The sun was directly overhead by the time Aggie got Meeko up and out of bed, practically having to drag the raggedy coon from his den. He kick, scratched, and hissed, but eventually he just shut up and followed along. It was time to move on anyway, at least that's what she thought. After loosing her homeland, staying in one area for too long had her feeling anxious, wary, her trust in the universe completely obliterated- just like her home. Rays of sunshine cascaded down from the heavens and warmed the dark shades of Agnimitra's coat. Finally, after months of bitter cold, she could step out into the sunlight and actually feel the warmth in the air, not the blistering cold of winter winds that had her tail tucked and diving back into her den the first chance she got. If one thing was for certain, Aggie did not care for the cold. No Sir. She was not a northern wolf and that fact ran deep in her bones.

But now she didn't have to worry about winter, because spring had finally arrived to Boreas. Snow was melting away in the prolonged sunlit days, and the dirt was becoming slick with moisture. "Mud," the grumpy raccoon hissed, "there is just so much damn mud.". Turning her head to the side, she chances at the silver male, and eyebrow arched at his perched position on her back. "How would you know? Your paws haven't even touched the ground yet." She retorted, huffing and giving her shoulders a roll in a sly attempt to make him fall. It was, of course, without any luck and instead resulted in his little hands gripping into her scruff for balance. Aggie winced, and turned to glare at him as he offered a wide, cheesy smile. "Oops?"

The ember woman was about to bark a few choice words at her companion when all of a sudden the mud beneath her feet suddenly become very slick and smooth, sending her paw stretching out and making her balance fumble for a split second. But that second was all it needed. Meeko, unprepared for such a sudden turn, went tumbling off the side of Aggie's body and hit the mud with a loud smack! Mud went flying in every direction, effectively covering one side of Agnimitra's body while leaving the other seemingly unscathed. She stared blankly as the male paused for a moment as reality began to sink in, and then he took a deep chested inhale, before blowing it out forcefully out his nose. He slowly stood up onto his hind legs, holding his forearms out to either side of his plump body as mud dripping from his fur.

Slowly... too slowly... Meeko's gaze lifted from the mud and settled on the woman's face, the waves of disgust and rage mentally penetrating Aggie's soul. Cautiously, she began to step away, becoming all too away of the ticking time bomb standing before her. "Meeko... it was an accident, you know that." Her voice was low and smooth as she continued to back up, but the raccoon, in all eleven inches, was filled with rage and nearly covered head to toe in mud. There was no reasoning with this beast. Aggie knew that, still, she tried. "We'll go find a river to clean you up, okay? I'm sor-" Her rump suddenly hit something cool and hard, causing the female to turn her head and see what exactly it was she stumbled into, but even as she stared she still couldn't understand what it was. A rock maybe? Strange rock? When she turned back to Meeko however, she was met with a large pile of mud flung straight for her muzzle, and no time to react.

"There. Now we're both dirty."

"Aggie""Meeko"

