In the Land of Foxes

Camila gave one of her trademark half-smiles. "Hey, its fine. What did they mean by uncle? You're their father right? That is if you don't mind me asking. If its a bit too personal then never mind."

Ty wasn't the only one who had thoughts, though she kept it to herself. Because like her boyfriend, getting too excited would have a embarrassing reaction all on its own.

"Heh. Like I said, we'll give you right back." Ty mentally cheered Raelo on. Listening to Camila's question, he was a bit confused. He figured they called him uncle since he was close to the family before coming together with Aleta. Ty was trying not to over think things, but he was confounded by the question.

Raelo blinked, glancing back. "Oh, sorry, guess that would cause some confusion. Jana called me Uncle because that's what she's always called me. I am her uncle, after all. When Aleta's mate died, I took care of them, as said. We'd always been close, but we grew closer during that time. About two years after Fenic had died, me and Aleta finally admitted our feelings. That was about four months ago. Have to admit, it was strange to learn how... well, sexual, Aleta is. She never showed it growing up, but I guess she only shows that side to her mate." He shrugged. "Still, I have to admit, I was always jealous of Fenric. My sister always was beautiful, and my life seemed just a bit less bright without her around as often. Oh... probably should have started with that. Aleta is my older sister."

He stated this as if it was normal. Probably because, to the fox clans, it was normal. Familial bonds, blood, genetics... none of it got in the way of love for them.

Camila wasn't sure what to say at first. It was her nature to be open-minded but this was really a first for her. It wasn't really hurting anyone so it wasn't as if they were doing anything wrong.

"Ah, I see." Camila said after a moment. "Sorry if I don't add too much, just was a bit thrown off at first. What you guys do is your business. I'm sure you might get looks from others outside the forest if they know what your relationship is."

"So that's it..." Ty mused. He had noticed a resemblance between the two, but didn't think much of it at the time. Back in his village, those kinds of relationships were severely frowned upon in kind with the majority of society's standard. Ty was aware of a couple instances, even in the village, in which this kind of love was present. Personally, he didn't care either way. If it makes them happy and no one's getting hurt, why the hell not? "I guess you're lucky for living in such a place, then. That would definitely be much more difficult back in the Hidden Moon."

Raelo blinked, confused. "What do you mean? Is there some issue with such relationships in your village?" It seemed that this was an area that Raelo had no knowledge in. He didn't know that, in most places, the concept of incest was not just frowned upon, but even illegal.

Camila shook her head a bit at that. She had a feeling Raelo didn't spend as much time in the outside the home of the Fox Demons to know about the stigma that came with it. "In your culture, this is considered a normal thing. In others, its not. It's frowned upon in others and even illegal, as you can get into trouble doing it. Also political issues like with other things, but I'm not gonna get into that. I can't fuckin' stand politics. Excuse my language."

Ty nodded in agreement with Camila's explanation. "It's pretty prudish if you think about it. You two seem very happy and I'm happy for you. Shouldn't matter who else has hangups about the matter." Happiness and freedom. Both begot the other when combined to make an endless cycle.

"It sounds like the biggest staple of your society is trust. Do you even have a need for laws or too many rules with such a strong principle? Seems that theft and other crimes would be pretty low here." Ty conjectured. He knew not everyone thought the same, but with a civilization built so heavily on something so important he figured there was very little, if any, crime.

Raelo nodded. "Crime is fairly low, yes. It still happens, of course, but it's rare, and usually a misunderstanding. It's also shocking to me that familial romance is frowned upon in other places. Seems... rather hypocritical. They find it distasteful, yet they force animals to do it when they 'breed' them." He shook his head. "Anyway, you'll find that, while every place has it's problems, our homeland is one of the safest places to live. They were a bit less so when Lord Kurama was in charge, but that was because he had gone insane."

Camila heard that name..somewhere before. She couldn't recall where. "..I heard that name somewhere before." She mumbled, then shrugged. "Can't remember where."

Ty racked his brain for the answer. It was on the tip of his tongue... "That's... the last nine-tail. Lady Akane mentioned him and I was trying to remember my studies. I remember pieces about him nearly destroying Konoha and having to be sealed repeatedly. He was crazy powerful." He recalled. A thought struck him in realization. "If Lady Akane's power is anywhere near his, I don't think I'll ever be able to summon her..."

