---

Thread is backdated to 11/1/25

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
3-3-3 OC

---

Speech Emotional Actions Thoughts

Bao had been preparing for a new infected to enter her den, worse off than the first one had gotten. No longer a conscious mind, and now a host to a parasite that seemed to only want to travel. She gathered many things: honey for a sore throat, white turtleneck for dulling the toxins in the body, and some poppy to soothe any aches they may have, even if she couldn't be told.

As the patient came in, Bao swiftly moved, not daring to skip a second, not risking the infection spreading more than it had. No one deserved to suffer, not one bit, so when this wolf was none other than a family member, she promised to work harder than she had before. Working days on end, barely sleeping, and hardly eating, she didn't have the time, not between feeding the patient, treating, and cleaning up.

The one night she had finally slept after many restless ones was the night something swept her away. Everything slipped away when she slumbered beneath a heavy moon and a sky full of stars; when she woke, it was high noon, and the area was entirely different. Instead of freezing mountains and inside of the ruins of a castle, she now lay in a swamp that entangled itself into the ancient lands and ruins that lay here.

She didn't care where she was but more where her patient was.

Ohhh no...Ohnonono.. Right.. She had her poppy and...turtleneck. She'll...she'll be fine? Right? Oh ancestrals sake why!

Her voice was shrill against the stone and trees around her; she was pissed, to put it simply! Grumbling and growling, Bao slowly paced the little stone ledge she was on, muttering about what her patient had the past few days and if they'd survive long enough for her to get back to the winter lands.

She could feel something, as if she could feel she was needed here in this world. How? She didn't know... She was needed at home; her trainee was not ready to handle the infected yet.

SKILL: SKILL NAME (1/5)

---

Shēnléi heard the voice before he saw her—sharp, panicked, cutting through the swamp air like a knife. He froze mid-step, ears twitching toward the sound, instincts prickling. No threat in the tone, just desperation. Still, he moved quietly, every step measured, the water rippling faintly around his paws.

When he found her, she was pacing a half-collapsed ledge, muttering to herself, eyes wild with worry. He stayed a few feet back, his silhouette caught in the soft light filtering through the mist.

You’re going to scare the whole swamp awake at this rate, he said, voice low, calm, threaded with dry humor. If you’re lost, shouting at the trees won’t help much.

He tilted his head, studying her—mud-smeared, frantic, but not dangerous. “You’re not from here,” he said after a moment. “Are you?”

---

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
3-3-3 OC

---

Speech Emotional Actions Thoughts

Bao continued to pace, her mind scattered wildly, and she didn't seem to notice anything. Her teeth chewed lightly at his lips and inner cheek; her heart seemed to race like a train in her chest. She still didn't understand why she was here. Her vibrant eyes eventually darted upwards to the voice that came from a nearby spot; he stood in the filtered light, the mist of the land shrouding the area.

The humor in his tone eased her panic, barely, but enough for her to focus on this world, rather than her patients in the other world. Slowly, she turned her entire body towards him to focus on his stance; he didn't seem aggressive. Silently, she took a breath in and calmed down as best as possible.

Sorry.. Er, I don't know how I got here? Do you know where Vargrheim is? I need to get home- my friends, they are sick.. Horribly sick,

She wasn't sure where she was, shuddering a moment, remembering the vacant stares of her own sister, the exasperated breathing, and the choking of mucus. It was disgusting, but it was the job of a healer; she could have easily just...used some nightshade or tar and put her out of her misery, but Bao wasn't like that.

I'm sorry..That was rude of me,

Bao lifted a paw, sliding one forwards and bowing her head, forehead resting against the cold stone.

Hua Bao, Royal healer of Vargrheim.

SKILL: LEADER (1/5)

---

For a long moment, Shēnléi didn’t move at all.

He watched her fold down into that bow — shaking, dirt-smudged, still half lost between what he could only assume worlds — and something in his chest gave the faintest, irritated twitch. Not because she bowed, but because she looked like she might collapse if the wind even breathed wrong in her direction.

Another lost soul stumbling into my path… the heavens really enjoy testing me.

His bronze eyes flickered, bright and cutting even through the swamp haze. He stepped forward, water curling around his ankles, his posture tall and deliberate.

That’s quite the introduction, he murmured, head tilting just enough to be elegant and a little patronizing at the same time. But you really don’t need to bow to me. I’m not your emperor. He stopped just close enough that she could feel the shift in the air, like heat rolling off a dragon’s scales.

