Firestone Hot Springs vegetable man, where are you?

hope you don't mind reif!

reif did not know what to make of the hot springs.

he eyed them dubiously from a safe distance, tail swishing at his hocks. the smell, it made his eyes water as his nose wrinkled and he would've fled this place in an instant had curiosity not driven him forth to investigate only to discover the stinking water was warm?? aboslutely perplexed, the boy had slunk back to a safer distance where he could actually breathe without the overhwhelming urge to retch. he really couldn't afford to risk puking up what little food he managed to scavenge. 

yet to add to his bewilderment was the sudden appearance of a little shadow. still uneasy after his experience with orochi, reif wasn't prepared to expose himself just yet and had drawn back even further, crouching amongst the gathered shadows to watch curiously. eyes widen, jaw falling almost comically ajar as the small wolf proceeded to get into the stinking hole. how...could he not smell? astounded, it proves to be enough to tempt the boy from safety as she moves forward tentatively. a few times he stops, breathing heavily through his mouth in an effort to avoid letting any of the smell in before stopping a small distance away. "h-how..?" is all he manages to splutter out, sage eyes wide with amazement. 

yet surprise suddenly takes ahold of him as he peers closer at the boy; so familiar...he never forgot a face. another surprise then comes along in the form of an unfamiliar pang, seeing something he associated with the willows made him....miss them. a frown creeps over his muzzle as he simply states; "i know you" not well, they'd never spoken and reif hadn't made an effort to get to know anyone besides his brothers but he had seen that face back at home, that much he was certain. this was, at least once, an elysium wolf.