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

Damon scowled at the wink. Such a gesture meant nothing to him, he was still a prisoner, so it could just as easily mean bad things as good. He had to start coming up with other escape methods the pleasant conversation had bought him time, but she was no longer giving responses. That hard earned time was ticking away under his nose. He thought back to what Ella had said about time being sand in an hour glass. That was becoming more and more true, for no matter how much time you start out with it always flows out of your hands. You can try tightening your grip, but it usually just flows faster. his mood was rapidly darkening along with his face, as he took a few steps back. He could attempt a transformation, but even if he was successful, the result could vary. plus he had to make a sacrifice, that involved killing someone. He would instantly be out of her favor, and even if he became a naga ,which seemed to be his best bet at the time, he would probably have a fight on his hands. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and he removed his dirk. He slowly rubbed his thumb over the glowing blue pommel stone as he carefully weighed his options. unfortunately the best choice would probably be either Jason or a tomthumb his next move would probably decide his fate, so this was not a decision to be taken lightly. Supposing he decided to go through with this, a tomthumb could be crushed beneath a foot. if no one saw him, he could probably deny the death, and fabricate an excuse. If he went through with this and failed he would be a slaver, and a murderer. this would be exceedingly delicate. like tightrope walking on a human hair, over a volcano, one false step, and he would burn for it.

Knees weak from both the pressure on his head when she rustled his hair and his long-running fear, Jason stood staring awe-struck up at Roxanne. That was the second time she could have just snatched him up in her mighty fist, yet instead she seemed almost mother-like in her demeanour. It was encouraging. He felt he could trust her for the immediate future. Awkwardly, he emerged from behind Nyaha and, remembering his etiquette classes suddenly, bowed as low as he could in front of her. A small gesture, but one that he hoped communicated the reverence he had for her.

As he straightened back up, a glint from Damon's belt caught his eye. It was the same dagger from before, but it wasn't the blade that was catching the sunlight - it was the blueish-looking stone that was shining. How odd, he'd never seen one like it. He just hoped Damon wouldn't be forced to use it.

As Roxanne looked down at the one known as "Jason", she saw him bow, slightly. How could he respect her, after what she did?

"It is true, I have had quite a history with slavers." she said. "I do not wish to tell the story right now." Or ever, for that matter.

"Tomthumbs, you are free to leave. If you choose to stay, you will be escorted to Negav by... anyone who survives." she said to no one in particular.

She saw the slaver's face darken. "You are thinking something evil. I can tell. Please enlighten me." she said, with a tone more intense than her usual one.

Roxanne looked down at the foxling. "It must be hard, living with that guilt. I know-" she cut off. the memory was there, overpowering her senses...

No, she had to focus. She cleared her throat. "So, now comes the clincher." she said. "We have stalled long enough. It is time to decide who lives, and who dies. And I know exactly how to do it."

"So do I!" Nyaha suddenly exclaimed. "Quick! Rock! PPaper! Scissors! No?" He then giggled at himself. Self amusement was something he'd become accustomed to through the lonely times he went through when he was younger. He just hoped the others would also be amused, or they'd think him pathetic. Then again, who cares what they think? More importantly, what was Damon planning? One wrong decision could jeopardize everyone's safety. Nyaha had to be ready to prevent it. He then looked back up at Roxanne. "Okay, how are we going to go about it then?" he asked, smiling as always.

Damon glanced back at the cart, then looked up at Roxanne.
"That, my dear naga, is a loaded word. you have no right in hell to judge what is and isn't evil You just devoured an entire troupe of slavers, many of whom had families to feed. Very few of them were as bad as you seem to think, and though we capture lives, many of them are only temporary, and caught with good reason, meanwhile you snuff them out with reckless abandon, all the while managing to keep a wide grin on your face. No matter what happened in you past it does not justify cutting off the future of others. You are playing a game and the stakes are lives." Damon walked over to the tombthumb cart and stared into the blue pommel stone on the end of his dirk.
"You know, when i first arrived in Felarya and had this mental parasite implanted in my consciousness, he told me Felarya was a place of monsters, so I assumed mindless beasts devouring the land with out the ability to have any mercy for the inhabitants. I soon realized I was wrong, its not that these creatures are without the ability, its that they choose not to. You could stop at any moment, but no, you choose to rip families apart, and rip friends from each others arms. what I discovered was not a land of mindless beasts it was worse." Damon removed a small parcel from his pocket and held it inside the cart between his thumb and fore finger
"Sorry little guys, I don't want to kill you, but desperate times call for desperate measures.you try anything, I'll be the judge in my little game, this is an acid bomb any thing the shrapnel touches will melt slowly as though it was in your gut. Once again, you are given the choice, spare my life and you spare the tomb thumbs, or rip them from their friends and family as you have the rest of my troupe."
Damon said his last line in a cold flat tone, and held his bomb even tighter and pulled his cloak around himself to shield from shrapnel, and acid.. at this point the handle of his dirk was glowing as bright as the sun, and emitting a low humming noise, the deity wanted blood, and if the naga made a move Damon would give it to him. Damon just hoped if he was forced to kill the tombthumbs the deity would turn him into a naga instead of a neko, or worse a tombthumb. Damon then looked directly at Nyaha
"I think I have a pretty good idea of how your sleeves work, if this parcel leaves my hand, their lives leave their bodies, so you can't shoot me with anything. I also apologize for dragging you into his, but you seemed to have a fairly good sense of honor and I though it might be devastating to you should you be the death of them."

