dizzy, dizzy all the time

Things had been complicated; emotional. Perhaps far more emotional than the golden woman cared to acknowledge. Her brain was not wired properly to process emotion, it was difficult to comprehend ... to feel, especially the way she did now. With her mother. With Valeska. Harper. Elysium. The words and faces blurred into one explosive, bright light and blinded her mind. And for now, she needed escape.

And so she did what she knew to do.

Wander.

Sleeplessly.

The numbness of exhaustion was a welcome reprise. Sleeplessness left her body hollow, and she had lilted forward to a familiar place away from her home. The field of flowers expanded around her, an exploding kaleidoscope of merging and breathing color. It welcomed her with open arms, the sweet scents of familiar flora pulling her in. Berries, blossoms, and everything in between cascaded around her with all the might and magnitude of a living rainbow. And the sight brought a soft smile to her dark lips, easing an aching mind as she ambled forward upon unsteady paws.

It was not long before she found the small, central clearing in the eye of the field. And that was where she would place her heavy, mortal body on the ground. She lowered herself into the shorter grass, falling to her side and rolling back and forth in the foliage ... bathing in the sun, the smells, the empty familiarity of nature. Uncaring of the world around her, those deep amethyst eyes closed, golden paws reaching upward toward the sky.

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There had been a lot that happened since they moved, and Archon was numb to it all. They carried on a life without him and perhaps, Archon should take from their example and do the same. Meissa had found him and made him speak to the Queen, only to realize that the queen was bad, and then they left.

The trip here, on the guy’s back was fun. It was the last fun thing that he’d done. It seemed life exploded after, and felt like he was just in the way all the time, so today he’d thought that he’d explore. Maybe he’d find another Bam Bam. Maybe he’d find..

.. was that a dead body?

Had Archon gotten here a moment sooner, he might have witnessed her wiggling around on the ground like a giant, golden worm-wolf, but as it stood right now, she was not moving. Just, there, like he was. He felt drawn to her, felt like he needed… to check her out. So he came forward, pacing near her; almost too frightened to look at her, too frightened to actually see if she was actually dead. So he paced.

“Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead..”

And then, finally, he would muster up the coward and gently poke her. “H-h-hell-llo.. ?”

^^
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Silence and stillness nestled through the thick cords of her golden fur. What were once deep inhales and exhales (greatly expanding that narrow chest of hers), became softer ... stiller. More relaxed and shallow as the weight of her mortal soul lifted away with the softness of the breeze. What was once cacophony became a whisper of stillness that blanketed her.

Escape.

So escaped was she, from the pains of the mortal world, that she did not hear the soft, anxious padding of another (much smaller) wolf. So relaxed was she, that she did not even fathom that something else would dare approach her splayed frame, awkwardly vulnerable amidst a field of veiling flowers.

And so, when the soft, meek voice of the young male graced her ears ...
... when the very gentle edge of his paw touched her shoulder ...
... her eyes flashed open.

Purple irises contracted as the sun slapped her in the face, her entire body writhing as the stillness became cacophony once more. "Wha—" came the half-word, lanky legs flipping through the air as she rapidly rolled onto her belly, smudging her golden fur against the green leaves and brown mud (a delightful painting, really). And after a moment, her heart quieted, and she refocused her harsh gaze on the miniature thing by her nose— another child?

"Shouldn't startle a slumbering creature," she began, raising a brow toward him as her composure slowly returned. Golden crown lifted ad she gently crossed her paws over one another, much like a sphinx would. She need not stand, for she was practically his height at this level anyway. "What if I were to be a demon? ... or ... a zombie?" Her tongue ran over her teeth as those ermine canines chattered, her voice a siren's lull as she passed him an eerie, shark-like smirk.

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Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.

Whoever was out there had heard his pleas and decided to instill life back into this creature. Her eyes popped open and for the briefest of moments, the two canines locked eyes as she rolled over. Frightened, he jumped back; hackles on edge with the smallest and cutest of little growls. Even bared his teeth a little at her. He hadn’t meant it; he was just frightened!

