Life flies by in seconds; you're not a baby Who: Alejandro & Persephone Where: The Lake, their home What: Going shopping When: Daytime at some point
Alejandro used his powerful swimming legs to propel himself through the water. He’d spent the last week or so completely underwater and while Whirl was entertaining in her own right, she was swiftly getting clingy and he needed to share his glory with the rest of the world. Which is why he was currently seeking out his darling baby girl to take her SHOPPING in the mortal world. He’d have to keep a close eye on her, however, and make sure she didn’t go over the certain hours she was allowed on land. He had a watch back at the house. They would need to stop there to change anyway. OKAY, PLAN IN MOTION!
Transforming into a horse right before he arrived at the waterfall, he rose out of the water all wet and horsey, gleaming in the magnificent sunlight. He tossed his mane dramatically, flipping it the other way and letting the droplets of water splatter off his hair back into the river. Raising one leg up, he neighed to catch the attention of the solitary ondine by the water. He looked at her with the best look he could muster as a horse. A look that said, “HOW YOU DOIN’?”
Persephone was enjoying her time by the waterfall. She had curled up on a rock that was mostly submerged and left only her head above the surface so that she could retain her form and the pretty hair that went with it. She was not a very vain creature but she did so love her hair that she did not want it to be changed all of the time. Turquoise was such a lovely color, she saw no reason why it should go all blonde when she was prancing about as a human.
Nor did she see the need for all of the unnecessary flare when a horse came prancing up out of the water. Nothing needed to tell her that this particular horse was the kelpie who had decided that he was his guardian thanks to her mother’s insistence, she recognized him. Hard not to. Most horses did not do that after all and they definitely did give her looks that made her want to roll her eyes and look away. “I’m enjoying myself,” Persephone informed Alejandro. At least that was the name he was going by now and therefore the one that she used. Though the kelpie might treat her like a child, which likely she was in his eyes, she was no such thing and it was no surprise that at times she felt something akin to resentment over the relationship. “You wanted something, didn’t you? Get bored with Whirl already?”
Alejandro submerged himself for a second as he turned back into his natural form. Holding on to a rock so that the waterfall’s current didn’t sweep him off in the opposite direction, he smiled at his young ward. “I had an idea, a most wonderfully wonderful EPIC idea. We should go shopping,” Alejandro suggested, gesturing to the shore. “We can go shopping for notebooks and those little glitter pen things you love, some new clothes for you...and then can have lunch on the patio of those silly little human restaurants. You can sip a cappuccino while I find a teenager to eat and then we can leave all your things at the house before we come home. It’ll be *~FABULOUS~*”
Alejandro dunked his head back under the water to moisten his eyes before he plopped back out. Pushing his way out of the water, he sat on the rock that he had previously been holding onto and tilted his gilled neck as he continued to smile at Persephone. It was a good idea. Better yet, it was a fun idea. Best of all, it got him out of the water. “You know you want to,” he suggested. They didn’t exactly have much in the cash-or-credit department but Alejandro worked weird jobs once in a while on land and since he didn’t really spend on anything but clothes, he had a nice tidy savings which he could splurge on things for his little PERSEYPOO.
Persephone just blinked for a moment. The saddest part about everything was that she knew he was being completely serious. This was just how Alejandro was and nothing she thought or said was going to change that. And I don’t like him, she reminded herself with a shake of her head. Not at all. She hated that there was someone to watch over her and try to act like a rather ineffective father. Yes, that was right (no it was not). But the temptation of getting new things, especially glitter pens, was too tempting. “I do need some supplies for school even if it’s forever away.” Sort of. Not really.
Sighing the turquoise-haired ondine turned and climbed out of the water, letting herself shift as she wrung her hair out. Ugh, it was that dull color again and she frowned at it before looking back at Alejandro. “Coming? I don’t want to be out all day.” And she still had to remember where she had left her clothes last time because humans could be so touchy about nudity.
Alejandro clicked his tongue and wagged a finger. “See, you’re being short-sighted, Perseypoo,” he reminded his ward. “If we shop now, they haven’t pushed all the prices up and we beat the rush,” he said sagely, as if that was the most brilliant idea in the world. Which, as far as Alejandro was concerned, it was. He ran his hand over the top of his head as he slid back into the water and let his gills shrink away and his webbed extremities to turn into human-like ones. He swam towards the shore and climbed out of the water looking like a human.
“Twelve hours,” he reminded both his ward and himself. He’d pick up a watch at the house and set it for that much time, to give themselves ample time to either return to the lake, to the house with the giant bath tub or push Persephone into a pool. See, he wasn’t a bad bodyguard. He was aware of these things and always thinking about Persephone first. He touched a lock of her hair and clicked his tongue again. “I wish your hair would stay pretty when you become human,” he said wistfully. “Maybe we can get it colored like those people we see on television,” he suggested.
