Taiga said nothing as he was brought out to the supply packs and continued looking around the cave, eyes on the watch, the fortifications, and full of the rather dismal fact that he wouldn't be able to escape alone, and he had nothing on his person to offer anyone for a bribe.<br/><br/>Outside the tent and away from the battle, he looked smaller than he'd seemed at first. He was short and lean, very handsome, but also seemed more pleasantly human. The armor he'd made with his grins and his daring wordplay was gone, showing only that he was tired and more unassuming than he'd seemed.<br/><br/>He made no attempt at conversation when they got to the tent. He toed off his boots just outside it thoughtlessly. That was Xishan's custom, after all. You don't enter a house or temple with your boots on. He snorted once in reply to Leif, still puffing on the cigarette, which was now a stub.<br/><br/>"Would you be willing to untie my hands? I care less for men jeering when I wash than you might think, but t'is not a preferred kink of mine to have another man hold me while I piss." A long line of ash dropped off the cigarette. Taiga looked down at it and then yelped, spitting the cigarette outside the tent and onto the cave floor.<br/><br/>The cigarette had burned down to his lip, though it wasn't badly hurt. He sucked in breath in a pained hiss, licking the little singe mark.<br/><br/>He knelt surprisingly gracefully. He ruined it a moment later by toppling back to lay on his bound hands and groaning. "What a<i>day,"</i>he said. He looked up at the point of the tent pole, the draping fabric. "Is your father still alive, Leif?"