I am a question to the world

@Rosencrantz <3

---

This place was unsettling. Perse didn't like it at all. Not even a little bit. She was actually quite certain that she'd like to get out of here as quick as could be; she heard things, scary things, things that literally went bump in the night, things that made the hair on the back of her neck and all along her spine raise. Ears low, long tail drooped against her hocks, Persephone slunk through the fog, terrified and very much on edge.

A loud, seemingly earth shattering crack of thunder and lightning made her scream as it struck a nearby tree, causing the sunshine dappled girl to bolt further into the fog, racing, speeding towards safety, even if there wasn't any to find.

She just wanted out. “Please please please” She was mumbling under her breath, breaths quick and shallow as she narrowly avoided another tree, and another rip of thunder, the rain beginning to drizzle over the Brim too, as if she wasn't tortured enough. Tears filled her eyes, mixing with the rain as they slipped down her cheeks, frantically trying to escape this hellish place.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

She wouldn't notice him as she ran for her life, it felt like, sprinting through the dead land like she wouldn't see tomorrow if she didn't escape its clutches. Fear like this was not unknown to the sunshine girl; nightmares plagued her, as did memories. Something horrible loomed in her past that she could not quite remember even on her best days, and it haunted her like a demon latched securely to her soul. No, this palpable, terrible fear was no stranger to her, but that did not mean she handled it any better.

Her breath was fast, her heartbeat faster, and the cadence of her sprint faster than that it seemed. All until it came to a tumbling, crashing halt. A foot caught on a root, as if the tree had reached out to grab her and keep her here. Her heart leapt into her throat as she careened into the mud, golden pelt marred by darkness and grime, blotting out all that sunshine to leave a miserable, sobbing girl crying on the floor of the Behemoth's maw. Accepting her own defeat, Persephone curled in on herself, her shuddering form making itself small as she tried to tuck her head against her side, ears flattened under the mud-covered paws that shielded them from the thunder above.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

The voice above her made the girl flinch, or perhaps that was the crack of thunder that so quickly followed his question. In the rain, her blonde head lifted, ears turned back as kunzite eyes rose to look up at him. Her knee-jerk response was to ask him why he even cared, but Persephone managed to stay her tongue, for that comment at least. “What does it matter to you?” She would retort instead, not much nicer than the response she might have given him. She had been spurned by the half-faced male, was having a horrifically bad time of it, and hated being alone.

Huffing, sniffling, tears still brimming her eyes, the girl pulled her muddied frame up and slowly found her footing in the slick grime, careful to not slip again. Poorly, pathetically, she lifted her chin, attempting to look less miserable than she truly was, though she likely failed to do so. “What do you want?” She asked him with another sniffle, firing the last question he'd asked of her back at him, though with decidedly less disdain, less derision than he'd directed at her.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

She expected anger, retaliation for her outburst, for her rude words; Mother had always raised her to be prim, proper, and respectful, her discipline an unwise thing to inter. Deviate from what was taught and face the consequences. But not here. Not now.

Instead, he suddenly offered help, and it left the little female confused, staring after him as he turned to walk away. What made him want to help now when he didn't before? The sun-child was half tempted to continue spurning him, and even lifted a hind paw to take a step backwards and go the opposite way. As if to tell her that was the wrong decision to make, the storm overhead crashed again and Persephone skittered forward, inadvertently following the man.

And once she was trailing behind him, she did not stop, quiet sniffles drowned in the sound of the rain.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

While she was sullen and foul-tempered at the moment, Persephone could not deny the small wave of relief that washed through her at the sight of shelter. Gemstone eyes would watch him as he stepped away from the entrance, giving her room to scuttle in to the opening, unable to avoid brushing her side against his chest while she did so.

And just like that, the cacophony of this place was dampened, a mercy to frazzled girl as she pressed herself to one side of the small space, and waited for him to settle in beside her. When he did not, the golden girl shifted forward a bit to peek her muzzle out and look up at him. “Why are you still out here? Get inside.” Because why would he stay out in the storm when he could be dry as well?

