how special you are, then... he was an idiot."
"You are smart, kind, curious, and brave enough to question the world you grew up in. Any guy would be lucky to get your attention, you know?"
Tears ran down her cheeks when she heard Rex say that. "Y-You... really think so...?"
"Yup, I know it just by spending so ti with you."
She suddenly threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Rex held her gently as she cried out years of pain and loneliness.
"Thank you," she said softly against his shirt. "Thanks for getting it..."
"For paying attention... and for making feel like I’m not crazy for how I feel about it..."
[LILY VON STARLIGHT: DESIRE LEVEL 48/100 → 52/100]
[STATUS: OBSESSION INTENSIFYING]
[OBSERVATION: SUBJECT INITIATING PHYSICAL CONTACT]
[OBSERVATION: SUBJECT’S BEHAVIOR BECOMING RECKLESS]
"Heh... fifty-two desires... I’m so close." Rex said in his mind.
Rex had her right where he wanted her. She was weak, emotionally dependent, and desperate for the approval she had been denied.
If he planned a few more monts like this, she would be completely his.
As the sun went down, they walked back, and Lily’s hand found his and squeezed it gently. She looked up at him with eyes that looked like they were worshipping him.
"Can we talk again tomorrow?" she asked.
Rex answered, "Whenever you need ... I’m always there for you."
"Hehehe," Lily chuckles hearing that.
...
Rex waited until the inn was quiet that night after dinner and the usual cleaning. Then he quietly left through the kitchen door and into the dark.
It was ti to really test his new skills. And he knew exactly who he wanted to hit.
Rex used his telekinesis to feel the world around him in a way that made him aware of everything in a circle. Then he slowly lifted himself off the ground.
It was surprisingly easy to fly for the first ti. He just thought about rising, and his telekinesis made it happen, easily supporting his body weight.
"Heh... seems like it worked. Telekinesis is the most underrated power that’s also overpowered at the sa ti!"
"A lot of people slept on it..."
Within seconds, he was flying high above the trees, with the cool night air rushing past. And it was great to be free.
He flew in bigger and bigger circles, using his telekinetic powers to their full hundred-ter range. He was looking for sothing in particular, and after about twenty minutes of flying, he found it.
There was a camp, and he saw forty or fifty people moving around in a big, well-organized space.
Campfires lit up rough shelters and weapon racks. Sentries strolled around the periter, exuding the casual confidence of individuals who had never faced an attack.
They are those bandits Rex was looking for, and if Rex was right, it was the sa group that had attacked the town weeks before.
"Fucking perfect..."
"The toys I can use..."
He fell slowly, landing just outside the circle of firelight. Then he walked forward in plain sight, not trying to hide.
"What the fuck...?" The first guard saw him right away and then confronted him. "Hey! Who the fuck are you walking like an idiot!?"
"I’m just soone with an idea," Rex called back.
Within seconds, ard n and won were all around him, pointing weapons at him with different levels of hostility and curiosity.
"You’ve got balls of steel to walk into our camp alone," a woman adorned with scars said.
"It was stupid, but also brave."
"I prefer to think of it as confident," Rex said in a calm voice.
A big man pushed through the crowd. He was clearly in charge with his huge body, at least six and a half feet tall, and his arms were like tree trunks.
His face and neck were covered in scars, and he carried a huge battle axe like it was nothing.
The man said, "I’m Kruger... in charge of this group of bandits."
"And you... are either very brave or very dumb."
Rex said, "I’m practical because I have a brilliant idea I would like to share with all of you."
"How’s this? You all work for , and in return, I make you stronger and richer than you’ve ever been!"
Hearing Rex speak with such confidence filled the thieves with laughter.
""GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!""
Kruger smiled, showing that he was missing so teeth. "We, bandits..!? WORK FOR YOU!? GEHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Kid, we’re forty strong bandits who get what we want! Why the fuck would we work for so skinny nobody!?"
Rex said in a friendly way, "Well... If you don’t, I’ll kill you all right here... right now."
The laughter stopped. Kruger’s face darkened.
"What the fuck did you say...? Is... that a threat for us?"
"Yep. That’s true."
"Kill that little fucker."
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