"You may know how my sleeves work, but you don't know how my mind works," Nyaha said. Though truthfully, Damon didn't seem to entirely grasp the concept of Nyaha's sleeves either, so letting him think he did would give Nyaha an advantage. Damon was right about one thing, though. Nyaha wasn't going to be responsible for the loss of innocent lives. Not this time. But he didn't feel right about just sitting by like this either. He felt he had to do something. If he could move Damon's arm without allowing him to let go of the bomb...But would Nyaha be quick enough? Mmm...perhaps....yes...

Nyaha sighed. "I think this is a little too much stress for me to deal with today," he said convincinly with a shrug, as he turned his back on Damon. After a moment, when he'd hoped the man would let his guard down, Nyaha made a large cloud of sight-blocking smoke billow from his sleeves, surrounding the area between him and Damon. Under the cover of the smoke, Nyaha silently and carefully moved the tomthumb cart away from Damon, making sure not to let it come into contact with the man's hand.

Roxanne was horrified. At least she had some semblance of excuse... no, she thought, he has every excuse I do. Still, I am the one with the power here, not him.

Suddenly, smoke billowed out of the neko's... sleeves?! Even though Roxanne couldn't see in the normal sense, she could tell where everyone was thanks to her predator senses. Taking advantage of the moment, she reached out her hand, faster than a flash, to grab the one called Damon. "You have five seconds to convince me not to end your life right now!" she said, holding him close to her face, as if to prove her point.

"I have already dropped the bomb, acid bombs don't make a loud noise, they poof. I figured someone would do something, I merely assumed it wouldn't be Nyaha. The tomb thumbs should be going into convulsions right about now, and if you want to save them you listen to what I say very carefully, or they have fifteen minutes to gurgle and pop as they die." Damon crossed his arms and stared into her eyes, his face was also starting to twitch and some features were changing ever so slightly, though Damon didn't notice.

Go. Go.

It was the single thought resounding through Jason's turbulent mind as he wildly surveyed the chaos. The smoke billowing around him made the perfect cover for him to slip away unnoticed. Go. His feet started to move...

And then his feet stopped. How could he return to his homeplanet and his normal boring life if he knew he had let those tinies die? He had to do something. What could save them now? What stopped acid?

"Nyaha!" Jason suddenly called out blindly into the smoke. "I need everything alkaline you've got up your sleeves! Hand soap, dandelions, baking soda, onions; anything! Even if we can't stop the acid's effect maybe we can slow it down!"

"Well if you want the long sappy version I'll tell it to you." Ella sat down closing her legs and resting her sword on her lap. She had noticed that Damon had a darring glint in his eye. She would not betray him though. Maybe however she could add more sand to the hourglass. If he truly was planning a big move it would take some time to think over. Humans are very skittish creatures.

"When I was a little girl I knew fear. My village and family were all eaten by a wondering band of fairies. Woman and children alike were subject to their hunger. My parents bought me time to escape into the jungle where I had to survive on my own. But the things in my head swirled about bumping against the inside of my skull spilling from my mouth. Any neko that came by would not keep me for the fear that I was possessed. Predators would not eat me for that I was some wrathful spirit. So I wandered with the funny things that never stopped spewing from my mouth. Until one day I came across another young neko. He was a little older than me. He had the brightest yellow eyes. His ears were small and round but his tail was big and bushy. He had neck length jet black hair but in the top it was white. He even had a white patch of skin running down his back. He was tone and fit with a somewhat tan completion. Not as dark as me of course I spent many hours in the sun! His name was Mellivoren he was a honey badger neko and he was fearless! We traveled together for years. We were adventurers of the truest type. We ran around the land and found treasures but more than that we found happiness with each other. He made me forget my fear. I loved him very much. We could have gone on like that forever." She finished dreamily.

