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

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng shrugs

It's not like it's the teacher's fault I suck at math. But I'd be lying if I said I'll miss the stupid subject once I'm finally done with it.

How'd your foxfire quiz go?

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng shrugs

It's not like it's the teacher's fault I suck at math. But I'd be lying if I said I'll miss the stupid subject once I'm finally done with it.

How'd your foxfire quiz go?

Genji smiles a bit more now, "Pretty good, I got a compliment from Katsuo for how well-formed my foxfire was, and I got to helping a couple of the kits who were struggling with it a bit more, showed them how it worked, and I think that that went well, too. I had my first chore today, pulling all the ash saplings in the Arboretum with Miss Cienwen, who mentioned putting in a commendation for how well I'd done! I did get pretty sweaty from it, as I'm sure you're plenty aware, but nobody seemed too bothered by it on the way here, so that's nice."

Genji smiled just a little, tail wagging slightly. "If I keep up the good work, I might make it past Acolyte before I even have my second tail!"

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng chuckles

I should hope so: doesn't that take like a hundred years or something?

But seriously: glad things went smoothly for you. I liked Natural Magic class back when I took it - it felt more real and less like a bunch of ... well ...

he glowers at the worksheet on the table

Math. Formal Magic and I are not on friendly terms.

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng chuckles

I should hope so: doesn't that take like a hundred years or something?

But seriously: glad things went smoothly for you. I liked Natural Magic class back when I took it - it felt more real and less like a bunch of ... well ...

he glowers at the worksheet on the table

Math. Formal Magic and I are not on friendly terms.

"For sure man, I could uhh... help you out with that some if you want. Probably do me some good to get practice at it too...?" he offers, smiling a little, "I could help you a bit with math, and if I do a good job, you get me on the upswing with a little coaching on the proper courting process for a classy vixen? You might be... uniquely qualified for this assignment." Genji tries not to grin while he pokes at his noodles, eating something that he'd heard Peng talking about eating on the first night they were there. "If you're not convinced yet, I DID just test out of the course you're taking now..."

[Ionbound]

[School]

From over helping the other kits Jian smiles warmly at Genji, her tails waving in approval, then nods to Alicia

That was a very good start.

Katsuo nods

Try again, class.

Alicia takes a deep breath again as she returns to her seat, giving Genji a death glare as he offers his pity to her, and sits down, closing her eyes as she tries to get that same feeling she had before.

[deleteman900]

Alicia takes a deep breath again as she returns to her seat, giving Genji a death glare as he offers his pity to her, and sits down, closing her eyes as she tries to get that same feeling she had before.

His ears fold back sharply and a frown conquers his face, "I only wanted to help..." he returns to his seat as well. Muttering under his breath, "Some folks are just rude..." His tail flicks sharply as if he were discarding such unpleasant thoughts from his mind.

[Deathkeeper]

Sanctuary

Well of course there's dancing!
Traditional griffin dancing isn't possible in here though because that requires flying. The people here will make due, though. Obviously Nick will offer Geneva a talon, as they have first rights to the floor.

Pond

"Weddings are special, but weddings are boring. Nick and Geneva can have their adult fun. There has to be something to do, Kenji." Nick Jr insists to the groggy dragon.

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng chuckles

Yeah... 'cause you see me going on soooo many dates. But fine: this stupid division crap breaks my brain. It seems reasonable enough when the teacher explains it, but when I sit to a page of numbers like this, they all start to do midsummer dances and make no sense.

---

[School]

Jian briefly glances quizzically at the back of Alicia's head, but has to return to helping the other students.

Katsuo smiles

Once more, and remember: flow, not effort. Don't fight, don't command: the more you "try", the worse it will turn out.

---

[Pond]

Kenji stretches and blinks a couple of times

Wanna visit the fox world? I might be the pond's guardian, but I can go to all five worlds... not that all five are much fun to visit, though.

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng chuckles

Yeah... 'cause you see me going on soooo many dates. But fine: this stupid division crap breaks my brain. It seems reasonable enough when the teacher explains it, but when I sit to a page of numbers like this, they all start to do midsummer dances and make no sense.

Genji smirks, We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now though, let's just focus on your math..." Genji would begin to patiently explain the bits that Peng asked him to, preferring to let Peng tell him what parts he had trouble with in between bites of his food. Sometimes the analogies he uses are... a bit strange, but for the most part he is a reasonably proficient teacher, aware of some of the common pitfalls of the coursework and more than willing to help Peng out as much as he can without outright doing the work FOR him.

