Blackberry Fields you spin me right round

In all four years of his life, Alexander had never experienced fruit. He'd seen it and been around it, but never had he eaten any. In his old home, it hadn't necessarily been abundant, and there were definitely better things around to eat, so why pick at strange brightly colored plants, when you could have rabbit? This place reminded him of his home in that way, minus one thing: there was fruit everywhere. But why eat it, when you could just as easily go after the rabbits that hid beneath the bushes?

Being in this place now made him feel like he had no other choice but to finally face the fruit. It was almost begging him to try. And the berries were so small, having one couldn't possibly be so bad. But his attention was easily swayed by a fat blur of brown and white. A rabbit, making a run for its hole after its meal. Exactly. Why eat the fruit, when you could have the meat?

The rabbit hadn't been hard to intercept. He'd managed to nab it by the hindquarters just before it disappeared, and was now enjoying a very rare meal. He paid little attention to his food while he ate however, making quite a bloody mess around his muzzle. His pale eyes couldn't take themselves off of the berries. Alexander left the rabbit half-eaten, and shifted slightly over it to stretch out a paw and knock one of the berries from its branch. Licking it up, he made quite an event of chewing it up and swallowing it. How...odd. He had to take another strip of flesh from the rabbit just to get the taste out of his mouth...

<blockquote>Fruits, vegetables, and flowers did not appeal to the ebony wolfess. She had sampled a few of them maybe once or twice, but they did not do her taste buds justice. Nothing could satisfy her appetite better than a plump, juicy rabbit or any other freshly-killed herbivore. The mere thought of savoring one of the bunnies she could smell hopping around nearby caused her stomach to growl in protest. Hunting was not a difficult task for Terra; she was a large, athletic girl who rarely encountered trouble whenever she scouted for a meal. It was the fact that she was a lone wolf that needed to look out for herself constantly and scour the land for a meal alone that left her hungry.

Sea green eyes, calculating and void of any emotion, scoured the bushes of berries as she ambled past them. They didn’t look good to her, so she saw no reason to snack upon them that afternoon. Although she was hungry, she was stubborn and would not stray from her carnivorous diet unless she was on the brink of starvation. When the scent of blood slammed into her, however, she paused in her tracks and lifted her regal head higher to inhale its tempting aroma. A miniscule frown was laced across her lips but her gaze flashed with desire. She rounded some vegetation to see another wolf devouring a rabbit, his muzzle stained with crimson and berry juice. Again her stomach gurgled, but she did not approach and ask if he’d share. She was too proud.</blockquote>

Though the air around him with thick with blood scent, Alexander couldn't help but notice the scent of another trickling through it all. Probably just another loner on the hunt for a meal. Looking up from the rabbit, he stared ahead, ears pricked forward intently, waiting for the wolf to show itself.

The form didn't follow far behind the scent, and she was easily spotted as she came around the bushes. His mind raced for a moment before he carefully rose to his paws. He said nothing, but merely backed away from the rabbit, sitting down again a few yards away. His eyes met the distant female's expectantly. He was certainly finished with it, so it was free game.

<blockquote>She studied him stoically for several moments until he gathered himself gracefully to his feet and took several paces back. Her own eyes narrowed again and the tip of her sooty tail twitched. He didn’t appear threatening, so once he had distanced himself from the rabbit’s carcass, Terra swept in and had at the remains. There wasn’t much left, but it would do. As long as it would quiet her hunger, she’d eat it.

The lone female stepped away when she was finished, salmon tongue slipping from between her lips to sweep across her bloodied lips. Her gaze found his, and she nodded once in acknowledgement. <b>“Thank you,”</b> she stated in her signature svelte voice. He could have hoarded it for himself, but instead he had shared. Terra was grateful although she hated behaving like a scavenger rather than hunting for herself. However, as a loner, she would take whatever she could get.</blockquote>

As she moved forward and had at the carcass, he felt a bit better...Almost like he was back home. Taking from the humans to give to the wolves. Although, in this case, this had come from him., and he was far from humanoid. It felt good to help out, however, and he wondered what he would have done if offered food in such a manner. It wasn't necessarily easy to come by, but he preferred hunting for himself. But food was food, he supposed.

