Let's go to Lakeside

You decide to take Miranda out to Lakeside. It’s the only place that has anything unique and “date-worthy.” But, wait, is this a date? Did she ask you to pick out a place for a date? You sigh and turn to your side - it doesn’t honestly matter. Or at least it shouldn’t matter enough to get you flustered.

For this to work, she’ll have to have at least a few days off. And if she doesn’t...well, then she’ll have to take charge of the situation. You burn the rest of the waiting time by reorganizing your equipment and settling into something more casual. Your handgun wasn't made to concealable, but you knew better than to leave without packing some kind of protection. That said, it seemed like she was able to handle herself reasonably well too.

Whatever the case, you have dressed rather casually again—jeans, a shirt, and then a jacket over yourself. Despite never really needing them, you had a single outfit just in case something like this happened.

It isn't long before you are again making your way down the steps that lead to the main lobby of the building. Again, your eyes traced along with the people that were in there. Tavern staff and visitors stayed in, talking amongst each other as they watched the gentle snowfall outside slowly stop. Even from the base of the stairs, you could see that it was already starting to come to a stop, which means that before long, it’d break and more than likely melt.

Without Miranda meeting you, you decide to just step to a couch and wait there until she pops back up again. Before you can even sink into the leather, you can feel some fingers roll on your shoulders from behind. The soft-touch that comes from the slender digits gives you no sense of urgency. You only tilt your head backward to see who's grabbing you.

The back of the headrests against the padding on the chair. Looking at you are a pair of familiar purple eyes. The stare Miranda seems much more...amused than she looked like this morning. You shift and stand to get square with her. You look up and down - seeing that she's all dressed up (once again) to go out with you. Red, form-fitting jeans, a black felt coat, and dark leather boots that reach her knees. She looks at you and curls her lips somewhat.

"What is it?" She inquires.

"You look nice, Miranda." You open your arms as you offer your compliments. This makes her smile a little wider.

"You’re just kind," she shrugs. "For a contractor, you hand out compliments as often as Yes Man. So what’s with that?"

This time, you shrug. "You haven't given me a reason to be mean to you. Plus, you ought to know."

"Right." She rolls her eyes and makes her way towards the door. "Where to, Mr. Visser?"

Ignoring that last part, you tell her that you'd like to go to Lakeside - perhaps spend a few days up there. "I'm sure they'll try to hire someone to take my spot while I'm gone for that long, but I doubt they will."

"Soo...Yes?"

"Yes! Let's get out of here. I hate this place." Miranda's blunt comment doesn't even get a single look over. Despite being here for as long as she has, she doesn't seem to have warmed up too much to the area. The people inside don't really care about her comment either - though you are pretty sure some unvoiced curses have been just wished upon her.

You go to the stables, looking for some horses. Their prices are steep, but you figure it'd be better to take one for each of you instead of walking. Lakeside was a fair distance from the town, so there was no point avoiding it, especially snow. Miranda is as familiar with a horse as you are, or at least it seemed like it. When you first got on a horse, your instructor told you the best way to ride a horse was to act like you knew what you were doing. Miranda worked like she was calm and collected on the horse and was rough with him when she needed to be. Perhaps she was familiar with them? As long as she didn't do something stupid, it didn't matter if she was or wasn't acting.

You banter with each other for a while. Then, finally, you decided now would be the best time to find out a bit more about Miranda.

“So, what’s up with your eyes?”

Miranda perks, slowing her ride, so she’s right beside you. When you look at her, she seems almost embarrassed that you’ve brought it up. She twists her jet-black hair along with her pale white index finger. Then, she looks away from you and says nothing. The next couple of minutes are awkward and silent - but eventually, you can hear her **** some...sobs?

You reach towards her. Your palm envelopes her small shoulder, and you apologize. Then, still looking away from you, you can see her head drooping somewhat.

“We’re not that close. How could you ask something so...God damn personal?”

A few moments of silence pass. Now you feel embarrassed. You didn’t think any of it when you asked it, but now that you’ve thought about it, perhaps that was too impersonal. Again, you apologize.

More sniffling. More silence. You pull away from your hand and exhale. This wasn’t what you had planned. Miranda faces you after just a couple of seconds of you pulling back, though. She’s smiling and looks oddly proud of herself, not to mention dry of any tears.

“I’m kidding,” she maintains her speed and distance, so she’s close to you. “The truth is just… far-fetched.”

“Try me. You owe me at least that much.”

“I dunno…”

You knit your brows at her, which makes her smile and snicker a little more before she caves in. She sighs. “I’m...a demon. That’s why my hair is so black, and my skin is so pale. Not to mention why my eyes…”

She flutters them at you and looks down, putting on a frown. “And why my eyes aren’t your average color.”

