------His tendency was to trust others as far as he could throw them--while he was a quadruped and they were in shifted form, that is. Needless to say, he didn't trust anybody fully. Sure, others could be trusted to do certain things for him, but based on their character and instinct alone? Nay. Other than in rare cases (as in a mother's defence of a child), he assumed everyone's first instinct to be to cover their own ass. It was to ensure their own personal survival. It was bred into them by their nature--only the fit survive to pass on their genes. Did anybody wish to accept defeat and fall out of the gene pool? It certainly didn't seem that way. In this sense, even the passionate female defending her pups could be pegged to the same board--it was just ensuring her genes' survival, and nothing more. It had to be noted that Anselm's views on life, the universe, and everything were exceedingly depressing and nihilistic in nature.
------For now, he trusted this female's words. This was only because she had no need or reason to hide things from him or to chase him away. If she knew of his loyalties or his true nature, she would almost certainly be less cooperative, whether he put on this act of decency or not. As she offered her title and that of her mate, he nodded and promptly committed the names to memory. Naniko, surname D'Angelo; large Arctic female, leader of Twilight Vale in the south east. Mated to Conri, details unknown. "Joule," he stated simply, suggesting that it was his name. It flowed easily and naturally off of the tongue--he had chosen it long ago as an "alter ego" of sorts. That was the name he used when he was being nice but he didn't really want to be known. It had a gentler sound to it--he thought it sounded less commanding than his true name (which nobody had to know, anyway).
------She continued to talk on, and he made mental notes of names and numbers. Naniko, one. Conri, two. Anka, three. Two more... five. Two more, again... seven! Well, that was quite a count; their numbers rivalled Inferni's. "Only a handful, so far. You're the first I really got to talk to, though, everybody else seems rather shaken up or busy trying to get organised." More partial truths. "Also a couple of kids... they seemed pretty lost, but I think their father caught up with them." At the end of this one he watched her carefully, wondering if the mention of children might be enough to get her talking about some of theirs in Twilight Vale. Just too keep an accurate count, of course.
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