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When Roderick enters the locker room, he's shocked to the core to find Orange on the phone.
Something must be seriously wrong.
"What's the hold up, Rod—oh, crap. Orange is on the—it's Willow, isn't it? Did Mark get hurt? Is Ishii—?"
Roderick looks over his shoulder at Kyle with a raised eyebrow and just shakes his head, cutting him off. He returns his focus to Orange, scanning his aura. It's…patchy, but still glowing bright with spots of more muted, off-white that seem to be bleeding across the otherwise brilliant shine of a well maintained sense of hope Roderick's come to associate with all members of the Cult of Elpis.
"No one's in trouble, he'd be darker." Roderick observes softly, gesturing for Kyle to read the human in question. As Kyle stops to do just that, Roderick shifts to listening in on Orange's side of the conversation as he sits down on the bench across from him.
"Yeah, it's—no, I believe you, just…man, this isn't my…no…no, of course they will. You know how the Order works, right?…"
Roderick finally reaches out to touch Orange's shoulder. It stings, but only because Roderick's looking for it, for one of the biggest dim spots in Orange's aura so he can get a taste of it that Kyle still isn't healthy enough to handle yet.
Fear.
It's the dominant flavor, but Orange narrows his eyes and throws up a wall around his thoughts. A disgruntled curse comes from where Kyle is settling for the evening, making it clear he was attempting to read his mind.
"Listen, just come by now and we'll talk." Orange tells the person on the other end of the line. "Or they will. I'm tired…yeah, they're here. They're partners, they can—no, just Kyle, but Roddy's…look, just come over, okay?"
There's a moment of silence, and Orange finally hangs up, shrugging off Roddy's hand.
"What've I told you 'bout food poisoning, man?"
"I'm not eating, I'm helping." Roddy shoots back, but lets Orange go. "What was that?"
"Someone needs your help. Our help—Mark gave him my number, the asshole." Orange sighs, stretching out on the bench. "Guy helped Luchasaurus. Thought he was in the clear. He was wrong."
Roddy raises an eyebrow, but it's Kyle who moves closer and speaks instead.
"I caught wind of a fire kitsune around here." He admits. "Roddy, have you—"
"Yeah." He admits, hanging his head. "And I think I know who it is, just…they're bad news, man. Dangerous."
He lifts his head slowly, and finds Orange laying on the bench, looking up at him with clear, placid eyes. When he glances at Kyle, he finds the same look, wider eyes and a small smile.
Goddamnit.
"I…didn't want anything to happen to Orange." He confesses, lowering his gaze again. The shame burns in the back of his throat, so hot he has to fight the urge to cough, choking on—
—cool water floods his mouth, spills down over the acid burn.
Roddy lifts his eyes, and Orange is still watching him.
//You're my friend, too, Rod. It's okay.//
Orange's thoughts project into his mind, clear and bright and soothing.
Before Roddy can answer, there's a knock at the door…one that Kyle answers.
*****
I did not learn the truth until I was chosen. I suspected something about me was…different. My strength, my temperament, my drive. We are a legion populated by artists and actors, performers and musicians. Only those among my number yearn for the inferno, find our way into the corners where we may fight and scrap at will.
The kits. The young ones…the most vulnerable among us.
When I came into my power, after I was chosen, I told no one. I was found, in secret, by one who knows of us. I was warned by an enemy: he hated me, but knew what happens to uneducated kits. He did not, does not, hate anyone that much.
Don Callis, however, does. That is the only emotion he knows. That is what would determine the things he would do if he knew I was a fire kitsune with but two tails to my name, one of them only earned very recently.
Earned by helping an enemy: the Child of the Stone Sky.
*****
"…you healed Lucha."
"Rod?"
Roddy opens his eyes, and lowers his hands from the temples of Konosuke Takeshita, seated across from him.
"I was right." Roddy sighs. "He checks out—fire kitsune, same one who healed Luchasaurus. Still just a baby."
