i laughed the loudest; who'd of known

[Beppe Agapito]

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[/html]It was the sound of the crackling fire that had woken Beppe, not the heavy smoke. Savage snaps and whistles had permeated through his dreaming, tearing away the ghosts of strange memories. The moment he had awoken, he could remember an image of Empusa, still as young as when he had met her, fading behind a shimmery curtain of dusk and fog. Maria and Jasper were there too, but he did not see them, only knew they were there standing behind him.

As he lifted his head from his strange dreaming, he plunged himself into the heavy layer of smoke that was making its way to the ground. It took him a moment, but he recognised what it was. A small fire, it seemed, had expanded to fill all of the forest, consuming all the trees and the dry bushes that lay around him. His heart was caught in his throat for a moment, and he panicked, leaping up and circling a few times. He didn't know where his mother was, and she was injured. In his head he organized his priorities. 1) Find mother; 2) Find safety. The method he would go about doing these seemed rather elusive at the time, but really there was only one way to start.

The territories that he lived close to seemed to all have melded into one, united beneath a large cap of flame, a veil of smoke. He wandered outwards, disoriented and unable to think straight. It was both the shock and the smoke beffudling the boy, and though the shock might wear off the smoke was only getting denser. Breathing was tricky and he had to go slowly, keeping his head to the ground to avoid the soot.

Beppe almost collided with another body, unwittingly having gone up towards the entrance of someone's den, and stopped himself moments before his head struck the other creature's side. The other seemed familiar, though decidedly different. Its scent was undecipherable beneath the smell of ash. Either way, they were in it together, might as well try to find a way as a team. Two heads were better than one, after all. The other seemed to be rather indecisive about what to do, as well, and he wouldn't want anyone to be left any longer than they had to. "Hey," he called loudly over the fire, hoping the other would hear him. [html]