Liz was unlike other skunks. Her personality was a little more on the hoydenish side, but there was something else that set her apart from the majority of her peers.
When Liz was born, the scent glands used to create a skunk's signature stink did not develop properly for her. The doctors had told her parents it was not a harmless or serious defect, but that it was rare. This meant, of course, that Liz lacked the ability to produce the potent spray a skunk usually could, but it instead caused her stomach to develop abnormally; it created far more flatulence than any normal fur's ever would.
As she grew up, Liz found herself getting gas more majorly than anyone else she knew; even if she hadn't eaten anything particularly gas-inducing, her belly would swell up like a dirigible; in essence, Liz could never really run out of gas, her digestive system had an almost infinite stock of flatus that would only lessen the old fashioned way: by letting it out naturally.
Of course, growing up a girl with technically endless gas had not been a smooth ride for Liz; when she was very young, she was teased tirelessly by her peers--the nicknames of 'gasbag' 'farticus' 'cheese cutter' among others still remained in the back of her mind.
As the years went on, people got used to having a classmate as gassy as Liz; it almost became part of her personality to anyone who knew her, and most people seemed to find it funny rather than offensive.
Liz had a nice, tightly-knit little friend group for a while, who didn't seem to care that their friend farted so often; they actually found it funny, but things were changing.
The time had come for Liz to move on to college, which was in a completely different town. For most furs this prospect was a thrilling, exciting one, but for Liz, it came with a great deal of anxiety.
She held her suitcase to her chest as she briskly made her way down the corridor. She was on her way to her room, where she was going to meet her new roommate.
Liz was of roughly average height for a girl her age; just over 5'5". She was a little chubbier than other furs, but certainly not fat. The skunk's silky white hair ran down to her shoulders, occasionally tied back into a ponytail but not always - this was dependent on her mood. Her eyes were full and dark blue, standing out on her face above her pert, cute little nose and mouth.
On this particular day Liz was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and pair of blue jeans, fitting tightly across the shape of her thighs and buttocks.
She had no idea who she'd be sharing a room with, but she prayed that they might have an immature sense of humour; that they might find her condition funny rather than disgusting, because if they were going to be sharing a room with Liz for the entire year, finding it disgusting would put a damper on things.
Of course she could hold her farts in... For long enough, but it was usually much more uncomfortable to do so, and she didn't want to feel like she wasn't free to do as she pleased.
"It's okay, Liz," she muttered quietly to herself, checking she was standing outside the right dorm room.
"I'm sure they'll understand... Just explain you can't help it.."
She gulped, and held her hand against the worn, cold brass door handle, turning it and entering the room.
It was not a large dorm. There was one big room where both beds were placed end-to-end to her left, with a desk and small sofa to the right. The cheap, yellow-tinted White wallpaper ran around all the walls, coming to a halt at the sea green skirting boards and door frames. There were two doorways to the far side of the room; one which seemed to lead to the bathroom, and one to a small kitchen, though from where Liz was standing it seemed like more of a stove and sink than a full kitchen; looks like they'd be reliant on take outs.
The large window that sat over the beds let in the pale morning light, and as the door opened a shorter, rather skinny vixen turned from the sofa to look at Liz.
"Is this.. Uh, room 17C?"
"Yeah! Yeah... You must be... Umm.. Laura? No... Lana?" The vixen grimaced frustratedly as she tried to remember.
"I'm Liz." The skunkette smiled weakly, but assuringly.
"Oh, yeah! I'm sorry - I'm really bad at names." The fox laughed and slapped her forehead self-deprecatingly.
"It's fine, really. I am too." Liz tried to be as kind and friendly as she could, maybe if she got friendly then her 'condition' couldn't come off as badly.
"It's a bit of a shithole in here, I know... They were supposed to give us a TV in here, but apparently ours broke, so now we're gonna have to wait like, weeks to get it fixed, so there's no TV for a while, I'm afraid."
Liz nodded to the fox's rambling as she set her suitcase down onto what she assumed to be her own bed. The room felt dusty and not completely clean, but in that lack of spotlessness was a sort of cosy charm. "that sucks, I brought some games and a console with me."
"Oh, by the way," Liz turned at the sound of her roommates voice to see a hand outstretched towards her.
"I'm Morgan!" The vixen smiled. It was a smile of warmth and accommodating friendliness, but that didn't mean she was going to necessarily be accepting of Liz's gassy nature.
"I'm Liz, as you already know." The skunk shook her roommates' hand, giggling along with her.
"Awesome! I hope we get on well. I mean, I hope you can survive staying in a dorm with me." Morgan chuckled.
"Yeah," Liz smirked, "I hope you can survive staying with me.."
If only Morgan knew how serious Liz was about that.
Morgan was certainly a girl that brought to mind the words 'dainty' and 'pretty' she had a real natural beauty to her, as far as foxes went, with bright red hair that neatly settled down the sides and back of her neck, and a wide, foxy grin that stretched to the fluffy whites at the sides of her face. She had a few small freckles along the bridge of her nose, beneath her large brown eyes.
Her frame was small and cute, more feminine and quaint than Liz's, but not tiny. She wore a light-grey T-shirt with some sort of logo worn away on it, and similarly to Liz, had a pair of slim-fitting black jeans. She had a body that most furs would consider very attractive.
"What're you studying?" Morgan inquired, patting the seat next to her on the sofa, inviting Liz to sit there.
"I'm doing history. Love all that old stuff, yknow? But, I don't mind a little of the old video games on the side!" Liz grinned.
"Oh, cool, I'm doing art." Morgan responded.
"My class doesn't even start till Thursday.." Morgan complained.
"Neither does mine. I suppose we can spend the time until then just settling in and stuff." Liz felt somewhat pleased she didn't have to get straight into classes or anything.
Since she'd been in the room, the pressure in Liz's stomach had been accumulating rapidly, and she began to feel cramps. She'd usually have farted by now, and keeping it in was proving to be harder than she thought.
Maybe she could try and let out just a little... No, the smell would drive Morgan away for sure..
The skunk's stomach let out a deep, sonorous growling sound, like the sound made by a bath drain when the last slithers of water are running out of it.
"Are you alright? Hungry or something?" Morgan inquired softly.
Liz wasn't sure what approach to take...