Nothing's More Important

While she was gone, he restocked his stockpile, but he had some… new plants. What did they do? Well, only one way to be certain. With a bit of a manic grin, he tossed some together, grinding them up cheerfully. Without his even knowing, his internal magic seeped through his hooves, awakening the potential of the new plants.

He had plenty of time to work while the wolf was away, but in the meantime curious squirrels started to approach him from all around, sniffing and looking at him without getting too close. There was about a dozen that closed close enough to see, though he could hear the occasional chatter from others farther away.

Alas, he didn't have any talent for chatting with squirrels, but their presence poked through his haze of alchemical excitement. He perked an ear at them and glanced up towards them, even as he tried to focus.

One of the squirrels with a more faded grey coat approached closer, making curious noises at him as it sniffed at his bowl of ground up plant matter.

Justin gently made a shooing motion. "I don't know what that'll do, little guy. I'd feel really bad if you exploded." Not outside the realm of possibilities. If he exploded, he'd only have himself to blame.

The fearless squirrel refused to be shooed, but at least it didn’t sample the wares. Justin was able to get back to work, at least, and make a fair bit more progress before Alice returned. She had a rather smooth and shiny looking wooden bowl gripped in her teeth, which she set before him, revealing a veritable bouquet of flowers atop some assorted leaves. Strangely, the squirrels didn’t seem alarmed by the predator’s presence, some of them even closing in closer to her.

“Here,” she said, looking away a bit in embarrassment. “You’ll have to tell me which ones are actually good… I don’t know what flowers you would think are tasty, so I just picked ones that smelled good.”

Justin sniffed his creation before he stood up. "Thanks, it looks fantastic! Are these your friends? They kept me company while you were away." He reached for the bowl and pulled it into himself, resting between his hind legs as he buried his snout into it and started sampling the flowers, Mmm…

“Yeah… friends might be an odd term for it. Coco here is almost ripe, aren’t you girl?” Alice pet the fearless squirrel gently. “They haven’t been getting in your way, have they?”

Ripe? Almost r… He released the petals in his snout. "They're your food?"

Alice nodded. “Only once they’ve had a nice, long life. Coco here turned five a few weeks back, but she’s nursing still, so I have to wait until she weans. I told you I don’t eat ponies… but I am still a wolf. Does that… bother you?”

Yes! "No… I guess you have to." He rubbed behind his head, looking awkward a moment before he took a slow breath and forced a smile. "Thank you, it's all lovely."

Alice flattened her ears, looking a bit rebuked by his body language. “I’m glad you like it.” She sat down and played with Coco a bit to distract herself, the squirrel fearlessly climbing all over her, soon joined by a few others.

Justin sat up on his hind legs and offered one of his fore towards her. "I mean it. I'm sorry. They obviously love you, and you take care of them. It's not up to me to start making a fuss about it. Just no nibbling on me and we're cool."

“Of course I wouldn’t-” Alice thought a moment, then shook her head. “Thanks for being understanding, Justin. I mean… a lot of humans have a hard time with that kind of thing, and they eat meat too. Just, most of them don’t even know anyone who raises farm animals. They just buy the meat at the store or restaurant and try not to think about it.”

Justin pointed at his bowl. "I suppose it would be different if I never saw a flower growing before. that would be odd." He pulled over his alchemical creation and rocked it to and fro a moment before he grabbed a flower in his maw, dipped it in and took a little taste. What was the worst that could happen?

The mixture seems to taste like vanilla. Very strongly. And the taste doesn’t seem to want to leave his tongue, not fading in the slightest. Rather, it’s started filling his nostrils, blanking out other smells, and drawing looks from both Alice and the squirrels.

Justin sneezed softly and rubbed at his nose as he inhaled more and more vanilla. How did it not fade with saturation? He sat back, confused and intrigued all at once. "Does my nose look funny?" he asked, eyes going cross to try to see the end of his snout.

“No, but you smell funny,” Alice said, as she padded closer, trying to see what was the matter. “Is that stuff stuck on your tongue?”

Justin flushed. "Oh my." So he smelled of vanilla. "I hope it's not offensive. It should go away on its own, I hope." He put the goop down. "I'll clean that out later. I don't need to smell like that."

“Here, stick out your tongue,” Alice requested. “I’ll help you out.”

Obediently, he stuck out her broad horse tongue for Alice with a soft ahhh.

Blushing, Alice leaned in and licked as much of the substance as she could off his tongue, ultimately distributing it evenly between them. That made it a lot more tolerable of a smell, though it was still quite potent.

At the end of the licking, Justin was blushing furiously. He nodded gently at her as he squirmed. "You are the nicest wolf I ever met." The only wolf he ever met, but same thing. "Thank you…" He wriggled his nose at her and smiled. "It's not bad now."

She blushed at the compliment. “Thanks. I’m glad I could help. You’re the… smartest pony I’ve ever met.” An equally true compliment, though she had at least met some other ponies… and they weren’t entirely dumb. Wordless, sure, but smarter than most animals.

Justin reached and pat her on the shoulder despite the odd look he got in return. "I'm glad we met. You're a good pony, er, wolf." He slid up to his hooves and shaked himself out, tail starting to wag as his mood lifted. "And I got a new recipe, though I don't know what this one would be good for."

“I can think of some uses… like making you super easy to find, for example. Though most predators wouldn’t think to track such a scent,” she suggested with a wag of her own. “Anyways… would you care to retire to my den?” A paw gestured in the direction of the previously located cave.

Justin gave a little nod, even as he wondered how well the two of them would fit in there. Then a thought came to him. She was being very kind, and feeding him, and even licking him? Were these just dog ways of saying hello, or was she more than casually interested? What would he even do if she was?! Do wolves do things the same way? A thousand questions played across his face even as he rose up and moved to the cave, trying to act brave and ready.

Alice led the way, needing to be conscious of the need to make a bit of noise and such, especially in the dark parts, so Justin wouldn’t get lost. But soon they were there. She had even taken a moment to dispose of the animal bones when she was making his salad earlier. And he could also make out the little hole where she had dug up the bowl from, nearby. Glancing at him, and then at her little indentation, she paused, trying to sort out how best to work this.

He moved up and flopped right onto the floor, acting like there was nothing out of place. He held out a hoof to her and smiled, playing the smoothest he could, even if anxiousness nibbled at him and he hoped he didn't make her angry.

She slipped up next to him, her legs joining his hooves in the indentation, as she lay down face to face with him, her body a bit outside the groove. “I’ve never really had a guest here before…”

Justin's heart skipped a beat. She'd accepted. They were gazing into one another's eyes. This was so wrong, and yet… He leaned in and gently licked her nose. "I'll try to be a good one."

“I’m sure you will be,” she said, gazing into his eyes as she froze a bit, entirely unsure what to do next. Were pony females supposed to make the first move? Who even knew?

Justin glanced away before he leaned in and touched nose-to-nose. He reached a hoof and gently held the exotic carnivore. She could devour him, but she seemed kind. She was so frightening, but that made it more…

A few beats passed between them with Alice holding her breath before she finally leaned in a bit more and tried to kiss him. Oh Gaia, was she really doing this? Why not, all things considered. It’s not like she would get even more outcasted somehow.

The little lick across his snout made his breath catch before he opened it and licked back at her. Confidence building with each touch, he leaned in and began nuzzling into her chest, sniffing gently at the vanilla that swamped the cave.

Alice gasped lightly, leaning back a bit to let him explore. “I’m not stealing you away from someone back home, am I?" she asked, while stroking his mane with a paw.

The pony tilted his head. "What? No. I mean, I'm not a virgin… I've had a few friends like that, but we never became marefriend and coltfriend, except that one time, I was actually a colt. We were just young and stupid." He nuzzled her gently. "Now I'm older and stupid."

Alice nodded. “You’re not that stupid, Justin. Sorry you never... not that I..." She faltered, settling for nuzzling instead of words.

With contact came boldness. She seemed to at least tolerate him, perhaps more. He nuzzled up under her chin as he pressed close, belly-to-belly. "Am I stealing you away?"

“No! No... I had a man, once, briefly... but he's long gone... I was... I was young and stupid, then," Alice said, echoing his statement. She wrapped her legs around him, hugging him close. She closed her eyes, pushing several thoughts out of her mind. She was determined to enjoy this now, regardless of whether she could keep him later.

"A human?" Curiosity laced his words, not disgust or jealousy. He put his head beside hers, his chin on her shoulder, as close as he could be, intimate and trusting. She could do horrible things to him, but he trusted her not to, just as she showed faith in him.

“Yeah... he never knew I wasn't. My family didn't approve... and I never saw either again, once it was all said and done," Alice said, her voice devoid of emotion as she said it. The walls were quite thick there. She snuggled in tight, enjoying the intimacy, in no rush for more.

He was a male, for better or worse, and his body gave off not-so-subtle hints that he could be talked into going much further. His mind wasn't as eager to force anything, and he snuggled against her, rubbing against her, hard and soft parts combined. "Their loss by far."

If she could smell anything other than vanilla, she'd be a lot more aggressive about it herself. Still, it was hard to miss that hard shaft poking against her belly. “I’m glad you're not running away. I'm glad you didn't run away. I don’t think we'd be able to do this if you had..." She dragged him into a deeper kiss, wondering at the feel of it.

His answer was muffled into a soft mmm of pleasure as he tilted his head, deepening the exchange with the bitch as a hoof gently trailed down her back. He hadn't dreamed of becoming that intimate with a predator, let alone one he just met, but everything in him screamed it was working.

Alice rubbed her belly firmly against his trapped stallionhood in response, making pleased noises into his mouth as their kiss continued uninterrupted. When she finally broke it off, she breathlessly asked "Do you want to?" Not quite sure what to ask specifically.

He twitched his ears with sudden thoughtfulness. Having broken through the first barrier, he had been riding the wave where it carried him. Having it put to a question… He smiled gently and nuzzled along her snout. "We shouldn't, unless we mean it." His hooves gently rubbed into her flanks. "For keeps."

“I agree," she said, though her body language seemed to take that as something of a rejection, as she settled into a firm snuggle, letting things stop there.

He nipped firmly into the fur of her snout in slow exploration. "That wasn't exactly a no, that… I was asking. What is this, between us?" He squeezed her, hooves pressing in around her tailbase. "Are we being two adults lost in a moment together? I'm really enjoying this moment, and the company."