Eden or Armageddon

She felt like she was floating, almost. Aware, but not. She could feel the warmth that lingered from a sinking sun. She could feel the subtle breeze swaying this way and that across her fur. Could hear it rustling…Something. But it was all distant, disconnected, and the fight to push for awareness was one her consciousness shied away from. She knew, in the haze of a mind still gripped tight by an unconsciousness that refused to abate, that the place she was now was different - unfamiliar. 

Her head was pounding.

There was a sound that wanted to slip free with the realization, the sensation of blood pounding between her ears enough to force her closer to waking. Bleary eyes peeled open, but where she expected light there was only darkness blocking her sight. A blink, but it didn’t help. Confusion grew, forced her focus outward. To the sensation of something in her space - telltale warmth of another body hovering close. To the feel of something prodding at her; her face, her shoulder, her throat. It was enough that her heart jumped in her chest; awareness finally crashing into her full force. It was enough that she must have moved, must have made an audible sound - because whatever was near her moved -quickly- away. 

Quickened breath drew in and out of her lungs, eyes wide and locked on the dark shape that’d stopped mere feet from her to turn and stare right back at her - piercing amber eyes set in a dark, thin face. For a moment, all she could do was stare back at it, her own eyes skeptical, brows drawn tense. There was something quietly familiar about the creature that stood before her - something just there, right out of reach, but the harder she fought to pull it to the surface the further it seemed to bury itself. 

 A heavy breath left her nose, weighted eyelids fighting to close again. Even the quickened pace of her heart wasn’t enough to ground her in consciousness, the pull of familiarity of the shape standing before her not even enough to keep her from sliding back into the darkness. The dark shape watching her slid further and further into distortion, dissipating into the tall grasses surrounding it as she succumbed, again, to unconsciousness.
 

Note - She has a gash on her temple.

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How long the darkness had grabbed her and held on again was hard to judge. It felt like one small moment and an eternity all in one. When she stirred again she felt the slightest bit more aware, but there was still no desire to move, to open her eyes. The breeze shifting over her was enough to bring something new to her senses though, and brown eyes peeked open just enough to settle on a new shape through the grasses. Lighter, bigger, and entirely unfamiliar.

Thought drifted back to the dark shape she’d awoken to hovering close to her, and her eyes shifted away from the paler figure, searching.

There was no sign of it from her place sprawled on the earth though. Shifting, she moved to put her feet underneath her, to push her front half up from the earth. It wasn’t without effort, a grimace at the ache in her skull, a rough exhale as she steadied herself, rear still twisted beneath her. She blinked against the brightness, staring -for a moment- at the wolf before her.

Her eyes shifted, pulled away by the shadow of movement just at the edge of her vision - only to catch a glimpse of the dark shape slipping off into the grasses.

With brows drawn down in confusion, she turned back towards the stranger before her. “Where-” She tried, but the dryness in her mouth was enough to draw her to a pause, to clear her throat - and that was enough time for her to actually look at the stranger. The blood sitting stark against the pale fur on their face. “You’re bleeding,” She pointed out. The coppery smell of it hadn’t really registered until then.

The wound that might have mirrored his hadn’t, either. The scent of her own blood had been lost to the ache in her head; to the confusion of waking in a place she didn’t know and the strangeness of the dark figure she’d watched slink off into the grasses.

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Eventually, the stranger stirred. Emerged from her own groggy chrysalis. Her eyes rolled around, surveying the area, assessing him. Something had caught her eye and Everbane turned his head to look, but whatever may had been there was gone. His tongue poked out to moisten his nose before his attention returned to the younger wolf.

"You're bleeding."

A deep chuckle tumbled out, a soft grin tugged at his maw.

“So are you,” he said. “Did you fall?”

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Whatever the reaction she’d been expecting from him, it wasn’t a laugh of all things. Confusion was quickly becoming the most prominent feeling settling over her in the wake of coming to. She barely had a moment to try and decipher the reason for his amusement before he spoke again, pointing out that she, too, was apparently bleeding. 

Her expression shifted, further settling confused creases along her brows, while her nose tipped down to examine the parts of her she could see. Was she? 

Brown eyes had fallen to her own feet just in time to spot a drop of blood drip into the grasses near her feet. A small sound of surprise left her, eyes lifting back to the wolf in front of her. How had she not realized? 

