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Youko moved into the HQ with the wand in his hand. It had been a few days since its arrival, and while his own kids were taking it in stride, he found himself half wondering just what he needed to do with it. Well, this was as good a place as any to go, and he moved through the room half looking for others. He wasn't disappointed, and smiled as he padded towards the pair near the toys. And was that... a kitsune? It had to be the one that Ianna had told him about.

"Hello there," he said, nodding both to the boy and the man who was obviously his guardian. "I'm Youko. And this..." he paused, holding up the wand. "Well, I'm not sure who this is yet, but I'm sure it'll be someone."

Chuckling, Youko moved to sit crosslegged on the floor near Yashi, setting the wand down carefully nearby. "Good to meet you Patrick. I've heard about Yashi, actually... Ianna told me about him when I was here before. She mentioned that she didn't see many kitsune."

He turned to Yashima then, beaming a smile at the boy. "Hai, Yashi... boku wa kitsune." He brought a hand up to his chest then, performing a sitting version of a bow. "Boku wa Youko. Hajimemashite."

Youko was more than content to let the kit play with his ears or tail and moved to curl up on his side so that Yashi could reach either of them. After all, it wasn't like his OWN kids didn't think they were the greatest playtoys in the world at that age. However, when the boy reacted like that to the wand, Youko's ears pinned back a bit and he looked concerned. "Yashi?" he asked. "Nani oh? What's wrong, little one?"

Was there something wrong with the wand? Wait... Ianna had said that Yashi didn't like girls. "Shojo ga?" he asked, pointing to the wand.

"Shhhh..." Youko moved to curl his tail around the boy, trying to comfort him. "Daijoubu... it's okay. Don't worry about it, okay?" He picked up the wand then and moved it away from Yashi, setting it on a table nearby. He looked up to Patrick then, apologetically. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to upset him."

Almost instinctively, he leaned forward then, nuzzling against Yashima's ears, a low almost rumbling purr coming from his throat. "Daijoubu..."

Smiling faintly, Youko loked up to Patrick with an expression of sympathy. The poor man had NO idea how to handle a fox. "It wasn't anything I said," he answered softly, keeping his voice at a soothing pitch for the little one that was clinging to him like a burr. "It's what I did. Fox children are very touch-oriented... at least all of my family was, and so are my children. We respond mainly to contact. Being held, petted, that kind of thing. And when that fails, the purr works wonders. My mother used to hold us and purr when we were kits... and it seems that Yashima is very much like that as well."

When he finished speaking, the purr picked up again, and he wound himself around the boy, his tail draping over Yashima like a fuzzy blanket. "The more contact, the better. Curl around him, pet his ears and his hair... and purr. Or get as close to it as you can."

"You might smell wrong to him," Youko replied, glancing down at the boy and smiling still. "Any kind of animal spirit is VERY keen on smell. I smell like another fox to him, because I'm half of one... I'm a hanyo, my father was human. So I probably smell really close to what he considers 'right'." Youko looked up at him then, watching the other man for a moment. "Your best bet... is to smell like a fox. However, in lieu of growing ears and a tail, you'll want to try anything that has a cinnamon-y scent. My lover is an incubus and he told me that every fox he's ever been around has a distinct cinnamon spice scent to them. When my daughter was a baby and had trouble sleeping, I'd light a cinnamon spice candle in her bedroom and she'd be out like a light."

Youko let hte purr taper off, and kept lightly stroking the boy's ears as he turned his full attention to Patrick then. "Christmas cookies..." he mused, letting a crooked smile cross his face. "I've never heard it quite put THAT way, but I suppose so, yeah."

As the other questions came, the kitsune just listened, formulating his reply. "Good questions, actually... and no, you don't sound stupid. Most people don't KNOW much about kitsune, so it's no wonder that there's so much information that others don't realise. He WILL change again, likely not til he's older. I couldn't shapeshift til I was about sixteen. I've got three forms. This one, full human-looking, and full fox. This is the 'standard', really, of what we look like when we're not trying to look different. As for going rabid, I suppose that depends." He gave a sheepish smile then, one ear dropping to the side. "My mother swears we all went rabid when we hit the teen years... but I think most parents say that about their kids. He might go into heat when he gets older, though, fair warning. Some males do, some don't, just depends on genetics. If you notice him acting wierd and YOU can smell cinnamon around him, lock him up. Seriously. Or you'll wind up a grandfather."

Well, maybe not. Youko corrected himself a moment later. "Unless he likes guys. Then he'll just wind up walking funny for a while."