a tale of two vixens [kyuubi]

[Anonymous]

Selene couldn't help it; she was concerned. Even with a personality that weighed heavily toward the selfish side, the situation with this woman was more dire than she'd come across in a very long time.

She looked into Amber's golden eyes silently, trying simply to understand what was being said to her. She offered no reply, no comfort, but only listened. To be plagued by a dark entity, one's own sibling, without respite... The lowly kitsune couldn't fathom that and wasn't going to try to.

She lowered her gaze when the other vixen apologized for being pessimistic, and she snorted. "I can understand that. I'm rather cynical myself, and I'm not going through shit as bad as yours." Her language grew harsher as she looked around. The ground had been trampled slightly by the combatant's movements, and some twigs had been cut, now scattered around the forest floor. "At least, not by anything supernatural..."

Just hunger and illness and predators. Same-old, same-old. She didn't bother mentioning it; the pity fight they had earlier had been stupid, especially juxtaposed with the serious battle that had briefly gone on here.

"I'm sorry for not assisting you," Selene said. Her expression had contorted slightly with reluctance even if she knew it needed to be brought up. Rarely did she apologize, simply because she didn't want to admit her cowardice.

"You'll ... beat her ... eventually."

The encouragement did not come easily, mostly because she knew how false it was. She mirrored the sad, fake grin the other wore and shrugged. "I'm going to try to catch something to eat. That's something almost in my control." She shifted shape and turned her back on the other so that she didn't have to see that tired smile.

[Anonymous]

Amber nodded silently. She stared back at Selene for a while, and then turned her eyes away. Her tired smile dissapeared, replaced with what she was really feeling for a moment. She felt a sort of connection to this woman even though they had just met. They were both similar in a way, but different in another. That stubbornness reminded her of herself in a way. Just shove the world away and put the complaints in the garbage. She looked off into the bushes for a moment, then dissapeared into them.

A few minutes later, she came back with a rabbit. She found Selene and lay the rabbit next to her, backing away and guesturing to it. "..if you wish to eat..." She looked away. "By giving you this, I don't mean I think you're weak, it's just that...you look very hungry." She sat against the tree, looking into the trees as if there was going to be something coming again. But, there was nothing there.

[Anonymous]

Selene chanced a look over her shoulder, but Amber had disappeared into the foliage. She sighed and licked down some of her fluffed-up fur. As she groomed, she strained her ears for the sound of footsteps and kept an eye open. Any sense of security had left her, thanks to the stranger that had come to visit. She needed to be more cautious about those she talked to in the future.

Especially if they start explaining that their evil sister follows them everywhere.

The vixen snorted and rasped her tongue furiously along her tail. She froze, tongue still sticking out in a rather comical expression, when a freshly-killed rabbit was set beside her. Her eyes curiously followed Amber as she took a seat against a tree, then looked to the prey. "Thank you," she growled passionately. "Damn straight I'm hungry." She proceeded to pounce on the dead animal, tearing into it. She had been famished, and it was only right she was fed after her life had been endangered by this idiot.

"So what do you plan on doing now?" When she was finished, she changed into her human shape and wiped her mouth with the back of her head. "Were you headed anywhere specific?"

[Anonymous]

Amber nodded. She watched Selene eat, and shrugged at the question. "I'm not headed anywhere in particular." She looked off into the distance again, eyes seeming to fixed on everything at once like a hawk. "My mother, when I was little, used to tell me of a land where all was peaceful...and after she told the story, she always said, 'Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.'" She almost seemed to be talking to herself. "Everyone wants the best of the best, but few, if anyone, seems to be willing to pay the price to get it." She narrowed her eyes a little. "I seemed to have paid all the prices, but cheated into paying everything I have and getting nothing in return." She muttered, "Like the rest of my cursed family" And threw a stick into the bushes.

[Anonymous]

Selene sat and listened as Amber explained a parable her mother had told her. She smirked slightly in understanding. Personally, she knew she took the lazy way out, but she didn't expect any heaven, either. Bringing this up would probably worsen the situation, though, so she kept her trap shut for once.

"You'll get what you deserve eventually," Selene assured her acquaintance. "No one's life can be full of shadows without any light. That's what my mother told me. What you do have to watch out for, however, is living an easy and happy life. You can't have light without shadows, and you'll get trouble in the future."

