And thus, Niamh is left to ponder one of the world's great mysteries while she dances and meander-walks. Where do old kitsune put all those tails during carnal fun? Especially when they're on all fours. It's like the one too many arms syndrome of cuddling, only much, much worse. Or maybe it's a built-in form of population control; too many tails mean the older ones can't reproduce! Or yeah, there Is probably far too much brain power put on this.
So, back towards the temple she's going. Is she going to be quiet, though, or is she going to harass a poor innocent little shrine maiden just doing her job?
First, Niamh checks to see if the shrine has visitors yet. She doesn't want to interrupt Miyuki's work, but is curious about what Inari's petitioners actually do. She knows the Sidhe never answer prayers, after all. She tries to do without being spotted by the locals as well.
Well, she does hear some mild talking up ahead near the main shrine building, and presumably where prayers and offerings are made. So ... there are probably some petitioners!
Niamh can't understand it - she hasn't absorbed the language often enough or for long enough for that. She's pretty sure no local would talk to her anyway. For now she tries to peek around a corner to get an idea of what sort of people visit the shrine - old, young and so on.
Today it seems to be two older women. One of them sets a basket down near a slat-covered pedestal while the others tosses what are probably a couple coins through the slates. The one that had held the basket then rings a bell hanging from a rope, and the other claps twice. In perfect unison they both bow their heads and steeple their fingers together in what is presumably a prayer.
Just out of curiousity, Niamh tries her new trick of coating her eyes in ectoplasm as a way to see spirits. Since it's daytime, her eyes aren't likely to glow enough to be noticed, and she wants to see if the petitioners are entirely human of if yokai also come to the shrine in human guises. After all, Noboru is supposedly guarding the shrine from something when he's up on the torii gate.
Niamh ... can't be 100% sure, but they sure look boringly human. No appendages appear, or prehensile nosehairs.
This relieves her a bit, since Noboru is dealing with personal matters right now. It's not like monsters have a grudge against the shrine. Well.. not a lot of them anyway. Probably. More of Miyuki's suitors seem the likeliest threats.
Both women clap in unison then turn away from the shrine and walk back towards the stairway down. The basket the one woman was carrying remains by the pedestal.
Niamh watches patiently for Miyuki to come and collect the basket. It probably has food offerings of some kind.
The wait isn't long. Soon enough Miyuki comes into view, sweeping away from fallen leaves and flower petals as she goes. Apparently she does spot the basket as she heads for it. Instead of picking it up, though, she glances around a few times. Not immediately spotting anyone, a flick of fluffy white slips from her red skirt and whacks the basket up into the air, then bounces it off the shrine itself! Something pops free from it she catches in her left hand ... the basket she the catches with the end of her broom. Looking smug about that, she drapes the broom over her shoulder so that the basket sways behind her and she pops whatever came out into her mouth, then chews.
That doesn't seem very pious to Niamh, but she's still impressed by Miyuki's illusory uniform. Feeling certain that there isn't about to be an impending attack, she heads back towards the rear of the shrine to resume her practice and shake off the remaining stress of the meeting with Kasumi.
Niamh almost thinks she hears some snickering as she heads away from the main shine then towards the quieter rear. There's no one else seemingly around right now, at least.
That raises the question of who was snickering, and who was being snickered at. So first she looks around to see if she can spot any voyeurs.
Nope, nothing obvious!
So the girl heads back to check the front area of the shrine, looking at the trees, gate and rooflines more.
Nothing out front except for Miyuki again. She's switched from the broom and is now ladeling water on the stone walkway instead. The basket is nowhere to be seen now, so presumably she put it inside somewhere.
Stepping around the corner so Miyuki can see her, Niamh asks quietly, "Where you snickering just now?"
"Dear me, no. Why would I ever snicker at a human-like foreigner trying to be sneakier than a kitsune, and spy on them?" Miyuki comments without even so much as a pause in apparent 'watering the stones'.
"So was that little bit of acrobatics for my benefit?" Niamh asks, hand on hip. "I was trying to be sneaky enough for humans not to notice me. Noboru is busy with Kasumi, so I wanted to see if any Yokai were coming to the shrine.. and what people actually do when they come here."