Lament Pyre There was a wandering itch in his paws, and it was good to discover the world past the meager parts he knew. Or was it rediscover? Nothing held any hint of familiarity to him as he moved cautiously through the lands. His wandering eyes studying everything as he passed, searching for some hint, some hidden gem that would push out another memory. Like the way this great tree curved upwards, its long, willowy branches creaking just so in the breeze. He slowed as he approached it, feeling something stirring in his breast. He thought for a moment, this might be it, the linchpin that released his memories to him. He let his eyes wonder from the trunk to the tips of the branches, and flowers, just barely opened with the start of spring. The time it took to approach its trunk gave him nothing, and well he didn’t stop, he slowed, and brushed his tail gently against its rough texture. There was something about the tree.. Not this one, but another, like the tree in his dreams. That one held only the barest hint of a shape, and if he studied it too long, it broke away like waves in his mind’s eye. No, he wouldn’t find his answers this easily. He gave the tree another, parting look, respect in his eyes, before moving on. The world was filled with noise, of thinkings waking and greeting the day. Of birds calling to their mates, their families, the world itself. The chittering of climbing things hidden in the trees around him. The world was loud, and he was quiet, his steps muted with practiced ease as they tread softly across the earth. There was a lithe strength to his movements, the tautness of skin over muscles, and the long trek meant nothing to him. It was strange, this rediscovering of his body, and its capabilities. He knew that it ached for a routine he could not quite remember, and all he could give it was long days of exercise, or hard treks and strange views. He knew it wasn’t enough, but he was forced to accept that it sufficed. Sounds of voices broke the familiar patterns of the creatures around him, and he found himself drawn in the direction of the speaker. He broke through the trees, and would find the wolf and her companion, standing in the mud and wearing half its bulk across their forms. He placed himself into a position where they would see him, his paws whispered a smile, attentive, warm greeting. but of course, she would not know the language of his paws. No one here did, and it was this more then anything that told him he was far from home. “Mornings greetings to you and yours” his rich, warm voice softly called out, pitched only just enough to carry to her and no more. Shouting felt uncouth in an instinctive, natural way that he could not explain. He stood patiently there, in a place before the earth shifted to mud. his blank, un-moving expression giving nothing away. "Speech""Ademic"

The sound of another voice caught her attention in a heartbeat, causing her head to turn on a dime in the direction of the source. It was strange she had not heard someone approaching them, borderline alarming, but what really caught the frog in her throat was the sight of him. The male at the edge of the mud, was licked in markings that mimicked that of fire, and immediately she knew where he came from. Home. Her jaw cracked open as her golden gaze widened at the mere sight of someone so... familiar... yet a completely stranger all the same. Meeko clearly noticed her sudden change in behavior, because his head turned back and forth between the two, looking increasingly confused. "What? You know him or something?" His sassy tone did not register in her ears however, as her paws began to slowly move forward in his direction. One step.... two... but then she stopped. She shut her gaping mouth and swallowed hard, so that she may finally speak.

"Um... hi." Damn it, she thought to herself, still as awkward as ever. Her voice was wavering and uncertain, not quite sure she could believe what she was seeing. In all her time spent in these new lands, in all the wolves she met, none even came close to resembling those from home. But this guy certainly did. Still caked in mud, she paid little mind to Meeko as she began to slowly trot closer, her golden gaze never leaving the burning markings that littered his frame. Could it be? Is it possible? The odds that she was the only one to survive always seemed impossible, but as months went on and she found no other survivors, well... she could only assume she was the last. When she neared only a few yards away, she slowed to a gentle walk and tried her voice again. "W-who are you?"

Her family ran the tavern in the southern kingdom, she knew every drunk, party-hopping, rambunctious wolf in the whole damn town. But she never saw this male before, or at least, she can't remember if she did or not. But he had to be from her homeland, right? What were the odds that some other wolf, from some other family, from some other part of the world would have developed such characteristic markings like those? Unnaturally bright reds, oranges, yellows, they were all the clear signs of a southern wolf. Blues, purples, whites, they were all signs of a northern wolf. A mix? Well damn only the royals were said to have those markings. She let out a shaky breath she had not known she was holding, just as water began to fill the brims of her eyes. "I can't believe you're here. I can't believe I'm not the only one to have survived."

