Lewis watched as the guide looked over the room. She was so happy and excited about it all.

“We’re not having children,” Lewis said after a moment. “We’re going to adopt them. A few to start, but soon we hope that this place can be a haven for kids who don’t have anywhere else to go. This…this will be the start of it,” he said. It was strange, hearing the plan out loud like this. Was this something that they could actually pull off?

We can do anything together. Those had been Simone’s words. She was confident that they could do it, and in turn, so was he.

“Are you doing okay?” Lewis asked. “The real world is a lot different. If you feel like anything is off, let me know.” The assassin looked around the baby room again. They’re keeping it clean and ready too. “Where else would you like to go? The whole island is available…do you want to explore a bit?”

She had a disappointed look on her face, “So I’m not fixed still?” That was disappointing but still, she smiled at the thought of kids no matter who they were. It was something that she and Simone yet again had in common. She still thought of herself as broken and knew that it was a reason why she had been thrown away. It was one of the rare few instances where she knew things. The duke was one of them for information's sake.

“I’m overwhelmed,” the guide spoke softly and looked at him. “But you are here so it’s okay. I think I would panic a bit more if you weren’t here… Everyone is so nice but I’m not used to other people. The only people I’ve ever met were the other Simones and you.” She blinked a bit as she was sure it made her sound crazy had he not experienced it with her.

She put the bear back down and tilted her head, “Can we go walk around the water?” She wanted to see water that wasn’t going to kill her. “I’ve never seen clean, not going to kill you, water before. Is the lake huge?” Well, they were in the middle of it so it had to be.

The trip to the outside edge of the island was long enough for her to appear a bit tired but she didn’t complain. Instead, she walked along the shore and watched the water, “It ripples! It’s so pretty. There was almost no breeze back in my mind.” She got down and she watched a small pocket of tadpoles near the shore. “What are these? They look like small fish! THAT ONE HAS LEGS!” She pointed in excitement.

The fact that the guide was so innocent was almost off putting since the rest of the staff and Lewis had become accustomed to her usual self, but no one seemed to question it as Lewis lead her out the door towards the water’s edge. It was a short trek, and all the while the assassin kept a close watch over the woman. Finally, when they arrived, he let her loose once again to explore the new and wondrous things about the world.

“Tadpoles,” Lewis said as he walked up to her, leaning down to look at them. “You’ve never seen them? They grow up to become frogs and toads. Some toads can create a strong pois-” He paused. That was irrelevant to it all. “Nevermind. I’m sure if we look around, though, that we can find some frogs too.” He took a quick look, and pointed a little more inland. “See, there’s one hopping about. Go try to catch it.”

The Guide’s purpose had been to keep safe all of Simone’s good side. It would make sense that Simone had once again re-purposed her for that. Giving her familiar memories that Lewis helped. If anything Simone was good at segmenting herself and putting up an illusion that nothing was wrong with her. The downside to this was that the Guide wasn’t like that. She wore her emotions on her sleeve and you could tell when something was bothering her. Which meant that it also bothered Simone. Like her fear over being useless because of not being able to have children even though that was something Lewis clearly didn’t mind.

“No!” She was excited as she stuck her hand in the water to touch one. “They are squishy,” she said as she was gentle with them. Most women were scared but the Guide was more head first as she explored. “Frogs?” She blinked a bit but Lewis was quick to point one out. “Okay!”

The guide rushed off to go catch it and Lewis was walking behind her to watch. She was quick on her feet but she wasn’t expecting the hop which caused her to jump back and fall on her behind. Once she was back up she went after it again. She was so focused on what she was doing that she hadn’t seen the log she was running towards.

Tripping she went face-first into the ground with her belly on the log and her butt up. She took a moment, “Ouch.” Her hands, face, and knees were scraped up but she merely dusted herself up and pounced on the frog that was nearby. “I GOT IT! LOOK!” She came back over to Lewis with her knees bleeding from the impact on the log and held up the tiny green fiend. “He was formidable but I won.”

Lewis was merely smiling at how the guide was “tracking” the frog, and even with her little mishap, which Lewis had to struggle not to interfere with, she managed to catch it, showing it to him. Yet again, it was surreal to have his Simone showing off a prize like this, with the mind of the guide, but it was also almost cute in a way. There were times when Simone showed it, but for the most part she never did things like this.

“The two of you are so different, yet…the same…” Lewis said aloud. “I can’t wrap my head around it. I’ll just…” He shook his head and smiled. “Simone is Simone. That makes it easier. You’re both Simone, just…a little different.” That was how he was reconciling the two different personalities. At least for the time being.

“Simone, would you like to get in the water?” he asked. He was a relatively confident swimmer, but he didn’t think she’d go too far out. “Let’s rinse the mud off of you. Take your shoes off and go dip your toes in. I promise it feels good.”

Simone tilted her head at him as she let the frog go. He was probably scared of her from the way he scampered off. She watched until the frog disappeared and looked back at Lewis. “I’m just everything that wasn’t touched.” Touched was probably the better way of putting it. “Simone used to do this a lot at the castle and get herself in trouble when she was younger.” There were things she knew. “I don’t know what she did… It's just familiar to me. Nostalgic.” It was funny thinking of the original Simone as someone who used to be like this but Lewis had seen the memories of when she was young. She had been fearless and full of energy at one point.

