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Mouse pulled her ears back when he recoiled from her comment. Had she just blown it? She anxiously awaited his returning statement, feeling sorrow for the suggestion she had made, even though she'd known full well his situation. "I'm sorry..." she squeaked. But in his words were mixed meanings; he never said he wasn't going to go back. Very confused and ashamed, Mouse followed, piping up with, "Well...My dad is Hades's best friend....maybe you could just, escort me, for a visit?"It was clear she had forgotten their game of Simon Says, as she was truly asking. The last thing she wanted was to get anyone in trouble...

Watching as he debated the terms of his banishment with himself, she bit her lip. If Arseus truly was best friends, then she could be able to go there on her own right? No, Mother would never let her 'visit' Hades, not for any reason. Really, she just wanted to free a soul....and she was full aware of the sacrifice it would cause. "Okay!" Mouse chirped, "Thank you, Cerberus." she smiled and rubbed her flank against his shyly in appreciation. "I've never seen the Underworld." she hopped a little excitedly, but in the back of her mind, sure, she was afraid. Mostly, that her plan wouldn't work.

"It sounds beautiful..." the black, star-flecked wolf chirped in awe. "I've heard a lot about the river Styx from my Pa." She mused, following him by placing her paws in the prints his had made in the Earth - the huntresses way, as she had always been taught. Mouse was timid - but she wasn't stupid. She was raised traditionally by Angel, but...there was a downfall to being a demi-goddess. She felt....everything From every wolf she came across; there was a reason she was so timid. That's why...she was doing this. That's why she had to rescue Ashy from her horrible situation. She knew it was going to hurt - whatever would befall her. It was as if there was a black veil in her mind when thinking about it - something so horrible and intense that her brain would not allow itself to manifest. She stared at the ground while she walked, concentrating on the veil for what felt like forever.

Then, Cerberus' words about it being a place to die were truly processed in her mind, and her fur visibly stood up a bit in a shiver. The weight of those words - which she knew he didn't realize, made her pawfalls heavier. It wasn't as though Mouse was afraid of dying. Nay, she felt like she was born for this purpose- truly bound to duty and the commonwealth just as her mother before her. "Well...At least...it's a place the dead can.." she found trouble justifying the good of it, when she was trying to foil that very mechanic of the way things were. Oh yes, this was going to hurt. She hated manipulating this kind, playful pup. Perhaps her discomfort came from a more common thread among wolves - the thought of death was unsettling. But it didn't frighten her...Did it?

Shaking her fur out, she realized she'd stopped walking for a moment. Quickly bouncing up to keep pace with him, she offered a bright smile, changing the subject, "I bet you got to talk to them a lot, huh?" there was an excited pep in her tone as she asked him, falling out of step to walk next to him this time.

Mouse gasped a little, hopping along ever-more excitedly. He had been there! "Does that mean we'll get to see it as we pass by?" Hearing about the river was one thing - seeing it, well, that was another! Perhaps Mouse didn't realize that the beauties in the realm of the dead weren't all the glitz and glam she may have thought. Death was a fascinatingly beautiful concept to her, as much sadness as it may have brought, sometimes.

An awful curiosity took over her. "Cerberus, why did you have to guard the entrance? Did a lot of wolves try to break in?" Even though it's exactly what she was doing, she knew most wolves would be out of their minds to want to break in to a place of death. If she hadn't had her reasons - her very fierce and painful reasons - she would not be on this journey, either. But she was determined. And at least, she'd earned herself a friend. This caused her to smile.

Cerberus' reply had actually caused her to giggle. "So that's what Pa meant when he said 'you can rest when you're dead'!" She delighted in understanding the simple euphemisms of life. especially in understanding the complex nature of her Pa, Arseus. At his next line, Mouse nodded sagely. "So, Hades is really all about Karma, then. He can't be as bad as Ma says, then." Ooops!. Hades was her uncle, this was true. But as much as Angel believed in family, she did not believe in Hades. Now, Mouse wanted more than ever to know why.

"Elysium then - that's the peaceful resting place?" Mouse wasn't brushed up on her mythlore, but she did know who ruled that place: Chronos. She felt the suspicions of the head in the middle - and was sure that she wasn't helping her case any. So she tried to be a playful puppy, to brush it off!

With another giggle, "yeah!" she flopped in the grass for a moment, rolling and wiggling a bit, the wind around her paws chilling the air she had just stood in. "I love listening to the adults, and their stories. The souls have to have good ones, too, right?" Mouse loved stories - loved myths - with a true sincerity. Stories of others could blow her worries right out of her head. Sticking her tongue out for a moment, she rolled back to her paws, ready to keep moving, but starting more and more to enjoy Cerberus' company. Especially since it would be the last she'd have... she thought somberly, but enveloped herself in attentiveness to hearing Cerberus answer to the question about talking to the souls.