SHUICHI SAIHARA
AGE 17 18 | September 7
HEIGHT 171 cm (~5'7")
WEIGHT 58 kg (~128 lb) 0 kg/lb [3.10 kg (~6.8 lb) when solid]
BLOOD TYPE AB no longer has blood
SPECIES Shade
AFFILIATION Neutral
RESIDENCE Bavan (apartment w/ Kokichi Oma)
OCCUPATION Night-shift Cafe Barista
VOICE
 TOTAL 160
SPENT 0
ARTWORK
[x] ---Shadow Form Reference (![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico) knittybitty)
[x] ---Solid Form Reference (knittybitty)
[x] [x] ---Shapeshifting at work (knittybitty)
[x] ---Shuichi and Kokichi at the 2020 Valentine's day party (knittybitty)
[x] ---Shuichi with monster-swapped Kokichi and Izuku (winterbolt)
INVENTORY
Laptop
A clunky laptop that barely works. Shuichi doesn't use it much because he has enough trouble with modern technology, let alone this fossil.
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Among his "classmates", Shuichi is a boy who stands out by not standing out at all. He is a quiet, intelligent, and level-headed individual with a talent for solving mysteries. However, he has a very weak personality, and is consequently incredibly timid and submissive. Very easily flustered and startled, it doesn't take much to make him blush and/or break out into a nervous sweat. Despite his Ultimate title, he has a startling lack of self-confidence and a very poor opinion of himself. Though, with the help of his friends, he has started to improve in this area. He struggles with initiating and maintaining eye contact, though he has at least stopped wearing a ball cap for the express purpose of avoiding others' eyes.
Shuichi is also very compassionate, kind-hearted, and polite. Despite his self-acknowledged weakness, he tries to do whatever he can to help those in need. He is eager to please to an absolutely alarming degree, leading some of his friends to label him as masochistic because he always seems "so happy when he's being bossed around". He is something of a doormat in that regard, as his vast well of patience means he will put up with just about any treatment from others. This is especially true of those he considers to be his friends. He is a surprisingly emotional individual, though more in the sense that he feels things very deeply as opposed to being someone who wears his heart on his sleeve.
Key Traits: intelligent, compassionate, observant, level-headed, submissive, weak, shy, low self-esteem, nervous, easily depressed
| MONSTER ABILITIES |
- Enhanced night vision: As a creature of darkness, Shuichi can see in low-to-no-light conditions much better than a human. So much better that he's actually capable of reading in the dark and can make out fine details and features of objects and people, even in pitch darkness. His color vision, however, is not improved as light is necessary in order to see color. So in low light conditions, he would be able to see the color of an object as well as a normal person, and in pitch dark conditions, he would not be able to see color at all.
- Telekinesis: Shuichi can move objects with his mind. The heavier the object is, the harder and more exhausting it is to move it. He must be able to see the object in order to start moving it, though he is capable of moving it beyond his range of sight once he has control over it. However, he cannot see through the object itself, so the object's movement is limited by his previous knowledge of the new space. For example: if he picks up a book, he could move it with relative ease through the rooms of own house, even without looking at the book itself. The only potential issues would be living things capable of independent movement and manipulable fixtures (like doors or chairs). Since he can't see through the book, he can't account for their locations and/or positions while he's moving it. So while he COULD avoid walls and furniture based on his knowledge of their location, he wouldn't be able to prevent accidentally book smacking Kokichi in the face if he was coming up the stairs while Shuichi was moving the book down them. Basically, it's kind of like trying to move around with your eyes closed.
- Invisibility: Can turn wholly invisible for up to 20 minutes, twice a day; doing so uses up lots of energy and causes Shuichi to get hungrier quicker. He is capable of "flickering" in and out of visibility for those twenty minutes.
- Pain alleviation: Shuichi can take on the pain of others through physical contact. Touching the affected area will allow him to convert the pain into his own, thereby easing it to a certain extent in the other person. By possessing a person, he can completely take their pain away and make it his own.
