[PRP] Catch of the Day [Behind/Poison/Dark] [FIN!]

[Ruriska]

The Totoma grunted and moved his head to the side, shifting it as best he could out of a particularly muddy patch of ground. It did not help much. Not far from where he lay, the ground angled down towards a swamp pool, and the surrounding area was what he would describe as mooshy. Left Behind had been going for a drink. Now he was on his belly, branches tumbled across his back and digging into his sides.

Again he grunted, pondering his next move. It wasn’t the branches that were the main problem when it came to extricating himself from the situation. They were not a massive weight and could easily be shifted.

Something had caught around his legs and in the blink of an eye he had been on his ground, front legs caught beneath him. That was the issue. With his front legs caught, he could only roll sideways, and then the branches were in the way.

There could, he presumed, be other factors involved, but he could not look around far enough to work it out.

Left Behind did not struggle at first; he simply remained where he was and waited.

[Here’s hoping my vague trap description works xD]  

[Jun D]

"Perhaps in three days. But, oh, what if Cue returns? She hasn't come home in such a long time. What if I go off and she's here and gone again? One can never tell with these things. But then..." Ambling next to her, Far disregarded her ramblings with ease - the cheetah was long, long used to his owner's idiosyncrasies.

It was very much another ordinary day for Dark - rather a bit earlier out for her than usual, but her last trip to the shore had yielded quite a bounty, and a day or two in the sun after a journey by night was always a welcome change. The sun was warm, and the songbirds bright, prompting a smile and a sense of ease despite the problem she was considering. She would take a drink from the pool nearby, she decided, and head to the store to consult with Rise about her current dilemma.

...If it weren't for the very strange heap of branch and vine just next to it. She peered, confused, then peered more closely. There was...someone in there: it didn't look like a Kimeti, nor did it look like - oh! Yes, the curve of the great horns was unmistakeable. Even with her habit for travel, she had not seen many Totoma, but every time, the sight of one was breathtaking.

Except this one did not look quite as majestic as he ought, right now, stuck in the mud like that. Oh dear. She was not quite good at talking to strangers. Did he need help? Perhaps he needed help. What if he didn't and she was interfering in some Totoma ritual? Oh dear.

"Good afternoon," she ventured, in what she hoped was a manner neutral enough to convey an eagerness to help and/or an eagerness to stay away, depending on what the Totoma required.  

[Ruriska]

“Good day,” came the rumbling reply of the Totoma. Left Behind stared at the Kimeti’s hooves (since he currently lacked the ability to raise his head any higher) and tried to offer a smile. He was rather pleased she had come along and he hoped she could shed some light onto his current situation.

“Part of a tree appears to have fallen on me,” he said, pausing to give a heavy sigh that rustled branches around him, “and there is a bug on my nose.” A beetle had crawled its way onto his nose and was sitting there, fanning its little wings. The worst part about the swamp was all these damnable insects.  

[Jun D]

The Totoma sounded like he welcomed her company. Dark relaxed. She could never be sure, and the warm rumble comforted her. It did seem as if he needed help, then - having a tree fall on you and a bug on your nose was not pleasant at all. Help, she would be happy to give. Craning her neck, she stuck her muzzle in between the holes of the wooden lattice to try to get a better look at the captive and his bug. She couldn't quite reach...nor was she small enough, she investigated, to slip under the framework.

"Is the bug very annoying?" she inquired anxiously, "My cheetah will help you - Far, please take care of the beetle? Thank you." The canny cat yowled vague protest, but slipped into the canopy anyway, snapping half-heartedly at the buzzing insect. In the meantime, she pushed hesitantly at the branches. Tested them with more force. Then threw her weight against them. A slender branch clattered off the end, but otherwise the structure shifted only slightly in the mud. "Why, it's a trap!" she exclaimed of a fact that surprised no one but herself. "Much heavier than the ones I'm used to," she added, thinking of the constructs used by her employer, "but it's the arrangement that keeps them so tightly in place." She wriggled a limb under one of the outermost branches and tried to heave it up.

Ruriska

Aaaah it suddenly struck me how little time we have left to do this! We can do it we can do it uhhh let's see - one more post from Behind, then Dark will try some more, and Little Poison can come along, all confused? 8D

 

[Ruriska]

Jun D

We can do it! There’s still tomorrow! 8D <3

“It is very annoying.” He assured her, trying to dislodge the little creature with a lot of nose wrinkles and a bit of head shaking. Then there was a large cat face up against his and the Totoma wasn’t sure what to think. The only big cats he knew were the prowling mountain beasts that were quick to snatch up newborns.

Left Behind shifted, pushing with his back legs and snorted an angry warning at the cheetah. The insect chose that moment to fly onto an eye and after some furious blinking it finally took a hint and buzzed away.

