Felltree Marsh Don't Be a Stick in The Mud!

Walking through the unfamiliar area was becoming increasingly unpleasant as the wet ground was only becoming wetter, muddier, and dirtier as Leto progressed. She glanced behind her with a frown. Pepper shouldn't be too far behind now.

Considering it had been her idea to come this way it would be a bit embarrassing for it not to turn out well. She knew that Pepper didn't seem to mind the dirt, but they had come this way searching for packs; who in their right mind would settle a pack here?

She could only hope that there was something better on the other side, or that a wolf would come by while they were here.

Every placed paw was a gamble. He'd either sink knee deep, step on a thorn, or find solid ground. If they did sink in, the scent that arose from the hole left was putrid, like decay and shit. He didn't care for wetlands. Didn't like the bugs, the humidity, constantly feeling his coat heavy and wet. It was too dirty, even for him. He preferred dry, dusty places. 

He'd finished pissing, falling behind some because he'd really rather not expose Leto to that, then trotted forward, catching up to her a few moments later. 

"Place reeks. And I saw a spider 'bout the size of my paw back there."

His coat flinched, about three mosquitos flew off of it. 

"You sure this ain't yer home? Suits ya."

"Oh yeah - I grew up in that log right over there." Leto rolled her eyes, nodding to a dead tree stuck in the mud. With the dirt slowly beginning to cake onto her fur her spirits were lower than usual. They'd have to find somewhere to wash off after this.

They should just work through it. There had to be something on the other side. "Just deal with it for a bit longer, hm? Unless you're afraid of spiders." She snickered, flicking her tail.

The log did look surprisingly comfortable. For a frog. Which, they weren’t. 

He figured it would end eventually, and had never been one to complain. He wasn’t going to start now, no matter how bad this sucked. 

“Scared? Nah. Was just letting you know. Looked like you could use a snack.” 

He’d known wolves that would eat bugs. Always thought it disgusting.

She huffed in response to that, turning her head to glare at him. Unfortunately, her lack of attention to her steps ended with her front left paw in a particularly soft spot of the ground.

Leto stumbled forward, landing on her side in the mud. Great - now if they did meet a pack wolf their first impression would be a grumpy old man and her, smelling like a swamp.

"..Alright, this sucks. I'm done being positive." She grunted.

Pepper grinned at her, glad to see he was rubbing off. 

”Knew you’d come around. Pretty soon you’ll be just like me,” he joked. 

He agreed though. It did suck. 

He was careful with his steps, not wanting another thorn to gnaw out later, or a leg covered in muck. 

”Any reason we went this way?” 

It wasn’t a knock at her, he was genuinely curious.

She pushed herself up and out of the mud, shaking what she could out of her long coat.

"I'd been the other way before and didn't find much other than a wolf without a pack." Leto recalled the encounter, wondering how Kaaya might be doing now.

"I wanted to see what was over this way."

"Ahh," he started. "I'm sure we'll find one soon. Not here, definitely, but it won't go on forever."

He continued forward, seeing what looked to be a pretty dry area coming up, like an island, just surrounded by sludge. 

"We can stop there. Paws are killin' me."

Leto nodded, looking for the driest path to the island before taking her next few steps. Resting her legs sounded perfect to her - walking through mud was a good workout.

"What sort of wolves do you think would live in a place like this?" It was a silly question, but she was looking to avoid further groveling. "I swear they'd have to be completely hairless.."

He waded along. Thankfully the ground was mostly sandy here, though the disgusting brown water didn't make it seem so. He made it to the raised portion as she finished asking her question. The sand was soggy, but not under water. He laid down immediately, happy to have his weight off of his paws for a minute. 

"That's a good question. Y'know, when I was around yer age, my mother told me about a pack of wolves that lived in a swamp, like this one. Said they were covered in sores, missing fur, had skin hangin' off 'em. Like a walkin' carcass." 

He never believed the story, as he hadn't seen anything like that, nor would he believe that anything could be alive in that condition. He figured the real reason was because swamps were dangerous, and his mother didn't want him and his brother getting eaten by an alligator. 

After he spoke, he began chewing at his front paw, feeling the hard thorn with his tongue. He gripped it with his incisors and tugged it free. The relief was instant, and it didn't bleed much.

Naturally, Leto was a bit more naïve. She blinked at him, disturbed by the story.

"Could that really be possible?" She asked, making her way onto the small bit of land. The idea of the half-dead wolves made her wrinkle her nose. Why would anyone choose to live that way?

"Oh yeah," the large wolf said. "She said they only came out at night, couldn't talk like us normal wolves." 

He needed entertainment, and clearly the young wolf was buying this.

"Wait - why not?" She blinked, staring at him. "Did their throats rot or something?"

