[Other FULL] Hidden Village IC [T]

It felt like it was only yesterday that Kitai had woken up to find himself in an unfamiliar place. How he ended up there was a mystery to him as nothing out of the ordinary had happened the night prior. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep after practicing his magic. So how did Kitai end up where he did, and with his mother's staff no less? He was using it in his training, but he had given it back to her afterwards. So why was it in his possession here? There were many things Kitai didn't understand nor remember, likely because he was asleep when it all happened to him.

With no idea how to get home from this new location, wherever that was, the only thing Kitai could do was survive and hope he would find his own way back, and survive he did. Thanks to the training he received from his father, Kitai was able to live off the forests he wandered around, preying on wildlife, and finding sources of clean, fresh water to keep hydrated. However, in his wandering he did come across a land inhabited by people, which grabbed his curiosity as these people had an appearance similar to his regular form except that they didn't have tails or fur-covered ears coming out the top of their heads. Though despite watching these people on a regular basis out of said curiosity he never approached them simply because he was too scared. Though after a couple weeks of living this lifestyle, Kitai noticed others with features he had never seen before nor recognized from the people he watched almost daily wandering the forests as if looking for something, which turned out to be him. After evading them for several days out of fear with his natural agility and his ability to create illusions, he was eventually caught only to find out that the ones pursuing him merely wanted to take him to a place where he would be safe from the same people he had been watching up until that point, which he was told were 'humans'.

From that point much was explained to Kitai, particularly that he was on another world apart from his own, in this world was a village populated by various creatures from other worlds called "Nightsiders", the fact that he would be safe there from the humans that would do him harm for one reason or another, and most importantly to Kitai, that they were working on a way to get these Nightsiders back home. Seeing this as the way back to his world he had desired, Kitai ultimately agreed to come to the village they spoke of. Now here he was in the present day, waiting inside of his house, it had a single square shaped room with a set of soft cloth laid out on the floor near the wall in place of a bed, candles lit with blue fire were hung around the walls as well as a small table in the back of the room with a set of candles placed there in an altar like fashion, and a large yet short rectangular table was in the middle of the room surrounded by cushions instead of chairs, there he sat in a fetal position with his nine tails enclosed around his body as if trying to shield him from something and his hands gripped his mother's staff tightly as he wondered *What will this village be like? Are there other Kitsune like me here? How long until I can go back home?*

Eventually, Kitai heard the sound of a bell ringing prompting his ears to twitch as he lifted his head up. Was that sound meant to signal the newcomers over to be welcomed by the rest of the village? His curiosity getting the better of him, Kitai decided to at least head in the direction the noise was coming from to see what was going on while also making it a point to avoid showing himself to everyone else in case he wasn't supposed to yet. With his mind made up Kitai quickly got up and headed out the door, which slid open instead of opening inwards like most doors, with his staff in hand passing under the torii in front of his house, which was topped by the kind of roof built on Shinto shrines. Soon after leaving the building, Kitai's body was briefly engulfed in blue flames as it changed into that of a nine-tailed fox. With his agility increased in this form, Kitai swiftly made his way toward the noise.

Zip lounges in his home, enjoying his nap. He didn't have a normal home, since that would make it too easy for people to find him and ask him to do things. Instead, he created temporary houses out of rock, wood, cloud; anything he could find lying about. Today's house is mainly cloud, but it's sitting so low to the ground it may as well be fog.

His sleep is interrupted by the sound of a bell. It startles him out of his cloud hammock and sends him tumbling to the cloud floor. "What is that? Are we under attack? And who is ringing it?" His wings buzz like dragonfly wings as he shoots straight up, bursting his cloud home and flying toward the bell like a glowing blue comet.

"The bell is ringing! I do not know what that means, but it is clearly important! Everyone, head to the stump and leave your meals unattended!" Zip fully intends to take advantage of the fracas in whatever way he can.

When he gets there, he finds that his natural glow makes him nearly indistinguishable from the decorative lights. As long as no one tries to put him in a bottle (a recurring nightmare for fairies), he might just have some fun here...