Takeshita sneers, but his cheeks are a little pinker than they were a moment ago.
"Age…it is relative for the eternal? But yes." He confesses out loud. "It is known that the most powerful tails are the first ones earned. If Callis-san knew—"
"He'd lock you up and harvest you for potent magic he could make a fortune on." Orange mutters, audibly horrified. "Hera's tits, man."
"Does he know about your third tail?" Kyle asks—and just like that, Roddy's blood runs cold.
Takeshita looks over his shoulder sharply to where Kyle is standing…but when he faces Roddy again, that flush in his cheeks is gone. Now, his tanned complexion has gone sickly ashen despite his sneer.
"The belt." He realizes out loud. "Oh, fuck—is that a thing? Can—"
"The tails of a kitsune can number the stars." Takeshita replies, cutting him off quietly. "Nine is the number of the elements from which they spring. Four are the natural elements, four are the primal, and one is achieved only when the others come together."
Roddy watches him look down at the title belt resting across his lap. He touches its face, reverent, gentle…and with a curl of his fingers, coaxes the gleam of the gold off of it and into the air.
The shine twists, turning to golden flame as it reshapes itself while rising off the metal. A slender cord of light connects it to the belt, but a fox tail very clearly hangs sketched in the air, each curl of golden fire sparkling like the edge of a blade.
"And each one remains bound to its vessel until the next is earned." He whispers, watching his tail flick and wave from one side to another.
"They're gonna figure out what it is if they get it back before it's been separated." Orange surmises, glancing between Roddy and Kyle as Takeshita lets the tail vanish again. "We can't let that happen."
"We won't let that happen." Kyle chimes in…and Roddy can feel the eyes on him, his own still fixed on Takeshita.
Roddy takes a deep breath, then nods slowly.
"Thirded." He adds. "Do you understand what you're throwing in with, Takeshita? The Conglomeration—"
"Is anything but. I am aware of the Order, Strong, and the sacred trust of Pandora: the flame of hope, the source of all life. My second tail was one of heart, and despite the matches we have fought on opposite sides, I kept the leash upon myself, and not the tri-blood. I have, in all things, honored the code of the Order at its core."
"'I bind myself, and remain free. I bind others, and I remain a slave.'" Roddy sighs, nodding even as the words cut his tongue the way they always do.
The oath embodied in the magician's tool of the handcuffs. The oath that his father allowed his brother to swear, but forbade his mother or Roderick from uttering, when Roderick was not yet his name.
"Rod?"
He glances over at Orange, who motions to his mouth. Roddy reaches up, and finds blood on his fingers when he wipes at his lip.
"Roddy…"
Kyle's voice sounds strangled, and Roddy can't make himself look up at him.
"I told you a long time ago, Kyle," he replies quietly, "this is why I haven't pledged to the Order. I physically can't."
"So it's true. Why would he do that to you? How—"
"Kyle."
The utterance of his name is a whisper, not a shout—but carries all the force of the bellow he uses on camera. He hates it, but he has no choice. He's not a member of the Order…but right now, he has to act like one.
Refocusing on Takeshita, whose eyes have gone wide, Roddy takes a breath.
"You'll be our charge. Our responsibility." he warns. "You'll wear our mark, follow our lead…and you'll have to maintain this level of commitment to the code of the Order. That includes what you are, and what you can do."
Takeshita toys with the belt in his lap for a moment, then nods. "I understand. I am…willing to be open about my nature, if I am required."
"Okay, then…welcome to the Conglomeration." Roddy offers, glancing between Kyle and Orange for confirmation.
Kyle nods. "Mark'll love him. This is cool."
Orange nods. "Fine by me—on one condition."
Takeshita raises an eyebrow.
Roddy sighs, scrubs his hands over his face, and just hopes Orange won't take it personally if Takeshita doesn't want to use his backpack, either.