Head Over Heels Ch. 01

"Ah, yesss, I sssee!" Opal nodded eagerly, encouragingly. "Of course, if all that's sssooo, I sssuppose you really have nothing to fear from anything I can posssibly bring to bear."

Her golden eyes glimmered, the reflections of the lamp sparkling within them.

"That's right," Primrose said, nodding her certainty. "N-No offense, of course." She took a step back, suddenly a bit uneasy. Would Opal be insulted?

"Ooh, none taken!" Opal swept forward, keeping the same distance between herself and Primrose. "I'm happy to hear you aren't concerned about my eyes."

Primrose blinked.

Opal's gaze swam with flecks of golden orange, and many shades of yellow, as the lamplight flickered around her and Primrose. She had such big, pretty eyes. And with those transparent lids, it was like she never needed to blink, so they just stared endlessly on, like ponds of molten honey perpetually rippling from a neverending rainstorm.

"Your eyes?" Primrose blurted, realizing only then that she was staring right into them. She went a bit red and started to avert her gaze.

"Oh, yesss," Opal said happily, bobbing her head in a serpentine sort of nod that coincidentally put those eyes right back in Primrose's view. "I mean, if you're truly not worried about being hypnotized by a fey, you've really nothing to worry about from merely gazing into some pretty eyes. Ssso why not ssstay, if you're not worried about them?"

Those eyes swam in Primrose's head. Primrose nodded along with Opal's head bobbing, a bit flustered. "O-Of course not!" she stammered. "I-I mean--I just have other places to be tonight. It's nothing to do with--with those."

"Of course not," Opal agreed, giggling. "Why, the very notion is sssooo sssilly, isn't it?" Her eyes swirled with beautiful rings of gold and peachy-rose light. "As if you'd be enssspelled by a couple pretty eyes~"

"Yeah... yeah." Primrose giggled, too, trying to show that she, too, thought it sounded very silly. It certainly wasn't like the idea sounded kind of hot or anything. "Yeah, I'm, um, a little advanced for that kind of thing. Way out of that league. Of the eye thing, I mean."

"Mm-hmmm." Opal still sounded a bit disbelieving to Primrose, but the lamia was still nodding down at her, at least. "Why, naturally! Sssomeone as experienced as you has nothing to fear from some shiny lightsss, isn't that right?"

Primrose nodded slightly, licking her lips. Rings of coral-red and sunset-gold shimmered, spiraled, in those pretty, shiny eyes. They were very... very pretty, she had to admit. But they weren't about to affect her! They weren't about to... to... to do whatever it was gazing into those eyes did to someone!

Realizing after a moment's silence that Opal was patiently waiting for her response, she quickly snapped to. "R-Right! No, definitely not." She smiled proudly. "I'm basically immune to, um, that kind of thing! Honestly, I don't even see anything... hypnotic about them." She tilted her head cockily to one side and tossed her hair back with one hand. "I've been on the road for years and years. Eyes basically, like, lose their effect once you've seen a few, you know?"

"Oh, yesss," Opal said sweetly, beaming down at her. "And there's nothing ssspecial about mine. You can tell, can't you?" Golden and red spirals swirled endlessly circles sinking deeper towards the center, separated from each other by circles of inky black darkness. "Nothing... hypnotic about them at all. Don't you agree?"

"Y-Yeah," Primrose stammered. She wished Opal would quit asking her repetitive questions. "I mean, I'm looking right at them, and I'm fine. So clearly they don't affect me, see?"

"That's sssuch good reasoning!" Opal cooed.

Primrose felt her cheeks heating up a little. "W-Well, um. Yeah. I'm really smart. Been adventuring for years, remember? You learn a lot, living on the open road." She wasn't doing quite so well at the quips, she thought, feeling butterflies of embarrassment fluttering in her stomach. It was probably because she was tired, and not because she was staring right into the gorgeous spiraling eyes of a truly gorgeous girl her age.