Rayce was polishing off his home. He was dusting off a vase with a featherduster when a loud bell rang in the village square. Rayce knew that that must mean an important event was going to go down. He just had to be there! In light of his confusion, he accidentally knocked the vase off the dresser it was on. "Oh no, you don't." Rayce murmured out loud. He quickly placed his hands forward and shot two straps of his mummy-encased body at the vase. Before the vase could fall to the ground and break, the two straps curved around it and grabbed a hold of it. Rayce lifted his hands up while controlling his powers, and put it back on the dresser. "Phew." Rayce thought to himself. He couldn't risk letting that vase break. It contained the ancient remains of one of his ancient ancestors in his human life. If the vase broke and the dust from it was exposed, he didn't dare think what would happen.

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Rayce said as he walked outside his house and ran. Well, running for him wasn't really a thing since mummies can't run. Instead it looked more like he was power walking. The house that Rayce came out of was a gold, pyramid-shaped, adobe hut with only one door on the front and one room, his own inside it. Granted, it wasn't much, but it was a roof over his head and did remind him of his ancestry. Rayce ran out of the house down the streets towards the village square. While he was running, he accidentally got a strap from his foot caught on a small rock. Rayce tripped and face-planted onto the ground. "Ouch, that hurt..." Rayce said aloud. He looked back and saw why he had tripped. Quickly trying to get past the situation, he shot a strap from his left hand. The strap pierced the rock and made it crumble into pieces, freeing him. Rayce got up and dusted himself off. Once he was done, he continued to run (or speed-walk if you must) down to the village square. Once he got there he was mesmerized. The place was decorated in a sole, sparkling blue as well as the wildlife around it. Rayce continued to walk around, astounded by the decorations, and then took a seat.

In little to notime at all, Kitai had arrived at the part of the village where the sound was coming from, and sure enough he saw a bell ringing in the distance. Between him and the bell however was a group of people, each of them having a distinct characteristic that separated them from the humans that Kitai was watching before being brought here. Unfortunately, as he scanned the crowd in front of him, there didn't appear to be any with traits like his.

*Could I be the only Kitsune here?* Kitai wondered as he changed to his human-like form in a burst of blue fire and put his haori's hood over his head, making sure his ears went through the holes on the top like they were supposed to. When he pulled his hand away from his ears he noticed it and his entire sleeve was covered in what appeared to be a blue light. Curious, he grabbed one of his nine tails and looked at it to see it too appeared blue. As he let the tail slip out of his hand, he looked around and saw that the blue light that covered his body also seemingly covered the entire area.

Looking at the crowd in front of him, Kitai gripped his staff with both of his hands and hid behind a nearby tree as he wondered out loud "I know I've only been here for a few days but....I don't remember the village looking like this. It looks like they decorated for a celebration." He paused for a moment before realizing something and saying, "They did say there was gonna be a ceremony to welcome newcomers to the village. I guess that means I'm gonna have to stand in front of all those people...."

At that moment Kitai started to wonder if he should be where he is, hiding behind a tree away from the crowd. Should he be somewhere else at this moment? He believed that considering this ceremony was meant to welcome him to the village that someone would come get him, but would that someone be able to find him where he is now, or would they go to his house to look for him there? Either way, Kitai was already near the path to his house already, so if anyone heads towards it he'll know, and with his speed he'll easily be able to make it back to his house before they got there. Though he hopes that someone will be able to find him just fine, he waited where he was patiently to see what happened.

Zip darts around the clearing, but no one seems to be paying attention to him. Annoyed, he darts back toward the houses, but finds them all locked. No one even left a window open! "Who does this? It is the middle of summer, yet all windows are shut? How am I to procure free food like this?"

He leans against a blue lantern, blending in while pouting. Then he spots someone hiding off to the side, and gets an idea. A wonderful, awful idea...

Zips rushes over to Kitai, darting around and acting panicked. "Hey! Listen!" He stops in front of the kitsune, panting for air. "Please! You have to help me! I have just escaped from one of the tiny lanterns! My brethren are still trapped inside! Please, help me free them by taking down and destroying the lanterns!"

Kitai continued to wait for someone to show up, quelling the boredom by conjuring tiny flames, occasionally dancing them along his fingers or having them appear on the tips of his tails as though they were candles. He knew normal fire was potentially dangerous and that he shouldn't play with it, but his was special in that it doesn't burn anything unless he tells it too. After a moment of playing around, he took the flame he was currently playing with and held it in the direction of the lights around the area the Ceremony was taking place. The blue lights reminded him of the blue fire he held in his hand, leaving him to wonder if it was a Kitsune that lit them. He'd have to ask to know for sure, but he couldn't help but get his hopes up. The thought that he might be the only one of his kind in the entire village made him feel lonely after all.

