. . .
"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."
—Friedrich Nietzsche.
. . .
"..."
...and Proserpina wishes, absolutely wishes with everything that she has and had in that one moment for Gaea to please listen to her great-granddaughter and kindly open the ground and just please swallow her whole (not the first time this happened since she met Alastor) but simply resigns herself to clearing her throat... only to make out a noise that instead sounds like some sort of weird, death rattle from that one, particular Japanese horror movie.
Alastor looks up, visibly confused as he meets her averting eyes with a questioning gaze and then sees William standing not too far away from them, looking just as incredulous as she is before he hurriedly stands up, looking so flustered and so terribly endearing, it was doing a lot of weird things to her stomach.
William looks at Proserpina, then at Alastor.
"...Alright," her brother finally says after one, awkward pause that feels like it was going to last an eternity, "This has been a weird, and oddly heartwarming scene. Can we go now?"
"Uh... r-right. Yeah, sure, sorry about that, kid." Alastor says, scratching at the back of his neck (he does that a lot when embarrassed, Proserpina notes, despite herself) with one hand while absentmindedly petting a pleased-looking Silver with the other, Sable rubbing its furry head against his thigh, affectionately.
Those dogs definitely did not look the slightest bit of sorry, Proserpina thought sourly while William looks at Alastor like he doesn't believe him.
"We uh, got distracted...?" Alastor suggested.
"Are you telling me or are you asking me?"
"Enough," she snapped before this could get out of hand, pinching the bridge of her nose as she attempted to reign in some very much needed composure, "And that was only you who got distracted, Alastor. Don't you drag me into this," Proserpina grumbled, trying—and absolutely failing—to get the image of Alastor cuddling so sweetly with her dogs out of her head.
Oh gods, why does he have to be so cute?
('And I certainly can't believe you,' came the god of death's hauntingly soft voice. Proserpina's brow twitched for a second. He'd been mostly quiet since that day... 'each time I think that you would not be able to stoop so low, you go ahead and outdo yourself anyway. It's almost impressive, prinkípissa.'
You be quiet, Proserpina very nearly snarls.)
Meanwhile, Alastor squints his eyes at her direction, "You know, I'm beginning to think that there is little point arguing with you."
William gave him a look, "You just realize that now?"
She frowns, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Anyway, it's not my fault!" Alastor argued, despite his earlier statement, "You're the one who brought them over and... and they are just so fluffy! They're shadows, right? How the hell is that even possible?!"
He reaches down to Sable and scratches it behind the ears, smiling adoringly at it and Silver as he tends to them, completely oblivious to the fact that he was effortlessly making Proserpina's mind malfunction, blue screen, and burn into nothingness as she faintly feels his touch from the back of her mind. Shadows. Of course. They are connected to her, however faint.
...someone, please send help.
William, who was mostly watching his sister since he found them (thanks to the sound of Alastor's laughter), quietly approached her, gently nudging her to get her attention.
She barely looked at him, still focused on Alastor.
He stared at her, expectant, "...Well?"
"What," she said, her voice completely flat.
William scowled at her—not that she noticed, as he too turned to look at Alastor and her puppets fawning over one another.
"...That is not an answer," he grumbled.
"I wasn't aware that you're asking something."
He rolled his eyes dramatically, "Oh, like so many other things in life that you are not aware of, you would be wrong about that, big sister."
This time, when Winters turns to finally look at him, eyes narrowing into a thin, familiar glare. He only smiles innocently at the clearly offended look on sister's face, "William, get to the point. What on earth are you talking about now?"
"Oh, you know–"
"I don't."
He waggled his eyebrows, "You and him."
His eyes playfully glanced over to the werewolf's direction who was still quite preoccupied with his sister's creations.
Despite himself, the beginnings of a small smile twitches at his face. The scene actually reminds him of the first time Winters had summoned those two. Thirteen years old William had been so shocked and pleased at the idea of finally having a 'pet' no matter how much she had drilled into his head that the shadows puppets weren't made for treats and cuddles.
"...what do you think?" he asks, voice deceptively light.
Proserpina only stares at William, not saying anything about his vague question that he knows she completely understood even without him having to spell it out for her.
It's not an admission.
...but it's also not a denial.
Fine. Deny it all you want, you dense idiot.
He can live with that.
His sister's too shy for her own good sometimes.
And it was later—much, much later, if William was being honest—that his sister finally finds the sense to call back her dogs (because they most certainly aren't going to get anything done with Silver and Sable around Alastor who was only too happy to indulge them with 'much needed head pats for being good doggos'), despite the werewolf's visible sulking.
She ends up summoning her pack of shadow crows—or 'a murder!' as Alastor unhelpfully dubs them—to go looking for the private hospital Kashima Rei is currently residing in... as well as his grandson's dorm.
"Now, where to?" Alastor asks.
"I've already booked a hotel," William answers, shoving his hands inside his pockets as he gestures the direction with a tilt of his head.
"Alright. Let's go."
...Winters had been so out of it for the rest of the night and by the next day, when they were having breakfast, William caught sight of his sister almost phasing straight down into the floor out of sheer embarrassment when Alastor suddenly walked in fresh from a shower, still half-asleep.
Oh, and with only a towel loosely wrapped around his hips.
William decided to take pity on Winters and didn't bother to make a comment at her expense with Alastor being there...
But he did take pictures of her blushing.
