The Long Fight [pg13]

[Я Є Đ WOLF]

[atrb=width,470,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=332929] White didn't sit in any of the seats of the huge arena. He hung on the outside of the caged ring instead, glass of whiskey in hand and that permanent cigarette pumping out a haze of grayish smoke. Already his third one, and it just got dark too. S'what happens when he didn't get much sleep. Had to do something extra just so he wasn't damn distracted all night. Now distractions he was fine with, but not today, or tomorrow, or really any day for a while. Things to do, and he wasn't much if not someone to get things done. As soon as it got dark, he'd gathered Alex, his brand new slave, and called up a friend of his. Long story short, Ivan wasn't working for any government anymore. "So don't hurt her," he was saying, taking a gulp of the harsh liquor and letting the burn die down before continuing. "but you can knock her around some." She hadn't caused much trouble in the one day she'd been here, but he knew better than to think she was all ready to listen to him. Really was a gamble, spooking someone into cooperation. A lot of times it worked fine, but then there were some that just took it the wrong way. Tried all kinds of things, mostly to escape, sometimes to **** him off because now he was the bad guy in all this. White could care less about what he did to get someone's cooperation himself, just that he did. And he usually did, one way or another. This time though, he didn't get months to be the nice guy with. Kinda working within a timetable. Hopefully she'd learn fast. He'd hate to have to do something to a cute little girl like that. But he would. And he might have to before this **** got done. "If she thinks she's gonna get hurt we'll see how much work we have to do." They'd talked before, but White thought he'd reiterate. The girl knew some kind of self defense. It was one of the reasons he picked her. But "self defense" really wasn't a description, an' he doubted she knew enough to fight off half the nasty critters that lived on this island. That's what Ivan was for. Loyal, mythical, trained-in-some-Russian-**** Ivan. And if everything went alright, then Alex would be trained in that Russian **** too. Not that White couldn't teach her a few things, but it was a hell of a lot different to learn a technique than to learn to fight. And White could fight. Just not somuch as an art form and more as a way not to get killed. Yup, sure was a good thing Ivan's last boss just died like that. Exsanguination could be a *****.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/Ivanmiddle6.png] During his time with the government - any of the governments - he had been on near constant assignments. He could easily do twice as much work as any of the humans, so he was always the first choice. However, after those jobs had ended, he had had much too much free time on his hands. To go from years of constantly working to months of... Just about nothing was a very big change to say the least. That was why he was ecstatic about the new mission he'd been given, even if it wasn't quite a mission. Hands clasped behind his back, he listened to everything White had to say. He already knew what he needed to do, but still he listened, nodding after every sentence. It was certainly a peculiar situation. Of course, he had taught new recruits before, but they had joined willingly, and most knew more than a few things about fighting anyway. And... Very few of them had been women. Still, he'd been given an assignment, and he would complete it to the best of his abilities. "Yes, Sir." Whatever apprehensions he'd had about referring to White as his new boss had disappeared shortly after they had appeared. These things happened on occasion, and rather than fretting over it, one simply needed to move on. Move on to do whatever it was that his new boss required of him. Looking up from the floor to where his student was standing, he took the opportunity to study her for a moment. The first thing that struck him was that she was very pretty, despite her being a slave. He could easily see her as formerly having been a model. She was also very young, which caused him to feel a twinge of pity at her enslavement, though that soon vanished. He smiled kindly at her, taking several steps toward her, though keeping enough distance between them so he wouldn't frighten her. She seemed like she could be the calm type, though how calm could one really be after having just recently been enslaved. "Good evening, Alex. My name is Ivan, and it seems as though we'll be spending much time together." He finished the introduction with a nod toward her, priding himself on his ability to look her in the eyes despite the urge to glance... Elsewhere.

