asakiyume: (nevermore)
asakiyume ([personal profile] asakiyume) wrote2015-08-06 11:46 am

Christian Lyons and the Five Foxes







Last night, late, I heard this story on the CBC: the tale of Christian Lyons, a lawyer in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, who noticed, as he took a shortcut home through the woods behind the local high school, that there were a number of foxes about. He saw five. And then...

Lyons waited for them to cross the path and carry on through the woods. They did, and he carried on his way.

"Lo and behold, as I came over a ridge, I saw that these, at least five foxes, had circled back and were back on the trail."

He began to feel disconcerted. The foxes weren't fleeing or trying to avoid him.

"It's almost like they looped back to come in front of me so I took stock of the situation. I'm not afraid of foxes. Who would be?"

The animals began to approach as a pack, loping towards him from about 10 metres away.

"I just kind of jogged backwards in retreat. Not in full-panic flight at this point."

Another five metres down the road, Lyons turned back.

"They were then closing the gap toward me with some intent," says Lyons.

At this point, he says, "it was unequivocal flight response. I just started to sprint away from these things."


Some kept up the chase even after he crossed a road, and one pursued him to the door of his house.

Christian Lyons


Was it because he himself has a ruddy, foxlike look? (Perhaps he has fox blood and doesn't know it?)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it1, is to spin a brief tale explaining the foxes' pursuit of Mr. Lyons.

An alternate mission is to mention other town names that are as cool as Yellowknife. I would love to be able to say I came from a place called Yellowknife.

1Coincidentally, Mr. Lyons had been returning from seeing Mission Impossible with friends.


half assed, off the cuff, and totally inexcusable

[identity profile] shellynoir.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Remember the wacky bear-feeding old lady who was eventually killed by her beloved bears? They need to do a wellness check on the elderly population. I have always loved Nunavut, for its poetry and its low-level, alcohol fueled crime stories.

Re: half assed, off the cuff, and totally inexcusable

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, quite possible! What is Mr. Lyons not telling us about his previous encounters with foxes....

[identity profile] cmcmck.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I have to admit that I'd like to be able to say that I come from Queen Camel!

Seriously, it is a genuine place name in Somerset! :o)

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:28 am (UTC)(link)
Queen Camel is a great name!

[identity profile] yamamanama.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
He looks a bit like someone I knew in college.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
What sort of a relationship did the guy you knew in college have with wildlife? Good? Fair? Poor?

[identity profile] yamamanama.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 09:27 am (UTC)(link)
I don't have any idea.
Actually, now that I think about it, he's more like a composite and one of the people I knew called himself Danimal.


Also, did you see the post I made last Friday?

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 09:31 am (UTC)(link)
Got it open in tabs! I'm behind about three.
marycatelli: (Default)

[personal profile] marycatelli 2015-08-06 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
We're tough, I tell you, tough. We don't take any guff. There was this big hulking human, and we ran him off.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
I love all three of yours!! BRILLIANT!

This one for tough talk and brevity....
marycatelli: (Default)

[personal profile] marycatelli 2015-08-07 09:24 am (UTC)(link)
It was fun.
marycatelli: (Default)

[personal profile] marycatelli 2015-08-06 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Red-haired," said the first fox.

"Yes," said the second, "but he looks like he can run."

"Maybe he'll trip. Maybe he'll get his hair caught when he does. Then we can -- or do you want to stay a fox forever?"

The other three shook their heads emphatically. Transformation was one thing, but never to go back?

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
This one for quickly established motivation....
marycatelli: (Default)

[personal profile] marycatelli 2015-08-06 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
The majestic old fox stalked to the front of the gathering.

"We can't have it," she said. "It is too dangerous, to live among humans, revealing that we can take human form." Her head shifting, she took in every fox there with her glittering black eyes. "Why, this one has even learned to hide every sign of his origin! You can't even tell he was a fox."

Murmurs of consternation rose.

"which fox was he?" said one youngster.

"Don't be so insolent," snapped the matriarch. "I will send five to warn him."

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
This one for the great last line!

[identity profile] amaebi.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think he's forgotten," the smallest fox whispered.

"No!" barked her sister. "Impossible!"

The eldest, a cautious dog-fox, offered, "I don't think he's forgotten. Look how he trots."

"I wonder," said the dreamy one."Does someone have his skin shut in a chest? It's happened before."

"I hear that some humans like our smell," said his brother.

"It doesn't matter," his mate said fiercely. "Naked or furred, he is mine." And she leapt after him.

sovay: (Cho Hakkai: intelligence)

[personal profile] sovay 2015-08-07 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
"I wonder," said the dreamy one."Does someone have his skin shut in a chest? It's happened before."

Prrrrrt.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
Shapeshifters who forget: a tale of consequences
marycatelli: (Default)

[personal profile] marycatelli 2015-08-07 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps, perhaps -- or maybe he doesn't want to go back.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
That too! Maybe the consequences are retribution from those you turn your back on.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:38 am (UTC)(link)
Brilliant! Love each member of this pack. And [livejournal.com profile] sovay is right--that line about the skin shut up in his chest is shiverful and beautiful.

[identity profile] nancylebov.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"Do you think he's really a lion?"

"I guess not. Lions don't scare that easy."

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
Haha--I had similar thoughts, something along the lines of, "If we once let lions get established in this woods, we'll never know a moment's peace. It's him or us!"

[identity profile] sartorias.livejournal.com 2015-08-06 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yellowknife!

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
You have a connection with Yellowknife? Or is it just that you, like me, like the name? (Interestingly, a message-in-a-bottle story came my way that mentioned Yellowknife--the sender was from there.)

[identity profile] sartorias.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
I love that name--I want to know the story behind it!

[identity profile] khiemtran.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Yellowknife is a cool name, but Christian Lyons is an even cooler one...

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-07 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, rather Crusader-ish! And he has a look that can carry it off--I can imagine him in chain mail.

[identity profile] oiktirmos.livejournal.com 2015-08-10 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I have been watching the sci-fi series Zoo, where the animals, even animals one would not fear, turn on human beings and hunt them.
I wonder …

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-08-11 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
Then there are the actual large animals that are about. Wakanomori saw a black bear stand up, look both ways, and then cross the highway yesterday.