"Aggie""Meeko"

Lament Pyre Her eyes as she looked to him wore an expression of shock and surprise. He glanced up at them, before his eyes darted away again. The instincts he was running on told him it was rude to meet another wolf eye to eye. It wasnt something done frequently or for long. Instead, his eyes settled on her paws, looking for a language that wasnt there. As his eyes watched her stubbornly still paws, they began to walk towards him. Another flick up would see the sick hope in her face and his gut would clench. uncertainty, trepidation his paws would whisper. What did she hope he could give her? Why did he look at her like this. His eyes darted away, and then back again, drawn to her wide gaze despite the impolite gesture. He couldn't help himself, he was astonished at how much he saw there. Her face was like an open book, not the still marble that was his own. "I am Lament." He whispered, pitching his voice even lower now that she was close. His warm voice broke softly, displaying some of the emotion that his face would not. "Do you.. know me?" The hope was there, as well as stress. Seeing her jolted nothing inside of him. His heart did not recognize her, his soul did not fill in the missing pieces now that she was before him. Yet, he could not deny the painful hope on her voice, he might not know her, but somehow, unlikely as it seemed... she knew him. "I apologize, this must be shocking to you. I don’t know you, but I do not know myself, either. My past.. is gone. Please, can you tell me who I am?" hope, stress, uncertaintyhis paws fidgeted the emotion in careful, precise gestures. His eyes moved back to her paws, and then to her molten gaze. He broke propriety and held her gaze, despite his instincts telling him otherwise. He found he could not look away, because she was looking at him like she feared in a moment of inattention he might be lost to her. "Speech""Ademic"

His eyes would not hold hers for long, and while it was strange, she couldn't have cared less in that moment. Meeko, completely in the dark about the whole thing, finally started to gingerly walk through the mud towards the woman, and stood behind her hind leg to watch. He was uncertain about this exchange, but just by hearing the hope in her voice, a sound so foreign in her tone, was enough to tell him to be quite and wait. Lament. His name did not sound familiar to her either, but surely there would have been some that did not frequent the tavern or the surrounding markets? Some of the southern wolves she did not quite know? "Lament." She would repeat, trying the name on her tongue to see if the muscle memory would trigger some sort of confirmation on his identify. Of course, it didn't. But still, the ember flaked woman was forever hopeful that this man was family, in one way or another.

She listened intently as he spoke softly, but the words that flowed from his lips confused her, and made the brows between her eyes furrow as a result. He.. didn't know her.... didn't have a past? No memory at all? There was a split second were the cold, dark feeling of disappointed threatened to sink into her very soul, causing her gaze to break away and stare down at the ground as she thought about it. Why wouldn't he have no memory? Obviously, something terrible must've happened... something traumatic... but what? Then, it hit her. "The explosion... " She would mumble to herself, eyes going wide once more as the likelihood of this scenario became more and more believable to her. Her head shot up once more as she eagerly began to relive the worst day of her life. "The ancient bombs that radiated our homeland? Ages ago it killed off so much life from the land, and only a few survived. But those who did, split into two packs; the northern wolves who's next generation began to show blues and purples in their coats." Her tail began to sway ever so slightly in her excitement, as a smile grew as she thought of home.

"And the other pack was us, the southern wolves; after the radiation fumes, our ancestors began to display vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. Just like those!" She took one of her front paws and outstretched them to gesture at some of the markings climbing up the males foreleg. "One of the other bombs exploded recently..." her eagerness dwindled as she remembered that day, a familiar sense of heartbreak swelling in the voids of her chest. "A lot of wolves took to the sea in attempts to flee... I-I washed up here but..." the emotions were so powerful, so overwhelming, she could not hold back the tears that wished to fall. "Nobody else did. I thought I was alone." She was heartbroken, that much was obvious to the naked eye, and it would have been completely embarrassing to Agnimitra had she been in a stable state of mind. But at the moment, that was the last thing on her mind.

Finally composing herself, she attempted to rub the salty tears from her cheeks and swallow the lump that was forming in her throat once more before she would speak softly. "Until I saw you, I thought everyone else had died." She sighed, the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins finally receding as her heart rate slowed and the excitement passed. "I think the explosion... the raging ocean waves... it could have been enough to cause injury... even amnesia." It was her best guessed at what happened to him, but in truth, only he could say what really happened to him. It was simply a series of events with a probability higher that one percent, and that was enough for Aggie. She had been denying it all this time but... in truth... she was so eager to believe she wasn't the only one. There was one more question she wanted to ask however, one that her heart had been wanting to cry out since she first laid eyes on him.

