Croaking Swamp

[sock]

Originally Posted by Rabbiteye

Cloversun padded into a nicer part of the swamp, and sniffed the air.

Darkray's shoulders untensed a bit as the ground became less wet. "Much better." He grumbled.

[MockingRabbit]

Originally Posted by FredTheFrog

Darkray's shoulders untensed a bit as the ground became less wet. "Much better." He grumbled.

"Yes," Cloversun agreed.

[sock]

Originally Posted by Rabbiteye

"Yes," Cloversun agreed.

Darkray's ears perked as he heard a buzz. "Wasps nest." He grunted, gesturing to a tree near them.

[MockingRabbit]

Originally Posted by FredTheFrog

Darkray's ears perked as he heard a buzz. "Wasps nest." He grunted, gesturing to a tree near them.

"So there is," she said, pricking her ears.

[sock]

Originally Posted by Rabbiteye

"So there is," she said, pricking her ears.

"We should be careful." The black tom grunted.

[SplashyLumi]

Ratstrike quickly leapt at a small mouse, ending it swiftly. Turning around, he snuck up on a dry, yet bigger then average lizard.

[Spotty]

Badgerscar
@neptune

The Croaking Swamp laid beyond the Icy Heartlands, and the ground was covered in oddly soft mud. It was a strange place, even compared to Shadowclan. But despite its oddness and... Badgerscar lifted a paw that had sunken into a puddle... muddiness, it was filled to the brim with prey. Frogs and toads could be heard, and the ground was buzzing with various types of game. Lizards, birds, some small rodents that seemed to have gotten lost, even fish in the murky water if someone wanted to take a go at them. Badgerscar though wouldn't touch the Riverclan-food unless Shadowclan was already starving.

He glanced back, expecting for Ruepaw to have followed him as the young cat had been instructed. "Do you know how to hunt?" The apprentice wasn't all that old yet, and the Enforcer was unsure how much Ruepaw had learned already. Hopefully, Cinderblaze wouldn't have sent a completely inexperienced cat to hunt here.

[plum]

[ @Spotty ]

After delivering a completely justified comment to Cinderblaze, Ruepaw followed the other cat out to the swamp. He didn't seem all too interested in his surroundings, mostly just focusing on Badgerscar himself like a weirdo.

It was a longish trek though, and a gooey one at that. Every step they took, Ruepaw would swear he got dirtier and dirtier. It made him absolutely seethe, but he kept a cool exterior (as cool as could be). When they reach their destination, measured by some unknown unit in Badgerscar's mind probably, they stop (Ruepaw stopping after the older tom). Round, bright yellow eyes pierce the tom when he looks back, as if he'd already been staring for some time (he had). "No," he meows simply. After a moment of quiet, he tips his head to the side and smiles sweetly. "I've never been shown the territory or anything, Badgerscar. So sorry."

[Spotty]

Badgerscar
@neptune

A flick of irritation in large tom's tail was the only movement for a few seconds before he let out a quiet groan under his breath and crouched down. "You go down like so, your tail hovering over the ground and keep your belly fur from touching it, move forward and for the love the stars, keep yourself from stepping in any dry twigs and scaring your prey away. Remain downwind, so that the wind blows from the prey TOWARDS you, and not the other way around, and when you're close enough you leap and catch it in your paws of jaws. Kill it with a bite to the throat or brake the neck."

He hadn't come here to teach a child about killing and hunting prey, so after giving the short explanation (that Ruepaw's mentor would have to elaborate on, since there was still more to say about it), he stalked off, going to look for prey a bit further away from the apprentice (he didn't trust they could keep their paws away from the twigs) to hunt his own prey. He still kept close enough to be able to go and save the kid if something like a fox came along. But now he would focus on hunting.

[plum]

[ @Spotty ]

The tom seemed to delight in Badgerscar's irritation. Still, he refrains from further comment during the older tom's explanation, which was interesting enough. Still, when he is left on his own in the swamp, Ruepaw seems to slacken. No chaperone, no babysitter, no mentor. It certainly wasn't going to be a learning experience with this warrior today, that was for sure.

He pads off alone, not really looking for prey at this point. It wasn't all that often a warrior just let an apprentice wander on his own! Did they really think he was serious enough to try his paw at really hunting, without his first training session? Ha!

Ruepaw goes for a walk, instead, and finds himself standing on a fallen log watching some ants carry a leaf from a nearby tree across the ground towards some holes.