Out-Foxed [Hayao Miyazaki RP]

[Proficiently Awkward]

Bursts of savory, perfumed air clouded the close quarters of the bath house. Dawn chased away the perfuse aromas of herbal salt-scrubs and clouds of incense, replacing it with the delicious smells of a morning meal. The night was done – the bath house closed – and each of those employed was granted some respite and a hot breakfast. Painstakingly polished tables, laid end to end with platters and plates, took up much of the narrow dining hall. It was by no means as extravagant a feast as Yubaba put out night after night for paying patrons, but no soul went hungry.


Stacks of steamed pork nikuman buns towered high on serving trays. Soup tureens brimmed with salted miso and dashi broths. Whole fish lay split open and stuffed with greens. Mounded bowls of rice and iron kettles steeping aromatic teas rounded out the array. Already, greedy hands were groping at plates and serving up generous portions of one favorite meal or another – and not half of it was out of the kitchen, yet.


Seizing his opportunity, Jinsoku darted in with swift jaws and sent a precariously stacked tower of bean-paste buns toppling as he pulled his prize from the bottom of the tray. Dainty paws made light of the near-dangerous scramble for a meal – every mouth was hungry. Half drunk, in the case of some. The evening had been quite productive and bottle after bottle of sake had been uncorked in celebration. Alighting over the tables on quick paw-pads, the kistune leapt back to the relative safety of the end of the hall, already making short work of his first bite. That bean-paste bun shredded under the razor edges of his molars, his jaw chomping reverently. The fox spirit horked the last few crumbs down, tossing his head back and swallowing without chewing. Undignified though he was, Jinsoku was quite a keen-looking specimen. For a nogitsune.


Jinsoku’s pelt was sleek, and the mottled pattern dappled with inky starlight. Oddly pleasing patterns of soft-black, dove-grey, and rich cream stood out boldly on the small animal. At the darkest points – pawed ‘stockings’, black mask, and broad ear and tail-tips – Jinsoku was not truly black. It was the dull sheen of dusk, or shadow laid over night – more blue-grey than true dark. Those bits, the kitsune fancied his best feature. Each tipped brush-tail, of which there were three, waved independently of one another as he eyed his next gob-full. Steely silver eyes settled next on one of the bowls of rice. A pink tongue lapped the last few sweet remains of the bean-bun from his shining nose leather before he casually made his way ‘round the table. With his immediate hunger sated, Jinsoku could be choosier.


Nimbly, the kitsune hoisted his fox-body up to sit on the low wooden bench, inky paws settling on the tabletop. It was a decidedly human gesture. Most hours of the night, Yubaba kept him in his human form. Hands, she said, were much more useful than paws. Better to scrub. Better to pour water. Better to take in neat stacks of yen for the bath house. Jinsoku sneezed thoughtlessly – the very idea of a hard night’s work set his allergies up, it seemed. And a hard night’s work he’d had. For as many nights as he could remember. Jinsoku much preferred fox-features. Sleek and keen and cunning. Human hands, the nogitsune thought, were stupid and clumsy. Opposable thumbs weren’t without their merit…but hardly worth it when worn against your will.


Extending his slender neck, Jinsoku daintily snatched the wriggling edge of a fried egg. The yolk wobbled where it was laid out over-top a mounded bowl of rice. Peeling the delicacy away with tightly clenched front teeth, the fox slurped the morsel down. Yolk ran messily over the table, which he promptly lapped up before setting in on the rice itself. Foxes were not known for their table manners.

 

[SeraphiumVirus]

Mirai bounded into the hall, the fresh scents of food inviting her to take a great big Azuki bean bun and some iced mochi. Sure, she was a Baku, and all she felt the need to eat was the nightmares of others, but she preferred it very much with some of the sugary foods Yubaba offered them so very graciously. She had gone back and forth between a disgruntled Kamachi, and various bath-house guests, asking for petty revenge missions of eating a dream or lusty desire of an enemy, or perhaps to soothe their stirred conscious. She sat across from a clumsy fox, and mindlessly responded to the excited babbling of a gaggle of generic bath house ladies.


She bit into her Azuki bean bun, and sipped from a small container her remainder of nightmares, and quite honestly, she wouldn't mind a little more. The nightmares had a slight bittersweet taste, like the purest cocoa powder with pinches of Almond milk. Dreams and hopes though, oh...they were like fluffy flatcakes with creamy filling, and the most delectable maple syrup. As she sipped and nibbled at her food, she took to occasionally cleaning the mess of other patrons, as the mess bothered her greatly.


