Broken Corner

Junyuu the tanuki was touching up on her roots by playing a shamisen, or at least she was attempting to. It was a long instrument, somewhat like a sanxian, with a sound quality reminiscent of the sitar or a banjo. Literally, it was a long skinny banjo. Especially in her hands due to the fact she did not know how to play. The only thing she was doing was plucking the three silken strings over and over. Down, back up, across, and repeat in a slow fashion sometimes hitting the skin too. It was a very jazzy tune with a terrible, yet interesting, percussive sound.

"Tsu tsu tsukiyo da

Minna dete koi koi koi

Oira no tomodacha

Pon poko pon no pon..."

She stopped suddenly to take a gulping swig of sake, then continued to sing.

"Makeruna makeruna

Osho-san ni makeruna

Koi koi koi, Koi koi koi

Minna dete koi koi koi..."

Her singing certainly was not an improvement to her lack of shamisen playing skill. She was a tenor executing over-the-top falsettos, overusing vibrato, and basically it could be said that she was an extremely theatrical off-key vocalist. The music was more in her heart and her head than it was in reality. She only noise, all tanuki have the ability to create noise. The traditional instrument of her kind was actually the belly drum, but she was too self-conscious a female to beat on her own chubby stomach, which she hid underneath the illusion of a thin adolescent girl. Plus, she imagined it would hurt after a while. How does one rock out on their own stomach without sustaining some internal injuries?

Flush pink cheeks revealed how drunk she must've been. The music was possibly the only thing motivating her to stay awake on this fine sunny day. Eyes already half-closed, and upper torso swaying, she was rocking herself to sleep. The lullabye just wasn't soothing enough, it was highly sobering. Being dressed in burlap and other dirty pieces of clothing she was blending in with the environment so well that anyone passing by wouldn't be able to see her. That, and because she was atop an abandoned shop building.

Junyuu the tanuki slowed the strumming of her instrument again as she was unable to coordinate her movements well enough to stop. Once again, she look another long drink from her seemingly bottomless gourd of sake. In comparison to her human hand the gourd was fairly large, about the size of a pitcher, but compared to her real self the gourd was a little more than half her size. Nursing it was no easy feat of accomplishment. Despite the number of times she lifted it and drank it was not becoming any lighter but rather heavier because of her growing lethargy.

"Pon poko pon no pon

Pon poko... pon... pon...

Po...ko..."

The song trailed off as she tried to lift the gourd one more time. Her eyes squinted with concentration, drops of sake spilled over her whiskers and her forehead. Easy, easy, just a little to the left, right, left, or maybe not... Then suddenly---she lost her balance and tumbled over the edge of the building and into the alley below. BOOM! Rattle! Rattle! A cloud of loose green leaves scattered from the impact. With a very dog-like squeal, she landed into a couple of trash cans and a heap of old newspapers. Still holding the sake--- but no longer in humanoid form. The fall shattered her illusion and now she was exposed! Plump, brown, and fluffy with a tail that needed grooming.

She flipped onto all fours. Something wasn't right... The shamisen was busted and her head was stuck inside. Dizzy and confused, the racoon dog creature that was Junyuu struggled to pull it off her head.

As far as Junyuu the tanuki knew, there was no one around; what with her furry head jammed into the drum of the shamisen, she couldn't smell anything besides her own breath and the oiled skin of her broken instrument. Therefore, it natural of her not to bother with recovering the shape of her illusion to save face. She looked something like a dog whose head got caught into a can of food, but worst because there was no food in the belly of her instrument at all. Although it was true in most legends that the tanuki was witty and cunning, somehow it didn't apply to this particular creature who was stumbling out into the sunlit gravelly road, trying to smash the shamisen to pieces in order to free herself. Simply, if she were a smarter creature she would have realized that all she had to do to escape was to shut her yapping jaw, which was wide open in her panic.

"Ow! Ow! Owowowow!" Her voice, like a blackbird's, was thrown from place to place in the surrounding area. Junyuu had a habit of throwing her voice, a practice that suited her as it would've been suspicious to hear her humanoid form speak from the knees. That, and it usually disturbed others too much to directly converse with animals...

Her ringed tail rolled frantically about as she bounced and ricocheted off the ground. Apparently the wood was sturdier than it looked. Junyuu was like a ball of furious fur.

