Flopping down Etho whimpers and scratches at his side. His fur is shifting from his normal fluffy white coat into a shorter brown one. Sliding the door open, Iskall steps in.
"Hey man," Iskall waves.
Etho huffs and flairs his tails out.
"You ok?"
Nodding Etho huffs and blows a chunk of the fur over at Iskall.
"Ahh, shedding," Iskall nods as he looks down at the fur covering most of the shared base. Etho flairs his tails out and covers his body with them. Patting his back Iskall winces as a clump of hair sticks to his hand.
_______
A few days later Etho is absolutely miserable. He's not even the reddish orange like the code foxes. He's turned into a dull brown.
Small streaks of brown have started to show up in his hair.
Looking up at the camper van he yips loudly, until Doc walks outside.
"Hey Etho," Doc yawns, "What's up?"
Etho darts inside and curls up on Ren's dog bed.
"Ok then," Doc laughs as Etho grabs one of the chew toys. Doc sighs and sits next to him, "Do you want me to brush you?"
Nodding rapidly Etho gickers happily and lets Doc brush his back. Once Doc is done brushing the fox there's a pile of fur that's almost the same size as Etho.
"That feel better?" Doc asks.
Nodding Etho seamlessly shifts back into human form, "Loads. That was super bad."
With a small smile Doc laughs. Etho shifts back into a fox grabs the toy he's been gnawing on and bolts.
"Etho," Doc sighs... "Come on man... that's Ren's..."
Etho chuffs and looks back at Doc for a moment, but he keeps running.
_____
"Etho," Iskall complains, "You can't just keep buying things... We don't have any diamonds."
"Oh..." Etho looks at the few diamonds left in the chest, "Uh, I'll make a shop?"
_______
Freezing in place Etho meets the glowing green eyes of Bdubs, "What are you doing?"
Etho paws at the ground some more and continues digging. Bdubs watches him for a moment then yawns, "I'm going back to sleep."
Etho chirps back to him and continues digging under the tree's roots.
As the sun rises Bdubs wanders back over to see what Etho's been up to.
"Aww hi buddy," Bdubs laughs when he spots half of Etho's nose poking out of the small den he's made
Glickering Etho wiggles out of the hole and wags his tails proudly as he looks up at his friend.