Phoenix Maplewood The greatest adventure is what lies ahead

After leaving Brillo, he'd headed north.  He'd gone looking for Bracken Sanctuary, but in all honesty, he couldn't recognize it -- the passage of time and the fading memories of childhood left a blurry mark.  He probably had walked through part of the territory, but nobody had stopped him and he ended up turning around and heading back into other unfamiliar lands after surrendering his hunt.  It wasn't like he expected to find anything anyway.

So all he'd gotten out of that detour was more miles on his paws.  But at least the weather hadn't been awful or something?  Whatever.  The whole trip so far hadn't done much for his spirits -- there was a lot of nothing out there and Mal hadn't had the fortune of finding anything he wanted.  So now what?  The only certainty was he wasn't going back to the beach.  He plopped his rear down somewhere in the middle of an unfamiliar forest, taking the moment to scowl.

She was very lost, very afraid, and very unsure of herself.

She had come from the north, knowing very little of the area she was coming into, and was terrified of all of the new sights and smells. All she wanted was to be safer than where she came from. Life's hard for a wolf little older than a pup without a family.

There was only one thing she was certain of. My name is Millet. Her identity was the only thing she could be certain of in a world of threats and unknown intentions.

She had been in a bit of a panic, a detached trance, as she padded through the grassy plains and creeks, but now that she was under the cover of forest, she felt a bit safer, less exposed, and took an opportunity to compose herself. She had about two seconds of relief until she caught a scent of a nearby wolf, and then instantly became rigid once more.

Millet froze, unsure if she should approach. She knew it'd only be a matter of time until the other wolf caught wind of her. She just hoped to the stars that they were friendly.

Well if she was still barely not a pup, then Mal had to still count as one.  Okay, he was theoretically in the adult ranks of any pack he joined at this point, but he probably wasn't going to be pulling his weight like someone older.  He could barely carry himself along as it were.

Either way, after sitting around and moping about his own misfortunes for a little bit longer, he dragged himself back to his feet and started walking again.  He should probably head back towards Elysium, so vaguely he pointed his paws in that direction and called it good.  And honestly, he wasn't paying too much attention.  The fact that he stumbled into view of the woman was probably more along the lines of a freak accident than any actual decisionmaking on his part.  Blinking a couple of times, it was quickly obvious he had no idea who this chick was, and she didn't seem to be from Elysium, so at least they weren't stalking him or something.

Now whether or not Mal was friendly?  Uh.  Who freaking knew, honestly.  He was kind of grumpy, that much was clear by the way he eyeballed her, wondering if she was also the sort who was up to no good.  It was more like he just wasn't willing to trust her beyond the distance he could throw her, and since he was a scrawny punk, he probably couldn't throw anyone very far. Also he was a mouthy twit, saying pretty flatly, Who are you?  She'd probably caught him at a bad time.

The other wolf approached her, and she shrank herself as he got closer, lowering her ears and body lower to the ground. He had asked who she was. Who was she? Who am I to this stranger?

"Nobody," she replied defensively, and regretted saying it in the snappy manner that she did. She didn't mean it. It had been ages since she was this close to another wolf. "I'm... nobody," she repeated, stammering, already embarassed at the short interaction. She attempted to keep her eyes locked with the male's, but found it difficult to maintain and kept darting her gaze to the ground. Her social skills were more than rusty. But she desperately wanted to connect with someone, anyone - she needed to ground herself through others.

Okay.  She kind of made him stop just by her reaction.  He was used to people demeaning him or treating him like a tiny pup -- the occasion where someone talked at him like an equal was rare, but this?  Honestly, thinking back, it didn't seem like anyone was ever kind of submissive to him except that one time he crossed paths with Okeanos and that was so long ago Mal probably didn't remember.  Still.  Blink blink.  Like what was he supposed to do when he didn't feel like he had to fight for his own existence.

Pulling his thoughts together he scoffed and tried to seem all put together and reasonable, but whether or not that was actually successful was hard to judge, Everybody's nobody out here.  Uh.  Now what?  The confusion probably took a little bit of the edge off, but he was still mister grumpy pants.  Really.  Who're you?  Mal was also pretty bad socially but for a kid who'd been left to his own devices, maybe he was doing fine.  Fine-ish.  If by fine you mean a complete jerk more often than not.  He had no problems staring at he like the rude creature he was.

Well, his response put her a bit at ease, for whatever reason. Knowing that she was in the same boat as others. Maybe even with him. She took a moment to calm down, supressing her anxieties. "My name is Millet." She spoke softer than before, and more colloquialy. He still seemed to be a bit rough around the edges, but she could deal with it as long as he wasn't aggressive. She looked at his eyes long enough to notice that each were a different color. She thought that was pretty neat, and flicked her tail in interest.

"What's your name?" she asked, figuring that her question would be enough to show that she had nothing but good intentions in getting to know him.

Overall, there wasn't too much to read from his posture or anything.  He wasn't relaxed -- he was somewhat tense, maybe a little defensive.  Okay, on that last bit, more than a little but he was trying to hide it the best he could. Mal just never exuded a particularly friendly air because of this, and though at some point he might learn, it wasn't gonna be today.  Today Millet was stuck with this particularly unemotive boy who didn't know what he wanted.

I'm Mal.  And since he was totally the politest boy around he skipped the rest of the pleasantries and jumped right to the next question, Why're you out here?  She wasn't in a pack, after all.  Neither of them seemed to be hunting.  She was just kinda... There.  Or something.  He didn't have a particular goal in mind during this chunk of his adventure, so he had not a clue to start from.