Be quick or be dead (open, but please read rules)

Dex ran fast, as he looked back he ducked, barley dodging the ice ball ad it flew overhead an hit a tree. His constant rant of "dont eat me" over and over again became thicker with his accent. It sound eastern European, mabey Russian. But he became hysterical when he saw the psychopath over take the guard, his speech switching to a foreign language in his fear. He also wasn't looking forward, and he ran into something cold an hard, he went flying back, falling on his back, dazed and confused.

Roxanne saw the iceball coming, but did not react quick enough to doge it.

"Why you little..," and with that, she froze solid. The sun beating down as hot as it was, though, everyone knew it wouldn't last long.

Good catch Nyaha I apologize, I should have remembered that, especially since it was my character that caused it. Should we decide to stick to our little mishap, I still have my original comment saved away.

(Wht the hell? Read back, the ice ball didn't hit Roxanne! D: Because of Gavin, Taihaku misfired it and it hit a tree!)

(Whoah... New posts thatI missed. Sorry guys! My lastpost was done close to midnight two days before I posted it. Sorry!)

The iceball whizzed over Roxanne's head, harmlessly. by this point, Roxanne was within reacing distance of the caravan.

"Now you better play nice, nekoling, or you will regret it." and with that, Roxanne grabbed the neko out from underneith the human. some human, he acted like he needed therepy. In the worst way.

(Due to shortness, this post has been moved ahead by me. ^_^)

"Hey! cold cut is mine, she was assigned to be sure Gavin didn't escape until he came to the market for human flesh, besides the flavor of the day is rabbit, so can you help poor old Gavin catch him, or at least unchain him so he can do it all by himself self." he ran his tongue over his stolen set of fangs. "Gavin is sooo hungry. He could eat the entire gang of flesh market humans, without any bones left to rot." Then all of a sudden he sat straight upright. "Snakey you gotta unchain Gavin he has to get back his bodies are still hanging at the tree and he has to tend to the new arrival, he hasn't even had his skin taken off yet, plus the colorful people will be coming by screaming circus, what ever that means, I have to harvest my flesh crops, before they rot and shrivel, plus i need to give the crows their eyeballs it's the deal if I don't they won't help anymore, Gavin doesn't know what he would do without his crows." he looked down thinking of his dear friends the crows, then looked up again and said "But first catch the bunny to hang with the others, cold cut can help, she knows how to make his skin get the toothless bite, that will stop him from going anywhere." he looked Taihaku straight in the face "Gavin forgives you for not helping him before, and won't eat you if you help him with his work, flesh for flesh you wasted my time now you gotta help get it back." he paused as though remembering something "Your skin tastes good, but I don't like the toothless bite that hovers around you, it pierces my flesh and chatters my teeth and bites my tongue, to eat you alive would be a mistake." He nodded then waited for someone to help him out of his chains, eyeing the others slavers 'perhaps Gavin could do with a different snack for now, he can sniff out the bunny later..."

Though Taihaku's attitude was cooperative, she would feel extremely cold to Roxanne's touch, far too much so for the naga to hold on to the neko for too long.

Taihaku turned her head towards the strange man she'd been guarding. If she understood him right, he was some sort of human flesh eater. She recalled the term "cannibal", and decided that's what would apply to the man. Cannibal. He then noticed him make eye contact with her and listened. She felt insulted by his words yet again. Though, when he mentioned her toothless bite, she smiled a bit inside. He was likely referring to the way she keeps the air cold around her, something she was rather proud of.

"I am indebted to you?" she tonelessly retorted in disbelief, "You are the individual who interrupted MY actions, and in doing so, insulted my honor as a warrior, as well as that of this naga. It is you who should be requesting forgiveness." She then added, "Also, what reason would I have for helping an outlaw such as yourself?"

Dex stood against a nearby tree, shivering with fear, he was horrified at what the chained man had said and was just to scared to move. His rabbit ears flopped to the sides of his head in terror.

Roxanne fought the urge to wince. "if you will kindly unfreeze my tail, I will kindly set you down." Roxanne said in her not-too-serious way.

Insulting a naga and threatening a lady... You are asking for trouble, little man." Roxanne said, looking down at the madman.

Taihaku accepted the naga's bargain without hesitation. "If you would set me down on the ice, I could easily shatter it for you," she said to Roxanne with a small hint of a smile, though her icey blue eyes still appeared quite serious.

