23. Flustered
Lily stared back at me, her bottomless black eyes were as wide as my own. After a few moments she asked, "...Excuse me?"
I gulped again, but I was smiling now. "You're gorgeous! You had me thinking you were going to be something scary or nasty. I didn't know you were going to be so... Hot!"
Her cheeks were blushing even darker now as she stared at me with a sort of adorable awkward confused look on her face.
I moved out from behind the sofa and approached her. I was five-foot-four and kind of petite, sort of on the small side of average. Standing next to Lily, I came up to just past her waist. A lot of her height came from her legs, which were muscular but shapely.
I walked around her once, sort of looking her up and down - mostly up - as I circled her, taking her all in. Her behind was a work of art. I was fascinated by how her tail emerged from her lower back, and how her wings were attached at her shoulder-blades.
My knowledge of anatomy was pretty much zero, but even I could see there were more and different muscles at her back and shoulders to support the large wings. And while I knew that on some level, some people would probably call her 'monstrous' to me she was absolutely beautiful.
After walking around her I stopped when I was in front again, looking up at her.
I asked softly, "May I touch you?"
Lily stared down at me, her eyes were still wide, her cheeks almost black with her blush. She looked so adorably confused and conflicted.
"I don't mean anything naughty!" I added as I blushed again too. "I just want to feel your skin?"
It took her another couple seconds to reply. Once she found her voice she replied, "Very well Mara... If you wish."
As soon as she said it I reached out and ran my hand along her hip. Her iridescent blue skin was warm and soft. She didn't feel any different from a human, just bigger. I'd thought maybe she'd be tougher, or feel scaly or whatever. But no, she just felt soft and warm.
I wanted to touch her wings and her tail and even her cute nubbly little horns, but I realized that might be a little much. Actually I wanted to touch her everywhere, I wanted to experience her whole beautiful body.
My cheeks got a little brighter and I suddenly stepped back and let my arm drop down to my side.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked nervously.
I grimaced slightly as I continued to blush. "I'm uh, having some naughty thoughts about you Lily."
Her eyes widened again and she took a step back as well. She looked completely flustered, like she had no idea how to react.
It was fascinating the way her body moved. When she pulled back she stepped out of her coiled tail, then it flexed and shifted back with her and finally wound around her ankle again. Her whole body just seemed to ripple with smooth sensuous strength.
By this point I was almost lost as I watched her. Everything about her was hot. I was even having naughty thoughts about her tail after seeing how it moved.
Her large wings unfolded and stretched out, then she brought them back in close again. This time she wrapped them around herself, sort of hiding her body in their black folds, like the robes she wore in her human form.
I pouted slightly as she covered herself up, but even cloaked in her wings she still looked hot.
Lily finally said "Mara you can't be serious. I'm a monster. You're supposed to be terrified of me, you're supposed to be disgusted, revolted..."
"Really?" I asked. I was still pouting as I added, "Because all I can think of is how nice it must feel to cuddle against you under your wings like that. And uh, what that tail of yours would feel like if you used it to..."
Her eyes were wide and her whole face was dark now, she looked like she might die of awkwardness if I kept going.
I sighed, "Sorry Lily. You're just really hot. And now I'm kind of sad, because I want to get pictures of me and you together to show Melissa but I know that's impossible."
Lily face-palmed, and it was adorable and funny seeing this eight and a half foot tall demon beauty cover her face in embarrassment and shake her head in wonder.
"Mara..." she sighed. Then she lowered her hand and laughed. "Like I said, you are anything but boring."
I grinned back at her, "Sorry I'm embarrassing you. I just... I was expecting to be scared or shocked or whatever. I wasn't expecting to be so turned on."
She was flustered again as I glanced around the large apartment.
"Does that staircase lead to a bedroom? You have a bed in here right? You talk about taking naps."
Lily's blush got even deeper and she sputtered "I am *Not* taking you to my bed! It would be inappropriate, Mara!"
I pouted again as I asked "Why? I mean really, why's it inappropriate?"
She stated "Well for one thing, I'm old enough to be your mother!"
"So?" I shrugged. "Aren't you a thousand years old or something? You're old enough to be everyone's mother."
Lily muttered "Closer to eight thousand... But that's not what I meant!"
That caught me by surprise, but if it was meant to scare me off it didn't work.
My eyes widened as I gasped "Seriously? Eight thousand! That's... Wow! You must know all kinds of amazing stuff about history! Like you were around to see it all, right?"
She gave me a look and asked "Mara, when have you ever been interested in history?"
"I'm not," I smiled at her. "But I'm interested in you."
That got her flustered again.
I sighed, "I can't believe my demon is so amazingly hot yet so incredibly prudish."
She sputtered a little more and asked "*Your* demon?"
"Well I don't mean it like I own you," I frowned. "Just like, I'm your human, you're my demon. We're partners. Bondmates? Pactmates? I don't know what to call it."
