Settle The Score | The Assassination of Fenix Down (Player Plot Open-Log)

[aelwyn_aberration]

Who: Aelwyn + Anyone Who Wants To Be Involved In This Assassination
When: April
Where: Around Gloucester, Springfield, the Circus, assorted other locations.
Summary: A murder is planned, executed, and staged. The details are yet to come.
Warnings: Discussions of murder, actual murder, blackmail, espionage, gaslighting, TBA.

[Several months ago, following the Circus' initial visit, Aelwyn was given permission to take down Fenix Down and his circus. Now, after more recent revelations about their unseen enemy, the plan has become a higher priority.

The plan is as follows. To ensure that this doesn't implicate ADI, a false cult will be created for this specific purpose. They'll keep the entity behind it vague, but one must be selected to ensure anyone paying enough attention would be able to identify it. They'll create conspiracy theories, fabricate old reports from decades ago to make it seem like this group is only recently being resurrected.

And then, with that done, they'll execute the plan itself. Staging the kidnapping and murder as if it was the act of that cult, and an extensive interrogation.

OOC Post here!]

Comments

cw: brief self-harm

[whisperedone]

"Understood." He nods and reaches for the glaive at his back and waits for the sound of her movement before starting his count.

It bought him a couple moments of privacy, and a second to run the edge of his glaive over the back of his left arm, between the strips of leather he usually kept wrapped around it. The cut is clean and coats the edge of his blade in red.

That well of power in him still carried some energy, though it had waned some in the time since his confrontation with Dunn, it seemed to prick and pull stronger as he focuses on his intentions. A new hunt. A new target, and a need for the icy chill that forms along the edge of his weapon where his blood now sits. Steam from the air dances around his glaive, though he only just feels it as he moves to take his position at the end of the makeshift alley and wait.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Well, gosh, son... what was your name again? Or that pretty little girl who came in first?"

[whisperedone]

Garner's brow raises. "Everyone's exactly as pretty as you are to me right now. My name is Cinderbrooke. And you are named for a fiery bird that actually exists where I come from, I don't expect any names you give me to be real, but they can at least be a start."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Oh, stop, you!" Fenix can't bat his eyes at Garner, but he's doing his best verbal equivalent. "But Cinderbooke, eh? I like it. Let's see... who else do I know? You heard of M.C. Escher? Hear he's big over in Europe."

[whisperedone]

Escher...the name did actually sound familiar. One of his later nights with the audio tours of museums Crowley had recommended he investigate. Still, it only pinged slightly in his mind, he couldn't remember much more than that off hand.

"He's an artist. His name is in the museums here. Something to do with abstract art." Which he had only taken note of for how he wished he could share it with Fig, what the halfling wouldn't give to know abstract art like hers was appreciated elsewhere. For now, he puts the thought back out of his mind and lowers the blade he'd been keeping ready.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Oh, yeah. He was all about that twisty shit. Not my bag, but it can come in handy, if you know how to use it. Tried to get my hands on one of his special drawings a while back, but when we got the mirror... eh! Lowers the priority."

[whisperedone]

Twisty shit. He makes mental note, but if it's a picture, better to get someone else looking into that. Literally.

"Right...some artifacts are more important than others...what's your mirror do that makes it better?"

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"I dunno about better, but it does a job. Keeps people off balance, confused, turned around. Why sink the money into fine art you gotta protect when you got something else?" He shrugs, even if Garner can't see that. "Now for you... I'd be interested in seeing if it could have an effect. Usually works by sight, but I've never played around with it for a blind guy."

[whisperedone]

He nods. That made perfect sense, really Function over form. "I've found most visual things do not work on me, no. That was true at home and it seems to be remaining true here."

He pauses, head tilting as though he could look Fenix over to take him in better when all he has is a deft ear. "You are being awfully friendly while tied to a chair talking with a man holding a knife."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Give it a spin, if what that girly said was true, you're wrecking my circus. Which, honestly? Hey, I'm impressed! We were sold out in Springfield and our next three stops for our big top events. You're gonna be upsetting a lot of people. Especially when you... murder me, I'm guessing? I can see the headlines now! 'Tragedy Strikes the Fenix Down Extravaganza! Can a touring circus ever rise again?'

"If you're gonna go out, do it in style, right? Not with that little knife you got. That's just boring. Show me what you can really do, my boy."

cw: self harm, blood

[whisperedone]

He hesitates...that was his intention in stepping in here. The information was nice but secondary, he'd come here for his quarry, but it was little to hunt when he was tied up and accepting of his predicament.

Better on the stomach than screaming and crying, he supposes.

Yet it occurs to him there might be people watching this, ADI or people who might take unkindly to Garner's intentions, so he crouches down in front of Fenix, his arm tucked close to his stomach as his blade finds the edge of the fresh cut there.

"Are there any other names you'd like to give me? Anyone else whose crossed your path? You seem affable, despite it all, but I imagine there might be those you quarreled with. Other avatars who stepped on your toes...perhaps you'd like to give me their names."

Carefully, slowly, he digs the knife into his arm and pulls it along the wound, ensuring the blood it would pick up coated the tip and edge the most. There's a new spring of power, not deep but enough, from his recent entanglement with Roderick, and he pulls on that now to cause the blade of his knife to frost with icy chill.

cw: sadism/masochism, self-harm

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Fenix watches Garner cut himself, and there's no small amount of amusement on his face for anyone else watching to see. "Aw, that's cute, puppy. You wanna be my attack dog? Kill the people I hate after I'm dead? I mean, I have got some assholes you could go after for me.

