The Temple of Inari 50: Foxside

[Recaiden]

"Me?"

Tavlii is clearly skeptical of the idea.

"Well, okay. Let's see what you can come up with."

She is admittedly interested to see what the makeover of Caroline looks like. And at the same time, hoping to avoid it.

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina nods

Yes, you. Now, Miss Primerra: have a seat right here

She motions to a small chair, which Caroline sits in somewhat skeptically. Katrina brings out scissors and a brush

If you're going to grow your hair this long, you really need to learn to wash it. I'm going to have to cut it back nearly to your shoulders to get all the split ends out. Just hold still.

She starts to work, chattering away happily to Tavlii

So: I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you don't really know all that much about Vulpans, Tavlii... but let me know if I bore you. My name is Katrina Fitzgerald NefKitre. You'll hear most of us trot out three names like that, and among Humans we often go by the last as our "surname" because it makes life easier in many ways. But really, 'Fitzgerald' is my family. 'NefKitre' is a clan - the name is derived from the Wood Elf phrase Ne'ef ki'itre'e which means "they dwell apart", because my ancestors were notoriously stuffy and conservative. Miss Caroline here is special: Primerra is from the Grey Elf word for "first", and her family is the direct line of Myobi herself - only first and second daughters get to keep the name. They haven't got a clan as such. And that brings up another thing: the Grey Elves call us 'matriarchal', because it the Vixens who are the dominant gender.

She pauses for a moment, mostly because she just stuck the brush in her mouth while adjusting Caroline's long hair [rapidly shortening as it may be].

[Recaiden]

Tavlii nods.

"Little, but we're willing to learn. Sensical. We've learned many patterns of names. One for self and one for family is pretty common, though. Do you dispute being a matriarchal people? That would be the definition."

Yet another reason to be intimidated by Caroline.

"A pleasure to properly meet you."

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina takes the brush back out of her mouth and resumes work on Caroline's hair

Not a bit! But we've only been a species for a hair over five thousand years, compared to the rough half-million that humans have been, and sometimes people get the wrong idea by that seemingly simple word: we drive society, we're more assertive, more demanding, more ambitious, and more driven... but we still are the ones who want home and family and children. The males are lighter: more inclined to agree, to not think ahead, to wander, to provide, to protect - but they can be more violent and more aggressive because of it.

Anyway... hm... so, Primerra is undoubtedly the most prestigious family, but they don't meddle in "normal" politics as a rule. Their opinion is highly sought after and respected, of course. The first of the "real" clans is DuRoi: Their name is derived from the Cheritanni phrase "of the King", this is technically a branch of the NorZilliar clan that split off long ago. They ingrained themselves with the Cheritanni royalty, and their surname in the kingdom is technically still Navarre. Their home is spread across the northern coastal cities of the kingdom of Cheritanne - which of course, you've never heard of.

Katrina takes a moment to grin mischievously.

Ponytail?

[Recaiden]

"Half a million? That's incredible. On my world, we've only existed, oh, three-thousand or so with a history, maybe another 2000 before then. What must it be like to have been a people for so long!"

Seems she's been kind of sidetracked by that number alone.

"Oh, that might be too much for her. Braided, maybe? I'm afraid you're right; I've never heard of it, like you've never heard of Droma or Aundaie City. Interesting that your society doesn't sound that different from the human one you seem to be implying."

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina nods

Yeah, good point. A simple turned-over braid it is.

And she proceeds. Considering the timeline comments, Katrina tilts her head

Really? Were you seeded there, too? These days, we know that our home is a sort of ... wildlife refuge. Races were brought there to be kept safe because their homeworlds had impending total-extinction events. We are one of the few original species, engineered specifically for that world.

Anyway, back to the clans! DuRoi, then NomSile: it means "hills of golden streams" and you can guess why they have the influence they do. Precious few of them ever come here. Next down is NorZilliar: derived from the Wood Elf Nor'zil'li'ar, which means "hill of wine grapes". The mouth of their valley has some of the best wine-growing regions in the entire world, and they are noted for their willingness to mingle with other races. Then EnFilish, EnReldi, NarCelma... we're seventh, actually. NefKitre, I mean. And we have been associated with the not at all religious gnomes for a very long time.

