The calico warrior trudged through the mud, dreading the cleaning she will have to do once this is finished. "Watch your paws." she reminded the patrol members, mostly to Magpiepaw. She wasn't sure how experienced the apprentice was, but it didn't matter. She stopped and turned her head around to look at the cats.
"Let's split up." Pebbleshell decided. "I'll look over there, you guys find other places to look." she meowed. She hadn't bothered to ask if Magpiepaw knew how to hunt. If they didn't, they'll speak up. "Any issue before we get started?" she asked, tail flicking impatiently. Last time her patrol wasn't as successful as she liked and she wasn't letting this one meet the same fate.
Magpiepaw
She\Apprentice\SC
"Why pick them when I can do it so much better?"
Magpiepaw cooly shrugged her shoulders in reply to Pebbleshell. It didn't matter where she hunted, this would be a synch. Maybe even fun too! It was a perfect opportunity to show off, and that's exactly what she was going to do.
She trotted lightly on the mud, REFUSING to sink or get dragged under. She just groomed her pelt, no WAY was she about to get all dirty. Plus, grooming mud out of her pelt would be absolutely dreadful.
She first breathed in the scents around her, spotting some fresh trails of frog to the opposite side of Pebbleshell. Magpiepaw immediately dropped downwind, her obnoxiously long tail for her short hight now low to the muddy ground. She calculated each step carefully. Without her scent trailing in the wind, she was practically unnoticeable [Kittysoftpaws].
She swiftly leaped on the frog, feeling how it's slimy skin nearly slipped out of her claws, but she clawed it's eyes out before it could do anything! Sure... It hopped away a few times first, but she still got it.
The calico warrior trudged through the mud, dreading the cleaning she will have to do once this is finished. "Watch your paws." she reminded the patrol members, mostly to Magpiepaw. She wasn't sure how experienced the apprentice was, but it didn't matter. She stopped and turned her head around to look at the cats.
"Let's split up." Pebbleshell decided. "I'll look over there, you guys find other places to look." she meowed. She hadn't bothered to ask if Magpiepaw knew how to hunt. If they didn't, they'll speak up. "Any issue before we get started?" she asked, tail flicking impatiently. Last time her patrol wasn't as successful as she liked and she wasn't letting this one meet the same fate.
Sootspirit shook her head as a response to Pebbleshell.So far the usually ill tempered she at was in a good mood for this patrol. Everyone showed up, now they can do their own thing and hunt, the patrol leader seemed to know what they were doing, and Sootspirit loved hunting in the swamp. She loved frogs and toads, they were the strange looking prey and fairly easy to catch. Although the mud was sure to cling to her pelt, that would be a problem Sootspirit would deal with after the patrol.
The small black warrior trotted away from the rest of her patrol, making sure the distance was far enough away the other cats wouldn't disturb the prey she would hunt but close enough where she could still hear them if anything happened. She stopped to smell the air, the swamp had many smells that clung to hit but she was able to pinpoint what she wanted... a toad. She crouched low to the ground, her tail stilled and wiggled her hips to get ready to launch. She had timed her pounce perfectly and landed on the toad, biting it head in a satisfying crunch, the toad couldn't even croak a warning.
The swamp was a good place for a hunting patrol, she thought as she buring her prey and continued to look for more.
Chestnutfeather had ushered Sleepypaw out of the clearing, insisting that they leave without the missing member as to not waste anymore time. He seemed to be in somewhat of a rush, and as they entered the Croaking Swamp that seemed even more the case. He huffed as mud began to cake his paws, making him feel antsy and frustrated. He hated this place, and yet he was assigned to it. He didn't know if he'd prefer to do this journey alone or not. The apprentice had yet to make any sort of impression on him.
"Yellow flowers, and mushrooms that don't glow. You got that?" He asked, annoyance in his voice due to the texture issues he was having from the mud. "Let's find them quick. Any extra time spent here is practically torturing yourself."
...It was muddy. Very muddy. Sleepypaw didn't know how to feel about it, eyeing the ground as she methodically tried to walk upon the less dirty earth... Though with little result. An ear flickered in discomfort, every so often shaking the mud from her paws only for a new layer to cover them, her single white paw soon matching her other three black ones. She perked up at Chesnutfeather's words, idly nodding. Broom. Yellow bell-like flowers, bushes. And mushrooms... "Mama didn't say what mushrooms look like."
The newly made apprentice mewed softly, dully. "Do you know what mushrooms look like?"
She asked, to be sure. While she did not enjoy asking just anyone this, Chesnutfeather sure seemed to act like he knew what they looked like. Well, mama would let her know if they gathered the wrong mushrooms, but... It wouldn't be very good. Awaiting an answer, she began looking around at least for the broom; yellow flowers, bushes, bell-shaped. Whatever bell-shaped was. That couldn't be too difficult to find, against the murky background here.
She gave the two a brief nod as they headed off. Pebbleshell headed off into the direction she mentioned before and sniffed the area for prey. A slight sound caught her attention, and her ears twitched forward toward the sound of a lizard crawling through the mud.
She dug her softpaws into the mud and sprang forward, her claws unsheathed.
