Kitsune was a very unhappy girl. From the strange happenings under the full moon, her fright with the creature in the dark… and the mushrooms. She had meant only to lighten the mood, to tease her friend. What had come of it had been one of the most terrible things to happen in her entire life. Rivaled only by that poor dying wolf she had once cradled in her arms.

The mushrooms had acted quickly, and tragically, inside of her. Iho had heard, seen, and smelt the whole of it. She was horrified, and might have fled from his life forever had it not been for the gentle acts of kindness he had shown her. Despite her distress, he had been patient and understanding. It still didn’t make facing him any easier, she was horrified she would see it in face - the knowledge of what he had witnessed.

On top of everything else that had been happening in her life, Kitsune would wake and find mushrooms growing from healing cuts on her arms, and a weight in her ears. Scratching at her ear would find bits of mushroom falling loose. Horrified, and panicked, Kitsune jumped from her bed and ran from the den, to the ocean. Looking down and seeing for herself in the reflective water. Despite her weariness in seeing Iho, the first name on her lips at seeing herself was his.

She turned from the water, racing across the pack territory to where she knew she would find him. “Iho, Iho!” she said with great distress. Why oh why did she swallow that mushroom?

"Kitsune"

Kumiho had kept to himself mostly in the time that had followed what he was affectionately referring to as "The Mushroom Incident" with Kitsune. He partially blamed himself for not being able to stop the wily pup from snatching and eating a mushroom from him, but he also was living in a constant state of fear that any day now he'd find Kitsune's hulking father barreling after him in a bloodlust for having killed his daughter. He had no idea what the effect of those mushrooms was, though if the initial instantaneous effect was any indication, Kitsune was probably a dead wolf walking. After she'd finished spewing her guts out via her rear, Iho helped her to clean up with a little bit of fuss from the princess, all while waiting to see if she'd spontaneously drop dead and leave him to have to do something with the corpse. She hadn't died then and there, thankfully—but what if it was a slow poison?

And so Iho had continued his work on his raft, working diligently in his solitude in case he needed to beat a hasty retreat at a moment's notice. The world was constantly shifting, growing darker and more glowy. He heard the screams of agony from wolves all over Boreas, and he'd seen how the animals of the world—predator and prey alike—had begun to morph and ooze strange glowing fluids. Nope. Kumiho wanted nothing to do with this anymore. He didn't know if the whole world was like this, but Boreas definitely wasn't safe anymore, and he did not plan to die choking to death on bioluminescent bodily fluids alone in some swamp.

Iho was in the middle of tying together some thicker logs with strong vine to form a base for his raft when he heard a familiar voice yelling his name. He dropped the vine from his jaws and peered up through the dim morning to spot the tiny fire fox sprinting her way towards him. His brow narrowed in concern. He hadn't seen her since she'd eaten that mushroom several days ago. What was she doing out here now? "Kitsune?" he called out and trotted over to meet her. As he drew nearer though, his concerned expression fell away to shock and horror when he saw what was going on with the yearling's body. "Kitsune, by the gods!" He skidded to a stop, unsure of if he should get too close to her. What if the infection was contagious? "W-What happened to you?! Are you all right?!" Dumb question, of course she wasn't, but he couldn't think of anything else to say in his state of stupor.

"Kumiho"

To her astonishment, Iho stopped before he reached her - was he that horrified by what he saw? - her own steps stilled, uncertain. The horror in his voice made her feel very, very small. She ducked her head, looking at the ground. She hadn’t thought of how it would feel to have him see her like this. She had only known that she was frightened, and she wanted her friend. “Oh… Iho. It’s horrible.” she whispered.

She looked at the ground a moment longer, and then cast a shy glance cautiously up at him. Giving her just enough time for her eyes to skip across his face. He was whole, and unblemished. Beautiful.


