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As much as her thought of getting "led by" or "walked like a dog" may sound quite negative to another's ears, Fauve was much too solitary to want to hold a stranger's arm, even if it was for her own "protection". She knew she could handle herself just fine, and being forced to walk home with a complete stranger, fellow chosen or not, was much too uncomfortable a situation that she could be in. Her home was like her territory, something she wasn't comfortable with sharing with other humans. The animals and plants, however, and with the exception of the wolves (which she had yet to actually see one), were obvious exceptions to this little comfort rule of hers.

"My name is called Fauve," she responded to him in her slightly broken translation to English as her accent still clung heavily yet understandably to her words. She offered him another polite curtsey as he motioned towards the road, knowing it was time to head out. "No, no Sir Delacroix, I am in no need for a horse," she answered him blandly yet politely enough. She gave a small curtsey to Blood Runner, as well, showing her respect for the guardian as well as being polite to animal kind, as well.

She took up a position in front of the males, not too far ahead but too close for her liking. She willfully called out to her guardian in her mind, asking her to return to her as she passed through the gates and began to enter the forest settings again, as they grew rather close to the walls of the city than most other cities. Right on cue, she saw her brown guardian trotting out from the trees and approaching the trio, her eyes and ears alert on both her chosen and the strange males.

"This is Wander, my guardian," she introduced to Marcus and Blood Runner when she approached close enough. "She was waiting for me outside when I was taking my visit to the city. It is good or alright that I have her with us, yes?"

"Many thanks," she said warmly to him, dipping her head gratefully and respectfully to him, something she was still much too used to doing from her home country. "Your name is most handsome, as well." If she was to be forced to have unwelcome company, then she would still put on her best acting with the manners she was shaped with so perfectly as she grew up with her parents. She could make her best guess that Marcus was simply trying to pass time with her, for she knew that he was most likely in the same predicament as her; forcing himself to share his company with her for a job, some quick money.

"My apologies, Marcus." She made plenty sure to call him by what he wished to be, especially since it was simply his name and nothing some drunken male may ask her to call himself in his hazy lust, drunk out of his mind. However, when Marcus started to get more blunt and gruff with his words, telling her about breaking her leg in the snow, a spark of anger flicked off within her gut. Yet, on the outside, she merely gave him a polite, gentle smile and made sure to water her eyes slightly so that they could give off that innocent, sweet glitter to her eyes that she had learned how to create all on her own. "No, no horse for me, please. You shall see once we leave. And thank you for the advice with the snow; I am not accustom to the environment and I do not wish to cause you any inconvenience, Marcus." She knew it was such a lie to say that she wasn't used to the environment or weather, but she didn't much care, nor did her face seem to betray her, her eyes still sparkling "happily" and her small, charming smile softly painted on her lips.

Fauve watched Blood Runner closely when Wander approached, making sure that he wasn't aggressive towards other guardians. Fauve had met a lone guardian or two that approached her immediately and seemed to like human company and attention, but when Wander approached, the guardian would get a little too frisky or aggressive. But Blood Runner and Wander seemed to just stare at each other neutrally, causing Fauve to relax which caused Wander to relax a bit more, Wander dipping her head slightly in greeting to Blood Runner.

"I am most pleased with hearing that! I am glad to see that our guardians are okay with being company for the walk. And she will be great help if I fall in the snow on accident. I am most grateful and lucky, as you say here? She is a most wonderful companion." She started to take the lead again as she saw Marcus growing impatient and watched him start to walk on again, but before she started to walk so pressed her forehead to her guardian's neck affectionately and pet her forehead briefly.

"My home is not close to the city. I hope this is no trouble for you, Marcus," she told him gently and slightly sweetly, turning her head to speak briefly to her escort. Maybe if they walked slowly enough, he would get bored and allow her to walk the rest of the way back to her house. Of course, further down the road of course. They had just barely even left the city walls right now. But her home truly was a distance away, tucked away down the road and slightly off the road and in the woods.

"My name was choosen for me too," she said smoothly to him with a forced yet warm smile, saying "chosen" incorrectly on accident. "I am sorry you don't think so, but it is a most gentle name to the ears."

"You believe that I am high class citizen?" she asked him after he mentioned the social classes. Sure, her appearance as in her clothes and hair may appear to be in such a state, being how well treated and proper everything was on her being, but she knew very well that in this country or her home one, she did not belong to such a section of society. Nor did you really believe that she wanted to really be, although her manners and etiquette would certainly fit in among those in those classes.

