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A Slippery Identity

Part 3

For Taiko

By Draconicon

As much as Thimas was keeping Gus from running off, the badger was having to use just as much willpower to keep himself from running off, too. The idea of facing off against something that had named itself after a god-spirit was not exactly encouraging, particularly after seeing some of the power that it wielded.

And me without my violin...

The hang drum was a lovely instrument, and he was certainly not going to knock the power of percussion over the other instruments that existed, but it had been a long time since he had played one of those for any length of time. He didn't have the familiarity with it that he had with his other instruments, and more to the point, it was a very, very quiet thing compared to the strings and woodwinds that he was used to.

With Gus's guitar less useful than normal, they were outgunned in a big way. The older badger shook his head, tightening his grip on the steel instrument under his arm.

"Well? Are you going to knock, or shall I?" the badger grunted.

"You've got to be kidding. Knocking?"

"Well, I doubt that the door will come down on its own."

"...Good point." Gus gestured at the door. "Age before beauty."

"Pearls before swine."

"Did you just call me a pig?"

"You certainly grunt like one when you're on the bottom..."

Thimas chuckled, walking around his temporary comrade and up to Kami's door. He could already hear the grunts of a struggle - and perhaps more - going on just a few feet away. Whether the naga was fighting the drake or whether the drake was already using his landlord, the badger didn't know, and it didn't particularly matter, either. What did matter was that he needed to interrupt this, and fast.

He rapped his knuckles on the door, and the grunts stopped. There was a sudden crash on the other side, followed by another grunt afterwards.

"Well, this is a most pleasant surprise," said Kami from a distance. "Who, oh who, might think that it would be a good idea to interrupt me?"

"I believe you already guessed," the badger responded. "Mind opening the door?"

"Ah, Thimas, Kaito's big-balled friend. Perhaps you would like to join us? Did you bring Kitten with you?"

"He's here."

"Then let me get the door for you..."

The apartment door flung itself open, and just as Thimas expected, there was a massive surge of different leather bands just behind it. They flowed out to the side, framing the doorway more flowingly, making a surprisingly floral pattern around the wooden frame.

"Come in, come in," Kami said from the darkness. "It's no good to watch from outside. Come in and join the show..."

It was a trap, and he knew it was a trap. However, there was only one way to deal with those. He looked at Gus, nodding for the lion to follow, and stepped inside.

It was like walking on snakes, the shifting bands of leather and long lengths of rope slithering around beneath his boots. The badger kept shifting his footing, making sure that he wasn't on the verge of falling over, but he could feel that it was only Kami's generosity that kept him from being bound right then and there.

Gus was having a harder time, judging by the lion's occasional grunts and sputters. Probably the barefoot nature of the feline was making it harder to keep his footing on the shifting ground, compared to being in boots. Thimas didn't question it. He needed to pay attention to what he was doing, not what Gus was doing.

They were a few feet into the apartment when the door slammed shut behind them. The soft laughter of Kami filled the air as they were left in the dark.

"Mmmm, I was hoping that you would return. There are many pleasant memories that Kaito has of the both of you. Nothing bad to speak of, nothing more than the slightest of annoyances. He is quite fond of the pair of you, it seems, and certainly seems to prefer the idea of you staying close."

"And that's why you haven't tied us up yet?" the badger asked.

"Oh, that is certainly one reason. He isn't particularly rebellious, but there is a powerful mind inside this skull with me. I would prefer not to have to fight it on a regular basis. Sleeping as it is, he's less...logical, so he's more easily fooled. He would not know the difference between a willing visit and a more...enforced one."

As Kami chuckled, the badger felt the bands beneath their feet shifting. Not slithering away, but rather lifting up a little bit, moving under his boots and pushing him an inch or two off the ground. He made note of it, regretting the fact that they were trapped in the room. Their acrobatics from earlier would be less useful now, particularly if the leather bands were able to respond to the drake's thoughts. One leap backwards, and they'd be trapped in a handstand, or shackled by their ankles to the furniture, or worse.

Be smart about this. Be smart.

Thimas continued to hold the drum under his arm, his fingers tapping out a slow beat along the thin metal. A soft, tinkling sort of drumbeat started to rise beneath the hissing rasp of leather beneath their feet, a sound that was too dull to actually start much - mostly due to the pressure of his arm on it keeping it from growing - but it was a start, the beginning of a beat, of a song.

Gus must have had his guitar down, Thimas thought. There was no way that the other musician would allow himself to be completely defenseless in the dark. He cleared his throat.

