Of Tails and Tales

A startled woman would suddenly shoot up with a semi-shout as she woke from another nightmare. Matted black hair swung about as her fox ears twitched rapidly as her hands reached up to them. A defeated sigh left the young woman's lips as she realized she was still in the wrong body. Would this ever change? Or was she permanently stuck in the body of a celestial spirit? Her last job had resulted in the nine-tailed fox spirit switching their bodies just before death, and the magic appeared to have been a permanent effect. Now she didn't know what to do! She couldn't control her tails, the things seeming to swing around or drag across stuff as she tried to figure it out. Tears left her eyes and trailed down her face, the permanent marks on her face that looked like whiskers being unaffected by the wetness.

How long had it been now? She had counted the first few days, but where was she now? She had run off into the East Magnolia Forest to get out of the public eye as she mourned for the loss of her real body. It had to be over a week now, she had to with how dirty she was now. A sniffling of her nose would be heard among the sounds of the animals around the place, the fox-girl still crying as she thought about her friends who were sure to be worried about her now. Mei from Lamia Scale, Mao in Sabertooth, and not to mention the entire Sabertooth guild was sure to be worried about her. She had ran away after realizing what she had become, and the chaos she had caused by mistake in the process. Her emotions had run wild, people had been injured, and personal objects had been destroyed.

The woman sat herself up so she was sitting on her knees, another sniffle being made as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her right hand. Who do I go to? No one even recognizes me now! My ran away from home, and they won't recognize me so I'd just look like some crazy monster! And my friends, the only one that would recognize it was me doesn't seem to care about anything right now.” Her plans for the day were to mope around some more, failing to motivate herself to do anything about her current issue. She needed to figure out the tails, or she would never get back into society without issue. They were bigger than she was overall, coming up to double her size in total. If she could learn how to control them, and take care of them, she could possibly work on getting people to believe and trust her again.

Magna Victus, ace member of Black Rose, Iron Chef of Shuffle and another friend of Mao's was too in the woods that day. Yet he was not here to hide from people or anything like that. No, he had run out of an ingredient that was most commonly found in the woods. Unfortunately, it was quite tricky to find even if you knew where and how to look like Magna did. So far, he had no luck and was quite frustrated. Without this particular ingredient one of his most famous dishes could not be made. He'd been hoping to serve it at a celebratory meal for his team Kvasir. They had just come back from a pretty tough job and had decided on celebrating it. However, it seemed, at least for now, that he would not be able to make what he wanted. Sure, he might be able to find it in shops but it tended to be expensive and it was better picked fresh.

As he walked through the woods looking for the ingredient he heard what sounded like crying and the voice of a woman who was clearly upset. Being the sort of person he was Magna decided to investigate in case he could help. He was a mage after all and they were meant to help people. Besides, he was a chef and making people happy was what made him happy. Normally, this was done via food. However, he knew it didn't solve every problem. Well not yet any way. He hoped to create a recipe to cure any bad mood one day, but that was a story for another day.

He walked through the woods towards the sound of the sobbing and saw a woman with what appeared to be fox tails. Currently, his own tail was bound around his waist and hidden beneath his top. He tilted his head as he listened to the words. "Hey miss sorry to interrupt you, but are you ok?" he asked. It was perhaps a silly question, but he'd heard some people liked a good cry so he didn't want to judge, even if based on her words she didn't seem to be the type. There was no sense jumping to conclusions.

Where had he come from? The girl in mourning over her lost body was so lost in her grief that she had not heard anyone walking towards her location. In her fear she had jumped up, every tail flying every which way as if they had a mind of their own; for she really had not learned the least bit of control over them as of yet. After a few moments of freezing up from fear Aiyana realized she should probably respond to the question of the male now before her; even if she was just wishing for him to disappear at that very moment. The dirty, from head to toe, nine-tailed fox woman would slowly open her mouth to speak; words not really coming forth until she worked up the bare minimum of courage to respond to another.

"I...I don't think I'll be okay for a while." She wasn't sure about this man in front of her, it made her uncomfortable. She never like being alone, but in her current state she would rather have been alone than have someone that she could potentially hurt or scare. Her nervousness gave her tails a mind of their own, flicking back and forth at the tips as she looked down at the ground as she continued speaking. "A job I did went wrong at the end, my body getting switched with a spirit as it died. Now I'm stuck in this, with no idea how to control the nine new appendages it gave me. All I've managed to do is destroy objects and scare people with my own body." Once she had gotten the first few words out the rest rushed out. The young woman wouldn't realize it until later, but all she had needed was someone to talk to her; and that someone happened to accidentally find her.

So on her recent job her body had been switched with a celestial spirit? That was even possible? he didn't know much about celestial spirits, but it seemed really odd. Wouldn't that mean she needed to eventually return to the celestial spirit world? That was how it worked right? But then how would she get back? Could they come through freely or were keys the only way? He wondered what kind of food the celestial spirits ate and if it was tasty. He'd have to try to find out one of these days. However, that wasn't important for now.

"Ah gaining even one tail is a bit of a pain." he said running a hand through his red hair. "Believe me I know." he said as his own tail unwrapped from his waist and moved down beside him. Not all creatures with tails could treat their tail like an extra limb, but the creatures who turned out to be his spirit animal could and thus so could he. Though it took a bit of practise. Fortunately, as he cooked a lot he was very skilled at moving his normal body parts so mastering a new one hadn't taken too long. WEll, he wouldn't say mastered, but had enough control at least to use it for his cooking. The tail of his was that of a spider monkey. However, rather than a single colour, or a colour that matched his hair, it was a twirling mix of orange and white. "I got this recently. Took a bit of getting used to, but its not the end of the world." he said and tried a smile to try and set this cursed woman at her ease. Wait was she cursed? Or blessed? She'd become an immortal or semi-immortal celestial spirit. A lot of people would kill for such an opportunity and though he hated to admit it some probably had. The human race could be quite disgusting at some points.

"Nine is tricky, but i'm sure you'll get the hang of them with practice and then you'll wonder how you coped without them." he paused for a moment after saying this and then came up with an idea. "Maybe I can help you learn some basic control?"

There was a moment of silence as the man seemed to think about what she had said. Would he simply leave her there, silently walking away in a state of confusion. Did he think she was just a crazy person lost in the depths of her mind? Her worrying was stopped after he spoke up again, telling her about how he had also gained a tail; though only just one. She wasn't sure how serious he was about this. For all she knew this guy had had that tail his entire life and was just trying to cheer her up. 'Ah well, guess I can try to humor the guy trying to be helpful to a damsel in distress,' the sabertooth reject thought glumly to herself as the man explained that the tail was not the end of the world.

Biting back a bitter retort, she thought on his offer to teach her some basics on the tails she now had. It couldn't hurt to try, could it? At least it would mean a chance to go back to the society she so loved to be a part of. Plus being so dirty was only fun when it was through other means. "I guess...I mean, it has to be better than just having tails flailing everywhere outside of my control..." The frown on her face moved to a more 'hopeful, but not expecting much' look as she said the words. It was a change from the almost suicidal status she had been close to during the week; a good sign of things to come. "Pardon the dirt though...it's been a while since I ran to the forest to be secluded. And try not to move to close, I almost can't stand the smell of myself..." As a woman used to daily cleansing, the stench of a week of dirt and grime was almost suffocating now that she thought about it; oh the joys of not thinking of your own self in the pits of depression!

Magna's nose was highly sensitive. It was one of the sensory gifts he possessed that was highly useful in his cooking. As such he already knew that the woman's odour was pretty...shall we say ripe? Yes ripe was probably the politest way to describe it. Fortunately, he worked with a lot of ingredients that were quite foul smelling and some much more than her. I mean have you ever smelled some of the cheeses they sell nowadays? "If you want there is a river nearby where you can wash up before we start. Best to be in a state you are most comfortable in when you learn something new." Magna suggested pointing in the direction of the river with his tail. Or at least he tried to, but it instead pointed in the opposite direction. He glared at it for a moment and then with a bit of focus it turned to point the other way. "Still getting the hang of this myself...though I think the reason's for me having it might be making it trickier than it should be." Spider monkey's were generally quite playful and he suspected the spirit animals he had were quite mischievious. On top of that there were two of them so it was fighting against that to keep control.

"I'll wait here if you want to go wash up." he focused and out of nowhere some large towels appeared. They were over sized tea towels, but he preferred them to regular towels and plus he could double up and use them to dry himself when he bathed. Of course he also had the option of drying himself by a fire. He thought for a moment. Perhaps she needed some soap or something. Fortunately, he knew of a cooking ingredient, a special extract from a rare mint plant that doubled up as a shower gel. So he conjured that up too. "Up to you of course"

Instead of commenting on how bad she smelled, the man with the monkey tail instead asked if she would like the chance to bathe. A slow nod of her head would signify her agreement to the idea of cleaning, the woman getting slightly confused as he pointed twice in different directions when he tried to give her the river's location. The explanation to it was laughable, had it been a less serious time for the woman. Instead she gave a surprised look as the kind man suddenly was able to provide towels for her to use. And was that...soap? Her heard skipped a beat as she slowly reached for both. The mint smell made her heart stutter, reminding her of her mint green hair she no longer had anymore. A sigh left her lips, her eyes shut to calm herself as she did so, before she spoke up. Thanks, I won't be gone too long." With the words said, the ripe smelling woman turned to make her way to the river that had been pointed out to her; tails moving every which way they wished to go as she did so.

The sight of the river was a marvelous one, the clear and clean water almost making her want to cry as she laid the towels and original nine tailed fox's clothes off to the side; having taken them off swiftly so she could simply get into the water. The amount of dirt on her was made even more apparent as she waded her way to a spot deep enough to take her under the water to chest level, the water becoming murky as the caked on mud and grime was taken away with the light current. Not wanting to keep the monkey tailed man waiting, Aiyana did a quick job of getting cleaned up. The amount of gel she was given did not last long at all; her long black hair and the nine tails using it up completely as she attempted to get herself close to spotless. She watched as fish swam to and fro, avoiding her arms, legs, and tails as she made her way back to the towels and clothing.

It was then the thought hit her, the mage's clothes were covered in the same amount of filth and grime as she was. A frown formed on her face as she realized the only thing she could do was wash them off in the river as well, and would just have to wear the wet clothing. It was at least better than the condition they were currently in. Getting out of the water, the soaked woman would do her best attempt at getting her clothes clean as she slowly dripped dry for a bit. Once she was happy with the amount of dirt removed she would wring out the clothing until they were no longer dripping everywhere. The towels would meet their fate against her body, hair, and the dreaded tails. ”Oh god...it's so...poofy...” The fox-tailed girl had never realized how much fur was on the tails until she had dried them with the towels.

A loud sigh would leave her as she quickly got dressed before making her way back to the unnamed ,as of yet man, that had been so gracious to allow her to partake in the honor of a bath. She slowly walked back into the area to find him still waiting here. ”Thanks, I feel a lot better now.”

Magna waited for the return of the woman. It seemed she had gladly taken his suggestion of a bath without any anger or thoughts he might try to peek. He was fifteen after all. However, he was more mature than that and also quite thoughtful so whilst she had bathed he had wandered around the area and gathered up some sticks and other necessities and built a natural campfire. Thus when she returned he indicated the fire. "I thought the cold of the river might be a bit extreme so I made a fire to warm yourself." he said with a smile and managed to pull off a vague salute with his tail. It wasn't great, but it was ok. He wasn't a master yet and to be honest most of his focus had been in his cooking. When he cooked he had much greater control over his body, including the new part. Perhaps because he entered 'serious' mode. He noticed that her clothes were soaked as well. Unfortunately, he didn't have any easy way to provide some more clothes for her. Or did he. No, he hadn't added cooking clothing to his pocket dimension. He'd have to consider that. "Probably best to dry yourself by the fire too."

