A Friendly Return

"Well... would you like one?"

A pause.

She shrunk back and moved her gaze to the ground, brows furrowed in thought as if he'd asked her about a the quantum theory. Finally she signed, "I'm not sure."

"I won't force you into it. If you don't want one, I understand." He lowered his arms and just smiled

When he did that however, it seemed to signal an 'OK' in her head, as her ears raised in curiosity. Slowly and hesitantly, she approached the hedgehog. The temperature rising and falling inconsistently. Raising her arms the way he did before, she took one quick step forward and enveloped him in a hug, brows furrowed somewhat in deep thought. Her eyelids lowering more, she moved her head across the side of his neck. Soft, fluffy persimmon fur tickling him. Yet she felt none of it.

He looked at her, surprised, and he hugged her back, giggling "Your fur is really soft... I feel bad that you can't feel..."

"What... Does it feel like...?" Her voice was soft and her sweet breath tickled his cheek. Eyes wide open, body stiff, she worried she was doing this... 'Hugging' thing wrong.

"It's a nice feeling... a feeling that.... you're not alone in this world.... it's a fantastic feeling, to tell you the truth."

"Am I doing... This right?" She tried desperately to keep her voice stable, soft, and unheard. Almost a whisper. Her brows easing slowly. Her tail even wagged a bit from this odd new experience.

"There really is no wrong way to hug... but yeah, you are doing it right. What do you think?"

"...Nothing." She admitted, pulling back slightly. "Felt nothing too."

"Oh... right... I forgot...." He pulled loosened his hug with her, which allowed her to move away if she wanted to.

And she did.

Taking quick steps back, her eyes locked with his and signed to him, "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked, scratching his head

She paused again, and spoke this time. "Everything."

"Um... could you explain... a bit. I'm...uh kinda confused."

However all she did was chuckle, a sound so soft even a crunch of dried leaves would drown it, and shook her head in amusement. "Silly boy." Her voice seemed to contain a hint of fondness in it, which would be the first she has ever done so in her entire life.

"Erm... silly? I mean, I admit I'm silly from time to time, but I kinda don't see how I'm silly right now... but it's cool, no worries." he smiled, putting his hands in his pockets.

However the wolf turned around, and began walking away. Her tail swaying behind her, scarf carried by the wind, she disappeared into the darkness of the dusk.

Srunks looked at his watch "Crabbaskets, its late!!" And with that, he ran as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast back to his home