With a new day having dawned the Fox had shifted to a metallic hue for his hair. Platinum. Possibly blonde, possibly just metallic, it seemed to shift depending on how the light caught it.

This morning though he was in search of prey! Gas mask shaped prey . . .

If Shokomaru knew the Fox was seeking a gas mask, he was uniquely equipped to handle the task, in truth. The Spider chuui was there at the mall looking for something at present though, and didn't know what the Kitsune was up to.

He was in yet another black suit, but this time without the tie, yet he had small pin on his lapel that showed his family mon.

He rested an arm on the other, scratching his chin as he looked around at accessories of various kinds, near the entrance of a shop. Not far from the Kitsune.

Not like the guy was hard to see, though.

The Spider gave a nod of greeting.

The nod was returned, Izumi thankful for not having to bow . . . as he never seemed to get that right.

"Daigotsu-san, I'veseenyouaroundtheMiaieventsbuthaven'ttalkedyet. I'mKitsuneIzumi."

His eyes narrowed, eyebrows showing concentration a moment.

"I've seen you too", he answered back after relaxing slightly. "Daigotsu Shokomaru, chuui of the 5th company, 9th Obsidian legion
Pleasure, Kitsune-san."

He looked one way, then the other.

"I'm looking for a gift, how about you?"

Oh, formal introductions was it?

"I'mamanageratKitsuneBiopharmaticals, PerfumeDivision. Nopresents, justagasmask. Thebigfungioutinthewildcandropsomeprettyheftyandcorrosivespores. Betterbesafefornexttripoutthere."

"Gas mask?" He hazarded a guess in all that
"If you need one, that's something i can help with."

Wow did he hope the fox said mask.

"Yeah, gasmask. Can't breathethosespores. They'lldosomeseriousdamagetoyourlungs."

He looked up hopefully yet just a little wary. All the Spider knowledge he had was filtered through Lion propaganda on the Inari's Cradle infranet.

"You'veseenamaskshop?"

He pointed further into the mall. "Was some sporting goods store down range, they'd have it. Make sure they fit it right. You'll want to bind your hair up", the.chuui advised. "If you need help I can come, but i should figure this out first."

He was still poking around at necklaces, bracelets and various netsuke.

"Berightback."

True to his word he wasn't away long, returning with a premium brand gas mask in its shiny box soon afterwards.

He'd barely looked at anything else before the Kitsune returned.

What fuels the Fox, he mused.

"Welcome back", he said, looking at a few pairs of earrings. "Hmm..."

He seemed really at a loss.

"Youlookundecided? Foundsomeoneworthyofagiftalready?"

Hyper Fox would help . . . because Hyper Fox Halps!

"Don'tneedtotellmename, justClanandgenderwilldo."

"Does it have to be clan related?" he thought about that. "I mean...there are lots of nice things that aren't blinged out clan swag."

He cleared his throat.

"It's a woman though, and it's a peace offering."

"Justsomeclansappreciatesomethingtheycancolourcoordinatewith. Oratleastnotsomethingthatthatclashes. Youwon'tgetmanyLionsthatlikesapphires."

He shrugged.

"Peaceoffering . . . wellIseewhyyou'relookinglostthen. Getthatwrongandtheladygetsangrier."

He looked through the baubles and glitter glitters as well.

"Yeah...well...", he wasn't sure he caught all that. "I have a little sense for this sort of thing, but..wait, you make perfumes right?"

"OnInari'sCradle, yes."

He continued looking at the jewellery, somewhat annoyed by the lack of foxes on the motifs.

"I might hit you up for a recommendation for that later as well, if you don't mind", he added. "Then he pointed out a particular necklace.

It looked like an origami crane made of gold.

"Who comes up with this shit..."

"Trapsfortouriststoblowcashon."

Then he thought about that.

"Whichisstrangeonafrontierplanet."

"Either that or the Phoenix have lousy taste", he offered, eyebrow quirked at trinkets. "Then again, they can't be that bad, they did invite people like us to their miai, eh?"

"WelltechnicallytheygavetheFoxoneinviteandwedecidedwhotosend. Atleasttheyrememberedus."

He looked at some earrings that were very predictably two phoenixes. Not even particularly good ones.

"Mustbesomebetterstuffheresomewhere."

"Lead on head manager", he said, in a bit of a cheeky military tempo.