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Lyllii began to feel light-headed, sluggish and lethargic -sort of like the time someone spiked something she ate. One glance at the sky was explanation enough; the sun was completely blotted out by the smog, and her body was now deprived of converting the excess carbon dioxide into usable energy. Worse yet, her very presence only increased the amount of smog her companions were inhaling; each breath of oxygen she exhaled was quickly combined with the carbon overload around them. Her steps began to falter even as the others began to increase in desperation, and she was almost powerless to stop it.

Burn, burn, burn with them. Burn once again.

The thoughts swirled around her head like wisps of smoke themselves, each one in a darker voice not quite like her own. Dark spots of iridescent bluish green floated around her vision as she continued to bottle her fear and run for all she was worth.

<^>

Farren watched from his post behind as the dingo-boy suddenly put in an extra burst of speed, meaning that either he had found something, or the shifter decided to save his own skin -somehow Farren doubted the latter, but he didn't know enough about any of the people he was escaping with to assume anything; he hadn't even caught their names yet!

A quick glance to the left gave reason to believe that the river just might be close by; the trees began to thin and gradually become shorter, and the terrain underfoot began to slope as if they were nearing a steep bank. "Hey! I think the river's close by!" he called out, though his voice was slightly muffled by his bandana.

OOC: Some of Lyllii's more plant-like traits are beginning to poke through...

She could tell Lyllii was faltering, though the nymph was clearly trying to push through it, pushing herself to actually speed up. Kasha's amber eyes narrowed, and she grabbed Lyllii's hand as Farren called out. "Only a bit more," she encouraged, helping to pull the nymph along. She didn't have time to question her actions, to wonder why she was doing this; the looming danger of burning to death was too heavy in her mind. So she just helped the nymph, whether Lyllii actually wanted it or not.

~~~~

Jason let out a small yip of agreement, though he didn't look back; there was no time too. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as his paws splashed into the shallow banks of the river, and he bounded in deeper, using his four paws to brace against the gentle but prominent current that ran through the water. His nostrils flared as a new scent rose above the smoke, close by. He turned to see what looked like an elf, his ears lying flat against his head.

~~~~

Maiya glanced them over, quickly deciding that they didn't really look hostile; they just looked...sooty, to be honest. Then again, the weapons some were holding didn't exactly look reassuring and peaceful. She shrugged that off; any fool could see that they had only come to escape the fire now raging through the forest. So shaking off any qualms she had about talking to strangers, she allowed a friendly smile to light up her face. "I'm Maiya," she greeted.

Lyllii nodded in acknowledgement to Kasha, but to the nymph, her own movement was so faint she doubted the anthro could see it at all. Once again, she felt her harm seized by the stranger, but at this point, she hardly cared, and allowed Kasha to practically pull her the rest of the way to the sanctuary the ragtag group would hopefully find in the river's waters. She took Jason's small and somewhat muffled yip to be some sort of agreement to what Farren said. Almost immediately after piecing this together, to her relief she felt the cool river mud squish between her bare toes, and she gradually felt herself begin to revive.

She opened her mouth to properly thank Kasha, then clamped it shut, frozen. Someone was watching them. She quickly whirled around with more energy than she had and was quickly rewarded with a throbbing headache as she tried to locate whoever those set of eyes belonged to.

"I'm Maiya," the elf greeted with a smile.

Lyllii relaxed somewhat; if this Maiya-girl wanted to harm them, she could have shot them with those arrows strapped to her back before any of them had time to respond, especially with how smog-disoriented all of their senses had to be by now. Or, maybe the elf didn't want to risk trying to take all four of them on by herself and was simply playing the "non-threatening" card. Either way, Lyllii didn't trust her; she had too many bad encounters just to trust the girl simply because she looked younger than the rest of them and had a pretty smile.

<^>

Farren took the dingo-boy's yip to mean that he guessed correctly. He glanced ahead to his right, and frowned. The nymph was fading fast, but right before he decided to intervene, the anthro once again grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. Much how a protective older sibling would, he mused. Odd.

To his relief, the sounds of splashing water broke through the fire's harsh crackling and overall roar as the dingo-boy entered the shallows, but something made him stiffen almost immediately. On reflex, Farren felt his hand reach for his quiver and brush his fingers against his arrows' fetching. Then he remembered that he had stored his bow in its tube and would need to be restrung before becoming usable again. He quickly moved his hand back down by his side, feeling somewhat foolish.

