Nessie had figured out she was being watched months ago; it wasn't as if whoever it was was being discreet about it. First, it was the coin. Tossed from the wheat field and right into her lap as she was writing in the dirt with a stick. Then it was jewelry, either falling from the tree or being left at the trunk. She was incredibly confused as to why valuables were simply falling from the sky.
Then, finally, as she was carving her name in the tree, a pebble hit her head. Anyone could have mistaken the direction it came from. But she looked up into the tree branches and pouted.
"You know it's incredibly rude to throw things at a lady." She grumbled. The branches were hiding the figure well, so that she could barely make out any features, but she could tell that it was a man.
"A 'lady' doesn't defile another's property." His voice was almost like a rumble but smooth like a song. Nothing could have prepared her for it, or the strange alien effect that it would have on her. "YOUR property?" she huffed.
"For your information, this tree is on my family's land; therefore, you are trespassing onto my property!" Nessie crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the leaves of the tree where she thinks the man is located. He dared to chuckle at her fact, "I don't think this is your property either, considering you are a woman, sweetheart. But I'll give you credit for trying here."
Nessie was about to throw a rock at him when he finally swung down from the tree, more or less hanging by his legs on one of the branches. By the gods, she had never seen a more beautiful man in all her life. His ginger hair, his scruffy beard, his hunter physique. But none of that compared to his eyes. This beautiful green, like sea foam, was otherworldly. It was as if he were a love child of the goddess of love and the god of war. Built for it, but his looks could trap you to your doom, and you'd thank him for it.
He couldn't be no more than two and twenty, a year or so older than Nessie herself. He worked all day with his tanned skin and scars all over him, as if he regularly fights beasts daily. But his eyes- gods help her, she couldn't look away from his eyes.
"You're a scrawny little thing, aren't you?" He says, breaking the spell between them, so much for a magical moment. Nessie scoffed, "Bold words from a grown man dangling like a fruit from a branch!" she says as her eyes rake over his body to try to find something to verbally assault him with, only to have her eyes widen at certain enlarged aspects of his body. "Hey, my eyes are up here, sweetheart." He says in an arrogant tone. That did it for her; she reached down to the rock beside her and threw it at him, causing him to fall from the tree.
"FUCK-" He crashed to the ground, Nessie bit her lip to keep from laughing uncontrollably as he groaned in the grass. The man pulls himself up and dusts off, grumbling to himself. "That should teach you about hanging off of someone else's property." She teases, and the man glares up at her.
"For your information, this is my hunting tree." He points behind him with his thumb, "Back here is my property, I always use this tree to hunt until you came along and started trespassing."
"No, this tree is on my father's land, YOU'RE trespassing." Well, it seems like they still haven't dropped the argument. What a shame, two stubborn people who don't know how to socialize like two human beings.
"Watching me for months, no less- why didn't you come down and confront me in the first place instead of throwing things at me every time?!" Nessie throws her hands up in the air in frustration. When the man finally stands up, showing his full stature. He was tall, easily taller than most men she'd come across before. He could also easily throw her over his shoulder and chuck her into the wheat field to never be seen again.
Not that the thought of being manhandled by him displeased her; in fact, it irritated her that it was a very pleasant thought. "It simply didn't seem worth my time. I also figured that if I annoyed you just enough, you'd never want to come back here again, and I could be at peace." He crosses his arms over his chest and cocks an eyebrow at her, almost challenging her and her smart mouth.
"Ha, well, unfortunately for you, I am very persistent!" Nessie stated as a matter of fact. She brushes past the stranger to pick up the knife she left by the tree, but when she turned around to face the man again, she almost ran into his chest. She tried backing up from him, but he kept coming closer until her back was pressed up against the tree, and he bent down low. His lips were close to her ear so that she could feel his breath.
His scent was oddly intoxicating. Earth, woods, stone, and weirdly sea salt. Sea. Her old home looked out into the seas; she missed it so that Nessie couldn't help but inhale, taking it in. Comforted by his warmth and his scent.
