Daylight licked me into shape [OPEN]

[erogappa]

Who: Gojyo and anyone who wants to join him!
What: Various and sundry (see prompts below the cut)
When: Between April 2nd and April 6th, in-game time (any time between the sakura party and the July intro log)
Where: Various places in the Near Shore
Warnings: Will update
Format: I've posted these prompts in past tense prose. If you'd prefer present tense and/or brackets, please feel free! I'll match your formatting.




Prompt 1: The Park
Wine hangovers were markedly different than beer hangovers, Gojyo was discovering. While the beer hangovers tended to settle in the gut (yeah, he got the farts after too many beers, but who didn't?), the wine ones seemed to like to sit right in the middle of his head, stabbing behind his eyes.

Beer hangovers could be appeased by a big greasy breakfast and a lot of black coffee. So far, the best thing Gojyo had found to cure the wine hangovers was simply time. Time, and a bit of heat. And that's why he was in the park that morning, arms draped over the back of the bench and face to the sun, idly working his way through his pack of cigarettes.

Being dead wasn't so bad after all, some days.

------------------------------------------

Prompt 2: Downtown
Why couldn't the little bastards attack in the middle of the night?! But no, they had to decide to come out of hiding in the early evening, when all the offices were closing. So there was a sea of dark suits as roughly eleven million salarymen and -women shuffled off to their trains, and there was a swarm of glowing puffball ayakashi, drifting towards the residential area on the other side of the train tracks... and there was Gojyo, a bright spot right in the middle of that weary ocean, blood red hair and leather pants and waving an old Chinese sword like a crazy person. Good thing mortals didn't tend to see them, huh?

"Get th'fuck out of my way!"

------------------------------------------


Prompt 3: The Liquor Store
This whole not-being-seen-by-mortals things was really starting to get on Gojyo's nerves. It had been cool at first -- he could pretty much steal anything he wanted to, whenever he wanted to (not that he took advantage of it or anything. A couple packs of cigarettes, a bowl of ramen from a booth... but it just didn't feel right). So if he wasn't going to steal stuff from the Near Shore, he was going to have to buy it, and buying things took money. Which meant a job.

The bell on the door chimed, and Gojyo turned apathetically toward the incoming customer. "Welcome to Lawson Station," he droned, slouching in his itchy uniform shirt. Hating his uniform visor. Hating everything about the job, really. But there were only so many jobs available to an unskilled foreigner, and, unlike a factory job, at least working at a convenience store gave him the freedom to chase after ayakashi whenever they appeared. Not like any of the customers seemed to notice he was there anyway. Not even when they were standing right in front of him. Yelling for him. In his face. "Please enjoy your shopping experience."

There had to be a better way to earn cigarette money than this.

Comments

Liquor Store

[doestheickyjobs]

There was the usual welcome-to-whatever-store-this-is spiel that the bored guy at the register had to spout every time the bell rang. Axel ignored it, and him, in the comfortable certainty that the other guy'd do the same right back once the echoes of the little chime faded.

Huh, this guy had nice hair, though. It was dyed to a red only a couple of shades darker than Axel's fire-engine color. He didn't see that on convenience store clerks a lot, and he'd been in a lot of them. He figured it was only fair to spread out the places he walked off with lunch from. That way, no one would get in too much trouble, which assuaged any hint of guilt he might've otherwise felt about the stealing thing.

He picked up a bag of chips and a little box of cold deep-fried chicken with rice out of the cooler -- oh yeah, and a soda -- and turned to head back for the door, not even bothering to be subtle about it. It wasn't like anyone ever paid attention.

[erogappa]

There was absolutely nothing else to do, so Gojyo watched the red-haired guy wander through the store. Was his hair naturally red? It was awfully bright, especially under the terrible buzzing tube lights. It was probably dyed, Gojyo determined. What were the chances of another half-youkai coming into his store?

His lazy disinterest faded, however, when the guy grabbed a drink out of the cold case and immediately headed for the door. Damn. It took some balls to just casually steal shit like that -- Gojyo had to admit he was impressed. "Hey asshole", he called, still leaning like a lump against the counter. "You've gotta pay for that stuff."

