Frogspawn Swamp Wanna go giggin' frogs?

Set after this thread

Lokie was excited to have someone to explore with. He had initially wanted to check out the woods with @Connor, but going through them, they didn't find anything that held Lokie's attention for very long. So, they passed through, and found a swamp instead. Lokie was instantly excited and didn't hesitate to dive right in. His ears swiveled this way and that, taking in all the noises of the frogs. He had never heard so many in all his life!

He spotted one and went after it, but he was not nearly fast enough for the escaping creature. But, where that one left, another one was spotted. Lokie went after it next, and was closer, but still missed. Get back here! he exclaimed funnily. He was hopping through the shallow water, not unlike the frogs he was trying to catch.

The pair had just arrived at a new place, the smell filled his nostrils to which he instantly flared out and give a quick shake of the head. He also noticed that the land was starting to become a marsh, the man did not take a liking to this sudden change in landscape at all but of course, Loki didn't seem to mind. Connor stood in his place as the marsh seem to swirl around his coal tipped paws, he wrinkled his muzzle in disgust as he pinned his ears back and did his best to find a more solid location. The man had no standards when it came to land but he admitted that this was a little much for him, he had at least found some sort of ground but he told himself that he will just have to get used to it. Connor gazed back at Loki who was childishly chasing frogs as they sprang away from the male, Connor watched with amusement as he could only sinisterly think, with the amazing prediction skills I foresee this going wrong in some way, he smirked to himself.

But Connor wasn't cruel, we wouldn't want his new best friend getting seriously injured so he kept an eye on Loki as he played with the creatures of the swamp. The man commanded the frogs to get back here as he persisted them, Connor watched with interest as he wondered if one would get caught by him. However his attention was caught off as one of the slimy frogs flew past his face, the man stood there dazed and surprised but he shook his large head and regained his senses. The large male traced his surprise visitor as saw the frog leap from place to place, he then gave a cheeky smile as he couldn't help but succumbed to his playful personality and he began to give chase to the frog. Connor was bounding like a deer as he kept slamming his paws on the marsh when he thought he caught the frog the little creature kept getting away, he then continued to persist the frog like an unfocused child.

Lokie was so consumed with his own frogs that he didn't realize this may not be Connor's ideal place to hang out. By the time he looked over to see what Connor was up to, the other male was already on the chase. But, as he watched, Lokie's prey changed. He grinned and lowered his ears as he started slowly towards Connor. 

His steps were careful, until he couldn't hold it in anymore and bounded towards the other male. His intent was to pounce on Connor in play. He didn't think his friend might not like it, he just went for it, as he did everything in his life.

Connor was too caught up with catching a frog to notice that Loki had stopped his chase and turned his attention towards him. The large male kept splashing around the swamp like a kitten chasing after a red laser dot in an attempt to catch the frog that taunted him. Connor was oblivious that Loki was stalking him like a mountain cat that was seeking its prey, and he continued to chase the frogs around the swamp. But the moment surprised Connor as he was suddenly knocked off his feet with a weight crashing into his side and his large mass came tumbling down with a large splash. His first instinct was to react with snapping jaws as if someone was attacking him, but luckily he restrained and used his eyes instead of his instinct and saw that it was only Loki. Connor felt relieved but he was still in a little bit of a state of shock as such a smaller wolf was able to tackle the larger man.

But Connor saw this as a plaything since he would do the same thing with the other wolves in his old pack long ago so it didn't bother him. Connor gave a cheeky smile at Loki, "so that's the way you want to play it huh?" he taunted. The large man had to keep in mind that he was larger than Loki was so he pulled back his strength. Connor swung his soaked leg around and planted it in the marsh as he launched himself upward to get Loki off of him, he then leaped to his feet and landed near Loki with a great big splash as he put his large paw on the smaller male's body, but with light strength, "Ha! Pinned ya!" he boasted playfully.

Lokie hadn't thought at all that Connor might react to his play with anything other than ellation. Lokie had a one track mind, and consequences didn't much play into that. Thankfully, this time he was right. He grinned and wagged his tail as Connor threw some banter his way. Yeah, bring it on squirt! he chanted back, a ridiculous insult since it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Connor was no squirt at all. 

