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A "Fox", a fox, and a...fox?[Lumina]

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Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

The traveling magician completed his exploration of Reim's capital and now it was time for him to continue on his journey. But first, there was a conspicuous bag of magic tools he'd hidden away in a cave up in the mountains that sat on the horizon. It wasn't suitable to bring them into the city when he was trying to remain somewhat stealthy, especially since there were no doubt pursuers from the dark auction still searching for his whereabouts.

Once night fell and certain parts of the city became cloaked in darkness, Zion Koval made his move. The storm kitsune's footsteps became supported by storm-like gusts which carried him off into the sky and over the city walls. A vortex of wind surged and the doll quickly departed from Remano and headed towards the distant mountain range.

-

Not too deep into the mountains was a small cave that was only a few meters deep. The mouth of the cavern was naturally concealed from a distance by shrubbery and trees but it was hard to miss once one got close. Inside was nothing but a floor made of broken stones and mounds of dirt giving the impression that it had once partially caved in. Underneath the debris and rubble was a large white cloth bundling a variety of magical items and weapons as well as a few mundane trinkets.

Nearly all of Zion's belongings were stored there including some food which he knew might attract some animals. But the bag was buried under large heavy stones over various sizes, the biggest easily being larger than a barrel. The magician felt confident his Onigiri and personal wealth would be safe stored there.

-

A strong breeze danced across the forest and made the trees sway as Zion's high speed flight came to a halt at the foot of the mountain. His tails were still being suppressed to their minimum size and the cloth covering his ears was still clutched firmly in his hands. After the chance encounter with Caelus in the mountains Zion learned that he had to be careful about maintaining his disguise even when it seemed like nobody should be around. With that in mind, he began to trek the rest of the way to the cave on foot, his face obscured in the dim moonlit that managed to peek through the canopy.


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Lumina Alkori

Lumina Alkori
D-Tier
D-Tier

Humans were not generally welcome in the wilds, it was a place for beasts and monsters. The mountain forest was no different and just as unforgiving, one mistake could mean the end of ones life, human or beast. But this day had been different, something new had come into the forest and it had cause quite a bit of chaos. A Unnatural wind had cause the birds to panic and the wolves howled of a home invaded. While most of the beast of the forest were in a panic or filled with terror some sought the source.

"working with the wolves is a mistake... you just know they are gonna try to take more of our hunting grounds..." A strangely dressed girl spoke as she stepped into a clearing, behind her a massive white fox followed. The fox gave a yip and a short bark causing the girl to spin around, "NO! we can't trust them, they tried to kill me last year..." The fox barked back and strode past the girl... "Tch this is foolish... whatever it was it left!" the girl followed the foxes foot steps whining as she did. The two of them had been out since the birds had called out in panic and had nothing to show for their time as of yet. "Why did mother have me go with you all i have done is slow you d...." the large fox stopped suddenly, its snout held into the air, behind it the girl became silent. With large fox motioned in a direction and the girl climbed upon it back.

The moon had barely shifted in the sky when the two came upon a small clearing in front of a cave, the ground had been torn by some sort of force. The girl slide from the back of the fox, pulling a crude looking bone knife as she landed. She gave of a bark like a fox would, the fox sniffed the ground as the girl walked to the gashed in the land. Kneeling down she inspected them, running her hands through the disturbed dirt. The fox gave a short growl causing the girl's vision to snap up towards the cave. She gave another bark, this one subtly  different for the the last. The two moved into the cave, the girl held her small knife read and the fox sniffing the air. The cave was shallow with a mostly dirt floor, which made it quite easy for them to follow the goings on of the intruder, but in farthest back a pile of recently disturbed stones. Between the girl and the fox they managed to unearth the trove of belongings, though not without a sizable amount of effort. The girl lifted the bag from its cache and undid the bindings, quickly rifling through it. Most of what she saw meant nothing to her, foreign tools of a culture she barely understood. After a bit of searching she came across the food which she immediately raided.


Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

Tap...tap...tap...there was no effort to hide sounds or signs of his presence as Zion continued up through the forest. The butt of his staff thumped the ground between his footsteps and plenty of fallen leaves or twigs were snapped by his passing. Unfamiliar with moving through forests at night, the magician's pace was cautiously slow and measured, but eventually his diligent hiking would bring him brushing past the shrubbery to come before the cave opening where his belongings had stored.