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng truly does seem to have a fairly sizeable difficulty consistently reading the numbers. He's not actually half bad at the concept when it comes down to it... he just consistently has things in the wrong order. It's terribly frustrating for the young Vulpan.

(( Note: not that it really matters, but Peng is a Shadow-Vulpan not a Nogitsune. His father's brother married a Nogitsune, hence Jian. His Natural Magic abilities are different, and he can't shapeshift. ))

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng truly does seem to have a fairly sizeable difficulty consistently reading the numbers. He's not actually half bad at the concept when it comes down to it... he just consistently has things in the wrong order. It's terribly frustrating for the young Vulpan.

(( Note: not that it really matters, but Peng is a Shadow-Vulpan not a Nogitsune. His father's brother married a Nogitsune, hence Jian. His Natural Magic abilities are different, and he can't shapeshift. ))

(I get the feel that I should be taking notes, ;p)

Genji struggles at first, but he does find a decent balance between patience, and not coming across as condescending to Peng after a while. A key concept that he is quick to show Peng is that of PEMDAS, (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) since that seems to be something that might help, showing Peng how you can't always just read left to write when it comes to math.

Genji's tail swishes, finding that he actually does sort of enjoy the concept of teaching, finding it kind of rewarding to coach someone through something, and see them get better and better at it, :D

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Genji should start getting the feeling that there's more to it than "understanding". It's not a simple matter of "left to right" or even PEMDAS... it's like what Peng sees isn't always necessarily what's written there.

(( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia ))

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Genji should start getting the feeling that there's more to it than "understanding". It's not a simple matter of "left to right" or even PEMDAS... it's like what Peng sees isn't always necessarily what's written there.

(( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia ))

Genji honestly isn't sure how to properly help Peng with this... It's a bit of a catch-22 for him, but he said he would help, so he works through the worksheet with Peng over the course of dinner, doing his best to help where he can. He resolves to bring it up at class the next day with Katsuo and perhaps Jian to see if either of them has an idea for how to provide a more personalized plan to help Peng...

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Genji is very much on the right track, actually... it's time to get help.

Peng shakes his head and chuckles as they finally finish the worksheet

There... another one down. Thanks, Genji. So, fair's fair: what sort of advice was it you were looking for?

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Genji is very much on the right track, actually... it's time to get help.

Peng shakes his head and chuckles as they finally finish the worksheet

There... another one down. Thanks, Genji. So, fair's fair: what sort of advice was it you were looking for?

"Say, purely theoretically of course, that there was a vixen that you were interested in, right? How would you go about expressing that without being a total dweeb about it, or coming across too strong, knowing that typically us guys don't really do the asking? I'm used to living among humans where the guy is generally the proactive party, so this whole hanging back and waiting thing is kind of odd, to say the least..." he puts his fork down, and wipes his hands on a napkin, before steepling his fingers in thought.

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng grins

Yeah... it shows you were raised by humans. Ok, biggest thing to remember 'cause it affects everything: there are no secrets with us.

Humans can't really tell when somebody likes them. It's completely bizarre and hard to understand, but they have to guess based on body language and how the other person talks and stuff...

For us, we know. Now you'll probably have a hard time at first 'cause you don't recognize what it is you smell. But you can tell if somebody likes you and if somebody's ... heh ... interested. They're different smells, and you're looking for both.

He takes a sip from his juice before continuing

So, a vixen's in charge, but that doesn't mean you sit around and wait. You go up and talk, and it shouldn't take long to know if you have one or the other or both sorts of interest. You hang around them, and do little things to ... encourage them. Now remember, we're based on foxes: arctic girls like flowers almost as much as humans do, but they prefer them alive in pots. The beach girls like shells, the tall ones like intricate twisty sticks. Agates and pretty rocks for the greys, and especially hot chilies for the sand foxes... but reds like us don't decorate: bring little food treats. And I do mean little: don't go packing lunch.

If she won't take your gift, then move on - it's not gonna happen.

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng grins

Yeah... it shows you were raised by humans. Ok, biggest thing to remember 'cause it affects everything: there are no secrets with us.

Humans can't really tell when somebody likes them. It's completely bizarre and hard to understand, but they have to guess based on body language and how the other person talks and stuff...

For us, we know. Now you'll probably have a hard time at first 'cause you don't recognize what it is you smell. But you can tell if somebody likes you and if somebody's ... heh ... interested. They're different smells, and you're looking for both.