"But one day when we were gathering food when a group of fairies caught us by surprise. It was the same ones who has eaten my village. I couldn't even move I became so terrified. So Melli came to my rescue. He tried to keep the fairies at bay but they laughed at his courage and began to blast him with magic spells. He jumped and doged until finally one made contact. When it hit him he was knocked to the ground. Ran over to his. He wasn't dead but something was starting to happen to him. He was growing bigger and bigger. Within five seconds he was 70ft. At this the fairies laughed more but when they saw at about 100ft that his growth wasn't slowing down they began to worry. They tried to use magic to return him to normal but he just absorbed their magic power and grew even bigger.He was very angry with the fairies for what they had done. So he ate them.He had stopped growing after that but his anger and hunger wouldn't be quelled. So heturned his sights on me and I had to run away from him."

By the time she finished her story Damon had already put his plan to action and now it was whole mess.

"Leave to humans to botch a plan." She mumbled to herself. She picked her folding fan from her pocket.

"Winds of change blow away all of the bombs!" She said as she swiped the fan and huge gust of wind was created. It hit the people with much force yet it didn't blow them away. Not even the tom thumbs were carried away by it's power.

"Right you are all morons." she said frankly.

Nyaha eagerly gave Jason all the things he had asked for, and to everyone's likely surprise, there was tons of it. "Will alkaline batteries help? Can we wash the acid off with water?" Nyaha asked. Jason seemed to know more than he did in the acid department. Hopefully Nyaha would be able to provide everything. Suddenly a gust of wind blew away his smoke cover. Nyaha was impressed, but annoyed. He'd have to get more smoke from a fire or something later.

(Please keep in mind that everything the deity "says" is inaudible to all but Damon)

"Twitch, I'm impressed" said Damon, turning around as far as he could,
"unfortunately dandelions and batteries will only slow down my acid, you need something a tad stronger. Also It would be best not to add water, as that will only spread and it might get on you." Damon turned back to face Roxanne.
"If they do manage to stop the acid they still need me to heal the vital organs, and stop the bleeding." Then a fierce glare entered his eyes, and he turned back to Jason.
"Just so you know, should we both manage to survive, at the very least I shall never assist you again. I tried to help you, and you respond by ruining my plan. I could have gotten all of us out alive, the only exceptions being those who were killed by shrapnel." Damon's twitching suddenly increased and he began convulsions spitting up a small amount of blood as his skeleton grew out of his body. He stretched large enough to fall from Roxanne's hand as muscles slowly grew over his new frame then skin appeared first in patches, spreading to cover him completely. He tried to stand, but was exceedingly unstable, as the deity had chose now to use the spirits of the tomb thumbs that had died to turn him into a naga albeit a small one, only half Roxanne's size. He ran his eyes over his new body, then cursed.
"Damn, what were you thinking", he shouted clutching his head "I can't stand, my pouches are all difficult to use, I'm still small enough to be eaten, now you just made it impossible to get into Negav!" The deity chuckled in his head
"A good prank, no?"
"No, not a good Prank, a prank makes someone feel foolish, or ruins a small item, maybe even causes minor pain, I doesn't put someones life on the line! You just wasted perfectly good souls for the purpose of a deadly trick!"
"You can still snake your way out of this." The deity chuckled at the pun.
" Are you kidding the only thing I have left is healing magic, you took all the aces from my hand. Plus the tomb thumbs are now minuscule to me, making it even more difficult, and assuming I do get out alive I have to kill something to be human again, and gain access to Negav, and Roxanne won't take kindly to that, you have effectively cut off all routes of escape, and I have very little chance of winning a fight at this size."
"Then you hope the neko doesn't have strong chemicals like yours."
"What are the chances of that, he seems to have everything in there, he even had a blow torch."
"Fine, worst comes to worst, you hold the one who busted up your escape plan hostage."
"That might work, if It fails for what ever reason, i'm done, that's it, its over."
"Don't die, because if you do I'll meet you in hell, and you won't like that."
Damon managed to shakily get back into an upright position, he still wasn't used to this body. He sorted through his pouches as best as he could, dumping all of the contents into on to large pile showing everything from vials, to handguns, to cash, there was even a bird skull. He prepared to use healing magic to help the tomb thumbs. Damon suddenly looked up at Roxanne with moist eyes.
"Though I doubt you'll believe me now, I really didn't mean to let things get this far. I have to fix this so if you'll keep you hands off of me until I've done what needs to be done i'm sure the survivors will thank you. Once again I do apologize, I'm just a thief by trade, not a murderer but we do what we must to get along in this world." He grabbed as many vials as he could, and sorted through them as he turned to help.
"Aw isn't that sweet, you didn't want to kill, but we both know different don't we. We know what you've done, as you said, to get along in this world."
"Shut up" Damon muttered "You know I never wanted to." The deity chuckled

