A Fox's Business [ReD]

@"ReD"

So, she already had met demons on her past enough times to start building a reputation around them? Well, that was fairly interesting, even if it also made him hesitate a bit, knowing that there was a big possibility of her not being able to give him a soul given to those factors. He would need to be extremely careful while making up his little contract to avoid any unnecessary loses.

His eyes followed hers, noticing the entrance to what he considered one of those private rooms found in this kind of places, though he couldn’t be so sure, it was his first time around here after all.

He got up, grabbing his drink on one hand and making a gentlemanly gesture to the woman, so she could lead the way, his mind already working carefully on the details of the potential contract. First of all, he obviously would need to know what he was dealing with here. If this female could build a bad reputation with any demon and still be alive she couldn’t be any kind of everyday human.

@"ReD"

Mephis couldn’t help but smirk a bit when he looked at the dancer that Yoka had summoned, under normal circumstances he would’ve allowed his desires to take over, but at the moment he had more important things to discuss with the woman in front of him, so that kind of stuff would need to wait.

He sat after she did, careful to keep a gentlemanly and respectful attitude around her, after all, first impressions meant a lot “Well, I must admit that the only thing I know about you is that you run a great strip and are a lot more than you’re allowing me to see. Being a newcomer to these islands have a lot of downsides” He looked around carefully, it would be a bit hard to not pick several pieces of information given the strip’s overall structure and decoration “But for what I had managed to gather, you either love foxes or your secret is tightly tied to them, that’s a bit too obvious. Also, not any creature can get any kind of reputation around demons and live to tell the tale”.

His predatory eyes were glued to hers as he slowly grabbed the pieces of the puzzle and started to try and make them fit. Only a few creatures could be linked to foxes, and even less could build a reputation around them and stay alive. Even if he was already starting to suspect what this woman really was, he wouldn’t try to just throw ideas around, just in case he got anything wrong.

@"ReD"

Mephis shoot several glances to the dancer while Yoka talked, but he was far from being distracted, he just couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t until she gave to him the reasons behind the bad reputation around his kind that something inside of him finally clicked, getting rid of any doubt that still could be wandering inside his head.

He looked at her, narrowing his eyes a bit “Kitsune…” He almost whispered to himself, he had heard about her kind before thanks to demons that worked on the countries of East Asia, about how they stole their mortals before they could even try to make a contract and spoiling a lot of them as well, the ones that hated them the most were the post-contract collectors, which also were the most common kind of demon.

After all, if they didn’t gave their client what he or she wanted, with a couple of twists of their own from time to time, they wouldn’t get the soul, and if the wish was already granted there was no way that they could comply with their part of the deal.

He was lucky, or at least that they had told him, to never had crossed paths with a kitsune on his past, since he never lost any mortal to them, but now here he was, face to face with one of the oh so infamous foxes of multiple tails.

Mephis was obviously interested on the deal that was being offered to him. Thanks to their constant competition, kitsunes and demons rarely met under non-aggressive terms, and he couldn’t help but feel curious, wondering how worth it would be to have the favor of a kitsune instead of having one as a potential enemy and competitor.

Then, a rather big problem came. He wasn’t sure if this kitsune had a soul to give him, and if he helped her then he would be permanently bounded to her thanks to her immortality…that would obviously affect his soul gatherer purpose in an extremely negative way, probably causing the enragement of his king, the sole thought of that being more than enough to make him start growing fearful.

“Your offer is really tempting, I won’t deny that. Yet, I’m sure that you’re aware that I need souls for my king, so how are we going to solve that problem?” He needed to have that not-so-small issue solved before they could even think about making a proper deal.

@"ReD"

Well, an open contract was definitely something new to him. Usually all his owners wanted full control over him and his actions, but if this kitsune was willing to give him that kind of freedom he wouldn’t complain, he would still have her as an owner and get her favors, and at the same time he would be able to search secondary owners to collect their souls. He actually liked the idea.

“I must warn you though. If I get another owner I may need to go and serve to them from time to time, so I won’t be able to stay around at all times. If you’re ok with that, I think that we can start discussing our terms immediately” Mephis wasn’t stupid, he had the kitsune’s attention, a really good offer and a freedom that would seem to be almost impossible to get for him or any other demon pet, a golden opportunity. He wanted to set the terms and details as soon as possible, that way she wouldn’t have the time to change her mind before the contract was done.

“I’ll let you set your terms and say what you want from me first” He knew that the owners always had the upper hand when making the contracts, they had to do their best to comply with the owner’s wishes, no matter how crazy or illogical it could be. They lived to serve and collect their payment after doing so.

It was interesting that the deal with the demon pet, though extremely tricky and unfair against a lot of contracts from other demons which explained what they were getting a lot more clearly, was one of the safest ones, the reason was pretty simple. While making a contract with a demon a lot more powerful than them, there was always a really high chance of them not getting what they really wanted or completely destroy their lives and still lose their souls. However, when making a deal with a demon pet it was hard to get one of those extremely unfortunate outcomes unless you really mistreated the demon, causing him to either leave or attack in rage. Yeah, getting a wish granted with a demon pet could take a lot longer a be a lot trickier, but it surely was a lot safer than making a deal with one of the most powerful demons.

He looked at the dancer performing for them, holding back a small growl. Being around these girls and not being able to have the interaction that he desired wasn’t something he was going to like at all. He wasn’t used to force his temptations back most of the time and just allowed them to overtake him, but he couldn’t go against the wishes of his owner, and if this kitsune was willing to make a contract with him he was going to need to find a way to leave them alone.

@"ReD"

“If that’s what you want, you and those you tell me that are your business prospects won’t have to fear any kind of harm from my behalf as long as the contract is still up” He was careful with his words, he was going to comply with his promises, but if Yoka forgets to tell him about any of her business prospects he won’t be forced to leave them alone, so she would need to keep him up to date. Also he knew better than to promise that his possible owners wouldn’t harm them as well. He could refuse to harm her business prospects, but he couldn’t force anyone else to do so…or at least he would try to avoid that responsibility.

“I usually go by the name of Mephis. Sometimes my owners give me other names and I’m ok with that as long as the name isn’t an embarrassing one” He still could remember this woman that became his owner a couple of centuries ago that was a bit too adamant with her stupid name, to the point of making it part of the contract. But really, who in their darn senses would try to name a male demon pet Maria? He still felt embarrassed when remembering that, but at least the contract didn’t last too long.

He quickly memorized Yoka’s name, since she hadn’t said anything against it he would call her by her name.