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deercountry2022-10-07 02:32 pm
poorlittlesange) wrote in deercountry2022-10-07 02:32 pm
i once knew a man who learned such a thing | october catch-all
Who: Jin Guangyao + select closed prompts + OTA
What: Settling in; an encounter with a draugr; trying to locate some much needed chill; continuing a TDM thread.
When: /waves hands, throughout the month.
Where: Willful Machine, along a nondescript thoroughfare and by the canals; the Pale Sanctuary in Cassandra; the Boardwalk
Notes: If you're keen on threading something, hit me up on plurk @ ragweed and we can figure something out.
Content Warnings: Blood, gore. Allusions to memories of a murder victim. Frank discussion of a child's murder (his son).
I. Cleaning house. (OTA)
The siheyuan has good bones. Whoever built it understood the importance of craftsmanship, though whether there is any prosperous energy in Trench for a south-facing house to welcome is anyone's guess. But someone had lived here before, once; there are height marks scratched into the wood of a door frame, seven of them, one for each birthday celebrated by a child. When Jin Guangyao first notices the marks while affixing spirit-repelling talismans to the walls in auspicious locations, he very deliberately does not think of his son.
With the talismans in place within the courtyard and the rooms themselves, he steps outside and onto the thoroughfare sidewalk to affix a few of them to the gate. Trailing behind him is his omen, a lean steppe fox whose winter coat has already begun to come in.
II. Second Death at the Canals. (Closed to Sasuke)
OOC note: Timing of this event is sometime after JGY snags himself an address, and finishes up his conversation with Mike Enslin (see below).
It is late in the evening, well after what passes for dusk in Trench, when the screams rip through the air near the canals. What follows is an immediate mad scramble of bodies and limbs of all shapes to escape the scene unfolding by the water's edge, where a draugr has pinned a man in pale gold robes to the ground by his throat.
Right now, only two things separate Jin Guangyao from death: the first is the blade of his spiritual sword, Hensheng, which he has thrust through the draugr's throat and embedded in what passes for its spine, and which in combination with his faltering spiritual power serves only to keep the monster's still-gnashing jaws from descending upon him. The other is his omen, who has transformed herself into the menacing shape of a large huli jing, and is harrying the draugr with ear-splitting fox-bark screams and yodels that keep the thing distracted, but not deterred. Every so often it swipes ineffectually out at her with the hand not at its quarry's throat, before she lunges away.
The draugr has taken much from Jin Guangyao over the course of the last month to the point where his outrage and fury over the theft of his memories is only overwhelmed by the sheer terror he experiences when the monster at last manifests itself and forces him to look at its face (and forces him to remember a face he wishes he could forget, dead but still seeing him, still hating him, still suspecting his every decision, hesitation or sideways glance--)
Ichor from the gaping throat wound above him splatters down towards him. Jin Guangyao jerks his face away and grits his teeth, and twists beneath the monster's bulk to edge a foot against its stomach--not because he thinks that he has the power to actually kick the thing away, but because any barrier he can put between the draugr's teeth and himself is better than nothing. Still, this is a grim situation, and his eyes dart about himself in terror and outrage as he desperately tries to come up with an escape plan.
III. Exploring near the Pale Sanctuary. (OTA)
The pale, bloated tree at the heart of the Pale Sanctuary does not look like it should be a place of spiritual tranquility. Jin Guangyao stands slightly out of its shadow and considers it in silence, being sure always to keep his expression as inoffensive and absent of any outside judgment as possible. The thing alarms him, there's just no getting around it, and hearing the murmurs among the nearby Disciples regarding just who this entire district was named for strikes him as doubly inauspicious. No one in the cultivation world would think to name a place of spiritual sanctuary and healing after the Yiling Patriarch, surely.
He doesn't venture near the door that leads down into the sanctuary itself--that's a big 'nope, no thank you, not interested' at least for the moment--and instead takes his time walking the circumference of the tree, being sure to give it as wide a berth as possible as he looks it over in detail, committing what he sees to memory.
IV. Encounter on the Boardwalk. (Closed to Mike Enslin)
[continued from here!]
'Napkin guy.' That's a new one. It's much better than his last nickname. Jin Guangyao's expression softens by a hair's breadth of a margin, and though he doesn't smile--that particular mask wouldn't be appropriate, not now--he makes a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. Then, "Thank you," the stranger says, and Jin Guangyao bends his head in wordless acknowledgement of the courtesy.
As for the rest--
"Yes," he replies. He looks away from Mike to allow him the courtesy of tidying himself without a scrutinizing audience. There is so very much else happening on the boardwalk to draw the eye anyway; the masks, the lights, the myriad of different beings and bodies that are as alien to him as that tape recorder, if more frightening. When one being makes sustained eye contact with him for too long, Jin Guangyao is quick to avert his gaze in as non-threatening a manner as he can manage, and turns his attention back to Mike.