You click your lips, looking at her with an unimpressed expression. She rolls her eyes and shouts into the forest. “See! You don’t believe me! I knew you wouldn’t. You mere mortals can’t withstand the true elegance of my features! Why must every one who learns the truth deny it so quickly! No one has been able to grasp the truth!"

A slight chuckle leaves your mouth as you listen to her. When she hears your laughter, she stops herself from continuing, ending her monologue. “Ah, yeah...I’m 100% human.”

“I grew up in one of those pre-war independent shelters. I guess a couple of big brains from the 1980s thought this was going to happen and prepped up for the worse, but I digress. My friends were nerds, and I was a little bit of a geek too. We studied biology, practiced chemistry, and made a bunch of shit underground. I had the worst eyesight out of everyone else. I was the only one that had to wear glasses. They weren’t as obsessed with vision as I was, so no one ever helped me with my projects.” Miranda grimaced. “I tested my pharmaceuticals on myself to see what would and wouldn’t help.”

“I made eye drops,” she sighed. “That I thought would repair broken tissue and maybe improve my eyes. So the sun wouldn’t hurt me and that I didn’t need glasses anymore.”

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped her mouth. She was telling the truth now. You were sure of it. “It worked, I guess. My vision is 20-20, and I can practically see in the dark. But the side effects-”

She looks at you and closes one eye, and spits out her tongue at you. “Side effects kinda suck. I wore sunglasses constantly after the purple started to take over. I didn’t want anyone to witness my fuck up. When they did, they painted me an outcast and-”

Miranda stops herself from continuing. “I sold my eyedrops to one other person. She was a hunter that wanted to impress her dad and didn’t care about the whole eye thing, but she-”

Miranda pauses again. “Whatever, that’s in the past now.” You suppose she was treading in sensitive territory now and didn’t want to talk about it.

“Do...do you think I’m ugly?” Her question is genuine. “Stupid question considering what we’ve done with each other already...But-”

“-you want to know, I get it,” you cut her off. “You’re beautiful, Miranda. I couldn’t imagine you without your purple eyes, but even your normal features are unique. I couldn’t forget your face now that I’ve seen it.”

A hard blush floods her cheeks. Her eyes advert ahead. “What else do you have on your mind?”

“You said you lived underground? Or in a shelter? It sounded like you had a good deal going on for a while. You happy where you are right now?”

She shrugs. “Yeah, totally. I couldn’t be doing any better in life. I’ve got a great job at a shitty tavern, and I’m living in the middle-of-fucking-nowhere.”

“Let it out, Miranda.” You say, lightening the mood. She chases your comments with a surprisingly cute giggle.

“I just wanted you to feel guilty…” She clears her throat. “I mean, this is fine. I’d just rather be somewhere else. I’m nowhere near these parts originally. My boring life is filled with boring choices that have boring outcomes now.”

“Before I got to Tiny’s Tavern, I was having lots of fun. I was making and selling a lot of ****, branding a lot of products out, and making a lot of profit. A lot of...pressure...a lot of time alone and...Wow, I haven’t about it in a while, actually.”

You aren’t sure how to reply to any of this, so you talk with her a little bit to lighten the mood and then ask her about the others. Delilah and Maple being the two new main subjects. Naturally, this makes her perk a little more.

“I’m actually really close to Maple,” she chirps. “If you and I haven’t fooled around with each other, you’d probably take me as some lesbian!”

She laughs harder than usual. She bounces and covers her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles. You stare at her with amusement. Then, finally, Miranda catches your glance and calms down.

“No...I’m- we’re just really close. You know that strange relationship you get with some people? Or maybe you have siblings that have you have a strong connection with? Maple and I aren’t blood-related, but I consider her my sister. I trust her with a lot of things in life. So I owe her a lot.”

“I don’t know Delilah that well, but she’s alright, I guess. She’s kinda, standoffish, doesn’t talk to me often, and always leaves without small talk. She isn’t a big fan of the place, and I don’t blame her. I just wish she was more friendly.” She shrugs. “Probably has her demons, though. She needs more friends. Needs' someone like Maple in her life to guide her out of that place.”

You look at the horse and suck in your cheeks. Miranda is much more human than you thought. This is the first time you’ve seen her express her emotions and talk about her life at a personal level. You didn’t think she was warming up to all that quick, but this proves you wrong. You like Miranda a lot, and now you’re finding yourself wanting to get closer to her.

“Here we are,” she says, hurrying her horse. “Let’s get there before it gets any darker!”

Off in the distance, you can see buildings. Lakeside wasn’t far now. She has the right idea; getting down there sooner rather than later.