And then Bruce came out to play and Archon’s eyes went wide, and lord, had he been human, the color would have drained from his face. His ears slowly lowered and Archon took hiccup’d, inhaling deep for a moment before releasing a bloodcurdling scream. He took several more steps backward and in fact, tripped over himself, crawling backwards before he scrambled to his feet and fled, still screaming:
 

“AHHH ZOMBIES HELP, AHHHHHH”^^

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Amaranth was the picture of composure, that soft grin glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Disheveled fur was juxtaposed next to pristine, glittering gems of amethyst; she was but an oxymoron of beauty and decay as dirt fluttered from her coat as the breeze caught in those coiled lochs of twisted gold. Perhaps being reborn again as a vampire had given her this new, easy, lackadaisical sense of sovereign power. Or perhaps it was because he was but a disillusioned child fed the lies and fantasies of adults — meldable minds were easy to enrapture.

Either way, she was apparently quite frightening. Far more so than she had even intended to be.

The child leaped back, a squeaking growl escaping this immature lips as his hackles rose up in an attempt to make himself appear larger. A golden brow raised toward him, bemused slightly in his instinctual attempts to ward her off — for he was, yes, warding off a demon that he created in his own mind. Amaranth was simply happy to play the part.

And that was when he screamed, small frame flopping over itself almost mirroring the way she'd awoken from her deadly silent slumber. “AHHH ZOMBIES HELP, AHHHHHH!” His screech would have echoed for miles (and it certainly rattled the very back of her brain). Both brows raised now, her ears ringing as the child managed to crawl up clumsily upon all fours and began to dart away as only a small, potato-like young one could. 'Ah, shit,' she internalized, almost lazily as she realized ... this child would be connected to an adult. And the last thing she really needed at this moment in her life was to have this boy come running back here with his parents to exterminate the Zombie of the Floral Meadow.

"Child—" she began, hoisting herself upward upon long golden stilts. But he was already hobbling off.

Good thing his legs were so short.

A few big gaits brought her up to his side with relative ease, and as he sprinted with full-fledged energy, she trotted lightly at his side. "Child, I am not a zombie," she clarified between bouts of his erratic screeching. She wasn't, after all. She was more ... a spirit. A ghost, perhaps? And in some other worlds, a vampire. But certainly not a zombie.

Unless they all were.

Because this was purgatory, after all.

Curious.

Either way, she would not feast on his flesh. "I won't eat you," she offered lightly, hoping perhaps that even if he didn't believe her, he at least wouldn't run off to find someone to exterminate her. "I was simply offering you warning — for some sleeping beasts are far more hungry than me." She continued to keep pace with him, hoping he'd stop. Or get tired. Maybe he'd nap. Or cry more. Or something else that children would do.

She was doing great.

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rolled a 17 of 20

---

Joke’s on her, Archon had no parents. Well, okay, he did, but he didn’t know where they were, and he wasn’t concerned about finding them. He was, however, concerned with finding Bam Bam. That was why he’d been out here, anyway, glancing at the mountains from afar. The mountains were like.. Stick Central, and he’d been debating going there for a new Bam Bam, since his old one was very clearly stolen.

He did not find Bam Bam. He found a very terrifying Zombie Lady who was trying very hard to eat him. He ran, ran as fast as he could, but that wasn’t fast enough. She caught up to him, ran alongside him and Archon did the very first thing that he could think of.

He lunged forward to bite her in the face.

^^
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ROLLED: 16/20

---

The child continued to bolt, unpersuaded by her words. It would seem she was a convincing faux-zombie — and perhaps that meant that she was, perhaps, a real one. It was not hard to pretend when the reality of the situation sunk in.

Amaranth matched the child gently, stride for stride as her haunting lavender eyes bore into him. There was fear in those optics ... those eyes that were borne of blood and water. And fear did strange things to a body — made it quiver and quake and act in ways that it wouldn't ... shouldn't. And Amaranth perhaps noticed but a moment too late that fear would mutate into action. It would mutate into an attack as those little fangs turned toward her with utter discontent and reached to snatch into her muzzle.

A baby attacking a zombie.
How quaint.

She recoiled instinctively, but perhaps a millisecond too late. Fangs caught the edge of her muzzle, dragging form nosebridge to lip as the faint hint of blood would touch the air. A harsh growl would sound, hard against the afternoon sun, as she bore down upon the child before her. Blood coagulated around the edges of her lips, crimson pooling as she grimaced at the being below her. "Child," she hissed, lifting her paw to ready a dismissive blow to him and yet ... she couldn't. Her paw lowered, crimson pooling at the bridge of her muzzle and dripping down the edge of her face. She could taste the sweetness in her mouth, rolling over her tongue.

Her posture lowered, hackles raised as she would hiss at him: "Run away, child. Run away, and never return." And in that moment, she meant it.

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