She flinched when the stick was thrown but managed a small chuckle. It was a sarcastic one, not directed at Amber, though it might be seen as rude. "Yeah, they got what they deserved living an easy life in a swamp. Eventually that came back to bite them—literally, I guess. I wasn't there—I'd snuck out—but when I came back there wasn't much question what had happened to them. So I didn't bother to ask the fat, sleeping alligators." Her voice was oddly cheery; she'd grieved long enough to have gotten over it. "What happened to yours? Did that have something to do with your sister, too?"

[Anonymous]

Amber nodded. "Ah, my sister killed them all exept for my immediate family. You see, we had a big house and everyone was over. My mother ran off when I was little, my dad...well, he prepared us for the world, whether it was a good method of teaching or not however..." She shrugged. "I have a brother. He's adopted, though." She looked at Selene, her eyes different than before. Now they were back to their normal, strong, and a bit cautious. She said, "My family is...well, was, very....war-like you could say. I was the best fighter of everyone there on my level. My sister was not aknowledged, as she wasn't considered my sister....she was considered some other child that didn't belong." Amber lay down on the grass, scanning the sky. "Funny, even when I had a house and a family, I still got beaten and scolded."

[Anonymous]

Selene scooted so that she could lean her back against a trunk as well. The leaves cast a cool shadow on her face, and she half-closed her eyes. The thought of either non-present or abusive parents wasn't one she could exactly sympathize with; her own parents had been extremely caring, maybe rough around the edges to a stranger's point of view, but never overly harsh. She blinked at the mention of siblings but sat through the rest of the tale.

"Warlike? No kidding." She gestured to the woman's sword and then folded her arms carelessly behind her head, leaning against the tree. "Did your sister want revenge, then, because she was treated as an outcast?"

She bit her lip and asked the question that she'd wanted to. "What was your brother like? Older or younger? Did he fit in, even as an adopted child?"

[Anonymous]

Amber smiled a little as she guestured to her sword. It was her only friend in a way. It kept her alive, but she wasn't oddly dependant on it like her sister. She shrugged again. "Perhaps. That might have been the reason, but I don't know." She wished she knew what Shadow's motive was, but it was unclear. She might have been able to stop her if it was clear so that she would be able to resolve this problem. She looked thoughtful at the mention of her brother. "I never got to know him very well, but he was quiet. He was older than me, but I don't know his age. He was nice to me when things got rough, because I was the one who found him. He fit in pretty well. He was strong."

[Anonymous]

Selene sighed slightly. "I've known people to do stupid things when they felt that they were wronged. I've wronged a lot of people in my life. Luckily, I'm gone as fast as I've come." She didn't have any regrets, either. It wasn't like she'd killed someone or cast them out, just stole food here and there. Nothing to warrant them swinging their swords after her, screaming, "You damn, thieving fox!" until she shifted shape for dramatic effect and extra speed.

"My only sibling was a brother," Selene said, dwelling on the good things instead. It seemed that this red vixen's brother, though adopted, seemed to be one of the best people in her life, a light in the darkness. "His name was Twig. He got the short end of the stick when it came to names—no pun intended. He looked and acted like one, so it fit." She smiled softly, her expression more gentle than it had been before in the present company. "Well, a lively twig. He was ... slightly mentally challenged, I guess. He stayed in fox form a lot so no one could really tell since he acted like a kit. But I loved him so much."

[Anonymous]

Amber smiled a little. "Ah, he sounded like a nice person to have as a brother, even though he had a little flaws, as everyone has flaws. I wish I would have been able to meet him." She frowned a little then, looking to be in thought again. "I happen to be the only one in my family that has the appearence of a fox; my sister does not, my brother does not. I am not sure why my sister has the abilities she does....perhaps it's because she made some bad desisions and made deals with some people she probabaly shouldn't have." She drew something in the ground as she spoke. "By the way, I feel bad for getting you into a bad situation....is there anything I can do?"

[Anonymous]

Selene grinned warmly as she thought of Twig and nodded. "He was very sweet. I'm sure he would have loved meeting you as well."

There wasn't much grief in her voice, just love. Even after her family had been killed, she found herself concentrating on the good rather than the bad. They had shaped her in her early life, and while she wasn't a law-abiding citizen, she hadn't turned manic or feral. She was thankful for the chances that she had been given as a child. It was about the only thing she was content with in her life, really.

