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Post by june on May 25, 2007 16:17:19 GMT -5
June managed to make it out of the tavern, but was unable to reach her Shirshu in time. She felt a small prick in her shoulder and quickly took out the dart, growling. Damn Igni. June quickly placed her thumb and index finger to her lips and made a loud whistle before she hit the hard ground. She was glad that it wasn't poison, but was not thrilled about being paralyzed.
Come on you incoherent animal...
The Shirshu was busy tugging hard at its restraints and June was watching with anger and impatience written on her face. With another strong tug, the wolf creature snapped the leather cord that kept it tied to its post. The Shirshu went to June immediately and looked her over a bit, sniffing a little. A growl escaped the creature as its attention was now to the Igni by the tavern.
Cautiously, the Shirshu drew a little closer...
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Post by iikagen on May 25, 2007 19:05:28 GMT -5
Iikagen took his time in strolling out the door after June. She made haste in removing the dart, showing a good deal of common sense in doing so, and also likely slowing down the effects of the sleeping poison. However, she didn't get far before the feeling started to drain from her limbs and she fell to the ground. He thought he'd heard the bounty hunter whistle before collapsing, though, and was a bit cautious as he made his way down the small set of stairs at the tavern's entrance.
"Calling for back-up?" he called to her as he approached. Iikagen was grinning widely, but his eyes were rapidly scanning the area for some sign of danger. A good deal of men were departing from the area, while others were simply gather around the outside of the tavern, waiting for everything to settle. None of them seemed like her allies. Just spectators. "Or just hoping anyone would help?"
The Igni cricled around in front of her, looked around once more, and then bent down to crouch on his haunches. "I must admit, dat was a pretty clever and rut'less stunt joo tried to pull," he admitted, brushing aside the hair that had fallen over her face so she could see him as he spoke. "Makes me doubly sad we won't get our private time..." Iikagen picked up a lock of June's hair and broght it near his nose to get her scent once more. It wasn't even something he was overly fond of to begin with, but he knew it would probably irritate the helpless woman to no end to see him taking liberties while she couldn't move.
However, the sudden sound of stomping legs broke Iikagen from the moment. The Igni's eyes flicked up past June's body in time to catch sight of a large creature darting his way. The beast looked ferocious and had a strange, flaring nose along with sharp teeth and fangs. Iikagen had never seen anything like it, but it certainly looked formiddable. "Pardon me," he said to June as he stood up straight and prepared to deal with the monster. Apparently this was what she was whistling to.
Iikagen kept June's body between him and the monster, assuming that the creature would try to avoid hurting its master and would be forced to go around or over her. Whichever way it chose, its momentary change in direction would give him a split second to avoid and leap onto its back. He lowered his stance a little bit and readied his chain for use. But as the creature closed within about 15 feet and Iikagen prepared to read its next move, the unexpected happened.
The creature lashed out its tongue and the Igni, who had no idea what a shirshu was capable of, simply couldn't react in time. The best he managed was to raise his arm slightly, but a barbed tongue lashed across it and immeditely he felt a numbness spreading from the wound. His eyes went wide at the realization, and he barely managed to utter the first syllable of a curse before his knee buckled and he fell to the ground.
Ironically, he fell right beside June, with his face less than a foot away from hers. Immobile, but still able to use speech, he managed a slight grin at June and said sheepishly, "What're de odds?"
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Post by june on May 28, 2007 13:46:27 GMT -5
June was smirking on the inside, but she wasn’t too pleased that she had to have the Igni right beside her. Seeing as how they were both paralyzed, they could be stuck like this for an hour at least and that was too much for June. Her plan may have been ruined, but there might be a way she could still turn him into the Fire Nation, she thought. June pondered for a bit, but didn’t get any good ideas come into mind at the moment. This was not a good day for the bounty hunter.
Thinking that the situation wouldn’t get any worse, it did. Men started to slowly stir and were then stepping outside to see what had happened. There was soon a small crowd of men near the two of them, examining them carefully. One man came towards them and nudged June on the shoulder, then Iikagen, and soon came to the realization that they were both paralyzed. The man then stepped away from them and started to converse with the others that were present there.