"No worries, I can understand. The weather is very very chilly, as you say, yes? Very cold! Humans and animal alike can feel it. It can be very uncomfortable, even unbearable, for all of us. Maybe that will help keep the Wuulves at hiding, yes?" So, both her escort and her escort's guardian wanted to get the job over with quickly. That could work in her favor, the more she thought about it. And with all the snow, the blanket of snow covering most of the landmarks plus the desire to just finish what they had started might affect the way Marcus and Blood Runner would remember the trek, possibly making her house's location secretive just the way it already was, and just the way Fauve liked it. And it was true that with the wolf rumor out there, this escorting job did have to be very quickly tended to, in order to keep everyone traveling optimally safe.

His smirk was rather suspicious to her, but she played it off smoothly by letting a shy, innocent smile paint itself upon her face, batting her eyelashes slightly in an innocent yet somewhat flirtatious way. That usually worked with the males, at least, and kept her on friendly terms with them without having her cave in to any of their ideas, whether raunchy or simply friendly. But she listened to his words and made sure to stick close to Wander's side as she walked on.

"Now, now, that wouldn't be so civil or polite to throw a lady over your shoulder." She added in a playful giggle forcibly at the end of her sentence, briefly turning her face somewhat towards him in order for her soft voice to be heard as clearly as possible. She wouldn't like to repeat herself. "And I would most certainly believe it that you would find a way to finish your job. You seem like a capable young gentleman that can finish anything you set out to start." She had never had a "crush" or any romantic inclination towards any other person so far in her whole life, and she certainly didn't feel such things right now. It just appeared that this was the card she needed to play to keep the journey as smooth and simple as possible.

She found it intriguing that this Marcus male was also not native to this country, just like herself. But his accent was most definitely not like her own, and his voice seemed decently similar enough to the general population here around the Wardwood. She just continued to listen to him as he explained what his life would have been like if he were still living there, as well as internally comparing his life to hers. Sure, back in her hometown, her family had been decently well known to many, but that didn't mean that she was high class. She was certainly higher classed while in her home country, but she was much too young to understand it or experience it truly for herself. She did, however, notice the grand differences in lifestyle and life in general once they had spontaneously moved to Sunderland.

"My, my, Marcus, that is not quite true," she said with a fake sweetness, as if speaking to a child. "I do not dislike being told what to do," she said purposefully instead of saying 'ordered', "I do admire structure and such things similar, but I do like my own personal freedoms and the like if that makes sense to English speaking ears, yes?"

She paid a careful eye on Blood Runner as he causally circled her and her own guardian, thinking that he was just trying to do his job along with his chosen as escort, but it still made her feel uneasy to be surrounded. And the words that Marcus shared with her next made a cold shiver of suspicion surge up her spine. His statement was rather vague; all of his work, no matter how unpleasant that may be? And he was doing an escort job, one that few men were happy to just simply take up in this weather, and with the rumor of the wolves roaming about. For all she knew, she could be walking alone with a hitman of some sort.

But instead of getting feisty with him about teasing her accent or pestering him about what he could possibly be meaning with his words, she merely said back to him sweetly with an innocent charm, "My accent is a little funny, isn't it?" She giggled sweetly, bringing her three middle fingers delicately to her lips with that shy, girlish charm her mother had taught her about. "And yes, I believe that you would. You seem like a fine, capable young man, and I believe that you would make sure your work is done. That is a fine quality to have in a skilled worker, and in a man." Ugh, she nearly got nauseous with being sweet and cute alone, let alone adding in those words.

"Yes, that is the mot pleasurable for myself and Wander. We both appreciate structures and certain rules to follow, but just enough freedom to enjoy life and to imagine that we actually have such 'choices' that we are 'allowed' to have in our lives. Wander quickly waved her short tail around in positive agreement as she began to slow her pace down to start to walk behind the small group, sticking close enough by to feel as if her chosen was safe while being able to watch both this Marcus male and the other guardian, Blood Runner. Yet Fauve continued to listen to her escort politely longer, soaking in every single word to her brain as she tried to analyze him as well as commit the conversation to memory in case he tried to create some sort of social trivia game with her and ask her about what he said, or just in case she had to unfortunately cross paths with him again in the future and needed to somewhat impress him with how much she "remembered" about him. But the more she listened, the more disturbed she began to feel. Not any average male or person would compare something simple to murder! And simply being able to take whatever he wished, company-wise, was also not apart of the "freedoms" she was speaking of, but still categorized under some of life's structures.

She gave him a polite, warm smile without smiling with her teeth as she walked slightly closer to him as she softly touched the center of hr throat for a few dainty seconds and forced a small amount of extra heat towards her cheeks. "That is much true, my accent will start to mix with this land's voices, but I am not sure if I am willing to depart from it. It makes me feel more like myself and more like I am at home, and I am quite fond of my natural voice. But I also understand that I might fit in easier if my voice adjusts; but I have to think with my inside, that's what you call or refer to it, yes?, to think if it is worth it for my spirit's sake. Spirit is what you call it here, yes?"

