Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sighing, Kanth rubbed her temples, shaking her head. What had they gotten themselves into? They were in a somewhat small prison cell, and not a very comfortable one at that.

"I know we should have read some of grandfather's old western books, or at least rented a western videogame. Then we could have at least figured out something sooner." Looking around the cell, the girl bent over and moved a bit of the straw in the corner, nearly recoiling in disgust at the sight that lay before her. It was a pile of bones sitting in the corner - what looked to be the remains of a skeleton - the bones tinted a dirt brown color, as it seemed to be packed in the earth.

"Yuck..." She muttered, covering her mouth and looking at Erae. Erae seemed to shrug, staring at her with his intelligent red eyes. Reaching out, Kanth grabbed one of the bones on the top, finding it to be loose, which meant that it had to have been put there recently... "Hope no one minds that I borrow this..." Turning to the bar doors, she stared out to see that the sheriff was sleeping soundly, as she was the only one in there. Well, her and Erae, really.

"Somehow, I feel like Captain Jack Sparrow. What about you? It wouldn't be so bad to be a pirate." Erae sweatdropped while Kanth rattled the bone softly between the bars, so as not to wake the sleeping sheriff. "Heeere, doggy! Come on, sweetheart! You mangy mut..." She muttered the last part after the dog made no movement, just staring at her. Dropping the bone to land just outside of the cell, Kanth leaned against the bars with a heavy sigh.

"This is hopeless."

Turning to Erae, she sat down, looking in her pouch. She had with her Erae's stick that he used for sword fighting, which wouldn't do well in picking a lock at all... a pair of clippers, which she didn't know how to use... a small first aid kit (with a couple of bandages), which wasn't used to pick locks... a bunch of threads, that might come in handy... a pen, a pencil, and a tablet of paper. Looking up, she held up a string for Erae to see, setting it on the ground before him. "Think you can do anything with this? You could work a little too, you know." Grinning, Erae flashed his teeth as he picked up the string with his claws (after a bit of trouble), and looked at the doors.

He seemed a bit confused for a moment, but then his eyes fell on the bone just outside of the cell. Scurrying over to it, he picked it up with both of his paws, and wrapped the string around the end of the bone, holding it out to Kanth.

Taking it, Kanth blinked a few times, then glanced outside to where Erae was pointing, at the dog.

"By God, you're a genius, Erae." Standing up, she glanced at Erae, speaking in a whisper as the sheriff grunted.

"Now. Be ready to take the keys from the dog. I'm gonna lure him over here..." When Erae stood ready beside the bars, Kanth threw the bone out to land just before the dog, getting his attention. Clack, the sound made as it hit the floor.

She started dragging it, and held her breath as she pulled on the string, dragging the bone back... with the dog following.

"He's almost here... almost here... now!" She whispered quickly, yanking the bone back as the dog lunged towards it, and letting out a sigh as the dog ran off with his bone.

The sheriff grunted at her exclamation, sitting up and blinking at her, and she froze, staring right back at him.

Time seemed to stop for a long moment, and it seemed all too long for Kanth to bear, before he fell back down with a thud in his chair, letting out a loud snore.

"Throw me a frickin' bone here..." She sighed. "Please tell me you got the keys, Erae." He stared at her for a moment, before holding up a set of keys with both of his paws, and she nearly whooped again with joy.

"Good job, Erae! Teamwork is what's gonna get us out of here. Would you like to do the honors?" Picking him up after he gave her a quizzical look, she sat him on her shoulder, leaning up against the bars.

"Go ahead and open the lock. I should think any of the keys would work, they all look the same..." After watching Erae struggle for a moment, she finally smiled when he put the key in the lock, trying to turn it - but it wouldn't budge.

"Here, let me help." Placing her hand beside his paw on the key, she gave him a firm nod. "One, two... three... turn!" The door made a loud clack as they both turned it together, and swung open for them both to walk out freely.

"Well, this is it. Good job, Erae. I'm proud of you." Nipping her ear in affection, Erae lay across both of her shoulders, putting his head in her hair as she took a few steps... and then walked out of the door.