Marcus, a little confused and out of place, stumbled on this place which was somehow called the broken corner. He realized that there was no one here, and the place seemed abandoned, but heard some annoying sounds inside, so he entered cautiously. Apparently he saw a dude yelling at a wierd, furry, half human creature thing he had never seen with its head stuck in something. It seemed that he was bullying the half human creature thing and Marcus decided to stop him, so he jumped with his foot about to kick his face."HEY....BOOT TO THE HEAD!" With that he landed a hit to his face.

At first, Junyuu the tanuki didn't know how to reply but after suddenly hearing another voice and the start of the conversation, why, she couldn't resist social interaction! Despite the fact that it didn't sound like a peaceful conversation, like the kind a blind old lady would have with a deaf old lady, but more like the kind of conversation that involved manliness and two badgers. Her curiousity calmed her down enough that her jaw closed and the shamisen fell off her head. It fell with a wooden clatter to the ground.

"Toy?Whattoy?Doyouhaveatoyforme?MynameisJunyuu.Howaboutyou? AAAH! WAAAAATCHOUT! SNAKES!"

Her paw shot pointing above their heads. Indeed there were snakes as she said, instead of fallen leaves in the wind there were suddenly a storm of little green snakes falling from the sky. If they would both look away for only a fraction of an instant, she could escape... or at least think of something else to do.

Theordac tried to tell the new comer to stop, but it was already to late. Not that anything was wrong with what he had down, but Theordac has confident it was a waste of magical energies. After all snakes falling from the sky, this was either a very complex spell or an illusion. And illusion was a much more likely.

The furious fur ball was free, but whatever laughable it spoke was unclear, with how it merged every word into the next into a slur of baby talk. Theordac placed his hand on his chin and cracked his jaw back into place, the kick had appear to knock it out of alignment.

Despite his efforts Theordac had just managed to help produce further chaos. Keeping his calm despite that fact dark magic spike had been shot at snaked maybe an inch from himself, Theordac bent over and picked up the Shamisen. Examining the instrument that had started all the madness

Theordac watched the snake slither into the weeds, more illusion work he thought. He considered using magic to evoke a reaction from the plants but decided it would serve no purpose. He turned his attention to the hairbrush, now this hairbrush could be an illusion over the drum, or the drum itself was the illusion which possessed an interesting situation. If the drum was an illusion then the fur ball of fury had managed to trap herself within her own illusionary object, making her either very forgetful or dumb. Theordac tossed the hairbrush to the ground, and turned his attention to the magic user. “Ever heard the phrase look before you leap?” Theordac asked, his eyes watching the grass.

Marcus, staring at the earth user, answers his question with this one phrase,"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."Then Marcus walked into Broken Corner, looking around a bit to see what happened here. Marcus muttering to himself,"I wonder what happened here, the place looks abandoned, maybe the cause is still here."

"...Eh-ko-noh-mick-downfall? Oh why um, sure. YES! That was probably it. I don't know really. Maybe. Why are you looking at me like that?" Her scratching slowed to a stop. It was fairly visible to see that her long toenails were encrusted with all manner of unknown filth.

As if having a thought that it was something to do with her improper hygiene, she started to chew her toenails off. A few of her teeth were crooked, like a child who had yet to grow new teeth. The nails on her slight hands were cleaner but that was because she barely had any, they were bitten down pretty far except for the pinkies that she used to open people's mail and pick earwax from her ear or other people's ears when they were sleeping. It made good material for presenting the illusion of scrambled eggs, breakfast in bed...

Junyuu was a creature who never stopped moving or fidgeting in some way, even when she was speaking or in the midst of company. Her face scrunched up from her busy toe-gnawing activity was particularly mischievous looking. This was not the face on wanted to see in a fragile antique shop. "I heard that this place was haunted. You know, I eavesdrop sometimes. On accident of course. There's ghosts here they say, but who died? Eh."

"By my age? Why of course-- because they'd be too dead to bite their nails. I, however, am quite alive." Being protected by an unseen layer of fat and fur, the poke made her giggle. It probably was jiggling too somewhere underneath. By touch, she was extremely soft like a plush toy filled with sand and fluff. She tittered between her sentences. "Tch-tch-tch! I agree though that I could use another dirt bath to keep the fleas and ticks at bay. Why, my hide is showing!"

She peered at a patch of skin on her hand where the layer of dirt on her body was thinning. Her rosy cheeks were also bare, as sweat had long since washed it from her face. Without so much as an ounce of shame she began inspecting her own body this way and that way, twisting, turning, and looking. The creature was stirring up a bit of dust as she moved. "Too much work. I think I'll... yes... this'll work..."

After licking her palms sloppily, she patted them into the dirt then smeared her hands over the places that were almost clean.

