>>/232050/
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Ran, is in fact, Ran/shikigami, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Ran plus a shikigami. Ran is not an independently functioning familiar unto itself, but rather a base platform for a fully functioning shikigami system made useful by binding rituals, esoteric programming and familiar contracts comprising a full youkai as defined by the spellcard rules. Many onmyouji create modified shikigami from mundane animals every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the shikigami that is commonly used by Yukari Yakumo today is often called "Ran", and many of its acquaintances are not aware that it is basically a standard shikigami behavioral algorithm, projected onto a fox. There really is a Ran, and these people are interacting with her, but she is just a part of the composite familiar that executes Yukari's programming. Ran is the hardware: the corporeal part of a shikigami that provides the resources for the familiar to operate. The base animal is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it only complies with your directives in the context of a complete shikigami system. Ran is kept under control through the presence of a shikigami algorithm: the whole system is basically Ran with a shikigami added, or Ran/shikigami. All the so-called Ran boss fights are really fights with Ran/shikigami!