The tiny clearing allowed more moonlight to pour down onto the earth which illuminated Zion's long white locks as the spilled over from the cloth wrapped around his head. His clothing was of an eastern style with a white and blue color scheme and the staff in his right hand was carved from black wood adorned with an orange crystal ball clutched by talon-like socket. There was a simple calm on the young doll's face dashed with some minor fatigue from making the climb on foot as well as a sense of accomplishment upon reaching his goal. However, as Zion approached he noticed subtle sounds accompanied by what seemed like movement coming from within the depths of shadow beyond the cave's mouth.

A frown took over Zion's previously serene expression and his crystal blue eyes narrowed into a suspicious gaze. 'A beast? Or was this someone's hideout?' The thoughts crossed through the foxdoll's mind at top speed. Panic made a small dose of adrenaline flow into Zion's blood as his heart beat more heavily. It wasn't too long ago that a human had shown Zion just how foolish it was to underestimate the dangers one might encounter, a lesson Zion's mentor, Casvallion, had tried to teach him before. The wisdom hadn't set in the first time, but there was no teacher like experience. No longer so confident that his magic could solve just any problem, the magician gulped down his fears and summoned up the courage to take a step forward and send magoi into his staff.

"Who's there!?"

Magoi flowed from the magician's body and became a small golden sphere of light that formed at the tip of Zion's staff before a sweeping motion sent the orb flying into the cave. The shout was performed with a tone that tried to convey the confidence Zion struggled to find against this unknown danger. Standing there in the moon's spotlight, the magician had his staff at the ready and put his battle face on in anticipation for what he would see in a moment. The magoi flew forward and came to a stop near the roof of the cave half way in. The cave was small enough to be fully lit up by the golden light, and what Zion saw put a pause on much of the tension that was building up inside him.

The first thing noticed was the large dire fox, eyes reflecting light from the magoi in an eerie fashion, but it was almost ignored as the other figure in the cave became visible. A young woman, feral and ferocious, was there crouched over his bag of magic tools. Half in her hand, half in her mouth, was Zion's traveling rations which were already in need of replenishing. This was not the scene Zion had expected to find and it left him stunned for a moment as he stared blankly before finally breaking his silence with a single sound to express his befuddlement.

"E-Eeeeeh?"


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Lumina Alkori

Lumina Alkori
D-Tier
D-Tier

The girl and fox heard the footsteps to late, only having enough time to turn around to the speaker before a blinding light illuminated the cave. Her eyes lacked the reflective natures that her sisters eye did causing her to shield her eyes and turn away. The massive fox, unfazed by the sudden light, rushed in front of the human girl with fangs bared. With the shadow that the fox cast the girl was able to recover, she peaked around the fox glaring at the man. "Light... blinding..." her voice full of anger and dismay, her body showing clear signs of hostility. But the girl knew that if this... creature wished to end her, she could do nothing about it, but that would not mean she would not struggle if need be. She patted the flank of her wolf and gave a slight growl, ready to fight if need be. "what do you want two leg..."

Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

The situation was as Zion had feared, though no quite as bad. A thief had indeed appeared, but she was no bandit considering how she had valued food over priceless objects. Not to mention, the way that large fox moved to protect the strange girl was different from that of a typical tamed beast. Though Zion could not pierce the exact depths of the pair's relationship, he could glean that there was a special bond present between them. Once the female emerged from behind her companion and asked her question, the strangeness of their circumstance became even more apparent.

Shock fell away and was replaced with a bitter grin. It was a relief he didn't have to fight off an ex soldier or professional criminal, but the large dire fox and knife wielding young woman posed a threat of a different sort. It felt like manifestations of forest spirits were standing before him due to the wild and fierce aura the gave off. Perhaps he was overestimating the beast due to its intimidation tactics, but since they didn't appear to be malicious in intent Zion saw no sense in attacking them.

Violence was something to be wielded only when appropriate. However, just because violence wasn't an appropriate retribution for the stolen rice ball...that didn't mean Zion would let the matter rest. Upon regaining his composure a playful smirk danced across the magician's face as his eyes narrowed into mischievous crescents. Zion slowly raised his free left hand and pointed at Lumina directly. There was a pause of silence just long enough to become uneasy.

"You've got rice on your face."

