The Jewels

I stroll over to a small stand, it's filled with rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. I smile as I browse. The diamonds and emeralds and emeralds and numbers of other jewels. I pick up a necklace in the shape of a tiger, with little rubies and diamonds in it.

Fox was taking a little walk through the mall as well. The noises of the crowd were both a bit of a bother to his sensitive ears, but also a familiar comfort as well. It was a noise he was accustomed to, and one where he could easily do his work of picking a few pockets for a quick bit of cash.

Today Fox was wearing his hoodie and cargo pants, along with his boots and gloves. The familiar mask was in place over his face, enchanted at the moment with an illusion to hide who he was without being super obvious that he was hiding it. With his hoodie pulled up to cover his ears and the mask enchanted to look like a normal human face (complete with mimicking his own face's expressions and mouth movements) he looked like a normal teen boy going about the mall. Even his nine tails were hidden at the moment, wrapped around his waist and enchanted with an illusion as well to make them appear as a belt to anyone looking at him.

Since he wasn't particularly hard up for money at the moment he was enjoying his time at the mall, wishing that Adri was here with him to show him where the really fun stuff was. Since she wasn't however he was content to wander about, grabbing a bit of cash from the wallets of a few rather well off looking individuals. His hands were quick and deft and sure enough no one he robbed even knew that he'd touched them, he was quite the master of his craft here. A quick snatch, pull out the cash, and toss the wallet into the nearest garbage can... no way to know he'd even stolen anything. With some new spending money in pocket he wandered near a little jewelry stall, pausing to admire the gems on display. They were small ones, not like the big score he'd gotten a few nights earlier... but they still shone nicely enough.

Fox noticed a girl picking up a necklace to look at as the stall owner smiled and complimented her on the choice. It did look like it would be a nice fit for the girl, yet that wasn't why Fox looked her way. No, she had an odd scent to her that marked her as not being some average human. He couldn't quite place it, yet somehow she had a bit of a feline scent to her... maybe she simply owned some cats? No, that wasn't quite right either and he trusted his nose.

I admire the glittering jewels, holding them up to the light. I smile at the stall owner as he complimented me. I tried it on, looking down to see it went perfect with my outfit. My tank top with a red, messy looking heart on it with the words "Eat your heart out" inside of it, along with a short jean skirt and some torn red leggings. I have my favorite heeled boots with it, and my purse across my body. I also had my hoodie on, though unzipped so the words could not be read at the moment. "I'll take it" I say, smiling at the shop owner. After all such a necklace belonged with me. I open my purse and my face visibly falls. "Nevermind." I mutter. "I don't have enough."

I carefully put the necklace back, feeling down now. The smile has disappeared from my face. I glance at it once more before tuning away, zipping my purse back up.

Fox watches as the odd scented young lady decided to purchase the little glittering trinket, only to realize she didn't have enough cash. While he still didn't see why humans obsessed over the sparkling stones so much he knew that human females in particular were always rather fond of them. After a moment of contemplation Fox walks up to the counter with his hand in his pocket. A moment later he pulls out a wad of cash (from his latest bit of pickpocketing) and buys the necklace himself. Before the young lady has time to walk away he turns to her and gently taps her arm to get her attention.

"You wanted this right? It looked nice on you." He says as he offers the necklace to her, a grin on his face. Thanks to the enchantment on his mask the illusion grins as well, making him look perfectly normal to anyone looking.

I start as the boy touches my shoulder. I frown as he offers me the necklace. "Oh. Uh yeah. I did." I tilt my head as I gaze at him. "But why would you get that for me?" I blush slightly and look away. "Although I'm very glad you did."

Mall life swarms around me and I look up as I hear a baby crying. Luckily all it was is a little tantrum being thrown. I turn my attention back to the boy. "How can I thank you?" I ask as I take the necklace from him, admiring it once more.

Fox just continued to grin until the oddly scented young lady accepted the necklace. He hummed to himself as he thought about just why he had done this anyway. It wasn't like he knew this person or owed them anything. Then again she didn't smell human, and that made him feel a bit more comfortable around her in this world teeming with humans.

"I just felt like doing it I guess." Fox commented with a shrug, still grinning behind his enchanted mask.

"Can I just ask you something? You're... not entirely human are you?" His voice was just loud enough for the stranger to hear, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear it. After all, Fox knew a little something about being discreet.

