Tower of Babel

[Artifex Felicis]

"Fifty gold, huh?" Leon said aloud. He held a large ring in his paws, turning it over and over. It was heavy, with the shiny allure that only gold had. He toyed with it, mentally checking the ring size against that of his tail. The ring was probably made for a girl somewhere who could afford to spend a huge amount of money for the item in his hands. He placed a small sack of gold on the table, easily more than fifty but probably not more than a hundred. "Why so cheap? And you can keep the change man."

"Simple really," The street vender, though his silk cloths and line of wares didn't make him out to be one. The man, perheaps dusted off a bit, looked like he was be sipping an expensive drink with the higher-ups of the Corone goverment, not selling things far below their price to tourists. "That tower over there happened."

The cat boy follwed the man's outstretched hands, thankfully there were a few clouds to cover the sun as he stared into the distance. There, taking up more than enough of the sky to be impossing, was something that looked out of place. It was a large tower, though wide and looked square. Leon had been around enough backwater towns to know they had their rich people and their poor people, and a fe also had their crazy eccentrics. some of the latter of course being good at magic and creating large buildings for themsleves to live in.

"So what happened there anyway?" The cat boy asked, playing around with the ring in his hands. It always felt good to get something that looked cool, even if it did only last a few minutes. "Crazy necromancer come and raise the dead? Demon portal?"

The man stared at the cat boy for a moment, breaking out into a laugh that quickly followed. It was gone as quickly as it came, but Leon knew the sound of it.. The man hadn't laughed in a long time apparently. "Nothing nearly so bad like that. A powerful mage used to live up in the tower. Guy was the one who made that enchanted piece of gold you got there. anyway, the wizard also was the only thing keeping most of the bad stuff from coming to our town. Now of course is this dustball here."

"You seemed to be doing alright though," the cat boy replied, slipping the ring back into his pocket.

"These cloths and stuff? No way kitty. I'm just the intern at a carpenter shop. I didn't have enough money to leave here yet. There's a bunch of us like this. I just grabbed some comfy cloths and stuff to try and get some gold to get out of here. Though, I'm sure that quite a few people would enjoy finding out exactly happened to a powerful wizard not in his fifties."

(Closed to Reiko!)

[Reiko]

“Wow Mommy, look there. Why’d they build it so high.” Inari pointed to the tall tower at the center of town, flitting her tail happily.

“I really don’t know, maybe to prove that they can.” Kit answered with a smile, it was pretty simple but it might be close to the truth, for people built things for the strangest purposes. Sadly the town around the tower was a shadow of what it used to be. Lovely homes were in disrepair and most of them empty, what could have happened to the town to make everyone leave?

The place wasn’t completely empty with a few people staying around but their faces were constantly lined with worry as if a smile would never again touch their faces. “Please young ladies! This town isn’t safe.” Kit took Inari hand and looked at the man who wasn’t old but he was a mess.

“Thanks for the warning, we’ll be fine.” They’ve been in worse places. Kit had the feeling of adventure would be nearby and maybe that tower held some treasure, it looked better than the rest of the place but there was a feeling that it was open for the taking.

Inari twitched her ears as she heard some business being conducted, she didn’t care if the place was a mess the market would still be fun. “Hey can I do some shopping?” Inari asked while her whole body got excited.

“Um… sure.” Kit answered while thinking Only Inari could get excited about shopping here.

Inari moved in an excited walk as she went to the shopping square. It was surprising how much good stuff was for sale here. Precious silk dresses, fancy swords, old art. It was like a noble clearing out his house. The little kitsune/neko ended up looking through all sorts of piles while trying to find a little treasure that she might be able to afford.

Still with all this getting carried away with the shopping she didn’t notice the neko until she bumped into him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Inari looked at the boy and her heart raced. He looked familiar in a way but she never saw the cat boy in her life but he was quite cute. “Um Hi, I’m Inari!” The young Kitsune introduced herself, feeling that she wanted to know who the neko was.