Indeed, due to the speed at which the stranger had devoured Zion's rations, a bit of loose rice had stuck itself nestled just below the corner of her lip. The doll gave Lumina just enough time to react to his words before laughing and then answering her question with a question. "Hahahaha...You asked me what I wanted, but you insult me as "Two-Leg" but then what does that make you?" Each word was spoken politely with a jovial tone as the doll put on his best performance. Then Zion made a gesture towards Lumina's legs and did his best to ignore the fox's growls as he asked, "You seem to have two legs yourself. Aren't you human?"

A breeze blew across the mountainside as if the punctuate the magician's words. Zion stood there, clothes swaying gently in the wind as his left hand returned to grasp the cloth that was maintaining his disguise. If his trick were to work it was too soon to show himself, but he intended to fool the young woman as punishment for having stolen his lunch.


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Lumina Alkori

Lumina Alkori
D-Tier
D-Tier

She was caught of guard as the man laughed, even becoming confused when he said she had something called "Rice" on her face. He must have been referring to the food stuffs she had raided, she kept silent and observed the man, going on about feeling insulted by her calling him two foot. This caused her to scoff, "you are a intruder here, your magic," she pointed at the glowing orb, "has caused chaos." She patted the large fox's flank again, the large creature became less aggressive but far kept its guard up. "I highly doubt that any human would consider me one of them, they never seem to, which is fine with me." She stepped out from behind the fox, "And you dodged the question... What do you want..." She held up the bag motioning to it, "Is this what you want?"

Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

"Fufufu~"

Zion covered his mouth as he suppressed a laugh at how inverted the young forrester's words were. She was the one that had intruded and it was her overstatement towards potential danger that was bringing chaos to the world. If Lumina hadn't mentioned Zion's bag he might have forgotten about tricking her as pay back for the stolen food. "Why would I want what already belongs to me?" the doll replied in a lightly teasing tone before explaining. "That bag belongs to me, and I certainly did climb here to retrieve it." After giving her a somewhat hard time, the magician finally answered her question truthfully. But only to suddenly ambush her with a cryptic question of his own.

"So, Ms. Inhuman, did you enjoy eating the offering meant for a forest deity?"

The wind kicked up suddenly and the makeshift cloak wrapped around Zion's head fluttered madly in the gale. But the wind didn't just brush past the mountainside, it swirled around Zion and focused at his feet. A whirlpool of air gently lifted the magician off the ground as he pulled on the cloth and stripped it from his head in dramatic fashion. The cloth unfurled and danced in the whirlwind as Zion stretched his ears and tails.

Two fox ears stood up from Zion's head of white hair as a set of nine fox tails bloomed outward from behind him. The storm kitsune discarded his disguise and revealed his true form to the strange feral woman and her fox companion. Each of them a "fox" in one right or another, but not a one of them were physically alike despite mixed similarities. Fate was surely laughing at the gathering of creatures present.

"My name is Tempesta, I'm a spirit that brings storms and rain to the forest."

It was a lie of course, and Zion planned to come clean. But first, he hoped that he could startle the stranger and make her have regrets towards stealing his food.


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Lumina Alkori

Lumina Alkori
D-Tier
D-Tier

Lumina didn't flinch as the man affirmed that the bag was him, not wanting him to hang around too much longer she tossed the bag at his feet. she didn't feel she had done anything wrong, he had been the fool to leave his stuff unattended. The man continued to talk mention something about having an offering for the forest... deaity? She cocked her head to the side at the word, it was unknown to her bit the man's tone of voice made it clear that he felt it was important. while she was curious she didn't push the point. It's at this point the man did his little dance, which immediately put both of them back on edge. He revealed himself to be not human but something closer the a beast, she didn't like that one bit. While the man intentions were to startle her with his words it was words that did so. She shrunk back ready to defend herself after his show of whatever he had just done.

Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

A suppressed giggle struggled for freedom from the back of Zion's throat as he floated there in the air watching the feral girl's reaction. "Ahem..." The young magician cleared his throat to force himself back into focus as the wind magic slowly died down bringing him to the floor with a gentle landing.

"Fear not, I don't intend to hurt you."

Zion spoke reassuringly as he grasped the cloak and wrapped it back around himself in one smooth motion as his ears laid down and the tails shrank back down into their small suppressed size. "My job is to bring rain and wind, not blood and death. Your friend there has probably done a lot more killing and hurting than I have." The magician's gaze settled onto the fox companion by her side and held for a moment as spoke.

