expiationlogs | [CLOSED] got a colony of ants underneath my skin

[Morph doesn't know what a gnosia is, but does it matter? They're different now. They've felt different ever since they saw the message on their tablet. Eliminate the gnosia. That's them, isn't it? Well, tough luck, because Morph has no intention of letting himself get taken out so easily. They hadn't spent years in the X-Men to let anyone hunt them down without a fight.

Being a shapeshifter should've made it easier to hide, if it weren't for the residents of Aldrip starting to look and act like someone needed to blow the dust out of their cartridges. Still, Morph has plenty of forms to choose from that the other Chosen wouldn't recognize, though the other mutants might. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. They weren't just feeling a growing sense of paranoia, but also something like a voice at the back of their mind, a tickling reminder that they had been betrayed before. Maybe now, this was their chance...

For now, Morph has been changing forms every couple of hours, just to make sure no one was following them. They stop next to a closed storefront to take a break, with a quick look both ways down the street before shifting from a masculine, human-looking brunette back to their natural form. Of course, nothing they shift into was going to change what other gnosia would know just by looking at them.]

[The feeling of thousands of ants crawling under his skin hasn't left him for days now. Douman didn't resist it, even though he knows that something was trying to influence him. He leaned into the sway instead, hoping that riding the wave might help him figure out what was behind it before it swallowed him. Like what he would do when he was still a human and trying to solve a particularly well-wrought curse.

He always works best when he's pissed off, anyway.

When the inhabitants of this 'world' start to act even weirder than usual, he notes it with almost satisfaction. Douman hadn't been too convinced of the tale everyone seems to be given, so seeing the 'statists' act like the energy powering them is fizzling out? It's validating. He still has no clue if this is some sort of pocket dimension trapping them, a curse, or some other elaborate something at work, but it's something to work with. Right now he knows two things: 1) some of the people here are real and 2) whoever is causing this has to be near, since it's nearly impossible to run such a big setup from afar. Maybe this is even the result of them trying to do just that. They also seem to like to get close and personal with their victims. That crime-nonsense was one thing, but if they think that they can just keep pressing his buttons by continuing to mess with the memory of his late rival... They've got another thing coming.

Nurarihyon might not be a youkai known for his cruelty, but maybe it's time to remind everybody that that is his choice and not something to rely on. Oh yes, somebody is going to pay for dragging him into this mess and underestimating him to the point where they're thinking that they can mess with him-- ]

WH- ?!

[His head jerks around as one of the 'NPCs' glitches into a familiar form for a moment. Tall, dark hair, white clothes, that constant insufferable smile.... The sight has his heart hammering in his chest and his fists clench so hard that his nails are digging into his skin.]

Abe no Seimei... ! [Douman knows it's a fake. Even though they bothered to copy the real one this time - picked that memory out of his mind, didn't they? Oh, he is going to reward them so well for doing that extra work - there is no way Douman would be fooled by a simple appearance like that. But that fake with the simlar scent and spirit energy, the fox and now this; they're clearly itching to make this personal! So why shouldn't he follow the breadcrumbs and see where they lead him. Let's see how well the wolf in sheep's clothing is hiding among the flock, and how tough they still are once he starts taking his mood out on them.... Mmmmmh, yeah, that sounds nice.

He barely bothers trying to take a swipe at the people as the image of Seimei glitches in and out over them, leading him on a merry wild goose chase through streets that are darker and more narrow than they were only days before. Is it an illusion or real? Unimportant. He doesn't care as his eyes finally catch the illusion do something else than just glitch like a faulty tv image. No, this time it shifts and that is all the hint he needs to know that he's found the real one. Finally. The perpetrator. Seimei. The one bringing Seimei back.

They are trying to bring Seimei back, but this time he isn't going to let them. Not even if they pretend to be the same. He just needs to kill... feel their warm blood cover his skin like Seimei's.... peel their mind open and take their knowledge and skill like he did his... ]

Nnnnnnngh! GET! OUT! OF! MY! HEAD!!!

