Lost Creek Hollow I'm such a romantic,

The streams looked like they would soon overflower. However Aerasha, stayed a bit away from them, and kept inside the tree-lines. Her fur was throughly drenched, clinging to her skin as she gave a large sigh. The rain seemed never-ending, and she could never escape. At first it was a blissful dream to escape the heat, but now it simply never ceased.

She wanted to visit her 'friends' from before! However the area was vacant- like they were never there. A disappointment, Aerasha thought.

the rain groans across the sky. he sets out upstream.

the river was swollen and bursting from its seams, flooding the banks in savage torrents. owlglass was a sailor, but he had never seen so much water where it was supposed to be.

he wasn't the only one that was displaced. every so often he'd see a family of rabbits, the straggling tail end of a deer herd, and he would consider tracking some before quickly losing interest. rainwater dripped off his goatee and ran down his chest. he was easing into a half-hearted jog when he saw the outline of a wolf, this time, and he rubs the wet blur away from his eyes, sliding into the cover of the trees with a 'scuse me, miss, and the discreet walk of someone late to the movies.

What a pretty man! "Heeeyyy theereee," the Princess greeted, not minding the fellow joining her under the tree. She moved slightly to allow more room for the new companion to move in, as she greeted him with a sweet-sickening smile, and a drowsy gaze to the mix, "lovely weather, isn't itttt?"

when she speaks it is with an ambien drawl and owlglass is enraptured. he smiles despite himself and sidesteps closer to her, heel over heel. indeed, a rough laugh, a voice from lungs that have been encrusted by salt from the inside by years of breathing in seaspray. he smells of menthol, those small lozenges that fisherman carry around in their breast pockets. what's your name? when he speaks, it is out of the corner of his mouth, churning with vocal fry. 'm owlglass.

"I'm Aerasha," the creamy wolf replied, "you're quite handsoomeee, Owlglass." Compliment to the stranger flowed with ease just as her smile of flowers. The wild always held such wonderous wolves and so many were quite the eye to see. He was like of light nature, with eyes of the rivers. Never seeing the ocean, she could not compare.

"Where you froommm?" it was a curiosity where such a man was previously from.

her name was translucent like the rest of her, vague, fleeting and blurred... no hard edges, a vermeer portrait, fata morgana mirages smudging the horizon. he ducks his head at the compliment and quickly vollies back with, and you are quite pretty, aerasha. he is caught in her wet hair and the curling pattern of it plastered to her milky forehead. a stray raindrop rolls down her nose and he wonders what it would be like to wipe it off. an island up north, he looks back to the hollow. i'd watch the ocean every day and every night. if he closed his eyes he could easily bring up the image of gulls wheeling and bombing through the air, their strident cries... the soft beached bodies of jellyfish drying out in the sun.

She lit up, "thank youuuu," and obviously, her pride soared. She had quite the confidence within her appearence, coming for noble lineage she was also able to carry in a dignified grace, at least Aerasha thought so, not realizing she more had a 'flowy' look then something of an aristrocrat.

"An island you sayyy," her head tilted to the side, while looking at the wolf with her curious uneven eye color, "I never been to the seaaaa, is it pretty?"

he obliges her question with a crooked smile: aye, she's beautiful, but her teeth are sharp. how many times had he said the same thing? warnings about weirs and riptides and rogue waves... the occasional shark— some listened, some didn't, and for some fishermen, it would be the last morning they said goodbye to their families.

how many times had he trudged up to the doorstep of an Anderson or Mckay, of a something or other... taking his hat off and watching the wives pale, grip the porch post, and stumble to the floor as if they'd just been punched? 

the ocean had teeth, but it did not use them to mince words.

he gestures to her scarred shoulder. say, what happened there, if you don't mind me askin?

Aerasha could only tilt her head questionignly to the other side at his saying toward the sea. Sharp teeth? Never having even been to the beach she really didn't know of it's dangers. It seemed just like water, the streams and rivers, fish were so delicate and delicious, she couldn't see how dangerous they would be.

Though with the topic moved, the Princess forgot about it, "Ohhhhh," she didn't have too many ask about it, despite the obvious looks of interests. The only one who did ask, as Jaylen, "I was playing with a beaarrr. He wasn't friendly.~" She vividly remembered the other noble-kids promising of play, and lured her so into the den of a beast. However, he was not like Jaylen the bear who hugged Aerasha, but a monster with claws and fangs. Everything was said nonchalantly. 

She still loved bears.

"It jus never seemed to heaaal." Yet, no matter how much time had passed, her scar never healed. It was a wonder, especially so she couldn't feel what had happened that day. Apparently gruesome, so it was described, but she only remembered being thrown, and rendered with bedrest.

he smiles, beatific. a bear...?

so that's your whole deal? the smile sways from genuine to strained back to genuine again, parabolic and glittering, before dying altogether in one incredulous steel-capped question: you're just crazy?

he steps out into the rain, stumbles over a tree root. you're... lyin. aren't-cha? he steps back in and manages to stumble over the same tree root. out of the ashes of the smile arises an expression defined by its intense expressionlessness but inside his thoughts are thrashing and straining the hull, the wood groaning--

why would she lie to me? is she crazy? did she really play with a goddam bear? WHY did she play with a goddam bear? why would she lie to me? what did i do wrong? i didn't do anything. am i crazy? what is wrong with--

i, just, he chuckles. 'm sorry. it's just, god, a bear.

wow.

"that's not niiicee." Aerasha has had people call her a bit odd behind her back, but she never met someone who downright called her crazy! Despite the insult taken and her slightly offended voice, she still played on with a lethargic smile that contained a slight pout to the mixture. But otherwise, she looked perfectly fine.

"I wanted to play, buutttt, he did not." The Princess thought it was simple enough, especially as her gruesome scar shown it was definitely not a nice play-date. It was quite a while ago, and she generally wondered if the beast still lingered near the Kingdom. He was kept away in a cave and tended to keep to itself, until she had wondered inside, disrupting the domain of peace he held.

"You okay? You're getting weettt," she asked him, as he stepped in the rain.