Soft murmurs were heard from the small crowd and June did not like what she was hearing. She picked up some of the conversation, hearing them discussing about what to do with her and with Iikagen. She didn’t care what they did with the Igni so much, though she wanted him for herself to turn in. June was mostly worried about what they would do with her in her current condition. Soon enough, a few men came towards them with rope in their hands. June cursed in her mind.
The bounty hunter soon found herself tied up tightly around her torso, wrists and ankles -- they had done the same to Iikagen. There was a small struggle before they even touched them for June’s Shirshu took action, but was soon wrapped with chains. June’s conscious was yelling in her mind as well as cursing. All of the men were still there and were arguing amongst themselves to see who would take in the Igni to the Fire Nation. All June could do was wait it out for now.
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Post by iikagen on May 28, 2007 14:46:28 GMT -5
Iikagen lay perfectly still after being hit by the shirshu's paralyzing tongue. Whatever chemicals were in that creature's saliva were doing their devious work on his nervous system. The Igni followed the Shirshu carefully with his eyes though, hoping that it would simply be satisfied with leaving him helpless and not follow up with its nasty teeth and claws. "Gooooood monster..." Iikagen said quietly to it, "No biting..."
The shirshu circled around them, growling menacingly, but it refrained from delivering a killing blow. Iikagen supposed that June had taught the beast not to kill her bounties, and he was at least grateful for that much. The shirshu circled around out of his limited range of vision, and a few moments later he heard the sounds of a struggle. Men were shouting and the beast was snarling, and the sounds of chains and weapons could be heard. Eventually from sounds around him he deduced that the remaining rogues around the tavern had managed to subdue June's beast and that fact was only slightly comforting.
Shortly thereafter, the men turned their attention to him and he found himself being hauled off the ground. His head lolled back, stretching his neck uncomfortably as he was carried by his hands and feet. "Could'joo be a little more gentle?" he managed to ask to the man holding his arms, but the guy merely grunted and gave him a slight kick on his next step.
Iikagen was braught around to the back of the tavern where several men proceded to remove his traveling pack that contained his possessions. They also removed his chain and blowgun, leaving him with nothing but his clothes. After that, his hands and feet were bound and then he was strung up by his hands and hung from a post that protruded from the side wall of the tavern. They arranged it so he could just barely touch the ground with his toes. Beside him, June was being arranged ion much the same fashion on the post next to his, putting her probably four feet to his side.
Eventually, with himself and the bounty hunter secured, the men seemed to return their attention back to the issue of who would recieve the bounty on Iikagen's head. Voices started to rise, and the mob quickly began to shift back into the tavern. A single man with a shoddy spear was left behind to watch over the prisoners, but even then he stayed a good distance away, near the corner of the building where he could hear the debate and still keep an eye on the two captives.
"A fine situation this is..." Iikagen remarked once things had finally settled, "looking at June from the corner of his vision. He let out a sigh as he rotated slightly on his rope and then decided that it would be a while before he could manage to do anything but dangle. "So... what's jour favorite color?" he asked, sounding somewhat interested, regardless of the fact that he knew she couldn't respond. "I like a sinshiney yellow myself...."
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Post by june on May 28, 2007 15:47:55 GMT -5
"So... what's jour favorite color? I like a sinshiney yellow myself...."
With that question, June knew she was in for a long conversation with Iikagen -- though she couldn’t talk herself. Now, she really wished she didn’t get hit by the dart. Listening to him for about an hour or so would be torture. However, June decided to try her best to stay as calm as humanly possible. After all, he was going to run out of things to talk about anyway, right?
June was wrong. Iikagen would not stay quiet the entire time. It was amazing to the bounty hunter that he could even talk for about a half an hour or so. June was ready to commit suicide at that point, seeing as how death would be better than hearing Iikagen talk all night. Besides his first question, the Igni started to ask her about her clothing, asking if she had a leather fetish.
After that, he asked about her exercise routine, then continued on with other random questions. It seemed like forever to June and she was getting very impatient. At first she was tolerant and just ignored him the best she could, but then, she couldn’t take it anymore. Luckily for June, she was now getting feeling back in her body and soon realized she was able to speak again.
