29/07/2007 - Posted Chai's profile, as well as "Shattered", Chai's story.

30/07/2007 - Rearanged the end of "Shattered" a little; also added a new paragraph break.

16/09/2007 - Major Update: Removed "Shattered" in preperations for the upcoming rewriting. Also removed a whole bunch of other unneeded fields in the profile, most notably Age, because the story will feature him growing up starting from a little kit, and going from there.
Name: Chai

Gender: Male

Species (Fox or Wolf): Fox

Breed: Red Fox

Description: Rusty red coat with a white underside. His legs have the typical black ‘stockings’ except for his right front leg, which has a white stocking instead. His tail has a white ring around the middle, and a black tip, with red in between.

Personality: Chai is seemingly bouncy and energetic on the outside, but on the inside, he is really fragile and has an inherent insecurity and need to feel safe. He tends to be excessively fearful in an unfamiliar location or situation, and often has a tough time getting over this. If he can feel secure, then his exitable, bouncy side will show itself again; (sometimes it may seem he has two personalities because of this.)

History: Stay tuned for Chai's story rewritten and revised, coming soon!

Interesting Facts:

I spent all afternoon writing this profile (especially the story), and I pressed the back button on my browser accidentally, and lost the whole thing. So, I wrote it all again on Microsoft word so I wouldn’t lose it again. Writing the story a second time took me all evening, but it was worth it, as the story is always better the second time you write it. (at least, that’s how it always works with me!)

One of the sources of inspiration for Chai and his story is in fact, Randy from Faux Pas. I loved the scenario he was in, growing up with humans, not knowing about life in the wild. I wanted to do a little something like that, because I see myself the same way, not knowing much about the wild, but ready and willing to learn. From there, the story just came out on its own. I hadn’t intended it to be anything big, but when I write, I tend not to be able to stop writing till I’m done.

I would love some feedback on my character, Chai, and on the story I wrote for him. PM me with any comments, questions, or things I could change to make it better. I’m especially wondering if Chai’s appearance is okay; I want to be sure the appearance accurate enough to be a real Red Fox. Also an approx. weight or build for a 2 year old fox would be nice, it’s something I don’t really know.

When I first created Chai, I had one main goal, a purpose in mind, and that was to learn more about foxes through the proccess of story-writing and roleplay. Although I've yet to begin any roleplay with Chai, I've already learned tons about foxes through the procces of researching for the purpose of getting my facts straight in the story. I've acomplished what I set out to do, and at the same time, my adventure into the world of foxes is only beginning, and I know I'll learn much more as I continue the journey.

thw story of Chai the Fox is back, revised, rewritten, and retold! See my thread in Canidae Literature and arts to read the all new stary of Chai the Fox...

Thanks in advance for any feedback, it really is appreciated!

(Screw it, I'm getting tired of not giving feedback to profiles so I'll go ahead an write in this topic.)

The history is excellent a well-detailed. I'm looking forward to see what roleplay comes out of this. I might use one of my old characters but if I do, I'll be modifying his profile first.

I was able to tell that there's a lot of resemblance to Faux Pas in the story. The dog reminded me of Angel, the sheepdog in the comics, and the little contact wit the humans as well. Anyways.. I don't know where I was going with that...

Physical characteristics sound fine to me; not much detail is needed when it's just the typical markings of a red fox.
And about the coyote; coyotes do fight with foxes but they don't hunt them as a source of food unless the area is in a famine state.

Thanks, TWF, the story I had great fun on. It wasn't supposed to be a full blown story at first, but I couldnt help myself. Personally I'm quite proud of this one.

I didn't think I was too far off with anything, I just wanted to be sure.

As for the Faux Pas connection, while some major inspiration cam from there, I did NOT want to emulae that too closely, so I wound up with this story instead, an Ultra original!

Oh, one thing I didnt add under Interesting Facts (I'll add it sooner or later) is the how I named Chai's family. I went through a couple names in my head and on paper before I came up with the names I have here that stuck. Sakura, Chai's mom was the easiest, and I never changed that one. Teasel was the first name that came to mind for Chai's brother, another quicky. The others weren't so easy. for Ginger, I hesitated a bit, and called her Hazel at first, but I changed it 'cause Hazel rhymed a bit with Teasel, and I didnt want that. May was originally April, but I changed that because I didnt quite like sharing a name with the Faux Pas character, April, to be honest, and May seemd to fit better. And then there was Rusty, the father. him I had the most trouble on; I just couldn't think of a good name for Sakura's husband. I finnaly came up with Dusty, but I changed it to Rusty and stopped there because I was tired and figured it'd be better than nothing. Oh, and Chai is a word for tea, which is made from leaves. And I liked the sound of 'Chai' so it was the name I finally stuck to.

