Bramblepoint berrypicker

The vegetation had been thickening imperceptibly for some time, step by step, shrub by shrub – until Nisus found himself on the verge of entering a thick forest of fruited bushes and brambles. Life had taught him to be cautious in trying to navigate through such thick bushes, though. He supposed it didn’t matter too much if he got lost given the fact that he had little destination in mind. He didn’t like the look of those thorns, though.

Nisus contented himself with hovering on the edges of the forest, his teeth and tongue plucking the occasional berry from twisted, thorny branches. He had managed to secure himself a meal of rabbit a day or so ago which made the search for juicy berries much less of a necessity than a snacking opportunity. Still, he was itching to find somewhere more stable, perhaps somewhere more forgiving than the wilds were to a lone wolf.

Wraen returned to her secret hideout in Bramblepoint at least once a week to be sure that no one had claimed her favorite place and second, if her hunting adventures had been lucky that week, bring and hide some food in the cache. You never knew, when she would run into an interesting "stray" and invite him or her over to dinner. 

Today she had brought and hidden the otter-head, who she had grown fond of after having spent a glorious afternoon playing fetch with it. Children would get other toys, but this one she would keep all to herself. After the treasure was safely stashed away, she moved on to find out, who had visited the forest in her absence. And luck would have it - she found fresh footprints.

Some careful tracking later, she came accross a stranger, who was meandering at the edge of the forest and picking the frozen berries. She woofed a greeting and waited for him to turn and take notice of her.

The berries were encased in a layer of frost which made chewing them a bit more of a workout on the dark male’s jaw. He was glad of that, though – it prevented him from gorging too heavily on the small fruits. As sweet and tempting as they were the lone male knew that if he filled himself up on berries he might be less inclined to hunt for a proper meal, one that his body could convert into more effective energy, later.

It was a balancing act, one of many in Nisus’s current way of living.

As he drew in a breath it took some observation to disentangle the tang of berries from the scent of another wolf. Nisus’s head was halfway obscured by the thick leaves of a berry bush when the stranger let loose a woof. As the loner withdrew his muzzle from the bush’s clutches a fine dusting of snow was dislodged.

He turned, weak amber eyes focusing on the charcoal-mantled figure – focusing more on her startling green eyes than anything else. That lasted only a moment before the chocolatey male dropped his gaze, following specks of snow down to the forest floor. His voice emerged soft and rough, as if it hadn’t been used in some time.

“Hullo there. Not intruding, I hope?”

"That depends," Wraen replied, reading the other's body language and taking it as an invitation to come closer. Though she was not a leader material, she did approach with a certain air of self-confidence and dominance, because Bramblepoint was just as much her home as Moonspear was and she felt that she should protect it, just as well represent it just as much. 

"Haven't seen you around here - who are you?" she asked, stopping few feet away from the man.

The green-eyed woman approached with confidence despite her daintier size and build. Nisus maintained a neutral posture, head level with his shoulders and tail hanging loosely to brush his hocks. The place didn’t smell claimed as such, but Nisus had little interest in vying for dominance over a forest of berries – as tasty as they were. If the stranger chased him from this place, he would go without complaint.

But she didn’t make any moves to drive him from the edges of the fruit forest. She seemed more curious than anything as she asked who he was.

“I’m..”

The temptation was to say nobody, but something stopped the lone male from giving that as a response. In the grand scheme of things Nisus was a nobody – he had had no great impact here, after all – but he had been a nobody for too much of his life. Here, he wanted to make a difference.

“Nisus. I’m Nisus.” His ears splayed slightly, his muzzle dipping. “And you?”

"Nisus - it is nice to meet you," Wraen returned and offered a polite dip of her muzzle as well. It was a little strange that a wolf of his heigth, build and stature would act as if he lacked confidence. Shy would be too strong for a word, but the first impression of his character somehow did not fit with his looks. She would have expected him to act differently, but maybe because he reminded her of Terance and Rannoch, and Bernard for that matter - all three were tall wolves and none would ever feel even slightly intimidated by her. 

"Wraen," she replied, deciding to ease the situation for the other guy by sitting down and casting her eyes to the side to give a calming signal that she thought he might need. "And why are you here in the middle of winter, eating frozen berries?" she asked.

Wraen would have loved to stay longer and talk, but a howl, demanding her immediate presence at Moonspear, made her leave the stranger on his own.