After visiting Tyranis briefly, Kai had decided to venture back down south. He wasn't sure what was in store for him for the rest of the season, though surely he'd return to the north once winter reared its head once again... but he had a few months until that time came. Until then, he'd wander aimlessly - as he so often did - searching for something to briefly capture his attention. Today, that something was apparently this wide expanse of mangrove trees. He'd never seen a forest quite like this before. The ground beneath his paws seemed more water than dirt, and already he would tell he'd be in dire need of a bath before this little adventure was over. His paws were caked in mud, and stray flecks of dirt coated his pale grey underside. Getting a little dirty had never bothered him, so he wouldn't let it foul his otherwise good mood - which was visible even from a distance, a faint grin tugging at his lips as he spotted a particularly wide tree and veered over to it, examining it curiously.

Valkyrie and company were hot on the trail of their next target. He was a big male - with tusks of all things - and so he would be treated a bit differently than the rest of the captives now rolling around in the pits. Valkyrie had come up with something special just for this strange man. It had taken a lot of work and poor Inga's fingers were raw from all the rope work she'd had to do, but Valkyrie was sure it had been worth it.

 

After directing the "hunting" party to take cover and stay back until she gave the signal, Valkyrie slipped forward. To get him where she wanted him would require a little playacting on her part, but she felt she was up to the task.

Before approaching Valkyrie splashed herself with mud and mussed up the fur on her face. After that she stood still for several seconds, a look of concentration on her face. She blinked rapidly, squinted and frowned, and then the tears began to well in her eyes. That's it, come on baby. Her frown deepened as she tried to turn the trickle into a river. She blinked...blinked...and then the floodgates opened.

With a tearful sniff she went crashing through the grove in the direction of her hapless victim. She very nearly ran past him and feinted fright when she "finally" saw him. A yelp left her lips and she sidestepped, very nearly going over into the mud because of the force of her fright. After a beat she seemed to collect herself and then she took several urgent steps forward.  Her lips quivered as she delivered the line, "Oh please sir! Please can you help me! My baby..." She spun to face back the way she'd come as though ready to lead him to the child. "She's stuck and I can't...I can't get her!"

""

If Kai had even had an inkling that he was being followed, there was no way he would've continued down this same path. He was blissfully unaware of whatever dangers lay ahead of him, and perhaps his naivety stemmed from his lack of life experience, all things considered. He'd lived a relatively good, safe life - usually he was the one with the questionable intentions, not anyone else.. and as one who was used to wearing his heart on his sleeve, he was generally used to others doing the same. His reaction when he saw someone in distress wasn't to wonder if they were trying to trick him, even if he wasn't super trusting by nature. Today was no exception to that rule. As soon as he heard the sound of rustling nearby, Kai spun around to face the crying, filthy woman. She was unfamiliar, though his attention was captured by the words coming out of her mouth rather than if he'd ever encountered her before. "Stuck?" Kai repeated, briefly stunned into silence before managing to find his tongue and collect his thoughts. He wasn't really one to help a stranger, though the thought of an innocent child stuck somewhere didn't exactly invite warm, fuzzy feelings from him. A frown tugged at his lips, and after a moment he looked as though he was ready to spring into action. "Alright, alright, show me what you need help with," Kai grumbled, moving to trudge after her through the thick muck. She was nearly his size, so he wasn't totally sure what he could do to help, but perhaps it was job for two wolves instead of just one? Or maybe she was just too panicked to think straight... which sounded like a much more plausible story.

OOC: permission to PP Kai given by Nyx.

The relief that rolled off of Valkyrie was palatable as Kai agreed to help her. She looked as though she might start crying all over again, this time from gratitude. "Oh thank you," she said, taking a step towards him as though she might embrace him. In an instant she seemed to remember the urgency of the situation and was off like a shot in the direction she'd come from. "She's right over here! I don't know how she got in there, but the tide is rising and I'm afraid her she won't be able to breathe soon."

 

Valkyrie's distraught expression briefly turned to one of satisfaction after she had fully turned away from Kai. She wiped the expression from her features quickly in case the break in character caused her tears to dry up again. Really, she needed to practice her tears more often.

One ear flicked back occasionally to make sure he was still following and in no time at all they were there. The trap rope was hidden in the muck at the base of a tangle of mangrove trees that had grown together. In the tree trunks behind the hidden rope was a dark hole big enough for a young wolf to fit into.

Valkyrie stepped confidently up to the hole and peered inside. "Mommy's back, Rosie. I brought help. Are you doing okay?" Of course no sound could be heard from the hole as no child was in there. Perhaps Dutch could have fit in there but it seemed unnecessary.

