Atienne

When a curious 26 year-old decides he wants to fuck around and find out, you get what is now known as Atienne. Now 44 years old, but only in body - not in mind or spirit - he's paid the price. Rather, he's found out.

At the age of 26 (that's 2004), Atienne, born of a globe-trotting Frenchman and a well-meaning Japanese hostess, was just a little bit bored. He'd finished school with decent grades, and despite the pleas of his mother to do more with his life, Atienne just wasn't interested in doing much more than following in the footsteps of his father and traveling the world. But that was a bit hard to do when you had no money, and your mother didn't feel like donating to what she considered a 'charity case'. He loved her, she was good people, but she just didn't support his lifestyle.

So, what do you do when you need money, or the means to make money, and you've got a head full of bad ideas and a national history full of fun lore?

You summon a demon. Obviously.

Atienne had heard once, somewhere, maybe from this new-ish thing called the internet, that there was a way to summon a spirit to essentially take over a part of you and assist in your day-to-day life. He figured maybe something cute and helpful could make him good at cleaning, or something intimidating could make him super strong. Anything to give him a marketable skill to earn money to travel with. (It may also have had something to do with an American book published in the more recent years detailing exactly how one might join their spirits with that of a wolf to become some sort of therianthrope, but who could tell?)

Atienne had everything he needed, and took his items and himself to a slightly run down temple a bit of a ways from his home. What happened upon completion of the ritual was something he wouldn't be able to tell anyone for 18 years.

!!!This is a WIP!!! but basically the spirit he summoned was a very old kitsune spirit that took over his body for 18 years and took it for a joyride until he got hit by a car in the kitsune form. he couldn't get help by himself so he let atienne back into the picture so he could seek medical attention but the injuries were too much for either of them to survive by themselves (atienne because of his squishy human body, the kitsune spirit because the last of his temples had fallen into obscurity and with no temples to pray at, and no one to pray to them, he would fade away) and so they have a mutually beneficial co-existence within atienne's body: the spirit (known only as zen) keeps his heart beating which allows his body to function as normal. atienne is tasked with finding and helping to repair the shrines and temples dedicated to zen.

the power zen has is so massive, however, atienne's human body alone cannot contain it. the excess power spills from him in the form of large fox ears, three or more tails at a time, long nails, sharp canine teeth, and golden eyes. (zen was able to reduce the scar on his human body to looking like a scarification 'tattoo' in the shape of a giant lotus blossom on his side.) atienne is able to switch between forms at will by way of a traditional kitsune mask he keeps on his person. this is mostly a formality at this point as zen could do as he pleases, but atienne has been allowed to retain most of the control over these transformations this way as a peace offering from zen.

returning home after so long left atienne with no family to turn to, as his mother had moved away in her grief upon losing her son. luckily for atienne, however, zen has connections with a majority of the yokai in the tokyo and surrounding areas, and is able to seek shelter in establishments maintained by their veiled owners. this system operates on 'old money', mostly the clout that zen carried back in the day. atienne however earns regular old human coin by means of offering companionship, usually to older gentlemen. this is not strictly sexual in nature, as he is just as likely to assist someone grocery shopping as he is to simply lie in bed with them as they fall asleep. he also occasionally poses for life drawing/painting classes.

he suffers from adult-onset ADHD that he attributes to the accident. (be it being hit by a car or shot by a hunter)

so i am aware of the time period many of the dreams tend to operate in. the above is the story i had come up with him for my neopet (i had the neopet Atienne first before the furc alt lmao) so it being modern was not an issue.

BUT

for "canon compliance" to the time period Atienne's injury will have been caused by a hunter shooting the kitsune form rather than a car hitting him. still the same ages just different birthdates obvs. :] he would still be in his mid-40s.