It's about getting out of a rut

Mal was stubborn -- that was certainly an aspect about him that seemed to never wash away. He still kept up his periodic howls, searching for someone who knew him, but at least now he wasn't doing so quite so frantically. It was just an every once and a while thing. But still, there was no answer. And still, no place seemed familiar. So, he wandered the southern mountains and the valleys between them. 

Well, aside from when he hunted and stuff. He'd caught a rabbit earlier, and it was down to being a pile of scraps between his paws as he chewed on the remaining long bones. He wasn't planning on leaving anything behind, so was taking his time, especially since now there really wasn't much wroth fighting over. And because of this recent use of his time, it had been a while since one of his howls -- he'd gone and stalked and chased and killed and eaten. And now he paused, licking his lips.. Should he? Nah. Not yet. His tail flicked behind him, catlike, and he went back to chewing on the small femur.
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When she woke it was to the sound of a howl. It was familiar. Home like a warm fireplace in her head. Bells rung in her ears in her dreamless sleep and then she was awake at once. Water lapping at her paws had her believing she was at Yuèlóng's sea but she lifted her dark head and gazed crystal eyes into a crystal pond that stared back at her with the same alien glare. Like a small snowglobe replica of her sea. Cheap plastic.

The once-empress rose slowly. Her bones felt old. She set out across foreign stone with a clouded mind hazy like breath on cold glass. Thought didnt come to her yet. With a natural lick of her lips she realized she was parched and glanced back at the pool she had come from and down to her wet paws but in the first of her new thoughts she figured it all a dream and kept moving away. She remembered the euphony ringing in her ears and blinked and set off in some direction which she still imagined it to echoed from. It was a mans voice but without the harsh or arrogant nature of a man and she knew it really felt like her home. Was she delusional? A sussuration of a voice she knew but she knew it wasnt real and she only saw a foggy face that blinked in and out of her minds eye like a flickering lightbulb.

She didnt know how close to him she was when she temporarily gave up her wandering to settle behind some foliage with an unconcious heavy sigh, feeling very awake and yet dreaming, tired and alert all at once.
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There wasn't all that much marrow in the small bone -- for a rabbit it might have been large, but it was just a little bit of a snack locked away for a wolf Mal's size. But it was better than nothing. He didn't know when he'd next find something to hunt so he wasn't going to leave anything behind, but it wasn't like this was a famine either. It was just your average roll of the dice that came with hunts. 

And now he could get back to his search. He licked his lips one more time, stretched, and got to his feet. But where did he go? He still hadn't found anything that was really familiar. As it was, Mal wanted more distance between himself and the weird chick at the cove, at least for now. That was about it. Everything else didn't really matter. 

He raised his head and again called -- I'm here, he said as always -- already starting to walk in the same direction he had been without listening for an answer. Thus far, there had been none, the lack of answer had become part of the routine. He could always change direction if someone finally did. It was probably a bad thing that though he was stubborn enough to not entirely give up, he at least expected the answer to continue to be nothing.
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I'm here said the voice but this time she knew it was no echo or ringing of her ears or imagined memory conjured up for the closest thing to joy avaliable. The siren's head snapped up to the noise, ironic that she would be the one lured by song now, even if she was the mysterious little beauty that had seemingly risen right up out of the sea. 

She ought to call back but when her own voice came out it felt ancient and creaky like an old porch chair bending under the weight of its user. I'm here too she offered up hoarsely, too much of an indistinct rasp to be distinguished and cleared her throat. “我也在这里。谁在这里?” — I'm here too. Who's there? It came out in this language without a thought, and then a “我认识你吗?” — Do I know you? Her mind still felt like a disjointed puzzle putting the fragments together slowly at its own pace, and she couldn't exactly think that the words weren't recognizable to most even though she certainly knew this wasn't home. She stood again and moved herself out from the foliage and began moving towards a ghostly pale speckled figure that had materialized only some several yards away.

She felt like there was something to be said but words didnt come. The flickering lightbulb switched on and the blueprint in her head matched the handsome male before her. She didnt slow when she reached him and felt like a zombie when her body seemed to move by its own wants and she felt herself lean out towards his cheek as if to embrace him with a kiss, before her head seemed to suddenly gain control and she jerked backwards before she managed to touch him, stumbling as if in a disbelief at her own invasion of space and privacy. His scent was still on her breath. He smelled like things that made her mouth water. “对不起，” — I'm sorry, She whispered out dryly and stood frozen like a mannequin in headlights all pretty and thoughtless and still. All the while a computer within was rapidly processing everything as she felt memories tease her for brief moments that got longer each time, a puzzle arranging itself in a matter of minutes, a recurring dejavu of reality.
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The voice. He froze. Even if the eventual words were unfamiliar, he was sure that was someone he knew. He spun around to face the one who was coming closer. So, so, familiar -- the petite figure, dark points, and seaglass eyes. It was hazy, but he was absolutely sure she was one of the wolves he was actually looking for. She was the hazy memory that he'd had before, lingering on the edge. 

He was wide eyed as she moved close, awestruck. He did know her. Her name was on the tip of his tongue. She leaned towards him, but fell short of touching him. She spoke again, but even if it was something he would have understood, it was likely he wouldn't have actually heard it. Mal was too busy being amazed. “It's you,” he whispered, his face starting to light up, the shocked expression turning joyous, tail slowly starting to wag behind him. 

