So many shadows... (OPEN)

Tetroneaque Tailchaser, or as he was starting to become known as, 'The Phantom Fox', was taking a stroll for a change of pace. So many humans in such close proximity had him on guard constantly. His hood was pulled up to hide his ears and he was wearing his white mask as well to cover his inhuman face from the public. Even that much discretion wasn't enough for him though. Oh no, he had his tails wrapped around his waist under his robes to keep them from reach of anyone who might get behind him too, not to mention the soft leather gloves and boots he'd stolen to hide his hands and feet from view. The finishing touch was the bit of his shadow magic he'd applied to himself, stretching the shadow from his hood to cover his mask as well so that it was impossible to even tell he was wearing a mask or see his face at all. If one peered too closely they'd just see a inky blackness of shadow where his face should be visible.

Oddly enough it seemed to have the exact effect he wanted, where no one really paid much attention to him. All the humans seemed to see stranger things daily, or simply be too busy with their little talking boxes and other distractions. With his short stature he might as well have been invisible to the people on the sidewalk, a child sized thing just wandering the sidewalks as too many people passed by to count. That was fine for the little Kitsune though, his eager paws were incredibly deft at seeking out all sorts of things to occupy them. Wallets, rings, watches, spare change, and more than a few of those little flat boxes that humans seemed to talk into or stare at for some reason... all were quickly snatched from unsuspecting pockets and unwary fingers as he strode by. While not as flashy or profitable as sneaking into a store after hours and helping himself this was much easier, and surprisingly lucrative too! Picking pockets had never been easier. There were simply so many people that it was impossible for anyone to really keep track of their surroundings and before long Tetroneaque had most of the many pockets in his robe filled with stolen items.

I should probably find someplace to check everything out. No real alleys to just dart into around this part of town though. Such a bother. Guess I'll just keep walking till I find a dark little corner or something. He thought to himself as he continued to weave his way through all the foot traffic on the sidewalks... and adding a few more little goodies to his collection as he went.

Also strolling was none other then the great, the mighty, and the handsome- Daniel! Or also known as Dan The Man for short, since it was harder to say all of that other stuff in a single breath. He had just gotten off work and was currently heading back home when he received an odd text from his brother asking to come see him. After learning where he was, Daniel was now standing at a mobile hot dog stand that his brother was for some reason attending. "How'd you get the stand? Did it come with the job?" Daniel asked curiously, not sure how his brother managed to obtain it.

"Sort of made it myself," Hans admitted simply and taking another look at it, there was no doubt that this was hand made due to the... poor quality. To be fair that was large in due to Hans' laziness. "Wanna try one? On the house," Hans offered.

"I don't know... I question the cleanliness of your cooking station," Daniel replied honestly. It was only the outside of the makeshift stand that was actually questionable, the cooking equipment itself looked like they had seen regular use but was otherwise fine looking. So Daniel decided to humor his brother and accepted his offer. "Mmm, this is actually not half bad," Daniel commented in surprise, not even hurting Hans' feelings in the slightest.

Fox kept walking along, his sticky little paws acquiring more and more stuff. If he took on too much more his pockets would be jingling with all the spare change and other items he'd pilfered today. He was getting rather excited at the prospect of taking a closer look at all the things he'd snatched up, but he needed some place a teensy bit more private than the middle of the sidewalk to do that. As he kept on going he started to scent something he knew well enough, having snatched a few before when he was hungry. It was the smell of hotdogs!

Oh, that smells pretty good. Where is it coming from? He thought to himself as he paused a moment to sniff the air. It didn't take longer than that before he homed in on the smell and was soon ignoring picking pockets in his new quest to get to the source of that smell. In only a minute or so he appeared near the hotdog cart being manned by some lazy looking human, but the smell of the cooking meat was good enough.

His head barely clearing the counter of the cart, the shadow faced figure peeked up the food for a moment. He took out a handful of coins and paper money and tugged at the human's sleeve to get their attention.

