OPEN ➸ September Catchall

[worldbent]

Who ⬤ Matoba Seiji and you
What ⬤ Substories, monthly eye curse, etc. Closed starters in the comments.
When ⬤ Throughout September
Where ⬤ More or less everywhere
Content Warnings ⬤ Will add if needed



A. SUBSTORY 3: DRIFTER GRIFTER - I want that Spiderman Wastelander!!

[What a classic wild goosechase, huh? When Matoba's connections had told him of a certain individual that had been spotted around the city with information on the Iron Bear, he had set to finding this mystery youkai. But every time he gets to a location where the man was said to be, he finds nothing but other angry individuals looking for the same man.]

[Surely he can't be only a mirage...]

[Perhaps the Wastelander got you to pay for a meal or a new pair of shoes, only to leave you down on your luck.] I see... Don't you think this will be a good lesson for you? [Matoba offers you a cheerful smile after hearing your tale.] Never give up your side of the bargain before you get your information.

Shall I assist you in finding him, then?


B. CURSED EYES - The Me in the Mirror Limit first 5 tag-ins, please!
[ooc; If you are tagging in to this prompt, PLEASE READ THIS INFO/PERMISSIONS POST FIRST, thanks! If your character has spiritual awareness, they can tell the spirit in this prompt feels Real Bad.]
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[It's another busy day in Sutoku's shopping districts, with their modern buildings and flashy neon signs. It was easy to feel as though this was a normal shopping district in any human city, with the sort of glamor present.]

[As you pass by the reflective windows of a shop, you might have to do a double-take once or twice when the reflection that stares back at you is missing its right eye. You must have been seeing things- when you look back again, it's normal.]

[Maybe it takes you a few times to notice that your "reflection" moves on from your shadow and along the glass on its own after a while; it seems to be looking for something. But when you stop and try to look at it, you'll instead be interrupted by a voice that approaches you from behind, suddenly too-close to your ear--]

Excuse me. Are you looking for something?


C. SNACK RUN - Even menacing Lieutenants need a day off

[Matoba had earned quite a reputation over his months in Jigoku-cho for being "always on the clock"- it was, perhaps, a part of why he had managed to climb the ranks of the Alliance so quickly. Always dressed for success in either a suit or his clan's traditional kimono, it was perhaps hard to relate more personally to a man who seemed to carry himself as so apart from others in both appearance and speech.]

[But once in a while, you can catch even Matoba Seiji on an off-day.]

[In an adidas hoodie and a casual pair of joggers, Matoba has perched himself on the railing of a walkway overlooking the river at one of the bridge crossings. The Hashihime Clan may have to put up with a Lieutenant's presence now, but she doesn't look much happier about the crumbs from the flaky pastry he's eating, or the flecks of rice from that onigiri, as they fall onto her bridge and waters.]

[Like this, Matoba-san almost just looks like what he is- a bored 22 year old.]

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[ooc; as always feel free to hit me up via my CR meme post, PM or kitsoru for plotting!]

Comments

[worldbent]

[The scent of an exorcist was unique and easy pickings in a city of ayakashi, which is why Matoba splits his aura. Shadows, milling about the marketplace, carrying Matoba's signature if not his flesh and blood. It was not a serious distraction, but it was intended to throw him off his guard, make him suspicious about an unknown factor and shake his surety.]

[As for Matoba............]

Hmmm... Strawberry-banana, [He hands over a few coins to a street vendor selling rolled crepes in the morning light, and feels the approach of a wet, stinky man and all of his attached malice.]

[(Matoba's got a stench on him, but phew, this guy's got a stench on him!)]

[Buying a few minutes of a head-start meant he could draw up spells on the fly. Or send his servants. Or get another bite of breakfast in. There's an Enma beatcop, also eating a crepe, tossing Matoba a dirty look as the human reaches over them to grab a few napkins. That is, until the big fishstink murderdaemon comes rolling in and steals their attention.]

Ah, good timing. Breakfast is almost ready. [Matoba feels his shadows drawing back towards the food cart. Their orders had been simple: "track him".]

[Neither man really thinks the other is just going to stand around and chat, right?]

[swordhardy]

Should’ve known you’d be stuffing your face.

[ Rokurou would be disgusted to hear they have so much in common, but their moves are annoyingly similar. He may not be intelligent in the academic sense, but the daemon is both vicious and clever. The kids has just been the start of it; while Matoba had drawn up spells and prepared servants, Rokurou had laid traps throughout the city in consideration of what kind of moves the exorcist may make. When you’re the underdog beneath an overpowered genius sibling you learn to be crafty.

Like … he hadn’t been above spreading the rumor that the conman vagabond that still hadn’t been caught (you know, that one garnering tons of angry chasers?) was wearing adidas, sporting an eyepatch over his right eye, and was seen wandering the marketplace just this morning looking for his next mark.

Will those angry clusters of ripped off youkai stop him? No, surely not. But they’re perfect fodder to slow him down. The kids call pervert and make a scene, the brainless merchants form an angry mob … these things usually fall like dominoes.

Rokurou’s smile doesn’t even fade when several youkai nearby scrunch their faces up at his fish stench. Or is it the malevolence? Monsters less powerful tend to find it too much. Either way, everyone eating from the morning breakfast carts shuffle away, finding the daemon too offensive on the nose.

He casually wrings out a mass of his thick hair like he hasn’t become the fish pariah of the morning market. Normally he’d go straight for the throat with a knife, but even he isn’t so brazen as to attack right under a cop’s nose.

He flashes sharp teeth to that beatcop and poor cart tender pinching his nose to block out the fishy smell, and laughs, ]

My wife is a troublemaker, he was flirting too hard and pushed me right into the river. [ he strolls closer, fully intending on grabbing Matoba by the waist if the exorcist doesn’t flee or have some trick to stop him, ] It’s alright though. “Chase” really gets him going.

[ Disgusting, but if Rokurou’s going to roll around in the mud, he’s dragging Matoba down with him. ]

[worldbent]

[Children could be silenced by shadows. That was simple enough. As long as they didn't come across the scary childnapper in the eyepatch, his long shadows had been free to snatch them up instead and carry them off, guilty as charged, to keep them nice and out of the way.]

[(They'll be fine; later, someone will find them stuck harmlessly into a dumpster somewhere, stinky but unhurt. A stinky end for stinky children recruited by a stinky man.)]

[As for the rumors of that Wastelander, it would be quite interesting if they turned out to be a human, wouldn't it? That's what Matoba thinks, as he dodges the swing of a punch on his way to crepes. A few angry punks looking for their money are easy enough to take care of with the painful sting of a spell, as annoying as it is to have a scene being caused at all, but that's why he picks out the sight of the Enma cop by the foodstalls, and takes a moment of safehaven there. For whatever little peace that meant for the moment...]

Oh? I've been promoted to wife. [Matoba licks the edge of his crepe, as if contemplating the implication, and rolls himself around the edge of the foodcart to the other side of it while the cop eyes Rokurou's approach reluctantly. He doesn't wanna have to touch the stinky hobo fish-daemon--] Is that a proposal? Sadly, I think I'm going to have to break your heart. You see, I already have a partner decided for me back home.

But, [He starts backing away. With the cart now between them, he has the chance to make another breakaway- either towards a circle of product stalls or into a busy traffic intersection.] I'm not going to deny I'm enjoying this.

[Stalls it is. With the same swiftness, Matoba darts behind the lumbering girth of a giant, hairy foot youkai and makes for-- a fruit cart. Huh, that looks familiar.]