He thought for a moment as he sat down near the fire and summoned up a large cooking pot which once flipped over would make a convenient chair for the fox lady to sat down on. That reminded him. He hadn't even introduced himself yet. "I'm Magna by the way, from Black Rose." He considered for a while how best to proceed with her training. "I suppose what's important is...how exactly do you want to use your tails?"

This to him was quite important. Did she just want to control them so they didn't get in the way or did she want to use them in combat or for other menial tasks? Basic control shouldn't be too bad. Combat was a bit harder and then for other tasks that required more precision like cooking it would be a lot harder. However, it was still theoretically possible if she put in enough effort.

It seemed, in the time she had gone to bathe, that the boy had created a campfire to warm herself up by. After being in the cool water of the stream, and the fact she was in wet clothing, a fire to sit down by was something that brought a real smile to her face; eyes lighting up as she looked at the flickering flames. "Thanks, I really appreciate everything." As she walked closer she watched the man bring forth a pot from what seemed like sheer thought and flipped it over, creating a seat for the woman so she would not have to place herself on the ground. As she sat, the monkey tailed boy finally introduced himself; Magna, from Black Rose. After that he went straight to the problem, the unlearned usage of tails.

”It's nice to meet you Magna. I'm Aiyana from Sabertooth.” Her first response was to introduce herself in kind; to do anything else would have been considered very rude. The nine tailed woman was unsure if any other guild had mentioned her name before, nor if he had heard of her from elsewhere. Not that it mattered, she didn't go around bragging about her accomplishments and successful jobs. His question, however, was a tough one to answer. All she wanted, this very moment, was to just understand the basics. However, she would have loved to learn, and master, how to use the extra limbs for ALL uses. It was best not to be greedy now, as she doubted Magna had enough time to sit here and help her master the tails; that would be asking way too much!

”Right now, all I want is to get the basics down. After that I'm sure I can teach myself the rest.” Her response was short, as she really was interested to hear how he tutored her in the process. Surely it wouldn't be TOO hard to learn, right?

Magna saw that she was happy to warm herself by the fire and on top of that seemed happy to sit atop the pot. It seemed everything in his recipe for making her feel better had been an absolute success. He was interested to hear she was from Sabertooth. "Ah you must know Mao then?" he said remembering the sabertooth mage he had met at a festival in the recent past. That was before he had his tail. "I'm surprised you didn't talk to her about this, she has a tail too. He paused and then an idea game to his mind. "Or maybe she wouldn't be that good a tutor as she was likely born with the tail."

It seemed she wanted to learn just the basics of control. That was probably a good idea. However. the question was how to go about doing it. For him he had mastery of his natural limbs so it was merely working out how to control a fifth. However, for her the entire body was new and she had nine extra limbs. Perhaps it would be best to start with just learning to control one. Yes, that might work. "For now, let's ignore eight of the tails and focus on one. Is there any you feel you have more control of than the others?"

So he knew Mao as well, wasn't this just interesting? Looking down at the ground, Aiyana's words were a bit whispered as she spoke them. "Yeah, I may have ran out without telling anyone. Not that anybody even recognized me as I did so." It was true, she had awoken and freaked out even more; the end result being a member running away with no one knowing what she looked like now, or where she was. Alas, the boy was right in one regard. Mao had been born with a tail, where the two sitting here now were both born without and had had to learn without the natural instincts for it as a limb they had always had with them.

Now they were on to the best part, the teaching! He asked the young woman to try and see if he could control one of her tails more than the others. The look on her face as she concentrated on the limbs attached to her had to be one of hilarity for those watching, but the internal thoughts blazed into a terrifying inferno as she tried to control each tail individually. Tails flew every which way as she did so, her mind not used to having the nine extra limbs there and in control of them. Although, as she continued her focus, the bandage using mage realized that one of her tails was distinctly slower than the rest; as if her focus was keeping it from moving like the others. Thinking on just that tail alone, she willed herself to move it to the left. A twitch on the tail occurred, one to the left, as she did so; the woman growing a smile as she felt it happen. ”It's not much, but tail four is not spastic like the others.”

