37: Wind

Been so long I kinda forgot this was a thing. Wops.

Anyway, we're in the final stretch (which I've prolly said half a dozen times by now). Doesn't really feel like it with so much still up in the air - but I promise we'll bind things up real tight by the end. ;)

(Well, kinda. Some things will be left open. At one point I was considering a small follow-up piece a few weeks or so beyond the epilogue, which will in itself be ahead a few weeks from the last chapter - but I'm not sure if that's still in the cards. We'll see.)

Anyway. Thanks to all of you still hanging in there. And hello to any unfortunate soul who's found their way here after all this time. Hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far. :)

Cinderpaw11

Oh, Trick, you soft hearted fool! I can't believe you're making me pity Tamber of all foxes like please she is still a can of garbage STOP MAKING ME PITY HER.

Honestly I didn't ever think I'd see the day that Trick, of all characters, was called a "soft-hearted fool." She's come a long way!

And I think you can still pity people while simultaneously hating them. Though, honestly, it's a narrow line to walk, from an author's POV. Usually readers end up pitying characters you want them to hate, and vice versa. But usually that's a miscommunication on my part - always more to learn, in this bizz. :)

AND KOULDER YOU LYING SACK OF CRAP THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT HOW THAT STORY WENT. YOU'RE TAKING CREATIVE LIBERTIES TOO FAR. MAKE UP YOUR OWN STORY INSTEAD OF TAINTING SPRITES. RUDE. If only he had went with Trick. Except then Faun might've died, Riven might've died, and that reunion... might've died. It was definitely interesting to realize just how much Koulder wanted to be friends with Sprite.

Honestly giggled at this last bit the first time I read it, because I knew how Sprite's next chapter was going to do. We really had no idea how deeply Koulder's feelings ran - but, then again, she was the only friend he had, at least for a few days.

Rewriting the jay story from his POV was a whole lot of fun, though, especially since it wasn't something I'd originally planned. It was nice to touch on the idea that all stories are warped by their tellers - even the original was told by Sage to Nella to please her, so he made sure it had a happy ending and all that jazz, because even though he didn't really believe in such a thing, he did. Maybe Koulder does too, in his own way - though what's happy for him certainly isn't what's happy for most of the other characters.

Also that Riven/Sprite reunion? Super cute. My happy pups. Please stay this way forever.

This was also pretty funny in light of how hard Sprite crashes the next chapter, haha. But I think we've all been there - knowing we should feel really happy/good about something, but feeling that emotion ebbing away, and not knowing why. Lucky for her, Riven's there to perk her back up.

Running away seems unlikely if [Trick] imagines Musk ripping her apart in front of everyone. Which leads me to think about her thinking, "Wouldn't it be something if someone tried?" because TRICK NO DON'T. Unless... she did. And Koulder helped her. That'd be fine. A true challenge of what side Koulder is on. 

Forcing Koulder to choose between himself and Trick would be interesting, though. We've seen him do it in an underhanded way, by offering to kill Tamber - there's no telling what Musk would do if he found out, but it wouldn't be good. But that offer was for something Musk would probably never have found out about, much like what he did for Sprite in this chapter. Forcing him to act in broad daylight (moonlight?) would be neato.

Jayfeather 3

Hooray! It's good to see you back.

Thanks, it was good to be back, even though I disappeared for another 4 months after! Hopefully that won't happen again, but this semester I'm going to be doing taxes for 25-30 hours a week in addition to classes, so...no promises.

I don't know how she keeps doing this, but every time I start up a Trick chapter, I roll my eyes and sigh, ugh It's her again. Which precedes to be oh, shit I forgot about how much she's changed, to ah! it's so good!

Not gonna front, I actually used to feel this way about writing her. She was just so much colder/reserved than some of the other characters that she was kinda hard to work with, and frankly I didn't like her (for the rebelling-against-gender-roles ladies I would much rather have a Riven-esque character, loud and fiery and able to bend people in half). But she's progressed pretty nicely, and I'm fond of what she's become.

(I had the same problem with Riven, early on. Ordinarily, I don't hate my characters, even the villains, just because they're fun to work with/explore. But boy oh boy, was I ever happy to write about him getting his ass kicked that first time!)

Swyfte

to think I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to cry at a prin pardus story

Hopefully you haven't forgotten all over again! Thanks, love.

Rowanfire

I really just hope that you will complete this story! I've read all your warriors fanfiction stories as well, and it's easy to say that you're an AMAZING writer. So pretty please, finish?

Wish granted (or at least we're one step closer)! Hope you'll stick around as we tumble to the finish line.

And that's it for this round, I guess! Hopefully this new review-answering layout made things easier to comprehend. I think I used to kinda do this in the beginning, but then I got lazy. Such is life.

See you around!

 

36: Tale

I'll be honest, I'm not fond of that title - but it didn't seem wise to hold the chapter back for another few days while I spun my wheels trying to find a better one. :P

Anyway, welcome back, guys! Sorry for the long wait. Like I mentioned in my AN, things got kinda crazy this summer, and they didn't really calm down even after classes began again. My schedule has this weird thing where I have a bunch of free time between classes, but I'm stuck on campus (commuting this semester) and I really hate writing in public, so I'm basically just wrestling with myself for hours trying to get anything done, haha. Such is life.

Consequently, as I mentioned, updates will likely be all over the place. Hopefully I'll have something for you all the Sunday after next - we'll just have to see how it goes. Doesn't help that Sprite's chapter is probably going to be a behemoth. It's the last one of hers, and we have lots of stuff to cover! I hope you guys can hang on until the end. :)

@Cinderpaw11: Tbh, in the original original plan way back when, I didn't really intend for Faun/Riven to get too close - I figured they'd be uneasy allies at best, united more through their shared desire for change than any actual affection. Their closeness actually arose when I realized I was going to need 4 more chapters to cover some stuff I'd kinda glossed over, which in turn made me reassess some I'd already written to tie up the themes and such. It came together really nicely, I think - even though, as you said, it's probably not fated to end well.

As for Koulder, hopefully this most recent chapter gave you plenty of his brains to pick. ;)

& thanks again for noting the typoes - for some reason FP changes the formatting when you italicize just one word, sometimes. Very strange.

@Lynxeye: I legit grinned when I saw your username on there. It's been a long time! I hope the most recent lil hiatus hasn't scared you off, because I'm super glad to have you back. At least it probably gave you time to catch up, haha.

That's about it, I think. See you guys soon (maybe)!

35: Kinship

Didn't make posts for the last two chapters, it seems - whoops! I suppose I didn't have much to say (or...forgot.....). But here we are!

@Adaon ril'Morgerard: Not sure if you'll see this, but thank you! The Warriors similarities are because I used to write a ton of Warriors fics. When I moved over to original fiction, Vulpine was supposed to be kinda a training exercise to ease the transition  - like training wheels, I guess. Of course, then it had to blow up into a 200k+ story.....But I'm glad you're enjoying it!

@Dovefeather5: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Personally, creating stories isn't something I struggle with - they just kind happen, and then completely dominate my life - but they can be difficult to stick with! You kinda just have to grit your teeth and plow through. For a time, I was attempting to write multiple stories at once, and it just became a mess - whenever I was working on one, I wanted to be writing the other. Narrowing your focus can be difficult, but it'll make you much more productive, in my experience. Hope that helps!

@Cinderpaw11 (Guess I'll do a few reviews at once here, wops): Yeah, Sage's whole life story is just one failure after another. He's never really found anything to stand for, though he has had his small rebellions - not telling about Nella's solitaire, running from the Skulk, etc. Sprite's the closest thing he ever had, but even his sunrise plan is, for lack of a better phrase, taking the path of least resistance. He would have died thinking he'd done the best he could for her, and that she has a better chance of making it out - but, as she points out, it was kinda a false choice, since they've managed to scrape by. It remains to be seen whether he'll ever be able to confront any of his demons, esp. considering how weak he's become. Poor guy.

Yeah, Toma's a bro. :) It's been nice having a younger mentor character - one who finds relating to his wards much easier, but still has good advice to offer. His parallels with Faun have been really fun as well. I think his presence is just pretty good at adding light to the story, which is something it needs.

(We'll never see proper proof in the story proper [though for a time I considered an extra one-shot thing] but Toma is right about the hunting trial being an attempt to shift blame away from Musk for Faun's demise. Therefore, we might assume his father has some affection for him, though the degree to which he feels it is unclear.)

And I'm stoked about your feelings regarding Koulder (and that quote is awesome)! Koulder's whole dealio is being an outsider, even where morality/feelings are considered. He's not fully on anyone's side but his own, but even what he wants is unclear.

There's one big thing that might help you understand his character, though - Koulder does not mince words. When he spoke to Sprite, he kinda stumbled over himself, repeated things, etc. etc., but that part of him is gone. Koulder says exactly what he means, even if it isn't always obvious (like "do you miss her" instead of "do you miss Iole" or always referring to Riven as "him" in his convo w/ Trick). Which means that whenever he speaks, it's important to pay attention to everything that pops out of his mouth, and consider all the possible implications.

For example - when he asks Faun about whether 'Please' ever stopped Riven & company from hunting/tormenting him. Remember, Koulder was once just like Faun - someone small and powerless that Riven despised. But Koulder never spoke up, never fought back, until Sprite intervened in his life and shook him up. She encouraged him to speak up, to find his voice - but ultimately it was violence, not his voice, that saved his life. In this one lil bit, Koulder's reflecting on his own past, Sprite, empathizing with Faun's suffering, and setting himself apart from Riven & co. They wouldn't have stopped because of a simple, desperate "Please." But he did, and to him, that makes all the difference.
(Even if it was partially because he'd break his neck if he went any further.)