"Ohohohohohoho! I am a tanuki. How about you two? What manner of oddities are you? I've never seen such folks before. Or maybe I have. I have a terrible memory..."

With the tanuki asking him who he was, he would answer her question with what he says."I am just a traveler, my name is of no importance until then, I'm also here to investigate this area and the whereabouts of the civilians of the town."

In truth he was shocked at the amount of muck that such a small creature could accumulate, and as the shook like a dog, he raised his cloak so not to get covered in it himself. Which when he thought if threw was actually humorous on his part and kind of foolish, it seems human had worn off on him.

Theordac one again had to listen very closely to make sense of the craziness that came from the girl’s mouth, he swore he was only making out half of it.

Theordac shook his head, he never carried food, after all he didn't eat anything "Sorry i have nothing for you" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Shaken and bedraggled, Freon shook himself awake. Things were dark around him, so he slowly manipulated his pupils into dilating to 5 times their normal size, allowing him to see his surroundings. He was slouched over a barrel, apparently. He read the label upside-down. Wine. 'How typical' he thought. Before pushing himself off the barrel, to land, 5 feet down, onto a sack of flour. He was in a cellar of some sort. He looked around. 'Quite a variety they have here.' He thought. He was just noticing the scope of the cellar he was in. "Jesus atheist CHRIST! Where did I end up this time? The storage facility of a run-down winery now? I really wish I knew how I ended up in these bizarre places. At least there aren't bodies with half their flesh missing all around the place...." He paused, looking towards where he woke up. "Note to self: Don't check inside that particular barrel of fermented grape juice." He shuddered, imagining its contents.

He got up, and dusted himself off. 'Clothes aren't nearly as ripped as the last time. Good sign.' He thought, as he walked around, searching for an exit. He found one, a near blinding shimmer of light going from the cracks in the cellar doors. He contracted his pupils into their normal size, and opened the cellar doors, stumbling a bit on the upper step. He caught his balance, and looked around at his surroundings. "Not familiar at all. Great. I guess I'll have to start over... again. Why does this ALWAYS happen to me?" He said to himself. He slumped against the wall next to him and began practicing his flesh manipulation on his right hand, elongating his nails, sharpening them, then retracting them into their normal form.

Freon's attention snapped to the couple of people walking. His ears extra sensitive due to his body manipulation. He quickly ordered himself into his normal form, and stood up. 'Two people... One notices me... the other... is... an unknown variable.' He thought to himself. He decided that nothing good would come from deceit, especially since he had been noticed. He walked in the direction of the strangers, unconsciously wrapping his fingernail around his left index finger. He noticed it, and slapped his hand, which clipped the fingernail down to normal size, the fingernail melting into his hand. He shuddered. "Damned powers. Never know what'll 'appen with them next." He grumbled. He walked until he was within sight of the two, and then slumped against a building's corner, and waved. "Hey mates, might'cha know where the bloody 'ell we be?" In a slow, british drawl.

"Three years," she replied to Theordac before stopping to notice there was another person. Junyuu was not at all surprised in finding Freon in the cellar. "Oh him...? Is he a rat? He doesn't have to have a reason for being here. Unless he is actually a rat and the reason why the rats are here would be the food. Rats like food. I like food. But I'm not a rat. Strange world..."

Her toenails clicked on the cold tiled floor, on the tiles that were still there anyway. Broken and missing tiles gave way to hard packed dirt.

"Can't you see it's a cellar, stranger? Or, I guess not. This should do the trick..." Taking a leaf out of her pocket, she blew on it and an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling suddenly revived. It was a weak yellow light so after a second of thought, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, "Or not.. again..."

Then the little girl, who was really a tanuki, jumped into the air. She sharply inhaled a disturbing amount of cobwebs and spiders from the rafters as she peaked in height. Quick as a blinking eye she spat out little flecks of light in a line, like seeds, into the darkness until a dozen more oil lamps were lit. After landing on the ground she started coughing spastically. She had good lungs from so much talking and so her coughs were loud and disgusting. A bit like an ancient, diseased animal which contrasted with her young form.

She dramatically beat the ground a few times, eyes watering, with her other hand in the air for a pause. Her striped tail thrashed nervously and her normally calm eyes were bugging out of her head. Momentarily, her face distorted, and she swallowed the obstruction in time to make a prompt answer in a half sing-song voice, "I am a tanuki. Tan tan tanuki. TAAA-NUUU-KEEEEEEE. Why is this not obvious to anyone... oh nevermind. I do see what you mean. I. Do. See. OH I SEEEEE HOW IT IS!"

