Anton Shudder (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gistful) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tushanshu_logs2015-06-25 12:41 pm
gistful) wrote in tushanshu_logs2015-06-25 12:41 pm
[FORWARD DATE] Trembling, crawling across my skin
Characters: Anton Shudder, Jintou; initially CLOSED but will have an OPEN thread later.
Date: FORWARD DATED to 27 June 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: Water Sector
Situation: Anton's made himself a target. Someone's coming to collect. (The taggening of this reward request here.)
Warnings/Rating: Violence, potentially some gore, drugging.
All things considered, and given that Anton had in recent days made a target of himself both by housing Jintou and by retrieving Malcil, things were going relatively well. That was usually when they went south, which was why Anton was especially on guard whenever Jintou wanted to go outside the Hotel.
The man was in a difficult position. Anton knew that, understood that. But just because nothing had happened didn’t mean nothing ever would. It always did. Eventually.
Jintou had some friends to visit in more than one sector, so it wasn’t an unpleasant day, wandering around the city and picking up meals from the stalls—always the stalls where food was made right in front of them. Just in case. It wasn’t unusual for Jintou, having said he was going out, to take advantage by not going back to the Hotel until evening. Babysitting duty, maybe, but Anton had never minded babysitting duty. Not too much, anyway.
Some of the visits didn’t go well. Old contacts, people affiliated with the Snakes and not, people unhappy that Jintou had been a member at all. Anton didn’t keep track of whether any were family members so much as how likely they were to be informants or potential assassins. He suspected that a number were just an excuse to avoid going back to the Hotel, in any case.
No one sprang at them from houses, shadows or other avenues, and they swung past a food market in Earth Sector to get a bite to eat before making their way back to the Hotel’s Earth Sector entrance. The crowds had thinned but Anton still kept them at the edges. It was all too easy for someone to stick a knife in their target’s ribs and walk away surrounded by people; an alley was more ominous, but made danger more overt. Whoever wanted Jintou gone was unlikely to make an obvious play.
The light wasn’t quite fading yet; in fact it seemed especially bright, and Anton had to squint to make out the shapes of some of the buildings ahead. Then they turned the corner and he realised it wasn’t the angle of light that had been casting the glare, because it was getting worse; the shades of the stone seemed brighter than they strictly should have been, and when he glanced toward Jintou the man’s clothes made Anton’s temples throb.
That wasn’t normal. Nor, Anton realised, was the tingle in his fingers. He took a breath and his heart thudded, but slow, too slow—even slower than it should have been walking through the city.
Food? No. He’d watched them prepare it. But the utensils, or anything he might have touched over the course of the day—
“This way,” he said quietly to Jintou, and gripped his arm to take him down an alley instead of the roundabout but public ways on the main streets. There were fewer people in the alleys, yes, but that just meant people would stand out if they tried to come close. The light was drilling into Anton’s eyes now, making his head swim; he was going to need the clarity. They needed to get back fast, before any ambush happened. That meant shortcuts.
Date: FORWARD DATED to 27 June 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: Water Sector
Situation: Anton's made himself a target. Someone's coming to collect. (The taggening of this reward request here.)
Warnings/Rating: Violence, potentially some gore, drugging.
All things considered, and given that Anton had in recent days made a target of himself both by housing Jintou and by retrieving Malcil, things were going relatively well. That was usually when they went south, which was why Anton was especially on guard whenever Jintou wanted to go outside the Hotel.
The man was in a difficult position. Anton knew that, understood that. But just because nothing had happened didn’t mean nothing ever would. It always did. Eventually.
Jintou had some friends to visit in more than one sector, so it wasn’t an unpleasant day, wandering around the city and picking up meals from the stalls—always the stalls where food was made right in front of them. Just in case. It wasn’t unusual for Jintou, having said he was going out, to take advantage by not going back to the Hotel until evening. Babysitting duty, maybe, but Anton had never minded babysitting duty. Not too much, anyway.
Some of the visits didn’t go well. Old contacts, people affiliated with the Snakes and not, people unhappy that Jintou had been a member at all. Anton didn’t keep track of whether any were family members so much as how likely they were to be informants or potential assassins. He suspected that a number were just an excuse to avoid going back to the Hotel, in any case.
No one sprang at them from houses, shadows or other avenues, and they swung past a food market in Earth Sector to get a bite to eat before making their way back to the Hotel’s Earth Sector entrance. The crowds had thinned but Anton still kept them at the edges. It was all too easy for someone to stick a knife in their target’s ribs and walk away surrounded by people; an alley was more ominous, but made danger more overt. Whoever wanted Jintou gone was unlikely to make an obvious play.
The light wasn’t quite fading yet; in fact it seemed especially bright, and Anton had to squint to make out the shapes of some of the buildings ahead. Then they turned the corner and he realised it wasn’t the angle of light that had been casting the glare, because it was getting worse; the shades of the stone seemed brighter than they strictly should have been, and when he glanced toward Jintou the man’s clothes made Anton’s temples throb.
That wasn’t normal. Nor, Anton realised, was the tingle in his fingers. He took a breath and his heart thudded, but slow, too slow—even slower than it should have been walking through the city.
Food? No. He’d watched them prepare it. But the utensils, or anything he might have touched over the course of the day—
“This way,” he said quietly to Jintou, and gripped his arm to take him down an alley instead of the roundabout but public ways on the main streets. There were fewer people in the alleys, yes, but that just meant people would stand out if they tried to come close. The light was drilling into Anton’s eyes now, making his head swim; he was going to need the clarity. They needed to get back fast, before any ambush happened. That meant shortcuts.
CLOSED to Erskine and Aqua | Sewers
He took out his radio and called Aqua, then held a hand up to sift through the stale air currents. Someone had passed through the north tunnel. He was about to suggest Ravel go on ahead, then stopped.
No sense in splitting up. No reason - no legitimate reason - to send Ravel into a potential ambush. They could move much faster than a pair of kedan who had a struggling captive to contend with; they could afford to wait for Aqua.
no subject
So why the hell were they waiting?
In the field, during missions, Skulduggery had always had operational control of the unit. That didn't make the skeleton infallible. "Is there a reason," Ravel asked finally, keeping his voice low, "that we've stopped? If you're expecting an ambush, is one more person really going to make the difference?"
And if they had to wait, why the hell weren't they waiting back up there with Anton?
no subject
Besides, Jintou was important. She had sworn to protect him, and this... she couldn't break that promise.
So it was with a divided heart that Aqua only briefly paused to make sure Anton was secure before plunging into the sewers. It didn't take long before she encountered Skulduggery and Ravel, thankfully no longer chained together. That would have been a hindrance, one she would have removed.
"I'm here." Her words were slightly breathless - she had been running nearly full-pelt. "Where did they take him? Do you know? We have to find him."
She was babbling, she knew it, but there was an urgency to her words: they had to find Jintou.
no subject
They could afford to lose a lot more, actually. But rather than point out both he and Ravel could track trespassers through mazes of tunnels an entire hour late - something which ran the risk of becoming a pointed jab, and wouldn't Anton be absolutely thrilled to hear they were arguing mere minutes after the chain coming off? - Skulduggery fell silent until Aqua arrived. Less than a minute later, as predicted.
He pointed up the north tunnel. "That way. Let's go."