Well... a year and a half older. But Opal didn't know that. Primrose was enjoying being seen as a smart, capable adventurer for a change.

"I'll bet you're not affected by any hypnosisss at all," Opal gushed, clearly impressed at how resistant Primrose was. "Are you?"

"N-Nope!" Primrose grinned. "Well, I mean, maybe some of the really powerful stuff, like a golden piper or a, um, pit fiend or a dragon or something." Best to stay grounded. Not boast too brazenly. She didn't want Opal to think she was full of herself. "But, um... but yeah, I'm--I'm, um..."

She trailed off, unsure what to say without repeating herself. She didn't want to repeat herself a bunch and have Opal thinking she was some sort of airhead, either.

Of course, trailing off probably had a similar effect, she thought, biting her lip.

"I'll bet," Opal purred, slowly extending a hand, "you wouldn't even be affected by being..."

Primrose barely held in a squeak of surprise as Opal's long, slender fingers began to trace a slow, dainty line down her jawline.

"... ssstroked," Opal hissed, "very delicately, while you were ssstaring into sssome pretty, glowing eyes and trying not to sssquirm."

Primrose forced herself to keep from wiggling or leaning in as the delightful little touches grazed along her neck. She did gasp as the fingers reached the sensitive spot just underneath her chin, but the sound sounded pretty muted--just like a lot of things did right now, even the rain, as she gazed into Opal's endless spirals. So pretty...

"N-Nope," she managed, and beamed with pride. "That sort of thing would never affect me."

Something about this seemed odd. Seemed a little forward, Opal just touching her like this. But Primrose was having an awful lot of trouble working out what was odd about it, and she didn't want to embarrass Opal. Or herself. And it... kind of felt nice...

"Oh, no?" Opal asked sweetly. Another hand joined the first, but this one rose to the top of Primrose's head and began to ruffle her hair. "Not even with... headpats?"

Oh. Primrose's eyelashes fluttered lower and lower. Oh, those felt... those felt so... "No," she said as evenly as she could manage, feeling her ears heating up. "No, of course not. As if I'd be affected by th-those." Her voice broke a little as Opal 's other hand traced ornate paisley patterns across her cheek, but she held her head determinedly high.

"Not even with sssuch light little touches," the lamia went on silkily, "that you feel like you're being kissssed by ghossstsss~" She tickled lightly under Primrose's chin. Primrose had to force herself not to tilt her head up for easier access. "My, my, you really are all-but immune!"

"Th-That's right!" In an instant, Primrose's embarrassment slipped away from her, and she held her chin high proudly and smiled right up into those pretty golden-ebon-coral spirals as the nails delicately stroked. It made her feel so weirdly nice, hearing the owner of such beautiful relaxing eyes praising her. "I'm a..." Her breath caught and eyes widened to the size of saucers as Opal suddenly loomed closer. "... a professional," she gasped, as her lips parted in wonder. The eyes were so achingly close now, swirling with such brilliant golden light...

"Why, I sssuppose that means," Opal cooed, giggling at something Primrose didn't fully understand, "there's no reason you should have to find sssomewhere else to sssleep, is there?"

Primrose started to frown slightly. Then the golden spirals turned to inky night, and she found herself smiling instead, nodding along with Opal's lovely bobbing motions. "That, um... makes sense..." she managed meekly.

"Of course it does," Opal said sweetly, rewarding Primrose with a sweet little pat on the head that made Primrose's whole world swim briefly as those spirals turned to a pretty coral pink. "And we must get out of the rain, don't you think?"

"Mm... yes..." Primrose nodded dreamily, smiling as she took a halting step forward, following Opal as the lamia slowly retreated. "Yeah, it's... it's k-kinda rainy out." She felt her cheeks get a little hot as she heard the vapid statement pass from her lips. Of course it was rainy out. Her hair and clothes were actively dripping wet.