However, Kitai noticed something out the corner of his eye that made him turn in that direction to see a blue ball of light heading straight towards him. This prompting Kitai to let out a surprised cry as he gripped his staff with both hands and held it close to him, his nine tails circling around his body in a defensive manner and his eyes shut tightly. He stayed like this whimpering for a second or two until he heard a "Hey! Listen!" from the ball of light flying over him.

Hearing this made Kitai open his eyes curiously to see the ball of light stop in front of his face. It was at this point that Kitai noticed a small winged, humanoid figure within the light. The puzzled kitsune lifted his left hand, which was covered by the large sleeve of his haori, towards the creature in such a way that his palm was underneath it as it stopped to catch it's breath. "Please! You have to help me! I have just escaped from one of the tiny lanterns! My brethren are still trapped inside! Please, help me free them by taking down and destroying the lanterns!"The creature told him.

"That's awful....but..." Kitai started in response before looking up at the lights, they did look eerily similar in color to the creature before him. But there was no indication that there was any living thing inside of them, much less trying to break out. If there was, destroying the lanterns and setting them all free would be easy for Kitai, but the question was should he? "Those lights are decorations for the Ceremony, right? If we destroy them, then we'll get in trouble. Maybe we should ask someone and find another way to free your friends."

Rayce "That Mummy Dude"

Rayce was in his seat along with the bustling crowd of people around him at the main center square in The Hidden Village. He didn't pay much attention to most of the crowd around him. They were talking about their own things and situations, and how their lives have been with each other here in The Hidden Village. Rayce preferred living alone by himself. He didn't get lonesome though. He actually quite enjoyed it. While Rayce was listening to the hub-bub of the crowd and hustling of feet, he did hear ONE interesting conversation by a tree not too far from the square. Rayce had quite excellent hearing for his age since he was pretty hollow. Rayce tuned in, and then after listening got up from his own chair without warning. Rayce walked, slowly, ever so slowly in his mummy form over to the tree. Rayce then walked around it and found a fox-looking creature and a small fairy-looking creature in front of him. "Hey, I heard what you two were planning;. I can confirm those blue decorations have nothing living inside them. If I were you I wouldn't mess with them, because you could get in trouble with the Village Elder. However, if you want to go ahead and try, I will not stop you. I am old and frail, and cannot do much these days anyway." Rayce said to the two. This was exactly the passive-aggressive kind of nature that had gotten Rayce into trouble before, but he was oblivious to it.

Shortly after Kitai suggested that he and the small flying creature ask someone about the lights he heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching them, causing his ears to twitch. He looked in the direction he heard them in from behind the tree he was hiding behind to see a tall humanoid figure completely covered in bandages moving towards them. It's sudden appearance and the menacing physical appearance of the creature in general prompted Kitai to jump and give a brief cry out of fear before hiding behind a different part of the tree with his staff in both of his hands, his tails closed in around the parts of his body that weren't pressed against the tree, his ears laid flat onto the hood he was wearing over his head, and he was shivering. *What was that? What does he want?* Kitai wondered.

"Hey." Kitai heard him say. Curious, Kitai leaned out from his hiding spot a bit, enough so that the creature could see one of his eyes and an ear at the very least. "I heard what you two were planning;. I can confirm those blue decorations have nothing living inside them. If I were you I wouldn't mess with them, because you could get in trouble with the Village Elder. However, if you want to go ahead and try, I will not stop you. I am old and frail, and cannot do much these days anyway."

Kitai was rather put off by the creature's seemingly passive-aggresive tone, but at least he was able to find out that the lights didn't have any living things trapped within them at the very leas and destroying them would in fact get him in trouble. The conflicting statements did make him feel uncertain, and he was curious to find out whatever he could. Still afraid however, Kitai let out a whimper before slowly stepping out of hiding and telling the bandaged figure, "I'm sorry. That fairy told me his friends were trapped in those lights. I've only been in this village for a few days and I never saw them before, so I....I didn't know what to do, just that destroying them didn't feel right."

Kitai turned over to the blue fairy-like creature and asked him, "So you were lying to me? Then why did you want me to destroy those lights?"

Zip rolls his eyes when the fox boy hesitates, not wanting to get in trouble. "But..." he starts, trying to convince the kid to act out. He can't think of anything, and they are soon joined by an undead man wrapped in bandages. He doesn't seem too invested, but he rather casually ruins Zip's joke.

