Foxside: The Temple of Inari 54 - Ten Years of Foxes

[Deathkeeper]

OTGQ

Nick nods and follows them up.
"Oh and uh, I might need my gear at some point, Geneva." he reminds her.

[Rebonack]

[OTGQ]

"Oh..." Geneva replies with a rather absent-minded blink. "I guess that's probably a good idea, isn't it? We were in the middle of trying to pick out a cake when this started."

It was going to be a good cake, too.

"Okay, lead the way. We'll get your gear, then we'll go find Fortuna."

And hopefully talk her down without things getting too dicey.

Heh...

Dicey.

Regardless, away!

[Shadowcaller]

Steve thinks for a moment. Although calling an emergency service without emergency might an unlawful act, there is an embodiment of chaos out there that needs to be stopped. While Steve does not believe that doing an unlawful act is right, he does not know for sure what he is doing is wrong, since in his world, a guard was not only there to keep order, but to also be a helper to any citizen or visitor. "Alright" says Steve "but how do you get your hands on one of those machinations that people use for long distance communication in this world?"

[Garden]

"Well, it is your quest, Steve. I can't actually tell you how to get that as I lack one myself." Ambrosia admits.

[8BitNinja]

[Garden]

"Well, it is your quest, Steve. I can't actually tell you how to get that as I lack one myself." Ambrosia admits.

Steve thinks for a moment. He goes up to the nearest person and says "Excuse me, but I am looking for a device for long distance communication, do you know where people can get one?"

[Recaiden]

Starting at the [Cherry Blossom Road], we see an empty little bus round the corner, coming from down by the docks, and speed down the lane until it passes by a certain lightpost. As it passes the lighting fixture it seems to be replaced with a cheetah sprinting along with a sort of glow around its head. Then near the arboretum the cheetah becomes a roadrunner, and up by the gates the bird becomes a vulpan man with too many tails in robes of grey and grey and grey.
And this Arlem hurries on to the [Hospital] - always a place of painful thoughts - looking none too steady on his own feet.

[Fenric]

And so it is that one Arlem in robes of grey and grey and yet silvery grey comes charging up to the room where his dear Felina is laying down, currently trying to maintain her composure between the painful contractions.

What was that? He's here?

[Recaiden]

As soon as I could, love.
Maybe she can't see who's who easily, but there's some composure still.

That one Arlem steps up right by the wheelchair to take Felina's hand.

And spoken aloud, "Thank you, Urias, for having me sent for."

[Baeleck]

[Hospital]

Felina shakes her head

I've resisted the urge to find out the gender yet. We've discussed some possibilities, but I'd really prefer to keep to our tradition of not naming the baby until they reach one month old... you get some feel for their personality and can choose better.

Not to mention that she's more than a little vague about the answer to the question: "what does the offspring of a shapeshifting dragon and a Vulpan even look like?"

'Hum. How did I not know that tradition...' Urias ponders aloud. Clearly there was still much he had to learn about Vulpan society. 'I think most people I've ever met had names that fit their character, though. Perhaps it's a hereditary thing? Or perhaps it's from the parents have some... subconscious ideal of how they want their child to develop, and therefore name them accordingly?'

The boy goes quiet for a moment, thoughtfully tapping his chin with index and middle finger. 'Sorry, I'm getting a bit philosophical. I'm sure you'll both choose a name that is quite fitting.'

As soon as I could, love.
Maybe she can't see who's who easily, but there's some composure still.

That one Arlem steps up right by the wheelchair to take Felina's hand.

And spoken aloud, "Thank you, Urias, for having me sent for."

And then Arlem appears. Urias smiles up at him, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that the message had been sent.

'Not a problem - and congratulations.' He bows politely. 'I should leave you and Lady Felina, but I will be back to check up on things a little later. I have another patient to attend to.'

...and part of the sanctuary to clean, though of course it would be improper to mention that part.

[Fenric]

Felina smiles somewhat absently: endorphins having not quite completely shut off her higher brain functions

Yes... names are rather a self-fulfilling prophecy in some ways... heh... my name means "pretty pond".

Then she turns to Arlem and looks up at him with big, adoring eyes.

I'm having a baby.

Yeah... we're getting past the point of conversation, now. The orderly pats her on the shoulder

All right now. It's time to get to the maternity ward. She'll be in room 415 for recovery, Healer Urias.

