Chapter 10- Tools of the Trade
Karu vaulted off the stairs...and straight into the flying fruit. Naturally of course, the six-tail went flying herself. Standing up and licking a bit of pear mush off herself, she glanced at the ground.
"Plot manipulation by Author Omnipotence- see AC."
The kitsune's face revealed nothing, save a mischievous grin, and a laugh.
"Aha aha ha ha ha! Author Omnipotence, eh? Who tricks the trickster, eh? We shall see..." Glancing up at the stunned werewolf, Karu called out, "Hungry? Nah, I'll be just fine with this," she replied, picking up a mango. "I take it that's yer house over there," Karu continued, nodding to the two-story house. "Tannie" nodded dumbly. With that, the kitsune dashed across the street on all fours, tails following behind and stopping traffic.
Karu was all over the wolf's house, ducking under furniture, and (contrary to her earlier statement) poking her head into the fridge-grabbing herself a shredded beef taco.
"So where's the weapons' gallery?" Inquired Karu, reclining on the sofa, daintily nibbling on her taco.
"Ah, down that hallway, through the arched opening." came Tanetris' slightly dazed reply.
The kitsune smiled sweetly. "Thanks." Then she quickly polished off the taco, licked her fingers, and scampered off in the direction that Tanetris had indicated.
Karu blinked. Though she had no intention of letting the wolfie know it, he did have an impressive collection of weapons; and this kitsune could tell a fine piece of work when she saw it. In fact-Karu hopped closer to particular naginata-This weapon's kitsune make The six-tails flipped the naginata's blade over, and laid her hand over it. A spark of fire shot out of her outstretched paw, and surrounded the blade, then faded-leaving the smith's mark clearly visible-a flame, made out of nine foxtails. Karu stroked the weapon again, and it changed again, the blade retracting and the staff separating into a 3-sectioned nunchaku. This was what she danced back into the wolf's living room, twirling. "Nice collection of toys yeh got there." She commented, a twinkle in her eye.
*******
After waking up from an impact with a cake and pole, Gorion then notices a fox plushie in his hand.
"Hmm this fox must be from the kitsune. Now were did Tanetris go ah ha!"
He then notices the hole in the train's roof and sum kitsune hairs.
"He must have gone through the roof and that kitsune must have followed him. So if I use the fox as a tracer I can find the kitsune and maybe Tanetris."
Then he stands up and disappears with a flash. Then he reappears in front of Tanetris and the kitsune.
"Hi Tanetris nice to see you again," he says with a smile. "By the way one of those girls did that to us."
*******
Glancing aside, Spacy looked at the girl that now was seated next to him. Ah, she managed to find some clothes. But definitely not the right kind. These were his and especially not flattering to her.
Oh well, I probably should have been more specific to where she could find the clothes. Plus, she picked those herself. And she's still as stunning as the first time I saw her.
"A slight problem. Yup, but I guess I should have been more specific."
This caused some confusion with the girl.
"Nevermind... hey, I'm going to grab myself a shower as well. I really need to get these bloodstains off me and get cleaned up. We can talk after that." Spacy said as he got up from the couch and walked to the bathroom.
"No wait... I need to talk about it now!" said the girl as she bolted up from the couch.
"Sorry, but I really need to take a shower now. To get the blood off and all. There hasn't passed enough time since the last time I smelt like this. I don't like it."
"What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely curious and worrying.
"I'd rather keep that to myself, especially since it ain't a pretty story. Feel free to help yourself with whatever is in the kitchen and if you need some extra things, you're free to look around. My secrets ain't of the visible kind."
No answer, but she'll be fine. Now to get me some clean clothes.
Spacy grabbed a clean set of clothes for himself and headed for the shower. There he got rid of his current bleeded on clothes and stepped in the shower. Then, he turned on the water...
"ITE!!!"
That's hot... ah, that's better. She must like the water that way. Still, it's strange... she seemed scared to death a moment ago. As if her time was running out as well. Surely it can't be that bad for her? She's just an innocent bystander being very annoyed at someone and scratching someone face off. Me on the other hand have been caught deliberately obstructing the path and running from arrest (of course that ain't surprising, aiming cannons at someone tends to do that). But she... there can't be much to catch her on, right?
With that, Spacy finished his shower and stepped out. Once dried (with a normal, white towel. He won't touch the fluffy, pink ones) he looked at himself in the mirror (above his head).
