STOP! CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL SUBMISSION TODAY!

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Walking through the now-bustling streets of Leo's home village, the timber/dire wolf hybrid girl admired at how alive and wholesome everything around her felt. Everywhere Tundra looked, she felt like the village was full of life and positivity. Leo already explained to her how his village embraces warmer seasons and climates happily, and the enthusiasm showed as they passed random villagers on the streets. Throughout one entire section of the path the two furs walked, many shops were open selling fresh produce and goods. Smiles were exchanged between all who crossed each other; the villagers' wardrobes fairly colourful spring attire couldn't match up to the brightness in their smiling faces. Leo has also explained that warmer weather has a positive effect and vibe in his village; even if they weren't truly happy, some folks would still report feelings of serenity and comfort. In fact, the overall mood of the village between spring until early autumn can essentially be described as satisfying and pleasant. And especially since Leo - and any other ninjas/warriors - is there on-call to go out on missions regarding the safety and protection of the village, everyone also felt secure living day by day.

Tundra admired how the overall architechture of the buildings around them are inspired by Asian culture; she especially enjoyed the faint sounds of cultural music that could be heard in the far-off parts of the village as they reminded her of the soundtracks from anime that she watches back in her town. Speaking of which, Tundra shared with Leo that she occasionally liked to travel on her own and was visiting this Japanese-based area as a sort of temporary rest point, yet she had never even known about such a village like Leo's. And somehow, through Leo's company, she was beginning to enjoy its sights and sounds. Or, maybe, she just enjoyed learning about such appreciation of a cultural place through Leo himself who's been nothing but kind to her since they first encountered each other.

Leo stopped in his tracks; Tundra walked no more than three steps ahead of him before stopping as well after noticing him standing still. He had his eyes closed as he tilted his head upward and looked to be basking in some sort of aroma with one long, gentle inhalation.

"What's goin' on, brah?" the wolf girl asked.

But she almost instantly found her answer as a pleasant scent captured the attention of her canid nostrils. She, too, closed her eyes and took a couple of quick whiffs of what smelled like fresh boiling noodles. The scent alone had a sort of rich flavor indicating that a lot of homemade passion was put into the recipie. Inadvertently letting her tongue hang out, her muzzle already began to water slightly.

"We're here," Leo replied, breaking the silence. "That's what's going on."

Both opened their eyes again, and Leo turned to his left pointing to a fairly small booth with small white flaps barely covering only half of the entrance which consisted of many stools in front of a counter. Some of the flaps bore Japanese characters that spelled out: 宝ラーメン (Takara Ramen; "Treasure Ramen").

"This place makes the tastiest ramen," the ninja lion said walking inside.

Tundra followed suit not wanting to miss a moment of this lunch outing. Walking past the flaps, she saw that beyond the counter was a sizeable cooking area; pots, ovens, and a couple of chefs working on what looked to be more ramen.

"Yo, everyone!" Leo called out in a friendly yet loud tone raising his arm up high in the air for attention.

The staff turned their heads towards Leo, and they recognised the ninja lion instantly replying with pleasant greetings. Leo has had a good standing with this ramen shop in particular having helped them sometimes (whether it was through protecting them from bad guys or just simply lifting heavy supplies into the storage area in the back).

After placing their orders - Leo's treat - the two furs sat themselves down on the comfortable high-rising chairs.

"Dang!" Tundra exclaimed. "This really smells good here."

"Wait till you taste it," Leo said. "It's totally worth it. One of the secrets they have to their amazing ramen is that they let the noodles soak in the boiling water long enough so that they're really filling."

The wolf cross-breed was delighted to hear that and was looking forward to her meal with her new friend. But until their meals were ready, Tundra decided to converse once more.

"So are you into any video games at all?" she asked.

"I am, actually," the ninja lion replied, listing off some games that he truly enjoyed playing.

But though she's heard of some of the games Leo brought up, the timber/dire wolf girl realised something.

"Oh, they're not on FURBOX, are they, brah?" asked Tundra.

