Appearance
When Yelis's vanity prompts him to resume his true form, he is a tall, lanky kitsune with orange fur. Even in human form, he has a practiced easy grin with a few too many teeth showing. His default human form, the only one that isn't borrowed, is a similarly tall, lanky man with a rat's nest of brown hair and a long, thin nose.
As a shapeshifter, he has numerous forms committed to memory, taken from his time traveling across the country. He's particularly fond of turning into a little old lady, since it's a good way to avoid suspicion.
To supplement his shapeshifting abilities, he has a small bit of illusory magic thrown over his clothes, allowing him to alter them at will, so his outfits vary to suit the occasion. In general, he's fond of wearing a loose woolen poncho over jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.
Personality
Yelis is a high-strung bundle of nervous energy. First to jump at a slight, last to join a fair fight, first to get fed, and last out of bed. Even apart from having made much of his early living stealing from them, he's fond of getting involved in the affairs of humans. He sometimes takes part in amateur vigilante match-making, whether it's to bring two shy distant lovers together or to give false hope and confusion. He also enjoys making friends, even if it's on behalf of whoever's appearance he's imitating. Most of all, though, he likes getting free food, and has ruined more than one cover with his indiscriminate palate.
Needless to say, Yelis's hobbies have gotten him into plenty of trouble in the past. Sometimes it was just a matter of layering more lies and deception on top, but sometimes it was necessary to move on quickly. Since then, he's settled down somewhat, maintaining a steady job making a more-or-less honest living and paying taxes.
Backstory
Yelis was originally from Oregon, the only child of a single mother, Kwan, after his father outed her as a kitsune and she left him. They traveled around a great deal, with her finding temporary work as a healing witch in small towns without a god-touched cleric. While there was work to be found, they would stay, earning enough to keep the old car in repair and ready to move on once the work dried up.
His education was chiefly homeschooling, supplemented by the odd stretch of classes when they were in an area longer than normal. Lessons ranged from magic, which he showed a natural talent for, to the history of his heritages, both the line of kitsunes on his mother's side, and the indigenous American humans along much of his father's side.
With his inborn aptitude for magic, Yelis was able to set out on his own when he turned eighteen. Maintaining the same itinerant lifestyle on foot, he relied on trickery and his expert shapeshifting to keep himself fed, only moving on once people grew too suspicious of whatever ruse he was currently pulling. This went on for some time, and likely would have continued in much the same manner if it hadn’t been for a chance encounter.
It was during a particularly long hike between towns in northern Nevada, late in the evening. He came across a derelict gas station on the outskirts of a ghost town- as good a place as any to set up camp for the night. Occupied with shoving aside the rotten wood boarding up the door, he failed to notice the long evening shadows stretching and twisting around him. When he finally got the wood loose, the fading light failed to penetrate the darkness inside. In fact, there seemed to be areas that were somehow darker than black. Having second thoughts, he turned to go, but something next to him whispered to him in words he couldn't understand. When he turned, there was nothing there. And then "nothing" grabbed him and out of the shadows-in-darkness, things emerged, presided over by a gaunt man with a twisted face and a noose around his neck.
Bogeymen are amongst the deadliest fey that refused to retreat to the First World during the Industrial Revolution, killers capable of ending lives through sheer terror. To this day, Yelis is unsure how he survived. He awoke the next day, shivering in terror. There was a wolf sitting nearby, watching the area motionlessly. He clutched at it, holding tight for an hour. At last, the wolf stood up, and began walking. Yelis, still too scared of being alone to do anything else, followed along.
Now
Yelis has moved to New York, the large city keeping any fey well away. To avoid trouble with a much more competent police force, he’s taken up mostly honest work as a club bartender, occasionally supplemented by the odd con. The wolf, now called Waya, follows him around with an attitude bordering on maternal, and tends to act as the common sense for the two of them.
His experience with the bogeyman left him deeply shaken. While he still presents himself with every bit as much confidence in daily life, he has lingering phobias of fey and the darkness. He sleeps poorly due to recurring nightmares, although Waya’s presence helps somewhat.
