Walk | Talk | Think
Anais wanted to step back, to put a little distance between them as a precaution and to bring her anxiety level back down to something more manageable, but from the jittery, almost clingy way in which the muddied wolf looked at her and wriggled on the ground at her paws she had a suspicion he would only creep in close again. It was so odd, really. He had the shape and build of an adult, lacking any of the telltale roundness of a pup, and yet he reminded her of one, frightened and nervous and desperate for comfort. But fearing it was a ruse she resisted giving in and consoling him.
For just a second he looked confused by her question, as if it had come out of nowhere instead of being a response to his nervous actions, but when he spoke again it was with words that the grey-gold wolf could understand. He was lost, and like a pup he was clinging to the first creature he came upon. Any other time, before the incident, she would have professed instantly to being his friend, taken him under her wing, and not questioned a new unlikely friendship. But so much had changed... Anais could feel that old side of her carefully hidden within, longed to embrace it again, but it was simply too dangerous. She had to keep herself safe and quit placing herself in dangerous situations.
But was this wolf really a danger? He still whined and wiggled about on his paws, low to the ground and practically flopping around before her like a pup desperate for an adult's attention. There was such an innocence about him that she found it hard to see him as any sort of villain - if she told him to leave she thought he might start crying - but her own trust in her judgment had been shaken and there was no one else around to help her. Somehow she was going to need to navigate this herself.
With his chin on the ground, he crept closer with the obvious intent of nosing at her paw, and though the nervous side of her told her to lift her paw away she let it remain, allowing him that small moment of contact if he chose to take it. It was harmless, right? Nothing dangerous about nosing her paw. Or at least she hoped. He was practically begging her for assistance, groveling at her feet, and though it made more sense in her mind to tell him no and leave so that she could proudly tell her parents later that she had avoided dangers all on her own, something about this broken wolf pulled at her. He was so much like a child still, though he should have been old enough not to be. He reminded her of her. "How...how can I help you?" she asked gently, still outwardly nervous though her tone was coated in a hesitant concern.
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