With some difficulty, it maneuvered itself to be able to see the two animals. They were playing. Aww, how cute, The Piano thought to itself, amused. They were also very fast and far more agile than The Piano, who was basically a nine-foot triangular block on legs without knees. In this terrain full of stone outcrops and crystals, it would have to come up with a different strategy than simply chasing them down.

Attractive pheromones began to waft up from The Piano, who turned so that its propped-open lid would reveal an enticing mysterious box full of shining strings to the Mystfoxes.

In addition to presenting the entrance to its mouth and digestive cavity, The Piano made its hammers sway in waves and its strings ripple in mesmerizing patterns. Such playful, curious creatures—didn't they want to investigate the mysteriously attractive smells coming from the mysterious beautiful open object nearby? The mysterious beautiful object that was certainly not alive? Ethereal light played across the metallic strings inside. There were so many colors! Maybe the Mystfoxes could find a new playground inside The Piano?

What beautiful eyes they have, The Piano thought as the mystfoxes approached. Should it keep these alive as pets for sale, if they had no visible gems? It would have to find a way to contain them, as it could not control their minds. And it would have to drag them all the way back to Cassiopeia first. But surely there were cuteness-loving Gembound out there who'd pay dearly to have one of these by their side.

The fox jumping onto its keyboard garnered no physical reaction from The Piano. Instead, its attention was focused (with some frustration) on the one weaving around its legs. It knew they could be agile enough to really jump up if they wanted! It appreciated the initiative the one who had jumped possessed.

If they were so confused, The Piano decided, it would be generous (ha) enough to provide some disclosure, a hint on how they should get to the extremely interesting yet completely safe place they definitely should go play in. A dash of blue-and-lavender light zipped from the ground up its legs, onto the keyboard, and inside the box where its strings rested, leaving a glowing trail behind. An obvious hint drawing out a path for the mystfoxes to follow. All they had to do was take it :)

The Piano was disappointed that even the light trail did not manage to lure the more nervous mystfox inside, but it supposed that it would have to make do. It had gotten closer, anyway, and that upped its chances of success even if they weren't a hundred percent. It considered doing more to draw it in--perhaps another wave of pheromones, or a whisper of rustling prey somewhere in the gloom of its box--but a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, or so they say, and it did not want to risk losing the attention of the fox already inside it, or worse, scaring it away.

A handful of its strings shot out to grab the mystfox poking at them, wrapping tightly around what they could reach (though not tearing lethally yet) and injecting a paralytic cocktail of venom, while the others burst past the boundaries of its wooden chassis to snatch for the mystfox still outside. It was not giving up on a possible double catch if it could help it, although the second might be a stretch for its reflexes.

Its grasping strings missed the second mystfox, causing The Piano to emit a low, threatening hum of dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, the first was paralyzed and in its grasp, and it quickly slammed down its lid to ensure there was no escape for it. Not that it thought it had much chance anyway, what with the paralytic venom and dozen metallic toothed strings wrapped around its body.

A glimpse of its terrified eyes as its world went dark gave The Piano pause, though. While it quite enjoyed the fear its powerful abilities earned it, it did not want this fox to get so stressed out it died. At least, not before it decided whether to actually kill it or not.

A new venom, this one a magically-formulated sedative, oozed into the mystfox's bloodstream from the dozens of teeth still embedded in its skin. The Piano had put a lot of power behind the spell; hopefully this would be enough to calm it down, perhaps even knock it out. Slowly, it relaxed the grip its strings had on the fox's small body; it wanted it mostly undamaged for now. Several more strings reached out to carefully grasp and turn the fox this way and that, feeling it over for any external gemstone.