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Skill: klutz

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It was in silence that Amaris trudged forward. His spirits lowered in the aftermath of far too many futile attempts at finding the runes his mother so feverishly whispered to seek. The world was in disarray, his beloved water poisoned and all-consuming, and still, he could do nothing to stop the life-altering chain of events that were occurring.

It was not the first time the moonlit boy had felt such a stark sense of failure, but it was the first time it had felt so…devastating.

His head hung low, golden-hued eyes trained on the world beneath his feet as he trudged on forward, not assessing nor watching where his feet would carry him. In fact, he walked as if he were nothing more than a shell of a wolf. A spirit, much like the ones he often saw in the peripherals of his vision, feeble and incoherent of the world around him.

That was what this world was doing to him: proving to the silver-cast wolf that he was nothing but insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Unable to stop or stall the ending of his given world.

In the trenches of his spiraling thoughts, Amaris had not seen (nor heard) the melody of sounds that cradled the air, as light and airy as they had come. He heard none of it. Not until the striking impact made headway against his flank, sending his paws flailing and his body tumbling.

He landed with an ‘oof,’ teeth gritted together as a blooming pulse ruptured past his ears and thundered in his mind. He wheezed out a fitting grunt, his eyes glued shut as he mumbled something unintelligible beneath his breath before the softer words reeled him back.

Amaris blinked, slowly at first, as the world tilted and spun in his vision before the tangled silhouette of a woman, doused in what reminded him of a summer sunset, sat before him.

Instantly, his heart seemed to hammer.

A pounding in his chest that nearly eradicated the promise of his approaching headache.

H-Hi, he echoed, stumbling for a moment on his words as he cleared his throat and shook his head (as if that would do anything at all). It’s alright, don’t worry about it - are you okay?

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Skill: --

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He couldn’t explain it, but Amaris had half expected a very different response. Not one that bubbled and slipped in the after-effects of glee. Not many, he figured, would continue to remain in such high spirits, and yet, she had — she did.

He watched her with what could’ve only been described as a dumbfounded look as he blinked a golden stare in her direction. Watching as this mystery woman seemed to take in the world around her — confusion, excitement, uncertainty, they were all present, and Amaris causally soaked in all of it.

His lips came to gently press together as he moved to re-establish his footing, hauling his body off the ground and mirroring her previous shake of fur. No longer were those shadowed thoughts licking at his heels and wishing to pull him under. For now, his attention was focused on her—this woman—as her thoughtful gaze swallowed their surroundings.

He was no saint in the eyes of the Five, but still, he could not help but wonder if her presence was a gift in itself. There was no hole or ditch, nothing romantic in the way they met, but she sure was pretty.

The moonlit man’s head tilted, and he smiled gently. Not strange, he echoed back to her, perfectly reasonable explanation, actually. She had that same faraway look in her eyes that many who suddenly entered this world often wore.

Yet, unlike the rest, she still held that spark of…optimism, nonetheless.

Amaris would never truly understand what it was like to awake in a world you did not know. He was born from a bush — well, a tree — somewhere in the south. He knew nothing else beyond what lived in this world and thus had never faced the bafflement of being somewhere one minute and somewhere else in the next.

He reasoned it must’ve been confusing, maybe a little scary, but what did he know, really?

I’m Amaris, he quickly followed with a beat of a wagging tail while he sat mirroring her own position. It’s nice to meet you, he added, Welcome to a whole new world.

Did that sound creepy? Was he moving too fast?

He cleared his throat, eager to try again: Do you remember anything else?

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Skill: --

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She said his name through a pretty voice, one that made Amaris’ blood instantly hot and that lazy smile continue to spread across his face. His tail waved a second longer as her gaze would shift toward the world beyond - the pain in his head and muscles no more than a distrant thrum in the background of his thoughts.

He listened to her words with intention, drawing his ears forward with every detail she opted to deliver. And though the moment she remembered from then until now was certainly not the reality in which they stood within any longer, Amaris nodded optimistically - supportively, as if his calm and understanding demeanor would hold up the loss of a life she could have lived.

One that no longer existed.

He shook his head, a sheepish expression growing anxiously across his lips as he subtly shrugged. I’m afraid not, he responded as delicately as he could. Just a lot of rocks and sharper cliffs. He added as his gaze turned toward the growing mountain beyond.

Houtu must’ve saved you, he commented quietly, thinking briefly on what his mother would say to bring comfort to someone so new and potentially confused. Amaris had never understood why some entered through the sky or the ground or fell haphazardly atop their once beautiful lake in Elysium.

They just did.

And that was that.

Many just spontaneously appear here, he explained with a shrug of his shoulders, Not me though, I was born from a bush - well a tree - but others, he emphaszied, are often ripped from a previous life, whether through death or sleep, and end up…here.

Amaris did not know why he said so much, why on earth he would talk so much, but he found himself unable to stop. Like this woman, Lyra, deserved all the information he could spare.

I assume the same has happened to you. He finished after a beat, before his thoughts drifted to Solvi - who had also appeared in this world after running off a cliff, her body unburied, and perhaps then, resurrected.

Do you think you died? He abruptly asked, the words falling from his lips far too quickly for him to reel his thoughts back in.

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Skill: storyteller

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Amaris hadn’t held back the chuckle that whispered past his lips as he dipped his chin into a shallow nod. Or a large and endless lake, he chirped alongside her list. Not that she would understand his meaning, he thought after the fact, as his own brain recalled the images of many faces falling headfirst into the lake that sat in the center of his home.

Yet before he found the urge to explain himself, the mention of Houtu had his ears perking and his smile deepening. She is our great all-mother, he added easily as his own tail settled into a casual wave. The Goddess who watches over and guides us. However, her next question led to a sheepish smile that gradually spread a lingering heat to the tips of his ears. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I guess she did, he finished with a nod.

One would think Amaris knew better than to lead with the odd story of his birth, but he did not. And so when Lyra’s excitement and intrigue were shared with the rising of his voice, he found himself laughing alongside the energy. Technically, he nodded, Though do not ask me how it works, that I do not know. Just that my mothers wanted children, and through a tree, my siblings and I were born.

It was odd in theory. Fantastical for most to believe. And if Amaris thought a little longer on it, he too would probably question the intricacies of how…he came to be. Instead, however, he merely let the fact be a fact.

Why question it?

I believe they found us at the base of the tree, He answered her first question. I’m not sure, a response to her next. And to her last, he shook his head. I believe it’s only one specific tree, somewhere within the southwest. He, himself, had never visited it before—not since his birth, that is.

He shrugged, Beyond tree births, though, this world is just as real as any other. He added, So whatever may have happened in your previous life, you have now been given a second chance.