(8) - Rowe by Rowe - (Delsin Rowe TF/MC)

It is of no great secret that I am an oni who prides himself on how organised I am. Or so I keep saying to myself as I triple check the inventory for the seventh time that day. It wasn't that I was being fussy over it; on the contrary to be exact (since I know I get what I do right the first time I do it) The slow burning business that I was operating often left me with a lot of free time. Even when the store (as yet unnamed) does get a few passers-by, they always seem to enter and leave within a few minutes. I sighed as I rubbed my forehead, passing over my solitary horn. It did occur to me to check exactly why this store had to be set up and ran, though to my irritation there was no real thing that suggested exactly why I was sent here to work this place. My mind fluttered back to my real occupation.
'Hmm...it must be true then. Gather research on new forms of torment. Retail must be one real...frustration' I thought, rubbing my chin. Any further thoughts on this matter (to which I know I had thought before) was interrupted as the door opened.

I turned, having my back to it and bowed.
“Good day...sir.” I said, taking a quick second to regard the figure who had just entered my store. He was rather tall...slightly unnerving to someone other than myself. He had long brown hair styled without much care this day. On top of his head however were a pair of a leaf patterned headphones that were presumably playing some for of music from some device...somewhere on his person. His upper body was covered by a heavy-looking, long and rather over-sized (even on him) blue coat. I regarded with interest that his coat had a few lightning motifs...to a rather well styled effect. His long legs were clad in combat styled pants which tucked into a pair of heavy looking combat boots. The customer looked up and gave a rather subtle nod of acknowledgement. A man of few words, just like myself. I returned the subtlety with another gentle bow before returning to the counter. I watched him as he stared blankly at the shelves. A feeling went through me. He has the look and feel of a man who will take his time on his decision. That was fine by me; I had to cross check the inventory again. I lifted a heavy book and put it on the counter and set off to work, occasionally glancing up to see where the customer was. First he was at the weapon rack (as I found, most customers seemed to regard this section first) He glanced over the items before shaking his head and moving on. Then he moved past the accessories and headed towards what I had titled “Everything Else”. I clicked my tongue as I moved my eyes from the customer to the inventory, checking the entries row by row. I was interrupted however, when the customer dropped an item onto the counter.
“This please.” he said in a rather rough...yet quiet voice. I looked up at him, then at the item; a simple chain sat on the wood coiled like a snake.
'Why would anyone want this?' I thought as I looked at it.
“How much?” the customer asked again. He seemed insistent. I shrugged before shaking my head.
“Just take it sir” I said, slightly annoyed that he had decided to buy something while I was in the middle of doing the inventory (though to my error, I assumed he would take a longer period of time to pick something) He looked at the chain, then at me. The customer rolled up his right sleeve and curiously wrapped the chain round his wrist. The length of it meant it coiled around his wrist three times before the customer was satisfied.
“Thank you...I like it a lot.” he said in his quite voice. I nodded curtly as I brought my pen back down onto the inventory book.
“Sir...may I take your name? I need it for my records” I said without looking up from the book.
“Griff...Griffy to...friends.” he replied. I blinked a few times, regarding the unusual name of the customer. Then again, I'm sure to him my name is rather different.
“Griff then. Thank you for your custom.” I said, bowing my head slightly and rather wishing he would just let me get back to my work. The sound of the door shutting gave me the peace I wanted.

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Griff walked with a purpose out of the side alley where he was given that chain. Most people would wonder why a chain was for sale in such an odd store, but Griff...just liked the look of it. He scratched his cheek as he kept his head low. Despite his appearance, he was a rather reserved guy when on his own. Recently moved in town, he had a habit of just buying what he liked the look of. That's why he bought a seemingly simple chain. It was attractive...at least in his eyes. He felt it still tightly wrapped around his right wrist; the cold metal was strangely reassuring to him.
“Where to go now...” he asked himself, adjusting his headphones. He didn't know this side of town. Maybe there was a park or something nearby. He brought his hand to his chin, feeling the chain still around it. Griff didn't look at his hand. Why would he? The skin had already started t be affected by the simple chain. It had darkened around the wrist area before stretching down to his fingers. It wasn't looking like it had a tan, but something more naturally darker. His fingers had stretched out somewhat so his hand could now be seen from under his over-sized coat. Griff looked around before deciding one thing.
'Lets just walk and see what we have here'

Griff must have spent a good hour walking around the streets of his new city. There was a variety of stores and buildings, yet none caught his eye as that shop did. As he walked, his right arm grew longer, but only slightly. His hand and wrist with the chain could be seen jutting out of his sleeve; the jacket now seemingly fitting him a bit better on the right side. Griff didn't seem to notice the longer, slender arm and fingers. He was far too busy walking around the city to notice. That is until an alley caught his eye. It was the same feeling as earlier when he went into that store with the strange owner with the horn. Griff just HAD to walk down this alley though. He turned, crossed the road and darted down the opening. It was a dead end, but the tall brick walls of the surrounding buildings had countless works of street art on them. From simple tags to one impressive mural at the end of the alley...though sadly it looked incomplete.
“That is so impressive!” he exclaimed as he walked towards the mural. He raised his changed hand up to the wall and ran his fingers over it. The chain clacked against the bricks which drew his eyes to his hand. Even in the dark, Griff could make out his change...slender hand.
“Are….my eyes playing tricks on me?” he asked himself. He tried to pull his hand up to his face...but for whatever reason…his hand refused to move from the mural. He tugged at his hand, trying to get it to react to his movements. But it wouldn't move. He could feel a strange pulsing energy move from up his right arm and across his chest. Griff gritted his teeth as he tried to pull away again.
“The hell?” he said sharply. The warmth spread up past his shoulder, creeping across his neck and down his chest. While the coat obscured what was going on to him, if he could see it, his skin was turning the same darker colour. It stretched up his neck, thinning it ever so slightly before advancing up to claim his face. His chin flattened slightly while his jaw rounded a touch. He had a matured yet rather soft and delicate looking face. It did not stop there as it pushed up past his cheeks. His nose widened as the darker skin took hold of it; his eyes went from their rather tired looking but gentle eyes to a narrow, cold glance. The irises darkened like his skin, though darker than the tan Griff was rapidly sporting. It spread over his forehead and under his headphones, causing Griff to fully have a darker skin tone. Though he didn't notice that, for he was far too busy trying to pull away from the mural.
'It must have have a resin or something on it...perhaps some sort of new paint?' While he was thinking this his headphones...soften somewhat. The band across his scalp stretched outward, covering his head. The headphones started to shift in appearance; the cups around his ears lifting up and retracting into the stretched out band. The leaf patters faded until it was a rather uniform look; the colour shifting, darkening into a wine-red hue. The material softened once again, now looking more like a beanie hat. It suddenly retracted and clung to his head, pressing down his long brown hair closely to his scalp. Whatever head was not held under his hat seemingly vanished into the wind, but the hair under retained the same brown colour.