[The curse sizzling within his kuji-kiri is too strong, making it too destructive for being used in a public street. But it's already too late. Douman's attack is searing in the form of a deadly grid of light right towards Morph, aiming to strip them from any spiritual power ...and quite possibly a lot of life if it hits.]

What the-?!

[Morph didn't have much warning. They looked up to see a masked man shouting, then seconds later the guy launched a strange attack, there were lasers everywhere -

It's part training, part instinct that has them jumping into the air, rapidly shifting, shrinking down into the form of a fluffy white cat. It's a form that's vulnerable, but small, small enough to twist through one of the holes of the grid, and as soon as their paws hit the pavement they use every ounce of the cat's agility to jump straight into the air -

And in seconds they shift again, this time taking Archangel's form, a man with blue skin and sharp metallic wings. A powerful beat of those wings lifts them into the air, where Morph grabs at the edge of the store's roof, hanging off of it with their feet planted on the wall below them. It's plenty of distance from that laser grid now, but they're pretty sure any longer as a cat would've scorched their fur off.]

What the HELL is your problem? Can't you see I'm on your side?!

[Morph knew it instinctively, somehow. They have no idea how they could possibly sense it, but they could tell that their attacker was also infected with such a bone-deep certainty that they know it as a fact.]

Tsk! Again -! How vexing.

[The voice comes from above, only seconds before a heeled boot comes down dangerously close to Morph's fingers with a violence that can only be intentional. Even though Douman hadn't moved after his initial attack while their eyes had been on him, he is now on the ledge of the roof they are hanging from, staring down at them. He is still wearing the same gold-colored Okina noh mask as always, but the visible burning hunger in the cold eyes beneath it ruins the gentle carved smile of the old man's face.

Beneath them furniture crashes and glass keeps splintering as his curse digs itself deeper into the building before Douman cuts it off with a cutting swipe of his pointer and middle finger through the air in a typical Onmyoji fashion. He only wastes half a thought on how it's a good thing that the store had been closed and empty as he considers what to do with his catch.]

I really should adjust my grit to include animal shapes as well.

[He knows what they mean, though. He knows. But wouldn't that not be also a grand disguise? The culprit, sitting right among the victims, pretending to be one of them. He can't be certain. He needs to be certain. So he starts chanting a spell under his breath again.]

Is that so? I wonder . . .

[Morph gives a start, and it's less about their fingers and more that the creepy guy just appeared up on the roof with no indication at all. Was it super speed? Teleportation? Having that ability along with a bunch of lasers was already bad news, and what's more, Morph has no idea how they're doing it at all.

Not that they have much time to think about it. Morph is pretty sure the cat thing was the fastest that they've ever shifted forms before, and it was a near thing. Whatever that chanting is, they are not going to let it continue if they can help it.

Suddenly, they're growing much larger, their skin forming into metal plates as they take Colossus' form. Their fingers are no longer only clinging onto the roof but digging in, cracking the shingles in an effort to keep their increased weight hanging there for just a little longer.]

You are better off learning some manners!

[It's a heavy Russian accent they chide the masked stranger in before making a grab for his ankle. If Morph can get a hold of the guy, he's getting thrown straight to the ground, no questions asked. After that earlier display, they're not willing to play around.]

[Good. His opponent seems disturbed. That is exactly what Douman wants: to perplex and unsettle his opponents during a fight to the point where they can't tell what he can and cannot do and make mistakes because of it. Getting overestimated is just as useful as the opposite. There is no need for anybody to know that he is actually using three techniques in unusual ways to create the illusion of a single overwhelming one.]

Tsk, tsk. Trying to catch a Nurarihyon... How very unwise of you.

[He doesn't try to evade the grasp. Moving around carelessly on a rooftop is dangerous even if nobody is coming after you, and his boots weren't made for that kind of acrobatics either. Besides, that'd be giving ground. Running from the one who has been messing with him. Undignified. The word is whispered in his mind in the amused lilt of a rival long dead. It's making the scar over his right eye ache and burn.

