(OPEN) Exsistance

[Ryugexu]

"OW!" Yushira yelped at the feeling of being bitten, though did his best to keep a hold on the tiny creature. "I swear- I'm trying to HELP you, Joe!"

The young Priestess blinked at the commotion before herself. "Um, c-can I help you?" She asked the transparent guy whilst he struggled with a tanuki. If one couldn't guess, this isn't the sort of person to knock on your door often. Even on a miko's door.

"Yeah- My friend Joe here.. OW! Stop that- My friend his body was severely damaged and OW- he's a tanuki now and OW!!!" Yushira seemed to have trouble speaking between the tanuki's bites.

The Priestess couldn't help but give a small laugh as she watched. "Please, Joh-san, calm yourself." She asked, "I do not see bodyshifters often, but I will try to help so long as you do not try to take my body."

[Netreemic]

Jö ceased her squirming, muzzle thrust arrogantly to the side as she eyeballed the priestess sideways. Help? Who did this woman think she was? If she thought she was a decent cook or a vet with a good pair of tick tweezers, then she certainly could help. If she thought she was a spiritual channeler who could stuff this bodysnatcher back in that battered stiff, she had another thing coming. Same for any thoughts she might be harboring about the benefits of moving on, remaining forever a tanuki, or finding a coma victim if it was necessary to become a human again. And the lady was laughing at her...

She broke gaze with the priestess and shoved her nose dejectedly into the crook of Yushira’s elbow. He’d held on a lot better than she thought he would. Even held a vague conversation…commendable. Bah. She loosened her claws. The young man was focused on seeing the matter through, seemed useless to fight the inevitable. However, her damp nose gave her another idea. Maybe she could tickle her way out of this, damp and cool things had ways of unsettling people…maybe it would surprise him enough that she’d get away that way~ A sigh puffed out. Give it a rest. So, she settled for a few quick licks of embarrassed apology on his bitten limbs before wedging her head back into his elbow. She could be calm. Yeah. Real easy.

But the second either of them tried anything funny…

[Ryugexu]

Yushira smiled at the apologetic licks after such an interesting show of opinion. "don't you worry, Joe." he whispered to the tanuki, then looked up at the lady priestess.

"Well, I could try to find him a body, if his previous is too damaged." She suggested.
Yushira nodded, "his last body is beyond full repair."

"There is a hospital down the main road. The I.C.U. is floor 4, and that is where coma patients will be. Do not pick just anyone, look for a body that on their chart says they have no relatives to take care of them... Of coarse, you must be secretive to discover this." The priestess explained.

"for a specter as myself, sneaking into any patients rooms is no trouble." Yushira smiled, "thank you for the advice. We will look there and see if we can find something, but if not may we return here?"

"any time!" the priestess smiled, "after all, I am here to help everyone, not just the living humans, but why not a bodyshifter and a spirit?"

With that Yushira walked down the main road the way the Priestess had pointed him to go. "See, Joe? that wasn't as bad as you thought it'd be. I forgive you for biting me, but try not to do it again, okay? I'll be a bit stronger when we get there, because I'll be able to take-in electric energy from anything with a battery."

[Netreemic]

Jö watched blandly as the two hatched their plan. This had to be a bad joke. One of them would start laughing in a few seconds. They were just waiting for him to agree with the ‘plan’ and then they’d turn on him…just waaaaaaaaiting. Very sneaky. “I’m here to help everyone,” heh nice words. They sure could try to shove him into a body of their choosing. A hospital was the easiest place to loose a tail, even the supernaturally aware kind. Too many conflicting vibes, all the death, sickness, desperation, strange technologies, spirits floating around, so on and so forth. She narrowed her eyes. Very well, let them try their hardest. Let them read the coma patient sheets and think they’ll trick him into one without any motor ability.

The tanuki peeked out of the corner of her squinted eye, watching Yushira watch the surroundings as he walked. She pretended to calmly do the same. Even started growl/humming a tune that was coming to mind. Pick me up and shake me twice/I'm coming back from paradise/This poor boy is here to live in glory. When it's time to say good-bye/All my friends will sit and cry/And they'll watch the coffin rockin' round and squirmin'. Then they'll raise a mighty shout/When my bones come marching out/And I praise myself and preach the final sermon. Her tail twitched in time, watching the afternoon/evening crowd mingled on the road. She had done that once too, coffin shankin' and all…wonder how these normal folk would react to the dead walking. Heh, maybe they’d walk past the room of someone who had flatlined an hour earlier…or a couple minutes even. And she could pop up, screaming about the other side, all the horrible things, ohoh oh! These people were always more worried about NOTHING being on the other side, maybe that would be a better angle to take. A nasty snicker escaped the tanuki, tiny fangs glinting.

