Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise.

“Uh… thanks.” Tank gave the floating wolf a suspicious glance before sitting back and raising a hoof to his forehead. “You can call me Tank, I guess. Don’t mind me though, I’m… just in kind of a foul mood. I’m not actually all that keen to die yet.”

“Okay, Tank,” Lamb acknowledged with a nod. “What’s troubling you? Did you lose something?”

Wolf puffed up threateningly and continued, a snarl in his voice, “Be careful not to bump into something dangerous... or you’ll lose your LIFE!”

Death. The pair that stood before her represented the looming specter that haunted her life for so long, that even attempted to embrace her before and seemingly succeeded. Perhaps that is why she felt no fear or discomfort around the pair, death is something she’s known for a long time. Death was something she delivered, even unwillingly.

Or perhaps it was because they are not Death now. They are just people like anyone else. “Is it strange…” she began, her voice trailing to find the words. “…is it strange to embody a concept like that and then suddenly…not? To have the very center of your being taken from you?”

Wolf’s posturing aside, they seemed to take it quite well, all things considered. They have to adjust, like everything else, but they seem mostly content. “Though I think it might be a good change of pace to be able to meet people while they are still alive too…” She was speaking aloud at this point, don’t mind her.

Lamb laughed at the comment easily. “Yes, more than a little strange. Perhaps even stranger for you than for us. It’s kind of like...” Hmm, how to describe it, she wondered... Surely there was some mortal concept similar to this. She tapped her mask in thought a few times.

“...It’s like waking up,” she answered after a few moments of silence. “We have our memories of our past ‘life’, and now we have many things to consider, like hunger.”

“Speak for yourself!” Wolf quipped. Chomping on the fleeing masses was like his whole thing! Unlike some people.  “...But sometimes I don’t feel like eating now. It’s terrible!”

“I’ve been here for about a month or two, give or take. There is still a lot about this place I don’t fully understand.” Such as how people from seemingly multiple different times and places seem to just appear here and any questions of how and why are left unanswered. Or how there seems to be sheep versions of famous figures; just the other day she heard of famed neurosurgeon Twice H. Fleeceman.

She gave a nervous chuckle at Wolf’s comments. “You…you probably shouldn’t chase the sheep. Wolf or not, the sheep are the main citizenry around here.” Would a wolf, even a sentient wolf-monster like Wolf, attacking a sheep count as assault or even murder? She wasn’t a lawyer, so it wasn’t her place to say either way.

She walked around the graveyard some more, rubbing the tops of the graves. “What did you two do before coming here anyway? it seems the peaceful life is new for you as well.”

“This land is very odd, indeed,” Lamb noted with a tilt of her head. “It seems as if there’s a lot to understand, still... In the meantime, meeting people has been new and interesting.” Seemingly much easier than trying to figure out what’s happened, at least, she felt.

“We’ve always met people at their death!” Wolf chimed in, springing off of Lamb’s reply.

“Yes, we have been deemed the Eternal Hunters by many.” Lamb tried to recollect what she had learned of the perception mortals had through their countless years on the hunt. “...Kindred, the masked wolf and lamb, were what some in other realms would call the ‘Grim Reaper’. Those who accept their fate would meet my bow, while those who run...”

“...meet my claws!” Wolf tried to look threatening, though he hadn’t the powers he used to have, so it just looked like his usual growling self. He tries so hard.

She nodded. Peace after a chaotic life. Perhaps that sounded right. Of course, that was perhaps not the only thing. She has tasted death, on both the giving and receiving end, so perhaps the cemetery’s atmosphere felt intrinsically familiar to her. To see people resting peacefully beneath the graves, she wonders if her former opponents were at peace too.

“No, it’s OK. I did not run. I couldn’t.” And that’s all she said on the matter, at least for the moment. She doubted the two wanted to know her full life story anyway, and she didn’t want to disturb the quiet mood of the cemetery. Now wasn’t the time for such ruminating.