"Anyways," I added with a sly smile, "Now I can see why legends say you're a sex demon. I mean, you're really damn sexy!"
Lily facepalmed again, or maybe she was just trying to hide. She mumbled "That's not... It isn't... Gah!"
I suppressed a giggle, she was absolutely adorable like this. Actually the whole thing was so adorably cute, like in her human shape she looked and acted sort of regal and powerful, but in this giant demon form she was such an adorable bottom. I could imagine if we were doing this over Discord she'd be keysmashing every other message.
"This is why demons get bad reputations," Lily finally stated. "Because you humans can't control yourselves, then blame us for your actions."
I smirked "Well it's true! I want to have sex with you, and it's entirely your fault for being so amazingly sexy and cute!"
She shifted her wings so she could hide her face behind them as she sputtered but failed to come up with a reply.
I watched her for another minute or two, but I figured that was probably enough teasing. If she was so embarrassed she felt she had to hide completely and couldn't talk anymore, it would have just been mean to keep going.
"Sorry Lily," I sighed. "I'll stop. I'm sorry for getting you all flustered like that."
She was quiet for another few seconds, then finally lowered her wings slightly so she could look at me again. She still kept them wrapped around herself though. And she still looked embarrassed, and almost timid or anxious.
I figured maybe if I changed the subject entirely that would help her to relax again. I glanced around the huge room and tried to think of something else to talk about.
"So uh, maybe this is a silly question but how'd you get a whole piano inside our head?" I wandered away from her and over to the piano. It was just like you saw on tv or whatever, a full-sized grand piano, complete with the black bench in front.
I lifted up the cover thingy and revealed all the keys. I tapped a few and it even made sounds like a real piano.
Lily was quiet for a few more seconds, then finally replied "Uh, it's not 'real'? I mean, in the sense that I didn't take a real piano out of your world and bring it into your head. I created it in here."
After a pause she elaborated, "It's like when you're dreaming? You can have a whole world in your dream, with buildings and vehicles and so on. All of that is created by your mind, your imagination. And it's real in the context of the dream. Everything in here is real in the context of this place, but of course apart from you and I none of this exists outside of your mind."
That took me a minute or two to fully get my head around it.
"So how do you get stuff here? Do you just sort of, think it up? Imagine it and it becomes real?"
She nodded, "Something like that, yes. It's a little more focused, a little more involved."
"Could I learn to do that too?" I asked.
Lily nodded again, "I'm sure you could... But I'm not going to teach you just yet. Knowing you, if you had that knowledge you'd just use it to further embarrass me."
I tried to pout but it turned into a grin. "Yeah, you're probably right."
Still, it was worth a try. I focused really hard and tried to imagine I had my phone in my hand. I wanted to be able to take a picture of her, even though I knew it wouldn't turn up on my camera roll for real.
It was actually easier than I thought, and after a few moments my phone really did appear in my hand. It didn't work though, it was more like a phone prop than a real phone. And as soon as I started to wonder about that, it sort of faded away again. Like as soon as I stopped focusing on the object and thought about the mechanics of this place, the object vanished.
Lily smiled, "That's what I mean about it being a little more involved, Mara. It's easy to imagine things, but to make them permanent, to make them functional, takes more effort and understanding."
"That makes sense," I nodded. "Is that why you don't have a TV in here? Like, it's too complicated or something?"
Her smile grew a little wider, "That's part of it. Mostly though, I don't need a TV when I can just sit by the window and watch The Mara Show as it plays live outside."
With that comment she managed to get me to blush. Then I smirked "Well I'll try to keep it entertaining for you!"
She face-palmed once more and I giggled.
After that we both sort of ran out of things to say. I wandered around once more and had another look at her place. I didn't bother trying to go through the big door at the back, or up the spiral staircase. I figured if she wanted me to see those areas she'd have offered me a tour.
After a few more minutes I finally asked, "So uh, how do I get back to my bedroom from here?"
"The same way you got here," Lily replied. "Stand in front of the window looking outside, close your eyes, and focus on stepping forward through the window. Like how you stepped backwards with your mind to get here, but in reverse."
"Thanks Lily," I said. "So can I come visit you again?"
She nodded, "Of course Mara."
I gave her a smile, "Thank you. I'm sorry I got you all flustered. Thanks for letting me visit you here. And thanks for letting me see the real you."
She smiled back, "It was nice to see you again in person. Well, nice but also very awkward and uncomfortable."
I moved around the sofa to stand by the window. I did what she said and closed my eyes, and sort of tried to mentally step forward.
There was a brief moment where I felt kind of strange and floaty, then I opened my eyes and found myself slumped in my chair by the computer.
I was a tiny bit dizzy, but that passed quickly.
"Thanks again Lily," I whispered. "It was really great to see you."