Rift in the Veil

Name: Tototsuki (A.K.A. Suki)
Age: Irrelevant (not extremely experienced, as he only has two tails)
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 134 lbs
Eye color: Violet
Hair color: White



Something was very, very wrong.  He had chased after Haunts before, they made for entertaining games of catch, but this one seemed…driven.  If he didn’t know any better, Tototsuki would have thought that it was actually going somewhere.  But of course that couldn’t be the case.  Haunts never had an agenda, they just took what chances they were presented, right?  Despite that being well known and accepted conventional wisdom, this particular Haunt seemed to act in complete contradiction to that.  Pounding through the endless forest, Suki relied more on his nose than his eyes.  Haunts always seemed to emit a smell like burning incense, but most other spirits that didn’t have such a keen sense of smell tended to miss that scent.

Suddenly, the Haunt stopped, remaining completely still.  Suki lowered himself into a crouch and watched, preparing himself to pounce.  You’re mine he thought gleefully.  With a smooth, coordinate exertion, he leaped into the air, sharp teeth flickering with faerie fire that would surely destroy the minor force that held the Haunt in the Spirit World.  He noticed, however, that he was slowing down while still in the air and kind of hanging in the air much longer than he should be.  Yelping in surprise, he scrambling, flailing his paws ineffectually in the air.  To his left, a shimmering line distorted the forest and seemed to fold outwards.  Suki felt a tremendous tug at his whole being and was swept through a tumult of darkness and cold and pain.

As quickly as it had begun, the disorienting tumble stopped and he felt solid earth beneath his feet once more as he rolled to his paws, crouched and ready for combat, both tails waving over his back like twin banners.  It took him a moment to realize that he was not in the same forest any longer.  Or, at least not in remotely the same area of it.  Also, his body felt unfamiliar.  Glancing down at himself, he found that he was no longer covered in the orange russet fur that he had been only moments ago, but rather the soft, pink-ish white covering of skin.  A loose, white coat hung from his shoulders and was open in the front, revealing blue swirling patterns etched into his skin.  His legs were clad in a similar style, though the white pants were more form-fitting than the coat was.  Thankfully, his feet were still bare, so he could feel the earth beneath him.  His fox ears (thank whoever had been watching out for him that THEY were still there!) flicked around in all directions, trying to get a bearing.

He could still smell the Haunt and so figured that the strange, purple deformation of the air that he could just make out must be it.  But there was something else.  Some strange, sharp scent that made him sneeze once.  His bright, violet eyes scanned the area until he found the source of that stench.  A human male!  And it looked like the Haunt had hurt it badly.  Pulling his lips back in a snarl, Suki lunged forwards, holding his palm outwards towards the Haunt and tapping into his innate magical abilities to conjure a flash of light and at least disorient the Haunt long enough for him to rescue the human.  However, he nearly yelped in surprise when, instead of a simple flash of light, a bolt of lightning lanced outwards from his hand and through the Haunt, causing it to give a terrible, wheezing sound and twist around, imploding on itself and disappearing completely.  Eyes wide, Suki gazed down at his hand, amazed at what had just happened.  He had never conjured lightning before and, based on the shade of magic he had just used, should not have been able to.  Maybe the rules were different here in the Living World?

Well, that was a mystery for another time.  Suki knelt down beside the human and looked at him carefully.  It looked like the Haunt had not quite finished tearing his soul out, so he wasn’t dead.  Not yet, at least.  A quick sniff of the male’s scent told him that he was not far from death’s door, though.  Taking a deep breath, he laid his hand on the male’s chest and, in a flash of silver light, forced a sliver of his own energy into the human.  Just enough to repair his soul, of course.  Even directly losing that much of his energy, though, was exhausting.

The human’s chest rose slowly as it drew in a ragged breath of air and Suki leaned back, letting out a small sigh of relief.  “Hey, are you okay?  Can you even hear me?” he asked once the human’s eyes opened.  He just managed to resist the overwhelming urge to poke it.  Great, only his second time in the Living World and he’d already killed a human.  There was no question about whether or not the human could see him.  With sutures on his soul made from Suki’s own energy, he would probably be able to see even the nature spirits that kept the trees and grass alive.  Of course, that’s if he found them worth the time to look at.  Suki never really did, as they tended to ignore everything that did not directly pertain to the tending of their chosen plants.  Stuck up spoil sports is what they were.

Name: Keij  Tayumo
Age: 22 1/2 years old
height: 5'10
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Dirty blond
Occupation: College - studying Japanese Folklore

Spoiler:

Opting to skip out on his afternoon classes Keij took a stroll through the forest. It was one of his favorite places to slip off to and read. The silence was comforting as he read aloud to no one imparticular. It helped his brain cast the images of the characters as he enjoyed every sentence, gorging on the literature in his lands. The trees stood around him tall and motionless, he wondered if they enjoyed the books he read. Though he suspected they would never give him an answer.

But he didn't have the most exciting life like his friends, while they were busy partying and experiencing adventures. Keij was focused on college and graduating, something his parents made very clear to him that needed to be done. Stuffing his hands in his dark blue jeans, he continued to walk. Black sneakers crushing down the soft blades of grass as he made his way on through. The wind rustled his white button up shirt and the sudden burst made him shudder. Then a loud CRACK rang out, echoing through the sky.

Pausing to stare the young man felt a tight grip on his body in seconds, a shock paralyzing him in place. He shrieked out as the grip tightened and the pain continued his body lifting from the ground, feeling weak Keij closed his eyes. The last image crossing his mind was the rift in the sky and the trees of the forest.

“Hey, are you okay?  Can you even hear me?”
His voice sounded so far away, it was only after another burst of energy filling his chest that Keij could think. Still weak he felt some strength return and he opened his hazel eyes to look up at his savior. "Uhh..yeah...I can.." he retorted blinking a few times. Keij figured he hit is head rather hard, because the guy who saved him had ears. Fox ears to be exact.

Reaching his hands up he squeezed on the leathery soft ears and his eyes widened. "I must be dreaming...are you real?" he asked blinking a few more times. Rubbing his head and eyes he groaned, he felt like he was hit by a bus.

The human’s chest slowly rose, filling his fragile lungs with air, and Tototsuki felt as though he had been the one not breathing.  Of course, he wasn’t out of the woods just yet.  Okay, he realized, glancing around at the trees surrounding him.  Stupid metaphor.  He leaned closer to the human, doing his best not to sneeze from the sharp smell of human flesh, and lowered his ear, feeling for air and listening for breathing.  

“Uhh..yeah…I can..”

Suki sat bolt upright, ears pricking forward and tails fluffing up.  Talking was a good sign.  He blinked in surprise as the human reached up and squeezed his ear.  Yup, definitely alive.  His ear flicked back and forth against the human’s hand for a moment—it is really ticklish, you know—before Suki leaned down and wrapped his arms around the human, bubbling over with relief.  “Oh I’m so glad you’re alive!” he cried.  “You have no idea how much trouble I would have been in if you’d died.”  Wait, now he was hugging the human.  Oops.

Letting go and scooting back about a foot, Suki’s ears flicked once in embarrassment before laying flat against his head.  “Um, sorry,” he said quickly, gnawing on his bottom lip with what appeared to be exceptionally sharp teeth.  “Yeah, I’m real.  Er, well…I’m kind of…uhhhh.  Hm.  Yes, I’m real.”  He nodded and then held his hand out to the human.  “I’m called Tototsuki, but the other spirits just call me Suki.  And you’re lucky that I came along with him,” he said, jerking his head towards where the Haunt had disappeared.  “And that I managed to not fry you along with him.  Though…Still not quite sure how I managed that one, in the first place.”  He frowned in thought for a moment, then beamed down at the human, ears standing straight and everything.  “But hey, what is it that they say here?  All’s fine that ends fine, or something?  Humans do say something like that, right?”

Standing up from the human’s side, he peered around, noticing for the first time since his tumultuous arrival the details of where he had been pulled to.  It didn’t smell too bad, so it had to be at least a little ways away from the nearest center of civilization.  Given the choice, he would like to stay here until he could figure out a way to get back home.  But…

He slowly turned to look at the human, watching his every move.  Choice was not a luxury that he could enjoy any longer.

[ Sorry, thought I'd finally jump in. ^^]
Name: Evelyn Renier
Age: 23
Height: 5'8
Eye Color: Green with tints of silver
Hair Color: Honey-caramel brown
Occupation: Student/Part-Time Animal Rescuer

After recieveing the warm hug from Suki, Keij blushed brightly and looked away rubbing his head. He must be dreaming because that would mean he was staring face to face with one of the spirits he read about. "You're really a kitsune.." he said his voice cracking. He blinked a few times as the spirit chatted about and hopped around. Every few sounds Keij would rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

A scream in the distance made him turn his head from Suki towards the woods, "Someone needs help.." he said scrambling to his feet. Looking at the kitsune he motioned for him to follow, "Come on..this conversation isn't over yet." he retorted in a hurry. Still feeling like he was beat down and left for dead, Keij managed to get a slow jog going. Heaving heavily he leaned against a tree and noticed her. "Evelyn?" he called out.

Turning to Suki he pointed to the girl, "I think shes hurt, can you help her?" he asked stepping from the bushes towards her. He approached slowly not sure why she wasn't moving, odds are  she got zapped by whatever hit him. Keij looked at Suki and then back at Evelyn, what the hell was going on.

The male certainly looked like he was recovering, though he kept rubbing at his face and looking at him strangely. “Well of course I’m a kitsune. What else would I be?” he asked, cocking his head slightly. Surely visits from the Spirit World weren’t as rare as all that. He reached up and rubbed at the mark under his left eye, wondering what else would surprise the human. Unfortunately, though, his contemplations were cut short by the sound of a scream coming from nearby and to the west. Suki’s ears stood straight on end and his eyes flicked through the woods, searching for whoever it was that had screamed. This male was the only human that he could smell distinctly, so surely whoever had screamed couldn’t be too close.

”Come on.”

Suki felt a tug at his being and, before he even registered the motion, his feet were moving after the male. So, that’s what it felt like. He easily kept pace with the winded and stunned human, ears constantly swiveling and nose testing the air. It did not take long for him to pin point the scent of another human, though this scent was subtly different than that of the male that he had first met. The male pointed to the girl laying crumpled at the base of a tree and asked if Suki could help her.

Sniffing carefully, he knelt down beside her and took a deep breath in through his nose, studying her carefully. “I think she’ll be fine. She was too far from the rift to be inside of the eye, like you were, but too close to avoid the spiritual pressure that it caused,” he explained. Unable to resist this time, since he knew that she was not dead, he reached out and gently poked her arm, immediately pulling back and blinking. It was kind of squishy. “Um, I think that getting her some water would work best. Or, hm…Milk, actually. Milk is better.” He looked up at the male. “Do you know where this one lives?” he asked, gently reaching down and picking up the female as though she weighed next to nothing.

Before the male could answer, though, Suki flinched, folding his ears flat back against his head, as a high pitched yapping bark rang out. Glancing around, he caught sight of a small little ball of puff with two little eyes and a stubby nose. Grinning slightly, he pursed his lips and whistled to the dog, who happily trotted over and began bouncing up and down at Suki’s feet, its short little tail wagging a mile a minute. “He wants to follow us and make sure she’s okay,” he explained to the male, then waited for him to lead the way to the nearest glass of milk.

Keij ran over to calm Evelyn down, lifting his hands he spoke. "Listen all I know is that he is a REAL kitsune. No, I'm not making this up and I'm not crazy either." he replied  in a serious tone. Looking at Suki, the dog and then Evelyn he shrugged and decided milk was the only answer to this situation. "Let's go back to Evelyn's house I know she lives on the opposite side of the forest, she will have to point out her house number. Hopefully shes got milk and we can get some of our questions answered." he added motioning for them to follow.

Turning his eyes to kitsune he couldn't help but stare, it felt like he was in the twilight zone. "Suki you can put Evelyn down if shes ok to walk." he said with a sigh. Rubbing his hand over his chest he could still feel some pain. But after a few more taps against his body he decided everything else was intact and counted for. "I don't really know where to begin but how in the hell did you get here? What the hell happened to me?"

Keij attempted to remain as calm as possible but he knew that something happened in the forest. Now he had a kitsune following him around and if anyone else spotted him, he knew there would be some unwanted attention quickly. Turning to walk back through the trees he remained quiet. His brain attempted to process a reason for this madness, but none came to mind.

Well, apparently visits from the Spirit World were pretty rare, Suki decided. At least the male knew that he was a kitsune. The female didn’t even seem to have realized that, despite clearly having seen his ears and tails. He opened his mouth answer her questions, but shut it again and simply nodded in agreement with the male’s explanation. He grinned down at the female. “My name’s Tototsuki,” he supplied. It was polite to introduce one’s self, right? He hoped he wasn’t getting that human custom wrong. That would be embarrassing.

He glanced over the female’s body and took another careful sniff. She looked to be unhurt and nothing smelled too wrong with her, but she certainly would be weak. “Can you walk on your own?” he asked, watching her with concern plastered across his face and ears perked attentively towards her. Should her reply be positive, Suki would set her carefully back on her feet, though remain close, just in case she became too dizzy or weak. He knew how much havoc a rip like that could cause on a spirit’s equilibrium, so he could only imagine what it must be like for a human.

“Well, you see, your world is only one of a few different…planes, I guess, of existence. I come from your nearest neighbor, called the Spirit World. There’s a separation between them that’s supposed to be impassable, save by a few very select spirits that you humans tend to identify as angels or the Grim Reaper or whatever. I’ve met him once; pretty nice guy, really. Anyways, uh, I guess something made the separation, usually just called the Veil, weaken and me and that Haunt that almost killed you got tugged through. It was weird, though. It looked like it knew that the rift would open right there…” His voice trailed off slightly, then he shook his head and smiled at the male. “Sorry. Anyways, the Haunt came through a second before me, which was enough time for it to find you and start to pull your soul out. I stopped him and saved you by bonding my spirit to your soul.” Suki’s ears stood straight up with pride and his tails swished slowly from side to side behind him. He was proud of what he had done, despite its implications. He would have to tell the male about those, a little later.

She silently slid between his arms to stand, steadily keeping one hand on his shoulder for safer measure, "I'm Evelyn..." The woman replied in a softer tone, following the movement of the crowd of two others to where she lived for milk, she questioned herself. She did not understand the concept of drinking milk as a sort of cure, but she did not bother to judge one's request, as she did not understand everything else of course, what else was new. Evelyn tried to listen to the Kitsune, only now knowing what she didn't before to be true and everything revealed through the tailed man's lips. Seeing that her dog had returned, she bent down easily, still hazy on the adjustment to her balance as her eyes felt heavy and her mind flooded with too much to take in so quickly at a time. As she caressed the black pomeranian that wagged happily to see his owner was alright, she stroked his fur to calm him down, smiling just slightly to it as it made herself a bit relieved in return. With a glance to the Kitsune, she eyed him for a short moment, keeping her gaze to always move and not linger since everyone had their privacy. She was surprised at how well the creature had learned to act as if though he were a partial act of a human-being, but just looking at him now and hearing his world made her point of view shift completely. There were multiple worlds, so she's been told, thus meaning to create the simplest of wonders as always to spark her curiosity for more. Politely showing her small welcome to the male, she nodded once and lead him to her house along with Keji, caring not to talk at all till they arrived.

