Gawain hated the swamp. It was sticky and slurpy and he felt like every step might drag him down into some unseen cavern. And last time he'd been here, he'd been chased off by a hippo, which had been a whole ordeal that he didn't wish to repeat.

But he sludged into it, because it was good practice. He moved as fast as he could through the muck which, admittedly, wasn't very fast. The mud weighed him down and he was sure he looked like a prancing pony as he tried to lift each leg up above the mud. Still, he kept his head up and kept on moving, looping around trees and trying to find a pattern in where dryer, more solid land would be.

+10- Practice speed or strength
+10-Leave a trail of confusing tracks

CODE BY LARS & ART BY MOG

+5 Practice hiding your scent
+5 Practice disguising your appearance
+5 Study the landscape of an area

He was getting back into the swing of actually getting around these lands, though as winter set in more and more firmly he regretted his decisions. The snow gave him nowhere to hide, and old joints ached all the more in the bitter wind.

At least the swamp was... slightly warmer? The mud that sluiced over him hadn't changed his natural coloration much, leaving him more of a brown than a black, but it did cover his distinctive puzzle marking and dull the gold of his mane. Not that age wasn't already doing that well enough.

This place was certainly useful for that, he decided, though it seemed little else within it had value.

He wasn't the only one out exploring the swamp, though. There was another male up ahead, one who seemed to be doing some sort of dance or just attempting to run in this muck.

"Ah, to have my joints work like that again," he called out with a deprecating grin as he approached.

@Gawain

He heard the newcomer before he saw or smelled him, yet another thing he disliked about the swamp. His ears flicked back towards him, then his body followed suit. He was very obviously uncomfortable in the muck, but he wasn't sinking into an inescapable void like he had originally worried he might.

The man's comment brought a smile to his face. "I've put a great many miles on these old bones, I'm trying to preserve them now as best I can. I've found akuamma pods help with the joint pain."

The seed pods had been a fairly recent discovery, one he made by watching an older monkey. He certainly had no qualms about sharing the knowledge, though he was no medic.

@Tobin

CODE BY LARS & ART BY MOG

+5 Practice hiding your scent
+5 Practice disguising your appearance
+5 Study the landscape of an area

Tobin smiled both at the genial greeting and the idea that the other male was also old. Well, maybe he was, but he certainly didn't look it. Some men got all the luck, he thought.

"I shall have to look for those," he commented. He hadn't considered going to see a medic for his issues, having simply chalked them up to a natural, unstoppable process. Idly, he scooped some of the muck up with a paw and rubbed it on his left front leg around his knee, continuing to coat himself and hide his true appearance and scent while also enjoying some of the cooling feeling radiating from the mud.

"I hear there are hot springs as well, perhaps I will have to visit those," he continued. It would be nice to be able to be physically useful again, not just an information broker. But ah well, time stopped for no one, even if he wanted it to. Actually, he wasn't sure he wanted it to.

He looked around, seeing the terrain the man was running around. "So are you using the mud to provide extra weight for your exercise or do you live around here?" he asked. He honestly wasn't asking from a place of digging for information, it was actually out of curiosity, but one could bet he would be tucking away the response.

@Gawain

"They grow in the jungle, so they aren't too hard to find." He watched as the darker man rubbed mud onto his legs, curious as to if he was trying to disguise himself or if there was some benefit to the mud itself.

"The hot springs are in the tundra. A medic recommended I give them a try, but I haven't made it up there quite yet. I think combining the two would certainly be a good idea, though."

His aches had certainly subsided since he started taking the pods. While they still existed, it was nice to be able to get up and go in the morning without feeling like his bed was a tar pit.

The stranger's question made him smile. "Partially for resistance. But mostly because I live nearby and I want to be able to navigate the swamp more quickly. I got chased by a hippo here once, and I don't want to be in danger like that again."

@Tobin

CODE BY LARS & ART BY MOG

"In the tundra," Tobin mused. Well that was all fine and dandy until you went to get out and the water froze to you. "One would certainly have to get out of the snow before it got too cold," he commented with a chuckle. He would also have to investigate the jungle for those pods he'd spoken of. It would probably be wise to bring any he found back to one of the medics in the Hollows, presuming they still had one there, before sampling it. He might not have much life left, but he didn't want to cut it short through his own stupidity in grabbing something poisonous.

So he lived in the swamp. Well that was a choice. But what followed that admission was what surprised him more. "And you lived to tell the tale, now that is impressive," Tobin said, honestly meaning it. Hippos were massive and fast, and getting caught by one meant death unless a miracle occurred.

@Gawain

Gawain chuckled at his tone. He'd felt the same way when he learned they were in the tundra. "A great way to freeze your mane," he replied with a grin. "If you're ever in the jungle I can show them to you. They're much easier to find in the summer and fall, best to stockpile them then, but I've managed to find a few in the interim." He didn't have a ton of the pods, but he wouldn't mind sharing a few. It was hard to be a lion with bad joints, no sense in making someone's life harder.

"There were three of us in the swamp. We saw some weird fruits or something, they were big and bright orange, and then a hippo burst out from behind them. We scattered in different directions to distract it, then helped each other get out and to safety. We live in the jungle, but it's so close to here that learning to move more easily through the swamp is certainly worth the effort."

@Tobin

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"At my age, it's likely to start turning white soon anyway," he said with a chuckle. Actually, he didn't know that to be the case for sure. Would his blond mane eventually be pure white? Heck, would he eventually be as pale as the marking on his shoulder? Hmm, wasn't that an interesting thought?

"I will have to make a visit once the weather warms up," Tobin confirmed. He didn't want to take them when they were more difficult to find, despite needing them more during the cold months.

"Hmm, maybe one could use those fruits as some sort of bait, presuming one ever wanted to hunt a hippo," he mused. It didn't seem like a good idea, but with enough lions and enough need it might be a plausible one. "Are you a member of the rainforest then?" he asked, that being the only pride he knew in a jungle. The mire counted too, but he didn't think the other man would be worried about learning how to get around in this swamp if he lived in the mire.

@Gawain

"I guess I'll see you again when the weather warms, then," he replied with a smile. As much as he wandered the jungle, it would be pretty hard to miss him.

The idea of hunting a hippo surprised him. Especially the idea of baiting a hippo to hunt. It sounded like a great way to get killed. But he'd hunted a hippo successfully before, with only a pawful of other lions to help. "Sounds like a task for pride lions," he replied finally. Maybe if you have ten or fifteen lions to help, a hippo would be no big deal.

"I'm not, though I'm on friendly terms with the firnen king. My family and I just live quietly in the jungle together. I'm slowly working up to putting together a band to protect them better. Prides are so terribly turbulent here."

@Tobin

CODE BY LARS & ART BY MOG

When the weather warmed indeed. Tobin had little desire to roam the lands while such a chill clung to them. Honestly, he wasn't certain why he was doing it now, but at least he had run into someone who had useful information to offer him.

"A band? Would you mind telling me more? I've never heard of such a thing," Tobin replied. He could guess at it, but he wasn't certain what the difference was between having a band and simply existing in the jungle like they seemed to be currently. "You're correct about the prides, I've been through several myself and it does grow tiring after a while. I'm an old man, and old bones like to rest in the same place." Hence why he'd begun to simply remain within the pride he had chosen to reside in and let the revolving door of leaders go as it wished. Except for his time at the Lagoon, of course. That had wound up being potentially dangerous for him.

@Gawain