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Etho walks around the woods, he decides to leave his pack to go explore the woods a little.
He did not expect to hear a snap and then feel pain in his back legs.
The little kintsue falls to the ground, his back two paws tied up together with wire.
As he goes to transform back to his humanoid form, but he can’t, with the iron of the wire combined with how tight it is around his little legs, he’s stuck in this form.
A pit grows in his stomach as he tries to pull it off with his little fox teeth, but fails.
Whoever set this trap will surely come back, if not he will die here, but if they do, they surely will kill him for his coat…
-⬘♡⬘♡⬘♡⬘-
Bdubs walks through the woods, a basket for berries over his arm. His mother had sent him into the woods behind their home to collect some wild berries for a pie she wanted to make them for dinner.
The young man had not expected to stumble across one of his father’s traps, a little white fox caught in it.
The little fox looks up as he approaches and it growls at him, trying to get up and falling back down, its back legs tied together.
Bdubs puts the basket for the berries down, slowly approaching the fox, saying in a calm, warm, gentle voice, “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” he says, “I’m going to help you out, okay?”
The fox looks at him like it understood his words, the tip of its tail flicking.
Bdubs takes a step forward, crouching down and slowly reaching for the fox’s back legs, very aware of the fox’s teeth.
He loosens the wire slowly, gently pulling it off the fox’s legs, slowly lowering them to the ground once they are free.
Now that it’s free, Bdubs shuffles a few steps away from the fox, still crouched, as to not scare the fox, but far enough away to give it space to run away.
The fox’s body starts to glow with a soft, warm, white light and Bdubs has to shield his eyes, falling back on his butt as the fox transforms.
As the light fades, Bdubs blinks his big eyes, a boy his own age staring back at him, gray eyes full of intrigue and gratitude, “Thank you...” the boy says to him.
Bdubs stares up at him in awe, he’s never met a creature like this, “Wh-what are you?”
The boy is hesitant at first but responds, “I’m a Kintsune.”
Bdubs only vaguely heard that name before, only in the folk tale books on his mother’s shelves.
So they’re real.
The boy looks at the basket, "What did you come here to collect?”
Bdubs is stunned for a moment before he swallows, answering, “Wild berries.”
“I spotted a big patch near here.” the boy says, "Would you like me to show you where it is?” he asks, “as repayment for freeing me.”
Bdubs swallows, “uh…yeah. Thank you.”
The boy nods, turning around and heading into the woods.
Bdubs blinks, scrambling to stand up, grabbing his basket, running after the boy.
He follows the boy for a short way, and they walk into a small area, the sun shining down, landing on fresh wild raspberries.
“This is, this is perfect!” Bdubs say, grinning wide, he’ll have enough berries in no time!
“You're welcome.” The boy says, “And again, thank you for freeing me.” He says, “You have a kind soul.” that’s the last thing the boy says before he turns back into a fox, and runs away, the forest swallowing him.
Bdubs stands there, still processing what happened.