Kyori paced the floor of her cage, tail lashing like a striking snake and claws clicking along the dirty floor. It was a busy day at market, and there were too many people crowding around her confines--but very few people bold enough to get too close. She had almost gotten her claws into one foolish human who had pressed in for a closer look, but his reflexes had been solid. Not solid enough that she hadn't taken a chunk out of his tunic; the tatters were crumpled on the floor of her cage.
Her ears rotated, listening. One of the men who had captured her was talking about her in an effort to sell her, listing off her "good" qualities. She was inhumanly strong, great for manual labor, and intelligent enough to follow directions--with the aid of whips and prods, at least. She was also an unrivaled huntress, good for using on game hunts and able to taking down animals far larger than herself. She was also an oddity for personal collections of exotic beasts, capable of turning at least a few heads with her ability to camouflage herself--though one must also take caution with that, considering she could be easy to lose. She could also be a decent guard, if kept on a leash and properly controlled and tamed so she didn't turn on her master.
Oh, and as for the muzzle. Yeah, she spits poison. Best take care with that.
Kyori rolled her eye as she listened but smirked a little, even as the muzzle chaffed. He was doing a terrible job of selling her, since those points only made her sound scary--which she was, and which made her puff with pride. One of those squishy humans would have to be insane to think they could handle her--for she would kill them the first chance she got, and she didn't need her teeth or poison or even her claws to do that.
She would kill this man, too, and his friends, for capturing her. And she would make it a slow death for boasting about it, when in reality they had caught her in a moment of weakness, half dead and nearly frozen in the snow of her homeland.
And when she returned to her homeland, she wouldn't be there long. She would come back with her people. And they would reign hell on this damned village, if she had anything to say about it.
Which, as their leader, she did.
Another human inched in a little closer to look at her, and she hissed like the savage they thought she was and launched herself at the bars, claws lashing out, the bars trembling as she slammed against them. The human fell back on his ass with a strangled cry, and Kyori nearly doubled over with laughter at his pitiful response, so like prey.
But instead she just growled again, low and deep in her throat, to hide the laughter bubbling up.
Idiots.