Leto was attempting to piece everything together in her head. Were they just sick? Or had they been away from other wolves for that long?

"Do you think there would be any of them here?"

”Some, yeah. Others didn’t have tongues. I’m sure some would try, but they were probably in pain, so they couldn’t do anything but wail.” 

He might be making it a bit too morbid now, but it was taking his mind off of the mosquitos that flocked to his face. 

”I’d say we best be out of here before sundown. They could be watchin’ us now, just waiting for the dark. Unless you’d want to join them. Yer lookin’ for a pack right?”

"No way! Maybe you could live in a swamp but I think I'd drop dead." She huffed. The teasing was warranted though - half of her was covered in muck after her earlier fall, and it certainly wasn't going to do blend in with her light fur.

She'd have to find some grass to roll in when they got out of the swamp. Caked on dirt was no fun.

”Well, then we should make sure we’re out of here by night,” he said. Zombie wolves or not, he wanted that more than anything else right now. And his mother was right—swamps are dangerous. 

He’d been working away at his paws, cleaning the mud off of them, and he’d noticed leeches had clung to him. Probably from deep within the mud. He chose not to disclose their presence to Leto. Unlike zombie wolves, they were very real, and very disgusting. She’d probably taken on a few herself. 

”Alright kid, you about ready?”

Leto nodded, pushing herself to a stand. "Definitely - I think the smell is making me sick." She decided, stretching her back legs out. Surely there was dry land close by.

"At least this'll be a good excuse to wash up - I feel like a colony of bugs is crawling through my fur."

Hopefully that was just a placebo effect and not real - but she would still have to check. She didn't want to risk falling ill, she was far from a herbalist and didn't trust that Pepper knew any more than she did.

Pepper almost laughed at her bug comment. He actually wasn’t sure if a leech was a bug or not. It didn’t really matter. They seemed buggy enough. 

He stood up as well, giving a half-hearted stretch, then standing upright. 

The sun was nearly directly above them, which meant they still had a good few hours of daylight. 

He was thirsty, but refused to dip his tongue in the sludge below. He could wait. 

He began walking in the direction they’d left off at, immediately regretting the decision when his paws sank below him, creating a disgusting wet sound when he’d pull them back out.

Leto wrinkled her nose at the sound, yet continued to follow suit. It would be difficult to make their way out without getting a bit dirty - there was no point in avoiding it with the state they were already in.

She began to clumsily hop through the mud in attempt to speed their way along - though it didn't really do much other than spray muck everywhere.

The large wolf looked behind him at hearing the ruckus. 

”Don’t tire yerself out, now. Think it’s slow ‘n steady on this one.” 

What he really meant was, he had no intention of stopping again until they were out of this, and he didn’t want her wasting energy for nothing. 

At this point, his nose was blind to the rank smell. His paws no longer registered the mud as gross, it just was how it was, and it’d be over eventually. 

He’d given up long ago holding his tail up out of it. It now dragged behind him, collecting leaves, sticks, and heavy with mud, which caked up in his fur. 

He was surprised they hadn’t encountered a snake at least, but aside from the leeches and the spider, they seemed to be alone.

She sighed in annoyance, but she knew Pepper was probably right - probably. She slowed her pace, following on the male's tail.

"Well, on the bright side of things at least we won't make the mistake of coming this way again." Leto grunted.

”Yep.” the large wolf said in reply. ”Done with swamps. Done with mud. And done with these fuckin’ mosquitos.” 

Those he hadn’t gotten used to. Everything else, whatever. But constantly flicking his ears, itchiness inside of his ears, around his underbelly, on his face—that shit was annoying. Luckily they weren’t too good at getting through his coat. But on the thinner areas, they had no problem. 

He supposed he was luckier than her, though. His coat allowed for dirt to blend. Hers did not. At all. She looked like an entirely different wolf. 

”Got any crazy stories from when you were a pup?” 

He was desperate to pass time.

"Nothing you would find very interesting." She snickered, yet she still took a moment to consider the question. It was better than walking in silence.

"I mean, I could tell you one about my brother. He tried to hunt a caribou on his own once - the thing was slow and sick. It's herd had left it behind too."

She smiled at she memory, flicking her tail. "The thing still outran him - I'd never seen him sulk like that."

She was probably right in thinking nothing would interest him. He was a tough crowd, but he was desperate. 

”If he’s anything like his sister, probably heard him from a mile away.” he said in reply. 

”How’d he fuck it up so bad? If it was sick, I can’t imagine it was a good runner.”

"Are you trying to say I'm a whiner?" Leto huffed, but she was quick to move on.

"I honestly couldn't tell you how he managed it - just a particularly bad hunter at the time I suppose. The snow was a lot heavier that moon as well."