It had been a few days since Ezekiel had settled Max in and it was then that it sank in for the boy that he was surrounded by a bunch of strangers. He had been so caught up in his own little fantasy that it hadn't occurred to him that he might get stuck here. It wasn't a bad thing of course, he was getting food regularly again and had a place to rest where he wasn't always exposed to the elements but he was afraid to venture past this new home; so he explored the caverns, imagining he was in some new dark world filled with strange creatures who were in fact just inhabitants of the caves. Max would sneak around at night, poking his head into the occupied rooms, tall ears perked forward to catch the small sounds of hushed voices or snores. He would always picture strange shadowy figures of tribesman, living in the underground and Max was the intruder, always the odd one out.

Of course it had been a few days now and Max was beginning to miss the feel of the sun so he headed for the caves entrance-which was difficult to find after so many days deep within the caverns-and creeped towards the light that filtered in. He had taken to shifting into his optime form more, liking that he could climb the rocky walls further into the caves, so when Max bridged the gap between light and dark he raised a grey-white arm to block the sun from his golden eyes, small tears squeezing out of them from the strong light that did penetrate through. It was mid-afternoon and Max was instantly warmed, the chill of the strange cavernous world instantly forgotten as the rays beat down on the skin beneath his short fur.

It took some time but eventually Max could look around without squinting, looking at what he had seen some days before coming to the caves and trying to remember which direction he needed to go to find the tall, bark covered giants.

Eventually he decided on a direction, running through the grasses on his long two-legs, hollering and growling to scare off any of the strange tribesman that might be following him as he booked it for the cover of the giants and their green-tops. The grey-white boy hadn't made it far into the forest though before he stumbled across the edge of a clearing, slowing to a stop as a giant structure came into view. Max had never seen such a thing before-his mother had never bothered to tell him about buildings or other man-made things from the past-so it took the child completely off-guard.

Slowly he began to walk towards the building, scenting the air and noticing a few faintly familiar smells from his time in the caves, sneaking around other members of the clan as they came and went. What fascinated him the most though was the perfectly square hole in the ground, a strange pit that he approached to inspect, getting down on hands and knees as he neared to peer over the edge.

Max leaned himself further over the edge of the hole, inhaling deep long breaths through his nose out of curiosity. There were quite a few scents; dry leaves, an amphibious creature or two and a strange smell he had never encountered before, stinging the back of his nostrils.

A voice startled the boy, upper body almost pulling him over into the strange, square hole, but he grabbed hold of the edge tightly just in time, leaning back to fall onto his butt and look over to where the kind enough voice had come from. It was another woman who reminded him so much of his family, but the kindness in her voice did not match what he remembered of his sisters or mother. Grey-white ears that had turned back when he almost fell into the pit perked forward, standing tall like a coyotes. “Why!?” He asked, voice sounding stricken, for Max thought she meant filling the hole in with dirt and rock not the cool, refreshing water she was actually thinking of.

“This is probably someone's home,” Max said, trying to reason with her, mind going through images of giants, crocodiles, strange little mud pit creatures that might use this as their shelter.

Standing Max brushed off his white and mottle grey behind, scenting the air to try to discern who this woman, whom was practically the same height as him, knew. He caught faint whiffs of Ezekiel and Talitha, but another smell interested the coywolf boy more. It was another smell he had never encountered before, something that greatly perked his interest, a scent he could taste at the back of his throat. “What's that smell?” He asked, momentarily forgetting about the pit and his want to protect it from being “filled”.

“Oh... well that might be okay.” He assented after the stranger had reassured him, taking a couple steps back away from the edge as she neared it. His gold eyes glanced to the large toad and he moved closer to where she stood to get a better look at it, ears perked in interest but his attention couldn't be captured long by the weird amphibian as his eyes flicked to where she tossed the strange, rolled up paper she had been inhaling to the ground, stepping it out.

“Marijuana,” Max repeated slowly, crouching down so he could lean in at get a better whiff of it, completely oblivious of what it was meant for but incredibly intrigued by its scent. He had witnessed so many new things since he had came here, so much so that he believed he could be on a different planet, with strange creatures that resembled the ones on earth but with alien new customs.

When she spoke again she introduced herself as Sage and Max straightened up with a smile, tail giving a small wag. “Max, a half-monster!” He introduced himself as always, “what are you?”