COMING OF AGE CEREMONY

I like thinking that all kitsune are born with their ears and one tail, but they’re really small and grow at a slower rate than their human body. (There’s also the whole thing about why a yokai spirit could have live birth but I’m treating them like at least partially organic creatures, anyway—)

For the first several years of their life, a kit’s tail is often too small to really poke out of their clothes so they often stay tucked in. In other words, kits keep their tails hidden perhaps as a way to keep them safe while they get used to their shapeshifting powers. A fox tail showing is an easy way to blow your cover among civilians…

My idea for the Coming of Age Ceremony in the kitsune context would be when their tail finally grows to be proportional to their body, which would be roughly around year 17-21. This number may also be somewhat arbitrary historically speaking but when a kit’s tail starts really battling with their clothes, it’s about that time.

I think leading up to this ceremony, kits are also being trained/taught how to get a hold of their shapeshifting and other elemental/illusion powers. So not only is the ceremony to reveal their tails publicly for the first time, but also as a display of their growth and discipline that they will continue to hone and strengthen for the rest of their long lives.

ACQUIRING FACIAL MARKINGS

I can’t actually remember my exact thoughts on this but I wanna say that the parents choose these markings initially. I’d like to imagine the decisions are mostly based on character traits and facial features the parents hope the child to grow into. However, I feel like these markings are able to change maybe a few times before a certain date/deadline when it would feel taboo/insulting to change them again unless there’s a major devastating change in one’s life.

Maybe around the time of the Coming of Age Ceremony? Maybe it’s a flaw in the societal view of self determination being only acceptable until “adulthood” despite the longevity of kitsune life. I’m not sure yet but it would be interesting to look into.

ROLES OF THE CLANS

Roughly speaking, I wanted the clans to have more going on than being a bunch of a villages so I gave them like broad aspects of culture and tried building out from there.

Autumn Clan is warm, allegedly, so I think the climate would be suitable for raising a variety of valuable crops. I always headcanoned Autumn Clan as a harvest town. Very big on their agriculture and harvest festivals and putting in hard work together. Also big on foods, which would fit Aki’s sweet tooth. It makes me think small town or rolling hills and farmlands. I think all the Clans have some land reserved for agriculture/farming but Autumn Clan is the most known for it, if not the most abundant producer. They know they’re needed as a major source of trade/resources and they take it very seriously. I also think they’d probably have a pretty big bartering culture…

Spring Clan is my special outlier because I gave them a very specific role that’s meant to flesh out a lot of things about the Kitsune society as a whole, among other things. I have gone over it at length in a post I will link -> here! But generally speaking, I headcanoned Spring Clan residents as sorta city folk. Very proud city folk, perhaps. They take a lot of pride in the rich eclectic vibe of their community and how appealing it is to outsiders who may find their way through the gates. How nice for interlopers to get to enjoy something so beautiful before they inevitably get scammed or killed for daring to trespass. The residents would fight tooth and nail to protect this city/town. Very much tricksters at heart.

Winter Clan is known for their artisans and artists, from the traditional and archaic to the innovative and contemporary. Every other corner of this town has a theater with some upcoming performance happening soon. I think there’s a lot of high mountains and cliffs around here which usually leads to a more strict way of raising the kits. Can’t have them running off only to die early in the snow or fall down a steep icy hill… I have this headcanon that there’s sorta different sectors of the clan that treat their passion for the arts different. Some are very fundamentalist and strict about their trades and art forms while the majority of the public are just kinda always itching to bring out the props and their nice performance clothes and start a party or a parade. Might as well find something you really love doing/making while you’re stuck inside during a blizzard, right?

Summer Clan is unironically the one I’ve least thought about? I’m thinking maybe they’re one of the oldest Clans, settlement-wise. They all formed roughly around the same time but maybe Summer had been the first “official” one. I just never imagined their architecture to be as elaborate as Spring or Winter. It’s more… down-to-earth, in my mind? So I think their claim to fame IS that history and being the epicenter of community that spurred on the creation of the rest of the Clans who adopted the naming convention. It would also help add onto why community and hospitality matters so much to Summer Clan culture in my story… It’s what let the Clans thrive in the first place….

I may think more on this later

THE FOUR SEASONS (春夏秋冬) FESTIVAL

This is one of my oldest ideas I think… It was basically this idea that, as a sign of peace and upholding of mutual trust, each of the four clans would rotate responsibility to hold an annual giant festival where the leadership of each Clan are meant to come together and enjoy the festivities side by side among their people. It’s for each Clan to get to flex their hospitality skills and unique cultures in a multi-day event, which can sometimes feel a bit competitive. It is ultimately meant to be a community-oriented thing though. As different as the people all are culturally, they’re still brought together in a natural unity.

The Clan leaders will still probably discuss whatever political matters and concerns during their allotted time together but it’s the gesture of hosting the festival which represents the peace and safety they all want. Also gives them some time to catch up about personal life stuff they may not get the chance to talk about during routine meetings.

Within the “proper” headspace, willing to be completely vulnerable + comfortable:

Cole, Xianyun

Wants to keep the tone light but can be coaxed into being more vulnerable, “bratty” headspace:

Stirling, Haru(?), Natsume (OC), Itharion, Cashew

Keep it casual, could be more serious but what they have is already good because having friends is awesome:

Garret, Anon, Poe, Cashew

The playfulness IS the intimacy:

Natsume (OC), Ace, Reece, Aki, Ichiban

Nah it’s just all fucked up and weird, they’re fighting actually /lh:

Fabian

Anything else?

I usually like for there to be a bit of yearning on the end of the F/O for my own amusement, but that isn’t always the case. Anon and Poe especially I don’t see having any significant yearning, at least any they’d want to bother exploring…

Haru is weird because I think Haru is very capable of having a meaningful casual relationship and maybe he even tries to come off that way to Ren, but in my ship specifically he wants more. He feels like he’s dug himself a hole and he’s trying to find a way to climb out of it without the walls collapsing around him. That or Ren is just dense idk

The most “vulnerable” tier with Cole and Xianyun also means Ren can act with any other level of playfulness but the transition from that to vulnerability is way smoother/easier to achieve compared to other tiers