Tick, tock, goes the clock...

[Haze]

Tick... tick... tick... tick...

"Tick, tock, goes the clock..." Her thin, chiming voice hovered in the still summer air, drifting upwards from the ground. Asahrai lay on her back gazing into the sky, watching as the clouds shifted shape in the sapphire sky. Her own blue eyes were pools of thought, trying to identify the shapes above her, and listening to the incessant ticking of the time piece in her hands.

Tick... tick... tick.. tick...

Asahrai sighed. "Time never changes, though, does it?" She lifted the time piece above her head, squinting slightly against the sun. It was true, the hands ticked, but never moved, perpetually stuck at ten minutes to twelve. She frowned in thought, and then hastily tucked the clock into a hidden pocket in her skirt. She sat up then, a hand brushing through the length of her hair, distangling strands of grass that had lodged in her hair.

Tick... tick... tick.. tick...

At that moment, she thought she heard footsteps, and looked around her. No ... it wasn't footsteps at all. It was paw prints. And standing just a few meters away was a huge snarling wolf. Black as night, and thin as a rake she could tell this creature was hungry. With a gasp of horror, she began scrambling back, eyes wide with terror. The rest of her voice left her. There was no point in screaming. No point in yelling. There was no one around. No one that she'd seen, and no one that was close enough to help her now. The wolf began encroaching slowly with a menacing stare in its hungry yellow eyes.

Tick... tick... tick.. tick...

[miss_sanguine]

Forests were always the best places to prey on unsuspecting people. For some reason humans leaned toward nervousness when in wooded areas, as if the trees would jump out at them if they weren't careful, or ravenous beasts would appear and try to eat them. Silly things like that. But it made for great opportunities.

Like now. A human girl lay beyond the trees, staring up at the clouds and talking to herself. She radiated calmness despite being alone. Something he needed to change.

If humans feared ravenous animals, then a ravenous animal he would become.

Changing from his coyote shape to that of a starving wolf was easy. It took mere seconds before he was pacing toward the girl, preparing his most vicious growl. When she turned and saw him, he let it loose, adding some snaps of his jaw and bits of drool.

The look on her face was priceless. It was all he could do to not fall over laughing. He had to keep up appearances, and right now his appearance was that of a terrifying, voracious wolf.

He stepped forward, snarling, then ran toward her in a full-out sprint.

[Haze]

It was just going from bad to worse. As she watched, Asahrai wanted to cry. She'd never actually had this happen to her, in all her years walking the earth. Animal's loved her, and she loved them. Mostly. At least, not she she'd been without protection. She carried no weapon, so couldn't stab at it. All she had was her time piece.

"B-bad d-d-doggy!" Her voice trembled and squeaked as she closed her eyes and put her hands out in front of her. "Sit! Stay! NO! Help!" Gathering all her strength she flung the time piece towards the wolf, hoping that her aim would be good enough to smack it squarely on the nose. What was she thinking!? She could move the damned thing! With her hands outstretched she summoned all her strength. Feeling it bubble up into her, she flicked her wrist, and sent a wave of motion over to the wolf, trying to push him over with all her might, or at least stop him from coming any further.

She hoped to goodness that it would work - it had been a very long time since she'd used her magic, and it felt rusty even now.

[miss_sanguine]

Her cries were jovial music to his ears. As usual for a human, she spoke to him, as if a frenzied beast would understand anything she said, let alone give in to her pleas to halt.

Full speed he ran, wind coursing through his ragged fur. His eyes shone with a life that a starving wolf should not have. The plan involved stopping just short of her--humans may have been weak things, but one never knew if they had a concealed weapon. No need to end up dead over a prank. What he hadn't anticipated was for something hard to smack him right in the nose, something she'd thrown at him.

It smarted! He gave a light yelp, his paws fumbling. Then some even stronger force, something that caught him completely unawares, flipped him right over.

He rolled several several inches, stopping on his back with his paws straight in the air. Blinking, he stared up at the blue sky, the clouds moving slowly past.

"Ha!" The shock now over, he started to laugh. "A mage! Who knew?"

