i'm fairly local, i've been around

Watch as I say a whole lot of nothing.  Pfft.

Aesop relaxed incrementally.  It helped that the other male presented no harm, posture nonthreatening.  He greeted him as an equal, a fellow traveler on neutral lands.  He had no reason to be suspicious but for his own needling caution, something in him still afraid after his fight.  Though his wounds had all but healed, some seed of doubt and fear had been sown.  In the days since, they had taken root and festered.  His outing was clearing his mind, but the trip was still young.  He was hardly even there, and still had to get back again.  Anything could happen.

But he had nothing to fear from this wolf.  To regard him with anything other than neutrality would be cowardly, paranoid, and downright silly.  He was a strange wolf in a strange land, but he was wounded.  If it came to a fight (and why would it?) Aesop would have no trouble overpowering him.

"Thank fuck for that," said Aesop, visibly relieved.  "I'm a bit lost.  I'm looking for Nostradictor Bypass?  'dunno if you're familiar with the place, but it's a pack.  Supposed to be around here.  Don't need too much of your time, just a point in the right direction." And he really didn't want to take too much time.  Though he was pleased to leave and take the chance to explore, instinctual duty tethered him to his pack.  This tether stretched but did not break, a call to return, to satisfy his sense of loyalty and protect the land that is theirs.  His.  Because it was his home, and he had now defended it with his blood.  He had laid aside his values and preferences and taken up arms against an intruder, and if that didn't give him as good a claim to the pack as any other, then he didn't know what would.