Junyuu was flustered at first from being asked once again in the same day but then suddenly burst into hysterical tears. "W-well you don't look like you'd understand, you skinny and angsty man! I can't stay in my real form all the time or people will make fun of me for being fat. All female tanuki are fat, it is the source of our powers. Male tanuki don't have to be fat to have powers but... I want to be pretty... Allyoupeoplewhodon'tlikeillusionsandwantrealnaturalorganicstuffareallthe same! Big meanies!"

Then her form broke and she turned into a whining raccoon dog. She ran off between the barrels, sobbing.

Fluffy arm and tiny fingered paw shielding her eyes from the sudden spray of splinters, Junyuu brightened up immediately, voice going as fast as ever. "Fun is always better, thank you. My name is Junyuu. Nice to meet you, Herr Todd and some guy..." She was very impressed with his transformation and subsequent wave of various limbs rolling out from the barrels. The matter of shapeshifting and demonic feasts were very familar things with such creatures as the tanuki. "My, my, you must be a pervert. Look at these parts you didn't eat.... that leads me to think of the parts you DID eat! You know what happens to perverts? They get covered in slime!"

As soon as she finished her last sentence she sneezed, and the splinters, every single wooden shard along with the spare rotting body parts, were blown back to Herr Todd in the form of large slimy worms and maggots. The bugs should feel real, but the only thing that was real was the slime, because it was indeed a genuine sneeze with an abnormal amount of saliva and snot. Since she was by nature, a raccoon, she wasn't about to spray anyone with butterflies and whipped cream. And as this occurred she leapt directly for his face.

"Uhhhhhhh.....I'm gonna walk outside for a bit, it's getting a little disturbing in here." With that said and a little grossed out from what happened, he walked outside, took some air in, and breathed out, and then yelled out,"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?" Then he calmed down after that, and then took a cigar and smoked for a bit before noticing something in the shadows. He peered into the darkness to see some small child sized figure in the shadow. He knew who it was so he whispered, "Well well well, what do we have here, what are you doing here kid, I told you to stay in the other town and away from here."

The kid replied in a soft tone,"That place was scary, I was all alone there, even my friend went lost, I didn't know what to do, so I came back here to find you." Marcus sighed for a bit and answered,"All right don't worry, I'll keep you safe from harm, ok?"

With the kid following him, his investigation might become easy or difficult."Ok,I'm gonna find you something to eat and drink kid, you should find a safe area to hide until I come back."With that said, he walked around the area in search of food and water, but the only thing he found was only a half a loaf and a cup, but there was only a little water left in it. Then he headed to the area the kid was hiding in. He opened the door and saw the kid sleeping on the floor, so he decided to leave the food next to him and Marcus layed on the wall and rested until the kid woke up.

"Just because you've never seen a rooster lay an egg doesn't mean that they don't secretly do it!" Junyuu sighed, as she scrunched up her face a little with thought and rubbed her chin. Her eyes darted from side to side at all the fleshy tentacles wiggling with menace at her before searching the ceiling as if it would have answers. The ceiling, which had rafters. A candle, where a stray hair had been, suddenly popped into existence above her head when she snapped her fingers. Soon after realizing that candle lights above someone's head was an omen of death she plucked it from the air while replying, "Wood. Wood. Wood."

Pouring sake from her favorite gourd into her mouth until her cheeks were full, she speedily retaliated with this: "Howmanystickscanyoufindin---lipstick where a flock of sticky clocks tick see its candlewick sit silently at a caustic kiosk?"

Would like you to burn. If she had thought of the pun earlier she would've said it, but instead the humor stayed in her expression only. She executed the line like a ventriloquist drinking a glass of water, except better. Then using the candle, blew an arc of fire at Herr Todd and his wigglies.

Theordac lay his hand over his face, his eye tightly shut as he let out a slow tired grown. Peering through his fingers he noticed that the Raccoon demon had completely left his sight.

Theordac's eyes went wide as the smell and heat of the fire met his senses. He took both hands and gripped his staff, it seems he had spend more time then he had though in the astral plane. Not being human, he sometimes lost track of time, after all being hours in the astral realm could only result in minutes passing in the physical realm. Despite all that the amount of work Theordac was doing behind the scenes was at such a vast scale, even he found himself at time stressed for times.

Theo followed the heat, but never got to close, he could sense that powers of somebody manipulating magic. And frankly such could lead to trouble, and frankly Theordac was not about to make a heated situation even worse unless he felt that action should be taken to perserve life.