Or she’d just morph herself into one of those beige covered plates they always have at hospitals, better to keep this handy little body. She thought back to Yushira’s earlier words, “I bet that such an ability would be convenient.” A convenience they plan to remove from her grasp. Her ear twitched in annoyance. It had already tricked Llug. Besides, she had heard a variety of tanuki tales, some even said they could morph into humans. A human weighing 20 pounds, but the appearance would be enough. Hmmm…perhaps it was worth a try. If Yushira thought she died in transition, she could still get out of the hospital without starting stories about the wild animal trundling out of the I.C.U. Her ears flicked back and forth, hinting at her whirling thoughts. Just wished she could whistle, that would help the thinking. Back to the ‘humming’ I guess~

[Ryugexu]

"Ah- here we are." Yushira said, his unearthly glow became less transparent as they approached the entrance of the hospital.

"Much better... Now, you need to hide.." he said. After all, it would be obvious that the boy was carrying a tanuki with him, so he softly set her into the folds of his shirt. "There, just don't move around too much or it'll tickle me." he whispered.

Then, Yushira entered the hospital calmly as any normal person would. Yeah, we're totally not here looking for a good body for my tanuki friend hiding in my shirt. He smiled a little, finding the entire situation so foreign and amusing. What better way to spend one's afterlife, he wondered.

As he headed for the elevator, the woman at the front desk called to him, "Sir? You need to check in." she said. Yushira looked a bit conserned, after all, they hadn't chosen someone already, so he couldn't say who he was visiting.

For once, Yushira decided, it seems that something less honorable was in store. He wrote his name and basic information, some of which would be obviously fake if they knew he was a spirit, and where the form asked for the name of the person he was visiting, Yushira did his best to make the Katakana and Kanji illegible. The writing looked like it could have read "Tooriko Yamashikaarunya" or "Birds fly over the mountain in spring". Before waiting for approval, he set the form down at the desk (the woman had fortunately busied herself with the telephone) and continued towards the elevator. Once inside, he hit the desired number. The two were alone in the elevator.

"I'll read the charts to you. Somehow if you let me know which one you like the most, we'll go into that room. I figure that there won't be many who could happen to go missing and not be noticed, so I'm afraid I'll have to go against what the Priestess said a bit and just let you chose whichever body is in the best condition."

[Netreemic]

Jö wiggled slightly within the clothy folds. Not to speak ill of Yushira’s plan, but wedged up against work out clothing and nervous spirit flesh was not the most pleasant of situations. And being warned not to tickle…kind of hard when one is fluffy. She was tempted to try a different creature, something smaller and less liable to tickle. But that would show her hand, destroy any ace in the hole. So far, she’d just done teakettle – inanimate.

She poked her head out when the elevator door closed, black furred face peering up. He seemed…serious about this. This couldn’t be right. ‘Let you choose?’ What were these words? The poor swordsman had flipped his lid. This…this could actually be alright. Except, this would be her…let’s see…school girl, tourist, tanuki…so fourth theft of the day. Bloody hard work…and…well, some people she actually trusted, and wanted to earn trust from, had talked to her about working through so many bodies. But Yushira had tried so hard, more seriously than she ever thought he was going to be. He’d already lied his way past the security lady. Would he be so willing on a different day? Doubtful. The longer he had to think about it, the more he would question, change his mind.

Focus. As serious as Yushira could possibly be, that didn’t remove the fact that the tanuki was a useful thing. So that meant more reasons to stay as she was than to switch. Read the charts, take note of secondary plans (ie the best comatose bodies), and slip Yushira. She threw her ears forward in attention. Simple plan.

[Ryugexu]

Ding.

The elevator doors opened to a relatively quiet floor. The only sounds that could be heard were that of life support machines and occasionally nurses talking to doctors. Fortunately, there weren't any visitors due to the late hours, so Yushira would be able to sneak around easier.

Yushira walked out of the elevator, ducking quickly past the door to the Nurse's break room, and went into the first patient room he saw had a body in the bed. He picked up the chart from the clipboard hanging against the wall and flipped it open.

"Lets see...."


((OOC- errr you can choose if this could be the body or if Yushira needs to be all 007. XD))

[Netreemic]

Sticking her black nose into the clipboard, Jö tried to understand the scribbles. Doctors. Seriously, how did they ever get jobs? At least much of the more important information was printed. “Severe Head Trauma.” That was basically what Jö did when shuffling in. Though, it didn’t seem that this particular patient was entirely gone, wasn’t a brain dead vegetable yet. Muscle tone down by 21% though. Seemed the man had been hospitalized for a while…

But no. Not appealing. A shape changing mythical beast in comparison to a balding, middle age man. Who wasn’t a vegetable. Important that. Meant people might still be around, would be very interested in their loved one going missing, intent on finding where he went. Might be sleeping on that lounge chair slightly to the left and behind Yushira.