Raelo smiled. "You'd be surprised. Being able to summon something does not necessarily mean you are stronger than what you summoned, or even nearly as strong. It's merely giving enough chakra to satisfy the transport. It's partly about the power of what you are summoning, partly about the size in most cases. With the fox contract, it's a bit different. If you get kage levels of chakra reserves, then I believe you'd be able to summon Lady Akane. It helps that the trust between summoner and summon affects things. Regain Lady Akane's trust, it'll be easier to summon her."

Camila patted her boyfriend on the back. "And knowing you, you'll get it. So don't worry too much about it. Just focus on the now." She really didn't have much else to add, she just wondered how things with Akane would go once they finally got there.

"Yeah. I'll tackle that when the time comes." Ty dismissed the issue. He was mainly worried about the nature of her test; if it involved fighting her, he was sure victory was an impossibility. Regardless of what the test would entail, it was pointless to linger on it now. That day was far off from the present. He looked around a bit expecting their destination to be in view, if not noticeably large in the first place.

Raelo continued to lead the way as the forest thinned out, eventually revealing a large, open field, brightly lit through some form of magic. Members of the clans were scattered about; playing, hanging out together, 'sunbathing', and even, in some cases, being a bit more intimate than was generally done in public, but they at least were being partially discreet, using fox magic to create a slightly concealing mist... though some didn't bother. In the middle of the field, sitting atop a hill, was Akane.

Unsurprisingly, she was completely naked, lounging, and not noticing the new arrivals just yet, as some children were running around her, and she was playfully trying to swat them with her tails.

(She's not covering herself with her tails, that's just the picture.)

Camila had gotten more used to the whole 'nude' thing. Still seeing Akane naked was distracting on its own. Her feelings towards Ty were solid didn't mean she couldn't still objectively say who or what was attractive.

"Hey, Akane." She said, smiling a bit as they finally came into range. She found the scene with the kids amusing and kids. Camila always did like children, and wanted some of her own, someday.

Their naked status still had yet to sink in as normal for Ty, but he had forgotten entirely to consider Akane's body. Wow. No, no. Focus. We're here for a reason...

"Lady Akane." Ty bowed slightly in greeting. The formality in his address had returned for a reason. In his village, when you disrespected someone you were to speak formally to them regardless of relation. He waited for the small group to be acknowledged. After all, he was still largely unaware of their customs.

Akane looked up from the children, her eyes focusing on Ty's face. She gently motioned for the children to leave, and things just got... quiet. Eerily so. "Camila, lovely to see you. If you want, come sit with me. As for you, Ty... I want you to tell me exactly what was going through your mind when you did what you did. Then I want you to tell me why it was dangerous, and why it was disrespectful to me. I want to see if you've learned anything."

Camila knew her boyfriend was in the dog house still, so she remained quite wandering how it would play out.

Internally, Ty was taken aback for a moment. Not because of Akane's reprimand, but the situation itself was déjà-vu. The way she sat, spoke and commanded him mirrored his mother's demeanor. With less hitting. His mom's 'serious mode' didn't have an off switch, however. He wondered if they had met. Reality quickly brought his mind to the forefront. This would be a long answer.

"Hm. What was on my mind was... a slew of thoughts. Most of which would only be excuses; what it boiled down to was a burning curiosity. Simply hearing about the seal sent a haze through my mind. I couldn't think straight and it felt like... I don't know. Like my body would betray me? There almost aren't words for it. Even more so, something about the seal made sense. The villagers of my home treated me differently, like I was a 'problem'. The seal made years of my life clear. I wanted to know what was the cause for good people to treat a kid so coldly. I had to know what was so damn important that even the Kage hid it from me..." Ty was beyond any sort of denial. He knew his mother had some part in this. After all, as far as he knew the seal was created around the time of his father's death. He slowly paced back and forth while speaking, recalling all of his thoughts and conclusions from the past 24 hours.

