Shay cocked his head to the side quizzically at her terse non-answer to his questions. He felt reasonably sure that social mores dictated the asking and answering of meaningless questions, to be considered "small talk." It puzzled him that this female flouted the social constraints so easily.
"A conversation requires both sides to both question and answer, does it not? Else it would be an interrogation instead." His vocal patterns gave no hint of condemnation or accusation, just the barest hint of curiosity.
Fascinating how no matter how many times he interacted under the same circumstances, each wolf's distinctive emotions coloured the tone of the encounter so strongly as to change the rules entirely. He often felt as though he would never quite find the pattern that would allow him to maneuver the social order the way every other wolf seemed to be able to naturally. He even wondered, sometimes, if there were any point to trying. Logic told him that wolves developed that social hierarchy for a reason - survival - and if he wanted to do just that, he'd need to learn it.
So he disregarded any sort of doubt and kept the uncomfortable smile in place, wagged his tail in his deliberate, stilted sort of way, and just waited to see where this encounter would go.