"Alright, alright! Be quiet! I’ve had enough of your insignificant questions and random answers. This is all of your fault! You had to start everything, you damn Igni!"
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Post by iikagen on May 28, 2007 16:19:08 GMT -5
"Alright, alright! Be quiet! I’ve had enough of your insignificant questions and random answers. This is all of your fault! You had to start everything, you damn Igni!" Iikagen managed to turn his head towards June, using a little bit of mobility that had begun to return to his limbs in the past half hour. He looked at the bounty hunter beside him with amusement, but still he manged to put on a look of hurtfulness. He'd known he was torturing her the whole time with pointless drabble, but he figured it was only fair since she would have seen him imprisoned for a quick paycheck.
"Dat hurts my feelings," he began, pouting his lips slightly, "And it's really not fair to blame dis on me... I jus' wanted to show joo a good time. Joo're de one who was planning to turn me in. Serves joo right dat some one else t'rew a kink in jour plan."
Iikagen smirked once more at June before turning his head the other way and calling out to the guard, "Pardon me, good sir!" The man with the spear started a little bit, seemingly awoken from his own contemplation and looked overtoward the prisoners. "I seem to have developed a terrible itch on my right buttock. Would you be so kind as to scratch it for me?" The guard called back a curse-laden insult, but it was muffled by a simultaneous grunt of annoyance. Iikagen kept himself from grinning too widely and added, "Whenever you get around to it..." before returning his gaze to June.
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Post by june on May 28, 2007 18:08:13 GMT -5
"I don’t care if it hurt your feelings!" June said harshly at the Igni, but was then shushed by one of the men that was watching them outside. June just gave the man a glare in response.
June couldn’t help, but smirk a bit at Iikagen’s conversation with the man who was guarding them. She then rolled her eyes and started to scan the area. June saw her Shirshu chained up by the entrance of the tavern and cursed under her breath. She wanted to get her Shirshu to get her loose from her restraints, but that plan was hopeless now. There has to be another way out.
With fierce determination to get out of this mess, June continued to try and come up with an escape plan. Nothing was coming to her mind so far. She didn’t exactly see any loop holes that could possibly get her free. She tugged at her restraints unconsciously, now getting frustrated. Fooling the men or distracting them somehow was the only plan June could think of now.
"You better pray we get out of this alive because if I go down, you’re going down with me."
June groaned and held her head down, then turned her head to Iikagen after a few moments.
"How about distracting them or fooling them into coming? Then somehow, knock them out."
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Post by iikagen on May 28, 2007 19:10:42 GMT -5
"How about distracting them or fooling them into coming? Then somehow, knock them out."
Iikagen chuckled slightly. "Excellent plan... But dat won' help joo escape, and de guard will just be pissed when he gets up." The Igni glanced around them once more, listening to the vague sounds of rambling emmanating from the tavern's entrance. Apparently, those ruffians hadn't worked out exactly who was going to get the bounty. "Soooo...." he drolled, smirking at June, "joo got a bedmate?"
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Nearly another half hour had passed, and Iikagen kept June entertained with more pointless banter whenever a silence seemed to drag on too long. All the whle though, he was regularly flexing every muscle in his body, until at last he could feel the paralysis wearing off. It seemed as though June was beginning to come around as well, but her limited movements suggested she might still be feeling pretty sluggish. Iikagen was feeling a little slow himself, but he was also fed up with waiting and decided the time had come to play his hand.
"Don't move a muscle," he whispered to June, keeping his tone low but unmistakably serious. After a few more moments he rotated himself toward the guard and called out, "Good Sir!" As with before, the man with the spear started slightly, as though he was just woken from a light sleep. He had an empty mug by his feet that he knocked over with his light twitch. Iikagen did well to hide his amusement. "I fear that itch has returned and with much greater force! Could you please come scratch my right buttock?"
The guard grunted another curse-laden retort, but Iikagen was not close to done. "I beg you!" he pleaded, "It feels as though there's a colony of fire ants in my pants, and I can't scratch!" That seemed to do the trick. Picking up his spear and storming over to Iikagen, practically spitting flames as he came, the guard seemed to have had it.