She was a rather pretty sight for the bath-house, wearing an intricate kimono along with finely arranged hair and hair accessories in her slick black hair. Her face was quite innocent, and had quite delicate makeup, but her lips curved up, and was almost cat like, but held a certain omninity when one looked to the tusks that resided in her hair, appearing as a hair accessory. She had a few stone rings on her fingers, and many layers of cloth, mostly to hide her half-hooved, half-pawed feet. Her sharp nails scratched against the table as she cleaned it, and she glared at the fox constantly making a mess.


She hissed a bit at it, but continued on her eating, knowing that if he would to bother her, she'd turn into her younger child form, and cry. That usually got her what she wanted, and made the other person feel bad.

 

[Proficiently Awkward]

Grains of rice spattered the table-top, flicked from that dark-whiskered muzzle with a swift tongue. The frantic rain of crumbs came to an abrupt halt, however, no sooner than the Baku let loose that single disapproving hiss. Both keen, saucer-like ears swiveled forward intently, then flattened. Giving his nose leather one last lick for good measure, the kitsune set molten silver eyes on Mirai. It was a flat look, if a fox could offer anything less. A petulant sort of silence fell over Jinsoku as he watched her eat.


That Baku…he’d seen her before – no one who’d spent any real time working the baths could miss her. It wasn’t as if Baku were so common, after all. Still, they had never exchanged words. Jinsoku kept to himself, or else hung about with the tanuki or kappa, and never formed a lasting relationship with any single soul. No one trusted a trickster, especially one that was known to offer gifts that turned out to be nothing more than illusioned bits of wood or lumpy stones, or who would muddy the baths and ‘blink’ out of sight, leaving Yubaba to punish another for his prank. Though the kistune had not long been in Yubaba’s employ, he had still managed to make quite a reputation for himself.


With a show of dainty, ivory fangs, the kitsune mimicked the Baku’s hiss. The very tip of a pale pink tongue slipped past his teeth, sticking out peevishly at Mirai. With ears set forward again, Jinsoku bared those tiny teeth into what was unmistakably a human smile. It looked grotesque and farcical on a fox’s lips. With a plume of starlight colored smoke and an audible pop the kitsune vanished.


Blinking, or teleporting from one spot to another nearby, was one of the tricks his kin could lay claim to – and one that came in quite handy. Near instantly, a like-colored cloud of smoke appeared underneath the long wooden bench just beneath Mirai. Cackling a queer sort of chuckle, the fox pushed upward, arching his back against the bench in an attempt to topple it over and send the Baku…and a few innocent bystanders…sprawling into the floor.

 

[SeraphiumVirus]

Realizing the Fox was locking her with his imitation and smile, her normally smiling lips curved into a small frown. It really didn't suite her, she much preferred to be smiling, even laughing. Seeing the plume of smoke in front of her, she braced herself for the worst, after all, many spirits in this building were quite powerful.


However, she deserved quite the spot up there, being one of the few, and youngest remaining Baku in the spirit world. They didn't come often, and on top of that, were even rarer to assume a female form. That made the Baku all the more sensitive and paranoid to tricks being played against her.


Feeling the bench below her move, she quickly gripped the table on an attempt to balance herself, and she decided to show that two could play at such a game. With her own scarlet plume of smoke, she allowed her headdress, kimono, and accessories to slowly melt into a ghastly form remicent of a tribal elephant, tiger, and dog all in one form.


With a defiant roar, she brought her trunk and tusks close enough to the fox's now stunned face to feel his hitched breath against her ivory. Wrapping her truck against the fox's mouth, as to prevent his cries from penetrating the tense atmosphere. She opened her mouth to reveal perfectly lined, razor sharp fangs and rows of smaller incisor teeth, almost as white as the two pillars of mother-of-pearl ivory almost pushing into the unfortunate fox.


A small quiver of something green leaked out from the fox's mouth, and she released him when he began to cough and sputter. To gain the audience back on her side, as if they'd been swayed, she transformed herself once again.


Another scarlet plume insured a small girl in a red jumped, silvery loops of hair, and small markings all over her body and face, some as stripes, and others in traditional Japanese symbols. She giggled as she caught the floating green wisp, and sat down, ankles crossed, and slowly sucked it up, the audience somewhat at a loss for words.


It was still dawn, therefore the Baku was able to transform, but nobody every really saw her, well, do it. And now, this little kid was sitting, as innocent as a human schoolchild, eating a nice sliver of a potentially potent hope or good dream of the Fox.


She began to whine a little, as shed gotten scratched a bit on her fingers throughout the process, and soon some more maternal spirits came to tend to her, coeing at her and trying to cease her mounting crying.


They agreed the Fox should be at least reported and brought to Yubaba, once again, and as the kitsune was seized, the Baku stuck out her tongue and put a finger under her eye, pulling the skin behind the woman's shoulder.