The sun's warmth began to fade, and her backyard excursions had become limited by the decreasing light.

The old oak's leaves had turned brilliant shades of yellow, and the small animals she loved to chase had all disappeared for the season.

And sadly, she was soon locked inside, despite her pleas to float freely.

~~~

Fries sighed to himself as he scooped Puffball up, trying to distract her from the back door that she sat at longingly for hours. It was starting to become quite cold outside, and he didn't want to risk her getting ill from the chilly weather.

That, and after the squirrel incident (and finding out she had been "watering" his garden), he really wanted to help rein her in a bit, afraid that too much outside time would cause her feral instincts to grow stronger, and possibly out of his control.

So, it was inside time for her from now on.

"I know you wanna go out, but it's too cold! And I can't have you murdering all the wildlife around here." Puffball whined impatiently in Fries' arms, looking back at the glass door leading to his yard, longing to feel the cool air on her fur.

Speaking of her fur...

She had started to grow a thick coat of winter fur, which was somehow even softer than her normal coat. Yet this came with an unexpected downside, as to make room for this new coat, she had begun shedding her old one. Just from holding her for these few minutes, Fries' arms were covered in fur, the soft pink fluff gently floating off of his box and onto the floor.

Puffball gently shook herself away from Fries, floating over to a chair and rubbing her back against the legs, causing more of the loose fur to fall from her body, piling up on the wooden floor. Fries looked over in disapproval, as he had already swept up many of these fur piles throughout the day, yet her constant shedding showed no sign of letting up.

"Alright, alright. Come here-" He walked over to the little puff, gently picking her up and placing her on the couch before grabbing the dustpan and cleaning up her fur.

~~~

"Wanna...outside..." The little puffling called out softly, interrupted by a yawn as she snuggled into her caretaker's arms, his warm body starting to lull her softly to sleep. "I know, I know...let's get some dinner in you instead, okay?" Fries cradled Puffball close to himself, walking her over to the kitchen and placing her into her padded seat.

She was weaned completely now, and her new diet consisted mainly of cubed meats, cooked veggies from Fries' garden, and as a treat, some native fruits from her home forest. Puffball squeaked softly to herself as Fries prepared their dinners- some roast canal eel and broccoli. As soon as the plate was placed in front of her, the puffling squealed out happily, immediately plunging her face into her meal.

Fries, on the other hand, simply chuckled to himself, ruffling her fur (earning him a quick growl), and sitting down with his own plate to eat. He liked having someone around to have dinners with, even if she ate with her face and growled at him when he tried to clean her fur.

Puffball pulled her face up from her plate, chomping down on the eel meat between her sharpened teeth, causing Fries to laugh slightly at her expression. Sure, she was a carnivorous predator, but it was kinda hard to take her seriously as she loudly chewed the meat, shaking her head as if to "kill" her prey.

"Oh, Puffball...I'm so glad I found you..."

~~~Author's Notes~~~

short chapter for today, i was bored lol

anyway uhh

yeah puff

thats about it lol

not really much to say here

-Fire