[elle]

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[atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/mtqyde.png] Alex looked disdainfully around at the caged arena, biting her lip to keep her from protesting. It didn't take her long to realize that if she wanted to complain about anything it'd have to be at a time when White was nowhere around her. Besides, when you thought about it, the cage was really fitting in a way. She had already become little more than an expensive - at least she assumed she had been expensive - pet, so why not stick her in a cage? She crossed her arms and scowled at the floor. Apparently she was supposed to learn how to fight. It was probably nothing she'd be able to use to escape or anything, but she still thought it strange that someone would want their slave to learn how to fight at all. Although she did know a little bit about fighting; self defense stuff mostly. It certainly wouldn't be of much use to her if she had to fight some mythical. Besides, she would feel more comfortable holding a gun or some other sort of weapon at least. She was very good with guns though. Mother never did like that. What, was she afraid she'd snap and go on a shooting rampage or something? Considering some of the things she had put her through, she just might- She stopped herself before she could finish the thought. She didn't want to think anything bad about her family ever again; she would give anything to have to put up with them again. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, so she pushed all of the thoughts to the back of her mind and looked up at the man standing several feet away from her. Her opponent, she supposed, and her teacher. He seemed to be in a damn fine mood too as he smiled at her as if they had just met out on the street and not within a fighting arena with her "master" watching them. She scowled even more so as he moved closer to her, certain that if she had been a mythical freak like him she would have been growling. As he spoke she could detect the slightest accent in his voice. "I'm not really into foreigners, pervert." She scoffed, looking away. Despite having only been here for one day, she was already sick and tired of the men here. At least this one could look her in the eyes.

[Я Є Đ WOLF]

[atrb=width,470,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=332929] As soon as White had finished with his short list of instructions, Ivan went off to go follow them to the letter. White remained glued to the interlocking links of the cage, half leaning and half hanging for lack of interest to fully stand up. He took a draw, nice and steady, then let it out just as slowly. ...sunlight aside, he wasn't particularly threatening. Wasn't much of anything, besides mildly interested in how Alex would react to Ivan. And he was about right. The guy was a better slave than she was. Did everything he was told with a "yes, sir" and a "no, sir." Kinda like a well-trained dog. Which reminded him, what was Ivan again? Weyvern. Sorta like a dog, right? Or a cat. Scorpion... Something big with four feet, so close enough. Anyways, the guy seemed pretty polite, not that it did much for Alex. White smiled slightly, not caring enough to laugh at the way she snapped at him. She really needed... Eh, well besides the freedom, she needed to calm down. Tended to make things much better. White, taking this advice of his to heart, downed the rest of the glass and then got to the tough decision of whether to get another bottle or not. Probably not. He might need to pay attention to what Ivan was teaching her. Wasn't like she was gonna turn into some unstoppable force, but with her opinion of him, it was a good thought to keep tabs. Revenge wasn't fun. White ground the ashes off his cigarette using one of the chain links on the fence. "Good luck," he mumbled, just loud enough for Ivan to hear. Replacing the cigarette to its proper place, he shifted so that he could see the whole arena. Well, Ivan wasn't gonna claw her up, but he was still a lot bigger and badder than she was. Maybe if White was lucky she knew how to use a weapon or something. Absently rifling through the inside of his jacket, he wondered what someone'd use if they'd never seen a weapon before. Most everyone could figure out a knife, and a gun was a step up. He had both, and then a few bigger weapons in some of the cases around the arena, but unless she took some kinda bow-staff lessons, he didn't think she'd be able to use any of those. He eventually settled on a nice twelve inch butterfly knife and the black handgun he'd used earlier that day. Holding them both out through the bars for her to take, he asked her, "Knife or gun?"