Roxanne watched in horror as Damon transformd. She had heard of people like this before. He was transformed into... a naga?a small one, but on nonetheless.

She looked down on him. "You are on parole, nagaling." she said crossly. "That stunt your pulled put you in deep trouble. Oh, and did I mention? You are still small enough to eat." she laughed. It was then she heard his whisper"shut up!" "Don't you tell me what to do!"

Roxanne looked at Ella. "I wish I could help, but I have never been strong in the magic department."

She smiled at Jason. Then at Nyaha "If I were you, any of you," she said aloud, "I would stay away from the small naga. He already tried to kill the tinies, think of what he might do to you."

Ella climbed up the now huge Damon's back and up to his shoulder. She stared him dead in his eyes.

"Really human? I stall and this the best you can come up with? I am not impressed." She said shaking her head.

"You are no where near big enough to fight her.You've killed several tom thumbs, I used the winds of change onceThis is just a clusterfuck of terrible. " She said still maintaining her gaze. But then a huge grin broke across her face. She reached into her pocket pulled out something. When Damon opened his mouth to reply she shoved what ever it was into his mouth. He swallowed.

"They're called magic bean even though they're berries. But they do make you shot up like a bean stalk!" Ella said with a chuckle. She jumped down off of his should screaming "Fire in the hole!"

Roxanne stared at Ella, horrified.

"Do you realize what you have done!" she said. "Do you really expect him to use his power any better than me!? He murdered the tinies without giving them a chance! I at least gave you one. Or would have if you had trusted me." Roxanne looked genuinely hurt. "Not only that, but now this means that that... murderer cannot be stopped anymore.His newfound power comes with it's own limitations, such as hunger. In fact, the first pangs should hit soon. And guess who is on the menu." Here she paused, as if remembering something. "Let me tell you, when hunger hits, alliances are forgotten, decency is gone, and predators become unpredictable. It causes lifelong friends, a naga and a human, to turn on each other. I know this because it happened..." she broke off. "I've seen it. Suffice it to say that."

Roxanne looked at Damon, anger in her eyes. "You don't touch any of them." She knew that even though he was above eating size, she was a better fighter than he was. "ANY of them."

"Naga I was born into a game I never wanted to play. For that reason I always lost to people who were better at it. So I was presented with two choices in order to win." She said with still horrible grin on her face.

"Be as cruel as the others who play or start breaking some rules. So I went with the latter and started playing fast and loose. So I may lose but you'll beat me. Somehow I make it so my death would be the worst choice for everyone involved. I start chaos and let it get so far out of control that you need me to set everything back in it's place. One day the chaos I cause may finally backlash on me but when that happens I'll be fine I'm sure or maybe not. Doesn't really matter."

"I've never been right in my head dear naga and I don't think I ever will be but it's paid off you know. Trust me by the end of this you'll know what it means to be crazy like a fox!" She looked into the pile Damon had emptied on the ground. She saw some cake.

"Oh hey cake! " She grabbed the cake.

