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

[Rebonack]

[Not the Garden]

Geneva takes a deep breath and follows. Her mind is absolutely buzzing at the moment, but she's doing a good job of keeping everything contained.

Because, after all, a psychic-type losing mental control is dangerous.

Khannie bounces alone behind, resisting her impulse to hurl flower petals everywhere.

[Fenric]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng is the only one new: the others are already off at their other duties.

He is looking morosely at a paper that has him polishing lacquer for the rest of the day. This clearly does not fill him with joy.

What're you looking at?

---

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

Back to the right! In this direction that nobody ever chose before; the tunnel winds, dips, bends, goes up again, and generally follows a rather... erratic course... but there are no branches or splits. It is utterly and completely dark, and once more silence has fallen...

Kep doesn't get a lot of warning before stepping on a stone in the floor that sinks down ever so slightly...

---

[Sanctuary]

The acolyte pauses at the entrance and motions for Khanie to come to the front

Wait for the music to start, and then you can get started!

It is only a moment before a really quite lovely string quartet starts playing - it's a happy movement from one of the Brandenburg Concertos: Caroline has no patience for the wedding march from that dreadful opera, however popular it might be: Lohengrin murders everyone at the end of that scene!

[deleteman900]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng is the only one new: the others are already off at their other duties.

He is looking morosely at a paper that has him polishing lacquer for the rest of the day. This clearly does not fill him with joy.

What're you looking at?

---

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

Back to the right! In this direction that nobody ever chose before; the tunnel winds, dips, bends, goes up again, and generally follows a rather... erratic course... but there are no branches or splits. It is utterly and completely dark, and once more silence has fallen...

Kep doesn't get a lot of warning before stepping on a stone in the floor that sinks down ever so slightly...

---

[Sanctuary]

The acolyte pauses at the entrance and motions for Khanie to come to the front

Wait for the music to start, and then you can get started!

It is only a moment before a really quite lovely string quartet starts playing - it's a happy movement from one of the Brandenburg Concertos: Caroline has no patience for the wedding march from that dreadful opera, however popular it might be: Lohengrin murders everyone at the end of that scene!

Genji sadly pats him on the shoulder, smiling apologetically at him partially out of pity, and partially to distract him as Genji hides his own assignment sheet, "N-nothing... stay strong, Peng, I'll see if I can't bring you something nice at the end of the day to help you cheer up. If I can get away from my classes, I might even be able to come chat with you a bit..." Genji offers, not liking seeing his friend sad, D:

[Fenric]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng chuckles

Aw, thanks. And it's not like it's your fault...

Anyway, have fun in school, and say hi to my cousin if you see her. She's in the same boat as you, honestly.

[deleteman900]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng chuckles

Aw, thanks. And it's not like it's your fault...

Anyway, have fun in school, and say hi to my cousin if you see her. She's in the same boat as you, honestly.

Genji tilted (can't say cokced, o3o) an ear curiously, "What do you mean by that? She's also new here, and doesn't have many friends yet?" he chuckles softly, meaning to make fun of himself more than he did Jian, "Or that she's also far too good-looking for her own good? I can't help it that I was born so devilishly handsome...~" the kitsune chuckles, pretending to slick back his hair cockily.

[Fenric]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng chuckles

I meant "didn't go to formal school", but whatever.

then he grins and shakes his head

You're impossible, you know that?

he gives his paper one last sour look

Well... all that bright red lacquer isn't going to polish itself - though I bet there's folks around here who could make it do that. I wonder what amazing, deep spiritual lesson I'm supposed to learn from doing it the hard way?

[deleteman900]

[Acolyte Orientation]

Peng chuckles

I meant "didn't go to formal school", but whatever.

then he grins and shakes his head

You're impossible, you know that?

he gives his paper one last sour look

Well... all that bright red lacquer isn't going to polish itself - though I bet there's folks around here who could make it do that. I wonder what amazing, deep spiritual lesson I'm supposed to learn from doing it the hard way?