Once his words had been said Zion let them simmer with the stranger as he turned his eyes to the bag. The mask of "Tempesta" was broken by a genuine smile of joy as his eyes reflected a deep relief. Zion walked over to the bag and knelt down to start inspecting its contents to make sure the only thing stolen had been his rations. Thankfully the fox-girl didn't like collecting shiny things and hadn't stolen any of the valuable magic tools inside.

Seeing this it became all the more clear this child of the forest was living a life outside of society and civilization. The smile washed away into a frown as Zion contemplated this and what it meant for her. How long had she been living without the wonders of magic and science? How much long would she live in forest with only a beast to keep her company. Zion didn't doubt they had a familial bond to be so in sync with each other, but was that truly enough?

The more Zion thought about it the more somber his expression became as he silently thought on the subject not realizing it might look a bit odd to be crouched over a back staring blankly down at it in thought.


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Lumina Alkori

Lumina Alkori
D-Tier
D-Tier

Lumina raises an eyebrow as the man claimed to bring the rains and winds, it was a lofty claim and one that made her skeptical. She poked Ume in the side, "what do you think?" Ume yawns widely and gives a short chirp. "Yeah..." she glances the man up and down, he had returned to his normal. She huffed as them man grew silent leaving her to just glare at him, he seemed to zone out. She figured that the normal myriad of questions was soon to follow and she decided to head him off.

"No I am not unhappy here... I like my life here, No I DON'T want to go back to town with you and Finally I'm fine I have lived here since my seventh winter..." Lumina paused and made a quick count using her fingers. "Meaning I have been living here for 15 winters." She tapped her foot, wondering what else the man would want to say or do. she Pushed a bit of errant hair back behind her ear causing all of her bead, gems and other trinkets to jingle shift. One would draw someone's gaze if they knew what it was and it was clear the Lumina didn't.

Zion

Zion
A-Tier
A-Tier

The fox-tailed magician seemed to be ignoring Lumina as he tied off the mouth of the sack and made a casual grunt of effort as he hoisted it up onto his shoulder. The many metal tools inside clanked about as the load came to settle on Zion's back weighing him down somewhat.

Perhaps it seemed as though Zion hadn't been listening, but the words had reached him and were adding to the young magician's thoughts. It was just as Casvallion had taught Zion, there were all kinds of people in the world and each one pursued their own ideals. Sometimes there would be people with perspectives so different it was hard to communicated even if they shared the same language.

A slight frown took the living puppet's face. He had felt pity for this stranger and sought to share the bounty of civilization with her. But she had cut him off with a swift declaration of her opposition to the ideas Zoin had been thinking. After a brief moment of contemplation the white haired boy laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek.

"Yes, I suppose you wouldn't be fond of going into town seeing as you dislike "two-legs" so much."

Even so, it was too tragic to leave the feral youth out here when she was stealing travel rations with enough desperation to have dug them up from the rocks Zion buried his goods under. He was just about to try and press the issue when he noticed a shimmer exposed by Lumina's gesture. " A shard..." Zion whispered, his eyes tracing the small jewel of crystallized fate.

A stern and serious look came over Zion's expression and the offer to go into town on Lumina's behalf to get some real food crumbled from the tip of his tongue to be replaced with words of warning. "You might want to keep that gemstone hidden instead of wearing it out in the open..." The magician pointed with his slender pale finger and nodded towards the shard of solomon hanging from Lumina's garb.

"It is no simple trinket. If some were to see it, they might not be willing to let you go. I wish I could say you were wrong about humans...and you are, just not about all of them. Some would commit 10,000 evils in order to satisfy their greed."

Zion's voice trailed off and as it did his eyes cast aside while he thought about his own demons hounding him. Kornel Klien had targeted the young magician with no shortage of grief all to sate an old grudge against Zion's father and envy of Mikael's work. Zion shook his head and forced thoughts of his own unresolved drama aside as he placed a sincere smile on and took a single calm step forward.

"Sorry for tricking you before. I'm no forest spirit, I was just upset at you for eating my food and wanted to tease you a bit."

Since Zion had his own circumstances he could not share his true name with this stranger, Tempesta would have to do as an alias. But he did come clean and was as honest as he could be to make up in some small way for not getting off on the right foot with Lumina. If he wanted this fox-girl to trust his words of caution he would need to show that his motives were pure.


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