Miyuki cocks her head a moment and one of her human ears actually twitches, and then she sniffs. "Uh, yes. Busy. For about about another hour, give or take," she comments soon after, then ends up doing a sort of full-body shiver. "As for the basket, it's offerings to the shrine spirits; I'm well within my rights to partake," she adds as she sets her bucket and ladle down. She saunters over to one of the torii pillars and hooks a hand on it, then sort of lazy swings around it. As the human body seeming disappears from one side, out pops a shimmering white fox-like creature on the other that has dancing bluish markings upon her face and body. She blinks with mis-matched eyes and even manages a grin somehow. "Last time I checked, I was one?" she notes as she lifts a forepaw to seemingly inspect it and wiggles her toes a little.
"It's my first time seeing an offering being given.. properly," Niamh says. "Why do the locals respect the shrine spirits but seem to shun me for apparently associating with them? Or is it just because I'm foreign?"
Remaining in an overly fluffy and probably adorable form, Miyuki sits and wraps her tail around her feet. "This last is not welcoming to any foreigners," she says. "That is primarily it. Most of them aren't even aware I exist. Or at least what I really am." Apparently foxes can shrug. "I'm just the weird shrine maiden here."
"So.. they expect shrine spirits but don't want to see them?" Niamh asks. "In my land, very few believe in spirits, and most spirits avoid people. Or rather they believe in fashionable spirits, such as ghosts. I'm not sure which is worse."
"We are not unwelcome. Perhaps a bit unsettling is all," Miyuki comments right before lifting her hind leg to scratch at one of her ears. "And of course they tie us to omens and other silly outcomes we have nothing to do with. Just seeing me isn't going to make their hens lay addled eggs, after all."
"But would it make them stop coming to the shrine?" Niamh asks.
"Of course not. We are also known as the messengers of the Gods here. We are expected to be here, just not usually seen," Miyuki comments, ears flicking. "Why all the sudden questions? Do you now fear us too?"
"I'm just trying to understand the culture," Niamh says, a bit defensively. "Being seen as messengers of the Gods can be good or bad, depending on what message they're expecting. I was just confronted by Kasumi again so yes I'm a little fearful at the moment. But I can't learn without asking questions."
Miyuki tilts her head this way and that. "You seem fully intact, and without any new limbs," she observes. "There is considerable difference in a celestial, such as myself and Noboru, and Katsumi, though. Shrine spirits are not generally dangerous unless you deserve it. The wild spirits are unpredictable.. She then pauses and siiiighs. "Two hours for them now," she mutters.
"I think you're overlooking something about humans and their gods," Niamh notes. "Humans always think they've done something to deserve divine punishment. Otherwise they wouldn't be appeasing their gods in the first place."
"In your culture, perhaps. Such is not quite the same as here," Miyuki comments.
"So Inari never punishes humans?" Niamh asks.
"When they do deserve it, of course she does," Miyuki answers. The fox then manages an odd-looking grin. "Why, do you want to be ... punished?" she asks in a tone that is either sultry, or just overly breathy.
"I'm not part of the religion, so no, I would prefer to not be punished for breaking a rule I wasn't aware of," Niamh says. It's almost like she's said it many times before, from her tone.
The fox sticks out her tongue. "Foo, you're no fun," she laments.
"I'm lots of fun when I'm not worried about my family or my life," Niamh claims, crossing her arms. "At least, my faerie friends say so."
"And I am not your friend?" Miyuki asks, with eyes all too big and puppylike for that body.
"Are you?" Niamh asks, pursing her lips and looking worried. "I'm not a toy or pet for you? Do you really want to help me?"
"It is our nature to play with people," Miyuki points out and even points with her tail. "But, have we not allowed you to stay? Do we not show you attention? Has my brother, annoying as he may be, tried to make you more comfortable with your own nature?"
"I was comfortable before with my nature," Niamh says, looking at the ground. "I'm not myself since I arrived here, honestly. Things will be better after I draw on the forest. It might turn me into a meka-yokai or whatever, but I'll still be better and not feeling half-dead."