And then off he goes! While Felina will get to spend the night in a small private room, the maternity ward itself is not private I'm afraid: a few too many people need the services at the bustling temple. Heavily enchanted curtains give a far better semblance of isolation than most real-world hospitals, fortunately. Felina is soon not-quite laying down on a clean, firm bed.

[Recaiden]

Felina shakes her head

I've resisted the urge to find out the gender yet. We've discussed some possibilities, but I'd really prefer to keep to our tradition of not naming the baby until they reach one month old... you get some feel for their personality and can choose better.

Not to mention that she's more than a little vague about the answer to the question: "what does the offspring of a shapeshifting dragon and a Vulpan even look like?"

I think the evidence is that they look like nine-tailed, dark-furred Vulpans? And not finding out useless information, well, that's probably for the best. If the answer to that question helps Felina with her own child, that would be a surprise. A dragon is one of the things Arlem definitely isn't. Although one wouldn't put much past Michaud...

Anyway, here and now Arlem is smiling down at Felina.
"A very pretty pond."

Just like you wanted.

A few too many people? And you said fertility was as uninteresting as rice here. Certainly, some of the mysteries Felina was looking for are to be found behind these curtains. And what singular thoughts people have here.

[Fenric]

Well... interesting to the people involved is one thing, of substantial interest to the Temple as a facility and organization is something else entirely.

And such a great many thoughts swirling around: some rather befuddled and disoriented, some apprehensive of this big change to their lives, some giddy, some resigned, some reeling from mind-searing pain, some in a drug-numbed fog. Powerful, swelling love from all around competes with a bleak despair coming from behind one curtain.

But eerily silent as far as sounds: the enchanted curtains ensuring privacy in both directions. A nurse has brought Felina a bowl of ice chips to suck on, and her breathing is rapid and shallow.

Yeah... I did want this. Well, let's see if my decision was any better than Keiko's: you should have heard Noriko the morning after Keiko laid her eggs... it was apparently quite the sight. And... uh.... UH... UNNNNNNNNGAAAAAAHHHHH!

Eyes go wide and ears pin back flat as the first of the serious contractions hit. She grits her teeth and holds her breath and trembles with the effort of it all as her muscles cramp and squeeze, and it becomes apparent why it is quite so popular to show all the people in attendance at a birth to be encouraging the mother-to-be to breathe.

The nurse encourages her gently, telling her she's doing well.

[Recaiden]

Bleak despair? Arlem just has to take a closer look, see what's running through that head now, what they remember. He's even looking off that way, staring at a blank curtain wall.

They'll probably stay the same a while, right? It's bleak, and not desperate. Felina is certainly calling attention back here.

Do get enough air, love.
Here, Felina, have a little change of thoughts. Remember when you were free of pain, taking deep breaths of fresh air, outside of here, when the space was full of sound. That's now, isn't it?

[Fenric]

Sadly, not everyone who comes to the temple for Hospital attention is healthy, and not all stories end well... and in this case, they will not be bringing a baby home.

As for Felina, she get the fruits of her labor at last, and after the standard umbilical-cord cutting a silvery-white pup is handed to the exhausted mother.

Congratulations, Arlem and Felina: It's a boy.

The pup is a little bigger than average for a Vulpan, but nothing too remarkable. He's shivering and wet with eyes closed tightly shut and tiny hands curled into fists

It is a blessing to have magic to turn to instead of having to do all the immediate post-natal work the hard way.

The doctor will be around in about an hour and once you're cleared we'll move you to a private room. If all goes well you can go back home tomorrow.

[Recaiden]

Arlem grins and, at the nurse's comment, rolls his eyes. Better to laugh than to worry.

"It is a blessing indeed."

He carefully puts a hand over the infant's own tiny balled-up hand.

"You've done so well, Felina."

[Fenric]

[Garden]

(( Sorry - missed that. Scanned quickly for "Myobi", didn't see it, didn't read carefully. ))

The nearest person happens to be a dainty little sand-fox gardener with huge ears, shiny black eyes, and sandy-tan fur dressed in brown overalls, who takes a minute to realize that Steve is asking for a phone. His voice is high-pitched but melodious.

You can borrow mine if you need to! The nearest place to buy one is probably the MagMart a few blocks north.

and he pulls out and offers a thin, shiny black rectangle that folks familiar with such things would recognize as a NexPhone 4s - a little old, but still quite serviceable.

