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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You'd think a (physically) fourteen year-old girl would be more uneasy about running around a city they only half-know at night. But then again most fourteen year-old girls - or most fourteen year-olds in general - aren't able to create their own magical getaway doorways, nor summon weapons out of nowhere in their hand.

Callaghan may have been trying to stay out of sight, but walking back streets was - after spending most of her life in an undercover organization - second nature, as was paying attention to her surroundings.

Not to mention that when she does spot him, his appearance... definitely catches her attention. The yellow eyes, cloaked in what looks - to her - like Darkness, including the microbots. They move a bit strangely compared to what she's used to, but it's hard to tell exactly what they are at a distance, especially by someone who doesn't know what they are.

A Heartless? But... she couldn't see an emblem anywhere, and she hadn't seen any in Keeliai yet. He could be a Pureblood - one she hasn't encountered before, but the fact that he'd be the first she'd seen...

Instead of moving straight to the offensive, she hung back, didn't even summon her Keyblade yet. It'd have been too much of an encumbrance at this point. Instead she tried to tail him, doing her best to keep from being noticed. She could keep an eye on him, see what he did - if he attacked anyone, like a Heartless would. More than anything though, she tried to see if she can get a closer glimpse of the mask - the most likely place for an emblem to be, if there was one.

Which unfortunately also might have made her more noticeable, if nothing else.

Edited 2015-04-02 01:40 (UTC)

Callaghan - Yokai - seems oblivious, at first. He dropped down to the ground in an alley, taking a moment to catch his breath as the microbots swarmed around him. After that moment, he began to walk, the metal responding to a few gestures of his hands. They followed so closely as to be upon him, directly, but with the shadows and folds of his coat- it was difficult to tell where the metal ended and the fabric began.

Then, abruptly, he halted. A slight tilt of the head, as if listening for something- and then he began to walk again.

And then he spun around, throwing his hands behind him as he thought he heard the footsteps again.

Edited 2015-04-02 01:47 (UTC)

And he wasn't wrong. The footsteps turned into a startled yelp, accompanied by a flash of light bright enough to illuminate her briefly as Xion summoned her Keyblade at last. There wasn't enough warning to dodge properly, but she does dart to the side, while bringing her Keyblade up into the guard position.

Between the two, she's able to miss or disrupt the worst of the blow, though there's still enough of it to slam into her side and knock her off-balance, stumbling and trying to regain her footing. . She's able to catch a glimpse of the mask properly now though. No Heartless emblem, though it certainly didn't matter much now that whoever it was was on the offensive.

Edited 2015-04-02 02:51 (UTC)

Callaghan isn't the only one running across rooftops and dodging down alleys in the night, and certainly not the only one donning a mask as he does so.

Though, truth be told Mike's serves more as a stand-in for the eyebrows he doesn't have than as any disguise. No for that he'd rely solely on the shadows and his skills as a ninja to conceal himself within them.

Some nights this works better than others. Like tonight, when he's worried less about, and more about getting from A to B as quickly as possible. Free-running as meditation, not as exercise. Getting from A to B in as smooth a series of motions as possible, regardless of what obstacles may happen to be in his way...

It felt good to be able to free run.

He selected the rooftops in the Metal sector, jumping and climbing around the futuristic-style buildings. It's a far cry from New York or Albany, even Paris, but it gave him a good chance to explore and get some perspective.

It's dusk, the best time for him to be running, the dark cloth of his outfit blending in well with the fading light. He's selected the tallest building and is sprinting along the adjacent rooftops, before swinging and starting to climb the tower.

He finds it better to be as high as possible.

When he finishes climbing, he'll find that he's not alone- but on the bright side, the company doesn't seem to have noticed him yet.

Yokai is taking advantage of the height mostly for the view it offers, crouched at the far edge with the microbots securing him to the roof and negating a risk of fall. Or...at least significantly limiting it. As long as no sudden movements are made, they're more than capable of supporting him- that said, he hardly expects anything to startle him in to a dangerous fall.