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/Ivanmiddle6.png] Perhaps it was his lack of interest in slavery as a whole that left him uncertain about how to interact with her. So, he elected to treat her as if she was a new recruit and, to a slightly lesser degree, a woman. That should have been just fine, as in every situation, he was perfectly polite and courteous. Of course, he imagined, that she might not care so much about such niceties, though he still hadn't been expecting her response. "No, th-that isn't what I-" He stopped himself, and instead merely shook his head, sighing, having decided that any apologies or reasonable speaking would be lost on her. No longer was he too thrilled about teaching combat to someone who he had started off rather poorly with. It wasn't as if he was afraid of what she could do, but simply that it was often easier if the person was willing to learn for more reasons than to apply what was learned on the teacher. "Indeed," He sighed at the 'good luck,' "Thank you, sir." Watching as she armed herself, Ivan took the opportunity to study her once again, not being nearly as subtle about it this time. Simply from the way she reacted to the weapons, he could tell that she had had some experience in the field, which was just a little surprising for a girl like her. Of course, he doubted that she'd used them in the way she would have to now, but at least she wasn't completely inexperienced. He'd show her, however, that this would be much more than a game of target practice. "Very well... Let's get started." He walked to the side, turning away from her, as if the weapons that she was holding didn't matter at all. Given the proper timing, someone could kill another with their hands alone; weapons just made it slightly easier. For now, he already knew that she knew how to use such weapons, but now he would have liked to see how well she could use them. So, still facing away from her, he posed the question: "Say this is an actual fight. What do you do?"

[elle]

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[atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/mtqyde.png] Rolling her eyes, she looked away, not caring to hear what sort of excuse the guy would come up with. Luckily, it seemed that he noticed her disinterest and so he stopped himself before he could complete his sentence. At least the guy wasn't stupid. She wasn't looking forward to being taught at all, much less taught by some moron. What was there to teach, anyway? If she had a weapon she would use it or throw it at her opponent and then run away, repeating if necessary. And if she had no weapon, then she would just keep running. It didn't seem like a hard concept. Speaking of weapons. She turned around as two different weapons were being offered to her: a gun and a knife. While the thought of holding onto a weapon made her feel safe, if not a little excited, she wasn't naive enough to think that it was actually going to make much of a difference here. The very fact that they were offering her weapons so soon must mean that they weren't worried about what she could do with them. Must be ****ing bullet proof or something. But still, since they were offering. "Both?" Immediately, she reached out and took both weapons from him. A knife was good, and a gun was better, but having both was better still. "... Thank you." She tucked the knife under her arm and inspected the gun, making sure it was in good condition as well as loaded. She hadn't even noticed Ivan moving closer to her, but when she looked up, she saw him turned away from her. This made her wonder how anyone could be so confident that they would turn their back on someone with a gun. Though she had no idea what Ivan was, she figured it was safe to guess that he was pretty powerful. At his question, she looked down at the weapons she held. Given the choice, she'd prefer to attack from a distance, and so she answered: "I guess I'd shoot you." Having said this, she wondered what she was supposed to do now. Was it just a question or did he actually want her to try it? Though she had never shot at a person nor had she ever felt like she wanted to, she decided that anyone who was going to turn their back on her really deserved to be shot. So, she aimed the gun, her finger already on the trigger.

[Я Є Đ WOLF]

[atrb=width,470,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=332929] White gave up both the gun and knife for her to look over. Well, at least that meant she knew how to use them. She wasn't handling the gun like a paperweight, and it looked like she'd had more than a few tries to practice with one, though why the hell she'd need to was beyond him. Didn't seem right for a pretty girl to know what to do with a dangerous weapon. Hell, it didn't seem right for a big nasty critter like Ivan to know what to do with one. Ivan had a few hundred pounds on anyone he'd fight, and she had no business getting into one in the fist place. But she'd get into 'em here. Just a fact of life. And he figured if she was gonna last long at all here she'd need to survive. Didn't have to be anything fancy. Just making it more trouble than it was worth for somethin' big like Ivan to eat her was about what he was aiming for. And she wasn't stupid with the gun either. As good as he was at living through bullet wounds, he appreciated not getting shot in the face. The thank you was a nice touch too. White tossed and stamped out his spent cigarette. Well, well... there was some hope yet. He didn't expect her to trust him, or care about him, or really even like him. Just doing what he said would work fine. Though, for now she'd probably need a reason to do that. He figured a threat or two to steer her in the right direction would be enough. And he'd try not to do anything to keep her spiteful. Besides the whole slavery thing, but you couldn't help that. Somewhere in the time he took to stamp the butt out, she'd aimed the gun at Ivan with just enough resolve to shoot him. It dawned on him then... she had really good aim. Well, lucky him. This might not take as long as he'd thought after all.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/Ivanmiddle6.png] He couldn't say that he was too worried about her being armed. Certainly, a knife or bullet wound would be a terrible inconvenience, but the likelihood of one being fatal was almost nonexistent. Aside from this, there was always the question of whether or not she would be able to harm him. Even if one had experience with weapons, having to actually use them on another intelligent, living creature was very different, and there were some who either couldn't do it at all, or who resisted very heavily. They were always the first to die. This girl, for example, had the right idea, but would she be capable of following it through? He doubted she'd want to, but the fact was that she needed to be able to. So he nodded at her moderately acceptable answer, glancing up only slightly to see her finally aim the gun at him. Aim it quite well, actually, and though there still remained some doubt about whether or not she would actually pull that trigger, he knew well enough to never underestimate someone's resolve, especially not the desperate ones. Before she had the opportunity to shoot, he was upon her, grasping her wrist firmly in his hand and yanking it away, while at the same time bringing her back toward him so that she was against his chest. "Yes, yes, but I'll assume that you were just calling your attacks for my benefit." Wrenching the gun out of her hand, he tossed it to the side. At the moment, he was just testing her reactions to different situations. For her first test, she knew what to do, just not how to do it. She wasn't going to be shooting unmoving targets. More often than not, her targets would be trying to kill her as well. Still, moving on. Next was to see what she would do without that gun that she appeared to favor so much.

