Firefly Glen Riddles in the Dark

He'd set off late enough in the day that now things had gone all dark and rainy on him and he wasn't exactly pleased.  Instead he hid in this kind of unfamiliar forest, wondering if the rain would let up so he wouldn't get more wet on the way home.

Oh this had all been such a good idea on paper -- he was going to go a different direction to try and find possible recruits... And had found a great number -- zilch -- thus far, and now it was wet and no matter what tree he tried to hide under, he couldn't seem to find one that appeased him.  They always dripped.  Sure, trees dripped, but they seemed to be very good at dripping right in his eyes, so once spited, he moved to yet another tree and began the same process.  Though the forest was reasonably dense, he felt as though for whatever reason the trees weren't as nice and protective as the ones in Neverwinter, which was probably the truth but he hadn't entirely figured that out yet.  The leaves faded into black masses once they were beyond a certain distance from him, and with the night sky hidden behind clouds, it wasn't like there was light to easily spot the gaps and thin spots in the canopy.  Mal sat down again and pressed his side up against the trunk of his latest potential shelter, hearing the drip of the rain and for this instant, not much else.

The namesake bugs?  Probably hiding from the weather, there was no glowy points of light to draw anyone's attention -- just one wet young wolf grumping under the trees.

AND HERE U THOUGHT U'D ESCAPED TALOSTHREADS, MUAHAHA
:P  Exit from one, hop right into another...lolyep.

Her belly was hollow and rumbling, but this had become such a frequent state of being that Talos was by now able to almost, but not quite entirely, ignore it. She skirted in and out among the trunks of the gathered trees with much the same intent as Mal: perhaps these tall leafy denizens would make themselves into an impromptu umbrella for any canine visitors? Unfortunately she found herself forced to note as she slogged her way from hugging one trunk to the next, it sure seemed like what water the patchy cover of leaves kept off was plopping itself right down into the  thick patches of tangled undergrowth instead. And even into the sandy soil itself, it seemed. Talos lifted one black paw up with a noisy SLORCH and a nose-wrinkle of disgust, eyeing the muddy brown encrustrations clinging wetly to it in a lumpy rim. Gross. She tried her best to step from one hummocked tree root to another, but this slowed her progress further and only met with mixed results anyhow.

Up ahead, suddenly, a nearby scent that rang a bit of a bell in her mind was almost simultaneously accompanied by her eyes locking onto a vague gray form up ahead. Definitely canine, and probably someone she knew...? She had to squint to resolve the damply crouched creature's indentity with the way it was balling itself up deep in the shadowy recesses of the next forest giant, however, and then it clicked.

Admittedly he had given her the small scar on her nose, but Talos didn't hold a grudge, and in fact founded her spirits and tail both lifting a little as she pegged who it was. This youngster didn't look like he was doing so hot, one had to admit, but he was sure to once again at the very least prove entertaining, if she didn't miss her guess. She took a few long strides closer, the extra-loud squelching her final step produced being blown off totally in favor of prodding verbally at the interesting mostly-still-a-stranger. Hey, she said, side-eying his rather pathetic little huddled form sitting in its futher-bedraggling self-made puddles. Wow. Yer fur's extra-splotchy today, ain't it.  ...Okay, so manybe not the greatest opening line ever devised by wolfkind, true, but hey, it was what had popped immediately into her mind, where it almost demanded voicing.

Mal just wanted the rain to end.  It wasn't too much to ask.  But then someone had to show up to bug him, and despite the fact he was out to recruit, at this point he wasn't feeling particularly amiable.  He didn't recognize her at first only because he was very good at forgetting people he didn't deem important.  Not to mention he was quite a ways from wherever her home was, so lower that chance of initially recognizing her even more.  But then she opened her mouth.  Oh it was that chick.

From his spot leaning against the tree, he shifted and sat upright, frowning.  Despite being damp and bedraggled, Mal probably did actually look a bit better than he had last time they'd met.  He after all, had a nice safe place to live and a few people to hunt with.  Not to mention his whole make a pack thing gave him a certain amount of confidence.  What had she been up to?  And why was she here now?  Either way, seemed she was still pretty stuck on physical insults rather than something that he considered more intelligent (not that he had room to talk).  His words were pretty flat and bored, Aren't you a bit lost?  Obviously Mal wasn't exactly stoked to see her, but given how she'd acted last time, he wasn't going to back off.