"Xiansheng, please forgive this one's lapse in manners. I am called Jin Guangyao." Just in case the stranger felt so inclined to actually refer to him as 'napkin guy,' henceforth.
What: Settling in; an encounter with a draugr; trying to locate some much needed chill; continuing a TDM thread.
When: /waves hands, throughout the month.
Where: Willful Machine, along a nondescript thoroughfare and by the canals; the Pale Sanctuary in Cassandra; the Boardwalk
Notes: If you're keen on threading something, hit me up on plurk @ ragweed and we can figure something out.
Content Warnings: Blood, gore. Allusions to memories of a murder victim. Frank discussion of a child's murder (his son).
I. Cleaning house. (OTA)
The siheyuan has good bones. Whoever built it understood the importance of craftsmanship, though whether there is any prosperous energy in Trench for a south-facing house to welcome is anyone's guess. But someone had lived here before, once; there are height marks scratched into the wood of a door frame, seven of them, one for each birthday celebrated by a child. When Jin Guangyao first notices the marks while affixing spirit-repelling talismans to the walls in auspicious locations, he very deliberately does not think of his son.
With the talismans in place within the courtyard and the rooms themselves, he steps outside and onto the thoroughfare sidewalk to affix a few of them to the gate. Trailing behind him is his omen, a lean steppe fox whose winter coat has already begun to come in.
II. Second Death at the Canals. (Closed to Sasuke)
OOC note: Timing of this event is sometime after JGY snags himself an address, and finishes up his conversation with Mike Enslin (see below).
It is late in the evening, well after what passes for dusk in Trench, when the screams rip through the air near the canals. What follows is an immediate mad scramble of bodies and limbs of all shapes to escape the scene unfolding by the water's edge, where a draugr has pinned a man in pale gold robes to the ground by his throat.
Right now, only two things separate Jin Guangyao from death: the first is the blade of his spiritual sword, Hensheng, which he has thrust through the draugr's throat and embedded in what passes for its spine, and which in combination with his faltering spiritual power serves only to keep the monster's still-gnashing jaws from descending upon him. The other is his omen, who has transformed herself into the menacing shape of a large huli jing, and is harrying the draugr with ear-splitting fox-bark screams and yodels that keep the thing distracted, but not deterred. Every so often it swipes ineffectually out at her with the hand not at its quarry's throat, before she lunges away.
The draugr has taken much from Jin Guangyao over the course of the last month to the point where his outrage and fury over the theft of his memories is only overwhelmed by the sheer terror he experiences when the monster at last manifests itself and forces him to look at its face (and forces him to remember a face he wishes he could forget, dead but still seeing him, still hating him, still suspecting his every decision, hesitation or sideways glance--)
Ichor from the gaping throat wound above him splatters down towards him. Jin Guangyao jerks his face away and grits his teeth, and twists beneath the monster's bulk to edge a foot against its stomach--not because he thinks that he has the power to actually kick the thing away, but because any barrier he can put between the draugr's teeth and himself is better than nothing. Still, this is a grim situation, and his eyes dart about himself in terror and outrage as he desperately tries to come up with an escape plan.
III. Exploring near the Pale Sanctuary. (OTA)
The pale, bloated tree at the heart of the Pale Sanctuary does not look like it should be a place of spiritual tranquility. Jin Guangyao stands slightly out of its shadow and considers it in silence, being sure always to keep his expression as inoffensive and absent of any outside judgment as possible. The thing alarms him, there's just no getting around it, and hearing the murmurs among the nearby Disciples regarding just who this entire district was named for strikes him as doubly inauspicious. No one in the cultivation world would think to name a place of spiritual sanctuary and healing after the Yiling Patriarch, surely.
He doesn't venture near the door that leads down into the sanctuary itself--that's a big 'nope, no thank you, not interested' at least for the moment--and instead takes his time walking the circumference of the tree, being sure to give it as wide a berth as possible as he looks it over in detail, committing what he sees to memory.
IV. Encounter on the Boardwalk. (Closed to Mike Enslin)
[continued from here!]
'Napkin guy.' That's a new one. It's much better than his last nickname. Jin Guangyao's expression softens by a hair's breadth of a margin, and though he doesn't smile--that particular mask wouldn't be appropriate, not now--he makes a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. Then, "Thank you," the stranger says, and Jin Guangyao bends his head in wordless acknowledgement of the courtesy.
