Day 58: Intercom, Dawn

[damned_intercom]

Dawn broke with the hustle and bustle of staff, uniformed men and women moving to and fro to wake patients from their slumber. Those who managed to slip through their watchful eyes and gain an extra minute or two of shuteye were soon rudely awakened by a rather enthusiastic man with a Western accent

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[princeofthemoon]

Here as a situation which, at least, Sesshoumaru felt marginally more prepared to handle. He was fairly certain, at least - but as hesitation and a fear of being weaker than his opponent, or even meeting one whose strength equaled his own, had not been a major concern for over 500 years. The result of this state of affairs was experience which would have left him ill-prepared to behave with caution, even if he could remember how to feel so foreign an emotion. And so, when an unfamiliar woman walked in, Sesshoumaru was torn between curious and annoyed, with more prudent emotions so far beyond the realm of consideration as to be effectively nonexistent.

He ignored the unfamiliar word and instead focused on the tone, his weight shifting subtly into a slightly more aggressive stance, one ready to strike (if he could, in this state of affairs - a thought so foreign to his general mindset that it almost seemed incomprehensible). He looked very much the same as he normally did, calm and bland and arrogant, but he was nonetheless ready. "This Sesshoumaru does not obey the whims of others, woman," he said - his voice was almost a hiss.

[damned_soldiers]

"I won't ask you again," said the woman, not missing a beat. Even if she had been the type to be thrown by threats and disobedience, dealing with the rest of the patient body for the past few days would have made such things routine to her at this point. "If you don't get moving, you will be put on report. Further disobedience will result in other consequences."

She shifted her own stance subtly, preparing to react if Tsukinoou did make a move against her. She was fit and well-built for a woman her size, and more than capable of subduing and restraining a man on her own when the need arose.

[princeofthemoon]

Being... subdued by a woman would not sting at Sesshoumaru's pride as it might have a human warlord from the feudal states - Sesshoumaru was quite accustomed to women being as deadly as men. It was a lesson that he was hardly likely to forget, his mother would never have allowed such disregard of her sex, but even without her early lessons in just how deadly females could be there were hundreds of years of his own experience. The gender of this person was not, therefore, of great consideration. The fact that she appeared to be human would be a far greater blow to his pride, to say nothing of the simple act of being subdued. Sesshoumaru, so used to casual power that it had become as much a part of who he was as the color of his eyes, rarely had to face any such indignity.

His eyes were narrowed in a glare as he took in everything about the woman in front of him - odd clothing, her apparent species (though perhaps it would not be wise to judge by appearances). "You are one of those in control?"

[damned_soldiers]

"As far as you're concerned," she answered, not offering more detail than that. While she was not one of the higher-ups, per se, she and the rest of the soldiers were more in control than any of the "patients". She waited to see if Tsukinoou would say or do anything else, eyeing his movements and the changes in his facial expression.

[princeofthemoon]

Sesshoumaru had had so much experience in combat as well as other places that the person who could accurately read his motions was a rarity - they existed, but there weren't many of them. And most had known him for a long time.

Were he concerned with such things, such a thought might have been some kind of comfort to him now, but they weren't. He was not, after all, used to needing to concern himself with others. And the operative point here was that this woman had just admitted she was one of those attempting to hold his leash - it was all he needed to attack. And, even stripped of his strength and speed and senses, reflexes and poison and heightened awareness, Sesshoumaru was adept enough in the art of slaughter to be deadly, when he put his mind to fighting. Whether or not they maintained their supernatural strength, his claws were long and extremely sharp, and had been classically trained in many ways to kill others.

[damned_soldiers]

There, the sudden rush of motion she had suspected might happen. Oh he was good, all right. She was unable to help a slightly impressed half-smile when Tsukinoou rushed her.

She did not lose her cool, however, as the attack came. It may have been faster than expected, but the man still needed to get in at relatively close range to stick her with those nails of his. Unfortunately for him, the military at Landel's were experts at close-range and hand-to-hand combat for just these sorts of situations. Without weapons during the daytime, all patients had about the same maximum level of strength and range of possible attacks - and that level was set very deliberately, such that it could be dealt with were any patients to turn against them.

So when Tsukinoou lunged, his natural speed and ruthless assault helped him somewhat: he was able to land a shallow cut across the soldier's shoulder. This, however, was as the soldier ducked and sidestepped, using her own expert training to move quickly and make a grab for Tsukinoou's arm, the intention being to twist it behind his back in a standard restraining hold.

The sound of more bootsteps moved outside the room. Two more soldiers stopped at the open door, ready and waiting to see if their comrade would need assistance in subduing the patient.

[princeofthemoon]

Hundreds of years of training and putting that training into practice did that for you. The unfortunate part was that you also became rather set in your ways after so long, and Sesshoumaru wasn't really used to anyone even being fast enough to touch him, let alone grab him, or strong enough to hold him if they did.

He missed Toukijin badly.