That line's also key in understanding what he's doing to Faun, as is something in his next paragraph, where he says that he'll kill Faun, but it'll be swift. With this, he's attempting to get across that his quarrel with Faun is not personal. He has nothing against Faun. Rather, he understands the position he's in, the potential for suffering he's been presented with, and empathizes, however faintly, with his situation. More than that, he's not like Riven/Reyes/Waire. He's not hunting Faun for fun. He's not hunting him to make him hurt. He's just doing a job to get something he wants - and, perhaps Faun's end will be kinder with him than it would be with one of the others, if only because Faun's death, not his pain, is Koulder's goal. (Of course, Koulder neglects the fact that he does intend to torture Riven, as he mentions in this most recent chapter. Tsk tsk.)

Then, Koulder goes through the rest - showing Riven the body, killing him, and going home. And that's it. Conversation over. Because that's all that really matters to him. Catch Faun, take revenge on Riven, go home. Then it's all over. There's no reason for him to spit out one last jeer or jab when he leaves, as Riven might once have done - he's just doing a job, sticking to a plan. Nothing more.

That was, uh, a bit longer than I'd intended, but yeah. I could ramble on about junk like that all day. Koulder's been a really fun character to work with, and I've become pretty fond of him. But! Hope that puts some of his actions into clearer perspective for you. We'll get a lot more out of him in the next chapter, for sure.

(And I'd say Koulder almost certainly noticed Faun and Athor cuddlin' it up. He may be a little annoyed with himself for letting Faun get his goat, and possibly might be drawing some...other conclusions, but otherwise, he doesn't much care. Faun being a nice guy doesn't mean Koulder won't kill him. If Koulder doesn't do it, someone else certainly will, and they'll probably make a spectacle of it.)

And thank you for catching those mistakes! For whatever reason, FP sometimes doesn't like it when I offset just one word in italics. Should be fixed now. :)

@Nico: Thank you for your interest in the story! Hope the length hasn't frightened you off yet. :)

Well, I think that's it. See you guys next week, hopefully. :)

32: Conversations

Posted 32 a few hours ago. And that marks the close of another POV cycle - exciting stuff! Two more to go!

@Vendetta: Yep, that clear struggle between self-preservation and upholding one's promises/doing the right thing is what I was going for! The kinda running theme of Vulpine is that no one event changes everything or a character's entire motivations. Their development is a slow, sometimes repetitive process, wherein they have to fail and pick themselves back up and try again (as Faun mentions in this most recent chapter). Riven's no exception (probably the most obvious example, actually). He has a lot to gain and a lot to lose, depending on his choices - as does everyone else.

@Cinderpaw11: Yep, Riven's predicament was kinda from his own stupidity, instead of heroics, this time. Poor dingus. He's learning his lessons, though, slowly but surely. & yeah, plenty about Koulder is easy to forget - the last time he spoke before 31 was 15! But, seeing as we're entering the endgame now, we're going to see a lot more of him as things move along, for better or for worse....

As for the Koulder/solitaires thing, he presumably never thought it was Sprite (it would generally be assumed that if Iole were meeting a solitaire in secret, it would presumably be a male; in their minds, a solitaire female would have no reason to interact w/ a Skulk vixen), but Sage could have been a possibility. However, even that's sort of shaky, since he knows from Sprite that Sage is apparently elderly, which means a sexual motive is unlikely, and an elderly tod would have a difficult time killing a healthy young vixen, even if she knows nothing about self-defense. Sage was still his best bet, but the circumstances meant that Koulder was probably suspicious of something else going on - he just didn't have enough information to put everything together.

That's all for this week, I think. Seeya next Monday (and happy 4th of July, for all my fellow Americans)!

31: Divisions

Not much to say this time around, but I figured I'd go ahead and make this post for the record (idk, sometimes I go back and check the dates of when I posted stuff for various reasons).

This might be the longest chapter so far, by a wide margin (second closest is Faun's first chapter, weirdly enough, but I guess that one had a lot of worldbuilding to do). That's what you get when you try to combine past & present events, I s'pose. I'm sure the four finale chapters will all be monstrous as well, there's a lot to be done. v_v

Next week we'll see what Faun's most recent plan is (how many of these have he and Trick made, again?), and some unsettling business with...well, we'll see!

After that, we'll have eight chapters (and the epilogue) to go.

See you guys next Monday!

30: Warmth

30 is finally posted! Last week was kinda weird, sorry about that.

@Cinderpaw11: The teasing is only kinda semi-intentional, honest! Originally I'd toyed with making the Pan/Lorelei story its own thing (a novella, or something), which is why we don't get too much of it whenever it appears. Eventually I discarded that idea, tho (woulda been a lot of work for little payoff, & the story's too closely linked to Vulpine's themes to withhold that way), which bodes well for us finding out the rest....;)

Agreed on Musk being an enormous buttface, tho. Rhea presumably cared for him at least a little, though that wore off when he began expressing some...undesirable behavior that we'll end up seeing in Trick's chap. In theory, the Reynard cares for his closest partner as well, tho we know from Toma that their relationship's become strained (& the cracks in their partnership will continue to show as we go along). As for who Musk's story parallels, I'll say this - small kit, big paws.

Sprite's been a cute lil goober for most of the story, but she definitely has room to grow up - sooner rather than later, with the pressures of taking care of her lil family entirely on her own on her shoulders. We'll see how that goes.

Tbh after figuring out Trick->Holly was a thing, I kinda pondered whether or not it would be mutual if Grint were removed from the competition, but ultimately I concluded that Holly prolly doesn't swing that way. Unfortunate for Trick, but that's life!

That's all for this week, I think. See you guys next time. :)

29: Snow

Sorry I haven't really been making any posts on here - haven't really had anything of importance to say. Just floatin' right along.

@Cinderpaw11: Although I love questions, my literal favorite is reader reactions. When you're writing, it's really easy to doubt whether or not you're handling the scene correctly - if your readers are gonna get what you're trying to imply, if they're going to feel the way you want them to feel, etc. etc. Writing is kinda like floundering around in a vacuum, for that reason, since you have nothing but your own reactions to go off of. Serially written stories like this one are pretty dependent on reader feedback for that reason - so I absolutely appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts/reactions!

Holly/Trick is kinda a weird thing - back when I first starting writing their interactions, I kept getting vague urges from Trick to respond to Holly in ways that were seemingly out of character - more openly, more warmly. And I kept ignoring them, because Trick's kinda a weird character to write anyway (she's finicky) - but they didn't go away, and eventually I realized that she potentially had some buried feelings for her buddy. That, of course, wasn't going to work out, since Holly's 100% interested in Grint - so because it had no place in the story, I continued to downplay it. By the time I hit Partnerships, though, I just kinda threw my hands in the air and let Trick have at it, because even if her feelings aren't essential to the story (& will never be discussed, in-universe), they're still a part of her and it felt dishonest to keep shoving them out of the way. So, yes, Trick definitely has some romantic feelings for Holly, but she'll never act on them, because Holly wouldn't ever reciprocate them.

As for the time-skip, I think my original plan was a few big leaps (because it was going to be 12 chapters) but it ended up being more like little hops (because I expanded it to 16). Regardless, major events will never happen during timeskips, because I really dislike important things happening offscreen (unless it's kinda unavoidable; the set-up of the first trial is going to be so chaotic that it'd be impossible for us to see every death, just saying). That obviously doesn't bar any mates/death/Riven stuff happening in the future, haha.

Finally, if I could get away with writing 100k of nothing but cuddling, I totally would.

That's all for this week. See you guys next time (hopefully; I really need to set an alert for Mondays, or something).

26: Bitterness

New chapter's up! & I suppose I'll pick up the old tradition of responding to reviews, haha.

@SomeoneI'mSure: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

@Cinderpaw11: Quite a few elements of Sage's past have popped up throughout the story - more than just a fox of the Skulk meeting with a solitaire in secret. There's one story in particular that's been repeated...but we'll get to that soon enough.

Pan/Lorelei's story is truly the mystery for the ages, haha. It was originally based off a weird dream I had, that kinda kickstarted me into writing Vulpine in the first place (or at least thinking about foxes again, which in turn reminded me of Sage/Sprite, old characters I hadn't really ever done anything with). I'd kinda kicked around the idea of expanding their tale into its own lil story (which is why so much of their story is initially vague) but I kinda gave up on that, so we'll see the conclusion of their legend in due time.

And yeah, four novels in two years was both rough and cake, weirdly enough! I didn't really think of the magnitude of what I'd actually done until I finished my thesis novel. Even then it was just kinda like "I've written four novels in my life, hmm." It wasn't until I went back and looked at the dates that I realized just how close they'd all been written!

Weirdly enough, though, most of them don't have too much crazy family-line stuff. It's completely absent in SQSL1&2, as far as I can remember, and doesn't pop up in Corona either (originally I'd intended a companion piece starring a character related to Corona's main character, but I think they're going to be unrelated after all. Space is a big place, it wouldn't really make sense for them to be connected). It does appear in my thesis novel, Apiarchy, but it's both subverted and played straight - the female main character (Dahlia) is told she's actually the Queen's daughter, who was hidden away after an assassination attempt. Later, she finds out the Queen's full of it, and just trying to cover up the fact that the real heir died years ago; Dahlia just looks close enough to play the part. Of course, the reason she looks close enough is because she and the Princess are actually cousins (their fathers were brothers). However, since power doesn't pass through the male side of things, the connection doesn't make her actually entitled to rule, or anything. So there's definitely a weird family tree, and i plays into the subject of the plot, but the importance of it is later downplayed. Fun stuff!

(Another project of mine, NORTH, has some family tree shenanigans in it, too - but it'll be in the prequel, if I ever get around to that.)

Whoops, rambled on a bit there. Anyway, thanks for sticking with the story, and I hope you'll enjoy future developments as they come. :)

(That goes for the rest of you guys, too. See you next week!)

25: Warning, and some other info!

Hello! Not sure if anyone will actually see this, since Vulpine's been dead for so long - but, if you happen to, then I'm glad you stopped by!

