.•*The Rose Harem*•.

Trickle (Sub-Chap.)

A woodpecker pecked at the bark of the birch tree for bugs, that would squirm out, as it continued to dig. Even the hint of a breeze feels cool and soothing. This place you picture in your mind is towered with seasonal forests of decaying, lovely leaves. Mixes of apricot, orange and yellow paint this faint scene. There is a majestic lighting that gives a sense of childhood wonder. Little critters are here and there, a squirrel passes by to climb a different tree chased by another squirrel.

Near the shoreline of the beach which is the border of the forest and sea. Waves come crashing against algae filled rocks. A distant echo of a gawking, independent seagull.

A little girl with a flower piece in her hair is running across the sand. Her overalls bounce along with her movements. Her hair is big and fluffy, with bead hairbands at the end. She's experiencing the highest point of her life but then the little girl stopped in her tracks. There in the sand is a washed-up hedgehog, with fur of ivory and the smell of salt water.

"PAPAA!!" The little girl trekked all the way up to a hill that had a lighthouse with a building connected to it. Her father immediately comes to her aid in a serious panic. He's covered in dirt and remains of pulled-up weeds.

"Tem what's wrong!?" he hurried in panic as he hugs his child into his chest. Hoping not to lose sight of her. "Tem, are you okay?" He cups her face in his big hands covered in bits of dirt, which he quickly brushed off on his ragged, leather apron. Tem holds tightly onto her papa's hand with her little fingers.

"A weirdo washed up on the shore, Papa! I'm scared." she tells him honest and straight to the point.

"O-Okay, tell me where to. And go get cleaned up, I told you to not make a mess." Her father flicked off a piece of pine branch off of her shoulder.

Tem then pointed off of the shore, "He's down there, not too far from here."

"Gracias, Mi hija." He jogged his way down the hill.

She yelled back, "De nada, Padre!"

After a couple of minutes, the father arrived to check to see who it was... he slowed down in his tracks and only stepped a few away's from the familiar looking Mobian. "What in the barnacles' tale." he whispered curiously under his breath.

Tem's father wanted to double check if it was true, so he bent down and lifted the stranger's chin up. "Hmph..." Clearly he was deep in thought but had to do something first if he wanted those questions answered in his head. He hoisted the drenched hedgehog out of the waters from his arms and then carried him from his back. He staggered a bit but soon got the hang of it.

Tem waited patiently at the house as she stands by the door anxiously for their arrival. "What if Papa gets attacked? Or worse, Papa doesn't win!?" She chewed the bottom of her lip.

Something in the distance began to become apparent and Tem excitedly opens the door. "Come in, Papa!"
Pa created a heavy grunt and drops the guy onto their couch.

Tem hovered over the stranger and then turned to her Pa. "What do you think?" She whispered, as if the stranger is asleep and not passed out.

Her Pa nervously scratched his head and stroked his bushy moustache. "Unsure, Templeton... what I do know is that he looks almost exactly like me." He took out his precious wallet and pulled out a wedding photo of him and his wife. Written at the bottom of the joyous moment was:

"Silvestre and Amelie ~ Forever, You & Me"

The resemblance was uncanny, although the stranger is far more younger than in the photo. "Temmy, do you think this stranger is my doppelgänger?" He handed the delicate message to Tem and she simply hummed.