Hmm, cleaned up nicely... now to get me a sniff-pearl.
Spacy opened a drawer and grabbed something looking like a marble from a seemingly empty back. He then pushed the marble on his chest and it was quickly absorbed by his skin. Any perceptual beings with great smell that were paying attention would have noticed Spacy's smell diminishing to near zero. He was now very hard to sniff out and you'd have to stand close to him to smell him.
Works like a charm ^_^. Now to check up on my guest. Another cup of tea? Nothing wrong with that, but it's cold already. Wonder why she hasn't drank it... TV must have something interesting showing.
The girl-cat (for lack of a better term) was now watching the news intently. Spacy sat next to her, not paying any attention to the TV and turned to her. She was a bit startled, especially since she couldn't smell Spacy come in.
"So, what's on your mind?" Spacy began.
"I screwed up big time. The Board of Werewolves is likely to have me executed on the spot for what happened at the docks yesterday."
"That seems unfair, especially since you're not even part of the Board."
That coming from me? I'm prolly the target of the hunt. I was there from the beginning and was obviously pestering them on purpose.
"No, you don't understand. I was supposed to make the things go smoothly there. Getting the forms signed out and making sure there were no problems. But I was especially to make sure that all the right stuff got to the right persons and now look what happened."
She pointed to the TV which was showing the news. At that moment the newsreader conveniently began with the correct subject.
[["The Board of Werewolves has just confirmed the theft of a relatively large portion of the ship's cargo. The theft took place during the commotion yesterday. This of course does not bode well for the Board of Werewolves and made them look like complete idiots. The Board has stated that they will do anything to apprehend and the thieves, this including the ones that starting the commotion."]]
*TV off*
"See what I mean... I was de-promoted and that's why I'm the Board's errand-runner now. But they're never going to forgive me for this. *sniff* I'm sure to be killed at the spot. It was all supposed to work out, this wasn't supposed to happen. *sob*." with that, the girl began to cry...
Ack, this I'm not used too. Especially not from her... All this must have grabbed her pretty heavily. Now what am I supposed to do. Milady, what kind of predicament did you get me in now?
But then he just reached and hold her, trying to comfort her.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll be protecting you the whole time. I can't get you get killed after saving you, can I? You'll be perfectly safe."
That seemed to comfort the girl somewhat. Then Spacy noticed a faint glowing on the other wall, a glowing of entirely a special kind.
Thanks Milady. At least I have your approval for protecting her...
With that though, as if his thoughts were heard, the glowing vanished. Spacy let the girl cry out for awhile longer till she stopped. She still didn't resist him holding her.
I hope that's not only out of politeness, but if I know her a little bit, she's going to be a little bit pissed at herself for allowing this emotional outbreak. Oh well, it's all the better that it happened.
*******
A train pulled into its station and the passengers got off, one of them jumped off from the roof he carried a hold-all bag with a worn out back pack slung on his shoulder, a long (3 foot) monkey tail swung from side to side behind him, he adjusted the santa-hat (only temporary) on his head and walked onto the streets outside.
He yawned and shook his head a few times.
"Man I'm knackered, should be a hotel around here," Moore said. He took out a crumpled map. "Ah here we go, first left then a right"
As he walked down the street he received very serious and disapproving looks from passers by.
"I was hoping the people here would under-stand a little, after tonight I need to find some work."
He arrived at a hotel and walked up to the reception area.
"Hi Id like a room for tonight," Moore said.
The receptionist replied "Certainly si-" She had caught sight of the tail now beating on the floor. "-uh I'm sorry sir, we donut have the facilities to accommodate a person of your.....'uniqueness', would you please leave now."
Moore walked out onto the streets.
Huh that was pleasant, dammit guess I'll have to rough it tonight.
He went down the alley beside the building and using the tail climbed up to the roof, on reaching the top he took out a burnt and ragged sleeping bag.
Well this is another fine mess you've gotten us into Moore, this tail is really hampering my possibilities still I tried to cut it off but the thing too tough, *sigh* wonder if I'll meet any people with problems worse than mine?....heh that'll be the day.
He took out the beam blade he had been given before he left and just wondered.
"Duracell or Maxell?"
*******
Tanetris grinned quietly to himself watching the kitsune walk back into the room, hiding a fair bit of awe. Few people who saw Tanetris' collection for the first time were unimpressed, and with good reason. The werewolf had spent centuries building that collection, from the finest weaponsmiths from every corner of the world, as well as quite a few otherworldly sources.
