Tachihara yelps, caught by surprise. He really should have expected it, but he'd been lowering his guard, enjoying the nuzzling... He wonders if it bleeds enough that the blood will stain his fur.
"You're the one who set me up with this kind of job," he says. And they're not food, he doesn't add, because thinking of them as friends never ends well, if the human military wants to bring them in or have them killed. It's the part he likes the least about this whole arrangement.
And then, just to placate Jouno a little: "But if anyone can handle taking care of anything, it's you, Jouno-san."
The yelp (and the slight smell of blood that wells up from the wound) brings a smile to Jouno's face. Licking his lips for a faint taste of it, he responds, "You were to reckless in the forest. You needed something to redirect your energy." Besides, this way, Jouno could keep tabs on the human world without having to participate in it much himself.
The compliment does it's trick, and Jouno practically preens. "Of course," he agrees, tucking a stray strand of silver hair behind his ear. As far as he's concerned, everything would fall apart without him. "That doesn't mean I enjoy it, though. Things were much simpler when I had a scapegoat around."
"When did I sign up to be your scapegoat?" He didn't sign up for any of this, technically. He wouldn't change any of it now, though, even the part where Jouno bosses him around and gets him to do all the menial tasks he doesn't want to do himself.
He likes the part where Jouno bosses him around.
Which doesn't mean he can't give him a bit of attitude for it. "Isn't it better if they see you as someone reliable?"
“I’d rather they didn’t,” Jouno replies, but they both know that isn’t the entire truth. Jouno likes being needed, likes being the person people turn to when they require help, if only because he likes the praise that comes with it.
“But you signed up for it when you started following me around.” That’s also not the entire truth — it wasn’t as if Tachihara was given much of a choice when it came to following Jouno. The older kitsune had more forced him into recruitment than anything.
“Tell me, though — how have you been?” Jouno may not understand Tachihara’s fascination with humans, but he cares enough about knowing everything that he bothers to ask how it’s going.
Tachihara rubs at his ear for a second before answering. He always wants to be careful with how he phrases himself, talking about humans.
"I'm good. It's always a bit lonely when I have to leave, but that group was a bit boring, anyway." A rare statement from him about humans, but there hadn't been much for him to get up to, not enough oppourtunities to cause a bit of mischief. "And being away is always lonely, too."
Away from Jouno. Away from Tetchou. Away from the people here he likes. Away from the forest, no matter how boring it gets there after a while. It's always so quiet compared to human cities...
Jouno notes the caution with some distaste. He’s aware when people are speaking around him to not set him off, and Tachihara is a master of doing so, carefully dancing around topics to not offend the listening parties — Jouno, of course, being one of the most dangerous.
“Will the military send you with that group again?” Jouno questions, ear twitching curiously. He doesn’t understand Tachihara’s issue with loneliness. Peace and quiet is desirable as far as Jouno is concerned. That’s part of why he despises human nature; they’re always so rowdy and loud.
This time, he just shrugs. "I don't think so. They got the information they needed."
It's a smaller group, and Tachihara has a feeling it won't be around much longer. That's the lonely part, really - sure, they were boring, but they were nice. They were still his friends. It might not be the same as where he belongs, which is always here, with Jouno, but to him it's never been enough to have just one person.
"They mentioned plans for something bigger in the future. But I have some time off now."
“Then you have time to come home for a while,” Jouno comments, leaving no real room for protest. Tachihara rarely says no to him, but either way, he’s not going to give him room to start. Jouno’s tails swish behind him happily, pleased to have his little subordinate back under his thumb.
“Though it might have to be a short-lived visit. We’ve been having some trouble as of late.”
Tachihara wasn't going to argue. He'd just be dragged back by his scruff, he knows, which would be humiliating. And a short stay does sound nice...
"What kind of trouble?" But of course that's what immediately catches his attention, long ears perking up. If he's been out on some mission with boring humans while Jouno has been having the fun kind of trouble... Well, he's back now, which means he can throw himself into the middle of whatever it is.
“Something has been targeting magically-inclined humans as of late,” Jouno answers, resting a hand on his chin. “The usual suspects are accounted for, so I’m afraid we have someone new to contend with.”
While Jouno hardly cares what happens to the humans, magically-inclined or not, he does care when it starts to affect their kind. If the humans try to fight back, they’re rarely smart enough to limit their decision to the culprit alone.
"Sounds like it could be interesting." Tachihara's tails swish behind him before settling. Throw a problem at him, someone new to meet, and he's always immediately excited. But... No, he did want to spend a bit of time with Jouno before leaving again. He'd been gone a while this time, or at least it felt that way to him.
So he won't run off immedaitely. But he's tempted. He'll wait to see what Jouno decides. "I wonder what kind of person it is."
