Kou and Alex Lore Writeup (Patreon)

Kou and Alex

Basic Info:

Age: 1000+ (Kou), 26 (Alex)

Gender: Genderqueer They/Them (Kou), Genderfluid He/She (form dependent)(Alex)

Height: Flexible (Kou), 5'9" (Alex, mostly)

Bio:

• Kou
  • (Original) Much of Kou's life is shrouded in mystery (a.k.a. I haven't made it up yet) but we do know they've been romantically involved with humans before. 200 years prior to meeting Alex they were sealed in an orb the size of a large marble for stumbling onto something they shouldn't have, and they effectively remained in a half-asleep state for those 200 years. Upon the orb's ingestion by Alex, they were half-unsealed and able to take over Alex's body to do... stuff. And things.
  • (Patron) Full disclosure, Kou's patron version is a little less fleshed out than Alex's mage version-- most of what I have is that they're an earthly "beast" god (as opposed to a celestial one) and that means they're looked down upon by so-called celestial gods. They're somewhat bitter about that. They took an immediate shine to Mage!Alex for some reason (maybe it was the repression) and are invested in seeing him blossom.
  • (Rowanverse 2024) Co-owner of an antique shop in Varie City with Alex. Kou is still a nine-tailed fox spirit here, though they keep it quiet for reasons specific to that setting.
• Alex
  • (Original) Alex is very... Normal. For the most part. The falling in love with the fox possessing him is a bit odd, but we'll get to that. He has a somewhat strained relationship with his parents, as he failed to meet their expectations with regards to his schooling and post-college life. His meeting with Kou happened in part because he was working for his friend who owned an antique shop. Said friend was a witch who also dealt in magic items. Kou's orb was something she'd picked up at random-- she herself wasn't even sure what it was until Alex swallowed it. Alex went home post-swallowing and took a nap, and when he woke up he found it was not sleep paralysis that gripped him, but Kou.
  • (Mage) A mage from a well-to-do family that works as an assistant professor at a prestigious mage school. His home life was somewhat... rocky. In that up until he was about maybe 10 or so he lived a pretty charmed life-- then his mother found out his father was a fox spirit and chased him out of the house. Alex's family was a bit prejudiced, you see, and for them in particular having nonhuman blood in what was supposed to be an heir was shameful. When the rest of the family found out about this, Alex's mother was passed over for the position of head-of-house and Alex was treated... gingerly. And then one day Alex grew a tail.
    • His treatment got worse from there, as his extended family looked on him with disdain. Eventually his mother grew so tired of the social stigma that she took Alex and cut his tail off. This understandably traumatized Alex, and when he found he enjoyed studying magic he used that to leave his family as soon as possible. He can't entirely cut them off, but his life at the school is a much happier one.
  • (Rowanverse 2024) Co-owner of an antique shop in Varie City with Kou. Desperately wants to become a spirit in order to live a long life with Kou. Most of the ways for a human to become a spirit involve dying, unfortunately, and Alex doesn't want to bet on a gamble.

Rough Timeline of Events:

(For "level of fleshed out" reasons this will just cover the original universe)

(Also some parts are subject to change)

• Kou is sealed in the orb.
• 200 years pass.
• Alex is mucking around in Iro (the witch)'s store, and accidentally swallows the orb.
• Alex goes home and Kou takes over his body for the first time.
• They're forced to spend time together, and though they don't always get along at first they come to care for each other.
  • The majority of my doodles where they're still in the same body come from this period
• (Insert romantic tension)
• Kou is released from Alex's body
• The Fox Juice
  • A juice made of concentrated fox tail magic that will slowly (or quickly, depending on formulation) turn the imbiber into a fox spirit.
    • Alex maybe becomes a fox spirit(?)
  • I'm having trouble deciding on whether the spirit world vacation happens before or concurrently with the Fox Juice, vote now on your phones!
• Kou and Alex go on a vacation to the spirit world
  • Alex gets possessed
  • Kou and Alex fight
  • ???
  • Profit
• Maybe the apocalypse happens?
• 100 years pass
• Kou and Alex have fox eggs

Extra:

• "Default" forms when transforming are somewhat decided by genetics (somehow). Kou says Alex's big boobs in femme mode are because of his mom. Alex says he doesn't want to think about that.
• When using Alex's body, Kou doesn't change Alex's trademark weird hair spike- so if you're trying to determine if it's Alex being possessed by Kou in a piece of art, look for the hair spike.
• Fox spirits in their universe declare their betrothal and marriage with earrings, for the dual purpose of a statement of longevity (piercings aren't so easy to undo) and that they translate better when a fox transforms. Usually.

I'm kind of concerned I left something out from the twitter version of this lol so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask!