A stranger's hand clutched in mine

Midnight had come and gone, and Persephone had not been able to sleep. What it was, she wasn't sure, but the little wolf had carefully extracted herself from the warm embrace of her companion and set out to explore the forest, their forest now that she was no longer nervous over its deep, dark shadows. Eventually, she had made it to the small mountain of stones they had found on their first day here, and skirted the pile with nary more than a glance, moving with purpose as she made her way through the endless reach of evergreens.

While before, Persephone had always ventured somewhat aimlessly, tonight was different. Tonight, she struck her way north, heading towards the hollow where'd she'd met the woman, Salene, curious if she still lingered there. She had so many questions to ask the woman who'd seemed as ethereal as the forest, which made sense to the spring wolf if Salene really had been born here a long time ago. Her scent seemed faint, however, nose working across the melting snow as she circled the curious ring of trees.

+2 discovery points

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Hades had only notice her absence when he'd felt the cool creep into his coat. He shifted and looked around for Persephone, ears shifting to try and see if he could hear her. The trail was strong enough it didn't take any effort for him to track her down. When he found her it seemed she was hunting around a certain scent and Hades was a bit confused. "Persephone?" He called out for her, not wanting to stumble across her and startling her. "You were gone, I was surprised." he didn't sleep well as it was but her being gone surprised him. 

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She shouldn't have been surprised that he had followed her, turning at the sound of her name in his sleep-rough voice. Guilt flit through her like a moth, pulling her to his side with an apologetic look on her face. “I'm sorry,” She said, her voice soft. “I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you.” She still had, quite obviously. “I was going to come back. I just wanted to get out and stretch my legs a little.” Stepping close, she nosed his throat, affectionate and conciliatory.
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She was so quick to apologize and looked even guilty like she'd done something wrong. Hadn't he before, too? When his nightmares were too strong and the hold they had was so unforgiving. "Persephone," He said her name like a little purr, trying to assuage her fears and settle her nerves. "You don't have anything to apologize for." He said softly, tucking his head over hers when she settled in against his chest. "I struggle a lot, too, with sleeping." He wanted her to know he was safe - that he wouldn't judge her. "Were you looking for something?" Hades asked, confused a bit if she'd been looking for something or just looking for anything. 

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“You do?” She hadn't noticed in the weeks they'd spent together, likely because Persephone had the tendency to sleep like a rock when she did sleep. The nights he'd stolen away from wherever they'd bedded down for the night, Persephone had never woken, for if she had, she'd surely have followed him like he had followed her tonight. She didn't mind it, either, glad for his company on this night.

“A woman I met the other day. She was teaching me about the forest. Said she was born here a long time ago.” Nosing the hollow of his throat, Persephone stepped away from him, venturing closer to the small ring of trees, a feature she'd noted the other night. It was unlike anything she'd seen in the forest anywhere else to date, the collection of trunks forming a perfect circle, close and tight knit. It was almost as if it was there to symbolize something. Something important, significant.

But as recently as she'd met the woman, her scent was... faint... Almost like she was just a memory. Her brow furrowing, Persephone made another pass around the trees, sniffing at the base of their trunks.

+2 discovery points

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Hades nodded as she clarified he had trouble with sleep. "I have nightmares, often.....mostly of my father." Hades admitted quietly. "Kronos ripped me apart....I had...I had scars all over my body." If one parted his fur down he'd still have those jagged lines across his body but he didn't see them. He rarely felt them - but they burned when Kronos invaded his thoughts again. "I try not to disturb your sleep. I usually run off to just....panic alone." Hades explained. Her gentle touch was comforting as ever and it felt soft and faint like the whisper of a butterfly landing on you. One final touch and Persephone moved away from him and he tried not to lean like he'd feel her warmth against him one more time.

Persephone had met someone born in the forest? "Born here?" He repeated it, surprised by the fact. Then again, someone had to be born somewhere, and here was as good a place as any. "Did she tell you it's name?" Hades asked curiously. He was a bit hopeful - because this forest was nothing like the underworld and it deserved a far more....inviting name. He looked at the ring as she sniffed around it, cautiously joining her but not getting in her way. 'I don't smell anything," Hades admitted, curious if she did. If it was within the last couple days they should have - it hadn't rained to wash it away or snowed to dampen it. 

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His recounting of his nightmares drove Persephone closer to him, snuggling close, as if she could protect him from the thoughts and dreams that hurt him. She was no mighty wolf, however, nor was she psychic. These were pains that she could not heal for him. “You know I would never mind if you wake me. You don’t have to go through all that alone.” But such terrors were a private thing, and she didn’t want him to feel obligated to tell her, either.