"I take it you want the assignment." Tachihara's excitement is obvious, after all. Of course, Jouno had every intention of sending Tachihara out for information. He was reliable and unlikely to cause trouble.
"I'm not sure," Jouno admits hesitantly, hating that he has as little information as he does. "I'll send you the reports on it later, but for now -- let's get coffee." Coffee was one of the few things humans did right as far as Jouno was concerned, and he was going to take advantage of his time in the human world to get some.
"You know I do." It's new, it's exciting, it's a direct request from Jouno. Those are some of his favorite things. He'll have it all figured out in no time, just you see.
His ears perk up a bit at the mention of coffee, though. "Yeah, I could use some coffee." He says. And he'll stick close to Jouno as they walk, like he always does, most of his attention on him, as he's the most important person here. Really, one of the only important people.
“It’s yours,” Jouno assures him with a swish of his tails. “It needs to be resolved, but I have little desire to mess with the affairs of humans.” Tachihara was the ideal candidate for investigating considering he genuinely enjoyed being around them.
In a puff of red smoke, Jouno’s ears and tails disappear, leaving him in his human form —- he wasn’t about to go out to coffee in his true form, after all. Instead of his kimono, he wears a military uniform, all so he will look in place as they make their way through the military corridors. Not every soldier knew of the military’s dealings with the supernatural.
“The place we went last time was nice.” They also had been surprisingly good spirited about Jouno scrutinizing their coffee. Besides, it’s a familiar location so it’s easy for Jouno to lead the way.
"You just wanna step in at the last minute so people are impressed with you," Tachihara teases. Not that Jouno is interested in impressing just anyone, but if the right people are watching...
Tachihara follows suit, letting his own ears and tail disappear as well. Blending in with humans is second nature to him, but Jouno without his ears just feels strange to him. There's nothing human about him. There shouldn't be anything human about him. Without him, Tachihara would never have learned how to be anything other than a human himself... Or at least an imitation of one.
He scratches at his hair where his ears just were, not fond of these constant changes back and forth. "I remember the barista there was nice."
“It isn’t my fault that I’m naturally impressive,” Jouno protests, as if Tachihara is off base calling him out like that. In reality, Jouno does seek praise from others, the more important, the better. He wouldn’t have agreed to help the military out if they hadn’t offered him the accolades he wanted in doing so, after all.
“They were. They even made one of Tetchou-san’s awful concoctions once.” Though Jouno thinks that’s more stupidity than being nice. Where Jouno and Tachihara could blend in to human society, Tetchou, Jouno thought, stood out like a sore thumb.
"I didn't say you weren't also impressive!" Tachihara says, quickly. But he does mean it. Jouno has proved himself to him more than enough times, and continues to teach him so much. "Besides, you've already proved you can easily kick my ass if I ever actually doubt you."
The itchiness of shapeshifting alieved, he drops his hands, and then lifts them up again to straighten his military uniform, rolling his shoulders to adjust how it sits. He prefers his kimono, really. "Is Tetchou-san around?"
"Of course I could," Jouno replies, head held high as if it was remotely impressive that someone of his age could defeat a youngster like Tachihara. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear, briefly running his fingers over where his ears should have been, Jouno wrinkles his nose at the next question.
"No." It's a flat answer and it seems for a moment that Jouno actually isn't going to elaborate. It's short-lived, though, as Jouno can hardly stand to pass up a chance to complain about Tetchou. "Do you know how disastrous it would be to bring him here? He has no subtlety. He doesn't blend in with the humans at all." Shape-shifting only did so much. Tetchou's behavior was...
Well.
"It's a headache to try and keep him in line and personally, I think I deserve better than to spend my day fighting off a migraine." As if to exaggerate his point, Jouno rubs his temples with a frown on his face.
Tachihara tilts his head slightly. “Humans are not as suspicious as you think,” he says. “These days everyone has a weird uncle, or that cousin no one likes to talk about. They’ll probably just assume he’s someone’s cousin.”
At least that’s usually how humans seem to talk about each other. In the past strange humans might have been deemed threats, but these days people seemed to mostly ignore them. It had saved Tachihara when he’d first tried to blend in with them, before Jouno found and trained him. These days he prides himself on being able to pass as someone completely normal.
He continues easily. “I’ll have to go say hi to him later. It’s been a while since I last saw him.”
"Are they not?" Jouno questions curiously, thinking it over. "Perhaps they're even dumber than I give them credit for." Prey that didn't even realize it was prey -- there was almost no fun at all in tearing them down. Almost.
Jouno pinches the bridge of his nose. "If you insist. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you, too." Through all of Jouno's complaints, it was likely that he'd pick up a souvenir to take back to Tetchou before returning home. They rarely were apart for long.
