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To complicate matters more, Serrin creates several illusion foxes, to mess with both Keme and Alys. She herself has taken bird form again, and is sitting in a tree, not too far from Genosuke, watching with amusement as her shadowy foxes mess with the two real ones. Keme doesn't seem to be fooled by the shadow foxes, but he's happy to use them as cover as he sneaks around the garden staying just out of range of his cousin, but occasionally jumping out to throw an acorn at her.
Keme waits in the entrance of the tunnel, watching Alys chase his double across the field. When she comes close to his hiding place, he darts out and nips her tail before dashing off again. Keme has seemingly disappeared again, but it doesn't take long before he once again pounces out of a hiding spot, this time dropping down from a short wall to knock Alys over before taking off again. He doesn't pay any obvious attention to Genosuke having abandoned the game, but he does seem to be staying within a certain distance of the tree where his grandfather was perched.
Alys spots the replica and, though she is not sure where he left the small tunnel, she darts after the illusion yipping and growling playfully. Keme waits in the entrance of the tunnel, watching Alys chase his double across the field. When she comes close to his hiding place, he darts out and nips her tail before dashing off again.
Being smaller than the black fox, there wasn't much he could do to stop it, but once again he turns to smoke and reappears a few feet away, turning around to make sure that the black fox saw him before taking off once more.When he looks back at Alys, Keme can see that he was not so much 'pounced on' as 'run over'; apparently his escape from Serrin put him directly in Alys' path. Alys is picking herself up off the ground and shaking the collision off. Alys growls a challenge at Keme and lights off after him when he runs. Keme took advantage of his extensive knowledge of the ground and wriggled through a clump of roots into a small tunnel that would take him far across the field.
And is immediately bowled over by the black fox.The red fox itself seems to turn to smoke and reappears a few feet away, but the book is left there in her grasp. The fox turns and nods at her, conceding that she won the game. Being smaller than the black fox, there wasn't much he could do to stop it, but once again he turns to smoke and reappears a few feet away, turning around to make sure that the black fox saw him before taking off once more.
The red fox itself seems to turn to smoke and reappears a few feet away, but the book is left there in her grasp. The fox turns and nods at her, conceding that she won the game.
"HEY!! GIVE ME MY BOOK BACK!!" She shouts, laughing, and chasing after Keme. Suddenly, a pair of other Keme foxes appear, and dash off opposite her target. "NO FAIR!! She shrieks and then summons a pair of shadowy panthers that race after the other two Keme's. If there was one thing that Keme understood it was how to avoid getting caught after doing something irritating. He started weaving around, changing places with his illusory doubles over and over until it was impossible to tell which one was which and who was supposed to be chasing who.
Keme leaped up, grabbed the book, and dashed away across the lawn, with a few wobbles because the book was technically a bit large for him to keep hold of in this form.
The white fox sits and watches the interaction. Keme stalks carefully through the grass, ready to pounce at the first sign of an opening.
Keme follows suit, sticking to the one-tailed fox form as well since it seemed that they were going for the not calling attention the themselves version of things.
Keme follows suit, sticking to the one-tailed fox form as well since it seemed that they were going for the not calling attention the themselves version of things.
Keme's expression softened. "Yeah, sure, Gramps. I'd love to go out for a run."
"Good morning, Grandfather," Keme said, only rolling his eyes a little bit. "We're doing pretty well. We were just discussing the finer points of adjusting to living here at Avalon."
Keme smiled when he read all the way through the note. "Wow, I just doubled the number of friends I have," he said, joking a little bit. "Well, I'd say that makes this a pretty good day. I'm glad you're here too, Alys. It's easier here in some ways. Not being the only one around who can be considered a 'freak'. Surrounded by so many others who are all different too...it helps things seem a little more normal. And if you're going to find anyone who can help you communicate better with others, then this is the place. I'll help too in whatever ways I can. And you're right about Grandfather. He can be intimidating at first. But he cares about us too. He and I argue a lot because we're both really stubborn. I know, big surprise," he says with a cheeky grin. "It's not like anyone else in our whole family is stubborn at all," he continued sarcastically. "It's not a family trait at all." Keme's laughter barked out, an unusual thing for him. "Yeah, sure, you totally missed out on the stubbornness, and you are instead a complete picture of patience and decorum," he joked. "That someone you know over there?" he asked, noticing the wave. "We can move and go sit with them if you want."
"In answer to your unspoken question, no, it's not like that. She's my best friend. Zero romantic attachment there. But yeah, she's special to me. When I was trying to push everyone away to save them from Esperanza's cruelty, Kitty saw right through my act and made sure I was never totally alone. The only reason you haven't heard me mention her before is because we haven't had a lot of personal conversations yet. We were in pretty different age groups at home, since you're so much older than me. Let's face it, if I aged like a normal kitsune I'd be like two feet tall right now and learning the most basic things. Instead I've got a nearly adult body, the powers of an elder, and zero idea what I'm doing," he said with a slight grimace. "And we haven't socialized much since you got here. But I'm trying to make up for that now. And I'll make sure to introduce you to Kitty as soon as I can manage it. I'd introduce you to my other friends too ...if I had any. I've got some people I know, but I'm still dealing with the fallout of acting like a massive jerk for more than a year, no matter how good the reasons for it were." Keme smiled when he read all the way through the note. "Wow, I just doubled the number of friends I have," he said, joking a little bit. "Well, I'd say that makes this a pretty good day. I'm glad you're here too, Alys. It's easier here in some ways. Not being the only one around who can be considered a 'freak'. Surrounded by so many others who are all different too...it helps things seem a little more normal. And if you're going to find anyone who can help you communicate better with others, then this is the place. I'll help too in whatever ways I can. And you're right about Grandfather. He can be intimidating at first. But he cares about us too. He and I argue a lot because we're both really stubborn. I know, big surprise," he says with a cheeky grin. "It's not like anyone else in our whole family is stubborn at all," he continued sarcastically. "It's not a family trait at all."
"If there's one thing they do well here, it's food," he said, pleased that he'd been able to do something to make her happy. "They've got something for everyone. But sometimes the tastes of home are better than anything else. Kitty has a work-study class in the kitchens so she's a good person to ask for recommendations if you're not sure. Er....I have introduced you to Kitty haven't I? I can't remember. Maybe not. She's been having a rough time lately, so she hasn't been spending a lot of time around people." "In answer to your unspoken question, no, it's not like that. She's my best friend. Zero romantic attachment there. But yeah, she's special to me. When I was trying to push everyone away to save them from Esperanza's cruelty, Kitty saw right through my act and made sure I was never totally alone. The only reason you haven't heard me mention her before is because we haven't had a lot of personal conversations yet. We were in pretty different age groups at home, since you're so much older than me. Let's face it, if I aged like a normal kitsune I'd be like two feet tall right now and learning the most basic things. Instead I've got a nearly adult body, the powers of an elder, and zero idea what I'm doing," he said with a slight grimace. "And we haven't socialized much since you got here. But I'm trying to make up for that now. And I'll make sure to introduce you to Kitty as soon as I can manage it. I'd introduce you to my other friends too ...if I had any. I've got some people I know, but I'm still dealing with the fallout of acting like a massive jerk for more than a year, no matter how good the reasons for it were."
She accepts the card gratefully, giving him a quick hug before pulling the proper public decorum back over herself. After a few bites, she pulls out her ever-present writing pad and writes for a moment, only having to scribble out one strange grouping of lines. Agreed: much better than sweet. "If there's one thing they do well here, it's food," he said, pleased that he'd been able to do something to make her happy. "They've got something for everyone. But sometimes the tastes of home are better than anything else. Kitty has a work-study class in the kitchens so she's a good person to ask for recommendations if you're not sure. Er....I have introduced you to Kitty haven't I? I can't remember. Maybe not. She's been having a rough time lately, so she hasn't been spending a lot of time around people."
"I recommend the fried fish," she heard right over her shoulder. "With the miso soup. I don't care who says that sweet stuff for breakfast is a good idea, I still can't get used to it, and I've been here for a year now," Keme said with a cheeky grin, dodging if necessary. He knew the perils of startling a fellow kitsune, "I was waiting for you." "Yeah, sure, no problem. I thought you might want an interpreter." He helps her place her breakfast order, writing it all out on a card as he said it. Once they had their food and had sat down, he handed her the card. "Here. I wrote it, not you, so it shouldn't be affected by your problem. You can just show them the card in the mornings from now on and they'll know what you want. That gives you one meal a day that you don't have to worry about."
Alys steps into the lunchroom, looking around as if searching for someone. Her hand rests lightly on the katana that is always at her waist. With a sigh she heads for the serving line for another morning of 'point silently at what you want and try not to seem like you think you are too good to talk to the kitchen staff'. "I recommend the fried fish," she heard right over her shoulder. "With the miso soup. I don't care who says that sweet stuff for breakfast is a good idea, I still can't get used to it, and I've been here for a year now," Keme said with a cheeky grin, dodging if necessary. He knew the perils of startling a fellow kitsune, "I was waiting for you."
Kitty smiled a little wistfully. "Yes, thank you. Thank you all so much. I...I got a little lost in the pain. It's still there, but.." she was interrupted by Miu taking a playful swipe at Saffire. "Miu! No! Bad! Saffire is not a toy!" Keme laughed. "Well, now I know you'll be too busy to worry with those two going at it." He walked over and put out an arm for Saffire to land on to assist Kitty in restoring peace. "I had a hard time coming here too at first," he said softly enough that only Kitty could hear. "But it gets better. And everyone here wants to help. You don't have to face any of it alone." He steps away and hands Saffire over to Michael, sliding a small parcel into Michael's pocket when he isn't paying attention. Michael:
The package contains a collar for Saffire and a necklace for Kitty that block mental tampering. There's a note that says 'no one should have to carry around a rubber chicken to feel safe'. It's signed with a small paw print. And then he carefully fades into the background, as he is accustomed to doing.
Seeing Kitty stiffen and go pale, Keme steps in. "Hang on, before you get upset, just give us a chance to show you. I promise, it doesn't look anything like what it used to. And when Ace says you'll have help, he's kind of understating. Tyrrin set it up as a school club with you as the club president, and you wouldn't believe how many kids signed up to work with animals. There's a schedule and everything. Because that's how Tyrrin works. The point is, you can ease into things at whatever speed works for you without feeling guilty because there are lots of other people to help too. So no pressure. Just a chance to get back something that matters to you. With some improvements. You know how the school is. I think it wanted to help too. Just...come and look. Okay?" he pleaded.
"Ooookay. Find someone with worse social skills than me. Check," Keme muttered, shaking his head. "And here I was expecting it to actually be a challenge."
Keme chuckled nervously. "Uh, thanks for clarifying. I've kinda had my quota of potential apocalypses for this week, thanks."
Djalos stiffens up slightly at Keme's awkward shoulder pat, before managing to rein himself in to a slight sniffling. "This... this has been happening for the past few days. It's... it's called crying, I believe. 'An emotional release.' But there haven't... been anything. Not significant, anyways." He gives a slight, strained chortle. "I've only had emotions for the past week, anyways. Real ones, not simulated ones."Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing. "Well, that explains it. Look, everybody's different, but from what I know, you don't usually cry about the big stuff. It's usually something little. And it can be because you're angry or frustrated or confused or overtired or sad or even happy. If you had your emotions suppressed for a long time, you're probably just dealing with a lot of them popping up, and you don't have any coping mechanisms yet. That's all. It's no big deal. Crying is fine. Don't try so hard to fight it. I'm pretty sure this is one of those only way out is through kind of things," he said, grimacing with discomfort at being put in the position of dispensing advice. He was usually so clueless himself that this just seemed wrong.
Djalos stands in the utter blackness of the music room for a moment. He can feel his blindfold slowly turning damp. He deeply breathes. "Hold it in." He breathes again. "This... this is trivial. Why am I..." He stumbles into a corner and slides down the wall. [smaller]"Nothing really to do... this about. I'm..." He begins sobbing. He'd been partway down the hall, but his keen hearing let him know that he needed to turn around. Keme sighed. He wasn't even sure how to deal with his own emotions, let alone someone else's. But he couldn't just leave. He walked back to the music room. Soft, nearly silent footsteps approach Djalos followed by a pat on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay. That's what they keep telling me anyways."
