I deserve to let you go and build a better version of me on my own, somehow...

永程

Celestin was about to be sorely disappointed, for Yong Cheng was neither the wolf's lover, nor friend, not that he was aware of it all.

All he saw was a broken stranger lying bereft on the ground. Here, under a cloak of ash and smog, it was frigidly cold. Yong Cheng had never been here before; he'd never had cause to explore much beyond the reaches of where he was born. He supposed that the long, thin stretch of earth leading to the faraway islands he could see in the distance, had once been surrounded by clear ocean waters and blue skies. He supposed that once upon a time it had been mystical. He supposed that were it not for what calamity had befallen them, it would still be so.

Fish were lying belly up on the earth in some areas; in others, half-rotting, or in their last throes. In the sea were yet more dead fish, eyes empty.

Yong Cheng looked at the ashen sky, the ashen ground, and then at the wolf.

His colours stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the gloom.

"Hey," Yong Cheng said. "Feeling down on your luck?"

OOC: exploring 1/3