Chimera Fields Falling in love at 71

@Mal 

Norah had met the coast wolves and escaped the interaction hopefully unharmed (that thread has to play out yet) few weeks ago and had been on her own ever since. The land was draped in the spring bloom, offering many opportunities for a nomad like her to hunt and keep hunger at bay. When she was not taking care of her basic needs, she was scouting the lands and checking out, how many groups populated the area. 

Up until today she had counted five distinct sets of families co-existing in peace (surprising really) and this inspired an idea in her to remain here for a litle while longer and entertain herself with "personality studies". Even better, if it could happen with the protection of one such group, because previous encounters had taught her that lone wolves were often met with distrust and hostility. She was vain enough to wish that in case she did get torn up apart, someone either would mourn (good) or avenge (better) her death. 

With this in mind she decided to see, what her luck would be with a band that resided in the forest ahead of her.

Recent events encouraged him to leave for a while. He wasn't alone in this, but he'd lingered around the territory longer before he decided he just needed to go out and just find some people that didn't share the same baggage. He'd come back later in the day,sure, it wasn't like he ever wandered too far.

Either way, he'd picked a direction and trotted off, boxing up his previous thoughts and setting gloom behind. He would be normal because he needed normal. He hadn't even gone too far before he spotted someone up ahead, sort of roughly coming the opposite direction. Huh. Mal adjusted his path to intercept, curious.

Once he got closer, he couldn't put a finger on why she seemed slightly familiar -- too much time and too little overlap meant it was just left as some vague thing that was soon forgotten. Probably someone who came by and stayed a week. Mal approached, putting on a charming grin and wag of his tail. Hey, out for a walk? He didn't have anything clever prepared right now, so had opted for a more normal greeting, obviously. Still, since it was Mal, his tone was relatively upbeat, even if it more of a conscious choice this time than others.

Norah had not walked far, before she was intercepted by a young and bold male. His oddly and unusually patterned coat earned a look of genuinue surprise, but this quickly faded, giving place for a more collected expression and calculating gaze. Unlike other people she had met here, the fellow observed the rules of personal space and was not openly hostile. His face did not betray any ill intents and upon closer inspection Norah did not think that this guy could be sly or cunning even if he wanted to. 

Which meant that she could let her guard down a little bit too. "It may seem so," Norah smiled at him sweetly. "But I may have secret plans as well," she grinned mischievously. "What about you?"

Mal was plenty good at causing trouble if left to his own devices long enough. And it would probably have a delayed effect or something else he wasn't expecting. That was Mal, after all. Even now that he was slightly more predictable, he was very good at making weird things happen.

But this chick seemed amiable enough. But then again, most people seemed to be unless they came from Moonspear -- okay, homicidal maniacs were also not very nice, but it wouldn't be too far to scram home if he had to. But he was one to give people a chance -- that's what all this was, wasn't it? Ooh, secret plans can be fun. Not to mention, probably a better distraction from all that had happened. Much the same on my end -- you know, the usual saying responsibility can wait and all that. Cheeky grin. But everyone deserves a break sometimes. What would she think of that? He could pick a sort-of-direction to go in after.

Could it be that Norah had met the first wolf being here that was neither uber-suspicious, moody and territorial, nor outspokenly rude? He was so normal that it felt extraordinary to the nomad, who met odd types nearly on daily basis and therefore had had to lower her expectations from other people. He took her explanation in a stride, did not pry to find out, what exactly those secret plans entailed. His easygoing demeanor in the beginning of the conversation showed promise of them having a good time while talking and not having to worry about each other much, once their ways parted. 

"Well, such a handome and sturdy guy like you - I don't see, how you would need a break from anything," Norah teased and eyed him in good-humour. "You around from here somewhere or are you on your own as well?" she asked next.

He always preferred things when conversation was less serious and more playful. He kept a similar tone, fake-aghast at her suggestion, What, do you doubt my ability to find myself in a nice little pile of trouble? Sure, it keeps things interesting, but not having to worry for a bit is nice sometimes too. And at least right now the conflicts he ran into were mostly self-created -- and they likely hadn't blossomed into something more serious by this point anyway. Just sitting around at home sounds like a good way to get stuck in a rut and never climb out. Mal was way too cool for that life.

Yeah, my pack isn't too far from here. Got ourselves a nice forest to call home, think it turned out to be a good choice. He pointed back over his shoulder at it casually. Should he have added on that tidbit he used to about it being a nice group of misfits too? Hell, could he use the misfit line any more? All things considered, Neverwinter had turned into a place that wasn't too crazy. Okay, Mal was likely to cause trouble for himself but that was about it. There were some normal wolves, not just abandoned children he'd collected.

The what's-his-name (not meant to be derogatory, Norah realized that she had no idea, what the guy's name was) continued with the light-hearted tone and earned an amused smile from the lady herself. A sense of humor is a great asset to any person, especially if it is well-dosed and naturally fluent. She chuckled, when he feigned disbelief of her accusation, and listened curiously to, what he had to say on the subject.

"A daredevil then," she remarked.  "Were there other not so good choices to settle down?" Norah asked next.

As long as whoever he was talking to didn't seem to be getting bored, Mal would keep this up as long as he could. He'd love to be able to be more of a social butterfly but given his rough start, he was doing pretty dang well. More practice was always good, and that's how he treated like 90% of his meets with random other wolves. Occasionally he could even bring them home with him. I think living in a wildly overgrown bramble patch probably would have gotten old fast. It was nice for like a week. Probably too close to the neighbors now anyway. He gave it a faux-thoughtful tilt of his head, like maybe he should consider talking to the realtor again.

