OPEN ♞ SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS

[tarotcards]

WHO: Souji Seta and anyone else
WHERE: Various parts around Recolle
WHEN: All month
WHAT: Catch-all for all of Oct's wacky monster events
WARNINGS: A lot of fighting and bitter feelings

ONE

The feelings of paranoia aren't lost with Souji. He's just as much human as everyone else and even with his normally calm demeanor, he can't help but occasionally look over his shoulder or try to stray away from large crowds. However, he's quite good and experienced at swallowing his feelings and pushing through like nothing bothers him so he does exactly that.

Getting into the Halloween spirit (even though it's a few weeks away), he's dressed in a simple magician's outfit, complete with the top hat and cape. He dramatically tosses back his cape and bows with an arm across his chest to whoever dares to get even close to him. While he's still bowed over, he tilts his head up slightly and gives a smile.

"Would you like to see a magic trick?"

TWO

To Souji's dismay, these thoughts of paranoia don't leave. In fact, they're accompanied with other types of intrusive thoughts and feelings of wanting to lash out at people and push their faces into the mud. These impulses are better controlled during the day, he finds out, but he finds himself slowly losing himself in them. To make matters worse, he notices a physical change occurring as well and he takes to layering up in thick clothing, using the excuse of the cold weather to get away with using his scarf and hood to cover parts of his skin hardening and taking on an unpleasant grey color. He even puts on a pair of sunglasses to cover the strange dull glow that his eyes are giving out and wears a thick pair of gloves.

However, despite his best efforts to shrink away and avoid interacting with others, he still slips up. As he walks down the street, anyone bumping into him, even if it was a very small one, he immediately snarls:

"Watch it--!"

However, not even a second later though, his scrunched up face of angry melts away and is replaced with... guilt? Surprise? Apologetic? It's difficult to describe the combination of emotions that go through him all at once, especially with the uncharacteristic sunglasses on, but regardless, the energy behind that snarl immediately disappears and he bows his head slightly.

"... sorry."

THREE

And eventually, these changes consumes Souji completely. Although still recognizable as Souji, he's a shell of his former past. Parts of his skin have now fully turned into a hard and rock-like material that cracks and splits off in random locations but as for the parts that haven't changed, they take on a pale ashy colour. His hands, while hardened just like the other parts of his body, are unusually glossy and there's this strange, almost exaggerated, glow to his eyes. In addition, there just seems to be this chill that surrounds him, as if the temperature has dropped just around him. While afar, characters might not notice this change in temperature, anyone close enough will notice that it's like standing by an open fridge. He just exerts cold air, though he either doesn't seem to notice or care.

On top of these physical transformations, Souji's entire personality and demeanour changes. The seemingly carefree smile is gone and it's replaced with a scowl. He no longer welcomes people towards him and invites others into a conversation. Instead, he pushes others away and almost seemingly looks for a fight. Should anyone even give him a quick glance, whether it was intentional or not, he growls at them:

"What are you looking at?"

FOUR

And it gets even worse. On top of all of the previous physical changes, he gains a few new traits a few days later. No longer standing up straight, he has a slight hunch and walks as if he has a limp. He has dark rings under his eyes and although his hands are now clumsily wrapped in bandages (was that done by him or something else...?), there's still this strange shine to them. Even worse, Souji's unstable new personality takes another dive. If he seemed to be on a slippery slope before, he has essentially fallen completely over and is no longer even on the slope.

Out in the middle of the streets is Souji with his hand wrapped around a middle-aged man's collar, holding him up as he repeatedly punches him in the face with no hesitation. Even as the man pleads and begs for him to stop, Souji continues. Depending on how long he's been doing this uninterrupted, the bandages on his hands would be stained with a dark red but this doesn't seem to faze him. Nothing at all seems to faze him and until someone forcefully tries to get him to stop, he'll just keep on continuing.

FIVE

Or maybe it's not even an NPC man that Souji has suddenly attacked, maybe it's you. He grabs anyone he can to start throwing fists. Maybe he has a reason for this. Maybe he doesn't. Regardless, with his new golem-like hands, it isn't pleasant to be punched anywhere with them. In addition, be careful. That strange slime covering his hands? Make sure it doesn't touch your skin. You don't want to suddenly get infected, do you?

