Firestone Hot Springs every single night's all right with my brain

set the. . .9th? yes? i think so? for @Mal

She briefly left @Scarab with a word that she'd return; after the reunion, she needed some time to herself, and she thought that he might, too. She traveled down the slope of the plateau and found herself in a familiar place. The strange man's mocking words echoed through her ears—

Then again, with a face like that you'll probably scare off any nice folk anyway—

Maegi shook herself, keeping the memory at bay. No good to dwell on the past, especially not the uglier bits. Instead, she meandered through the hot springs, nose wrinkled slightly at the smell. The steam rising here was pleasant enough, though, especially on a cold late autumn day.

She dipped her twisted forepaw in the nearest pool, swirling it around, watching the water ripple out in perfect circles. Perhaps she should bring Scarab here. It could bring him some comfort.

Mal was heading home.  He'd gone to the edge of the northern forest in search of other prey and was working his way back now.  No dice.  Or at least nothing he was bringing back with him -- catching the odd small rodent just kept his strength up for the return.  He was still very not fond of the springs because the smell was so gross to him, but the fact they were warm made him come a bit closer.  He was still way too chicken to touch the water, though.

But it seemed he wasn't alone.  He'd spotted thew white figure a ways off and took his time ambling that way in case she turned and left but she hadn't yet, apparently in no hurry either.  Well.  At this point it was either gonna be super obvious that he went around her or he'd have to pass within conversational range.  Oh well.  At least the springs were on the right side of his forest to make it less likely to be a Moonspear or Nightwalker wolf -- it's not like smell would help him identify her from here.  Just gotta take that risk.

As he got closer it became obvious her foot was pretty messed up -- he couldn't see the facial scars from where he was -- but she didn't seem to be a walking skeleton, so in a pack probably, yeah?  Well, as long as it wasn't one of the aforementioned two, he wasn't too concerned.  He whuffed as he got closer, watching for a reply as he started around one of the pools, cautious as always.

She couldn't much smell him amid the sulfur, but the soft call caught her attention. Maegi looked up, finding the approaching figure of a gray mottled wolf. His yellow-silver, double-hued eyes cut through the steam; her nostrils flared as she tried to determine if anything about him was familiar, scent or otherwise.

But nothing rang a bell, and she settled for dipping her head in greeting, removing her paw from the pool and standing upright once more.

Hello, she responded, ears cupping forward to catch his response. Here to enjoy the hot water? It's not a bad day for a dip. It was cold, and the days were growing colder still. Maegi feared that if she entered the warm embrace of the hot springs, she'd never leave. And that wouldn't do.

And now that she looked at him he saw her face was pretty messed up.  Mal barely batted an eye -- like many childhood ideas that don't quite leave, Mal had trained himself to not freak out at potential monsters by gawking or whatnot, then they might be tempted to screw with you.  She didn't seem really like a monster, and besides, Mal was always far more likely to flip his lid when someone did something slightly insulting or really nice.  He was self-sabotage on four legs.

Like right now.  Maybe.  You'd swim in that? he seemed particularly unconvinced that was a good idea.  Not necessarily offended (other than his nose, currently) but not willing to take the trade the water offered, I'd rather smell normal and be cold...  Nah, I'm heading home.  I don't run into people here normally.  Is that what you're here for? Maybe here was just farther from where the wolves nearby lived, which would make sense.  It wasn't like Mal had ever found hunting here very great, so people wouldn't dally.. Right?

She shrugged, pulling a face. I have before. If you ignore the smell, it feels really good. Then again, Maegi had been born in a pack with borders literally covered in bones and entrails. Perhaps her sense of scent had been off from the get-go.

Still, she abandoned the pool, choosing to hobble closer to the young man instead. No, my home is to the south. I accompanied one of my packmates to the plateau, to visit his family, Maegi explained, still a little giddy (albeit perplexed as hell) that Scarab had chosen to stay with Blackfeather Woods. She cocked her head in query. Where do you live? What's your pack?

For now that she drew nearer, there were the odors of other wolves on his pelt. Not nearly as pungent as the hot springs. . .but undeniably present.

He shrugged, Guess it's just not cold enough for me yet.  I normally just go around the whole thing.  She got closer and he was able to confirm that yeah, she was part of some pack. Though he had met Ramsay, that was something so long ago that Mal wouldn't have a hope of recognizing her scent as one of those that guy had carried.  He'd left an impression, sure, but that was Ramsay himself, not anyone else.

Neverwinter Forest.  It's just ahead the way I was going.  Don't think I ran into yours before.  I didn't go too far south ever.  Which was true, though no idea why.  Though now that he thought about it he paused, squinted, sniffed, then seemed to relax back to normal, And I guess I don't plan to unless I have to.  You near Nightwalkers?  He didn't seem to have a... particularly positive opinion of them, but he was trying to be reserved about it.  If they were allies, he'd just brush it off as Tzila or whatever making a mess of it all, easy.

Neverwinter Forest. She wasn't familiar with it. She was, however, familiar with the next name he mentioned—and it brought a scowl to her features that was quickly stifled. Maegi didn't know whether or not he and Nightwalkers were allied; to tip her hand to her disdain for them would be folly, this early in their acquaintance.

They're just across the prairie, she responded. There are wolves in their ranks that. . .I don't have the best experience with. As if imparting a secret, her voice lowered. One of them kidnapped me, when I was a pup. Her former pack brought great harm to me.

It was the truth. What could she lose by telling the truth? If he was allied with Nightwalkers, that might change his mind; if not, it was just further evidence as to why he never should. He'd be much better suited allying himself with Blackfeather Woods, and she hoped to gently push him in that direction. They needed all the friends they could get.