---

[Hospital]

Felina smiles happily, still quite dazed

He's so precious... it's wonderful, Arlem.

for his part, Arlem's tiny newborn son squeaks and bobs his head from side to side while Felina sniffs him

inside his mind, the thoroughly untrained neural network of his brain is little more than static: but it is already progressing rapidly. The lack of other overall activity does reveal a particular shining spark: a shimmering structure rather like an unopened flower bud that long tendrils of thought are rapidly attaching to. And something is moving inside.

[Recaiden]

[Hospital]

"I'm so glad."

This is probably normal. Arlem observes intently as the kit starts to think. How wonderful; and not something he sees often. Maybe never before.

"Hey there, kid. Nice to meet you."

[Fenric]

Felina instinctively makes a fairly steady string of soft grunting noises, which certainly seem to have a soothing effect on the little one.

From inside, a quiet voice asks

Are you supposed to be here?

[Recaiden]

The sounds of a fox!

Yes. Are you supposed to be here?

Hopefully not too questioning.

[Fenric]

While Felina busies herself in the physical world with encouraging the little one to drink his first meal, we shall focus on the inner world.

I think so? I remember that I'm not supposed to remember much... and that I'm here to be... me? And they warned me I'd forget even more as some net started to catch me? But I don't remember who they were, or where I even am... or who I am... but it feels right somehow. And...

a bright strand attaches to the cocoon, followed swiftly by several others.

mmm... I was so hungry. And ... dad! Oh, dad... I'll be back, I promise: once I learn how to drive this thing.

The cascade effect of neural network programming means that a torrent of fresh connections rapidly covers and obscures the Spirit Host Matrix (since that is what Arlem has been viewing), cutting it off from further interaction

I love you, daddy!

[Recaiden]

You're coming to life. I'm glad it feels right. I'll see this new you.

Arlem watches the thoughts and connections grow in. He knows the soul will be okay, that this sort of thing happens with lots of living things. And for now he'll know only what an infant does. Be back? Not till they're both dead, at least. But maybe there's a way...

He smiles in the outer world and lets himself enjoy it all going smoothly enough.

[Fenric]

Time flies... the doctor arrives to check on the new family. Felina quietly endures a few more undignified pokings at her nether regions, and sighs in relief when the doctor pronounces her ready to move to her room.

That's a relief. I'm starved and tired and rather sick of this bed: I'm sure it's just right for it's purpose, but it's slightly less comfortable than lying on the floor!

She's certainly sounding a lot more aware of her surroundings, now!

Such a precious little silver-white kit! I guess that's one way to know it worked: we don't have a white phase, not even albino - Inari didn't include that mutation, and there haven't been that many mixed red and snow fox couples for that to be a consideration.

[Shadowcaller]

[Garden]

(( Sorry - missed that. Scanned quickly for "Myobi", didn't see it, didn't read carefully. ))

The nearest person happens to be a dainty little sand-fox gardener with huge ears, shiny black eyes, and sandy-tan fur dressed in brown overalls, who takes a minute to realize that Steve is asking for a phone. His voice is high-pitched but melodious.

You can borrow mine if you need to! The nearest place to buy one is probably the MagMart a few blocks north.

and he pulls out and offers a thin, shiny black rectangle that folks familiar with such things would recognize as a NexPhone 4s - a little old, but still quite serviceable.

[Garden]

Ambrosia waits for Steve to make his call then, that certainly was nice of the gardener to lend Steve his communication device. She needed to get one of those herself at some point.

[Recaiden]

Haven't you had plenty of time to move to the floor?

Best get Felina to her room for the night. Understandably she's a bit stressed.

"Not another child like him. We usually need to grow up a while before we can become anything else. Are the snow vulpans that different from you?"

[Fenric]

Felina sticks her tongue out at Arlem's cheeky comment.

Then she nods and chuckles

Tavlii wasn't really wrong when she complained about Inari... Our goddess is a botanist, and a dang good one, but when it came to mammals... she didn't really plan ahead. The red foxes, snow foxes, sand foxes, giant foxes, gray foxes, and crab-eating foxes all have different chromosome counts: we're totally different species no matter how similar we might look.

An orderly arrives with a wheelchair, and Felina holds the kit out to Arlem.

Hold the baby, dear. Support his head: his neck muscles aren't strong enough to hold it up yet.