Would the guy run for it? Gojyo kinda hoped he would. He was gonna end up fat and useless if he stayed stuck at the register for much longer -- a race would do him some good.

[doestheickyjobs]

"Wait, you're kidding," Axel said, turning around with no sign of guilt, just wide-eyed shock written all over his face. What the hell. How had he picked the one Lawson's in Tokyo with a guy at the counter who could see ghosts?

(Maybe it helped that he'd hit half the Lawsons in the city by now.)

"You can see me?"

He waved a hand, the one holding the soda, just as a test. Was the guy still watching, or had he zoned out again?

[erogappa]

He was surprised? ...Oh damn, Gojyo realized, of course he was surprised. He was a shinki, wasn't he? No wonder he was so casual about walking into a place and robbing it blind. Hell, hadn't Gojyo done the same thing?

(Once. He'd done that once and he'd felt all kinds of guilty about it later for reasons he hadn't bothered exploring. It was unfair that he didn't feel comfortable stealing for a living, but if he couldn't do it, then it was completely fair that nobody else got to either.)

"Huh," he muttered to himself, letting his gaze drift away from Axel and back into the store. "Thought I saw something." Under the counter, he felt around until he found was he was looking for in the lost and found: a giant bouncy ball, as big as his fist and covered in bright purple sparkles (and doggy teeth marks). As soon as Red turned back to leave, he'd get the ball thrown at the back of his head. No stealing, asshole.

[doestheickyjobs]

... That was weird, Axel thought, but things were going back to normal as the counter guy's gaze slid off sideways. Reassured, he hefted his ill-gotten lunch, turned around, and headed back for the front door.

Something hit him hard in the back of the head, and he dropped both handfuls of stuff. The soda split on impact and spun around, spraying a hissing stream of lemon-lime sugar water all over Axel's boots and his fried chicken. Axel rounded on the counter guy, one hand on the back of his head, sputtering with fury.

"What the hell? You asshole!"

[cyberfly]

Something about walking into a store and lifting things off the shelves doesn't sit well with Nagi. Not because he feels bad about stealing things. But he doesn't quite trust that he won't get caught. If not by human eyes, then by camera feeds. People might not notice him, but they surely would notice bags full of things being carried out. And so Nagi has hacked various websites and had things delivered to another location on the Near Shore, one that he can be certain is not under surveillance. He's on his way back home from exactly such a pick-up, bag-in-hand, when he stops for a moment at the sight of a familiar face.

At least, he's pretty sure it's familiar. His memories from that night are a little fuzzy after he'd sat down at the bar with that god.

It is that god. Nagi never caught his name. He's flailing around somewhat uselessly with a sword, fending off a few puffy ayakashi.

"......"

Nagi stares at him from a safe distance, stoically.

"What are you doing?"

[erogappa]

Thankfully, when he's in his sword form Banri's ghost doesn't feel or sound or act like Banri at all. Jabbing at little puffballs that sounded like a flock of little kids when they cooed about how nice the humans smelled is creepy enough as it is. It's easy enough to pretend that he's just a regular old metal sword; Gojyo had spent far too long the other day wondering just what part of Sanzo had become what part of the fan, and he'd been forced to accept that he'd probably been holding the sham monk's ass.

Fighting school-kid monsters with his hand firmly wrapped around Banri's ass was simply not something Gojyo was prepared to accept. No amount of holy water would wash off that blight.

Preoccupied with such important thoughts as these, Gojyo doesn't hear Nagi at first. But then he catches sight of the kid out of the corner of his eye. It takes him a moment to remember where he's seen the boy before (he'd been really drunk, okay?), but then it clicks.

"Yo!" Gojyo calls, waving sword-Banri briefly in Nagi's direction. But he can't lose focus on his task -- the ayakashi are getting closer and closer to the train station, and once they're on the other side Gojyo's going to have a hell of a time tracking them down.