Over the past 2ish years, I've been getting a lot of concerned PMs asking if I'm alive and such, and when I'll be able to start posting Vulpine (or anything else) again. My answer to the first is generally satisfactory (yep, I'm alive), but my answer to the second has been less so, for a variety of reasons. I've actually been doing quite a bit the two years or so - it's just most of it hasn't been Vulpine related. I'll give you a quick summation of what I've been up to, and hopefully you'll understand why.

(Basically, I wrote 4 novels.)

What The Hell Happened

June 2014 - planned on getting my shiz together to finish Vulpine ASAP. Even wrote one chapter (the one I just posted) and started another (Faun's, obvs). Then...

Then.........

Then halfway through June, I was brutally attacked by an idea that would not, could not, be banished, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't want to think about it. I certainly didn't want to write about it. It was completely different from everything I usually wrote (Sci-fi! With almost no humans to speak of!) and really self-indulgent for a variety of reasons and just generally felt like something I didn't want to pursue. But it wouldn't leave, and in July there was this "Camp NaNo" thing (a summer version of NaNoWriMo) that I wanted to try. So I said "heck with it," and went for it, and....wrote 125k in a month. Yeah, that's a lot. Unfortunately, the story wasn't quite over.

August - September 2014 - Polished off July's story (entitled "Stay Quiet, Stay Low," but we'll call it SQSL) with another 25k. But then it turned out that this was just the first arc of three. The second was pretty short (22k), but that ended up being a huge problem, because I blew through it in two frantic days, and then had to scramble to come up with a concrete plan for the third. So I wrote the third arc (let's call it SQSL2)...and revised...and wrote...and revised...and wrote...etc., on an on for months, until I was really frigging burnt out on the whole thing.

October 2014: Work on SQSL2 had slowed to a crawl, but I still wasn't ready for Vulpine yet. I floundered around for a bit, until - surprise surprise - another story plot hit me like a truck halfway through the month, conveniently just in time for November, i.e. NaNoWriMo. At this point, I was resigned to my fate, so I just gave in.

November 2014: I wrote 88k of what would eventually become a 203k novel (entitled "Corona").

December 2014-March 2015: I bounced between working on SQSL2 and Corona. Mostly Corona, because SQSL was giving me such a headache. I finished Corona on March 2nd, I think? And then I kinda let things slide for awhile.

April 2015: Decided to get off my butt and finish SQSL2; Camp NaNo is held in both April and July, so I decided to use SQSL2 for this one. I wrote 78k.

May 2015: Still working on SQSL2, albeit slowly. My birthday (the 26th) reminded me of Vulpine (since the last chapter had been posted on the 26th the year before), and I started musing on it a bit, but was too busy to do much else.

June 2015: Still working on SQSL2. Still thinking on Vulpine. Seeing as July's Camp NaNo was coming up, I figured I might as well try to finish Vulpine then.

July 2015: Finished SQSL2 on the first, meaning that it took exactly a year to write SQSL & SQSL2. In total, the third arc ended up being ~160k, plus the 22/28 from the second arc (it varied because I kept switching where the second arc technically ended. I think it's 28 rn), for a total of 188k for SQSL2. I was pretty excited, but I couldn't stop, since it was Camp time. I plunged into Vulpine. Halfway through, however, I realized I was rushing certain events way more than was warranted. I thought I was about to start writing the final four chapters - instead, it quickly became apparent I needed another cycle of 4 instead - that is, I thought Vulpine had 12 more chaps in it, but it really had 16. That bummed me out, and I had to scramble to plan for the extras, which really bogged things down. I ended up writing just 54k.

August 2015: Struggled on w/ Vulpine, but it was a real slog. I kinda gave up at around 68k (total, meaning counting July's wordcount; it was all in one big file) and decided I'd get back to it again when I was ready.

September-October 2015: Nothing in particular, mostly focusing on school. Basically had huge writer's block, felt no real urge to write anything. Sucked.

November 2015: Decided to return to NORTH, my NaNo from 2013. Wrote 50k. Wasn't really feeling it, still, and my semester got stupidly hard very, very quickly. This whole month was honestly pretty miserable.

December 2015 - March 2016: Again, basically no writing. This time, though, I had a new excuse: my honors thesis, a two-semester-long project. I had originally decided to do a novel as part of my thesis (stupid, stupid), but found coming up with an idea was really, really hard. Basically, I procrastinated about thinking about it because it was scary, and because I procrastinated, it got even scarier. Eventually, I had to face facts at the end of March. I decided to attempt it for April's Camp. Before camp started, I wrote about 8k.

April 2016: Holy shit, was this month ever rough. I wrote 80k for my thesis, staying on campus for four consecutive weeks (my parents were sad). But, in the end, I scraped by, finishing my thesis novel - "Apiarchy" - just in time. Then, I found myself still in the habit of writing. I wanted to write more, so I didn't lose my momentum. But what could I possibly write about now?

May 2016: Vulpine time. I went back and read all the stuff I wrote since I'd last updated. Then I wrote a little, finishing off Riven's penultimate chapter (it had been one scene short of being completed when I'd last stopped). Then I planned some more. Then I went back and read everything I had posted. Then I read everything I hadn't posted again. Then I decided to get serious.

Then, I decided to update with the chapter I'd written nearly two years ago. And here we are.

So, to sum up: I wrote 4 novels, clocking in at 150k, 188k, 203k, and 88k, and got some work done on other projects (68k for Vulpine, 50k for NORTH), totaling to a whopping 747,000 words in the last two years. I also outlined a bunch of other projects that might or might not ever see the light of day - only time will tell.

What The Hell Comes Next

Right now, my plans are somewhat fluid. Here's what I can tell you: I intend to post the chapters I've written so far. I think there's 10 or 11 of them, though I may need to count again. There's another chapter that's like two scenes from being done. And then, there are the last four + the epilogue, which all still need to be written. That's what I'd like to get done in May.

After Vulpine's done...I'm not sure. SQSL, SQSL2, and Corona all still need some work. SQSL is mostly okay, but SQSL2 needs some love, and Corona will probably undergo heavy, heavy revisions at some point. Even when that's all done, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable posting them anywhere. We'll see. I'd also like to finish NORTH at some point, but who knows when/if that'll happen (or if it'll be posted when I do).

I also have a bunch of other stories mapped out (I have so many Excel sheets w/ timelines, you have no idea), but again, I don't know when I'll get around to those. A lot's up in the air right now.

But I can tell you one thing - if humanly possible, Vulpine will be finished within the next few months. I'll probably continue updating once a week (Sunday or Monday), but if I finish Vulpine with time to spare, I might start updating twice a week, or something. We'll see.

(Of course, if no one's still paying any attention to it, it doesn't really matter - but it's kinda a question of personal pride, at this point.)

So, yeah. Hopefully you all understand where I've been, now, and what's going to happen going forward. My hands are kinda tired at this point (and I have finals to study for, unfortunately), so that's that. See you all on the flip side! :)

24: Bonds

Crappy chapter title, but who has time to think of a good one?

Anyway, hello! It's been a very very long time, I know (believe me, I do). Unfortunately, my explanation is rather poor (let's just say while the first half of my 18-hour semester wasn't so bad, the second half kicked my ass rather thoroughly) so all I can do is beg your forgiveness(es?).

I'd like to say things will be back to normal, but sadly that's not the case. I haven't had any time at all to work on Vulpine up until very recently. But it's summer vacation now, and things look smooth (for the moment). I still need to work on my outlining of future chapters, and then once that's done, the ol' buffer has to be reconstructed so this sort of thing doesn't happen for the remainder of Vulpine's run (however long that is, haha). I wish I could give you all some sort of timestable for this, but I really have no clue, sadly. It almost certainly won't be next Sunday, I can tell you that. There's still quite a bit for me to do, and although I'll work like a maniac this week (really!) it'll take some time.

Anyway, I figured I would (finally) post the Trick chapter, now that it's all done and stuff, since it was supposed to appear promptly after Riven's and that just never happened (damn you, 18-hr semester!). Mostly I just wanted to prove that I was indeed alive and still working on Vulpine. So, yeah. Guess I did that.

(Trick really needs to learn not to be nice to people, because everyone she's nice to has something horrible happen to them, haha. She's harder on herself than she prolly should be, but then she was planning everyone's dead, so it's justified, I think. :P)

There's only one review to respond to, so lemme do that and then I'll get out of here and get back to work. ;)

@Lynxeye: Yep, no superpowers here. The Tempers are something I've tried working in throughout the story in little pieces (we see them in the beginning as Sprite's musing over them, and then the Temper of each character is always scattered throughout their chapters in a variety of ways) but this is the first time it's really been explained, which pleased me greatly! One thing about the foxes that makes my life easier is that their mythology isn't overly-complicated or clear. In fact, it's pretty cloudy about most things! They believe the stars are spirits, but don't really know what that entails, they believe the sun & moon were foxes that have their own little story (that is rather long and stuff) but they aren't overly reverent about them, they believe in the Tempers (which are the most complicated thing of the whole bunch) but that doesn't enter their lives on a regular basis, and while they have some idea of what the Sky is like (a reverse of our world, basically; everything blue is water and the clouds are little pieces of land just floating around in the great cosmic soup; everything on the earth came from the Sky in one way or another) it's not too detailed or well-understood - because foxes, although clever, aren't too good on the whole metaphysical nature of the universe, haha. I'm rambling a bit, but I'm glad that while the introduction of the Tempers & some other religious things has given us a bit of insight into their culture, it's not too overwhelming or ridiculous. They're very removed from spirituality in most aspects of their life, and I think that shines through pretty well, most of the time.

And that's that. Again, super-duper sorry for the wait. I hope there's at least a few people still sticking around, but I understand why many of you might have flown the coop after three months (three whole months!). Hopefully the next wait won't be so long.