“Ah, I see. My name is Hakuno.” she gave a little bow. “Pleased to meet the two of you. I take it you are new arrivals here then?”

“We are, yes,” Lamb responded affirmatively. “It has been an interesting change of pace. Slow, but very peaceful.” She smiled gently, though mostly obscured through her mask. Lamb definitely had an affinity for the meditative work... unlike Wolf, who diligently complained about boredom while helping out.

“Have you been here long, Hakuno?” she asked after a brief pause, thinking. “You seem like you may be accustomed to this place. I do still wonder how benign it may be.”

“The sheep disappear before I can chase them!” Wolf complained, feeling righteous anger at being robbed of a chase. “They know our every move!!” He growled in suspicion, as if expecting an attack... but Lamb just laughed.

      “Greg?”

      To most, Wirt would appear to some sort of lost boy in a graveyard… Except, no, that’s not the case here. More like he’s a boy who lost another boy in the graveyard. There’s a very distinct difference, and it’s a situation Wirt has found himself in quite often lately.

      “Greg…?” He continues to repeat his name, looking behind various headstones in the hopes that the young boy will be hiding behind one of them. Wirt sighs, sinking to the ground and covering his face. There was no way Greg could be around here, but he swore he saw him run in, and—

      What was that? It… It wasn’t Greg, obviously, but he had someone’s attention, it seems. Wirt looks up, staring up at Lamb as he tries to piece together the same sentence he’s told countless others when searching for his brother.

      “I… Yeah,” he starts, slowly getting up again. “Er, not something, someone. My, uh, brother, Greg. He ran in here, but I lost him. … He’s seven, has brown hair, and he’s wearing a teapot on his head. Have you seen him? … Either of you.”

      The presence of Wolf unnerves him, but considering they’re the only hope he has for finding Greg in this unfamiliar place, he might as well try.

Lamb nodded at the boy’s predicament in understanding. “We haven’t seen such a boy, I’m sorry,” she answered with a hint of sadness. “Unless he happened to sneak around us, in which case, he could be anywhere.”

“Maybe he’s buried alive!” Wolf added helpfully. Lamb immediately waved off his comment.

“We didn’t bury anyone,” she assured. “We’ve only cleaned the area, so far, so don’t mind him. Do you know where he might have come in at?” Given they have only resided there for a little while, she wasn’t entirely sure how big the place was. Still, there seemed to only be one front gate...

Lamb and Wolf wandered around the area after cleaning up the grounds, looking to explore more than just their homey little cemetery. Graves weren’t very good for conversation, now were they? While there weren’t many folks out walking either, Wolf certainly appreciated the change in scenery, yapping more than usual.

“This place could use more of those sheep!” he shouted, growling under his breath. “I wanna chase something!”

“You’re always eager to chase, aren’t you? Why don’t you just enjoy the fresh air?” Lamb said, sighing slightly. Always hungry for something... at least he’s a familiar personality. The city seems to change in little ways all the time. Just as she thinks it, a stranger rounds the corner, looking a little lost.

“Ooh! Someone’s here!” Wolf called out immediately at the helmeted stranger.

“Sorry,” Lamb called out afterward, waving apologetically. “Wolf here is... loud. You can call me Lamb. I hope we didn’t startle you.”

Hakuno had…somehow failed to notice, or perhaps didn’t want to bring herself to notice, the large wolf creature that followed the lamb-woman. Like the lamb, he too was masked, though he was far more likely to invoke Hakuno’s flight reaction in all honesty.

“No new arrivals? That is something of a relief, even if it’s peculiar. I guess no one really does die here in Stella City, not even the sheep.” She looked again across the graves, trying to read the dates written on them. It was only after looking over a few did she realize that she didn’t even know what year it was currently, much less how much time had past in relation to any of these people being laid to rest.

