Ankyra Sound bonkers

Sphyra had never visited the ocean up close before. It was quite something, and she found herself instantly drawn to it. She'd heard of it, of course, had seen it in a glinstening distance and had been intrigued even then; but to see it up close was pretty cool, she had to admit. Sphyra couldn't help but utter a mystified wow! when it came into view, and she smiled out into the outstretched sands. The young warrior padded towards the Sound's secluded beach, but she halted when she first hit the soft sand. It was softer than expected, and she glanced down at the softer sand.

Then Sphyra continued her way to the ocean. When she reached the shore, she leaned down to sniff the water.

it be better if you drink it. loko grinned to the mesmerized sphyra, feeling his feet settle into the sand. he had seen sphyra from afar, studied her even — as he remained hidden under the shadowed tusk of a fallen sequoia trunk.

she was his age, dark, and enraptured with the ocean. for a wolf who lived by it, he never forgot its pull. now, someone new was being pulled to the coast — and for a boy like loko, who grew in a nearly insular pack only girls in it who were all related to him, sphyra was something of a novelty.

There was a funny scent to the water, but then again, the funny scent was everywhere. Sphyra was actually about to take a sip, not suspecting it to be bad at all, when she heard a voice. She turned towards the voice's owner and instantly felt suspicion sink in. Why would anyone tell her to drink something? With a half-smirk on her face Sphyra looked at the boy, who seemed about her age, and she asked, Why? Is it good?

she turned to him, a half-smirk secured to her lips. the expression, coupled with her natural suspicion, made loko grin.

nah. it be tastin’ like salt. she was pretty! even when she was scowling with suspicion. loko was so used to looking at women that were related to him; sphyra had his heart fluttering with a nervousness he’d no accounting for. try it and see for yourself.

Sphyra totally expected that he'd tell her that it was absolutely delicious to try and trick her into drinking it, but instead he fessed up that it tasted the same way that it smelled. It wasn't just the lands that smelled like salt, then; it was the ocean itself. He then goaded her into trying it herself, but Sphyra didn't really care for a mouth full of salt.

Hm, you should work on your sales pitch if you want to trick anyone into trying a mouthfull of salt, Sphyra said with a sassy grin as she looked at the boy. She sniffed the air, but it turned out that not just the lands and the ocean smelled like salt; so did the wolves. She couldn't quite tell where he was from.

with his sisters, it was easy to play the trickster brother. to pull on their tails, or mercilessly tease them. with sphyra, things were different. loko found himself suddenly out of his own wheelhouse and unsure how to behave.

he looked to erzulie for most things, but today her teachings failed. loko felt stranded, and looked to the sea and back to sphyra with a pursed expression. oh? a blush crept across his face. well, you see it be really good. he strode forward into the bracing water and took great gobs of it within his mouth. turning towards sphyra loko made a show of how things were perfectly fine and this water perfectly normal.

he could hold the unpalatable flavor no longer — with a pffffbbt, loko spat the water from his teeth with a grin.

Sphyra totally expected this dude to try and trick her. Too bad for him she grew up with siblings, so she knew all the tricks already. What she totally didn't expect though was for him to walk up to the water and scoop a big dollop of it into his mouth. Sphyra's eyes widened in surprise, and she was almost convinced. Huh, I guess it really is drinkable, she said in surprise. She moved her head down to the water even, and sniffed it again, just to be sure.

Just as Sphyra was about to take a careful sip of it, all of the water came spurting out of the guy's mouth again. He grinned, looking a little goofy while he did, and Sphyra grinned back at him. Well, you almost got me there, she admitted, though she lifted her head away from the water. No way she was going to follow suit now.

loko blushed as he felt saltwater dribble down his chin. he'd almost had her! his tongue recoiled from the assault of brine and it was all he could do to not rub his tongue down with his paw. he was suddenly very thirsty.

you never seen de sea before? loko's head tilted to the side. to him, the sea was as integral a part of his upbringing as eating had been. sphyra clearly wasn't from here, which piqued his interest even more. where you be from?

Sphyra shook her head when he asked if she'd never seen the sea before. Nope. Only from afar. She'd seen it sometimes from the mountains, but it wasn't quite the same as being here. It was nothing like she had imagined when she watched it from the mountains.

He asked where she was from, and only then did she notice that he talked kinda funny. Sphyra answered, her tone a little funny and sassy when she said the 'be': I be from Redhawk Caldera to the south, originally. But now I'm from nowhere 'cept where my paws carry me. What about you?

the boy marveled at how one could live a life sheltered from the sea. sphyra must have lived a very different childhood than she. where did she train? what did she eat? what was inland like?

his eyes narrowed as he caught a funny affect in her voice. very few wolves carried the lilt in their tongue the way he and his maman did, and while he thought their voices strange he found mimicking it stranger still. he elected to ignore it, far more interested in how it seemed sphyra was out on an adventure all her own. she was so young! loko was impressed. what’s a caldera? what happened to it?

The guy didn't seem to totally understand that she was being sassy with him, but Sphyra let it pass. He didn't know what a caldera was — or the caldera, for that matter — and Sphyra explained: It's a type of mountain. Nothing happened to it, it's still there. The pack just left, and I decided to strike out on my own. Everyone had continually left and returned when Sphyra was young, and honestly, she had enough of that. It was Sphyra-time now and she wasn't going to let anyone hold her back any longer. She could sense a sort of shock, or perhaps admiration, about the fact she was on her own and Sphyra enjoyed basking in it.

sphyra's teasing came to an end. loko was relieved in the moment. he was well prepared to engage in a battle of tongues with his siblings, but somehow, a peer (for that is what she was) was different.

he was groundless in a foreign field.

where did de pack go? loko found himself wondering aloud. it was even stranger of a concept still to learn a pack in the mountain had just up and left. even though sapphique had once moved from ankyra to where it resided now, it could hardly be called just leaving -- for they had truly never left at all.

Sphyra shrugged at his question. It was clear to see on her face that she thought it was a pretty dumb question. I dunno, places, I guess. My mother and aunt are at Mereo, in the mountains south of here. The rest is just somewhere, too. She sounded a little irritated, as if she didn't really have time to explain all of these completely sensical things to some idiot.

from her expression and tone, loko sensed a shortness. it made him scrabble inwardly, desperate not to lose any sort of approval he might have somehow clawed from her.

he wanted to ask what mereo was, where they had come from, and had they gone too? but he knew from sphyra's demeanor any further questions would be perceived as annoying.

you ever see a crab? loko suddenly piped up, tail wagging. if he showed her something cool, perhaps her standoffish exterior might melt away and they could be friends.

It looked like the cogs in his head were spinning for a little bit, but eventually he piped up with another question of his own. A crab? What was that? Sphyra cocked her head curiously and said, No, what's a crab? Then waited for him to presumably show her, since it was something to be seen.

FORGIVE ME FOR THE WAIT <3

loko's eyes lit up with an impish grin.

follow me. he instructed, already turning his back in a neat pirouette and lope departure. down the beach he went, tail splaying wildly from side to side.

seemingly haphazardly, he would slam the brakes here and there, his great nose sniffing. to an onlooker who had never observed such a thing, it likely appeared as if he had lost all motor function..

until, at last! loko crowed wildly at the spot he'd just canvassed, his large paws digging wildly into the dirt. from this darkened patch of sand he quickly pulled out a creature -- which instantly crawled swiftly and splay-leggedly away with both pincers raised.

he thought he'd impress sphyra with his seaside knowhow, but it turned out she remained uninterested. it was with a confused and somewhat heavy heart that loko returned to sapphique that evening, having felt the burn of his first womanly scorn.