Persephone gritted her teeth at the nickname and flashed Alejandro a glare. He was all too familiar with those, the people who knew her on land thought that they were rare. Usually they were, but somehow he triggered them that much easier. Because he was an annoyance. Who happened to be good- gah! Stop that! Out out out out. Persephone fiddled with her hair, scowling at the ground now as she finally located where she had tossed that sundress when she dove into the waterfall the previous night. Wringing her hair out she tugged it on and turned to face the kelpie, arms over her chest.
“We can stay out of the water for a full day,” she pointed out. “I think that you’d know that with as old as you are.” There, a little victory. He was old and getting older and she was going to stay the same age forever because she was immortal. Kelpies got old, ondines stayed beautiful always. Unless they wanted a ‘soul’. Persephone still did not quite understand the draw to that despite her intense interest in all sorts of religion. “And there’s nothing wrong with.. the dye doesn’t stay after I turn so well.” It was like her hair went and forgot that she had put anything in it to begin with. Such an annoying thing for it to do. “But we can try, if you want to put it in. I got it all over myself last time.”
Alejandro shook his glorious head at Persephone as she glared at him. “You must not make so many faces or it’ll freeze that way. Why, I know of an ondine once...she was young, not much older than yourself, and she made faces at a shark. The shark ate her face off. It wasn’t very pretty. You shouldn’t make faces,” Alejandro punctuated his story with a nod as if it was the most relevant thing in the world and headed to join his ward on shore. He didn’t have clothes in the near vicinity so he would have to hoof it nakedly to their lakeside home before he could put anything decent on.
“Yes, yes, a full day,” Alejandro waved a hand dismissively. “But we must always be prepared just in case of traffic and other strange random cases that may prevent us from coming home immediately. We might be accosted by a policeman. We might run into Isaiah Mustafa and require his autograph and perhaps stalk him for a little bit. We might suddenly forget something and have to turn back. You see, my dear Persephone, it is about CONSTANT VIGILANCE and always being two steps ahead of everyone else. You will learn in time, my dear,” Alejandro declared as he pranced towards their human house.
More stories that Persephone was not sure were even real. She rolled her eyes and pretended that she had not heard him say anything. There were no sharks in Scarlet Oak, they did not live this far inland. Besides, the shark had probably eaten more than just her face and it was because the thing was hungry, not because she was making faces. It was a shark for the love of everything! Sharks ate things! It was what they did. Like how Alejandro annoyed her and hopefully everyone else he came across. She knew that was not true, some people actually found him charming. I find him charming - no I don’t. He’s annoying and pretentious and full of himself and treats me like I’m five-years-old and don’t know how to take care of myself. When she was really a fully functioning adult by ondine standards.
So much time spent in Alejandro’s company had blessed Persephone with one thing - she was practically immune to his way of talking. If he wrote then she was sure it would be all in capital letters. Thank everything he did not carry around a cell. He would be one of those annoying people always shouting via his texts, she was sure. “We could walk circles around Scarlet Oak in a day,” Persephone muttered, toying with her hair as they neared the house. She would definitely have to brush it out, maybe put it up. Anything to make it just a little different. Maybe long made her look too much like a kid... “Promise while we’re out that you won’t eat any of my friends. Or try seducing my teachers. That gets awkward.” He may not have needed to live with the consequences but she certainly did.
“But what if we meet, say, Christina Hendricks walking down the street? Or...you know...that boy everyone likes. Shia LaBoom. What if he asks you out to dinner? What then? Wouldn’t you be glad that your darling Alejandro Blackwater saw far enough into the future that he had such a contingency plan that would allow you to have a few hours more on land instead of flopping around like a fish out of water?” he made a turn onto their street. A pale face appeared in the window of one of the houses and he heard half a scream. Humans were so concerned about stupid things like nudity. Indecent exposure, whatever.
Finally reaching the home he had bought for him and Persephone with some lovely underwater trinkets, his hard work and easy charm, he reached under the mat to retrieve a key before the lady next door called the cops on him again. Really. It was as if she had never seen a man naked before. She had a husband. And while Alejandro was a fine specimen of a man unmatched by anyone, it wasn’t right that she should call the police on him based off some bogus claim just because she was angry her husband didn’t look as good as he did. Really, now.
At least Persephone would put clothes on before she walked around humans. She had learned after the first few times that it was a better idea. Being propositioned and yelled at tended to get the message through all but the thickest skulls. Which is why he still does it. Although she was pretty sure Alejandro would just grin and shrug it off, or take the person home. Something ridiculous like that. “Neither of those people are my friends or teachers,” she pointed out. If she rolled her eyes again then they were going to end up on the floor, they really were. Was that possible? Not according to human biology but sometimes she wondered if that even applied to non-humans like herself. “And I’m not you to go thinking everyone wants me.” Yeah there was bite in her tone and Persephone flounced right into the house and her room to fix her hair.
