Bramblepoint growing strong

When her sister called, Yama listened; she wondered if she should follow or hang back to let others meet the meal first, only for the low rumble of her stomach to decide for her. Although that nagging wish to join her parents still lingered in the back of her mind, taunting her each and every day, its voice was gradually quieting; each day she observed the pack from afar, watching those with familial ties and those unrelated, the want to live grew stronger. She wanted to experience the same things in life as everyone else, if she could, even without her parents there to watch and guide her through it. She had to live like everyone else, for them.

The young Ostrega listened closely upon her arrival, tuning in to what Hydra had to say. Strewn across the ground were things they were to eat, those overly ripe marked and the seeds within put on display before them. Mystified—this was not meat, nor anything similar, it seemed—by the fruits, the girl kept her distance from the others and inspected it on her own. How was one to eat it, and how were the seeds to be avoided when the things themselves were so small? One bite and the innards would be revealed, down her throat and inching her closer to the end. Swallowing, she nosed at the apple gingerly before taking a small bite, using her incisors to puncture and tear a piece off; it was shallow, with hardly any flesh coming loose with the skin, but it was enough for her to chew and acquire a taste for. And an unusual taste it was, a burst of something sweet combining with the bitterness of the outer layer, she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. She looked to the others then, searching their expressions to see if she was only being dramatic, or if the fruit truly was as unusual as she thought.