The tan and chocolate brown woman crept along the ground, using the willow branches as extra cover as she moved. She had her sights set on flock of ducks that had settled around an area of the willows were a couple of the streams had combined into a small pond and was trying to get as close as possible before she actually tried to leap at them. It was a slow process to make sure she didn't spook the water fowl, but it'd be such a nice change from the deer and occasional rabbit that she usually ate so she thought it'd be worth it. Eventually she got to a willow tree that was right beside the pond and she crept up behind a couple of the ducks, peering at them through the dangling willow branches. Coiling her legs under her, she finally leapt forward before the ducks could fly off. She caught one under her right paw, knocking it to the ground and pinning it down by it's neck so it couldn't escape while she snapped at the one that had been standing closest to it and managed to catch that one by a wing in her teeth. She brought the one she had gotten by the wing to the ground with a firm swing of her head, dazing it long enough for her to switch her grip to its neck and killing it with a swift bite, quickly doing the same to the one that was pinned under her paw. Nausicaa grinned proudly at her kill, her tail wagging gently behind her. She'd have more than enough for her and Meme to share and there might even be enough to give some to her grandmother too. Picking them both up by the neck, she started walking back toward the mangroves with the ducks dangling loosely from her mouth. Talk

Upon seeing and coveting the woman’s catch, Hyperion had devised a brilliant plan to get himself a piece of it. He was going to lay out a snare, hide it right in her path and when she stepped on it and inevitably got tangled, he was going to pop out of the bushes teary-eyed and so very sorry. In the midst of apologizing he’d let slip how hungry he was, maybe shed a sensitive tear or two if he got the sense she was into that, and just like that he’d get a meal. Easy peasy.

Quickly Hyperion glanced around to get a lay of the land. He ran a hurried eye over the many hollows and dips trying to decide what her route might be. This particular territory was filled with willows and their low hanging limbs combined with close growing quarters made for narrow walkways. If the woman was like him she’d take the easiest, least messy route. He thought he knew just which one that was so he fell on it like a coyote, getting to work as quickly as he could. Snares weren’t really his thing; he only knew a few and he only knew them because at some point someone forced him to learn “for his own good” or whatever.

At first he was going to do the one labeled in his mind as “rabbits” but he decided that the woman was too big for that. He wanted his catch to be dramatic. The rabbit snare was just a simple loop on the ground that would tighten as the prey struggled; a boring catch considering she’d probably just yank her foot around in it. That wasn’t good enough so he opted one that used a branch under tension to yank small game up into the air.

Unfortunately, the place he wanted to put the trap didn’t have any smallish branches. Hyperion pulled down a heavier one and gave it a solid tug. It pulled his forward a bit but, he reasoned, she was a bit bigger than the average small game. It would probably just pull her foot up, maybe yank her off her feet. The branch would do.

Seconds later, the trap laid and hidden, Hyperion retreated into the shadows some distance away to watch and wait for his chance. His mouth was already watering at the prospect of tasting duck.

With her mouth full of duck and her head tipped up to keep them from dragging on the ground, it was impossible for her to watch where she was going. She wasn't too worried though - they had been living in the mangroves for a while now and she had been out this way at least a dozen times now. She definitely knew how to get back home from here and there was a nice path that was fairly clear so she knew she wouldn't bump into anything. Besides, willow trees were pretty big and the worst that could happen was that she'd brush against their loose, hanging branches. With that in mind she trotted off toward home, too eager to get her kills home and show her uncle how well she had done. With her vision obscured, she completely missed the trap that was laid across her path and she stepped directly into the loop that made up the bulk of the trap. It snapped tight around her right ankle and she yelped as it tugged hard on her leg, and her world went topsy turvy around her. She dropped the ducks she was carrying and they fell to the ground as she was yanked up into the air and spun around by her right leg. She was fairly light weight and not very tall so the trap that had to have been strong enough to stop a fairly large doe threw her around easily. The pull of it twisted her ankle and pulled her leg out of its socket at her shoulder, making her squeal and whine with pain. When everything stopped moving, she was dangling by her right leg and her butt hurt from hitting the ground hard once her weight finally pulled the branch down enough for to rest on the ground again. She stared at the trap that her paw was currently hung up in with wide, panicked eyes. Her leg hurt badly and she couldn't move it because of her disconnected shoulder. With her ducks now completely forgotten, she tried to wiggle to work her paw out of the trap, but it was stuck firmly in the rope. She started looking around, figuring that there had to be someone around that had set the trap to begin with. She just hoped that they were still around and hadn't walked off. Talk

The sound of approaching pawsteps sent Hyperion belly flopping to the ground. He wriggled around in the dirt until he was facing the trap and then tucked his paws under his dark chest fur to hide their bright white toes. There wasn't much he could do about the star on his face but the shadows would hopefully dull it and besides, she didn't know to look for him so it wasn't like she was going to be searching the shadows anyway, right? It was fine. He was fine. His plan was fine. Duck was on the menu.

