A Down Day with Low Pressure Polka

Even the happiest people can wake up on the wrong side of bed now and again, sometimes literally. Rolling out of bed at a comfortable time for yourself, you're surprised to see Polka still huddled up in bed with her knees to her chest. Clad in an oversized T-shirt and decidedly *under*sized boy shorts, she's curled up with her tail tucked between her legs. Aside from being an odd sleeping position for her (as normally she's nestled in close to you), the fact that Polka isn't already awake is a bit puzzling in and of itself. Polka is usually an early riser. Most mornings she sits on her phone watching one of her kouhai from the EN branch until you wake up so you can start the day together. Outside of when she plays a game into the early morning, she's really not one to sleep in. She has been working hard recently, so try to let her sleep as you stealthily roll out of bed to put together a breakfast.

Since Polka is the morning person of your little household normally she's the one who cooks something using the skills she picked up from when she used to room with a few other girls. When you've almost finished making your simple breakfast and Polka still isn't up, you decide to check on her and give her a nudge, which has quite the unexpected effect. Still mostly asleep, Polka digs herself even deeper into bed and mumbles "Itai" to herself a few times before covering her head with a pillow. You certainly know enough Japanese to know that "Itai" means "Ow", which means something is definitely off with Polka today. You decide to continue your morning routine by yourself while you try and figure out what could be bothering her. She was perfectly healthy last night, so it's unlikely she's sick. She got plenty of sleep, so there shouldn't be an issue there, either. As you mull over your theories you flip through a few apps on your phone when the weather app catches your eye. Popping open the app you completely ignore the temperature and look at the barometric pressure down below it. Confirming your suspicions, you see the cause for Polka's discomfort: a severe low pressure system is in effect.

For the longest time in your relationship, Polka was a tad too embarrassed to explain how she reacted to low pressure systems. Early on she had the mindset that you only wanted the excitable and boisterous parts of Polka and nothing else. It took a while for you to whittle her down and get an explanation on why she never let you come over on strangely cloudy days. The only time she'd ever cancel date nights would also be on days like that, when normally absolutely nothing would stand between her and an excuse to spend time with you. Polka is one quarter fennec fox, due to having a fennec as her grandfather. (You really hope that isn't as simple as it sounds, but decided not to ask) Fennecs are desert foxes that live in places like the Sahara desert. The Sahara desert is a low altitude area with a weather system that also encourages high air pressure, and it seems animals like fennecs are designed for that. Which in turn means that low pressure is not something fennecs are accustomed to. Whenever the air pressure drops it wreaks havoc on Polka's fox ears, giving her severe migraines. This ends up souring her mood, and she usually spends days like this in a funk as she's too exhausted to take care of herself beyond the bare minimum.

Checking the notebook she keeps by her streaming setup, you confirm that she has a collab with the rest of 5th gen planned today. When Polka has a low pressure day she usually cancels any commitments she has, but she'll wake up the next day feeling sad and guilty over doing that, which will end up causing her to have another down day. Polka's mood has a certain inertia to it. So long as she keeps moving forward, she's happy as can be. But once something stops her it's hard for her to get going again as she gets bogged down by judging herself for her moment of weakness. Reflecting on these facts steels your resolve. You may not be able to change the weather, but you can definitely change your girlfriend's mood. You're gonna get Low Pressure Polka back into peak condition! An hour or two more of sleep won't hurt her, so you quickly get dressed and head out to grab all the supplies you think will aid you on your mission.

When you crack open the door to your apartment you see the lights remain off, so you assume Polka is still asleep. This is proven false almost immediately when you turn to lock the door, as a fast moving weight collides with your back. Almost immediately two arms wrap around your torso and you feel the brush of a fluffy tail against your leg. You stand there in silence for a moment or two patting Polka's arm with your free hand before she utters her first few words of the day in an especially dry sounding whisper.

"I missed you."

Turning to face Polka, you can see her features dimly using what light shines through the covered window nearby. Her hair is ruffled and her braid is undone. She's still in her sleeping clothes, and she seems just a bit unsteady on her feet, her tail lazily swaying back and forth with her body. Her fennec ears are drooping, though at the slightest sound they twitch slightly, likely due to how sensitive they are right now. Taking a moment to look you over, she notices that you have a few different plastic bags in one arm. Wordlessly you usher her over to a seat at the kitchen table before taking one yourself, making sure not to turn on the lights or make any loud noises to worsen her headache.

"I'll take care of you today, alright? Just let me do everything until you feel better." you say in the lowest voice you can.

Polka squirms slightly in her seat, apparently a bit embarrassed at how helpless she it at the moment. Seizing this moment, you set the first part of your plan into action by setting down some pain medication and a canned drink in front of Polka. She has a bad habit of not restocking her supplies after a low pressure day, so she never ends up having the things which help her feel better. Today you decided to do that for her, getting her some medicine and one of her favorite drinks to keep her hydrated.

Polka's eyes move back and forth between the drink and the pill bottle, before grabbing the drink and looking it over.

"This one…you can't get this near here. Did you go all the way to-"

You nod and explain that was part of the reason you were gone for a while.

Polka blushes slightly before cracking the can open and taking a sip. She smiles slightly before eyeing the pill pottle, at which point her smile deepens. She grabs both the bottle and the can before taking a seat in your lap facing you.

"You did say you'd do everything for me today, right?", Polka whispers into your ear before lightly shaking the bottle.