[Artifex Felicis]

The cat boy had, after a few more minutes of chatter with the man selling the many good things, managed to find his way around the area, sitting down on a simple wooden bench to actually look at the shiny gold ring he had bought. It looked good enough, with some sort of dark green material on the inside with a strange design all over its surface. If Leon remembered correctly, the green material was called jade.

He swung his tail around, the prehensile limb positioning it so the ring could slip on easily. He did so, afixing the small claws on the inside of the ring so it wouldn't slide or fall off while the grandmaster was walking or fighting. He smiled, glad that the ring didn't dig into his skin or anything. It was probably the magic that was put into the ring by the wizard guy, so some sweetheart of his wouldn't hurt her arm putting it on.

He stood again, his tail dragging along behind him as he went to look at the selection of things again. In reality he was just window shopping, trying to pass the time before he could reasonably ask for a place to sleep. He didn't need any new weapons. There were only a few he every really felt comfortable with enough to use in a real fight, and one of them was natural. The other two he already had some good examples of them. There were a few other things that caught his interest, though not enough to prompt him to buy them. The gold ring was his favorite of all the things the man was selling.

Something smaller than him and furry bumped into the cat boy's side, though he caught himself on the side of the table before either of the two people fell over. Leon smiled back, straightening himself out and looking at the person who bumped into him. It was a young girl, pretty but with intelligent eyes. He smiled back at her, simply gesturing that it was okay.

"Don't worry about it," he replied. She seemed familiar in a little way, though there was only two or three kitsune he knew of. One of him he hadn't seen in a long time, though he wished he had. The other he was almost sure didn't have a real family. "I'm Leon by the way, nice to meet you. What are you doing around here?"

[Reiko]

Inari’s smile deepened when she felt like the cat boy wanted to talk. She was not very sure how introductions were best made but success really lit up her heart. “I’m here with my mom. We wander about the place, I think she wants to see the whole world and I’m with her.” Inari leaned against a wall, as her tail would occasionally thump against it as it swished.

~*~

“So that’s why no one wants to stay.” Kit said as she heard the story of the young man who was leaving town. “Thanks stranger.” The vixen waved the youth goodbye and swished her tail in thought. It was perfect, without a shadow of doubt the tower was vacant and there wouldn’t be any surprises like the wizard still being there or competition like the last couple raids on old wizards’ homes. They made the perfect bit of scavenging since the objects were valuable. Heck even the townspeople have went to looting the place but the security was probably foiling them. She had to find Inari; this might be the break that would allow Kit to provide Inari the life she wanted her daughter to have.

At least Kit knew where her daughter would be since the town was mostly abandoned and the market was pretty small. Still there might have been some treasure worth buying if Inari saw anything. The search was quick but when Kit saw her daughter she felt her heart skip then enter a fast rhythm. “Le… Leon.” Kit mouthed unable to grasp what she saw.

Her daughter was talking with a lithe cat boy with light blue hair and the face she could not forget: Kit’s first love, Leon.

“Hey Kit! This is Leon!” Inari ran over and took Kit’s hand to drag her mother to the Neko. “We just met, he’s really nice.”

Kit brought a nervous smile as she met the face of her love. It had been so long and she never had an idea where the cat boy was. The vixen had other lovers since then and even other loves, would he understand and still love her? Did he have to know? No! He won’t care. I don’t have to bring any of that up.

Kit moved to the Neko and put her hands in his. “It’s been so long. I never knew what happened to you or if you were all right. I, it’s good to see you again.” Kit moved to hug her old lover, wondering if there was still a spark or if it died when her heat ended.

[Artifex Felicis]

The smaller girl in front of her wasn't an entirely normal furry in most respects. The grandmaster himself was a mongrel of sorts, though he often didn't talk about it, and the girl was a little the same. She looked like a kitsune, though for some reason he kept thinking of her as a neko every once in a while. He knew he shouldn't over think it, but it was something of a hobby and an interest of his to see just how many there were.

