The End of the World

What use was this quietude if she could not mind her manners? She was out-of-practice; the niceties she once used to appease others were all but forgotten in favor of her own safety. No, the only thing she did seem to practice was that stony glare, so much it appeared unbidden. And now? She had clearly offended him. The one time she had intended to keep her head. Whatever apologies she fumbled for in her mind were crashing too rapidly to catch - like the waves themselves. Her silence stretched longer than she would have liked after he spoke, though her eyes lowered - the only real sign of shame he would see from the she-wolf.

"No, I meant-" That made it worse! If she was only fumbling the ball before, now she'd dropped it! "-that is I-" a quick shake of her head and she seemed to collect herself a little more. After all, she was ultimately a straight-forward talker, and she had been in-the-wrong to stare: "Forgive me, I did not mean to be rude. It is far too pleasant an eve; I do not know yet, stranger, if it is a pleasure or not to meet you." More words had not been spoken in a sentence from this lady's maw in a long time, but for the briefest moment she flashed a smile - even if she visibly had to think about it beforehand. Up until this moment, her words had been somewhat dull - her entire affect was subdued - but she continued with a question and for a moment there was something foreign in her voice, a note of hopefulness: "Perhaps it will be?" She punctuated the words with a sway of her tail that might be friendly.

The woman's eyes lifted again, meeting his gaze as boldly as one loner to another might. She hoped her apology would suffice for now. She was at least somewhat curious about those protruding tusks anyway. It wasn't as if she thought them ugly; she'd been caught off-guard by them and having never seen something so clearly wolf carry around something she might've found in prey? It was odd to her. But she was determined in spite of everything else that tonight she was going to try. It was tranquil, and too often she fled from others and left any peace behind. Not tonight.