"With that last move you make a terrible mistake." Damon shook his head gravely "I have no control what so ever over how I transform, but I need souls to do it. When you forced my growth I became too large to finish helping the tomb thumbs and most of them will die. That means that the bastard who has taken up residence in my skull can claim their souls as his own, and twist my body as he pleases." he turned to Roxanne
"fortunately though the hunger pangs don't occur, The energy off the spirits will allow me to run without hunger for about eight hours in a body like this. you also don't have to worry about me murdering anyone, twitch and Nyaha are the only ones whom I bear any grudge against, and when I decide to kill twitch, I will be human again. Nyaha is the cause of their death so i have no bone to pick with him he can silently suffer without my help, though I doubt it will noticeably change him." Damon turned back to Ella
"thank you very much for assisting me, I shall need to find a constant source of those berries for future use. You may also be assured that since you saved my life, I will do my best to protect yours. Should you ever need a favor, I will do what I can to assist. also be careful, the majority of foods I carry are drugged in one way or another. nothing deadly, just a PROPER PRANK against fellow members of my trade." he stressed the proper prank with a tap to his head. and turns back to Roxanne with a smile
"This was interesting I appreciated your agreeing with my previous statement, It certainly helped level the playing field. Speaking of which, when your little game with the others is over could you help me to live like you do? At least until I get my human body back." He looked down at his hands "In this form I am not as manually dexterous as I once was can one of you smaller people please put my items back in to their pouches, just be sure to give my dirk back t me as soon as you find it, I cannot lose that no matter what my size is."
"No, you cant afford to, lord knows, someone with a blood lust might get a hold of it, then you are really screwed" The deity said in a peevish tone
"For once you are right" Damon said
"Don't get lippy with me!" The deity growled,"I still have souls and to become a tomb thumb now would be a very bad thing for you." Damon scowled.

(erm, Damon, it was Ella who caused the tomthumb's death.)

"I am afraid that aiding you is outside of my duties. But since I can't restrain you, Damon, you are free to go." Why must the slaver escape with his life? Roxanne scowled, remembering his face for the next time they meet.

"Ella, on the other hand, has just caused the death of many. And seeing as you have no escape..." She licked her lips. "You better have a good defense for that."

Nyaha and Jason are still down there. "You two, the only ones who tried to do anything, I have not forgotten that. Both of you are... free to go." she said. The last words seemed kind of forced, as if she didn't want them to leave, although if it was because she wanted to eat them or if she truly enjoyed their company, Roxanne couldn't tell. All she knew was that they had proven themselves worthy to live. "Though Jason, I will hunt you down to hear that story." she smiled at him.

"pity, I guess ill have to find someone else, anyway It wasn't Ella's fault, she saved my life. If Nyaha hadn't fogged up the air in the first place, I would have been able to help them. We could continue laying blame from now till we both rot, but even if she did cause their deaths, she saved my life I have to return the favor." Damon had gotten the hang of controlling his tail by now, and used it to push Ella behind him as he took a slightly more defensive stance. In a long fight he doubted he would last, he would have to do something quick and devastating to end the match before it began. "I think you had better back up", he said to Ella "If she starts a fight , and i manage to hold my own, you might get crushed. If I can't fight adequately then I die, and you get a head start, should you wish to flee."
"If you start to lose I'm turning you into a neko." The deity said "then you can run while she chases your charge."
"Don't even think about it, I have a promise to keep."
"This will go easier if you don't lose."
"that is the general idea yes...Roxanne even if you do win I can still probably give you an injury or two. The damage will be enough that eating the neko will not replace the energy lost. Even from a biological stand point, its not worth it."

By this point, Jason was squeezing Nyaha's shoulders so tightly all pallour had drained from his knuckles. So much had just happened at such a turbulent pace it was impossible to form an appropriate reaction, and in its place a cold dread was all that had presented itself. Damon: no longer a man, no longer on his side, no longer submissive. Roxanne: helping them, protecting them, freeing them? Ella: an apparent manifestation of chaos, a wildcard. All he had wanted to do was to relieve the suffering of the tomthumbs... Where did that leave the simple, cowardly Jason and his light-hearted neko friend?

The time had come for him to run.

Jason nodded fiercely, flashing his first sincere, heart-felt smile since coming to Felarya at Roxanne. He then once more clapped his tortured hands together and bowed low before Roxanne. Between his fevered breaths came the whispering of a hoarse "thank you" - he didn't know whether she had heard it or not, but it didn't matter. He meant it, from deep in his very core.

He turned to run; the juddering movement waking his lungs and muscles into flight. He ran swiftly towards the edge of the clearing, with his trust in Roxanne now a solid, unshakable certainty in his mind. It contrasted with the many uncertainties pitching around in his mind: would Nyaha follow him? Would Damon make good of his pledge and kill him? What would become of Roxanne? What would become of all of them?

