Salon and Spa (Patreon)

A fox would indeed be a neat fit for Irie, buuuut Fuzzbutts already has an awful lot of mammals (especially canines) for a world where the majority of the animal kingdom is sapient. I wanna challenge myself to include more reptiles, amphibians, and birds in the cast. >:3 We first saw Isla, our Irie expy, on this post. 

Isla is a giant monitor lizard that works in therapy. Although she is excellent at helping people unpack their problems, she nonetheless found her profession a bit lacking, what with it's rigid requirements for professionalism and lack of room for Isla's love of mischief and fun. Isla is....bored.

She's thus intrigued one day when she meets a little bald cat with big dreams for expanding her humble beauty salon into an all-species-inclusive luxury boutique. Isla turns the idea over in her head for a few days before she abruptly pops into Priscilla's salon and startles the poor cat out of her skin when she announces she'd like to invest (immensely) in Priscilla's idea.

And so, Priscilla's is transformed from a shabby salon into a resplendent boutique and bathhouse for all creatures big and small. Priscilla is grateful for Isla's (heavy) financial backing, but she privately worried that the wily lizard would eventually snatch away the reins and warp Priscilla's vision. Not the case! Isla is content to sit back and let Priscilla do the heavy lifting of management and decision-making ("You're the one with the business degree here, darling not me!"). Curiously, the only area in which Isla insists on being hands-on is the part where she gets to actually put her hands on their clients.  Isla quite likes helping out in the boutique, and finds immense satisfaction in what she calls "the process of purification and restoration", which is really gross tasks like scraping mud out of hooves, peeling off dead molted skin, plucking ingrown hairs, and popping blemishes. Yep, Isla is one of those weirdos (and I can say that, because I'm also one of those weirdos) that can be found watching pimple popping vids at 3am. Spending half a decade helping a patient work through their mommy issues is certainly rewarding, sure, but stripping off an iquana's flaky molting skin like bedsheet gives an instant sense of fulfillment that Isla quite enjoys. You are GROSS, Isla. Never change!

(That idea about the jars is a good one, btw. Gonna be a big hit with their reptilian clientele, so get that look of horror off your face, Prissy! Reptiles do commonly eat their molted skin, there's even recipes to season and fry it up in pieces like the world's worst potato chips.)

Despite sometimes having to rein in Isla's nuttier ideas, the pair gets along quite well, and the Bath-Boutique is growing steadily successful. Isla and Prissy can sometimes be spotted having coffee or an impromptu dance break (Lady Marmalaaaade) in between working hours.