It was a little after sun set when Nell arrived on a deserted stretch of beach with the equipment she'd borrowed from her science class. She scanned the beach cautiously and once she was certain she was alone she began setting up for star gazing. She didn't like being out and about on the island after dark but her astronomy homework had required her to observe the night sky at least once and write a paper on what she saw. Thankfully the best place to do this from was the beach which was fairly open and lacking in places from monsters to hide. As long as she didn't get to close to the water and kept a watchful eye and the forest to her back she should be able to avoid anything sneaking up on her. Hopefully.

She finished setting up the telescope she had borrowed and sat down a small blanket with her books, star map and notebook. She stared up at the sky for a moment and sighed in wonder. It was a perfect night for star gazing. The air was cool but not quite cold yet and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The stars were out in full force, more than Nell was used to seeing at home, and it was breathtaking. She had taken for granted how beautiful the night sky was. She sat there in a long sleeves black shirt, gray and blue plaid skirt and dark gray leggings with black high top shoes and enjoyed the ocean breeze play through her hair. She took a breath breath and then exhaled slowly. "Okay, now to work."

She got to her knees on the blanket and crawled over to telescope with the star map to start focusing it. "Okay, first let's find Polaris then we can start looking for November constellations."

Edward stretched his body as he awoke to another night with a clear view of the stars above. It was quite a blessing to him, since the skies of Makai seldom has a clear night sky such as this. Feeling the need to hunt for food, and maybe girls if he is lucky to find one, he moved out of his lair, beginning to use his senses to detect his target.

He combed the area for some time, managing to catch and devour some small rabbits to sate his physical hunger, and he was about to head back, when a familiar scent tinged with ocean breeze invaded his nostrils. He then smiled to himself, thinking about how lucky he was today and started walking towards the direction of the beach, quickly reverting to his human guise.

He stepped out onto the beach, and approached the girl and had a look of surprise on his face. "Hey there... are you here to watch the stars too? I hope that I am not bothering you."

The man's voice coming from behind Nell caused a line of tense to run down her spine and pull her to a straight-backed, upright position. She was almost afraid to look back, uncertain of what might be standing there with its all to friendly sounding voice. Nell had learned her first night here that a friendly voice meant nothing. Still, she rallied her courage and looked over her shoulder at the man who'd just stepped out onto the beach. He didn't look very frightening. In fact, he looked rather handsome with his tan, muscular body and his stunning arctic blue eyes. She didn't relax let though, she'd known monsters that were capable of looking human enough when they wanted too. Still, she tried to sound casual when she answered him. "You aren't bothering me..." She resisted the urge to add the word 'yet'. If he was dangerous then the last thing she wanted to do was provoke him. Instead she continued to act natural, though a trained eye would not be able to miss the tension in her body. "You came here to watch the stars? I didn't realize this was a popular spot for that..."

Edward was surprised as he read her body language. Granted in their last encounter, she did not know of his human guise, but he had to hand it to her with her wariness. He then started releasing a bit of his calming aura around him to help set the atmosphere between them. She seemed tense, although she acted as if nothing was wrong.

He understood of course, the source of her wariness. Being assaulted by monsters sexually for a few times does leave a girl to feel quite wary of things. Nevertheless, he shrugged and said. "Well, what can I say.... I was surprised that you found one of my secret spots. Not many realize that this is one of the best places to watch stars on the island. Personally, one of things I like to do is to do some stargazing at night. It calms my nerves somehow... at least that's what I feel personally. How about you, miss? Why do you watch the stars, may I ask?"

The man didn't immediately attack her which she felt was a very good sign. The tension eased out of her slightly and she lowered herself back to sit on her knees as she considered the man's words. "I'm really not much of a stargazer, honestly. I'm taking an astronomy class up at the college and this is sort of homework." She gestured to her book behind her on the blanket. She was becoming noticeably more disarmed while she spoke. "Not that I'm not enjoying it..." She turned her focus skyward and stared up at the multitude of star twinkling in the blackness of the night sky. She took a deep breath of cool clean air and realized it slowly. "It is surprisingly peaceful here. I wouldn't have expected it of this place..."

Edward smiled at her words and said. "Well, whether or not you are a stargazer hardly matters... though astronomy is a subject that most people rarely take, if you ask me. Some people think its boring, just looking at stars... but if you ask me, they cannot be more wrong, since the stars have a mysterious effect in calming you down, don't you agree?"

He then paused before asking. "If I maybe so bold, why do you make the statement on how peaceful this place is? Don't get me wrong though, it is as though you were expecting something bad to happen."

