Blacktail Deer Plateau Under cloud and under star

Wait, who was that?  He looked around and then spotted the shadowy figure of the other wolf. Huh.  Not anyone he recogni--- wait what.  Blink.  Blink.  

All the monsters that had been in Mal's life had been ones that had looked normal from the outside but when you peeled back the skin, the creature underneath was absolutely disgusting.  That was why he often called them witches or something like that -- their spells were subtle, they were not the monsters of lore that he'd created.  But the wolf that had called to him (that's who it had to have been, at least) was not that.  If he was a monster, he was truly that.  There was no hiding it.  Hell, Mal had been pretty sure his eyes were totally somehow mangling the other wolf -- a trick of perspective, maybe.  But apparently not. 

Mal was rooted to the spot not out of fear, necessarily, but utter confusion.  Who?  Why.  How.  It wasn't like Mal knew better than to stare -- he was rather lacking in social graces.  But if he was a monster, then like all the others, the way to survive was to be boring, and maybe if he could take them, then he could be a jerk and make them find someone else to bug. But he wasn't sure he could take on this guy.  Way too freaky.  So, polite route maybe.  Um, hey, he replied, unable to think of what to say after that.  Great job, kid.