Iikagen actually couldn't help himself from luaghing out loud at the suggestion that the Fire Nation recruit Igni soldiers ito their military. It was a funny sort of outburst that he quickly followed by covering his mouth and snickering for several long seconds. "Apologies," he said, wiping a few tears that had forned in his eyes, "But I really did find that thought hilarious..." He snorted slightly, but managed to contain a second fit of laughter. "It's not your fault, but if you knew anything about the nature of wars among my people, you'd know how painfully such an arrangement would end."
Random visions and funny thoughts were suddenly streaming through Iikagen's mind for the next few seconds. Mental images of chaos on the battlefield and in the training barracks where Igni warriors were running amock like a frenzied pack of hog-monkeys. He could imagine generals and other officers strung upside down from trees and marching drills being absolutely destroyed by Ignis deciding it would be more fun to shake things up with a few flips and spins.
Iikagen managed to pull himself from those pleasant images, though, when he realized his eyes were starting to glaze. "Hehe," he said, chuckling, "My people are indeed very ferocious on the battlefield, but we have a saying....
The best fighters make the worst soldiers. Putting a handful of fighters of a calbier such as my people into the military would be like..." He struggled to think of a good analogy when he finally settled on something he hoped would make sense. "Like putting a giant fire ant into a colony of black ants," he finished, somewhat pleased with the comparison he'd made.
For the next hour or so, Iikagen and the farming couple sat around the table enjoying a light conversation. The topic mostly stayed on the unusual visitor and his homeland. However, Iikagen was growing weary of reciting his people's history and he eventually maneuvered the subject into the present. Remarking on the time and his recently journey, Shinta and Soraya took the hint and led him to a spare room where he could sleep. The islander thanked them for dinner and called it a night.
Iikagen lied in the bed for several hours afterward, still awake though. He could hear the muffled conversations of the married couple every now and then, and twice he could see the shadows of some one standing just outside his door. Smart, he thought to himself, glad that the people weren't so foolish as to trust him completely. He had no intention of causing any trouble anyway, but if they'd been so foolish as to go to sleep at the same time he supposedly did, the Igni would have robbed them blind just on the principle of it.
He eventually sank into a sleep so light that few would think he was doing more than resting his eyes. It was a skill that he'd perfected long ago in his jungle homeland where the night brought with it a myriad of dangers. The hiss of a snakes, the rattle of a spider snake, or a crinkle of leaves caused by an approaching vampire-ocelot... All those sounds were slight enough that they would never awaken some one in a deep sleep, and that is why the wise Igni learned to sleep with their ears, and sometimes even their eyes, open.
Perhaps an hour or two after sunrise, the sound of a heavy footsteps reached Iikagen's ears through his cracked-open window. His attuned senses tried to decipher the causes of the sounds, even though he was still, by all outward appearances, asleep. A few low grunts and the faint clinking of metal clued him into what was making the noise, and his eyes snapped open. Sitting up in his bed for just a moment, the Igni oriented himself and snatched up his travelling bag. A single fluid motion looped the leather strap of the pack over his shoulder and pulled out his blowgun and a dart tipped with sleeping poison.
The series of sharp raps sounded on the front door of the home followed shortly by the voice of a soldier, "Open up!" Iikagen smirked as he slowly pushed open the window of his room and poked his head out. His window was on the side of the structure, but still he could see a piece of the front yard. He made out the tails of a pair of Komodo-rhinos, and he could see most of a soldier still sitting comfortably on one of the saddles. Both the man and the mounts were in full armor.
"We have orders to search all houses in the area for a foreigner from the Igni Islands," he heard the soldier call out, knocking multiple times more. Iikagen's grin spread even wider as he slipped noiselessly out of his window and crept along the side of the house. There were several trees surrounding the little farming home, and so his advance was mostly in shade from the still-waxing sunlight. He snuck to the edge of the house, lying prone and tucked completely to the base of the structure. Once more, the soldier at the door knocked insistantly and the soldier on the kimodo-rhino simply looked off east-ward at the sunrise. It was almost too perfect, Iikagen realized, because by turning his head almost completely around to watch the pretty red clouds, he exposed his jugular completely. The Igni put one end of his blowgun to his lips, lined up his target, angled up to compensate for distance and...