His question prompted her to give her head a little shake, a motion that stopped abruptly. She was reminded, then, of the ache that’d pulled her from whatever sleep she’d fallen into. Of the still lingering pain that seemed focused just behind her eye. 

“I-” a pause, “I don’t think so.” She couldn’t remember anything beyond the sensation of floating - of being awakened by something prodding at her face.

“Did you?” 

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She thought not. That could be a symptom itself, couldn't it? The muddled mind. She studied her own vessel, as if to re-familiarize herself and become accustomed to her new meat suit.

He regarded his own: the large white paws at the end of his nose. Had these always been what he stood upon? What carried him across lands and worlds he couldn't remember. A soft frown shadowed his face. He wished his mind had been wiped clean of memory instead of the breadcrumbs left behind. Taunting him with the thought of something left behind but nothing more.

When he lifted his head up again, there was no trace of a frown, of the shadow.

“I think so,” he said, subconsciously mirroring her own response.

“Regrettably—I'm no healer.” He could not tend to either of their wounds, neither physically nor psychologically.

Might she be one?

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He had fallen, he thought. Maybe she had, too, and that’s why they both had similar wounds. Bambi’s eyes dropped to the ground again, eyes tracing across the grasses surrounding her - and him, too. She hadn’t seen where he’d come from, really, but there were no stones or stumps nearby that she would have assumed responsible for the ache in her head.

How hard had she fallen?

Attention turned back to the wolf, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips. 

“Is it that bad?” She could feel it, now that she’d been made aware that it was there. The wound, the blood sticking into her fur. 

If it was anything like the wound on his face, she supposed they both could use the aid of a healer - but she had little idea which direction would lead her to one. 

Perhaps he knew where one was.

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“Depends on how hardy we are,” he said with a smile.

But, possibly. It felt unwise to delve into how dire their situation may be. His was a flesh wound but hers could be something more.

“Can you walk?”

He pivoted to the side so she could have the space to walk in a straight line. Were she to lose her footing along the way, he would attempt to prevent a possible second fall.

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Depends on how hardy we are, he said, and the smile that settled across his own expression was reflected back in hers, if a little strained. She certainly didn't feel very hardy right now. Still, when he pivoted to give her room to test out her legs, she moved to stand. Unsteadily as it might have been, she managed to get her paws beneath her, to maintain some semblance of balance. The dull pounding in her head made her feel a bit wobbly, but she managed to move forward, a determined little nod dipping her chin down as she moved even with the light wolf.

"What is this place?" Soft; uncertainty ebbing through. The only ounce of recognition she'd felt since she'd come to was in the dark shape she'd watched slink off into the grasses. Nothing about the hills, the grass, or the sky here rang familiar and it wasn't something she could quite shake off. She wasn't sure following a stranger off into the hills surrounding them was ideal, either, but she hadn't yet found a reason he might not be worth trusting. 

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She seemed to be able to walk well enough. Everbane kept pace, shortened his stride a little. It allowed him the moment to take in the scenery as well.

A seemingly unending breeze brushed the tops of the long grasses. He imagined mice and rabbits weaving about, virtually invisible under the thick blades of grass blanketing the rolling hills.

His tongue lapped at the corner of his mouth, attempting to reach for the trail of blood on the side of his face. The dried blood was beginning to irritate him.

An ear turned toward the younger wolf.

He hummed in contemplation.

“A grassland.”

Everbane knew that wasn't quite what she was asking. He wondered if she may be like him: another forced to live to no end.

“I don't know,” he admitted. “Can you remember anything before waking up?”

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A grassland, he said, and she couldn't help the little look she threw at him from the corner of her eye. She thought she'd been misunderstood for a moment. Even opened her mouth to elaborate, but he moved on to answer not a moment later.

Her own gaze shifted back to the grassland before her at his response, ears shifting back just a fraction. His question prompted her to shake her head in response. "No, I-" She didn't remember anything, no matter how hard she tried to muster up any memories of before she woke with tall grasses blocking her vision.

"I should, I think, but I don't." Again, her brows went tense, gaze wandering off over the hills as she poked and prodded at her own memory, tried to drag out anything before waking in the dirt with a strange creature standing over her. 

