all right, they're definitely spooked too. —which means they're not one of the humans that'd been setting these off. emboldened, nishiki stands from behind the crates, sniffing the air as a fresh burst of smoky powder carrying from somewhere through the trees foretells another one of the big magic sparkles incoming.

and right on cue, the dark sky booms in a shower of color: gold and fulgurate-green bathing the face of the kid before him in half-light, loud popping crackles accompany distant cheers and shouts, drowning out whatever he was going to say. ( and hard as it is, he forces himself not to look at the display he bets is gorgeous above his head — take his eyes off him, and the guy just might bolt with the last one of those things! )

steps inch forward when the noise dies down and he can hear himself think again, and he plasters on a friendly smile.

"i'm nishiki. nice to meet ya!" he'd extend a hand, but they're still a bit far apart to shake, so his eyes drop to the tube clutched zealously in the little guy's arms instead. better cut to the chase. "were you gonna use that? 'cause i was hoping to take a look myself. i've never seen anything like it before."

now how was he gonna get it back for himself... hmm...

if they were trying to run off with it too, then they probably didn't have much clue about it; and they looked young, so it was likely just a prank. hehe, but everyone wanted to show off at that age, even if they don't have a single idea what they're doing — maybe that's his in. "i bet you're a pro though. i'd really like to know how it works! think you can show me? in return, i promise i won't tell anyone you were here — honest!"

　◦ │　STAR FIRE, FOX FIRE

　　　　　　　　　 　　❪　m. showcase　/　boom　❫

        001.  /  kitsune hamlet worldbuilding

what does rai love doing more than completely off the cuff worldbuilding for small isolated populations from which only like 1-2 canon characters come from. nothing. so let's geaux.

⠀◦◞ ORIGIN ﹗

this was lightly foregrounded in the interview i wrote for nishiki ( where i sprinkled in some original lore surrounding the kitsune hamlet ) but the kitsune of hoshido believe in a fairly uniform creation story that explains how they got to be where they are today:

it's believed that in the ancient times, hoshido was once a land of mostly water and swamp, the majority of it uncultivable and uninhabitable. mankind at this time lived in pockets of civilization, separated from one another. during a time of great famine, the goddess o-inari descended from the heavens to aid life in this land, bringing with her her children and servants: the foxes 　

o-inari exists in the kitsune mindset as a being separate from the dragon-gods of fates lore, originating from a different place ( heaven ). there is no apparent relation between the two beliefs systems 　

the legend continues that after saving life from starvation, o-inari departed again for heaven, but left her children behind as stewards of the land in her stead. as time passed however, people forgot the purpose of the foxes, and grew to see them as any other animal. from the foxes' watchful, playful, and secretive manner, they drew many stories that painted them as malicious and selfish tricksters. they grew to fear them and see them as omens of bad luck, and then finally to hunt them for the beauty of their fur 　

defenseless, the foxes prayed for help, and o-inari descended again. she made for them a home in the mountains of hoshido and established the kitsune hamlet, a place where they could live safe and peacefully free from human persecution. and to defend themselves from incursions, she granted them human-like intelligence, a unique magic ( the power of illusion ), and the ability to transform and hide themselves. this was the beginning of the modern-day kitsune race 　

the age of this story far transcends the life of any living kitsune today, so none of them know exactly how long ago this was said to be. but it is how they've lived ever since, passing down this story and the cautionary tales of humans that hated and feared them

⠀◦◞ BELIEF SYSTEM ﹗

accordingly with the above legends, the kitsune see themselves as descendants of the god/goddess o-inari, an essentially genderfluid being, though she is often depicted in artworks with feminine features and often colloquially referred to in feminine terms. o-inari is believed to be a goddess of fertility, agriculture, and abundance, and is thus also associated with goods like rice, bread, sake, and cotton.

o-inari is believed by the kitsune to be a kind goddess who detests violence since bloodshed is antonymous with the bounty that she represents. she is depicted to be sheltering, as when she chose to shield the foxes and give them the means to defend themselves rather than punish the humans that hunted them. however, there are stories passed down that show that o-inari can also be strict and vengeful; at times, she is shown wielding a sword or a sickle of heaven with which she burns huge swaths of crops.

o-inari herself is believed to be a shapeshifter, another trait passed down to the kitsune in the form of their illusory magic. in certain stories, she appears in various forms such as snakes or humans or spiders.

reciprocity, one of the strongest tenets of kitsune culture that nishiki shows us in canon, also is rooted in their belief system. it is believed that o-inari greatly emphasized and praised reciprocity and the repaying of debts, as the constant ongoing cycle of give and take between individuals and societies was what generated the karma that allowed the world to turn, and thus abundance to spread. it's believed that without reciprocity, the karma of the world would shrivel and decay, leading eventually to the end of all life. to demonstrate reciprocity and live by this tenet, therefore, is to show great respect to o-inari as well as to honor the cycle of life and the laws of heaven. concurrently, it's believed that shirking reciprocity is an actively harmful act unto life itself, and that heaven keeps a checkbook of sorts on how good you've been about it, and thus how much karma you've helped to generate.