"Oh, sure, ruin all my fun." Zip crosses his arms, sulking. Kitai looks up at him from his spot on the ground. "...Then why did you want me to destroy those lights?"

Zip sighs in exasperation, this joke becoming more trouble than it's worth. And then, a Fairy shows up, quite rudely referring to him as "Hey you." His wings buzz incredibly fast in his agitation, and he rapidly darts from one person to another, complaining loudly with his high-pitched voice.

"All I wanted was a little fun! These events are always so stuffy and boring! I was only making a joke, but you are too timid to go along with it, and this one-" he gestures to Rayce, "spoils the punchline! Just have some fun, shake things up! Would that be so bad?"

He ends his rant hovering in front of Vonetta, scowling at her. "And I do not need a little Faerie giving me a hard time about my jokes."

"Oh, sure, ruin all my fun." Kitai heard the blue flying creature mumble.

*Fun?" Kitai wondered in his mind. What was so fun about lying to someone and tricking them into destroying ceremonial decorations?

Suddenly another small flying creature appeared, and although she was clearly upset at the other one instead of Kitai, the young kitsune couldn't help but flatten his ears against his hood once more. He hid behind this tree to avoid drawing attention to himself, instead he ends up drawing in a whole group of people. Once the new creature approached him and asked what the Pixie had told him. To which Kitai whimpered with his ears still flat and told her, "He...He told me to destroy the lights they were using as part of the ceremony because his friends were trapped inside of them." As he says this, he points his staff toward the lights he was talking about, he then turns towards the bandaged figure and continues, "I wanted to ask someone if there was another way we could free them when he came and said there was no one inside those lights after all."

"All I wanted was a little fun! These events are always so stuffy and boring! I was only making a joke, but you are too timid to go along with it, and this one-" The pixie gestures to the bandaged figure, "spoils the punchline! Just have some fun, shake things up! Would that be so bad?"

"You....You tried to trick me into possibly ruining the ceremony and call it a joke?" Kitai said to the pixie, trying to sound as angry as his soft, timid voice would allow "But...that's not funny, that's going too far!"

"It is not going too far! It is the very nature of the prank! You break the lights, I reveal the ruse, everybody laughs, and the night is not boring! It is comedy gold!' Zip counts up on his fingers as he explains his plan, not noticing Kitai's anger or Vonetta's departure. He flies over to one of the lights, kicking it for emphasis (it barely moves).

"These lights are unusual, so I wanted to have some fun with them. If there was actually a pixie trapped inside, it would not be nearly as funny. But surely no one in this village would do such a thing, right?"

Though he didn't show it, Kitai was becoming rather irritated by the Pixie's insistence that what he tried to do was little more than a joke. They were just told that they would've gotten in trouble and he still believes that everyone would've laughed at it if Kitai had gone through with destroying the lights?

Kitai was about to speak up again when the fairy that asked him what the pixie had told him landed on his shoulder and told the young fox to just ignore him before flying off, to which Kitai simply replied "O....Okay....Thank you."

"These lights are unusual, so I wanted to have some fun with them. If there was actually a pixie trapped inside, it would not be nearly as funny. But surely no one in this village would do such a thing, right?" The pixie continued.

"Of course not." Kitai stated, "I...I may not have been in this village for long, but everyone I've talked to so far has been very kind to me. They wouldn't imprison anyone." After saying that, Kitai looked towards the crowd, though he was hiding from them up until now he considered going through them to be in the front. He felt hesitant to do so, but with no one to tell him where to be at this given point in time, observing the center of the ceremony up close would be the best option. His mind made up, Kitai slowly made his way through the crowd, finding whatever openings he could, which was difficult as his nine large tails would occasionally push people on their own or force them to move because the tails were blocking their view at that given moment, either way he would call out "Sorry!" whenever he felt he had bumped into or pushed someone. When he made it to the front of the crowd, Kitai did his best to blend in, though the best he could do was keep his tails low to the ground and pressed together so they didn't stand out as much.

As Kitai waited amongst the crowd for either the ceremony, or for someone to approach him, call out to him, anything really. While no one bothered him over who or what he was despite him being seemingly the only one of his kind there, he couldn't help but think coming to the front was a mistake. In the back, he could at least play with magic to keep himself busy while he waited, but now with a bunch of people behind him, conjuring fire could prompt some kind of undesired response no matter how small he made it. He started to contemplate turning around and going back to hiding when he suddenly felt the ground shake.

