[PRP-Capture] What's Flowery Blood? [Astrid & Mult. Vikings]

[ChexaRain]

Pounce, Miss, Flop... Pounce, Miss, Flop...
The repetitive sounds of a lioness trying to catch flying birds wasn't one often heard, but Astrid would know nothing of it. She felt the growls of hunger deep within the confines of her stomach and needed to fulfill those needs any way possible.

For now, the only option was birds. Birds that flew out of reach before she was inches from them, but she could never bring herself to unsheathe her claws, oh no. Claws were for bad things, and food was a good thing. But this bird would be her last attempt, and her hunched shoulders looked more like a tired cub than a full-grown lioness.

She lunged.
And missed. She wrinkled her nose, but not a sound escaped her trembling jaws. She wouldn't cry this time, she had deemed earlier. And she would hold true to that, as something in the depths of her mind told her there was no reason for tears.

With no other option, she looked across the spans of land within her sight range, seeking out anything edible. Dead or not, it was better to fill her stomach than groan over the little things. Starvation was not a good way to die.

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Snorri

Snorri had been watching the lioness bounce and flop about for several minutes, a grin widening his mouth as he appreciated the spectacle. Bird hunting was difficult, he knew from experience, but he had never considered how ridiculous it looked to a spectator. Having now glimpsed it, he vowed to never hunt birds ever again.

Crouched low enough that his belly brushed the ground he slunk over to Lars and nudged him. Once he got the blond lion's attention he made a "you have to look at this" face and jerked his head toward the lioness's futile attempts at bird killing. When he was sure Lars had seen it, he nudged him again, this time making a "isn't that the most hilarious thing you've ever seen?" face. He was gratified by an answering smile that was stiff, but still recognizably a smile. With Lars, that was an accomplishment.

"So, what do you think?" he murmured. "Thrall?"

Alaric

Without taking his eyes off the lioness Snorri had brought to his attention, Lars nodded and confirmed Snorri's assessment.

"Thrall," he agreed.

A part of him was embarrassed that he had not been the first to notice the thrall-to-be, but he had not been told to watch in that direction. He had been following orders. Admittedly, orders he had drafted, but he hadn't been the one to issue them. Now, however, he was in charge, which was fine. He had a plan. Lars always had a plan.

"Standard pincer maneuver, I think," he said. Snorri would understand all that implied, so there was no need for him to elaborate. Indeed, the other lion was already slinking into position.

 

[ChexaRain]

Of curse, the lioness was in no way aware of the presence of lions, too intent on keeping herself alive for the next day or two. But the light-colored mane of Lars was all too soon noticed from the corner of her eye, and she turned and perked her ears in his direction.
"Hello?" She called, her voice child-like in pitch despite her large size. If she couldn't hunt, then perhaps someone else could and they'd be willing to lend a paw.
But she couldn't find it in her to lift a paw in the blonde tuft's direction, which is odd, seeing as how she doubted what ever he should be [she wasn't quite sure if he were lion or other] is dangerous.
Still, something in the back of her mind was wary, and she started looking about for something lurking.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Snorri

Since the thrall was facing Lars' direction, Snorri felt perfectly safe in popping his head up and making a "o ho you've been spotted" face. He could see Lars frown, but whether the blond lion was frowning at him or frowning to look more intimidating for the thrall-to-be was a matter of debate. Ultimately, it made little difference. Lars was frowning. So what.

Snorri ducked down once more and continued moving into position. It occurred to him that they were no longer ideally set up for a pincer maneuver, since the lioness was aware of at least one of them at this point, but he was going to leave that call up to Alaric. They both knew the unspoken signals to use if the plan was going to change, and if the plan was going to change, it would be better if Lars was the one who decided in what way. He was the one with the plans, after all.

Alaric

For the time being Lars decided to ignore the lioness's tentative salutation and lowered his head so that whatever she had seen of him would be less readily apparent. He also moved so that he would not be where she had last seen him should she decide to investigate, though not enough to throw off the plan for the time being.

He was unaware that he was frowning, which would hardly have been a surprise to anyone who knew him. Lars didn't tend to pay attention to silly things like facial expressions.

What held his attention was merely concentration on making sure that he and Snorri were properly positioned before the lioness spooked. She sounded somewhat spooked already, but he hoped her weariness from all that jumping around would prevent her from fleeing anything but an outright threat.

 

[ChexaRain]

Maybe it was something in her blood, but Astrid knew something was up the minute the tuft disappeared from view.
And, rather than flee as most would, this same force drove her to head towards the no-longer-visible creature lurking in the grasses, holding her head high, though she was far from the type to bear any kind of strength or pride as those she faced.
She paced herself quite well, though on the inside she was sure she would faint if anything jumped out at her and it took quite a bit of her nerve to keep any part of her from trembling visibly.
She couldn't bring herself to speak again, however much she wanted to. Her first interaction had no effect on this creature's ears, and either he was deaf or ignorant, and she was heart-inclined to believe the latter, even though the former was much more likely to her naiive way of thinking.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Snorri

Once he was in position, Snorri began to move forward, closing the distance between himself and the lioness he and Lars were stalking. He knew that on the lioness's other side, Lars would be doing the same thing, although she was moving towards his partner, so Snorri had to pick up the pace so that she would end up about equidistant between them. Picking up his pace meant jogging though, which sacrificed his stealth somewhat.

