"Those foxes who seek alchemical transformations and try to gather spiritual essences are like scholars who attain fame by studying diligently. Those who entice men and deplete them of their sexual energies for their own benefit are taking short-cuts to achieve their goal quickly. Only the former can roam the islands of the immortals and ascend to the celestial realms; the latter, by bringing harm to too many lives, often violate the code of Heaven."
Foxes have always been solitary animals, so Yue Qian was on her own from a very early point in her longevous life.
As an adolescent fox fairy, merely a húli jīng—not yet granted a human form—Yue Qian always found a way to get into trouble. If she wasn't being chased away by farmers and merchants in the human realm, she was dodging irate greater spirits in her home realm. When she wasn't causing a fuss across the realms, Yue Qian worked as an assistant to a lesser knowledge spirit, collecting tomes, codices, scrolls, manuscripts, and any other sources of information from everywhere. It was a rare opportunity, only given to a select few foxes, so she was always sure to work hard and not lose the opportunity.
Over time, while cultivating her mind and spirituality, Yue Qian earned her second and third tails. And finally, on her 100th birthday, she was granted her human form. The combination of hard work and mischievous play only continued, taking on different forms as she was able to source additional knowledge through conversations and trick humans in entirely different ways.
Far more mature than her childhood days, the fox fairy also used her new form, and other shape shifting abilities, to do a lot of good. It was never anything major—helping a lost child find their way home or rescuing a youngling animal swept away in a flood—but one such act of kindness pushed her into an entirely new role.
It was on one of her usual ventures, the journey back to her master's library, when she came across an ailing white deer with 4 antlers: the Fuzhu, an omen for ravaging floods. The deer spirit had been injured, struck down by ignorant hunters. After accompanying the cervine spirit in its final moments, Yue Qian took it upon herself to warn the nearby village of the impending disaster.
The entire village was able to evacute, along with the animal residents of the surrounding forest, and Yue Qian was rewarded for her good deed with designation as the forest's resident guardian deity.
In this new role, Yue Qian continued to grow as a fox—going from a young húli jīng to a laohu to an immortal húxiān as the decades wore on. She never saw the appeal in harming humans to build herself up the quick way and was happy to spend the centuries it took to earn her fourth, fifth, and sixth tails.
Then Yue Qian fell in love. In 700+ years, she'd certainly found herself infatuated with various humans and spirits alike, but it'd never been like this. She was perfect—a high-ranking general's daughter with just as much beauty as she had brains—and she understood Yue Qian like no other. It all seemed far too good to last. And it didn't.
The general was slain, a punishment for treason, and so his family was to die with him. Forbidden from interfering with their destiny by greater deities, Yue Qian was helpless as she witnessed the massacre. She was distraught and vulnerable when she ran into the wrong people and a peculiar circus, suddenly sitting proudly in her woods. The Ringmaster welcomed her with open arms. And the decades have blurred together since then.
Though she's a trouble maker by nature, Yue Qian has always possessed a bleeding heart; especially for other animals and nature. She's kind and friendly enough, but guarded in a way that's innate to her entire solitary upbringing. Yue Qian is slow to lower her guard fully around someone, but once she does, she's incredibly protective of them.
Plucky and shameless, she's always been one to engage with greater deities and spirits as if they were on the same level. It's always in good nature, however, so none of them have ever reacted with anything other than mild (sometimes a little more) annoyance and that odd fondness you have for an irritating little sister.
Despite everything she's been through, the fox fairy is fiercly optimistic. Even if she's stuck in the circus, she still hopes to earn her last two tails─her seventh having been earned during her time in capticity─and join the ranks of the other foxes lucky enough to be jiuwei hu.
Likes: peaches, spicy foods, sun showers, nature walks, waterfalls, poetry, music, animals, children, and warm colors
Dislikes: thunderstorms, liars, and loud noises
Hobbies: meditation, gardening, reading, playing the guzheng and pipa, painting, and dancing
Yue Qian has two standard forms: a snow white fox with seven tails and her human form. when necessary, she does away with six of her tails and goes about as if she were a normal fox. when she's miffed, startled, or tired in her human form, her ears and tails appear involuntarily. though, sometimes she lets them show just because she wants to.
though her true original form is a fox, Yue Qian prefers to be a human because it's all she looked forward to as an adolescent fox fairy. As a human, she often does her makeup with red markings inspired by the jiuwei hu she looks up to. she often fantasizes about what her own markings will look like.
- shapeshifting; with her experience, she can do so without a target creature's skull
- illusion and glamour
- human speech; there is a particular aspect of spirit magic that lets her understand and speak any language
- invisibility and teleportation
- realm traversal (human, spirit, celestial, dream); she's unable to fully do this while under contract and can only visit dreams
- communication with the celestial realm/Heaven
- immortality
Yue Qian's main limitation, besides being bound to the circus, is simply her age and tail status. She's very capable with her existing abilities, but she hasn't reached the point where's she's as powerful as the nine-tailed foxes she looks up to. Being stuck in the circus limits the realms she can visit. She's also very limited in her influence: as only a guardian deity, she has to answer to the deities and spirits that are of higher rank or power than her. Due to her spiritual nature, she's also bound to the will of fate. It's a very blurry line where she can and can't interfere with things, but it does prove to be a hindrance.
Yue Qian is one of the circus's many acrobats. She is a part of all of the general gymnastic acts, but she specializes in aerial acts. That includes suspended pole, aerial silk, and aerial hoop feats. She's been working on a new act with another aerialist, using the aerial crop they fashioned and perfected during a few planning sessions.
Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser
Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser.
Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser
Le coucher du soleil fremplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser.