Genji pokes his tongue out teasingly, "Wouldn't know, since I haven't done it yet..." he grins before dancing away with a swish of his tail and a light bounce to his step, eager to get to his class and make sure he wasn't late, ;p

[Fenric]

The Temple School... it's a really rather no-nonsense wood and plaster school building. If you're hoping for elaborate descriptions, you've come to the wrong place
There is the comparatively fascinating Pokémon enclosure to go by to get there, but Genji gets to start the day in Natural Magic rather than Science or PE, so he doesn't get to play just yet.

The classroom is similarly unimpressive with rows of basic desks facing a larger teacher's desk and a room-width blackboard, and Katsuo is up at the front. Genji is not only not late, he's early - one of the first to arrive - and only a few adorable little one-tail kits are already here. Clearly fox-born, as they must be all of eight years old.

[deleteman900]

The Temple School... it's a really rather no-nonsense wood and plaster school building. If you're hoping for elaborate descriptions, you've come to the wrong place
There is the comparatively fascinating Pokémon enclosure to go by to get there, but Genji gets to start the day in Natural Magic rather than Science or PE, so he doesn't get to play just yet.

The classroom is similarly unimpressive with rows of basic desks facing a larger teacher's desk and a room-width blackboard, and Katsuo is up at the front. Genji is not only not late, he's early - one of the first to arrive - and only a few adorable little one-tail kits are already here. Clearly fox-born, as they must be all of eight years old.

Genji smiles at Katsuo, giving a little wave as he takes his seat, wondering if he was supposed to bring any kind of paper and writing implement or something. Perhaps it'd be more of a practical class...? Either way, he was honestly more of a hands-on learner than anything else, :D

Genji looked at the quite young one-tail kits curiously, this being the first time he'd seen such a young kitsune, and especially one with a tail, finding a smile creep onto his face as a couple of the more energetic ones (comparatively, ;p) were playing a bit before class started. For some reason he couldn't help but smile at something so adorable...~

[Fenric]

And so, distracted by kits, he does not hear Jian sneak up on him. To be fair, she's also sneaking!

She reaches around and taps him on the left shoulder while actually being to his right with a mischievous grin

Et comment est mon petit chevalier fait ce matin?

[deleteman900]

And so, distracted by kits, he does not hear Jian sneak up on him. To be fair, she's also sneaking!

She reaches around and taps him on the left shoulder while actually being to his right with a mischievous grin

Et comment est mon petit chevalier fait ce matin?

Genji looks over to his left in surprise, not knowing that there'd been somebody over there! His puzzlement only grew slightly as he heard the odd language that he wasn't familiar with, looking over at where it was coming from and seeing Jian grinning. He pretends to glower in return at being tricked, but the slight wag of his tail only gave away that he'd in fact been looking forward to this, "Good morning, Miss Jian! I didn't think that I'd share any classes with you at all, but I'm quite glad that I was mistaken in this case...~" Genji was attempting to hold his breath for as long as possible, trying to maintain a casual demeanor and conversation, :D

[Fenric]

Jian giggles

I'm not a student, I'm the Teacher's Assistant for this class!

She winks at Genji

So you have to do what I say, little Knight.

Katsuo clears her throat and she starts slightly

Gotta go!

and up to the front of the class she goes to talk to Dr. Katsuo. The class, meanwhile, has started to fill up. Genji is not alone in his age group, ending up with three other boys around his age... and they're all smitten by Jian.

uh-oh: competition!

[deleteman900]

Jian giggles

I'm not a student, I'm the Teacher's Assistant for this class!

She winks at Genji

So you have to do what I say, little Knight.

Katsuo clears her throat and she starts slightly

Gotta go!

and up to the front of the class she goes to talk to Dr. Katsuo. The class, meanwhile, has started to fill up. Genji is not alone in his age group, ending up with three other boys around his age... and they're all smitten by Jian.

uh-oh: competition!