SIX

What's worse than an infected person with an unstable mind? Perhaps an infected person with summonable creatures who can cause mass destruction. Lost in a vicious sea of emotions that he has surpressed for years, he explodes all at once and he lashes out at others. His main Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami, stands out with him and if anyone comes even remotely close to Souji (it could be two feet, it could be ten, there is no set definition on "close"), the Japanese God will immediately wave its hand to either cause a large explosion of fire to erupt right by the person or push them back with an unbelievable strong gust of wind.

"Leave me alone!"

Regardless of whether this person was just simply walking in the vicinity of Souji or actually wanted to bother him, it makes no difference to him. He will simply lash out to everyone and attack with little provocation.

WILDCARD

Anything is game! PM me or toss me a private plurk at northpaws if you want to do something outside the above options or to discuss anything! Let me know if you want your character to get infected or not.

Also for clarification, Souji is infected with the ghost, golem, and slime traits for prompts two and three while in prompts four and five, he has gained the mummy infection as well!

Finally, will be replying with action tags rather than prose!

Comments

TWO.

[interlucere]

[ Lucille would probably be on edge even without everything that's been going on. The moon looms large in the sky, and she can't help but feel like it—or something far more sinister—is watching her. There's a part of her that just hopes she's over-reacting, but she can't seem to shake it no matter what she does.

A walk. She should take a walk. Shake off that nervous energy so she can convince her mind to stop racing. It might be nearly night time, the sun barely hanging over the horizon, but she needs to get out. She has to do something physical, or she might just snap.

She isn't watching where she's going. It's her fault, not his, but when she feels her shoulder collide with something firm, she startles; and when she hears him snarl, Lucille nearly jumps out of her skin. Shrinking back a bit with eyes open wide in fear, it isn't until he mutters an apology that she realizes who it is. ]

...Souji? That is you, right?

[ Why is he dressed like that? It's cold, but it's not that cold. And the way he bows, no, this doesn't feel right. This isn't like him. Something's off.

She offers him a somewhat forced smile, taking a step closer to try to clap a hand on his shoulder. Please don't do that, look up at her. ]

I almost didn't recognize you dressed like that. You know, I didn't know you were a "wear my sunglasses at night" kind of guy, but isn't it a little dark for that?

[tarotcards]

[ shit, it's someone that he actually knows... with the hood up and sunglasses obscuring his face (along with the overall darkness of the night), it's difficult to see his brow furrowed. he returns her smile with a very small and weak one of his own, obviously forced, but when she reaches out to try and put a hand on his shoulder, he suddenly takes a step back to avoid the physical contact. he still keeps on the fake smile, though his shoulders are slightly hunched. he constantly has to keep pushing out these thoughts and feelings out of his head that he doesn't have the proper energy or focus to keep up his fake persona of carefree happiness. ]

Yeah... I don't know, I guess I just felt in the mood to wear them.

[ he gives a shrug ]

[interlucere]

[ Watching him take an abrupt step back, Lucille blinks a few times in surprise. The way that he holds himself raises all kinds of red flags, and she's concerned, but the small blond does what she can to hide that with a smile. Something isn't right, but she isn't sure what. But she makes all attempts to stay cheerful. She's paranoid for no reason, she just needs to ignore it.

She won't try to reach for him again, letting her hand fall to her side. She does lean in toward him, head inclined as she tries to play off that unsettled feeling with a smile. It's another way to close the space a bit, even if it is subtle. ]

I don't know how you can even see with those things on. No wonder we bumped into each other. You should probably take them off, cool guy, you don't want to hurt anybody.

[ Maybe a light-hearted jab will help ease the tension in the air. ]

Three

[long_live_the_queen]

[To be honest, Lucy was a bit curious at Souji's(?) appearance. She didn't look very ordinary herself anymore either; her arms were oddly stretched and elongated, to accomodate the feathers that sprouted from them and swept so far she had to keep them folded back at the wrist to keep from dragging the feathers on the floor. Her hands were tipped with claws, and her feet weren't human at all anymore, but replaced with a bird's talons. Shoes and Lucy weren't on speaking terms anymore. The wings weren't the only feathery things about her either. What had been solid bone white horns had been replaced with feathers, along with most of her hair.