Oh.

Crap.

Tiny claws dug into Yushira’s shirt, wide black eyes locked on the woman, with her toes peeking out of the thin, short blanket and head tilted uncomfortably to rest on her shoulder. She was almost tucked behind the door, probably shuffled there by the nurses so they could work without having to wake her up. Which she looked like she might be doing at the moment. A hand lifted from the armrest to rub at bruised eyes as a mumbled “’T-tousan?” Jö’s eyes shot to the bedside table, previously ignored by both. A father’s day card was tucked beside an over-watered potted plant. Crappity crap crap crap.

[Ryugexu]

Yushira felt Joe tense up and got nervous himself, though he did his best not to make any unusual noise.

He noticed the girl and sighed, then muttered "not him, right? We'll find better." barely above a whisper as he returned the folder to it's place.

As though to respectfully excuse himself, he whispered "Sorry to bother you, miss. Excuse me." and then, holding Joe with his hand, decided it was best to make the girl believe she was still dreaming, and fazed the two of them through the wall to the next room. Thanks to draining some cellphone batteries Yushira had enough strength to do so safely.

"I guess I need to be more aware of my surroundings. Sorry about that." he muttered to the fuzzy creature in his shirt.

[Netreemic]

[Well, if you are past the point of wanting to do this rp anymore, you don’t have to reply. Sorry about falling through on this. Hope you’ve found some fun rp’s ^-^]

Adrenaline still coursing through her tiny body, Jö’s anger spiked. This was a barely thought through situation and they were flinging themselves haphazardly into it. This was madness. She struggled against the containing folds of Yushira’s shirt, kicking out to finally free her furry form and drop to the tiled floor. Any more run ins and someone could be suspicious enough to get them caught. Images of animal control with their poles, cages, rooms filled with the cries of dozens of deserted creatures. Or worse. Window decorations of stuffed tenuki wearing ridiculous hats to amuse tourists. No. She wasn’t going to stay stuffed in that shirt and go along with this.

Sure, it had sounded fun, but there was only so much surprise a tiny critter can take. She just wanted warm and safe. That was the opposite of hospitals. Cold, sterile and filled with sick things. Nails clicked against tile as she paced back and forth, darting looks up at Yushira, anxious. They should leave. But she was loath to climb back in his shirt until he understood she wanted out. Who knows where’d they go if he did get the point. Her pacing halted as she heard muted voices through the wall…and a closer one in the hall.

“She probably was just dreaming,” there was a quiet laugh as the door slid open. Cold night! I need something bigger. Shape I can defend myself with. Stand against human, hide from human, explain and wheedle out of this! Jö crushed her eyes tight, opening them to find herself five feet in the air. Or at least, that’s where her head was now: on the shoulders of the flimsiest human alive. She felt light and airy…and felt quickly reminded of Bilbo Baggins: “Like butter scraped over too much bread” as her tanuki substance tried to replicate and fill out a human form. Her fur was now a fluffy boy cut of dark brown, creamy skin, and (thankfully) a light brown sundress. A thin finger shot up in front of her lips, begging silence from Yushira before she slapped an exasperated look on and gripped his shoulders with both hands. Terror coursed through her at the weakness of the grip, but the night guard stood framed in the doorway and she needed to sell this.

“What did I tell you about wandering off on your own?” She stage-whispered furiously, pretending to not have seen the surprised woman pause just inside the room. “I take my eyes off you for one second…We just came to get your ear checked and POOF! I should just take you straight hooo-” She turned her head and jerked as if in surprise and false morbid shame crumpled her features. “Oh!” She twisted her arm around Yushira’s left and faced the guard. “I’m so sorry. My brother,” she gestured a nearly weightless arm at him, “he’s always doing this. He’s kinda,” she rapped her knuckles against his head, nothing more than a feather’s touch, “a problem child. And Dad’s still at work, so I had to bring him myself, but I lost track of him…I’m so so so sorry-”

She cut off as the bemused security lady walked in to hustle them out of the room. “Don’t worry dear, it doesn’t look like he upset anything. Just gave Michiko a surprise in the other room. Just you get him checked up and on your way home, it’s getting pretty late for you kids to be out.” Concern furrowed her brows. “Do you need me to come with you?”

Simpering that the night guard shouldn’t worry, she tugged at Yushira. Feeling distinctly lightheaded, Jö wasn’t certain she could keep this up much longer.