He takes a sip from his juice before continuing

So, a vixen's in charge, but that doesn't mean you sit around and wait. You go up and talk, and it shouldn't take long to know if you have one or the other or both sorts of interest. You hang around them, and do little things to ... encourage them. Now remember, we're based on foxes: arctic girls like flowers almost as much as humans do, but they prefer them alive in pots. The beach girls like shells, the tall ones like intricate twisty sticks. Agates and pretty rocks for the greys, and especially hot chilies for the sand foxes... but reds like us don't decorate: bring little food treats. And I do mean little: don't go packing lunch.

If she won't take your gift, then move on - it's not gonna happen.

Genji is taking notes on what he says with as much focus as Peng was just using on his math homework, not wanting to forget it. "Okay, I think I've got it... so, be available, but don't push too hard, let them make the final choice, right?" The red asks, trying to make sure he's understanding. "This isn't the first time I've had these smells mentioned to me, could I get you to elaborate a bit more on the different sorts of smells that I might encounter and need to know how to interpret?"

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng gives Genji a "srsly?" look

Describe a smell, with words from a human language? Yeah... And sorry, but I don't speak "fox" the way you guys do - our natural language has some vocal similarities, but that's it.

He makes a series of squeaks and yips that sound... sort of like a fox trying to talk... it makes no sense to Genji at all.

The best thing I can think of as a tip is to pay close how you feel when you pay attention to the smell. Your feelings will echo what it is, at least a little bit and for a moment. Otherwise you just have to pay attention to the smells and what's going on. Watch other people.. and remember: you don't have to be right on top of somebody to smell them.

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng gives Genji a "srsly?" look

Describe a smell, with words from a human language? Yeah... And sorry, but I don't speak "fox" the way you guys do - our natural language has some vocal similarities, but that's it.

He makes a series of squeaks and yips that sound... sort of like a fox trying to talk... it makes no sense to Genji at all.

The best thing I can think of as a tip is to pay close how you feel when you pay attention to the smell. Your feelings will echo what it is, at least a little bit and for a moment. Otherwise you just have to pay attention to the smells and what's going on. Watch other people.. and remember: you don't have to be right on top of somebody to smell them.

Genji tilts an ear in confusion at the yipping and squeaking, but ultimately cannot make sense of it. When he hears Peng advising him to pay attention to how he instinctively reacts to the smells he nods, confusion turning into understanding, if only partial for the moment. "I'm sort of curious as to what kind of stuff I might've been missing so far, simply because I didn't really know how to pay attention... add in the fact that Vulpan smells might work slightly differently, and how confusing things can get in a group situation, and I can only hope that I can get a hold of this stuff pretty quickly... Thanks, Peng. I appreciate you helping me out with this!" he smiles a little, "Now let's go see if we can catch Kartik before he goes to sleep..." he grins, not really having had a chance to speak with him that much yet, given how early he went to bed. "Unless you can think of anything else that might be helpful to know...?" Genji prods just a little bit, smiling at Peng, and wondering if he knows the vixen Genji was talking about was his own cousin. If he does, he's taking it pretty well so far, at least...

[Ionbound]

[School]

Alicia nods to the instructions, but try as she might, attempting to clear her mind and remain calm, she can't repeat the former success, becoming increasingly frustrated until she sits down and puts her head in her hands, shaking it in anger at herself.

[deleteman900]

[School]

Alicia nods to the instructions, but try as she might, attempting to clear her mind and remain calm, she can't repeat the former success, becoming increasingly frustrated until she sits down and puts her head in her hands, shaking it in anger at herself.

Genji scoots his desk closer, speaking at a near-whisper, "I can help, if you want. I just started learning yesterday, and I never would've picked up on it so quickly if I didn't have someone to help me out one-on-one... I'm not saying you need my help, but I want to give it, if you'll let me."

[Rebonack]

[Pond]

"Five worlds?" Khannie asks, sounding puzzled. "There's the pokmeon world and the human world and you took us to the koi world and I guess there's a fox world?" Khannie reasons. "What's the other one?"

Maybe...

A dragon world?

Or maybe it's for some other animal like koi and foxes?

What other animals are there?

Birds?

Maybe a bird world?

[Fenric]

[Cafeteria]

Peng shrugs

Like I said at the start: not my strongest subject... I'm really not one to be giving much dating advice.

And yeah, if we hurry then big-ears might still be awake. Trust me: none of us get his sleeping schedule. It doesn't make sense for somebody who came from a desert and none of the other Fenethi act like that that I know of. But he won't talk about it, so we just don't know.