"Wow, and I thought I was the one that was in the wrong world... I guess make yourself at home here... No one really stays, so it's great for a hide out.. I suppose." She muttered, fidgeting nervously with the keys until she finally twisted them back to open the glass sliding back door to her simple little one level house. If it weren't for her being an everyday college kid, she would be living in something nice, but this will have to do until then, she hoped. She didn't think twice to let herself through first, petting Aztec closely to her chest as she aimlessly made her way to the small kitchen. Things were a bit scattered in the living room, as it was not very big to keep things nice and tidy, but she made it work to its best. Ignoring the leftovers on the table from last nights dinner, she thought of the idea of taking medicine, then thinking back to the question of milk. She motioned to the fridge, taking herself a seat carelessly at the table, "Take what you want, I don't care... What's mine if yours, I guess." She tried to laugh, smiling gently to the Kitsune and Keji.

"The Veil lead you from the Spirit World to here and now I'm bonded with you? When you say bonding, what does that all entail?" Keij repeated in a half question half statement. Rubbing his head he stumbled along to Evelyn's house and took a seat on her kitchen chair. He looked to Suki and gave a weak smile, "Thank you for saving my soul from that Haunt back there and you can just call me Keij." he added trying to show his appreciation.

Exhaling roughly he could still feel the pain in his chest, deciding to take a break Keij laid his head down on the table with a thump. His eyes flickered to Evelyn and then to Suki, "So now that we know the jist of this rift. Are other spirits going to come through and terrorize the humans or will we be able to get you back home? Now that we're bonded I mean.." his voice trailed off as he thought. Resting his chin on the table's surface he checked out Evelyn's house, it was small but homey. He really didn't know her well, took a class with her here and there but they rarely exchanged words.

Her comment about being in the wrong world made him smile weakly with a chuckle, he knew that feeling all to well. Turning back to Suki he was fascinated by his ears and how soft they were when he pulled on them. "If you're going to be staying for a bit Suki, we will have to get you a disguise. Unless you can hide your ears and tail? I don't think we can explain to people why there is a spirit running around downtown." he stated with a hint of amusement. He would've however liked to see the faces on all his colleagues who doubted his beliefs. They were real and Suki had proved it, even Evelyn could see the kitsune.

Suki nodded enthusiastically in agreement with the male’s summary of what he had told them, though he seemed to wilt slightly when asked about the bond.  “Well,” he began, drawing in a deep breath and growing still, stopping his fidgeting.  “The first difference you’ll probably notice is that now you can see probably all the spirits that are the designated caretakers of your world.  Most of them will probably just ignore you, though, no matter how much you talk to them.  They’ve never been much fun.  Um, you also will probably be able to use a bit of magic, but I can tell you about that later.  On the other side of it, I’m a lot more solidly anchored in this world now and so anyone, even people without any sensitivity to the Spirit World, will probably be able to see me.  Umm, kind of a little side effect that you should probably know about is that, as the native resident of this plane, you can exert your will and override mine.  I think it’s supposed to be to help keep me out of trouble or…something.”  His voice trailed off at the end and his ears lowered slightly while his tails hugged close to the back of his legs.  He smiled, regaining just a bit of his former chipper self when Keij thanked him and introduced himself.

The thunk of Keij’s head hitting the table cause Suki to jump, his ears standing up and tails fluffing out in alarm.  However, he managed to calm himself a moment later as Keij began talking.  “Umm, well, there will probably be more rifts opening and Haunts and other things will probably be able to find their way to them or just get pulled through, like I was.  But…I don’t think there’s a way to get me back there, no.”  He was quiet for a moment, then smiled and forced his ears and tail to relax, nodding at Evelyn.  “If you’ve ever said that ghosts are real or that there’s more to existence than this world, then yeah, you’re the one that’s right.  Oh!  You still need your milk,” he said, making his way over to the room where he could smell food and opening the big box that Evelyn had pointed at.  His violet eyes widened slightly in the yellow light from the automatic light.  “There’s so much food in here,” he exclaimed.  His eyes flicked around until they landed on a white carton off to the side.  “Mmm…iii…Aha!  Milk!”

He removed the carton from the cold box and handed it to Evelyn.  “Milk is good for recovering from the shock of spiritual damage because it comes from a living creature and doesn’t need the creature to die to get it,” he explained.  He moved back out to the table and bent down so that he was close to Keij’s face.  “You should probably drink some, too,” he said quietly.  “You’ve had a trying day.”

Once everyone that wanted some had been given a nice, healthy dose of milk, Suki, after a moment of study, flipped one of the chairs around backwards and plopped himself down in it.  Keij’s question gave him a brief moment of pause.  “You really think people would be bothered by them?” he asked, reaching around and pulling one of his tails over to look at it.  He made a thoughtful sound in his throat, then, briefly tapping into the blue magic of perception that Kitsunes were so famously talented with, hid his ears and both tails from view.  He looked over at Keij.  “How’s that?  Can you see them?” he asked, twisting this way and that so that he could get all the angles he needed.

Her eyes fluttered widely open to watch the Kitsune scatter across the room in swift quick movements, thrusting the half-gallon of milk just beneath her very nose for her to take, "U-uh.." Shaking it off, she gently removed it from the male's hands and pushed back her chair to get a cup, or two now that he wanted Keji to have some as well so that they didn't swap germs in drinking from the gallon straight-up. She was very iffie on the idea of sharing food and drinks, so she found it necessary to have separate drinks instead. At first, she didn't know how to react to all of what he spoke of. To her eyes it didn't make much sense she was used to Earth, well, the human realm, she was a human after all, and it was believed that there was only one world. Apparently not anymore, she thought to herself, grabbing two blue cups from the cupboard above.