"I want to make a plea for him to come out again," he managed to say.

"Mmmm, you want to see him, instead of me? And what offense have I given, hmm? What's the matter with my company?"

"You're not supposed to be here. He is."

"Is he that treasured a friend?"

"He was the one that helped me find a place here, and the one that gave me a job. I want to make sure to repay the favor."

"Heh...hehehe...then perhaps you should see what we have become."

Snap. A simple finger-click, and the room was illuminated. It would have been a more impressive trick if Thimas hadn't seen some of the leather and rope and other bondage gear pulling away from the light switches at the edges of the room.

The landlord had been completely bound up, the red-scaled naga grunting as his arms were pulled ever tighter to his sides, yanked in and held there by a band around the naga's upper torso and one nearer to his waist, keeping his arms from rising, falling, or doing anything else. His cock was forced out of a slit just beneath his waist, and the thick dick - pardon, double dicks - were bound together by more black leather, pushed together and pulled tight until the veins were popping out on both shafts.

Worse, Thimas could see the hazy-eyed look that meant that the great serpent was already slipping deep into a trance. The leather was bound around the naga's snout, holding it shut and keeping him from speaking, but the way that the naga's nostrils kept flaring told him that there was a good chance that the leather was partially responsible for the trance.

The white-faced, rock-and-roller-masked drake turned to look at them, licking his lips ever so slowly. He folded his hands in his lap as he leaned back on the couch, chuckling to himself.

"As you can see, my landlord is already bound for service. He won't be resisting for much longer, and soon, he will be ever so happy with the perversions that I brought to this little establishment of his. A little silly that he believes that bachelors would be chaste while living here. Heh. It's far better to turn it into a den of pleasure...and, of course, it would be up to someone like me to run it."

"You, hmm? Someone that doesn't even know how the world works?" Thimas asked.

"I am a fast learner."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Really? And you think that I don't know that you're trying to play a countersong?"

"...I stand corrected."

The badger hadn't thought that the big guy would have been able to figure that out just from listening to him, but there seemed to be surprises galore for Kami to pull out of his ass. He looked over his shoulder at Gus, and the lion looked down at him.

They both agreed. There was no negotiating to be done.

"Now, Kitten. Thimas." Kami chuckled. "I must think of a proper pet name for your collar, Thimas. But please, bow your heads. If you will just submit, I will ensure that the collars are gentle with you. Otherwise..."

The click-click of d-rings and collar tags throughout the room was far more threatening than one might have imagined. Thimas didn't quite flinch, but he couldn't deny he had stiffened up at the sound.

"This is nuts," Gus muttered. "You think...why? Why are you doing this? You keep trying to tie us up - tie me up - but you never said why. At least tell us that, first."

"Do I need an excuse to tie up a lovely lion and keep him as a pet?"

The drake smiled as he leaned back, and there was a languidness to his movements that made the badger think of a cat more than anything else. More than that, Thimas noticed that the slight awkwardness that Kami had when he moved around, like he wasn't used to being in a body or controlling it, was fading away. It was gradually becoming more and more natural, like he was used to being in control.

That, or Kaito was no longer slowing him down, being pushed further and further into the other man's mind, suppressed until there was nothing left.

Gus, you need to stop blaring your songs without thinking of the consequences...

Thimas's grip tightened on the drum under his arm, his annoyance climbing rapidly. Kaito was a good friend, and seeing him like this - seeing him almost gone - actually had the badger's blood boiling. Fear was starting to slide away, replaced by sheer rage.

Not a bad thing, really, all things considered.

The badger stepped forward, pulling the drum out from under his arm. He tapped a few notes on it, the ringing sound echoing through the room and pushing the rasping sound of the leather down by its sheer echoing quality.

"I want you to be honest, Kami," Thimas said, keeping his voice low and controlled. He tapped out a few more soft notes, the sound echoing louder and clearer through the room, starting to get more powerful. "I want you to tell Gus the truth...and I want you to do it now. If you want any sort of submission that you don't have to force, you need to learn that there is some give and take. Even for a god."

"Oh, you are a spoilsport, aren't you?"

"I am giving you the same sort of 'resistance' that everyone else in the city will, provided that they are given half a chance to think for themselves."

"And that's the issue with all of you, isn't it? Thinking. Thinking!"

Kami rolled his eyes, getting to his feet. As he moved, the leather pants that he wore - something that was far more clinging than the baggy pants that Kaito tended to wear outside of his classrooms - fell to his ankles, dropping down and leaving him completely exposed. His cock swung from side to side, stiffening slowly as he paced around the bound naga in the middle of the room.

