"You have my attention."

"Recently, a powerful source of magic in this town was activated, and as a result, an old and powerful creature was released from its cage. This spirit has, I believe, found a human host. The danger posed by the nogitsune cannot be overstated."

"Ah, of course. What exactly is a nogitsune?"

"A malevolent spirit of chaos that feeds on pain and conflict. They lack bodies of their own, but can possess anyone, once invited in."

"Yikes. Okay, what constitute an invitation? How do we stop it?"

"As I understand it, the nogitsune must be invited the same way you would invite anyone- you just have to accept when it demands entry. I've never been possessed myself, so I don't know the specifics. As for stopping it- I used my best solution when I trapped it in the first place. The only other option I know of is to kill the host."

Nod. "So, hypothetically, if death wasn't a permanent thing to a certain someone could we get the nogitsune in that body and then kill it? Not exactly the first thing I would try, but I am curious about your guess."

"It could work. The nogitsune can be trapped by mountain ash, but not when inside a host."

"I don't suppose we could capture the host and perform an exorcism?"

"Once the host agrees, death is the only escape."

"Alright, what sort of signs I should be looking from the host? Heads revolving in a 360º angle?"

"Besides the changes in behavior, the main indicator will be difficulty reading or otherwise mastering language."

"And no way to distinguish that from a dyslexia combine with poor mood swings?"

"Dyslexia doesn't appear suddenly. We can look for a history of it before we act."

"Fair enough. How exactly are you planning to check. ...Actually, are you a hunter or something?"

"Yes."

"Girl, when you give confusing answers like that," Trevor says with a slasher smile, "my first instinct is to discover the truth purely out of spite. Now, if you want to keep it a secret, I can understand if you just say so."

"I am a nine hundred year old kitsune and find the lack of patience shorter-lived people have to be frequently surprising. Was that more helpful?"

"Yup!" Trevor says brightly. "Do you get a lot of jokes about not looking a day over thirty or that is a modern media thing?"

"I might get more if I told anyone."

"Anyway, what exactly are you doing to find the Nogitsune? Were you suspecting that I was it? They?"

"The nogitsune will be difficult to find unless it shows itself. I can only look at possible hosts one at a time."

"Well, I would like to offer my help."

"As we discussed, there are only so many warning signs. Even with your help, we may not find it until it wants us to."

Shrug. "There is definitely some help that a weather-controlling flying immortal can grant you."