"So then, who's your mom?" the cat boy replied. He twirled his tail in circles behind him, both enjoying and getting used to the weight of the golden ring as he did so. His tail nearly collided with the side of the table he was next, almost resulting in a large crash, thankfully when it made a deep thunk against the table nothing bad had happened. The man selling the many under priced things looked his way for a moment. but quickly went back to hawking his goods to anyone passing by. The cat boy stuck out his tongue for a moment. "I've probably met most of the furries in corone. I must have seen her at some point."

His question was quickly answered as the girl called out someone's name, someone he remembered. He turned, his mind's eye picturing the woman he knew that went by the name of Kit. Red wine hair and three tails was in sight, dressed in a kimono that the cat boy could distinctly remember. He quickly looked her up and done, not noticing anything too terribly different about her. He tried to suppress his face from breaking into a wide smile, failing horribly as his white teeth were shown. It had been awhile since he saw her.

Every once in his while his mind would go back to thinking of her, much like it did for a few of his friends he lost touch with. It was good to see her again to say the least. She came closer, hugging him and holding hands like they were a young couple. They separated, though still connected by their hands. He noticed for a moment that her eyes were a little different, though he couldn't place exactly. Not that it mattered, she fit his memory rather well, and looked to be like the same girl he loved before fate, and a few guards from the bazaar, intervened and split them for a while. He wasn't one to blame a girl, especially one like himself.

"It's been a while I'm guessing, though I didn't know that you had a kid," Leon remarked. The day had almost been made for him. First finding a town after walking for nearly the entire day yesterday, to getting the ring, and now meeting Kit. He couldn't think of many better things that could happen. "Anything else new that's changed since we got separated al that while back?"

[Reiko]

“Uh well, lots of stuff change.” Kit answered with probably the dumbest thing that she was capable of, seeing her old love had her so excited and apprehensive that the brain addled and Kit’s conversation skills were weakened from the nerves.

Inari wasn’t much help as she giggled over her mother tripping over her words. The blushing face that Kit made was really cute for her mom who was too serious and too professional, everything was work and survival and she never had as much fun as the daughter would like.

“Why don’t we find a place to stay for the night, the three of us?” Kit suggested with a smile, she wouldn’t mind finding separate lodging for Inari so the furry couple could relive their first night but the safety of their daughter was first on her mind and she could find a spot to sneak away with him once the younger fox was sleeping securely.

Kit led her child away and motioned for Leon to follow, she wanted to share adventure with Inari’s father, the three of them and what better place than the tower, even if it turned out dull, she could use the peace for some catching up and make some fun.

Once the Vixen was out of earshot from the merchant and the few townspeople she looked at the Tower. “Leon… I was going to steal into the tower tonight. I thought it might be a fun way to spend the night.” Kit put on an earnest smile. She had a twisted since of romance.

[Artifex Felicis]

Leon's smiled widened again for a moment, though he stopped himself from chuckling at the woman he had just reunited with. They had their share of adventures beforehand, none of which ended badly for either of them. Despite their past, it was probably the same night that Leon and the vixen met with each other during the night that would have made them close.

The memory of their night together was now fresh in his mind, though some parts more than others. Despite what the cat boy would ever truly admit to some of his male friends, she was also the first woman he had taken to bed. He calmed himself down, knowing that he probably looked a lot more excited than he thought he did. A grin remained on his face despite his meager attempts.

The two separated and their little group began walking along. A part of him wondered about Inari, and exactly how she came to be Kit's daughter. She couldn't have given birth to her, especially since she seemed to be only a few years younger than the grandmaster. In all rights, the vixen probably adopted her and took her under her wing. It fit the picture, especially since the girl was a mongrel. Inari walked ahead a little, almost skipping as she went along, allowing her mother and the cat boy to talk.

"Well," Leon said. His smiled cracked his face again. He loved Kit for stuff like this. "Would we want to have Inari or will it be alone time?"