"Are there others?"

"Aggie""Meeko"

Lament Pyre She spoke his name, rolling it off her tongue like she was experimenting with the sound, the rhythm of it. He waited in patient silence, his paw occasionally murmuring one emotion or another. caution, surprise, hope flickered there for her to see. If only she knew how to read it. She spoke of an explosion, and his paw would move on to confusion, uncertainty for this would not explain how he had woken in the battlefield.  He refrained from comment however, and he grew completely still as she told a story. He was attentive, standing still and quiet, and clearly listening as she explained her story. She had already changed her telling to include him in the story, using plurals as though she had no doubt that he was there, and a part of this. He was still uncertain, but it was dwindling in the intensity of her conviction. He sensed that she did not wish to be alone, but he was not certain that he could fill the void in her heart. He shared no memories of this past. She stopped after a while, and would ask him if there were others. "Yes, I have two sisters. they, too, have lost their past. If this is the truth, they will wish to know it." He explained. He paused then, his paw moving through thoughtful as he considered the implications of her story. He leaned closer to her, no stress at close contact displayed in his features. They where a people that weren't afraid to step close to one another. He reached a paw upwards, cupping it to her cheek, so he could gently smooth away the tear he had seen there. This emotion was pure, one that a wolf must always allow out. But the rest of it? Her face moved like a barbarian, and her paw was still, emotionless. "But if you and I are of one people.. why do you not speak to me?" His voice was soft, and he was in her personal space. It was clear that this felt normal to him, and he did not stop and think for a moment that it might make her uncomfortable. "Speech""Ademic"

Two sisters? It boggled her mind that someone could've been so lucky as to escape to this new land with anyone, especially a family member, not to mention two. It was astronomical, incredible.... unbelievable. It was then that the doubt began to come back, bringing with it, it's old friends disappointment and despair. It seemed to seep in from the surrounding air, making the woman all but aware of her mud soaked coat, making her hair wet and her skin cold. From her skin the coldness spread through her veins like wildfire, starting from the most outer portion of her being and slowly turning towards her core. Her core, where her hope and delight lived on very little fumes for some time now, and this crushing blow would no doubt diminish their supply completely. The hope and joy that once was so plainly obvious on her features, began to recede into the depths of her memory. She only became aware of the males sudden close proximity when he began to speak and she could feel the airs around her face move as his breath caressed each follicle.

His question... stumped Aggie, to say the least, and his closeness made her exceedingly uncomfortable the more aware she became of it. Cautiously she took a step backwards, craning her head back to look the male in the eye. "What do you mean? I'm talking to you right now?" Perhaps amnesia wasn't the only thing wrong with this wolf's head. Anger began to replace the spot in her core where hope once resided, and a bitterness slowly overtook her heart like a plague. "There's no way all of you could have survived from the explosion. Not all of you, not together, not here." How could she had been so naive to have gotten her hopes up? One would have thought after all this time the woman would have learned her lesson and be more cautious of these things; of false hope and more reliable disappointment.

Again, the cinder woman took a step back, away from the male who so closely resembled everything she had lost, and turned her head away from him. Meeko, who had been silently standing by, laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, but knew all too well what was to happen next. Agnimitra was going to shut down, shut off, and close off from the world. The raccoon knew it, he had seen it time and time again since they first met each other. She would let out a deep sigh, allowing her head to lower as her golden eyes dulled over once more. "I'm sorry Lament, I don't think you're from my home."

