For the Love of Money <Wilderness, Earth Kingdom>

[iikagen]

Iikagen listened to June's ranting demands about being set free, mimicking her words after she said them and ending each sentence by spitting out his tongue in a childish gesture. With the end of the knot tying his hands cut, it was fairly simple to wiggle the ropes loose and then untie the major loops until he could slip them free. And once his hands were free, his feet were also liberated by simply untying the knot.

The Igni dropped the ropes into a pile on the ground and stood, stretching his tired limbs for a good time before finally starting toward June before she had an anuism. "Joo know," he suddenly pondered, tapping his chin as he stood about two yards from the captive bounty hunter, "I jus' realized dat I could run away right now and leave joo wit dese nice gentlemen..." He grinned somewhat sinisterly, only half of his face being lit by his latest victim's dropped lantern.

Iikagen allowed that thought to permeate June's mind for a moment before he quickly continued, shifting his expression back into one of casual thought, "Alldough... dat would hardly be good manners to leave a lady behind." The wily islander circled back around and removed the spear protruding from the corpse of the man sent to check on them. He stepped on his chest and yanked the weapon free, causing a grunt to escape the dead man's lips from the air he kicked out of his lungs. Iikagen's eyes widened for a moment as he took a quick backstep away from the body, but he quickly realized it for what it was and turned his attention back toward June.

"One moment..." he said as he heft the spear to grip it near the end, lined up his swing, and then sliced it horizontally across the rope keeping her suspended in the air. The bonds broke and immediately she dropped to the ground, while Iikagen had already turned away and was kneeling over the body of the recently deceased. As he left June to free herself from the rest of the rope, he also removed the dead man's hat and tried it out for a fit.

[june]

"Joo know, I jus' realized dat I could run away right now and leave joo wit dese nice gentlemen..."

June’s eyes widened and she growled in anger. Who did he think he was? The huntress glared at him and cursed, pulling at her restraints. She didn’t have time for any of his nonsense right now. Before she could say anything else to him or curse him out more, Iikagen spoke once more.

"Alldough... dat would hardly be good manners to leave a lady behind."

The bounty hunter’s anger died down a bit, but still blazing a little. She had no more patience and was very eager to leave the area as soon as possible -- maybe even get a chance to capture the Igni again. With those thoughts in mind, June stood still as Iikagen cut the ropes to set her free.

"Finally.." she said to herself, getting up from the ground and stretching.

June continued her stretches for a few short minutes, then stopped to realize that at any minute, someone or even more people could come out and spot them. Despite the fact that she was still a little sore, she ran over to the beast, grabbed her hair pin and started to pry at the collar.

After a few moments of prying vigorously at the collar, it came off with a short snap.

"There you go, boy. C’mon," June said to it softly then jumped on the saddle.

Before she left, June noticed some of the ropes that kept the Igni tied to his post earlier. June smiled a little to herself then clicked her tongue, making the Shirshu step towards it a little. She jumped off the saddle and picked up the piece of rope, placing it in her belt around her waist.

Yet again, the bounty hunter got onto the saddle and tugged at the restraints of the Shirshu.

This will be good for later on...

[iikagen]

While June took her time in untying her bonds and then cutting her shirshu loose, Iikagen was thinking of other things. At the moment, all of his belongings were somewhere inside the tavern, likely being sorted through by the ruffians as he spoke. He could only hope his gems hadn't been discovered and distributed among them while he was hanging paralyzed. His weapons and a map were also in his bag, along with a little bit of food. There was no way he was going to leave without them if he could avoid it. Though the fact that there a great many men standing between himself and those belongings did tend to complicate the matter.

He couldn't simply walk right past them, but what if they were all outside?

It was that train of thought that had spurred Iikagen into stripping the dead man of his more concealing clothes and putting them on himself. The first thing he put on the was conical straw hat and then tied the bandana around the lower half of his face. His tattoos were left uncovered, but as long as he kept his head tilted, the hat would mask the markings with shadow. The Igni then moved on the the body of the original guard and removed the grey-brown shirt that he wore. He personally liked the green robe of the man he'd stabbed with a spear, but the massive bloodstain on the chest would have been a dead give-away... He chuckled as he thought of the phrase 'dead-giveaway.'

By the time he'd finished dressing up as one of the of the outlaws, he heard the sound of June's mount beginning to step around, free of his bonds. He stood up quickly, painfully aware of the fact that her shirshu could paralyze him quite easily at this point. In fact, that was another reason for what he did next. As June dismounted her shirshu for a moment, Iikagen scooped up the latern of the guard in one hand, and his spear in the other. He took a few steps away from June, putting himself closer to the corner of the building and cast the bounty hunter one last glance, smirking under his bandana.

"THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!" he suddenly yelled as loud as he could, deliberately keeping his accent from showing through. He darted past the edge of the building, catching sight of several men who were already beginning to head his way. He held the lantern up high, using its light to cast a high contrast shadow over his face that would hide his features even more. "The bounty hunter took the Igni!" he shouted once more, pointing his spear toward June, "Get her!"