"Kitsune"

The hurt and nervousness that crossed Kitsune's face when he'd come to a startled halt hit Kumiho harder than he thought it would. Those sweet blue eyes looked so sad and scared and broken. And now he was denying her the comfort she was looking for? Oh yeah, way to go, Iho, you jerk... Despite the obvious dread on his face from seeing Kit's condition, Iho swallowed back his apprehension and allowed himself to close the gap between them. Kitsune needed someone. She needed him. His eyes shifted from hers to the glowing mushrooms sprouting across her body, then back again, repeating the cycle until he'd come up to the smaller girl. He didn't know what to do. How the hell was he supposed to fix this?!

"...Do they hurt?" he asked after a moment, wondering if the princess was in any sort of pain and suffering. He didn't dare try to touch them out of fear of hurting her. He did, however, lift a larger paw to place it around on her back where there weren't any of the strange glowing fungi, hoping to bring her some comfort with a few gentle strokes. "When did you find this out? Do your parents know? Have you seen a healer yet?" So many questions... too many uncertainties for him to answer. Iho was no healer, and Kit needed someone with actual medical expertise to help her out. Right now he was about as useless as tits on a bull.

"Kumiho"

Her bottom lipped didn’t quiver, that was definitely the wind rustling against her coat, and nothing more. Iho’s rejection didn’t mean anything, he was just horrid and surprised, like she was. She didn’t want to look at her own reflection, so she could hardly be upset that he didn’t want to see it.

She was looking down again when she heard the rustle of the grass moving beneath his paws, and when she looked up he was moving towards her. She sniffled, and leaned into his chest when he reached her. His paw ran soothingly across her back. “It feels itchy and strange, I don’t like it. I feel a need to clear them out, but pulling on them hurts. My chest feels heavy” she confessed. “I just woke up, and I wanted you.”


"Kitsune"

So Kitsune had only just discovered this change in herself... It almost broke Kumiho's heart to hear her scared voice explain how they hurt to mess with, and how she'd only wanted him. "Oh, darling..." he sighed beneath his breath, bringing both paws up to scoop the little wolf closer to him while she leaned her head into his chest. He didn't care if any of the mushrooms touched him now. He wanted to soothe Kit's fears and try to make her feel like everything was going to be okay. It wasn't, of course, and he knew that, but she didn't need hear it. She needed to be held and told everything would be all right. But for all he knew, the mushrooms could be growing into her brain, slowly eating away at her until she succumbed to them. Or they could be in her lungs, gradually choking her to death. He had no way of knowing and he seriously doubted anyone really did.

"You're gonna be okay. You're a princess of the Ashen Empire. Your family has access to the best medical care in the world, and you have your family to keep you safe and help you recover." He looked down at her with a little crooked smile. "And you have a scraggly, scruffy seafarer to keep you company while we get you better too." He didn't want Kit to feel like she was going through this alone. He obviously cared for the wellbeing of the princess—but seeing her in this state just further reaffirmed in his mind his need to get the hell away from this place.

"Kumiho"

Kitsune

The sickness deepens... You feel weak. Perhaps it's time to rest.

Firefly Shoppe- Kumiho

It comes for us all... but you are safe... for now.

Your attention blurs and refocuses. It feels as if you are in a dream as you find yourself alone in the mist. Fireflies gather and light the way to a table with a figure waiting behind it. On the table lay three items, with their prices beside them. "Choose w̶̢̧͉̥̻̟͈͙̽̉̆̿̈͒͋̓̇̍͌̇̎͠͝ì̵̢̝̄͐́͆̓̚ṣ̶̛͙̟͎̤̞̤͎̹̙̭̪͔̓̐̾̂͆̄͆͌̈̈́̏̚͜͝͠ȩ̴͔̱̗̜̾̉̀̓̀͆͛̊̂̍̕̚̚̚ͅl̵̢̦̲̼̠̖̜̺̮̜̺͋̈́y̴̧̨̧̪̗̥̘͇̾͑͗͜͠, and only choose o̷͕̭̊̃̌̊̏̀ņ̸̼͚͉͔̒͐̊e̵̮̯͛̔̀̑͜," the figure says, looming over the table as his eyes seem to peer into your soul. Are they... moving? "If you can afford it, that is. Beware, however, for there are many d̷̡̯͉̎̊̈́͐͠á̴̬̪̣̝̞̅̀̈́̄ṉ̸̢̠̤̹̥̙̜͋͆̚g̷̛͍̹̣̬̙͖̝̘̃̈e̷͓͕̖͓̝̤̿͐͐͜͠ŗ̵̤͚͔̟̹̳̽̒͝ş̸̛͓͔̩̥̦͛̊̈̾̐̒̓ ̴̺͔̃̇̆ahead." He does not seem like he's in the negotiating mood...


