hearthebell: will credit if found (Fucked-up American boys)
hearthebell ([personal profile] hearthebell) wrote in [community profile] middaeg2021-03-03 11:31 pm

I don't need to read the papers, or the tea leaves to understand [CLOSED]

Who: L, Niles, Jin Guangyao
When: Late February
Where: Outskirts of the Harbor District
What: A Naga hypnotized Myr, and his witch isn't too thrilled about it. Time for some good old-fashioned unregulated Mirrorbound justice.
Warnings: Forcible magic tattoos



[L had known, perhaps, that Niles was unlikely to say no. That after everything they'd been through, and all that the chimera believed and had born witness to, he would agree with the necessity for this.

They're an unlikely team, considering their history, but their understanding of one another has evolved. That can make all the difference.]


He'll be coming this way, in two minutes.

[Surely Niles, of anyone, can appreciate just how detail-oriented L is when he sets his mind on stalking someone.]



cyclopticsadist: (you talkin a lot of shit)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-04 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Niles is taking in deep breaths of the night air, and his ears swivel slowly, out of sync, from side to side. His eye roams the upper levels of the nearby buildings, making mental notes on the light sources and shadow depths he had to work with. A successful ambush relied on Jin Guangyao getting all of himself out of street view before springing the trap. Having a few feet of tail for some potential passerby on the street to trip over would not be the death of them. He could see where the lamplight failed to reach, and he knew Jin Guangyao's full length, so once he was all in the head of the beast should be...there. He paces down the alley, tail low to the ground and twitching as he picks a spot in range.]

Hide somewhere to that side of this window.

[He takes a few steps straight up the side of the brickwork until he's at the second window level and peers in. Looks like overflow storage for the bar below. Ideal. He pulls barrel over to the window to perch on, right at the level of the sill. He readies the knockout rag in his hands and aims both ears squarely at direction their mark is coming from, waiting for the hiss of scales over stone.]

Edited 2021-03-04 08:09 (UTC)
turmoiling: (pic#14148509)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-04 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[Completely unaware of the ambush lying ahead, Jin Guangyao slithers down the darkening streets. There was no reason not to stay late at work looking over the books these days, when there was no one to meet him back at home. Their Bond hadn't broken; he could still feel Lan Xichen out there somewhere. But he hadn't even had a chance to explain himself this time; even many days later, there are sore feelings remaining on both sides.

It's still cold enough to bother him. Though he's wearing the tubelike 'sweater' for his lower half, enchanted to keep him warm, even the layers of robes on his more human half barely feel like enough protection against the weather. His trip starts off fast enough, he has slowed a bit by the time he slides across the cobbles in front of the ambush site, clearly preoccupied with his own thoughts.]
cyclopticsadist: (you talkin a lot of shit)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-05 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[He waits, he waits, he waits...and just after Jin passes under his window he leaps. Several things happen very quickly. The first point of contact is Niles' hand grabbing a fistful dark smooth hair right at the base of his skull. Then his tail arches up behind him, causing his falling body pitch forward so that he can swing his knees to slam into his mark's back with his full weight behind the strike. Next he yanks back on that hair and reaches forward with his other hand, shoving the potion soaked gag they'd prepared before hand into the Naga's mouth the first chance he gets.]
turmoiling: (pic#13888731)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-05 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[A naga's upright slithering requires a certain amount of balance. While this is something Jin Guangyao had been forced to get used to very quickly after losing his legs, it's still not something one can keep when an unexpected force slams into one from above and behind.

He only barely manages to catch himself to avoid fully faceplanting into the cold cobbles of the street. It all happens so fast, and the moment he opens his mouth in protest, the damp, odd taste of the cloth shoved in his mouth induces a violent roll, strong snake tail thrashing to try to get the attacker off him.

Not that it lasts for long, potion taking quick effect and the lashing of his tail quieting and lidless yellow eyes staring blankly.]
cyclopticsadist: (boob window)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-06 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Niles' second hand stays locked over his mouth, but he releases the hair as the man thrashes. He needs that arm to loop around his chest instead so he can cling to his torso. The naga's tail is as dangerous as his own although in a different way. With his chest flush against his prey's back there's no way for him to get coiled around and strangled. It doesn't stop him from getting slammed into the ground and crushed underneath a several ton writhing reptile, but he's sturdy. He can take a beating.

Once he's still Niles makes sure to tie the gag securely behind Jin Guangyao's head before wriggling out from under him. He tilts his head, peering down at the vacant, blank expression and the slow full body movement of his even, unconscious breathing.
]

Should be. [He kicks him in the stomach to check his acting skills. Satisfied with the lack of a reaction, he nods.] Don't worry, I have your back until this is over. [He takes a seat straddling Jin's tail, and takes the extra precaution of binding his hands just in case.]
cyclopticsadist: (no more boob window for you)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-06 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Niles watches as the design glows, then sears itself into the skin beneath it. It's a satisfying reaction, but he doesn't hover or let his gaze linger. Instead he feels the outlines of the naga's clothes, flattens down the folds and lets his hands roam, looking for pockets, treasures, weapons.