"You kept claiming you where human, though. When it is clear that you are not. Not completely," Miyuki points out, "Being in comfortable denial does not count." Her hear tilts quizzically, like dogs tend to do. "Are you ashamed of part of yourself?" she asks.
"Just because I'm not entirely human doesn't make me a yokai," Niamh insists. "Technically I have three different heritages and pushing me towards one or the other isn't something I'm in any condition to deal with well right now."
"The most basic definition of a yokai is a supernatural creature," Miyuki points out and looks at her with an arched brow. "What part of that are you not? Humans are not a type of creature? Your abilities are not supernatural?"
"It's complicated," Niamh claims. "Where I'm from, yes, some humans can have supernatural powers though various means. For me, what I do isn't supernatural. There aren't a bunch of others like me. I'm the only one from my family line. It skipped my father, but he can still work with magic. No part of him is fae though."
"It's only complicated because you chose to make it so, by setting strict 'rules' on what is or is not something," Miyuki says and shakes her head. "There aren't a bunch like me, either. We kitsune are hardly common. Most pure humans will go their entire lives and never meet one of us."
"If I were a normal human would have even noticed me?" Niamh asks, biting her lip. "Although if that were the case I wouldn't be here in the first place.."
"I've had normal human friends. Many. Remember, I've lived like five of your current lifetimes," Miyuki points out. "I was there when that obnoxious seaman parked his boats in our harbor and scared the Emperor. I've played with probably all of the nearby village's children during that time too."
"Played with them?" Niamh asks. "Do they all remember once they've grown up?"
"They remember as much as their fleeting memories allow them to. I don't do anything to make them forget. It is ... just the way most are," Miyuki claims. "To most I am probably just a nice memory of a daydream about a friend they once had. Humans have a talent of being able to decide something is childish, and therefore cannot possibly actually have existed, or happened. And are in all too much of a hurry to react that point in their lives, too."
"It makes it easier for spirits to get away with things where I'm from," Niamh says with a sigh. "Some of them are pretty nasty, and have been locked away into artifacts, like your Koma-inu. Then people run afoul of them without realizing it or.. seek them out to use them. It's unpleasant."
"I suppose all I am saying is don't run away from yourself, or try to deny any part of yourself. It just makes you unhappy," Miyuki says and sighs. "From where I sit, I thought I might have a friend that wouldn't 'grow up' and forget me. But, that's what humans want to do, and what you want to be."
"I live with humans," Niamh says. "I have to feel like one to do that. I don't know how long I'll live, given that my family's work can be pretty dangerous. When we get to a certain age, we just.. go live under the hill with the Sidhe."
"No one knows how long they will live. Not even my kind. We know our potential for life, but never when it will actually end," Miyuki points out.
"I don't even know my potential," Niamh admits. "Every generation is more human than the last. I could be the last one in my family with any of the old blood. Who knows? I don't worry about it."
"Marry a kitsune. That will solve the human blood issue," Miyuki says with a tongue-lolling grin.
"Maybe, but that would probably mean they would be more in touch with the Horned God.. the God of Animals. The First God. I'm almost a full priestess of His, which may be what counts more as Yokai, as far as my deer affinity goes," Niamh says.
Miyuki looks at herself a few times, then waves her tail. "Is there something wrong with being an animal?" she asks, ears perked.
"No, but it would make it harder to handle our familial duties," Niamh suggests, finally sitting down on the ground herself. "If I can get everything that's left on the list, then they wouldn't have to deal with it though. They could just do whatever they wanted."
"You worry too much," Miyuki comments, then climbs right into Niamh's lap. She makes three circles, then flops down right there.
Niamh automatically scritches behind Miyuki's ears. "That's my human heritage, I suppose," she says, and smirks. "Worry and responsibility and expectations. And.. isolation."
Myiuki flickflicks those ears and trills. It's like stroking a silky, fluffy warm ball. Slightly stinky ball, of course, but nothing is perfect. "Everything is. What will come, comes. Worry about what is here, not what could be. And all that," she murmurs. "And ... don't encourage bunnies."
"They don't seem to need any encouragement," Niamh notes, shaking her head. "At least pookas aren't so single minded."
Miyuki snickers. "Well, if you prefer serious beings, seek out the Tengu instead," she suggests.