He gathers up his books and homework, and clears his own dishes.

[deleteman900]

[Cafeteria]

Peng shrugs

Like I said at the start: not my strongest subject... I'm really not one to be giving much dating advice.

And yeah, if we hurry then big-ears might still be awake. Trust me: none of us get his sleeping schedule. It doesn't make sense for somebody who came from a desert and none of the other Fenethi act like that that I know of. But he won't talk about it, so we just don't know.

He gathers up his books and homework, and clears his own dishes.

Genji shrugs, "You still know more about that kind of stuff than I do, heh..." he begins to head back to the dorms, now pleasantly stuffed from food, :D Speaking of food... he almost asks Peng about how things are going with setting up that picnic, but figures it'll take just a little more time than just one day, where Peng's probably been pretty busy doing stuff of his own. "What chores did they have you doing today? Lacquer again?"

[Fenric]

[Walking Back to the Dorm]

Peng laughs

No way! They don't usually assign you to that sort of thing twice in a row unless you ask for it... either literally or figuratively. I got to re-shelve books in the library. It'll be that tomorrow, too, but I don't mind. You have any idea yet, or does it look like they're still picking yours that same morning?

[deleteman900]

[Walking Back to the Dorm]

Peng laughs

No way! They don't usually assign you to that sort of thing twice in a row unless you ask for it... either literally or figuratively. I got to re-shelve books in the library. It'll be that tomorrow, too, but I don't mind. You have any idea yet, or does it look like they're still picking yours that same morning?

"I don't have any idea what they'll have me doing tomorrow, but if it goes as smoothly as it did today, I don't think I have much to worry about..." Genji laughs off thoughts of doing lacquer or something even worse, "Just got to keep doing your best, and you'll move up from being an Acolyte in no time, man. Stiff upper lip, and all that." he pats Peng on the shoulder pityingly.

[Ionbound]

Genji scoots his desk closer, speaking at a near-whisper, "I can help, if you want. I just started learning yesterday, and I never would've picked up on it so quickly if I didn't have someone to help me out one-on-one... I'm not saying you need my help, but I want to give it, if you'll let me."

Alicia gives Genji an almost unbelieving look, and whispers back angrily, "I am not interested in your help, your pity, or your advances. Go away."

[deleteman900]

Alicia gives Genji an almost unbelieving look, and whispers back angrily, "I am not interested in your help, your pity, or your advances. Go away."

His ears lie flat and he gets a stubborn look highly reminiscent of one he might get if some fancy schmancy tax collector trudged through the crops in his field approaching his home to collect taxes, and doubtless a razor sharp scythe would complete the look, "Now see, I'm new here too, and I just want to help you get your bearings. I di'n't have no ulterior motives of any kind, 's just bein' neighborly. If you're going to be an ornery cuss, then to hell with you." He mentally puts his foot down, still wanting to help, but making it clear with no uncertain terms that he's not interested in her being obstinate and holding up the rest of the class because she was too damn prideful to accept help. Also, there was a distinct accent that edged through when he got irritated, and if she were in fact as mean as she seems, she could probably make fun of the accent and how it made him sound.... less than educated, ;p

[Fenric]

[Priest's Dorm]

Peng laughs

Thanks, man. Not that I'm really all that worried.

Arriving at the room, they do indeed find the young sand-fox at his desk, concentrating on a piece of paper upon which he's writing.

---

[School]

Dr. Katsuo coughs to get the attention of the students.

We're nearly out of time for today, class. Anyone who needs additional instruction should come see me after school in this room. Otherwise, practice is your best strategy, and remember: don't try to force the magic.

[deleteman900]

[Priest's Dorm]

Peng laughs

Thanks, man. Not that I'm really all that worried.

Arriving at the room, they do indeed find the young sand-fox at his desk, concentrating on a piece of paper upon which he's writing.

---

[School]

Dr. Katsuo coughs to get the attention of the students.

We're nearly out of time for today, class. Anyone who needs additional instruction should come see me after school in this room. Otherwise, practice is your best strategy, and remember: don't try to force the magic.

Dorm
Genji nodded once, tail swishing happily to show Peng that he didn't mind helping him out, since he honestly kinda liked the shadow-vulpan, for more reasons than his cousin was cute, honest, ;p

When they got back to the dorm, Genji quietly tried to tiptoe up behind the sand-fox and get as close as he could before he was noticed, wondering what Kartik was concentrating on so thoroughly.

School

Genji raised his hand to get Katsuo's attention, "Can I help?"