save yourself a penny for the ferryman

When the sun had at first begun its long arc into the sky, the mountains had called to her. Distant, but not so distant that they were not dark blots on the horizon, she had left the evergreen kingdom to venture towards their jagged, tachycardic lines.

Though Styx preferred the lowlands, she knew there was value in gaining a better lay of the land. A means to survey demense, though gained it was far from just her own. Hades would appreciate that knowledge, though it would have also seemed that he had enough to contend with in his own matters.

And so, she took up the task that she saw best.

By afternoon, the clouds had rolled in from the sea and with them came a chilly spring rain. The foothills near the base of the mountain held fast to their fog; it no longer coiled around her legs as it had earlier, but clung and cobbed together in the boughs unfurled overhead. It set the tone and mood of the place, and it felt somber and peaceful like twin strokes of a pen.

She followed footpaths left behind, however rudimentary they were. The rain made have muddied her sense of smell a touch but it wasn’t overwhelming enough to wash away all. Someone existed here. Or more than just one—there were traces of visitors of canine variety and not that crisscrossed her nares in the passage of time.

At a natural resting point where these scents converged, the nymph of the Pantheon paused to sit, and let out a contented breath. She had made good progress in getting this far, at least as far as she was concerned, but there was still a way to go. With her lilac gaze turned skyward, she wondered if the rain would bother to pass by nightfall so that she would gain a glimpse of the stars, and was reminded of a time she she could not see them at all.
the staff team luvs u

Waking up in the dark wasn’t a surprise to Atlantis. He spent a good portion of his younger days on a mountain. At first, he didn’t think much of it. He blinked away the grogginess, the mild headache, but the dryness in his throat would take a little more effort to shed. Licking his lips, he stood with ease and shook out his fur, ridding himself of all the dust left over from sleep.

 It was then, though, he realized—

 He’d gone to sleep in a god damn forest.

 Atlantis grumbled, turned his head, and made out just enough light ahead to direct him. It wasn't much but he could cling to it and work his way out and figure out what the hell happened. He’d never been a sleep walker. He couldn’t recall waking up in the middle of the night to move and besides, the closest mountain to Frostfur Forest was… well, miles and miles away. It would have taken something to get anywhere and he’d remembered it.

 There was an explanation for this. There had to be. You don't just… wake up somewhere else. But then, maybe he had it wrong—

 No, no, he wasn’t wrong.

 His nose fluttered with each step, looking for something. There were vague scents of wolves he had never smelled before and there was a subtle saltiness in the air that only seemed to confuse things even more.

 “What the actual hell,” he mumbled to himself as he got closer to the opening the light source led him. There still wasn’t much to offer him with dark rolling clouds and the pattering of rain at the entrance that opened up a whole new world seemed to be a dampen on anything he had notes of prior.

 Except for one scent stronger than the rest waiting around the corner.
the staff team luvs u

The sound of the rain pitter=pattered gently onto young leaves overhead of her; it was a comforting sound for such a creature as she, drawn to the waters as they flowed. From canopy to floor, each drip seemed to play at a melody that only she could hear; it was more than just ambience and atmosphere here in the shade of the jagged terrain.

Her eyes closed, listening.

A voice echoed out of a chamber somewhere in the heights above, though close enough to stir her from what had taken her from one realm of thought to another. Her eyes did not open, but an ear turned and with it turned her head just slightly to catch what else would come. But there was naught to be heard.

Her eyes opened.

Styx rose from where she had settled, turning her attention in full to study the rise that continued ahead of her. Someone was there—the only apparitions she chose to believe in where those of her own kin—and she began to move towards her best guess as to where the voice had originated. Perhaps another had come to join them, expelled forth from the void and veil between worlds where a split in the seam that held them together had opened.

And that was a most curious thing indeed.
the staff team luvs u

Lingering on the scent a little longer, it was unmistakably in the area. It wasn’t one he recognized, the rain didn’t help but to diminish, but he was confident it was not one logged somewhere deep in his memory. He knew his family, his pack mates, he knew his surroundings enough to know what wolves belonged where, but he knew he wasn’t in his element. Somehow, he’d gotten far from home and his main concern was getting home and this wolf was an obstacle in the way.

 Atlantis cleared his throat and stepped out of darkness, angled his head, and tried to locate what was around. He moved carefully to the edge as the fog rose from the depths and the rain gently trickled. It appeared to be the only way down lest he want to try and work his way through the dark cavern behind him.

 His lips curled and he offered a soft awoo of a call; something friendly, harmless, and simply lost. Not knowing the territory, Atlantis was hesitant to make his way down no matter his comfort on a mountain and it appeared enough the stranger was working their way up to the top anyway. When they were close enough to interact, he swished his tail and offered a lax greeting.
the staff team luvs u

A bit further along and she heard the call of someone lost; a painful, solitary note that pierced and played over the raindrops and their melody in her ears. She did not respond, for a beat or two after that moment she saw a figure emerge from the stones ahead and above. A pale wisp with tourmaline gems for eyes—enchanting, in a way, much like the lilac hues of her own.

“Do not fret,” she spoke to him, body stilling along the sloping incline as she gazed up against the overcast sky. “You are far from alone, here.” He was just another soul bound to this world, but he did not have to linger and haunt the world on his own. This was an assumption on her part, of course, but she had come to believe they were all departed souls from one place or another, endlessly in search for the spark of memory.

And some did remember, others did not or would not.
the staff team luvs u

Do not fret, she said and Atlantis offered a hint of a smile. You are far from home, here. He was not the worrying kind. He had a good family and a good head on his shoulders, at least in his opinion, but it was unsettling to wake up somewhere entirely unfamiliar when he’d gone to sleep in the comfort of his own home. This woman, though, had something calming about her, like she knew exactly what was going on in the twisted way the world felt and the odd pain in the back of his head.

 “It appears so,” he mused as she got closer. Atlantis took a step back to give her room. Climbing was no easy feat and he had no idea what was down below waiting. “I admit this is not where I went to sleep last. Can you help me?”

 Of course, he didn’t know what kind of help he needed. He hoped it was as simple as a misunderstanding for Atlantis wasn’t sure he could wrap his mind around too much given the truth the world spat him out into. Still, he would strive for answers. “Can you tell me where I am?”
the staff team luvs u

He had made room for her but Styx stopped just short of joining him, pondering over the question that he had posed to her. Where were they, really? She took stock of their surroundings, her head craning about as far as it would go at one point to look back over the evergreen forest that housed her kind; it was nothing more than a distant, dark green blot in the misty afternoon.

“A very good question,” she answered, her head swiveling around to meet him again. “And one that even I do not have a proper answer for. We are where we are and these mountains, well, who knows? Not even I know their name, or why we are even here.” She knew it wasn’t an answer but she did enjoy a good mystery.

But even the best mysteries oft did not have answers.

“Is this your first time? Awakening,” she urged, gesturing at him with her snout.
the staff team luvs u

When it was apparent the other wolf didn’t have anymore answers than he, except for perhaps some unknown level of experience, Atlantis wasn’t convinced this was real. It could be a dream. It looked like a dream. On some level, it felt like one too, but he’d never had a headache in a dream before.

 He cleared his throat and rolled a shoulder. “Awakening,” he repeated back, uncertain what to make of it. “I guess so.” Atlantis craned his head back slightly to look over the cliffs, the mountains in the distance, and the world that seemed renewed.

 The air was fresher, he thought.

 “I’m Atlantis,” he introduced a beat later, looking back. “I gotta feeling there’s no use looking for ‘home’?”

There was not much help to be given. They spoke a moment longer but eventually parted ways.
the staff team luvs u