“A trap?” He echoed after a moment spent calming himself down and making sure the cheetah would keep its distance. “This is hardly an honourable device.” His voice held an obviously grumpy tone. “Do Kimeti do this often?”  

[Jun D]

"The ones I know are used for prey," she replied as she strained at the branch, "mostly smaller constructs to catch little things, such as salamanders. This one is rather larger, I have never seen one on such a scale." She paused in her work thoughtfully, "I do not think many Kimeti know the workings of traps," she concluded after a thorough consideration (cheerily oblivious to her own trap-master daughter Cue's proclivities for such dishonourable devices), "it is a rather specific knowledge that few in the Swamp require."

Far had slunk out, rather annoyed with the unhelpful helpee, and curled up to sun himself nearby. He would usually have lent a paw to his mistress, but as far as he was concerned - that grumpy old crank could stay trapped for as long as he wanted.

"Pushing is no use!" she finally admitted, panting a little from her exertions, "the pattern is true. I shall find another way, please do not fret." And she rounded the construct with bewilderment. This was a puzzle. She was not very good with puzzles.  

[Jun D]

Perhaps it was thus a blessing for everyone involved that who should come trotting along at that precise moment but the puzzle-maker herself? Little Poison had thought to check on the progress of her newest creation - but this was not at all what she had expected to find. The dark doe stepping carefully around the edges was surprising enough...but the bounty within? Well. That was not at all what the trap had been constructed for.

"He...llo? she ventured, hesitant in her bafflement.  

[Ruriska]

Jun D

"I can’t say I approve of such traps," he grunted, "but I can see how they would be useful." He also had to admit, only to himself, that such a construct was really quite clever. His could not imagine many Totoma having the mind to create something so devious. They were honest and strong, but very rarely clever.

Left Behind was growing really quite uncomfortable and he listened as the doe wandered around the trap while attempting to shift the carefully woven branches. "I appreciate your help." This boon would be repaid tenfold once he was free.

Another voice caught his attention; this one soft and hesitant. He could not, unfortunately, see the owner of the voice and so he called out a greeting in hopes of beckoning her closer. "Hello there!"  

[Jun D]

Picking her steps carefully, Little Poison ventured closer at the greeting. Yes...it was a Kin in there - yes, it was a Totoma. Well. She stretched upward and looked thoughtfully into the tangle. The vines had done their job most admirably, it seemed. The branches...well, they had been meant for something much closer to the ground. The haphazard pile-up near the middle was quite unseemingly - but, she thought with some vague satisfaction as she bumped the outermost branch, the careful latticing managed to hold the captive in place anyway.

Not that this was the manner of captive she'd intended, of course.

"I'm very sorry," she announced, "you seem to have gotten caught in my experimental caiman trap."  

[Jun D]

"A caiman trap!" Dark exclaimed as the light came on in her head. This was rather more familiar territory, "Yes, I can see it now. This was your doing? It is very clever - I have seen many traps, but most much smaller, I do not think I have seen one that could trap and hold a caiman yet!"  

[Jun D]

"O-oh, thank you," Little Poison's heart swelled with pleasure and no small measure of pride - so rarely had she shown others her tinkerings, to hear praise was a novelty most comforting, "t-though, of course, I can't be sure it can trap and hold a caiman, it's still very much a work-in-progress."

Ruriska

Poor Behind! Does talking shop and forgetting about captives alert!

 

[Ruriska]

"Excuse me ladies." Left Behind interrupted in a voice that demanded a bit of attention please. "But you may continue to discuss the merits of this device after I am no longer nose first in the mud."

Jun D

haha <3

 

[Jun D]

"OH yes - sorry!" Both pride and pleasure disappeared in a flush of mortification. "Most, most sorry, I'll have you out of there in just a moment." She trotted over to the thickest of the tangle and disappeared under a crisscross of branches.  

[Jun D]

Dark had hung her head in shame at the Totoma's rebuke; "I am sorry, friend." But it wasn't long before her interest was again piqued by the cricks and cracks coming from the branches the hidden doe moved beneath. They used a great many traps at the store, ingenious little things - but little they were, mostly. Fell had talked of working with Rise and Grey's more mechanically-minded children to expand their options, but there was always something of priority to take care of at the store, and they had not yet begun their work. Perhaps a structure like this would be a good prototype. "I could not overthrow the branches by force," she told the tinkerer, "is there a secret catch?"  

[Jun D]

"Of sorts," she replied, carefully nudging components about, "a weak spot, more like, perhaps. A space woven into the design that loosens the structure when used. I just have to arrange the core in the right order for collapse. I was looking for a way to hold a strong predator fast without brute force and thought to try this; the concept still needs work but it seems to be off to a good start." She paused in her movements for a moment, and peered into the murk, meeting the Totoma's eyes earnestly, if a little anxiously, "I am very, very sorry, sir, that you have gotten caught up in my experiments. It won't take long now."

Ruriska

<3!