But that passed in a second, and now he was more grounded in reality and less in humor, but his second question did come with an eyebrow waggle, Out here looking for anything in particular? Or that all hush hush top secret stuff? He might actually have fun trying to figure out what the top secret stuff was...

"Were those neighbours giving you trouble?" Norah asked for the sake of saying something, but did not betray that the answer did not really interest her. While she kept up the interested and "I-am-invested-in-the-conversation" expression, her eyes studied the young man's face carefully, taking in every little detail, while her mind already tried to calculate, what kind of person she had met up with today. Whether he was as simple and honest as he appeared or was he too playing a careful game?

A flirt - huh - Norah cracked her knuckles mentally and, conjured the most amiable smile, she tilted her head slightly to the side and replied: "It might be so that I have just found, what I am looking for. What is your name?"

He was still pretty chipper about it all, making things sound like ancient history, They did a while ago, but pretty much all's quiet on the western front now. And now trouble was more from random passersby. She didn't seem to strike him as the sort who would bring trouble, but then again, maybe he was wrong. Mal was just guessing, wasn't he? She'd be a great actor if she was here specifically to attack or something. But to keep from too badly biasing her reply, he didn't mention any of that. At least from his experience with Nightwalkers, the bad sort seemed to play their hand more often than not.

Oh? His ears pricked forward. The brief things he'd said about his pack? Himself? Look, Mal wasn't gonna complain about it if it was just him as a wolf. There was the option also of just Mal knowing the region and all that, but that was far more boring. He'd treat it like the fun option and expect the less fun. So, with a bob of his head, he continued with a grin, I'm Mal, and my forest, if you were wondering, is Neverwinter.

"Neverwinter - poetic," Norah smiled and watched Mal for a brief moment, before continuing. "Who runs with you?" she asked next. It was good to test the waters first. The leader seemed simple and easy to read enough on the first glance, but there may be people in his pack that would be just as skilled manipulators as she was. Especially the older generation. The younger ones - in her limited experience - were just as foolish as the next.

"And are you the sole king or there is a queen reigning next to you?" this was said with an amused grin, as if she was considering to take the position right up, if the answer was negative.

Poetic? Maybe. But hey, the wolves were more important than the landscape to him. I used to say we got a whole gang of misfits, but I think we've grown up a bit from that. Got a nice mix now, in skills and people. He wasn't gonna share too many specifics, let alone mention his kids. Best to wait on all that.

He peered at her with a somewhat playful-but-curious expression. So what was she looking for? Did she mean rank or was she out trying to find some guy of a higher station in particular? From all of Mal's experience, nobody actually wanted him, but it was fun to ponder. Not a queen, but I have a beta. Not quite the same though, I'd imagine. Heck Hydra was the one who wanted to be a queen -- one of those previously mentioned neighbors. A slight cant of his head and a smirk, You gonna let me know what your name is too?

Poor Mal - everyone wanted something from him, but not him as a person. If Norah had been more sentimental and less selfish, she would have felt a tiny pang of guilt for being yet another person to use him for her own entertainment. Though to soften the bitter truth - she found the guy more pleasant and likeable than the rest of the folk she had encountered up until now. 

"So... there is room for improvement," Norah laughed mischievously and merrily. "Norah - a nomad and a scholar," she introduced herself. "With the summer in full bloom I did not consider joining a pack, but I have met far too many unfriendly faces around here to test my chances. You - in fact - are the first, who actually is polite."

A tip of his head for a playful 'oh, what are you scheming' sort of look. Which was true, honestly. It wasn't like Mal knew Norah at all well enough to make any sort of assumption of what she was really like or what she might be plotting in the future. Well, pleasure to meet you, he said with a showy dip of his head. Yeah some of them out there aren't really all that big on the whole being friendly thing. But if they want to spend their whole life being angry, they can go do that, I think it sounds exhausting.

But that was about as much as he wanted to talk about those sorts for now. They weren't here, and that was good. So, change of subject! Sorta. So, scholar huh? Do you have some sort of specialty or more of a knowing a bit of everything sort of thing? He wasn't sure how that'd work. He wasn't exactly particularly well educated beyond the practical, so might be kind of cool if someone actually had a bit more abstract skills. He'd totally let her show off whatever knowledge it was she had -- if only out of curiosity.

"I study people," Norah replied. "Walk the Earth as long as you want and you will never find two fools exactly the same," she remarked with a sly grin. "Nor two smart people. Or tyrants that are identical. It is particularly interesting to get to know them, read them, find out, what their motivations are, even if they are unaware of it themselves."

"What about you - do you have a hobby to entertain yourself? Being a leader cannot be all you do in your life," she asked.

He kept going with his typical good humor, Got a reason for those grumpy sorts being wound so tight, then? After all, if Mal was the most friendly one, then she totally had talked to the sourpusses on Moonspear or something (they were the most familiar of the grumps). 'Cause I sure as heck don't know why they're so deadly serious about the world -- I question their ability to smile...

Mal gave a bit of a smirk then, Would you count going for a walk and running into folks such as yourself? I mean I may spend quite a bit of time hunting, but I wouldn't call that a hobby. Kinda need that to live. Maybe she did. But who knows, really when you got right down to it, Mal was often too busy to really hang out and do stuff for fun. It's a nice break, either way.