Oh shit it wasn't fine! At first he thought it was going to go smoothly but that good feeling lasted exactly half a second before the pretty lady was sent flipping up into the air. She went up and his stomach went down; dropping into the dirt with his hope of a duck dinner. Hyperion panicked, his pale gaze darting frantically around the shadows as he looked for an escape that would allow him to sneak away from the mess he made. Seeing none, he was forced to grapple with how to confront the scene.

He darted out of the bushes like a scalded cat. "Oh my god! Are you okay? I'm so sorry! Here, let me-" Hyperion threw himself at the rope. He wrapped his front paws around it and while they frantically slid up and down it looking for purchase he did his best to gnaw through the corded sinew. "Awl geh ith," he slurred through clenched teeth. "Mm tho thoory!" Chew, chew, chew. "Tho thoory!" Snap. The rope finally came undone and Hyperion stepped back and clutched a white toed paw to his chest. His worried gaze darted between the woman and the rope and back again. He very nearly apologized a fourth time but settled for waiting anxiously for a response.

Luckily she didn't have to dangle there for long before a brightly marked man came rushing toward her, the movement catching her attention and making her turn her head to look at him. She couldn't really tell if this had been his trap or he was just a good samaritan running in to help, but she had a feeling that it was his with the way he was apologizing so profusely. Her shoulder and leg hurt so bad, but she tried to not whine while he was chewing through the rope that was holding her there. She couldn't help the pained look on her expression and how her ears were folding back with a grimace, but she didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did since he was clearly so distraught over it. When he finally cut through the rope she fell to the ground with a thud, luckily falling onto her left side so that her injured right shoulder didn't take the impact of the drop. She yelped as the fall jostled her shoulder and she was slow to get up as she carefully tried not to move it too much. Once she got back into a position where she could sit on her haunches and try to move her leg, she was able to move it a little bit, but her shoulder really hurt still and her whole leg was a little tingly and numb. When she tried to put any weight on it it hurt even more and she was quickly reminded of her twisted ankle as well. She wasn't all that far from the mangroves, but it suddenly felt like the longest walk on the planet with this injured leg in her way. She looked up toward the man that may or may not have caused this whole thing to begin with. "Um... Thanks for getting me down. My family lives in the mangroves over that way," she commented with a nod of her head in the direction she had originally been heading toward. "Could you help me get back to them?" She kind of hated to ask for even more help from the stranger, but she wasn't sure how she would get back otherwise. Talk

He stood anxiously shifting his weight from paw to paw as the woman assessed her injuries. Oh, this was bad, this was so very bad! And not at all what he'd intended. Okay yes, he'd hoped she'd get yanked up into the air, maybe shaken up a little, but not this. Was that leg broken? Please let it NOT be broken! That was so not the plan. He didn't know how he'd recover from that. This was quite possibly the worse day of his life. Well, except for that one with the woman who turned out to be a man. Or...maybe that day with the dancers and the blood wax. But, at any rate, this was one of his worst days for sure.

Hyperion swallowed hard and glanced in the direction she'd indicated. While he may have been a tall man he wasn't exactly the brawniest. There was enough of a size difference he could probably carry her and- The weight of what he was thinking hit him suddenly. Now there was a redemption arc! He could carry her to safety, thus restoring his hero status. Right? Not a bad idea. He could do it.

"Oh heavens, don't forgive me! This is my mess; I'll help you however I can. Can you put weight on it?" He pretended to be struck by a brilliant idea and then offered the thing he'd already considered, "I'll carry you if you can't, it's the least I can do." Surely she didn't live far. Anyway, she looked light enough. He could carry her no problem. "Again, I am so sorry. I'm not much of a hunter so I thought a big trap would do. Didn't realize I wasn't alone out here."