"Here's the deal: You cut off one of your fingers, and I'll give you three names to run with, kid. I don't care which one. Just make sure you can live without it."

cw: torture

[whisperedone]

Puppy? Attack dog, at least, he felt familiar with.

"You seem like a business man...so don't mind if I haggle a bit." He shifts so his knee braces on the floor and he raises the knife, the air steaming around the chill in the metal.

"I'll stop when you have a name." Cool as the ice on his blade, Garner shifts the knife in his hold to cut into Fenix's leg, horizontally, just above the knee. Not especially deep, but about two inches in length, partially just to test.

cw: torture, masochism, vaguely nsfw

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Hah! Haa... Mm..." Fenix's breath comes out in a few pained gasps. He's lips are pulled back in a fierce grin. "We're down to two names. But only if you push that all the way through. No real bones to worry about. So just keep pushing. Hard as you can."

cw: torture, kneecap injury

[whisperedone]

No bones? He shouldn't be doing what's being suggested to him, but he's curious and that temptation to know tickles at his mind.

He doesn't drive the blade into Fenix' thigh, but instead moves down to his bent knee and digs the frozen blade directly into where he expects the kneecap to rest.

cw: torture, kneecap injury, masochism is going to continue for this thread

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Another sharp breath. There's more resistance, but nothing like trying to pierce through a bone should be. "If you're gonna freeze pieces of me, you should try breaking them off, too. C'mon, puppy. Really sink your teeth in."

cw: torture for the forceeable future, kneecap injury

[whisperedone]

"Why are you calling me that?" It slips from him unbidden and he mentally berates himself. It didn't matter, that wasn't an important question. "No. What names.?"

Slowly, he pulls the knife back out, moving it ever so slightly back and forth as he does.

cw: warnings continue

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Mm! You know the problem with being made of wax? You don't feel things like you used to." His voice stutters, but there's something that's... more than the pain there. It's not faltering in defeat, certainly. "I'm calling you what you are, dog. Hunter. Dunno what cult you're with that you managed to infiltrate the ADI lot. Good job, though. Should I shout it louder, just to make sure they know what you are?

"Or do you want one name?"

[thedoctorsmate]

The same threat's important, yeah, but just... documenting what we know is, too.
They say this place is dangerous.
I mean, look what happened with that woman and the blackouts.
And people go disappearing all the time.
Knowing what happened to everyone who's been here from other worlds, from their perspective, that's important.
I've been making my own notes, too, about the stuff I've seen since I got here.
Maybe we could add them together.
Create a database everyone could add to.

[whisperedone]

That hits a nerve and not the one specifically aimed for. Garner's eyes narrow and he stands as he pulls the knife all the way out so he can press the blade to the bends of Fenix's fingers.

"I am part of no cult." Not one he'd know of, a whisper offers and he hates that he can't tell if it's his own mind or planted.

"Names, Fenix. I won't cut off my fingers, but perhaps yours will do."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Fenix just laughs, and as he does, Garner will find a searing pain in his knee and leg, one that matches precisely what he's just inflicted on Fenix.

cw: brief reference to voluntary eye injury

[whisperedone]

He's trained not to react, it had been part of the test for his ritual: no flinching as the solution took his left eye or he'd fail. Yet that training fails him in the searing ricochet of a spectral and cold knife digging into his knee.

Garner gasps and his leg buckles, causing the blade to just bite at the surface of skin, but not cut in as he shifts.

His free hand grabs for his knee, checking for the weapon he expects to find only to find empty air. "So...is that it? You want respectful conversation? Or did I hit a nerve?"

[worthallthis]

It's a distraction. Winter takes advantage of it by diving in with his left arm swinging for her face. She manages to flip herself back out of the way before he can connect solidly with her face, but he manages to clip her ankle, so she lands badly.

He presses, and she lashes out with her whip, but that's what metal arms are for. The flaming leather wraps around his forearm, burns through the sleeve there, and gives him a chance to wrap metal fingers around the whip itself and hold fast. She can't use it if she can't pull it back, and he has the weight advantage. She'll have to either waste time yanking on it, or let it go and lose that weapon, giving Jaeger a chance to start setting up the protective dome they need behind her so she can't leap further away from him.

The fact that his arm is going to pay for this in fried circuits and melted connectors is something he's prepared to deal with. Later.

cw: sadism/masochism, self-harm

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"I told you what I want." There's a needle sharp grin in his voice, even as it's ragged with pain. "Blood for blood. You want a name? You take away a piece of yourself. Seems like you already got experience losing things, my boy. What's one more bit?"

II!

[lesbeau]

Logically, Beau knows she should be going into this delicately. There's a lot left to the unknown about this guy, and it's the first chance she's gotten to actually get an audience with someone who might really know something about these Entities. But emotionally, everything is going a little fast in her heart, a little push in her head to get in there and get hands-on. She needs these answers. She just does.

"Alright. So. Here's how we're gonna do this." Beau comes in with her Cobalt Soul vestments- it just seems appropriate to be doing something like this- her hands taped and her staff on her back. "You can either answer some questions, or I'm gonna hit you really hard and then you're gonna answer some questions whether you like it or not. Real easy process." She certainly looks serious enough, even though she's sure he's going to be a weirdo about it, that's not going to break her resolve.