Private Tales Midnight Snacks

[aurichalcyon]

Autumn,
Allira

The stench of human sweat and the tang of fizzing ales clawed at Mibu's senses. He was not used to sleeping on a bed, the sheets annoyed him and the lights in the inn downstairs had gone out, but the common room still sparked with the chatter and commotion of humans. The local workers laboured over drinks and games of chance. Travellers spoke of their journeys and the weather and it was all a bit much for a fox.

Finally giving up on sleeping, Mibu slipped from the small room on the pretense of finding a spot to relieve himself and took a few coins into the city.

The evening closed the regular shops and darkened windows and signs in the common tongue. He admired the boats on the waterfront, couples romantically propelled along under bridges, drinking wine under starlight and reciting poetry for the oarsman and each other.

The city smelled, constantly, but once he accounted for the strange and constant onslaught of these smells, and the battering of voices and sights and colours- he would be quite under control.

So it was, Mibufuda, wandered away from the safety of the inn, against the advice of the last guidebook he had read about city life, as the face of this grand place changed dramatically when night fell.

The activity of shadier areas began to increase, half-breeds flashed their ankles at him from the corners of flower-stands. "Fancy a flower, sir?"

Mibu, shook his head and followed his nose to a man serving pints of ale for an outdoor seating, a drinking garden. The small cart of ale sat beside another vendor plying cooked chicken on skewers and drenched in some sort of spicy sauce. Patrons here ran to the cheaper expenditure of coins compared to the inn that he and Kira had booked and the smell of the cooked birds piqued his curiosity.

He purchased one of the frothy pints of ale and a stick of the potent chicken-chili skewer. The evening suffered from a slight increase in humidity from the drizzle of rain still threatening in the sky overhead, and Mibu sat on one of the few unoccupied benches in the little drinking corner and ate his skewers. The moons were especially big and his eyes widened to saucers while his ears pricked to the sound of domestic dogs howling.

It was a howling sort of night and Mibu opened his mouth briefly, a small, frustrated whine catching under his breath. Humans, he reminded himself, sternly, did not howl.

He took a large bite of his chicken and the urge to howl rose again, but this time from the shock as the heat of the spices hit his palette and all but decimated his poor tongue.

A white, fluffy fox tail uncurled from his underside, standing straight on edge in clear discomfort.

The ale did nothing to quell the sudden burning, nor, Mibu discovered, did applying a touch of ice to the alcohol and then drinking it. No. This was no ordinary dish, but one meat to challenge even the bravest of warriors.

He looked around, desperate for somewhere to throw the remaining meal, where it could do no more harm to a delicate kitsune's constitution.

 

[Bocan]

The grey house cat was easy to miss for most of the humans that inhabited the city. Most deciding to ignore it, while a few of the more diligent folk that kept their eyes on things had decided to watch the thing. When the large unusually blue eyes fixated on them, the feeling of dread they felt was enough to send their gaze in another direction.

A few of them had made gestures with their hands in some manner while muttering a few words. The Bocan recalled another human that had done such a thing, a memory that had survived in the fae somehow.

It was disinterested in that sort of human, as they tended to be wary of its approach. Wary enough to hang a horseshoe in their doorway at night, and even throw a pinch of salt on the floor.

Such things only made the Bocan giddy, as most humans didn't have enough sense to continue such traditions of warding off the being.

The sleek grey form had slipped in and out of the alleyways that spread out across the large city. Following certain scents here and there, trying to find humans that stank of human blood. Those kind of humans were not usually missed, and some of the foolish mortals were even glad to be rid of the people.

Which made hunting all the better, as most would see it's dealinga as a good omen if they were mistaken enough in their belief.

They called it...karma.

Or some such. It had stopped for a moment too long in the alley opening, a dog spotting it and beginning to bark frantically as it backpedalled into its yard, away from the Bocan. The door opened after the beasts continued yelping bark, and the human gave it a right swat, commanding it to silence. The car slinked away behind a barrel before the mortal gazed at it, the dog still whining and attempting to go between it's owners legs.