"As I said, those are only excuses. Inquisitive nature aside, the danger was astronomic. For whatever it was to be sealed away, it had to pose a great threat in the first place. The seal was erected, yes, but it couldn't possibly be foolproof. No one had repaired or tampered with it to my knowledge; it was obviously aged. Any sort of dealings with it could have unleashed any number of terrors capable of harming those in the castle, the city and those closest to me..." With a side-glance, he looked at Camila briefly. "I was only lucky the effect was reversible. Curiosity quickly led to hubris. Thinking back on it, you really let me off easy with that slap." He wasn't joking or speaking lightly. While speaking, Ty's mind churned on. Despite not sleeping the night before, he hadn't lost any energy or wasted a moment for reflection.

"Therein lies the affront to you, of course. Not an hour beforehand I was gifted with a prestigious honor; a chance to restore relations between your clan and shinobi alike. With one oversight, the opportunity would have been wasted. Worse still, you had just agreed to find help for me. Regardless of my intention, pressing forward with my own investigation was akin to dismissing your offer without even seeing it through. Layers of stupid upon stupid." A memory flashed before him at the last bit. A younger Ty stood with his head bowed as his teacher lay into him. "I swear you're trying to convince me your brain is simply layers of stupid upon stupid!" Not an eloquent analogy, but accurate. He returned to his former stance before Akane, nearing his rant's end.

"As for what I've learned, I can definitely say the lesson was received loud and clear. For all my thinking, knowledge should take a backseat to common sense. Others come first; a rule in consideration I had been taught and relearned thoroughly. I thank you for allowing me to continue on as the contract holder. Your trust, what is left of it, will not be wasted. I make it a point to learn from my experiences, mistakes or not. I apologize for my actions." He bowed fully to punctuate the end of his speech. As he did so, a light fuzziness filled his head. Huh. I really do think too much... Ty thought to himself.

Akane showed no outward reactions to Ty's words. She just watched him with a stern look. When he finished, however, she slowly smiled. "I'm surprised. You really did learn..." A pause... and then grinned. "Such a good boy..." Her tails suddenly shot out, wrapping around both Ty and Camila, and pulling them over to her. Ty and Camila were now actually in Akane's lap, the three of them pressed together snugly, wrapped in Akane's tails. The foxes around them cheered, while Akane nuzzled her cheek against Ty's, and then Camila's, affectionately. WHat exactly had just happened, remained to be seen.

What was obvious, of course, was that Ty was now pressed firmly against a naked Camila, and a naked Akane. There was a bit of jealousy amongst the others, but they didn't dwell on it.

Camila froze. Her body locking up. This wasn't happening. She didn't know what to do as her mind was running through a milllion thoughts a second. The main thing she was focusing on was the fact Ty was so close, it was causing her body to heat up and hard to think.

"Ugh..too..close..Akane what are you doing?" She was honestly a bit confused.

Ty smiled in relief. "Heh. I'm gla--WHOA!!" The sudden sieze surprised him. He hadn't suspected her tails capable of stretching, let alone being prehensile. Suddenly, he was surrounded by softness. Between being mashed into Akane and Camila his mind could barely keep up with the situation. His body reacted almost immediately, it stood at full attention. Ty prayed it wasn't some faux pas of their society to do so. On their leader's lap. Just after being forgiven. So... unbelievably... soft... Ty's thought process was scrambled, leaving only the physical to focus on. He hid his lower self in modesty.

"Is this a... reconciliation... kind of... thing?" He managed to speak nervously.

Akane chuckled a bit. "Sort of. I forgive you, Ty. You still have to prove yourself to each level of tails, but I'm not upset anymore, so don't worry. Oh, and don't worry about being aroused Ty, it's fine. It's natural." She looked them both over, and grinned. "You two haven't had sex yet, have you? With each other, I mean. I know you want to, I can smell it. How about I show you both to a nice, private little place where you two can do as you please?" At this, there were a few sounds of disappointment from the crowd. "Oh, hush. Go watch someone else having sex if that's what you want."

Camila froze at that for a moment. She had thought about it, but she didn't think Akane was going to offer some place. Still..

"Uh..." She started, glancing at Ty. Yes she wanted to. "..I guess if Ty is up to it."

"I hope I'm not interrupting something."

The voice came from Seraph Lamington, who Ty had met earlier. He sounded amused as he saw the scene.