Thank you for your thoughts! Once I finished writing, I had a lot of grievances to as how this turned out. There was a lack of planning beforehand, which is an error on my part. I also started writing the novel on the 18th of May, since I didn't think I'd have enough time to start at the beginning of the month. Life got busy for me. I wish that there was more I could have accomplished.
I wish I had more time to flesh out the characters, and have it more apparent that Callum expanded his horizons. The brief time that this story had taken place was not enough to develop the characters in something that seemed meaningful, at least to me. I will have to admit, however, I was unaware of the theme at first when I started to write, so I hastily tried to weave in the idea of "expanding horizons." Which, is also an error on my part. I feel like I should have had more scenes of Callum not being interested, and pushing the main character away, so then the character development would be more impactful. As I think back on the story, I feel as though it was rushed, and that does not sit well with me. The growth does not feel gradual, nor organic.
I would like to revise the script and take more time on making the story work in a way that isn't as confusing. I will have to agree that the relationship between the main character and the wolf does seem confusing, on the basis of whether or not they'd be friends or lovers. Ultimately, I would like friendship to be the first step, since it would be more baffling to quickly enter a romantic relationship in such a small amount of time.
About the ages of the characters, I also felt like I didn't have an idea of how old they should be, and the ages were made up spontaneously. If I gave it any more thought, I should have left it at pre-college or perhaps, during. At this time of my life where I am almost in my mid-20s, I find myself in the same position, as well as some friends, so I think I wanted to make the characters feel a bit more relatable. I don't think most people would find themselves in that situation at this age, so if there are revisions in the future, I will keep that in mind.
The erzatses of the story could have been toned down a bit in retrospect. I get a bit carried away with coming up with concepts and ideas, so I did have the characters refer back to many non-existent video games in their universe. I didn't put into consideration how it could make the reader feel lost, so thank you again for your input. I felt that if the characters had a pre-existing shared interest, it would have been easier to connect. I often make friends when there's something that we have in common, but I do think that sharing interests with another is also a good way to make friends.
As for the topic of the pet cat, and "pet animals" in general, I like to think in any furry universe I've written, that real animals still exist. I think while I was writing, I had the intention that Callum took some offense to being compared to a cat simply because he doesn't like them. It may have not been communicated effectively. The existence of real animals, referred to as quadrupeds, in this universe works a lot like how humans and apes exist. The anthropomorphic animals and quadrupeds in universe may have shared a common ancestor and evolved in different ways over many many years. At some point, humans may have existed in this universe, or still do. Right now, that's a mystery to me, but I would like to think on that concept more.
Again, thank you for putting in the time into reading my story and leaving some constructive criticism. Initially I was afraid of what others thought, but I am quite relieved to get feedback at all. There are many things I would like to change and expand on, but I suppose what exists now isn't too bad.