With a swift swipe of her paw, she slammed her claws into the lizard
With a quick bite to the lizard's neck, the prey went limp. She held her catch triumphantly in her jaws.
Sootspirit flicked her ears as she heard birds chirping nearby, she was less confident in catching birds but she decided she would try. She crouched low to the ground, keeping her tail still. A small pigeon was pecking around the ground searching for seeds. Sootspirit leaned into her haunches, preparing to leap but just as she adjusted her her step, she accidentally stepped on a stick. She leaped just as the bird flew out of reach and Sootspirit fell to the ground spitting out curses instead of feathers. Her tail lashed in frustration with herself. But a small chirping could still be heard from the ground.
Sootspirit turned to look at a small fledgling pigeon flapping about, its soft downy feathers still not strong enough for flight. Sootspirit didn't need to crouch to kill the helpless bird. A wave of guilt flooded over her for just a moment, killing a helpless prey didn't seem right but she pushed the thought away. She needed to feed the clan.
She "gentility" dropped the skewered frog on a nearby rock. If anything DARED to take it, they'd be met with her claws! Haha!
With not a second left to waste, Magpiepaw darted back towards another helpless little toad. Bumps and ridges rippled across its brown body. The toad gurgled anxiously before hopping away, small puddles of wet mud were quicked up wherever it's webbed feet leapt from.
Magpiepaw snarled at it. This guy really thought it could get away from her of all cats? Well, jokes on them for underestimating her! She was more than capable of drowning it's droopy face with their own blood.
Instead of breaking chase, she simply waited for the toads calm slow nature to resurface. Which, thankfully, didn't take long. But, that was probably because those idiots didn't even have half a brain.
She swiftly swiped at it with an unsheathed claws. This one didn't even struggle, but it made an awfully loud croaking noise. Magpiepaw didn't even look the least bit startled, she was more annoyed than anything. "Oh, shut it will you?" She snapped at the frogs sightless pupils before dropping it back on the very same rock. Unfortunately for her, she only had so much room in her jaws for holding these creatures. She'd probably only be able to take two more.
Well, might as well go out with a bang, right?
Tags: (sorry for any mistakes! I didn't proof read lol)
@nyx
@Maybi
__________________
❝Whatever will be, will be. Don't care what anyone else thinks.❞
-When You Grow Up, Your Heat Dies
She buried the lizard under some leaves and searched around once more. A tapping sound reached her ears, drawing her attention like a magnet. Her ears perked forward, swiveling toward the source of the sound—a small thrush, pecking at some seed on a rock. She sunk her body low, trying not to be spotted even though her pelt was easily spotted against the color of the mud.
She stalked forward and sprung out to the bird, her claws extending like deadly talons as she reached. The bird let out a small shrike of alarm before she bit down on its neck. Pebbleshell stopped it's warning cry and licked the feathers from her maw. Another catch for the fresh-kill pile.
The calico she-cat looked backwards towards the hidden lizard. It was still under the leaves as fair as she could tell. Her eyes turned to slits. She would catch one more thing, then she'll join the patrol.
Sootspirt paused her hunting to scout out the rest of her patrol. They all seemed to be doing well from what she could vaguely see. Mud was splattered in her pelt and she quickly did a quick grooming before it could dry too much. She had caught two things so far, a fat toad and a small fledgling, a meager catch so far and the small warrior felt somewhat disappointed in herself.
"There's still time." She muttered to herself quietly and she opened her mouth to take in all the scents of the swamp. Plenty of frogs to still catch, and they were easy to find.
The black warrior crouched low and crawled to the edge of a pool of water. She waited patiently until two beady eyes peered out of the water staring right at her. Sootspirit waited until the eyes dipped back into the pool when her paw shot out scooping the frog out of the water and into land before it could swim away. The frog flounder in surprise and before it could recover Sootspirit delivered a killing bite on its head.
She purred in delight. Now she had three things to bring back to her clan.
That's when she heard a bird. A stupid bird for that matter. Couldn't they see that predators were lurking here? They might as well want to die.
The fledging or whatever kind of bird it was hopped harmlessly on a nearby rock. It's yellow eyes looked unreasonably relaxed. Were cats the only animals with awareness around here? My goodness, this was almost insulting.
Even if the bird probably wouldn't see her if she just leaped at it, she knew what her previous mentor had said about respecting the prey and all that other bullfrog. Even though she thought that kind of talk was spiritual nonsense, she wasn't about to openly break the rule. Her father would've wanted her to follow orders, and she would because she's the best at absolutely everything! She will listen, and she'll listen well.
After a few beats of silence (and a few misses, but shhhhh, we don't talk about that) feathers were finally secure beneath her claws. Before she could split its throat, the bird managed to wriggle enough to scratch her forepaw with a free talon.
Magpiepaw snarled angrily. Without a second thought she immediately bit down on its neck, and hard.
She was practically blazing with fury. How dare that stupid bird scar her? But then she realized... Scar. She smiled as she saw a thin line of blood trickle from her front paw. She got a scar! Wow! She would've preferred it on her face, but this was good too.
Re: Croaking Swamp
