The first thing should could feel was warmth.
Her brow furrowed; that shouldn't be right. She'd just been-
...What had she been through? It was something bad, she knew, but her mind couldn't recall the situation. She squeezed her eyes, trying to think, when she realized her eyes were not yet open.
Carefully, she lifted her eyelids, only to slam them shut with the bright afternoon sun.
That would explain the warmth, she reasoned silently.
She shifted, and the movement bore more weight than she remembered.
Or didn't remember. Was she heavier than she should be? Or had she always been this heavy?
The entire idea was only confusing, that she should have some inkling of who she was, or where, but nothing came to mind.
She knew enough that she was alive, and that was that.
Slowly, she opened her eyes again, allowing herself time to adjust to the light, and carefully, one paw at a time, she stood.
And looked down.
Gods, she was green! Was that right? She didn't feel like that was correct, but here she was, very much a very unnatural color. It felt.... dirty? Was that the right word? Or at least, very wrong to be her.
And gods above, were those wings? Those certainly shouldn't have been there at all! And yet, the color felt more right then her body, so maybe she was merely making a mistake in assuming they weren't hers. They were connected to her very body, and certainly moved if she so much as flexed a muscle in them. The movement itself, alien as it was, felt very real and right for what they were.
And yet, here she was.
Sighing aloud, she looked around. No one was around, and she expected.... someone. But who? Wracking her mind as she already was, there was nothing. But there was SOMETHING. She was sure of it.
Something she had to look for, and she felt... fearful for.
Someone was out to hurt this... thing, whatever it was, and she had to protect it.
She winced, the pain in her head sharp despite the fact she felt very much healthy everywhere else.
A little too healthy and strong for someone who was just....
Just....
Just what?
She growled. This was going to get old, and fast.
And yet, she was going to have to suffer through it to try and find that thing she needed to find.
Here she was, a lioness with a weird shade of green on her fur that she was sure shouldn't be there, unsure of even her own name, and there was something she had to find with no idea where to find it, much less her own name.
Why couldn't he remember even her name?
She turned to look behind her and was surprised to find herself close to water.
Looking down, she could see the drag marks of something that had been smaller, pulled ashore and then... suddenly was larger?
The tracks stopped at her own feet, and her brow furrowed... had she dragged something ashore? It certainly couldn't have been her, those marks were much too small compared to her current size.
She bent down, looking for any trace of... anything, really.
And she spotted a small tuft of white fur that seemed to fade into a darker color, almost black.
The color alone was like a punch in the gut.
That was why the green felt wrong. She rushed to the water's edge and took in an appearance that was nowhere near close to what she thought it should be, though she couldn't quite recall why it was wrong. The flowers adorning her fur, the flowing red locks of her former tuft of hair, all wrong!
She wasn't supposed to be green! She was white, and black and red! And they were-
She stopped.
They. THEY.
What she was looking for wasn't a thing, it was a THEM.
Multiple them!
Her gaze turned sharply back towards the land, the wings on her back flexing against her sides.
She had something... no, someone she had to find.
And come storm or sand, she would find them. Their very lives may depend on her, she rationalized, though where to begin?
She took one large step in the direction she'd been facing, looking up to position the sun where she could recall first seeing it before walking forward.
This would have to do.
A name and whatever she required would just simply have to find her along her travels. Whatever they were she sought just couldn't wait a minute more, and she felt they had been waiting long enough already.
A soft buzzing in her ear and she looked over, surprised to see a bee flitting about her head, bothering her flowers. She frowned, "Don't you have other flowers you could be resting in?"
The small bug seemed to pause, but quickly came to rest on her nose and start cleaning its face.
She shook her head, and it only gripped tighter, refusing to leave and staring her down, almost challenging her to squish it.
She sighed, "Oh fine, stay around. I suppose talking to a bee will be better than talking to myself this entire trip."
She was only half surprised for the bug to take off and flit about her head, excitedly, and she rolled her eyes.
"I can always squish you later if you accidentally sting me. That's still an option."
When she didn't get an immediate 'response', she looked to her left and spotted not only one bee, but three, and she stared them down for a moment before just turning away from them, the buzzing signalling from behind that they both were following her closely.
"...That applies to the other ones too. And don't think we're picking up bee chicks the entire way, if I find so much as one extra bee hiding somewhere you're all in for it. I can mash you into a nice, yellowing paste for war paint."
[Word Count: 1,000]