hey folks! begging your pardon!

now this wasn't the worst place he had woken up in, but he had to give it points for strangeness, if only for the normality of it all.

he blinked as his consciousness returned, slowly and lazily. the birds twittered cheerfully above him, the spring breeze ruffled his fur. the sun was shining pleasantly and felt warm on his skin.

gross.

betelgeuse lifted his head, squinting as he looked around and took in his surroundings. just...trees. and grass. and good smelling things. there was nothing that he was used to, no pools of mud and muck and — wait.

he turned his head to his side, sniffing insistently at the nearest part of his body he could find. where was his muck??? he felt naked without his trademark stench, without mud and filth staining some part of his fur. this wasn't right. he snarled, standing to his feet, only to stagger as the blood rushed to his head. “not even fuckin zooted,” he grumbled. he wished he was, to deal with all this pleasantry. he shook his head, sending the last of the mental fog away. time to find something gross before he lost his mind.
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Birdsong! Persephone was positively enraptured, laying in the morning sun with a content smile on her face. She had ventured away from their forest today, away from the lake, away from the protection of @Hades and the (goofy) companionship of his brother. Her intent had been to explore but the pleasant weather had made her feel like lounging around instead, wanting to listen to the happy melodies of the birds. Maybe she'd run into the mustang again, too! She hadn't but the hope had been there, fascinated with the savagely beautiful creature.

It was the snarl the spooked her, jumping to her feet suddenly, posture alert as her ears stood straight upon her head, listening. While she didn't understand exactly what the stranger was saying, or what he meant at all, really, Persephone found herself relaxing a touch as she found his scraggly form with those bubblegum pink eyes. “Hello!” She greeted him, taking a single step forward before pausing. “Are you okay? Do you need help?” He didn't look okay, but then again he didn't look not okay, either. Hm.
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the demon's senses returned as a voice, feminine and sweet, graced his ears. he turned his head to her, looking her over once before he spoke, his rasp sliding into something like a drawl (if a drawl could be dragged over steel wool). “well, ain't yew sweet, babe.” he grinned lazily. “prolly not a good idea t'go 'round helpin' every stranger y'see.” he leered for a moment, before an idea wormed its way into his brain. “shit. yer not an angel, are yew?” his face scrunched into something like disgust. that had to be a mistake — he couldn't fathom why he'd be sent there of all places, though she seemed the type to inhabit it.
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well, ain't yew sweet, babe.

Her ears turned back against her skull at the pet name, frowning at him for a moment as he explained how she shouldn't be offering help to wolves she didn't know. It was something her mother would have said, something her mother had said but what was the point in being nice if you were going to be selective about it?

“N-no?” An angel? She could have laughed, though she didn't. Not at all. “Is there a reason I shouldn't help you?” Not one to be so easily shaken, Persephone eyes the mangy wolf, not edging any closer but at the same time, not turning away in fear. She couldn't just live her life in fear. She refused to. No matter what anyone told her she should do.
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not an angel. cool. it didn't completely rule out his theory as to where he had been dropped, but it gave him some sense of relief that he wasn't in immediate danger. though, it wasn't entirely in her favor. faced with the idea of the girl's mortal-ness, betelgeuse felt bold once more, further so from her supposed naivete. 

“'cuz i could bite ya and tearrr out yer throat!” he suddenly surged forward towards her, baring his yellowed fangs in the wildest snarl he could muster. “or something so horrible.” he smiled normally, his face dropping the savage facade easily. “i ain't the type to be so reckless.” that was a complete and utter lie, to himself and to her. the demon-ghost-spirit-thing sat down and scratched his ear, though there was no pleasant feeling of carapaces beneath his nails as he did so. that had to change soon, he thought as he put his leg down.

“seriously though, you raised in a convent yer whole life? look the type.” he muttered the last words. she did have an air of goodness that rankled him, threatening to show in his already wild and unkempt fur. “got that nun vibe.” he clarified. “super chaste and, uh, virtuous?” he wiggled his...eyebrows? in a lecherous motion, wondering if she'd even understand what he was insinuating.
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His sudden advance drove her backwards, scrambling with a startled, fearful sound. Ears flat against her skull, those pink eyes wide, Persephone inhaled a breath so that she could call for help, for Hades, when the mess of fur and gangly limbs just as suddenly... stopped. Blinking, the little honey wolf stared at him, confused and taken off guard by his aggressive approach and then the shift to normalcy again. She did not make the mistake of closing the distance between them, her tail low and stiff as he spun his lie. A flash of emotion flit through her, hot and irate, and then it was gone as quick as it had come.

The observations he made weren't entirely wrong, but Persephone found herself unable -- unwilling? -- to speak again. Another step back, a frown settling into that pretty face as she weighed her options and made her decision. Turning from him, the sunshine creature departed, heading back in the direction she had come. Persephone had no time for liars.

Persephone exits!
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he cackled with wicked triumph at her startled cry, relishing the fear that he elicited even as he slid back to something like normal. now that was the stuff. he still had it, even if he'd woken up in a weird place and a weird body. his stop had whiplashed her; he could see that she was about to scream, actually scream before he had halted himself. ah, if only.

she turned. left. betelgeuse let out a wet gust of air before exploding with peals of harsh, cackling laughter. “how rude of yew, darlin'!” he called after her, when his laughter died down. he sighed, feeling the tightness in his chest subside.

“alright, now where am i?” he pouted, looking around him. he didn't get anything useful from her, except a bit of glee. he picked a direction and began to walk, searching for someone new to bug.

— exit betelgeuse

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