Lokie was easily thrown off of Connor as the male brought himself. He retreated a few steps, growling playfully as he waited to see what retaliation he would be given. He was expecting the splash, and had to close his eyes to shield them from the spraying water. It was easy for Connor to then get him to the ground and pronounce him pinned. His tail thumped the shallow water as he jaws opened in an effort to go for the leg that was holding him down. He wouldn't chomp down on it, but he did at least want to get ahold of it and try to pull Connor off his balance.

Connor's victory over his friend was short lived as the paw that held down Loki was being chewed on. The Titan male looked down on him with raised eyebrows, but before he could react, he had felt he was going to sink into the swamp. He had to act fast, but Loki's attempts at trying to throw off Connor was successful, he felt his back paws sliding forward and he looked like a grizzly bear on two feet. The man's eyes widen with shock as his front paws began to flail like a bird trying to take off. He was off balance and he soon found himself tipping backward and there was no stopping him.

"uh oh," was all he could say as soon as his back was far enough, his back paws flew from under him and everything seemed to happen at once. He came crashing down with a large tidal wave splash as he collided with the ground. Thankfully, the ground was soft and didn't hurt but it felt like his organs had jumped out of place for a second and he laid there a bit dazed and surprised.

With Lokie so much smaller than Connor, he didn't think he would ever have the upper hand unless his friend gave it to him. It didn't matter to Lokie, though. He was naturally submissive, even in play. But, the tables were turning in slow motion in front of Lokie's eyes. Connor began to slip, and Lokie let go of the paw he had been chewing on. His eyes widened as he watched Connor's front legs flail. Lokie scrambled to try and catch one to prevent Connor from tipping backwards, but the muddy waters made it impossible to get to one's paws quickly. They kept slipping out from under him, and before he knew it, Connor's body sent a wave of water splashing over Lokie. 

Lokie's eyes shut against it, but opened as soon as the water settled. They sought out Connor immediately, who looked to be frozen with shock. He looked alright, though. He was screaming in pain, so Lokie assumed he was alright. He looked hilarious, though, and while tried to hold it in, the laughter came bubbling up out of him.

The swamp water was quickly beginning to swallow his back, Connor blinked, the mush from the swamp that he laid in had knocked him back to his senses. The spots that had once clouded his vision had disappeared and he could finally see where he was. The titan's ears shot up as they honed in on the sound that was coming out of Lokie, his best friend was laughing at his predicament to which Connor scowled. The cinnamon wolf flared his nose as he tried to move his body upward but his attempts looked like a turtle upside down and flailing its arms around. Connor slammed himself on his side with the swamp water flying, he managed to get a firm paw down and haul himself onto his paws with the marsh water oozing from his fur.

The man flashed a look at Lokie who was having a ball with what just happened, he squinted his eyes at him and then proceeded to give his fur the most powerful shake he could possibly give. More swamp water sprayed everywhere, and Connor was aiming towards his giggling best friend. However, he wasn't done with his revenge, he wasted no time and he raised his front paw and slammed it into the water, creating a tsunami towards Lokie. Connor gave a sinister giggle with his teeth showing, he found this amusing.

The scowl that was thrown at Lokie only served to increase the laughter. And then when Connor had trouble righting himself, Lokie began to rock back and forth with the force of his laughter. It was just so funny watching such a large wolf wiggle around and scramble trying to get himself up. 

Muddy water droplets began to fall only Lokie, which paused in his laughing to see where it was coming from. Connor. Well, he was shaking his fur off. Surely he didn't mean to splash Lokie. So, chuckling, he let it go. But, Connor quickly proved him wrong as the other male sent a wall of water flying towards Lokie. The playful male got a heavy dose of his own medicine as the water soaked him. 

But, being the light-hearted male he was, he didn't get upset. He did, however, set his sights on Connor. With the intent in his gaze, and a grin on his maw, he arose from his spot, not bothering to shake off the water. Quickly, he made his way to hs friend, his intent to pounce on him. Unfortunately, his back paws slipped, and he only managed to slid across the ground. He came to a stop just before Connor, and he looked up at his friend, an innocent smile plastered on his maw.

Connor readied himself for the pounce from Lokie, the man puffed out his chest enough for him to look like a puffer fish, his eyes bugged out but his pupils focused on Lokie. His face cheeks were full of air and his ears were forward, his legs were spread to better his stance, he looked really silly but it was intentional. The smaller male had begun to make his charge at Connor, the cinnamon male lowered his head, ready for his attack. However, Lokie seemed to slip, and his friend skidded along the marsh towards him, Connor craned his neck up as his emerald gaze followed Lokie where he landed right in front of him. The titan let out his built up air and deflated like a blow-up castle, he looked down on his friend, who was giving him an innocent smile.

