"Really? You didn't do anything with him? Why not? Don't you like him?" Melody pried, and I sighed.
"Huh? I just met him, and he saved my life! I wanted to offer him my body, but he told me to relax and that he was just going to keep me warm...." Amy said, looking away nervously as she blushed harder.
"Well, that settles it! You can have my turn tonight since I am the Queen of this harem! I want you to make sure that you have a good time with him tonight!" Melody declared, and my eyes almost fell out of my head.
Darius started to cough so hard I thought that he was choking, but we were just background noise to the women. They were paying absolutely no attention to us, but it looked like Melody had just asserted herself, as usual.
"Are you sure it's okay, Queen Melody?" Amy asked, and both I and Darius flinched back simultaneously.
"As if she is just so ready to accept this!" I said under my breath.
"Of course! The rest of you girls don't mind, right?" Melody asked, and all the girls shook their heads.
"No, that sounds very good, Queen Melody," Anya said, bowing her head slightly to Melody.
"Not my little girl!" Darius cried in a harsh whisper.
"See?! I am barely a side character in this girl's story!" I complained under my breath, but then I felt like I was being watched, and my hair started to raise.
I turned my head from Darius, creaking like the tin man, and every girl was staring at me with narrowed eyes. I flinched and put up my hands in defense of some unseen attack the girls were about to unleash on me.
???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????
"Don't you have something to do right now?" Melody asked, and I nodded, about to make a beeline for the elevator, but then I stopped.
"Sofia, can you come with us? I need to pick your brain about a couple things plant-related, if you don't mind," I asked, and the Latin woman nodded.
"Yes, I don't mind joining you to talk about one of my greatest joys, Papi! Do you want to carry me again in those big strong arms of yours?!" Sofia asked with sparkling eyes, but I shook my head.
"Not this time, beautiful. Come, we are only taking an elevator down to find Darius his own place," I explained, and Sofia sighed but still came over to take my hand in hers.
"Fine, but you can at least do this for a girl like me, right?" Sofia asked in a cute voice, and I nodded with a smile and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
Sofia blushed, and she turned her face into my arm as we walked over to the elevator where Darius was eagerly waiting. The girls behind us sighed, but I ignored them.
"I will talk to you tomorrow, dad!" Anya called, and her father waved as I asked for the doors to the elevator to open.
Being in the tree now, I could do the changes I was about to from anywhere, but it would be easier to do it from inside one of the apartments. That way, I could make sure it would be the same for the rest.
"So, what did you want to ask about?" Sofia asked, looking up at me.
"I need to know how a plant moves water. There has to be some kind of process, right? I can provide running water and hot baths if I can understand that," I explained, and Sofia nodded.
"That sounds really amazing! I can't believe that I really finally got to meet you, or, well, a person like you. I have always believed that there was a special life force that all living things are connected to. You are my proof of that with your abilities, even if they are unbelievable! I am sorry, I just get excited about this kind of thing!" Sofia said as she gripped my arm with a smile, wiggling around.
"Always good to be passionate about what you love, right, Dan? You are pretty much the same when it comes to books, haha!" Darius chuckled as the elevator stopped.
There were about thirty feet of space between my place and the top floor, but I had other plans for that space. I needed to create a defense for each of the Great Trees because I was only one person.
"Yeah, I do love a good book, but now I am the fantasy. The internet is gone, and so is tv, so I want to make sure that the world always has books. There are so many possibilities in front of me right now, but there are steps we are going to have to take before we can make them realities," I said, and the doors opened at the end of my words.
We walked out into a grass hallway, and the grass immediately started to pull us along to the first room.
"What is with this grass?" Darius asked.
"Just think of where you want to go, and it will take you. This place that we are entering will be yours for now, but you will be moving into another tree at some point," I said as we arrived at the first of many spiral shaped doorways.
It twisted and spun, pulling in all directions to reveal a dimly lit room with a table and wood couch. The sofa had a weaved grass seat and back, but the room was pretty bare.
"Hmm, not much of a place, but I guess there is a hallway going down. There must be a room and bathroom that way?" Darius asked, and I nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, sorry, every place looks like this, for now, some with more bedrooms, but in time people will be able to change them at will," I explained, and Darius's eyes went big, and Sofia jumped back from me.
"Really?!" Sofia almost screamed, and I nodded with a grin, putting my hand on her head, and ruffling her hair.
"You can already do it. When I changed your body, you became connected with me. Now the trees will respond to you, but only to certain degrees-" I explained but stopped as Sofia grabbed onto me, starting to cry.
"T-Thank y-you so much!" Sofia cried, and I hugged her tight to me.