[Ryugexu]

"Gah! Joe!" Yushira whispered as his furry companion got free of his shirt.

He couldn't help but stare in awe at the sudden transformation of the Tanuki's.

Before he was truly aware of it, he was being lectured like a disobedient child by a twiggy young woman. Being friends with a bodyshifter can be rather bewildering. He came to his sense at the light tapping on his forehead of the 'bonk'.

To make the situation more believable, Yushira lightly rubbed his right ear as though it was mildly irritating.

"No it's okay. I'm sorry for scaring the woman in the other room. I know where I'm supposed to be..." he said to the security guard, then turned to Joe, "but I was curious of what was over here. I won't do it again..."

Yushira understood the feeling Joe was trying to tell him. "Well, sis... Let's go." Yushira softly put an arm around his light-as-a-feather 'sibling' to have the two walk to the generally unused stairwell. No officials used the stairwell because usually they'd only change floors if transferring patients, and no family used it simply because the elevator was more convenient. Hopefully, there would be nothing stopping them from hiding out there for a while.

[Netreemic]

The door eased shut, sending a dull whum echoing down the stairwell. Jö slid onto the first step with a quaky sigh. “So-so very lucky.” She combed her fingers though her hair before shooting a critical glance at Yushira. “You look…you do not look like a normal person. How did that possibly work? What kinda high schooler goes around wearing,” she made a face and gestured at the young man’s ensemble. “Don’t get me wrong…it’s cool…but it’ll…that guard’ll start…talking.” She breathed deeply though her nose, attempting to slow her heartbeat. “A-about two cooky kids. Damn.” She gazed wearily around the stairwell. “Don’t they stash vindic…vedicines…vending machines in these places?” Jö paused, confusion crossing her features. “Do you even eat? You said something about batteries…” She leaned into the handrail to stare sideways at Yushira. Empty night. He phased through a wall. Sucked power out of electrical appliances. Probably shot the stored energy out of his eyeballs. Got to stay human and not get stuffed in his shirt again. I’ve got better chance getting away later how I am…I think. Her stomach growled as it clawed at her backbone. She forced on a tired smile after looping an arm around her complaining region. “I could really use a hamburger…we could find you a radio shack or something…”

[Ryugexu]

Yushira looked a bit deterred by Jo's negativity regarding the security guard, but managed to not comment on what he viewed as a less-important matter.

"Four people in the lobby had cellphones. I'll be fine for tonight." Yushira politely declined, as though finding Jo's condition more urgent. "Well, um, I guess I could try to phase some snacks out of a vending machine? Only thing is, I might get seen on a camera if I do that... Are you going to be okay like this?"

Jo's labored breathing made Yushira look completely worried. "Hey, we'll go get you something to eat... so don't worry. I don't want you to walk down the stairs, let me carry you."

Realizing he probably sounded weird, he quickly added, "or at least let me hold your arm."

Yushira figured that literally, Jo could starve him or herself by accident when using the odd abilities. After all, form changing probably expended a lot of energy.

[Netreemic]

Jö balked mentally at the mention of being carried. But the middle ground…sounded reasonable. Pulling in a quick breath, she hoisted herself back on her feet, brushing at the hem of her sundress. She paused a moment, pouting over its wrinkled state before shaking her head, laughing lightly. Smile still in place, she wove her arm through Yushira’s. “My hero~” Petite shoes clicked on the stairs, her hand resting on the handrail for additional support. She concentrated on the stairs for the first few steps, working on timing the wispy limbs, considering how much more intelligent four legs were. Halfway down the first flight though, the silence was starting to grate on her nerves.

“So,” she nibbled her lower lip, pointy teeth glinting in the pasty white lights, “how does one become an electric wampire? Get bitten by an overactive plug-in?” She mimed snake fangs with two fingers, buzzing as she stabbed them into the air.

[Ryugexu]

Yushira chuckled lightly at the compliment, "thanks my lady." he couldn't help but joke with Jo and Jo's petite female body.

"I'm not a vampire." Yushira smiled, "I didn't get bit by anything."

He looked down at the steps, ensuring to not let his moves tangle up his wispy companion's movement. He was a little uneasy, after all his existence wasn't exactly an ideal one.

"I would say 'I won't tell you because I don't want to frighten you,' but you have odd powers yourself that could be considered frightening to those who do not understand. I was once a man... I pleased a deity by becoming a war hero many centuries ago. With that deity's help, I chose when I was going to be reborn. Sadly the deal couldn't be upheld- I died before birth." Yushira explained, "Because of that, I'm a free-wandering energy. To uphold my physical form, electricity is a similar energy form that I can use. When I move, I output electromagnetic energy."