A Stroll through the Mud (OPEN PATROL)

Shadepaw's nose twitched as his gaze darted back and forth between Mudfoot and Darkpaw, his amber eyes gleaming with faint irritation- although it was fine that Darkpaw decided to join the patrol, she could of found a much better way to announce her presence. Shadepaw did little to acknowledge the slight spike in tension, aside from flicking his tail before turning to stare at the looming mass of twoleg filth. "Hopefully I never get scolded in front of others like that." Shadepaw thought wryly, although his eyes remained fairly neutral. "Great idea Smokepaw, I don't know about you guys but if we stand around any longer, then my paws will be frozen to the mud!" Shadepaw quickly rasped out an agreement, his whiskers twitching with laughter at his own attempt to diffuse any ill feelings.

Dropping into a crouch, Shadepaw slid his forepaws out in front of him as he stretched out his spine, sighing in relief as he felt a reliving pop. Rising back to his paws, Shadepaw tasted the air eagerly- the foul, sour stench of the Carrionplace covered up most of the prey scent, but thankfully there seemed to be some fresh scents in the air. Shadepaw's belly rumbled at the prospect of catching fresh prey, and he eagerly shuffled his paws. "Should we hunt in pairs or split up and see what all we can find?" Shadepaw questioned Mudfoot, his nose stinging slightly from the bitter scents that rose from the Carrionplace.

OOC: K, here's how things are gonna go down (this is mainly for you Ham, so listen up). This is gonna be a normal patrol. No one fainting, randomly getting attacked by rats, falling off a cliff, etc. If you want to change or "liven things up" in the topic, you ask before you type. Got it?

IC: Turning away from Darkpaw, Mudfoot looked to Smokepaw and then Shadepaw. They definitely had a point, standing around was getting nothing done. "Hunt individually," he replied to Shadepaw with a nod. The tom had been through his fair share of hunting rats at the Carrionplace and decided for now, he'd observe how the apprentice's were doing with their hunting skills. "Hunting in pairs can be nice, but for now, it's best not to get in each other's ways," Mudfoot pointed out. With that, he squeezed through the hole in the fence and padding towards the piles of Twolegs trash, keeping his mouth open for any unusual scents.

Darkpaw lowered her head as his father scolded him. "I'm sorry, Mudfoot" She said. Her mood was quickly lighten up as Mudfoot announced they will be hunting. She sniffed the air for any sign of prey, and located a thrush nearby. The apprentice raised her nose high in the air and followed the scent of the thrush. The white bird was pecking at the ground and she could feel her tail twitch with excitement. She immediately dropped into the hunting crouch and pounced on the prey, killing it with a swift blow.

With her belly howling, she wanted to devour the food in her jaws. But no, she had to feed the clan first! She dug a hole in the ground and covered the fresh-kill with earth and padded on. Perhaps she could find more prey! The black cat lifted her nose but couldn't make out any more scents. I guess there will be more prey over there She thought and went towards a small bush.

Hunting alone, he could do that. Smokepaw was relieved at it, knowing that if he did miss any prey at least the others wouldn't hopefully see it. As long as he came back with some, then he would be good. As Mudfoot and Darkpaw headed off on their own, he dipped his head to Shadepaw before turning and going his own way. He tasted the air for prey as he crouched, sticking to the shadows of the piles of waste that surrounded the area.

Then, something caught his attention. The scent of a rat. His eyes narrowed as he located it, digging though one of the smaller piles for food. Little did it know it was going to become food itself. On silent paws he drew himself forward toward the rat, doing his best to weave around the trash that littered the ground in fears of revealing himself to his target. His tail didn't waver as he came to a stop a good distance away. Then he jumped. He landed right behind the rat, his paw quickly striking out to pull the rat from the pile and onto the ground where he quickly ended it without a sound.

He quickly buried it so that he could return for it later before heading forward to seek more prey.

After wandering away from the rest of patrol, Shadepaw managed to happen upon a rather plump looking crow that looked fatter than anything he had seen in days. Dropping into a neat crouch, he settled down to watch the bird graze about the forest floor, anticipation burning in his chest. Creeping forward ever-so slowly, Shadepaw slowly began to close the rapidly shrinking distance between the bird and himself; careful of the possibility of his paw sinking into the frozen, sludge-like mud. Despite his best efforts to remain completely unheard and unseen, something must of startled the fat crow for the next thing Shadepaw knew, the plump creature launched itself into the still, frosty air with a screech of alarm. "Fox-dung! There's no way it could of heard, seen, or scented me! I did everything perfectly!" Shadepaw snarled in his mind as he launched himself forward into a mad dash after the quickly-escaping-prey. With a grunt of effort, he gathered all his strength in his hind legs before hurling himself into the air after the bird.

A gasp of relief expelled from his lungs whenever his hooked claws met the flesh of the bird; he was so thrilled with himself for managing to snatch the bird mid-air that any thoughts of how his heavy form dropped like a stone and slammed against the mucky, cold ground were instantly cleared. Scrambling to his paws, Shadepaw finished on the crow with a quick bite to the throat, and sat huffing triumphantly with his heavy catch swinging from his jaws. "Not even Thrushstar himself could find a single flaw with this piece of prey! It's bigger than Smokepaw!" Shadepaw mewed to no cat in particular, his paws and ear tips no longer tingling from the cold, but from the exhilaration of the catch, and he hurriedly set off back towards the Carrionplace- eager to show the rest of the patrol the massive catch he made that now bumped awkwardly against his chest while its tail feathers dragged slightly in the mud.

Waiting for the apprentices to leave and start hunting, Mudfoot decided to follow Shadepaw first. He stayed a decent distance away, making sure not to disturb the younger cats hunting. After a few moments of watching and waiting, Shadepaw focused his sights on a crow that was feeding off of some Twoleg junk and wondered if the apprentice would be able to catch a bird, seeing it could probably fly away before he was even able to reach it. Unfortunately, taking another step almost ruined it for Shadepaw, for the warrior accidentally stepped on a weird plastic thing and the sound sent the bird flapping it wings in a frenzy of cawing.

Silently cursing to himself, he crouched down even lower behind the small pile of Twoleg waste that he was hiding behind. Peeping around it, he watched as Shadepaw successfully brought the bird down. "Good job!" Mudfoot meowed with a smile, jumping out from behind where he'd been hiding. "Even with it being spooked, you still managed to catch it and for that, I congratulate you," he added with a nod, glad that StarClan still gave the apprentice that piece of prey.

Shadepaw was startled when Mudfoot leaped out in front of him, but as soon as the older warrior began to praise him, the shock quickly faded into a warm glow of pride- this had to be the biggest piece of prey that he's ever caught. Shadepaw went to respond to the older tom, but instead inhaled several feathers and ended up dropping the fat crow and hacking violently for a few seconds while his ears burnt in embarrassment. "Thanks Mudfoot,"Shadepaw rasped as soon as his throat was clear of feathers, "I thought it was gonna get away for sure." He admitted, although his chest was still puffed with pride. "Hopefully the crow's alarm call didn't scare away what little prey is actually out today."Shadepaw thought worriedly, quickly scanning the undergrowth.