23: Tempers

There was an earlier chapter entitled "Tempers" (the one where our four MCs got together & also Riven and Sprite fought a bit) but I renamed it to "Viewpoints" because 23 is all about the Tempers too, haha. When Vulpine's finished, I prolly should go back and edit some of the titles, 'cause they suck. Usually I don't title a chapter until it's done, since then I generally have some sort of main idea to pull from, but half the time the chapter is just too unfocused/busy to latch onto any one binding thread in particular. Definitely something to work on if Vulpine goes through revisions.

Anyway, another week has come and gone! Trick's chapter is all that remains to us now (although of course saying that I was planning on pausing everything soon has kicked my brain into Vulpine-gear again, so the plot-chartering bit is coming along well, haha) until the pause is over. Sadly, that means it'll be a long time until we figure out just what Sage intends to chat about with Sprite in private (hint, it's about his sneaky goings-on after she ran off, haha. Also backstory juiciness). Hopefully the wait won't be too awful!

I don't think there's too much I need to go over for this chapter - but I do kinda want to ramble about the characters some more, so I think I will. Skip over this bit if it bores you!

Basically one of the things I'm enjoying about Vulpine thus far is that the mix of POVs means that we get a lot of foxes who are on different levels of the morality scale. It also means we get to play around with their developmental arcs quite a bit. One of the things that bugs me with fiction is how quickly characters tend to change their core beliefs. Like, oh, the minion is shown kindness (like a MC gives him a cupcake or something dumb) and he's suddenly good! The Big Bad's sexy villainess feels a moment of passion for the hero, and decides to change alignments! Bob is a bit of a racist, but one encounter with the race/being that he hates totally converts him! Julian doesn't understand The Power Of Love until he sees some sexy young thing walking around, and then he's suddenly all over it (once the Big Misunderstandings and Awkward Sexual Tension have played out, of course). That's probably why my stories tend to run long - characters need time to develop. They need more than one scene to make them change their entire belief system/core feelings/etc. One scene should not be enough to shake up their foundations so badly that they'e someone completely new in a few chapters. It takes multiple scenes to create real change, multiple stagings and impacts to nudge a character down a differing path - and even then, they're going to stumble. They're going to falter. They're going to make a big of progress, then suffer some sort of setback and fall back to where they were. They're going to mess up. So many authors seem to skip that idea, and it really bothers me. Yes, Riven started out as a twat - and today, I would still consider him to be one. He's pigheaded, he's stuck in his ways, he's reluctant to alter his viewpoints to suit others, especially those he does not respect - and he does not really respect anyone. Yes, he cares about Sprite - but he also thinks she's a bit of an idiot (and he's not exactly wrong). Yes, he does have his moments of doubt, but those aren't going to suddenly propel him into Down-With-The-Skulk declarations. Yes, he does have some nagging feeling that he might not be quite good enough to come home, and that he doesn't really want to die, but he's not going to suddenly spring onto Faun and Trick's side. It just doesn't happen that way for real people, and it shouldn't happen for characters, either. You don't just wake up and become a different person - not with some great catalyst, and usually with more than one...and even then, it might not be permanent. You might continue to doubt your decisions, or cling to your old beliefs and just re-purpose them so they fit your new feelings. That's natural, and characterization should feel natural, above all else. Riven will not become a cuddly teddybear just because he has a lil gal to pal around with.

Faun and Trick are good examples of this, too. Faun was introduced as a feeble mouse unable to speak up for/defend himself. It was the slow grind of being beaten-down and punished that shaped him into someone resentful and standoffish - but that's not where his characterization has ended. He still thinks he's a good little dude. He still wants to make an impact, like anyone else. He's tried being selfless, like when he signed on to help Trick; the main idea of their little rebellion is that they might die, but in doing so they will help spark change for others. That's a pretty good idea - but of course, his current plan is just to kill everyone he doesn't like, and scrape by. He doesn't see anything wrong with something like that; in his mind, it's perfectly justified, as a result of all his experiences, not just one or two. Whether that will remain constant, we will have to see; after all, Trick's completely rejected his idea, and Sprite would if she ever heard about it. We don't know what Grint will think (will he be on board and help, or turn Faun away?), or the other foxes Faun might need to recruit to make his plan a reality. We don't know whether their feelings will turn his mind one way or the other - but they will turn somehow, because no matter how Faun's plan turns out, it will impact his reality and his relationship to every other character (alive or dead). He'll continue growing and changing. (On a side note, what I like about him is that his arc is not the typical tiny-bullied-character-finds-inner-strength-and-saves-everyone thing. Like Lynxeye mentioned in her review, his viewpoint is pretty twisted. He hasn't really become a better fox through struggle and suffering; he's become worse. If we had a morality scale of the group, he would be pushed decently far to the 'Bad' side, because not only does his plan hinge on murdering at least five foxes that have gotten in his way, but it also poses an extreme danger to even the ones he likes. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting such a dramatic shift from him when things started out, but I've liked where they've gone.)

Heck, let's throw a Trick paragraph in there too. She started out as the most mysterious of the group, I think; her feelings aren't all that clear even to herself. She would like to be a cold manipulator, but she has moments of compassion. Out of all of them, her arc seems the most zig-zaggy. She helps Faun only to twist a favor out of him, then turns him in to Riven as soon as it benefits her - but follows up that heartless act by coming back to save Faun at the last moment. She bonds with Holly and Mote (and later Iole), but plans on tearing down the Skulk, which would leave the three of them adrift in a sea of uncertainty, without any obvious purpose/safety. She manipulates and twists everyone for her own purposes (she's lied to all the other POV characters more than once), which aren't even good purposes; she just wants to end the Skulk once and for all. Part of this arises out of feelings for her own family, as the Skulk destroyed it, but part of it is selfishness and bitterness, which she acknowledges. She thinks of Tamber as a heartless manipulator, when she herself practices many of the same strategies. She's threatened Sprite (the only character who is mostly innocent), and it is uncertain whether she would go through with her threat or not (if she and Faun were certain to die at Musk's paws, would she get her final revenge on Riven by turning Sprite in, with the knowledge that Musk would hunt both solitaires down? Or is her deal with Riven merely a bluff?). All in all, she is really not a heroic character (her main mission is to kill even more foxes than Faun, and her worry about who is caught in the crossfire is considerably less) but she does have those she fears for and wants to protect, which is in itself heroic. She weaves back and forth between these two feelings, and is willfully ignoring the fact that they clash; if she and Faun do manage to shake things up in the Skulk, good foxes will die, and at least one of the foxes she is close to will probably be among them, just because of the chaos that will ensue. It's yet to be seen which of the two factors will manage to outweigh the others, in the end - and one event is not large enough to tip the scales one way or the other. It's the culmination of events/scenes that will determine Trick's ultimate fate.

Sadly, Sprite doesn't get her own babble, because she is a lot simpler than the other three. She has a much smaller character arc than the other three, which stems more from trying to find her place in the world, both with reconciling her own personal beliefs with an unfamiliar society's, and figuring out the lengths by which she can trust others, and herself. Provided Sprite survives everything that is going to happen, and barring any wham epiphanies or whatever (ick, no), she will probably change the least - hopefully becoming wiser and more open-minded, but not much else. Her role is more to encourage change in others, rather than herself (although she is by no means perfect, the silly thing) through showing them a viewpoint they have not before seen (and lecturing them, although hopefully I've done a decent enough job of pointing out the flaws and gaps in her logic...and her lectures haven't been so effective with Riven anyway, haha), and being exposed to new ones in return. She has basic questions about the world that she wants answered, and the answers she finds will change her (if they are found at all) but if such a change were to occur, it would not be as large a one as Riven/Faun/Trick have already undergone or are working towards.

This was really long (but I did warn you I would ramble!), so sorry! I just like over-analysising things. Especially silly things about foxes planning to murder each other all the time. Vulpine has been a pretty fun exercise in subverting typical character arcs/messing with a variety of viewpoints/morality spheres (I don't think that's a thing but it should be), and I've enjoyed it.

Anyway, reviews!

@Lynxeye: I've already gone on a bit about your review's main point, but I think it's a good one! Faun is a far cry from the ideal poor-bullied-hero, and his transformation has been an interesting one, at least for me. He's in anti-hero territory right now, I think, and if he goes through with his plan, it could push him into outright anti-villain mode (as it would not be as squeaky-clean as he would like to believe, not to mention that setting up your enemies to be eaten by dogs or whatever is pretty horrible). I think his desire to protect the other runts stems not only from his identification with them (as they've been victimized as much as he has...although, he really wishes some of them would grow a backbone), but also as a sort of pacifier to his conscience; after all, he's not really a bad person if he makes sure that only the bad guys get killed. Getting innocents caught up in everything would be a strict no-no, but douches like Riven and Reyes? Totally inbounds. And thanks for the good-luck-wishes!

@Doge person: Thanks!

