There were a great many things behind his “amiabe smile”. There were sacrifices and all manner of atrocities that make it a miracle that he can remain even remotely so sane as to entertain a genteel conversation with a woman he doesn’t know about the mundane, to flirt with the innocent manner of of a normal wolf and not some twisted kingslayer. “I am no stranger to fighting other people's battles. No stranger to being a stranger, either.” They share a mutual ground and he chuckles in that knowing way of old friends, as though that shared knowledge was enough to put them in cahoots.
He is not usually such a fast friend or so simply trusting. This truly was a unique experience for him. He enjoyed it, for once. Enjoyed talking with his age, conceptualization, and size equal. “There is a wolf, Taika, who speaks of a loose-knit group, gypsies they're called. I think they do much of what you say. Perhaps I can take you on a little tour of my own, and then see if we can find them? I think it will benefit both of us, to not be strangers...” He tilts his head at her, glad of this further proof of her intent to bond with him longer than a momentary flirtation that passed into easy conversation.
“Taika, ey?” He says, a little disinterested to be under the crown of even a gypsy queen. It feels too much like it had been when he was under the thumb of others in his travels. “I do not think it would be so bad to meet this Taika, though I think I am too much my own man to join in the pursuits of the gypsies. I am not a fantastic follower, if you understand my meaning.” He did not doubt that she did. It was not a foreign concept that some wolves were simply not meant to be led. “Let’s spend time amongst them, if you fancy. I find even if the gypsies would bore me, you would make that boredom worth my while.”
He smiles out of the corner of his eye at her, waiting on her say so or go ahead - taking the passenger’s seat for the last time, he thinks, and okay with it.
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