Flipping over onto his stomach, he let his tongue loll out of his smiling maw, panting from the energy used in the run. "That was a splendid turn of events, woman." Now he was a well-fed fox, black-tipped ears pointed toward the mortal in avid curiosity. "What kind of magic is that, I wonder? Metaphysical?"

He rolled onto his back once more, smiling as only a red fox could. "Or maybe telekinetic? You've dropped something, by the way." One paw, arched playfully in the air, jerked toward the ground where the watch lay. "It hurt, you know."

[Haze]

It worked! She almost clapped with glee, a bright spark lighting in her eyes. She watched as the wolf tumbled through the air, and rolled around on the ground. She was about to turn and run when it talked.

It. Just. Spoke.

He mouth formed a neat 'o', and her eyes widened. A little squeak escaped from her, in response, and her expression only increased into an incredulously deadpan stare at the wolf-turned-fox. She took a small step forward, her young face more surprised than her years should have let on. Still, it wasn't every day she met a shifter like this. If that's what he was. And she could tell it was a he from his voice alone.

"I ... I don't know what kind of magic it is," she said softly, her childlike voice unsure. He was a fidgety little thing though, he couldn't sit still! As he rolled onto his back once more, she followed the arc of his paw to her time piece laying the in ground. Picking up the skirts around her ankles, she ran to where the thing lay, and crouched to pick it up. It was covered with dirt, and had a little scratch, but other than that it was fine. She wiped it on her dress, and then slipped it into her hidden pocket once more.

"I'm glad it hurt!" She retorted finally, hands on her fledgling hips, "that was very mean!"

[miss_sanguine]

Reactions from humans might differ by some degree, but a catalog of them sat on a bookshelf in his mind for whatever situation. Her reaction--the opened mouth, the blank stare--fell under the category of "shock, speechlessness." A typical reaction from a human female that threw small objects at killers. As typical as it was, it still amused him.

"Pity. What kind of mage doesn't know her own powers, yet uses them so carelessly?" His bushy tail waved behind him as she approached to pick up the watch she'd thrown at him. He followed her with his golden gaze.

Her next action startled him a little, though in a good way, and he rolled back onto his stomach, yipping merrily with laughter. "But it was fun!" he said, as if this settled matters. Humans could be so sensitive sometimes.

[Haze]

Asahrai eyed him for a moment, and then shrugged. He had just been playing a trick, mean as it was, she supposed she'd come to no harm. Flipping her fringe from her wide eyes, she plopped herself down beside the fox, and peered at him curiously, even whike she let a smal giggle escape her.

"It isn't that I don't know my powers... I do... I just... They never really made sense to me, and I don't like to use them. I've found people tend to be wary around you when they know you can do... Certain things" She spoke quickly, like a child would, but her words were filled with an age old wisdom.

Pursing her lips, she outstretched her hand. "My name is Asahrai. Who are you? Or shall I just call you! Cute Little Fox Man?"

[miss_sanguine]

"Mm. Depends on the people," he said with a nod. Her words came out fast, almost hard to catch, but once he caught on to what she was saying, it was easy to follow along. Many of his past links had had problems with prejudice. It wasn't uncommon. Humans tended to be like a pack of wolves, group-think their way of life. Once an idea became popular, everyone had to follow it or suffer the consequences of scorn and persecution. If magic was considered uncouth, then you were hunted for it.

Silly things, humans.

He stared at her hand when she presented it to him, then looked back into her eyes. With a loud snuffing sound, as if he'd sneezed, he said, "Bah! Cute little fox man? No, no. Terrible. My name is Iktomi."

[Haze]

"It's not terrible!" She laughed, pouting at him in mock hurt. "I like Cute Little Fox Man better," Asahrai grinned, and her hand wandered over to pet him on the head. Old as the ages, and still as childlike as ever.

"Do you like playing tricks then, Iktomi? Because, I think next time, you should't come and scare little girls lying in the grass. I could have... Oh, well... I could have really hurt you, you know!?" She leaned forward a little more, seeming to forget this fox had just been a big wolf who'd wanted to eat her. Now he was just cute and sly and ... foxy. Without another word, she scooped him up and pulled him close like a toddler would to a poor bedraggled cat.

"And what are you doing out here anyway? Besides scaring poor defenceless girls?"

[miss_sanguine]

"No, no." He shook his head. "Terrible. Undignified." Not that most of what he did was ever dignified, but no self-respecting human or animal would ever take him seriously when he wanted to be taken seriously if his name was Cute Little Fox Man. "Besides," he added, turning his eyes back on her. "I'm not a man, nor am I really a fox."

When her hand suddenly lay on his head, petting him, he went stony-faced. Was she really doing this? To a shape-shifting creature that had leapt at her as a snarling animal not more than five minutes ago? Did he look like a dog to be handled?

But then her question distracted him. "What? Hurt me? Na." He went back to smiling. "I evaluate my 'prey' before attacking. You," and here he nudged her outstretched arm with his muzzle, "were not a threat. Besides, I was going to stop two or three feet away from--wha--what are you doing?" Without warning she lifted him from the ground and pulled him to her. He struggled at first, thinking this some kind of attack, until he realized, with shocked horror, that she was hugging him.

Completely deadpan, he sat there in her grasp, limp. He couldn't believe it. She was treating him like some sort of tamed puppy.

"Well I was," he started to wiggle around, "making sport with the local wildlife until you came along." She was lucky he didn't turn himself into a porcupine! "Couldn't throw off the chance to practice some high jinks with a lone human."

When he finally managed to pull away, he skittered aside, turning into a coyote as he did so and staring at her with his brown eyes. "I am Iktomi, spirit of mischief. Shenanigans are my specialty."

[Haze]

She giggled at his squirming, and continued petting him absently, eyes turning up towards the sky, and the clouds she had been watching. "Making sport? You mean eating? Or just playing games?"

Asahrai pouted as he wiggled away from her, but the expression didn't last for long. As he shifted form, her eyes once again took on a childlike wonder. "Oooh... a spirit?... Like... here but not here? How long have you walked for? I'm surprised we haven't met before. Were you here when Fell turned to Chaos? I've always wanted to know what that was like. I missed out on seeing it though." As she waffled on, her hand reached into her pocket to pull out the watch.

She flicked it open, staring down at the unmoving hands. "Hmm... still ticking. I guess we didn't break it then." She pursed her lips, and met Iktomi's gaze for a moment.

"So, Mister Iktomi-nasty-wolf-cute-fox-coyote-Spirit. What are your plans for the rest of eternity?"

[miss_sanguine]

Iktomi's head cocked with confusion further and further the more the human spoke until it could no longer and he found himself tumbling to his side. When he got back to his paws, he blinked at her. My, what a talkative human she was. Jumping from one thing to the next without care for an answer. And her questions confused him. Did this mean she was older than she appeared to be?

"I am a spirit," he repeated simply, leaving it at that. "I am, was, and will be. My existence is eternal. And as for the Fell," here he pawed at his nose as if it itched, "I was around. But I wasn't here. I was on the other side of the world." This conversation had grown boring. "What's the timepiece for?" he finally asked, ignoring her other question, eyes gleaming as he watched the object in her hands.

[Haze]

Asahrai giggled at him rolling over, still completely unable to see him as anything but cute now that he wasn't trying to eat her. She noticed how he skipped her question, and eyed him for a moment, eyes betraying the age-old maturity she truly held for a mere second.

"The timepiece is for keeping time, silly!" She laughed, holding it out to him, "but it's broken. Well, I don't know if it is really broken or not, it's been stuck here, at ten to twelve, for nearly a decade." She shrugged lightly

"I've tried everything I can to fix it, but it just doesn't want to be fixed."

[miss_sanguine]

Time. A mortal thing he would never understand. With their short lifespans, it was a wonder humans wanted to keep track of the passing seasons, as if they enjoyed watching their lives pass before their eyes instead of enjoying it the best they could.

When the object was shoved in front of him, he sniffed it lightly, then looked back at the girl. "If it's broken and refuses to be fixed, why keep it?" he asked.

[Haze]

Asahrai sighed at his question, and snapped the thing shut before shoving it deep into her pocket again. "I've tried getting rid of it before," she said, not minding to tell him, since he called himself a spirit, and quite clearly was old enough to appreciate what she was about to tell him. "I left it in La'marri about, I don't know..." her hand waved in the air indecisively "... about twenty years ago? It found me again, within five years. It's like... it's bound to me.