Genji internally sighs, lost in dreamland for a solid couple of moments before he manages to snap out of it, blushing slightly and wondering if she teased all the boys like that... He knew that there wasn't much he could do about this 'competition' excepting to give it his all, and hope that his merits shone brighter than the rest! Regardless of any potential burgeoning affection for someone he honestly knew little to nothing about, he figured that it might not be a bad idea to introduce himself to the other young tods, to which end he smiled warmly at the largest of them, "Good morning! My name is Ikari Genji, and it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm a bit new to this class, so I hope that you'll all go easy on me and show me the ropes, okay?~"

- - - Updated - - -

[Tour of the Temple]

Batu looks back at Genji.

"If you don't mind me asking, what does a school have to do with your tail growing?"

"Well... nothing, really. But I wasn't sure HOW my kitsune abilities worked until I was showed how. Ordinarily your parents would do that from an early age, but my personal situation did not allow such to happen. One of the teachers assisted me in unlocking my power, and I'm currently attending classes on how to control and use my natural innate abilities..." Genji smiles for the hobgoblin's benefit.

[Recaiden]

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

Back to the right! In this direction that nobody ever chose before; the tunnel winds, dips, bends, goes up again, and generally follows a rather... erratic course... but there are no branches or splits. It is utterly and completely dark, and once more silence has fallen...

Kep doesn't get a lot of warning before stepping on a stone in the floor that sinks down ever so slightly...

Uh-oh.
Kep throws himself backwards, trying to get both low and not-above-that-stone as quick as possible.

[Tour of the Temple]

Batu looks back at Genji.

"If you don't mind me asking, what does a school have to do with your tail growing?"

The priest adds a bit of explanation.
"The number of tails a kitsune has reflects, besides their age, their magical knowledge and power."
The six-tailed vulpan (rather an oddity) leads the way around and in front of the hospital. The building's had a little more polish put into its appearance than the schoolhouse - it's supposed to set patients and staff at ease just by seeing it, after all.

"Even with miracles at hand, mundane medical care is very important."

[Morty]

[Tour of the Temple]

"Huh. I'm glad you managed to find someone to show you the ropes, then," Batu tells Genji. It's not unlike his situation, except he has no innate abilities. But when he decided to learn sorcery, he had no one to teach him either, at first. "You've got six tails. That means you must know a lot."

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

It's finally happening!

As soon as the music starts, Khannie begins happily bouncing her way down the aisle, tossing flower petals everywhere.

Geneva will wait for her cue before following behind. The griffin is presently a ball of nervous energy. This is it. This is really happening.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

The acolyte gives Geneva a gentle nudge

Go on up, step to the right and wait for Mr. Nick.

but where is Nick?

---

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

A whoosh passes through the space that Kep is no longer in, completely failing to relieve him of his head.

The poor old trap... it hasn't killed anyone in so very long.

---

[School]

The other boys are friendly, and introduce themselves in turn, but it is not long before Katsuo clears his throat again

Good morning, class. As we have several new students and many of you did less well than I had hoped at the last exam, I think this is a good opportunity to review out basic lessons.

Jian starts handing out papers to everyone. It is a small packet of five sheets, with carefully captioned whimsically drawn cartoon kitsune doing various things.

Can Genji read?

[Recaiden]

Think of it as sticking to your commitment to not kill anyone. You're a reformed swinging blade trap now, right? No violence for you.

Kep scrambles back a short way in case there's a part 2 to that trap, and then get to his feet. Then he shines his light around the room, giving it a careful looking-over from back here.

[deleteman900]

[Sanctuary]

The acolyte gives Geneva a gentle nudge

Go on up, step to the right and wait for Mr. Nick.

but where is Nick?

---

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

A whoosh passes through the space that Kep is no longer in, completely failing to relieve him of his head.

The poor old trap... it hasn't killed anyone in so very long.

---

[School]

The other boys are friendly, and introduce themselves in turn, but it is not long before Katsuo clears his throat again

Good morning, class. As we have several new students and many of you did less well than I had hoped at the last exam, I think this is a good opportunity to review out basic lessons.

