A Lost Creation

Unanticipated

"Whatcha drawin', Starshine?" He asks, looking down at the sheet of paper she'd been scribbling on.

"Spinner told me he had a pet spider before. So I'm drawing him a spider." She explains, pointing at the half-shaded tarantula on the paper.

Touya shudders.

"Great, kid." Touya replies dryly.

She eyes him expectantly, as though waiting for something.
He cocks his head at her, amusement in his eyes as he tries to figure out what it is she's expecting.

"...It's good, Star. Ya should know that by now." Touya chuckles, ruffling her hair.

"Thanks." She replies, still sounding uncertain. "...You're not going to make fun of me?"

"Make fun of ya?" Touya parrots before realising his mistake.

Spinner, he always teased her for her innocent little crush on Spinner.
He was clearly getting cabin fever and losing his touch.
He puts on one of his teasing grins, reaching to pinch her cheek lovingly.

"Ah, but it's so much fun watchin' you bring it up yourself." He teases.

Her face burns under his fingertips and he chuckles, letting go of her face.

"How about you bring your little spider friend with ya? Need you to come with me someplace. But, we got rules."

"Rules?" She asks, her eyes lighting up. "Are we going to see Uncle Jin, Giran, Himiko and 'Mura?"

"Nah, princess. Nothin' that exciting." He replies apologetically. "Jus' really need to do my job. 'Kay? But... Well, obviously I can't go alone right now."

She looks a little ashamed, her eyes dropping to the floor as he says it, even though he treads lightly around the subject.
He hated that. He wasn't mad at her for being afraid, it was understandable.
But whenever he brought up how scared she was to not be around him, it was met with shame and sometimes failed attempts to prove him wrong.

"So I need you to behave yourself, yeah?" He continues, petting her hair softly to try and soothe her.

"I always behave. It's rule number four." She states.

Touya rolls his eyes. "Extra behave then."

"Okay." She agrees easily.

"You have to do what I say, got it?"

She hums a response, looking down at her drawing, looking as though she was completely uninterested again now she knew she wasn't getting to visit the others, and wanting to go back to her tarantula as soon as possible.
Touya groans internally. She just wasn't herself at the moment, understandably, but it was becoming draining for him to be around her while she's so miserable all the time. He wanted to make it better, to slowly boil the people that did this to her until the flesh melted off their bones.

"Go get changed, 'kay? Proper clothes, don't want you gettin' cold." He sighs as he stands to his full height. "I'll be outside waitin'. Make sure you have sensible shoes on, we're walkin'."

She shakes her head, grabbing his leg.
Well, it was worth a try.

He exhales heavily from his nose and motions for her to get up, following her to her bedroom as she questions him about his job, and where they're going to go, and if there's going to be any alleyways.
He answers the questions as nonchalantly as possible, making it seem like there's nothing to worry about in the hopes that his words won't feed her anxiety if he seems unbothered. It seems to work, even when he explains that yes, there will be an alleyway, she just asks if he can carry her while they walk through it.