Sesshoumaru guessed her intended plan fairly early, it just took him a few moments more to realize that he actually needed to concern himself with it, by which time she had her hands on him. For the first time in some months, Sesshoumaru found himself cursing his brother for cutting off his arm as he had - normally he ignored it, or worked around it. Normally he was powerful enough for a missing arm to hardly matter. Now, it seemed, things were slightly different. Sesshoumaru snarled and twisted himself in an attempt to pull free before she really found her grip, or if she had his arm than at least twist so that she was at a more convenient angle to him, so he could tear her throat out with his teeth.

Another thing his father had taught him. Not the most elegant of deaths or kills, but dead was dead, and at the moment that was all that mattered.

[damned_soldiers]

The soldier nodded at her partners as she worked to get her grip secure. She was fairly certain she had him, but it never hurt to be sure. Too many casualties happened due to carelessness and cockiness. She forced the arm further up toward Tsukinoou's neck, trying to put painful pressure on his shoulder joint to keep him distracted in the meantime.

One of the other soldiers entered and rushed forward, making for Tsukinoou's armless side. He reached out to grab the shoulder on that side in a strong grip, aiming to help force the man to the ground, where the first soldier's hold would have more of an advantage.

[princeofthemoon]

Sesshoumaru snarled again at that, twisting his hand to try to dig his claws into the hand of the woman who was twisting his arm, shortly before he was forced partway down, onto one knee - he'd managed to shift enough to prevent being forced down completely.

It hurt, yes, but his pain tolerance was remarkably high - he'd long trained to show nothing, react to nothing. An enemy who was powerful enough to wound him would be powerful enough to see or smell or hear his reaction to it, and press that as an advantage. It was almost humiliating that he was being forced to use this training against humans, but at least this was not something that could be taken from him.

Were he himself, these pathetic beings would not so much be able to touch him without losing their lives. They would not be able to contemplate such action before he had killed them.

Sesshoumaru growled, a deep sound, and coiled his muscles in an attempt to force himself back up. He wanted these people to pay in blood for their impudence, their presumption.

[damned_soldiers]

No give for the white-haired man, unfortunately. Two soldiers were more than enough to hold one unarmed patient once down and restrained. "You're already on report, Tsukinoou," the first soldier warned, tightening her grip and continuing to maintain pressure to show that she and her partner were not going to let up until they got some cooperation. "No food, no sitting or leaning - for twenty-four hours. We can keep it at that or we can restrain you further. Choice is yours."

[princeofthemoon]

A few drops of blood were on his fingers, trickling from his claws, the one cut he'd been able to make in this pathetic affair thus far. It wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough. Sesshoumaru snarled, a deep almost feral sound, and twisted, trying to free himself, dropping further as he did so.

It wasn't so much that he wasn't used to this body as he wasn't used to it reacting this way. But give him time to accustom himself to it and he'd come back and rip all of their throats out.

[damned_soldiers]

It seemed that Tsukinoou wasn't up to making any choices right now. He was operating on pure anger, not logic. The soldiers shared a slightly frustrated look. They had been hoping it wouldn't have to come to this.

The first soldier nodded to the one still in the door, who signaled down the hall. A few moments later, one of the rare remaining nurses entered the room. If the soldiers had been relatively calm, that was nothing. The woman who entered now seemed to be calmness defined, no fear to be seen as she approached the struggling patient. It was eerie to look at, in the sense that she looked by every definition good, pure, and cool under pressure, as a nurse ought to. And yet there was something about her that wasn't quite right, all the same.

Maybe it was the efficiency with which she withdrew a needle from her uniform and prepared it for a nicely heavy dosage of sedative. Maybe it was the ease with which she leaned in toward the murderous patient. Or maybe it was just something about her eyes. Either way, she was unsettling, especially as she brandished the needle and injected its contents directly into a vein on Tsukinoou's neck.

The soldiers held fast, waiting for the sedative to kick in.

[princeofthemoon]

Sesshoumaru snarled again when this new person came in and turned his head, teeth bared. He would kill all of them, for daring to-

As the nurse drew near, one of the soldiers took a fistful of his heavy silk hair and pulled his head to the side, preventing Sesshoumaru turning and snapping at the nurse. He fought against the hold, growling at these pathetic humans (if they were pathetic than what did that make him? The thought made him even angrier). Unperturbed, the soldier holding his head down took a firmer grip, and Sesshoumaru spent a few moments fantasizing about skinning all those in the room while they were still alive, of injecting his claws and dribbling poison into their intestines that would burn them from the inside out, of shattering bone and tearing apart muscle.

There was a sharp prick as the needle slid into his neck, a miniscule pain unworthy of notice; if Sesshoumaru weren't already so angry, he might have laughed. Then the hand holding his hair and his head loosened, and Sesshoumaru once again tried to toss off his attackers.

He snarled, pulling at the hands, pushing up with his legs in such a sudden burst that he almost managed to stand before being forced back down again.

......until
.........his limbs
..................grew heavy
.........................and his thoughts
...............................began
.......................................to
...............................................cloud