FantasticMrFox[continued from Repercussions and Consequences] After the previous evening’s exertions and a morning of Arithmetic and Geometry, Joao’s brain felt as soft as a sea sponge by the time his free period rolled around. His only relief was that the period fell between major teaching blocks, and thus he did not have to deal with the pressing crowds of first-years. The food vendors would be virtually clientless and far more willing to barter for their culinary wares. With a bowl of noodles and brazed seaweed, perhaps he could finally find a temporary reprieve for the day. The bruises on his body now had the headache and brain burn to keep them company. The idea of udon with seaweed appealed immensely to Joao. Food first, and then start searching for Raina and the others. And the Rebman vendors also stood near the Arts department - and therein he might find Raina. However, as he cut through Prince Benedict’s Japanese shrine - the most expedient path - he heard a familiar cry of distress. Ginger. On the other side of the koa pond, he spotted Gillian standing beneath a cherry tree. Her obnoxious feline hung from one of the top branches, howling strings of expletives at a large fox. The noble creature - unaffected by Ginger’s verbal assault - sat on the thicker end of her branch. Occasionally, he would use his black paw to shake the branch, which vibrated like a tuning fork, sending a shower of cherry blossoms into the air and nearly unseating the distressed feline. “Will someone please kill this &%^*ing mutt?!” For Gillian things had gone from bad to worse in very short order. After a delay in her morning classes, she’d been forced to race across campus to get to her job at the library on time. Bad enough trying to run in her uniform, arms laden with books, but to have a cantankerous feline cutting in and out of your legs only made it that much more treacherous. As they cut through Prince Benedict’s shrine, Ginger decided that the sacred koa might make a delicious late-mid-afternoon snack. She screeched to a halt under Gillian’s feet, nearly sending the girl into the lily-rich pond. And then, as Ginger batted the water with her paw, a red blur came hurtling out of the underbrush; a fox of prodigious size. Ginger took off screaming, speeding up the nearest tree. She made the mistake of mocking the furry beast, rudely questioning its ancestry. Apparently, the obnoxious familiar had forgotten one key point in this engagement. Foxes could climb. With a few short leaps, the fox had ascended the tree and began drove Ginger to the end of a very thin branch. “Will someone please kill this &%^*ing mutt?!” "Have you considered apologizing?" Gillian growled back as she scrambled to keep the books from falling out of her arms, apparently unconcerned at the prospect of Ginger falling. "I know it's an alien concept, but you were in the wrong. If I'm late for work...!" “Work?! I’m being eaten by a fox and you’re worried about work?” Ginger spit back. The fox shook the branch again and the feline clutched the branch tighter. “Oh yeah?! Come get me, you mangy furball. I’ve fought demons! I’m a freakin’ goddess of…. Aaaaaah!” Another shower of cherry blossoms filled the air. Joao hurried at the sound of Ginger, sliding smoothly to a halt next to Gillian. She looked up in surprise. "Ginger!" he called up. "Wouldn't eating some Kitsune Udon be more reasonable than taking on a real fox?" "Jump," he said, cupping his arms into a bowl. "I will catch you. You will not get a better offer from the fox." “My hero!” Ginger chimed. She tensed up, readying herself for the leap. But the fox shook the branch every time she moved, forcing her to hold on. Gillian chewed on her lower lip and regarded the fox, wondering if it was intelligent. Well, it apparently was guarding Prince Benedict's shrine, so.... "Please let my very rude familiar go. We'll make sure she doesn't disturb the koi here ever, I promise." The creature regarded her for a moment with a sagely gaze. Finally, it gave a sharp yip and ceased its branch shaking. Without hesitation, Gillian took the opportunity to leap down into Joao’s arms. She thumped into his chest, sinking her claws deep into his uniform. Her shrill voice went off next to his ear like a volcanic steam vent. “DidyouseewhatthatfoxdidtomewhenIwascompletelyinnocentandhetorturedmeandandwaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” Joao stepped back a moment, holding onto Ginger. The bruises and scratches he had suffered the last 12 hours, fortunately, were several orders of magnitude worse than what he was suffering now. Meanwhile, the fox backed down the tree and then hopped down to the ground. He bumped into Gillian’s legs before bounding over to the shrine. Once there, he leapt onto the donation box and sat down - staring at the trio expectantly. Gillian bit her lip again. "I...I don't have any money on me," she said in a small voice as she shifted her books. She looked at Joao beseechingly. The fox cast Gillian a withering look and thumped its enviable tail. Joao nodded to Gillian. Removing Ginger from himself and his uniform was going to be painful. "Let me go, please," Joao murmured to Ginger, trying to transfer her to Gillian. Ginger - still crying miserably (apart from the brief instances she needed to check if Joao’s expression was empathic enough) - refused to relinquish his chest. Finally, after some pulling and a few patches of skin lost, the feline came free. “Ithoughtyoulovedme!” she wailed. “I’vebeentraumatized!” Joao winced, biting his lip both from the pain and a response to Ginger's histrionics. Gillian relinquished her books to the ground and received her distraught familiar with a heavy sigh. She cradled Ginger against her breast and rubbed the cat's cheek. Once he finally managed to do so, Joao stepped smartly to the donation box. He opened his coin pouch and fished out four small silver Rebman kopek coins. "Four coins. One for Gillian, one for Ginger, and two for me," he said to the Fox as he dropped