Serpentine stopped for a moment, looking to the female with a puzzled frown, concern riddling his features as he watched her admit her own retreat. He imagined how awful it must have been, he was close but not close enough to feel the major damage done. All he remembered was a fire chasing off his family, scattering him from them in an instant. He knew the fear too well, but he realized he hadn't checked on her wellbeing after she'd checked on his. "I'm glad you escaped, I'm happier you're safe and unharmed-- physically." He smiled, moving his head up to look at the female while she made her way over, curious as to what happened. His face flooding with blood and heat, he let his eyes jolt about while he thought of an excuse, with none arriving to save him. "Er, I... hit my head. I got too caught up in my sniffing, oops." Chuckling lightly, he shook his head slowly in disapproval of his actions, ashamed he'd eve made the step into the trunk. At least he was an honest wolf, at this moment he thought.
His mind raced with questions to ask the female, where she ran from, whom she was with before the blast, why she didn't stay with them if she was accompanied. Watching the wolf inspect him, he managed to bring up a new conversation in the brief moment they had together. "What was it like, the explosion? Were you with others?" Both questions fled his maw as Serpentine watched the delicately patterned female's expressions and if they changed with his questions. What did this land mean to her? Why did she feel a need to come here? So much to ask, but so much would bombard the canine no doubt. He advised himself quietly to save the questions for a later time, demanding he spread his curiosities out.
They had accepted the fact to explore but here they sat with more interaction between them. His mind stayed unfocused as he looked around them, breathing in the ashy air mixed with cedar sap seeping around them. Barren branches with few leaves twisted and creaked in the wind as they swayed together in rhythm. The grass under their paws grew long but flattened by a passerby or two. Golden gaze rested back on the patchy Willoughby with courtesy and kindness, waiting on her answers to his questions.
![[Image: SIgnatureedit.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/dPbFdFg/SIgnatureedit.jpg)