On the bright side, if that sort of thing does happen ~~again~~, there's no team of students to distract and/or outmaneuver him.

...at least, he doesn't think so. Callaghan grimaces behind the mask, briefly reaching under it to rub at his face. That's all he needs, another threat to what he's done here...

It's in one of those alleys that Yokai finds something catching his attention; crouched in a shadowed nook, he watches a group of kedan discuss what sounds like 'protection' and 'insurance'. Normally such a thing wouldn't be too important, if not for a couple of facts-

One, they're clearly one of the unaffiliated gangs.

Two, there's some of the aforementioned 'insurance' in crates only so far away from them, but there's only one four-armed member keeping watch. One set is folded across their chest, the other resting behind their head as they lean against the wall, only paying so much attention to the conversation at hand.

All heads, however, turn towards the sound of motion only so far away- a body quickly moving through the area, and they go quiet as they try to decide whether or not it's something they need to worry about.

And it's at that point that Yokai risks dropping down, landing in a crouch again, the microbots remaining above before slowly trickling down after him.

tnk.tnk.tnk.

At another gesture, the microbots recovered themselves, moving to make another slam in to Xion- this time, swarming her legs, seeking to trip and drag her to the ground. Yokai, for his part, took a step back- he didn't recognize the weapon she'd drawn (was that a giant key?), but she held it almost like a sword- it went without saying that he didn't want to be hit by it.

Of course, if he could keep her pinned, or even off balance...

It's the sound of the Kedan talking that prompts Mike to come to a sliding stop at the edge of one roof. The sword is still missing, and because of that he's still itching for as much intel as he can get his three-fingered hands on.

Mike crouches low, still like a gargoyle, neck craning...all in an effort to hear what they're saying.

If only that slow trickle of water would still.
...
Wait...that's not water it sounds almost like...metal?

The Kedan seem to notice it as well, but when they turn, the sound has gone quiet- they look at one another before making their decision, one moving out towards the alley to check that noise, the other two moving back for the shadows. Yokai presses himself further against the wall as they approach, considering, considering, thinking, waiting-

A flex of fingers, and that's not a slow trickle of water- that's a sudden mass of black metal shooting forwards as though to 'escape'. The two kedan make sounds of surprise as it all but bowls them over, shooting for the alley's mouth, carefully manipulated in to a distraction that then rises up the corner wall. As all three eyes follow that, one even literally leap-climbing after it, Yokai moves for the crates to take a look at their ill-gotten gains.

If he's noticed another figure in the area, he shows no sign.

Great googly moogly!
Mike is so surprised at that...wave of...what the hell was that anyway?! That he very nearly loses his footing on the roof's edge. His eyes track the movement, darting back to trace the path of the gang members in hot pursuit.

But...it didn't attack. It just ran. Why would something that looked like an all encompassing wave of metal just...unless...

Movement in his periphery catches his attention. Movement around the crates.

A diversion.

"...nice."

Under different circumstances Mike would likely have been that wave, while his brothers, probably Donnie, would root through what ever it was they were trying to search.

On silent feet Mike bridges the distance between where he is and where this new stranger with the even stranger metal friend is rooting through the goods.

Don't mind him. He's just being nosey.

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.

[Hiro hasn't a clue how the one microbot he has left is becoming more broken as time passes in Keeliai, but it is, aggressively tnk-tnking against the edges of the petri dish at all hours, especially night time; maybe it has something to do with the magnetic resonance of the turtle after dark (is that a thing?) or maybe it's just that the invention is a woeful failure. He's taken to keeping it in the workspace in the garage, actually, since he's working in there anyway, because it's a pain to try and sleep with the stupid thing going all night like a mouse in the cupboard.