"Thinking causes all sorts of trouble. Kaito was thinking, and all he got for his trouble was headaches, migraines, little pieces of pain that came from working too hard for people that didn't appreciate it. The students? They keep getting into trouble, causing problems for him, for the staff. For everyone.

"And this one?" He gestured at the landlord, the naga's cocks thrusting forward as he fell deeper and deeper into his trance, more and more lustful. "Thinking about how the city perceives his building, how everyone else in Novus Ager thinks about NABSC. Do you think that matters? Do you think that thinking helps? It would be so much better if they all just slid down, if they just...forgot...if they just...did what they were told..."

Thimas felt the shift before it happened, and he elbowed Gus in the side. The sudden guitar strum happened at the same time that the leashes and the binding straps and the ropes slithering beneath their feet struck like snakes. The sudden rush of sound, the sudden explosion of it, sent the bands flying back from them, making the different restraints hit the wall with a thud.

Badger and lion jumped back, the two of them playing different songs on their instruments to clear a space. The resonance between their notes and the leather was enough to make them back off, but it wasn't enough to stop Kami's advance. It didn't even slow the drake as he approached them.

"Now, now. You asked me a question, and now I get to ask you to submit. You might be able to play my little toys away, but you can't do that to me."

Thimas already knew that the drake was right. Kami was powerful, powerful enough that his aura alone was starting to fill the room with a dominant energy. The urge to give in, to allow himself to be leashed and collared, was being held back by his pride alone. The fact that he had been in charge of his own life, that he had been an educator and teacher like Kaito had been, the fact that Kaito, his friend, was going to be removed from the equation permanently if he messed this up, was keeping him on his own two feet.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Gus was holding his own, though the lion still looked more than a little scared. Probably from personal experience under the collar, knowing what it would be like to be leashed again, humiliated again. Knowing Gus, he would do anything to avoid going through that again.

Which was good, because he knew that the lion wasn't going to like his suggestion.

"You remember the plan, Gus?" he muttered.

"I was really, really hoping that you'd forget."

"Harmonize."

"Come on, don't make me do this."

"You want to be collared, then?"

"Fuck no."

"Then work with me."

Kami was only a few feet away, and no matter how hard Thimas played the drum, he knew that it wasn't going to be enough. The complex melody that he was getting as he combined the different notes that the steel instrument was capable of were keeping the leashes at bay, and they were filling the air with a complex musical spell, but it wasn't enough against the drake's raw power.

"Turn!"

Thimas spun to the left, while Gus did the same, the lion and the badger switching places. He felt the lion's ass cheeks pressing against his, followed by the hard, heavy strum of guitar strings, the soundwave shoving them forward and the leashes and leather back.

"Mmmph!"

Kami actually sounded annoyed. Not the best thing to do, he supposed, but if they were going to be fighting some creature from beyond their realm of understanding, annoying him was better than being helpless.

They landed in another pile of leather, and instantly, he felt the bands reaching up, snapping around their ankles. Gus yelped, the lion kicking before his feet were pulled down again, slapped against the floor. Thimas didn't even bother. This was part of the plan.

"How loud can you play?" he muttered.

"Loud enough to crack the stone, if I have to."

"Do it."

"You want to bring the building down?"

"I'll shape it."

"That's impossible."

"For you, maybe. You want to get out of this?"

"Yeah - fuck. Damn. Leather between the toes..."

The leather bands were gradually creeping past that, for the badger. His boots were locked down, and he could feel more and more of the leather restraints lashing themselves around his ankles, then going up to his calves. It was meant to keep them from running away again, he knew, but as long as they didn't get too high, he and Gus should be okay.

He could feel the odd combination of smoothness and roughness to the binding restraints, how they both caressed his fur and flesh and ground against it at the same time. It was fresh leather rather than well-worn leather, which meant that it was going to be a bit harder, rougher, courser.

Not that it was bad, but...but it did make his cock stir a bit. They sent ideas through him, mental images of being suspended from the ceiling, of his big balls hanging down, of the drake's hands on his cock milking him and draining him, edging him and teasing him. He could have Gus at his side, 'Kitten' getting milked and fucked regularly...

Thimas pushed the image out of his head, shaking himself hard.

"Play!"

"Okay! But if we cause an earthquake or something, this is on you."

"We won't!"

As the lion slammed his hand down on his guitar strings, Thimas started playing the sides of the hang drum as if it were a keyboard, tapping out different notes so fast and furiously he swore that he was going to tie his fingers in knots if he screwed it up. The soft ting-ting sounds of the drum grew louder as he tossed it from hand to hand, beating at it as much as playing it with its proper dexterity.