"Ugh, wouldn't that mean mountain-climbing though?" Niamh asks. "I just need to link to the forest, and learn the chinkon, purify the dog spirits.. and fulfill my promise to Daiki-sama."
"And Marry Noboru," Miyuki slips in.
"I don't think I agreed to that," Niamh says. "Besides, he already has a wife to tend to."
"Fine, then me," Miyuki suggests next.
"For wild spirits you sure seem enamored of that human tradition," Niamh points out. "None of the faeries back home tried to marry me. But I'm on my way to becoming a priestess there, so they'll probably wait until after that happens. I'm sure Puc will try. He's.. well.. more less a kitsune in manner, really."
Miyuki sniffs, loudly. "Ah, of course, a male," she mutters. "I should not be surprised."
"Well.. I'm not entirely certain on that," Niamh says. "I've seen Puc as a female before. Usually as a vixen, or a human girl with fox earss and tail. They can't do a human form without some animal aspect being part of it. Usually he's a boy with the ears and lower half of a faun. Sometimes a horse. He saved my life from a kelpie that imitated Puc's horse form and nearly drowned me."
"It is immensely hard to maintain a fully human form," Miyuki notes, "I can't really do it either. It's related to being unable to deny what you are, even for a brief time. I am grateful human women tend to wear dresses."
"Puc never really has to pretend to be human, only when it needs hands," Niamh says. "Or when it wants to play dress-up, or come into the manor house. When I set out cream, it likes to be a cat."
"Besides, I just bet if anyone had a tail as lovely as mine they wouldn't want to hide it, either," Miyuki mutters, then blinks. "Is this the Puc creature mentioned in those horrible plays by that ... err .. Willy Jigglespear?"
"Oh, Puck is.. a different kind of fairy," Niamh claims. "British pucks are more domestic, but Robin Goodfellow was a bit of a hybrid character."
"Just not very unique in names, I see," Miyuki remarks. "I bet you don't have anything like our Yokai that carries tofu."
"No.. you seem to have a Yokai for everything here," Niamh says. "We have faeries that might tidy up a house or break all the pottery depending on which county it is. But nothing so specific."
"Tofu-kozo, it literally just carries tofu. Unles you're terrified of beans I am not sure anyone could be afraid of him," Miyuki comments. "All things have spirits of a sort; ours are just more ... solid."
"The idea of ordinary activities having specific spirits is.. odd," Niamh admits, and brushes Miyuki's tail. "It suggests that once any activity becomes common enough, it creates a spirit somehow."
"Anything that anyone does with care can create a spirit," Miyuki claims as her tail flicks this way and that.
"It doesn't work that way in my land," Niamh explains. "Spirits do what they want. Some types have certain demeanors, but.. they're part of the land, just like the wildlife."
"And what do you want, then?" Miyuki asks.
"What?" Niamh asks, broken from her train of thought. "Right now you mean?"
"Well, you claim you spirits do what you want. So, what is it you want? You seem rather preoccupied with doing things others want," Miyuki points out.
"I want to help my family," Niamh says. "It's why I came to the other side of the world with them."
"Wanted to, or obligated to?" Miyuki asks, "There is a difference."
"They're my family," Niamh says, looking exasperated. "They didn't want me to come, I insisted. Why are you a shrine maiden?"
"I am required to be, by family. It is not what I would choose," Miyuki answers, simply. "Family obligations over-ride personal choice here."
"Why?" Niamh asks. "Is it some sort of magical binding?"
"Yes. Part of that which makes of my essence is bound to this place," Miyuki explains. "It must be protected and maintained if I wish to continue to exist."
"I don't understand that," Niamh says. "Is it because of Inari? Can't she release you?"
"She could, but she has no reason to. And then I would be nothing but a Nogitsune like Kasumi," Miyuki notes.
"Well.. which is more important, your station or your freedom?" Niamh asks.
Miyuki looks up with her mismatched eyes. "I am damaged, Niamh," she reminds. "This scar will never fade. My station is the only thing that gives me any value. Without it; I'm just another ugly monster."