"An excellent choice you've got there," he commented as he saw what she Karu was holding. "Forged for me by a nine-tails named Drathor I once knew. Ever heard of him?"
Though Karu quickly hid it, he saw the shock of the name-dropping register. Obviously she had read the smith's mark and saw it was a nine-tails, but Drathor was a nearly legendary weaponsmith of the kitsune, impressive even among nine-tails. How some outsider got Drathor to give him a weapon was a mystery Tanetris planned to take to his grave.
"Think I'll grab something myself. I love my new katana, but it's gor silver, and I'd rather not kill this other werewolf if he decides we're a threat," he said, brushing past her as she still stood in silence. He was quite sure Karu would be cursing herself later for being so transparent.
Tanetris looked around. She didn't even find the rest of it? he thought to himself. Being on his home turf certainly was bringing his confidence back. He had dealt with more powerful kitsune than this one, he just had to be careful not to be too taken in by her attractiveness...
Pulling a dagger out of one spot and placing it in another, one of the walls slid open, revealing a set of stairs down. Anyone who was in the basement of Tanetris' house would notice it was a fair bit smaller than the rest of the house was, but the only passage to the walled-off section was through the main weapons gallery. Looking around at the smaller but much more powerful collection of weapons, Tanetris put a pair of sai that glow when a trap of magical or non-magical making is near, or when the proper command is spoken, in his belt, and strapped a quarterstaff across his back which could be extended anywhere from 4 feet up to 20 feet, and which had command words for several handy spells, not the least of which were teleportation and firestarting. The wonderful thing about both of these weapons was that they would be sent into hammerspace when he became his wolf-form, an enchantment he needed to get placed on his katana soon. Wolf form was faster for running, but it certainly wasn't made for carrying weaponry.
Finally, Tanetris picked up a ball that was not a weapon, but would allow them to track the other werewolf, and headed back upstairs. He closed the wall and went back into the living room where the kitsune waited. He noticed the puzzled look on her face, clearly she was wondering where these weapons she hadn't seen had come from.
"From my slightly more hidden collection," he explained as he took a seat on the couch and picked up his drink from earlier.
"Okay, what now?"
"Now, we wait for sundown. Then the hunt is on," he spoke a bit smugly.
With a sudden flash as if to mock Tanetris' cockiness, a man in an Australian duster covered with cake icing appears standing in the middle of his living room. "Hi Tanetris nice to see you again," Gorion says with a smile. "By the way one of those girls did that to us."
The werewolf sighed. Is nothing ever easy?
Karu vaulted off the stairs...and straight into the flying fruit. Naturally of course, the six-tail went flying herself. Standing up and licking a bit of pear mush off herself, she glanced at the ground.
"Plot manipulation by Author Omnipotence- see AC."
The kitsune's face revealed nothing, save a mischievous grin, and a laugh.
"Aha aha ha ha ha! Author Omnipotence, eh? Who tricks the trickster, eh? We shall see..." Glancing up at the stunned werewolf, Karu called out, "Hungry? Nah, I'll be just fine with this," she replied, picking up a mango. "I take it that's yer house over there," Karu continued, nodding to the two-story house. "Tannie" nodded dumbly. With that, the kitsune dashed across the street on all fours, tails following behind and stopping traffic.
Karu was all over the wolf's house, ducking under furniture, and (contrary to her earlier statement) poking her head into the fridge-grabbing herself a shredded beef taco.
"So where's the weapons' gallery?" Inquired Karu, reclining on the sofa, daintily nibbling on her taco.
"Ah, down that hallway, through the arched opening." came Tanetris' slightly dazed reply.
The kitsune smiled sweetly. "Thanks." Then she quickly polished off the taco, licked her fingers, and scampered off in the direction that Tanetris had indicated.
Karu blinked. Though she had no intention of letting the wolfie know it, he did have an impressive collection of weapons; and this kitsune could tell a fine piece of work when she saw it. In fact-Karu hopped closer to particular naginata-This weapon's kitsune make The six-tails flipped the naginata's blade over, and laid her hand over it. A spark of fire shot out of her outstretched paw, and surrounded the blade, then faded-leaving the smith's mark clearly visible-a flame, made out of nine foxtails. Karu stroked the weapon again, and it changed again, the blade retracting and the staff separating into a 3-sectioned nunchaku. This was what she danced back into the wolf's living room, twirling. "Nice collection of toys yeh got there." She commented, a twinkle in her eye.