- Levitation: As he does not have legs, Shuichi is always levitating by default. He hovers a few inches off the ground normally, just enough so that he more or less retains his former human height. However, he is capable of levitating up to 342 cm (~11 feet) over any surface. When moving to a lower elevation from a higher one, he gradually drifts or floats downwards until he reaches the ground.
- Solidification: By concentrating, Shuichi can take on a solid form that resembles his old body, but in greyscale. It is not a true body, however, but rather a solid mass of jumbled up bits of Shuichi's innards reconstituted from his shadows. This also includes his clothes, which cannot be removed as they are technically a part of his body. He can wear whatever outfit he likes, however he is incapable of changing it once he solidifies. (if he wants to change, he needs to release his solid form and then completely re-solidify again in a different outfit)
- Shapeshifting: Shuichi can freely shapeshift his body, though only when in his regular shadow form. All shifted parts are purely aesthetic and cannot be made solid. He can stretch or shrink parts of his body (or his entire body) within realistic boundaries.
- Possession: Shuichi is capable of inhabiting and controlling the bodies of humans, monsters, and stuffed animals/dolls. However, he can only control the body of the target, not the mind. So conscious beings will still be totally aware of their surroundings and actions, even as their body moves against their will. This ability can be used up to an hour a day.
- Electronics disruption: Shuichi has the ability to disrupt any electronic device at will, causing anything from minor malfunctions to full-on short circuits. He doesn't have the best control over this ability, however, and will sometimes use it without meaning to or use it to a stronger or weaker degree than intended. This is especially true when the device in question is a computer.
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| WEAKNESSES |
- Poor light vision: A sort of trade-off to his enhanced night vision, bright light has a much stronger effect on Shuichi's vision than it did when he was human. He has no pupils, so it's much harder to limit the amount of light that enters his eyes. As such, it's harder for him to see in very bright conditions and he's more easily blinded than a normal human.
- Sunlight: Direct exposure to sunlight will cause Shuichi to slowly and painfully diminish in size until he disappears completely. This is the only way to kill him, as he is intangible, has no blood, cannot he imbibe poison, and his vital organs only exist as particles of shadow on the microscopic level. He is not strictly nocturnal, as it is possible for him to travel through shadows on a sunny day to avoid this weakness, but he does prefer nighttime. The fog negates this weakness entirely.
- Artificial light: Though not fatal, being in strong artificial light diminishes Shuichi's powers and makes him feel weaker on the whole. When in a well-lit area, he cannot take his solid form, use the stretching aspect of his shapeshifting (though he can shrink just fine), and has cannot levitate anything heavier than about ten pounds (and even ten is difficult).
- "Ethereal Glow": Similarly to sunlight, Shuichi's form will diminish in the presence of Nephilims with particularly strong glows. However, it's not enough to make him shrink to the point of disappearing and dying, and causes only minimal irritation instead of pain. It also disrupts his ability to possess them, once again depending upon how strong the glow is. If it's strong and constant, he will be unable to possess them at all. If it's weaker or changes in intensity depending upon the Nephilim's emotions, he may still be able to enter their bodies but can be expelled prematurely and against his will.
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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diffidentive) wrote2019-12-31 08:45 pm
Changes Checklist
☑ An incorporeal, shadowy form
☑ The ability to take on a solid, greyscale form with concentration
☑ The ability to shapeshift
☑ Glowing eyes
☑ A shadowy aura
☑ Telekinetic ability
☑ The ability to possess others (and dolls/plush toys)
☑ A weakness to sunlight
☑ Improved night vision
☑ Hunger for souls
Optional Changes
☐ Sharp teeth☑ Claws
☑ The ability to disrupt electronics
☑ The ability to levitate
☐ Prehensile, shadowy tendrils coming from the back☑ The ability to become invisible
☑ The ability to take on the pain of others
☐ A vengeful natureDetailed Changes
➣ = incomplete change, to be continued over multiple stages
First Changes (February 4-8) [appearance]
✯ Glowing eyes. On the morning of the fourth, Shuichi awoke to find that his irises had faded to white (save for a faint line marking the edges). Both they and his sclera had also begun to glow slightly. The glow strengthened over the course of the day, and by the end of it, both the line distinguishing his irises his pupils had disappeared entirely, leaving his eyes solidly white and brightly glowing.