That foolish feeling only increased when he saw that what startled the dingo-boy was only a young girl -an elf, judging by her build, and hardly a threat as she appeared to be alone. Still, she seemed to be a bit young to be by herself.

"I'm Maiya," she greeted.

"Farren," he replied, arranging his facial features into something softer than the scowl he was certain he wore moments ago, and grinned slightly.

"I call myself Lyllii," said the nymph grudgingly, glaring at Farren accusingly for a brief moment before fixing her intense brown gaze at a point in the distance just to the side of Maiya's left ear.

Maiya nodded in acknowledgement of their introductions, but her attention was mainly focused on the tree groaning near the bank. Weakened by the enroaching flames, it let out a loud creak, a large branch falling towards them a moment later. "Watch out!" Maiya shrieked, raising her hands without really thinking about. The motion was accompanied by a large wall of water that shoved the falling branch aside, the limb splashing down only a few inches away from all of them. She lowered her hands, a sheepish smile forming as she noticed that everyone was mostly soaking wet.

~~~~

At her warning, Kasha had immediately stiffened, dropping into a protective crouch as she yanked her staff out. She sheathed it as the branch collapsed next to her, though her fur was standing on end. She forced herself to relax, tail uncurling from its nervous position. She glanced at the elf, ignoring the water soaking her coat uncomfortabley as she nodded at Maiya.

~~~~

Jason morphed back into a human, slinging his sword back into it's proper position. "Thank you," he said softly, offering Maiya a small smile.

"Watch out!" Maiya shrieked, raising her hands without really thinking about.

At that moment, several things happened at once. First, Lyllii became aware of the tree's groaning and whirled around to locate the immediate danger. Second, the branch broke away from its main trunk with one final groan and began its decent towards the travelers' heads. Farren then saw the branch and tried to either shove his companions out of the way or shield them with his larger body; he ended up stuck somewhere in between a lunge and a tackle, resulting in him overbalancing and knocking into Lyllii. Both stumbled and nearly fell onto the riverbed in an ungraceful tangle of limbs. And almost as soon as the two nearly regained their balance, a wall of water accompanied by Maiya's hand movements rose from the river's depths, swallowing the quartet briefly and knocking the limb safely off course, before falling away overhead with a heavy slap. Needless to say, the group was drenched.

"Nice...save," Farren commented lamely, bewilderment clear on his face. He then noticed the elf's sheepish smile, which prompted an almost hysterical bout of laughter at the morning's absurdity. "Well! I suppose, I needed, a bath. After that!" he gasped between chuckles.

Lyllii merely parted the long, sopping wet dark curtain of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ears. Normally, she didn't mind being wet, even fully clothed. In fact, under different circumstances, she'd probably laugh herself, or maybe even "accidentally" get Maiya soaked as well. But not today; today, she felt just plain annoyed. After being confronted by two of her greatest fears -in less than an hour split between them, no less!- and running for her life with a bunch of people she barely knew the names of, she felt physically and emotionally drained. The nymph didn't have the energy for patience or playfulness, so annoyance played out instead. "Thanks for the warning," she mumbled in acknowledgement to Maiya.

Maiya dipped her head towards the nymph, a smile breaking out from Farren's rather infectious laughter, even if it did seem a bit out of place.

~~~~

"We're a bunch of random strangers that sound more like the start of a bad joke rather than an actual group, surrounded by raging flames, and you're laughing?" Kasha pointed out, raising an eyebrow questioningly as her tail flicked in annoyance. She hated getting wet, and nothing about this situation was helping her mood any.

~~~~

Jason quickly sensed the tension that had now formed in the thick air, and attempted to lighten it some by stepping slightly in between Kasha and Farren. "We may want to think about moving downstream," he commented, gesturing to the fallen tree branch that was beginning to drift slowly away. The flames were weaker downstream as well, and it didn't look like the fire would be stopping any time soon.

"We're a bunch of random strangers that sound more like the start of a bad joke rather than an actual group, surrounded by raging flames, and you're laughing?" Kasha pointed out, raising an eyebrow questioningly as her tail flicked in annoyance.