The rumbling thunder of the guitar being played at full volume was intense, shaking the room as if they really were going through an earthquake. Thimas latched onto the sound and found the notes, the gaps in the sound, and he played his heart out.

Slowly, the notes seized hold of the din that came from Gus and his guitar, focusing it, and then, turning it.

There was a sudden thump, and for a second, he feared the worst. If Kami had gotten to Gus, collared him -

Thimas risked a look over his shoulder, only to grin. Kami had been forced back a step, the drake stomping his foot into the ground and curling his toes to hold onto the floor to keep from being blown away.

"This...impossible!" Kami shook his head, holding his hand up against the stream of sound, wind, and music. "I am stronger than you. This is not possible!"

"Believe it, bitch!" Gus shouted. "Take this!"

The guitar's whine climbed high in a sudden electric solo, and Thimas struggled to keep up, improvising in a way that he most hated doing. He tweaked his fingers around, bringing the high notes down low, lifting up the guitar's power and making it all the more distinct from the sounds around it.

Gus wielded his instrument the way that a god might wield a storm. It was imprecise, it was destructive, but there was no way that one could say that it wasn't effective. As the lion brought the neck of the guitar down, pointing it at the naga, he sent a shockwave of volume at the bindings.

Thimas wasn't surprised that the landlord screamed as he was suddenly released, the naga dropped to the ground once more. The badger didn't dare speak, didn't dare break the spell. All he could do was nod his head toward the door, and the naga took the hint, running for the hills.

The battle between Gus and Kami continued, the volume holding the drake at bay, but Kami's own power was sufficient to keep him from being pushed back any further. The spell of force wasn't enough to banish the other personality from Kaito's mind. They needed something else. Something a bit more...focused.

"Switch!"

"You kidding? I got him on the ropes!"

"No, you're barely holding him off. Switch!"

"Ugh! Fine!"

This time, as they spun, Thimas dropped to his knees, pulling his legs under him. Gus stood right against his back, knees against the badger's ribs, and that bare dick flopped out on his head. Doing his best to ignore the dong in his face, Thimas set to playing the drum properly, the sounds rising from the ground as Gus blasted soundwaves over his head.

Again, Thimas shaped the notes of his song to the waves of power from the guitar, turning them from a simple blast of energy into something else. The more he played, the more he learned, and soon, the badger was whispering a song into the high, wailing strings.

"_Beast of old and magic-borne,

Be ye bound, and be ye torn

Into darkened depths, unmourned,

Away, away, away, beast of porn._ "

One line per string, one blast per note. He could feel the drake sliding away, the power of the guitar giving his song more power than it had ever had before. Each explosive blast knocked the drake back another step, forcing the naked beast away, away, away until he hit Kaito's leather couch and fell over it, stumbling and almost flipping over it.

"_Tools of yours, now be mine

Wrapped in bands and bonds unkind

Ropes and lashes, length and line

A gift to me, a gift most fine._ "

Another rhyming set of lines, and the couch struggled to turn, forming different bands of bondage at the arm rests, under the rump, along the back. One by one, they fought against Kami's control, pushing to hold the big drake down, and little by little, they succeeded. Gus's magic guitar was keeping him pinned, unable to move, while Thimas's whispered song, his shaping notes, turned the powerful force into something far more elaborate.

Finally, Kami was completely restrained. The white and black on his face was slowly fading away, leaving more and more of Kaito's original coloring behind. One eye was hazy, the other clear, and Kami glared at them through the latter.

"This isn't over. I swear, this isn't over."

Neither musician rose to the bait. One word wrong, one break in the song, and Kami would be able to slip through the net that they had him in. Both lion and badger fixed him with an intense stare, the music changing.

Gus dropped the notes down, a thudding, almost hypnotic sort of beat, something that was closer to the running bass line of a song rather than the wailing guitar solo that he had been playing. Thimas jumped into the space he was given, providing the powerful notes on the drum, giving Gus a melody to riff off of. The badger patted the lion on the thigh, giving him the chance to give the final bit of music.

The lion chuckled, breaking out into a rock scream.

"_Faaaaaaaall!

Fall and kneel, shatter and quake,

Under my boot, your soul will break

I'll make you learn, make you scream

Now make like the ice, melt and cream

And Faaaaaaaaall!_

It was definitely more of a screamer sort of thing, and if Thimas hadn't been playing like mad to keep their musical spell going, he would have covered his ears to preserve his hearing. It was rather loud, after all.