By that time, men had begun stream out of the tavern, a good number of them picking up weapons along the way so that within moments a small mob had started swinging around both sides of the tavern in order to reclaim their prize.

[june]

Once she heard that statement, June’s eyes widened a little as she reluctantly looked back to see the men exiting the tavern rapidly. Damn. For a moment or so, June really wished she was still tied up to the post by the building, but it was too late now. Now, June needed to act fast.

With a tug of the reigns, the Shirshu charged at the men coming out of the tavern with great speed. The Shirshu growled and snarled, making attempts to frighten the men at first, but it didn’t work. June rolled her eyes – it was a foolish move to make after all they were outlaws.

The ruffians were soon starting to near in on the Shirshu, attempting to chain it down again and get the huntress. However, June quickly had the wolf creature lash it’s barbed tongue at them, paralyzing a few, while the others remained standing, now aware of what the beast could do.

The bounty hunter growled a little, she was growing tired of this. Though it seemed cowardly, and June hated herself for doing so, she tugged at the reigns of her shirshu, directing him to run off into the woods. Yet again, another bad move was made for the men continued after her.

"Damn it," June muttered to herself. Before she made the Shirshu go faster she heard something.

"Come back here with the Igni, woman!" With that, June made her Shirshu skid to a halt.

"I don’t have the Igni, stupid!" June yelled back at them as she faced the group of men.

The men froze, all looking dumbfounded. For a few short moments, there was an awkward silence, until a man spoke up, stating that they should all go back to the tavern. June was about to crack her whip at them, but they were already heading back to the tavern. Those idiots...

[iikagen]

Iikagn started off at a jog toward June as the men around him ran at her wildly. The crowd passed him by, though, and took off after the bounty hunter as she fled into the woods. Standing by himself, watching the wild goose chase ensue, he chuckled quietly to himself and turned back around to head toward the tavern.

Another man, apparently a little slow on the uptake, had just swung around the corner of the building and was starting off after Hune as well carrying a glaive with a chipped blade. As he passed by Iikagen, the Igni reached out and grabbed him by the sleeve, stopping him and nearly spinning him completely around. "Where is the Igni's stuff?" he asked quickly, again disguising his accent and keeping his tone imperative. The man looked a little confused. "The bounty hunter might have stolen those too, where are they?"

"What are you talking about?" the man asked, furrowing his brow in confusion and suspiscion. "Ren's holding them, rememb-AH!" his sentence was cut short as Iikagen quickly whacked him dead in the temple with the shaft of his pilfered spear. The was completely off-guard and went down like a sack of hammers. Iikagen didn't even waste the time to drag the body out of plain sight, as he didn't expect to be there much longer. He walked around to the front of the tavern noticing that there were a few men still left hanging around. They seemed a little agitated, but not terribly concerned. Iikagen recognized the few remaining as the better fighters he'd noticed during his previous scuffle with them. Apparently, they were the veritable ring leaders of this motley group of outlaws, and had sent out the mob to reclaim their prize while they stayed safely behind.

Iikagen smirked under the bandana over his mouth. That was the sort of cunning and craftiness that he himself aspired to... Although he felt he was much better at it.

The disguised Igni wandered around the room for a few moments, looking over the remaining men and sizing them up before he finally cleared his throat to bring the attention onto himself. Most eyes in the room turned toward him, and he could tell that none of the men was necessarily pleased by his interruption. "Ren?" he asked out loud, scanning the room. Some eyes kept staring at him while others shifted toward a man sitting at the bar with his back turned. That man slowly turned around, and Iikagen started toward him.

"What is it?" the man asked gruffly, his hand immediately resting on the hilt of a dagger on his belt. Iikagen continued to smile and he stopped just outside of arm's reach of the man. He dipped into a nearly horizontal bow of his upper body, and his wide hat nearly completely obstructed Ren's view of his body.

"Word is coming back that the girl is cornered," he said.

"Good," Ren said, easing up in his posture only slightly. "And the Igni?"

"Oh, he's fine," Iikagen replied just a moment before popping up and slashing the spear across in a raising diagonal back-cut, opening Ren's throat. The man's eyes widened in disbelief and he clutched at his throat as he fell to the ground. All around the room, the remaining men were hopping to their feet and drawing weapons or else running for their lives. Iikagen ignored them for a moment, and as Ren twitched on the floor, the Igni rapidly padded him down and found his pouch of gems fidden inside his shirt. He shook the bag a little bit and could tell that there were some missing, but he didn't have the time to try and recover them all. Instead, he took note of the rest of the men in the tavern and he ask, with a bit of a smirk, "I don't suppose you'll want to tell me where my other things are?"

The men bristled with their weapons and some started toward him at a slow, methodical pace. Apparently, they'd learned from last time and would be working together. Unfortunately, Iikagen wasn't too thrilled that they'd chosen right now to employ a little strategy. And yet, as they approached, Iikagen noticed something. One of the men with a dao, the same one from earlier, was wearing his barbed chain on a loop around his belt! And another was still sitting at his table, and he seemed to be trying to prepare one of Iikagen's own blowdarts to fire.

