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 Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:39 am
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:23 pm
 Raphael hovered in the sky, letting the sun dry off his still-wet fur. It was the fifth Resting Day since he'd come to the tribe, and he found that he enjoyed this one day a week. He liked scouting, but it was nice to worry about little for one day a week. And today, like most days here, was sunny and warm, a day to enjoy rather than let pass by for work.
He looked down at the river below him, a thin silver line glinting in the sun. Soon the others would all be finished with their Ritual; Galahad was always the last to do his, and judging by the height of the sun, he'd probably already left for the mile-long walk to the Pool.
Time to return to the others, then. Now that everyone was clean, they'd start socializing--and he wasn't going to miss all of that. The young Phim easily tucked in his wings and descended to the riverbank, shaking out the last stray drops of water in his fur. Tossing his long hair out of his face, he padded towards the clearing, looking for any of the others.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:57 pm
 Alatariel was wandering around the forest. Her sister had grown up and fallen in love with her childhood friend, leaving Ariel all alone. But she was happy for her sister, and knew that things were better off this way. Not having a home to go back too, she continued to just roam around until she came upon a river. She smiled, and dipped her head down and took a sip. She had been traveling for so long that she was a little hot and in need of refreshments. The landscape was so beautiful she stopped and wandered where she was.
Ariel could hear the sounds of birds chirping and squirrels talking, but she had yet to come upon any foxes which she thought was rather strange. Such a beautiful place should have attracted many foxes to colonize here.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:41 pm
Just as he padded towards the tribe's center, Raphael caught a flash of red off to his left, towards the river. He raised an eyebrow in confusion--nothing in the forest was red...another fox, perhaps?
Curious, the Phim turned and made his way in that direction, and soon discovered that it was a kit, with red accents and a hat. He cocked his head in surprise at that, but moved closer to her anyways.
He offered a smile, then dipped his head in greeting. He could tell from the look in her eye that she wasn't your average kits, so Raph decided to treat her like he would an adult: "Hello there," he said. "My name is Raphael, welcome to the lands of Sanctimonia."
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:11 pm
She was right, there were foxes here. Smiling at the phim she inclined her head politely, "Hello Raphael....My name is Alatariel....But everyone simply calls me Ariel for short." She chuckled. "Oh......So this is tribal lands...." She looked around. "I knew that this land was far too beautiful to go untouched by civilization." Ariel smiled friendly at the phim, one of the first she had ever met. "I am afraid that I am unfamiliar with your customs Raphael...I hope that I have no offended you in any way by merely walking into your land without permission."
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:14 am
"Ariel, then," Raphael replied, moving so he was on his stomach--it was easier to see the female this way. "Mm, yes. A recent tribe, though. Our Elder believes he has been here...oh, three months or so. I'm afraid we don't keep a very good record of time," he chuckled. "But we leave the area as untouched as possible, besides our shelter off to the east of here."
Raphael had a good sense of who the pure at heart were, and he could tell Ariel was among them; he didn't mind divulging more about the tribe. "No, you have not," he assured her with an easy smile. "We allow anyone to come into our borders. Some...are perhaps welcomed more than others. But, not to worry. You do not seem the particularly vicious type to me," he teased gently, referring more to her personality than her height.
"If you're interested in the area, I could tell you more of our tribe, if you'd like."
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:27 am
It was a relief to hear that she had not broken any secret tenets by mindlessly wandering onto the land. Ariel had made the mistake of trespassing on Tribal land before, and it had not gone very well at all. Her eyes widened at the vicious, "Me?" She chuckled softly, "No you are right...I am not particularly vicious at all..." Slowly, Ariel shook her head.
She smiled as the Phim knelt down to her eye level. "I do not even know how to fight Raphael...nor would I wish too....I live a more simple life, peaceful. Hm?" She titled her head to the side. "Oh yes....I do wish to learn more of this tribe, if you wouldn't mind explaining it to me."
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:43 am
"I know a little of fighting, but only from watching others, until I came here." he shrugged, and added: "I have never partaken myself, though I imagine I would if I needed to defend myself." The angelic Phim glanced around; he didn't see the need coming up at any time soon. But yes, he would not let his tribe go down easy, Deities forbid something like that ever did happen.
He looked back down at Ariel and nodded. "Sanctimonia is based on the Seven Holy Virtues, if you have heard of them. If not, they are-- humility, diligence, chastity, patience, charity, kindness and temperance. In practice, that basically means that our members strive to lead the purest, and most good lives we can. No one here is perfect of course, not even our Elder. Galahad's half-brother, Lucien, runs our ally tribe, Saligia. Unfortunately, it is based off the Sins instead, but we all cooperate peacefully. An agreement to disagree."