"No, they're not," Leo replied, embarrassed. "Sorry about that. But it's nice to know you enjoy playing those kinds of games."

"Yeah, it's cool," she said. "I'm kind of a gamer myself."

"What music are you into?" Leo asked. "Something tells me that though you enjoyed the music coming here, you have other preferred tastes in mind."

"Yeah, that's true," she replied. "I liked the music here, but I'm more into rock and metal artists and bands. Stuff like that. I like Blood on the Dance Floor, Three Days Grace, Sleeps with Sirens..."

As she went on sharing what artists and bands she absolutely enjoyed listening to, Leo admired her passion for such outstanding music. This gave Leo time to breifly reflect on what he enjoyed listening to compared to her tastes.

"They sound interesting," he said, smiling. "When I get a chance, I'll have to listen to 'em myself. And y'know, that's what's so cool about us..."

Once more, Tundra tilted her head confused as to why Leo brought that up so suddenly.

"Whaddya mean, bro?" she asked.

"Well," Leo explained. "You and I have different specific tastes in music, yet we both in general enjoy music a lot. Plus we play games a lot, but we both have different games for different systems."

Slowly nodding, Tundra was starting to get the gist of what Leo was leading up towards.

"Even now," Leo continued. "We both ordered ramen, but you ordered yours with way different spices compared to mine. And there's certainly nothing wrong with liking or disliking certain things. It's all part of what makes each of us special."

Leo went ahead and firmly wrapped his arms around Tundra's back in a sort of bro-hug.

"And despite all these differences," Leo concluded. "We both enjoy moments where get to hang with good friends, be they old or new, just like you and I."

"Right on, bro!" Tundra said happily.

"Of course, with that said," Leo said, chuckling. "I'll try to steer you clear of any flowers we may come across, no matter how lovely they are."

Tundra laughed right back; on their way to the village earlier, they both discussed their dislikes, and she happened to bring up flowers among other cutesy things in general. What Leo said just now showed just how much he cared for his friends, and that made her smile.

"Thanks, brah." the wolf cross-breed said, stil laughing a bit more.

Suddenly two steaming bowls of freshly-cooked ramen was pushed right in front of the two furs. The chefs grinned as they presented them their two lunch dishes. Leo's and Tundra's muzzles watered once more. The ninja lion purred gratefully, and the timber/dire wolf girl wagged her tail cheerfully.

"Arigatou!" Leo said grabbing two sets of black chopsticks for him and his guest.

"Thanks, man," Tundra said taking one of the chopstick sets.

Using his chopsticks, Tundra wrapped up a sizeable amount of ramen into long strands of collected noodles.

"Here's to us!" she exclaimed playfully. "Ramen buddies!"

"For real, brah!" Leo chuckled back as he lifted his long strands of noodles between his two chopsticks.

The two furs bring the ramen to their muzzles, happy to enjoy each other's company on this pleasant day in Leo's village.

SLLLLUUUURRRRP

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I am so bad for getting around to putting a story together so late!

*slaps own wrist*

In the middle of last month, the totally rad posted a drawing of her fursona; it was on that submission that she was rewarding the first furry to guess the name of the band featured on her shirt a free YCH. I quickly did a bit of reasearch and got the correct answer. And I'm really glad I did because the end result here looks amazing!

Looks like she ended up drawing a sort of follow-up to my backstory that I wrote behind the last drawing she did for me. This is really well done! Wonderful work on the pose ideas having them sit side-by-side consuming the noodles. Both them look very happy and content as evidenced with the facial expressions. Hairstyles on both of them look very fluffy and well-drawn. Great work on the colours, and I've like how she's drawn numerous etches and lines to either add depth on character's body parts (i.e. the bridge of the nose) or indicate where shading is (i.e. hair shadows behind neck). Very strategic and well done.

Another awesomely rad drawing, ! Thanks a bunch!

GO CHECK OUT THE TOTALLY RAD TODAY, AND TELL HER LEO SENT YOU, BRO!