tushanshu_logs | OPEN LOG; The Masked Man

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OPEN LOG; The Masked Man

CHARACTERS; Yokai and YOU!
DATE; Throughout the month of April. [Mostly at night.]
LOCATION; All about Keeliai!
SITUATION; A certain old man has terrible coping methods when it comes to dealing with racing thoughts and stress. A certain masked man finds himself exploring Keelai through yellowed eyes, and may or may not be running in to trouble in the meantime.
WARNINGS/RATINGS; Possible violence. Otherwise, nothing past PG-13.

See me, the red lines cry. See my role in this story, see that I have a wrong to right; see that I am power and that I will not be denied.

Callaghan hadn't chosen the mask without being ignorant of its meaning; he had, however, chosen it for a multitude of reasons. All symbolism aside, it offered full-face coverage, and hardly blocked his peripheral vision. Secured with the ski mask underneath, it would take (and had taken) a heavy strike to knock off, but since arriving here in Keeliai, he'd made a few further tweaks to ensure that if, for whatever reason, he had to don it again...

To be fair, he hadn't considered donning it for the freedom it offered. Dressing in the outfit again felt inherently good, as did running along the building edges with the microbots enhancing his movements. He did not know parkour, per se, but he didn't need to - not when the microbots were there by his feet to give him the push or pull he needed to cross an alley, not when they could toss him in to the air and his own strength could grab on to a protrusion to haul himself in to another position.

God, but this felt good. It felt right. And as long as he could keep himself out of view, the microbots next to him, and the terrain itself from betraying him...

He just had to be careful, was all. Without nearly as many microbots as he had before, he tried to keep to the shadows. And if that ended up with him overseeing a few gang members or so...?

On one hand, it wasn't any of his business.

On the other, there's something to be said about getting carried away.

((Over the course of the month, rumors will begin to spread regarding a mysterious figure, some mugging incidents [unclear as to what side they were partaking in], and some thefts as well. feel free to put a general time period/area in your first comment, or PM/plurk me and we can do something specific!))

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Xion had just begun to get her feet under her when she felt them running over her feet and shins. Swallowing another cry, she turned, attempting to take a step back, all while taking her eyes off Yokai. She swatted at them with her Keyblade, moving it indeed as if it were a sword, and certainly not as unwieldy as a normal key of that size would be.

Unfortunately, while the blow sent a slice of microbots flying, the rest were able to continue, undeterred, and the steps she took backwards were hampered by the microbots already clinging to them. It was enough, coupled with the fact that she hadn't been able to fully recover that indeed does send her toppling to the ground, narrowly avoiding hitting her head or shoulder on the opposite wall of the alleyway.

That's when she turned and glanced at Yokai again briefly, eyes full of something a lot closer to panic. She wasn't down by any stretch of the imagination, but this situation was rapidly becoming bad. But then she turned her focus back to the problem at hand and attempted to roll away from him, primarily an attempt to dislodge the microbots already gripping her legs and likewise to attmept to prevent them from pinning any more of her down.

Panic was good. Panic meant fear, and a desire to run from that fear- surely? Yokai pulled up his hands, clenching with the sudden motion. A pillar of microbots rose up for the nearest protrusion, tightening around her legs like a rope as they sought to carry her up with them- feet first.

Note to self. Find a way to replicate more.

Perhaps if he got her up, he could use her own momentum to toss her out of the way? There weren't enough to do much more than that, and as wary as he was, going further only seemed so appealing.

Being hoisted in the air, while far from comfortable, was definitely familiar territory. She'd been blasted back, air tossed, and a whole myriad of other situations that described one concept: she'd been in exposed, hazardous positions in midair plenty of times, and knew how to handle it much better.

In fact, rather than fighting it, once she realized what the tiny robots were doing, she let them. And once she was in midair, she swung herself upward in a much stronger, more practiced motion, whipping her legs around with much more force.

If the microrobots let her go, were flung off, or else tried to throw her as she was moving, then she'd be able to right herself, and land on her feet. Otherwise, she'd likely hurt herself, wrenching her legs against forces that would not give.

He hadn't quite expected her to- well, do that. Assuming that the shock of the hoist would have been enough to keep her from struggling (as well as the fear of dropping), when she twisted free of them-

-well, Yokai let her, taking a single step back as he considered that a fall could definitely hurt her. But- let her learn, something inside of him insisted, and instead of making an attempt to grab her again he brought his hands to his chest to recall the microbots.