She watched his new smile as it painted itself across his lips and she gave him a warmer smile back in return, batting her eyelashes innocently slightly for a moment. She was listening to his words very carefully, and with her knowledge and translations in her mind, she knew he was trying to flirt with her now and soften her up a bit. She let herself give a brief, inward thought of vile disgust while she let her exterior remain in its relaxed state, perhaps only her eyes betraying her inward thoughts of disapproval.

She looked away shyly for a moment before looking back at him, physically blinking away her eye's betrayal of her thoughts before beaming a innocent smile and glimmer in her eyes back up to him, crossing her arms beneath her chest to both act the part that she was a bit chilly in this winter weather as well as to practice her gentle, innocent flirting skills with her body language.

With a polite smile and a soft blush across her cheeks, she answered, "I would greatly appreciate your help with my accent, and I can only imagine how wonderful your skills are to also be from a different country, but as I have thought out loud, I am not sure if I wish to receive help with my words."

Other "fine qualities"? Oh no, really? He was going there? Ugh, oh well. This happened to her enough; not every day she was out in a city or town, but enough for her standards, for she really disliked such confrontations. But she just ignored him, still giving him a dainty smile as she used her manners while looking at him as they conversed.

"That would be most kind of you; yet while I believe that you have many, many wonderfully fine qualities about your person, I don't believe any of them could satisfy a young woman such as myself, for I have the majority of qualities within myself that I have not shared with you that satisfy me greatly every day." There. Simple enough that got right to the point in a polite and civil enough way, yet general enough to be taken in either direction. He might see it as the perverted way he was imagining, or she could fall back on it with "good qualities about him that had to do with his social or active skills", such as sword fighting or fencing as examples as well as her "good qualities about herself" such as her tracking and archery skills.

Marcus got oddly silent when she mention the 'spirit' about it. Did he think she meant some foolish religious thing? Sure, she wasn't opposed to religion, but she did not believe in such almighty thing like most others did; rather, she thought more about the life of the trees and plants and the overall world that lived around her, with less respect for the humans although they too had an decently equal life to the rest of nature. But what she was trying to articulate was the 'spirit' of her heart, something that meant much more than being accepted, simply being happy with herself and her heart. Like one's self-pride or something, was it referred to here? She just tried to explain to him with her rough translation. Oh well, if he understood, then he understood, and if not, she didn't much care.

She listened to him, however, just as she was taught to do. She made sure that she was always a respectful young lady; however she looked ahead at the road this time to survey the environment and give her face a brief reprieve from its acting. It caused the muscles all over her face to ache after a while, and in this harsh cold it only wore down her stamina to do so even more than it would under average standards. She didn't quite understand his views on accents in this country, being that he said he was from a foreign one himself, and hoped that he might understand her attachment to it. But she did respect that he was trying to give her advice with managing it or how to use it, for he was certainly out in the social world more than she was and had adapted to here, himself, and for that she was grateful to him to be so kind enough as to try and be serious with her and give her good advice. Although when it came to her accent, she knew she wouldn't take it. She would, still, store it in the back of her mind. And unlike him, she would never have to fake her accent and her true voice, which did add some small fuel to her pride fire deep within her heart.

"It would appear that you are helping me already with such practice. Thank you, Marcus, I am truly grateful to be socializing with you and gaining your help with my words," she said somewhat blandly, though making a sort of tone to her words to hint her respect and gratitude, even though with each step closer to home she felt less and less of a desire or need to act and play this little social game anymore.

The familiar path back home was so difficult to differentiate from the rest of the road with all of the snow blanketing the earth, but it was unmistakeable to her homeward gaze. The walk home was much faster than she would have imagined it would have been, but that was most likely thanks to playing that little social game with the odd male. Happily, Wander already began to bound ahead towards the tiny cottage, keeping a close enough distance to her chosen that made her feel comfortable. She could feel in her mind the ease that Wander was feeling being back at home, and with Blood Runner back at his master's side.

She walked a little faster onwards to be farther away from her escort and closer to her house and her guardian before stopping to turn back around and face Marcus once again. "Yes, this is my house. I am sure my parents are waiting for me inside," she lied smoothly, giving Marcus a light, dainty smile and curtseying for him with respect and gratitude, as well as her farewell. Only she really knew that both of her parents were long dead, and she said her lie so fast that she forgotten to take a note that her fireplace was still off, being that she left home for several days. She cursed to herself in her mind as she continued to lightly smile at Marcus and hope that he wouldn't really notice, since it was a small flaw, nonetheless. She then stood up from her curtsey, nodding to him once politely while inwardly and eagerly willing him onwards to just be back on his way and to leave her back in peace.