<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 | 7:00 PM<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Pawnhouse Zaisan, The Gate<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Nerissa | Mentions:<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. Currently Toshiro's hood is up, and he's borrowing a black angora scarf from Nerissa.<br/><hr/>With the soft fur of Nerissa's head and ears so enthusiastically rubbing his face, Toshiro couldn't help but press his cheek against the luxuriously soft fur in kind for a moment, his lips widening in a smile over chattering teeth. Even though Toshiro hadn't put much thought into the effects Nerissa's reverse transformation would have on the items pressed against her in her fox form, it was fairly easy to assume by the way she pawed at her collar that the result of leaving it on would be unpleasant to say the least. Carefully removing the collar and placing it along with the compass back into his messenger bag, the chilled researcher returned his gaze back to Nerissa just in time to see her reverting to the the form Toshiro was more familiar with.<br/><br/>There wasn't much time to interject amid all of Nerissa's excitement as her voiced fears over what she'd seen of the Pawnhouse's more grizzly wares dissolved into a daze as she eyed Toshiro's injuries. Slowly tracing her fingertips against his skin, Toshiro couldn't help but flinch at the touch, less from any sort of pain, and more for his body's subconscious fear of it. Seeing the tears begin to stream from her eyes and not wanting to inflict further guilt than he'd already subjected her to, Toshiro quickly pulled his clothes back on to spare her the sight of what Toshiro was almost certain wasn't her fault.<br/><br/>While Toshiro might not have been the most socially graceful of individuals, it was simple enough to imagine what was going on in Nerissa's mind. She had been trapped in almost utter darkness at the bottom of a cold vent, unable to do anything save fearing the worst, a level of horror that must have been only exacerbated at the sight of a severed tail of a fox demon alongside other similarly macabre stock. On top of this, if Nerissa were an ounce as empathetic as she seemed on the outside, she must have been aghast to see the state of his body, a tapestry of bruised and torn flesh held together by bandages and a purple balm of some sort that clung to Nerissa's finger as she touched him, a strong antiseptic and floral scent akin to lemongrass mingling among the unfathomable odor of the alley to create a truly malignant scent. Were Nerissa's relationship with her siblings at all similar to Toshiro's she couldn't help but feel responsible for the actions of her sister, no matter how undeserving of that burden she was.<br/><br/>Toshiro doubted that Nerissa's regrettable belief that her sibling's sins were hers to atone for would allow her to leave Toshiro to recover the statue on his own even if he told her to leave, and as much as he would have liked to believe he would offer her the opportunity to do so otherwise, he knew that at this point he needed her with him in order to return the artifact to SOPHE. Still, this justification did little to assuage the massive guilt the researcher felt building inside of him, not only for having involved and worried someone who had been so kind to him, but also for the knowledge that his actions had certainly put his sisters on a similar road of forced penance for their youngest sibling's cruelties.<br/><br/>Against the weighty sight of Nerissa's abundant distress and the feeling of her soft lips against Toshiro's hand, it took every ounce of willpower he had not to collapse to the lingering physical and emotional torment that racked his body and join her in lamenting their miserable situation. However he was determined not to make Nerissa's considerable load any heavier, as above all else, it was his job to alleviate suffering whenever he could manage it, consequences be damned. Placing his free hand on Nerissa's head once again, he comfortingly rubbed along the base of her ears in the same manner as before, his fingers and keen memory now far more attuned to where she had previously seemed to enjoy his gesture the most. Then slowly the far taller man clenched his teeth through the pain of exertion as he stooped and bowed until his forehead pressed high against her, his voice firm certainty but still laced with warmth even as the lingering chill stuttered his words, “H-hey. You haven't done anything wrong Nerissa. You're helping me out of the g-goodness of your heart, not because any of this is cause of something you d-did.”<br/><br/>Leaning in closer to her ear, he lowered his voice as not to grate against her apparently heightened sensitivity to sound before whispering, “Also I'm sorry if I got the wrong meaning about what I'm about t-to do, but you can always just slap me if it turns out I'm just being a perv.” Then bringing his mouth to the base of her neck, he slowly licked upward along the same path and with an attempt at the same comforting speed she'd afforded him only a short time ago in her car. Assuming he hadn't misunderstood what he thought to be a reassuring gesture among fox demons, Toshiro would continue with that same reassuring certainty in his voice, “I'm f-freezing out here. Mind if we warm up in your car until they close up shop?” While he was cold, this was more and excuse to get Nerissa somewhere to sit in relative security where she might have a less rancid venue to come to terms with her stress instead of the increasingly inhospitable alley way. The plan may have been to visit the mahjong parlor initially, but with the readings Nerissa had managed to take from inside the vent, and with eyes full of tears making for difficulty in reading tiles, Toshiro figured that a location of warm solitude might be the preferred next stop for the both of them.<br/><br/>As they walked, Nerissa's arm in Toshiro's if she would take it, Toshiro couldn't help but ask both for the sake of taking Nerissa's mind away from the less desirable things she'd seen as well out of genuine curiosity, “Could you tell me more about the Snufflewomp? I'm not really familiar with it, but it was kind of cute.”