Following their night of terror in the swamps, Kumiho had refused to return back to the haunted place after dusk—which, admittedly, never seemed to go away anymore. The days never grew lighter than twilight, and the sun refused to show its face more than beyond the horizon. The nights lasted longer, had grown significantly colder, and the sky... by the gods, the sky! The stars that had looked like lasers now formed arcing bands of light in all directions. The moon grew larger and closer to the earth as if threatening to smash into it at a moment's notice. It felt like the end of days, and perhaps it truly was. Iho had never given any deep thought to how the end of the world would look, but now that he was living this nightmare, he figured this was a pretty terrifying way for it to go.

Though they hadn't gotten an audience with Kitsune's mother yet to see about bringing him into the pack, Iho had been spending his time quite literally on the border of Ashen territory, usually lingering around the Rio Grande. It was a damn sight better than the swamps right now! At least, that's what he told himself while he sat staring at the pods of weird glowing mushrooms that had sprung up all along the banks of the river. It wasn't a few isolated patched either—there had to be hundreds of the blue glowing fungi! A glance up at the sky could not confirm what time of day it was, only that it was, in fact, daylight. The twilight sky shrouded the land in deep shadows, but it was a far cry from the oppressive blackness that night had become. It also meant that perhaps the specters of the night wouldn't start showing up at all hours of the day. Iho approached a pod of the glowing mushrooms slowly, keeping his distance in case they were one of the kinds that liked to spew spores all over the place. If there was one thing he definitely didn't want going in his lungs, it was creepy supernatural glowing fungi spores!

"Speech"

Kitsune trotted out to meet Iho, not wishing to leave him on his own for long. Too many strange things were happening, and she was absolutely certain that they were better off together then apart. Someone had to watch Iho’s back, after all. She found him near the Ashen border, which was luckily. She wouldn’t have felt terribly brave if she had to go too far away from home.

She scrunched up her nose, which was becoming rather a common expression for her. Especially with all this weird, strange stuff going on. What was he examining? It was glowing so much she could get a good read on it until she crouched down beside him, bending forward to sniff at whatever he was too cautious to get too close to. “Are those… mushrooms?” she asked, baffled, and bounded forward to get a closer look.


"Speech"

While he was mid-inspection of the strange fungi, Kumiho heard the sound of approaching paws. They were much too soft and light to be a large wolf, so he assumed it must have been Kitsune, coming to check on him as she had done every day since their shared night terrors. He had purposely been keeping close to the Ashen border, partly so Kit wouldn't have to venture too far from home and get in trouble for sneaking out to see him (because he knew she was going to come see him anyway), and partly because it felt easier to protect her when he was close by. He found himself feeling a strange compulsion to safeguard the little princess, especially after the night in the swamp. Was it out of some sense of duty? Honor? A life debt? Or maybe because he just genuinely liked the near-yearling pup?

Iho was too enthralled with studying the mushrooms that he didn't see Kit until she was right up beside him, pushing much more boldly closer to them to take a sniff. Iho gasped and went to swat Kitsune's nose away from them. His strike wasn't intended to hurt, but it was aimed to get her to recoil away from the glowing mushrooms. For someone who claimed to be a healer, she was being pretty reckless with an organism that was known for producing spores, some toxic! "Don't get too close!" he said sharply, then softened his expression as the panic ebbed away. "I'm sorry, Kit. I didn't hurt you, did I? It's just... You really shouldn't be sniffing at strange mushrooms, especially not these ones."

Kumiho turned his attention back to the mushrooms, reaching forward to carefully cut one from the ground with a claw. He turned the glowing mushroom about in his paws, studying it from all angles. It didn't seem to be leaving any glowing residue behind when manipulated, so perhaps they weren't producing spores currently? "They just started showing up when the days stopped being day. I don't know what they are though. Have your healers taught you anything about mushrooms?" He turned icy blue eyes to his little fire fox. She was the more knowledgeable about botany out of the two of them.

"Speech"

They were so shiny, and were they glowing? That was cool. Way cooler than mist and freaky coyotes. She was so entranced, she didn’t see Iho move until it was too late. He smacked her soundly on the nose and she yelped in shock and surprise. Leaping almost directly upwards in a startled movement.

“Why I never!” she gasped, but Iho was already apologizing. She shook out her nose and made a face at him. Sticking out her tongue for good measure. “It’s just a mushroom” she said defensively, but he had been so startled and worried. She couldn’t stay mad at him for long. “No, I haven’t covered mushrooms yet. They look harmless enough, just a bit glowy” she pointed out, watching as he sliced free one of the mushrooms and examined it in his paw. He looked far too serious and worried. The both of them had been through a lot lately. Really, what they needed was a chance to blow off some steam. Have some fun.

With a giggle, she launched forward and snatched the mushroom of his paw with her teeth. “Snooze you loose!” she cried, racing away from him.

"Speech"

Kitsune told him that her lessons hadn't covered mushrooms yet, and while that left them at an intellectual disadvantage with the bizarre glowing fungi, it did explain away her lackadaisical nature around the strange shrooms. He had to remind himself that even though she was nearing her first birthday (Iho made a mental reminder to think about getting her a birthday present) she was still just a puppy. She didn't know the dangers of some plants and mushrooms. Although seeing her get so offended when he tried to stop her from doing stupid things was highly amusing! "Yeah, well, sometimes mushrooms are more than just mushrooms," he remarked, leaving out the details of a bad trip he'd had once while resting with a nomadic band during his travels.