Jian starts handing out papers to everyone. It is a small packet of five sheets, with carefully captioned whimsically drawn cartoon kitsune doing various things.

Can Genji read?

(He can in fact, otherwise the letter his father left would have been quite useless, ;p)

Genji listens to Katsuo carefully, taking his packet with a smile for Jian and beginning to read it while he listens, admiring the way the packet was so painstakingly put together. It was nice to know that Katsuo was the sort to go the extra mile to make sure they had the best chance of learning their lessions, :D

[Recaiden]

"Huh. I'm glad you managed to find someone to show you the ropes, then," Batu tells Genji. It's not unlike his situation, except he has no innate abilities. But when he decided to learn sorcery, he had no one to teach him either, at first. "You've got six tails. That means you must know a lot."

"Enough to start to get some idea of how much I don't know."
The priest replies with a bit of a laugh.
The tour rounds the hospital and comes out to the Empty Lot (not to be confused with the Unused Lot) which actually contains a stage and the old playground in need of some refurbishment and the heavy doors leading down to the catacombs.
"When we can, the celebrations are held out here."
And that's actually pretty much always because they can control the local weather.
"And with that we've gone around the whole place, and you can see the sanctuary-pagoda on your right."

[Fenric]

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

Kep sees the reformed "no kill" trap (:)), but the tunnel bends to the left again making much forward scouting impossible. There does not seem to be a follow-up to the two slots in the wall where blades most likely had come out with some force: fortunately not low enough nor far enough back to have caught our intrepid clone.

---

[School]

Katsuo waits for everyone to get their packet

Today, we will start with our focus. Everyone get their ball out, please.

Of Genji's companions, two pull out snowy-white spheres the size of billiard balls. The third brings out a sphere inky as the depths of night...

as does Jian. Peng's fur should have been a hint: she's a Nogitsune, not a Kitsune.

[deleteman900]

[Ruined Temple of Darkness]

Kep sees the reformed "no kill" trap (:)), but the tunnel bends to the left again making much forward scouting impossible. There does not seem to be a follow-up to the two slots in the wall where blades most likely had come out with some force: fortunately not low enough nor far enough back to have caught our intrepid clone.

---

[School]

Katsuo waits for everyone to get their packet

Today, we will start with our focus. Everyone get their ball out, please.

Of Genji's companions, two pull out snowy-white spheres the size of billiard balls. The third brings out a sphere inky as the depths of night...

as does Jian. Peng's fur should have been a hint: she's a Nogitsune, not a Kitsune.

Genji summons his own fox-ball thing, the orange yellow light giving off a soft warmth that was reminiscent of a campfire as he studied the other fox's orbs, attempting to avoid looking directly at them too much...

[Deathkeeper]

Sanctuary

Where is Nick? Well, he's at the altar, of course. Everyone knows the groom arrives first. Even griffins do it that way. Well, except for the really traditional ones who insist on archaic gender roles, but those are stupid.
He's sitting rather calmly on his haunches with his attention turned to Geneva's door, whole beak smiling.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

As with other non-Inari services, the Altar has been covered with a vermillion silk cloth. Caroline, standing in front of the altar, suppresses a giggle at Khanie's antics, and smiles broadly at Geneva as she comes down the aisle.

She waits for Geneva and Nick to get ready and face her, and then she will begin.

---

[School]

Genji's foxfire ball certainly gets the attention of the three boys who all have physical manifestations

Cool!
Aw, man. Mine's just plain.
Dude...

Katsuo shushes the class

We do not all come from the same homeworld, children, and that is one of the differences you will encounter. Having a ball has both advantages and disadvantages, as you will learn.

[deleteman900]

[Sanctuary]

As with other non-Inari services, the Altar has been covered with a vermillion silk cloth. Caroline, standing in front of the altar, suppresses a giggle at Khanie's antics, and smiles broadly at Geneva as she comes down the aisle.

She waits for Geneva and Nick to get ready and face her, and then she will begin.