The sight of his belongings gave Iikagen the answer to his next question, but seeing them being used by amateurs was bothersome. He gave a slight sigh as he dropped the pouch of gems into his own pocket and pulled loose the knot that tied the hat to his head.

[june]

June watched as the men left, almost looking angry in a way. She was still a little annoyed on how ignorant they were not to even realize that she did not have the Igni. Then again, she thought to herself, they are uneducated men after all. With a roll of her eyes, June gently tugged at the reigns of her beast and motioned it to continue away from the tavern. There wasn’t much to do.

She let the Shirshu take her deep within the thicket of the wilderness, not even caring where she was going that much. After a few minutes of getting deeper into the woods, she stopped at a small clearing and made camp -- a task that just gave June’s muscles more aches and pains and just made her feel more exhausted. Once a small fire was made, June and her pet sat in silence.

While her Shirshu laid on the ground behind her, making small grunting sounds every now and then and twitching its ears a bit, June sat by the fire deep in her own thoughts. She wondered where Iikagen was at the moment, realizing she lost her chance yet again to capture him. Most likely, she thought, he was somewhere around the tavern or have moved on with his own travels.

Even though she lost her chance at capturing the Igni, she knew there was always tomorrow. After all she had a small, yet vital, piece of rope that restrained him to the pole by the tavern and it was just enough to have her Shirshu track him down the next day. She smirked slightly at the thought, then put out the camp fire and got into the saddle of her Shirshu, shutting her eyes.

The bounty hunter needed her strength for tomorrow.

June has left the thread.

[iikagen]

Iikagen grabbed the rim of the straw hat on his head and quickly ran his gaze over each of the men. Four had stood to face him, all armed with a sword or knife of some kind, 1 was still trying to prepare a blowdart, and the rest had taken cover or fled. The Igni glanced around the bar a moment more and then allowed a smirk to creep across his features.

"Catch!" he called, tossing his hat like a discus at the nearest man with a weapon. The ruffian side-stepped and swept his hand up to deflect the hat. The diversion held his attention for a moment, and cleared the path for Iikagen's true target. Flipping the spear in his hand up into a throwing grip, he cocked his arm back and hurled the projectile with deadly precision. The other fighters leaned back respectfully of the weapon in flight, and watched for a moment as it hit the sitting man square in the chest. He yelped and dropped the blowgun in his hand onto the table at which he sat.

The Igni charged quickly in the wake of his throw, passing dangerously close to the first sword-wielding man. Iikagen stopped on a copper-piece and tossed his hips back to avoid a horizontal slash of the man's sword, leaned back to avoid the backswing, and then charged in while grabbing at the man's wrist. He wasted no time at all in finishing the man, and merely stepped down hard on the outside of the man's knee before rushing past. Another of the men was fast on his tail, but a table blocked his direct path toward Iikagen. The Igni darted towards the table where the man still sat with a spear protruding from his chest, and scooped up the blowgun that lay on the wooden surface.

Iikagen wheeled around, pivoting on the tip of his toes and turning just in time to see a man almost upon him with his sword raised high. The blowgun quickly raised to his lips and with a "Pfft!" of air, the dart was propelled right into the man's forhead. His head snapped back and his legs turned to jelly, and as Iikagen side-stepped to avoid the falling body, he also extended a hand to catch the sword falling from the man's lossened grip. The Igni rapidly adjusted his grip on the weapon, caught sight of another man coming his way, and then hurled the blade at him.

Iikagen didn't even watch long enough to see if it hit, but the cry of pain assured him that his target wasn't feeling too well. Instead, his attention turned back to the first swordsman he'd engaged, who was charging him once more. Iikagen feigned putting something into his blowgun and held it up to his lips. He smirked and made a good show of deliberately aiming toward the swordsman's crotch. Apparently, it wasn't unnoticed. When a blast of air rang out from the hollow blowgun, the swordsman's hands shot low to protect himself. Iikagen siezed the moment and leaped forward, catching the swordsman right in the chest with both feet, dropkicking him backward straight over a table where he landed awkwardly atop a wooden chair.

The Igni stood up wuickly and turned to face the final men who were wielding what appeared to be steak knives. Seeing the men with true weapons being rapidly dispatched, they quickly re-evaluated their decision to fight and made a swift retreat through the front door. Iikagen grinned at the sight of the fleeing men, and then went about reclaiming his chain and the rest of his blowgun kit from the bodies of the fallen. Looking around once more for his travelling pack, he decided he could do without it, and started to leave.

However, as he passed by an oil lamp hanging by the entrance, a thought struck him. Without so much as a second-thought, he picked it up off its hook and hurled it at the racks of liquour positioned behind the bar counter. In a shattering of glass and porcelain, the oil, alcohol, and fired mixed together and strated a blaze.

"Have a lovely night!" he called, before walking out of the tavern and darting for the woods, heading South. In minutes he was a good distance away, though he could still see smoke rising from the clearing.

((IIkagen has left the RP))