Chapter Text
With a curious ear twitch, the Inazuman vagrant looks up to the guy being asked to. A slight head-tilt to the side reveals golden-yellow eyes so innocent, it appears twinkling. Bluntly and with an eagerness to his tone he asks, “Have you seen any weird tails wandering around without its body?”
It isn’t a question Assa would expect from anybody– at least commonly. His own daze surprised himself, as a matter of fact, since it comes from someone who does have a tail (and two at that) attached to their body.
“No…” this mercenary replies hesitantly and with good reason: the two-tailed traveler, Oogami Kae he says he was, sighs with his whole body, arching his back forward to the grass sullenly that even Assa, who knows Liyue like the back of his hand, is at a loss what to do.
Assa only wishes to stay and be of use to anyone before the Crux decides to leave him be and sail off. Or more than anything, merrily striding the lands knowing the Chief Mate would be all riled up from another empty bunker caused by none other than this ingenious mischief-maker.
That’s right, the commissions this time around are mere ‘excuses’ to lengthen his stay on land, for no particular reason other than to make the crew worry, as troublesome as it goes. Yet in terms of a busy schedule, Assa has none. And with the last of the city’s commissions swept clean by the Traveler, Assa moved his feet northbound in hopes of seeking errands at Wangshu Inn; the last of his plans being in Mondstadt.
He surmises this with irritation plastered onto his face. Not that he minds being that far away from the harbor–just that dealing with Master Diluc ought to be quite nerve-racking.
With their arms crossed upwards supporting his head as he slowly strides in blithe, Assa wanders in the plains of Guili after deciding to take the long road. That’s when he caught a white strike of what appeared to be a tail–no, two –rustling sticking out from thickets, immediately snapping him out of his trance and peering into the matter with full interest. The tails appear orange at the source, and as he heedfully edges nearer, a head crowned with two of the fluffiest snow-ears he has ever seen spring from the bushes with a loud rustling. ‘It’ sniffed around his vicinity as if seeking something, then looked into Assa’s direction. Their eyes vigilant, their brows lowering from awareness three nose-wiggles later, before crawling into the next bush on all fours.
He blinks once. Then twice, an attempt to process all of what he had just seen.
Oh good Archons, he’s half-fox .
Yet as exciting as the moment presents itself, Assa settles for a more respectful aura. After all, he could be a traveler from afar, a merchant useful to Beidou, or maybe even an adeptus he has never heard of.
He knows the secretary of Yuehai Pavilion has horns for ears surely, and the lord of Geo is a flying mythical beast. A fox halfling should be the least to his surprise, but concerns him still nonetheless.
A relaxed saunter, some exchange of pleasantries (‘ hey, Assa of the Crux here!’ ‘Oh, just Assa is fine’ ) and respectful bows later, Assa learns that this stranger is a vagrant from Inazuma and that his name was Oogami Kae, though they insist you call him by his first name. When Assa offered help, the halfling crawled out of the bush he was hiding in, and only from a closer inspection Assa could tell that Kae indeed came from Inazuma, wearing a modified armor of a kitsune warrior, in the cloth and colors of his ancestors.
Assa is one to get under one’s skin, and his people skills let him spot a timid liar miles away, yet despite an intimidating exterior, they know Kae wouldn’t be one to lie, or even try to hurt anybody because Kae just seems to be simply… good .
“Please don’t misunderstand my presence,” Kae hesitates and Assa could tell. So he sits to the ground to converse at Kae's eye level, encouraging him to be at ease with a nodding smile.
“Have you seen any weird tails wandering around without its body?”
“No…”
Oogami Kae lowers his head onto the grass, ear-flopped and sighing like the unrest has been going for days. “Thank you, nonetheless..”
At this rate, Assa only wishes to be as composed as he could be, and the constant tail wagging isn’t helping his tolerance to inexplicably give Kae the headpats he needs because he is just. Too. Endearing .
“The pleasure is mine, Oogami Kae, and I mean this well but–” he shifts closer to the fox-boy, with Kae only turning his ears to listen better. “–you’re not from around here, aren’t you?”
Kae rises from the ground, nodding softly with his tails giving into the floor. He says no further, yet senses Assa waiting for a reply, so he forces himself to talk.
“I’m from a fox clan, the Hakushin. From Inazuma.” Kae discerns an eagerness to Assa. He continues, albeit bashfully. “I’m… I’m a nine-tailed fox.”
They both glance at Kae's behind, his tails hiding underneath Kae’s clothes as they had just been caught red-handed. “Yeah, I know… I have two of them right now b-but…–one day I woke up and realized I am missing the other seven…” He grabs one of the tails and caresses it like one would a pet. “Lady Yae– Guuji . She helped me get here, and well… that’s about it. My first stop is in Liyue so–” Concluding his side of the story, he turns to Assa whose eyes had been practically glittering from the entire narrative. “W-why do you smell so... excited?”
Smell? That’s an odd way to note observances, Assa thought. The guy in question rubs the back of his head, abashed from being caught off-guard. “In all honesty… It’s my first time seeing– well, meeting , a half-kitsune such as yourself. In Liyue.” And Assa’s glad he did. Kae feels no lies to his words, the man’s sincerity making his tails dance.
“But somehow,” Kae continues his teasing, “not as surprised as you aren’t as surprised as you should be, right?”
“How are you doing that,” is what he intends to say yet ends up mouthing. The jab to Assa’s facade was too sudden, eyes growing bigger by the second.
Kae points to his nose, and it takes only another second to understand what it meant. Of course Assa, he has super-smelling powers . And now with both of their guards down, they smile at each other in more trust than before.
“Please don’t take this with an offense, I don’t know how to word it out better.” Seeing the other agree, Assa continues. “While yes, I have never met you at all, I’m glad you feel... Familiar, I believe. At least.” Like his Crux family, like talking to home, to Liyue . “Somehow, you don’t feel like a stranger. In faith I– I’m pretty surprised you weren’t on the defensive when I met you.”
“I don’t have to, Assa of the Crux. You don’t smell like you’re up to something.”
And just like that, a lightbulb flashes in Assa’s mind. In a matter of seconds his aura spikes trouble, his eyes wander immediately to Kae, then voices this growing dilemma with a vexing smirk. “Say, you don’t suppose having a travel buddy would trouble you with your search now, do ya? Especially with someone who knows Liyue like the back of their hand, hmm?”
With every humming word, his grin spreads wider, and Kae who has been observing this unusual mood-shift hugs his knees in defense. “T-that would be beneficial. I think.”
“It’s settled then! I’m helping you find your tail!” Assa jumps from the ground, quickly patting the grass which stuck onto his pants, and marches back to the main road without looking back. “Wangshu Inn lunch sounds amazing about now. Come on Kae, my treat!”
“Assa of the Crux…” Kae mumbles to himself in defeat, watching Assa’s back recede from the distance while looking back every now and then to beckon him to come along. “I highly appreciate you accompanying me on my travels, b-but… why is your sense of happiness so… ominous?”
Unbeknownst to this kitsune, this mercenary found the perfect excuse to delay his own duties at the sea. Although Assa’s mind wanders towards the menacing side, Kae complies and follows Assa’s lead with a reserved purpose.
A stranger no doubt, however familiar enough to trust.
Kae smells safety with Assa, that with him he is bound to a fruitful, fortunate journey, and that’s all that matters for this little kitsune.