It seemed like the trap had indeed been his, but from his more than exuberant apologizing it was very clear that he hadn’t meant to cause her any harm. It had really been her own fault for not paying much attention to the ground, but that was neither here nor there now. At the very least nothing seemed broken and once she got back to her family’s dens she was sure Azariah could take a closer look at it and just make sure that was the case. ”It's okay! Really!” she insisted, almost feeling guilty herself from how guilty he seemed to be. "It was just a mistake and I’m sure this is nothing,” she added, trying to play off how much her shoulder was hurting. She tried to put her weight on the injured limb again and that was very quickly apparent that choice had been a mistake. She settled her weight between her three functioning limbs and tried hobbling a couple of steps. It wasn’t very graceful, but she could probably make it… though she would probably make it back a lot faster if she just agreed to let him carry her. She flicked her ears uncertainly and looked over to him again with a bit of embarrassment. "If you really don’t mind carrying me it would probably be way easier to get back… They’re just right over that way, it’s not far at all!” Once she got back to her uncle and Azariah her aunt to be could get her something for the pain and make sure everything got straightened out in no time. It was just getting there that was the hard part. Talk

Hyperion hovered close by as Nausicaa hobbled around. Inwardly he was rooting for her to give up so he could swoop in and play hero, but outwardly he was anxious and hopeful. "Oh, maybe it just needs a stretch to work it out- ah," He feigned crushed hope as she seemed to recognize the futility of it. Oh no, too bad. Looks like he was going to get his way after all. Rats. Maybe this whole thing wasn't going to be too bad after all. She was hurt way more than he'd intended, but she wasn't writhing on the ground in pain so maybe it wasn't as bad as he first thought? At any rate, he recognized he still had a chance at a meal. He was just going to have to work a little bit harder and hey, maybe there was more than duck at the end of it.

When she seemed apologetic about accepting his offer, he jumped in quickly. "Not at all! It's the least I can do. Don't sweat it, really, I owe you this much. My name's Hyperion by the way." He stepped up to her left side and debated what to do next. "I think you can just lay across my back, but feel free to lay however you like. If I knew my way around a travois I'd make one so you could ride in style, but like snares I'm rubbish at them."

There wasn't really a good, polite way to go about it so he just ducked down and moved forward as though ready to shimmy under her. He'd let her do a bit of the work just so she wouldn't feel like a kill being thrown around, but unless she protested he fully intended to pick her up and get going. Once she was settled he'd ask for directions.

She certainly appreciated his willingness to help and it made her feel better about him having to carry her home even though she knew that logically he had been the root cause of it to begin with. Even though she was injured and unable to walk and she knew his trap had been the reason for it, she still couldn’t make herself feel better about being an inconvenience. Really she could probably call for her uncle and he could help her get back, but this man seemed to really want to help so she figured she would let him. It was really just an accident so she couldn’t really blame him for any of it and his generosity and offer to help was really, really appreciated. When he introduced himself she realized that in all this mess she hadn’t even given him her name. “Oh! I’m Nausicaa,” she replied, feeling even more guilty for forgetting her manners on top of everything else. There was a bit of awkwardness as they both tried to figure out how they could navigate getting her onto his back. Eventually he just ducked under her and she got herself settled across his back the best she could. There was no real elegant way to do it, but at least it would get her home. “You can just head toward the mangroves that way,” she told him, pointing over toward the more tightly packed trees in the distance. “We’re the only wolves that really live there I think so you can’t miss us.” As if the thought suddenly dawned on her she realized that she was about to leave behind the whole reason she had come out here in the first place. “Oh! The ducks!” She exclaimed, twisting her head to look over her shoulder at where the ducks were laying off to the side forgotten. “I’m so sorry, could you grab those? Or maybe pass one to me and I can carry one… I hate to just leave them behind and let them go to waste. You can have some when we get back home if you want!” Talk

Oh boy, she was heavier than he'd thought she would be. Hyperion held in a sigh. This was going to be fine, but knights in shining armor didn't groan under the weight of their rescued damsels or stagger back to the castle so he was going to have to tough it. He deserved this anyway for botching the lay up. If he wasn't such a screw up they'd be flirting over a tasty meal and laughing about the totally innocent, harmless accidental snaring. Hyperion deserved every step of this journey.

Dutifully he turned towards the mangroves and started forward with slow, careful steps that were that way because he wanted to be careful with his passenger and totally not because  he was a top heavy lightweight struggling under his load. Her cry brought his screeching to a halt and very nearly caused him to rear back like a startled horse. For a split second he thought something was wrong and then she explained. The ducks. Dang, he'd been hoping to leave them behind. Then it would be a simple matter of running back and snagging them before she remembered. Ah well, she promised to share, which he took as a good sign. "Oh, right," he said with a small laugh. "I forgot you had those. And really, there's no need to apologize. It really is the least I can do."

He staggered back to the ducks and gingerly picked them up. Around them, he said, "I' carry 'em so you ken give diresshions, eh?" It would also save him from having to do too much talking. His mouth had a way of getting away from him and getting him into more trouble. "To da ma'groves 'ou said?"

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