Once she had finally reached to get them down, Evelyn made a quick turn to her heels, stopping abruptly to see the the spirit on her table. She narrowed her faint ivy gaze to the creature, staying quiet even though she really wanted to tell him to get down, but it was different for him, she sighed slowly to relieve her tad bit of anger inside. She eyed the double set of tails that wavered behind him at a certain length, taking away the milk to fill the cups and put it back in the fridge before handing Keji his share. He was kinda attracted, nothing too notable, but Evelyn was never a person for extremes. She preferred no-body socialites, since they always seemed the most inviting and interesting to find more information on when she knew they trusted her enough to speak, "Are any of you guys hungry? I can order something to eat from the pizza place down the road, it doesn't usually take long... I don't feel like fixing anything from what I've got, unless one of you are a decent chef here. I cannot cook anything unless its cereal." She looked hesitantly to Suki, wondering to herself, "Pizza is pretty good, if.. you don't know what that is already... It's pretty much cheese and some other meats on a individual slices of bread.. kinda..." Evelyn tried to explain, slowly speaking with a soft tone as she always did in her normal state. There were times to where she could be bouncing off the walls-like happy, but most of the time she was more reserved and to some, she was called a numerous amounts of times for being a party pooper. She didn't care much to hear it, since she knew that she was, but sometimes its better to grow up quicker than later, she thought.

Her eyes could not be taken away from the man's tail, curiously tilting her head as she stood still while leaning against the counter near the kitchen sink. Only did she slowly widen her eyes to watch the tail and skyward pointed ears slowly slink back into the man's body as if it were never there to exist. She blinked twice, rubbing at them a few more to make sure she was seeing things right, shaking her head and removing her hair from out her face to be tucked behind her ears. So much to take in, she mumbled in her mind, speaking to herself through that one bit of communication she had for privacy, "Doesn't that hurt, when.. you do that? Like, does it not feel kinda weird or something inside? I would imagine it would, but right now, I really don't know what to believe at this point..." Evelyn sighed again, this time using one of the bands from her wrist to pull her long honey brown ways into a loose bun at the top of her head, taking off her sweatshirt to just reveal a black tank top as it was beginning to get a bit warm in her house. Looking to them, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter again, placing her sweatshirt at the back of Keji's chair before then.

Keij lifted his head to look at Suki as he spoke about what he could do now that they had bonded. Magic, overriding and of course the sight to see spirits. Could this day get any crazier, pausing his thoughts he sighed, probably. His eyes flickered as Suki made his tail and ears disappear, smiling slightly he nodded. "Well that covers the ears and tail, it looks to me like you're human now. Some people would probably freak out and run, its nothing with you. But well you're a spirit from another world, they would be afraid. No matter how friendly you may be." he simply pointed out, not wanting to hurt the kitsune's feelings.

When Evelyn set his milk down he smiled at her and took a sip, scowling he chugged the rest of the glass down. Milk was never his favorite drink, it grossed him out one to many times in the past. Hearing the idea of pizza made his face light up and the idea of food sounded good. Reaching into his pants pocket he pulled out his wallet and tossed some money on the table. "Since you were so kind Evelyn and brought us into your home and shared your milk. Dinner is on me." he said leaning back against the chair. Stretching his back he gave his neck a crack and loosened his tense shoulder muscles by rolling them in circles.

Keij opened his mouth and let out a loud yawn, his eyes felt pretty heavy. Resting his face on his hand he looked at Suki. "So you're going to stay here with us? Well, I guess I could show you how to live like a human. Oh and when you said override, does that mean I get to control you? Or you just listen really well to me?" he asked with a hint of curiosity. Turning to Evelyn he rested his chin on the back of the chair, "Any help in being a human 101, would be great. That is if you are okay with it." he added.

Suki smiled, pleased that he could still weave a simple illusion like hiding his ears and tails from humans, though it was an added bonus that even the human that he was bonded to could not see through the disguise.  When Evelyn asked if it hurt to pull them in like that, he cocked his head slightly and peered at her, utterly puzzled.  “Hurt?  No, not at all.  My ears and tails are still there, you could feel them, if you touched them, you just can’t see them, is all.  It’s just an illusion.”  He grinned broadly.  “Kitsunes are good at weaving illusions.”  He was slightly puzzled that people would be afraid of him, since it had been several centuries since a kitsune had actually hurt a human, but he accepted Keij’s explanation with a simple shrug.  He’d just have to keep his ears and tails hidden, then.  His clothes, too, might need some work, since the things that he was wearing looked pretty completely not like what Keij and Evelyn were wearing.  But that could probably come later, too.

Evelyn’s description of pizza did sound pretty tasty and, while he didn’t exactly need to eat, like the humans did, he certainly enjoyed it.  And it sounded like he would enjoy this pizza, too.  Licking his lips slightly in anticipation, he nodded his head, though was distracted slightly by the paper that Keij tossed onto the table.  It didn’t look very special, smelled pretty rank, and was too thin and flimsy to be of much use.  “You barter with this?” he asked, picking up one of the strips and smelling it before scowling and dropping it back on the table.  “That’s…gross.”

His attention was once again diverted when Keij yawned and he got a good look at his teeth.  They were so flat.  He peered a little closer before Keij shut his mouth and started talking again.  It was a wonder humans survived, with teeth like that.  There were a couple in the front that looked pretty useful, but the rest were like a horse’s teeth, big and flat.  Weird.  At Keij’s question, Suki again pulled his bottom lip through his own suitably sharp teeth, considering his answer.  If he was perfectly honest with himself, he didn’t completely understand how it worked, either, he had just heard stories of it happening.  “I mean that you can order me to do things and, if your conviction is strong enough, it doesn’t matter what I want to do.  I am forced to obey you.  I think.  I’ve never actually seen it happen.  Well, except for there in the woods, when you heard her cry out and said ‘come on.’  I wanted to stay there and sniff around, but I think you felt strongly enough about helping whoever it was that needed it, my body just started following you.  I didn’t try to resist it, since I knew that you were trying to help Evelyn, here.  I wonder what would happen…”  His voice drifted off slightly and he sank back down into his backwards facing chair.  As he thought about that question, his focus on his illusion broke and his ears and tails suddenly reappeared, ears twitching slightly from side to side as he thought.

"That's not needed, Keji, but the kind gesture is greatly appreciated, though. I can handle it from here, it's okay.." Evelyn said reassuringly with a glint of a smile behind her eyes, grinning at the politeness given back to her in return. She laughed slightly at the Kitsune's reactions of their world, however she reminded herself here and there that he was new to this, and a ghostly part of her kept bugging her to speak out a bit more and help, "No, Suki, that's our currency here, well, for America, that is..." The female replied in a matter-of-fact-like tone, just short of a light giggle within her words, "Every country, or, separate land on the... um.. however you put it... the human realm, I guess. But uh, yeah, we hold a different kind of piece of paper like that, along with some coins to pay for the things we need. Like milk, for instance, it came from an animal, yes, but in order to receive it, us humans have to pay for it. Don't you have a system similar to that, to the.. um.. Spirit world I think you said?" Her brows furrowed into concentration as she couldn't put her thoughts into the correct way to explain it easier to the Kitsune. It was obvious that their worlds were different by a land slide, but there had to be at least some slight commons, wouldn't there?

Exchanging glances between the males as they spoke, the woman moved on light feet towards the back door of her house, where she could obtain higher connection to her phone in calling the pizzeria. Before the few rings would be able to be picked up, Evelyn averted her gaze directly to Keji as she knew asking Suki would be pointless in wondering what he would want on top. Her lips formed softly into the words, but nothing to escape as she asked simply, 'What do you want on your pizza?' slowly enough for him to piece together what she was truly saying, without saying it. Once he had told her, she gave the delivery man on the other end their order along with a two litter bottle of Sprite, so then it wouldn't be a bother to those that weren't a heavy soda fan. It was light enough for them, that is, and if they didn't want any, she was sure that Suki wouldn't think twice into putting up the offer of suggesting more milk. At that thought, she laughed and hung up the phone to place back into her pocket. Fortunately, she asked the worker to come to the back door, so then the Kitsune could not be seen through the kitchen windows of the front of the house when he wasn't ready to put them away so quickly. She felt almost relieved to know that she was controlling the situation better than she initially thought, and so she would try her best to understand like everyone else seemed to be doing.

As she returned to the kitchen to see them, she smiled, "It'll be ready in about twenty or so minutes." Looking to Suki, her eyes went back to tracing the outline of his fox triangular ears and tail, but stopped as she arched slowly of a brow to examine what he had been wearing. She didn't care to notice it until then, as everything else had been a bit too distracting, but seeing that he was not going to fit in with the humans could not be helped or unrealized, "Do you want me to find you something else to wear, Suki? If you're going to be staying here awhile, I would believe that you would want to blend in a bit more... But if you're cool with what you have on, it's okay. I just think I might have something you could wear, it might take me a couple digging time through my things, though, first." Her voice slowly phased back into its quiet self, pursing her lips into a questioning expression with a meaningful glossy stare.

When Suki tossed the money aside Keij chuckled and shook his head, hearing Evelyn attempt an explanation also made him smile. They had their work cut out for them, but the kitsune seemed pretty smart and he hoped he would learn quickly. Keij looked up at Evelyn a bit confused though, he didn't know why she wouldn't take the money. It was the least he could do for now, maybe buy her more milk later. But he wanted to help out a bit. Frowning he watched her walk away to order the pizza and he sighed, his stomach gave another growl. Looking down he rubbed his belly and leaned back in the chair, catching the end of Evelyn's silent sentence. Pepperoni. He mouthed back with a small a grin, oh yeah he couldn't wait to sink his teeth into this.

Hearing Suki's explanation, Keij smirked looking to him. "Well lets test it out shall we? You sit there and focus hard on not moving." he said curiosity obvious in his voice. Standing to his feet he leaned on the table for balance. "Stand up!" Keij ordered in a rather commanding tone. Blinking a few times even he was surprised he said it like that. I guess

As Evelyn stepped back into the room Keij lifted his eyes to her and nodded, "Twenty minutes till chow time Suki. If Evelyn can find you some clothes that would work, I have stuff at my house too just in case. We've got to find your size and what not. If we wouldn't have anything to fit you, then I guess we'd take our first adventure out to the mall." Keij said softly as he turned to walk to the sofa. He plopped down on the couch and leaned his head back, ah so soft. All he wanted to do was eat half a pizza pie and get some rest, that sounded like a good plan.

