Flight of Fancy
#1 of Anthrofantasy
Something I had to write about something that happened recently.
Flight of Fancy
Kitsunoir crouched unseen in a small woodlot. Even though it was late December, and the trees were thinning, he had at his disposal all the woodcraft of his immediate ancestor: the fox. This is how he was able to stay, silent and motionless, for hours. He remembered, how it was before that night...
Foxes used this ability to hunt; Kitsunoir wasn't hunting. He was watching a young girl by a tree. He couldn't help but admire the precision and calm as she went about her business. She was talking to herself:
"There we go", as she tied a thin cord to a tree branch as she stood on a make-shift ladder.
"Let's see...", as she tried on the noose.
"No, need to tie it tighter..." She climbed back up and coiled the cord around the branch a few times: "Let's see... Is this good?"
"Maybe? ... "Nope"
With a sigh, she climbed back up to make further adjustments.
"This may be it", as she climbed back down. "One more time".
"Now this ought'a do it".
Kitsunoir agreed, and now it was time to act. As he stood, twigs crackled under his feet. The girl turned, startled. She was not expecting this intruder: he stood some six feet tall, gray fur started just below the eyes, ran down to a ruff of fur at his throat, and covered his underside, down between his legs. The rest of his body was covered with thick, midnight black fur. Two ruffs of gray fur sprouted from his cheeks. Two fluffy tails trailed behind him. As did she, he habitually shook his head or brushed a lock of fur from his right eye, that began at the top of his head. She cringed at his approach, on cat-like feet that concealed the retractable claws.
"Katelyn, is it", he called out in a strange, high-pitched accent unlike any human accent, "or do you prefer 'It's Dolly'?"
"Getawayfrommeyoufreak!", and she turned to run.
"No you don't!", he called back as he dropped to all fours. In two bounds, he was on her, pulling her back to the tree and out of sight. That would explain the disproportionately short legs: he was equally comfortable on two or four legs.
He held her tight with two human-like hands by the shoulders. He crouched, eye to eye. She could see that his eyes were emerald green. In the late afternoon sun, the pupils contracted into narrow, vertical slits. It was now undeniably obvious that this wasn't some elaborate costume.
"I can't let you do this", he said gently.
"Mind your own business!", Katelyn protested. "I have to...", as she tried squirming from his grip.
"No you don't", he disagreed. "Will you at least hear me out? If I let you go to show you something, you won't try to run away?"
Katelyn knew that was not possible, not the way he moved. Looking into those emerald green eyes, she saw no trace of malevolence, nothing but a compassion that seemed to see right through her.
"O... Kay?"
He reached into the small pouch that was slung over a shoulder, and took out a smart phone. He was clicking through the menus until he found what he was looking for. She saw that it was undeniably herself on the small screen, right there, where they stood now: "I'm sorry that I wasn't pretty enough. I'm sorry I came into your lives just to get out of it this quickly. I'm sorry for everything; I'm really, truly sorry... for everything..."
"Seen enough?", he asked.
"Who... what... are you?"
"To answer your first question, My name is Kitsunoir. To answer your second, I am a kitsune. What I just showed would have happened two minutes from the instant you first saw me. Where I come from, you hanged yourself. That is my present, but it doesn't have to be your future".
"How..."
"There is an old saying, I don't remember who said it, but it goes something like this: 'A sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'".
"Still..."
"That's of no importance. Come", he offered a hand to lead her back to the trailer.
0XFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Despite depression you tried reaching out to others to be there for them. You stood up for the emos (finger quotes)", they were sitting around the kitchen table. "But no one was there for you. To say that I am disappointed in your species would be an understatement. I heard, and I am here for you. I will fix it so that no one ever hurts you again".
"Why would you do that?"
He took out the smart phone, and clicked through more menus, and showed her a picture of a red fox: "My mother", he said. "I was born in a den in the Vermont wilderness. I was just like any other fox, the runt of the litter. Then there was that night. I found the skull of a fox, and for some reason I put it on my head and climbed to the top of the highest hill. The next morning I came down, and nothing was the same. I saw deeper than I ever had before".
"She's beautiful".
"Yes, she was", he agreed.
"Was?"
"She... died. Caught in a leg hold trap. I couldn't save her... Bashed in her head with a club... Anyway, I picked up a rock and threw it. Hit him right between the eyes, knocked him down. "She was my mother", I said. "I curse you", as I forced him to look into her dead eyes. "You will be haunted by her eyes for the rest of your miserable existence".
"Then what happened?"
"Three days later, they found him wandering aimlessly through the woods. Quite insane. He's still in a psychiatric facility in Burlington. His mind is completely gone by now. I suppose they'll keep pumping him full of drugs until they finish him off, but there's nothing they can do.
"I can fix it so no one ever hurts you again".
"What are you gonna do?", she asked, anxious, but already suspecting.
"You needn't concern yourself with details. Leave that up to me: I will fix it after the ways of my kind..."
The sun had nearly set when Katelyn's mother arrived with her younger brother.
"Katelyn! What kind of freaks... GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
"Katelyn, take your brother outside, close the door, and no matter what, don't look back. Do it now".
Kitsunoir slammed the woman against the wall hard enough to shake the double wide. "You bitch", he snarled through bared fangs, "you sent her back to that degenerate excuse for a step father. You refused to stop him even when you saw for yourself. The only thing that concerned you was getting your next fix".
Kitsunoir played the rest of the livestream he'd downloaded: "Katelyn's dead because of you..."
"Noooooooo... my baby..."
"Don't 'my baby' me. It's too late for that now. All you care about is that now you'll have to hire sitters, less money for your happy stuff..."
"NOOOOOO!", she was in tears.
"Do you deserve to live?"
She ran from the trailer.
"Mom?", Katelyn asked.
Kitsunoir held open the door. "You kids, come inside now"
"Whatdidyoudo!", Katelyn called out.
"A life given. A life taken. Balance is restored".
"Fuck's that supposed to mean?!"
"Made certain she would never hurt you again, just as I promised. She took your place at the hanging tree".
The wailing in the distance suddenly silenced.
"It is done", Kitsunoir announced. "I'm going to have a few words with your step father..."
"You're gonna kill him too?"
"No, Katelyn, I didn't have anything to do with it. Your mother's character defects were her undoing. She destroyed herself. It will be the same with your step father. He will do it to himself".
"What if I warn him?"
"I would expect no less. That is, even if he believes you. Just because I appear in this form to you, doesn't mean he will recognize me, or see me coming. We kitsune are also shape-shifters, you see.
"Anyway, my business here is concluded", he said as he got up and headed for the door. "Probably be a good idea to call 911, and ask for CPS as well. And do stay away from the woodlot, it's pretty gruesome".
He stood in the front yard and rubbed his tails together. There was a crackling, then blue sparks appeared, then several floating blue-white spheres formed.
"What're those?"
"Fox lanterns".
He walked to the tree line, the light of the fox lanterns gradually swallowed by the trees.
That was the last they saw of Kitsunoir.