"Damn bugs..." the soldier mumbled, feeling something prick his neck. His hand reached up to swat away the mosquito or whatever it was tht stung him. However, he was a bit alarmed when he felt something several inches long protruding from his throat. His hand unwittingly pushed the dart in further, but the area was strangely numb and he didn't feel it very clearly. "Hey," he mumbled, his voice sounding like a rumble in his own ears, "Something's.... not..." The man slumped forward in his seat and slowly started to slide to his side until he fell completely off the saddle and landed in a heap on the ground.
The soldier at the door heard the sound of his comrade falling, and immediately turned around. "Nobu?" he asked, sounding confused and alarmed at the same time. His hand went to the hilt of his sword as he looked around for something attacking them. "Nobu, what happened?" he asked, even as he started away from the front door and circled around the large mount to find his fellow soldier passed out on the dirt.
The instant the man disappeared behind the far rhino, Iikagen hopped to his feet and exploded into action. With footfalls light enough to make one think he was walking on air, Iikagen darted toward the nearest armored mount. Before the creature even grunted in protest, Iikagen had bounded up to pplant one foot on the creature's back. With a powerful shove, he launched himself up and forward, tucking into a tight ball as he went.
The Fire Nation soldier, standing over his downed ally, had only started to look up at the sound of the other kimodo-rhino's grunt went he saw a spinning figure descending upon him. He never got his hands up in time before both knees of the flying Igni came down hard on his chest and drove him into the ground with tremendous force. Iikagen literally bounced off of the impact of the man's ribcage, the recoil propelling him up once more into a somersault to his feet.
Iikagen stumbled forward a few steps, landing after a little bit too much rotation, but he kept from falling and turned around to check the fallen soldiers. He grinned all the wider as he strode back to inspect his foes. The man he'd just hit with a flying knee seemed completely out of it. He sputtered occasionally, but his eyes were half-lidded, his irises rolled up into his skull. He laughed though, when he finally recognized the pair as the guards he'd bribed to enter the city of in Yin Rei, and a cursory inspection of their money purses found the gems he'd given them.
"Thank you, gentlemen," Iikagen said, grinning wickedly as he gave the fallen soldiers a salute. He retrieved his dart from the one man's neck and pocketed it along with the gems. "A pleasure doing business with you!" The Igni snorted a brief laugh and hopped onto the komodo-rhino nearest him with a swift bound of his strong legs. He settled into the saddle and shifted himself to get comfortable, even as the creature under his legs grunted in protest of the new rider.
"Shut your noise-hole, stink-beast!" Iikagen scolded the rhino, kicking his right heel against the mount's neck, "I'm your master now!" The creature rumbled a threatening growl, but it stopped its motions to unseat its new rider. The Igni grinned and he leaned far to the side to grab the reins of the second mount. It too seemed uncomfortable at having a new master, but Iikagen didn't seemed phase by its sour looks his way. He tied the reins to the pommel on his saddle and spurred the creature forward. As he went, he put his hands to his mouth and called out to the house as he passed.
"Thanks for dinner!" He grinned in amusement as the komodo-rhino began a light trot down the trail. His actions could likely cause a hailstorm of trouble for the couple, though there was not a shred of remorse on his mind. He was still convinced they had some alterior motive in taking him in. Whatever it was, he didn't honestly care, but it would have likely delayed his journey to the East. Besides, he reasoned, if they were as clever as he thought they were, they'd surely find a way to avoid getting punished. Perhaps they'd kill the soldiers, hide their bodies, and get rid of the rhino-trail? He didn't know, nor did he dwell on it for long.
Several minutes later he came to a fork in the trail, and after a moment of though he decided to take the right. He paused at the junction, however, and untied the one komo-rhino's reins from his saddle and gave the creature a whack with the rider's whip that he'd found tucked away in the saddle. The mount grunted in slight pain and started off down the left trail. Iikagen smirked, and wondered if the diversion was even necessary. He could follow a trail quite easily, but he wondered if these pampered, advanced mainlanders even remembered how to track their prey. Either way, he set off down the right trail, convinced that anyone sent after him would be held up at least a short while by the diversion.
Iikagen rode off down that dirt path, clicking his tongue in a random beat reminiscent of the lively kodo drum solos he'd heard so often as a child. He was heading toward the nearest Eastern port city to catch a ride to the Earth Kingdom...
And perhaps have a little fun along the way.
((Iikagen has left the RP))