@Bookworm: Great to see you again! That's what happens when you miss a few chapters, haha. Crazy shenanigans. I don't really like the size that Vulpine is getting to - but at least stuff is always evolving, right? There's not really too much filler floating around, as all the relationships have a purpose and the characters are changing as they go. It's just a bit of a sprawling plot. Trimming things like this down is something I really need to get better at, but I'll count it as a bit of a triumph if Vulpine ends at least 70k shorter than Shattered. :P

I think that's all for now! Sorry about my wandering, again...things like that happen when I stay up late, since I'm not used to it anymore (darn it, college!). Cheers, and I'll see you all again next Sunday. :)

22: Trail

Hey, homies! Again, sorry for the delay with the last chapter. Busy busy week, and things aren't going to get much better...which leads to my main point:

Vulpine's going to be paused for awhile. How long, I'm not sure, but it might stretch into a month, perhaps a bit more. We'll just have to see. The reasons for this are many:

1.  I basically have no chapter-buffer. NaNo ate up four chapters, and since then I haven't managed to stay very far ahead, culminating in this current week, wherein I haven't even completely done the chapter that will be posted this coming Sunday (Riven's). The reason for my current slowness is that I'm taking 18 hours this semester, and while that was easy enough for the first few weeks of school, a lot of different projects are coming to a head right now. That, plus my volunteering activities, plus my roommmate's habit of going to bed ridiculously early, means I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to writing. Ideally, I'd like to work up to at least being 3 chapters ahead when I start posting updates again.
2. NORTH has been calling to me somethin' fierce. NORTH was my NaNo project, and it went brilliantly - 117k when all was said and done - but that was only half of the first draft. As soon as November was over I stopped working on it, but lately I've been having all sorts of ideas and working out all the plot lumps that had me hung up before. I really want to complete the first draft, and have for awhile now, but I simply wasn't far enough ahead on Vulpine to allow it to be viable. Originally I had wanted to build up another 4-chapter buffer so I could take some time off, but it's proven to be unfeasible at this point in time. If things go well, finishing the draft should take about a month's time. During this time, I'll also be working on the point below.
3. Vulpine needs a bit more plotting. While I have the overall arc down pretty solidly, separating everything that needs to be done into the right POVs (or figuring out how to work around these limits, like characters witnessing things that don't directly involve them) is still a bit of a problem. I need to do some long-term separating to ensure things don't start sprawling too big, and move us into the last phase of training and all that good stuff. This isn't hard, necessarily, it's just difficult to do while I'm trying to push a chapter a week at the same time.
4. This is by no means the biggest point, but it's still worth mentioning: Vulpine is not getting a lot of reviews. Normally I'd be pretty unbothered by this, since it's not pitching itself to a big fandom like any of my fics, but in this case it's a bit annoying because the readership/review ratio is pretty skewed. Vulpine's as much of an experiment as anything, and every bit of feedback helps, but it's been a bit lacking. What this means is that it's a bit weird to write, since although I do get some people's views on the characters, I'm in the dark about most other responses. Like, the reviews I receive regarding Faun are pretty divided, but I have no way of knowing whether that's true for everyone at large, or just the 3-4 people that consistently review. That sort of thing. NORTH isn't in the same basket because I won't be posting it anywhere until it's been completed & revised & probably revised again, if I post it at all, so reviews won't really impact my process too much. Again, this isn't a huge factor in my decision, but it would be lying to omit it entirely, I think.

So yeah, that's that. One thing I'd like to stress is that Vulpine is not being abandoned. I just want to work on another project, while also giving myself a clearer course in the future/avoiding the stress of completing all my schoolwork and having to produce 5-6 thousand words in a week.

I'm not sure how long this will take; it would be nice if I could get everything done in a month, but that depends on NORTH going well + me having time to plot things out + me writing 4 Vulpine chapters in addition to everything else. It might be a bit longer than that; at this point, I have no real way of knowing. For now, the plan is to post Riven's chapter, then Trick's, so we can kinda start fresh with Sprite again once things get underway.

If you dig Vulpine and don't want to forget about it, I'd recommend adding it to your alerts or something, if you can. Otherwise, just keep your eyes here. This blog will probably be pretty static unless I post some updates (like "yo just finished the draft" or "wrote Sprite's chap" or that kinda thing) or other stuff (maybe NORTH's prologue, since I don't think I'm going to be changing that even when I revise) but when I get close to being finished, you guys will definitely know.

I might change the day updates are posted, since Sunday has proven really hard for me to remember, for some reason. Maybe Saturdays, since those are my lazy days - or Monday, since I know I'll be awake at a decent time. I'm not sure yet, I'll have to decide. Uh, anyway, this is getting pretty long, so I'll do the 2 review responses and then get out of here, haha.

@Lynxeye: Sage having a secret league of assassins would pretty much make him the coolest old geezer ever. Sadly, he's just been doing who-knows-what in the tunnels (he's not going to tell anyone but Sprite what he's been up to, so it'll probably be a long time until we know exactly what it is - but then again, it's not hugely exciting). I think the problem with prey fairies is that you have to clap to show you believe, and foxes don't have hands. Tough luck, Sprite, tough luck.

@Swyfte: Hopefully it doesn't get that long, but that's why I'm planning to take off for a bit! We have to finish this cycle, and then the next one will probably be in this "middle" phase as well, but hopefully the one after it will help move us into the late phase of things. As I'm sure you all know, I have a weakness when it comes to writing way too much for way too little. I think the POVs are part of the problem, since although the timeline is fluid, I can't pick and choose who to switch to - and to be honest, they are not all weighed equally, especially since some of them are more or less active at certain times than others. Lesson learned, I suppose! The nice thing about NORTH is that other than the Prologue, it's all in one character's head - and she's very much involved in pretty much everything that happens, 'cause she's a bit of a dick. :)

Anyway, I think that's all for now. See you next Sunday!

21: Problems

Kinda a bland title this week, I don't really like it - but it goes along with the econ idea of "THE" economic problem: unlimited wants, and scarce resources. It would be nice to live in Sprite's imaginary world where everyone has enough to eat and room to breathe, but unfortunately, that doesn't exist.

It was nice to update on time for once, too, even if it took me forever to wake up and do it this morning. xD

@Pain: The puppy comparison is pretty apt. I don't think Trick really has any intention on following through with her threat if she and Faun fail and Riven is not the cause. Shouting Sprite's name would be pointless, in that case. But if Riven did dare cross them...well, Trick has the best insurance possible. It was refreshing to write him as something other than a lowbrow thug, too. :)

@Lynxeye: Yep! I think another running theme in Vulpine is hypocrisy; we'll see some of it in Faun's chapter, from Sprite, but it's a lighter sort (she'll be angry about Sage risking himself to do a few things, when all she ever does is run off into one danger or another, haha). Trick claims to be above the influence of selfishness and the like, but she's just as manipulative as Tamber. Riven says all weak foxes are doomed to die, while ignoring his own failings. Faun's determined to overthrow the Skulk and shape it into something better, by killing off everyone he doesn't like. And they're all pretty much blind to these faults in particular, even if they're capable of acknowledging others. Quite the cast we've got here, eh?

Anyway, that's all for now. Seeya next Sunday!

20: Lies

Hey, chums! Just posted 20: Lies, for those of you who keep an eye on the blog and such. Sorry for the delay, Sunday was really busy (I have so much work this semester ;;). I don't really like the chapter title, but it does sum up Vulpine as a whole pretty well, haha. The Reynard lies to the Skulk and the Skulk lies to the kits and the kits all lie to each other. Lovely.

@Lynxeye: Hah, yes. The four of them don't really get along. Sprite/Trick don't seem like good friends, Trick/Faun's partnership is shaky at best, and Sprite is only tolerating Riven (at least initially) because he seems sad and hurt and pitiful. Not the best basis for lasting relationships, but we'll see if they manage to get any better with time. At least Riven's being almost unselfish for once, though. That's progress, even though he's still a big stinky pighead. :)

@Pain: Well, her first deal helped keep Faun and Koulder out of trouble, at least for a little while! Really, everyone in the story is wheeling-and-dealing (even Trick, who earlier told Riven she wouldn't out of disdain) which means that their plans all kinda pile up on each other in a crazy mess. Faun and Sprite both think they're going to reform the Skulk (with violence and pacifism, respectively), while Trick wants to tear it down and is holding Riven's life over Sprite's head (and vice versa). It's the sort of thing that can't sustain itself for too long, and it'll be interesting to see where it all ends up! I'm excite. :3

@Rivens1Fan: Woo, a new person (I think?)! I can't promise anything as far as Riven goes, since he's a bit of a stinker (to put it mildly). Hope springs eternal, though!

I think that's all for the moment, since I have to dash off to class. See you next Sunday!

19: Tempers

Note to self: For next project, make update-day during the week, so you're a) awake at a reasonable time b) not lazied out of your mind.

Anyway, there's our new chapter (I always think it's kinda funny to see how the hits for the chapters spike when I update a bit late, which is pretty much always; usually they hop quite a bit. You guys must be camping out, haha). It was nice to bring the Tempers up again. I like the idea of them, but unfortunately they can't be thrust into things too prominently without getting in the way. That's one of the things I'm struggling with in NORTH, actually. I have a ton of world-building things I'd like to express, but some of them aren't relevant to the plot, or can't take up as much time as I would like, even though I could babble on about them forever. Pan and Lorelei fall into this category too, I think, at least in this story. Obvs if I ever decide to write theirs (it's sad when you're writing fanfiction for your own story, but then again that's pretty much what the super editions are for the Erins, eh?) for fun, then I can go on as much as I would like, eheh.

I feel like I had a lot more to rattle on about in the Shattered/Chilled days?? I can't think of too much to say at the moment, though. Aside from the world-building things, Vulpine doesn't have much room for rambling. It has been a good learning experience, though. While Shattered showed how utterly delightful a ton of POVs can be, and Chilled showed me that fixed timelines with multiple POVs is absolutely horrible never again nooo, Vulpine has thus far signified that if you insist on multiple POVs, if you have them stuck on a set schedule of appearance, you'll waste a lot of time writing one in order to help nudge another one along. Kinda unfortunate, really. I'd have to say out of the tree, Shattered proved the most workable, in that even though we had a set schedule (Silverstar/other/Silverstar/other), there was still plenty of flexibility, since 'other' could really be anybody, and all those chapters helped to tie in other plotlines or viewpoints that were both fun to write and helpful to the overall arc, I think. Shattered probably had too many to be easily followable (I think it was like 16?) but if I had structured the story as Sprite/other/Sprite/other, I think that would have been just as feasible. I did consider that for a time, but because of one of the major themes/motifs (those Tempers, again!), I couldn't favor any one POV over the others.

