I just wanna run like a child

Maybe these small acts of defiance were what he needed to feel sane, after giving up his freedoms to appease Acere. One more raid, he had to keep reminding himself. The last thing he needed was to spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder for one of Acere's minions to drag him back to Winterfell, to work of a debt that he'd never consented to. He let out an audible snort as he waded further into the water, one step after another, until-

The sound of the waves gently crashing against the shoreline all but obscured the sound of Theory's approach until it was too late. One second he was wading contentedly in the water, and the next he was being tackled by - someone. Scrambling upright, he spat out a mouthful of water in whatever direction he was fading, scowling and mumbling something incoherent as he brought himself to his paws. Her words weren't lost on him, and he bristled at her tone. "Winterfell scum?" Kai scoffed, shaking water from his face as he backed away from her, if only to get a better look at. "You're funny, you know that?" She was admittedly a pretty thing, delightfully young and with the kind of build he appreciated, and she smelled wonderful. If only she hadn't so rudely greeted him...

His nose wrinkled in annoyance. "I'm not quite as Winterfell as you might hope. I'm Kai, debtor of Winterfell, at your service, beatiful." There was no denying the snark in his deep voice, and to top it off he bowed deeply to her, so flamboyant that he was clearly making a mockery of all of this. "This whole raid business? All my fault. Acere decided I was worth spending a small fortune on awhile back - it's a long story - and part of his deal was raiding on behalf of the slavers who had captured me. Apparently I fetch quite a high price," Kai raised his eyebrows suggestively, though he laughed coldly at the thought. "And apparently you were one of two targets. Lucky us, right?"

Clearly not grasping the severity of the situation, or rather the perceived severity of his trespassing, he let himself float in the water for a moment, picking his paws up from the sand. He kept his eye on her, though some of the annoyance had begun to soften. "I was born in Abaven, a long time ago, did you know that? Quite the irony that I returned here, only to the raid the same pack. Not that I really cared about winning, between us. And I didn't exactly want to hurt that old man," Kai quipped, playfully referring to Rhyme. He'd had a good conversation with him in the past and had no hard feelings against him. Acere, though? That was a different story.