Gavin eyes sparkled with mirth as he looked at Roxanne ”Cold cut is not a lady, she doesn’t have enough of that fluffy stuff that gets caught between your teeth when you try to eat them, nor does she have the cage to hold it up, pointless things…she is closer to a warrior, though she isn’t that either.” He hung his head pondering what he considered Taihaku to be then he looked up at her.“There’s more to a warrior than being able to fight, and kill. If that logic was true then Gavin is a warrior as well, but you think i'm an outlaw. You are guarding a troupe of humans who steal people from their homes and friends, and yet you claim to have honor to be insulted, I you ever had honor you lost it. Now you are little more than a vain fool.” He stopped talking to gnaw at the shackles on his wrists as they were beginning to chafe."Gavin can't be an outlaw when the only true law is eat or be eaten, I chose to eat a long time ago." Then he looked back at Roxanne “How did I insult you Snakey? Gavin helped you not freeze, then he asks a simple favor in return, that’s all.”

Taihaku looked towards the man in disbelief once again. She had been guarding people that steal other people from their homes? If that was true, then.... She gasped. "I've been guarding slavers?!" she exclaimed aloud. She then growled at herself. How could she have been so foolish?! And now because of her ability to be so easily manipulated she's found herself in yet another precarious situation. Well, the only thing she could do now was hope that the naga would give her the chance to correct her actions.

Roxanne set "cold cut" as the madman called her, carefully on her tail. "Don't fall off, it would be a nasty sight." Roxanne smiled. She liked this one already, even if she was a slaver, albeit unknowably.

"Gavin, as I think you called yourself, I owe no one anything. It is true you never insulted me directly, but let it be known that the name "snakey" is not to my liking. I prefer Roxanne, thank-you-very-much."

He growled to himself "tell me snakey, has anyone ever torn you from your friends to bind you hand and foot and stuff you in the back of a cart, where for days there was nothing to do but chew steel and plead with a stupid neko who doesn't think about what she is doing? then you taste freedom long enough to have it torn away by a giant snake who cares more that you know her name than helping you out." He glared at her with anger in his eyes. "tell you what you free me to take my revenge, and I'll call you by whatever moniker you would like, just so long as it isn't demeaning to anyone." He shook his shackles.

Roxanne eyed him coldly. "Your anger is unsettling. I am fully aware of your position. But by killing those men, haven't you just stooped to their level? What sperates them from you?"

It was then that she noticed the rabbit, hiding in the corner. "Come closer, my friend. I won't hurt you. Not now, anyway. I never harm anyone without first giving them a chance."

"P-please don't eat me" the demi-human whimperd, taking shake steps forward. " I....i-I'm...." dex' heart was racing, he was so scared his instincts took over and he quickly veered to the left making a mad dash to freedom.

"Gavin eats his kill, and uses their teeth. Then if there is too much left over he feeds the crows. Doesn't bother me, Gavin watches humans get eaten all the time, and they are eaten alive." He watched dex run then hung his head "Great, now nobody gets to eat the rabbit" He shook the shackles on his feet and attacked them with renewed vigor.

After being set on the large tail, it was easy for Taihaku to shatter the ice. She simply stomped on it once - for dramatic effect - and used her magic to make it break and shatter before dissipating into magic energy. Taihaku then unsheathed the sword on her back, the blade of which was made entirely of ice. She then took a blind leap off Roxanne's tail and aimed her sword down at the ground. It's blade of ice extended downwards beneath her, embedding itself in the dirt, and after it did so, Taihaku made the blade shorten, bringing her down to the ground gently.

Taihaku then ran out to the slaver's caravan, still holding her sword in her right paw. Before passing Gavin, she said, "Excuse me," to him. She meant this for both needing to get by him as she forcefully yet not angrily pushed him aside, and for not realizing he'd been abducted unwillingly for no wrongdoing on his part. After getting past him, she searched the caravan for slavers, specifically the one who'd lied to her. The slavers by this point were mostly hiding out around and behind the carts. She found the one she was looking for and grabbed his collar, pulled him forward and pushed him out into the open in front of her. "Defend yourself if you believe what you did to me is right, otherwise face your punishment." She hoped in the back of her mind that the naga wouldn't misunderstand; Taihaku had no intention of greatly harming or killing this man, she only planned to freeze him. She believed that everyone should have to face the consequences of their actions, and she would be the consequence of his.

(Roxy is playing the other slavers, right?)

(Yeah. Sorry for the dely. Friends in the hospital.)

The slaver, first carefully looking at Roxanne, then at the neko, drew his curved sword. "Your contract is officially cancelled." and he lungd at her. (Giving Nyaha control of that slaver, so I can focus on Roxanne. Just don't killl him.)