So, there's my rambling for the post, I guess. Someday I'll get that balance just right. ;)

@Swyfte: It wasn't really a huge cliffhanger, since Riven was our POV and we already knew he was bleeding, haha. Unless you were just in suspense over how he'd handle meeting the two lil runts who got in his way early on, in which case I hope I didn't disappoint! Hunt-the-runts is fun to say, but I'm sure it secretly hurts poor little Feo and the others deep down. Or right on the surface. It's not very nice. :(

@Pain: Vulpine is a pretty morbid story, really! That's expected from the premise, I guess, but I'm still a bit surprised sometimes by how dark the characters occasionally get - especially Faun who, as you pointed out, basically has nothing to live for (in his mind, at least) and is embarking on what by all appearances is a mission that will probably get him killed. I think he's a nice contrast to Sprite, who is upbeat and perky despite everything horrible that's happened to her - but even she has plenty of self-doubt and uncertainty, especially when it comes to the world at large, the poor thing. At least no one's really died yet, right (backstories and maulings notwithstanding)?

@Lynxeye: Aww, thanks (even though I would argue I'm not a fanfiction author at this point, or at least not only one, xD). As I've said many (many many) times (thanks to my love of rambling), characters are absolutely the most important thing to me when it comes to writing, and playing with both the audiences' expectations of what a 'good' or a character 'worthy' of a POV is (Faun and Riven, respectively) as well as my own inclinations for certain tropes/arcs is a ton of fun. One of my favorite things so far is that all four POV characters come from very different places/viewpoints (solitaire, son of the Reynard, golden boy of the Skulk, orphaned outsider) and have different goals (although as we've seen, some of them are beginning to converge) with both creates conflict and also, almost paradoxically, creates the opportunity for new connections and relationships. It is hella, hella fun, although finding a way to keep it as neat as possible is pretty challenging, especially when trying to figure out just how the POVs will butt heads on issues, and how they'll fall into line with each other on others (not to mention where all their endgames are). So far so good, though! No regrets.

That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday (should I just start saying 'Sunday night' or 'Monday?')!

18: Ground

Just realized I hadn't already done this, haha. Sorry! I uploaded the chapter kinda late last night and then went to bed early since classes have started up for me again. Boo. I'm taking a lot of hours, so hopefully it won't be too stressful (and I'll have time for the important things ;)).

Anyway, as promised, a 'cool' character reunion, and other fun things. And a semi-cliffhanger, I guess, but considering who our next POV is (and the condition we last saw him in) it shouldn't be too suspenseful. :P

@Swyfte: To be honest, I'm not sure if we will ever hear the whole story, at least not from Sage! It's quite long, and since his style of story-telling often skips over a great deal of dialogue, we would be missing a lot!

If I may ramble about the Pan/Lorelei thing for a moment, their story actually came from a (complicated and confusing) dream I had months and months ago. Most of the details (two foxes, where they came from, magic flowers, sun/moon etc.) came straight from the dream itself, and worked out nicely, but obviously it was the sort of tale that would not work as a decent plot on its own - at least not with a bit of context. The dream helped me get thinking about my old foxy characters (Sage & Sprite again) and after a few good shower-thinking sessions, Vulpine was born! I do think it would be fun to make it a story in itself someday, but it's such an out-there kinda thing (since it's in the spirit of a folktale, but would be a full-on story instead of just a side note) I'm pretty sure no one would actually want to read it, haha. Ah well. It is a fun thing to slip into the main storyline now and then, and I might end up just writing it in my free time and hoarding it for myself. :P

Anyway, back on track: Are you sure I have nice days? Holly's brush with death was planned from the beginning, after all, and so are a number of others. Really, I think every day would be a mean one, since each one brings us closer and closer to the endgame bloodbath (and all the misfortunes along the way). But if you want to pretend I'm good and fuzzy on the inside, that's okay too. :D

@Lynxeye: You know me too well, haha. Certain circumstances might force my hand earlier than I would like, or not - it just depends on how a few things in the story pivot. We'll figure everything out eventually, though - and this story definitely won't take two years to get to the end. xD

@Pain: Sprite's mostly upset because not only was Trap her father (despite the rather horrible things he did, she and her brothers always assumed he had some reason for them, and there is that blood bond that's difficult to shake; accepting that Trap was just nuts/abusive would imply that those traits might be lurking in Sprite herself, and she's probably no ready to admit that yet), but also because Sage never told her what he had done. Everything Sage does is to protect her - but Sprite does not exactly welcome this, as she has that age-old I-can-take-care-of-myself streak running through her, along with the I-should-handle-my-own-problems-so-others-don't-have-to thing. She sees Sage keeping the truth from her for so long as a breach of trust; it's actually one of many, as she now knows he has been keeping a lot more from her, if he somehow knows Musk and other things he shouldn't. It probably doesn't help that they come from entirely different points of view; Sage is old and crotchety and cynical and remembers the dangers of his youth all too well, whereas Sprite is endlessly curious and starry-eyed and thinks everything can be better if you just belieeeve. They don't share much common ground, and while that was fine and dandy when she was younger, now that Sprite is nearly an adult, they need to figure out a new arrangement before they end up biting each other's heads off.

Bit of a ramble there too, but ah well. Thanks for tagging along, guys, and I'll see you next Sunday! :)

17: Turn

Vulpine Bios

Title of the last post should have been 16, not 17. My bad, haha. At least this update was timely!

It was nice to bring our "warm" POVs together again. Next chapter will see a reunion of the "cool" ones, to keep everything in balance, as it should be. It's been awhile since all 4 POVs had something to do with each other (the whole ambush thing - although Trick and Sprite still have not met!), so this should be fun. Befitting a "turn," really.

One thing I do like is how the characters - mostly the warm ones, but occasionally the cool ones too - always hope for stuff. They outline these perfect, idealistic scenarios in their mind - Sprite finding Koulder again and taking him home to Sage, for example, or (on the flip side) Riven killing Koulder in front of everyone to prove his strength and revel in the glory of it all - and honestly believe they have a chance of coming true. They never do, of course - what a boring story that would be, if everyone just got exactly what they wanted (although it would almost work, the way this one's set up, since Sprite and Riven's perfect worlds would definitely butt heads :P) - but something about crushing those dreams and watching them make new ones to cope with it is just really satisfying.

But maybe I'm just a monster, haha.

@Swyfte: "Turned" mean? I'm surprised you think I was ever nice! Besides, the story's entire premise is "lots of cute cuddly things are set up to kill each other." Can't have a story like that without a blackened heart, now can we? :)

@Pain: Is FaunxTrick a ship now? I would say CoolTempershipping, but of course we don't even know what the Tempers really are yet, do we? They were briefly mentioned in Sprite's first chapter (months ago! That's hard to believe, isn't it?) but haven't been brought up since, I don't think. But I'm getting side-tracked. Considering Faun & Trick's only interactions thus far have been her extracting a favor out of him and then turning around to try and use that favor to kill him, they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to not-dislike each other. xD

That's all for now, I s'pose. See you next Sunday!

16: Ice

Late update again, by a little bit. I am really unproductive while on vacation. v_v

Fun chapter to post, though, and it ends another POV section (our fourth, sheesh!). During these past four chapters, things have gone downhill for just about everyone; Sprite's being plagued by nightmares that won't go away, Faun has become isolated and embittered, Riven's been beaten down (although who really feels bad for him at this point), and Trick's been forced to watch her best friend be maimed (and she's been blamed for turning Holly in). None of them are having a good time, not at all - and that is absolutely perfect, because it is precisely this sort of thing that promotes change. :)

@Pain: Hah, glad I was right about you being the guest (although it wasn't hard to narrow it down, since my reviewers are a pretty regular crowd xD). Reyes definitely has the same cockiness as Riven, but he's more practical; no need to get his paws dirty when he has Koulder to do it for him! Definitely not someone you want to cross. Same goes for Musk; I think he was a nice contrast to Toma in Riven's chapter. Toma sees the problems in Faun and wants to correct them, not for the sake of winning but for the sake of helping one of his trainees; Musk can see the issues in his own ranks pretty well, but he's too focused on the winners to really care about what happens to those who fall through the cracks, as Riven has. Also, Toma prolly wouldn't ever tell his trainees about him burying them. :P

@Bookworm: Riven's not exactly sympathetic, even in his sorry condition. He still has a pretty bad outlook on life; we'll have to see whether his musings about Faun near the end of the chapter actually amount to anything, in the end (or whether he realizes Faun is not exactly as put-together as he thinks, haha).

@Lynxeye: Fooling's what I do. :D I've prolly said it before, but I'll say it again: Riven's really fun to write for, simply because you do not get many honest-to-goodness douches when it comes to POVs. Usually they're the poor sweet beaten underdogs (Faun, at least initially), or the outsiders looking in (hello, Sprite), or characters with ulterior motives or plans that the narrative couldn't otherwise showcase (yo, Trick), but douchey "jock" types are very rarely on that list (we don't even really have a close approximation of that character type in Shattered, oddly enough). Very fun, although I do enjoy him getting his just desserts. More fun times ahead, too. c:

Again, happy New Year to you all. Hopefully 2014 will be grand. :D

See you next Sunday, maybe.

15: Spirit (Stallion of the Cimarron?)

Just posted the newest chapter, and also realized that I was dumb and answered some reviews early, leaving only Lynxeye's to be responded too. What a dolt, right? That's what happens when I procrastinate with the blog, I s'pose. xD

@Lynxeye: Great to see you, as always. I guess you're on winter break now, right? I'm off for like a whole month, it's amazing. Anyway, it's fantastic that you're all caught up! Koulder's rise is probably one of my favorite twists as well (although there are plenty to come, of course). He's a bit like Lion, in that he's likable (at first, at least) and pitiable and really deserves some nice cuddling, but circumstances have forced him into an awful position, and made him a bit of a sketchy character in the process. I'm excited to continue on with his character arc. Riven's chapters are honestly some of the most fun to write, if only because he's such a colossal twat. Really, I'm sympathetic to most of my characters, but I have been waiting for him to get smacked down since Day One (even in this little scrap thing I did before I ever started writing the actual story). It's been just as satisfying as I had hoped!

