[IO!-IJAIRC!] The Phoenix, the Fox, and the Finneas

[Ezrihel]

"Oh, yes, I'm the strange one out when I exist in my natural form and figure, not the rest of people who have deemed that lying and hiding things is the best course of action for this 'society' thing you keep mentioning. You humans are very strange-- What with your cat and mouse games of courtship-- Though I'm not entirely sure why lack of clothing equates to something with your process of achieving coitus." She gave a disinterested and somewhat annoyed sigh and rubbed her arms for warmth.

Then he mentioned that another purpose for clothing was for maintaining the temperature of the body. She acknowledged this with a flick of her grey ear. "Hmm. Well I guess that explains why it was that you humans wear clothes in the first place! You lost your fur only to wear 

She listened as he told her about the phoenix, how young it was, and all that what not. The Phoenix was only a few days old, and she was quite curious about how this beanstalk of a man had happened into a phoenix nest, taken an egg and lived to tell about it. He went on to tell her that she could think of a name for the little bird, but he suggested that they get some clothes for her to hide herself in.

Then he made a passing comment about her wrapping her tail around herself better, since a bit of her bottom was showing. She rolled her eyes, giving a slightly despondent huff before sharply adjusting her tail.

He did however mention that she could name the little fire bird as they shopped though. At the mention of this, so many possibilities came to mind, so many possible names that could or might fit the little bird, and also on the other hand there were all kinds of names that wouldn't fit the little fire mite. Like Bartholomew. She couldn't help but give a slight shudder. Or Trixie, or Brittney for that matter! Tiffany was also a pretty boring name if she had to give an opinion on names and their general aesthetic. What types of names did she like though, was the really question to be asked.

With a smile, she willingly followed Finneas through the door, allowing her to lead him by the hand as she paid little to no attention to how the middle sized town of Ambrosia looked or functioned. She didn't pay a single glance to any of the shop windows or fanciful clothing the people around her wore. Much too enthralled within her own mind, she began to sort through the names she did happen to like, and thought would work well for a newly hatched phoenix chick. 

And while the list seemed to stretch on and on and on forever, Kyda did finally happen to settle on a name that she greatly liked. Looking up at Finneas, she said, "What about Nyx?"

He gave her a slightly confused look. She had been mostly quiet the entire time they had walked, and he had even lead her all the way into a clothing store. He had gently held her hand and taken her back to the women's section for clothes. He had averted his eyes from the sight of women's undergarments. It would have been socially inappropriate for him to be staring at such articles of clothing in public. Kyda had sat in silence for quite a moment before having suddenly spoken out, and as such, it was unexpected and Finneas wasn't exactly certain what it was she was speaking about.

Having seen his expression, she realized that he had probably forgotten that she was thinking on the phoenix's name for the vast majority of this expedition into Ambrosia. "Well, I hate the name Bartholomew, and Trixie, Tiffany or Brittney. I didn't like Michael or Michelle, or even Suesanna. And the names John, James and George are all pretty damned boring if I have to say so myself. None of them seemed good enough, yanno Mister Finneas? So, I was sitting here, holed up in my own head as I tried to figure out this stump of a question. This is the name the bird will have for the entirety of its life. ... Who am I to even chose such a large and meaningful designation? This poor creature will be stuck with whatever name I choose here today, so naturally with a pressure like that hanging over my ears I have to make a tough and wise decision."

She paused for a moment, flicking her right ear. "So I got to thinking- What's a good name for a Phoenix bird anyways? You can't just call it by some normal human name, like Steve. No Phoenix would like to be a pet named Steve. So I started just thinking, and after a moment of my gears turning round and round, I ended up with Nyx, spelled en-wai-echs, not en-eye-cee-kay-es. It's short for Phoenix, if that part wasn't already too obvious. ..."

Her voice gave a hopeful upward inflection, "Do you like the name, Mister Finn?"

After a few seconds of deliberation, Finneas nodded and answered her, "Yes, I think it's a suitable name for the bird."

She smiled, making a rather happy and excited cooing noise as she squeezed his hand tightly.

