Ankyra Sound Mystification

She could be called a wallflower, though it was far from miserable for her. Lurking in the background suited her much of the time. Besides, she learned a lot that way… and occasionally overheard things of interest or note.

Today, she couldn’t stop thinking about the latest word on the street: a pup had gone missing. Of course, no one had talked to her about it directly, much less asked for her help. But Masquerade was becoming something of a tracker by trade and she had a soft spot for the pack’s young. She would be remiss not to make an effort.

After fortifying herself with a hearty lunch, she sniffed her way to the north side of the rise, continuing into the thick of the trees that grew beyond it. When she found herself nearing a stream, she cut westward, striding along its winding bank until it deposited her on a grassy lea.

She ought to turn back now, Masque knew. She hadn’t found any promising trails. But she paused and raised her ruddy snout into the air, eyes slitting as she caught her very first sea breeze.

panacea had led a very strange life.
in his earliest months, he'd been lost, parted from everyone he knew save his brother. they'd found their way to blackwater somehow.
seclusion reigned in those months, silence in their worlds while a pack thrived around them. they'd never met anyone except their savior, cerulean, and the leader herself. the listener. panacea had been afraid of her then. he still was.
but then she had disappeared. all of blackwater had, and the boys had emerged from their isolation to find a ghost town. they'd survived on their own for a time.
then elias disappeared, too.
at nine months old, panacea was self-sufficient; he'd picked up the basics of the world in his own disjointed way, and maybe he could have gone on like that forever, if not for one thing. he was lonely. he'd always had elias, but now he had no one.
he was picking his way along the beach when he saw the girl. her fur was misty grey, but her face was stained with red. he stopped, struck dumb by the sight of someone close to his age for a second, then barked out an amiable greeting. he set off to close the distance with tail swaying happily. finally!

She immediately disliked the briny smell. It convinced her to pivot and begin the trek back home. Masque hadn’t quite finished her turn when she heard a bark on the wind. Her whole body stiffened as her head swiveled toward the sound, eyes clapping on a svelte figure rushing toward her.

Masque’s toes dug into the earth, her hackles prickling warily. But the closer the stranger came, the more clearly she could read his body language. There was nothing threatening about him. There was a happy sway to his tail. Still, she remained rigid.

Her nostrils flared when his scent joined the stench of salt in the air. Only then did she realize she couldn’t be certain of her initial assessment that he was male. Masque had never come across such a confusing scent before. It intrigued her, making her brows raise in question even as her lips remained still.

she wasn't as receptive as he'd hoped. panacea slowed his approach as he came to this realization, and decided that maybe he'd come on too strong. hi! i didn't mean to scare you! i didn't expect to see anyone here, he stopped when he was close enough to catch her scent. she smelled like others.
i'm panacea, he added as an afterthought. then he realized that he had no idea what to do with this interaction. he was happy to see someone, but... what now?

I’m not scared, Masquerade refuted in her mind, though she didn’t speak. His voice sounded fairly masculine to her, though she knew her own was pitched much like a man’s, so it didn’t mean much.

Hello, she said slowly, not entirely sure what else she was meant to say other than, I’m Masquerade.

She could explain that she was from the rise and was only out this way in search of a wayward pup. Yet she certainly wasn’t the type to go gabbing away about herself, nor did she think she owed a perfect stranger an explanation for her presence here.

Instead, she decided to voice the question at the forefront of her mind and said, Are you male or female?

It was blunt. She wondered if it was rude to ask, though considering how much wolves used their senses of smell, she figured it was fair game. She blinked and shifted her weight, genuinely curious about what response she would receive.

me: omg nice, a post i have to put thought into
also me: what

panacea thought they were getting off to a good start when she introduced herself, and she even had something else to —

what.
he blinked at her.
what.

“What?”

Masquerade blinked, reflecting on her phrasing. She didn’t think she could possibly make it any clearer. Perhaps the hesitation was less about comprehension and more about being caught off guard. Maybe it really was a socially inept thing to ask.

What? she echoed him, for lack of anything else to say.

are you male or female?
no one had ever asked him that before. male, he guessed, but he didn't know it was in question at all. now he felt odd; self-conscious and a little offended. it wasn't that he minded the idea of being seen as female. it didn't really matter to him either way. but he was male, and he felt like that should have been obvious, the way it was with everyone else. maybe she was just trying to be mean?
masquerade only echoed his confusion back at him. his ears went flat. it seemed like she really couldn't tell, and that was somehow more disheartening than thinking she was being cruel.
male, he said finally, but he was uncertain now. does it matter? well, it kind of did, but right now he very much didn't want it to.

He was grappling with the question, if his expression was anything to go by. Masquerade waited patiently, since she had nothing else to add. Maybe he just needed a moment to process.

In the end, he declared himself male. Masque started to nod in acknowledgement, though she stilled at his followup query. “Does it matter?”

You smell like both, she answered thoughtfully, or maybe neither. So I just wanted to clarify, Masque said, adding to herself, It’s what Relic would call a mindfuck. But no, she continued, it doesn’t…

She paused mid-sentence as an errant thought wafted into her mind, no more pleasant or welcome than the brackish ocean air. Masquerade’s face visibly scrunched as she turned it over in her head a moment before deciding to risk voicing it.

Can you be both? she wondered aloud, not thinking to disclaim the “you” in general terms. Or… neither?

well, that answered that. she really couldn't tell. panacea wasn't certain how to take this information; it seemed like a pretty significant thing about him, and it didn't feel right to have to discover it from a stranger. he'd just never had any reason to think about it.
he was ready to stop talking about it when she said that it didn't matter, but then she continued. i don't know. probably, he said, trying not to sound as upset as he felt. everyone is different, right? anyway, um, where are you from? as disturbed as he was, he didn't necessarily blame masquerade for the situation. he was the one who was weird, wasn't he? so he tried to just move on, hopeful that the conversation could still be salvaged.

Panacea didn’t know. Masquerade pressed her lips together and bobbed her head to acknowledge his response and the question that followed it. She wasn’t keen on offering personal details to strangers, though after that exchange, she figured she probably owed him an honest answer.

I’m from Redtail Rise. And I’m actually out here because I’m looking for someone. Have you seen any small white wolves, by any chance?

When he said he had not, Masque hesitated. She ought to continue the search, though she found herself lingering. Only when she realized neither one of them had much else to say did she decide it was time to put an end to this intriguing, peculiar encounter.

Okay, well, she huffed, shifting her weight and already taking the first step away, bye.

1/1: Tacking on a conclusion since he went inactive. :)