Sunny Days and Starry Nights

Scarlet

Scarlet pulled the last of the sacks in the bin, panting. "Wolf? Can you come and move this?" Scarlet dusted her hands and sat down on the sacks, listening for footsteps.

"Wolf?" She called out again. There was no answer. Usually he wasn't too far, preferring to be close to Scarlet in case she needed help, like now. Scarlet sighed and stood up, heading for the barn door. Wolf needed to put those sacks away before it got too dark.

Scarlet stopped outside, looking for Wolf. A chicken pecked by her foot, leaving wet footprints in the dirt. "Wha-?" Scarlet said, picking up the chicken and inspecting it. She muttered, "Did you fall into the rain barrel, little guy?"

The chicken pecked at her fingers, annoyed that Scarlet took it away from its food. She set the bird down and followed the chicken's tracks, all the way to the little pond by the barn.

There Wolf was, his massive figure hunkered down over something that was squawking. White and brown feathers were littered all over the bank of the pond, not to mention Wolf. Wolf perked up as Scarlet walked closer.

His ears turned red as an extremely loud screech came from the chicken. He held up a flailing, soapy chicken, grinning guiltily.

Scarlet began to giggle, placing a hand over her mouth. "Wolf, you can't use pond water to wash chickens. You have to use warm water, and soap, and-." Scarlet laughed harder as the chicken tried to fly away from Wolf, forgetting that it could not.

Wolf kept one hand on the bird, trying to avoid its kicking claws. Scarlet hurried over to help, grabbing the wings of the crazed bird. She started to stoke it, calming it down. Wolf slumped his shoulders. "I was only trying to help."

Scarlet smiled, setting the chicken down. The bird strutted away, feathers still falling off. She kissed him on the cheek, ruffling his hair. "I know you were."

Something glinted in the corner of Scarlet's eyes. She looked over, curious. A couple of sticks were laid out on a towel, each sporting a tiny pair of doll-sized sunglasses.

Scarlet smiled. "Were you pretending to be at the beach?" Wolf really did turn red this time. He scratched the back of his head. "Uh...yea." Scarlet grinned at him, linking her arm through his.

"I think it's adorable." Wolf smiled. "Did you need help with anything?" He said, changing the subject.

"I need you to move some sacks into the loft in the barn." Wolf nodded, "Okay," and walked off. Scarlet stayed a little longer though, staring at the sticks.

Wolf had wanted to go to the beach, but they never had the time. Tending to the farm had left barely any free days in their weeks. And besides, the beaches in France were hours away. "But," Scarlet thought aloud, "Wolf's has been hinting that we're free for a couple of days, and Emilie can take care of the farm, she's done it before." She wondered if the rest of the crew was free.

Pulling out her port, she sent a comm to the group chat. Seconds later, they had all had responded that in fact, they were all free. Scarlet grinned to herself.

She couldn't wait to tell Wolf. Scarlet chatted with the rest of the crew for a couple more minutes, figuring out where they would stay, where they would go, what they would eat. A couple of days turned into one full week at the nearest beach, the Paris Plages.

Wolf's voice rang out across the farm, asking what was for dinner. He had no idea what an amazing week this was going to turn about to be. She turned on her heel and headed back to the house, still smiling.