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"Sit," repeated Taji as patiently as she could to the tiny colorful creature at the end of her leash that was most decidedly not a dog. ("Is too!" Taji half-protested and half-whined to anyone who had thought to helpfully inform her of this fact. She clamped her hands down over Cosmos' ears as they would say this, as if the very fact of his non-canineness would scar him for life.)

Cosmos did not sit. Each of his three tails curled lazily in opposing directions in the air, and he paced impatiently in front of the Food-Bringer's legs, constantly distracted by the perpetual motions of other dogs running about the park.

Taji squatted down next to him, briefly letting go of his leash to push firmly down on his rump, "SI--" but immediately seeing his chance to flee and romp about the park, Cosmos took it and immediately streaked across the length of the park, leaving behind a very confused star spirit.

It took her a moment to regain her senses. "WAAAAIT! COME BACK!" She yelled to her kitsu, setting off after him.

It was nice to be able to stretch his legs and not have to be yanked along on that long cord of string the Food-Bringer constantly insisted on putting on him before he was allowed Out. The chasing game was nice too; he circled around trees and darted beneath picnic tables in a playful, teasing attempt to elude Taji, which he did so very easily.

She was not very fast but she did have great reserves of stamina; she chased him into bushes, across the field at least three times, and nearly managed to pounce on the ends of his leash twice. She was just about to try and circle around the water fountain and cut him off before he could pass through a line of growing saplings before her concentration was broken by the familiar call of her name. Skidding to a stop, she confusedly revolved in a circle in an attempt to locate the source of the noise and finally saw Elazu standing some short distance away.

"Elazu!" She called back, temporarily forgetting Cosmos and skipping over to greet her friend and his furry companion. "I remember you!" She beamed at the young puppy, "You are rocks-y."

Apparently her memory was not as infallible as she liked to think it was.

Her kitsusagi peered out from behind a tree some distance away, tails twitching as he confusedly tried to determine the cause of Taji suddenly not paying any attention to him and instead to the other creature with only one tail. Feeling quite mischevious, he pressed his belly to the ground and began slowly crawling up behind Taji as she distracted herself with petting Rex, fully intent on pouncing the first thing that moved.

"Oh. OH. Rex! I'm sorry, Rex!" Taji shyly scuffed one foot against the ground as she gave Rex (not Rocks-y!) a scratch beneath her chin to make up for her mistake. She scratched her own chin with her other hand, secretly wondering -- she could've sworn... Well, she was technically not that far off. Maybe she had misheard.

Finally straightening and pulling away, Taji obligingly turned and followed Elazu's line of sight to a prowling Cosmos, who, upon being spotted, immediately flattened himself against the ground in a long patch of grass and stayed very still. If it weren't for his ears, still twitching and swivelling to catch every pertinent sound, Taji probably would have overlooked him completely.

"Silly!" She laughed to her own pet before turning back to Elazu and Rex. "That's Cosmos! He is a.. a thingy. An.. um..." She tilted her head at an angle and thought hard. "Kizusssssag..y. He was a present from my aunt, 'n mama says he is a special cross between a fox and a bunny but I know that he is really the puppy I asked for for Christmas." She beamed proudly at her own wisdom before clapping her hands to her knees and making kissy noises like she'd seen Elazu do at the pet store to call Rex. "C'mere Cosmyyyyyy!"

Cosmos did not see why he should, except perhaps to bite her ankles like the shark he really was. Slowly wading through the grass -- the very tips of it rustling and betraying his path -- he cautiously approached the group. When there was no more grass to slink through, he finally pulled himself to his proper height and, casually sauntering up, poked his nose down and closed his blunt baby teeth around one of the ends of Elazu's shoe laces in greeting.

Cosmos gave him a Look as if to say do you really expect me to understand the noises coming from your mouth, you silly thing? He nevertheless dropped the shoelace and casually rubbed himself against Elazu's legs -- perhaps as much a display of affection as it was an excuse to promptly mark the boy as his property.

"Good boy," Taji said, immensely relieved that he was not weeing on her friend's leg like that other time with the mean lady who smelt like fish but nevertheless did not deserve to be wee'd upon. Picking up the end of the kitsu's leash while he was distracted, Taji explained to Elazu, "I am trying to teach him to sit, but he does not want to sit. He runs instead! Silly boy. Does Rex know any tricks yet?"

Cosmos errupted into a very loud purr at the skritches, his spine arching to bring his tush up higher for more easily-distributed scratchings. Taji watched obliviously and without comment, perhaps thinking that all dogs purred and ate fish. Like bears did! All animals were pretty much to same to her, even after their zoo adventure -- big and furry (except for, you know, fish. And bugs. And birds. But they weren't animals.)

She giggled at Elazu's mistake, and wow'd in awe when Rex lifted her paw to shake. "Good girl, Rex!" She cheered, and to Elazu said brightly, "That's so cool! I wonder if Cosmos can do it. C'mere Cossy!"

Clearly this was the signal for, instead of Cosmos approaching Taji, the latter to approach the former, so the Kitsu sat and waited for Taji to do so. She crouched down next to him and held up her hand like Elazu did. "Shake!"

Cosmos stared at her blankly, then reached forward and nuzzled her proffered hand with a wet nose. Finding no treats concealed within, he lost interest and skulked off a little ways, keeping a careful eye on Rex.

Ooh. The Not!Food-Bringer had something in his hand. Cosmos at first feigned indifference, munching thoughtfully on some blades of grass that turned out to be less than tasty. He returned to Taji's side in a very roundabout way, butting his head against her legs and rubbing up against her, before finally meandering over to Elazu in a way that suggested that he didn't really mean to be there, the other boy was just in his way.

He sniffed very carefully at Elazu's hand to make sure that there was no decieving here like the Food-Bringer had done. He definitely smelled something -- not at all his usual fare, but food was food and he wanted it. He made a barking noise, surprisingly enough -- perhaps this was where Taji's confusion primarily lay -- and pawed at Elazu's hand, clearly telling him to open it and give the treat up.

"I don't think Cossy is as smart as Rex," Taji said doubtfully in the background, earning a very ire flick of his tails from Cosmos. "He's always makin' the other dogs mad, too. But Rex is a very good girl and will be nice, won't she?" She grinned and busied herself petting Rex again, paying her the attention that Cosmos currently took from Elazu.

Seeing that Elazu -- as poorly trained as he was -- clearly did not know enough to give him the treat as commanded, Cosmos blinked very slowly at him. Finally, still intent on giving him the thousand-yard stare, he sat on his haunches to do so more comfortably.

Taji giggled at Rex' affection and continued petting, secretly wondering why Cosmos couldn't be more like her. He was awfully disagreeable for a dog...