"Aggie""Meeko"

Lament Pyre Her open expression began to change, the joy bleeding into darker emotions, and he struggled to read them completely, unaccustomed as he was to this form of expression. He just knew that he missed her smile, even if it was strange, and placed across her muzzle instead of displayed in intricate patterns across her paw. She took a step back, and he did not try to encroach upon her space again. Her eyes searched for his, and well he was reluctant to meet her gaze, and did so only fleeting, he allowed this touching of eyes. He sensed she needed it in that moment, and he could read there the confusion he heard in her voice. She spoke of their conversation, and he already knew.. What he had known, in his heart of hearts. This woman was not one of his kind, her past was not his. “You speak in part with your voice, and in part with your face.” he explained, and then, looking deliberately into her eyes he let his face morph into an exaggerated smile, a clumsy frown, before wiping it clean and blank once more. “We speak with our voice, and from our hearts.” he gestured first to his heart, and then down the leg to his left paw, which was closer to his heart. “We believe that the right paw is strong, and the left paw is clever. It is here that we express the things that we feel” he made the gesture for Comforting smile and then Serious frown He let his paw fall still as her expression hardened, and he could feel her anger, even if it didn’t come from the gestures he knew best. In truth, he was a little stunned, because well he knew these things innate, to put them to words… he had not realised he had remembered them until he spoke. He had placed another piece of his heritage in the puzzle of his memories. He didn’t let the elation get further, because well he might have learned something, so had the woman before him. The bitter disappointment was shocking and cold compared to the warmth she had given him before. “You are right. You have a past, and wish for its wolves in the present. I have none, and can not be one of the wolves you desire. I am sorry, that we can not share this history. I am sorry for those you lost.” his warm voice was soft, saddened, and his paw tilted to sorrow. “I offer you my friendship, as it is the only thing left I can give you, through I know that it is not enough.” "Speech""Ademic"

Golden orbs would watch as the male began to explain himself, causing her to cock one brow at his unusual facial expressions as he did so. She had't noticed until now, but he truly did not show any emotions; his face had remained the same throughout their entire exchange, where it should have morphed into some form of shock or excitement. Her gaze would follow as he gestured to his paws, an area she had not been paying attention to this entire time. Why would she? Most wolves spoke with their voices, not their bodies. But she would remain still and silent as he began to twitch the bones and ligaments in his paw in odd ways, what to her looked like some sort of muscle defect but clearly meant something much more to Lament. As if this entire situation wasn't confusing enough, there was one thing she couldn't understand. "If what you say is true, then how do you know all this? I thought you said you couldn't remember your past?"

Had he been lying to her from the start? No... that would have been too cruel and there was something in his kind tone that told her this male was not one to go around with malicious intent. Once again she fell silent as he spoke, expressing his sorrow for the misunderstanding... and the sorrow for her lost pack. It was strange to hear someone be sorry for her, something she had not experienced yet since coming to this new and strange land. She had known loss before the explosion, and the wolves she had known since she was a pup, they expressed their sadness to her. But not here, not until Lament. There was a sudden, guilty feeling in her heart. Here was a man who had lost everything, including his memory, and he was apologizing to her. It was wrong, she had memories that she could carry to her grave and yet this man had nothing. No memory of his home or who he was. She should have been the one apologizing to him! "I'm sorry Lament. It was unfair of me to have assumed your identity. No one should take that from you."

He spoke of friendship and it made her pause. Until today, the only real friend she had here was Meeko, and even calling him a friend was a stretch sometimes. She wasn't really one to commit to friendships; they always seemed like way too much work and she could only assume they would not last forever, so what would be the point? But this male, despite knowing he was not of her home, fit the part. There was something about him that made her feel safe, like she wasn't the last, like lonely duckling finally found it's flock. Perhaps, just this once, she could try. "Hard to be friends without knowing each other, isn't it?" She attempted to put on a smile, something vaguely resembling a grin, but it did not quite reach her eyes. "My name is Agnimitra, but most wolves call me Aggie. And this little critter," she gestured with her paw to the raccoon companion of hers, who had been patiently standing by, "is Meeko." Upon hearing his name, the pudgy male scurried up the woman's side and rested comfortably on her back. "Hello stranger!"