By now Griff was biting his cheek out of frustration. His hand was still firmly planted on the mural and as he raised his left arm up to try and push off of the wall, he could see that it too had become slender, darker in colour. He poked his tongue out in concentration as he got an idea. Maybe if he just put his other hand on the mural, he could push off it and whatever was sticking his hand to it would let him go. Without any other ideas, Griff put his left hand onto the wall...and found his right hand lifted off easily. He sighed, lifting his left hand off...or so he thought. Instead, it had became stuck just like his right arm had. He rolled his eyes.
“Why did I think that would work?” he muttered under his breath. The darker skin by now had finally finished replacing Griff's old tone. His clothing however, obscured the changes however. Though this wouldn't remain that way for long. Griff was too pre-occupied with now trying to pull his left hand from the mural to notice that his over-sized blue coat started to shrink as if it was washed on the wrong setting. The coat pulled over his wrists; the sleeves shrinking back up past his elbows and finally exposing a simple black jumper that was pulled up halfway up his forearms. Griff kicked the wall angrily.
“Dammit let me go!” he shouted, feeling more...outspoken all of a sudden. His blue sleeves receded further and further up his arms, exposing more of the jumper underneath. The sleeves soon were absorbed into the shoulder section of his blue jacket, but Griff was again...too pre-occupied to even notice. What remained of his old, over-sized coat had rapidly become a better fitting denim sleeveless jacket. On the back of the denim a design forced itself out of the fabric; a mirrored bird with two heads. The left being white and the right being red; a star being formed in the middle of the two birds. The jumper under his new denim coat puffed up at the collar before a hood suddenly erupted out.

Griff had, for whatever reason, started to calm down. Instead of trying to pull his hand away from the mural on the wall...he started to regard it with interest. The lines, the colours were all so anti-authoritarian! He just had to finish this piece, even if it wasn't his own to begin with! As he started to trace his fingers across the half-finished mural, his combat pants started to stiffen slightly. They lost their bagginess before being drawn closer to his frame, just as his coat had. As they became tighter, they shifted to a softer denim than the material that his jacket was now made out of. They darkened. Further and further they darkened until they were pair of tight fitting black jeans. They fit perfectly on his slender legs and rebelliously refused to be contained by his heavy combat boots. Though his boots were not going to stay that way for long. They too started to soften up. The lip crept down past his ankle until they were the level of a pair of comfortable skater shoes. The blackened leather lightened, gained flexibility. The thick, rubber soles flattened as if they were being stomped into the ground heavily. The rubber connected together, forming a flat, black sole with a white edge. The tongue of his trainers pushed itself out of the front of and stuck out from his black jeans. Two yellow stripes etched themselves into the trainers, both starting from the white edge and ending up at the laces. Griff stomped his new shoes as he adjusted his feet in them, noticing that he was slightly shorter than before due to the thinner soles.

“Why...do I feel so strange?” he asked, only just realising that something had happened to him. What was so strange? The mural on the wall was so desperately wanting to be finished, but there was still something...missing. From one of the black lines in the wall, a small plume of smoke started to emit as if a fog machine had been turned on. The smoke slowly plumed outwards, against the wind before aiming for Griff's stuck hand. He watched it, now trying to pull his hand away, slightly anxious as this strange spectral smoke started to wrap itself round his left wrist. A flash of pain went through his forearm as the smoke started to be absorbed into his skin. He gasped as the smoke pushed itself into his form. More and more, the smoke entered Griff, changing what unwanted or rather, unneeded thoughts and memories the smoke decided he didn't need. He cried out as a black and blue tattoo, one of a rather tribal bird style formed around his left forearm. The pain in his arm...and the pain in his head was too much. Griff passed out...his head resting on the mural and alone at that too.

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Griff came too, his head still aching from what had happened. Though...he didn't know what had happened. He looked at the mural, half finished and he felt a tinge of pride.
“Damn it I can't be sleeping on the job, Delsin!” he barked to himself. Griff...no...Delsin picked up a half empty can of spray paint and smiled. This next project was going to be his best. Even though he knew all too well it was going to be a headache for Reggie later, but why should he care? This was going to be one hell of an anti-authority piece of street art. Delsin gave a charmingly mischievous smile. Maybe after he would cause some havoc for those D.U.P bastards. Though as he finished his street art, another thought went into his mind. Perhaps he should check up on how Betty is doing...yeah...he should do something good after this. That or he could start planning his next big thing. Plan what it should be...and go through the streets, row by row to find the wall that would have the biggest impact. If he ran into trouble...or other Conduits? Well...he always had his chain handy. Just in case...