Nell turned to meet Edward's eyes again and blinked at him for a moment as though wondering how honest she should be with him. After a while she shrugged and went back to adjusting the telescope. "I wouldn't say I was expecting anything to happen... Just a little wary that's all. I have been at the school for a little over a month and the experience has been far from peaceful. I took this class because I was required to take a science and this was the only one that remotely interested me. Still, I was putting off this particular assignment as long as I possibly could because I didn't want to go out alone on this island at night. It seemed like tempting fate..."

"Ahhh... I see. Well, I suppose it is quite natural to feel that way if bad things are happening to you." Edward said in a rather understanding manner. "After all, who wouldn't, if they were put in the same situation?"

He then looked at the night sky and smiled wistfully. "And the island at night is different than it is at day... you could say to some... it is more beautiful, especially if the moon is out. Too bad tonight we don't have a full moon, if not, you will see how truly beautiful the night is." He said in a poetic manner.

"Yes but if the moon was full then it would drown out all these stars." She smiled at him over her shoulder and held up her star map for him to see. "It's the stars I need to see, not the moon. Though I suppose a full moon would look breathtaking over the ocean." She looked back to the beach and tried to imagine the moon reflecting on the water's surface. She was starting to let her guard down now. She went back to adjust the telescope one last time. "Ahhhh, there it is! Did you want to come look?"

Edward looked at the star map in his hand and studied it. It was quite nice really, since Makai had no stars in the skies, at least none that he noticed of. He then nodded. "Indeed, the way the water shimmers under the moonlight is indeed breathtaking, I suppose."

He was feeling curious as to what she was looking at, and nodded. "Of course... why don't you let me have a look at whatever it is that you are watching?"

Nell smiled and moved aside on the blanket so Edward could look through the telescope. When he finally joined her to look she started to plain. "It's a star clutter call the Pleiades, or more commonly as the Seven Sisters. It's the star cluster closest to Earth and the easiest to see with the naked eye but it looks even more impressive with the telescope." She stared up at the tiny grouping of stars. "I've always liked the Seven Sisters but I like them even more after taking this class. I would never have been able to see how beautiful they really are."

Edward looked through the telescope and smiled to himself. It was really a beautiful sight, and he really enjoyed watching the stars like this... he might have to thank this girl when this is over for getting him to find another hobby to add to the few hobbies that he already have.

He then withdrew and asked. "I am curious... why do you like the seven sisters, out of all the stars in the skies?"

Nell shrugged slightly as she gazed up at the stars. "I can't say it was any one thing. They are a pretty little constellation that is easy to spot... Oh, I guess I liked the name too. I never had any siblings so I used to pretend that they were my sisters." She turned to smile at him again but her eyes still had that far off look of dreaming. "You see, there is a missing Pleiad. Look at them without the telescope and you can really only count six stars. I used to pretend that I was the missing one..." She trailed off, thoughtful.

She pulled her knees into her chest and rested her chin on them and became suddenly somber. "I used to like the myth too. In Greek Mythology, they were nymphs and like most stories about nymphs they were pursued by a man." She pointed up to a line of three bright stars. "The hunter Orion saw them in the woods one day and desired them. He pursued them for seven years before Zeus took pity on them and turned them into doves and then into stars. Later Orion became a constellation as well and was placed in the sky behind the Pleiades, doomed to pursue them forever." She shook her head and moved to start repositioning the telescope again. "I used to think the idea of being pursued was romantic but not so much anymore."

Edward listened to Nell's story and then looked closely at her. She was quite a pretty, and he knew why the Marquis, or at least Luju would delight in enjoying themselves with her body. He then looked at the skies and then said. "Well... perhaps what you say is true..."

He then chuckled to himself. "To think that myth and mythology sometimes reflect the things we go through in our daily lives... it's so strange and coincidental and funny. It makes one wonder if we sometimes do not learn at all when it comes to the problem of love... don't you think so?"

Nell shrugged in reply but didn't look up from the telescope. "I know percious little about love so I couldn't speculate. But Greek mythology are full of lust and turmoil which are two things that are very common place of this island. Shokushu is very Greek in that regard." She looked up from the telescope finally and began looking around for her star map before realizing the man still had it. She turned back to him and held out her hand for it. "May I have that back for a moment?" She regarded him thoughtfully while she waited for the return of the map. It seemed so strange to be having a normal conversation with a man and she suddenly realized she didn't even know his name or what he was doing here. "We should probably introduce ourselves if we are going to continue to enjoy each other's company in this way. I am Nell. What's your name?"