She sniffed when the effort only made the ache in her head stronger, gaze dropping more towards the ground at her front as she moved. 

"Do you remember?" 

Maybe it was this place that took her memories away. The thought alone was strange, really, but she wasn't sure how else to explain it. The wound at her temple certainly couldn't be so bad as to chase away everything from before.

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The look he was given brought a charmingly smug smile to his face. His tail swayed at his hocks.

The smile gradually faded to a solemn look as he watched her try to recall something from whatever may have been before. He imagined he had been much the same during one of his earlier lifetimes. Assuming he had a beginning at all. He supposed he could have simply always been.

Ultimately, she recalled nothing.

She asked if he could remember and he made a soft smile.

“No,” he said. “Only my name, and that this has happened before, and that I had to have died for it to occur.”

Everbane glanced at her, gauging her reaction. He wondered if it actually had been death that brought her here, just like him. In that case, he wondered if they had met before in another world. Cursed to forget each time.

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She hadn't really expected him to say he did remember after her last question had been met with an I don't know. They both seemed at a loss for where they were, mostly, and what might have happened before. At least, in her case. 

An ear turned towards him as he spoke and the words that met her ears had her steps faltering, but she didn't halt. She kept moving, but her ears had gone tighter against her head - almost flattened into the fur. 

He had to have died to get here. 

She did pause then, head turning to stare back over her shoulder; back towards the place she'd woken up. Searching, again, for the dark shape that'd seemed familiar and unknown all at once. It was the only thing she could hold onto that held any sort of familiarity, but still there was nothing she could actually pull forward that told her why it'd felt familiar. 

Eyes turned back towards the pale wolf.

"How do you know?" She asked. "That you died?" 

Had she died? 

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Everbane stopped two steps after the girl did. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. Hm. Perhaps he should have been more delicate speaking of death. He had anticipated watching the dawning of realization and understanding on her face. Not distress.

A small frown appeared briefly on his face. He made sure to be rid of it when she turned to look at him again.

“I remember debilitating pain for one second, and then nothing the next. And then the smell of my blood woke me up.”

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Bambi listened, trying to wrap her head around what it meant that, to get here, he had to have died. That she'd come to laying in an unfamiliar field with no recollection of how she'd gotten there. Had she taken a tumble so rough it'd knocked all the memories from her mind, or was there nothing to remember because she was dead? 

She didn't find herself favoring either option.

Stepping forward again, she moved to push on in the direction he'd been leading them, expression still painted pensive.

"I don't remember anything like that," She replied, thoughtful. "Just-" A pause, another glance over the tall grasses around them. A frown tugged at the corners of her lips. "There was something with me when I woke up." 

Maybe, she thought, the dark shape hovering over her when she'd come to had had something to do with how she'd ended up where she was. 

Brown eyes turned back towards the older wolf, a silent question in the shift of her expression. 

Maybe he hadn't woken up alone either? 

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He continued on, adopted a more natural pace to see if a more normal speed would be fine for her. The wind continued to swirl around them. Zephyrs played with the long hairs of his ruff and tail while the tops of grass brushes his flanks.

An ear flicked to the sound of wings. A handful of small birds shot out from the grasses, flying away from the two wolves. He watched them fly as he listened to the girl.

The mention of a third entity reeled in his attention back to her.

“Was there?” he asked, voice lilting in a probing way for her to say more.

The thought of something else lurking—one that he had failed to notice—had the brute become more alert. His head was held higher as his eyes scanned the area around them another time.

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Bambi's own pace adjusted to keep up - if a few steps behind the older wolfs shoulder. She didn't feel quite so unsteady any more. Her head still ached, but certainly wasn't incapacitating. 

The sound of the birds taking flight from the grasses before them drew her own attention. Pulled it away, for a moment, from thoughts of the dark creature. For a quiet moment, she just watched the birds rise into the sky - until the question from the older wolf pulled her own attention away from the skies. 

Her eyes settled on him again; watched as he drew himself up and scanned the area like he expected something to have hidden itself in the tall grasses. 

She hummed a little sound. "Yeah. It was ...like us. Smaller, though." 

More words sat stuck on her tongue, unsure if letting them loose was ideal. Wasn't quite ready to admit it was the only thing that'd felt familiar to her here. She wanted to explain it. To see if he might have insight on the why of it all, but something kept the words from escaping from behind her teeth.