At least he's getting regular sleep, now. Tadashi would never let him go on like he did his first week or so on his own. Being restricted to something like a responsible routine is annoying, on the one hand, but on the other - Hiro's just glad he has his brother.

He's packing up for the night, now, already up later than he should be, getting tools out of the way of passersby and that dumb Bentley when the microbot - sitting on a workbench - rattles so violently it falls off into the floor.

Hiro rolls his eyes and stuffs it into his pocket, then sidles out the open garage door to pick up a toolbox he left outside. Which is when he hears the faint hiss and rattle of something and notes a shadow vanishing around a corner at the end of the block. He feels a corresponding jump in his pocket, and maybe he imagined it, but maybe it felt like that general direction.

Hiro pulls the microbot out again. Steady as a compass point, it rattles against the walls of its plastic prison in the direction of the vanishing shadow.

What?

Nah.

It's probably nothing, a coincidence, a figment of his imagination. Not anything he should be worried about. He's supposed to be in bed, not out in the streets in the dead of night, and yet. Curiosity.

He glances back toward the garage. He shouldn't.

Curiosity gets the better of him.

He'll just be gone a second. Just to take a look.

One last glance back, and then he follows the microbot, setting off down the street at a jog; microbot in one hand, armed with a monkey wrench in the other, and carrying a tool belt full of miscellaneous items that'd probably be useless in a fight unless he throws a handful of lugnuts really hard. But that probably isn't gonna happen. Probably.

He rounds the street corner and...nothing. Probably just his imagination. He thinks that, until he passes a narrow alley between two buildings and hears something - sees something - swarming distantly at the other end. Not like shadows, but like insects. An almost-familiar movement pattern, like something similar he'd memorized from a few weeks of practice -

He sucks in a breath and backs up around the corner, out of sight, clutching the petri dish to his chest with both hands to muffle the sound of the moving microbot inside.

No, not possible.

But then Tadashi wasn't possible either -]

A flicker of movement high above the pavement and a glimpse of red don't make for a breathtaking picture in the clouded-over night, but it's amazing what a few snatches of hearsay can fill in for the eyes of a teenage boy. If the mutterings elsewhere in a market square this morning about a break-in somewhere-or-other had retreated from the forefront of Yosuke's mind by now, they've elbowed their way back in the half second it takes him to wrench his scratched headphones down and look up. A... cat burglar? An honest to god cat burglar, in a place like this? Seriously?

Probably not seriously, his battered common sense hastens to remind him. No, suspension of disbelief is one thing, complete and utter lack of practicality is another. Those streaks of red don't belong on the face of anyone who legitimately doesn't want to get noticed. And then there's the way they were moving, more in a wave than in strides. Somebody's trying to show off... ugh, but that's even less plausible at this time of night, when basically the only light to see by is -

- the eyes. Gleaming eyes, a mask, a pitch-black body that flows.

"Hey...!"

Yosuke's common sense isn't fast enough to cut that unfounded connection as soon as he draws it. His curiosity is. Heedless for now of the rest of the street, he bursts into a sprint along the foot of the wall before the dark shape can vanish from his sight entirely. A voice in the back of his head, almost unheard over the pounding of his unsubtle feet, murmurs as he runs: well, why can't this time be it?

[if Yokai's realized that he's being followed, he's shown no sign. instead, he's focused on keeping in the shadows, following the by-now memorized path through the streets. when he arrives at his destination- on the outside of a storage facility- he's then focused on guiding the microbots through the cracks between door and wall. pressure, applied correctly, forced through and through and through and

krk

a clench of upraised hands and the door's pushed open just enough for him to slip inside. it's closed a few moments later, and while it's hardly locked, it at least looks secure enough.

it'll give him the privacy he needs to sort through the goods in peace, and salvage anything useful]

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.

With the mass continuing to to 'escape', the kedan finding it an appealing target, Yokai removes the top and finds himself startled by what he sees. After a moment, he even reaches inside, scooping his hand in to it and raising it slowly as he lets the small shards fall through his fingers.

