Come With Me Now

@Persephone

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His actions to the honey wolf still clashed within. As he travelled mostly in silence, only casting a single ye glance to ensure she was still around - internally he waged war with the idea of "claiming" the woman as his ward, as well as the deed he had done that was unmistakably evil. But when was he nothing but cruel? In his eye, he had been nothing but honest. Himself; and though he didn't align himself with his father's ideals... he still fell into the same traps as before. The meaning behind it perhaps had changed, but the evil still loomed in his heart regardless of how many colours he tried to pain it.

Summer's heat was in full swing with the humidity rising with every day. The smell of water drew him in and here they would rest... and as he gazed onto the shores, he found the place to be familiar... but the path and surrounding lands to this one was strange. It was nothing new to him, the lands did shift but still. To see the familiar become so strange struck him as queer regardless.

“We rest here.” He tried to be gentle when speaking with her now, even with the harsh rumble of his baritone vocals he did his best with what the man had. “We move before sundown.” He continued, earlier noting the awful smell of a pack they wandered by - avoiding their borders with a large semi-circle. He didn't like their scent, and didn't want to find out why they smelled like death from miles around.

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She followed him with ease, his large, white figure easy to spot among the changing landscapes they travelled through. The sunshine girl never ventured far from him, though she would often get distracted by the flora they passed. There were times when Rosencrantz would circle back to find her, his scarred face always stern and unamused, as if he didn’t have the capability to make any other expression. That was fine; it didn’t scare her. He was just another wolf that looked different. Didn’t they all? Colors, scars, shapes…

She looked to him when he spoke, pulling her saccharine eyes away from the glittering surface of the lake. It was so much more calm than the sea, so much more… serene. And yet she couldn’t help but shatter that serenity, putting on as stern a face as she could muster just then; an attempt to mirror the man of snow.

“We rest here,” Persephone parroted back at him, her voice “low” and “gruff”. Of course, she could not keep her seriousness for much more than a few seconds, breaking out into an easy giggle. She was a creature of few worries, few things that weighed upon her soul. His second statement fell upon deaf ears, the honey dappled wolf already prancing towards the shore of the lake to splash about in its shallow waters.
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He didn't expect her to say anything at all. Though she was still lovely as the day they met, all sugar and sweets, it wasn't like he was pleasant company to keep. So he wouldn't have blamed her to just sulk off and ignore him while keeping to herself. Rose himself was going to take a soak in the cool waters, the warm weather of summer wasn't his favourite and so a nice soak should cool off his tundrian core. Just as he was about to walk off, a curious one eyed glance shot to her with a nearly surprised expression on what skin was left on his face.

She was mocking him?

For a moment he figured it was just the way she expressed her distaste for him but the giggles that followed said something else. Playful maybe? With a gruff rumble he kept his lips straight. Stern, trying not to break into his own grin at the sight and sound of her playing around with him of all wolves.

Persephone waltzed her way to the water's edge to splash around and he would smoothly enter - ignoring her to his best efforts and sinking deep into the waters to let them wash over his broad shoulders and thick neck. Who would have known that he too could be a little playful given the moment to, breaking character only slightly by rising from his seat, dripping wet and instantly shaking sending water everywhere - especially toward the little golden girl.

Still he didn't want to grin, but it was there... in spirit.

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The water felt wonderful, especially with the sun having warmed the little lake up so it wasn't too chilly, but it wasn't too warm either. It was just right, although the fish and other denizens might not have appreciated the way the golden girl splashed about and made a ruckus in their previously serene waters. What she wasn't expecting was a face full of water suddenly when Rose shook himself off.

Pink eyes blinked as she registered what had just happened before locking onto him with the grin of a child about to do something they knew they shouldn't.

Bounding towards him, Persephone did her best to tackle him, to throw her weight at his side so that he would fall into the water, laughing all the while as the sun reflected off the water's glittering surface.

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How could he have done what he did to her? When seeing Persephone now wading in the water, her gold threads shimmering in the light - her smile too bright for him - how could he have just taken her the way he did? Was he truly that lonely that he had made a decision all of his own and took the girl out of selfish greed?

It was that or the likelihood of being alone again. To wander until someone else would temporarily remain at his side and feign loyalty, trust, only to shatter it again as it was before. There were so many missing pieces to his broken being, Rosencrantz wasn't certain he could do it again if he wanted to.

And there was no turning back the hands of time either. His deed was done and now all he could do was soak in her sunshine like the greedy pig he was.

To his surprise she didn't seem to mind. Bouncing toward him through the water. Her little body barely making him move but he would topple over into the water regardless. Giving her the win in exchange for all he had already done. Her giggles were worth it. But he wouldn't go down without a ltitle fight at least. Letting his muscular body purposely slap the water's surface so he could splash her in return with a wake created by his antics. Accented with a slap of his tail against the water's surface before rearranging himself to feel the ground beneath his feet.

The rocks and dirt was slimey, slippery with algae but he managed to keep himself crouched. Head under the water like some gator as he forced his eyes open to see her glimmering body in the water and aim to retaliate by hunting her from beneath the surface. Bumping into her body, and nipping in little places there and there.

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