He was studying the glowing blue mushroom, gazing intently at it, when one moment it was there, the next it was gone. Kitsune's giggle was the only clue that tipped him off what had happened. Wide, startled blue eyes shot up to the little fire fox girl, spotting the glowing mushroom clenched securely in her teeth. "Kitsune!" he called after her when she raced off. Muttering a curse under his breath, Kumiho scrambled to his paws and raced off after the girl. She was pretty swift and agile, but Iho had the advantage of size and stamina on his side.

"Kitsune, stop! Spit that out! You don't know what it does!" he shouted after her, paws crunching through the thin layer of snow on the ground. With Kit's dark fur, it was challenging to keep her in his line of sight in the dim twilight day, but he did his best. He couldn't let her swallow that mushroom! What if it poisoned her? What if it killed her?! He didn't know the first thing about hiding a body! "Kit! Get back here with that!"

"Speech"

Just like the kitsune she was named after afte,r the little fire-fox snatched the mushroom in a fit of mischief, and was off. Yelling after herself as she went “And sometimes Princesses are more than just Princesses!” She was having the time of her life, which was rather needed after the last few days. Spending a night cowering in a little den with ghosts shuffling outside hadn’t done wonders to her pride.

“You’ll have to catch me first!” she howled in triumph over her prize. Little awareness of how close Iho had gotten to her. As she cried out the words, her throat working hard, he knocked into her. She fell off her paws in surprise, choking suddenly, and then gulping past the blockage in her throat. Oh no! Oh no! The mushroom, it was gone! She’d eaten it!

"Speech"

Kumiho

As you turn and examine the mushroom from all angles, it begins to release tiny spores. The effect is hard to notice at first, but as you chase after your fleeing companion it feels distinctly like you are running upon a bed of razors. A small trail of blood is left upon the snow where your paws touched, and, is it... blue?

Kitsune

You swallowed the mushroom before you could even taste it! The fungus settles poorly in your stomach and not long after you've caught your breath does the cramping start. Maybe things would have turned out differently had you chewed it? You immediately get the runs, now's the time to find a good thick bush to go hide in!

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Kumiho winced as every step brought sharp stabs of pain inexplicably through his front paws. Had he stepped on something while chasing Kitsune? With all the snow everywhere, it was distinctly possible. "Kitsune!" he shouted out at her again, his usual temperate patience wearing thin while he tried to prevent the little girl from accidentally poisoning herself. No matter how much it stung his feet to run, Iho didn't stop, not until he'd caught up to Kit and reached for her. He mistimed his grapple though and only ended up bumping into the princess, sending her stumbling, and then falling. He skidded to a halt and rushed to grab the fire fox's jaws and pull the mushroom from her teeth, but when he went to do so, the mushroom was gone. Oh shit! Iho hurried to pry Kitsune's jaws open, but doing so revealed an empty maw with a few glowing spores across her tongue. Oh fuck oh fuck oh FUCK! She's swallowed it. Kitsune had eaten the mushroom!

Collapsing back onto his paws, Iho's mind began to race with panicked thoughts. Was she going to die now?! Would she suffer? Would he have to put her out of her misery? Would that be considered a crime or a mercy? Shit, then what? Bury the body? Push it in the river and hope it gets washed away? Just leave it and pretend he'd never heard of an Ashen princess in his life? Gods be damned, he'd make such a terrible criminal! And by the gods, why did his paws hurt so much?! Glancing down at his own feet in frustration, Iho noticed his paw pads were bleeding a little, just as if he had cut them on something sharp. Except the blood coming from his paws was a fluorescent blue, just as the mushroom had been. Panic began to rise in the young man once more. He needed to wash his paws immediately before he touched anything else.

"Kit, we need to get that mushroom out of you now!" he nearly shouted, realizing that if the spores did this to his feet, they could be doing it to the inside of Kitsune! As if hearing his thoughts, Kitsune's stomach began to make grotesque gurgles and groans as the mushroom inevitably arrived in her gut. A look of horror crossed over the arctic wolf's visage, eyeing the smaller girl with worry. "Uh, Kit...? You feeling okay...?"

"Speech"

Kitsune struggled to breath for a second as the mushroom lodged itself in her throat, and then it was down. She swallowed, and burped. Feeling… fearful. Then Iho was there, dragging his paws across her mouth. He looked so worried and panicked, but hah! Joke was him, she was obviously totally fine and he was just over reacting.

She got herself onto her butt with a groan, swiping at Iho’s paws to tell him to stop feeling up her mouth. That was when she noticed he had suddenly stopped and was staring at his paws - which were glowing blue?

She opened her mouth to say something, when her stomach made an ungodly grumble and groan deep inside of her. She paused, closing her mouth again, her eyes widening. Then , she felt it. The pressure in her bowels, accompanied by another terrible grumble, and sudden pain in her gut. No, no, no, no Horror written on every line that suddenly appeared on her young face, she looked at Iho. One short, horrified look, and the dams released. With a sound like a wailing banshee exploding out of her stomach, and a stench like a ten month old rotten fish corpse, a tidal wave of poop exploded out of her bum. Because she was resting on said tush, the sudden explosive force shoved her bouncing in the air once, and then down onto the poop with a squish.

The Princess was crying, great big gushing tears pouring out of her. “Go away, go away! I hate you! I never want to see you again!” she sobbed at Iho


"Kitsune"

It Continues for Kumiho...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...

It Continues for Kitsune...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...