underwater

He felt a pain in his legs, and a foul smell entered his nose - and for a moment, Tryphon thought he was on fire. It was only a moment, though. A confusing second of half-remembered pain, and the smell of a feral creature from his childhood; but the boy could not place it. He didn't know why he now studied his forelimbs, or why he was just noticing the old scars that decorated them from wrist to elbow. When had that happened? Where? And why did looking out at the ice make him so nervous?

The boy shuddered and looked away - in time with the stranger's approach, and then his question. Tryphon would've been surprised enough to jump from his own skin, as usual, but he was too distracted even for that. The question was an interesting one though. He shrugged a little, shaking his head as if to say, No, I'm far from alright, but then muttered a contrary, "I'm fine, I'll be fine." With a hard swallow, Tryphon forced himself to step back - mentally and physically - from the strange view before himself. He turned to look at the distant mountain where he had come from, and then his gaze wandered to the pale stranger.

"Do you ever feel like you've lost your mind?" The boy asked, and then upon hearing his own question, scowled softly. His ears fell back and he shook his head again, but this time at his own stupidity. This was no place to gush about how fractured he felt. "Nevermind. Forget it." He slurred, and began to stiffly return in the direction of the mountain. Afraid, on some level, of the ice and anything else that it would tell him.