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Another boring day. Zen had finished up her usual daily rituals and after finding nothing new to do, and being very bored, decided to take a nap just to waste time. She had been alone all her life, save a few modifoxes who taught her how to speak and fend for herself. The 'phim often questioned if there was anyone else like her in the world. With a sigh, she flew up to her usual spot on her favorite tree and started to dozed off, wondering if she should look for others once she awoke......

Zen's head snapped up and her scents rose to full alertness as she heard the flutter of wings, that obviously did not belong to a bird, nearby. She turned to see a black and white figure land in the meadow a few trees away from her perch. Could she have found another like herself so soon? Without even trying? Had someone come to find her?

Deciding that it could be fun to meet someone else, Zen stretched, yawned, and made her decent from the tree she had been napping in to the meadow where the other 'Phim was located. She landed on the outskirts of the meadow and observed the other black and white 'phim, trying to gauge what his reaction would be. That is, if he was even a he, Zen didn't know. She timidly took a few steps toward him, hoping not to scare him off.

The moment the other 'phim noticed her, Zen froze in mid step, afraid that the 'phim would turn and run if she so much as breathed to loudly. But he did, in fact, quite the opposite. He came towards her. At the sound of his voice, Zen was sure it was a he she was dealing with. So there were others of her kind. And he seemed friendly.

As Jiriki sat and introduced himself, Zen cautiously walked up to him. "Jiriki." She repeated his name aloud as she made a quick circle around him observing his markings, his wings, and his body structure. He was different than she was, but the same. After making her circle, she stood in front of him and stared at him for a brief moment...

Then she lost it.

A wide smile spread across her face right before she tackled him. "Jiriki!" she shouted happily as she broke into laughter. "I can't believe it! There's another! I'm not alone!" her laughter continued and her tail flailed about around her in excitement.

Just as quickly as she had lost it, the black and white vixen regained her composure. She couldn't believe how rude she was being. Tackling a stranger and laughing like a crazy fox? That is no way for a lady to behave. Zen quickly moved off of Jiriki and sat next to him. "I am terribly sorry for my rudeness. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Zen." She bowed her head to him all the while smiling.

Now on to more important matters. "What is a Modiphim?" She asked confused. "Lot's of us? As in you and I? You mean more winged foxes?" Although she tried, Zen could not keep the excitement from her voice. All her life she had wanted to meet another like here and now out of the blue, one finds her and tells here that there is more? It was almost too good to be true. It was true, wasn't it? Zen looked Jiriki over again and poked him with her paw to reinforce the fact that he wasn't a figment of her imagination.

Zen shook her head at Riki's first question and then listened with great interest as he explained to her about Modiphims, Modidaevas and Modifoxes. It was nice to learn the actual terms for what she and the other foxes were. So the foxes she was raised by were normal modifoxes. Why was she not raised by modiphims, if there are so many of them? She wanted to ask but decided she's find that answer on her own some day.

"Modidaeva's are our opposites? I bet they're quite interesting then." She said with a little laugh. Being so cheerful and optimistic, she was almost scared to think of what her exact opposite would be like. A life without happiness, didn't seem like much of a life to Zen.

Zen shook her head again at Riki's second question and looked over at him looking much to serious for someone so upbeat. "No. You're really the first one I've ever seen or met. I was raised by normal foxes until I got to big and they refused to let me live with them any longer. I've been living here alone wondering but never knowing." She paused, looking rather sad before her features changed again and a smile spread across her face. "But now I've met you and now I know."

"We are not odd," Horatio growled quietly, glowering at his sometimes-only-when-he-could-avoid-him companion, the one that tagged around with him and Ignacio whenever he could. Annoying fly.

"We do not sulk, and there is nearly always a reason for doing what we do." Including not killing the annoying little foxes that had followed him since he'd started into the forest. She just wouldn't shut up, and the little white one was too...quiet for his taste. Freak.

"Ignacio has done something," Tio growled quietly, pushing the little white fox forward roughly with a paw. "You watch him, he is not my responsibility,"

It was about then that he noticed the other 'Phim, and narrowed his eyes. "What, are you his vixen or something? Or perhaps his sister. Or maybe just the second member of Jiriki's fanclub -- the first being himself." Tio snorted derisively. He had done what he came to do, dropped off his little nephew at Jiriki's feet, and now he was done. Maybe the female would leave him alone now.

Nausika had come to find her Land-Family (Uncle Sparkio, Uncle Conundrum, those guys!), and instead she'd stumbled upon a new member and a little kit who looked like he needed a friend. She didn't care for the big 'Daeva, though, he was just plain mean. Sika hadn't wanted to walk with him, but she'd done so in order to keep the little kit --Imri, he said his name was, after she'd managed to coax it out of him-- safe from the stupid 'Daeva.

