<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>The Fuchsia Fox and an Artifact Absent</strong></span></div><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/rrbvOfC.png)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Nerissa<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>December 26th, 2018 |<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>The Pawnhouse Zaisan<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Toshiro<br/><strong>EXTRA:</strong><br/><strong>WEARING:</strong><br/><br/><hr/><br/>“I’m sorry to disappoint you. It’s just a regular sword, but it looks cool.” The small grin on her lips told that she wasn’t really offended by his comment. Especially when she got the human man reach to her and touch her ears. The simple gesture made the fox demon wag her tail with joy. She did a good job! However she didn’t have much time to enjoy from that small success before Toshiro scared her away with the careless way of handling the vine bomb.<br/><br/>“Hmm… I could use the sword to do that, but it won’t last long once I let go of it. Maybe two minutes and then it’s gone. We need to find something else to jam the fan.” Nerissa didn’t have enough time to look around when she heard the sounds of someone being at the deer and went to hide with Toshiro.<br/><br/>Some mice appeared from under the dumpster that the pair used as their cover. Carefully Nerissa retreated away from two mice, rustling on a used fast food cardboard box. Her warm body pressed closer to Toshiro’s, leaving the man in a squeeze between her and the dumpster. The golden eyes observed the small demon mice drag with determination the box away. The fox demon was uncomfortably aware that Toshiro was breathing on her tail. If the situation had been different she would have shoved him with an elbow to remind the human that it wasn’t appropriate to touch her tail like that. Now all she could do was stay still and listen. The mice kept rustling for some time on the alley before they were gone and she couldn’t hear the bigger demon either.<br/><br/>“Ssh…” Nera whispered back to Toshiro and moved to take a peek at the alley. The door was closed and there was no one. No demon mice or big stupid demons. “He is gone.” The girl sighed from relief and stood up. “You shouldn’t put your face on someone’s tail like that… Not without asking at least…” Nera mumbled quietly as she walked under the vent. The fan spun. “Hmm… We need to find something to jam it still.”<br/><br/>The demon coming to the door had interrupted their conversation, so she returned to it now. “If I hold the collar when I shapeshift into a fox you wouldn’t see a thing. It’s because… hmm… how to explain it? Everything that is near me, close to my body will transform with me. My clothes and everything else I have on me, will become a part of transformation. You should put the collar on me after the transformation, and please remove the bell. I can’t be heard.”<br/><br/>She returned to the dumpster to look for something that would do the job, and not disappear in two minutes. “Toshiro, can you reach that table leg? We can use it.” She tried to get it herself before asking, but it was too far for her and she wasn’t going to climb in the dumpster. After they had shoved the wooden leg in the vent and jammed the van still there was still enough space for one small fox to crawl inside the dark ventilation shaft.<br/><br/>“I’m going to see if I can at least see where the statue is. Could you lift me up?” Nerissa asked and turned to look at Toshiro. Suddenly the fox demoness stepped closer. Really close. Her soft and petite body against the human as she lightly wrapped her arms around the researcher. “Hold me tightly, please” The girl requested before she poofed into her fox form. Nerissa didn’t want to walk without shoes on the dirty ground, she hoped that Toshiro would understand to hold her so she wouldn’t fall on the ground.<br/><br/>The little fox waited patiently for the human to put the red collar around her neck before lifting her up on the ventilation shaft. Her golden eyes looked one more time at Toshiro and she nodded like signaling that she was ready to go. Once Toshiro gave her the demon compass the white fox crawled from between the still fan blades and walked forward towards the darkness. The further she advanced the darker it got. Finally it was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing even with her night vision.<br/><br/>Suddenly the ground disappeared from under her legs. The shaft made a 90 degrees turn down. The fox fell and slid down like it was a miniature slide. The compass slipped from her mouth and slid till the end of the shaft, stopping at a cover.<br/><br/>The good news was that she was in the storage room. She saw shelves filled with a variety of items. The shelves were packed full and some bigger things were on the floor in crates or leaning against a wall. The bad news was that there was a grid at the end of the shaft. Quietly the fox approached the grit and tried to push it off with her small frame. Nera knew it was useless before she even did it, but she didn’t have better ideas. When the cover didn’t budge she returned at the direction she came from. The shaft rose up in a very steep corner. It was too high for her to jump there. The demon fox tried climbing, her nails scratching against the surface but she got nowhere. Via the streaming Toshiro could hear how Nerissa let out a deep, sad sigh.<br/><br/>Oh no… This was bad. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t get back and she couldn’t break out of the shaft either. The only comfort in this situation was that she didn’t see or hear the demon anywhere. And the compass had couple green light blinking, so the statue had to be quite near.<br/>