He didn't really care. At this point he had a head start on the whole running thing, and if the lioness did decide to run, she'd be running straight into Lars, which would serve her ill indeed. Snorri tended to be a good deal easier on female captures than Lars, who believed the easiest way to deal with them was to simply incapacitate them until they could be set under guard with the rest of the band.

Well, let's see what she does, he thought to himself.

Alaric

Nearer the lioness, Lars held his ground until he determined which direction she was moving in. His shift meant that he wasn't directly across from Snorri anymore, but that kind of adjustment was easily made. As long as she was basically trapped between the two reavers, she really wasn't going anywhere.

In a matter of moments Lars was moving forward, as though to meet Snorri, but with the lioness between them, it was more like they were both converging on her location, which is exactly what was going on, actually. If the maneuver worked without a single hitch, the two would appear very close to her at the same time and she would have no opportunity to flee before she was taken down. If it wasn't quite perfect, well, they'd still end up closer to her and able to cover any attempt she made to escape.

Had he been human, Lars might have been said to be wearing a thin, satisfied smile.

 

[ChexaRain]

Her gaze remained on Lars, but she wasn't deaf, and she could hear rather than see the movement of another opposite of the blonde.
She sighed, but something in the gesture was quite clear; she was going to be cornered.
So, she sat down and closed her eyes. Odds were that both of these creatures [which, at this point, she could only assume to be lion or half-lion to attempt to take her down with only 2 of them.] were stronger than her, and much faster, and running would only tire her out and, most likely, end with a mouthful of dirt and pain.
So she would wait it out, and rather than fight them off, she would go quietly. At least she might end up fed or killed, which she was headed for anyway with her lack of skill.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Snorri

Snorri watched with a certain amount of incredulity as the lioness apparently heard him, weighed her options, and decided to simply surrender. Not that he had complaints about that. Life was so much easier when the people you were planning to enthrall simply gave in and waited to be captured, as opposed to being forced to run them down.

It could be a trap, of course. She might be bait set out by someone else who was hoping to...what? Snorri had no idea. That kind of plotting was more Lars' thing than his, and Lars had not signaled a change in their plan, so he was apparently no concerned by the possibility. And, yes, Snorri assumed that the possibility of walking into a trap had occurred to Lars. In his experience, Lars thought of everything and had contingency plans for everything, although he at least didn't make other people memorize his contingency plans.

Or maybe the reason Lars wasn't signaling anything was the fact that he was busy tossing up his last meal. Eugh.

Alaric

Lars' stomach gurgled ominously as he moved closer. It was the kind of gurgle that meant either excruciating gas or liquid s**t in the not-too-distant future. He wasn't looking forward to that, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he pressed forward, doing his very best to ignore his roiling gut. He had always had an embarrassingly delicate stomach, and clearly something he'd eaten had offended it.

He had not been expecting that he would be hunched a few steps later, regurgitating half-digested meat in the middle of an attack. Had he not been completely occupied by the process of throwing up, he probably would have been cursing furiously at this hitch in his plans. This wasn't something he had made a contingency plan for. It had never occurred to him that it might be something he would need a contingency plan for.

In a break between heaves he snarled at Snorri, "Deal with her."

 

[ChexaRain]

She would've remained still, until the gurgling of the male's stomach had been close, and rather than remain still she dragged herself in his direction just in time to catch him throwing up. Well then.
She opened her mouth to speak, only to hear his growling comment towards Snorri, and turn instead to him, walking right up to him and sitting down, "Alright, I'm dealt with, I'll do whatever you want. Now take him home." Even though these men were a threat, she would rather if the male was sick he were at home, not out here cavorting and trying to do... well, whatever it was they were doing.
And in trying to be helpful towards his illness, she had found strength of voice, and had only squeaked on the first syllable.
That, for her, was much more of an accomplishment that what she'd managed for the day.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Snorri

Snorri glanced at Lars and then quickly looked away. He didn't want his nose pointed in that direction. Smelling other people's vomit always made him kind of queasy. This would be the worst capture in history if both of the reavers involved got sick and the lioness escaped while they were trapped in a cycle of puke.

Though, the thrall's willingness to be captured was not going to turn this into an epic capturing either way. Lars had said the right thing. If this had been one of the pride's folk tales, Lars' instructions to carry on despite his illness were exactly right. But they should have been followed by a ferocious battle. Not an admonition to get his sick friend home.

All together, this was both a success and a failure. And terribly, terribly funny. Snorri would make sure Lars was never, ever allowed to forget this. Not in a million years. Not in a hundred million years. He might even put it to song, even though he didn't normally do that sort of flowery thing.

The thought made him smile.

Alaric

While Snorri was smiling and imagining Lars' future humiliation for eons to come, Lars staggered to his feet and glowered at the lioness and his partner. The sick lion could easily guess what was going through Snorri's head, and he would kill him if he had to, in order to keep this story from getting back to the pride. The thrall, too.

Just as soon as his stomach stopped feeling like it was trying to escape via his mouth.

"Stop staring at her and come on," he growled at Snorri. "You, too. You're coming with us. Don't think because I'm ill, I can't easily see you dead or worse. My oh-so-helpful companion can explain on the way."

The look Lars gave Snorri was pure malevolence, a warning of imminent death should he do or say a single thing to popularize this episode. He wasn't terrifically keen on staying in the rogue lands unnecessarily with his stomach in rebellion, however, and so he started walking, trusting Snorri to take care of things.