Somebody wake me from this nightmare (locked to failednamesake)

[papatiger]

[For a brief time there was a break in the wave of demon attacks. Scout reported the strange movement in Orochi's army as they pulled back from front lines and retreated back to Koshi castle. Neither Daji nor Kiyomori could be seen, and while the Hydra didn't disappear it seemed less aggressive, striking only when it was being attacked.

Nobody was fooled; the army was kept vigilant and most of the remaining heroes, those who had yet to fallen prey to the giant snake or enchanted by Kiyomori's spells, were wise enough to take the time to recoup.

Save for a few minor skirmishes, they allied force didn't really lose any more good men and women.]

Comments

[failednamesake]

[Uh oh.

Chen Gong's eyes open wide right as the demons pick him up-- maybe he should try biting his tongue off to bleed to death. Or if he makes the demon holding him mad enough, maybe it'll just break his neck. Honestly, after what Sun Jian told him, maybe being blended into mush by the previous duo would be a mercy.

...But instead, he just shifts in the demon's arms, as soon as he's out of Sun Jian's sight.]

Now, let's not be hasty-- you already have someone else to toy with, right?

[Is he going to try bargaining away Sun Jian's life? Or something else?]

[papatiger]

[The demons look at each other and burst into laughter.]

"Don't worry! There's more than enough of Lord Kiyomori's 'medicine' for all you stinking humans."

[Boomslang jabs a thumb behind him.]

"That other human is the perfect experiment! He's so stubbornly resisting, but he doesn't know that Lord Kiyomori's been figuring out how to overcome him. Lord Kiyomori's gotten real good at the spell now, and he's dying to try it on someone else. So guess what, weakling?"

[Have a faceful of leering tusks and slit-like snake eyes Chen Gong.]

"You're that lucky guy! You're lucky Lady Daji found out about you or Gyuki would've grinded you into a paste! I probably would've stretched and split you into pieces myself, but...Lady Daji thinks you'd make a good demon. So you better prove your worth soon, or else I'll kill you!"

"You sure are chatty today Boomslang." [Interjects Sidewinder, though he certainly doesn't sound angry that Boomslang's spilt Lord Kiyomori's plan.] "Don't give out all our lord's surprises just yet! Let's let this one 'enjoy' the gifts our lord will bestow upon him. If he resists...then we'll just kill him."

[The two demons laugh evilly and continue to drag Chen Gong down the long corridor. Eventually they enter a room with chains and shackles hanging from the ceiling. It's not hard for the demons to snap them on Chen Gong and leave him stretched out and ready for Kiyomori's arrival, like a frog that's about to be dissected by an eager student. Sidewinder and Boomslang exit the room once their job is done, though Boomslang can't resist throwing one last jeer back at the trapped strategist.]

"Hey. Make sure you scream real loud. The other one's too quiet; doesn't scream, doesn't even let out a squeak. Though who knows...bad things could happen to those who don't do as they're ordered to. Hahahahaha!!"

[Chen Gong must be tired of doors shutting in his face, but apparently it's a sight he's going to have to get used to.]

[failednamesake]

[Oh, god.

There's still the urge to just get the demon to slaughter him himself, but that would... probably end just as badly as what Kiyomori has in store for him. For a rare moment, the strategist finds himself clamming up more than speaking, and gets shut into somewhere else once again without anything he can do about it.

Is there a way for him to take his life in here? It's going to be a million times for merciful than whatever the demons have for him. Instead, he's... left in the dark, absolutely helpless to another master.

Again.

Way to rub it in, assholes.]

[papatiger]

[Back in the cell Sun Jian is equally as frustrated by his inability to help Chen Gong. Even if he were able to somehow smash the solid wooden door in front of him with his bare hands, there is no way that he can fight his way through scores of Orochi's men without a weapon. He doesn't even know the way towards Chen Gong, much less the way out. A temporary escape means nothing if they're caught almost instantly and sentenced back to their prison, possibly in stocks and tighter surveillance. All he would succeed in doing is lower their already minuscule chance at making out of here with their lives and humanity in tact.

Eventually and reluctantly he drags himself away from the door. There's nothing he can do to help. All he can do is wait and hope that Chen Gong will at least come back with his mind intact.

Barely a few minutes have passed though before once again, he hears a sugary, saccharine voice that sets his teeth on edge.]

"Oh my, you're a very tough man, aren't you? It's been quite a while and the spell's barely taken ahold of you."

[As a gentleman, Sun Jian generally does not tackle women in the hopes of smashing and pinning them to a wall. That would be rather rude and discourteous. Still, he has to admit that the thought of smashing Daji's face into the roughly hewn stone walls of his prison is a tempting one indeed. Especially with that smirk on her face.