And yet her shadow didn't reflect any of these changes, looking almost how she did before. But it didn't move when Lucy did, looking in other directions, sometimes walking away entirely to examine something else, leaving Lucy shadowless.

Her red eyes seemed unusually piercing this time, holding onto Souji's gaze like some kind of predatory bird.

Lucy frowned. Souji's snappishness seemed...very out of character. Her answer, though, was as straightforwards and blunt as usual.]

You?

[tarotcards]

[ you know those stories where some ghosts are constantly aware of their own deaths and inability to move on? to become vengeful spirits who snap at everyone and everything who tries to make any form of contact at it? to lash out in outrageous proportions? well, unfortunately for souji, those are the traits that he gains and snippy comments are, regrettably, now just part of who he currently is. ]

Yeah, like you're a sight of beauty.

[ sarcasm ]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy blinked in momentary surprise, some of the feathers on her head rippling a little along with a raised eyebrow.]

Someone's cranky today.

[It wasn't just Souji's appearance that was off, his mannerisms too. Was he replaced by someone else?]

FOUR

[megatechbody]

[Mariko is outside of her territory, she knows - but even as her mind begins to succumb to the monstrous infection within her, there are still things she can't abide. Even if her hunger makes her crave the flesh around her, Souji's cruelty is too much to stomach.

She doesn't bother shouting or hissing or even screeching. Mariko simply rushes at Souji, to put herself between him and the poor man that he's attacked. She smells of salt-water and mountain air, her skin deathly pale and almost sandpaper-like to the touch.]

[tarotcards]

[ although souji has lost a lot of his own sense of reasoning due to the vengeful and bitter traits from all of his infections, he at least stops as soon as mariko gets in between him and the man. however, he doesn't let go of the man's collar and doesn't let down his already raised fist. instead, he keeps his pose as he growls: ]

Get out of my way.

[megatechbody]

[Mariko answers his growl by hissing and this close he can smell her for what she is; a fellow originating monster. This close, it's easy to discern - the paleness and pattern of her skin, her pupils are wider than a human's and her teeth end in a shark-like points.]

Make me.

one

[twostringsonebow]

[Oh, charming as always. Goro crosses his arms, trying to shake off the chill raising hair on the back of his neck, and raises an eyebrow at the dramatic flourish. But he's all shades of eager and amused, don't worry.]

It'd be my pleasure. What sort of tricks have you up your sleeve today, Mister Magician?

[tarotcards]

[ souji figures that if he can distract himself with something and someone, he can push these unsettling thoughts to the back of his mind so without much further ado, he stands back up and suddenly pulls a deck of cards out of his pocket. immediately, he starts to do a few card springs from hand to hand and splits the deck in half, doing quick revolution cuts with both of them in each hand before he then holds them out to goro. ]

Hmm, let's start off easy so pick whichever card you want. You can show it to me or not.

thwee

[promisedyou]

[ This sure is... definitely a sight to behold, and not necessarily in a good way, either. She's not really all that certain of how she should actually respond to his question, so instead she just waves her hand dismissively, while actively keeping her distance as she manages to speak rather casually on her part. ] Kind of hard to just pinpoint one thing here... unless you were expecting me to point everything out?

[tarotcards]

[ keeping her distance is a good idea when souji has lost all of his morals not to actually hit someone. he lets out a scoff. ]

Like you're one to talk. You're far from being Miss Perfect.

THREE

[fiddlestick]

[Like most nights since being infected, Elliot's found at the beach. He's sitting on some rocks, a green fishtail fully formed and half in the water. He'd come out of the water of because he thought he heard someone coming, but it turned out to be Souji who was already infected.

Oh well, still in a good enough mood to talk to him, not seeming at all fazed by the other's hostility]

Haha, nothing. Hi Souji!

[tarotcards]

[ i can't believe that this thread is just going to be souji angrily yelling for probably 304929202 comments while elliot is like haha yeah good times ]

What are you so cheery about?

