(Open to interaction for any of our newer players who are looking for threads, or, if not, this will be a vignette).
In the middle of the festivities, a young vixen, barely into her adult years, happily munched down on the takoyaki stick that she held in her right paw, being careful not to get any of it on the elegant blue kimono with gold fringes that she wore. She would have been a classic Southern with well-groomed fiery red contrasted by deep blue eyes, if not for the fact that she was a bit tall and underneath the coverings had quite a large amount of firm, well-honed muscle, and for the fact that attached to her waist was the traditional daishō of the warrior class. That was, however, an anomaly, given that instead of the traditional katana, it seemed she had matched the traditional dagger with a larger odachi instead. Finishing off her treat, she aimed at a local wastebin, and gracefully arced the stick into it, before withdrawing a hankerchief and wiping her paws. She smiled softly as she returned the hankerchief to within her kimono, and began to walk down the cobblestone streets of this strange, foreign land that preoccupied so much of her family's time, her sandals quiet on the ground as she did so. Spotting an alley, she slipped into it, keeping watch at its entrance. Within moments, there were two light thumps behind her, though she did not turn around.
“Hime…” one of the two foxes, clad in a mixture of black and gray and kneeling behind her, reported respectfully in a hushed tone “...we have located the targets and their location, but not all of them have arrived at the meeting yet. We believe there should be about twenty, but only sixteen have arrived. Should we move on them to prevent any difficulties now? Your father did not want to risk any disruptions to the festiv-.”
A strange smile flicked across the vixen’s face as she held up one paw slightly, and the beast immediately quieted.
“We will wait until they have all arrived, and have almost concluded their meeting. It is best to let the frog boil in the well, is it not? My father, Kitsune bless him, is old, and a bit out of practice-of course, this is not his fault, being so busy with other matters. When the time is right, I will handle them.”
“Hime, taking on all of them alone, even for-”
“Hiro.” She cooed sweetly, but with just the slightest hint of something beneath the surface.
“As you command, Hime.”
As suddenly as they had arrived, the two foxes seemed to have disappeared, and she stepped out back into the streets to continue her search for treats as she awaited the appointed time humming an ancient Fyadoran tune, although these were just appetizers to what she really hungered for.
I cannot wait for the real feast to begin.