Daji steps forward as the pink and purple light from her teleportation circle fades away, completely unattended. Sun Jian keeps his anger in check; again, he gains nothing by attacking Daji. She's in much better shape than he is, and those huge spheres that twirl around her deal a lot more damage than what one would expect. He's already been beaten down; no need to have his bones broken next. He is, however, going to throw her a very angry look. There are limits to his politeness, after all.

She merely giggles.]

And so fierce! [Sun Jian doesn't flinch, but he keeps his stormy expression even as Daji runs a smooth hand on his cheek, one finger tracing the skin around his right eye. It's all Sun Jian can do to not spit at her, disgusted as he is by her mock flirting.]

"That's a good look for you. You know, for an old man you're quite handsome. If only you were younger..."[She sighs and drops her hand down, twirling on the spot to playfully strut a few steps away before she glances back with an extremely sly and smug smirk.]

"Your sons just can't exactly match up to you."

[Bitch.

His self-control is frayed by six months of captivity, by physical and mental torture, and the grief that he'd held back earlier from knowing what had happened to his sons...that's channeled into rage as he lunges with more strength than he thought he had left and pins Daji to the wall. His pupils flash in the darkness, two spots of eerie golden light as he uses the chains that keep his arms from full mobility to press down on her neck. Daji can scarcely gasp for air as the cold metal clamps on her windpipe.]

If you dare insult my children one more time, I swear to you it will be the last breath you ever take.

[Passionate displays of rage were more Liu Bei's territory than his. Even Tsao Tsao's wrath, cold and sharp as steel, was unsheathed to its full glory when the Hero of Chaos deems that a huge, public display of his anger would serve to silence those who oppose him. Sun Jian's rage lacks volume and despite the chain digging into Daji's skin it's not exactly cutting off her air supply; Sun Jian was raised better, and he knows that brute force doesn't accomplish anything, and that killing Daji over mere words is the mark of a lesser man. But perhaps it is the fact that he so rarely reveals his anger, and even rarely accompanies it with force, that makes its occurrence even more terrible in this occasion.

But even as the chain digs into her soft skin, Daji's shocked eyes eventually relaxes and their cunning gleam reemerges. She knows she's not in any danger.]

"Now now, I'd suggest you take your hands off me. You wouldn't want your precious little girl to meet any...unpleasant ends."

[He rarely hates. But he has come to hate Daji for what she has done to him and his family, and for holding them against him and vice versa.

Sun Jian throws one last glare her way before he pulls back from the sorceress. Daji's smirk turns into an outright evil smile and she pats him on the cheek.]

"Good kitty."

[That's what she's taken to calling him. It started out annoying, a harmless insult that he chose to ignore. But now that she's used it, calling him almost like he was her pet? That's crossing a line.

It takes effort, so much effort, to reign in his temper. He keeps Shang Xiang in his mind, keeps his daughter as his sole pillar of strength, and it's with the thought of protecting his sole remaining child that he manages to stamp down the flames that had lit up inside him.]

What do you want Daji. [He asks her flatly. He's finally aware of the two yellow dots on her face and he's figured out where they're coming from, but he won't give her the satisfaction of seeing him lose his cool again. She likes that, the damn vixen. He can tell from the curl of her lips and how she fakes her demure gaze downwards.]

"You could stand to be a little bit nicer. After all, I'm here to tell you a little good news."

[That catches him by surprise, and that surprise is all Daji needs as the Fox sets the trap up for the Tiger.]

"Sun Quan is alive."

[failednamesake]

[While Sun Jian's on the way of becoming Da Ji's newest little toy, Chen Gong's predicament is... much more direct. In the sense that he's not being screwed with mentally. Of course, they're both equally unpleasant in vastly different ways. While Da Ji specializes in hitting someone's sore points and preying on a human's remaining emotional weaknesses, Kiyomori's methods are much more to the point.

When the door is slammed in his face, it takes a while to realize that he... can't move. Chen Gong's eyes flit to the floor, before finding a glowing circles of arcane words even a scholar like him can't understand. A circle he swears wasn't there mere seconds ago, but there's no use saying that, no use howling and screaming when you're so locked in place (by fear and magic) you can't even turn your head around.]

"You're still alive? Ha ha ha!"

[He doesn't say a thing till Kiyomori levitates him right into the air, circle following him as he does. Chen Gong breaks his silence with something of a screech as he's hoisted off his feet, and that only prompts the half-demon to roar in even louder laughter.]

"To think a strategist of the warrior Lu Bu himself would be such a pathetic mortal." [And out of nowhere, his amusement turns to boredom. Chen Gong can see Kiyomori now, while he's up in the air-- he can see Kiyomori flick a wrist and toss him against the wall at the same time, into the chains and cuffs that lies in wait.