He knows this isn't a mugging, but maybe he has something on him they don't want him to have. Maybe he has a little black book of names of cultists. Maybe he's got a really cool dagger. It doesn't hurt to look.

When he finds the sword he unfastens the sheath from his belt and sets it to the side. The pouches turn out to be holding nothing more than items of convenience and currency. He puts them back as he found them and returns his attention to the sword. The runes carved into it are beyond his ability to understand, but he squints down at them, trying to pick out any individual symbols he's familiar with.
]

And what then? Are you going to call me in a few months time needing to do all this over again? Surely he won't go down so easy a second time.
turmoiling: (pic#13851054)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-06 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Jin Guangyao is well and truly unconscious as the magic gets underway, etching the mark into his forehead. But he's surprisingly large-bodied in his day-to-day monster form alone, with several meters of thick viper tail, and the potion only goes so far.

When consciousness does slowly seep back, it's with a searing pain. His fangs try to unfold against the gag in his mouth and he lets out a soft groan before even thinking about it, eyes moving ever so slightly.

He doesn't know what is happening, what they're doing or still have yet to do, but he recognizes the man directly in front of him at least. It can't be hard to catch L's eye when he's looking right at Jin Guangyao's face -- he couldn't catch Myr's gaze those few weeks ago, but that hadn't too much of an impediment back then. So even gagged, he can try to pull L deep down into that golden stare.

Frankly, his first urge on seeing the leftover from that prick of blood is to compel L to finish slitting his wrist all the way up, but even in pain and fury, he's not that stupid. It's likely that such a thing would be more easily resisted.

Just... take out the gag, Linden. He thinks it over and over, repeating it in his mind in hopes that somehow, the tingle of hypnotic magic will do its job, and quelling the monstrous instinct to shake his tailtip and huff in anger. Two against one, he isn't likely to win. But if he can stay still enough to surprise them...]
cyclopticsadist: (Eat shit Linden.)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-06 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
I'm just looking for anything of interest. I'll put it all back.

[The only runes on the sword he could parse are the simple ones about directing the magic itself, not anything about its functions. So, true to his word, he returns it to the belt. At the shuffle and the groan Niles' ears prick up and his tail begins to swipe side to side. He shifts to brace one foot on the ground, and kneel on Jin's chest with his other leg, anticipating some more thrashing to start in a few minutes.

But then L is reaching for the gag, panic in his voice, and Niles swats L's hand away. He swings his tail around, placing the bulb on the prone man's neck, the sharpened hook of the stinger hovering menacingly over his face. He's not out of venom, but he's close. The cultists had milked him daily while there, and it's soon enough after that his body hasn't produced much more. He could kill a fox, with what he's got, (he could probably kill L, the man is a whole 90 pounds), but it's certainly not enough to do anything to Jin other than perhaps give him heart palpitations and a raging erection. But he's the only one who knows that for now.
]

No games, worm, you won't win here.
turmoiling: (pic#13851645)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-06 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[With that imminent threat, Jin Guangyao's baleful yellow glare flicks over to Niles. Even if whatever Linden is doing is enough to almost make his eyes water and hands clench in their bindings, it's not killing him. They haven't moved him either, which is one of the few good signs.

He can't respond properly, but lies still and docile, though the tension is still obvious in his body and one unrepressed breath through his nose comes out in a long hiss like water hitting a hot stovetop. He won't risk his life, and he's been through worse pain than this before. Whatever is happening to him will have to end at some point, or they'll have to try to move him; he can wait.]
cyclopticsadist: (Eat shit Linden.)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-06 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Niles hisses right back at him. Felines and serpents have a long history of animosity. Two ambush predator species hunting the same prey, their feud is measured in genetic time. The snake's anger is impotent though, and once L is finished with his work and issues his challenge, Niles nods. Time to test it all. He swings his tail back around behind himself once more, then uses a claw to slice through the edge of the gag.

He doesn't release his hands though. They were testing the efficacy of the runes, not how well he and L could dodge a blade. He'd be fine probably, but L doesn't have a lot of spare blood to lose.
]
turmoiling: (pic#13888727)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-07 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
[L's vindictiveness is clear enough as he finishes, and one could easily see Jin Guangyao's eyes move back and forth between the two of them as he grits his teeth through the procedure. It's times like this that gaining the hypnotic unblinking gaze of a naga seems a poor trade for being able to generate sympathy-inducing tears on a whim.

But there's no crying for a snake. With the wet feeling of blood still fresh on his forehead, he spits out the gag as soon as he's able. If it was only one or the other facing him, he might be more inclined to try something. Even if Niles wasn't so close, sitting on his chest. He's pretty sure he could throw him off, but of the two, Niles and his claws and tail are a more obvious danger than anything Linden could do. So he remains still for now.]


What did you do?