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:09 am
"Oh?" Ariel's ears perked up as she listened to the phim speak about the basic structure of his tribe. Based on virtues, now that was definitely something that peaked her interest tremendously. She had spent her entire life striving to be as pure as she could. In Ariel's opinion, it was better to model herself as the purest white snow then to live her life in sin. Perhaps that was why she was grateful for the fact that she had been born a perma. The ability of non-growth protected her from the temptation to breed, and therefore potentially engage in an impure manner with a partner. There was nothing wrong with life pairing of course, her own sister was life mated to her best friend. But engaging in frivolous sexual acts with no promise of connection or love was one of the worst concepts to her.
Love was pure, therefore your body should remain pure in hope of finding that one true and special connection with another fox. "I have heard of them." She smiled as she looked up at the phim, pulling herself from the thoughts floating around in her head. "The concept of Virtues appeals to me greatly....would it trouble you much if I stayed for awhile and studied your lifestyles....perhaps in the hopes of joining your tribe one day in the future."
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:21 pm
"I wouldn't mind at all," Raphael replied with an easy smile. "Anyone who wishes to be pure of heart is welcomed to this place, even if it is only for a little while."
He glanced up at the sun to try and get a rough estimate of the time. "The others are around somewhere. I apologize that I cannot yet introduce you to Galahad. You've caught us on the Rest Day, I'm afraid, and he's busy taking his own Cleaning Ritual. Sometimes he lingers there for awhile, so I'm not sure exactly when he'll be back to meet you."
He had a feeling Galahad would like this perma kit. Hopefully she would offcially choose to stay among them and take the Purification Ritual.
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:09 pm
"Resting day?" She cocked her head to the side, "Excuse me fore prying, but what exactly does that mean?" Alatariel looked at the Phim intrigued. She had a vague idea about what this cleaning ritual must be, but a resting day. That was a new concept to her. What did that entail exactly? Was it a day dedicated to simply resting? Could it really be that simple. And if it was, what was the point of it. Was it rooted in the spirituality of the tribe?
"I'm just curious...One would think it was self-explanatory but....You can never be certain. Is it a spiritual ritual that your tribe practices?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:47 pm
"Ah right, I forgot to explain that," Raphael chuckled. "Every fifth day is reserved for resting, no one is supposed to be doing their jobs--minus the carers, I suppose. You can't really avoid babysitting." The Phim stretched out some more as the sun hit his still damp fur, enjoying the feeling.
"Anyway, yes, it is. Each member goes one by one in the morning to a pool by our waterfall, what we call the Cleansing Pool. They bathe in the water and confess to our Modeity, Katharos, their sins of the week. It's a completely private affair--spying on someone's Cleansing could bring serious consequences. The only exception to the rule is if someone feels they need to tell Galahad as well, to get his advice on the matter. The idea is to wash away the impurities that are inevitable, since we're mortal and by nature imperfect."
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Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:56 pm
 "Well it's a good thing there ain't any kits in these parts, or I'd never get a day to relax." The lazy Southern drawl came winding through the trees, soon followed by a tan and cream vixen. Her chocolate brown eyes were warm and filled with humor. Her own fur was a bit damp, though not as much as Raphael's.
"So Raph, what'd you discover this time?" Despite the lazy lilt to her speech the vixen had a fairly brisk walk. She drew about level with him and looked down at the kit. "Name's Merit. Sorry for intrudin' on ya'lls conversation, my ma always said my manners could use a bit o' polishin'." Merit chuckled.
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Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:32 am
"Oh....so it was exactly what I thought it was..." She smiled and looked over at the newcomer. "Mm..." She smiled politely, "Oh...No do not apologize.....You were not intruding at all Miss Merit..." Ariel shook her head, "I was just speaking with Raphael. We ran into each other and he was educating me on your ways of living, which I find fascinating by the way." She smiled, dipping her head.
"OH! Excuse my rudeness, My name is Alatariel, but everyone calls me Ariel because it is easier to pronounce. it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Merit."
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Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:36 am
"So could your speech, Merit," Raphael teased, knowing the vixen would understand it was just in good fun. "Ariel here wishes to stay awhile and learn more, and possibly join one day.I told her I somehow doubted Galahad would take issue with that."
Raph glanced up at the sun; it was getting on towards noon. "Well, now that you've bene introduced to Merit, would you like to get out of the sun and into the shade of our tribe's center, Ariel? We still have a few fish form yesterday's catch that I'm sure the hunters wouldn't mind sharing."
He stood back up and stretched languidly, mindful of keeping his wings from hitting anyone. The idea of being back in the shade was sounding better the more he thought of it.
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