[cyberfly]

Yo certainly doesn't sound like 'help,' so Nagi figures the god doesn't require his assistance at the moment. Nevertheless, he's still sort of flopping around with that sword with what seems like questionable success. He sticks around just in case. (Hey, he thinks this god is all right!)

Why is he even using a sword, if he's not so good at it? Nagi had thought that shinki transformed into vessels that suited their gods. After all, his own form (a laptop) seems to be very useful to someone like Omi, who's almost as adept at computers as Nagi is.

"Do you need any help...?" he finally asks at length.

[erogappa]

Gojyo's a staff fighter, okay? Fighting with a staff and fighting with a sword are two very different styles. Swords are weird and stubby with a different contact area -- if he had his staff, he could have knocked these little bastards out of the air already. Without it, he's stuck to trying to jab them with the tip, with limited success.

"You got a butterfly net on you?" If he can just get them to stop floating out of range this wouldn't be so hard! The press of bodies isn't helping, but it's the reach issue that's really making this a pain in the ass. ...Ha! There goes another one. Only a handful left. "Or bug spray? I bet they'd hate gettin' dosed with bug spray."

[cyberfly]

Does Nagi look like he has a butterfly net? It's not exactly the kind of thing you can tuck away under your jacket. His expression seems to say as much, though its subtlety might be lost on someone who's busy trying to stab at floating ayakashi using a sword as a poker.

"No."

He opens his messenger bag and roots through it, pulling out a bottle of water.

"I have this."

He's starting carrying it around, ever since the first night when he accidentally blighted Omi with his hangover remorse.

downtown

[okitactless]

Oraaaa!

[Yamato can't actually kill any ayakashi like this--out here, on his own, without Shepard to wield him properly. But that's alright. There are enough gods keeping watch on this part of the Near Shore that sooner or later, one of them is bound to show up and take care of the problem. Fighting like this is a good way to warm up (or wind down, or... just about anything), and what better way to practice his borderlines while he's at it?

Sky blue serves as a bright contrast to blood red, even if the ethereal colors of the ayakashi lend them both an eerie glow. Yamato doesn't stop to announce his presence, barrelling out of seemingly nowhere to bury his sword in one of the puffballs. Slicing it apart as he withdraws, he doesn't even throw Gojyo a glance before he runs to the front of the swarm, summoning up all his concentration to draw a borderline and keep them from floating any further away.]

Hurry up! Take them out! [Hello to you too, Gojyo.]

[erogappa]

[ Gojyo turns in shock at the battle cry. His first thought is that one of the mass of commuters around him has spotted him -- he's never going to get used to the idea that he's effectively invisible, not with his brilliant coloring.

He's definitely not expecting that Yamato kid.

But the kid seems to know what he's doing! He gets to the edge of the crowd faster than Gojyo would have thought possible, throwing up a force field of some kind that the first ayakashi puffballs bounce right off of.

Huh. He's got to learn how to do that. ]

I'm workin' on it!

[ Yamato's sword cuts one of the ayakashi apart but doesn't seem to be actually destroying the things. That's unfortunate. But at least his force field is holding them in place for the moment. Gojyo takes advantage of the moment's respite and shoulders his way roughly through the crowd (a couple of the salarymen protest, but they all forget he's been there as soon as he's passed), to get to the open space by the train station (read: the planter box) where he can finally get a good swing in. ]

I've got these! Don't let 'em get past you!

[okitactless]

[SURPRISE! Yamato might be airheaded about some things (okay, a lot of things) but this? This, he's good at.

He may not be able to kill the ayakashi by himself, but that doesn't make his attacks any less vicious.]

LOSE YOUR HEAD AND DIE! [And he might only be able to follow up with half of that scream, but hey, he does his best. There goes half of a puffball, flying off into the sunset... it would've been a great attack if the damn things couldn't regenerate.

But he does as Gojyo asks, pausing in his assault to draw another borderline. This one isn't as sturdy, but it does the job. One puffball nearly, nearly slips past him, but he grabs it with his free hand, hauling it back and running it through with his blade. The blight blossoms instantly across his palm, and it stings, but he doesn't seem to care at the moment.]