[elle]

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[atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/mtqyde.png] Just as she was wondering if she really should shoot him or not and trying to get over the sudden apprehension she felt, her wrist was suddenly seized and she soon found herself pressed against Ivan's chest. At first she could only blink in confusion after having not seen him move toward her at all. Then, her initial anger flooded back to her, both because of his words and because of how he just ripped her gun out of her grasp and threw it to the side so carelessly like that. She snarled up at him as she struggled to free herself. Fine, if he wanted her to treat it as if it was an actual fight, then she would, and she would ****ing kill him! Though she still was nervous about actually having to take someone's life, her anger was starting to take over, and it continued to strengthen her resolve. "If this is your idea of flirting, I thought I already made it clear that I wasn't interested." Yanking her wrist out of his grasp, she held it close to her body, cursing him. She looked over to where her gun rested upon the ground, knowing full well that he wasn't about to let her stroll over to retrieve it. She did still have the knife at least, but that made things a lot more personal, which was unnerving. Though she supposed if she was in a life or death struggle, she'd have to get over it and use a knife or something to rip through their flesh before they could do that to her. Shuddering at the visual, she held the knife tight in both hands, hesitating for what was probably much too long. She needed time to prepare. So maybe she didn't really want to kill the guy, but she did want to hurt him. She at least wanted to get further than she did with the gun. So, turning quickly, she raised the knife and lunged at him with as much strength as she could muster.

[Я Є Đ WOLF]