As for the rest--
"Yes," he replies. He looks away from Mike to allow him the courtesy of tidying himself without a scrutinizing audience. There is so very much else happening on the boardwalk to draw the eye anyway; the masks, the lights, the myriad of different beings and bodies that are as alien to him as that tape recorder, if more frightening. When one being makes sustained eye contact with him for too long, Jin Guangyao is quick to avert his gaze in as non-threatening a manner as he can manage, and turns his attention back to Mike.
"Xiansheng, please forgive this one's lapse in manners. I am called Jin Guangyao." Just in case the stranger felt so inclined to actually refer to him as 'napkin guy,' henceforth.
ii.
So when he hears the screams, he's quick to move in the direction of them, pushing by the people running away from the scene so he can get a better look at what's going on. The monster is awful to look at, but it's even worse to see the man beneath him struggling. He doesn't pull out his sword right away, despite knowing that he needs to start to dismember the draugr, wanting to get an idea of just how quick and strong they are before he tries. It wouldn't be helpful to swing his sword, have the thing move, and instead slice into the very victim he's trying to help.
Sasuke makes sure to encase his arm with the blue electric charge of his chidori, the sound of something like a thousand chirping birds filling the space. He goes to charge at it, aiming to get the monster off of the other, even if he doesn't make contact.
no subject
Jin Guangyao uses its momentary distraction to his advantage. With a grunt of effort, he uses the foot pressed against its midsection to leverage it up, then frees one hand from Hensheng's hilt to deliver a startlingly powerful blow directly to where, in a normal human or cultivator, the dantian would reside. It's a strong enough hit imbued with enough power to push the draugr up, and--hopefully--directly into Sasuke's path of attack.
no subject
It's still off the other man and stunned momentarily. Enough time for Sasuke to position himself between the two so that he can protect Jin Guangyao while he either takes in how badly he's injured or the other man manages to gather himself enough to get to his feet. He lets his head turn slightly back in his direction, though doesn't take his eyes off the monster.
"Are you hurt or can you fight?" He doesn't think he can't take the draugr himself, he just would find it a lot easier with another person.
no subject
This much he hasn't forgotten--how to fight, how to survive--even if he cannot remember how he knows these things, even if that yawning gap in his knowledge is wreaking havoc on his mind--
The alarming-looking omen bounds to his side, and whatever exchange passes between them is something felt in their hearts rather than shared aloud. "I can fight," Jin Guangyao tells Sasuke quickly, and moves to flank the draugr before it can regain its senses. He sheathes the sword quickly and reaches instead for a loop of what looks like wire, loosing a substantial length of it into his hands. Then he looks to the draugr and seems to be assessing the best angle of approach for getting this wire about its head like a garrote. "If you can hold its focus, gongzi, I can get this around its neck while it's distracted."
And then, he hopes goes understood, they can rip its fucking head off.
no subject
He plants his feet more firmly against the earth, keeping himself in defensive pose just in case the draugr charges at him before he can actually trap it in a genjutsu. He closes his eyes only for a second, reopening them with the Mangyekō Sharingan now activated, his right eye glowing red with the power of it. He can't say for sure that the thing will fall for his abilities, but they likely don't need long. Jin Guangyao seems quick enough on his feet and not as useless as some of the people he's fought with.
Sasuke initiates the genjutsu and the draugr, momentarily, goes slack, arms dangling slightly, hunched the way a marionette may be when the puppeteer puts it to the side. He can feel the hold isn't very strong, though, which means it could break free any moment.
"You've got maybe ten seconds before it might try to fight back."
cw blood and gore and decapitation
(Someone taught him these skills, he knows, someone precious and dear to him, and that he cannot remember them, cannot even recall their face, it galls him--)
As soon as Sasuke has the draugr immobilized, Jin Guangyao sprints towards it with a burst of spiritual energy (which, in practice, looks rather like the typical laws of gravity just don't apply to cultivators). He swiftly whips the length of guqin string around the draugr's neck several times, then skids backward from its body so that the line pulls itself taut as a harpoon cable. Then, with another pulse of energy, he jerks the guqin string backward, and it cuts viciously through the meat of its neck. There is a glimpse of white bone beyond ichor and gristle, but it looks like severing the head is going to take one more loop, and he's running out of time--
"Can you buy me more time?" he calls out, urgent.
cw for mild eye trauma
He keeps his eyes on the draugr's face, even as it's become more difficult to with the way that it's jerked back from the large wound in its neck. He doesn't know that the genjutsu will hold, necessarily, and he goes to grab a few kunai from his belt instead. He tosses them towards the monster, each one piercing into the feet of the draugr and into the ground, trying to pin the creature into place.
"Even if it breaks, hopefully that will keep it still long enough for you."