[erogappa]

[ Wow, okay, that was a little bloodthirsty. ...And stupid, Gojyo notes, as Yamato grabs an ayakashi with his bare hand. Didn't Hakkai say that that would blight a shinki? If the kid is blighting himself that casually, either he's got an incredible pain tolerance or he's just too fight-dumb to care.

Either way, he really should introduce the kid to Goku.

But there's no time for that right now. That second glowing line blocks the progress of that handful of high drifting ayakashi, giving Gojyo a chance to finish off the lower ones. The last few are above his head, though. How he hell is he going to get up there? ]

Get back!

[ He doesn't need to get up there, does he? Only sword-Banri does. Gojyo pulls his arm back, Banri held like a javelin, and he aims at one of the last three ayakashi... which is unfortunately close to Yamato. ]

I don't want to hit you!

[okitactless]

[It's all of the above--bloodthirst and battle fever meshing together to make battlefield injuries easy to ignore. (Of course, all the sword tsukumogami have... had higher limits than humans anyway, but that doesn't make it any less stupid.) Still, it gets the job done, and that's mainly what he'd been going for.]

Do it!

[He doesn't get back, but luckily, this one isn't as stupid of a decision. Borderlines aren't the only skill Yamato's been practicing. With a loud yell, he throws his sword arm up as thick bones pierce through his skin, lacing together to form a shield. This power isn't one Yamato likes using too often, but right now, it's more important to stay close--to hold the borderline in place.]

Liquor Store

[deniles]

A familiar white haired man walks into the liqour store and immediately goes to grab a bottle of expensive bourbon and a pair of cheap wine bottles before walking up to the counter. He pauses for a moment and then smirks slightly.

He doesn't say anything about their most recent encounter though, lest someone's nearby. He agreed to privacy after all.

However, he does write a quick note and slides it over. Containing the words 'When can we do it again?'.

"How much for all of this?" Is what left his lips.

[erogappa]

Gojyo's eyes go wide when Niles comes sauntering in. He's the opposite of smooth, whipping his head back and forth to make sure there's nobody else in the store. Nobody who could see the two of them together. (Not that anyone would see them anyway.)

But once the initial jolt of panic subsides and he stops feeling like he's got I did it with a guy tattooed on his forehead, Gojyo is forced to accept one undeniable fact: he enjoyed it. A lot. Hell, if Niles had been a girl Gojyo would have invited her back to his place for another round. He might even have made her breakfast.

You can't do those kinds of things with a guy. You just can't. Gojyo couldn't. But he also can't stop thinking about how damn good Niles's mouth felt.

He manages to keep his reactions under control when Niles approaches the register (mostly -- his cock's got a mind of its own and decides to perk up at the worst possible times), but then the asshole has to slide him that note. Gojyo can feel his cheeks going pink. Is he really being propositioned, like he's the girl!?

"Are you serious?"

[deniles]

Niles could, but he felt during it like he was supposed to shut up and suck on that cock. So he said nothing, just coming back again, and bothering him whenever possible.

Because it was something to move his mind forward rather than worry about what his god was hiding from him. Sex was the ultimate distraction.

He gave a quick nod before answering his question. In the shopping sense. "Yes. How much?"

But... he can't deny. He is serious. And he wants to try something new with Gojyo.

[erogappa]

Gojyo narrows his eyes. Niles is fucking with him, he's sure of it... but he's also pretty damn sure that Niles really does want another round.

He should kick him out, Gojyo thinks, mind swimming. He should throw him right the fuck out of the store, tell him that he's not for sale, to never come back, that it was a mistake, should black his eye and kick his ass and have done with the whole thing.

But it was a really good blowjob. And it's been a really long time since he was getting blown with any regularity. He's not so flush that he can turn away an offer of a free good time, even if it is coming from someone like Niles. In fact, it's even better that way, isn't it? They don't know anybody in common, they don't hang out in the same places, they barely see each other. If he's going to fuck a guy (and he can't deny that he's interested), is there a better guy he could be fucking?

Sanzo's image flickers across the front of Gojyo's brain, and he almost chokes on his own tongue. That's a good way to get himself killed, he chides his brain. Don't even think about things like that.