All right, so she wasn't done- fine. If she wasn't prepared by the time she landed, or if she seemed about to land poorly- he was more than willing to send them back in another thrust-strike to knock her backwards once again.

Once she's released, it was a quite simple matter, actually - particularly as her previous actions had left her halfway there already. Aerial Recover was a pretty simple move once you mastered it, and thus Xion landed on her feet with the practiced ease of someone who's done it many times.

She couldn't afford the luxury of a moment to catch her breath, though. As soon as she's hit the ground, she's moving again, taking a few steps backwards to put some distance between the two of them, though not too much, as she waited for Yokai to make the next move. She was a bit less inclined to run now that she was back in more control of the situation.

That being said, even if she was much more prepared for when he inevitably came at her again, she's still wary. A solid blow didn't seem to work on the microbots. She'd need to think of something different, or else just bail entirely.

Fast, agile, tricky-

He could still probably defeat her. End her, something deep and dark whispers, but it's pushed back- that is not necessary. There is only so much pressure, there are no plans to be lost, no opportunities that will be sacrificed by her survival- and as the microbots pull back one final time, gathering next to him, he decides to, in fact, encourage that survival.

With his hands clawed at his side, fingers flexing, the microbots build upwards upon him like a second skin. They mesh with the folds of his coat, shifting in to the fabric, making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. And with the way they're working their way on to him, small tendrils flexing like further fingers all across his body...for a few moments, he looks more like a monster than a masked man.

And he takes a step forwards.

Run, he wordlessly demands.

As the microbots withdrew and shifted, slowly changing his form even further, turning him into the monster she'd wondered if he was, Xion felt her resolve waver. She took another step back, then another. And yet... if he really was what she was afraid he might be, she couldn't just leave. He would go on, attacking others, when she could have stopped it.

And yet... It was hard to not feel more than a bit unnerved, watching him. Altruism and self-preservation warred for a half a second, before a middle route was selected.

She did not dismiss her Keyblade. Removing her one major defense would have been suicidal. However one hand did drift away from the hilt, and with a gesture of her own, she summoned a corridor behind her several yards back. A pathway made of darkness would already be difficult enough to see in the shadowy alleyway, and hopefully the distance would make it harder still. Enough to give her the time to get through it, should she need an escape route.

And then came the other half of her middle route.

"Are you a Heartless?" she called.

It was a trick question, more than anything. If he responded in any way that seemed to indicate sentience, then the answer was likely no.

He can't tell what she was doing; nothing good, likely enough. But with her not running, something else needs to be done, something else to emphasize how outmatched she is, whether or not she actually is-

And while he has no idea what a 'Heartless' is, there's another step taken. Then another. Then he's broken out in to an outright run, rushing her and looking as though he's going to completely bowl in to and over her, oversized key-sword or not.

She doesn't want to leave until she's sure. But then again, she isn't sure what else can be gained by staying here anyway. Whoever this is won't take any action - answering her questions or otherwise - that'll give her any clues at all.

Not to mention she could dodge, but that would put Yokai between her and her route of escape. And after half a second's thought she realizes that's just not an advantage she's willing to give him. She can always observe later. Maybe even ask Aqua or others for help. But she needs to get out of here first.

She takes a few steps back before turning to run, towards the corridor she made.

For a few quick footsteps, it seems like he's about to chase her in to the darkness-

-then he throws his arms upwards, the microbots shooting from them up on to the walls. Like twin cords, they haul him up off the ground, swinging forwards like some sort of comic-book hero. Unlike that hero, though, he's being fully pulled up and away.

Whether or not Xion hits her corridor, if she looks over her shoulder for him, he'll be gone.

She does glance backwards briefly. And when she notices he's not there, she does pause, fluttering backwards and forwards briefly at the entrance of the corridor she made. A close eye is particularly kept on the shadows, in case he had somehow melted into them.

But no, there was nothing more she could do here. She steps backwards into the corridor, shutting it behind her, leaving no trace that she'd been there at all save some fading wisps of darkness.

And when she exits again, a few seconds later, she's back in the Central Sector, a stone's throw from the Midnight Hotel. She had a lot to think about now...

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OPEN LOG; The Masked Man

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If she stands her ground, let me know; he's going to take a specific action that I can edit in.

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