The large male grinned, his fangs showing, his eyebrows knitted, he gave a playful evil chuckle, "oh how unfortunate for you my friend," he said with a sinister tone. Connor wasted no time and leaped to his paws, he used his head as a batting ram and went low enough to go for Lokie's chest, but he didn't hit him hard. The titan male hovered over Lokie as his body splashed into the water, Connor began to playfully paw at him like a domestic cat.

Lokie understood that look, and the verbal warning that came with it. He did his own scrambling to get up before Connor landed his blow, but Lokie failed. Thankfully, this was all in play, and when Connor rammed it, it only slid him a bit before he stopped. His friend began to paw at him, and Lokie's muddy, wet paws flailed in response. He attempted to smear some mud on Connor's cheek to distract him a moment. 

Lokie turned himself upright, but didn't stand. Instead, he went for Connor's front legs, trying to gnaw on first one, then the other, in an attempt to trip him up. He growled playfully as he maneuvered, and his tail wagged, his body language reminding them both that this was play.

Connor was giving playful growls at his best friend as his paw flailed in front of Lokie's face. His best friend who was flailing his paws in return, with one of his muddy paws had smeared his face with mud and it quickly stained. The man closed his eyes for protection and was thrown off by this move, Lokie had successfully turned himself to a more stable position and began chewing on his leg with playful growls. Connor opened one of his eyes, he could see Lokie was attempting to get him down, Connor complied. "Oh, my beautiful face!" He said with a silly but overdramatic voice, he lifted his free paw, which made his stability more brittle, and he managed to lift his paw high enough to wrap around his muzzle. "Tis the end! I cannot be seen!" He continued with a silly posh voice.

Connor finally gave into Lokie's attempts and with his paw still on his face, he toppled sideways with a large splash. The water and mud sprayed up and fell like rain, though Connor was careful to not take Lokie down with him, the man laid there, pretending to be dead as the water quickly soaked his cinnamon fur.

Lokie was successful in getting a muddy print on Connor's face, but he wasn't prepared for his reaction. It was an dramatic, playful overreaction, and Lokie couldn't help but laugh as he continued to try and get Connor off his feet. Connor lifted one leg, and a few moments later, went splashing back into the water. 

Lokie expected his friend to try to get back up, but he just laid there, still. Lokie's laughter gradually faded the longer that Connor laid there. He rose to his feet, ears perked as he went to sniff Connor's face. Connor? he said softly. He didn't think to just look at his chest to see if he was breathing. Instead, his brain immediately went to something horrific. He whined, attempting to nose at Connor's jaw to wake him.

Connor laid there, he dared not to move as he wanted his surprise to look real. However, Lokie's laughs from his fall seemed to slow, his voice was soft and full of concern. The man felt bad about the prank he was going to pull, but he figured that Lokie would go check his heart as any other normal wolf would do. Instead, his friend came up to him and began to nudge his jaw with his wet nose a whine. The titan male wanted to spring up and tell Lokie that he wasn't dead and this was a joke, but he restrained. The cinnamon wolf was still breathing, but Lokie didn't seem to notice that, but Connor did slow down his breathing to make it look at least believable.

The man's moment had come, Connor flashed his jade orbs open and thrust himself upon his coal-tipped paws, followed by a playful scream. This jerk was so sudden that he again splashed water everywhere. Connor towered over his friend with a high wagging tail with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, he was hoping that Lokie would see it as a joke as much as he did. However, Connor would still and always be worried about his friend's feelings.

Connor still didn't move, and Lokie began to paw at the ground a few times by Connor's neck. Not that it would help a darn thing, especially if his friend was really dead! But, Lokie was not thinking straight. He whined again, fearful that he would never see his friend rise again. 

He was just about to bark when a burst of energy came of Connor. Lokie fell back in surprise, his wide eyes looking up to Connor as his friend looked pleased with his joke. When Lokie realized he had been fooling, his face fell in sadness. His expression turned to one of betrayal, as if he couldn't believe Connor would do such a thing,

Connor's tail wagging had ceased, his face froze and his tail slowly began to drop, so did his face. The man put back his tongue in his mouth and his gaze softened with his eyebrows knitting upward. Guilt had begun to twist in the male's gut and heart, he thought it was just a foolhardy joke, he didn't account for his friend's feelings on the matter. Connor looked at his friend's face it was sad, but then took a turn of betrayal, he didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Lokie?" he began with a concerned tone, he felt ashamed, "I'm sorry, I thought that you would have checked my heartbeat," he said with guilt. Connor felt as though he shouldn't have assumed how his friend would react to this. The man lowered his head slowly, his emerald gaze was thoughtful and kind, he didn't want to scare his friend this bad, Connor thought that his friend would catch on, but that was his fault.