SIX

[servileness]

[ Clover is her own type of covered. Half-shadow, she's wrapped in her clothes and bandages that can still hang onto her somehow. It's not too easy to recognize her from far away at first glance. What drew her close was a feeling of vague camaraderie, but it dispels quickly with the attack. Her bright green eyes stand out in the shadows of her face.

She barely looks at the singed and burning bandages hanging off her arms and dragging on the floor, stepping on them to snuff out the flames. Instead, her eyes are trained on the Persona before she turns them onto Souji. ]

I didn't know you were the violent type.

[tarotcards]

[ izanagi-no-okami has turned on a similarly twisted appearance like its user, taking on a darker and more corrupted look than its usual god-like appearance. it actually looks remarkably similar to izanami-no-okami's form: its eyes take on a red glow, its white clothing all tattered and ripped, its clawed gauntlets removed to reveal boney decaying hands, and the helmet is noticeably cracked. as personas are supposed to be a reflection of its user, one really doesn't need to guess that souji isn't doing so well mentally. ]

Like you know anything about me. Out of all the people Minato chose to be with, I can't believe it was you.

FIVE

[usurpers]

[ cold air and slime is just the kind of thing eren has grown attracted to, and if it’s souji— great! if he’s infected too, also great.

what’s not so great: he’s getting attacked instantly after coming too close to what he ventured towards in search some “friendly” leeching. alarmed, eren attempts a step back and takes the solid impact of a golem fist into the side of his scaling cheek. the force shoves the hood backwards and frees his fins and gills, what flare when eren shrieks inhumanly and pulls his fists back in retaliation. ]

Souji?!

[ he was only trying to taste your slime residue??? ]

[tarotcards]

[ eren and souji finally move past the hate to become friends and then they just become enemies again. thus, it's the circle of eren and souji... but souji doesn't seem to even react to realizing that it's eren that he punched. in fact, he doesn't even stop. he steps forward and tries to grab onto eren's collar or just anything to hold him as he raises his fist, hoping to get another good punch in. ]

Four

[notyourutopian]

[There would be a crackle of energy in the air around Souji, before a powerful force wrapped itself around the man he was beating and wrenched him away. He was hauled back, dragged along the ground really, until he came to a flopping stop next to where Eleanor was standing, her arm outstretched. With a gesture, she released him.]

Get out of here.

[It was an almost disinterested command, and then she was ignoring him completely, focused on Souji. Or what Souji had become, at least. Her own transformation was far more subtle, almost impossible to spot thanks to the demon in her letting her hide it. But there was a flash, as she started walking towards him, of horns emerging from her forehead and large, batlike wings stretched out behind her back.]

You know, if you kill them, they aren't going to be able to infect anyone else, right?

[She almost sounded amused. And she definitely was not afraid.]

[tarotcards]

[ the npc wastes absolutely no time in scurrying away like a mouse as soon as eleanor releases him. souji barely has any time to react, his reflexes slowing down as a result of the golem virus, but as eleanor walks up to him, he doesn't hesitate to grab her collar, pulling her close. ]

Did it look I gave a shit about infecting him?

[ no, he seemed more like he wanted to beat him to death ]

Two

[strawberrypunch]

[It's impossible to have missed the changes in Souji's demeanor, and Tatsuma pulls his hand back quickly. So far he's avoided quite getting infected, but...

Hard to say just how long that will last.]

Souji...

[tarotcards]

[ souji's chest suddenly twists and hurts and he can't even dare to bring his head up to look at tatsuma. even with all the monstrous thoughts and feelings swelling among him, the feeling of guilt consumes him. snapping at tatsuma? the one he loves? he feels awful and he takes a step back. ]

... you... you should stay away from me for a while.

one

[justchords]

(this whole situation just screams that apollo is going to wind up dead in a ditch somewhere, or possibly mugged and robbed of all his worldly possessions.

yes, he's fully aware the man in the costume is souji. and yes, souji has never done anything... too drastic to betray his trust (aside from just being plain weird like now), but apollo always errs on the side of caution!

but what the heck, he's bored. but still very skeptical.) Is this the kind of trick where you dazzle me, and an hour from now, I find out my wallet is gone?

[tarotcards]

[ and now this is when souji puts on an exaggerated sad face, standing up from his bow. ]

Is that what you truly think of me? As a lowly pickpocket?