Her heart raced and her cheeks flushed as they stood there like that for just a moment before he said, "The same goes for your misfortune, I am a very, very persistent man, miss." His voice was low, just a few octaves, and smooth like silk, as if he could hypnotize her into doing what he wanted. But only gods and demigods can do such things, and he was none of those.
"Whose fate is worse, I wonder?" Nessie says, and they stare at one another, nothing but the feeling of the wind and the sound of their breaths between them. "A wonder indeed." The stranger says before pulling away.
He simply looks at her one last time before walking in the opposite direction from the wheat fields, into the clearing behind the tree. His land. Nessie let go of a breath that she didn't even know she was holding and slunk down against the tree. She prayed she would never have to see that man ever again. She found him rude, annoying, and arrogant.
Who was he to tell her what was and wasn't her family's property? He must think he's so clever; she'll show him just exactly how much more persistent she could be.
She had hoped that the man had given up, considering she hadn't seen him within the last 3 weeks, but she should know by now never to hope. As her luck would have it, the stranger was in town the same day she was, also running errands. It was strange for a Greek man to be buying his food. Typically, men his age would be married by now, so their wives or maids would be doing the work like this if one were rich enough.
But then Nessie couldn't say much about him, considering she was 20 years old, unmarried, and had no suitors waiting for her. She would never admit it out loud, though; she didn't even want to admit her loneliness to herself. Either way, she didn't make it known that she saw the strange man. Maybe he didn't care enough anyway to see if it was her. She hoped as much as she was looking at a herb stand.
Again, it was a fickle thing to hope for anything these days. "Well, if this isn't a cheeky little sight! Little Owlette, out in the town~" A gruff purr sounded in her ear. Startled, she jumped back and elbowed him in the stomach. This caused him to grunt and hold his stomach. *How peculiar, he was wearing a cloak in the middle of summer! What an odd man.* She thought. His scent of earth and sea salt was strangely comforting already.
Maybe because so far, in an age where her sex wasn't seen as equal, where she was from, he spoke to her as if she were any other person. Annoyed her just as much as well.
"What in the name of the gods makes you think sneaking up on someone is acceptable!" Nessie scolded.
"You have- gods- a wonderful arm." He groaned, but his grin was smug and flirtatious, filled with utter male brute audacity. Nessie scoffed and shoved past him, hoping to leave him behind, but he recovered quickly and trailed behind her. "Now, little owlette, I never expected to run into you again. It must be the fates telling you to leave my land, don't you think?"
"You mean Zeus."
"What was that?"
"Zeus is associated with omens, not the fates. For a Greek, you have no idea who your gods are." Nessie corrects as they move through the crowd. The man is silent for a moment before he lets out a small laugh of disbelief. "It's not that I don't know Owlette, it's just that I don't care for them, and they care not for me." He says slightly bitterly.
"What's with the pet name?" She asks, not wanting to know exactly what that means. "I notice you." He says it like a matter of fact. He comes next to her to walk, while in the process, 'accidentally' kicks down a small statue of the sea god meant for shrines. "Like I've forgotten." She mutters under her breath. "What I mean is that I notice you can read. Scrolls in other languages, arithmetic, philosophy, you seek knowledge." He says as if he's said something clever. Nessie stops in the middle of the square and turns to him. Under his hood, his green eyes sparkle with mischief.
"So you think me a devotee of Athena?" Nessie asks deadpan, and he nods. His lack of knowledge about his gods is very concerning; it's almost as if he's doing it on purpose. After a long pause from both of them, Nessie rolls her eyes. "Apollo. Apollo is of knowledge and intellect, and Athena is wisdom and war strategy. Your pet name is pointless and quite frankly idiotic. Like you."
He grins. "For a foreigner, you know more about my culture than I do. How interesting."
"How do you-"
"I'll see you under MY tree, little owlette." The man says as a group of children comes running and bumps into her. How strangely convenient. When Nessie regains balance, the strange green-eyed cloaked man… is gone. Nowhere to be seen, except for the feeling of a lingering gaze and his menacing attitude in the air.
Nessie would give anything to slap it right out of him.