Caroline sighs

I didn't come here to judge you, Katrina.

Katrina snorts

Good thing, too! I've got your hair and a pair of really sharp scissors!

[Recaiden]

[Priest's Quarters / Hair Salon]

"In a manner of speaking. All the three races were there beforehand, but that was when we were awakened to intelligence, all at the same time. It didn't take that long, relatively, to almost wipe everyone out."

"Are all of you organized into clans? There's nobody who lives differently?"

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina shakes her head, but pauses a minute while finishing up the braid. Caroline fills in

Not exactly. What Katrina was describing is really only the areas around our ancestral home in WinterHearth. Away from there, it is much less organized... The ice foxes in the Frozen Lands have a similar but completely unrelated structure. But neither the sand foxes in the desert nor the shadow foxes in Zangjaje have anything resembling it, and red foxes living elsewhere generally adopt the ways of the place they are.

It's just that pretty much any of us you meet here in the Nexus are going to be from there, because the connection to our world is the temple at WinterHearth.

And there!

She exclaims, having put the finishing touches on Caroline's hair: Now just over shoulder-length, with a very nicely turned braid making a sort of headband before crossing over itself into a loose braid in the back.

Katrina grins

Now, Caroline: go into my bedroom there. On the bed are two dresses that I got after the calendar photo shoot: you pick one, and I'll wear the other.

Caroline nods and heads out. Katrina turns to Tavlii

Now, we see if she's going to surprise me or not. As for you... hmmm....

[Recaiden]

Tavlii nods; it makes sense that few would travel all that way.

"Thank you both for the information. And nice work with the hair. Looks great."

She shakes her head at Katrina. "Little chance of a surprise. What did you have in mind?"

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters and Emporium]

Katrina nods

I'm not expecting it, but you never know. You're not that different in size from me - nothing a tiny bit of adjustment can't fix. Makeup is a tough one, obviously I don't have anything that you would use... Ah! Ceinwen might: she's a dryad, but she likes to dress up.

She sticks her head out the door

Hey, Cein! You around? Tavlii needs some makeup, and I don't have any!

there a brief pause, then

Gimme a second.

Katrina turns back to Tavlii

I've got three backless dresses that could probably work around your wings: red, blue with sequins, and gold kinda see-through, but your hair would have to be done up. What're you feeling up to?

[Recaiden]

"Apologies. We don't often bother with dressing this part of me up."

Tavlii glances back and forth, embarrassed. She didn't account for having to act like a full person here in the temple. Plum is always the one to be dressed up and go to parties.

"Let's get the gold one." May as well go all the way.

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina grins

Great! Have a seat, and I'll get your hair tied up. We'll give you a loose bun, and leave some hair dangling. I've got a hairpin that goes really well with that dress and will show up great against your dark hair.

Caroline calls from the bedroom

Do I really have to pick one of these?

Katrina chuckles

Yes, you do! Now get dressed!

[Recaiden]

Tavlii takes a seat. Does she have dark hair? She pulls a strand of it in and notes that she does now. How wonderful. Perhaps the reason she never bothered with this was because she didn't have colors to work with. She joins in calling to Caroline.

"You didn't want to be wearing a formal robe! This is the alternative!"

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Caroline comes out, looking sheepish and self-conscious in an emerald green sleeveless dress. (http://www.fenric.com/images/CarolineDress.jpg)

My only consolation is that this has at least twice the fabric of the other...

Katrina giggles

Nope, not surprised. But you look gorgeous, Caroline!

And now someone else comes in: a petite and slender dryad dressed in sloppy pajamas and carrying her makeup kit. Tavlii might remember Ceinwen from the night the temple was attacked, but regardless, she stops short upon seeing Caroline.

You might have mentioned that Lady Caroline was here, Kat.

Caroline grins

hi...

[Recaiden]

((Why do their tails look so much less like hair than their hair? Also why do they have hair? ))

Tavlii looks up at Caroline and grins.

"You do look very nice in that!" A little disappointing that she didn't choose the other, though.

Ceinwen is waved at as she enters. The memories are a bit blurred from dying.

"Why are you avoiding her?"

