Firestone Hot Springs tell me how anyone thinks under this condition

@Serem

The hot springs smell horrible — possibly worse than anything he's ever smelled before. Worse, even, than the thick, choking smoke that had swallowed his birthplace so long ago. But it's not Kaistleoki's claim — and it's not anywhere near @Evergreen. All that matters to him is that he's far away from the chocolate-furred Count, and even farther from the strange heated feelings his presence brings. So he wanders among the hot springs, disgusting as they smell, avoiding his feelings — as usual.

Serem has left the area where she had collapsed and was healed. She was not going to feel that way again and she wanted to kill the bitch responsible. She was filled with blind rage when she saw someone in her vision and she growled low once. “What do we have here hm?”

The woman's approach startles him — and her words startle him even more. Um, He says, blinking and taking a step back from the growling stranger. He's not entirely sure how to answer the question, but he has a feeling the woman doesn't care anyway.

He seemed startled; good she liked them that way anyway. His answer made a chuckle escape her muzzle along with a smirk. “What cat got your tongue?” Surely he was capable of speaking.

He still doesn't entirely understand the situation, but it's starting to piss him off. He doesn't even know this woman. What the fuck are you talking about? He demands, hackles rising. He wasn't even doing anything.

She was done with the small talk and quite frankly she wasn’t even going to continue it anyway as she lunges towards the wolf. Her teeth aiming to clamp onto whatever peice of flesh she could

The only response he receives comes in the form of teeth, and for a moment he's too stunned to react. Fire slices through his shoulder in an instant, filling the air with a metallic tang as warm wetness wells in his fur. He feels nauseous instantly, and some part of him screams for flight, but instinct demands that he fight back — so he does. He snaps at her, aiming for her face and trying very hard not to think about how much he's shaking now.

Her lunge was successful and she could taste his blood on her tongue and she wasn’t expecting the boy to retaliate but he did and his teeth connected with the side of her neck; making her wince and back up.

Catching her breath for a moment the she wolf went for her next attack aiming for his flesh once more.

The fire fades ever so slightly, and he thinks it might be over. He hopes it is. But the teeth return in an instant, and the memory comes back to him in the same instant: honey eyes and earthen fur, blood in the murk, his life ripped away by the flash of fangs —

"I am Popobowa."

— and he is a child again, tucked against the too-still form of his father, surrounded by his family's grief and suffocating. Why weren't they helping? He is small and weak, he is scared and angry and so very alone. He is the boy lying broken and bloody in the muck, the boy chased from his home by the scathing lick of flames, the boy who could not find his father in any of the men who had failed him since, striking out from a shattered home without blood or bond to ground him.
He feels teeth digging deeper into his neck, but he does not see the dark woman. He sees @Aditya, tall and broad and golden as he's always been. Why now? He wonders dimly, grip on his assailant loosening and falling away. You're too late. You're always too late.

"So you see, River... the ones we love, they never really leave us."

But you did. They all did, and I am going to die alone.

She has done damage, serem had drawn blood and she had no desire to kill the young wolf. She released him from her grasp she sent a growl his way hoping he’d just leave and run off.

He has been on high alert ever since two attacks happened just out of Kaistleoki's reach. It leaves the bear on edge, for he had left Rising Sun Valley, thinking it too dangerous with the amount of conflicts... and yet, they have followed him here. He paces, unable to shake the restless urge to keep his feet moving. It is odd how in moments like this he feels so incredibly small and alone in this vast world.

The sound of a fight leaves the bear charging from the riverlands. The scent and mist of the springs stings his eyes. Never before had he ventured this way, but Evergreen refuses to stand idle when he hears such commotion. It is when he nears that his fur begins to stand on end. His heart racing, lips curving to display a fangs and the massive wolf has no mercy. River is sprawled on the ground, bleeding from the neck. Once again, someone he cares for is bleeding out, clinging to life. He wants to sob, to beg that the world stop hurting and taking from him.

But instead, he rages like a bull caught in a small pin. His bulk flies past the silver male and towards the black figure standing over him. He attempts to slam into her, attempts to grab her clear by the scruff and pin her to the ground. Merciless, powerful. He refuses to allow another go through this again.

She only slightly blindsided by the fact of another male running towards her and the female was quick to dodge the brute and head for the hills.

He is not quick enough, again. The shadow slips away from him, and takes off. Temptation curls in his stomach to charge after, and yet, with a few hurried, long strides, the bear halts. His mouth agape in a pant, tail raised and posture uncharacteristically dominant. Once the fleeing wolf is gone from his sight, he turns sharply, almost tripping on his massive paws as he rushes towards the silver male's side. He noses him gently, brushing his cheek along a section of River that isn't injured.

River, he whispers, I'm going to take you home. Don't worry. Moving him when he is injured as he is perhaps isn't the brightest plan, but Evergreen's mind is racing. He isn't thinking, all he knows is that he has to get him to a healer, and waiting on one to appear is too slow. So he crouches, trying to avoid picking at the injured male too much and pausing whenever he seems in pain. He needs to get him on his back somehow though, so he makes attempts.