"Hmm this fox must be from the kitsune. Now were did Tanetris go ah ha!"
He then notices the hole in the train's roof and sum kitsune hairs.
"He must have gone through the roof and that kitsune must have followed him. So if I use the fox as a tracer I can find the kitsune and maybe Tanetris."
Then he stands up and disappears with a flash. Then he reappears in front of Tanetris and the kitsune.
"Hi Tanetris nice to see you again," he says with a smile. "By the way one of those girls did that to us."
Oh well, I probably should have been more specific to where she could find the clothes. Plus, she picked those herself. And she's still as stunning as the first time I saw her.
"A slight problem. Yup, but I guess I should have been more specific."
This caused some confusion with the girl.
"Nevermind... hey, I'm going to grab myself a shower as well. I really need to get these bloodstains off me and get cleaned up. We can talk after that." Spacy said as he got up from the couch and walked to the bathroom.
"No wait... I need to talk about it now!" said the girl as she bolted up from the couch.
"Sorry, but I really need to take a shower now. To get the blood off and all. There hasn't passed enough time since the last time I smelt like this. I don't like it."
"What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely curious and worrying.
"I'd rather keep that to myself, especially since it ain't a pretty story. Feel free to help yourself with whatever is in the kitchen and if you need some extra things, you're free to look around. My secrets ain't of the visible kind."
No answer, but she'll be fine. Now to get me some clean clothes.
Spacy grabbed a clean set of clothes for himself and headed for the shower. There he got rid of his current bleeded on clothes and stepped in the shower. Then, he turned on the water...
"ITE!!!"
That's hot... ah, that's better. She must like the water that way. Still, it's strange... she seemed scared to death a moment ago. As if her time was running out as well. Surely it can't be that bad for her? She's just an innocent bystander being very annoyed at someone and scratching someone face off. Me on the other hand have been caught deliberately obstructing the path and running from arrest (of course that ain't surprising, aiming cannons at someone tends to do that). But she... there can't be much to catch her on, right?
With that, Spacy finished his shower and stepped out. Once dried (with a normal, white towel. He won't touch the fluffy, pink ones) he looked at himself in the mirror (above his head).
Hmm, cleaned up nicely... now to get me a sniff-pearl.
Spacy opened a drawer and grabbed something looking like a marble from a seemingly empty back. He then pushed the marble on his chest and it was quickly absorbed by his skin. Any perceptual beings with great smell that were paying attention would have noticed Spacy's smell diminishing to near zero. He was now very hard to sniff out and you'd have to stand close to him to smell him.
Works like a charm ^_^. Now to check up on my guest. Another cup of tea? Nothing wrong with that, but it's cold already. Wonder why she hasn't drank it... TV must have something interesting showing.
The girl-cat (for lack of a better term) was now watching the news intently. Spacy sat next to her, not paying any attention to the TV and turned to her. She was a bit startled, especially since she couldn't smell Spacy come in.
"So, what's on your mind?" Spacy began.
"I screwed up big time. The Board of Werewolves is likely to have me executed on the spot for what happened at the docks yesterday."
"That seems unfair, especially since you're not even part of the Board."
That coming from me? I'm prolly the target of the hunt. I was there from the beginning and was obviously pestering them on purpose.
"No, you don't understand. I was supposed to make the things go smoothly there. Getting the forms signed out and making sure there were no problems. But I was especially to make sure that all the right stuff got to the right persons and now look what happened."
She pointed to the TV which was showing the news. At that moment the newsreader conveniently began with the correct subject.
[["The Board of Werewolves has just confirmed the theft of a relatively large portion of the ship's cargo. The theft took place during the commotion yesterday. This of course does not bode well for the Board of Werewolves and made them look like complete idiots. The Board has stated that they will do anything to apprehend and the thieves, this including the ones that starting the commotion."]]
*TV off*
"See what I mean... I was de-promoted and that's why I'm the Board's errand-runner now. But they're never going to forgive me for this. *sniff* I'm sure to be killed at the spot. It was all supposed to work out, this wasn't supposed to happen. *sob*." with that, the girl began to cry...
Ack, this I'm not used too. Especially not from her... All this must have grabbed her pretty heavily. Now what am I supposed to do. Milady, what kind of predicament did you get me in now?
