"I only guessed that just now, though. Ugh. It's so... Feudal. The guy who the guys with swords are following makes the rules."

"Yep. But we'll be making an effort to rehabilitate her from that kind of thinking. She's officially Our Problem Now, basically."

"Should I help with the arrangements? I can do the grocery shopping at least. Or make a clothes run, if you can guess her size."

"That'd be great, we're going to be a little strained to get it all together on a day's notice. We have the funds, obviously, it's just a matter of time."

"Yeah. I kind of just want to fall dead asleep right now, though. Urgh. Do you have a credit card I can use? Unless something's changed I think mine's close to maxed. And - hold on, we should take down notes on what exactly she wanted, so we don't forget-"

"Yeah, do that and then let's sleep, most places will be closed now anyway. I'll ask Hannah to come help out."

She focuses and tries to remember.

Cigs- Variety. Kimono. Ordinary clothes. Food- Cake, steak (raw), hamburgers. Unlocked phone w/plan. 50 blood+qi pills. House. Black Claw's knife.

"I miss anything? I'm worried I missed something."

"It's important we get her baseball caps so she can hide her ears. Also she specified the kimono should be black silk - we shouldn't forget the details, they show we're playing ball. Other than that I think we're good."

"I guess I'm used to going without concealment and spouting the 'medical condition' bull. Don't know where to get a black silk kimono. Hobby shops?"

She annotates the list.

"Ah- My plan if a fight broke out was to hang back and try to distract her for a moment to let you recover if she seemed to be winning. Figured we couldn't run from a giant fox. Does that sound about right?"

"Fox ears and tail makes you look more like a cosplayer than someone with a medical condition, and if they figure out they're real you might be sunk." Cocoa shrugs. "As for the kimono, I'm pretty sure there'll be specialty asian shops somewhere in the city, we'll just have to google and then call around. For a high-quality silk one we might have to drop by London though. I'm sure London would have one, it's an international city." 

"And for the fight - you should focus on protecting yourself in a situation like that. Stay close to your senior, maybe distract the enemy if you can - but your senior is going to be busy protecting you, so don't do anything stupid."

Nod nod.

She yawns.

"...Deal with this tomorrow... You handle telling the group?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll get it organized. I need less sleep than you and haven't been driving myself to exhaustion all day."

"Great."

She showers. Again.

Pajamas.

Bedflop.

Nightmare. But a vague one, that she shakes off after a moment of waking terror and eventually gets back to sleep from.

In the morning, she wakes up with a headache and tosses on clothes and trudges downstairs hoping for tea and checking the chat group's reaction.

Met the black fox that was causing trouble, negotiated with her. She took my knife but I got her to accept being on welfare by phrasing it as "tribute." She had a list of demands - food, clothes, shelter, cigarettes - probably a stray kicked out of her clan. Senior Ravenous Blade, think you could stop by to offer some negotiating weight?

Only if you give me a share in Eight Tails' bounty. 

Could I get a new knife for a fifth-level armor talisman?

Sounds like a fair trade.

Then thank you for the offer, Senior, but I don't need you.

Suit yourself.

I'm glad things seem to be being settled peacably, but I won't release the bounty until it's clear the problem is solved long-term.

Understood. I should sleep now. 

Goodnight!

Goodnight.

Cocoa has put the kettle on and is eating bacon and eggs. There's some left over in the pans for Trys. 

"Nice to see you!" 

He picks up a thick sheaf of twenty-pound notes from the table and waves it. There's another similar sheaf of fifty-pound notes by his elbow. 

"Dipped into the house cash reserves. This should be enough for you to take a shopping trip today and get the clothing, food, cigs and phone. I called ahead to an couple asian style shops and found one called Sanna Silks, they have a kimono in the right style. I'll deal with getting the house on short notice and also the phone plan once you get the device. Sound fair?"

Well, time to face the day.

"Sure. I'll get a rental car too, to move all the stuff. Though I think you deserve more than half the reward, heavy hitter and all."