Woah! Awesome digital art that I could never do! Speaking of digital art, Karina is experimenting with your people frames on her iPad Viola?

Rose~

Ciaran doesn't approach me. But he doesn't attack or increase in fury, either. He only continues to babble about liar-Rosie and how much it hurts for a while, eventually saying "Maybe your shoes just have a bad temper," and slapping my hand in a high-five before returning to his usual bubbly self.

"Now we be friends! Spelunking, spellbinding, spectacular, whoosh!" Spelunking again. I wonder why spellbinding, though. Does he know magic? Was he created by magic? The latter seems possible, considering his appearance.

He drops down again and runs up to Sybill. "Big bad wolfie! Have big teeth. Bite band away!" He dances and claps in front of her, extending his arm to show her the tag. "Me free spirit, not B.I.G. boy! Freedom for friends! Fiery freedom! Yay!"

So he doesn't want to be affiliated with them. Unless it's a ploy. He might have run away. But how would he escape? And why would he try to gain our trust? I know it would be easier to kill or capture us if we're not expecting it. But then why send him, and not someone better equipped to do so? Unless he's only a distraction. But then, wouldn't the backup have struck by now? Perhaps he isn't lying. But I don't think I'd follow him anywhere.

"I can try to remove it," I offer. Ciaran turns towards me, frowning.

"You not have teeth, big sharp teeth to bite! How do you bite it away?"

"I wouldn't bite it. I don't have the teeth, like you say. But I can cut or pry, maybe even melt it."

Ciaran shrugs. "Need teeth. You see!" But he bounds back to me and holds out his arm. "Rosy-posy try, see."

I gently take his arm and examine the band. Bronze, fittingly enough. Doesn't look tight enough to cut off blood flow, but certainly not loose enough to slip over the hand. I turn it over. A line, a gap, a seam. The band is thin enough that I might be able to pry it off.

Ciaran begins to chatter again, but I tune it out, get a good grip on the edges of the band, and pull with all my might.

And the seam opens. 

This is interesting...

Rose~

Sybill slows, stops, and turns around. I follow suit.

"I'm sorry, Ciaran," she whispers.

"Me too, Sybill," he answers. "I don't like band. But need band. Band keep me good. No band, bad Ciaran. No good fire."

So... He was happy and docile before, when we first met him, when he had the band on. He began to be wrathful and started the forest fire when I took it off. I squint through the smoke. He's touching it now. And now he's calm. 

"What do you mean, Ciaran?" Sybill asks.

"Not like talking 'bout it," Ciaran sniffles, putting a paw-hand over his eyes. He flicks his tail, pushing away the band, and gasps.

I think his eyes darken, perhaps the pupils dilating? The detail soon loses relevance, as he flares back up with a screech and Sybill and I begin to run again.

Her heart isn't in it this time. I actually catch up to her, which worries me.

"Sybill," I shout. "What are you doing? He's out of control!"

"I know! I don't know what's going on, but he's still in there! He needs our help, Rose!"

"Liars, liars," Ciaran chants.

"All right, all right... I think the band seals in his rage. If we can get it back on, he'll go back to... well, this would be his normal state, but he'll calm down. We need to get through that inferno first, though!" 

I gasp for air. The fire is consuming a lot of oxygen, and that combined with the smoke is making it more difficult to breathe. My eyes sting, and are beginning to water enough to blur my vision. Oh, of course!

"Water!" I call. "We may be able to use water!" 

Excitement! I'm very excited anyway for no apparent reason, and rambly.

Rose~

"From where?" Sybill asks.

I don't know. I try to look around as I run, keeping close to Sybill. The smoke is thickening, and I cough. The water in my eyes overflows, running freely now.

"Steam!" Sybill shouts, bounding away. I follow her, squinting through the smoke and water. She stops suddenly at a veritable wall of flame. I hear, faintly, through the crackling hisses of the fire, the sound of a stream, but I don't see a way to get to it.

"I'm going to run through," Sybill says, and before I can speak, she plunges in. I hear her footsteps, smell her fur starting to singe. Starting to burn. I choke. 

And then, a howl.

Someone's got her they killed her they're going to kill me next, is it Ciaran is it the B.I.G., is it rogues is it Catastrophe? They got her she's dead am I safe--

"Rose!"

She's alive!

"I found the water!"

She's found water!

I forget all thoughts of conspiracy or mistrust. Heedless of danger, I run into the fire. There is water on the other side. There is hope.

It takes longer than I thought. The smoke is so thick here and the air so thin, I can hardly see, can hardly breathe. I aim for dark spots at my feet to step on. I think my hair is on fire.

But up ahead, steam, white steam. Not that much, fortunately; it would take a truly terrifying heat to make running water instantly evaporate by mere proximity. I run, I run and plunge in.

It's not deep, maybe halfway to my knees. I slip on the sudden wetness, fall as gracefully as I can. By the multiple impacts of varying hardness, I judge that a bridge or fallen tree is at my back, stony streambed below, an overgrown bank to my left and a certain wolf to my front.

"Ow!"

"Apologies!" 

The fire continues to rage around us. Our short victory is not a final one. Sybill sounds as though she's in pain.

"Sybill! Submerge yourself!"

I take my own advice almost as soon as I issue it, plunking my dampened pack onto the bank before splashing down into the water, thoroughly soaking myself and effectively quenching any possible hair-fire. The water is warm from the fire, especially near the bank and surface. It's quite pleasant, really. I lay still and feel the current rushing past, in Sybill's direction. I stay under until my lungs start demanding air, and even then a moment longer.

The heat hits me suddenly, the smoky air a minor improvement over the water. I breathe it in nonetheless, send a splash over my steaming pack, and look around for Sybill.

~And back to you. Rose will probably recommend sitting in the stream while they plan, although when she finds out about Sybill's injuries she'll insist on going alone.

Be wary of time constraints; smoke inhalation is inevitable, and symptoms (cough, hoarseness, chest pain, etc.) are already beginning to show up.