"Aggie""Meeko"

She had a good point, asking how he remembered things like this when his entire past was still a deep crevice in his mind. A void, with nothing to fill it. "I don’t understand it myself. The mind is.. a strange thing. I woke up and remembered how to speak, I knew my own name, after a moment. I knew my sister was my sister but it wasn't until after she spoke her name that it was as clear to me as if I had never forgotten . I did not know until speaking to you that we call one paw clever and another strong. And yet, I do not know the name of my culture, the place of my birth, the face of my mother." His gentle voice was soft and sad. His paw whispering it in easy movements. Contemplation, loss he missed his home, whatever that might be. She would apologising for assuming who he was, but there was no need for it. It was not her fault, and he could only hope she would one day find a wolf of her home. When she said that no one should be able to take his identity from him... "Apparently they can" he said, and his wry smile was lost to her. He shook his head, freeing some of the melancholy that wished to reside in his heart. "You've a lovely name, Miss Agnimitra." Rolling her name softly through his accented tones. "Aggie." He would add, to show that he respected her choice of nickname. "And Meeko, it is my pleasure"   He dipped his head to the critters height, before lifting it once more and straightening. "Well, this entire meeting has been unexpected. Would you like to find somewhere to wash off and get a bite to eat? I would love to get the chance to know my first friend better." There was a teasing sparkle in his eye, despite the reminder of his lost past. She would be the first face he would commit to his new memory. ”Speech”|"Ademic"

Perhaps she never truly appreciated the luck she had, or maybe she appreciated it, but never realized she had it. What ever the case, hearing him speak about his life and how his memories were lost in a void, made Aggie think twice about her situation. She had lost everything, and it was painful, but would it not be more painful to never remember those she lost? To never remember herself? It was hard to say who had it worst off, the guy who couldn't remember anything, or the girl who would have given anything to forget her pain. "Perhaps it's for the best? If you two ended up here with no memories, perhaps something bad happened. Maybe not knowing is sparing you a lot of pain." It wasn't much, but she was trying her damn hardest to find something good out of his situation. Golden eyes dropped as she noticed one of his paws moving in the dirt, a language foreign to her ears but at least her eyes were no longer oblivious to their movements.

She pushed forward a small smile as he spoke her name, and turned to watch Meeko's reaction as he too was greeted. The muddy mess of a raccoon smiled eerily wide at the man and waved a little greeting with his paw before shuffling back behind the woman. Upon hearing an invitation for a bath and some food, Aggie would feel the low grumble in her stomach for the first time, and grin sheepishly. "That would be amazing, actually." Just then, her recently silent companion would pop out from behind her with wide joyous eyes. "O! O! There's a river east of here? We can wash up and go fishing!" The eagerness in his voice was unmistakable, causing Agnimitra to let out a little chuckle as she shook her head. A river would be a good place to clean up, and fishing was always an easy option for fast food this time of year. Shrugging her shoulders, she would turn to look at Lament. "You like fish?"


"Aggie""Meeko"

Her words were intended to be a comfort, but he still felt attachment to whatever was in the void of his memories. It sparked a desire in him to know. What if there was a disaster? And he was here, wandering around Boreas in a vague idea that something might spark his memory. What if he was needed in aiding a relief effort, what if he was needed, and he was not there. “I would rather have the choice.” he said softly, but he did not mean to burden her so, and his paw moved to sign a gentle, apologetic smile. The mud splattered raccoon gave him a wide grin, and he eyed it wearily, but respectfully. He didn’t know what this lady had befriended the creature, but he could respect it. Well, it had some use, as it piped up with information on a river. “Honestly, I have no idea. But, I won’t know until I try, will I?” there was amusement in his tones, if not on his features. He started to walk in the indicated direction, he had been careful to keep clear of the mud, but still some of it splattered the flames on his toes, dimming the brightness of their colors. ”Speech”|"Ademic"