The moment colossus' plated iron grip closes around it, his ankle - and a good part of the leg it's attached to - simply fragments and disappears, dissipating like a bank of fog while only leaving the unsatisfying feeling of almost having grasped something behind.

Douman uses the chance to aim a kick at Colossus's face with his remaining foot before he lets his form dissolve fully and reappears at the other side of the roof like a ghost flowing apart and then back together again. The feeling of his presence disappears again, even though the killing intent can still be clearly felt.]

You are no Japanese, are you? Everyone knows that trying to attack me is doomed to be futile. I, on the other hand, can do a whole lot of things to you.

[Just not try to kick him again. That must've hurt Douman a lot more than Morph just now!]

[CLANG! goes Morph's metal head as Douman's foot hits him squarely, but with their metal skin a simple kick barely registers. No, they're far more bothered by the fact that the guy disappeared so easily - it had to be a form of teleportation, but dealing with it was going to be a real pain. They couldn't hope for backup of any kind, not while whoever might come running at the sound of a fight was a potential enemy, too.

They pull themself up on the edge of the roof, very carefully, aware of how more shingles are fracturing under their weight.]

Sorry, despite accent right now, I am dumb American. But you are no mutant, I am guessing. So - you say I cannot attack you, eh? Let us see how far that goes!

[With that, Morph briefly shifts back to their natural form as they dash across the roof at Douman - but instead of launching a direct attack, they just as quickly shift back into Colossus in front of him and slam their fist down against the roof. It's too delicate to support their increased weight and being smashed, so predictably, Morph falls right through it, swinging their fists at the lumber holding it up in an effort to take Douman down with them.]

Is that so? [His voice sounds way too casual as he shifts into his chanting stance again.] That's a pity. ℜ𝔦𝔫! 𝔓𝔶𝔬𝔲! 𝔗𝔬𝔲! 𝔖𝔥𝔞! 𝔎𝔞𝔦! 𝔍𝔦-

[This time he doesn't bother to interrupt his chanting as he dodges again. With his youkai trait already set up as the big power that he's using, Douman has no problems switching from relying on it to using Divine Step instead, a technique that lets him pass through walls and appear anywhere at will. Most would consider a magic that is limited to only those who have close ties to at least one god a step up rather than down from using his innate youkai powers, but he knows his limits. It's far easier and more comfortable for him to simply sink into the ground as he makes a show of dissolving his form into black mist again, only to resurface from the other end of the floor on the level below Morph before the other has even gotten to finish his attack.]

-𝔫! ℜ𝔢𝔱𝔰𝔲! ℨ𝔞𝔦! ....ℨ𝔢𝔫!!

[He doesn't hold back with the lightning-aligned attack that he's slinging at Morph. If the other wants to hide within a metal-armor, then Douman will show him what it's like to be a living lightning rod!]

Allow me to teach you to fear me the hard way. 𝔎𝔶𝔲 𝔎𝔶𝔲 𝔑𝔶𝔬-

[His voice is a happy sadistic little purr as he lets his grid take over all of the floor beneath them, leaving nowhere to run. If his enemy insists on flitting around, then Douman will simply catch and bind him with some chains.]

[Well, that didn't work. It's the one thought that flashes through their head in the instant that their enemy disappears, leaving Morph to fall through the hole in the roof on their own. That shouldn't have been a problem while they were using an armored form, but they weren't anticipating the lighting that hits them on the way down.

Morph slams into the floor hard, in a shower of sparks and debris, the impact leaving a little crater that doesn't quite allow them to fall through entirely. There was no missing the grid this time, the lightning strike seizing up their muscles before they could react, along with a good dose of pain. They can feel the grid draining their strength somehow, and frantically slam a metal fist against the floor, once, twice - but they're losing cohesion quickly, forcing them to shift back into their natural state.]

What are you...?!

[Morph doesn't look very good. Their skin is starting to drip like melted wax, but they're at least able to keep their humanoid shape for now. They might not have any actual spiritual power to speak of, but it's still doing a number on their life force, making them feel awfully weak.]

Douman - Days 1-2

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Marco - Days 3-5

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Scott and Kotone - Day 6

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