"Ugh."
Shadow poked at the beige berries that hung low on the branches of the nearest tree in the orchard, grimacing at the squishy and sticky texture. He drew his hand back; a beige stain had left itself on his gloves.
One minute in and already he was hating this excursion.
Rouge, however, seemed to have no qualms as she flew up to the treetops, jar in hand. The tree jostled as she picked her fruits, making leaves fall down and fly right into Shadow's face.
That did it. He was leaving.
"And don't you dare think of leaving," Rouge called down before he had even finished turning away. "I'll break out the child leash again and drag you up here if I have to."
Shadow's lip curled. He hated that embarrassing thing.
"I don't see why I have to be here," he complained instead, crossing his arms. "These fruits look disgusting and bit worth my time."
"Because you needed a change of scenery," Rouge replied, beginning to fly down. "Some fresh air and sunlight-"
"I hate the sun."
"-and as for the berries, they're nearly out of season," Rouge continued as though he hadn't interrupted her. "The low hanging fruit is going to be the gross moldy, wormy leftovers that no one wants to eat. But..." She smile at him, producing a cluster of beige berries from her jar.
These didn't look squishy and gross. These ones weren't staining Rouge's glove. Then berries looked ripe and large and juicy and...
Perfect...
"It may take a while and some effort," Rouge continued, still smiling softly at Shadow, "but if you're willing to take that time and put in the work, the fruit at the top of the tree that everyone thinks is impossible to get to... Sometimes they're better than you could have imagined."
Something akin to a pit formed in Shadow's throat, and instinct told him to run, or fight, or slap those berries out of Rouge's hand and watch them fall uselessly onto the ground. Maybe he could stomp on them. Crush them under his heel so he would never have to see... To see...
...why am I getting so worked up over some berries?!
"Hmph. You can sweat over berries all you want," he said, putting all the scorn he could into his tone as he pushed her hand and those berries away from him. "I'll be doing my own thing. Alone."
With that, he ran away as fast as he could, leaving Rouge with her smile fading into a look of frustration. She glanced down at the berries in her hand before placing them gently back into the jar.
"I guess we're still at the bottom of the tree, huh?"