Maranell groans and rolls over, not bothering to open her eyes. But slowly her senses settle back into being conscious and she realizes something is very wrong. She sits bolt upright, and immediately regrets it, her head is aching horribly. She reaches up to touch a particularly sore spot and finds the texture...odd. She rubs the spot with her fingertips, trying to figure out what she's feeling, then brings her hand away and looks at it. She freezes, seeing her fingertips stained red.
A small whimper from beside her draws her attention and she looks over, seeing Xavier. The big white wolf looks pretty worse for wear himself.
"Xavier... Did you get the number of that bus that hit me?" She asks with a drowsy smirk.
Xavier cocks his head and gives a 'wuff', having no concept of what a bus is.
She waves her bloodied hand, "It's just a joke."
He wuffs again, this time chidingly.
"I know, I know. But it's better then panicking." She places her hand to her head again, trying to remember what happened. "What did hit me..." As she concentrates images flash in her mind, something metal and...hooked at one end? "A... Crowbar?"
Xavier whimpers again and scoots closer, sniffing at her face and when he finds the wound with his nose he starts to lick at it. She nudges him away though.
"It's fine, just let it... Coagulate..." She returns her attention to trying to remember. More images flash. A man -she can't remember his face-, a voice -presumably his-, her own voice, a feeling of defiance... "I got mugged..." She realizes out loud with an annoyed tone. "Son of a- ugh..."
She gets slowly to her feet and starts checking herself over. She doesn't carry much on her person, but her coin pouch is gone, of course. She starts a little, suddenly and reaches to the back of her head, then sighs with relief as her fingers brush metal. Wait, when did she start wearing a hair pin? She shakes the question away and reaches for her neck next, nothing... Though she doesn't remember wearing a necklace anyway. Why did she even check? Nothing else seems to be missing, again there's not much to take, so she just sighs.
"Come on, Xavier. Let's go ho-" she halts mid sentence and stares with a panicked expression. After a moment she looks at Xavier, "Do you know where home is...?"
The wolf gives a confident nod and starts down the alley way, she hesitates but follows after him. Along the way she goes through her memory, looking for other blank spots.
She starts by trying to remember her day. She remembers waking up...but then there's a blank, then she's walking into town with Xavier. What happened to getting dressed? She tries to remember yesterday. She remembers night time, she's sitting at a table drawing. Where is the table...? It feels like it's at home, but she still can't remember where that is. The next thing she remember is waking up yesterday. So she's missing the entire day? What is going on? She knows she has a head injury... But this is not how amnesia works... She continues trying to remember things, finding huge gaps almost everywhere. She remembers her sisters- but wait... How did she meet them? How long has she been here? She knows her name has changed to Maranell, but she doesn't remember when she changed it. She remembers she was pregnant at one point, but she doesn't remember giving birth. That makes her heart jump into her throat, till a memory of her child playing with Maranwe's daughter springs to mind.
She halts and calls out to the wolf, "Xavier, hang on..."
He stops and trots back to her.
"Xavier, I don't know what's going on." Her voice is trembling "I... I don't remember some things, but... What's going on?" She looks down into his eyes, hoping he has some kind of answer. But all he can offer is a sympathetic whimper.
"'It'll make sense soon'? What does that mean?"
Xavier just turns and continues leading her home, they left the city some time ago and now they're in the woods. It's past sunset so its pretty dark, and kinda spooky. But it feels like the right way. At one point they pass a...well its kind of a house. She stares at it for a second before the name springs to mind, 'Morga'. Morga lives there. She's Lucio's mom, Marayana's mother in law. They've met several times, she knows Morga is capable of mercy.
"Maybe I should ask for help..." She moves to approach the house, but feels something tug the back of her shirt. She looks behind her to see Xavier holding her shirt in his mouth. He drops it and wuffs, turning his head back the way they were going.
"But maybe she can-" she's interrupted by an insistent bark. "Alright, alright... We'll just keep going then... "
He continues leading and she follows. Eventually he leads her to another house, it's much different, and kind of mismatched? Not badly, it just looks like some parts are newer then others. This appears to be it though, by the way Xavier trots up to the door, turning to her as if waiting for her open it for him. She hesitates for a moment, suddenly nervous. Xavier says it's the right place but she doesn't actually recognize it. After a whine from the wolf she walks up and reaches for the handle. As she grabs it a sounds strikes her ears, crying. A baby crying. Faolan! The name pops into her head, she hadn't actually left a baby alone for god knows how long?! She throws the door open, but stumbles and freezes as images register. The baby is there, but not alone. He's being held, and comforted, by a man. A really big man who's now staring at her with a shocked expression.
