[IC] Tales of the Fox Spirit (Fairy X pyroan)

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

In the far distant past there lived a Kitsune Girl named Autumn who was loved by her fox companions but had no parents so she had been on her own for a long time. Even though she had her little fox companions she wished to be among the humans but in that time humans were scared of her kind so she started to play tricks and other harmless stuff on a village in hopes to get some friendly attention and gain some friends to play with. But unfortunately it was the wrong kind of attention she was getting from the human village and they called among a monk to help save their village by ridding them of the so called 'evil' Kitsune. A monk agreed to do so and started to hunt her down and when Autumn got wind of that she ran far away as she could but the monk stayed on her trail.

Soon Autumn found a spot to rest at a shrine that was not used or even looked like it had been used for years so she hoped the monk would not find her there as she took a rest. But while Autumn slept the monk found her and placed an enchantment on her causing her to wake then sealed into the shrine. After she was sealed her placed an enchantment on the area where the shrine was so no one would find it, for a sign appeared saying 'Leave and offering to gain help from the fox spirit' he knew that it was her way of escape to freedom after helping who ever left an offering. Once his job was done he returned to the village to let them know that the Kitsune was taken care of.

500 years soon passed, 500 long year of loneliness that Autumn had to endure for she could see her fox companions but they could not see her or feel her touch. But as that many years have passed the enchantment the monk left had finally weaken enough for one random person to walk into her area so she could some how guide them to her shrine and hope they would leave her an offering. But in the mean time Autumn sat on the shrine knowing no one could see or touch her until the offering was place and she really hoped someone would come soon and set her free from her eternal loneliness. SO the enchantment is gone and all that is left is for that one person to take that one step in the forest.

[pyroman]

Simon dreaded his luck. It was the third job that he was fired from this month alone and he was starting to stress about it. He hardly had any money to keep paying his rent, and with how much he had so far, there was absolutely no way that he was going to pay to get in to college. Sure, he had great grades and all, but that wasn't enough for a scholarship, and he might have to head back home if things kept going this way. With all the stress placed on him, he needed to vent, so he went to the forest. He loved the forest and all of the creatures in it, as it was usually quiet and serene. He had only been there a few times when he needed to calm down, but there was so much in the forest to see and explore. He wanted to see it all.

Just on the outskirts of town, Simon looked at the start of the forest and escaped into bliss, the sounds of the town leaving his ears as he wandered, finding peace in the silence. That wasn't to say that he didn't like sound, though, as he loved music and all of it's various forms. That was why he wanted to go to college, to study music theory and several other music related degrees. His headphones bounced lightly with every step as he lost himself in his thoughts, not noticing that he was following a small and hardly noticeable trail.

Looking around, the young man noticed that he was now in a small clearing, with a small shrine now in front of him as he stood there. Looking over the shrine, he read the inscribed words silently, seeing that it asked for something to place on the shrine. He didn't know what kind of being the "Fox Spirit" was, and wasn't sure what kind of items would appeal to such a being. Fishing around in his pockets, Simon was unlucky, and had nothing but pocket lint. He was actually placing hopes in the shrine, hoping that the being would be able to help him in his time of desperate need. There was only one physical item that he could place down on the shrine, and with a heavy sigh, he took off his headphones and placed them down. He had his phone and wallet on him, but he needed those far more than the headphones, even if they were his favorite pair that he owned. "This better work..." He silently wished as he prayed at the shrine, waiting to be blessed by a being that may or may not actually exist.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Some foxes had followed Simon as he walked down the small pathway and watched him sand in front of the shrine wondering what he will do. The smallest of all them was hoping that he would place something on the offering table. Once they saw him place his headphones on it the wind pick up turning the leaves in that area into fall colors and the little foxes ran out to the shrine. The rubbed against Simons legs as they ran past them and the smallest little fox climbed onto the offering table with his little tail wagging happily. The wind picked up more and the leaves swirled around the shrine and slowly a figure started appear sitting on the shrine. IT was a female figure with Golden Blonde hair, golden eyes, a dress that draped and had leave details on it. But the one thing that really stood out was her fox ears and tail she had and they were real for her ears twitched a little along with her tail swishing lightly.

She then stretched her arms upward smiling. "Man 500 years being trapped in this stupid shrine really has made my back stiff." She said with a smile and the little fox yelped and jumped into her lap nuzzling her. "Aww I missed you too little guy." She said as she hugged her little fox and looked at the boy and then at his headphones before picking them up. "Hmmmm nice offering human." She said as she jumped off the shrine and smiled at him. "I am Autumn the fox spirit thank you for freeing me from my inpriosonment well temporally at least."

[pyroman]

Simon wasn't prepared for anything that had just happened to him. He was actually expecting that nothing would happen, and just the opposite of that occurred. Many foxes ran past him on their way to the shrine, brushing against his legs as they did so. He was currently at a kneeling position, as it was only proper respect to pray like that. His jacket flapped in the previously nonexistent wind, and his hair blew over to one side. When the wind settled down, he looked back up to see woman with golden fox ears and a tail. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not, but assumed that he wasn't when she spoke to him. He also wasn't prepared for what she would say.

He expected for a being like her to be regal, both in appearance and behavior, but it seemed like it wasn't that way. She talked so casually around him to the foxes, and it was safe to say that she was in some way or another their guardian or god. Seeing her pick up the headphones, he wanted to grab them from her and take them back, but he didn't know what she was capable, and if she was imprisoned in the shrine like she had said, there must have been a good reason for it. Standing up slowly, he looked at her calmly and fully took in her appearance. "You were imprisoned in the shrine?" He asked her, trying to make sure that he didn't hear wrong. "Why?"