I shrug when he tells me why he did it. "Well it was a very sweet thing to do." I start at his comment about not being human. I back up a step. "So that's what you wanted." I hiss. "How did you know?" I ask hostilely, eyes narrowed. I clutch the necklace, debating whether to keep it and run, or to give it back.

Fox is a little surprised by the somewhat hostile reaction from asking his question. He holds up his hands in front of himself as if trying to calm her.

"Whoa whoa whoa, take it easy." Fox says in an even tone.

"It's like I said, I didn't want anything. I was just doing something I felt like doing, and I didn't know for sure until you just admitted it. I simply had a strong hunch cause you smell different from all the humans around here." Fox says, then as a gesture of good faith he lets his illusion on his mask fade for a moment. The white mask and his glowing green eyes show clearly for a few moments before he puts the illusion back into place.

"Non-humans need to stick together is all." He says with a chuckle.

I am about to run as he tells me to "take it easy" "People who tell you to calm down aren't usually trustworthy" I remember my dad saying. However I hesitate as he says he doesn't want anything, it's unlikely, but still makes me wait for a moment. "Gartenblast" I mutter when he points out I admitted it. I look at him, eyes still narrowed. He tells me He smelled me, which makes me relax a little, especially when he lets his.. enchantment or whatever down and confirms that he isn't human either. "Yeah.. I guess." I shift my weight back and forth, not sure what to do at this point. Well he was pretty nice.. But still I don't know him and am not sure whether I can trust him. At the very least I need to be careful. I relax even more at that thought. As long as I'm careful.. I couldn't hurt to see where this goes.

"Anyway, my name is Fox. So what's your name?" Fox asks in a friendly tone. Even as he watched her he was paying attention to his surroundings, his hood moving a bit as his large ears twitching under it. Thankfully no one seemed to be quite that observant about watching the little hoodie wearing fellow.

"If you want to make sure the humans don't find out you're not one of them, you need to be a bit more careful. Of course you've got a really good advantage with looking so much like them. You're not using any magic or special items to make yourself look like that are ya? Nah, definitely no magic going on or I'd smell it." Fox comments, tilting his head to the side as if he was pondering something. Of course he was thinking hard on just what this girl was. It hadn't occurred to him that she might not even be of this world.

I smile at him. "My name is Ivy" I say, purposely not giving him my full name. I nod at his suggestion. "Well I thought I was being pretty careful." I cross my arms. "I'm pretty sure people can't smell me. And no. No magical stuff. Just similar genes." I look at you curiously. "So if you're not human then what are you?" I walk in a circle around him, still clutching my necklace.

"Oh me? I'm a Kitsune, but don't tell anyone else." Fox said with a chuckle.

"So what are you exactly? I mean you look just like a human, but you smell sort of like a kitty cat. Oh! Are you a nekomata in disguise? I used to know a few of them back home." Fox said, being quite friendly now. He didn't even seem to mind the way Ivory was circling around him.

"A kitsune?" I say, a strange accent popping up on the word kitsune, proving I had never said the word. "What's a kitsune?" My accent sounds perfect other than on kitsune. I stiffen when he asks me what I am. "A kitty cat?" I practically spit the words, obviously offended. "I don't even know what a nekomata is." The accent comes once again with the word nekomata. I am still on edge and subconsciously start cracking my knuckles, one by one.

Fox seems a little distraught as Ivory get offended by him using the term 'kitty cat'. It seemed that she wasn't a nekomata, and she didn't know what a Kitsune was either. That made things very confusing for him, though it seemed his biggest problem now was not to anger Ivory further.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you... I just don't know what you are yet." Fox said, tilting his head to one side and then the other.

"So... what are you then? I don't want to make you made by guessing more."

I try to calm down, but hesitate to tell him what I am exactly. I instead I get excited. "Wait can you smell what kind of feline it is?" I ask, practically bouncing. "I don't know what kind of animal I am. All I know is that you said I was a feline?" I bite my lip, hoping for the best. I always thought it might be something feline, just based by the fact that I often growled, or hissed when I didn't like someone. Or that I purred when I was happy. I am actually quite happy to know that I was a feline. But I did NOT want to be called a "kitty cat". Unless maaaaaybe I knew the person really well.