The Next Morning
You are woken from a deep, dreamless sleep by the smell of a full English breakfast. The sound of sizzling bacon joins the smell of toast and fried mushrooms to steal away your senses, and for a moment the lure of food wipes away any thought of who was cooking. By the time this revelation comes to you, the question is answered by a figure at the door. He is a humanoid fox, with orange-brown fur on his back and dirty white on his chest and stomach. He wares nothing save for a baggy pair of blue boxer shorts and a pair of old socks. "Good morning, my lady," he said, as though finding you in his bed was nothing out of the ordinary. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."
You scramble out of bed, still dressed in the stolen clothes from the night before, and run out of the bedroom to see the fox stood in the kitchen. A second fox, female and slightly shorter but with brighter fur than the male, was sat in a leather chair reading a newspaper. When she sees you, she quickly puts the paper down and rises to her feet. "My lady," she said with a slight bow.
"Why are you calling me that?" you ask her.
She looks at the male fox. Nothing is said, but you feel the uncertainty between them. "Eat first," the male says at last. "We have a lot to explain, and a full stomach will help."
The food does help. While you wolf down your breakfast, the two foxes try their best to explain who they are and what happened to you.
"We serve the Goddess whose hand you touched, who transformed you," the male tells you as you eat.
"And who is she?" you ask.
"We do not say her name, out of respect. We do not need to; she is Our Goddess. She made us. We have been waiting for you for some time. She told us a Kitsune would come to us soon. Through dreams; we do not speak to her directly. Only a Kitsune may do that."
"Okay, I'm a Kitsune," you reply. "Why did she make me a woman?"
"All Kitsune are female," the female fox replied, "because you have been remade in her image. You are... divine. Partly divine. We were told to seek you out after your ascension and help you learn your new form, and your new powers."
Your fork stops part way to your mouth. "I have powers?"
"Yes," the male replies. "You can see, smell and hear far more than a Human. More even than us, in fact. You can also attune yourself to nature. We cannot teach you how to do this directly; we can only help you find your own way. Your link to vulpine creatures will make bonding to them easier, so we should begin there."
When you finish your meal, the female suggests you change into fresh clothes. They are made for a female, and specially tailored for a person with a tail and anthropomorphic feet. The clothes you borrowed are taken and put on by the male. "Let's go outside," he says.
Written by Jasan Quinn on 11 February 2015