WHO: Fox & Orion WHAT: Morning practice. Prompt!Comfort Food WHERE: The Burning Palace WHEN: Nov 10th, morning RATING: Probably low, minus Pyrophobia
Fox already had a routine. That delighted her, because routine meant familiarity, and familiarity could make almost any place feel like home with the right mindset. From trailer to tent she scampered, four-legged. Over haystacks she went, under the crates of new scimitars for the sword dancers, through the costume tent to swish beneath all the voluminous skirts, up a bundle of extra support poles the roustabouts kept for emergencies, then down through the dizzyingly complex cords and rigging at the top of the Burning Palace into the performer’s staging area. She shook off the illusion that hid her extra tails as she climbed downwards, all three trailing behind her, as long, graceful and animated as a pianist’s fingers. Once at ground level she went to see if she had the tent to herself and considered whether she preferred to start her morning practice as her natural self, or one of her humans forms.
The smell of food redirected her thoughts. Bacon. Nose lifted high, Fox wiggled her way through a wall of prop boxes that served as a barrier to the dressing rooms. Sweet, divine, incomparable bacon. Once inside she caught another hugely important scent, that of a boy she’d known once. She saw his back first, busy over something or other. Little black footpads thundered across the dressing room floor. Fox leapt for his shoulders at speed, thumping against Orion’s back to wind herself enthusiastically under his neck in a loop, then back again.
Her decision made, the Kitsune dove into a pile of flame repellant jumpsuits and re-emerged as a smiling young woman. “Hi! I thought I’d be alone this morning,” she said, climbing free of the fabric pile while fastening her borrowed attire. “Alone sucks though, I’m so happy to see you!"