No matter how much he complains, Tachihara knows that Jouno doesn’t actually hate Tetchou. It’s why he’s able to talk about him so casually like this. He keeps talking as though Jouno never said a single complaint at all.
“He’s helped me a lot, too. His training actually saved me in a fight recently, I’ll have to thank him,” he says. “It was this specific trick he used against me once… It was a rush when I realized I could counter it.”
"You don't want to learn to fight like a brute like that. There's no elegance in what he does at all. Nor is there any real brain to it. I could beat him if I really wanted to." Never mind that Jouno had not won a single fight against Tetchou in all their years of knowing each other. He was still convinced that he was stronger than the other -- after all, brawn wasn't everything.
They'd left the military facility by now, and Jouno could smell the fresh aroma of coffee in the air. They had to be getting closer.
"You should show me a few of your tricks sometime, then," Tachihara says. Not that Jouno hasn't. Not that he hasn't kicked Tachihara's ass more than once. But it almost feels lonely when he hasn't been taught that kind of lesson by the older kitsune for too long.
Tachihara doesn't smell the coffee yet, but he knows where they are, he knows they're getting close. He still has some money in his pocket, so he thinks he might get himself a pastry, too, once they're there. "Did you have lunch already?"
“When we get back to the forest,” Jouno promises him with a smirk. “I’ll show you how a kitsune should fight.” It wouldn’t be the first time that Jouno had instructed Tachihara, but Jouno took pride in the chances he could teach the other something.
“I didn’t yet.” Lunch most likely meant two different things to them —- Tachihara was more used to the human definition by now, whereas Jouno preferred snacking on what monsters were meant to eat. Still, Jouno would play nice in the human world; it wouldn’t due to cause a scene. “They’ll have food, won’t they?”
Tachihara definitely means human food when he talks about eating... It's more than his preference, since it's what he's used to as well. Jouno has never quite managed to change that in him, even if he has tried. He smiles. "Of course they'll have food. Pretty good food, too."
And then, since he does know Jouno doesn't eat at cafes very often: "I can recommend something I think you'll like, if you want."
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 09:49 pm (UTC)"You're the one who set me up with this kind of job," he says. And they're not food, he doesn't add, because thinking of them as friends never ends well, if the human military wants to bring them in or have them killed. It's the part he likes the least about this whole arrangement.
And then, just to placate Jouno a little: "But if anyone can handle taking care of anything, it's you, Jouno-san."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:07 pm (UTC)The compliment does it's trick, and Jouno practically preens. "Of course," he agrees, tucking a stray strand of silver hair behind his ear. As far as he's concerned, everything would fall apart without him. "That doesn't mean I enjoy it, though. Things were much simpler when I had a scapegoat around."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:14 pm (UTC)He likes the part where Jouno bosses him around.
Which doesn't mean he can't give him a bit of attitude for it. "Isn't it better if they see you as someone reliable?"
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:20 pm (UTC)“But you signed up for it when you started following me around.” That’s also not the entire truth — it wasn’t as if Tachihara was given much of a choice when it came to following Jouno. The older kitsune had more forced him into recruitment than anything.
“Tell me, though — how have you been?” Jouno may not understand Tachihara’s fascination with humans, but he cares enough about knowing everything that he bothers to ask how it’s going.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:29 pm (UTC)"I'm good. It's always a bit lonely when I have to leave, but that group was a bit boring, anyway." A rare statement from him about humans, but there hadn't been much for him to get up to, not enough oppourtunities to cause a bit of mischief. "And being away is always lonely, too."
Away from Jouno. Away from Tetchou. Away from the people here he likes. Away from the forest, no matter how boring it gets there after a while. It's always so quiet compared to human cities...
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:48 pm (UTC)“Will the military send you with that group again?” Jouno questions, ear twitching curiously. He doesn’t understand Tachihara’s issue with loneliness. Peace and quiet is desirable as far as Jouno is concerned. That’s part of why he despises human nature; they’re always so rowdy and loud.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-18 11:51 pm (UTC)It's a smaller group, and Tachihara has a feeling it won't be around much longer. That's the lonely part, really - sure, they were boring, but they were nice. They were still his friends. It might not be the same as where he belongs, which is always here, with Jouno, but to him it's never been enough to have just one person.
"They mentioned plans for something bigger in the future. But I have some time off now."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-19 12:10 am (UTC)“Though it might have to be a short-lived visit. We’ve been having some trouble as of late.”
no subject
Date: 2023-05-19 12:14 am (UTC)"What kind of trouble?" But of course that's what immediately catches his attention, long ears perking up. If he's been out on some mission with boring humans while Jouno has been having the fun kind of trouble... Well, he's back now, which means he can throw himself into the middle of whatever it is.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-19 12:24 am (UTC)While Jouno hardly cares what happens to the humans, magically-inclined or not, he does care when it starts to affect their kind. If the humans try to fight back, they’re rarely smart enough to limit their decision to the culprit alone.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-20 10:52 pm (UTC)So he won't run off immedaitely. But he's tempted. He'll wait to see what Jouno decides. "I wonder what kind of person it is."