So she could control one of the nine tails. That was good and was certainly better than being able to control none of them at all. It gave them a base line to work with. It was a basic ingredient yes, but even the most basic of ingredients could make a delicious recipe. This one bit of control was the key. "Ok." he summoned up a lightweight frying pan in front of him on top of a small pot so the rather overly long handle was sticking out. "Ignore your arms. Ignore the other tails. Focus entirely on that one tail. It is now your only limb and using it I want you to try and pick up this pan." He paused and then nodded.

"In fact close your eyes and try to think of your tail as your arm, the end of it as your hand." he said as an added note. That way there was no visual ingredient to mess up the recipe in her mind. He didn't expect her to succeed first time. He'd honestly been amazed when he could control his as well as he could. However, that might be because the ability came from the animal spirits who had always been a part of him , just locked away and thus they might of provided him some level of control. it wasn't perfect though. He still couldn't flip a pancake using his tail for example. "You only have three limbs. Your tail and your legs. You know how to use your legs, your body does it almost on auto pilot. So now why can't you use your tail? Its just another limb, just like your legs, right?"

Aiyana followed the young man's directions, her hands resting on top of her legs as she did a deep breath to focus. Her eyes closed lightly, the sunlight still filtering through instead of getting blackness. 'Only legs and a tail, just legs and a tail.' The thought chant wasn't repeated as she focused thoroughly on her own body, the one time phrase calming her enough to keep her focused on something other than her complete change. If one born with it had no need of thought, why should someone that wasn't born with it.

It seemed a mix of Magna's voice, and her own focus, was all she needed to really figure out this new body. She could feel the tail now, but not as some kind of intruding piece of fur just sitting there. The feeling was more like a resting arm, one that could easily bend and fold in any direction. While that was the feeling she had from it, that wasn't quite how much control she had over it. The woman tried to move the tail to wrap over to rest along side her, but instead managed to lift it enough to have it straight out to her right. Her focus faltered a bit as she grew frustrated with herself and her lack of control. This resulted in her tail dropping back to the ground, limp as the others were right now, until she tried again. The quickly drying woman attempted something more simple, moving her tail to the left. Slowly, but surely, the tail moved in that direction; a happy sigh leaving Aiyana's lips as she opened her eyes. ”You're right. It does feel like moving my leg. I think, with enough practice in this, that I could at least keep them out of the way of others.” Her eyes opened as she spoke, the girl managing to keep all of her tails limp as she did so; something that hadn't been possible mere hours ago.

(Sorry about the wait I will try to make this good)

It seemed that his instructions had merited success. It wasn't a perfect recipe, far from it, but it was tasty enough that he'd serve it at a low cost in a restaurant. Well, if training of tails could be sold in a restaurant. Was dojo perhaps a more accurate place? He'd really have to work on metaphors a bit further. Everything to him was cooking so most metaphors and similes he used tended to go that way. It was almost like a house special. Damn, he was even using cooking metaphors to describe his cooking metaphors. Could he be any more predicatable? Really? However, he was really happy with her progress an even a little surprised. For someone who had said they couldn't control them at all and who was getting used to an entire new body she had done remarkbly well.

"Its good to see you progressing. Five stars for effort that's for certain. Once you feel comfortable controlling a single 'tail' as a leg you have two choices." Magna said and then paused as an idea popped into his mind. Not a good idea, but an idea never the less.  "Well three really, but two i'd recommend. 1. You try to control two tails as if they were legs. 2. You try to control that tail further and make it like an arm. Or 3, and I don't recommend this, you try option one with a larger amount of tails." They seemed the obvious ways to progress. Then he had an idea. "Or perhaps we could work with your tails strength and you try to support yourself with it like this..." With that he slowly lifted himself off the ground using nothing but his tail. Now his tail wasn't as strong as Mao's and he wasn't exactly practised doing this so he was very unsteady and wobbly, but he managed to get himself up a little beofre he fell down. "...well a bit better than that. It was something Mao did when I met her."