He regards Niles with a considering look. Why not fuck him? Why not fuck him here? His cock certainly seems to like that idea. Why not fuck him right here, right in the store? It's not like anyone will see them. And when will he get a chance like this again?

Things Gojyo's learned about life: when there's something you want, reach out for it. If you wait, it'll be spoiled by the time you come back around.

He leans over the counter, hands flat over the display of lotto tickets, and gives Niles one of his best, most promising leers. "Take off your pants." His heart is pounding -- Niles is going to laugh at him, to walk out, this is a mistake -- but he won't blink first. It's Niles's move.

[deniles]

Of course Niles pauses first. He doesn't immediately do anything he's told. He has to work out the pros and cons of the situation. And there's so many pros here. But the cons are simply that it's going to be another blowjob and handjob again. And he likes variety. That's why he's not only with Gojyo. Not that he fucks and tell, of course.

So his hands are over his chest, and the balls is in his court. He's told to take off his pants and expose his lower half.

But he moves in closer instead, and smirks.

"What do you want today, Gojyo? Sounds like you want way more than a blowjob."

One hand moves down to his striped pants. Oh, he's willing to do it. But not without something in return.

2-downtown

[disciplineking]

Well, swinging a chinese sword around like crazy was bound to get someone's attention, and that someone was a 5'7" angry shinki with a tuxedo kitten on his shoulder.

"How fitting you look like a drunken fool." Did he walk in the way of where Gojyo was swinging his sword? Yes. Did he care? Not really. The people just parted around him as Kishi on his shoulder meowed loudly at this loud angry guy.

Re: 2-downtown

[erogappa]

And then some brat-with-a-cat almost walked into his sword.

"Watch where you're going!" Gojyo swore, pulling the strike at the last second. The ayakashi he'd been aiming for bumbled up and out of reach, and Gojyo swore again. At this rate he wouldn't get them all before they made it past the train station, and then he was going to have to spend his whole night hunting through all those damn apartment buildings looking for a handful of tiny little monsters. That was not how he planned to spend his evening.

(He planned to get just this side of stumbling drunk and then go to his job, where he'd sell booze to underage kids with terrible fake IDs and shout at Pan the homeless guy for at least an hour about why the chips-and-crackers aisle wasn't an okay place for him to sleep. This was his life now. Goddamn.)

The kid looked familiar, but Gojyo couldn't place him. Probably some new shinki, he determined, shrugging him off almost immediately. He moved to sidestep Hibari, already focusing on his next ayakashi puffball-target. "I'm workin' here, kid, get out of my way."

[disciplineking]

"Why should you bother? These things aren't even a threat." One of them bounced up behind him and Hibari swung one of his tonfas to whack it away without even glancing towards it. If he didn't touch them, he didn't get blighted; it was easy.

"Besides, I have a score to settle." The look he was giving Gojyo now was anything but friendly, especially with his tonfas out and ready to spread fresh blood. The main reason he hadn't jumped forward right now was the meowing beast on his shoulder, now sniffing the air this new man to see who the hell it was.

[erogappa]

Gojyo spotted the ayakashi just a split second before Hibari batted it away. God dammit, Hibari! He was gonna kill that thing! Now it was floating some twenty feet above his head, completely out of range.

"A score?" He looked away from the ayakashi (drifting ever higher, thanks a lot, fight nugget) to regard Hibari with an uncertain expression. The kid looked somewhat familiar... but the only kids he remembered pissing off lately were brats who were trying to buy beer with the worst fake IDs Gojyo had ever seen. "Look, I don't care if you're dead or not, if you want to buy alcohol you need an ID."

[disciplineking]

Congrats Gojyo, that earned an almost baffled look on Hibari's face. First of all, he hated alcohol, and second, why the hell would he buy it from this asshole in the first place?

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm here to bite you to death for the crime of tossing me into a duck pond." And now he was pointing his tonfas at Gojyo's face with a pissed off look in his eyes. Familiar yet, maybe? If not, well, he was about to attack either way.