"Shut your mouth, freak, before I stick this spear right up your ass!" he threatened, waving the tip of the spear under Iikagen's nose. However, the captive islander didn't seem discouraged.
"At least it'd get that itch...Oof!" Iikagen gave a slight grunt as the guard used his free hand to punch him in the gut. It was a little painful, but Iikagen had managed to clench his gut in order to keep the air from blasting from his lungs. At that point, Iikagen stopped pretending.
Hoisting his legs up and using his arms to lift his whole body hire, he threw his feet up and over the guard's head. The man was caught completely by surprise. In his annoyance he'd lowered his guard, and after punching the bound prisoner he was too busy basking in his victory to think about a counter-attack.
Iikagen's feet were bound, but he still parted his legs in oder to trap the guard's head between his shins. The guard tried to step back, away from Iikagen, but that was the worst thing he could do. Iikagen's body was pulled forward, hanging more horizontal though the rope didn't pull free from the post he was tied to. The guard tried to bring his spear to bear on his attacker, but he wasn't quick enough. Iikagen gave a great twist of his upper body, performing a gator-like death roll that tightened his grip around the guard's head and twisted him sideway until he was force to pull a complete cartwheel. The guard landed painfully on the crown of his head and Iikagen was sure he heard a snap.
The guard lay flat on the gound, and Iikagen was a little bit stretched by his weight, but he managed to disentangle himself. Now he was once again hanging beside June, only now there was a dead body beside them and a wide grin on Iikagen's face. "Now..." he said coyly, flashing June a smile, "What did you have planned after that?"
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Post by june on May 29, 2007 18:56:27 GMT -5
June was yet again stuck in a conversation with Iikagen for another half hour. When he asked questions, June would usually give a straight and short answer, not sounding so enthusiastic about it. Most of the time she would tell him to be quiet and just yell at him, though it never worked; Iikagen just continued on until he called out to the guard again, asking a question.
With a roll of her eyes, June sighed as Iikagen started up with the guard again. She stood still as he told her to do and waited to see what he idea he had this time. For the entire time, June just pondered her own thoughts, ignoring the situation entirely -- that was until she noticed Iikagen having a slight struggle with the guard. She gave a slight gasp and watched with full attention.
"Now... What did you have planned after that?"
June raised an eyebrow at him, then started to think of plan as fast as she could before anyone noticed the dead guard. Nothing came into mind at first, but after a few moments, June noticed the spear that the guard was holding before. It was right in front of them and seemed reachable. However, June wasn’t close enough to it, but Iikagen was. She then turned to the Igni and said,
"See if you can reach that spear. I think that’s the only chance we got to get out of here because the only thing left I have that is sharp enough to through these ropes is my hair pin."
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Post by iikagen on May 30, 2007 16:03:14 GMT -5
"See if you can reach that spear. I think that’s the only chance we got to get out of here because the only thing left I have that is sharp enough to through these ropes is my hair pin."
Iikagen hefted his legs up and extended them out as fully as he could, but the spear was too far out of his reach. As it was, his feet barely touched the ground, so there was no chance of him reaching anything that wasn't directly under him. He lowered his legs and pushed off the ground with his tip-toes to lessen the strain on his arms for a moment. The paralysis for the better part of the last hour had left his hanging limbs terribly stretched, and now that he had most of his feeling back, those aches were really starting to make themselves known. For a few moments he just caught his breath while he let his thoughts roam, and then he decided on a course of action.
Breathing out once last time, Iikagen hoisted his body up with his arms as high as he could and then brought his feet up as well. The Igni turned himself sideway as he hung suspended in the air, and extended his bound feet toward June.
"Hold still!" he ordered as he struggled to swing his lowerbody closer toward her. The bounty hunter was not going to be pleased with the dirt and grime his bare feet would be leaving on her shirt and hair, but that thought only amused Iikagen. He took nearly 20 seconds in removing her skull-shaped hairpin with his toes. "Tilt jour head at me!" The task was made awkward by the fact that his feet were bound together, and occasionally he would find himself practically groping June's face with his toes.