Suki listened carefully to Evelyn’s explanation of their bartering system. It was odd that such a system depended solely on these little scraps of smelly paper. Maybe the smell had something to do with it? But they smelled so terrible. He nodded his head when she asked if they used a similar system in the Spirit World. “We do. Well, sort of. Our system of trade is based off of objects of value to an individual. The more cherished an item is, the more spiritual energy it will have and the more energy it has, the more valuable it is. Since spirits aren’t dependent on materials, like humans are, our bartering system is based on energy, which we are dependent on. Does…Does that make sense?” he asked, hoping he hadn’t lost either of them.

His gaze returned to Keij as Evelyn left to let the pizza place know that they wanted pizza. He looked very tired, but none the worse for wear. His suggestion to test just how things would work made sense to him, so he nodded and plopped his butt in the chair, shifting slightly to arrange his tails a little more comfortably. No matter what he says, I’m going to stay in this chair, he told himself. At Keij’s command to stand up, Suki’s muscles twitched to get him to stand up, but he forced himself to stay down, narrowing his eyes slightly and focusing on fighting to stay in his seat. After a moment, though, a searing pain lanced through the base of his skull and he yelped slightly, jumping to his feet as his concentration faltered. As soon as he was standing, though, the pain went away as completely as though it had never existed in the first place. Reaching up, Suki rubbed the spot where it had hurt. “Woah, that was bizarre,” he muttered. He then turned a grin to Keij. “I guess we know what happens now if I try to refuse an order.” His tails swished back and forth behind him. Despite the momentary pain, he was happy that he had made the discovery. It was progress.

The estimate of “twenty minutes” didn’t mean much to Suki, as spirits tended not to measure time. Things just happened when they happened. “Do you think you’d have clothes to fit me?” he asked, tilting his head and glancing back and forth at Evelyn and himself. They looked as though they were built pretty similarly, though her chest was bigger, obviously, and her hips were a bit wider. Keij looked to be a bit broader than Suki, though, so he doubted that much of anything that Keij wore would fit him very well. He cocked his head at Keij’s words. “What’s a mall?” he asked, ears pricked carefully forwards. It sounded like a pretty fun place, if people went there to have adventures. Cautiously, he followed Keij over to the sofa and knelt down on the cushion beside him, bending close and sniffing him carefully. He didn’t smell like he was hurt and, judging from the scent, his soul was accepting the foreign energy pretty well, so far. “Are you hurt?” he asked quietly, tails tucked closely behind him. He glanced nervously up at Evelyn. Maybe she could tell if something was wrong with him. She was a human, after all.

After giving the option to respond to her train of thought, Evelyn nodded along and listened carefully to what the spirit had to offer in his experience. She watched as how things were displayed and widened her eyes slightly in a bit of bewilderment to see how the Kitsune's body was practically paralyzed in utter pain until he forced himself to give in. It looked dreadful, especially knowing that he was basically the grasshopper between Keji and him. Only Keji would be the master of some things, she supposed. Looking to Suki, her eyes trained back to normal, "Mmhm." She said in a quick not and humming through her lips, then turning on her heels to walk back down the hall towards her bedroom, "Just give me a few minutes. I know I have something back here..." Keeping at her normal, inside level, Evelyn slowly emerged passed the rooms until she met the very end where hers was. There wasn't much, since it was just a simply little house to get by on, but at least her room was pretty big, or at least to her it was.

When looking into her closet, it almost swallowed her in a sense that she could no longer find the room's light anymore. Clothes of all colors, shape and sizes piled on top of her head as she scrambled around to find a box she was looking for specifically. She groaned as she couldn't see and ended up stubbing her foot against the wall, holding it like as if it would relieve the pain quicker. As her eyes traveled over the mess, the peeking of a cardboard corner found its way into her vision and made her sigh happily. Dragging it out wasn't as easy as getting inside, but she managed on her own and heaved it up onto her bed to dig through. A bit of loneliness washed over her as she saw the old photos and valuables of a guy she used to know, along with some clothes he had left behind after a long fight they had a few years ago. Her thin smile faded and her eyes grew cloudy as she fought the urge to be overwhelmed with the depressed feelings. There was no time for this, she thought to herself, shaking her head slightly as she pulled out some of the clothes as it was only a few shirts and pants small enough to fit Suki. Finding one shirt that was particularly a lumberjack flannel, she scattered the things a bit more to find a pair of thin, blue jeans. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a pair of shoes to fit him, hopefully he'd be alright for the moment, unless Keji could find him some, that is.