Opal didn't seem to notice, though. She just kept nodding, just kept smiling, just kept caressing Primrose's cheeks, petting her hair.

Gods, it felt so... nice, just letting herself be petted. Primrose's cheeks got hotter at the thought. No wonder some people got hypnotized by this sort of thing. Or into needing this sort of thing. Or into begging for this sort of thing.

Some people. Not her.

She took another stumbling step forward. Then another. Following the pretty eyes.

A thought occurred to her, though, and she hesitated. "M-My sword," she managed. She didn't turn away, but she did stop walking.

"Aw." Opal pouted slightly. "Do you think you'll need it around little old me?" Her head tilted cutely to the side. "I thought you were a professional~"

Primrose stiffened. "I-I am!" She hesitated, then made a pfft sound. "I mean, yeah, I... I don't need it. I just... don't want it to get rusty."

"Mm." Opal didn't seem wholly convinced, but she didn't object, either.

Still, Primrose found it... strangely difficult to persuade herself to actually turn back. She was so close to getting back into the barn, out of this horrible mud. And she'd have to search through all this black muck...

Somehow, the thought just didn't sound appealing to her.

She stayed stock-still for a long halting second, then relaxed. "I-I guess it'll be fine," she managed weakly. Her foot trailed slowly ahead of her. "A little rain never, um, rusted any metal?" She gave a sheepish little laugh. Her logic sounded off, even to her, but the idea of spending her first night of adventuring digging around in the muddy darkness when there was a cozy bed waiting for her... and all for some weapons maintenance issues, some silly worries about this utterly harmless but extremely pretty lady 'hypnotizing her'...

"Of course not," soothed Opal's sugary-sweet voice, and Primrose smiled in strange relief at the reassurance, as if Opal was some sort of expert. Primrose only squirmed a little as she dimly felt a nice, soft pressure slowly wrapping around her waist, pulling her onward almost like a leash.

"It's just... not important," Primrose mumbled shyly.

"Oh, not at all," Opal cooed. "And wouldn't you know bessst?"

"Uh... uh-huh..." Somehow, Primrose thought fuzzily, gazing into those eyes and wriggling within the loose loop of warm coil... somehow, going back for the sword...

... it just didn't quite seem worth it right now.

"If you're walking back inssside," the lamia pointed out reasonably, "you surely have a good reason for it, don't you?"

"Y... yeah..." Primrose nodded slowly. That made sense. Clearly it wasn't worth it. Wasn't important to go back for it. Especially, she thought, as her dreamy smile slid right back onto her beatific face and she sank right back down into the lamia's gaze, letting the eyes pull her deeper into their beautiful spirals once again, when going back would mean leaving the delights of these little headpets, the delicate strokes, and... and the... the pretty... swirly...

Her mind slid off the third thing, whatever it was, like water off a serpent's back. She gazed up into the pretty spirals and followed, entranced, along with the tail's guidance. She gazed up into the spirals and beamed as she was led by the bobbing lamia right to the entrance of the barn.

"You're a ssssmart girl," Opal said sweetly, leading her deeper and deeper in, sinking into the darkness of the gloomy barn. "You know what you're doing!"

"... what I'm doing." Primrose gave a dazed nod.

And the second the doorway was at her back, she heard it slide shut, and darkness briefly filled the barn.

But she didn't fully notice the darkness.

All she noticed, as her eyes scrambled to adjust, were two beautiful glowing swirling orbs of color shimmering before her.

Primrose blinked.

Her face went red-hot.

"U-Um," she whimpered, tearing her eyes away from Opal's gaze and down to the tail lightly looped around her waist--not tightly, just... there, like a lasso not yet pulled taut around a stray cow--"um, you, um..."

"Yesss, Primrose?"

Primrose felt a single finger beneath her chin delicately guide her face back up to meet that warm, comforting gaze. Her vision gradually adjusted, and she could tell that Opal was smiling broadly.

"... oops," the adventuress squeaked.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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