Hot Springs Show Yourself.

Soon enough, the hacking turned into a hacking laughter as she saw the jet of water had hit Flair in her face. Collapsing to the ground as she gasped for air, Gwendolyn almost didn't care that it looked and sounded like she was dying like a deer with a clamp on its throat. That was the most hilarious thing she’d ever seen or done, unintentionally or not.

Still coughing loudly as the water clung to her throat like a bur to fur, it took another few minutes before Gwendolyn had cleared her tubes enough to gasp out words. Oh, she hadn’t laughed like that in ages!

“Even if I’m dying of thirst, I’m never drinking that again!” She croaked light heartedly, letting out a great big sneeze in an attempt to rid her nose of the water that had snuck up there during her hacking. “And you should have seen yours! Looked like someone you hate went and pissed on your dinner.” Oh, that had been a good laugh. She never thought she’d laugh like that again, not after her Ma’s passing. But it felt good, cracking up so bad that breathing was a problem. It was nice having a friend that wasn’t her mother either, cause well, her last and only real friend had been her mother. There’d been a sense of duty there, on her mother’s side it had felt like.

But Gwendolyn wouldn't have changed it for a thing and it did feel nice having someone closer to her age that wasn’t obligated to be anything to her.

“Hoooh, I’m sure my Ma would know what this was, if she was around.” Gwendolyn let out one last cough before properly clearing her throat and glancing back over to the steaming water. “Bet it’d be nice in colder weather but after all that, I’m not sure I wanna try getting in. Figure I’ve got enough water in my lungs as is!”

The larger wolf joined easily in Flair’s laughter, though it was mixed with continued hacking and coughing, dropping to the ground in almost-convulsions. Flair snorted several times, trying to get her breathing under control, and she wasn’t even embarrassed, considering what an absolute fool Gwen was making of herself. Then the grey lass managed to speak again, and Flair sputtered, fighting to hold back another laughing fit. She felt 20 pounds lighter; When was the last time I laughed properly anyway…? It might have been actual years.   Flair was shaking her head in silent wonder, a wide grin spread over her face. Finally, they both seemed to have recovered, Gwendolyn straightening up and looking out into the steam. Her fiery companion tilted her head, following the gaze contemplatively. She noticed, for the first time, that more ponds lay beyond theirs, everyone of them sending clouds of steam into the freezing air. She nodded, half to herself, her voice half a sigh as she drawled: “Yeah…” Thinking to herself that her own mother probably would have known too.   But she wasn’t about to let a sudden wave of melancholia ruin the fun they’d been having. Turning back to Gwen, she snickered: “I’d be afraid you’d sink,” She eyed the other wolf’s stocky frame significantly. Then she turned one her paws, making a guiding motion with her head; “But if you’re still thirsty, I know where there’s plenty of clean, cold water!” Word count: 240 ”Speech" Thoughts

dawnthieves.de

“Oi, you calling me fat you utter chonk?” Gwendolyn sniped back good-naturedly, clicking her tongue as if she was a mother tutting after her misbehaving child. "I'd not be the only one sinking you know!"

Giving her pelt one last good shake as Flair looked over the water - and were those even more pools of steaming water? - Flair had suggested she could go show her some proper water, not whatever this steaming stuff was. So rolling her shoulders in a sort of shrug, Gwendolyn nodded as Flair turned on her paws. After all that, some cold water actually sounded nice, after that coughing fit.

So the large greyish wolf trotted after the other, content for the moment to be coated in silence to give her throat a break.

-Fade-