Croaking Swamp

[Undertaker]

Beyond the Icy Heartlands, the ground softens and transforms into accumulated layers of mud. The deeper in you go, the thicker the mud becomes and the marshy land becomes a wetland full of murky water. The saturated land keeps an enraptured meadow where masses of tree roots and wet mud make up solid, slippery, ground to walk on. The swamp holds a multitude of lengthy trees, resembling a forest, in its standing waters. Frogs and Toads can be heard singing and chirping here at all times of the day. Lizards, birds, and fish can be hunted here alongside the frogs and toads, among other prey, plants, and herbs.

[Spotty]

> Badgerscar @Morning!

With stren paw steps, the large tom trotted forward. With the muddy ground under him it wasn't too pleasant on his paw pads, but he had been here before when they had cleared this place of the otters, owl, and whatever other pests that had lived here before. But he had an apprentice now, and she would need to know the territory as well as him.

"This way." He grunted over his shoulder to Badgerpaw. "Here is the Croaking Swamp. It was to this place Dawnstar led us to fight when she picked out who would be the enforcers." His icy blue gaze surveyed the place for a few moments as she continued to show her around. "There's a lot of prey around since we haven't hunted here much before." After Badgerpaw had been given time to take in the view he opened his mouth again. "Any other location you want to see before we head back?"

[Karlos]

¡! Sunny'Leap | OPEN !¡

¡! Sunny'Leap padded into the swamp, not caring if her fur got wet or muddy from the marshy, dirty water. She was too old to care, 60 moons really gave you a crick in the neck!

The sound of frogs trilled in her ears, and Sunny'Leap turned, sharp claws sliding out of golden paws as she pounced, leaping - as her name suggested - onto the frog with grace and ease. Hm, surely this could fead a cat, stuff a kit, maybe? It was quite a nice catch.

Turning back towards camp, Sunny'Leap decided against returning straight away, instead finding a stray log that had probably once been a large oak tree, climbing onto it and sitting. Perhaps she'd eat the frog now, or would that be against the warrior code? She couldn't remember. ¡!

[Karlos]

|| Dust'Paw | @starry | just ignore the post above that was an activity post </3 ||

|| Remembering the way with ease as she remained slightly in front of Cinder'Deputy, Dust'Paw padded into the soggy swamps, the calls and songs of frogs and toads already flowing through her ears. Were they edible?

Hm, okay, the goal; kill some frogs or toads, and get some other prey, like mice or birds or anything like that, okay, easier said than done..! What kind of prey would live in a swamp..? Ravens of death or something? The thought made her chuckle, and she turned to Cinder'Deputy to tell him her joke;

"I doubt much prey would live here besides ravens o' death or something, don't ya think?"

Dust'Paw joked, a smile on her face as she walked. ||

[starry]

[ @FlowerBoy ]

Cinderblaze followed Dustpaw, surprised by how well she knew the territory. Soon they entered the swampland, earth dissolving into mud under their paws. This made him remember Frostpaw, and he couldn't help but let a small smirk of amusement form on his muzzle. How... interesting the young molly had been. What a shame that she was gone already, he wanted to see more of her. Perhaps their little arguments were even a little fun. Hiding his inner laughter, he perked his ears as Dustpaw spoke. Apparently she was joking, but the tom didn't recognize that. He wasn't really a jokester.

"Interesting," he replied, eyebrows quirking up. "Actually, there is prey around here. Birds, lizards, fish, and such things, I believe. At least, that's what I can scent." The deputy craned his neck to see if there was any prey that happened to stumble into sight. But nothing yet. The deeper they went, the thicker the mud became, and water seemed to emerge from the ground. Cinderblaze's tail shot up.

"We'll stop here," he instructed sternly. "If we go further, hunting will be to no avail. Tell me - what do you scent? I know I told you a list earlier, but one animal in particular currently stands out." As he sniffed the air, he could catch the strong scent of robin. Well, that'd be a good catch if they managed to get it.

[Karlos]

|| Dust'Paw | @starry ||

|| Okay, scenting.. easier said than done, she guessed, though Dust'Paw lifted their nose to the air and breathed in, closing her pine-green eyes to focus. Hm, frogs, mud, something.. feathery? A bird?

"A bird, I think, but I'm not sure what type. Pigeon, maybe?"