✯ Improved night vision. As Shuichi very quickly discovered, his glowing eyes were not merely a cosmetic change. he is now able to see in the dark much better than he could before. His ability to see in the dark has increased to the point that he's actually capable of making out words on a page...something he'll be incredibly grateful for later on.
✯ Greyscale appearance. Over the course of the four-day fog, Shuichi slowly lost what little color he had in his skin and hair. Though at first he simply became paler, by the end of the four days, his skin turned to a very dark grey. Though his hair was black to begin with, it lost the bluish sheen it once had when the light hit it, becoming a pitch dark shade that no longer reflects light at all.
➣ Incorporeal shadow form. An incredibly slow and gradual process that Shuichi is almost completely unaware has begun...owing to the fact that it started internally. On the fifth, a slight trickle of shadowy smoke began coming from his mouth. Though it is obviously more pronounced whenever he opens his mouth, it is a continuous (albeit slow) stream that is clearly distinct from his breath. Unbeknownst to Shuichi, this smoke is actually comprised of his own innards. All of Shuichi's internal organs, muscles, glands, tissues, and fluids are beginning to break down and dissipate. However, the rate of dissipation is not equal across his various internal systems. At the moment, his digestive system is breaking down the fastest, accounting for at least 80% of the shadow-smoke, while other systems like his cardiovascular and nervous have barely started the process. His bones remain completely unaffected. This process will not stop with the fog, but rather continue gradually over time and spread throughout his body.
➣ Invisibility. Or the beginnings of it, at least. Not being wholly incorporeal yet, Shuichi has absolutely no conscious control over this power. No measure of focus, will, or practice can change this fact. When startled, flustered, or embarrassed, he often disappears completely, though he remains totally solid when this happens. It usually takes him up to a minute or so to reappear, depending on how long it takes him to calm down.
Second Changes (February 17-21)
➣ Incorporeal shadow form. The smoke comprised of Shuichi's innards (which he still is none the wiser about) has slowly and steadily grown more copious with time, but this second fog seems to have given the process a bit of a kick. As of the 17th, the smoke now comes out of his nose as well as his mouth, as his respiratory system begins to breakdown more quickly. By the 20th, small amounts of smoke also began coming from his ears. He has also begun to have difficulty eating, since his digestive system has broken down so much since he first started changing. While he can still eat, it's an uncomfortable process and his appetite has diminished noticeably.
➣ Claws. On the morning of the 17th, Shuichi awoke to found that his nails had turned pitch black and sharpened slightly. If he clips them or files them down, they grow back to a point within 24 hours.
✯ Telekinesis. As of the 20th, Shuichi is able to move objects with his mind. The limitations of this ability are based on weight: the heavier the object, the harder and more exhausting it is to make it move. Shuichi has to practice the ability in order to become more adept at it.
✯ Pain alleviation. Shuichi is not entirely sure when this ability manifested, but he first became aware of it on the 21st, when Kokichi's wings came in. By touching another person, he is able to ease any pain they may be feeling to a certain extent (though he needs to touch the wound or area or soreness itself. Touching someone's leg isn't going to help with a cut on their arm, for example.) In doing so, however, he takes on the alleviated pain to the degree that it's eased in the other person. At present, he cannot totally take away another's pain.