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Autumn looked at him when he asked her why she was trapped in the shrine. "Oh that is right its been 500 years things have changed since back then." She said to him for she could tell things have changed just by the ways he was dressed and by his offering. "Well I got into some trouble for the time I am from do not like my kind at all we are kind of considered as demons and other stuff so being an orphan in that time was not easy." Autumn started to explain to him careful on how in her time her kind was hunted and killed while other became permanent shrine spirits for spiritual properties. "So I did not know any better and to get attention I kind of played a lot of pranks on the villages that I guess they thought I was attacking so I was hunted down by a monk then caught." She said to him as she held his headphones and her little fox. "So as punishment he trapped me in this shrine and placed this here he said that if I can make a person the happiest in the world by using my abilities without harming anyone then I will permanently be freed from my shrine but I have to help the person that left me an offering and then make them happy with out harming anyone." Autumn said and held his headphones up. "And you are the very first person to find my shrine and give me an offering which does make me happy." She said with a smile.

[pyroman]

Looking at the fox-woman with slight awe, he listened to her story and tried his best to understand what had happened for her to be sealed inside the shrine. It was different than the stories he had read, usually the mythical being would watch over the shrine and answer the call of anyone to leave something there, but she was sealed inside of it, without choice. He was somewhat surprised to hear that he was the first person in five hundred years to leave something at the shrine, and wondered why that was. "Well..." He drew out, thinking about how she would be able to make him happy. He didn't know what kind of abilities she had, and he wasn't even sure if she would be able to help him in his current situation. Thinking of something, Simon smiled at her and looked at her calmly. "If you want to make me happy, then live out your life. I don't want you to go through any trouble just to make me happy, and I'm glad that I could help you get out of the shrine." He wasn't sure if a loophole like that would work, but it was worth a try.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Autumn looked at him and shook her head. "It won't work that way the shines power is linked to you now after you left this." She said as she held the headphones up as she looked at him. "It knows you desire more then that for if that were enough the shrine would have broken in half but id did not so there is something deep inside you that you wish to have made better to make you happy." Autumn said to hims as the birds and foxes looked at them. "Even I wish it was that simple but its not sorry I am bound by a lot of strict rules and I can not get around them that monk really hated me a lot." She explained Simon before siting on the shrine again and looked at him. "Surly there is something you really want I know I can do it I mean I know I do not look like much but I can do a lot of this." She said as she waved her hand and wave of magic filled the area making the flowers grow bigger. "See I can do it and I do not mind helping at all its better then being trapped and who knows I might actually make friends this time around." Autumn said as she pet the little fox in her lap as the little guy yipped happily.

[pyroman]

With a soft sigh, Simon looked down at the ground and thought about what she could do. She seemed to have a magic ability relating to nature, but he didn't see how that would be able to help in his current situation. Looking back up at her, he shrugged. "I still don't know how you can help me. I've lost my job, I can't pay for my home, or college, I'm going to have to sell my car for money, and I won't hear the end of it if I move back with my parents. If you want to help me, then please help me by finding a way for me to get through this. If you can't, then I'm sorry but there isn't anything else that you can do to make me the happiest in the world." He didn't really know what to say to her, other than tell her his situation. Maybe she could work some magic to get him a decent job, He didn't know, but he just wanted to get out of this tough spot.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Autumn looked at him and listened to his story at how he was not happy along with how things were just going south for him. She looked at him for a minute and then the headphones he left her in her hand before looking back at him. "How about I make you a deal then." She said to him with a smile on her face. "If I can not make you truly happy when the harvest moon comes then you are more then welcome to take your offering back." Autumn said holding his headphones up. "It will mean I will have to go back into my shrine and be trapped there again but I would not want to keep your headphones if I can't make you happy." Autumn explained to him and the foxes whined when they heard that and Autumn shushed them. "All of you calm down this is my choice and I think it is fair honestly why should I keep them if I don't make him happy." She said to them. "Besides if I can't make him happy anyways I would just go back to my shrine with the offering gift so I am giving him an option to have it back if he is not happy by the night of the harvest moon." She said to the little foxes and they all quieted down along with the little one she was still holding in her arm.

[pyroman]

Simon hummed in thought as he thought about the deal that she had offered to him. Although he really did enjoy the headphones that the fox-woman had in her hands, he could simply buy a new pair just like them, but that would defeat the purpose of an offering since buying a new pair would would say they were unimportant. He wasn't exactly how soon the next harvest moon was, but he assumed that it was at lease a week or maybe even two. He had never known the full moon as a harvest moon, so he thought that it was something else entirely. He soon stopped humming and stood up and paused, thinking for a moment. "...No." He told her, glancing at the headphones. "I'm not sure how soon the next harvest moon is, but I don't think that will give you a lot of time here if I'm not as happy as I should be by then. Keep the headphones, and please do your best to help me. I think that the harvest moon, however soon it is, is too soon of a deadline to me me the happiest person in the world."

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Autumn titled her head as he said no deal and she looked at him. "The harvest moon is 2 months away for it happens more in the fall." She explained to him. "They have a festival for it every year to hope for good crops back 500 years ago though I am sure they just do it for the fun of it now." She explained to him. "And i think 2 months is enough time to do so or at least get things to be easier because if I still do not truly make you happy and I got back all my magic and help will not vanished or anything it will stay with you forever so say you need a job and I help you get one once I got back in the shrine you will still have that job unless you are ready to leave it yourself." Autumn explained to him for when she was trapped in that shrine other fox spirits can travel to other shrines and they explain what they can and cant do and also if they had to go back if the magic will disappear or not for the people they help. "So I think its a fair deal honestly." She said to him for she knew she would run into people that will never truly be satisfied but she still wanted to help him in some way for that was the reason why he came and left her an offering for her.