"It's no problem. Glad I could help." He offered her a smile, and stood again, slightly closing the distance between them. He still kept a bit of distance though, just in case. "I'm Alexander. I take it you're not a huge fan of the berries either?" He laughed a little, glancing down momentarily at his paws.

<blockquote>There was no telling what would happen after that. Perhaps the bi-colored male would be on his way, or perhaps she would. Terra didn’t know. She stood there, surveying him in silence. He was large like her, but in his own masculine way. They shared the same midnight pelt, only his façade was illuminated by his ivory mask and yellow irises. He was a handsome brute, but the female thought little of it.

It was only natural for her to tense up as he drew near again. She held her ground but eyed him warily; he seemed like the friendly sort, but one could never be so sure. <b>“Terra,”</b> she replied, a small smirk twisting across her onyx lips. To his question, she shook her head sternly. <b>“Our kind is meant to eat meat, not fruit.”</b> Her voice was cool and level, dark features impassive.</blockquote>

"Terra." Alexander repeated, and nodded his head in a sort of bow. Her name was so simple, but it seemed to fit. "It's a pleasure. To be honest, I haven't met many wolves other than the ones that I used to live with." Other than his pack, he hadn't been in cahoots with many lone wolves. And now he was one, which meant that he would probably run into them more than he'd run into pack wolves. Well, that's what he assumed, anyway.

The male nodded, and shifted slightly on his haunched, "You speak the truth. There's plenty of prey around here, anyway." He placed his paw on a bone, and rolled it beneath it for a moment. He was usually so good at making conversation, but he was left empty this time, and it was a bit disconcerting. He didn't want to inquire if she was in a pack, since it didn't matter to him right now. "Excuse me, I'm not usually so...Quiet." Was that a good thing to apologize for? He chuckled, and released the bone, kicking it away, and it rolled beneath a bush.

<blockquote>The longer she lingered in his presence, the more she realized that she had little to say to him. Engaging in small talk with strangers was not something she did often, let alone enjoyed. She was relieved that Alexander didn’t seem too chatty; Terra probably would have spat venomous sarcasm in his direction and slunk away. She nodded once at his words and allowed her gaze to rove the bushes that were laced with berries. A small sneer crossed her feminine features. There were way too many of them.

He apologized, and her sea green eyes flitted back to his face curiously. Another smirk befell her mouth, this one more noticeable than that previous. <b>“Quiet isn’t always a bad thing,”</b> she told the broad male with humor flecking her tone.</blockquote>

Alexander noted her smile, taking that as a good sign. For once, it seemed that it was good that he wasn't rambling on at a mile a minute, as was his usual custom. "No, I suppose it isn't." Despite his pleasure at not embarrassing himself, he was still slightly uncomfortable. Speaking was how he chose to communicate. Sure, he could smile and express body language, but it was always paired with words.

Turning away from her, he fished the bone out from underneath the bush, knocking a few berries on the ground in the process. And when he emerged, his face was splotched with purple. He could spot bits of it on his muzzle, and grunted, catching sight of a few of the fallen berries. "Why don't you try one?" He offered, leaving the bone now, and carefully grasping one of the berries in his teeth. It was useless, however, and quickly burst, leaving him with the strange taste again. There were plenty more, so the girl needn't worry.

<blockquote>Upon hearing his response, Terra allowed a loose shrug to roll across her shoulders. She herself was quiet no matter who she was around. Conversations weren’t within her strong points, and when she did speak, her words were often laced with sarcasm. That was how Terra got her kicks, after all. She had nothing personal against the yellow-eyed loner. He seemed nice enough, but perhaps that was precisely why she wasn’t inexplicably drawn to him.

She stared at the berry juice coating his muzzle with bland skepticism. Alexander suggested she try one, and rather than outright refusing, Terra sighed and sauntered over to the bush. The two stood side-by-side, their shoulders brushing briefly as she reached out to pluck a plump one from its place within the foliage. Her pearly whites pierced its weak exterior and the berry’s strong, bitter taste flooded her taste buds. Swallowing its remains with a great deal of force, she wrinkled her maw. <b>“Delicious,”</b> she muttered, rolling her eyes for dramatic effect.</blockquote>