"My savior from a most undignified fall~"

“Don’t thank me too early~” 

Via lets go for just a moment, enough to feel the fall, before grabbing her hand and pulling her back up. Back up and back to the dance.

This kind of flirting is fun. The little hint of danger, the cute pushing towards the edge. If things ever get too serious she can always just leave, and once in a while the edge-chasing like this will actually bite (that's what makes it thrilling), but anyway, things that push the edge are a rare treat.

She flirts as they keep dancing, gently probing for information about the elves of the woods, and revealing tidbits of kitsune culture and ability too- Showing off shadow play, lamenting that there's no graveyard here so she could turn to a fox as a demonstration, hinting about the Spirit Realm and the spiritworldly nature of fox spirits-

Via continues flirting, keeping the hints going but avoiding any more escalation. Not tonight, at least. At some point the dancing switches to sitting down and talking over (less powerful) drinks. 

She’s happy to hint at her own abilities: agelessness and the skill that comes with lifetimes of practice, bragging that she could turn into an animal right now if she wanted. Lordship over the forest, songs that stir the hearts of nature, etcetera. Wasn’t entirely joking earlier about the names, either, at one point she accidentally reveals that she has a secret name. 

As for culture, all she has there are complaints about being insular and self-centered. Proud of their language and songs and crafts, unwilling to even consider anything outside of them. 

See, she's doing good by keeping this menace(fond) away from the Eyerarchy's more delicate sorts~

Honestly, she wouldn't mind people who are much more direct. But flirting is fun too. Maybe she'll escalate if Tessa starts telling tales of past conquests? Her most impressive is a princess, but her favorite was this one sword hero-

She mention that she has a crown and a sword, everyone knows you want a girl who can do both. And do other things~

But doesn't really escalate.

With a sigh she explains that, at some point before anything really exciting can happen, there's going to be a whole thing with at least three and at most seven impossible tasks. "Need to mention that, don't want to give the wrong idea." 

...Yeah no. She quickly loses most interest. 

"Well, it's good to get expectations out in the open early. Alas. I have the double vices of a fundamental impatience and carefree living. I lust far too much for any such thing. T'was a fun dance none the less, fair Via."

A deep, sincere bow.

She returns the bow and gives a look of ‘believe me, I don’t much like this situation either’ before returning to neutral.

“It was a wonderful dance. Good hunting to you, with the rest of the fundamentally impatient and carefree... Actually, newcomer to the city, do you yet know where to find them?”

"Yesterday afternoon in fact. Just in time for Weiss to go on a daring rescue." Frustrsted sigh. "Hmph. Do tell me more~"

“Yesterday afternoon? Now I’ll have to check on you in few days, if no one’s given you the grand tour by then do it myself—“

There are a few notable spots for ‘adventurous individuals joining for companionship’ as the phrase goes around here. All of them come with some sort of complications. There’s a neighborhood where people go to be attacked by vampires, but some of them are actually predatory. There’s a proper club with music and dancing, but it’s full of subliminal messages trying to get you to transform your consciousness into disembodied light. There’s any bar within a hex of the Most Ancient Sisterhood of Biomancers and Fleshcrafters, but they get bored very quickly. There’s a lawful cult of love and war and a chaotic cult of forbidden revels, but no neutral equivalent so attending either one is a political statement. There’s this exiled prince who throws some wild parties, but you have to know the right people to ever get invited. Etcetera. 

“Even more I haven’t heard of, but those are the ones everyone should know.”

"Stars and gods. I wonder what people will say about kitsunes when we're more... Here. Most of us are incorrigible pranksters, I suppose. A lot of us, like me, are really open about it and utterly shameless. And almost no people is composed exclusively of nice individuals. Heh, becoming a known spot for 'adventurous individuals joining for companionship'- Pff- Would probably interfere with Weiss's mausoleum idea. I guess we'll see how things shake out."

“Oh, having met you, I’m sure they’ll have all kinds of things to say. You ready to be the talk of the town?” Eyebrows.

“There is one people where they’re all nice. Make the whole lot of us look bad with their little utopia garden. Boring, and pushovers too.”

"If being the talk of the town gets me nice things, I wouldn't mind. Gardens, hmm? Plant magic?"

“Nope. They don’t make the garden, just live in it. Never use it up, never fight over it, stay controlled so there’s never too many. Some kind of lesson about how we could live the same way, if we stopped wanting anything more than that.”

"I've heard the argument that all our evil desires are actually good, before. They drive ambition, innovation, adventure. Too much anything is a poison, in my opinion- Too much smugness and placidity, perhaps?"

“Perhaps, it’s a good argument. Golden mean, the lawful types call it. I know your too much impatience is a lot more fun than their too much placidity. Not my favorite argument, though. I prefer…”

“Just desires even if they’re not secretly good. The sea doesn’t have to explain herself when she swallows a ship whole. She just does, and people sail anyways.”

Nodnod. "The world does not owe you an explanation or a fair shot. Some people are born rich, or smart, or strong, or magical, and some are not. Facts are facts. But the question becomes how do you deal with that? How do you decide what to do, or how to feel- Inasmuch as you can decide feelings-"

“Mmm, don’t actually know that one. Usually my way is to just be the sea, in that way. Do things because I want to and I can, no philosophy needed. Or, if it’s not that easy, have a whole epic journey about it. The gates of the heavens and the depths of the underworld, all that.”

”Worked better back home than it does the city.”

"I focus on learning, and on enjoying the moment, which is a little bit 'be the sea'... They've got it worse. The ones who don't know they'll come back. They only get one shot, too."

“Eh. Most of them get reincarnated or recycled or whatever, don’t really seem to mind. Ask any of these eye types why they haven’t signed onto some cult with a nice afterlife, they don’t even want it. I can’t imagine getting bored and fading away so early.”

"So do ours. I don't think it really counts if you get scrubbed clean, personally... I probably will ask them about it, now that you mention it."

”None of that death and rebirth purification for you, then, don’t want to be scrubbed clean? I get it, rather stay myself and dirty.”

"Kitsunes endure only a light rinse, as it were. Very dirty, in my case. That filth is called being alive!"