He couldn't quite put the pieces together, but things didn't seem nearly so dark and dreary now. And unlike her, Mal, being himself, was less likely to be restrained. Especially since he was so sure (even if it might have been foolish), he whined happily, ears folding back and leaning forward to lick her jaw in a submissive flurry, tail flailing around behind him. “I was looking for you -- and you're here!” But if he knew her, then that meant that she knew him, and thus was not only someone that he felt was familiar and important, but also could tell him more about who he was. Maybe it was a little selfish, but she should be happy to see him, if he felt that way of her... right? He honestly hadn't thought that there might be a problem with his thinking, that maybe she didn't quite have the same feeling, that she might not remember -- Mal was too excited that he'd found someone that actually didn't feel a total stranger. It was probably fortunate he hadn't been the one to spot her at a distance, he probably would have just tackled her instead of acting like a wound-up puppy.
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His eager exclamations, the (seemingly) overfamiliar physical touch that surprised her initially, and then invited an unintentional smile to her maw- it was a relief in her sea of confusion, feeling that she knew nothing. And yet here was this sign of buried memories and a past just shrouded in a layer of dust that must be blown away to rediscover herself- and him. And then she found herself ready to speak his language again, awoken by his touch- "You," She breathed with excitement suspended in her hushed whisper. Her tail wagged a couple beats and then she was taking turns on her paws like a kid with too much energy, "I- I woke up here but- I- where... where do we go from here?" She wasn't sure exactly what she meant by that, or how he could possibly answer, and clarified, "Erm, I mean... did you also... have I hit my head? I feel... lost." She confessed. That was the simplest way to describe such a complex feeling, and lacking other words or direction, she fell silent.
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It wasn't instant gratification. Not entirely at least. She was missing a similar set of pieces that he was. But he would help her! He had to. He was sure of that, Mal just wasn't sure how. But he'd sure as hell try. Still, he was equally confused about the whole situation, “I don't know what happened. I couldn't remember anything. I still don't know... Much. But I'd almost remembered you before.. But now you're here and I know that I knew you and --- yeah. I'm sure you'll remember. We'll remember more. It just might take a bit.” He was sure -- or rather had to be for his own sanity -- even though he was a little sad that she might not have every answer right now. He'd do what he could to help.

“I've gone from here in the mountains south to the ocean and back. I didn't see anything super familiar, but I met a guy named Dirge who knew me... Sort of at least. I still don't really remember him, but stuff he said sounded right. But maybe you'd see something familiar that might make you remember... And if we talk, maybe we can both remember more?” He wanted to be helpful, he was sure it would work (mostly because he wasn't allowing himself to feel anything but that hope). He smiled to her, wanting to convey that hope, to promise again that she wasn't alone and neither was he. It'd all work out! Right?
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He was just as lost as her- she wasn't sure whether it was scary or comforting to be together in this. But hadn't they overcome struggle together before? She didn't know; it was just a feeling. If they had, they could do that again. And maybe he was right. Maybe more would come back to them. Somehow. It had to. He told her he'd already been places and met someone called Dirge- the name didn't strike her as anything instantly memorable, and she gave a small head tilt. But his plan sounded good. If they kept talking together they could dig up more. She leaned out nudged him a little affectionately now, the contact was better after their chat now, less shocking, less strange. Hua nodded. "I think this sounds smart. We cannot leave each other if... you're my only... key. So far. The key to... um... everything else? So we have to stay together." It sounded like she was assuring herself that this was true, too. "The sea... do you want to go? I... feel like I need to see it. Again..." She could see it when she blinked, like the briefest flashes of old memories, but covered in dust and distant from her. She needed to pull that feeling back. The empress felt like she was grasping at the memory of something important.
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But when she touched him back he was all kinds of happy -- he'd quite willingly take her wherever she wanted! So he smiled, “I know what you mean. We'll figure it out, I'm sure.” Even if they didn't, he was sure that this was the most right-seeming thing that he could figure out so far. So... It was an answer. He'd take it and run with it. “Well, I know the way there. There was uh. A cove or something, it was sort of an interesting shape I guess. But seemed kinda deep and dangerous maybe. It wasn't familiar to me, maybe it would be to you.”

His tail wagged happily behind him, and again he nosed her cheek, bouncing from foot to foot ever so slightly. “We can go whenever you want to?” A brief glance in the direction they might be headed soon -- “It should be that way. But if you wanted to hunt or something first, I can do that -- or whatever!” Whatever would please her, honestly. Mal was driven both by generally wanting to please her and the fact he really wanted to make sure she was going to stay with him, as selfish as that was.
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fade? :o

---

 

Mal knew the way back, and mentioned a cove of some sort. Another thing that didn't sound familiar by description alone, but really, how uniquely recognizable could one cove be from another? She figured she would find out if it meant anything when she got there. Until then, they could only hope this was the beginning of an improvement to their state of mind. He nosed at her cheek, it felt right, a brief flutter of familiarity that fled quickly when he drew away.

He was making way for her in the decisions here; it was a lucky thing that Huā understood presently what goal she wanted to chase the most, even if it seemed silly. Her gaze followed his in the direction they'd be off to soon. "Maybe we start heading this direction to our goal and see what scent trails we discover along the way?" No reason to stall any longer unless he was was hungrier than she. Not with this buzzing energy in her heart. She could only subdue that feeling with travel. And perhaps she'd discover more meaning to this feeling once they met their destination.
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Sounds good, will do!

---

It was good they were staying together. He probably would have been a shrieking mess if she'd changed her mind and wanted to go her own way -- he just wasn't enough of himself that he would have been rational about it. He needed her, and they both needed answers. “That sounds like a plan to me. And if we run into Dirge again, I'm curious to see if he'd know you too. Guess we'll have to find out.” Another smile from him. “Let's get going.” He took a few steps, but he was also anxious so was definitely making sure she was coming along before taking off with any speed. They were doing this together, after all. She was stuck with spotted man, whether she later regretted it or not.

And so, towards the sea they went.
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