"Okay... So... Where are we, Mister Finn?" She asked, after taking a second to calm down.

"We're in an apparel store, remember, I brought you here so you could pick out some clothes."

"Oh yeah, so I could subjugate myself to your strange human societal norms of strict bodily imprisonment." She gave a playful flick of her tail and hit him in the side of his leg. "It's okay Mister Finneas, I'll play this weird game of your's."

For an instant, he seemed about to ask her what exactly she meant by that last comment, or maybe even make a retort back to her, but instead he gave a slight frown and a soft sigh, his face just a slight bit red. "You still haven't told me your name. I asked you back before we walked into the shop."

"Oh. Ooooh, yeah sorry, I was waay- waaaay too lost in thought on the way here if you asked anything. ... Sorry about that Mister Finn... Oh-- but yeah, my name is Kyda, Guardian of the Ishikawa clan. I'm a Kitsune-yokai, or a fox spirit. I work for Inari, the Goddess of Rice and Good Fortune." She began to look through the different type of clothing, making different expressions as she considered each one.

"I'm not too much of a mischievous spirit, like my brothers or sisters. I prefer to learn and read books instead of play tricks and cause chaos. I guess that's why I found myself as a devoted nature spirit to a very wise and beautiful deity such as Inari. I was, however, put in charge of being the guardian spirit of a very hectic and destructive clan, though they didn't start out that way. It's funny, I'm a guardian, yet I can't fix or prevent everything from happening. Sometimes people make their own choices, and those choices are bad. Before I had left, a lot of bad karma had befallen the Ishikawa clan. I'm not entirely certain what things are like for them now, or how the girl child is fairing, but those are questions I've put to rest for the most part."

She grabbed out a thin and flowy greenish-tan color dress. The middle of it was cinched to a small degree, but aside from that it was decently baggy and not form fitting.

It was however short.

And at seeing the length of the dress, Finn gave a soft 'ehh' before suggesting that she maybe find something nice to go on her legs.

"Oh? Would you rather me go dashing into the streets wearing nothing on my bottom at all? Because that's what I would prefer."

"Well what with how short that dress is going, your rear will be showing either way." He said, looking slightly flustered at her threat.

She gave him a pouty face before glaring around the store and trying to find the leg section. "Fine. Where's the leg section, Finneas."

With an eyeroll, he pointed his index finger to a rack stocked with various types of shorts, leggings and pants.

Walking over to the rack, she grabbed several things and unfolded them in an exaggerated and slightly annoyed fashion. She didn't like the first three things she had happened to find, throwing the clothes into a disorganized pile in the isle behind her. With a flushed face, Finneas hurriedly picked the items up, trying to brush any dirt off of them before neatly folding them and putting them back where they belonged. "Kyda!"

"What?"

"You can't just-- You can't throw these around like this."

"Why not."

"It's... Well it's rather rude."

"Hmmm. Sure. You act as if I, such an uncivilized being as myself would know what "rude" even is. Does it taste good?" She flicked her tail, softly hitting him on the outside of the leg again. "I'm just over here, trying to be decent, but oh Finneas~ I just happen to be failing at this sooo hard." She gave a coy smile and winked at him before deciding that the pants she needed had to have been on the bottom shelf of the display racks. She bent over at the waist, and wiggled her hips as the vest she was wearing rode up on her, the sides of her butt cheeks very visible. Her intergluteal cleft and her love hidden only by her tail, a tail whose tip twitched, threatening to flick to one side or another and expose her all over again.

After a moment of this, she actually looked at the pants on the bottom shelf in front of her. One pair caught her eye in particular. A pair of dark dull green leggings were grabbed up by her. Excitedly, she spun around to face Finneas, whose face was flushed and eyes narrowed at her previous action.

"Finn! What do you think about these? I really like the color of them... Do you think they would cover enough of my oh-so-scandalous leg-skin? Or, are bare feet also considered indecent and inappropriate in your weird human societal standards? I really don't want to cover my feet-- but aside from that! Don't you think the colors go really pretty together? Don't they just remind you of a garden in the late fall? Ooooh, Finn! Please, is this okay with you?"