Farren coughed as he attempted to sober. "But as you said yourself, it does sound like the start of a bad joke; that's what's so amusing," he replied, holding his hands open in mock surrender.

Lyllii rolled her eyes. "Sure it does, but that doesn't save you guys from roasting, or in my case, becoming a humanoid bonfire!" she snapped. Suppressing the anxiety and mental images brought back by the presence of large fires or being surrounded by a group of faces only worked so long as she had something else to focus on, and their current idleness was putting her further on edge. The nymph began to fidget, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and occasionally wringing her hands as her eyes darted for an escape route that would take her away from site and smell of the flames.

"We may want to think about moving downstream," Jason commented, gesturing to the fallen tree branch that was beginning to drift slowly away.

The nymph grunted in agreement. "Anything that gets us out of here."

Farren sighed. "Oh, but I was beginning to enjoy the scenery," he quipped in mock-disappointment and a dash of healthy sarcasm directed at no one in particular, earning himself what would've been a withering glare from the nymph.

Jason, sensing that this could possibly break into another argument, spoke up quickly. It wasn't something he was used to doing, nor something he really enjoyed, but it wasn't like he was completely anti-social...he just preferred to stay quiet most of the time. "Let's go, then," he said, sloshing through the water as he led the way.

~~~~

Maiya followed, trailing behind the were-animal. "I may be able to make this a bit easier," she offered a bit hesitantly.

"Feel free," she heard the anthro grumble, clearly not pleased about being so wet. Maiya nodded, raising her hands as she connected to the water, slipping into that calm state of mind she used when bending the elements. Most of it shifted to the side around them, leaving them in only ankle deep water, opposed to it being up to almost their thighs.

Lyllii dragged a leg forward a step through the silt saturated waters as she began to follow after Jason, feeling slightly relieved that they were finally moving again. Wait...they? Since when did she start thinking in plurals? The nymph shoved these thoughts aside as she trudged forward another step, though it ended up being miscalculated; at that moment, Maiya forced the water to bend out of the way, effectively parting the river until a path barely an ankle deep remained ahead and two walls of liquid flanked them. Lyllii's other foot came down harder than intended with the sudden dislocation of mass, resulting in her spraying both mud and water as she stumbled. She caught herself before face planting and pushed off against her dominant thigh once she regained her balance.

The nymph resisted the urge to glare at the elf, though she desperately wanted to unleash her pent-up frustration; and humanoids usually made excellent "outlets" for relieving such frustration. However, she wasn't quite to the point yet where she didn't have enough reason to recklessly antagonize someone else unprovoked...even though Maiya's timing had twice nearly acted as a catalyst, no matter how accidental. Instead, Lyllii found herself sucking in a breath before slowly exhaling it through gritted teeth and focused her gaze on her footing when she feared it might be seen as too bright or zealous.

<^>

Farren watched dumbfounded as the elf once again manipulated a large quantity of water before releasing a low whistle; despite Maiya's young age, the girl clearly held some serious power. Then when you added her lack of years -and possibly experience- into the mix...

He found himself absentmindedly placing the flat of his palm against one shimmering wall, raising an eyebrow when a catfish gaped at him curiously from the other side before swimming away. His gaze then rested on the young elf. "Impressive, but pace yourself, okay?" he called out with a hint of concern before following after the others.

Maiya nodded as she trailed along behind the group - if they could be considered that - in response to Farren's comment. "I will," she assured. "I'll let you know if I get too tired." She didn't feel tired though; she felt that familiar rush that accompanied the calm, the conflicting feelings battling for dominance inside. She chose to focus on the tranquility; usually, that helped her hold things together for longer.