Third Changes (March 4-8)
➣ Incorporeal shadow form. With the arrival of the first fog of March, the breakdown breakdown of Shuichi's innards once again received another boost. His muscles and the innermost layers of the tissues that make up his skin have begun breaking down in earnest. As a result, the smoke now leaks out of all of his pores, in addition to his mouth, nose, and ears. By the evening of the sixth, all the organs of his digestive system had completely disintegrated, leaving Shuichi incapable of eating and drinking. Likewise, his circulatory system has completed the process as well. However, this system did so in a much more compact time frame, having started disintegrating on the morning of the fourth and having finished by the evening of the eighth. He no longer bleeds, and his heartbeat is oddly distant and echoed. By the time the fog ends on the eighth, his renal, excretory, lymphatic, and immune systems will all have completely broken down as well. His respiratory and reproductive systems will soon reach the halfway point, while his nervous, muscular, and integumentary are still more intact than not. His bones still remain completely unaffected.
✯ Shadowy aura. Now that the shadow smoke is escaping out his pores and at a significantly increased rate, it no longer dissipates completely once outside Shuichi's body. Instead, much of the smoke lingers around his body, forming an odd shadowy aura that never goes away. This aura is comprised mostly of his broken down vital organs (heart, brain, kidneys, liver, and lungs), nerves, and vocal cords, though there are trace amounts of blood and various tissues in there as well. Or at least it will be, once Shuichi's body has completely turned to shadow.
Fourth Changes (March 17-20)
➣ Incorporeal shadow form. By now, Shuichi's nervous system has completely broken down, and the remains of his brain and nerves have joined his shadowy aura. His muscular and integumentary systems are almost completely broken down as well. But more importantly (and disturbingly for Shuichi), this latest fog marks the point where his shadow conversion has finally began to affect him externally. On the morning of the 17th, he awoke to find that the tips of his fingers and toes had begun fading away. The process was markedly different in his two extremities, however. His fingers (and eventually his hands) became insubstantial and transparent, but still remained visible and and were recognizable as hands, despite the fact that they gradually took on a claw-like appearance. His toes (and eventually his feet), by contrast, faded away to the point that they disappeared completely. In both cases, the bones were left behind, gradually falling away as the muscle and sinew connecting them faded away into shadow. This process will continue for the remainder of the month, gradually spreading up Shuichi's arms and legs to the rest of his body, until all but his skeleton has faded away to shadow. For whatever reason, his bones are the only bodily system unaffected by this change.
✯ Claws. As Shuichi's hands began to fade away, they also began to gradually change in shape. His fingers elongated and sharpened into claws, and his palms nearly doubled in size and fused into his wrists in such a way that there's no longer a strong distinction between hand and arm. Like the rest of him, however, these claws are completely insubstantial and incapable of inflicting damage unless Shuichi makes them solid.
✯ Levitation. On the evening of the 20th, Shuichi's feet completely disappeared. Luckily for him, he'd actually gained the ability to levitate the day before, and so he didn't even notice when he suddenly walked out of his shoes and left them and the bones of his feet behind. As such, he now floats by default, constantly hovering high enough off the ground that he more or less retains his human height of ~5'7". However, he is capable of levitating up to twice his height over any surface. He is incapable of falling, and instead slowly drifts down when moving from a higher to a lower elevation.
✯ Solidifying. By concentrating, Shuichi is able to solidify his shadows into a tangible form that resembles his human appearance. He is incapable of regaining his pigmentation, however, and so is completely greyscale when using this ability. At the moment, this power is limited only to his feet and hands, as they were the first parts of him to become completely intangible. But as more and more of him breaks down, the scope of this power increases.