Good note on the length of the timeskips increasing. It's difficult to say exactly where we are in the story - I always have the beginning and endings firmly mapped out when I start something, but the middle is a bit in the air sometimes, although I obviously know the basic form every character's arc will take - so pinning down a definite length is difficult (honestly, that's something that really bothers me about my style; I can never map things out ahead of time without getting bored, so the middle's always a convoluted mess ripe for revision). I can say that the beginning, ending, and this point in the middle - wherein the stakes are raised for each character, as their behaviors have been shown to shift and they are starting to become who they will be in adulthood, provided they make it that far - is very important too. Every one of them has a decision to make, and the results of their decisions will not only lead to them crashing together, but also sen them tumbling on their way towards whatever their endgames are. Exciting stuff!

(That is probably not at all a good reply, sorry! It's the best I can do at 2am. xD).

Anyway, I think that's all - again, sorry for replying to some of the reviews early, haha. See you next Sunday! Hope you all have splendid Christmases as well. :)

12 & 13 & 14

Whoops! It's been awhile. Sorry for not doing blog updates for awhile; just haven't thought about it much, since there haven't been too many reviews or anything. Anyway, I posted 14: Resentment earlier, so here we go!

Since it's pretty much the same people reviewing each chapter, I'll just lump the responses together. :P

@Bookworm: Riven's a bit hard to feel sorry for, yeah. He's had this coming for awhile. And yes, Holly's a sweet pea. :)

@Pain: Yep! Koulder's moment of triumph, so to speak. The turning point in his character. Exciting stuff! Certainly can't blame him, after all he's been through - although Sprite's handling of the situation probably wasn't the best. As for Holly (and any other character in the story, haha) paranoia is probably wise. ;)

@Swyfte: Ouch, that's cold. What about Toma? He's a nice guy. Grint's pretty affable. We've hardly seen anything of Skadder, Cettel, or Iole. And what about poor lil Mote? As for pronunciation, my word isn't really law (I have a habit of pronouncing names weirdly) but I say Reyes like rays. Waire is kinda weird; it's like wares and wire mixed together. Kinda has a drawl to it, I guess. And yup, like I said, "feo" is "ugly" in Spanish. Not intentional, haha, but funny. And yes, Holly/Trick friendship! Lord knows Trick could use a positive influence in her eyes. Nice use of "craven," also. Fable is a pretty cool name, I agree. It seemed fitting for someone who would name their daughter "Sprite," though, doncha think? And it pairs nicely with someone else's name, so that's always good. c: Musk vs Sage would be muy excellente (I think that's Spanish, who knows?). If they're connected at all, we'll certainly find out. Yeah, I kinda felt that way (the Hunger Games relation, that is) awhile after I decided it, but they do need some way of signaling that someone's died, to make sure they don't kill too many out there. Just the right number of poor dead foxes. :P

@Guest (It sounds like Pain, but I dunno 4 sho so I'll stick this review separately): I think it's good to commend Faun for standing up to Riven - like Toma said, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But kicking him while he's down - so to speak - isn't cool. That's Toma's main problem with the Skulk, actually; they're so hellbent on proving themselves and their strength that they put violence over any semblance of honor/loyalty, which means that the trainees are constantly against one another to the point where they'll hoping the others will die so they will be spared. It's rather problematic, since they're supposed to just play nice and pretend like they're all buddy-buddy once their on their way home. Not really a good system for creating a close-knit community - but what can he do about it, really?

That's all for now! Seeya next Sunday (or Monday, if I mess up again :P)!

Vulpine 11

Just posted 11: Fire! Sorry about missing last Sunday, things have been kinda crazy recently. Thanksgiving Break is next week, and then it's dead week and finals week, so I'll have my hands full then too. Ah well.

NaNo's almost over, so then I'll be able to focus more on Vulpine again - namely writing some new chapters! Plenty of fun stuff coming up.

Not much to say about this chapter, other than I remember it was very satisfying to write. ;)

@Swyfte: Haha, I like the mixed reactions for Faun - some don't like him because he's pretty passive, others feel bad for him. Fun stuff. Faun and Riven would be good influences for each other, I think, if they got over the whole Riven-tried-to-kill-him-once thing. I think originally I pronounced it like Theo with an F, but I've fallen into the habit of thinking it like Fay-o, which I'm pretty sure is "ugly" in Spanish, pff.

@Bookworm: Yeah, Faun's in a pretty tough spot! Riven has a few problems going for him too, but his doucheness kinda robs him of all (or at least most) sympathy. We'll see whether or not that changes with this most recent chapter, though - and Faun's next chapter should be interesting as well. ;)

@Pain: It sounds so awful when you put it in a laundry list like that, ha. Faun doesn't have a lot going for him atm, true. I'd like to say his station should improve later, but that seems unlikely. The most likely scenario is that everyone else just falls down with him, rather than him getting ahead...but we'll have to see!

That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday!

9 & 10

Sorry, guys! I always get a bit scatter-brained in November. This post will just be to announce that I just now uploaded 10: Exploration, and posted 9: Questions last Sunday. Sorry again for the delay! As usual, NaNo's consuming my soul a bit. xD

@Swyfte: I'd definitely give NaNo a go next year, if you've got the time! It's immensely fun, and even if you don't win, you still at least know you tried it. I say Iole as Ee-oh-lee. And yes, Holly's a pretty nice gal. We'll see a bit more of her soon. The imagined enemies were just whoever Trick was pretending to face off against when she was fighting her little birch tree to train herself. Members of the Skulk were certainly some of them. And yes, Riven's a turd, even if he does display a few gleams of gold now and then. It's fun, having a really unlikeable POV for once. :D

@Bookworm: I don't think Riven's ever been more surprised in his life than when Sprite pushed him out of that tree - but he deserved it!

@Lynxeye: No worries, m'dear! College/Uni can be a lot of work, I understand. Hope you're doing okay! As for Riven...me, make you like him? Perish the thought! We all know he's a down-and-dirty runt-eater through and through. ;)

The fun thing about him is not only does he have two different vixens he has his eye on, he's physically attracted to both of them first! One problem I've noticed with a lot of my pairings (at least POV-centered ones) is that they start off as friends, and then gradually come to realize that there's sexual tension between them, and then they either get together or die (or both, haha). Very rarely do I have pairings that start off on the basis of honest-to-goodness that chick looks really hot, I should bang her feelings. But Riven's the perfect vehicle for that sort of thing. Getting Sprite to like him back is another matter, and indeed he has other ladies (coughTambercough) who want his attention much more than she does - not to mention that 9: Questions doesn't bode too well for that at all, haha. Thanks for the review, love, and good luck with your classes!

That's all, I s'pose. See ya next Sunday, if I can remember. :P

Vulp 8

Hey! Forgot to update the blog when I posted the chapter (and the chapter was a few hours late because every time I thought about it, I'd get distracted by something else). I don't think there's too much to say, though, aside from the NaNo thing (I will be participating, as always, but this year the story won't be posted although I would love to gush about it; Vulpine updates will continue as normal) and the fact that there's a poll up now (just for fun; I find polls a bit entertaining xD). December might be a bit unpleasant because there's a chance I might fall behind (I'm 5 chapters ahead right now if I write one this week, and there are 4 Sundays in November, so I'll only have 1 chapter to hide behind), but I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen.

Not much else to say, I guess!

@Veronica Fay: Thank you! The Sprite/Riven bits have been some of the most interesting stuff to write about so far, mostly because their viewpoints are so different, and things tend to get heated between them rather quickly. Fun times.

@Swyfte: No worries! Better late than never. Sprite does kinda invoke that "I like you but damn girl you stupid" response, from what I can tell; she's a real sweetheart, but just doesn't have good decision-making abilities, and absolutely sucks at holding grudges. Her poor decision-making skills probably hearken back to her first few months, where she wasn't really allowed to do anything on her own, and having Sage around to give her directions hasn't given her much room for growth, either. Whether these things improve (or whether she dies horribly as a result of her complete lack of self preservation) remains to be seen! The full quote is "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray," I believe. Basically it means that even if your plan seems solid, there's always the possibility of something messing it up or getting in the way. It seemed relevant. ;)

(Thanks for noting the typo, by the way. I fixed it.)

@Guest: Hah, yeah. Riven shows occasional glimpses of being half-decent, but then it just gets covered up in his overwhelming douchebaggery again. There are very few of my own characters that I really enjoy smacking around via the plot, but he is definitely one of them.

Thanks for the reviews, as always (we beat Abrazame,woot!). See you next Sunday!

Vulp 7

Sorry for the late update! I wish I could say I had a legitimate excuse, but to be honest it just slipped my mind (I got Pokemon Y on Friday, and it's kinda consumed me! On a side note, I'm open to adding people so if you have Y/X, my friend code is 4098-3599-9474. Post yours in a review or something and I'll add ya back). The new chapter (7: Plans) is posted now, though, so feel free to check it out! I'll try to be better prepared next week.

@Bookworm: Hah, both Trick and Sprite did survive the day...but will they survive the next? (dundundun)

@Lynxeye: Yep, Toma was a lucky ducky last year - and so are the runts, since otherwise they'd be completely screwed! Foxes don't really live all that long in the wild; the average is something like 3 years, but I'd have to look that up again to be certain. In captivity, they've been known to live 10-12 years, but of course that's in a situation where they have no enemies, endless food, and free healthcare, haha. By the wild foxes' standards, 5-6 years is practically elderly! I think it's actually the same thing with feral cats; they don't live much longer than 3-4 years either, because their lives are filled with much more wear and tear. Poor things.

Thanks for the reviews, as always. See you next Sunday (hopefully before 8pm xD)!

Vulp 6

Figured I'd post 6: Ambush, since it's 1 am for me right now (technically Sunday!). Unfortunately the is-Riven-going-to-maul-Sprite-alive thread is still hanging, haha. Hopefully he'll be polite enough to at least give her a head start. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy seeing a lil Toma pep-talk, a bit of background on the year before, and of course the events leading up to our (rather disastrous) ambush. Fun stuff!