An agreeable sound left her, aware of the distance between them, though she did try to make sure she stayed close. “Her name was Salene. Salene Endore. Her mother ran a pack here...” She still did not quite understand. The forest seemed as though it had been dormant for a lifetime, untouched and undisturbed until they had come along. “Winterheart Forest,” Persephone answered him, her tone curious and concerned both. She hoped Salene was okay...

“I swear I met her right here... she said she was born in that hollow there.” A nod to indicate the base of the tree, easing past Aidoneus, brushing shoulders with him as she moved to venture closer.
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The idea of waking her or Poseidon - who had actually endured Kronos with him - was past anything he could handle. He wouldn't burden her with his problems and he wouldn't drag Poseidon into it, possibly upsetting him too. Although he rarely was overly concerned he still kept his brother's wellbeing in the highest regard. Poseidon was able to let things just wash over him in a way Hades never had been able to. True to his life, he stayed locked and imprisoned by the things that had happened to him in a previous life. He couldn't get away from it. Gently he pressed his nose to her forehead, breathing in her soft comforting scent. It was enough for him in that moment. "Thank you." He said quietly. 

He couldn't smell anything, no other females in the area other than Persephone. He had no idea what had happened to the women. Maybe Persephone had been sleeping? It wasn't unheard of visions - but he didn't know of many other than Hera and Cassandra who saw them.. Visions like that could be gifts of knowledge.  "Winterheart," He repeated the name and found it to be fitting of the forest around them. There was something special to it. Something important about it. 

"Persephone, Queen of Winterheart Forest." He tested the title out and found he loved how it sounded. He smiled at her, tail swaying behind him as he watched for her reaction. 

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Surprise flit through her like a startled bird, stopping in her tracks to look back at him. At first, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right, but looking at him, she knew she had. “Queen? I-I can’t be Queen,” She protested, wondering if this was another moment for him to tease her or if, for some unknown reason, he was being serious.
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She couldn't? But she was already. She had been with him when they had found the important secrets of the forest. And wasn't she the one who had been given it's name? "I don't know why you don't feel you already are." Hades admitted. "As King, I would serve no one less than my equal." Hades didn't understand why she didn't see it as clearly as he did. The worry was in him that maybe it was about him and not her place in the forest. "You don't have to be my bride to be the Forest's Queen." This was said with a softer tone, offered up almost like a bargain. He wasn't required. He wouldn't force her either. He wasn't like that. 

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The sentence struck a painful note in her heart, her brow furrowing as she looked at him. “That’s not — I didn’t mean —” Her tail touched her haunches nervously, unsure of what to say. “I don’t know the first thing about leading, Aidoneus,” She admitted finally. Demeter had kept her far and away from that sort of thing, a realization she loathed. Had she wanted her daughter so co-dependent?

“I would make a terrible Queen. I don’t want to do that to you, to give you more work than you might have had before.”
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Hades could only smile gently at her. If he'd had hands he would have cradled her face gently, thumb brushing along her cheeks. "Persephone, I have never had a Queen. I'm used to being the lone ruler of my realm." She couldn't create more work for him - not if he'd always dealt with things alone. "You are far more than you believe, Goddess." He stepped closer to her, nose briefly behind her ear - he just wanted to touch her and reassure her. "I will not force you. But I will accept nothing less than you, Persephone." Hades said softly. He drew back to listen to her concerns. He understood the trepidation and they had been lucky the world was still so new that there was no qualms with who ruled. "My brothers divided the world Zeus had the Sky, Poseidon the Seas, and I the Underworld." He explained. "And while they had their Queens....I never took a bride. How could I make someone endure not only the Underworld but me too?" 

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His touch did much to soothe her sudden round of nerves, and just as she always did, Persephone leaned into it. He was warm and inviting, safe, and more than all of that, he made her feel more than she was worth. He made her happy, and despite the fact that they hadn't known each other for all that long, Persephone wanted to chase that happiness with him. So close to him, the little honey wolf focused again on his heartbeat, listening as he spoke in that deep rumble. She did not understand why he wanted her beside him but... She couldn't deny the want to say yes. But... What did that mean for them?