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

(( 'cause the hair-like tail takes a long time to render, is difficult to pose without looking like a bottle brush, and is very picky about lighting. For quick pictures, it's just not worth it, so I use the textured solid tail. Head hair is lots easier because your skull isn't flexible I'll switch to the "real fur" tail for Katrina's picture so you can see it.

Head hair... In-context: these guys were genetically engineered, and the engineer thought they looked better that way. In real life: it lets me hide troubles with the model's head and ears which I don't particularly like but haven't been able to come up with anything better. ))

Caroline smiles

Thank you...

Ceinwen shakes her head with a chuckle

I'm not avoiding her, but if I knew my boss was going to be here I might have come dressed in something a little nicer than my 'jams, you know? So, Kat: what's she wearing?

Katrina grins

The sheer gold silk one

The dryad's eyes light up

Oooh! This'll be fun.

And she begins to unpack her makeup.

[Recaiden]

((That makes a lot of sense, actually. Neat.))

Tavlii smiles back slightly. "You're welcome."

Her eyes shift slightly at the dryad's reaction. "Should I be concerned about this garment?"

That said, she waits for the makeup to be applied.

"So where did the clans come from? Are there a fixed number, or do new ones emerge sometimes? I know, for example, that Atorre Ranna's families are always creating new ones, but Kai's Lines, there's always just six, and the clans among our humans work the same way. There's 17 of them, no more or less."

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Ceinwen smiles and shakes her head

It's one of Kat's prettier dresses: It's just so bright and shiny that I don't have to worry about trying to be too subtle with your makeup!

And judging by the assortment of colors in the eyeshadow box she just picked up, "subtle" isn't something the girl does very often. Katrina hmms

The clans started off as mostly geographical: the country back home is very rough and mountainous, and each valley has its own little sub-culture. As politics became more organized, the most ambitious and charismatic families in each place gradually absorbed the others and these days we are left with ten main clans. There's nothing sacred about that, though, and it's not really an official designation. So... say, if the folks living up in White Cliff Pass decided to break away from their current clans and join together to make their own, there's really nothing to stop them.

Caroline chuckles

Nothing aside from their own stubbornness: somebody suggests that at least once every decade, and they're the ones who dismiss the notion.

Katrina shrugs

It's just tradition, now.

[Recaiden]

"Understood."

Tavlii nods, something she's doing a lot of as she listens to all these suggestions and explanations.

"So they must each be pretty big. Is 'Primerra' the only special name, or are there others?"

By now she's become legitimately curious.

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina nods

Yup. Within each clan there is a pecking-order of families. That is very dynamic, changing pretty much each generation. However, that's not official - it's social. Within the kingdom, there are families that have been granted noble titles, and those families don't really change. So the three largest valleys are home to the NomSile, NorZilliar, and NefKitre clans. They're big enough that their noble families are Comtes.. Earls in this language.. In Northvale, it's the Ducovet family - Comte du Chatres. In Midvale, it is the Elteron family, Comte du Reims. And in Southvale with our heavy gnomish influence, it is the Hochsenzoellern family, Comte du Munchen.

Caroline nods

And in DuRoi, most families are nobility of one strain or another, with Bregtan being the most notable, as the Dutchy in charge of all three of the Grandee Valee.

[Recaiden]

"Wait, you have a king also? That seems unnecessarily complex...how did it come about? Tower City just had a king because the ruler declared himself a king after taking power in the war, and that was pretty recent. With something like your clans I wouldn't think..."

She looks over to the dryad.

"How is your society organized, Ceinwen? In case any wondered about us, there aren't enough beings like me to warrant a society. We don't even have a name."

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina chuckles

We've been merrily mixing two very different levels of organization: Social and Political. Let's stick to our home continent - KaNiel. It's another Wood Elf derivation, but I can't recall what it means off-hand. It's roughly diamond-shaped, with some fairly impressive mountains cutting across the top and down just west of the centerline. Furthest north, right at the tip, is the independent city-state of WinterHearth. Inari placed the first vulpans there, and that is her main temple on the planet.