~~~~

Jason noticed Lyllii stumble, lunging forward to reach out a hand to help the nymph up. She righted herself without the help though, leaving the were-animal to send up a spray of water as he hastily attempted to correct his shift in balance. Ignoring the slight wave of embarrassment that threatened to creep up on him, he simply continued walking, carefully avoiding rocks and roots as he did so.

~~~~

Kasha attempted to dry herself some, drops of water flinging off of her fingertips as she experimentally flexed her arm. It didn't do much to rid her fur of the irritating liquid, and the anthro sighed, resigning herself to the fact that it would have to dry on its own; though the heat of the flames would certainly help.

"Alright," Farren replied, deciding to let it go. He noticed the anthro's attempts to dry off before she resigned herself to being stuck with wet fur. He tapped her on the shoulder after a moment of silently debating over whether or not what he was about to do was wise. "Um, hey. I can help with that," he broached somewhat hesitantly. To emphasize his point, a single tongue of flame blinked into existence, hovering a few inches above his palm.

<^>

A splash caught Lyllii's attention. She glanced up in puzzlement, but couldn't identify what caused it. With a shrug, she continued on, though taking more care with her footing...that is, until a bright patch of orange appeared in the lower right corner of her vision, and it wasn't from the bank. She visibly stiffened before quickening her pace until she was almost at a dead run.

Kasha was ready to agree before a blur of movement caught her eye. Her amber eyes narrowed fractionally as she saw Lyllii break into a run, water splashing around her feet as she leapt through the river. Mind quickly piecing together the reason for the nymph's actions, the anthro shook her head. "I'm alright," she said, declining the offer.

~~~~

Jason caught up with Lyllii quickly, grabbing her arm in a gentle hold and tugging her back. "Lyllii?" he spoke up, voice low and edged with a bit of concern.

Immediately the flame blinked from existence from his palm. Farren groaned, facepalming and pinched the bridge of his nose as he too began to piece together Lyllii's earlier behavior with her reaction now. Great. My attempt to be helpful did more harm than good. Way to go, Farren! "This is where I try to apologize, isn't it?" he muttered to Kasha sheepishly.

<^>

Lyllii felt a hand clasp around her arm, tugging her backwards. Almost instantaneously her staff remolded from the coil on her arm to its original shape within her hand, ready to strike as she pivoted on her foot to confront whoever the hand belonged to...only to see a concerned Jason. The staff recoiled back onto her arm. "Jason! S-sorry...I," she mumbled, embarrassed that she was prepared to attack again, reflex or not. "I'm fine...okay, I'm not," she admitted, cheeks flushed. "Let's just say fire brings some bad memories."

"Probably," Kasha nodded. She decided not to give him the sharp glare she was thinking of, noticing his sheepish expression. Instead she gave him a gentle shove in Lyllii's direction, propelling him through the shallow water.

~~~~

At that statement, Jason had to shake off some bad memories of his own. "It's okay," he said softly. "I understand."

~~~~

Maiya felt her calm state slowly beginning to slip away, and her hold on the water gradually fading. "I'm going to have to let the water rise now," she informed, speaking up finally.

Farren yelped as Kasha shoved him forward, stumbling slightly as he splashed through the river's silt, though truth be told it was somewhat exaggerated. He glanced over his shoulder, scowling with mild indignation at Kasha but quickly shrugged to show he was teasing.

<^>

"Thanks for understanding, Jason," Lyllii replied with a small grin. "I know I can't have been the easiest person to run into this morning, what with having a panic attack nearly every other minute."

Farren cleared his throat, shifting his weight to his other foot; Lyllii whirled around -nearly whipping both Jason and Farren in the face with her long hair- and immediately felt herself going on the defensive. She refrained from launching an attack against Farren this time, but her body language was anything but welcoming.

"Is stalking behind people some sort of hobby of yours? Get a new one," Lyllii snapped.

"Seriously? I'm a hunter; it kind of comes with the territory," Farren scoffed.

"What do you want? Either say it or go away; better yet, why don't you jump back in that forest and do the world a favor?"

"Look," he began with an exasperated sigh. "I came 'stalking behind you' to apologize, not argue."

Lyllii merely raised an eyebrow in response, but her dark eyes lost some of their hostile intensity as her natural curiosity wormed its way past her defenses.

"I'm sorry I used my fire magic. Considering the circumstances, that was insensitive of me. I intended to help Kasha -her fur doesn't dry as fast as skin, you see. But obviously I only made things worse. May I ask for your forgiveness?" Farren slowly extended a hand as a gesture of goodwill.

Lyllii scrutinized him for a moment; he seemed sincere enough, but she knew from experience that usually wasn't enough to go on. Then again, so far he hadn't really given her a reason to distrust him; he just had the misfortune of being a human male and showing his face after a particularly violent nightmare. Reluctantly, she accepted his hand and he shook it firmly.

"I'm going to have to let the water rise now," Maiya informed, speaking up finally.