Your character meets themselves as they were when you first started writing here.
Alternatively, if you haven’t been around as long or don’t feel your character is different enough, they meet themselves as a child or teenager.
It had to be a dream.
He was in Black Marsh, on the outskirts of where he was allowed to wander from the tribe as a hatchling. He could even smell Jeer’s scent nearby, a comforting scent that he’d long missed, fireflies occasionally flickering in and out of sight…
Wait…
There was a small, mud-splattered patch of black fur at the shore of one of the deeper parts of the swamp, one that he was specifically forbidden to enter. J’hasi approached the small Khajiit quietly, crouching down and watching the shimmer of scarce sunlight flickering over its murky surface with them, though the smaller ball of fur had their face buried in their arms folded over their knees, the barest gleam of green obscured by the mess of dirty mane. J’hasi shifted, then sat down fully, keeping quiet for now. He almost started a little when the Khajiit finally spoke.
“<You smell funny.>” J’hasi huffed out a small laugh, barely there.
“<Howso?>”
“<Like me, but not. Why’re you here?>” J’hasi swallowed, looking at the fading flickers of lights, a few brave fireflies skirting the water’s surface.
“<Don’t know. Dreaming, maybe.>” Not like any dream he’d had before, this one was far too calm and…weird… The smaller Khajiit rocked a little from side to side, quiet before finally lifting their head, and yeah, that was definitely the face he’d seen back in his days as a hatchling, those features he’d hated then, covered with mud and cursed. Back when he was called Gee-Ei.
“<I have dreams. Scary ones. Fere’s somethin’ following me, and it wants t’eat me up. I don’t like ffem.>” J’hasi swallowed again, recalling those nightmares as well, though a little less detail, more vague. But that feeling of terror remained firmly implanted in his memories.
“<I did too. Still do.>” There was almost a…ripple in the dream, like something had disturbed the surface of a puddle, and when he looked over again, Ei had grown, more scared-looking, fidgeting more out of fear than uncertainty, fur filthy but in a different way, and wearing a single shirt rather than the woven knots and cloth of the tribe.
“<M’scared. Really, really, really scared. I want t’go home, I miss Jeer, I miss Sees, I wanna go home.>” J’hasi tried to swallow past the knot in his throat but couldn’t, wanting to comfort the distressed…them, him, from back then, but not knowing how. Another ripple and Ei was older still, even thinner, even more scared, but with that firm defiant edge, that anger he could even feel from here, the scraps he’d worn in the Imperial City all those years ago, thin and useless against the cold winters’ bite. Being stared at like that…J’hasi shivered a little. Ei’s eyes were hard, muzzle wrinkled, twitching a little, even as the sheen of tears gathered in their eyes. And then the next ripple made everything seem cold, dark, Ei vanishing without a trace.
J’hasi shivered, seeing his breath ghost out into the air, a little scared now… He froze in place when he saw those eyes flickering in the dark, that heavy breathing, that huge, dark shape before it growled, then darted towards him. Teeth bared, going right for his throat and biting down and blood and-
The Khajiit’s limbs darted out to fight against the massive wolf that wasn’t there, his hands striking stone at full force and making him curl up and hiss in pain, his fingers trembling. His breathing was shaky, ragged, but he could smell the lack of blood, could smell the scents of the Hall of Attainment, the mix of cold stone, people, fur, straw, books, and per usual, a hint of something burning. Not a hint of wolf, or blood, or…
He was crying.
J’hasi hissed out a small curse in Jel, swiping over his eyes before pushing himself upright, still shaky but…he had to get up. Take a walk. Something. Just…as soon as he got control of his fucking emotions again…
vvardenfellcat 