The smell of cooked fowl caught the cats attention, and the mix of human scents did much the same. It made for the gathering, intending to find the source when another smell caught its undivided attention. A magical being of some sort. Heavily magical. The blue eyes of the cat widened in anticipation of perhaps finding another fae, or a creature of some similar inclination.

Perhaps it too, was scouting out potential meals, or already had one in mind and was simply biding its time. Entering the building as a human opened the door a d left, it spotted the being that so richly smelled of magic, and slowly drew upon it. A tail caught its eye as it watched the thing fret with a piece of cooked food.

Head canted, it slowly approached and made no noise at first, instead curious as to what the being before it was. It had never seen a tail as such in its short life, and was certain no mortal had any kind of feature. It would slowly sit before the kitsune, curiosity getting the better of it as the unusually blue eyes shone brightly in the lit atmosphere around them.

No one took great notice of the cat that had snuck inside, the revelry around them just enough to keep attention off of the floor, and tail that now bobbed back and forth, demanding attention from the Fox spirit.

 

[aurichalcyon]

The burning abated with Mibu's tongue buried in his mug of ale and tail swishing back and forth as though dispelling the dreaded heat. He inhaled sharply through his nose, senses heightened, surprisingly to the night and... cat.

Mibu's nose crinkled and he turned, spotting a grey beast perched nearby. His own blue eyes widened at the steady, intense scrutiny this animal regarded him under. His tail, still out of his shape, curled and began to swish behind him in curiousity. He was used to cats running away, not approaching.

The kitsune sipped his drink fighting back any tears or other signs that the spicy sauce had disturbed him. He didn't want to eat the rest of the skewer, it would look terribly wasteful, however, if he tried to throw it away. The cat was still staring.

"Hey little kitty, you like chicken?" Mibu shifted his weight and considerable height to one side, taking off a piece of chicken from the skewer and offering the meat to the grey stray.

He wasn't looking for magical beasts and had no reason to suspect he might be feeding anything stranger than an animal who, unafraid of humans and the whiff of magical beast, had drifted up to him in the hopes of scraps. The cat looked hungry, and big enough to eat the rest of his skewer.

Mibu offered the meat from the ends of his long nails, his tail relaxing and melting back into his form. Long white hair fell over one shoulder, strands touching the wet cobbles of the street.

 

[Bocan]

The cat did not run or shift away when the hand extended with food in it. What a strange creature this was, as it sauntered over to the being and sniffed the meat presented.

It smelled of spices, cooked and served on sticks with a point at the end. It took the offered food, and chewed on it carefully, the spice sharp and hot compared to its usual meal. It continued to eat through it, rather enjoying the difference.

Once it had devoured the offering, it sat on its rear and continued to look over the creature before it, wondering where the tail had gone.

 

[aurichalcyon]

The disaffected lack of quiver from the cat made Mibu wonder if perhaps his own tastebuds were too delicate. He sniffed the stick, shaking his head, no, the food was too spicy. Eager to be free of the evidence of his weakness, the kitsune offered another, larger chunk of the food to the cat.

"Hey, you like that? You can have the rest, little kitty." Mibu knelt easily, holding out his offering.

He glanced away, taking a big swig of the ale. "This is more my style, anyway."

Curiously, he looked around, checking no one had noticed his actions. It wouldn't do for the cat's owner to come rushing in and prevent the creature from hiding his evidence. Kira would tease him for not being able to finish a skewer.

 

[Bocan]

"Put it, on the floor." The cat quietly wheezed as it was offered another piece of chicken. Other's around them wouldn't hear it, but with the blue eyes on the kitsune, it was hard mistaking that something had spoken to him. The tail of the cat whipped back and forth in irritation at having to wait for more, but didn't wait for the whole skewer.

It took the single piece in the mean time and devoured it quickly, continuing to wait for more chicken to be offered after it had finished.