them into the box one by one as he spoke. "I should have donated more often, Gospodin Fox," Joao added, with a tone of respectful apology. The fox sniffed the donation box and then gave a sharp yip of approval. He spun around four tips, lifting his perfect tail up in the air. Once done, he hopped down and wandered over to a nearby tree. Unlike its cousins, this cherry tree had leaves of paper and ribbon and string. Students had tied wishes here in the hopes of receiving good luck from the shrine. It reminded Joao of his own culture, which featured folding wishes in kelp and allowing them to drift into the Deep Ocean. The fox gave a more pleased yip and circled the tree four times before sitting down on the mossy grass. "He seemed to accept the donation as sufficient," Joao said with a tone of relief in his voice. Gillian turned to Joao. "Thank you SO much!" she smiled. "I will pay you back, I promise. I'm so happy to see you're up and about after getting beaned on the noggin last night. Does it hurt very much?" Joao smiled and nodded. "I thought I was feeling better, Miss Talbot, until my last Geometry problem this morning. I could not wait to reach this respite in my classes so that I could seek you and Miss Baronson out. Your departures last night worried m...us all." He shook his head slightly. "If you have the time to spare, I was going to get myself some udon and braised Kombu for an early lunch. Please, it would be an honor for you and Ginger to join me. I do wish to hear of what happened to you last night." Ginger had slung herself over Gillian’s shoulder - sniffling pathetically. But at the mention of food, her ears perked up and all her woes forgotten. “You heard him, kitten. He’s buying. To make up for breaking my heart.” She glared at Joao most unconvincingly. Meanwhile, the fox had stood up and circled the tree again. When he came around this time, he now held a prayer ribbon in his pointy teeth. He gave a loud yip to get their attention, staring at them impatiently. Joao turned his gaze from Gillian and Ginger at the sound of the fox and turned to regard the shrine guardian. Enlightenment spread across his face. "A moment, Miss Talbot," he said, walking slowly toward the fox and the prayer ribbon the creature held. He knelt as he reached the fox, reaching with his right hand to take the ribbon. "Thank you, Gospodin Fox," he said. As he took the ribbon, he glanced toward the tree, considering his options. Finally he scribbled something on a piece of paper pilfered from a notebook, tied it to the string, and finally chose a branch at random to tie the folded piece of paper. "Spaesba," he said to the fox, once this was done, and walked back toward Gillian and Ginger. The fox leapt up into the tree and gave the new prayer a discerning sniff. It gave a loud yip and bobbed its head. Joao turned back once on his trip to Gillian and Ginger to regard the fox once more, and then joined the student and the familiar. Gillian had put Ginger down and was in the process of grabbing her books again. "I need to be at the library soon for work," she said as he approached, "but I do have a little time to spare. We'd be delighted to accompany you to lunch—though I must warn you that Ginger begs unabashedly for food—but I must once again insist that you call me Gillian." "Da...Gillian," Joao said. "Blame the blows to my head last night for forgetting." The fox resumed his guard position - like a regal fu-dog overseeing his dominion. “You surely aren’t planning on putting me on the ground with that thing near by,” Ginger whined. She immediately hid behind Gillian's legs, staring out between them. She glowered at the fox, who provided her with a dispassionate glance, in turn. Satisfied that she would not be eaten in the next few moments, Ginger padded over to Joao, brushing against his legs provocatively, “You mentioned something about food?” "I did," Joao said, crouching down to regard Ginger face to face. He gently let his fingers brush her head and neck before rising. He nodded to Gillian. Ginger purred softly as Joao rubbed her. After a moment, she opened her eyes. “Oooo… you’ve been a naughty boy! I’m jealous.” She sniffed his hand again and pouted. “Very jealous.” "What. Naughty?" Joao was startled. "I haven't done..." A look of shock crossed Joao's face as he stared at Ginger, followed by a blooming blush on his cheeks. He coughed and decided to change the subject, quickly. Gillian didn't seem to notice. "I was going to get some food from the Rebman vendors. Udon, or perhaps some Soba, with seaweed, although I will not be offended if the two of you want an Amberized version with something less traditional. Pork or chicken, perhaps." Joao smiled. "Come, I think that it would be much safer than trying to eat sacred fish from Benedict's pond. And I wish to hear what happened to you, Gillian." "Are you sure?" Gillian asked as she started walking. "I mean, well, you already paid for Ginger's indiscretion du jour (Ginger received a look from Gillian) and I feel awkward for you paying for our lunch as well." Ginger looked back at Gillian with her patented ‘Why-Are-You-Looking-at-Me?’ expression. “He’s rich. He can pay. So, stop looking a gift fish in the mouth.” She bound forward, her exclamation-mark tail leading the way. The rich smells of food drifted across the courtyard, inspiring the feline to quicken her pace. "The Barony is rich, to be precise," Joao said. He decided that matching Gillian's pace, rather than trying to walk behind her, or worse, Ginger, was the correct protocol here. "I only get a stipend, an allowance. It's a generous one, of course, because Mother would not approve of her son looking and acting like a Xuligan." "And if it assuages your conscience, Gillian." Joao added. "The Rebman vendors, at this hour, are inclined to haggle and barter for the trade. It will not cost as much as it would at more crowded times." "All right then. Thank you for your generosity." She smiled at him brightly. [continued in Debriefing] |
