Ethan

After the Zelkovii brothers had raised a fuss about feral dogs in the area, it was Ethan who secured the job to tackle the problem. Working in the wilds was more of his specialty, but the experienced animal wrangler had no qualms about hunting in town if it offered him a paycheck. And potential fighters.

There was little use in masking his scent here, where the odor of humans and their things permeated the land. He didn't often stray through this area anyway, so his own unique scent likely wasn't familiar to most here. He focused instead on the environment, taking time walking through the allies and inspecting various food sources the local canines would use. Easily tipped garbage cans, bins with their lids left open, a handful of restaurants that openly fed the strays, and so on.

Ethan eventually settled for a quiet, narrow backstreet. Narrow enough that he could stretch his arms and touch both buildings simultaneously. A few back doors, some unlocked, would allow him quick escape if things turned ugly. A gun and taser nestled beneath his clothing offered further protection. The man settled at the bottom of a short stoop and pulled two fresh hamburgers from a sack. Discretely, he laid a small section of thing rope on the ground around the offered food, with the ends of the rope attached to a noose pole that lay at his side.

And then, he waited.

Dixie

Dixie knew these streets. She had spent much of her adult life living on them, ever since she had been found there by Argolis and taken into his pack. She knew where people put food out for them, she knew what trash cans were easiest to knock over and usually contained food. On the other end of the spectrum, she knew the places to avoid because they offered more danger than it was worth. Living so close to the humans was dangerous but she was getting older and she thought herself to be wiser as well.

The alleyway she chose to go down today was one that she knew to be one that was generally safe. The back doors that lined it were rarely opened and those that were tended to be opened to set out food for strays like her as would be testament enough by the scraps of old wrappers and such that littered the place, now empty bowls that were sometimes filled sat on one of the stoops.

Dixie was on high alert as she walked down the alleyway, though. Living so close to humans meant that she always had to be alert, she always had to take in her surroundings. Of course, just the smell of humans wasn't something that could scare her away since she literally travelled streets everyday that people passed through as well so the scent of the man didn't throw her off. The scent of the burgers did draw her in, though. She followed her nose to the source and saw the two burgers laying there on the ground. She moved forward and sniffed them for a moment before she began to eat. It wasn't the first time that food had been set out for them here, so she thought nothing of it. At least not until the rope closed around her neck. She yelped in shock before beginning to try to fight against the restraint.

Ethan Rom

Ethan was thankful for those restaurant owners and tenants who pitied the strays and left food for them, for today they'd made his job that much easier. They'd conditioned the local curs to hunting in areas just like this, and it was only a matter of time before one eventually made the rounds and chose this fateful alley to conduct their search for dinner.

With absolute stillness, and eyes narrowed like those of a stalking puma, Ethan had held his breath as Dixie approached. The pole was tight in his hands, and the moment so quiet that he could hear the snuffling of her breath as she sniffed at the burgers, and the clack of worn claws as they shifted across the litter-strewn ground. And then she went for it, lulled into a false sense of security after years of trusting this very route and the kinder souls who occasionally fed her. But this soul wasn't kind, and as soon as he jerked the pole back, the rope cinched around her neck, and the struggle began.

Ethan was quick and methodical. He pressed the end of the pole towards the ground, trying to force Dixie down against the dirtied pavement, where it would be harder for her to squirm around and get away. He then stepped fully on the noose pole, trying to use his own weight against the struggling boxer's, so that his hands were free, which allowed him to dangle a loop of rope towards her, this one aiming to go around her muzzle. If he was successful in this, he'd pull it tight and clamp her mouth shut...

Dixie

Dixie had only just began to eat the burger that had been placed on the ground for canines like her to find. She was wasting no time in scarfing down the entire thing since she still didn't fully trust the people around here despite knowing that it was usually a place of safety. She was always quick to eat and then bolt when she was caught in a place like this were there were very few places to go in order to escape. Then in a split second she went from eating the burger to what she considered to be a fight for her life. A quick yelp was given at first when the rope tightened around her neck. She had been startled but she only paused for a moment before she burst into action.

Strong forelegs were lifted as she tried to paw at the thing that tightened almost painfully around her neck. A hacking cough left her muzzle as she reared up on her rear legs like some sort of wild stallion might. Still, she was unable to free herself. The thing around her neck only seemed to get tighter the more she fought it's hold.

Then it was taking her down towards the ground. The power behind that rope was more than she could fight against as she found her head being pushed into the dirty concrete where she could no longer fight. She tried squirming away from the pressure but it was quickly becoming clear to her that it was no use. She only hoped that none of her family would hear the struggle and come running to her aid. She didn't want them to be captured as well. The boxer snarled when the man came into view from where she was stuck against the concrete by this contraption he had snatched her with. She tried to move away from the loop of rope that he brought towards her muzzle but it was no use. He managed to get the loop around her muzzle and all she could do is growl deep in her chest as her energy began to seep out of her. If only she were younger maybe she would have been able to free herself but that wasn't the case.

Ethan Rom

The fight was intense but brief, ending with the boxer struggling against the pavement in a futile attempt to escape her captor. Her choked growls were paired against Ethan's utter silence, her panic against his brutally neutral, uncaring demeanor. Like a machine, he worked to subdue her, tightening the rope around her muzzle, then lashing it around a few more times just to be sure it held. With no fanfare or curt words to shout at the boxer, he simply scooped her up, flailing or not, and hauled her out of the narrow alleyway.

It all happened so fast; one minute Dixie had been enjoying the taste of a luke-warm burger, and the next she was being stuffed into a crate in the back of a van a block away. A tight collar was fastened around her neck to make handling her easier later, and then the door was latched shut. The van doors slammed shut, and the old boxer was enveloped in darkness.