"Say, what rhymes with 'run for your lives'?"
—Ku-Ku, akki poet
Magic the Gathering, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Flavor Text from Scaled Hulk
"Say, what rhymes with 'run for your lives'?" the akki asked no one in particular as he paced a small circle, scratching his long nose in thought. Snow-Fur, who had the misfortune of picking a place to sit that was near the goblin's ramblings looked up from the piece of parchment in front of him.
"Are you asking me?" he questioned as politely as he could manage, trying not to lose his patience, absently twirling the pen held in his paw.
"Yeah, I s'pose," Ku-Ku turned to look at the white fox sitting cross-legged a few yards away from him. "You know, one poet to another."
Snow-Fur sighed and stared blankly at the as of yet empty parchment before him. The akki didn't leave when he got no response, so the kitsune turned back to him.
"What is the context of the line?" he asked tensely, humoring the goblin. Ku-Ku was about to say something, but a shout rang out.
"IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!!!!!" followed shortly by a crashing noise and an unearthly roar. Both the kitsune and the akki looked up in the direction of the sound and Snow-Fur found his jaw dropping at what he saw: a pair of soldiers running as fast as they could, with one of the most ferocious looking kami the fox had ever seen hot on their heels. It towered over the hapless humans, roaring from its two mouths loud enough to shake the ground, occasionally swiping at them with a long green talon.
"Um… yeah…" the akki articulated with a few gestures to the massive spirit.
"I… see…" the kitsune replied, still stunned by what he was seeing, the inklings of a poem of his own taking shape in his mind.
"So, what does rhyme with 'run for your lives'?" Ku-Ku asked again, breaking Snow-Fur's train of thought.
"Well, let's see now," now suddenly in a more helpful mood, the fox began to ponder the question in earnest. "Lives, lives, lives. Wives. Knives. Strives. Contrives. Derives. Hives."
"Good one," the goblin interrupted with a chuckle, no doubt thinking about the skin condition hives instead of the insect hives. Snow-Fur's ears fell back in disgust, and was about to continue but was cut off by another scream from the soldiers.
"IT'S COMING AROUND FOR ANOTHER PASS!!!!!!!!" Miraculously, neither soldier had been caught, yet. But knowing how tenacious kami could be it was only a matter of time. Just like it was only a matter of time before it spotted them, too. Obviously, both the fox and the goblin figured it.
"I think we should leave," Ku-Ku squeaked, taking a step away from the scene before them.
"I wholeheartedly agree," Snow-Fur replied softly, his eyes never leaving the spirit's massive form as it continued to give chase. And then both poets were off as quickly and subtly as was physically possible. The kami never noticed them.