[atrb=width,470,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=332929] Just as he was wondering where exactly those two morons got this girl from, he noticed her wait. ...and wait. White placed fresh cigarette between his teeth, lighting it up and holding off until the flavored air filled his lungs to sigh it all out. Shooting range, or a row of beer bottles somewhere. He didn't know where, but it had to be one of those places. She could probably shoot like a pro, but she sure as hell had never used that gun to kill anyone before. Didn't even look like she could hunt with it. An' that's the problem with most people these days. Could watch tv or play a damn game and learn how to use a machine gun, but no one was gonna touch the trigger. White craned his head up to look at the top of the arena. It was a lot like a cage, fenced in on all sides and over top with some tough kinda metal. He figured there'd be some strong things in it, so he got some stronger metal. And it held up so far. He squinted, trying to make out the links up at the very top, and it took him a minute to realize why he couldn't. Oops. Didn't want to burn through the thing that fast. He stopped breathing, and the air was suddenly a lot clearer. "Ivan," White called calmly, trying to count the number of wires twisted together to make the cage. "Change." Well, it comes down to this: she may not know how to kill anything, but she sure knew how to be scared. An' there were a lot of scary things here. Just because they all acted and looked like people didn't mean they were. He had a feeling if she saw that, she'd think different of not hurting anything. Though he wasn't sure if she wanted to go at somethin' with a knife like that... Oh well. She's the one who dropped the gun.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/Ivanmiddle6.png] Though her responses were rather off-putting, he found that the only suitable response he had to her struggles and her insults was to smile. So he did, as she finally freed her arm, and still as she held tightly onto the knife while she tried to work up the strength to attack. He even smiled as she did finally amass that strength and charge at him with the knife held at the ready. And then he smiled still as he caught her wrist yet again and twisted it behind her back so that he was able to pry it from her grasp, tossing it alongside where he had thrown the gun. He then released her so that she could turn to face him. "You're about one hundred years too young for me, my dear. You're also unarmed. Do better next time. A little subtlety really does help." It was a matter of trial-and-error, really. By seeing what was and wasn't effective, she would gain knowledge and experience. She was lucky that she was able to figure all of this out here, though this would also make people feel complacent. Many others had no such luck and needed to learn their skills while trying to stay alive. She would be safe here, with him, but she needed to develop that same type of urgency; to be able to develop plans quickly and to act on them just as quickly. It was something that may indeed be better accomplished if she faced a different opponent. "Yes, sir," He accepted the order before lowering his voice slightly and speaking to Alex, "Take advantage of the time you have." Turning away, he strode to the opposite end of the arena, allowing her time to retrieve her weapons. He'd rather not have to attack a girl who was completely unarmed, even though he knew she would find no such compassion in a different fight. And so, reaching the edge of the cage, he turned to face her again and released his skin. How strange it must be for her to see him, crouched low to the ground, slowly approaching her, his wings tucked in tight against his body, the venomous tail swaying from side to side. She was a human girl from the human world, and it was doubtful that she'd ever seen a creature quite like him aside from those in stories. The sight of such a great - for lack of a better word - monster stalking toward her should now be enough to trigger that instinctive fight or flight mechanism in her, and where was she really going to flee to?

[elle]

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[atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/mtqyde.png] After her second attack was thwarted once again, she whimpered slightly as her arm was twisted behind her back and the knife was ripped out of her hand. Swearing to herself, she turned to glare up at him in what was very nearly pure hatred. It wasn't as if she was an expert fighter; what did he want from her? Looking back on the moment, she would have seen it as being for her own good, but right then, her supreme anger and disdain for the man clouded over her better judgment. When White gave him the order to "change" she wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, though when Ivan told her she should make good use of the time she had, she decided that she wasn't upset with him enough to not listen. As he walked away she went, with some sense of urgency, over to where he had thrown her weapons, collecting them and making sure that they weren't damaged. Placing the knife under her arm, she held the gun with both hands, backing up against the cage as she waited for something to happen. She now knew about the mythicals of this planet, though she had never seen one up close, nor had she seen a person change into one. So it came as a bit of a shock to her as Ivan's skin suddenly melted away, revealing a nine foot tall lion/scorpion-like beast. A creature that she was certain had a name, but she was too startled to think of it at the moment. She moved back as he came closer, though she soon realized that she had no more room to back up into. So, she kept her back to the cage and aimed the gun. Her hands trembled slightly as she did so, though this time it wasn't out of fear of harming someone, but rather out of fear of the giant lion getting way to close to her now. That made it just a little easier to pull the trigger.

[Я Є Đ WOLF]