[He asks directly. Being invited to try... no, he's no fool. Something is wrong, then.]
cyclopticsadist: (Ew)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-07 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Once L is a few paces away Niles frees Jin's hands and hops off of him. He rolls his eye at L's dramatic phrasing. Kind ugh. This is the same 'merciful' bullshit he'd spouted when Niles was the one trapped and scarred at his feet.

Wildly different circumstances of course, but the attitude that not doing the worst he could have done was something to be praised or thanked for still gets under his skin.
]

You won't be able to magically compel others any longer. You'll have to settle for manipulating your enemies the old fashioned way like the rest of us.
turmoiling: (pic#13851681)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-07 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Freed, Jin Guangyao pushes himself up, snake body curling up around him in loose coils instead of sprawled out across the street. He stays low, shorter. Nonthreatening.

He'd been denied the opportunity to explain himself to Lan Xichen, for the first time since he'd known the man. To be held to 'account' for something so much smaller and lighter in comparison, again denied any opportunity to respond to claims against him (even when those claims might be true) feels like just another betrayal of this 'new life' towards him.

At least the other Monster has a more straightforward explanation for him., upon which he looks back to Linden with a faintly pained expression.]


Do you truly think I wanted to do that to your Bonded? I never intended any harm to him or to you.

[To others, was a different story, but when he's well aware he's talking to someone who specializes in Divination, Jin Guangyao decides to choose his words carefully.]
turmoiling: (pic#13851050)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-08 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
[If this is all that's to be done to him, the unfortunate truth is that it is easier on him than it could be. Mind control, no mater what the form is, isn't well looked upon -- never mind his intentions towards certain other individuals during the Evergreen Circle's headier days.

But it still makes those black feelings of resentment roil in the pit of his stomach, to be looked at like that -- and to know that he's been marked in some way, for anyone to see. How is he going to explain that at the next Council meeting?

He'll no doubt have to bear seeing Linden at some Council meetings, as well.

Rubbing his wrist, as if trying to draw circulation back, he replies just as pitifully even against that impassive mask, not unaware that there's still Linden's compatriot watching all this unfold in front of him.]


I really didn't want to. It's just that I had no choice in the matter. How is it that you can take vengeance like this without even a moment to hear why it happened?
cyclopticsadist: (Right side)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-08 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Niles had settled into a shadow along the wall, arms crossed, back leaning against sturdy brickwork. He's here as an outsider. He knew how Jin's actions led to his imprisonment and experimentation. Niles offered Myr help. Myr trusted Jin Guangyao and got puppeteered by him. Subsequently, Niles followed Myr's tainted information straight into an ambush. The cause and effect here is simple, and Niles trusted L's version of a solution. He hadn't agreed to help blindly but there was clearly more context he could have sought out first.

L's words are a harsh reminder to Niles that even when their goals align, even with all the hard earned progress they've made, L thinks about the world in a fundamentally flat sort of way. There's no definition of kindness he believes in that covers this. It was not kind when Niles drugged L before removing his fingers, it was convenient. It was not kind of L to brand his enemy, it was simply a more convenient solution than murder. He waits until L has vanished properly, teleported half a city away, before he speaks up from his spot against the wall.
]

This isn't vengeance, it's prevention. [Or it's not solely vengeance anyway.] If you use a weapon irresponsibly and dangerously, don't be surprised when someone takes it away from you.
turmoiling: (pic#13851644)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-11 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
[And it had been his best silent weapon, in this monstrous form where he's been robbed of even the meagre power he had before.

The words interrupt his stare after the ugly resonance of Linden's words and departure, turning to Niles.]


Irresponsibly? If I did such a thing to protect my own Bonded, and Myr wasn't harmed at all, then what part of that is so irresponsible?

[He replies unhappily. No, certainly not in a direct way at all, but even if the ultimate goal of everything had been to remove a few people, it was to help ensure a peaceful and happy existence here for himself and Lan Xichen... something that seemed quite distant, to look at it now]
cyclopticsadist: (Ew)

[personal profile] cyclopticsadist 2021-03-12 09:04 am (UTC)(link)
[A snarl jumps onto his face and he stops leaning on the wall behind him. Both feet planted firmly, his head bows.]

I don't care about Myr![He cares about Myr. But not like, as much as he cares about himself.] There is no 'harmlessly' mesmerizing someone into assisting a cult! Because you compromised him I walked into an ambush. [He tosses his head angrily. The moon is waxing, and his wrists are still raw from the cuffs in that place.] I refuse to keep being...collateral damage!
turmoiling: (pic#13851050)

[personal profile] turmoiling 2021-03-13 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
I only asked that he not interfere. You have to understand that there are some things that are out of any individual's control. How would I know that you would be ambushed?

[He insists, curling a little tighter and silently wary of those horns.

Though the scenery is far different, it's all too reminiscent of accusations levelled against him, not so long before he came here. Though it didn't start in such a genuine manner, the idea of having a second chance at life had become quite appealing; why did other have to dog his steps, causing the whole train of events that led to this happening again?]