But then he just reached and hold her, trying to comfort her.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll be protecting you the whole time. I can't get you get killed after saving you, can I? You'll be perfectly safe."
That seemed to comfort the girl somewhat. Then Spacy noticed a faint glowing on the other wall, a glowing of entirely a special kind.
Thanks Milady. At least I have your approval for protecting her...
With that though, as if his thoughts were heard, the glowing vanished. Spacy let the girl cry out for awhile longer till she stopped. She still didn't resist him holding her.
I hope that's not only out of politeness, but if I know her a little bit, she's going to be a little bit pissed at herself for allowing this emotional outbreak. Oh well, it's all the better that it happened.
He yawned and shook his head a few times.
"Man I'm knackered, should be a hotel around here," Moore said. He took out a crumpled map. "Ah here we go, first left then a right"
As he walked down the street he received very serious and disapproving looks from passers by.
"I was hoping the people here would under-stand a little, after tonight I need to find some work."
He arrived at a hotel and walked up to the reception area.
"Hi Id like a room for tonight," Moore said.
The receptionist replied "Certainly si-" She had caught sight of the tail now beating on the floor. "-uh I'm sorry sir, we donut have the facilities to accommodate a person of your.....'uniqueness', would you please leave now."
Moore walked out onto the streets.
Huh that was pleasant, dammit guess I'll have to rough it tonight.
He went down the alley beside the building and using the tail climbed up to the roof, on reaching the top he took out a burnt and ragged sleeping bag.
Well this is another fine mess you've gotten us into Moore, this tail is really hampering my possibilities still I tried to cut it off but the thing too tough, *sigh* wonder if I'll meet any people with problems worse than mine?....heh that'll be the day.
He took out the beam blade he had been given before he left and just wondered.
"Duracell or Maxell?"
"An excellent choice you've got there," he commented as he saw what she Karu was holding. "Forged for me by a nine-tails named Drathor I once knew. Ever heard of him?"
Though Karu quickly hid it, he saw the shock of the name-dropping register. Obviously she had read the smith's mark and saw it was a nine-tails, but Drathor was a nearly legendary weaponsmith of the kitsune, impressive even among nine-tails. How some outsider got Drathor to give him a weapon was a mystery Tanetris planned to take to his grave.
"Think I'll grab something myself. I love my new katana, but it's gor silver, and I'd rather not kill this other werewolf if he decides we're a threat," he said, brushing past her as she still stood in silence. He was quite sure Karu would be cursing herself later for being so transparent.
Tanetris looked around. She didn't even find the rest of it? he thought to himself. Being on his home turf certainly was bringing his confidence back. He had dealt with more powerful kitsune than this one, he just had to be careful not to be too taken in by her attractiveness...
Pulling a dagger out of one spot and placing it in another, one of the walls slid open, revealing a set of stairs down. Anyone who was in the basement of Tanetris' house would notice it was a fair bit smaller than the rest of the house was, but the only passage to the walled-off section was through the main weapons gallery. Looking around at the smaller but much more powerful collection of weapons, Tanetris put a pair of sai that glow when a trap of magical or non-magical making is near, or when the proper command is spoken, in his belt, and strapped a quarterstaff across his back which could be extended anywhere from 4 feet up to 20 feet, and which had command words for several handy spells, not the least of which were teleportation and firestarting. The wonderful thing about both of these weapons was that they would be sent into hammerspace when he became his wolf-form, an enchantment he needed to get placed on his katana soon. Wolf form was faster for running, but it certainly wasn't made for carrying weaponry.
Finally, Tanetris picked up a ball that was not a weapon, but would allow them to track the other werewolf, and headed back upstairs. He closed the wall and went back into the living room where the kitsune waited. He noticed the puzzled look on her face, clearly she was wondering where these weapons she hadn't seen had come from.
"From my slightly more hidden collection," he explained as he took a seat on the couch and picked up his drink from earlier.
"Okay, what now?"
"Now, we wait for sundown. Then the hunt is on," he spoke a bit smugly.
With a sudden flash as if to mock Tanetris' cockiness, a man in an Australian duster covered with cake icing appears standing in the middle of his living room. "Hi Tanetris nice to see you again," Gorion says with a smile. "By the way one of those girls did that to us."
The werewolf sighed. Is nothing ever easy?