"Do you know where his parents are?" Nausika asked the male Modiphim curiously, wrapping her black tail around the little white kit. He hadn't said word one since they'd gotten within earshot of the two phims, but he looked so confused, poor sweety.

"He said before his name was Imri,"

"I already said that Ignacio did something," Tio scowled, then continued, his voice absolutely full of disgust, "He mated and had children." Tio shuddered, shaking his head. "With this vixen I've never even met. Apparently she's an Elder." Snorting derisively, Tio shook his head again.

"Now good bye," Tio said with a forceful glare to the back of Nausika's head. "And good riddance,"

Imri cuddled close to the black and almost-like-Uncle-Tio green vixen, his emerald eyes wide and afraid. Were these other two winged Foxes going to be like his Daddy and Uncle Tio? He hoped not...

Then Uncle Tio said something about going. "Wait!" Imri squeaked out, looking back at his Uncle Tio, his eyes going even wider, if that was possible. "Don't...don't go..." Imri begged weakly, instintively backing up a few paces as Tio came closer, towering above him. When he couldn't make himself back up anymore, poor Imri ended up just falling flat onto his back, his paws above him and his stomach to his Uncle. He let out a low whimper, then, "Please?" Imri's voice went up an octave as he spoke; he was half-afraid that Uncle Tio might set him on fire. Uncle Tio loved to set things on fire.

Tio stood over the boy, eying him coldly. How unlike his father and himself, what a pity. But he did look sort of like Ignacio and Tio...maybe he could teach him something.

"Stay with her," Tio said gruffly, moving as far away as he could, but not leaving the area. There, against one of the trees, he laid down and set his head heavily on his paws, watching the others tiredly. Honestly. What wastes of space.

Riki roleld his eyes in exagerration as he heard Tio's voice behind him. He didn't mind his presence, the Daeva just had weird timing. "Hello to you too Tio," he said with overthetop cheerfulness, turning to look.

What hesaw was admittedly surprising. There was a female who looked almost like she could be Tio's sister, and a little kit that looked like the two brothers and someone he had never seen. The purple made him think it must be Ignacio's, and Tio confirmed that.

The way this kit--Imri--panicked when Tio threatened to leave was heartwrenching to see, and Jiriki was quick to decide that someone besides the female stranger needed to be there for him. At least Riki was a family acquaintance.

"I'm afraid I don't know where Ignacio is," Riki told the female. "And I don't know his mother." The Modiphim padded over to Imri, then gently picked him up by the scruff of his neck and set him back on all fours. "Don't be scared, Imri," he said in agreement with Zen. "You're going to be fine."

Riki didn't take too long to get tired of Horatio's attitude. While he was great fn to poke at on a good day, the fool didn't need to be acting like a quiet murderer around an already terrified kit. Jiriki alone could handle Ignacio and Horatio, but that was merely because he grew up around them.

He looked down at Imri when he spoke, and smiled reassuringly. "My name's Jiriki," he told him, still smiling. "But you can call me Riki. Everyone does." He flashed him the sort of grin that made everyone feel comfortable, then looked back at the Daeva. It was time to sort him out.

"You can stay however long you want, Nausika," he said absently as he stepped towards the familiar black and sea green coat of the other winged male.

"She is not 'my' vixen, to use your crude language, nor is she my sister or a member of any fan club," Riki retorted dryly, annoyed at his behavior. "She is...a friend. Not that you would know much about that, would you? You're far too busy trying to destroy things to make any sort of relationship, barring the blood one with your twin."

Finally Jiriki was close enough to Tio that he could speak to him without the others overhearing. "Stop acting like this is the worst thing to happen to you," he growled lowly, pulling his ears back. "Maybe you're too ignorant to realize it, but that kit loves you, and he will learn nothing from anyone if he spends his entire life terrified of you leaving or making you disappointed. If you hadn't noticed, he's not a Modidaeva, and you should get over that now. Grow up some and get out of your own 'poor me I'm Horatio and I hate the world and everything in it' attitude. It does you no good, it does Ignacio no good, and it does your nephew no good."

He knew Horatio would blow off what he said, but at least it had been said. Jiriki usually let things go with the flow, but sometimes he had to stand up when someone was doing something obviously mean-spirited. Imri didn't deserve this kind of treatment from Horatio just because he was born. And where his father anyways?

Riki sighed heavily at the idea that Ig might abandon his own child, then padded back over to Zen's side and laid down next to her. At least Imri had this Nausika to keep him safe, and now himself and Zen for a time.