After a second, his shock fades. "Where have you been?" He asks in a gruff voice, he sounds... Slightly irritated? But his expression quickly turns to worry when he notices the blood on her forehead. When Xavier trots inside, looking scuffed up as well, the man looks even more concerned. "What happened?" He stands and places the baby in a...playpen of some kind, then walks over to Maranell. The child is still fussing, but is apparently not the man's current priority.
He's even bigger now that he's standing. Is this the baby's father? She hadn't even thought about how she'd gotten pregnant. But right now she has no freaking idea who this is. Horror and guilt start to seep into her heart. This is not good...
He reaches forward, intending to brush her bangs aside to see the injury better, but she flinches away from him. He looks at her, startled, she's never been afraid of him before. Not ever. "Maranell...?" He looks at her eyes, seeing the lack of comprehension, the lack of recognition.
"I'm sorry. I-... Who are you...?" The last part comes out quiet and rather timid, like she doesn't want to ask.
He stares at her, a kind of hurt creeping into his expression. But she can feel him warring with it, trying to stamp it down, like he doesn't want to believe it's cause.
The horrified feeling turns to panic when it bounces off his hurt and she tries to explain what she can "I'm sorry! I-" but he cuts her off, just holding his hand up for her to stop. Then he places it lightly on her shoulder, guiding her a few steps further inside and closing the door.
She's surprised by how gentle he is. She would have expected a touch from him to be rougher, but he's barley touching her, and the pull for her to move was more a request then a demand. Still, he's not saying anything. He's not saying anything. Is he mad? Should he be? She's not sure and it makes her uneasy as she watches him cross the room to a set of small shelves in the corner. He rummages around for a second before finding whatever he's looking for and returning to her. He holds his hand out to her, there's something sitting in his palm. She looks at it, it looks like a little...leather pouch. She glances up at his face for a second, he's just waiting, so she hesitantly picks it up and looks it over. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about the little pouch -except that it smells funny. It's earthy, it's kinda pretty, and...familiar. what is this smell? She brings it closer to her nose, trying to identify it. Myrrh... the smell is myrrh!
As the name rushes to mind, everything else comes with it. Her eyes widen "Oh my god..." her hands move to cover her mouth, completing the horrified expression, and she staggers backwards till she hits the door, letting herself slide down it to the floor. Hot tears flood her eyes and spill down her cheeks. How did she let this happen?
He's rather startled by her reaction. He expected her to be relieved, he knows she hates to be confused. But she's just upset, really upset. He moves to step closer.
"I'm sorry!" She bursts out, interrupting whatever he'd been intending to do, "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I- I- someone mugged me, I didn't- please, I'm so sorry!" Her voice becomes more frantic as she goes, turning to begging. She even shifts her position so she's on her knees.
"I know." He says amid her begging. He kneels down himself and reaches out again. This time she doesn't flinch, she actually tries to hold still for him as he moves her bloodied bangs aside to see the injury.
She continues as if she hadn't heard him, tight voiced and starting to hyperventilate "I'm sorry! I didn't mean this, I would never!" She's so worried she's hurt him or made him insecure, her mind is stuck in a loop. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, please I'm sorry."
"I know, I know. It's ok. " Once he's examined the wound he places a hand on either side of her face and makes sure to look in her eyes as he shushes her. "Breathe."
She takes a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds before letting it out. That seems to break the hyperventilating, though she's still breathing a little quick.
"I'm sorr-" she starts, but he place a hand to her mouth to stop her then immediately takes it away.
She looks at him, a few more hot tears spilling down her cheeks. But she doesn't apologize and she doesn't hyperventilate.
"You're hurt." He points out.
"Yeah, someone hit me with a crowbar. Seems a but excessi-" she's cut off to yelp as Muriel scoops her up off the floor. This gives her the opportunity to hugg him, which she takes clinging tightly to his neck.
"It's ok." He says again, taking her over to the couch and setting her down. She holds on a few extra moments before letting go.
He moves to get a rag, a bucket and some hot water from the pot in the hearth. Then goes back to Maranell.
"Let's clean this up." He says and starts to do so.
She flinches a little, and hisses as the hot water stings the wound. But it quickly acclimates. He apologizes anyway, and she just gives him the best smile she could right now. It comes off apologetic.
"It's not your fault." He assures flatly, continuing to clean blood from her forehead.
"I should have been more careful." She insists anyway.
"You should. You're hurt."
"I'm fine, my necklace is important."
He stops and looks at her "You're important."
"I'm fine. The necklace is-" she tries to insist, but he cuts her off.
"Replaceable. I have more." To prove his point her takes her hand and turns it over, showing her the spare pouch she's holding. "You're head is bleeding."
She reaches up to gingerly touch at the wound. He continues. "I have more myhrr. There's only one of you." He pulls her forward, hugging her protectively and keeps her like that for a while just glad she's there. Glad she made it back.