At long last, he finally secured a good grip and pulled the bleach-white pin out of her hair and almost dismantling her topknot. Iikagen allowed his feet to drop down once more and he simply hung there for a short moment to let his arms rest. He kept the instrument of his salvation firmly clamped between his toes as he looked at a very haggard June and offered her a grin. "Got it," he announced, managed to form a thumbs up with one of his bound hands.
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Post by june on Jun 1, 2007 19:24:13 GMT -5
The bounty hunter watched Iikagen attempt to get the spear, but saw it was no use. A part of her was just about to give up, but she refused to admit that. Once Iikagen gave up, June frowned and looked around to see if she could think of another plan. Before she knew it, however, June turned her head to see the Igni’s feet coming towards her face. She leaned her head back away as far as she would, looking at him in disgust. What the hell is he doing now?
June obeyed Iikagen’s order to hold still, even though she knew she was going to regret it alter on. Her face expressed the look of pure disgust as she felt his toes on her face. She gagged and held her breath and reluctantly tilted her head towards him when he told her to do so. Her conscious was screaming loudly in her head, though she ignored it to an extent. Once Iikagen retrieved her hair pin, she gagged and sputtered to get her loose hair out of her mouth quickly.
"Damn you, you son of a b*tch! It will take me weeks to get me face and hair completely clean!"
June stopped for a moment and flipped her hair out of her face to see and to talk better.
"Now, get me out of here!" June had lost all patience now.
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Post by iikagen on Jun 1, 2007 20:33:36 GMT -5
Iikagen didn't bother to hide his amused grin at June's rather profane reaction to his attempts to remove her hairpin. She seemed a little to busy spitting and sputtering to notice his grin, though,m and by the time she composed herself enough to order him to free her, he had put on a more sober facade.
"T'at's hardly de right tone to take wit jour savior..." he said to her, sounding like a child who was privvy to some great secret that his sibling was desperate to hear. The Igni hung still for a few moments, regaining his breath and arranging the hairpin with amazing dexterity between his feet. Without bothering to say more, he kicked off the wall of the tavern a little bit to get a slight momentum, and then gave a sudden heave as he pulled his knees up into his chest, bent his elbows and rolled his upper body back.
Iikagen swung back on the rope and bumped his head a little on the wall, but he kept at his task and bowed his legs out to the side in order to bring his feet within reach of his hands. For a moment, as he fumbled to transfer the hairpin from his toes to his fingers, he was upside-down with his feet and hand clamped onto the rope above him. And even though he was still about a yard away from June, his head was about level with hers and as he swung a little toward her he puckered his lips and blew a kiss. There was no real reason for it, but he found the whole situation hilarious.
After a few more seconds, Iikagen was satisfied that he had positioned the hairpin to his liking and let his feet drop down before all the blood rushing to his head caused him to black out. The force of the movement caused him to grunt a little at the stretching feeling in his limbs, but he simply took a few deep breaths and then began picking at his bods with the relatively sharp hairpin's point.
"Dis would be easier if joo jus' kept a dagger in jour hair at all times," Iikagen remarked as he began prying away at the strands of rope, one by one.
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Post by june on Jun 3, 2007 14:38:52 GMT -5
"Dis would be easier if joo jus' kept a dagger in jour hair at all times."
June rolled her eyes in annoyance and scoffed at the Igni. She wasn’t exactly in the mood for any smart remarks or anything of the like at the moment. She just wanted to taste sweet freedom.
"Just shut up and cut yourself loose so you can get me out of here now, damn it."
The bounty hunter gave a heavy sigh and scanned the area, keeping a lookout as Iikagen cut himself loose. Again, she started to unconsciously tug at her restraints, seeing if she could loosen them up even just a little bit. From time to time, she would give harsh whispers to the Igni telling him hurry up before anyone would come outside. It was rude, she knew it, but she didn’t care.
June watched for a little bit until she started to here some conversation in the tavern. She couldn’t really hear anything at first, or really pick up anything, but continued to listen carefully. They seemed to be still arguing -- not much of a surprise to the huntress. Everything seemed calm until June saw a shadow on the tavern wall, coming their way. June got a little nervous.