[atrb=width,470,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=332929] As occupied as he was with counting the wires, White was fairly good at it. Didn't take him long, and once he'd counted them all, he counted the diamond shaped holes the twisting wires made too. Two hundred and seventy wires and just under a thousand holes. White continued his smoking after that, focusing back on how the cage match was doing. He'd never seen Ivan before. Never seen a weyvern either, but they were about as big and ugly as any other snarling, pointy-toothed critter out there. Used to scare the hell outta him, the way those things looked. An' they were so normal looking as people, too. Spoke the same language, had the same vices. Hell, he'd slept with quite a few of 'em. And yet it still moved him to raise an eyebrow when he saw one change. Just a reflex, he guessed. Nothin' much behind it anymore. As much as he hated the freaks, there wasn't much reason not to be so near 'em. Got a little carried away with regular people after a while, and most of the critters here were nice enough to stay human-like anyways. Besides, he wasn't human-like anymore either. Kinda weird to think about it, but it was true. Leaning on the side of the cage and watching the big thing stalk towards Alex, White was struck with the first time he saw somethin' like that. Dragon. It was always a dragon. The things got around. And the dragon he saw was one of those big, scaly, fire-breathing ones too. He laughed now, but it shook him up pretty good back then. ...well anyways, he'd have probably shot Ivan by now if he were in her shoes. A couple of times. Not that it did anything to a big fella like him, but it's the thought that counts. He still might have to, depending on how good the guy was with this fighting stuff. One stick with that tail and they'd have a problem. White shrugged to himself. Good thing he wasn't that fragile anymore - this vampire stuff had its perks. Let's see if he couldn't make her a little less fragile in all this.

[Iƪƪia]

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[atrb=background,http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv235/Illia_the_Bat/Chimera%20Academy/Ivanmiddle6.png] Evidently, his change in form had the desired effect on her as she backed up against the cage, visibly frightened, clinging tightly to the weapons she had retrieved. It might not have been quite the life or death struggle, but being faced with such a giant creature that you had never seen before - that up until a few short weeks ago, you didn't believe existed - would be enough to put most people into feeling a heightened sense of danger. Fear alone would be enough to goad someone into attacking. This was why, as she raised her gun, that despite the trembling, he was no longer as certain that she wouldn't be able to shoot. He had essentially backed her into a corner, and she didn't seem like the type who would only fall to their knees and beg and plead for their life. She was frightened, armed, and she was going to use those weapons. Nearly as soon as she had raised the gun, he had propelled himself off of the ground, colliding with the side of the cage and clinging to the wires. His ears flinched at the sound of the gunshot as the bullet ripped through the space where he had been moments prier. Despite her fear, she still had good aim. It wouldn't have been enough to kill him, but if she had enough time and enough bullets, who knew? Moving as quickly as if he was on the ground rather than hanging from the side of the cage, he clawed his way over the wires and around the cage until he was right beside her. She'd need to put some distance between them if that gun was going to be of any use to her now, or else she'd have to make due with the knife. Most mythicals were naturally much faster than humans, so she would need to... "Move more quickly, dear," The voice still refused to sound like a lion would, "No one likes to wait." He edged closer still, still attached to the cage. Reaching out towards her, he extended the full length of his claws, not only a threatening gesture, but a means of capturing her if she tried to escape.

[elle]

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[atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/mtqyde.png] Before she even had enough time to recover from the hand gun's recoil, she noticed the creature dodge out of the way, cling to the side of the cage and then... that was it. It wasn't until she assumed a more proper position for firing a gun that she noticed that the monster was suddenly beside her. This caused her to jump in surprise, and she began to back away from it, slowly, holding tightly onto both weapons. Now that he was so much closer to her, she could see just how much bigger he was compared to her. He was also much too fast and much too light to be able to move along the cage like that. Then he spoke, which startled her almost as much as his size and appearance. It had never even occurred to her that he should be able to speak anymore. He was, after all, an animal, and where she was from, animals still didn't speak. So to hear this lion speak, and speak just like a human would, was, well, startling, to say the least. Still, never one to remain afraid for very long - or at least to never look afraid for very long, - Alex began to focus her fear into something else that was slightly more productive: insults. "Oh, you do this often, old man? You did seem like the type to prey on younger women." She flinched as he reached out toward her, but she resisted the urge to run. She knew he'd catch her almost immediately anyway. However, she couldn't let him back her into the corner, but she couldn't really attack either. She trusted the gun more than the knife, but she wasn't going to be able to use it with him being so close. She would need to put more distance between them somehow, and "move more quickly" like he suggested. So, as quickly as she could, she held tight to the knife, swiping it at him, before ducking under his arm and running toward the center of the cage. She already had the gun again, her finger already on the trigger. If she had been quick enough then maybe she still had a chance here.