“To be honest, I am glad. I spent my life before coming here surrounded by death. Maybe that’s why I found myself gravitating to this place…”

In response, Lamb put a finger to her chin, speaking thoughtfully. “Trying to find peace after a chaotic life, then? Perhaps a visit to this place was something you needed...” The girl’s looks were certainly deceiving, Lamb wouldn’t have guessed she led such a troubled past. Though, of course, she knew she wasn’t the most skilled in social interaction.

“Did you kill? ...Or did you run?” Wolf suddenly spoke up, exhibiting an earnest passion for the topic. And total lack of sensitivity.

“Another visitor on the grounds, it seems...” Lamb spoke quietly to herself, just then noticing the young lad wandering in circles, looking behind graves and trees. “A lost soul...? Or maybe just a lost boy in a graveyard, hmm.”

Wolf responded with a bit of laughter. “We should scare him! Uh, before he knocks something over!” And definitely not because he was feeling bored and mean. Right.

“No, Wolf,” Lamb replied, shutting him down. She watched as the lad continued his apparent search... “He may need some help. We will see what he needs.” Lamb quietly walked through the trimmed grass over to him, noting his peculiar hat.

Lamb’s stomach growled as she walked into a fresh-smelling bakery, causing her to place a hand on her belly. “I’ve never been hungry before coming to this place...” she comments aloud, a pondering tone in her voice. “... I don’t think I like it.”

“But eating is fun!” Wolf retorted with a growl. “Food tastes extra good when you’re hungry!” It took him a few moments to register that they entered a building at all, clearly being distracted by the topic of food. He sniffed suspiciously. “This doesn’t smell like meat.”

Hakuno turned towards the voice that spoke to her and saw a…masked lamb woman? Was she one of the sheep? No, she seemed like…something else. A humanoid creature wearing a mask. A sheep-being not of this world. Then again, she wasn’t sure anyone aside from the native sheep themselves were truly of this world.

“No, not really. I happened upon this place and felt like visiting.” She had no one to visit, she somehow doubted the dead she knew would be laid to rest in such a mysterious city. Of course, her earlier questions still pushed at her mind; if the lamb-woman was a foreigner like herself she may not know…but she may have also been informed.

“Do you know if the people buried here are sheep or…people? No one seems to die in this town, at least not that I know of at least.” She had heard rumor of a murder, but in the end it turned out to be just that, a rumor. No one had died.

“Exploring graveyards in your spare time, huh?” Wolf quipped, teasing the stranger with a toothy grin. Lamb calmly ignored his comments and listened attentively to her comments and questions, then trying to figure out how to address them.

Finally, she gently nodded. Lamb scratched one of her ears and explained, “I confess that I do not quite know. These names are all... unfamiliar, but we take care of this place all the same.” Lamb wondered if it seemed unfitting of her position, but these were peculiar circumstances, and she was still new. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they were all formerly inhabitants of this city, likely sheep... Still, there have been no new ‘arrivals’ since we’ve arrived.”

“Not even a sheep!” Wolf complained.

Lamb looked blankly at the letter once more, trying to parse the meaning of it all. “It would seem we’ve retired from our eternal hunt, dear Wolf,” she stated aloud, her words immediately followed by Wolf snarling and glaring at the piece of paper as if it insulted him. Lamb patiently held it still for him to read for a few moments before realizing he was just upset.

“I don’t want to retire!” Wolf shouted in disdain, “I want to hunt!”

But alas, his wishes and snarling were unheard. Despite objections, it was looking like they were truly mundane,mortal and… not a concept. Living among the mortals they have hunted for so long in their darkest hours… That was new. “I never thought I would ‘retire’ so soon,” commented Lamb, continuing from her thoughts. “What a peculiar place this is. I wonder what it’s all about...”

“Are we really doing this, Lamb?” Wolf complained loudly, ignoring her placid comments. “Can’t I just eat these little… Hey!!” Lamb looked, seeing that the delivery sheep disappeared mid-conversation, much to Wolf’s obvious annoyance... Probably a good move. Lamb just laughed and patted her companion on the head.

“Let’s go explore this city, dear Wolf. Maybe a break isn’t all bad.”