<div align="center"><a name="user_fuschsiafox"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>The Fuchsia Fox and an Artifact Absent</strong></span></a></div><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3f/cb/51/3fcb513183b094b643a10c74bed38b1e.jpg)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Date Toshiro<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>December 26th, 2018 | 4:00 – 5:00 PM<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Nerissa's Bank | Pawnhouse Zaisan, The Gate<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Nerissa | Mentions: The Papayo<br/><strong>EXTRA:</strong><br/><strong>WEARING:</strong>An overly large gray hoodie with a Polkadot Stingray emblem (https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.746250090.2683/ssrco,lightweight_hoodie,mens,grey_lightweight_hoodie,front,square_product,x600-bg,f8f8f8.2u3.jpg), black jeans, and his worn running shoes.<br/><hr/>Toshiro chewed on his lip for a moment in hesitation at calling what he did theft for a moment before deciding that it really didn't matter if it was a correct term or not. Appreciating the razor sharp intellect that Nerissa showed in validating what he had thought, he replied with an obvious note of happiness in his voice, “That's exactly what I was thinking! All I have to do is find the right catalyst, the right trigger, and it'll do... something! And if we don't know what that something is, we can't treat it the way in needs to be treated. True understanding, that's the only way to be sure that it won't bite us.” Toshiro seemed to stare through the images on the tablet as if his mind was somewhere else entirely as he spoke these latter words, but such a slip could be easily attributed to fatigue.<br/><br/>At Nerissa's mention of Toshiro's assumed friends, the scientist could only scratch his chin idly for a moment before answering somewhat hesitantly as the truth of the matter usually attracted a measure of sympathy towards his situation that he found both unnecessary and somewhat insulting, “Oh I wouldn't worry about bothering my friends, but neither of them makes for the best holiday company.” Toshiro wracked his brain in attempt to think on who he'd call a friend beyond Albion and Marceline before shrugging as he came up wanting, “Yeah just the two, one of them isn't the jolliest person to be around on the holidays, and the other is a cat.” Not wanting to bring the mood too low with his socially less acceptable ring of friends he added, “I was kinda spending it with Tulip, the owner of the Indigo Lounge, it's a jazz lounge pretty near here. Although that's more her building up a college fund for her kids by keeping me plied with booze.” Turning to give Nerissa a somewhat incredulous look at her invitation to spend Christmas with her and the woman who had both played on his insecurities and loneliness before leaving him nearly dead, Toshiro furrowed his brow for a moment in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head, “That's nice of you to offer but I really don't think there's much chance me and your sister are ever going to sit together at a dinner table.”<br/><br/>Toshiro could only spin the chopsticks nimbly in his hands before bringing them to a sudden halt to pick a single tiny noodle fragment from the broth with a smile. Raising his eyebrows somewhat at Nerissa's forwardness, Toshiro could only laugh at her audaciousness before replying confidently, “Well I haven't had any complaints. About my 'finger game', not the guitar. It's a good way of making sure every walks away happy. Again, not the guitar.” Taking another deep swallow of broth he rocked his head side to side for a moment before adding candidly, “Although to be fair, I've paid for most of my partners to be my partners so... it's a bit hard to tell how much of the moaning is for show.” Never having been one to concern himself with what others didn't consider worth voicing, he'd never really agonized over whether or not this was the case.<br/><br/>“As for how good I am at the guitar? Well I'm technically flawless." Toshiro made this undeniably outrageous claim with a completely straight face and no trace of irony, "I can see a piece played and have it replicated in almost no time, pitch, tempo, dynamic and all, but I'm no artist.” With the same small smile he had when discussing Christmas he added, “Now my sister, she's the musical genius, went from being a punk, to an idol, to an punk-idol, and now she's a producer. Anyways, she always told me, her words not mine, 'Toshi, you're as fucking bland as that boring fucking unseasoned ramen shit you eat all the time.'” Toshiro couldn't help but laugh at the memory before waving his hand to dismiss the self-indulgent nostalgia trip. “Point is, some would say I'm the guitarist equivalent of a drum machine. I hit all the right notes at exactly the right times, but my improv is a bit lacking. I'm pretty sure her standards are higher than most people.” Turning back towards Nerissa with a suddenly serious expression he added, “And in answer to your question, yes I want that guitar. It belongs in a museum, but I'll settle for keeping it in my apartment.”<br/><br/>Following Nerissa's lead, Toshiro leaned his seat back to give his somewhat cramped frame more room, although he wasn't quite confident enough in his state to risk taking his shoes off as she had. It was difficult to bring up given the events leading up to now, but there was a point Nerissa had brought up earlier that he couldn't help but repeat out loud in resignation for what he'd long assumed to be true, “So he's... Albion's more into guys like that huh? I mean I kinda figured that by now, I'd seen his choice company on the rarer occasions he went that way. It's kinda why I never tried to take things further, would just make things awkward. I guess that's why I was so glad when your sister approached me last night at the Indigo Lounge looking like him.” It was still undeniably humiliating to say what had happened out loud once again, especially with how absurdly foolish he saw himself for being tricked so easily, the only reason he even thought to do so was because Nerissa deserved to know why he had treated her the way he had. It couldn't make up for his increasingly more likely misdirected accusations, but the truth was certainly something she'd bought with her kindness.<br/><br/>Leaning back in his chair, Toshiro pulled a medium sized sketch pad from his messenger bag along with a pencil. Tapping the eraser to his lip in thought for a minute, he began to draw out the main room of Pawnhouse Zaisan, every artifact, piece of art, and ritualistic component replicated with stunning detail in varying values of graphite. In about an hour he'd have as useful a render as he'd need, only looking up on occasion to respond to Nerissa or take another sip of coffee. Nearing the completion of his work, as he was intensifying the shading around the drawn Nerissa's tail to really make the specular highlights pop, he asked curiously, “What do you know about Papayo?”