"How many hotdogs can I get with this?" He asked, holding up the handful of cash.

Daniel would almost miss Fox's arrival, what with his own height along with Fox's short statue. Hans being more aware of his surroundings would notice him almost immediately. "Heh. Thanks bro," Hans said with a yawn before Fox asked for hotdogs, almost basically showering him with money. Hans would be fully aware of what Fox was, and what he was carrying through his awareness but chose to play along. "One. And..." Hans would make one, taking a random amount of money before making several more and... stacking them perfectly on top of Fox's head. "These are on you," Hans chuckled.

"Hans, what manner of tomfoolery is this?" Daniel demanded, referring to both the weird placement of perfectly good hot dogs on a customer's head, and why he was so willing to give so many away for free.

"He was my first actual customer. Which makes him a wiener," Hans punned, causing Daniel to groan.

Fox was frozen for a moment as the vendor decided to, for some odd reason, stack hotdogs on the Kitsune's hooded head.

"W-w-what?" Fox stammered, confused more than anything else. He didn't budge though, afraid of wasting perfectly good food by accidentally causing the precarious stack of food to tumble to the ground. Instead he simply stood there and let the odd human stack more and more hotdogs, which only made the problem worse.

"I want to eat them, not wear them!" Fox blurted out, still managing to stay still enough that he didn't cause any to fall off. If there was one thing the Kitsune would never do, it was waste food!

"Hans really- I was referring to why you were putting hotdogs on your customer's head," Daniel clarified, carefully removing the hotdogs his brother had stacked on Fox's head. "My apologies, my brother is very strange at times. May I ask why you're wearing that mask?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Don't you Relish my jokes though?" Hans punned in his usual manner. "If he likes those, I have something better then updogg," Hans offered.

Tetroneaque stuffed the money he still had in his hands back into his pockets once Daniel helped remove the balancing hotdogs. The Kitsune hopped up and grabbed the hotdogs that had formerly been on top of his head, holding them with his hands. He was about to chow down when Daniel asked about the mask.

"My mask?" Fox asked, then realized he had let his shadow magic slip a bit during his confusion. He silently cursed his slip up but kept his annoyance at himself hidden.

"Well people tend to find my face... frightening." He said, which was true enough from his experiences. Humans back in his time would take one look at him and screams of 'Demon' and 'Monster' would soon be ringing up and down the street until an angry mob would form even though he hadn't done anything. He'd learned to hide his face and form quickly after just one such incident, though even doing that hadn't really helped him much in the end.

Fox concentrated on his magic, using it to hide his face as he slid his mask up just enough to slip a hotdog into his mouth. As he chewed he slid the mask back into place.

Daniel blinked at Hans' offer, confused by what he had said. Hans watched him grinning stupidly like always. Daniel felt like he should not ask. But he was so curious. The fact he was struggling to decide whether or not to ask became evident on his face. But through extreme determination, Daniel finally resisted the urge to ask. "Well- in that case I am glad of your discretion. I am Daniel! Nice to meet you," Daniel introduced himself cheerfully.

"Hans," Hans said simply with a yawn, his eyes closed as he prepared to nap.

"Hans, even when you run your own business you laze about!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Heh. It was time for a break anyway," Hans chuckled at his brother's flabbergasted expression. "You looking for a part time job? Starting now, for today?" Hans asked Fox in a way that implied he wasn't done. "You can make alot of-"

"Hans don't you freaking dare..."

"Dough~" Hans punned.

"Oh my god Hans why!?" Daniel groaned.

"Hi Daniel. You can call me... Fox." The masked Kitsune replied, glad that this human didn't intend to pry anymore about the mask. It was surprising to find a human who just accepted what they were told without asking a million follow up questions. Fox decided to keep nomming down hotdogs, keeping his discretion in tact by a gentle use of his shadow magic.

As he wolfed down the hotdogs he couldn't help but hear what the other human was saying.

"Hi Hans." He wondered if that human always greeted people by stacking food atop their head. Was that some sort of local custom that he wasn't aware of? Somehow he doubted it. Even for humans that seemed a bit too weird.

Fox continued to listen, tilting his head to one side in confusion at the job offer. Sadly the pun went over the short Kitsune's head, him not having learned all the intricacies of slang terms yet.

"Sorry but I don't know how to cook really." Fox admitted between munching on hotdogs.

"Hot dogs are easy. Show em bro," Hans replied grinning.

"Why Hans?" Daniel asked seriously, having been done with work already.

"Cause. I'm off the clock. Besides, you take care of all the meals at home," Hans pointed out. It was obvious Hans had no intention of showing Fox himself, since he was now leaning against the wall behind him sleepily.

"I am an excellent cook. Very well! I accept!" Daniel proclaimed alittle too dramatically as he took Hans place behind the hot dog cart. "This way my little friend and I, the great Dan shall show you how to make a perfectly delicious hot dog," Daniel insisted, waiting for his new student before starting this totally spur of the moment lesson.

Fox tilted his head again, becoming more and more confused by these two peculiar humans. Why was the one selling hotdogs being so lazy that he was depending on the other to start the cooking lesson. Wait, cooking lesson?!? Fox soon found himself being roped in to learning how to cook hot dogs by Daniel, and it didn't look like the human was going to take no for an answer.

"This is weird..." Fox commented under his breath as he joined Daniel behind the hotdog cart.

"So, how does one go about cooking a hotdog?" Fox asked, looking up toward Daniel for a bit of instruction.

Hans had already fallen asleep, now sitting against the wall behind them sound asleep. "There are different ways to cook them. But with this grill, we will be grilling them," Daniel said after doing a quick reorganizing of the cooking equipment. Then he took a hotdog out of the car with some tongs and placed it on the hot grill before them. "I always try to remember how long I have each side on for. From here it's just a matter of taste but it is most common to keep switching sides until you get a nice char- like this," Daniel continued with a perfectly grilled hotdog.

Fox watched as Daniel demonstrated how to grill a hotdog. Yet the Kitsune saw the whole thing as taking a bit too long, even if the smell was rather enticing. He frowned a bit behind his mask at all the apparent time it took to cook what seemed like a rather simple item. It was then that he had an idea, and taking a pair of tongs he also pulled a hotdog from the cart that needed cooking.

"So you just need heat right? This should be way faster then!" Fox declared before creating a floating orb of fox-fire and sticking the hotdog into the hovering blue flame. Of course the fire was much too hot and the hotdog burst into flames itself, causing Fox to yelp and sling the flaming wiener across the sidewalk and into the street where it was promptly intercepted by a passing car's windshield.

"Oops! Too hot?" Fox asked, feeling more guilty about wasting food than he ever did about all the pockets he'd picked earlier.

"Well yes but you must be careful with the temperature. Otherwise part of it will be too cold or too hot,"[b">"I can't believe you would just throw a fire hazard out into the street! You're lucky you didn't cause an accident!" Daniel said horrified at the possibility.

"He just wanted some fast food," Hans yawned, making Daniel flinch in irritation.

"But never mind that. You just created fire just now! I don't think I've seen fire like that though... are you a superhero?" Daniel questioned Fox suddenly about the fox fire he used. Perhaps he had been lying about his face and it was part of his secret identity! Yes! That had to be it in Daniel's mind.

Fox's ears would have been standing straight up in agitation if the hood on his robe wasn't covering them up. He fidgeted a bit at being called out on making the fire, not having thought of it too much. Yet now he knew he'd messed up again.

"T-the fire? It's nothing, really. I mean everyone in my family can do that... it's nothing special at all." Fox stated, which was true enough. Heck it wasn't even restricted to just his family, as far as he knew everyone of his kind could do such a simple little trick. Of course the little Kitsune didn't want to just declare exactly what he was to these humans.