“Hades,” She leaned back, craning her head up look at him. “You shouldn't have to ask someone to endure your company.” Never mind asking that same person to rule beside them. Teeth preened gently at the fur of his throat, trying to comfort him as he did her. “I don't endure you. I enjoy our time together.” She would tell him as many times as he needed to hear it, too. A sigh, gentle and light, swept through her as she considered things. “I still think I'd make more work for you, but...” The words trailed off, pink eyes settled on his face (what she could see of it since she was so much shorter skdjhfskd), trying to find the right words to say.
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He let his eyes close at that lean into him, the touches so gentle and pure. While he wouldn’t deny having thoughts fueled by lust and desire when it came to Persephone. She was different, though, and he didn’t only want her for the reasons his brothers might. But they had wives before, and while he’d never seen Zeus remain loyal they had made a shockingly formidable pair. That was what Hades wanted more than anything. He wanted a partner, someone that he could grow his dreams with. Someone who supported him and made him better. He didn’t want or need someone to just inflate his head or stroke his ego. He was the King of Death. Nothing grew where he thrived and yet he’d found this place and this woman who seemed like life herself.

”I enjoy our time too, Persephone. I do.” He said it fervently, and the conviction in his voice was strong enough that despite the emotions and the doubt he didn’t stutter at all. ”I have to be honest with you, though. I can’t have children, and you.....you deserve someone who can give you that. I wouldn’t - I can’t - ask someone to put their life on hold when it means they might never get some of the things they want.” Hades couldn’t look at her then and was glad that she was tucked against his breast and some of that pressure was off him.

”I want you Persephone. I won’t pretend I don’t. I want better for you, though, and I’m afraid I’ll never be that man.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out in a whisper, afraid of her reaction to that and the possibility of losing her from his life.

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Did she want children? She'd never thought about it, really. Demeter had always kept her so busy that Persephone had never had time for fantasies about children, much less the process of conceiving them. That made it easy, now, to shake her head in response to his confession, smiling gently, reaching up to nose the underside of his chin. “Aidoneus, my life was on hold.” Her turn for a confession, it seemed. “Before waking up here, before meeting you, I didn't have a life of my own. I did everything my mother wanted.” It was painful to admit out loud, she found. She should have been stronger, more... more like the other girls. Then, perhaps, Demeter might have been happier with her.

“How could you want better for me when this is the best I've ever been?” She posed the question, preening and grooming the fur of his throat, acting more on instinct than anything else. Her voice lowered then, the gravity of her next statement thick in the air. “Please don't make my decisions for me.” She'd lived that life and she hated it. If she wanted to be with him, she would, children or not. Perfect or not.
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His brow furrowed and he was confused. He was trying to figure out what he could do to try and help her but he found his best course of action was to just listen to her. The idea that anyone had kept her from what she had wanted to do was so bizarre to him. He didn’t really know how someone could do that - and she had never let on at how hard her childhood was. It was unfair for things to have been done to them the way that they had been in their childhoods. “Persephone,” How she said his name and the way that she took to grooming him was reassuring. “I can’t say i understand your mother - realistically I’d suggest she was trying to keep you from my brothers’ prying eyes.” He laughed softly at that.

What she said sobered him though from that brief blip of levity - was he doing that? Was he making things worse for her? Was he trying to do a good thing in his eyes but taking the choice away from her? ”I, I wouldn’t. I promise.” Hades touched his snout to her cheek gently, nuzzling into her as he let out a soft sigh. “Your life, like our realm, is yours.”

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She realized the error in her phrasing as soon as he spoke, ears falling low for a moment as he so earnestly made his promise. “I know you wouldn't. I just meant you don't have to be afraid that you won't be good enough for me.” A sound, soft and happy, left her throat as he nuzzled her, one eye closing as she leaned into it. “You'll have to teach me,” Came her voice, just as quiet as she usually was. “About leading, I mean. I have no idea what I'm doing.” She recognized a few emotions bubbling up then; trepidation, but also excitement at the thought of have something that was not just hers but theirs.

Swift on the heels of that thought came another, one that Persephone was sure to pose to him without looking at him. “What does that mean for us...?”
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He didn't pull away from her, just wanting the sort of touch she gave and how it always soothed him. It was like a blanket across his shoulders, gentle, soothing. It was safe. She was safe. Hades listened to her and even if she had rejected him entirely he wouldn't have been fought against it. He sighed and nuzzled against her again, letting out a soft sound. She offered him words like a balm, not deep enough to dislodge all the pain in him, but, it was reassuring and gentle. "I'll teach you everything you want to know." Hades promised.

Her next soft question was given so tentatively. "What....what do you want it to mean?" Hades' answer was just as gentle. A moment later he offered this quiet promise. "We are partners. This is our forest. And I know that you care about it the way I do." Hades didn't want to push her at all, but, he wanted her to know that if she just was content as they were he was too. He could be.

