<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;">The Mysteries of Mice and Unintended Introductions</span></strong></span></div><hr/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a5/4a/d0/a54ad0c78fe6f6ed9893fe8a6eb846e1.jpg)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Date Toshiro<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>January 14th, 2020, 11:30 PM<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>SOPHE Headquarters, Toshiro's Laboratory<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>None<br/><strong>EXTRA:</strong>Late night science.<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong>As pictured, but with a Polkadot Stingray (https://www.nautiljon.com/images/more/01/27/135972.jpg) shirt beneath his lab coat.<br/><hr/>While there were many researchers in SOPHE's employ that would find the state of the newly promoted Research Lead Toshiro Date's office and private laboratory to be an utter travesty of disorganized clutter, the ever clever scientist insisted that the unpacked boxes of equipment, furniture, and files were more than sufficient enough tabletops and chairs for the interim. All around the room, from the stark white wall at the back separating his office from his bedroom, to the two large transparent walls that separated the room from the far larger common laboratories located on the other side, and to the large window that stood between the lab and his balcony garden, stacks of boxes and carts of files were strewn and stacked with no labeling or marking to indicate that they had been placed with any particular reason. Atop most of the boxes were scattered papers from the various departments that Toshiro had now found himself overseeing, each almost uniformly now adorned with drawings in the margins either pertaining to their subject matter, or representing some form of a lovingly detailed Marceline the cat in the midst of various motions. While it was difficult to blame visual phenomenon on shadows under the stark glow of the white panel lights above that burned so brightly against the dark night outside his window, one could almost find themselves believing that they could see, out of the corner of their eyes, these well rendered flat felines actually engaging in the motions that they were drawn in.<br/><br/>Along the so far mostly unadorned back wall rested a number of rectangular transparent containers of various sizes stacked from the floor to the ceiling, each only similar in whatever material they were made of, the swinging doors at the front of each of them, and the thin inch-wide ribbons of worn and yellowed papyrus that rested across the cases' fronts, each adorned in a number of faintly visible symbols and holding with a rigidity that defied their decrepit appearance. The various containers all had a unique lock, each fashioned out of a uniquely colored metal above which a warning sticker seemed to warn off sticking one's finger into the keyhole unless the hypothetical curious lock prober didn't mind losing a finger. Yet for all of this, what seemed to be security, these cases were almost all empty. The only exceptions being an old scruffy doll with a green floral patterned dress sitting among furnishings common to the American 1920s, a peculiar haniwa statue with ruby eyes and golden inlay arranged in symbols recognized neither by humans or any of the demons on staff at SOPHE, and a rather unassuming rock covered with moss that slowly and subtly shifted between forest green and dark teal hues.<br/><br/>At the center of the room an especially large box, with imagery indicating it contained an impressive desk with padded corners and a number of steel drawers, sat as a makeshift work surface; its glossy surface, much like the rest of the room, covered in miscellaneous papers, half eaten dry ramen noodle cakes, and a large glass tank with a dense white sheet thrown over it. Besides the tank rested a pair of copper bangles, each attached to a pair of vice grips as make shift handles, the bangles themselves were connected with a series of wires to a rather unique appearing machine with an undeniably antique appearance, its interface made up of rows of unlabeled iron switches and knobs rather than more modern touch or key pad oriented interfaces, its only display a small iron arrow behind a half circle pane of glass residing in front of a diagram written out in the Persian alphabet.<br/><br/>It was a rare sight for Doctor Toshiro Date to be present in the laboratories of SOPHE after all his colleagues and recently made charges had left for the night. It was his firm belief that a mind too dedicated towards a single thing became overly rigid in its approach, leaving the owner with a lack of creativity in regards to solving whatever quandaries it may face. That being said, there were two other things he believed with equal fervency, that the task he was working on could only be overseen by the most talented researcher SOPHE possessed; and that demon mice, much like many of their Earth based counter parts, had a preference for late hours and still surroundings in which to enjoy cheese and milk.<br/><br/>Slowly pulling the tank's covering away as to not too suddenly introduce its two inhabitants to the undeniably bright light of his room, Toshiro couldn't help but take a moment to sigh at the exact same sight he'd taken in when he had put the covering over the tank previously. Atop a bed of freshly shredded paper sat a pair of what at first glance would appear to be a mouse and a rat. It would only be on closer inspection that one might notice the differences between these once servants of Osefo and regular rodents, the somewhat larger of the pair having a fairly pronounced musculature covered with oddly majestic golden fur that seemed to grow longer around the head than it did the rest of the body. The smaller creature had a far more diminutive build, but it's flawless black fur grew with the same similarity to human hair, yet more remarkable still was the faint silhouette of a tiny crown that floated above it's head, the unmistakable marking of Osefo's favored.<br/><br/>It was not these visual details that sunk Toshiro's spirits momentarily, but the unchanged behavior of the tank's inhabitants, the same behavior they seemed to have been locked into since the death of Osefo. Frozen in place, the rat held an exceedingly dynamic pose that seemed to speak to what a warrior might adopt as they skillfully dodged over an on coming projectile while readying some form of weapon to counter with, the creature's face stuck in an surprisingly expressive look of disdain and focus. The smaller demon's posture was far less dignified, but equally expressive. Pressing it's large round ears down over it's eyes, it had been locked in a perpetual cower behind the more martially inclined of the pair, or at least that's how Toshiro had imagined things.<br/><br/>After removing the tank's lid, Toshro swapped out the still untouched plate of day old cheese and milk he'd placed the previous night with a fresh meal. He then carefully removed the two occupants and placed them on to his makeshift desk box desk. “And how are you two tonight? Any changes?” Toshiro knew from experience that these sorts of questions never evoked a response, but he wasn't sure if his vacant eyed subjects could hear him or not, and so he thought it best to attempt to be as polite as he could. “I finally got my hands on the arcanometer, I'm betting it'll help us figure out what's got the two of you stuck like that.” Toshiro gestured towards the antique machine before picking up the more pliable and smaller specimen before gently placing it's head through one bangle, and it's tail through the other. “I'm sorry if this hurts, it shouldn't, nobody's ever complained about these things hurting before, but we haven't really had a case like yours before.”<br/><br/>Instantly the needle on the arcanometer began to swivel ever so slightly in recognition of the small trace of magic passing through the tiny demon's body, the readings changing slightly as Toshiro continuously adjusted the placement of the bangles to better analyze the various parts of the 'mouse's' body. Unsurprisingly, at first the highest reading seemed to occur when the bangles inched closer to the illusionary crown that floated above the creature's head. Less expected was the far higher and wildly varying readings the machine picked up on as the bangles passed closer to the demon's tail. In an instant the readings flicked from almost absolutely no magic, to a level of magic usually only seen in far older and more powerful demons, before once again showing an utter absence of energy. Toshiro furrowed his brow in confusion at this peculiar phenomenon, and he usually would have imagined it was the result of faulty equipment, but the arcanometer, once set, had never observably made an error in the process of measuring magical energy. “That's... weird...” Toshiro whispered to himself as he continued to run the same examination over and over again in order to make sure that the arcanometer wasn't simply picking up on some errant thread of energy that might be radiated from a nearby demon or artifact, and yet the readings seemed to be mostly consistent.