Fifth Changes (April 4-8) [appearance]
✯ Incorporeal shadow form. Shuichi's body has, by now, completed its conversion into shadow. His body is completely intangible, and no longer has any mass. As such, he is capable of passing through solid objects. His body is just a mass of shadow with the consistency of incense smoke, meaning that it seems to be in constant motion, even when Shuichi himself is still. There's a hole in the center of his chest that's vaguely heart-shaped and fills in, no matter how the shadows move. He's lost all facial features save for his eyes, which are now just two round lights with three "eyelashes" at the bottom of each eye. He does not need to blink, but his eyes are capable of changing shape somewhat in order to convey emotion, similarly to how his avatar in the New World Program looked and functioned. He no longer has legs, but rather a single ghost-like "tail", and his arms are much longer than they were when he was human and his hands are overly-large claws.
✯ Invisibility. Now that Shuichi is fully shadow, he's gained control over his invisibility, though he still has to practice in order to become adept at it. By concentrating, he can turn totally invisible twice a day, for up to 20 minutes at a time. However doing so uses up a lot of energy and causes him to become hungrier faster. (or at least it will, once he actually has his hunger. For now, he's enjoying a sort of "trial period" free of that particular consequence.)
✯ Shapeshifting. Since he has no substance, Shuichi is capable of changing his shape and appearance with minimal restrictions. The biggest of which is that this power cannot be used in combination with his ability to solidify. All changes are made of shadow and are purely aesthetic. He is capable or stretching or shrinking parts of himself (or his entire body), but only within a boundary of three feet either way. As with his solidification, maintaining his shapeshifted form/parts requires concentration. If that concentration is broken, he will revert to his default shape.
✯ Possession. As an intangible being, Shuichi is capable of inhabiting the bodies of others and can take control of their actions. The shade brand of possession is not total, however, and the target will remain aware of themselves and their surroundings, even as their body moves against their will. This power can also be used on plush toys/dolls. This power can be used once per day for up to an hour.
✯ Light weakness. This weakness is two-fold, and though both aspects came into effect on the fourth, Shuichi was not immediately aware of either. As a shade, he is now fatally weak to sunlight, direct exposure will cause Shuichi to slowly (and painfully) diminish in size until he disappears completely. The fog negates this weakness, and so Shuichi was not aware of it until he tried to go outside once the fog was over on the ninth. Additionally, he also has a certain weakness to artificial light, which dampens his powers and makes him feel weaker on the whole. He is incapable of making himself solid when in artificial light, has greater difficulty in levitating larger, heavier items, and cannot shapeshift in any way that would involve stretching or adding to himself. He is also effected by nephilims who have the "ethereal glow" change, specifically in regards to his ability to possess them. depending upon how strong the glow is, he may be unable to stay control of their body, or incapable of entering it in the first place.
Sixth Changes (April 17)
✯ Hunger for souls. After going months without feeling hunger, Shuichi was unable to immediately recognize the sensation he felt upon waking up on the 17th. This was compounded by the fact that hunger for souls feels a little different than your regular munchies, as he doesn't have a stomach. But he figured it out in the end. Once a month, Shuichi must feed upon a soul, which he accomplishes by reaching into his victim and pulling it out with his bare hands. He then brings the soul into the hole in his chest, which it is then absorbed and spread throughout his entire being. This process causes his shadows to glow very briefly. Bodies which have lost their souls continue to function, but are essentially comatose. Failure to feed on a soul will result in Shuichi losing his mind and self control, causing him to go into a feeding frenzy where he rips out souls indiscriminately and excessively. He is careful to make sure that this never happens.
✯ Electronics disruption. Shuichi can cause pretty much any electronic device to malfunction or completely short circuit. Even after plenty of practice, this is skill he has the worst control over. As such, he often uses it without meaning to.
May 2020 Monster Swap event
Reference
Duration: 5/4/20 - 6/24/20
Physical Changes
☁ Sharp horns. Ram-like in shape, though they are jet black and smooth and glossy to the touch.
☁ Ovine appearance. His face has taken on a fully ovine appearance, complete with droopy, pointed ears and horizontal pupils. Additionally, his skin is the same shade of grey that it was when he was a shade and he has grown thick, black wool over all parts of his body save for his face, hands, lower legs, and the top/back of his head (because he still has human hair there). The wool is very soft and curly.