Vargrheim, he echoed, tasting the word like it was from a storybook he vaguely remembered reading as a child. Wherever that place is… it’s not anywhere near here. His gaze softened. Only barely, but it was there.

You look like you’ve run yourself half to death, he said, voice lowering, gentle in a way that still carried command. Stand up. You’re trembling. He glanced over her shoulder at the swamp, the fog, and the unfamiliar air clinging to her like another layer of skin, then back down at her with a quiet, sharp exhale. Whatever… sickness your people suffer from, he continued, you won’t save them by wandering blindly through a place that isn’t your own.

A beat.

Then his tone shifted, still calm, but carrying that effortless confidence that could hold up the sky if he felt like it. I can help you figure out where you actually are. And maybe… how you ended up this far from home. A faint smirk touched his mouth. But only if you stop bowing to stones and talk to me like a person.

He nudged her chin lightly with the side of his paw, not unkindly, but just enough to lift her head to face him. Rise, Hua Bao. Tell me what happened to you before you fell into my swamp.

---

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
3-3-3 OC

---

Speech Emotional Actions Thoughts

Bao kept her head down, forehead against the cold stone; her fur clung tight to her skin where it had grown damp from her prior slumber. Her ears flicked forwards to listen. briefly lifting her head to watch the water curl around his ankles. Her eyes stared silently, only lifting her head more when he spoke of not needing to bow.

Right..Sorry, it is just tradition from home to bow to strangers..

Her voice held pain, not physical but emotional; she didn't understand this world and just wished to return home. When he spoke of it being nowhere near where they were, her heart clenched, ears pinning back to her skull. Why had she been stripped from her home like a slave and its master in war? Her mind still raced with many things.

I've had to work non stop..So i can see why i look like that,

Slowly, Bao stood up, brushing a bit of mud off her white forehead and looking at the canine in front of her. She didn't understand why he was being so nice; many would disregard a healer or even shove one aside, and yet this wolf was kind enough to speak to her without malice.

As the wolf's paw came up to her chin, she stilled entirely and stared at him in a brief silence. Jaws briefly falling slack before she snapped them shut, was that a...normal thing to do to a stranger? She was unsure, but she remained cautious about him for now.

What was she doing before she had came here..

Before..I came here, I was sleeping... I was curing a family member from the sickness; she was like a zombie, couldn't control herself- I had finally gotten a night to rest, and when i did, Bam..Here,

SKILL: LEADER (2/5)

---

The Emperor remained still when she lifted her head — a quiet, steady presence shaped by discipline rather than rank. Water curled around his ankles, moon-pale and soft, yet nothing in him shifted. Not even when her apology broke fragile against the air.

You owe me no bow, he said, voice low, controlled, but gentled at the edges. This land has taken enough from you already. It need not take your dignity too.

Her emotions moved too openly across her face — ears pinning, breath stuttering, grief curling tight in her chest like a wounded creature. Shēnléi felt the flutter of it, a tremor that touched even his stone-set composure. His bronze colored eyes lowered to her as she brushed mud from her brow, as if trying to erase the world’s cruelty with a single gesture.

You have not been treated kindly, he observed, a whisper delivered with the precision of truth rather than sympathy. Yet you stand. That is no small thing.

When she stilled beneath the touch of his paw, he did not linger. He lifted her chin only just — enough for her to meet his gaze, enough to steady the storm inside her — then let his paw fall back to the earth as if the moment had never happened.

In Tianlong, he murmured, we lift a bowed head only to remind another they do not walk alone.

A faint pause. Barely a breath.

It is not meant to startle.

Her story poured out in fragments — sleep, a body failing to sickness, a night of long-earned rest, and then this place swallowing her whole. A healer torn from her dying kin. A world unchanged by her loss.

Shēnléi’s eyes softened, almost imperceptibly.

You were taken from duty, then, he said. From someone who depended on you.

The river sighed against the stones.

That cruelty is not of your making. Do not shoulder blame for a violence you did not choose.

He stepped aside, allowing her space, yet his presence remained like a lantern set quietly at her threshold.

When you are ready, he added, voice the calm of a steadying hand, tell me about this disease that turns wolves into zombies. But until then I can bring you to Tianlong where you may properly rest and gain your bearings.

---