Open Territory when pigs fly (or cars?) [exploring the monster tree]

[WOLFPACK]

AND I AM SORRY MY CONSCIENCE CALLED IN SICK AGAIN​

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"Interesting."

Mismatched eyes of ocean and dusk stared up at the abomination before him, not so much alarmed as he was confused. As a wandering stray who'd also had the benefit of being born and raised in a gutted out monster, Wolf knew that the things could leave the thunderpaths and end up in some strange places sometimes. He'd seen dead ones left abandoned on stones outside of the twoleg nests, or left forgotten in fields of weeds. He'd even seen a graveyard of them once, mangled husks left to rot behind a fence.

He'd never seen one in a tree though.

The thing was definitely dead from what he could tell, and likely had been for a while if he had to guess, but he had no clue how it could have launched itself that high into the air and speared itself on a tree like this. Hell, even the tree itself was weird. The massive oak was easy to spot against the barren stretch of tree stumps and brush, standing out from the pond pines and cedars scattered across the marshland.

"Only oak in the entire marsh, and it's got a monster stuck in it." he mused to the other cats in his patrol as he regarded the mangled beast thoughtfully.

"I might climb up there and check it out– if the things sturdy we might be able to use it somehow." he noted as he padded closer to the tree. "Not like it's gonna mind. Looks like it's been dead for a while."
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loner/future shadowclan - male - a large, monochrome chimera with mismatched eyes and several scars​

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[tansy]

"How in the world do you think we could use it?" There is, in fact, a note of mild alarm in Tansy's voice as she chimes in, gazing up at the mangled, beastly creature through round eyes. Her experience with monsters is more limited than Wolf's, having always lived a mostly forest-bound life, and she has very little knowledge of their behavior and biology. They're deadly, roaring things that can kill a cat in an instant - nothing she's ever been particularly interested in acquainting herself with in any capacity. Seeing a dead one is almost uncanny, and seeing a dead one up a tree is even more so. Had it not been so thoroughly, snugly entangled in the oak tree's branches like a victim to a mass of constricting snakes, she may have suspected it of lying in wait for unsuspecting prey such as themselves. Not that this is a particularly well-camouflaged spot to ambush from. How smart are monsters, though? What does she know?

Wolf's calm demeanor is encouraging, at least, though it's hard to let their guard down completely. I mean, he's right - it's obviously dead. Even so, she has zero inclination to join him and elects to keep watch from the ground. "I wonder how it got up there. It looks so weird!"

 

[VANILLAPAW]

Like Tansy, Vanilla had been born in the colony, forest-bound and not straying... But she does not express the same alarm that the other does as they all crane up to look at the mangled thing. It piques a certain interest in her as she sniffs the air- shes heard of monsters before, of the acidic scent it left behind on great expanses of bare (stone, if she remembers correctly?) but she cant smell any of it on this one. She narrows her eyes as she pulls back. I might climb up there and check it out, Vanillas ears perk. "I'll come with," she offers up quickly, wanting to seize the chance to explore the thing for herself.

"Birds might nest there. More prey." she responds back to Tansy; obviously, not a practical use, but the more they left it alone come snow-melt, the more inclined that prey may be to settle in the empty thing. Long-dead, now, like Wolfpack had muttered. Or maybe the prey would be just as scared of the thing...? Well, even so, it was a little uncanny to be staring at the corpse of the monsters shes heard in the older cats tales... Back when the colony was full, shes sure that a couple of them had been lost to the fearsome foes... What a fall from grace, her tail twitches behind her as she slowly approaches behind Wolfpack to get a better look.

 

[WOLFPACK]

AND I AM SORRY MY CONSCIENCE CALLED IN SICK AGAIN​

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The two shecats with him had very different reactions to the monstrosity snagged in the tree before them. It was almost amusing to see Tansy regard the thing with wide-eyed uncertainty while Vanilla offered herself up as a tribute to help him check it out. He hummed in agreement at the youngers suggestion, his time in twolegplace teaching him that prey would make itself at home just about anywhere.

"That tree's also one of the biggest in the area." Wolf noted, nodding toward their immediate surroundings. "If it proves stable, we could easily use it as a sentry post. I bet you can see right to the other thunderpath from up there."

The one they had crossed to leave behind Hawthorne and his followers. A good vantage point, for a cat looking for bodies slinking through the undergrowth, or even prey.

The marsh itself was a fairly open space– the trees were few and didn't grow as tall as the ones in the forest they'd left behind. Much of the ground cover came from shrubs and dense foliage that the cats used to their advantage. But in this area in particular, there was a noticeable lack of trees. In fact, among the tangle of bushes and tall grasses and large shrubs, one could find the remains of a forest cut down, stumps and logs left to rot. The oak and its monster stood in silent watch over it all.

"Come on. We'll see how sturdy it holds with some cats poking at it. I imagine we'll be fine though– if the wind and storms haven't been enough to knock it free, I doubt we'll upset things too much." he said, making his way toward the trunk of the oak and beginning his ascent. "You might want to stand back, Tansy. Just in case we knock anything loose.'

While he was confident the tree and monster would hold just fine, he couldn't promise they wouldn't knock down any dead branches or smaller parts of the rotting husk that might have come loose over the years.
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loner/future shadowclan - male - a large, monochrome chimera with mismatched eyes and several scars​

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