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 04:41 pm (UTC)"I'm not sure," Jouno admits hesitantly, hating that he has as little information as he does. "I'll send you the reports on it later, but for now -- let's get coffee." Coffee was one of the few things humans did right as far as Jouno was concerned, and he was going to take advantage of his time in the human world to get some.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 07:05 pm (UTC)His ears perk up a bit at the mention of coffee, though. "Yeah, I could use some coffee." He says. And he'll stick close to Jouno as they walk, like he always does, most of his attention on him, as he's the most important person here. Really, one of the only important people.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-30 04:47 am (UTC)In a puff of red smoke, Jouno’s ears and tails disappear, leaving him in his human form —- he wasn’t about to go out to coffee in his true form, after all. Instead of his kimono, he wears a military uniform, all so he will look in place as they make their way through the military corridors. Not every soldier knew of the military’s dealings with the supernatural.
“The place we went last time was nice.” They also had been surprisingly good spirited about Jouno scrutinizing their coffee. Besides, it’s a familiar location so it’s easy for Jouno to lead the way.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-30 09:30 pm (UTC)Tachihara follows suit, letting his own ears and tail disappear as well. Blending in with humans is second nature to him, but Jouno without his ears just feels strange to him. There's nothing human about him. There shouldn't be anything human about him. Without him, Tachihara would never have learned how to be anything other than a human himself... Or at least an imitation of one.
He scratches at his hair where his ears just were, not fond of these constant changes back and forth. "I remember the barista there was nice."
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 04:25 am (UTC)“They were. They even made one of Tetchou-san’s awful concoctions once.” Though Jouno thinks that’s more stupidity than being nice. Where Jouno and Tachihara could blend in to human society, Tetchou, Jouno thought, stood out like a sore thumb.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 03:30 pm (UTC)The itchiness of shapeshifting alieved, he drops his hands, and then lifts them up again to straighten his military uniform, rolling his shoulders to adjust how it sits. He prefers his kimono, really. "Is Tetchou-san around?"
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 05:34 pm (UTC)"No." It's a flat answer and it seems for a moment that Jouno actually isn't going to elaborate. It's short-lived, though, as Jouno can hardly stand to pass up a chance to complain about Tetchou. "Do you know how disastrous it would be to bring him here? He has no subtlety. He doesn't blend in with the humans at all." Shape-shifting only did so much. Tetchou's behavior was...
Well.
"It's a headache to try and keep him in line and personally, I think I deserve better than to spend my day fighting off a migraine." As if to exaggerate his point, Jouno rubs his temples with a frown on his face.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 06:26 pm (UTC)At least that’s usually how humans seem to talk about each other. In the past strange humans might have been deemed threats, but these days people seemed to mostly ignore them. It had saved Tachihara when he’d first tried to blend in with them, before Jouno found and trained him. These days he prides himself on being able to pass as someone completely normal.
He continues easily. “I’ll have to go say hi to him later. It’s been a while since I last saw him.”
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 06:43 pm (UTC)Jouno pinches the bridge of his nose. "If you insist. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you, too." Through all of Jouno's complaints, it was likely that he'd pick up a souvenir to take back to Tetchou before returning home. They rarely were apart for long.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 07:06 pm (UTC)“He’s helped me a lot, too. His training actually saved me in a fight recently, I’ll have to thank him,” he says. “It was this specific trick he used against me once… It was a rush when I realized I could counter it.”
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 07:11 pm (UTC)They'd left the military facility by now, and Jouno could smell the fresh aroma of coffee in the air. They had to be getting closer.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-01 09:24 pm (UTC)Tachihara doesn't smell the coffee yet, but he knows where they are, he knows they're getting close. He still has some money in his pocket, so he thinks he might get himself a pastry, too, once they're there. "Did you have lunch already?"
no subject
Date: 2023-06-07 03:13 am (UTC)“I didn’t yet.” Lunch most likely meant two different things to them —- Tachihara was more used to the human definition by now, whereas Jouno preferred snacking on what monsters were meant to eat. Still, Jouno would play nice in the human world; it wouldn’t due to cause a scene. “They’ll have food, won’t they?”
no subject
Date: 2023-06-12 12:38 pm (UTC)And then, since he does know Jouno doesn't eat at cafes very often: "I can recommend something I think you'll like, if you want."
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: