The Floodlands itchy

It was.... shedding season.  And oh boy, was she shedding.  Tufts of red fur were being left absolutely EVERYWHERE she went.  Not only was it messy, but it was incredibly itchy, too.

She couldn't stand it.  Honestly, if she itched and shed any more, she might die.  She headed down the Plateau to the Floodplains to dip herself in the water to loosen some of it up, because aA A A A HA H HHH.

There were big old puffs of red fluff. What the hell? That was so weird. Milton thought it was so weird that there were this big puffs just flying in the air. He wanted to follow them because he thought they might lead him to a magical fairy that would give him red puffs too. He thought he would look really cool with red puffs instead of brown ones. But he had gotten rid of his brown puffs a couple months ago.
 
The red puffs were not from a fairy. They were from a red wolf. Milton looked at the red wolf with his hot hot pink orbs. He blinked his hot hot pink orbs at her and he gave her a wolf smile. “Hi! Wow! Are you going to be bald? You’d look really funny.” It was true. She would look hilarious if she was bald. He wanted to see it. Maybe if she left the water she would be all pink and have no hair. He laughed.

sry for the wait!

Company!  She hadn't expected that.  She felt peculiar now that there was someone just watching her bathe, but she still itched like a mother.  If she didn't know any better, she would have thought she had fleas.

Wahey! she called back to her audience, Nope!  She took a second to think about it, and yeah, wolves would look really funny if they were bald.  You don't shed? she countered, cocking her head to the side.

Milton liked her she was so fun. Milton smiled at her with a wolf smile and he made his auds come forward so that he could hear everything she said because she seemed like a really great wolf. She had some cool eyes he had never seen before. Those eyes were so pretty that he could not stop staring at her eyes. He liked his own eyes because they were so hot hot pink and so exciting but her eyes were so pretty that he was almost hypnotized.
 
“I did shed but like a couple months ago so you’re late.” She was late, after all. She should have shed in April that was when wolves shed anyway. He didn’t mind. It was cool to see that some people didn’t shed on time and that some people were earlier than others or later than others and it just meant that she was a little different but different wasn’t bad. Milton smiled a wolf smile at her and wagged his tassel. “What’s your name?”

lmao stray didn't check to see when wolves shed; they went by when all of their dog clients were shedding because they thought it would be fun.  thanks for being a good sport loool

Yeah, she was a late bloomer with well, pretty much everything.  Puberty was hitting late, she still didn't really know anything about boys, so it made sense that her fur would decide to shed a few weeks past due.  God forbid she ever get pregnant.

She regarded his comment with silence and she gave him an uneasy, halfhearted smile.  Did she just attract the mentally impaired?  Um, I'm Ceara.  Who are you?  She reached a leg behind her to try to get at that really itchy spot again and failed.

Her name was cool. He had never heard a name like her name before. Milton smiled at her and showed his teeth in his smile. His tassel wagged harder because he thought he was making a new friend who had cool fur and didn’t shed when everyone else did. That was so neat to Milton. Milton wanted to tell her that he thought she was cool but she asked him what his name was and he blinked his hot hot pink orbs at her.
 
“OH! I’m Meltin’ Milton Snakehole! Do you live here?” He wondered because she seemed to know everything pretty well and he was still new to the neighborhood so he wasn’t as good at finding things or knowing where things were. Milton kinda just liked to trot around and see what was in the area and he thought that was really fine and fun but he kinda wanted to know more about where his new home was and what it was like.

She couldn't help but smile, the guy was so upbeat.  She matched his smile and the wag of his tail and gave a short good-natured laugh at his introduction.  Well hi, Milton.  Is it alright if I call you that?  Sort of.  I live back there, at the Plateau.  She gestured to where the Redhaws had relocated with a swipe of her paw.  Where are you from?

She was really nice. Milton liked that she smiled back at him and wagged her tail at him because it looked like she was having a really good time and he wanted to show her that he was a friendly person. “Yeah you can call me whatever you would like to call me. Some people call me Milly and some call me Milt but I just want you to call me what you like best.” It was only fair that she got to pick what she called him because he wanted his name to be comfortable to her. Milton really liked to make other people happy so he wanted this new girl to be happy too.
 
She asked where he had come from and Milton wondered if she meant nearby or if she meant like where he had been born. Milton looked a little thoughtful and he looked up. “I was born in the desert but now I live in this pack called Bracken Sanctuary and it’s really nice there. Do you have a pack? You smell like lots of wolves.” He thought she might live with others because she smelled like others but he didn’t want to just assume because some people might get mad.

This strange boy was so sweet that it kind of made up for how weird he was.  Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she laughed.  Milly is a good name.  I like it!  And somehow, it suited him.  Milton sounded a little too stuffy for her, and Meltin' Milton was... weird.  Too weird.  You know, back where I come from, some people called me Fire.  After thinking about how shitty Frog and Tuathal were for names, she had decided Fire wasn't so bad.

I stayed in the desert for a while before I came here.  I do live in a pack, though.  We're just a little north of here, and it's full of my family.  She gave her loose fur another irritated tug with her teeth while she thought of more conversation.  I've never heard of the Bracken Sanctuary.  Are they far from here?