[Recaiden]

Arlem is a little out of his depth, with how different vulpan species differ, and just nods.
"That's the way the foxes are, right? All different animals who just happen to look alike, because the serpent kings designed them for different parts of the world."

He takes the kit ever so carefully, reading the right way to hold him and cradling him supportively. He has a few negative thoughts towards Inari designing people who can't hold their own heads upright. But he never invented lifeforms, it's probably harder than it seems.

"Of course."

[Fenric]

The orderly helps Felina into the wheelchair, and she smiles up at Arlem

Yes, that's true.

The orderly coughs softly

I'm sorry sir: you'll need to let your wife hold the baby. For safety reasons, we don't allow newborns to be carried while walking.

[Rebonack]

[The Empty Lot Out Back]

With a bright, magnesium-white flash a new structure appears out of thin air, likely startling several werefoxes unloading equipment in the process. It looks rather like a home-made dog house. Just... quite a bit bigger. And with 'Outback Snakehouse' painted on the front. Keiko is likely inside the thing, still curled up fast asleep.

[Pokemon Enclosures]

With a similar flash, Geneva materializes in mew form!

Someone appears to have tied a cute red ribbon with little bells on it to her tail. Said ribbon is discovered when she gives her tail an annoyed flick, resulting in some jaunty jingling. Worse, her wrist computer is consciously absent! That means she can't translate what she's saying for non-pocket monsters! What a bother. But not bother for long, she's just change back to her hippogriff shape and-

Suddenly there's a VERY serious looking pokemon professor looming over her.

"You can't use that move outside of battle," he intones with utmost gravity before vanishing as quickly as he appeared.

<Oh come on! This isn't funny!> the adorable pink floating cat mews with frustration.

[Fenric]

The sudden cool darkness of the snakehouse wakes Keiko from her happy sun-nap, and makes her grouchy

Who turned off the lights?

A number of baffled soldiers approach the house warily: only to be startled when Keiko's head pops out looking grumpy

What are you guys doing here? I'm... uh... where am I?

---

[Pokémon Enclosures]

Since you didn't say which one, we'll assume that Fortuna was at least nice enough to pick... Midnight's dark cavern, of course, because Mew is weak to Dark.

The Umbreon leaves off grooming his paws and wags happily at the sight of a new friend.

<Hi!>

[Rebonack]

[Out Back]

The werefoxes shove the new guy forward while they get back to work. Let him puzzle through the situation and/or deal with Keiko's eccentricities.

"Oh, ah, just unloading some new armor panels for the battle-cruiser your... umm... your..." he replies, stumbling a bit over what title he's supposed to be using for the dragon-goddess sitting there in front of him looking rather grouchy. It's painfully obvious that this guy is about as green as new bamboo shoots. He coughs awkwardly, eyes flicking toward the impromptu shelter. "Your house is nice?"

Yeah.

Totally saved that one.

Good job.

[Pokemon Enclosures]

<Hi,> Geneva replies, sounding about eighty percent less enthusiastic about the situation. <This is one of the pokemon houses at Inari's Temple, isn't it? I got a tour of them once and it looks familiar. Because otherwise I have no idea where Fortuna tossed me with that teleport.>

She's talking as much to herself as she is to the Umbreon.

<Ugh... I need my computer. Losing my AR display all of a sudden is really disorienting...>

When you've grown accustomed to having an augmented reality display at all times, suddenly being without it feels like you've gone color-blind. Lots of very important information isn't available anymore!

[Fenric]

[Out Back]
Keiko blinks and tilts her head, then turns and looks at the "house"... then she notices the sign

"Snakehouse?!"

She darts from the building and out into the yard, where she coils and glares at the werefox

Do I look like a snake to you

(( Rebo and I are sharing control of this guy ))

He nods involuntarily, but answers

"No, ma'am... of course not: you're a dragon."

Keiko's glare redoubles in intensity.

---

[Pokemon Enclosures - Dark Environment]

Midnight nods

<Yep! Lady Caroline won't let them keep us in Pokeballs: so we have houses instead! I'm Midnight!>

he's a friendly enough little guy, as befits the circumstances under which an Evee evolves into an Umbreon.

<Who are you? What's a computer? I haven't seen a person like you before! The little trainers will be starting their class soon, are you going to play?>

Actually, it's just the first through third grade children at recess... but Midnight doesn't really understand the distinction.