Hm, probably not. Dust'Paw took a few paw-steps forwards, continuing to scent the air. Nothing besides the previous scents, though she wasn't so sure of the bird being a pigeon. Something.. different.. but Dust'Paw had never smelled it before. ||

[starry]

[ @FlowerBoy ]

Cinderblaze shook his head. "Nope, not a pigeon," he mewed in reply. Maybe Dustpaw didn't know what a robin smelled like yet, or she just couldn't depict the scent correctly. Either way, the deputy decided to give her the answer so that they could get going. "Robin." He bunched his muscles, ready to hunt with the apprentice, when he realized she had most likely never learnt how to hunt. He would not judge her - that was a mentor's job, and if Cactuspelt didn't teach her anything it wasn't Dustpaw's fault. Plus, she was still a young apprentice... apprenticed at the meeting before his deputy announcement, if he recalled correctly?

"Show me your hunters crouch," he said gruffly, keeping his amber orbs focused on her. "Or do you know how to hunt yet? Birds are tricky... would you like for me to demonstrate, and then you can practice on a lizard?"

[Karlos]

|| Dust'Paw | @starry ||

|| Robin? Ah, okay. Dust'Paw thought she'd done pretty well, though. Surely the two birds weren't so different? The young apprentice had never seen a robin before, so they weren't aware of the differences or the similarities. They were both birds, didn't that make them practically the same?

"Not great at hunting.. I can crouch though. Isn't hunting just.. crouch-walk and pounce? I've seen some cats hunt a few ways outside of camp before. It looks fun, I'd love to hunt a toad. Aren't they like, really big?"

Well, big compared to an apprentice that was, but Dust'Paw wasn't sure. Dropping into a crouch, the brown and-silver-flecked cat stalked forward, pouncing playfully on a feather and then taking it in her jaws, standing, and then spitting it away. Dust'Paw wrinkled her nose in mock-disgust, sticking out her tongue. ||

[starry]

[ @FlowerBoy ]

Cinderblaze carefully listened to young Dustpaw's words. Alright, so she could crouch - that was a good kickstart to hunting. He tilted his head slightly as she asked if hunting was just crouch-walk and pounce. "Essentially that's it, I guess," he answered hesitantly. "However, you'll need to know and do way more than that if you want to be an efficient hunter. How about I show you on the robin, then you tell me what you observed and try on... a toad?" It seemed that Dustpaw was particularly keen on hunting toads, so Cinderblaze wouldn't take that wish away from her as long as they brought something back. Delicately, the maine coon dropped into a hunters crouch, moving forward slowly. The scent was basically in front of them.

The robin was flying low to the ground, extending its wings to the maximum. Although Cinderblaze preferred it when birds were simply walking along the ground, he knew this wasn't really possible for them in the marshlands. Quietly, he stalked up on the animal until he was a foxtail length away. Then he pounced, digging his claws deep into the bird's neck. When the prey was successfully dangling from his maw, he returned to Dustpaw.

"Alright. So, tell me what you observed and then try on a toad."

[Karlos]

|| Dust'Paw | @starry | my reply didn't save ||

|| Narrowing her pine-green eyes, Dust'Paw watched as Cinder'Blaze pounced on the bird, digging his claws into its neck. Woah, he even killed it while the bird was still flying! Now that get's the 'Dust'Paw stamp of Approval'!

"Woah! You're really good, do you think I could be that good? I hope so, I really wanna make my friends and my mum proud, and Dawn'Star, I hope one day I can be a warrior she's proud of,"

Dust'Paw gazed back towards the general direction of camp, seeking approval from her clan-mates and her friends. Maybe Hornet'Paw and Centipede'Paw could give her some pointers so she could extra impress everyone else!

"Okay, so, you stalked until you were around.. the length of me-ish away, then, you unsheathed your claws and pounced.. then then then, you.. sunk your claws into the birds neck? Robin, into the robins neck, I mean,"

Dust'Paw quickly corrected herself, StarClan, she shouldn't be messing up in front of the deputy of all cats. If Snowflake'Sight had actually come, maybe Dust'Paw wouldn't embarrass herself, or maybe the apprentice was putting more pressure on themselves.. maybe.

"So now.. I need to scent for a toad, then, do what you did!"

Lifting their nose to the air, Dust'Paw parted her jaws, drinking in the scents as the smell of a toad filled her nose only a few ways away. Dropping into a crouch, the young apprentice stalked forwards, the toad hopping out from behind a log so that it was now in her vision.

Unsheathing white, shiny claws, Dust'Paw leaped, her claws sinking into the frogs neck, though it attempted to retaliate, and Dust'Paw was forced to roll off so she didn't get nauseous. With a frustrated snarl, the young apprentice latched her claws onto the toad, pushing her claws as far as they could go until the toad stopped squirming.

Haha!
With a triumphant smirk on her face, Dust'Paw grabbed the toad in her maw, trotting back to Cinder'Blaze, though Dust'Paw had some small bruised from when she had rolled onto the ground, an a small cut littered her paw from scraping against a thorn. Ouch. ||

(( longer than expected oops