My name is Maegi, she continued, realizing she'd not yet introduced herself.

Mal had been pretty sure they weren't exactly honest wolves, but that pretty much confirmed it.  His ears flicked as he thought. What was someone supposed to do with someone like that around?  It wasn't like right now his wolves could do much about it -- there weren't any fighters, but at least with the distance between the packs he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to see them that often.  Hell, he was pretty sure they were gonna be unable to keep their paws to themselves.

They're... Sketchy, that's for sure.  The ones that showed up at my pack were openly talking about stealing from me before they could see me.  I don't know if anything they said after that was actually true.  He still didn't think their offer of alliance made much sense when it had started with 'be our ally or we'll attack you' when you got right down to it.  It seemed pretty odd to threaten people and then not have demands when someone gave in to those threats, and that was only one of several issues that seemed wrong... Any "alliance" was gonna remain firmly in air quotes. 

I'm Mal.

'Sketchy' was one way to put it; Maegi was leaning more toward 'fucking horrible.' Semantics. . . Either way, she was glad that they were on the same page on this front, and she shook her head slowly at his story, letting the frustration show over her face. Seems like they have a knack for giving others problems.

Hela. Was she with them, still? Her heart ached and yet was frosted over; the girl had made her choice. Maegi was loath to let her niece back into her soul, and even more reluctant to one day welcome her home, should she choose.

Mal. It's good to meet you, she said sincerely. How has your pack fared during the earth's shaking? There have been a lot of problems with trees falling, Maegi added, ignoring the pain that gripped her as she thought—

—NO, 'NANSI, NO!—

—Damn. Would it ever go away?

Helo i r alive kinda.

Yeah.  Mal made some sort of noise in agreement.  Really it was a game of sitting and waiting at this point and seeing if any of the idiots came back to cause trouble.  He wasn't about to go poke a sleeping bear (or maybe they were  more like a skunk, metaphors weren't his thing).

A few branches fell, not any trees at mine.  But people out scouting have disappeared.  They might have been going to the mountains, but I really don't know.  Just haven't heard from them -- and one of them had made a big show about how he was totally not gonna leave, blah blah. Mal shrugged; the whole thing wore at him.  There was only so long and so many times that he could fret over the mystery of it -- they were adults, and honestly at this point there wasn't anything Mal could do about it. It was tiring. Not gonna risk anyone else, I've told people no more long distance scouting for now.  And honestly, this was about as far as Mal usually wandered. Have you had anyone disappear like that?  If it was a common thing, at least then he'd know it was maybe not those particular people being flakes.

He was new to this. That was fine. She had an answer for him, but was reluctant to give it—it went against everything a leader could hope. Still, she had never beaten around the bush before, so why start now?

Wolves disappear a lot, Maegi responded, mouth tugging slightly downward in a frown. It either means they're lost, dead, or just. . .gone. Like they didn't want to live there anymore. Death or betrayal. She supposed 'missing' played no part in that binary, although. . .how many went missing because they wanted to?

It was almost easier to assume fault rather than pretend things were just a series of accidents—which went completely against what Wraen had told her about belief. Ah, well. They would likely always clash on this.

She shook her head. Don't trouble yourself too much about it, she added. The ones who matter, who are truly loyal, will stay. And if they leave, they'll come back. The rest—not worth keeping around.

Ha.  He was especially familiar with wolves going missing.  That was the story of his life, when you came right down to it -- actually physically missing or just so mentally missing that they basically abandoned him.  Yeah but I just wish I knew if these guys were losers or dead or what.  Nobody even tried looking for my sisters, I actually want to find people if they're halfway important and it's weird for them.  It wasn't like he'd been able to help those in the past, but at least for the future, he expected to do better than the ghosts of his past.  By now he assumed there were really only two categories -- those that weren't losers would come home if they could.

But let's be real, Mal wasn't gonna be some shining monument to goodness, he had to go ruin that with the worn-raw honesty of his next off-hand statement, But I'm definitely not missing one of the ones that are gone.  Ibis was definitely a loser, even if the earth opened up underneath her and gobbled her whole -- the witches that had seen her as some star pupil or whatever obviously trained her to be some elitist scumbag just like them. Good riddance.

She understood him more than she could express. Going out to look for her brothers had seemed an enormous effort, and yet no one else had taken it upon themselves to do so. It would have been better if she'd gone with them in the first place. . . Still. She'd done it, and she knew well what Mal spoke of.

Some wolves aren't worth missing, Maegi responded, her voice wry and the unblemished side of her mouth lifting in a smile. I should get back; Scarab will be waiting for me. But it was nice to meet you, Mal—and good luck with everything in your forest.

The Nona gave him a final nod of farewell before disappearing into the steam again, though not without one last glance back at the speckled boy. Awfully young for the situation he'd placed himself in. Maegi hoped he fared better in his role than she had, so far.

At any rate, it was another potential ally, and those were invaluable. Especially now.

But things were probably drawing to a close.  It wasn't like he could hold up a conversation super duper long anyway. Yeah, good luck to you too.  Safe trip and stuff.  He should probably head back too. Not really as if there was much to do, but he did have the responsibility to protect the ones who still remained, right?  He bowed his head, then turned back towards Neverwinter.

Maybe there were a few actual wolves out there that weren't complete twits, but the majority of wolves from other packs still seemed to be more frequently not people he'd wanna hang around with anyway.  He was happy with the choices he'd made, even if they had been forced.  Whatever.  Home.