Her eyes, too, had wandered back towards the grasses; searching again. She hadn't caught sight of the dark figure since it'd slipped off into the grasses, but maybe it was out there still, lurking somewhere in the tall grass.  

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Across the expanse of the rolling hills, nothing caught the brute's eye. Only the startled birds settling themselves within the branches of a tree. Scents of prey and predator alike crossed his nose but nothing especially fresh.

An ear settled on the girl as she spoke before he glanced at her again. He was alert, still, but his expression was calmer.

“A wolf, you mean?” Or perhaps something that had crawled from another world to this one.

Another question remained held by his teeth. He wanted to ask whether she thought it had been real or not. A memory displaced in the present while she had skittered consciousness. But he thought it may come off as belittling, so he kept it to himself.

“Could you tell if it was... malicious or not?”

For all he knew, it could be have something or someone attempting to rouse her, as he had, but had gotten spooked.

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Even as her eyes tracked over the hills, she found herself quietly hoping to lay eyes on the shape again. The initial fear she'd felt at the realization of something in her space had long since left her - faded into a curiosity that clung to her. 

An ear shifted with the words spoken, a small hum of affirmation. "Yes." But it hadn't been a wolf, she didn't think. Too small, unless it was even younger than she was, but even then it looked - different.

Memory of feeling it in her space resurfaced with the question. Feeling something poking at her. It hadn't been teeth on her skin, she was almost certain. Remembering how it turned to lock eyes with her as she lay sprawled in the grass, moments away from sinking back into the darkness. She'd felt uneasy, she remembered, but only because she'd been startled by its nearness. 

"It didn't seem like it was," she allowed, still contemplative. It had plenty opportunity to harm her if that was why it was there. 

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The girl's gaze roved the grasses of the hills in search of the creature. Everbane's own eyes attempted to follow hers. She may recognize it better than he would but it seemed she was also out of luck, or there was simply nothing to be found.

At her answer, he made a low, thoughtful hum. He decided it was enough to allow himself to settle more. A small shake of his coat was made.

“Something to keep an eye out for, maybe,” he said.

He gave the girl a glance.

“If you're not opposed, I would appreciate your company while getting familiar with this place. I've quite enjoyed your being here so far—” he let out a soft chuckle “—peculiar as the circumstances are.”

The man only just realized introductions had never even been made.

“My name is Everbane.”

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Whatever tension that had seemed to arise in the older wolf at the mention of the creature that had been with her when she woke seemed to dissipate with the shake of his coat. It was enough that she settled comfortably into her own stride, attention that'd been out on the fields pulling back to him, a simple nod at the words he spoke.

She had no intention of forgetting whatever it was; curious more than anything on why it'd been there. 

As he continued, her own expression shifted; softened the corners of her lips into something of a smile. She tipped her head in another little nod, unable to keep her tail from swaying a little at her heels. She found herself entirely unopposed at the notion of spending more time around the older wolf. 

More unpleasant was the thought of being alone in a place she knew nothing about. It helped that he'd done nothing but make her feel safe in a strange place. 

"I'd like that," Bambi replied, easily. She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she'd failed to realize her own name hadn't been offered; distracted by waking in a strange place with no recollection of anything. 

It felt strange almost, that her name was still there, contained in her memory when nothing else was. 

"I'm Bambi."

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His own tail waved behind him at the first smile that blossomed on the girl's face. It made his own grow warmer.

“Bambi,” he echoed, trying out the name. “A pleasure to have made your acquaintance.” He gave her a small, polite dip of his head.

The thought of having a companion made the vastness of the new world feel a little bit smaller. More manageable. Gave him a taste of the sense of purpose.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder if they had met before. Done the very same things before. Trapped in an infinite loop.

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It felt a little bit like a weight lifted off her shoulders at the agreement between them. It wasn't one she'd realized was there until it was gone, though. Something she might have fretted over if he hadn't been there when she'd come to. She hummed a quiet sound, corner of her lips still pulled into a soft smile.

"Likewise, Everbane," she replied, tucking the name away for safekeeping; curiosity of what it might mean settling right along side it. Hers seemed so simple in comparison.

But that was something she could ask about another time. For now, they ought to get themselves patched up, she thought. 

Fin. :3

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