...well.

It's not like anyone important will miss this, right? He looks up to see where the microbots have gotten to and then pauses, head turning back towards one of the shadows.

Is that...?

He's heard some of the rumors himself, and can't help but roll his eyes at them; all told, though, he can't say he's displeased. Better they not know what he's up to than being insisting on one thing or another, and if he has to 'help' that confusion by going against the grain...well, fine. He can do a bit of that.

Yokai's allowing himself to be seen. Just...slightly. In sectors other than Metal, just to keep the information flowing, just to keep it all going to...

Plan? No, there isn't a plan. Not yet. Not this early. But there is an understanding that unless he plans to give up immediately, he needs to adapt, and right now he needs to adapt to what looks like a young man running down below?

Human, if he has to guess. Or- kedan masquerading as one. Either way, he only looks down for a few moments before making a sharp turn, outright leaping across they alley, the microbots securing him on the opposite side before he risks a fall.

A nearly five foot tall turtle with opposable thumbs watching you from a shadow?

Why yes, yes it is.

Only now, he's seen you seeing him, so no longer is he just watching. No, now he smiles...with teeth even, and offers a little wave. A two fingered and the one opposable thumb wave.

On the bright side, it's a much smaller turtle than the one whose back they're set upon.

On the down side, it is still a large turtle, one who's staring right at him, and- waving, as well. This is a wonderful turn of events that Yokai had not in the slightest forseen, nor had any interest in imagining because are you kidding him he gets rid of three watchers and now he has to deal with a fourth.

Can he get nothing done without a hitch?

The mask, thankfully, hides his expression. The hunch of his shoulders, however, suggests mild annoyance-frustration, and- perhaps a bit of resignation as he raises two fingers in what could very well be a 'peace' formation.

...or that could just be setup for him to curl said fingers downwards and the microbots to try and smack the turtle across the back of the head. That could be a thing, too.

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.

Yay! He kind of waves back! That's good news.
Mike's grin widens.

"Find anything" he starts just before the masked man's fingers begin to curl down. That...that's not a high-sign, is it? IS IT?

To Mike, it's like the last word of his comes out in slowmotion, because even as he feels himself saying the word, every reflex honed from years of martial arts training begins to kick in.

"....iiiiiinnnnnnnteeeeerrrrrrressssssstttttiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggggggggg?"

He know's he's never supposed to lower his eyes to an enemy, but...he's also supposed to not lose sight of his six.

What...is right behind him, anyway?

[Hiro's eyes gradually adjust to the low light, and when he peers around the corner again, what was indistinct shadows and movement before becomes a human-shaped figure with its back turned to him, surrounded by seething microbots. His microbots. The ones that were scorched to nothing in the fire. The ones that shouldn't even be here, separated by a wall of time and dimension from Keeliai.

And yet, here they are. Wielded by who (or what) he doesn't know, nor how they got here. His first guess would be that someone from home brought them, but nobody he knows is here makes sense.

Nothing makes sense and he can't assume anything with certainty anymore in this place.

Once the door is shut, Hiro edges out of his hiding place - and against his better judgment, sneaks down the alley and approaches the storage facility. He doesn't dare try opening the door himself. Too much noise and he doesn't know who or what he'll find on the other side.

There are windows, though, and a stack of wooden crates piled up by one he can use to get a better view. Biting his lip and stepping carefully, he climbs the stack, wincing and going dead still when one creaks underneath him - and then moving again when nothing happens.

He wipes a grimy window pane clean with his sleeve and peers inside, trying to see where his cloaked microbot wielder's gone.]

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Page 1 of 5

OPEN LOG; The Masked Man

Probably earlier in the month, before the rumors get really started

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Early in the month

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i accidentally a tl;dr

first week-ish of the month, after the rumours get going?

DELICIOUS

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let me know if this isn't okay?

sounds good!

Oh this is so okay!

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