Evelyn carried them back out into the room and handed them to the Kitsune lightly, then putting her hands to cross over her chest in a stubborn fashion as she did not want to explain the reason behind the traces of her gloomy face that they could find, "This should fit, they're from a guy I used to date in my earlier years of college. There's some more too, so just let me know..." She fidgeted with the ends of her tank-top until they finally settled around her stomach, rubbing one of her hands over her elbow awkwardly as she stood there. Remembering how he asked about the mall, she looked up blankly, "A mall? Well, a mall is kinda like the shopping place around here. There's a variety of things that can be found there, mostly things to buy depending on the type of store, but it can be a lot of fun, at times. If you would like, we could go there now and find some things that you might like too. Besides, I'm starting to think having a little human time would be nice for all of us, mostly for you so you can get a bit settled with the rest of 'our kind' while you're in hidi-." Her head turned at the sound of her back door behind knocked on, knowing it was the pizza guy before shooting a look at both Keji and Suki until she turned away to go pay. Glancing at the money on the table, she took a few singles and smiled at Keji, then going to the door to receive their choice of meal. She tried to smile at the delivery boy, whom was partially attractive but not deathly handsome to her eyes, "Hello." The man smiled back, only brighter, "Good evening, miss. That'll be.. $17.49." He said with a charming dark blue gaze to her own, simply giving him the money with a blank expression and slight nod, "Thank you.." The delivery boy blinked and lost his smile as he realized that she was not going to bother flirting back, regretting his decision and tipping his hat to her before leaving. Evelyn watched him go, holding the pizza box and liter of soda, just a few moments later then did she return to the crowd, setting it down on the table before lifting up the top to reveal the pepperoni pie, "Viola, gentlemen." She faintly laughed.

Their test had been successful and when Suki popped out of his chair, Keij knew he really had some power over the kitsune. He wasn't sure how this bonding would be useful, but for the time being he would use it if Suki needed help. Letting his body relax Keij felt the right side of the sofa cushion dip and slowly he opened his eyes. "No I feel fine, I'm just tired. A mall is a place to shop and there will be tons of humans. After some pizza I guess we could walk down there, maybe buy you some shoes." he said shifting in the couch a bit with a tired smile. He watched Evelyn walk to the door to grab the pizza and he hopped up, "Ah finally food, come on Suki. Lets eat." he said moving to the kitchen.

Keij's eyes scanned the many wooden doors, he opened a few cabinets looking for plates. Spotting the dishes sitting neatly he grabbed three and brought them over to the table. Then he repeated the step as he looked for glasses. When Evelyn entered into the kitchen he could smell the cheese and for a second he almost drooled. "Suki, you're about to eat the best stuff ever invented. Pizza.." he stated grabbing the liter of soda and twisting off the cap.

When Evelyn opened the top eight slices of heaven stared right at Keij and he grabbed one chomping down on the greasy end. "Mmm...Evelyn..great ...choice.." he muttered between bites. Stuffing the slice in his mouth he held the food as he started to pour the soda in his cup, looking to Evelyn he waited to see if she wanted some. Placing the bottle down he grabbed a piece and tossed it on the plate for Suki, lifting it over to him he smiled. "Welcome." he said still eating his own slice. Warm cheesy goodness filled his belly and now he was eating the buttery crust. Taking a seat on the kitchen chair he quietly chewed on his food.

"Eating definitely made my stomach feel better, hopefully I'll get my strength back for our mall trip." Turning to Evelyn he smiled, "Anywhere at the mall you'd like to stop? I'm not much of a shopper so I guess I'll hold the bags." he added taking another bite of crust. His eyes flickered back over to Suki, "Well Suki, how do you like it? Your first human food..I guess.."

The clothes that Evelyn retrieved from deeper in her house smelled…odd. That smell was kind of explained when she informed him that they had belonged to a male a while ago. He could tell that Evelyn had quite a strong attachment to them and, by his reckoning, that made them very valuable. Nodding slowly, he accepted them. “Thank you very much. I’ll be careful with them,” he assured her. Shrugging his shoulders out of the white jacket that he wore, revealing a series of swirling blue markings all over his body, he carefully folded the jacket and set it on the table. Moving carefully, so as not to harm the fabric, he slid his arms into the sleeves of the shirt that Evelyn had offered, finding it was a little bit baggy, but not too bad, though he wasn’t quite sure how to get the front of it to close.

Reaching around his waist, he unfastened the small loop of fabric around his tails and then hooked his thumbs into the waist of his pants and pushed them down without a second thought. As it turns out, those swirling blue markings were tattooed over his whole body. However, as he held up the pants that Evelyn had brought out, he was faced with a conundrum. After a moment of study, he carried the pants over to Keij and held them up. “Um, Keij, there’s nowhere for my tails to go,” he said, slightly confused. Assuming that Keij managed to help him figure out how to wear human pants, he would slide his lithe frame into them, finding that they fit slightly better than the shirt did.

His nose twitched slightly as a new smell reached his sensitive olfactory sense. He could definitely smell meat, though it had been prepared strangely. His ears twitched back towards the door a full second before the knock sounded and Evelyn went to go answer it, handing over more of that smelly paper to the man. When the lid of the box was opened, the smell of that meat flooded the room and Suki’s tails began lashing back and forth in anticipation. Keij was right, it at least smelled like it would taste extremely good. He retrieved a piece after Keij and, after a moment of confused study, attempted to emulate Keij’s method of eating the strange food by holding the large end and biting the smaller end. It tasted…utterly bizarre, but very good. His tails began wagging as he nodded his head in response to Keij’s question. “It is very good. It’s not my first human food, though. I’ve had a food called rice before. That was very good, too. Do they still make rice?” he asked, daring another bite of the pizza.

“So a mall is like a market, right? That does sound fun!” he agreed. However, he remembered that humans needed to eat, so he forced himself to sit in a chair and finish his pizza, despite a slight bounce of enthusiasm that permeated his every action. His tails had yet to stop wagging.