"Huh?" Kitai looked at the ground curiously until the shaking became more violent, to the point where he took his staff in both hands and planted it into the ground to stay balanced. It failed however, as the ground simply shook too much. Eventually, Kitai noticed cracks in the ground beginning to form and some dark red substance started to surface. "Wha...What is that?" Kitai asked, though he got no answer as everyone around him was running from there in a panic. Kitai himself noticed the red substance begin to move, seemingly towards him, prompting him to back up in fear. For a moment, he look up to see a tower beginning to crumble as someone jumped out from the top of it.

Who that was, Kitai didn't know for sure, but he didn't have a chance to find out for himself. He quickly focused his attention towards the substance, which got closer to him as if taking advantage of the distraction. Believing that whatever this was intended to do him harm, Kitai took his staff in his right hand, and reached out towards the red substance with his left. Breathing heavily in his fear, Kitai concentrated on the substance and unleashed a large blast of blue fire from his hand in it's direction. He kept this blast going until he believed it was enough and he stopped casting the flame, allowing it to go out on it's own. When the flames did die out however, Kitai saw that it did little to stop the creature, merely slowing it down at best.

As the substance continued it's advance, Kitai continued to back away from it, conjuring flame after flame hoping to burn this substance away. Eventually, Kitai slipped and fell into a sitting position, "Ah!" From there Kitai looked at the substance, and shut his eyes as he cast one last blast of fire, the biggest and longest blast he had conjured against the substance so far. When Kitai stopped and the blast died down, he saw that the substance had survived. Realizing there was nothing he could do to stop it, Kitai simply tucked his legs in and just sat there whimpering in fear. All the while he questioned what it was, what was it going to do to him, why was his magic, magic that should be powerful beyond measure from a nine-tailed Kitsune like himself, ineffective against this substance?

Just when it seemed like his fate was sealed, Kitai sensed magic being cast around him. This feeling made him open his eyes to see what it was, only to see a bright flash of light surround his body for a brief second. Before Kitai had a chance to wonder what was going on, he became engulfed in the light, and lost consciousness.

Zip had half-expected someone to shove him into one of the lanterns for his prank, just fir tempting fate like that. Luckily, everyone in the village was nice, just like Kitai said. It riles him up again as he darts around the clearing.

"Oh, come on! I give you all a straight line like that, and no one wants to take it? I am grateful not to be punished in such a way, but it would have been comedy gold! Yet you ignore me and just run around screaming! What is wrong with everyone?"

By virtue of flying (and moving around so rapidly), Zip completely missed the earthquake, only seeing people's reaction to the ooze. When he finally notices the spreading substance, he lets out a high-pitched yelp, taken by surprise.

"What is that? Some kind of... jam? Is it edible? Does it taste good?" He eagerly flits down to sample a bite, but seeing it consume a nearby elf makes him change his mind.

"Ah! Nevermind! It is hungry! We must flee! I will go find provisions!" The jam lunges for him, and he flies straight up, leaving a trail like a blue comet. He feels something tug at him, and his eyes widen in panic as he is engulfed. But he realizes that his vision is not blocked by jam, but by bright light. He hovers, glowing brightly, waiting for the light to pass...

After the flash of light the surrounded him faded away, Kitai found himself waking up. The ground he was laying on felt soft, soft enough for him to tell he was most likely laying on a carpet. The realization that the carpet was most likely made from the hide of an animal disturbed him slightly since he was partly an animal himself, but it felt physically comfortable nonetheless. After waking up he got up slowly until he was on his hands and knees.

"Ugh." He groaned before shaking his head, afterwards he noticed his staff lying on the ground next to him, so he simply picked it up and used it to support himself as he got up. Once he was on his feet, he looked around the tent and noticed others had been seemingly teleported here with him. He noticed the pixie and the fairy he spoke to earlier were there too.

"What happened? Where are we?" Kitai asked out loud as he looked around. He saw the wall laced with fabric, his curiosity prompting him to get one of his hands out of his large sleeves and brush his palm along said fabric. It was soft, not as soft as the carpet he was just laying on, but still soft in it's own right. He then noticed the table with a crystal ball on it, and having never seen a crystal ball before, walked up to it for a closer look.

Suddenly a male voice spoke from the ball saying, "Welcome to paradise!"

"Ah!" Kitai cried out in surprise as he jumped back from the table. Gripping his staff with both hands and his tails circled around his body he asked the crystal ball. "Who....Who are you?"