Going along the coast clockwise: there's a space of really rugged terrain controlled by the goblin tribes, then the human kingdom of Cheritanne. Through trade and close contact, the population is pretty diverse with about 55 percent human, thirty percent vulpan, and the rest a mix of grey elf, wood elf, and gnomes. But through magical assistance and some reasonably sappy love stories, there's hardly anyone in the place who qualifies as "pure" anything. Next south is the very human kingdom of Brittania. We don't get along well with them as a rule, mostly because of trade disagreements. Then finally the sophisticated wood elf realm of AzTalan occupies the entire southern third of the continent.

Going back up the other side: nobody lives in the awful soggy swamps on the south-ish western edge of KaNiel. Going north, the swamps fade to forests, and that's another branch of wood elves living very differently among dryads and other miscellaneous forest spirits. They live in a loose confederation of tribal villages.

Coming back across the middle, there's a really big, hot, dry desert. The sand foxes live there, and a group we call the sand elves but the other elves won't even talk about. They're very secretive and nomadic, and even now people don't really know much about them. The desert fades to grassland as you get out of the rain-shadow of the mountains, and there's another nomadic human group there who raise the best horses in the world. Finally the mountains start back up again, and you're in the troglodyte kingdom to the north and the gnome kingdom to the south. My home valley has passages to both, and so now we're all the way back around.

Ceinwen smiles as she puts some finishing touches on Tavlii's eyeshadow

Lots less organized than the bewildering complexity of the eastern kingdoms. Our groves are generally led by the oldest and most experienced dryad, but there is little communication between groves as we rarely leave the immediate vicinity of our bonded tree. We rely on the elves to handle any tasks that need more travelling than a few miles.

[Recaiden]

"Well, now you're explaining populations too. All your political areas are divided by species, too? In our home, Vaire, it's a bit more mixed. There are racial kingdoms as well, pretty much all the coastal areas are held by lizard kings. It's only near rivers where humans and mantis have ports of their own. Everything is pretty well defined by it's relation to Troma, the spar at the northwest of the continent. It was the most racially integrated land, had some representative system. Now that its been destroyed it's even more mixed; with adventurers of all types heading in. Clockwise, there's...huh. The kingdoms mostly alternate between which races holds them. The only human-human border is between Aundia and Tower, and Aundia is mainly vampires anyway, so I'm not sure that counts. How depressing."

Tavlii sighs. At least the makeup seems to be going well.

[Fenric]

Katrina nods

Mostly, yes. There are cities and regions where there is more integration, but countries overall tend to strongly favor one particular species. It's understandable, since the main homeland for each is where they were seeded in the beginning. Except for humans - they're everywhere.

And it looks like you're ready! Do you want help getting dressed?

[Recaiden]

Tavlii stands up and shakes her head.

"We should be able to manage." With that, she will go off to find the golden dress and change into it.

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Tavlii has no trouble finding the dress and matching undergarments, and soon looks like this: http://www.fenric.com/images/Tavlii2.jpg

Caroline looks impressed

Wow...

Katrina grins

Awesome! My turn, now!

And she heads off. Ceinwen nods

Looking good.

[Recaiden]

[Priest's Quarters]

Tavlii curtsies.

"It does look nice. Such a wonderful shining color. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for yourself, Katrina."

A good amount of Kai must be spilling over to attend to this scene.

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrain comes back out quickly and with a flourish. The sheer, shiny, black dress is considerably more revealing than the green one Caroline chose. "Low-cut" only begins to describe the plunging neckline that dips past her navel. It's little wonder that Caroline chose to pass on wearing this dress. http://www.fenric.com/images/KatrinaDress.jpg

Just black, for me.

Caroline gasps

Oh, my!

[Recaiden]

Tavlii gives Katrina a look up and down, and the junior priestess has to laugh.
"It's clear why you, at least, chose not to wear it, Caroline. But it suits you, Katrina."
Though of course to some parts of them, it would be preferable to have seen Caroline in it instead,.
"Have you a plan for where to go, now that you, we, are all dressed up?"

[Fenric]

[Priest's Quarters]

Katrina bounces excitedly

We're going to Fontaine! I think it's owner is from our world, because it's very reminiscent of places in Bregtan. You're not a tea-totaller are you, Tav?

Caroline umms

I don't...

Katrina cuts her off

Yeah, I figured: time to get over that.

Cienwen chuckles and shakes her head as she packs up her makeup

Have fun, and try to not get our high priestess in too much trouble.