Amber frowned as she mentioned she was the only vulpine in her family. It followed that her brother, being adopted, would not have had the traits. However, the fact that her sister was different was puzzling as well. "So her inner darkness manifested as her powers?" She shrugged.

The redhead asked if she could make it up to Selene for the battle that had taken place, and the vixen perked up immediately. Humble heroes would have declined, but greed flashed in her olive eyes. "Well, maybe I could travel with you for a while, until I get to a city." She mentioned nothing else, though inwardly she knew that implied free food and protection, as well.

[Anonymous]

Amber nodded. "That's fine." She began to walk off into the forest. She grumbled something under her breath. It wasn't directed at Selene, but sounded frustrated about something. She looked over her shoulder at Selene. She said, "I'd think that you would want to get the hell away from me after the fact of my sister coming after me all the time. I wouldn't call you the brave or fighter type, judging by the fact that a woman with a sword scared you shitless, so I'm not sure why you'd like to follow me. But sure, you just jump into my world of madness." She looked ahead, shoving some small branches aside so she could pass, and said, "That means you're either crazy or are honestly misunderstanding what my day-to-day life is like." She briefly put her hand on Selene's shoulder and said, "Well, welcome to hell, my friend."

[Anonymous]

Amber's reaction was nothing like she had predicted.

Well, she had predicted one of three things at first: outright denial, a grudging acceptance, or a gullible agreement. However, what seemed to be the last of the three took an eerie turn. She had begun to follow the woman until Amber glanced at her and spoke frightening words.

Selene bared her teeth when she was accused of having been scared, even though she'd had no idea what was going on at that point and had been a tad nervous. Her catlike pupils narrowed when Amber continued the rest of her warning, nonchalantly pushing the foliage aside so that they could make their way through the vegetation.

The kitsune flinched away when the red-haired woman put her hand on her, uttering a soft growl. "Whatever. You can obviously handle yourself, and if things get tough, I'll run away. I'm fast as hell. I can run faster than you could scream." She scowled and marched alongside her, refusing to meet her golden eyes. "Until then, you're protection from the other Big Bads of the woods. I know what I'm doing, honey."

[Anonymous]

Amber chuckled bitterly at the last words of her sentence. She knows what she's doing? Perhaps because she was still living that proved something, but running was not something that was done by her. She wondered how this other woman could feel anything close to self-respect when all she did was run away with her tail between her legs. She smirked a little. "You know, no matter how fast you are, you can't outrun your sorrow, you can't outrun your problems, you can't outrun the world, but all three can catch up to you in the blink of an eye. And when they do, they will tear you apart from the inside out without mercy,....believe me..." Her smirk had faded as she spoke. "You know, that's what my sister tried to do...she tried to run away, and the only thing inside her is a void. She's been turned into an empty shell." Amber, in a way, hoped that this woman understood what she was saying, hoping that Selene wouldn't be taken down and drowned in what she had been running from. She looked straight foreward where she was walking. "I just haven't been running. I wonder what will happen to me."

[Anonymous]

The fox shadow walked stiff-legged, ears flattened, tail sticking up in bristles along the spine and bushy tail.

Selene didn't like being laughed at. Usually she could poke fun in return or act civil, but right now she could only trudge along through the woods and sulk. She glanced sharply at Amber when she spoke up again and then frowned when the woman told her she couldn't run from her problems. "Trust me; I can," she muttered softly, near inaudibly, before lifting her head at the mention of the woman's sister and her own musing.

"The way most people see it, there're two options to any conflict: fight or flight. You either stand and face something you might not be able to beat, or you turn tail. Not even the swiftest fox can run forever ... but we sure as hell can try. I'll face what I can and run from what I can't, and I know I can't help you face your own sister and your problems. It's simply not my business."

She smiled, exposing oddly sharp teeth in a silent sneer before discarding human shape and scurrying just ahead. She curled her white-tipped tail and flashed a look over a silver shoulder. "Lecture me all ya like; call me a coward. Right now, I don't give a damn." She flattened her large ears against her slender skull as she yawned loudly. "I want someone to protect me from bears, and eventually food and shelter. Nothing else matters."