Pathetic. Why is he remembered as pathetic? It's a disgrace, to continue being insulted when his time's almost up. A disgrace, everything was such a disgrace--]

And yet, you went through the effort of trying to capture us all. [Their pursuit of Lu Bu (hah) ended in relative failure, but it wasn't too bad, itself-- they identified some people under Kiyomori's sorcery. They saved a few of them, even though that eventually ended in Lu Bu (and Nezha's?) demise at the hands of the demons. They knew they could save people from the mind-control. It's the literal transformation into demons that's going to trip them up in the end.] Why? Why would you end up losing so many soldiers if the opposing strategist was 'pathetic'?

[...Should he have said that?

Well, Kiyomori doesn't seem to care. Instead, the cuff around one of his wrists just become tighter. And tighter. And--]

"Know your place. If it were not for Da Ji, you would be dead long before this. Now, you'll have the honor of joining our army. Treat your gifts with respect, as they all come from me!"

[The cuff on his left isn't just uncomfortable, it's beginning to press again his bones. There's runes running all over the metal now, and the tiny, intricate parts of his wrist that can't ever be fixed begin to fall into themselves and when one of them cracks he finally loses his composure.

Only in expression, though. He bites back against screaming, though it hurts and once one has cracked the rest of them just continue, stabbing into the veings and falling out his skin, but for some reason even though he feel it he can't see any blood, only see his wrist disappearing against the wall as the cuff shrinks--

The runes dance off the cuff and into his left hand, before the cuff suddenly retreats into the wall completely, letting his hand drop.

And making another sprout instantly in its place, its re-arranged bones feeling as though his normal ones have been... wrapped tightly together. Which they just have been, with more breakage and pain. The grey skin of his new, more pointed fingers make Chen Gong almost believe they aren't his, but it doesn't take much effort to move them.

It isn't like shooting commands into the nerves of a new limb, like a newborn child trying to walk. It's already there. Always... has been?

Oh.

That's when he really starts screaming.]

[papatiger]

[Perhaps that's why Daji had taken over Kiyomori's place as Sun Jian's chief tormentor. He could withstand a punch to the gut or a crack at his head, but his children are his everything, more precious than any treasure in the world. Knowing that he's lost one son and dangling the other's safety to shake his resistance...that requires a finer touch than Kiyomori's, but no less cruel. Daji is perfect for the job.

He hears Chen Gong scream and for a split second he wants to demand them to stop, because he's been in the strategist's shoes and he knows how much it hurts to have your humanity being ripped out from your body. But Daji holds up a slim finger and shakes her head.]

"I don't think you should be worried about him right now. We're in the middle of a discussion after all. "

[Sun Jian's eyes narrow, but all he can muster for his suffering comrade is a silent apology. Daji curls her hand near her cheek and grins. ]

"I'm so glad you're finally seeing things my way. So! Back to our deal... [She giggles and clasps her hands gleefully like a young, giddy girl, but her eyes can't conceal the sadistic pleasure she's experiencing right now at Sun Jian's internal anguish over the dilemma she's presented to him.] Do you agree to my terms then? I think I'm already being quite generous! I make sure that not a single hair on your little boy's head is touched, and in return...I want to test my own twist on Kiyomori's spell on you."

[It sounds too good to be true, that all she's asking for is his cooperation with her little experiment. She's not even asking for his allegiance. There has to be something more to this deal. He can't see it, not directly, but there has to be a trick here. Some fine line in the extremely fine print that's dodging his attention.]

"Of course, it might hurt just a teensy little bit more...but I'm sure a big, strong man like yourself can handle a tiny pinch or two. Or three."

[She sees him hesitating though, and her tone shifts to mock disappointment. She's still playing with him though even as she feigns exasperation.]

"Aren't I generous enough? You drive a hard bargain, Sun Jian."

[And then that sly, arrogant smile plays on her lips again as she finally pushes him to an ultimatum.]

"Ah well. I suppose I'll just have to look for another willing assistant then. Maybe one of the new..."volunteers" to Kiyomori's army. They don't object to much. In fact...they don't object at all. Let's see, there's the God of War, Tsao Tsao's supposedly unbreakable shield Tsao Ren, and Nobunaga's pretty boy toy...oh, who else am I missing-"

Enough.

[He knows who is going to be at the end of that list. And he will not let his children be Daji's playthings. If he can no longer protect them...then he will at least spare them the pain of losing their grip on humanity.

Abandoning caution and good sense to the wind, he steels himself and says out loud:]

I'll do it. But if I find out that you went back on your word...I promise you that will be your end.

[His ominous words don't scare her at all. As she beckons him forward to follow her into her portal, he feels himself grow increasingly numb despite knowing some relief that his son will be spared. He will always resist Orochi and the dark forces that threaten to snuff out humanity's flame, but he knows that from now on he has set himself on a path from which there is no return. No matter where he goes from this point on...he has a feeling that Daji's finally secured a victory for herself that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

The Demon may have failed, but the Fox has finally tamed the Tiger.]