⠀◦◞ MISC. KITSUNE HAMLET NOTES ﹗

some other worldbuilding that's more directly related to the kitsune race and hamlet life:

just like o-inari herself, kitsune are genderfluid beings conceptually. they believe that the older a kitsune grows, the more powerful they become, and at certain benchmarks in age, one gains the qualities of masculinity and femininity equally. it's unclear exactly what this means functionally as the kitsune tend to only talk about it in spiritual terms, but nishiki would tell you that the elders of the hamlet that were centuries old were definitely no longer defined by a singular gender 　

kitsune are not illiterate, but due to spending most of their time in fox form and usually only taking humanoid shape for either convenience or when traveling outside the hamlet, reading and writing aren't large parts of their native culture. instead, they have a strong oral tradition; stories and legends are passed down by word of mouth and occasionally through artwork. this is supplemented by the kitsune's naturally long memory 　

leading the kitsune hamlet is like leading a colony of street cats. though kitsune still retain some natural inclinations toward the sense of community and belonging ( we see some of this in nishiki's hinata support ), they're much less socially-bound than humans, and nishiki's behavior of coming and going from the hamlet for long stretches of time with no set return date, etc. is not uncommon. as a result, leadership among kitsune is a loosely-defined term, and there aren't a lot of rules, structure, or determinate hierarchy among the kitsune, nor much sense of obligation. the chief takes on some sense of doing what's best for the hamlet and protecting it from danger, but outside of times of strife, don't assume much of a leadership role from day to day and everyone is more or less allowed to do what they want. in essence, the chief exists as the point of decision-making in emergencies when one is needed, but other than that the social structure is very laissez-faire. the position of chief is also at least partly hereditary, as seen by nishiki telling us that his father was chief before him 　

this individuality, independence, and loose attitude toward social structure, along with the kitsunes' aversion to violence, is ultimately why they lose the battle to defend themselves so spectacularly against a trained and disciplined army despite the danger that an individual kitsune poses and the advantage they had of being on home turf

setting roll: 🐊 murky swampland with posted warnings to keep people away

it was starting to feel like he'd never get this stink and mud and water out of his fur no matter how he bathed and scrubbed after this. all he could smell was flat, wet peat, the stagnant greens, and something ( or somethings ) rotting — a tepid, sticky combination that invaded his nose and stuck to the back of his throat. blech.

was this even worth it just for dinner? . . . but the moment he he has the thought, a sharp pang in his belly reminds him yes and urges his pawsteps a little faster. he already came this far anyway, so might as well see it through. if he starved to death here on some distant continent, after everything . . . ? he'd never be able to face everyone in the afterlife.

—there. finally, a new smell coming through the neverending swamp. human. it had to be up ahead, just past the last in a long row of signs he'd passed by labeled with ' DANGER: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK '. as if he didn't know it was risky, or would want to be here if there was any other choice! being so close to his goal makes the hunger worse, starting to gnaw painfully, so he picks up the pace a little more, abandoning caution.

& lucky him, it looks like there's a change in the scenery just up ahead, where some sunlight starts to break through the line of cracked and wilting trees. and rising like some long-legged spider out of water is what looks like a small tower at first, before he recognizes the bent zig-zag of stairs and stilts holding up a small human house like spindly limbs.

ugh, sort of unsettling. but the thought is fleeting and weak to the rush of instinct in his head, so he makes his way across the moss-green shallows with anticipation. one of the glowing windows must be open, because that tender smell of meat is stronger than the rot and wood. now just have to get up these steps, and . . .

◞ @ghostruck﹗ *

　◦ │　WORLD OF HEMLOCK

　　　　　　　　　 　　❪　m. showcase　/　sword point　❫

much as he tried to deny it, even he knew he wasn't gonna last long like this. if this place was also full of hostile humans, even if he did transform, he was just begging for a whole load of trouble to come after him someday without other ways to defend himself. that's probably how he got himself into this mess in the first place with the ship — that and being way too trusting. and humans weren't even the end of it! he'd smelled bigger and badder on his way up this mountain and around it too. wasn't sure what it was, but it sure put his fur on end. stunk sharp and raw like rotting meat, and something else wrong about it, something he couldn't put his paw on.

whatever the source, it was definitely lurking around, or maybe a bunch of them, and he knew wilderness enough to know it was probably only a matter of time before he ran into it. after all, this might even be its territory.

but what could he do besides bite and claw and run? what if there were people around? no chance he'd pick up a real human weapon, not in this life; no way no how, even if his life was at risk. just the stench of that steel made him sick to his stomach, and he didn't know how they stood it, carrying those things around with them all the time.

but, nishiki thought: if he was gonna blend in, then magic might be okay. not as awesome as his kind had— . . . er, he had. but. yeah, they definitely weren't anywhere near as awesome. nope, you wouldn't find those big, sparkly loud stars bursting in the sky reflected in his eyes! no way! he wasn't even staring at them that long. just a few seconds. ( okay, maybe a minute. maybe two. )

. . . rrrrh! okay, that's it! fine, he had to know how they did it! it was so cool, and there were so many colors, and they'd had different shapes, and it'd been hard to keep from joining in on that boom with a yip and a howl! he was just dying to know.

so after a group of smelly human kids leave with another one of those smoky tubes, he sneaks a little closer, keeping behind the boxes and an ear out for— oh no, there's still one more! he'll have to wait a little longer. guess if he really needs to, he can use his illusion and try to blend— wait, huh? this one kinda looks like he's sneaking around too. wait, he's carrying off the last one.

ginger crown pops up before he can stop himself. "hey! —uhhh, wait. you, little guy." uh oh. he hadn't thought he'd get this far. wide eyes flick between the human and the long thing in his arms. "uh, can i see that for a second?"

◞ @optimismxmagicism﹗ *

　◦ │　STAR FIRE, FOX FIRE

　　　　　　　　　 　　❪　m. showcase　/　boom　❫

Twitter: torisudesu

※  Permission was given by artist, do not remove caption.