In the midst of the chaos, Nyaha had been quiet. He'd been thinking, planning, and most of all, trying to keep the pangs of guilt that rang through his head from ripping apart his psyche. But when Roxanne gave him praise for his actions, he was able to reassure himself that the current state of things wasn't his fault. Still, Roxanne was a good person. Maybe even a new friend in the waiting, and Nyaha couldn't just leave her to deal with this Damon guy. And what of Jason? What would Damon do to him? Nyaha had to choose a plan and put it in place. He decided to try distracting Damon so that Roxanne could hopefully get a nice knockout hit in. In on elegant maeuver, Nyaha shot a gauntlet with very long steel claws jutting from the knuckles up into the air, connected inside his sleeve by a thick cable. Nyaha then swung it downward at Damon, attempting to give the now giant naga a good scratch down the back. After performing this move, he pulled the claws back into his sleeve and blew a blast of air out of both his sleeves in front of him to put some distance between himself and Damon, whether or not the claws made their mark.

Damon winced keeping his eyes on Roxanne. "Nyaha, was that really necessary? I told you before I have no bone to pick with you, I'm just trying to save a life, you know, the thing you failed to do." Now he had one ally, just one, and it was one that needed saving, what a profitable venture this turned out to be. He joined for a little adventure and some bonus cash, maybe even a few artifacts. Instead he watched companions get slaughtered, his body was twisted, he tried to gain allies, maybe even make a few friends, but the neko had botched things up. forced his helping hand away from the tomb thumbs leading to their death. Perhaps if he caught up with twitch later, he could apologize, no it was to late for that he would only instill fear, it was best if he stayed away. Now he had managed to get in a fight that would end up very badly for both competitors and even if he managed to win, it was just one more soul for the deity to use against him. He began to chuckle then bent over in laughter. Wow, this naga actually knew what she was talking about. Damon straightened out of his defensive position with a wide grin on his face. quite unsure of what to do next an apology wouldn't even come close to cutting it, and he still had to protect Ella. Yes that would be his course of action, don't start the fight, and don't argue, definitely don't make anymore enemies, just protect Ella and see how it all plays out. he reclined against a tree and pulled Ella within arms reach just in case his toothy grin still showing, he tensed his body, and waited. perhaps he could still benefit, or at least not screw things up any more.

"Damon, Nyaha! Don't start this fight because of my bad decisions. Damon you shouldn't let anger fuel your actions! Or insanity for that matter cause it leads you down a lonely road." She said through her cake.

"Let the others go Roxy. We'll have fight to see weather or not my life is worth dragging on. Catch Damon!" She stepped in front of the very large Damon. She threw behind her a handful of red berries.

"They'll return you to a manageable size. You and Nyaha should stick together. I have a feeling you two would make great friends and you should twitch and the others and start traveling together. Power in numbers you know. You guys could really get things done!"

Ella pulled out her sword and her fan.

"Right! Let's start the battle! I am ready to face to face my fate!"

Roxanne eyed Ella very carefully. "Your bravery is admirable. But your decisions poor. I feel that your heart is in the right place, though strangely off-kelter due to the past you have. I have spoken in rage, and I take it back. I can understand the idea of trying to survive, It is the most importaint thing, isn't it?"

She looked up at Damon. Knowing him, he wouldn't go back down to size, not when it jepordized his position, or his neck. "I leave Ella's fate to you. Judging by your previous statements, she will go free, but it is your choice. Jason, or 'Twitch', as you called him, is not to be harmed. Neither him nor Nyaha. This hunting ground is mine, and thy are on it. Here, I have juristiction as to weather they live or die. And I say they live."

Even though Roxanne couldn't see him, she knew that Jason was in th bushes nearby. She would have to make sure that Damon never found him... No, that would be improbable. Even though he had the same predator sense as she did, he was still not used to that body, and developing the sense takes time...

"Nyaha, don't be stupid. You could hold your own for a while, but in a battle of giants you are still a tomthumb. I would suggest running, as your companion Jason has done."

With that, she eyed Damon warily, as if expecting him to attack.

"I am truly sorry for all the trouble I've caused. The best I can offer is insuring that Damon doesn't try to eat Jason for the remained of the time we are in your domain. Sad we left on such a sour a note. I think we really could of hit it off if it wasn't my ever changing thoughts and moods and this damn game. Rest assured though I refuse to play this game much longer. Only so much I can take you know."

She looked at Damon and Nyaha.

"Perhaps it's because I've been alone that I forgot how to make choices for the greater good. Maybe you guys would like to help me learn again?" Ella offered. She moved her ears down and put her tail between her legs.