She shot a fearful look Kai's way and then, after backing up a step so he could look in, tucked her paw to her chest. This action prompted him to do what she'd been hoping for and Valkyrie watched with barely hidden satisfaction as Kai leaned down to look inside. The moment his hind paws hit the spot Valkyrie shot a look up into the trees where Inga waited. Seeing the signal, the macaque shoved a net full of rocks out of the tree which triggered a series of similar nets of varying weights. The rope hidden in the mud was yanked upwards suddenly causing the loop at the end to tighten. The cumulative weight of the rock-filled nets yanked Kai heavenwards with ease.

Valkyrie stepped under him and looked up with a satisfied smile. He hung over her head like an angry pinata. "The world needs more wolves like you," she told him sincerely. It did; his willingness to help had made him easy to catch. "This is what's going to happen: my companion here is going to put a rope around your neck and then my wolves are going to escort you back to our camp. If you come quietly no harm will come to you. If you don't..." Valkyrie shrugged, her lips twisting downward in faux sadness. "We will do what we must to take you."

The cue to summon the rest of her hunting party, who were hiding nearby, was the opening line of her demands. Any second now her wolves would come ghosting through the trees. Together they would take this tusked behemoth into custody.

""

Everything happened all at once. One moment he was stepping forward, leaning toward where Valykrie was directing him, squinting hard to see into the hole. There was nothing, at least not immediately, so he took another hesitant step forward when Valkyrie backed up.. which was his mistake. Suddenly he felt a pressure around one of his hind paws, which seemed to close in - and then suddenly the world was spiraling upside-down as he was sent skyward, dangling from that same paw from a tree overhead. He'd been trapped! He was pretty sure what was going on the second it happened, and only when he was left swinging haphazardly from the tree did he know for sure that'd he'd been made a fool. The utter loss of freedom left him not afraid, but fucking pissed. His instinct was to loosen the rope, if such a thing was even possible, and immediately he began to thrash hard with his upper body, as if the momentum might somehow either break the tree limb or somehow loosen the grip of the rope. Unsurprisingly, neither happened, and by the end of it he was left still hanging, only breathing much harder. Already he felt the ache in his muscles as he tried quite uselessly to escape. His position did allow him to look down at Valkyrie, albeit from an upside down position, sneering as she began to speak. "Fuck you," he spat instantly. Perhaps a more reasonable wolf might try to find motive behind what she was doing, or find a way to talk her out of his... but he was far from reasonable, and it was hard to feel anything but rage at his sudden predicament. "If you expect me to go without a fight, you're even more stupid than you look," he drawled, the rage never leaving his eyes as he watched for any sign of movement nearby from her supposed wolves.

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Éldi waited patiently, nestled among the dense forest undergrowth. He was skilled at staying still, his large form seeming to be nothing more than a large rock or mound of dirt and his green eyes were easy to miss in the verdant foilage. He was a hunter of prey more so than a hunter of wolves but he could learn and adapt quickly to the new situation. Besides, it was always a pleasure to watch Valkyrie work. He grinned, just managing to restrain a chuckle as the large, tusked male was sent careening into the air, hanging helplessly. Then the cue was given.

Éldi stood and shook the dirt and leaf debris from his coat as he stepped out, facing across from Valkyrie. Kaler slipped up next to him, the bobcat's claws unsheathing for just a moment before slipping back inside his paws. Above him, Askr landed on a lower hanging branch, the raven eyeing the tusked wolf with amusement.

If you expect me to go without a fight, you're even more stupid than you look,

He glanced at Valkyrie with a grin. "I was hoping he'd say that."

Eyrun waited as patiently as she could for Valkyrie's signal, only moving from the shadows when she was certain the time was right. Her gaze fixed on the tusked male that swung helplessly from the tree, and a sharp laugh escaped her throat before she was even visible to their new prisoner. She loped in alongside Eldi, eyeing Valkyrie with a visibly impressed expression. She hadn't been doubtful of her kin's abilities, but if she had been she knew her opinion would've been drastically altered by what she'd seen of her lately. The grin she wore hardly faded as the prisoner began to struggle against the contraption that bound him, casting Eldi a look as she moved to nudge the large male with another low chuckle.

"Brother, why - are you in a fighting mood too?" Eldi wasn't blood family by any means, but for her his camaraderie - his dedication to Valkyrie and the Hjarrandi band - made him just as important as blood to her, until he did anything to threaten that trust. "We shouldn't mess him up too badly, though. I wouldn't want to risk ruining something that can fetch such a high price for us...." Eyrun tilted her head higher, giving Kai a more thorough inspection. He had a torn ear, but no other visible abnormalities or scars that might make him undesirable to potential buyers - and she knew Valkyrie wouldn't be happy if they changed that.