#bhk Fox Fire

[lexirambles]

Yo hey more Bounty hunter Kanako! I’ve honestly kinda fell in love with this whole au, accidentally created my own hyperfixation within a hyperfixation. So I’m going to go ramble on more about my favorite traumatized fox child.

I actually got a question from @kanorune about Kanako’s relationship with the feisty five, which also got me thinking about her relationships with everyone else, so imma start with that. To answer your question on what she thinks of Moray, her hatred towards Martlet is much more her being apart of the Royal Guard than her familiar appearence. In fact, foxes are red-green colorblind like dogs, so she wouldn’t even know that Martlet and Undyne look similar. But the similarities between Undyne and Moray are a lot more noticeable, to the point Undertale yellow even mentions the similarities, so Kanako for sure notices. The thing is, the Feisty Five are family to her, she’s an honorary member of the team and is treated as such. So when it comes to Moray, there’s conflicting feelings. She’s known him her entire childhood, he’s her partner just like the rest of the posse, but she can’t stop seeing her in him no matter what she does. So Kanako keeps her distance from Moray more then the others, which definitely upsets the poor guy, those he never says it. He does his best to reach out and be supportive, but there’s moments where he can feel her eyes burn in the back of his neck, and he knows there’s little holding her back from ripping it open. As for the other four, Kanako will never admit it, but she loves being carried around by Ed. Her and Mooch like to do crime together, Kanako distracts while Mooch does Mooch things. Ace finds Kanako to be a worthy card game opponent with a poker face that can rival his own, whenever Kanako finds herself bored while Starlo’s out drinking you’ll probably find her playing rummy with him. Also fun fact, Ace is the one that modified her hat to have the ear holes and bell rope around it!

A dynamic I’ve been really interested in is hers with Dalv. Kanako’s his first and only friend, the one that gave him corn every day under the door. In Undertale yellow, the reason it stopped one day is because she fell down. Here, she simply can’t bring herself to return. The way I’ve enturpreted the blue soul’s treck through the underground, she attacked Kanako which is why Chujin sent Axis after them; partially to protect his family, but mostly for revenge (it seems it runs in the family.) I saw someone propose the idea that the reason Dalv was attacked is that he was protecting Kanako, and I fell in love with it. In my mind, this is cannon, no one can tell me otherwise. Kanako saw him as her best friend, Dalv found her to be an inspiration, and while their bond was sparse and weak, but it was valuable. After both her parents literally bite the dust, their relationship became a reminder to her of her grief and guilt. Dalv almost died and is traumatized because of her, and now her family is dead because of her. She was scared to loose anyone else in her life, so in a desperate attempt to get back control, she cut the ties herself before Dalv had the chance. The farther she was, the safer he’ll be. That’s what a good friend would do, keep their friends safe, right..?

Also, finally came up with a name for Kanako’s bounty hunter persona; Fox Fire! It has a lot of basis and research behind it, so excuse me as I ramble about it for a bit too long.

The name comes from two words, the finish word revontulet, and the Japanese word Kitsunebi, both translating into English as fire fox. A kitsunebi, as the word suggests, has a close connection to kitsunes, the type of monster Ceroba and Kanako are meant to reference. There’s many folktales about kitsunes and kitsuebis. Some stories say a kitsunebi is a flame created when a kitsune rubs its tails together, others say they’re torchlights used when foxes get married, and many festivals have come forth from kitsunebi. Kitsunebi also has a close connection to the Japanese god of foxes, Inari, and the shrine dedicated to her, Oji Inari. Meanwhile in Finland, revontulet is what they call the northern lights, meaning fox fire in English. It comes from a folk tale stating that the Aurora borealis are the tails of arctic foxes running across the sky. Aurora borealises can only form in the north and south poles, thus making it common for the northern lights and the star Polaris, more commonly referred to as the North Star, close together. Not only does the name Fox Fire give Kanako a connection to her family and their liniage as kitsunes, but also gives her a connection to Starlo and his title as North Star as the two astrological sighting happen together. There’s also a simple view of the name too, as Kanako is a fox monster that has fire magic, this Fox Fire, very simple. But actually the fox part of fox fire doesn’t come from the animal, but actually from the word faux, which means false. I nice nod to the fact that Fire Fox isn’t her actual name, and is instead a facade she put on as a form of escapism. Also, something I didn’t plan for, while doing research I found an old Western movie called Foxfire Light, so this name is literally perfect for her in every single way possible. IM A GENIUS!

Ok, enough rambling, I also made Kanako an official design too! A bit different from the headshot I showed before, it was more proof of concept than anything. Had a lot of fun drawing her, love the design, she’s such a sassy lass. I wanted to draw her with a pistol, but because I am an academic student in the thick of the American south, I am very triggered by guns. While I can handle most unrealistic depictions, like in games or drawings, it makes getting references and accurately drawing one very difficult for me. So I went with the much less ptsd enduring much more Busexual approach of ✨finger guns✨ 👉👉👉👉👉👉

I can’t get her hat to look right AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I’ll make an official ref of her someday, but I’m just done with drawing cowboy hats for today. That’ll be a post for another day. Goodbye for now :P