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Swanly did not wake up all at once. At first, she only felt cold earth under her back, damp air against her skin, and the heavy smell of leaves pressing into her nose. It was too fresh. Too green. Too alive. After the apocalypse, the world usually smelled like smoke, blood, rusted metal, spoiled food, and whatever rotten nightmare had crawled into the streets overnight. This place smelled like trees. That should have comforted her. It did not. Swanly's eyes stayed closed as she frowned in her sleep. Her body felt strange, as if someone had dragged her out of one life and dropped her into another without asking permission. Her limbs felt lighter. Her chest felt tighter. Even the cloth against her skin felt wrong, rough and stiff in a way that made no sense. Then something wet touched the tip of her nose. Swanly's brows twitched. The wet thing touched her again. Soft. Warm. Ticklish. It dragged over her nose with ridiculous care, like whatever it was had decided that her face was a mysterious fruit and needed to be tested. Swanly inhaled sharply and wrinkled her nose. "Get the fuck away from me." The licking stopped. For one second. Then it started again. This time, the soft little tongue went from the bridge of her nose down toward her upper lip. Swanly's soul almost left her body out of pure disgust. She lifted one hand blindly and shoved at the air. "I said get off. I don't care what you are. I'm tired." Something small made a soft sound beside her. Swanly did not open her eyes. In the old world, ignoring things was usually a terrible survival strategy, but she had survived an apocalypse. She had earned at least five more seconds of sleep before the universe came to bite her again. The soft thing licked her nose a third time. That was it. Swanly's patience snapped like a cheap hair tie. She swung her arm hard. "Get off!" Something tiny was flung away from her chest and landed in the leaves with a small, startled squeak. Swanly shot upright at once, sneezing so viol