☁ Hooves. Like his horns, they are jet black and smooth and glossy to the touch. This affects not only his feet, but also his fingernails which are additionally much thicker than human nails (though no sharper). His legs have become unguligrade and are now strong enough to kick through rock.
☁ A tail. Though cow-like in appearance and length, it has a tuft of wool on the end instead of hair.
☁ Sharpened senses. His pupils give him a much wider field of peripheral vision (around 270-300 degrees), to the point that he can see behind him without having to turn his head. He also has enhanced vision in low-light conditions (though not as much as it was as a shade. He lacks true night vision now, so this is something of a downgrade) and is very sensitive to movement. His hearing is vastly improved as well, to the point that he can accurately pinpoint the direction which any given sound came from. His hearing is so vastly improved that's it's actually a weakness, when it comes to very loud, high pitched noises. Noises such as this will throw him completely off balance and confuse his sense of direction.
☁ Increased strength and stamina. Shuichi gained muscle mass to the point that it's actually visible...or at least it would be, if not for all the wool covering it up. He is 6x stronger than he was as a human and can lift very heavy objects with ease. Additionally, he's capable of running great distances and it takes a very long time for him to tire out during periods of even very intense physical activity.
☁ Hunger for human flesh. Failure to consume a human at least once a month will lead to loss of self-control.
☁ A travel form. Shuichi is capable of turning into a sheep at will. He can travel much faster in this form, though he's also much more vulnerable. He can carry heavy loads in this form, thanks to his enhanced strength and stamina.
Mental/Psychological Changes
☁ Enhanced sense of direction. Shuichi can sense the layout of nearby terrain and easily find his way out of and around forests, cave tunnels, cities, and complex mazes. It's pretty much impossible for him to get lost now.
☁ Musical prodigy. Not only does he have a keen ear for music, but Shuichi can now pick up on any instrument with relative ease and little practice. If he so chooses, his music is capable of lulling humans into a vulnerable, dream-like state.
☁ Temper control. Though the fuse remains as long as ever, Shuichi's temper is much more explosive than it was before. If triggered, he finds it very hard to control and has uncharacteristically loud and even aggressive outbursts.
☁ Vegetarian diet/grazing behavior. Excluding his need to feed on humans, Shuichi is strictly vegetarian as a minotaur and especially prefers roughage. Cherries, tomatoes, rhubarb, and potatoes will make him sick (so will yew, rhododendron, and acorns but he's less likely to eat those.) Occasionally, he also feels the urge to graze on grass, and will change into his travel form to do so because that makes it slightly less weird. He also sometimes gets a very strong craving for salt.
☁ Flock behavior. Shuichi dislikes being alone now, especially when it's time to go to sleep. It makes him feel uneasy, and so he prefers to be in the company of others. This tendency has not wholly replaced his introverted nature, but rather is tempered by it. He prefers a smaller "herd" to a larger one, preferring to be in the company of only a few people at once.
☁ Prey animal tendencies.
• Incapable of sleeping for more than 3-4 hours at a time.
• Gets incredibly nervous around monsters based wolves and bears; though dogs, foxes, and birds of prey also make him a little uneasy. He also gets nervous around actual animals of these varieties.
• Has a much stronger flight response when it comes to danger, and will flee whenever possible. However, if angered while cornered, he is much more likely to charge and butt than to flee.
• Very unlikely to show outward signs of pain.
no subject
10/1 - fangs, pointed fingernails/toenails (black), hunger for souls retained (unknown since he fed before swapping)
10/4(?) - red eye rings, skin begins to pale and turn faintly grey, immunity to fire (unnoticed), weakness to holy magic
10/? - horns (three), forked tongue, weakness to salt
10/? - pointed ears (downturned), tail (prehensile), black lips and sclera
10/? - wings, digitigrade claw-feet, clawlike hands, dark magic, teleportation
?? - psych changes