The guide blinked up at him and gave a smile, “You’ll figure it out I’m sure!” At least Simone hadn’t sent one of the others. The guide had been the best choice for everything. Right now she was more hellbent on exploring all the new things.

“The water?” She tilted her head and she had her sandals off before he could get it out. Going to the water's edge she looked at the dark blue water and back up to Lewis. Hesitating she got her feet wet first, “IT’S SO COLD.” Still, she didn’t jump out as she went further in. She was chest-deep by the time she stopped and looked up. Her teeth were chattering but thankfully the sun felt warm.

Why did she go all the way in the water? “I feel… like I’m forgetting something important,” she walked along the bed of the lake before she found a hole and slipped into it. She began to panic as that important thing came back. “I. Can’t. Swim!” She got it out as she managed to surface herself a few times. Her feet couldn’t catch the higher bed for long.

Lewis had almost seen this coming from leagues away, and was immediately there to rescue her, pulling her back into the more shallow waters. He cradled her as he floated on his back to the safer areas, but he didn’t let go of her, instead just holding her for a moment longer.

“Now why did you go and do a thing like that,” Lewis asked, half amused and half worried. “We’re going to have to get you trained up on how to swim. I feel like I’ve been a neglectful teacher in that regard…” He still hadn’t let her go. He stayed like this with her for some time, and eventually his back hit solid ground, and he noticed they had drifted a bit farther down from the place they had entered.

“Can you walk? We should be heading back for lunch soon. I’m sure the staff have prepared something delicious for you…and we can get you out of these wet clothes. I’m sure Simone has dresses that you would love…and you can parade around the castle all you want…”

“Because I…” She thought about it. “Wasn’t thinking about it?” Which was totally a not Simone thing. Simone always tried to think at least three steps ahead. That was how she survived in life but the Guide didn’t have to worry about that. She never had the need to and Lewis had helped her with everything else. His arms were warm and the panic was slowly going away as she snuggled into him.

“I don’t think…” She frowned for a moment as she thought. “She doesn’t know how to swim either~” She told on herself. It made sense since Simone liked looking at water she didn’t necessarily like being in it but the Guide appeared to enjoy it which begged the question of if the lake torture had anything to do with it.

“Yeah! I can walk. I’m a little tired but I can walk back.” She blinked up at him and thought about it. “I… Just want to be with you.” Tilting her head her gray eyes watched him for a bit. “Can… we go on a date?” She remembered the thing with Gluttony the most. “Since Simone will be back soon? Not right now but soon?” Was she asking for too much? “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Simone is really careful.”

Once she got changed back at the castle she romped around with Lewis down to the dining hall to eat again as the question still weighed on her mind. The staff fed her more of Simone’s favorites and she loved all of them. Though she had a major dislike of some of the vegetables that Simone had clearly grown accustomed to.

The entire time, Lewis was thinking of how to answer. He wouldn’t mind overall going on a date with the Guide, but it was all kinds of complex when it came to the actual Simone. Would the real one ever let the Guide out again? Finally, after the guide rejected a few different vegetables at the dinner table, Lewis found an answer.

“Simone,” he said as he looked at her. “I will go on a date with you, but only if Simone is okay with it. Since you two are…the same, it shouldn’t be an issue, but…” He paused. “I need to talk to her about it. And maybe, just maybe…she’ll let you out every so often.” It was a complicated response to a complicated answer, but he felt as if he handled it well. Or as well as he could.

“Is that…acceptable?” He cocked his head to the side, looking at her questioningly. It was impossible to read her at this moment, and Lewis found himself missing the power of resonance more than ever.

The staff was busy fighting with the Guide because she was rejecting the vegetables that Simone had picked out herself since they were healthy. The guide didn’t like the texture and it became very clear that they had been an acquired taste that the Guide was lacking. Finally, the staff gave up when the Guide held her breath when they attempted to feed her. Instead, putting a tart in front of her that she quickly ate.

It was obvious the staff was very worried about the condition her body would be in if the guide continued to binge on sweets the way she was. It was overall very complicated for them. Finally, the guide snapped her attention to Lewis and nodded with a smile. “Okay!” While she would like that Simone would let her go on a date with Lewis she was aware that he more so belonged to her than the Guide.

Though there weren’t any ground rules it was clear that Lewis was being careful around her. There was no telling on what Simone would think of any of this since the Guide was effectively locked from talking to her.

The rest of the day went by smoothly as she romped around with Lewis showing him all of her favorite things. Which Lewis always knew from Simone. As the day progressed the resonance got stronger but it wasn’t the Guide he was feeling. Whenever the Guide did something embarrassing he felt Simone be embarrassed.

At the end of the day, the Guide jumped on him and hugged him, “Thank you for the nice day! I really liked it and I hope she lets me come back! She says she is ready now! And THAT YOU SHOULD CATCH ME!”

Switching the two personalities took a little work as her body fell unconscious. The resonance link sparked full as Simone opened her eyes. Letting out a groan she pouted a bit, “That was mildly embarrassing. However, it’s not her fault.” She wrapped her arms around Lewis and kissed him gently. “I’m sorry I worried you.”