I may eventually add profiles for the rest of Chai's family, -eventually-, except of course for Rusty who was killed by the coyote in the beginning.
I guess I'll have to decide what happened to Chai's siblings now, huh? That'll have to be another story (Sakura, I probably will add a profile; I left it open as to what happened to Sakura after the coyote incident. I didnt say she was killed, only that Chai never saw her again. I havent really decided what to do about Sakura, to be honest. Perhaps someday Chai will see her again, perhaps not...)

Now, as for that coyote....so a coyote wouldn't actually kill and eat a fox unless it was realy hungry? that was sorta the idea here...that coyote was a loner, who had wandered in from a neighboring coyote territory (possibly ejcted from the pack, etc?), and so I guess you could assume that it might be pretty hungry, hmm ?(this was my thinking, anyway) If that wouldn't work, though, what animal, if any, do you think I might be able to substitute for that coyote? bear in mind here that one of the ideas with the coyote was to have a bad experience for Chai in the wild, to make him all that much more jumpy now that he's back..

But small game would have kept the coyote company; only if there was no small game would have the coyote gone after the foxes. Foxes aren't to be taken lightly in the wild, they're pretty good at defending themselves.
Besides from the pictures I've seen of foxes in the wild, they're so skinny they don't look anything like a good meal.

Anyways, a good subsitute could be what you said, a bear. How would the bear fit in though? I dunno. Or maybe a raptor, since foxes' natural enemies are eagles and hawks.

A bear was my first thought if the coyote wouldnt work (it would make an excellent 'big huge monster' effect), but.....I cant quite see a bear eating a fox (let alone being able to catch one ) I personally have never heard of a bear eating a fox. What do you think?

An eagle or a falcon? hmm...well, unfortunately for the story, a bird of prey woud probably swoop down, take the fox (Rusty), and leave. Which would change the whole thing because Sakura wouldn't have had to run off like she did with a predator chasing her.

That would pretty much ruin everything. Story-wise, of course; Chai and the rest of his family would still be together, and the story would end happily ever after. The story would be too short, and that just wouldn't do.

I personally would rather to keep the coyote, as that makes the most sense to me. And besides, I'm the author, I have a bit of creative license, don't I?

Nothing really eats foxes, except for raptors. As far as I know, coyotes and wolves only attack foxes over territorial purposes.

But it's your story. True, the coyote sounds best for the story.

Okay, I'm preparing for a major update in a few days..among other things, I'm going to rewrite "Shattered" from scratch, but not all at once. I'm going to put much more length into this one, and describe Chai's individual experiences in more detail, with focus on each event as it occurs, much like episodes in a TV show or something, complete with the much beloved AND much hated cliffhangers between parts. There will be things that were never written in the old story, and new characters as well. As I finish each part, I'll post it not in this thread, but in a new thread I'll be creating when the time comes.

I will be putting a lot of work and epmphasis into keeping things true to real life. Where I end up using a little creative license, or I just find it a good time to explain what's happening, I'll be adding short notes here and there with actual facts on foxes that I've learned, so as to make things more interesting.

If it sounds like a big undertaking, that's because, to me at least, it is. Being in college right now, I'm not entirely certain how much free time I'll have on my hands, but I'm gonna make the most of it. My goals in writing this story are:

1: To keep myself learning about foxes as I write, and

2: To teach others what I've learned about foxes through my stories, and encourage them to learn more about foxes and other animals themselves.

Oh, and also to have fun writing, of course!

As for RP, I'm going to scrap the RP until further notice, and write my own story of Chai's adventures past that point. I actually have a brand new character in mind right now for that purpose, but I'm keeping it a secret until that point in the story when it's time.

I'm removing the old, shorter version of the story, from the profile right now, so if you haven't read it and you dont know Chai's story, then you'll just have to say tuned; I promise, you're in for a treat!

Okay, I know I promised an update a while back, and I've been meaning to post the first part of Chai's story (believe me, it's shaping up to be a great tale!), but thing is, I was sorta sidetracked by my Wolf Awareness Week 07 contest entry, so I didnt quite finish part one when I had intended to. Never fear, It will be out REAL soon, mabye even later tonight!

The good news, is, the delay gave me more time to think about things, and I got a few rad new plot ideas which I cant wait to get going on.

Stat tuned!