It was, however, also very effective. Kami's head slammed back against the edge of the couch, and the white and black on his face went flying off his scales. When he brought his head back down, there was nothing of him left. No more Kami, only Kaito, and a very dazed, confused-looking Kaito, at that.

They'd won.

The badger groaned, slowly pulling the hang drum off of his lap and putting it off to the side. As soon as it was steady, and wasn't going to fall over, he pulled what some might call a bit of a dick move.

He brought his fist up and punched Gus in the balls.

"GAH!"

As the lion fell over, clutching his crotch, Thimas got to his feet. His knees and hips popped slightly as he did, and the badger shook his head. Kaito finally managed to look at him, and the drake cocked his head to the side.

"Thimas? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

"I'll explain in a minute. For now, you might want to get on the phone to the police, or...someone. I imagine that your landlord is already calling them, but you might be able to head it off."

"Hmm? What would Srosha be calling them for?"

"I'll explain, but for now - where are your glasses, by the way?"

"Hmm? Oh."

The naked drake got to his feet, walking over to a nightstand near his armchair. He pulled them up, the lenses flickering slightly as he did.

"I'm not sure how I was up without them. They're rather important, after all."

"Why, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, they're the only way that I can use any magic." He smiled. "Not much, of course, but it keeps the rest of it stable."

"...You know, we're going to need to talk about that."

"Nnngh...you son...of a bitch..." Gus whimpered.

"Why did you punch him, by the way?"

"Again, in a minute. For now, call the cops."

"Fair enough. But I hope that you have an interesting story for this."

"Oh-ho-ho, I do. Trust me on that."

As Kaito went to the bedroom to get his phone, Thimas knelt down by the mewling lion. The rock and roller was still clutching his nuts, muttering under his breath to himself. Shaking his head, the badger rolled the lion onto his back.

"You okay?"

"What...the fuck...was that for?"

"Mostly petulance, I admit," the badger said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry for taking that one a bit too far."

"Nnngh...why don't you kiss it better, then?"

"Because I'm not starting that. You, on the other hand, have a lot to make good on."

"Me? I didn't -"

"Playing the songs that created Kami in the first place. Running off rather than dealing with it yourself. Encouraging Kami to get more and more dominant by giving him more targets rather than doing anything to slow him down. Not talking to Sam and Darl about a hero that might be able to help you. Do I need to go on?"

"...Never picked up the phone..."

"And I'm going to get a new phone that is a little louder, so I can keep from making that same mistake twice. You, on the other hand, are going to be -"

"Thimas?" Kaito called. "Srosha's saying something about a badger superhero and a lion sidekick saving him. Do you happen to know what that's about?"

"Not a clue, I'm afraid," he shouted back.

"If you say so. I suppose the, ahem, 'mysterious big-balled musician' will continue to go unnamed."

"Probably for the best."

"Sidekick," Gus muttered through the discomfort, slowly managing to sit up. "Me, the sidekick. Ha..."

"You are the younger one, you know."

"That shouldn't mean anything."

"In this city, it kind of does. Besides, do you want to be the sidekick, or the villain that let his creation run away with him?"

"...Sidekick doesn't sound too bad, actually..."

"I thought so."

Shaking his head, Thimas got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. This had gotten out of hand in a hurry, and he still needed to do damage control. Kaito was back, and Kami seemed to be suppressed, but when it came down to the neighbors, he didn't know how long it was going to take to fix things.

From what he'd heard, Kami had made it clear that he was the one that owned the building and had staked a claim with each of Kaito's regular playmates, and possibly with a number of students at the school. He'd have to go through the different classes, see who had changed their fashion to leather lately, and make sure that Kami hadn't done anything that would allow him to possess someone else as an escape route.

More than that, he'd need to make sure that everyone was aware that this wasn't Kaito's fault. He wasn't going to have his friend paying the cost for Gus causing this whole situation in the first place.

"Thimas?"

"Hmm?"

"Sorry," Gus muttered.

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry. I...really did make a mess of this. Just thought that I could have a bit of fun, you know?"

"Fun is fine. It's doing it responsibly that's key."

"Heh. Responsibly. I don't think I've ever done that."

"Probably not. Then again, from how things went with Sam and Darl..."

"I guess I did a few good things there."

"Yes...but don't think that mitigates your sentence."

"Sentence? What are you talking about?"

"You have to make up for this somehow, and there's a lot of unhappy people in this building right now..."

The End