@Guest: Thank you, glad you like it! Yep, Sprite is really bad at taking care of herself, mostly because she pretty obviously failed to save her brother in the past (and possibly the rest of her family, too, since they're all dead - who knows what went wrong there??). In a perfect world, Sage would charge in at the exact right moment...but then again, in a perfect world, fox kits aren't murdering each other. ;)

@Swyfte: Wow, cold. As lovely as it would be for Riven to get his ass kicked (by peppy girl Sprite, no less), I wouldn't count on it (at least not for now). She's definitely not happy with him, though; Sprite has no patience at all when it comes to bullies. Tbh, "The Fox" kinda gets on my nerves, but it has caused an increase in people watching fox videos to hear their calls, which is pretty amusing in itself. There won't be any ringadinging in this story, though, I can promise you that. xD

@Bookworm: If Riven hurts Sprite and Sage finds out about it, I don't think Riven will be around for an eternity, haha. You could kick his butt in the afterlife, though.

@Woods Warrior: Pssh, you're only a month late. Hardly any time at all, haha. You're here now, though, and that's what counts! I'm super-glad to have you. I did scour the interwebs pretty thoroughly before starting the story, and although a few things will be ignored (coughcolorblindnesscough) hopefully it should stay fairly true to form. Foxes are interesting to write about, in either case, and I'm glad you're pumped for the story. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing any gray foxes, as they're pretty rare in eastern areas (the story is very loosely located somewhere in the hills of Kentucky [i.e., where I live; write what you know, and all that xD]). I didn't even think about it, to be honest! It would be interesting, though, as I imagine their culture would differ from red foxes' in a few ways. Maybe they'd even speak a different "language" (or at least dialect!). Hmm. Now I'd kinda like to push them into a side project or something. It would be tons of fun. For the main story, though, there will be no gray foxes. Unless you count Musk, but he's technically silver. ;)

Please share your theories! You know I'm always delighted to hear them. :D

@Lynxeye: No worries! Hope the move wasn't too stressful; first days are always kinda weird. At least you get to see all your buddies though, right? I really like the "in their own range" thing you mentioned, as that's really a good way to put it. When it comes down to brass tacks, characters are the things that interest me most in a story, and I like to invest a bit of time into all of them as much as I can. Each of our four POVs have their own "circles" to run in, which means lots of minor characters for me to play with, including Koulder. Good stuff. You know me, I love squeezing in little folklore things wherever I can (Sprite gets that from me, I guess xD). And yep, Trick pretty obviously fumbled the ball on this one. She's trying to rush herself, is the problem; those with her sort of nature do much better when they take things nice and slow, but she's too ready to overflow her banks, as it were. Hopefully she'll get that sorted out before it catches up to her. I'm in the opposite boat regarding the Hunger Games, as I've read the books but not seen the movies. He fits any of the Careers pretty squarely though, I think. Funny that you mention him like that, though, since I just finished writing his third chapter the other night....

Anyway, that's all I've got for this week! See you guys next Sunday. :)

Vulp 5

Vulpine Bios

Posted it a bit early since it's technically after midnight and therefore Sunday! I doubt anyone's awake (unless you live west of me, or are an insomniac, or literate owls are paying attention to a weird fox story??) but I know I'll be sluggish to rise in the morning (and forgetful) so I figured I'd put it out there.

Pretty exciting stuff, also! Koulder speaks, Sprite gets to tell a story, and a few plotlines converge, if only for a moment. Lovely.

Also gearing up for NaNo, which is less than a month away! That's always fun.

Only one wee review to respond to this week (and no bios to update) so not much will be happening on the blog, I s'pose. Ah well.

@Swyfte: Yep! I actually wrote chapters 1-4 (plus the prologue) ahead of time, so I'd have a buffer to rely on when I was posting the chapters. This'll come in handy in November, when I won't be working on Vulpine at all, but can still post chapters that were written before! I have like a 5-chapter lead right now, so we should be good when NaNo starts. Thanks for noting the typo, too. I think I fixed it. :)

Seeya next Sunday!

Vulp 4

Vulpine Bios

Posted 4: Stream and hopped off to take a shower! Hope you all enjoyed this one too. I always like looking at the viewship graph and watching the numbers shoot up for Saturday, haha. Always a little too early to the show, but that's okay.

Big things coming up in the future, it seems! We'll finally get three POVs heading to the same place, which should be good. What happens - namely if anyone makes it out unscathed - remains to be seen (until next Sunday at least).

@Swyfte: Research! I already knew random fox things before I started thinking about Vulpine, but once I decided I really wanted to write a story about foxes, I had to get my facts straight! There's an awful lot to learn about them, it turns out, and even though some of it is trivia, a lot of it still impacts the story (like the noises they make, or what they eat). The climax will give way to my author avatar ranting about fox facts and revealing that the entire story has just been for me to spout off information. Surprise!

@Lynxeye: Thanks! I'm pretty excited for Riven, since he's a main point of view, but an antagonistic one. Kinda like the Northy days - only he's a lot less brainy. We'll see what the mystery test is - but bear in mind it might be just as force-focused as the sparring one. It'll be revealed in time. I like the lady/knight comparison with the vixens; they do wield a bit of influence among the males, at least in the beginning, where who they favor (i.e. who is the most promising/worthy) gets the best food. They're expected to feed everyone later in the training, once they're better at it, but being fed now will give Musk's trainees an edge when it comes to growing and whatnot - something poor Faun would really like to have. This most recent chapter kinda points to why Riven wants to impress Musk, but I'll clarify to make sure: basically training is regarded as an important gauge of a fox's abilities. Coming home is impressive and all, but they really have to flaunt their stuff during training if they want any hope of rising up to a higher rank later in life. It just so happens that both the male trainer and the Reynard are old (they trained in the same year) and will probably retire/die soon, leaving the positions open. Riven has to look impressive so that he has a chance of being the Reynard some day, and he knows if he does well, Musk will report it to the others when they get back, and boost his reputation.

Fleeing during training is a strong possibility (if Sage was even in the Skulk to begin with) but that behavior is usually tightly controlled. If anyone tried it now, Musk would hunt them down almost immediately (probably with Field's help, since she's a very good tracker, as vixens ought to be) and snuff them out. Otherwise, the runts would probably try that trick every year, to avoid being slaughtered - although they wouldn't stand much of a chance on their own, since they don't really know how to hunt.

@Bookworm: Then I'm doing my job well, haha. I doubt anyone's fondness of Riven will be growing over the coming chapters.

I'll update the bios w/ the characters Trick's chapter introduced, but it might be a little while. Sundays are kinda busy for me, because I go back to the dorm and stuff. Also, our wifi sucks.

Until next Sunday!

Vulp 3

Vulpine Bios

Just posted 3: Embers. It was a little later than my normal updates, but that's because I kinda slept in after having had to wake up at 6am the other day. :P

Hope you guys found/find Riven's POV to be interesting. He's definitely a piece of work. I kinda like to think of him as a version of Fireblaze existing in a society where kinship means diddley squat, and loyalty is meaningless until you're on your way home again.

I'll update Musk's trainees bios a bit here in a minute, too, providing the site actually cooperates with me this time.

@Dracones: I was really confused when I saw you post 5 times in a row, ha. Luckily it only counted as 1 review, for whatever reason. Glad you liked Faun so far, and yes, the Skulk is very much about relying on one's own strength for survival - a method of thought that is rather problematic for a bunch of foxes trying to live together. ;)

@Lynxeyes: Warriors + the Hunger Games + foxes sounds good to me, ha. I recognized the influences when I started working on the idea, and I've tried to steer away from them (the Skulk's society is almost nothing like the Clans), there are probably still some similarities. Riven's group is a bit like the Careers, I guess, and while one of the tests is very structured one-on-one business, the other (that we don't know anything about yet xD) is more of a free-for-all kinda thing. Another one of my friends (I posted the first 5 chapters on TC to make them beta for me, haha) was fond of Feo too. Must be a super underdog/Eeyore thing. Riven is pretty much an arsehole, yes - which is as fun as it is frustrating. xD Good thought about Musk & Sage, too, although if they did fight each other, one of them would have to have died. Sage isn't really runty, but he's not all that big, either.

@Swyfte: Hey! Good to see you. No worries about being late; the story's still young. Swipes are indeed months; it's a folklore thing, which Sprite or Sage will prolly spill at some point or another, as much as they love stories. The POVs will progress in the order they're mentioned in the synopsis, so we still have Trick to go before we hit Sprite up again.

@Bookworm: Great to see you here too! Tbh I don't have a set idea for where this mysterious forest is, but it's probably somewhere around where I live (Kentucky), or at least in the same sort of terrrain (woodland and rolling hills). "Write what you know," as they say. I think it's safe to say Riven is daring enough to go after Faun and the others, but whether or not he has the cleverness to pull it off is a different matter.

See you guys next Sunday!

V Chapter 2

Vulpine Bios

2: Pebble was just posted! There's a lot going on, so don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm more than happy to answer them, as always. :]

@Lynxeye: Considering the rather high body count for characters I like (Blackheart, Fear, Bramblethorn, Frostflight...) I wouldn't feel too secure with Sage, for now. xD Hopefully the structure is becoming clear, although of course we'll get more exposition in later chapters. Their society isn't overly-complicated, but it is rather brutal, on occasion.

@Dracones: Lovely to see you! Sage and Sprite are very different, it's true; it's amazing they can put up with each other, really, although they have their reasons. Can't Sprite be adorable and a little stupid? :P She's pretty naive right now, but we'll see if she shapes up any once she realizes just what these strangers are here for, and how they deal with outsiders/disappointments. Should be a fun time. :3

@Your Worse Nightmare Unleashed: I dunno if you're following this blog, but welcome just in case! Hope you stick around. :)

I'll be adding a bunch more bios to the thing today, although information will still be a little sparse for most of them. We'll get to know all our new friends pretty well over the next few chapters. Exciting stuff. :D

EDIT: Updating the bios took way longer than it should have because the thing kept crashing, but it's finally done!