<div class="floatleft">(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rMjEML5yj4w/TMY9t4IPiJI/AAAAAAAAACU/D1JS6X-E5C0/s1600/japanese%20woman.jpg)</div><strong>Character Name/Alias</strong>: Kitaka Tori (Kit)<br/><strong>Location</strong>: Eastern continent, Pan-Asia, Paused in the desert sands<br/><strong>Current Action(s)</strong>: Conversation<br/><strong>Tagging</strong>: Wukong<br/><div class="floatright">(https://tokyobling.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/fox_shrine_foxcloseup.jpg)</div><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Kit had no intention of accepting. She'd be no one's scapegoat again. But neither did she wish to make an enemy of the great figure, who was surely powerful enough to have overcome her on his own, without having to resort to such trickery. If his offer had included he alone, she might have found it suspicious, but she might have been more inclined to take him seriously, inclined to take that chance. However, the more people who were involved, as a court suggested, the quicker her chances of survival plummeted. Too many times, she had seen good people, wise people led astray by the machinations of the greedy. Mortals were not solely susceptible, either.<br/><br/>"I'm afraid..." She said cautiously, inclining her head in a gesture of respect towards the legendary man-creature in front of her. "That I cannot accept such a generous offer." In her mind, the words were punctuated in her senses by the sting of a whip between her shoulders, cold steel around her muzzle, the sound of arrows landing heavily in wood and earth on either side of her, the painful burn of lungs and limbs in full flight for her life. The horrors perpetrated on her kind in the form of traps lain and fires burned by the fearful and the covetous alike made her shudder, a gesture she tried very hard to hide. It wasn't able, however, to keep her subconscious in check and as a result, her tails wrapped comfortingly around her body.<br/><br/>She could not, of course, leave the king believing she were ungrateful for his offer. It was strangely a trusting offer and she found that to be at least as much a mystery as the rest of him. Why would he offer this to<em>her</em>, of all people. "I am only a kitsune and have little by way of magic aside from the shifting of my form and some little luck. What possible boon could I be to a man who is as strong as you are, Sun-sama? What blow could I strike against this Djinn that some other woman could not also accomplish? Better to gather a thousand warriors to your side than waste your time with a single kitsune."<br/><br/>If he didn't try to kill her, didn't try to take her pelt, if none of his allies did, if no one lifted an unwarranted hand to strike at her the problem would still be the same for the monkey king. She was capable of no more than anyone else might be able to accomplish, less so than some. She had no martial skill to speak of that could be a threat to a human. She had no stores of hidden weapons in the fashion that even those like her would have. A mere four hundred years and three tails, the last of her kind and not nearly as strong as he himself, what possible interest could there be?<br/><br/>No, in a battle such as this, it was better to be away from those who would rather turn the luck of her pelt in their direction, save herself and perhaps find a way to propagate her own race than embroil herself in such a fight. If the Djinn won, at hte least she might be able to convince him to leave her alive with the promise of more kitsune young. Trade her young to save herself. The thought shamed her. What had she become?<br/><br/>"I am not fit to serve in your kingdom, I'm afraid. It would serve you better to seek out heroic names and leave an otherwise grateful kitsune in the desert dust." Her gaze was steadily held down and away from Wukong, lest he see the terrible thoughts that had occurred to her behind her eyes. She thought of her words, and how she might show her gratitude. "Let me offer some other boon in place. Surely that would be more valuable to the Monkey King than a mere mouth to feed. I am more valuable to you as-..." She didn't want to say it aloud, but the truth was plain. She was more valuable to him dead than alive. She simply wasn't prepared to be<em>that</em>valuable quite yet.<br/>