Keme winced, his ears flattening against his head. "I, uh, think I'll just go then. Since you have this well in hand and all."
"So noted," Keme said thoughtfully. "I will keep that information in mind." "Okay," he said, flipping the light switch on in an unoccupied music room. "Here we go. There are several of these rooms actually. They're all similarly equipped. You just use whichever one isn't currently in use. You should be able to find the other rooms pretty easily based on what you described to me about how you navigate. They're all along this same corridor here that I led you to. They almost never move. Only for special events if there's something big going on in the basement."
"I can see objects of substance through sound, touch, vibration, heat variation, granularity, and air particles. Because of that, I am completely immune to illusions. Which can be somewhat of a disadvantage." Almost as if to demonstrate his point, Djalos smoothly gets up and nods in the direction of Keme. "Well, alright then. I'll keep that in mind....er.....but not immune to auditory illusions then? Out of pure curiosity, of course," he said dryly as he led the way to the basement music rooms.
Djalos nods thoughtfully. "Could you direct me to them, sir kitsune? I can only navigate to areas I have been to before." He effortlessly stands up and straightens his uniform. "Yeah, no problem. I was wondering how you got around with that blindfold on. It can't be easy since you can't exactly follow the arrows," Keme said, agreeably, not intending to be rude, which never actually seemed to prevent him from actually being rude. He stood up as well. "Do you need me to physically lead you there or are you going to just follow the sound of my voice? Not sure how to best manage this...."
"A..." Djalos gestures inarticulately. "arvhala." The young elf snaps his fingers and begins air violing. "Viola, in Common?" He muses for a moment. "Also, while I was on assignment in Friala, there was this... Art. Blades like music. Literally. Tones, notes. It was interesting." "Huh. Can't say I'm familiar with Friala or musical blades. Sadie might know about stuff like that. But I do know where the music rooms are in the basement. They have instruments that you can borrow if you want to play."
Djalos stares for a moment. "Rhythmic-harmonic strumming," he suddenly blurts. "Bioengineering. Mechanical engineering. Programming. At least those seem interesting." Keme's shoulders shook with laughter. "Rythmic-harmonic strumming," he gasped through bursts of laughter. "I don't think I've ever heard it described that way before. That's priceless. Yeah, music makes a great hobby. Got a particular instrument in mind?" he said, trying to get himself together.
"Things you do because you like them, not because you have to. Anything can be a hobby. Reading, running, sports, art, playing the kazoo, collecting rocks. Really anything. The tricky part is figuring out what you like to do. That's the part I keep getting hung up on."
Djalos nods solemnly. "I trained in the SIM rooms for the equivalent of two days, so if I do any more exercise, my body will give out. I also caught up on my courses in that time. There are no targets for me to plan for. I am somewhat confounded. What am I supposed to do?" "Based on extensive observation over the course of the last year, I'm gonna say social interaction. This appears to be the main use of free time. Also hobbies. If you have any creative pursuits you want to do, or sports you like to play, and so on. Or if you have any nefarious schemes, this is when you can work on those. I'd advise against that last one though. It tends to end badly," Keme said with his usual dry humor.
"Let me know if you ever figure it out," Keme said dryly. "I've also got more time on my hands lately than I know what to do with."
"Well, that I can help with," he said, using prestidigitation to clean Michael's clothes. "But the rips you're going to have to figure out how to deal with yourself.""That I can handle. I got into the habit of keeping spare clothes in my locker. My years at Avalon were not kind until recently. Well, before all this, anyway. It was nice until this." "Pretty sure that Kitty had everything to do with that. She's kind of amazing like that. She was the one person I couldn't ever drive away when Esperanza was forcing me to be awful to everyone. She sees the best in everyone. Which is why she's probably going to take it hard when she finds out how she was betrayed by that little bastard. I mean, you have to tell her. She'll find out anyways. Best coming from you." "Anyways, I'm around if either of you need me. For anything. No matter how stupid. I don't exactly have a lot of friends, so my social calendar is pretty much wide open for whatever. I know Kitty already knows that, but I wanted to make sure you knew that it extends to you too."