[Anonymous]

Amber sighed. "Well, as I said, you've picked the worst possible person to travel with. Good job." She suddenly changed direction, taking a sharp turn but making it obvious so she wouldn't leave Selene behind. She looked around herself, briefly searching the surroundings, and continued. "You know, you remind me of someone I used to know." She frowned. "How do you live with yourself, woman? What honor is there in your life? Is just surviving in an average manner really enough-" She covered her face with her hands, inhaling sharply, then exhaling slowly. "Okay. No point in trying to drill any sense into your thick skull. Should've just let my sister beat some sense into you." She turned the oppisite way, walking off. "I don't really think you deserve to have said protection from me...After all, you seem to be getting along fine by yourself."

[Anonymous]

The small silver fox blinked when Amber went a different way than expected and scampered after her, ears back and tail straight out for balance. She shut off most of her usually hyper-alert senses, allowing her muscles to relax. It really took the edge off, not needing to keep on her toes and constantly look around for the large shadows of other predators. She reacted numbly to the shifts and pauses in the other woman's movements, occasionally sniffing the air or pricking her ears as well.

Amber demanded to know how she could live with herself. The question came unexpectedly, and Selene stared at her reluctant traveling companion in shock. Evidently, the other vixen was passionate about the subject, because she needed a moment to compose herself before labeling the kitsune a lost cause.

"Now, wait a minute," Selene snapped. She rushed alongside Amber and morphed, standing in her way with arms thrown out. It didn't make her much more formidable, but it was something. Her eyes narrowed. "You might as well be asking a standard civilian that; they live their day to day lives, with small and useless destinies, staying at home and raising a generation, looped over and over again. You might as well ask what the point in life is. You've yet to tell me yours. Me? Surviving is all I'm able to do right now."

She lowered her arms with a violent shrug, her expression challenging. "Suggest something to me. Should I fight and therefore die in an extraordinary way, and that would make me less pathetic?"

Selene folded her arms and tilted her head to the side. "And if you want me to leave, all you have to do is ask. Don't mock me."

[Anonymous]

Amber's eyes narrowed back at her companion. She stayed silent for a moment, studying Selene. She said, quietly, "I'm not mocking you. I'm just stating the truth as I see it." She stared into Selene's eyes, no anger there. She had a problem with getting truly angry at anyone except those who had wronged her very badly. She turned around, walking on the path they were on before. "I never said a death had to be extraordinary....as long as one's life is lived and what is dreamed is accomplished, the end that suits said person will come swiftly as it does with all. I just figure I'll have an extraordinary death because that would fit my life, I guess." She looked over her shoulder at Selene. "And, you might as well stay. I'm just amazed that you would go through putting up with me just for food and protection."

[Anonymous]

Selene was beginning to rethink traveling with this haughty warrior, but her stubborn pride would never allow her to admit it. She'd tolerate the other vixen's accusations and win the argument while they were at it. Her fox-like eyes remained squinted even when Amber began walking again.

I do not need support from lies such as honor to live, the kitsune reassured herself, combing her fingers through her silvery hair once. I'll find my purpose if I find it, and if I don't have a purpose, well ... I'm making the most out of what I can accomplish.

She spoke somewhat softly in response to Amber's musing, most of the fire leaving her, though her words remained firm despite their low volume. "What if you don't dream?"

She twirled some of her hair around a finger and looked at the ground as they walked. Her words were metaphorical, but it was true. She didn't dream about a great future. She wanted to live long enough to see the sights and live a nice life, with comfort and fun and ease. It didn't seem like anything was being accomplished with a life like that, which was the reason behind her earlier anger. She was tired of high and mighty soldiers declaring that they were serving the greater good when she, a lowly fox, could only reply that she was fighting to suit her own needs.

Selene met the golden eyes with a smirk. "Don't be amazed. If I refused your company now, it would be admitting defeat. I think neither of us wants to lose."

[Anonymous]

Amber smirked, her eyes having a new spark to them. She said, "You do have a point. Anyway, it's getting rather late. We should find a place to camp for now." She continued on for a little longer in silence, shoving away plants. She found a small clearing. Then, she got a small pile of sticks, placing them down in the center of a circle of rocks, and snapped. A spark coming from seemingly nowhere ignited the sticks, and there was a fire. She leaned back against a tree, sitting down, calmly looking at the flames. "So, is this good enough?"