[Rani]

Crowtooth
Windclan Tunneler/Fury | He/him | 51 Moons

Power Card: Cold Gust

The tunneler probably took a little bit too much amusement in the stumbles and bumps made as the two cats adapted to the dark but in his defense he was in their paws years ago himself and should they train tunnelers as he was not they'd probably feel the same. Plus they did really well for their first time, finding their footing with skill and quickly even with the fast breathing from Hawkfur Crowtooth could hear now that they were in an enclosed space.


Not that the tom knew what got his fellow fury so scared really, it was just the tunnels! Ah well, he seemed to be calming now and Hawkfur had time to relax as Crowtooth responded to Rabbitpaw.
"Im gonna be honest kiddo I aint ever thought o' tryin' that! Its a sound idea though, maybe you an' I can try it out later. Thats just the kinda thoughts that'll have ya go far in the tunnels though! Be creative an' clever as long as yer cautious about it." It was just this kinda of 'what if' thoughts that'd made the elder tom when he was first trying to find his place in the world with no training to navigate the dark. Be clever and always wary and you'd go far down here.


On to the next topic though!


"If yer startin' ta feel confident wit' movin' around we can start talkin' prey!


As Ive told ya before Rabbitpaw the tunnels are important fer keeping the store stocked in winter, as most o' the prey we hunt spend most o' leaf bare sleepin' down here. If we only hunted above we could go hungry, especially if a storm happens an' goin' out becomes dangerous 'cuz we can always dart below as long as we 'ave tunnelers!


The prey is mostly the same as above; rabbits, voles, moles, gophers, mice an' more rarely the occasional squirrel an' chipmunk, fer some reason. But we also get some critters not often found above! Groundhogs an' prairie dogs fer one but we also get these little snakes sometimes that dont even hurt when they bite, only the size o' a gopher really.


But ya need ta keep in mind huntin' down here is very different then above. There aint no stalkin' prey or much stealth down here, so instead ya gotta be clever.
One major example is vole/mole wallin'!"
The tom finally stopped after leading the cats on a steady trek through the tunnels, occasionally stopping at a junction to feel for claw marks he used to plot routes he didnt have memorized.



This particular spot was fairly shallow, not to much distance from the surface and as they walked one scent in particular grew stronger. Vole.


"Alright so this is a staple of underground huntin'. Ya can smell vole? Its 'cuz theyre here, theres a burrow full o' them somewhere in these walls an' the goal is ta catch 'em." The tom shrug went unseen as he drawled "Its honestly pretty easy though. Press yer ears ta the walls when ya smell voles in the tunnels until ya hear faint scratches an' squeakin'. Then ya dig claws in an' dig voles out, grabbin' an killin' 'em when ya feel/hear one bein' dislodged. Easy an' low risk as long as yer occasionally stampin' dirt in so what yer diggin' out remains stable.

Its also low reward though, voles/moles/gophers are small so ya need more ta be worth it."
Common sense really, two grown cats could easily share a rabbit if not too hungry but it was impossible to split small prey like mices and the prior listed group.



"Now we can give this a try or I can skip ahead an' take ya faster ta a rabbit warren ta teach ya how groundhogs an' rabbits go, catch some there an' all."

Their choice really, it was a matter of how ok they were at spending a long period of time down here.


@Mica @Dolomedes