"We'll see about that." He chuckles briefly as he stands up and looks at his bloodied clothes. "I'm going to need to get cleaned up before I see her again." "Well, that I can help with," he said, using prestidigitation to clean Michael's clothes. "But the rips you're going to have to figure out how to deal with yourself."
"I guess... Wish me luck. I have to go to meet her family with my family tagging along. I'm probably going to die in some way at least once." "Please tell me you're taking some kind of recording device...that's gonna be comedy gold right there," Keme teased. "Besides, you don't need luck. Kitty loves you. They'll spare your life for her sake. But your dignity is toast."
"It's not that she's that good. Not entirely. I just can't seem to lie to anyone old enough to form coherent sentences." Keme laughed. "Or you're just surrounded by people who are really good at spotting lies. Guess you'll never know." He seems much more relaxed, the frantic edge that he had been carrying around for the last week finally blunted. He smiled a little as he saw Alys and that girl ahead of them in the distance. Alys had done really well. It still seemed weird that he was supposed to look after her. After all, she was more than forty years older than he was. But that's what happens when you skip childhood altogether. Weirdness. So much weirdness.
"I know, right? I mean, how does she always know? She's harder to pull one over on than my grandfather. And that's saying something. If she weren't my best friend I'd be terrified of her...no, scratch that. I'm still a little bit terrified of her."
Keme shuddered a little at the scream from the staff as Krays left. Once he was pretty sure the kobold was out of earshot he spoke up. "Yeah....I've seen him use that staff once before. On someone that hurt Ephebe. Pretty sure if he thinks it's bad enough to be a fitting punishment for the guy who tried to hurt his pregnant wife, then it probably is as bad as he described it. Maybe worse." "Come on, Michael. Time to get you back to Kitty so you can tell her the good news and get scolded for not bringing her along. Ah, hell. So we can both get scolded for not bringing her along," he said, as it finally occurred to him that he was going to be in hot water for that too.
"The one time I make things to hurt just one, specific person and... aaaahhhh! He was supposed to feel his blood turning into phosphorus mere fractions of an ounce at a time as it ignited!"""No. No!" Michael yells, running towards the corpse and slamming a hyperdermic into its chest. He watches as the injection sight slowly smokes, then just burns, with no reaction from Rep. "Gods damn him!"Keme gently pulls Michael away from the corpse. "It's better this way, Michael. I know it doesn't feel like it, but at least we didn't do anything that would make Kitty unhappy or worried to hear about. And you know what she's like. She would hear about it. I wanted him to suffer too, but at least now he won't hurt anyone else." "And he would have deserved it, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have done anything good to Ginni," he said quietly. "Yeah, go ahead and take the body, Krays. I think it's best if it's disposed of as quickly as possible."
"Well, if no one minds, I can walk him to the graveyard." Keme looks at Ace and Michael to see if they agree.
"I don't know," Keme said, looking at Repp's body with loathing. "What are we supposed to do with the body of a monster like that? From the time he came here....he murdered an innocent girl every single day he was here. Gods only know how many he killed before he came here. The world is better without him in it. But...I never really stopped to consider what to do after."
"No. No!" Michael yells, running towards the corpse and slamming a hyperdermic into its chest. He watches as the injection sight slowly smokes, then just burns, with no reaction from Rep. "Gods damn him!" Keme gently pulls Michael away from the corpse. "It's better this way, Michael. I know it doesn't feel like it, but at least we didn't do anything that would make Kitty unhappy or worried to hear about. And you know what she's like. She would hear about it. I wanted him to suffer too, but at least now he won't hurt anyone else."
As Repp tries to flee, Keme pulls out a wand and fires off a lightning bolt at the fleeing gnome.
Keme glared at Repp. "No way," he growled. He waved a hand and the area around the clearing is suddenly just a little bit different than it had been before. "No running away. You're done."
Keme was about to answer when his nose was assaulted by a familiar odor. Blood. He changes back into a humanish boy, still with five tails. "I smell blood. Be careful, we don't know what he's really capable of," he said, before leading the way through the underbrush towards the direction the scent came from.
The tracks were annoyingly difficult to follow, wandering here and there, doubling back many times, and crossing so many other trails. But Keme wasn't about to give up. The tracks eventually led into the woods.
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