Roxanne watched, not sure if she should be amused or angry. This neko was fighting for her honor, and Roxanne could understand that. She looked at Gavin.

"You kill and eat people, but from what you have said you don't care who they are or what they have done to you."

(good lord, it took me a while to read all of that D:... well now that I have, I gotta say, this RP sounds fun, especially since I have an OC who knows Dex from before)

"Does the cat ask the mouse his name before gobbling him down, of course he doesn't the mouse is inherently food, just as humans are. Just meat to be eaten until they prove otherwise."Gavin sighed "Life is valued because we need it, it is considered special to protect it, to be sure no one but you takes it. life is the only real currency, to bargain life away to, sell it, to steal it. We all find our own way to steal life away from others, even you snakey, how we go about, and how we try to justify it is another matter entirely. I don't, Gavin needs life just like you snakey, and like cold cut over there. The slaver is fighting to be sure his life doesn't escape him, and cold cut is fighting, because in her vanity she believes her life has more value than his, and he has taken some of that value away. You too carry that vain streak, that you only steal the life of people you determine bad, but in truth my way, the path Gavin follows is the most effective way, most of nature follows it. don't judge the mouse, just steal its life, don't be discriminate just eat, you will find a full stomach is far more precious to you than any so called honor." He looked at his shackles sadly "the life of a rabbit was on the line today, because of the need you people seem to have, to make your life more valuable led to his escape, it saved his life from being stolen, and wasted away ours with idle chatter. All I ask is that you remove my bonds, I will even offer some of my own life to compensate. Free Gavin to take and lose life as he pleases, why are you so hesitant, do you fear Gavin will take your own life from you, do you not with to sully your conscience with the likes of me, what makes you so scared?"

(I really hope your friend gets better soon. Thanks for taking the time to keep up with us. ^.^)

Taihaku took up defense. She had learned to start any violent confrontation by guaging the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. The slaver swung his sword downward, and Taihaku moved her sword high and held it horizontally in response. But at the last second, Taihaku reconsidered her actions and decided it best she not draw this out into a full-fledged fight. The other slavers might jump in to help the man, or worse, Roxanne might get antsy and move in for her lunch. But if Taihaku displayed her power in a neat and orderly manner, she could keep the other men at bay and possibly impress the naga as well.

The man's curved sword made contact with Taihaku's blade of ice, and immediately became embedded in it. The man struggled to remove it quickly, but he was too slow. Taihaku gave him a powerful kick to the gut to make him stumble backwards, then twirled as she stepped towards him, and stabbed him through the chest, the curved sword still stuck in the ice of her own. The man yelled in pain and moved his hands to his chest where Taihaku's blade lay, but was shocked to find not a drop of blood on his fingers. Indeed, the wound, as swiftly as it was made, was sealed up by the ice, and the frosty blade was now embedded through the man's torso. Just as the man realized this, the ice around the wound began to spread, and in a matter of moments it covered his entire body, freezing him solid, before continuing to grow until it was a smooth and shapely block of ice.

Taihaku gave the hilt of her sword a few kicks, and eventually removed it from the block of ice. No blade, just a handle. Even so, she returned it to the sheath on her back. She then made a path of ice on the ground towards Roxanne, and then pushed the man in the ice block down to the naga. "Please, enjoy your human-flavoured icy pop," Taihaku said. In all truth, she had no idea what an "icy pop" was, but she'd heard the term used by someone before and thought it would apply well in this situation. She didn't hear what Gavin said about her, though. Being a snow leopard neko, her ears are not nearly as sharp as other neko species', and she had been too focused on the slaver to notice him speaking.

Roxanne clapped, quickly and excitedly.

"I see you hold no ties to your slave party. I respect that." Roxanne smiled at her.

Staring at the other slavers, Roxy decided all of them were cowardly fools. None of them would stand up, or fight like a man. This in mind, Roxanne decided it was time to eat.

Advancing on the slavers, she began grabbing them, and without a word one was gone, than two, than all of them.xcept the one in the corner. He was to far to reach, at least for now.

Gavin crawled over to the last remaining slaver. "Look, I need my shackles undone; you need to prove you worth not being eaten can you put two and two together or does Gavin need to spell it out for you." Once again he held his arms forward in hopes of having them freed. "if you remove Gavin's shackles he will also argue for your side against the naga, and he promises not to eat you." Gavin was through messing around if this idea didn't work he would kill the slaver and take the keys himself. He needed to get home, and find the rabbit, and repay cold cut, none of these things could be done with shackles.