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

That little mouth turned into an unamused frown, watching as the man turned to settle on his stomach, stubbornly staying in the rain. Well joke’s on you, half-faced man; Persephone could be just as stubborn.

Snaking forward, she would pinch his haunch with those teeth of hers, glaring from inside the tree.

“Get.

In.

Side. ”

As if to make her point, Perse grasped on his tail and pulled, though she likely didn’t even move him an inch.
the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

No. They couldn't. He didn't listen to her, instead just laying on his side. Frowning further, Persephone reached forward and gripped the fat and loose skin on his haunch and once more, pulled, grunting softly with her effort.

She maybe moved him all of an inch or two, if that.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

His protests were ignored; Persephone continued to pull at him until the massive man finally rose and shook himself. She preened inwardly, pleased with herself all until he moved inward and behind her, not quite giving her the chance to move out of his way. A small sound of surprise left the girl, skin flushing with heat as a massive paw slung over her side. A tiny voice in her yelled to get away from him, that he would hurt her, but Persephone knew that was a ghost of her past traumas. He had had many chances to hurt her, and he hadn't yet.

Still, she could not quite quell the butterflies in her stomach, shifting herself about until his low voice rattled in the small hovel. More heat, his voice rumbling against her in such a way that Persephone could not easily ignore. Tilting her head back just slightly, saccharine eyes peered up at the half faced man from beneath long lashes, gaze innocent and shy. Her voice was hushed in the quiet, only just loud enough to hear above the storm that raged outside of them. “Do I get to know your name?” He knew hers. If he remembered, anyway.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

Rosencrantz. She had never heard a name like that before. Their gazes held for a moment as she weighed his name in her head, finding that it fit him, far better than "half faced man" did. He said her name, and she refocused on him in time for him to ask his question. Why wouldn't she rest? Well that much was easy. Because she had to make sure that he was out of the storm too. She couldn't very well hide in the shelter he had brought her to and not give him room to use it as well.

“I will. I just wanted to make sure you weren't out in the storm. You could get sick you know.” And she didn't have a proper garden to grow the herbs and such that she would need to help him get better. “It was the least I could do.”

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

“That can't be true,” She would retort with a tiny little scoff. “Everyone gets sick. It doesn't matter who you are.” Or where you came from, or how you got there. Everyone got sick. His head lowered to rest against the ground and Persephone shifted, inadvertently pushing herself closer to him so that she could do the same. This shifting would continue until the girl rested on her side beneath his arm, a yawn splitting her jaws for a moment before she continued looking up at him.

“Why would you want to stay out in the rain, anyway?”

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

Because I’m not a good man.

Perhaps the sentence should have given the dappled sunshine girl pause. Perhaps she should have shrank away from him, even as he pulled her closer. Now that she thought about it, they were awful close to each other, but Persephone made no move to change that. Instead, the girl looked up at him, ears as relaxed as the rest of her body.

Finally, she spoke. A simple: “Well, I think you are. Maybe a little rough around the edges, but you helped me, so you can’t be that bad.” No one had ever said Persephone wasn’t naive. She knew she was, in some ways, but she also knew that she preferred to try and see the hood in others, rather than judge them by their worst moments.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

“And saying you're "not good" doesn't make you bad.” Persephone made a motion akin to shrugging, as best she could anyway as she lay on her side beneath him and the leg he still held her under. The closeness was rather nice, providing her warmth and a sense of security she had certainly been lacking for... a while now, and the girl couldn't help but give another yawn, this one trailed by a small, sleepy whine sound.

And just as she began to drift, the thunder cracked overhead and startled her, sending the little blonde scrambling closer with a small yelp. Well, as close as she'd been to sleep before, she certainly wasn't now. And yet his voice brought her back again. Huffing, Persephone now pressed closer than ever to him, displeased with this storm and how loud it raged above them. “That's fine,” She would say, not moving away as another crack of thunder broke the skies, making her flinch again though not nearly as violently. “I can learn.”

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u

This content is not visible to non-members.

the staff team luvs u