Japanese Kitsune

by on April 10, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Kitsune Sports Network aired numerous competitive sports to America and beyond. Many of them were quintessentially Japanese, and so completely beyond the understanding of other Americans. Their game shows are particularly confusing, for instance. But one KSN sport that has gained worldswide acclaim and fans is the Kitsune Lasertag League. Teams of well-drilled amateur and professional players fight simulated battles in real life arenas in their never-ending search for sponsors to fund their quest for better gear. Many of them become worldswide celebrities in their own right, and start businesses from firearms to clothing lines to perfume. It was one of the most popular sports in all the worlds before the Shang attacked.

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Dairycon

by on April 9, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I went to Dairycon over the weekend. It is a nice little con with around a hundred or so people showing up to talk about, buy, and sell Transformers. The toys, not the power station thingies.

I brought a couple Xbox 360s, some Transformers cartoons, and some Transformers games. Left them running Friday and Saturday, and entertained a bunch of kids who got to play around while their parents went hunting for the toys they wish they could have found when they were kids. A good time was had by all.

The trip was marred a little bit by the hotel I was staying at. The Country Inn and Suites in Fond du Lac Wisconsin had three front desk operators who could not figure out how to charge a credit card. The first could not figure out how to authorize my business card, which had funds in it to cover my share of the hotel bill. The second attendant on Saturday managed to authorize the card, but then could not figure out how to charge it. The third attendant on Sunday first told me there was no authorization and never had been. When I showed him the proof in my bank account that there was one, including the reference number he could use to track it down, he said the bank had released the authorization, and that maybe I’d just overspent on the card, which is why they couldn’t authorize it.

I will note, for the record, that my “day” job is as a night auditor in the hotel industry. I work with credit card authorizations nearly every day of my life, and have done so for eighteen years. When a bank grants a hotel an authorization on a credit card, that is an iron clad guarantee from the bank that the funds are available. Period. End of line. The bank puts that amount of money in a little lock box labeled “their money” and the owner of the card cannot touch it. The card will decline if anyone else tries to draw it for any reason. The only way to get a bank to release the authorization if for the hotel in question to call them personally and request that the authorization be released. I have done this, so I know what I talk about. The hotel industry depends on authorizations be honored, which is why they are so iron clad.

I will note that the card worked all the way home, just fine, and when I got home and called my bank, they have the authorization on file. It is good until the 11th of this month, which is a standard authorization length for the stay I had scheduled. Authorizations typically are good for a matter of days to a week after the projected checkout schedule. That’s standard practice in the hotel industry, and it was not respected by my hotel in this case.

That is the service I got at Country Inn and Suites in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. I do not think I will return there in the future.

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Japanese Kitsune

by on April 8, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The vast majority of Kitsune only have a single tail to wear at formal occasions, but more tails can be earned or gained per the ancient Japanese mythologies the modern Kitsune use as inspiration. A second tail is often an indication that the individual has become a low level leader or sponsor in the Kitsune organization. Players in the sports leagues can earn them for superior playing. Third and fourth tails are rare but not unheard of. But few people actually wear them as they become increasingly cumbersome. Holoform tails are actually rather popular in the higher ranks of Kitsune society for a reason. Nine tails are relegated to the highest ranked or awarded Kitsune, per Japanese myths, and it is all but unheard to see them displayed in anything but the most formal of black tie occasions.

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Rin

by on April 7, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

I didn’t see a lot of Kitsune growing up back home. Some have argued that the ones with fur all over their bodies would be perfect for the colder winters up there. Some have even decided to experiment with Northern Minnesota winters, only to find that someone who grew up in Los Angeles has no idea what real cold is like. So I didn’t have a lot of experience with Kitsune in real life when I met Rin on Sunnydale. I didn’t know what to expect of her, but several thousand G.I.s marching down the ramps, in cadence while singing her praises, was not anywhere in my speculations. That was a real Alice in Wonderland kinda day for me. Bright. Shiny. Crazy as a mad hatter. Just like Rin. Don’t get me wrong. She was smart. Scary smart like all cybers tend to be. But she was New Japanese to the code. That crazy amalgamation of Home Island Old Japanese and Los Angeles Surfer Culture is her baseline personality, and she positively loves to live it up at maximum volume. And for all that I love to play at my party animal roots, I had nothing on Rin. Turns out Los Angeles parties are a bit bigger and louder than the ones I grew up with, and Rin was a veritable master of ceremonies on the party circuit. I never had a boring cruise with her.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Japanese Kitsune

by on April 6, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Most Japanese Kitsune do not have gengineered tails and ears, let alone fox-like fur. But there are some who go all the way towards being truly fox-like, and they look up to those who make the choice to permanently change themselves. The changes can be passed on to children, though they are not always dominant. It depends on the level of gengineering performed. Sometimes the changes are temporary, though most don’t consider that gengineering at all. Sometimes they only last for the lifetime of the individual. The best gengineering changes the genes passed on to their children, but even those don’t always take. Sometimes they are recessive, while in other cases they will dominate whenever they are present. And some traits can be dominant while others are recessive. I’ve seen plenty of Kitsune with ears but no tails. The fur is the hardest to maintain dominance, and is the rarest of the modifications that breed true. There were never very many of them. Most of them died when Yosemite fell.

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