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What did she want it to mean? In that moment, Persephone felt more hopeful than she had in her entire life. She wanted it to mean that she would never have to worry about being dragged away by the ear, that it would mean that she would never be confined in that gilded cage ever again. She wanted it to mean that she had a future here, that they had a future here, together. She couldn't deny the way he made her heart skip a beat, the way her stomach filled with butterflies when she was around him, her skin tingling every time he touched her.

But...

Was it all too fast? What if this all faded? What if she made him happy for a little while but then...

She swallowed, fighting off the impulse to lower her ears and look away.

“We... We could see what happens?” She asked, tilting her head up finally to look up at him. It wasn't the answer she wanted to give but Persephone found that she couldn't leap off of that edge just yet. She wanted to, she did, but the what ifs plagued her. So did the thought of her mother appearing and ripping her away from it all.
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The silence grew between them and it might have been minutes or it might have hours. He had no idea. All he knew is that for every moment he didn't hear anything his mind rushed in and he'd heard all the ways he'd been rejected and Hades steeled himself for the worst. He knew it wasn't Persephone's fault - and he fundamentally knew that it wasn't her nature either. Yet those voices still whispered to him - cruel and bitter, his father's voice whispered to him how the blood in his veins was still from Kronos after all.

He let out a breath when she actually did speak, nodding quickly. He could remember before, holding someone's hand, cradling their face - a soft touch, gentle and pure. He couldn't do that now, but, he did lean in to nuzzle against her gently. "We can take our time. No rushing. No pressure." Hades promised. He didn't pull away until she did, but, he had a smile on his face.

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She was disappointing him. She knew it. The same way she disappointed Demeter endlessly. Her eyes had already turned from him, face falling from hopeful to some form of upset (with herself). “Sorry,” She said, voice quiet, almost timid.“I'm sorry, Hades.” She should have been able to give him the answer he wanted, the one they both wanted but... she just couldn't. Not yet. And she didn't even know why. Her frustration mounted, petite claws digging into the earth beneath them, eyes prickling with the heat of fresh tears.
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He could see the trepidation and how quiet and timid and it hurt Hades. He wished he could have pulled her closer, held her against his chest and taken every moment to hold and reassure her until she knew his intentions and how he felt. "Persephone," He said her name so gently, nosing at the underside of her jaw. “Είμαστε ίδιοι. — We are the same” Hades offered quietly. There was a quiet urgency in his voice, and without even talking about it he knew that they had similar doubts and worries. He wanted to be more than what he thought of himself for her sake. "Don't feel like you have to apologize to me. I promise, you don't." He wanted to smile and it felt awkward and he didn't want to make things more uncomfortable.

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There it was again. The tingle of fire that blossomed from his touch at her jaw. A tiny sound left her, though whether it was in response to their contact or the gentle way he said her name, Persephone couldn't have said. She was too focused on the words that fell from his mouth, beautiful and sweet and reassuring in a way that she appreciated deeply. “But I do,” She mumbled, turning into him and hiding her face in the fur of his chest. “I want...” She huffed gently, eyes closed as she leaned against his frame. “I want... everything with you, Hades but I don't... I don't know if I'm ready and if my mother shows up, I'll have to leave and I can't do that to you.” She couldn't promise him something that she wasn't even sure that she could guarantee. That wasn't fair. To either of them.
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To her it was fire, for him it was life itself. When she leaned into him he let out a sigh and shifted a bit closer to receive her weight and everything felt right. “This is so early, Persephone.” He said gently. “And we have all the time in the world, what is a year to a Goddess?” Time was a mere idea to them. “Were your mother to show up, she'd know we'd been proper and good.” He added with a soft chuckle. He wasn't worried about her mother, he'd done nothing wrong. He'd only protected and provided for Persephone and then, of course, also made sure that he didn't entirely stifle his thoughts and wishes when it came to her. He'd let those run too far, honestly, but he didn't stop himself. “I understand your worries, parents can be......too much.” He ventured quietly, but didn't elaborate right then. He didn't even know how to make his mouth say the words.

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Proper and good were not necessarily what she wanted to be. She wanted to be Persephone. She... She wanted to be Persephone and Hades. She huffed, suddenly irritated, ears laying back against her pretty skull for a moment. “Sugarsnaps,” She muttered, getting to her feet, eyes dark as she suddenly rounded on him, determined. “Mother can deal with it,” She said, breathless in her sudden gusto. “I want to stay. I want to be with you.” However it meant. However he wanted, though the consistent fluttering in her belly told her what she wanted.
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