Wandering Mess known as Swamp

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Swamp wanders hopelessly. His tail drags behind him and he doesn't care where he is going. In fact, he seems to be going in circles. Mud, leaves and twigs are stuck to his fur and his lifeless eyes scan the surrounding area without even noticing details.

He glances around nervously and heads quietly for the area she pointed to. He crouches low and sniffs the air. The old feel of hunting suddenly returns to him and he can almost here Fellry's instructions. For a moment he closes his eyes and enjoys the feeling. When he opens his eyes again, he locates a squirrel. He creeps closer, being as silent as possible. Soon he leaps but as he takes the last step, the brush rustles and the squirrel returns to the safety of a tree. "Mouse dung," he snarls quietly.

She smiles and pads over quietly. "Try again! It'll come." She takes a glance around. "Hmm..." She closes her eyes and says nothing for a complete minute, then when she opens her eyes she dashes forward, and jumps, pouncing something. She turns around holding a fat vole in her jaws. Padding over, she drops it at a tree trunk. "How was that?"

He grins. "fantastic! See, your better than me." he tells her. An old move Storm once taught him returns to him. He knew it would take patience and might not even work, but it was worth a shot. After quickly looking for a good tree, he climbs up to a very low hanging branch and waits. If all went smoothly, some sort of prey would wander obliviously below him. Unfortunately he doesn't remember the part where this move never worked well in the past.

She watched silently. "Hmmm... I know think I have something similar to that move! Does it work like this?" She padded over to another nearby tree and jumped onto a branch. Looking below, she spotted a squirrel just on the other side of the tree. "Now chase that squirrel to me." She whispered to him. She waited on top of the branch.

He nods and leaps out of the tree. Going around to the right spot, he chases the squirrel towards Snow. The move is definitely more improved by the addition of a chaser. "Not a one cat move," he mutters under his breath.

When the squirrel is right underneath her, she leaps down from the branch and crushes the squirrel skull under the powerful force of her paws. She licks the blood on her chest fur and picks up the mangled squirrel. "I think that one needed a little work." She drops the squirrel with the vole she plucked earlier.

"Uhm yes... Storm showed me a variation of that move.. Only his way never really worked and took ages.. Usually until the hunter got bored. It was a sit and wait idea. Much better and faster. Well done Snow!" He looks around quickly. She's caught two pieces of prey and he hasn't caught one. Spotting something he slowly creeps toward it, pauses then pounces. However once again he comes up short. A nice plump bird flies off and Swamp comes up spitting out a grasshopper.

She smiles and pads up to him. "How about this..." She looks around and spots a mouse nibbling on a thread of grass. "Think fast!!!" She yells. She scares the mouse and it comes running straight towards Swamp.

Luckily, he managed to snag the mouse as it came towards him. With a quick jerk it's lying dead at his feet. "Thanks," he tells her. He adds the mouse to the pile and looks back at her. He quickly crouches and leaps at her playfully.

She widens her eyes then leaps sideways just in time. "Oh, no you don't!" She said, smiling. Picking up a clump of leaves, she aimed for his face and threw them at him. Giggling, she pranced around and stopped at an oak tree.

Swamp chuckles and dodges the leaves then charges after her. "I'm gonna catch you," he yowls happily. Again, Storm comes to mind but now its just a happy memory, not a searing pain in his chest. There were very little things that would ruin his joy. He creeps around the oak tree and leaps at her again.

This time she fails to dodge because she was giggling so hard and falls on a bed of leaves. She smiles and stretches out on the ground. "You got me, tiger." She was happy he as having some fun and planned to keep it that way.

He grins and rolls off her. "How can I catch you but not a squirrel?" he asks. "You weren't going easy on me were you? Or are my fighting skills just better than my hunting skills?" He knew it was partly for that reason he had stopped hunting. Because Storm had been the better hunter and had caught most of the food in the past.

She stood on her paws and stretched her back and front paws. "Nah, I was just laughing really hard and didn't see you coming. I think you're fighting skills are a bit better." She laughs once more. "Those cats better watch their tails." Ruffling the fur on her back, she winced down at the fractured-looking paw. "Oww..." She bends down and licks it, before sitting down with a thump.

He stops laughing as he notices the paw. "Did I hurt it more? I'm sorry... I forgot you were injured," he says. He leaps to his feet and looks around trying to remember what to do. "I wish I knew how to help..."

She nods. "That's all right. I've had worse injuries." She looks at him and shakes her head. "The only way to help is to let it heal, I guess. I've already done the remedies needed on it..." "So the best thing now is to let it heal." She smiles up at him and curls her silky white tail around the paw. "Thanks anyways."

He sighs. "I just feel so helpless. I don't know... It's just how I felt when Storm died.. In my heart I always knew he'd die if I didn't get the right herb. I tried everything I could find. Then earlier when Fellry died it was the same way. But Storm was here to help me get through it."

"It's always rough when someone you love or really care about dies. The most painful stage is getting through it. But you'll never forget." She smiles. "I'm sorry for both of your loved ones passing away... if you like, I'm quite experienced with herbs. I've healed my brother before when he had a broken leg with my bare paws." "I can teach you how to use them and what to do for another time or an emergency. Then you won't feel so left out." She smiles warmly and puts a paw on his shoulder. "I promise."

He looks at her. "Thank you. I'd love it if you teach me," he says. His stomach rumbles. "But right now let's have some food.. I'm starving!" He grins and goes over to the food and pulls his mouse from the pile.

She nods and notices how hungry she was too. "You're right! I was so stuck on hinting I forgot to actually eat what I hunted!" She said with a giggle in her voice. Walking over to the pile, she pulled the squirrel they caught together and sits on the ferny ground. Taking a bite from it's head, she crunches her teeth on the bones and spits the out. "Sorry. Those bones are really rough."

He laughs. "It's fine. rough bones aren't usually fun to crunch." He nibbles at his mouse but, despite his hunger, is too busy staring at Snow to really eat. He doesn't even notice he's staring at her.

She eats neatly and gracefully, and slowly adjusts her eyes up while she's eating. She blushes when she sees him staring at her. Looking back down at her prey quickly, she blushes more heavily and heavily.

He gasps a little when she looks up, realizing that he has been staring. He quickly refocuses on his prey and eats the rest without looking up again. When the mouse is gone he quietly says, "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare..."

She hakes her head. "It's fine." She smiles and finishes her prey. "Want to get back now?" She smiles and watches him. Standing up. she swished her tail back and forth and took a sip from a watering hole in the ground.

He nods, takes a drink from the watering hole, and then begins to head back through the thick undergrowth. On the other side he stops and looks back, waiting for her. "You coming Snow?" he calls back