Serpent Lake to the town of agua fria rode a stranger one fine day

oh god that was a bruiser. val laid out in the sand, stunned -- blinking at the suddenly too bright sky and the suddenly too noisy wind and the sound of reeds and feet and --

i'm so, so, so, so sorry! are you okay?

huh? where was that coming from? and that voice..? did he know it?

he shifted upright, amazed at how the silhouette a respectful distance away seemed to bend and retract like a freshly disturbed pool of water. val squinted, slowly coming to what little scanty senses he had.


he was wobbly, but otherwise okay. the egg on his head would probably be there a while, but he felt mostly fine. besides.. he'd just connected the figure before him was female -- win win, right? his vision was still too blurry to pick up the fine details, like it being alyx -- someone he very much knew.

"ughhh.. my head." val groaned, sliding back to his stomach and cradling the fresh knot on his skull with his paws. "i think if you kissed it, it'd make it better."

worth a try, right?