"… That sounds like quite a high number. I don't suppose they're nicely clustered, are they?"

"Werewolves almost invariably come in packs. They don't survive on their own. Wendigos tend to come in families. Almost everything else is solitary. Wendigos and werewolves are some of the most plentiful creatures. Kitsune as well, but there are some challenges to counting them; if we excluded them, I would say supernatural creatures represent somewhere between .01 and .8% of the population. Werewolves are also a challenge to count, but mostly because many packs isolate themselves from humans." 

"Are there challenges in counting kitsune other than the solitary-ness? I don't know anything about them except probably 'show up to werewolf eyes with pointy ears'."

"Kitsune aren't always solitary, they're an unusual case in many respects. Kitsune come in many kinds, and are typically born to other kitsune, but besides that direct bond, they don't organize in clans or packs or similar groups in general. The most isolationist kitsune may form closed societies, but as a human, I don't know much about that."

"Did you hear that I'm probably a werepanther or a kitsune, says Isaac? – That's how I know the pointy ears thing."

"Have you ever felt anything unusual on full moon nights? An unusually active temper? Difficulty with puns?"

"Puns are the literal worst," he says, slightly vehemently. "Full moons, nope, and temper… probably depends who you ask."

"One if by land, two if by sand, three for the money, if by land money."

"… Huh?"

"Kitsune have difficulty parsing anything that tests the boundaries of language. If it's not serving an unambiguous, communicative purpose, it can be impossible for their fox half to comprehend, and the human half struggles with managing the disconnect."

"… Wow that sounds awful is there a way to get around it?"

"If you can turn any ambiguous or clever bits of language on their head, it's possible to work through them. If a book uses too much allegory and double meanings, try skipping every other page, and then go back for the ones you missed."

"… I feel like skipping every other page might impact my ability to understand the book."

"Don't do it for books that don't give you trouble, those you should be able to read straight through. But anything with a sufficiently layered use of language will trip you up if you try to understand it."

"Well. Thanks," he says.

"You can also try to communicate with your fox, but that's typically a time-consuming and frustrating endeavor, I hear." 

"If I'm impaired at communication because of it – that sounds both like a reason to try and a reason it'll be awful."

"Yes, that is the reason it can be difficult. It's also possible to try to tame it, but that also has mixed reviews- and I've never met a kitsune, my knowledge is only theoretical here."

"Mixed reviews, like – can have bad effects if I succeed?"

"Might make the situation bad in a different way if you succeed, might make it worse if you fail."

"Are there other things I might be, or is it basically 'werepanther or kitsune and probably not on the werepanther'?"

"The particular variety of difficulty with language almost certainly narrows it down to kitsune; very few other language isues manifest this way. Looking at a photo of you would confirm it, given that."

Tyler takes a selfie on his phone and shows it to the doctor.

"It might actually depend on what you take the picture- oh, no, it shows up here just fine. Yes, that particular shape to your aura indicates an untrained kitsune."

"Photos have always been the worst."