Still muttering to herself, and hoping devoutly that Alejandro was putting real clothes on, Persephone picked out a flower hairclip that matched her sundress and worked it in. There, much better. Smiling at her reflection, the ondine walked out of her room and waited for her self-proclaimed ‘bodyguard’. “For someone whose all about how long we spend out of the water...” No, better to not finish that sentence or he might try to cut the time shorter. Or dump water on her again. That was not fun.
Turning so he faced his ward after she stepped into the house, Alejandro touched her cheek. “There, there, precious. I promise I won’t eat your friends. They’re all too old and chewy anyway. Feel better? Good,” he said happily before bounding up the stairs. Catching the tail end of her sentence, he paused halfway up and tsked. “You’re a very pretty girl, my Persephone. Of course everyone wants you, why shouldn’t they?” It was almost sweet...but the Blackwater men had a condition where they were naturally allergic to anything that even closely resembled real affection. “...even if you do act like a cantankerous old woman sometimes. Everyone should still love you!” he declared before zipping up the rest of the stairs and into his bedroom.
Alejandro threw some clothes on from the random collection of clothing he had in his dresser before returning back down. He was fairly decent and he’d gotten a lot of compliments from the way he dressed. He dressed in about the same way during winter, except with maybe a jacket and people thought it was weird. Humans were so strange. If everyone just walked around naked, all the world’s problems would be solved. You could tell who was the bigger man so no wars need ever be fought. You could tell who was attracted to you so no confusion ever need be had. And nakedness was freeing. It freed you from all social class and focus on materialism. Humans. They had it all backwards. “Were you saying something, my pretty?” he asked as he caught the tail end of something being said.
Persephone was, normally, a very sweet girl who everyone loved. Except for the mean, gossiping girls but they did not count. They were mean and one of them gave off that vibe she automatically associated with pure evil. But there was something about Alejandro and the way that he treated her that made her teeth grate. It’s because he treats me like I’m his kid, the ondine decided as she waited, toying almost moodily with her hair. When I’m not. I could take care of herself. Ripple could be blamed for his hanging around her too, but Persephone would rather leave her mother out of it. She had, after all, given birth to her and had a reason to be a little wary at times. Motherly instincts. Since Alejandro was not her father he should Not be treating or looking at her like he was. Damnit. I didn’t mean to think that word. Even upset Persephone tried to avoid swearing.
“No,” Persephone said quickly when Alejandro came down the stairs, finally dressed. She may not have shared the human view on clothes, but Persephone did prefer clothes when out of the water and wandering around now. If there were humans around. Which there definitely would be. “Just... wondering how long you were going to take. Ready now? Can we go?” At least he had said he was not going to eat her friends because they were too old. And yet somehow she was too young when she was older than all of them. Really now, sense clearly had no place in the world.
Alejandro sighed at her impatience as he checked that his pearl-and-stone dirk was wedged nicely between his hip and the shorts he was wearing. It never left his side and was easily passed through metal detectors because it wasn’t made of metal. He twirled a lock of Persephone’s hair around a finger before sighing. “The youth are always rushing,” he said sagely. “But to where, I wonder?” he struck a thoughtful pose, looking out one of the windows of the house before stepping towards the door and opening for Persephone. “After you, my dear.”
He liked being on land for many reasons. There was much to see and learn about humans and landfolk. He’d traveled a lot underwater and seen much of the ocean. He loved the oceans because there was always something new to be learned and the ocean never stood still for one second. It was always moving, always bringing something new to the same spot. The land was a little more...steady. But it was also fascinating in that way...and that humans hated change. Alejandro was as quick and changeable as the ocean. Not a long of people liked that, though.
Stop. Touching. Me. Thankfully she kept that thought inside her head because Persephone knew from experience that telling the kelpie to not do something usually only encouraged him to go ahead and do it anyhow. Probably more often than he normally would have. “And I’m only rushing because you put time limits on everything and I know what you do when those run out.” Buckets of water. Who cared if it ruined a dress or humiliated her for the rest of the day because she still had things to do? Not him.
Forcing her thoughts away from Alejandro even though he was right there, Persephone began forming a list of the things that she would get him to buy for her. Pens, notebooks, a new calculator because the last one had not taken well to being submerged under the waterfall, a new backpack because again with the water thing... shoes... clothes... all of the girls showed up in new wardrobes on the first day and she did not want to be the only one in the same old things. That would be embarrassing and noticeably different. Sure there had been the Light of May and most supernaturals were accepted, but the ondine were more secretive and she did not want to be the reason they came out into the open. “Did you remember to grab some money before we left the house? I think I’d die of humiliation if you tried bargaining or something at the register.” But she would not put it past him, his mind did not work like humans. Or even like hers.
“I rush you to the nearest body of water. Or I rush the nearest body of water to you,” Alejandro responded with the gentle calm of the innocent. He was so kind, so considerate, so loving. It was amazing Persephone still hadn’t gotten him one of those “World’s Best Dad” mugs. So to save her the trouble, he had bought himself one. It was in their fake kitchen, sitting proudly with “#1 Grandma,” which he also felt he deserved. Even if it had someone’s face on it and also said “Marie Devries 1928-2004”. Whatever. It was a special cup that Persephone had bought for him...in his mind.
Alejandro patted his pocket. It had a plastic card, which he had finally figured out how to use. It had only taken six months. It was so convenient not to have to carry around those green bills, especially when he couldn’t tell which one was which. There was the one with the bearded man in front and then the other one with the guy with the glasses and then there was another one with a guy with an even bigger beard. Seriously. Did they not know how to shave back then? Humans were so useless sometimes. “Of course, I did, though you shouldn’t say things like that. Bargaining saves us money and, thusly, we get to buy more stuff.” He is Alejandro Blackwater. All arguments are invalid.
Arguing with Alejandro was completely and utterly pointless. He never thought that he was wrong and nothing Persephone had ever been able to say had changed his mind on the matter. It could be the most frustrating thing in the world. “Even though I’ve never once forgotten and gotten stuck out of water,” the ondine pointed out. “I am an adult and I do know how to take care of myself. What’re you going to do if I keep playing human and go away to college?” She had honestly considered that - they seemed to learn so much more there, with a wider variety of subjects, and once she had that silly diploma thing she would be able to. Alejandro could not follow her around forever, especially when the kelpie had an endless supply of women to entertain and teenagers to eat. Persephone really hated that he did that.
“But it’s not a market, it’s a store, and the prices are what you pay.” Totally made sense. Persephone knew the difference between a market and a store. Markets were a lot better because they had more variety but they were also in shorter supply and therefore, stores it was. Stores also tended to have the things that she wanted in new condition. A used notebook would defeat the purpose and it would probably look terrible. And then, as she was wont to do, Persephone forced herself to stop being annoyed simply because she was in the company of a kelpie who treated her like a child and ate people. Deep breaths, a silent chant and her natural serenity returned. So long as Alejandro did not go and do something particularly bothersome she would get through the shopping experience with no problems. “But whatever makes you happy.”
Arguing with Alejandro was completely and utterly pointless. Fact. He never thought that he was wrong and nothing Persephone had ever been able to say had changed his mind on the matter. Mostly fact. Sometimes, he could be wrong. Like when he doubted himself. He was always wrong when he did that...because there was no reason to. It could be the most frustrating thing in the world. Matter of personal opinion, highly doubtful. Alejandro turned and raised both eyebrows at the mention of college. “Should it be your mother’s opinion that I accompany you to college to ensure that you do not attend any of these binge drinking parties or get yourself roofied and always maintain a daily wet quota, then I shall find a way to accommodate myself at your future school,” Alejandro said. He was serious, too. It wasn’t about what he wanted. It was about what Perse needed. His life was more than just himself now. Imaginary, hypothetical single tear.
Alejandro shrugged as he continued to walk downtown. “If the prices are set by someone who is less than Poseidon himself, then they are changeable and we must take advantage of this fact...for I pity the fool that does not...because they are wasted valuable resources.” There was a short pause as Alejandro tried to remember the human song...and then paused in the middle of the street. “SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY. SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY. SO YOU BETTER TREAT HER RIGHT.” Alejandro then proceeded to play air guitar as they walked down the block. He was trying to teach her a lesson in thrift and conservation. He had to work hard for all that spending money.
Persephone was not going to get irritated. She was not. She was going to completely and totally ignore what Alejandro had said simply so that she did not get irritated. As a non-human she should not expect to have anything like a normal human experience but if she did go to college then the last thing she wanted was for Alejandro to come along with her. Puberty had been hard enough after all. If I knew anyone in the street right now I’d curl up and die. Instead, she gritted her teeth and showed them in what would pass for a smile, knowing that she could pull the ‘he’s not my real dad’ card if anyone asked. He would feign hurt but it was true. Her father had been some human. “I know about money,” she muttered to herself. She had taken Economics after all and gotten an A, just like every subject. Put a spreadsheet in front of the kelpie and see if he understood how it worked.
Who cared, he would buy her what she needed and get more money doing some sort of a job. Not her concern.