She unscrews the top and places a pill in your hand and then rolls her tongue out of her mouth, staring at you all the while. Getting the message, you place the pill on the center of her tongue (trying not to linger lest you be distracted by the heat of her breath) after which she retracts her tongue and hands you the can. Bringing it to her lips, you gingerly tip the can back as you watch the muscles of her neck flex as she downs the pill. Not wanting the moment to end, Polka holds your hand in place as she continues drinking a while longer. She giggles to herself as she wipes a stray drop off her face.

Already feeling like your plan to improve Polka's mood is going fantastically, you decide to move onto stage two. Polka has trouble eating when she's under the weather, as her migraines come with a bit of nausea. So the solution for this is so grab her something she enjoys that isn't too much for an unsteady stomach. You know the perfect thing, especially because she's mentioned it onstream. You set the box in front of her and wait for the realization to hit her as she opens the package.

"This is that really great salmon sushi!" She exclaims, before cupping her own ears in response to her volume. "That's on a whole other end of town from where you needed to be to get the drink…"

Polka looks guilty momentarily before you stroke her cheek. That brightens her mood again and she leans into the caress with her face, nuzzling your hand as a few stray strands of her hair pass over your hand due to her movement. She then busies herself with the sushi, and you hope to yourself that you bought enough. One a good day Polka can put away ten plates of this stuff, something she's quite embarrassed about. She has you feed her the last piece (mumbling something about "you should get to enjoy this too, you know") and then smiles contentedly.

Polka is now fed, medicated and hydrated, which means her odds of feeling better are rising by the minute. But she's still a ways away from being ready for her collab today. Even if she *feels* a lot more like Polka, she'll still be too shy to stream if she doesn't look like how she thinks Polka, Ringleader of the Hologram Circus should look. Right now she looks like a sleepy foxgirl with a bad case of bed head. So, you gesture in the direction of the shower and offer to get Polka cleaned up. The sides of her mouth curl slightly at the implications of this suggestion, and she heads in that direction. It's not lost on you that she made a point of steadying her walk into a sexy sway as she walked by.

It will still take the meds and water a bit to kick in, so you decide against turning on the lights as you enter the bathroom. As there's no window here that puts you and Polka in complete darkness. Luckily you've taken no shortage of showers in your life here and can find your way around fairly well just by groping your surroundings. As you get the shower started and the temperature nice and steamy (which is good for headaches) You hear Polka rustling around behind you. By now Polka is likely clad in nothing but darkness, but those shadows are making for some damn fine lingerie as your mind tries to imagine what she looks like. "Sometimes less is more" and all that. She walks up and kisses your shoulder as she hops into the shower and you disrobe and follow after her.

Polka is still fairly drained and her collab's start time is fast approaching, so you make peace with the fact that this shower will stop at ecchi rather than explicit. All handling of your foxy girlfriend (pun intended) will be for productive purposes. Polka has an elaborate routine of shampooing and conditioning necessary to making her golden locks and tail look their best, so she asks you to handle soaping her while she does the rest. As the shower fills with the rosy scent of her shampoo, you pour some of her liquid soap onto a washcloth and get to work. As you are consistently reminded whenever you get an opportunity to run your hands over Polka, her body is a product of both halves of her lifestyle. On one hand, Polka is a home body who doesn't get out all too much, making her skin smooth and springy to the touch, with an alluring amount of give in the areas where squishiness is most appreciated. (You utter a prayer of thanks to that sushi restaurant for maintaining her impressive thighs) But at the same time, Polka is a one woman circus, and underneath the softness there is also a pleasant firmness to her acrobat's muscles, which are more pronounced along her shoulders and back. As she works her conditioner into her air with her hands you feel the ebb and flow of the tension in her shoulders as her muscles retract and relax.

Covered in both body soap and conditioner, you imagine Polka likely looks more like an arctic fox than a desert one as she asks you to hose her off. Occasionally as you ask her to move she'll "accidentally" bump into you in some way or another, and then play up her embarrassment. That's a good sign that she's recovering, though it also means you have to put some effort into shaking the idea of spending the rest of the day enjoying the comfort of Polka's warmth out of your head. But as you finish the process of washing, you note a hint of melancholy in her voice as she rests her head against your chest.

"I'm pretty pathetic, huh? I need all this help just to feel better." Her voice cracks slightly as she utters these words.

Despite being drained, Polka made an effort throughout today to throw bits of fanservice (err, boyfriend service) your way, and you think you've put together why. On some level, she thinks taking care of her when she's feeling needy or down is some kind of dreaded responsibility. Rather, it's another enjoyable side to Polka and it's a joy to spoil her when she needs it. Turning those feelings of love into raw charisma, you have the perfect response to her feelings of unease.

"Today made me feel a lot better, too. I'm always looking for an excuse to spend more time with you."

Bullseye. You can practically hear Cupid's arrow fly from your mouth as you bring Polka in closer. Polka wordlessly sputters for a few moments before she mumbles out an "I love you" with a breathy whisper. Between the shower and Polka, you're worried you might overheat, and decide to escort her out and then shut off the water.

As you do so Polka wraps herself in a towel and flicks on the light. She winces slightly, but it looks like your treatment did it's job. She then goes to her discarded clothes and pulls her phone out of the pile. Noticing the time, her eyes go wide.

"Yaah! I still need to do my makeup!" she shouts as she mimes drawing the little symbols that sit beneath her eyes when she's in her costume.

She quickly rushes to the door (likely on her way to her makeup table and closet) but turns to face you before you go.

"Get sick soon, okay? I can't wait to take care of you."

With a warm smile and a wink, she walks out of the room, ready for the stage once again.