"The hands haven't changed though. But it still ticks." She gave a littler shudder. Like it's reminding me that I'll never move forward. I wish I could just break this already. Her eyes turned troubled as she thought, her gaze reverting down to her hands, her small fingers, tiny wrists. "You never answered my question though, Iktomi. What are you doing for a while? It's been some time since I've had a companion. We could have fun together," she tilted her head as she looked up with her innocent question.

"Do you think we could travel together a while?"

[miss_sanguine]

Curious. A seemingly magical object, bound to this immortal like an eternal companion. A companion she apparently loathed. Though it was inanimate, Iktomi felt stirrings of pity for it. He bound himself to mortals with or without their consent when he found them the perfect match, but none of his countless bonds had tried to shove him away once the attachment had been made.

He didn't know much about mechanical items, his last link-mate having died well over a hundred years ago before such things had been invented, so the watch did not catch his interest all that well, only his pity.

"I didn't answer your question because I didn't find it relevant," he said. "I don't know what I'll be doing. I just go about doing. Whatever I fancy."

The question to travel caught him off guard. No one had ever asked him this before, and he didn't know how to feel. He'd only just met this human. "And I . . . don't know. Why should we travel together? Simply because you're lonely?"

[Haze]

"What better reason to travel?" She inquired innocently, "loneliness isn't a particularly nice feeling, and its been quite some time since I've had company." Again, her words were slipping from its childlike curiosity. "You should know that, Iktomi. How many years have you wandered now without a companion?"

She flickered an eyebrow up at him, and continued on in her musings. "Quite some time for you too, I think. What's the harm, in any case? I'm not the kind to go about hurting people, so I wouldn't hurt you. So long as you behave, and don't try to scare me again."

[miss_sanguine]

It took more than mantic musings to surprise Iktomi. He listened patiently as she continued to speak, feeling only a slight tug of cheerlessness at the back of his mind at the mention of being alone.

"Not so long," he said with a proud jerk of his chin. "Only some twenty-five human years. Albeit it's not pleasant to go more than ten, but I've gone longer. And your threat, Asarai, doesn't hold water." Was that phrase even used anymore?

His maw opened into a panting smile as he continued to look at her. "Hard to be intimidated by one that moments ago screamed for mercy at a rabid wolf." He thumped his tail against the ground where he sat.

Traveling with someone he didn't know well wasn't something Iktomi made a habit of doing. He was too spontaneous, being unbound to a human link, unable to sit still for too long. A human, or whatever this girl was, would be unable to keep up with him.

To show he was not at all intimidated, he flopped down onto his side and started to wiggle around on the grass, stretching his front limbs in front of him as far as he could, raking his claws into the moist soil. "I can't imagine you make many friends with your cryptic ways of looking into their souls," he said coolly.

[Haze]

Asahrai's usually carefree and happy expression darkened as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't look into people's souls," she replied in an equally cold tone, "I merely take the opportunity to observe in a way that most don't expect because of how I look.

"And I can't imagine you make many friends with your nasty way of introducing yourself. Trickster, indeed." She sniffed, and turned her body away from him. I just want someone to walk with. Someone to take my mind off the fact that I've been so alone. With a little shrug of her shoulders she turned back.

"Fine, you don't have to travel with me. I thought it might be something nice, if you had nothing to do. But since you're opposed to the idea, I'll just... go." With that, she picked herself gracefully from the ground, and stood over him a moment. "It was nice meeting you, Iktomi. I hope you find the partner you've been looking for."

[miss_sanguine]

Iktomi didn't quite know what she meant by her first statement. How would a way for a person to observe be different or unexpected depending on how he or she looked? Unless she meant her looking like a human, in which case he supposed she could observe others without using her eyes—oh bother. Too much thinking on something he didn't care about.

He looked to her from his spot on the grass, eyes looking upward from his position to get a good focus. "My dear human. My charging at you was not my introduction. That was my game. I thought my introduction given with a large amount of dignity, considering you were at first inclined to call me 'Cute Little Fox M—what?" His spirits sank when she got to her feet. "Leave?" He jumped to his paws in an instant, ears back a little. "You don't have to leave. We've only just begun to talk."