Connor seemed to realize that Lokie was not taking this well, and his demeanor changed. He was no longer laughing, and he looked more concerned. Lokie let it go on a few moments before his own expression changed to something akin to Gotcha! 

Lokie started to laugh. It serves you right for trying to joke that you're dead! he said playfully. Deep down, he truly didn't like the joke, but he was not one to hold grudges. He would always try to turn a serious situation playful.

Connor's gaze widen, he eagerly awaited his friend's response, the suspense was killing him, I can't have lost my first friend already! Connor wanted to whine and slump, his gaze dropped and his ears pinned to his head. The titan male's eyes looked up to see that Lokie's expression had changed to something cheeky, his black-tipped ears slowly rose up as the cogs in his brain started to turn. Oh you son of a,- he thought as Lokie began to laugh. His friend told him that it served him right for playing jokes like that to which Connor gave a hard scowl and flared his nose during Lokie's ball of laughs. Connor looked to the side a little while scowling, his bottom lip was out making him look childish.

But his gaze softened, and he closed his eyes and began to chuckle, "my mistake," he said as he rose his head up and moved his eyes to me Lokie's. "Don't play with my emotions like that, that simply hurts," he said in a playful high pitched voice as he rose his head and proceeded to look snooty. But Connor didn't hold that expression, he simply gave one laughing sigh as he lowered his head back down a bit and turned his muzzle back to Lokie, "ah well, friends do that sometimes, especially in my old pack." He said while he sat down on his haunches and proceeded to scratch his neck with his hind leg. He then put his leg down and drifted his head past Lokie, "where do we go now?" He asked with a sigh and an ear twitch, he was ready to get out of this disgusting place.

It was obvious that Connor was struggling with his reaction. He scowled and looked away, but a moment later it seemed to relax. Lokie's tail thumped in the water, as he assumed that meant all was well. Well, not completely. He nosed his friend, I won't if you won't, he promised. It seemed neither of them really liked that joke, but Lokie was sure it was simply a learning moment about each other, and they could move on from it. At least, he could.

Lokie looked to the horizon around them as his friend asked where they should go next. He shrugged, Wanna head east, over the mountains? he asked. Some wolves would avoid mountains if they could, but since Lokie had lived on a mountain, he felt quite comfortable going over them rather than around them.

The cinnamon male looked at his friend thoughtfully as he said that he wouldn't if he wouldn't and Connor agreed, "besides," he began as he stood to shake his fur, "it takes a lot to bring me down!" He said with confidence, his orbs filled with confidence and reassuring to his friend. Connor's ears swerved over to Lokie who had suggested that they would head East towards the mountains. The man would love to see the mountains, the feeling of home was strong with him, but something tugged at Connor, a longing to broaden his knowledge on landscaped and how to get used to them.

"The mountains sounds nice," he started, "but I think it would be in our benefit to head South, so I guess, open opportunities to explore unknown land so that we have better knowledge on what we might have to deal with." He finished and shifted his gaze towards the smaller wolf, he really wanted to be prepared for any type of terrain, he didn't want to feel like a lost pup that didn't know what he was doing if they came across a land that they didn't know how to cross. The large man began to head towards the South, but he stopped in his tracks and looked back at his friend, "sorry I just wanted to get out of that spot," he stated truthfully. "Do you want to head South?" he asked him, he didn't want to be the dominant decision maker.

Lokie gave a chuff of amusement as Connor declared he was not easy to fall. It hadn't seem to difficult here! But, Lokie didn't voice that. Instead, he let the conversation move on. Connor was open to the east, but it seemed he would prefer South. As it didn't much to Lokie, he would agree.

Before he could, Connor started off. Lokie jumped up quick, Wait for me! he hollered, as if Connor might leave him. Connor explained he wanted to get out of that spot, and Lokie nodded. No worries, he assured. We can head South, he agreed. With that, he would travel mostly by his friend's side, though his nose would have him going in a zigzag manner instead of straight.