"Hurry up, Igni! Someone’s coming!" June whispered harshly.
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Post by iikagen on Jun 3, 2007 20:37:12 GMT -5
Iikagen worked as rapidly as he could managed without risking dropping the hairpin. Its skull shape was meant for decoration and fit awkwardly in his hands, making the task that much more difficult. He kept at it, though, hacking more and more through the thick strands. He could feel the fraying threads after a while and the sound of the rope starting to tear on its last supporting pieces.
"Hurry up, Igni! Someone’s coming!" June whispered urgently. Iikagen craned his neck to the side and saw the long shadow cast by a lantern approaching from the side of the building. Iikagen cursed and stabbed furiously at the remaining straight of rope. A few seconds later, the rope snapped and he dropped the short distance to the ground. Immediately, though, he realized that even though he was no longer suspended in one spot, he was in no position to fight with his hands and feet tied together. The shadow was almost at the edge of the building when the Igni decided on a course of action. Dropping the hair pin to the ground, he hopped back up and grabbed onto the rope, whispering to June, "Play dead..."
"Nobu?" came the called of a man as he came into view around the building. This newcomer was wearing a wide sakalot and a banadana around his neck. He scanned the area for the guard, apparently named Nobu, who was supposed to be keeping watch. As he came around completely, he picked up the lantern that the former guard had left at his seat by the corner. He started toward Iikagen and June, calling out, "You should be watching these two, you lazy fool... Did you leave to take a piss or something?" The man kept walking until he came close enough to the suspended Igni and bounty hunter to see what was lying in the grass at Iikagen's feet.
The newcomer stopped in his tracks and stared blankly at the dead body of Nobu, and then at Iikagen and June. "What the-" he gapsed, looking back and forth at the apparently motionless prisoners and Nobu. Eventually, he made the mistake of looking around behind him for the presence of some third party who might have been the murder, but that was all the opening Iikagen needed.
Releasing his hold on the rope above him, he droped down into a crouch and grabbed for Nobu's dropped spear. He made barely a sound, but the newcomer heard the sound of movement and turned around. In the light of the lattern, Iikagen was able to see the man;s eyes widen in horror as he raised the spear, brought its point to bear, and then lunged forward and drove the weapon right through the center of his chest. The man seemed to want to scream, but all the came out were gasps of air.
Iikagen was still bound though, and after that lunge, he lost his balance and fell sideways where he rolled safely away from the dying man. The Igni, well accustomed to death, saw quickly in the man's eyes that his world was growing dark and paid him no more heed. He only looked toward June as he began working on loosening the knots around his hands and said quietly, "Two for two..."
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Post by june on Jun 5, 2007 16:40:33 GMT -5
June "played dead" as Iikagen told her to do before the man appeared before them. She hanged limply for a few moments, hoping that the guard wouldn’t suspect anything. It wasn’t too long until June found herself lifting her head up to see a struggle commence between the Igni and the man. With wide eyes, June watched until Iikagen stabbed the man in the chest, then sighed.
"Could you hurry up and get me out of here already, Igni?" she demanded, sounding annoyed.
June gave a deep sigh, then turned to see her Shirshu muzzled, with a collar on and a chain leash.
"I need to get my Shirshu also. I can’t leave without him, damn it."
While June waited impatiently for Iikagen to set her free from her restraints, the men continued making arrangements in the tavern. Most of the conversation turned into bickering, almost breaking out into another fist fight. However, the men tried to cool down now and then if that were to happen -- either that or throw out some of the other men through the back door.
"Alright. So it’s decided: Chang and I will be taking in the Igni while Vinh and Xuan deal with that bounty hunter b*tch," said a large man standing in the middle of the tavern.
Everyone nodded -- only a few people were present -- and started to prepare themselves. The large man looked at his partner, Chang, and walked over to him. The two began to discuss what they were going to do with Iikagen and how they were going to do it. Seeing him in action earlier made the two of them think carefully of how to handle him. Every little detail needed to covered.
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