"Because of a scar?" Niamh asks, sounding a bit angry now. "Is your station the only thing that keeps you from turning into someone like Katsumi? Is your civility tied to this position then?"
"No, but it keeps the people civil to me," Miyuki points out, calmly. "A messenger of the Gods is not to be feared, but celebrated. A wild spirit is to be feared, and shunned."
"By humans," Niamh points out. "Does that really matter? Will Noboru and your parents shun you then?"
"They would be required to," Miyuki adds, still calm.
"Walking away from the family duty would mean no longer being family. I would be shame," she adds.
"So you couldn't just start a new life living as you want to?" Niamh asks. "Is it like being cursed?"
"Being cursed is the best way to describe it simply, yes," Miyuki says. "I would both be free, and not free at the same time."
"Can you be happy here like that?" Niamh asks. "For centuries?"
The fox rolls her shoulders. "I do not know," she admits.
"Have you spoken to your parents or Inari about this?" Niamh asks. "Or is that shameful too?"
"It would be best to approach such subjects once I am not a simple child," Miyuki notes and flicks her single tail pointedly.
"And when will you no longer be a simple child?" Niamh asks. "How many tails are needed for that?"
"At least three. So, over two hundred years and I can have a discussion with them about my future," Miyuki explains.
"Do you resent it?" Niamh asks.
"I don't resent it as much as I feel a bit restrained by it. There are ... parts of myself I cannot fully express here," Miyuki says and shrugs again.
"Is helping me going to make things harder for you?" Niamh asks. "Would it actually help if I did marry you?"
"No, and no, to answer both," Miyuki says. "I am simply ... broken in several ways is all."
Niamh is silent for a bit, and just strokes the fox in her lap. "I'm sorry that I have to try to purify the spirits that hurt you," she eventually says.
"People expect there to be some great justice, or equality, or balance, in life. There isn't. Things just are. Good things happen. Bad things happen. Some balance, some do not," Miyuki comments and shrugs a little. "All you can ultimately do, is endure. It is up to us if we want to make things more in balance; but the cost of that is sometimes our own happiness."
"I don't know about balance," Niamh says. "I've heard about the 'harmony of nature', but as a druid I know the truth. It's all just.. overwhelming and collective murder. I'm just trying to reduce some of that misery. That's all any of us can do. Maybe it's our own misery or maybe it's someone else's."
"For what it is worth, I know Inari would release me if I did ask; she is not cruel. But it's also because she is not, and that she does look after me too, that I feel obligated to help, too," Miyuki says, "Anyway, there is much time yet before I can have such discussions, so I would rather not dwell on it."
"How many more petitioners do you expect today?" Niamh asks, dropping the subject for now.
"A bit more towards sunset, when some townsfolk come to give thanks for another day," Miyuki says, lifting her head a moment, and sniffing again. Then she frowns. "If those two don't scare them off. Three times? Seriously? They're going to get stuck together permanently!"
"So.. they don't do it once for each tail?" Niamh teases.
"Oh God, I hope not," Miyuki admits. "And you better hope not, either. They're in your room."
"They are?" Niamh asks in surprise. "Well.." she adds, "that could be advantageous. They'll be busy, so I won't have to worry about either one of them interrupting my ritual."
"You're forgetting something, though," Miyuki notes.
"What am I forgetting?" Niamh asks.
"That all your spare clothing, and your bed mat, will now smell of passionate kitsune love-making," Miyuki sighs. "Good luck sleeping."
"I'll just use your room," Niamh claims.
"Not allowed," Miyuki claims.
"Eh?" Niamh asks, surprised. "Why not? Didn't you want me in there to begin with?"
"Because I want to see how weird the exposure to all of that from them makes you," Miyuki answers, simply.
Niamh pinches one of Miyuki's ears for that. "Clothes can be washed," she notes. "What I'm wearing now is what's important."
Miyuki yips and hiss-laughs. "Yes, since one of us can't make their own clothing as needed," she needles.
"Maybe I can," Niamh claims. "I just haven't tried before."
"Mmmmhmmm," the fox says and even nods her head. "I'm sure."
"Tonight will tell," Niamh says. "I'll drink from the forest, and whatever it gives me will hopefully be enough to sate me. And maybe a little extra too."