The Fox & The Hound (Nornir)

Nina walked around the park calmly, enjoying some fresh air for once, she needed to clear her mind of certain things and a calm walk in the park seemed to be perfect. Walking up to a food van she decided to get a hot dog with ketchup and mustard with a can of 7Up.

She would then walk up to a nearby bench and sat down on it, taking a bite of the hotdog happily, her ears twitching a little in food happiness. Today she was wearing a cute little knee-shirt and t-shirt combo as oppose to her usual jeans and t-shirt.

It was another one of those days when the the enigmatic dog goddess prowled around the city, invisible to the naked eye, for objects of interest. The modern world as they called it was an amusing place and her walks have become one of her favorite pastimes. She found herself in the city park for the first time. To think that such vibrant nature could be found right in the heart of the metropolis. Despite all the advancements humans had made in this dimension, nothing still beats the calm and relaxing effects of being one with flora and fauna. At least that's what she gathered from the sight of the people enjoying themselves there.

Well, there was enough nature for her to appreciate in the area around her shrine. She intended to just quickly pass through this area and move one to more urban locations. But as she hopped around, still out of sight, her nose picked up a familiar scent: one that wasn't human. Her eyes widened as she turned towards the direction where it was coming. Sitting on a bench while enjoying her snack was a girl... with fox ears.

"Ara, ara. Can this be?" She spoke to herself with a tinge of excitement in her voice. It was a Kitsune, and it was not someone she knew. Perhaps a native to this world? That was certainly a pleasant surprise.

She quietly approached, crouched in front of the fox-girl and looked up to get a better view of the fox-girl's face. It was a genuine Kitsune alright. One that apparently lived normally and was well-adjusted to this place. How... delightful~

She canceled her invisibility just as she spoke, her head tilted sideways while she remained crouching in front of the bench. "Hello" Her ears twitched and her tail was swaying slowly.

Nina took another hungry bite from the hotdog, but before she knew it a girl suddenly appeared before her, making her jump and squeak in fright before she looked the girl over and calmed "oh...hi wolf" she said calmly, she recognised the type of creature that the girl had ears and a tail from. She had heard about these creatures, similar to her kind but just with canine features "so urm...what do you want? You new around here or something?" she asked curiously, she wasn't usually given much attention when she was out and about, her five big, fluffy tails were beside her legs on the bench as she stared at the girl.

The inugami snickered for a moment as the kitsune was startled by her sudden appearance, just as planned. Her expression quickly changed though to something friendlier.

"Why yes, I am quite new around here. How perceptive of you."

Her eyes wandered from the hotdog, to her tails, to her ears and then finally locking eyes with the fox-girl herself.

"I was out on a walk and I couldn't help but notice another spirit in the same area. Hmm... I suppose spirit isn't really the most accurate word."

Nina shrugged "well kitsunes are basically fox spirits anyway, who can change form to beautiful women to trick humans, along with working for the god Inari" she explained calmly as she stared right back at the Inugami "I'm Nina, what's your name?" she asked curiously as she took the last bite of her hotdog and chewed it before opening her can of soda and sipping from it.

The name Inari was familiar. The dog goddess was quite certain that was the name of a Kami who also dwelt in her world. It seemed at some point, her world's and this world's history intersected, hence the similarities. It wasn't too far-fetched an idea. She was beginning to appreciate starting this conversation already.

"This inugami is known as Raiko. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Speaking of tricking humans, you don't seem the least concerned about being out here in the open in your current form. I would think you'd put more effort into blending in more..."

That was true. Even Raiko spent most of her city walks while under the effects of her invisibility. From the impressions she had gotten so far, humans were rather conscious and wary of her appearance. It was no fun observing them that way. But that was her point of view. She was curious of other ways of thinking too.

Nina chuckled "well, usually I just ignore the weird looks, and humans usually just think I'm dressing up or something, and there are a lot weirder creatures in this city other than mere humans with ears and tails, thankfully there's this underground fad kind-of thing going on known as "furries" who are people who dress up as animals in actual costumes and such, and pretend to be animals, so I'm fine with just the odd look, I talk and sound like a human and sometimes people don't even notice my ears and tails right away" she explained as she took another sip and patted the bench space next to her, offering Raiko a place to sit "growing up in England, it was much more dangerous to be a fox than a fox-human, but my mother wanted to be among our own kind who wished to live mainly wild, but we had the freedom to live like humans if we wished, but we still lived in large, human sized burrows" she told her new friend.

There was only so much one could gain from reading and observing. For instance, to get a decent grasp of culture, one must converse with the locals. She was amused at the thought of humans dressing up as animals outside of entertainment purposes. She had already heard some time ago that there were more than just humans in the city but it was nice to hear another confirm it.

"It seems have a long way to go before I understand what society is like here."

The inugami stood up straight from her crouching position and ignored the offer of a seat. The next few statements were about a place called England. She did not know where that was, and guessed it was somewhere far off. When Nina mentioned living in burrows, it clicked that even though kitsune smelled the same, they were different here too. At least from the ones she knew.

"The kitsune I know lived in shrines or temples. They were either feared or revered by humans. I have a shrine myself. It's in a temple in the forest near the city." She spoke proudly.

She started hopping in place as though preparing to make a big jump.

"What does a spirit do for entertainment in this city?"

Nina smiled as she listened to Raiko "they do that here sometimes too but we can adapt too" she told her as she started to think "hmm...well there's plenty of movies to go watch, along with various other entertainment things too, although to tell the truth, I'm so busy usually I don't get much time to actually go out, a nice hot bath and some personal time is usually good enough for me" she said as she relaxed back against the bench.

How... boring. That was Raiko's first thought. But she didn't let that show on her face. On the contrary, her expression was quite cheerful and remained unchanged. She suddenly realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea to get too into the kind of culture this world had. Kitsune were sly and devious beings and yet this one was not only a tad tamer, her interests were also almost no different from an ordinary human.

"Hmm. I guess it would be a good idea to let you know that I'm not from this world. How do I put it... Seeing humans harness and do all sorts of things with electricity was a surprise to me. Does that paint a good picture of my background?"

She chuckled at the mention of a bath.

"I remember being banned from a public bath once. I guess not everyone appreciated my revolutionary idea of an electric bath."

Nina nodded calmly "yeah, so you're from another dimension's past, I had a friend who was from the past, it was pretty funny watching her react to the different technology like the toaster" she said, chucking at the memory "well, if you need any help adjusting or just knowing about this world, feel free to ask, I watched humans for two years in my fox form to fully understand them and be able to integrate with them better" she explained.

Raiko raised an eyebrow. It seemed her intentions were being misunderstood. For starters, she had no desire to fit in with humans. On the contrary, she preferred the boundaries between them to be made even clearer. A human was a human. A kami was a kami. One side can freely tread on the realm of the other who cannot.

"Yes, I've heard technology is a wonderful thing and I've seen a fair bit of it over the last few days. It's like humans obtained magic. But I'm a being who is around magic everyday. I won't get excited from just seeing mundane things."

She stopped hopping in place and stretched her arms.

"I guess when I said entertainment, I was thinking more of something only special entities such as ourselves can participate in and appreciate."

"For instance, where I come from, a particularly amusing contest we have amongst kami was who can cause the most fortune or misfortune to befall a certain unsuspecting human."

As soon as she finished saying this, her eyes quite clearly started glancing around for a potential target.

Nina blinked and was a little surprised at Raiko "well I know kitsune are known for their trickery and pranks but I'm not invisible so...it's not as easy for me to play tricks unless it's with my friends" she explained "and since I started living amongst humans I've sort-of...become accustomed to them, I no longer have a desire to trick them because I've started to empathise with their lifestyle" she said "I know it probably doesn't make any sense but...I don't find it entertaining to do something that would ruin their day" she explained calmly as she finished her can of soda.

Raiko couldn't say she didn't see this coming from the way the conversation was going. She was honestly disappointed. This fox had lost its fangs.

"Ara, ara. How noble of you. I'm a kami though. The values of lesser beings don't apply to me. At the very least I don't feel obligated to follow them in the slightest."

She took a deep breath.

"Have you ever thought perhaps that some of them do deserve misfortune befalling them? Those who hold themselves high on a pedestal without caring for others. For me they are the most delicious targets."

"You've considered it yes? That some humans don't deserve their good fortune? And who better to pass 'judgment' on this karmic 'imbalance' than kami~"

There was a slight change in the way her tail was swaying, indicating her anticipation of the kitsune's response.

Nina leaned back in the bench, cupping her chin with her index finger and thumb "well if they're horrible to others then I suppose they deserve it, but do you have any way of discerning them from the nice people?" she asked curiously as she stared at Raiko calmly.