---

[School]

Genji's ball certainly gets the attention of the three boys who all have physical manifestations

Cool!
Aw, man. Mine's just plain.
Dude...

Katsuo shushes the class

We do not all come from the same homeworld, children, and that is one of the differences you will encounter. Having a foxfire ball has both advantages and disadvantages, as you will learn.

Genji raised a brow curiously, deciding to speak up, "W-what sort of advantages and disadvantages...?" He asks curiously, not realizing that his sphere was even a little remarkable, since he hadn't had much to compare it to up until this point.

[Fenric]

Katsuo explains

The ball acts as a focus and concentration to one's natural powers: they give a bonus to illusions and charming type magic, emotional and empathic abilities, and your celestial or shadow magic depending on which variety you are. But they are a safety issue, too:

To begin with, they make you want to play with it. And worse: if someone steals it, they can command you... within reason... and for a time. The ball won't stay with someone else, but it can make life really awkward for a day or two. It is all a balance. Our entire existence depends on balance and so, the benefits the ball gives you are countered with weaknesses. Just try to pay attention to them, and it won't be a big deal.

[deleteman900]

Katsuo explains

The ball acts as a focus and concentration to one's natural powers: they give a bonus to illusions and charming type magic, emotional and empathic abilities, and your celestial or shadow magic depending on which variety you are. But they are a safety issue, too:

To begin with, they make you want to play with it. And worse: if someone steals it, they can command you... within reason... and for a time. The ball won't stay with someone else, but it can make life really awkward for a day or two. It is all a balance. Our entire existence depends on balance and so, the benefits the ball gives you are countered with weaknesses. Just try to pay attention to them, and it won't be a big deal.

Genji nodnods, curling the ball in his arms a bit protectively as he imagines how distasteful it would be to have it stolen from him... He resolves to do his best not to let it out of his sight, lest someone else gain control over him, however limited. "If someone does steal our ball somehow, how can we go about getting it back? Is there anything we can do to try to get our freedom back?" his tail swishes slightly, conveying agitation with the sharp flick the tip gives as he imagines being enslaved by some ne'er do well.

[Fenric]

Katsuo looks serious

There are two options: You have most of the means to get it back that you would had they stolen anything else: bargain, or beg, or try to steal it back, or threaten - but you will be unable to actually physically attack them as long as they actually have it.

Or... if you are stronger than they are, you can turn the tables and charm or possess them. The Nogitsune have a slight edge in this, as their not entirely friendly Possession is less restricted than a Kitsune's overall harmless Charm. But beware: attempting either and failing will leave you at their mercy for much, much longer than if you had simply put up with the situation.

[deleteman900]

Katsuo looks serious

There are two options: You have most of the means to get it back that you would had they stolen anything else: bargain, or beg, or try to steal it back, or threaten - but you will be unable to actually physically attack them as long as they actually have it.

Or... if you are stronger than they are, you can turn the tables and charm or possess them. The Nogitsune have a slight edge in this, as their not entirely friendly Possession is less restricted than a Kitsune's overall harmless Charm. But beware: attempting either and failing will leave you at their mercy for much, much longer than if you had simply put up with the situation.

Genji hmm'ed in thought, somewhat put out by this less-than-great news. If something ever happened to his fox-ball then there might not be a whole lot he can do about it... He had nothing further to ask or add, so he would simply sit and listen, glancing over every few moments at Jian and barely avoiding slipping into a daydream as he does... 'Wouldn't mind if she cast charm on me...'.

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

Upon reaching the end of the aisle, Khannie discovers that she still has some flowers left in her basket. She peers at them quizzically for a few moments, assessing her options. Uncertain of what she's supposed to do next, she dumps them at the foot of the alter before scurrying off to where she's been instructed to stand.

Geneva, meanwhile, sits down next to Nick, doing her best to contain the excitement and nervousness roiling inside her. Just about there. Just about done. And nothing has gone wrong.

Yet.

Hopefully it stays that way.

Hopefully they don't have to deal with any wedding crashers.

Hopefully this all goes nice and quietly according to plan.