I̵̜̖͎͓͒̑̕n̸͓̗̘̫͉̗̻͐̔̿̊͆̋͝v̵̦̹̠͉̖̼̮̎̌͆ȩ̸͕̦͔̳̩̈́͜n̶͍̝̙̯̣̹̫̩͋t̶̟͈̟̲̜̙̣̋̿̓̆̅͊͝͝ŏ̶̼͊r̶̖͎̙͔̥͎͙͈̊̍͝͠y̴̧͔̭͒͆̉̕͝:

• Serious Steroids- 1 /
  The cloaked figure assures you it’s not really steroids but he does say it’ll make your body more resilient, he won’t tell you what’s in them though.
  
• Firefly Fone- 1 /
  It’s actually just a bunch of fireflies in the shape of a phone. Use it in any thread (and post in Maintenance) to summon the Firefly Shoppe to your location.
  
• Firefly Fone- 1 /
  It’s actually just a bunch of fireflies in the shape of a phone. Use it in any thread (and post in Maintenance) to summon the Firefly Shoppe to your location.
  

As he was comforting Kitsune, Kumiho began to feel a little lightheaded. Was it from the mushroom spores coming from the pup? He really knew better than to be this close to her, but if she was actually expiring, he didn't want her to be dying alone and afraid. "It's all right, Kit. Everything's gonna be-" He blinked, and then suddenly he wasn't in the swamps anymore. Iho found himself alone in a dense fog somewhere he'd never been before. "...okay." Rising to his paws, Iho peered around the mist, trying to figure out what was going on. Had he blacked out? Was this all a fever dream?

Seemingly out of nowhere, a swarm of fireflies buzzed by, creating an illuminated path through the mist. Strangely enough, the fog seemed to disperse around the lightning bugs, creating a literal path through the fog for him. He followed their trail, cautious and with guard up, until he saw the stall and the cloaked figure waiting for him at the end. He approached, peering up at the strange entity with nervous blue eyes. The entity bid him to pick one item, and at his feet, Iho's gathered cache of mushrooms materialized out of thin air. He stared down at the items—noting that two of them were the same item for some reason—and pondered his choices.

Deciding that having multiple of one item must have meant it was a big seller, Iho placed a single mushroom on the counter for the entity, then carefully picked up the phone made of fireflies. It felt weird holding the insects the way he was, but they remained solid and undisturbed, glowing in perfect unison. "Thank you," he said, clearly still bewildered by everything that was going on. "Um... what did I just buy?" He'd never seen an object like this before and had no idea how it functioned.

"Kumiho"

Firefly Shoppe- Kumiho

The cloaked figure lets out a quiet chuckle as Kumiho picks up the object, deciding on his choice after some deliberation. "That item is a direct link to me. Use it and I will come, no matter where you are." Clearly he wasn't sticking around now though- as soon as the wolf had his object he disappeared into thin air, taking the rest of his wares with him in a dramatic exit.



You gain:

• Firefly Fone- It’s actually just a bunch of fireflies in the shape of a phone. Use it in any thread (and post in Maintenance) to summon the Firefly Shoppe to your location.
  

You lose:

• Currency (x1)- Used in Firefly's Shoppe, and perhaps elsewhere...