When she finally looked up, the person-who-was-a-wolf was back to the wolf-who-was-a-person. Abbigail frowned. While her panic was fading, she had probably offended him. Now he probably didn't want anything to do with her. Why was it so hard to make friends?

"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I-I'm not very good with people and you startled me. And I-I- touch-touching hur-hurts. I'm s-so sor-sorry."

She lifted her hands to her face when the first tear fell. She continued to rub at the bubbling tears with the heels of her hands, trying to get them to stop. The little blonde bit her lip to keep from making a sound. It would only make them laugh at her. She didn't like when they laughed.

"So-sorry. So sor-sorry."

Adder dropped his head to the ground, resting his chin on his now-dry front paws. People were so hard to deal with. Why did there always have to be people around. People people everwhere. Nowhere without people.

...

He looked up as best he could from his current angle, nostrils flaring slightly at scent of tangible-salt. She was crying?

She was crying.

...

Uh.

Wh... what was he supposed to do now???

Adder stared at her for a few moments, completely lost and bewildered. He eventually managed to gain some vague grasp of the situation, and slowly sat up. Um. Er. Had to do... something. HOW DO YOU STOP A CHILD FROM CRYING he wasn't cut out for this.

!!

He seized a dry, fluffy towel in his teeth and flipped it open around the kid. Kids liked fluffy things, right? And towels shouldn't hurt.

A sudden weight on her head caused Abby to look up. One of the towels, the bright pink one with ducks on it, was covering her. It was a little damp from where it had been sitting, but it was probably the most dry of them. Abby grabbed a hold of the towel and pulled it into her lap with a hiccup. The towel dragging her short hair into spikes.

When the towel was off, Abby looked around her. The only one nearby was the wolf though. He had... covered her? With a towel...?

"What?" she asked, looking at the shifter. "I can l-leave if you wa-want me to. I'm sorry," she said again as she got up on shaky legs.

She seemed like she might be crying less!

...wait

No

No no no that wasn't what he meant! Adder sprang to his feet, a hint of a protesting whine escaping from his usually silent throat, and danced around the girl to put himself between her and the door. No, he wasn't telling her to leave. He snorted and shook his head, then patted the floor with a paw.

Abby stopped when the wolf moved in front of her. Wiping a tear from her cheek she tilted her head. The wolf shook at her. Then he hit the floor.

"You want me to stay?" she asked weakly. "Even after...?"

Adder huffed. Very loudly. Yes. She wasn't done-

No, that had nothing to do with it. He just hadn't intended for her to leave. So he was clearing that up. It wasn't really that he wanted her to stay, he just didn't want her to go.

Whatever. He'd sort it out later-never. He patted the floor again. Couldn't she just stop crying and running away and whatever else? Things had been pretty okay before that started.

When he hit the ground again, Abbigail nodded. She took a moment to wipe the newest tears off her face. They weren't coming out as fast now.

"Okay," she sat back down, still facing the wolf. "Would you... Um, should I keep drying you?"

There. Was that really so hard?

Yes. Yes that had been hard. People were hard to deal with. He flopped down beside salt softy and sighed. So much effort, but things couldn't go back to exactly how they had been. Time didn't work like that; no matter what you tried, you could only recreate and not undo. Life didn't undo.

...if she would keep drying him off, though, that would be nice. His sides were gross and cold. And quite accessible with their current respective locations.

Well, he was back to lying beside her. Slowly, Abbigail picked up the duckie towel and started to rub at his flanks. Those were still dripping water all over.

"I am sorry," she whispered. "I... My skin is really sensitive. It's not so bad when I'm in water, but when I'm not things hurt to touch. You... You're fur doesn't hurt much though. Actually most of the time it's just human skin that hurts a lot. I'm good with most everything else. I mean, I can handle it better." Abby stopped. "Sorry, you probably don't want to hear me chattering. I'll stop."

Abby bit her lip to keep quiet while she continued to dry the wolf's fur. There really was a lot of water caught in his pelt. It made her wonder how he got so wet again.

He could approve of this. And he could understand excessive sensitivity. New places and crowded spaces were incredibly hard on his senses. Touch was at least short-range.

When she stopped talking, he stretched his neck to try to look at her. It took a bit of contorting, and even then it was at such an angle that he couldn't actually focus on her. He snorted. She wasn't nearly loud enough to bother him. He might not have anything to say in return, even if he could talk in this form, but she wasn't bothering him.

He should do something to distract her mood. There wasn't much he could do, though. Hmm.... Well, she'd said that his fur didn't bother her as much. He supposed he could do that. Hm. Mm.

With a moment to make sure he had a decent mental handle on what was where, Adder bonked salt softy with his tail. No sad.

Abbigail jumped when the wolf's tail hit her head. She looked at him with her best deadpan. Carefully, making sure he was watching, she lifted the towel and mopped up the water his tail had transferred.

"That wasn't very nice," she told him. Before she could continue her little act, she started giggling. "I can't tell if you meant to do that or not, Mr. Drowned Rat." As she talked, Abby had twisted the towel in her hands. When she was sure it would "fly" she slung in over his back. "Take that!"

Well, she wasn't crying anymore? That was a plus.

Wait. Giggling. Oh, she was acting? Bah; Adder just leaned his head back. People. They did such weird things. If she had been entertained by it, why pretend she had been offended? It made no sense.

...what was she doing now? That wasn't drying him off. As the towel flopped around and unwound itself, he rolled over far enough to look her in the eyes. Really.

And then he snorted, because snorting did help convey wtf-ness.

Abby just kept giggling while the wolf rolled and snorted. She doubled over, resting her head on the towel across him. When she tried to stop laughing she would just burst into another fit. It took her a few minutes to stop her laughter.

"I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time," she admitted into the towel covered fur. "Not since... Well, it's been a long time."

OH COME ON why was she flopping on him now?

He squirmed a bit, but she just kept laughing and laughing. At least it was mostly giggling; he could hear it a little too well but it wasn't overwhelming. He sighed. Okay, okay, she was happy and somehow entertained with him. Could she stop laughing now?

...

Maybe now -

Nope.

...

Still not yet? Nope. Adder took a moment to rehydrate his tongue, and then sighed again.

HAH SHE WAS TALKING INSTEAD OF LAUGHING! And immediately went serious. He didn't bother to think about how long it had been since he had laughed with more than a snort. It was vague distant past. It also didn't matter. What mattered was -

Er, what was the point again? Oh right, she had been drying him off and now she'd stopped. She should get on that again, or he might have to dry his tail off on her more.

Abby was still pensive (last week's vocabulary word) when someone cleared their throat. Abby shifted around to see Jeff standing there, shifting from foot to foot. His friends were waiting by the living room door.

"We're uh, heading out. You gonna be okay?" he asked, his eyes flickering to the wolf and back.

She nodded. "Yeah. We're fine."

"You sure? I'm sure we can find an adult."

Now he was being silly. They hadn't even known the two shifters were in here until Abby had told them. Now he was acting like she would be attacked if they left. She smiled at Jeff, making sure her sharp teeth were fully visible. "We're good, Jeff."

"Uh, right."

He almost bolted to the door after that. It made Abby grin. He was just being nice, but she really didn't need him to act like she was with someone who'd hurt her. She had been next to the wolf-shifter for a long time. If he was going to hurt her, he'd already had plenty of chances.

"Some people need to mind their own business," she huffed after picking up the town again. "I may not be really strong, but I'm not helpless. You know? I have common sense. Idiot boys."