Art by  CavesAndCritters

I’d like you all to meet Desmond, a developing character of mine who’s starting to really grow on me. If you’ve been reading my works, you’ve actually already met him before. His name used to be Reynard, but apparently “Reynard the Fox” just seemed come to mind of anyone I said it to, especially since he’s a kitsune, so the name failed to stick. Wasn’t all that happy with that first name in the first place for him really, but the story wanted out and for that he needed a name. I, for one, like Desmond more, especially with the little hint in it that may become clear once you know more about him. Also, grey/silver foxes are underrepresented, and I feel a black/grey furred kitsune is interesting.

Desmond comes from a world that, in broad strokes, is not too dissimilar to our own modern society, at least in terms of how civilization developed, more or less. Cities, cars, fast food joints, apparel, things like that. Two notable differences are, starting with the obvious, how it is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, and that the supernatural has touched the world in overt ways. The supernatural is considered “natural” by most, though following a different set of scientific laws than the natural world (or so it is believed), and is, by and large, feared. While there have been more positive examples of supernatural elements, the majority, as well as the most well remembered throughout history, have been quite negative.

Perhaps the most recent scarring from the supernatural was the rise of the kitsune. Born of a demon mating with a fox, the lineage spread quite far, from both genders (defying simple genealogical tracking), before the power of their demonic progenitor manifested. Beings of both mortal flesh and spiritual energy, they found themselves capable manipulating spiritual elements, including entering the spiritual domain of another, or pulling others into theirs with little more than eye contact. Fear and confusion set in first among the masses, growing into fear when the allure power corrupted the hearts of many newly awakened kitsune. The end result was a terrifying period of history, as well as a bloody one, as kitsunes were hunted down ruthlessly in the wake of the atrocities committed. Many kitsune were innocent of crimes, but fear and paranoia allowed for little discrimination.

Eventually, the “kitsune menace” was contained, and life returned to a semblance of normalcy. However, it could not be kept from the public that it was all but impossible to wipe out kitsunes entirely, not without a complete genocide of a subset of the world’s population. And though some did, and still do, support that logic, more reasonable minds have prevailed, and agencies responsible for keeping tabs and dealing with demonic activities have special subsets dedicated to dealing with discovered kitsunes.

As such, Desmond has had to hide his true nature from everyone, including his parents. For all he knows, either or both of his parents are also kitsune in hiding, and for him, it’s just easier if everyone lives as though they’re all just normal foxes. It did come as something of a shock to him when he discovered it himself, fortunate that the discovery was in private. His scream of terror at waking up to discover he had a second tail, and the following hysteria, wasn’t something he could have covered had his parents been home at the time; he’d slept in for the weekend and his parents had gone fishing in the morning hours. He’d regained his composure by the time they returned, and when they did, they did not appear to notice the extra appendage. Only then did it dawn on him that they were invisible to others but himself.

It wasn’t easy, but he came to understand his capabilities in secret as he grew up. It still scares him a bit what he’s capable of, though he has never had the desire to undertake the uglier, monstrous things he can do. Mostly, he uses it like imagination on steroids, as the spiritual realm is one governed more on thought than anything else, but has a sense of reality to it. He is unsure if it is a matter of mind or soul, or perhaps a fusion of both, though he knows he can drastically affect the mind if he so desired. So far, he has limited that to the removal of memories, keeping people from remembering what happened in that spiritual plane. As time passes at the speed of thought there, if not faster, it is all but impossible for people to notice the gap in memories, for it is easily mistakable as a blink.

It all nearly came crashing down on him one day however, when he tried something new. Meeting up with an old friend from high school he hadn’t seen in a while, he noticed how low a mood she was in, and thought to cheer her up using his abilities. He entered her spiritual space, carefully felt around for things she found pleasure in, and led her to experience them in ways she’d never imagined. In the spirit-scape, it had taken considerable time to calm her down as he let her know what was going on, but she thoroughly enjoyed the ride he took her on by the end. He sought to let her keep only her emotional memories of the event, thinking to make her believe catching up with a friend for a good talk lifted her mood. Unfortunately, he was not precise enough in the removal, and enough residual memory was left for her to piece together what had happened, and to know he was responsible.

It was an interesting couple of minutes when she confronted him about it, and he was terrified that his life as he knew it was over, but as they talked, he realized that, while indignant, she wasn’t afraid of him. She trusted him, having grown up through the school grades with him. And in the end, she admitted, he had done her a great favor in lifting her spirits. They got together a few more times after that, indulging their imaginations in ways reality would never allow, until she gave him another shock. She offered him a job.

Finalizing and formalizing that took time, but eventually, Desmond found himself working at the store she was a manager of, an adult supply outlet called “Indulgence”. On the books, he is a licensed hypnotists (for which he actually studied and got authenticated, though he rarely actually utilizes it), which is largely a cover. His abilities are passed off as a deep level of hypnosis that puts an individual in a state akin to lucid dreaming. No one can really disprove him, and his clientele is steadily rising, making the story a tidy profit through his specialized services.

Now possessing four tails (invisible to onlookers in the picture), Desmond has himself a steady life with an interesting little niche. He worries sometimes that the truth will leak out one of these days, but so far no one has suspected a thing, and Desmond intends to keep it that way.


Desmond also possess and "Alternate Outfit" seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17063915/