The Way It Shapes You [P]

**Abyssopelagic** · #1 May 14th, 2022, 03:03 AM

Huh, so Bounceberry was gone? A shame, she'd liked him and how much he proved to be a thorn in Dawnstar's side. Even if the Maine Coone molly hadn't been her problem for some time, there was no denying she, in a strange way, enjoyed each small inconvenience to her.
But now there was a new Medicine Cat, with inexperienced paws in need of guiding and she was happy to welcome Elmshadow to his new rank.
She invited his subconscious to visit her, so she may speak with him.

(Sorry it's short lol)
@Ravensong

**Pitou** · #2 May 14th, 2022, 03:37 AM

**Elmshadow**

@Rainquail

The move into the medicine cat's den had been a change. Elmshadow still hadn't decided if it was a welcome one or not. It wasn't often that the nest around him was cold as he drifted off to sleep but he figured it'd be a feeling to get used to, more so with Goldenstep being gone. His mate leaving his clan was just another reason he was honored to accept Dawnstar's offer to take on the responsibilities of Medicine Cat. Though Dawnstar made it clear that she would not hold the new medicine cats to the no mate or kits rule allegedly set forth by Starclan, so he wouldn't have been asked to give up his mate anyway, with her disappearance the duties of medicine cat gave him something else to occupy his mind with rather than useless wonderings of where she could be or why she left. He'd done all he could do, there was nothing to be gained in dwelling on it.

The dark tom had barely closed his eyes before he was opening them again. He hadn't expect perfect sleep for his first night in his new den but some sleep would've been nice. He sighed and opened his eyes, it wouldn't be the first time he'd gone without sleep. He took a brief pause, however, as he realized he wasn't in his den at all. Realization was quick in coming, not needing to consider long how he'd gotten from his nest to unfamiliar forest. He'd heard of Medicine cats' unique connection to their ancestors but wasn't sure what exactly that'd entail. Looking around, his green eyes stopped on the figure of a cat. He recognized the pelt but he couldn't quite place it directly. Sitting down, he faced the she-cat. "Are you the one who's brought me here?" He wasn't sure how it all worked but he figured it was a safe bet that he hadn't just ended up in this exact place with an apparently expectant cat.

**Abyssopelagic** · #3 May 14th, 2022, 05:45 AM

She didn't know anything about Elmshadow's situation with his kits or mate, that he wasn't forbidden from keeping them, and it might be best she didn't. As it was, she couldn't quite get over how bitter she felt about having to give up her family for the position, the incidents fresh in her mind with her memory regained. Perhaps her family wouldn't have disappeared, maybe she'd still have something left for her had she never accepted.
Part of her still recognized him as a kindred spirit, but couldn't place why, and certainly wouldn't have thought parenthood would have been their shared connection.

"I did. From my understanding, you have recently been named ShadowClan's new Medicine Cat."
She smiled at him warmly, before introducing herself. "My name is Coldamber, I once was a Medicine Cat as well."
She purposefully left out which Clan she herself hailed from, she wanted to help, her ties in life meant little now, and she didn't want him to pull away and refuse her help because of it.
"And as the age old tradition seems to be, you've been left this position without training and without prior oversight." Her expression momentarily soured, just remembering the number of times this very thing has happened.
Even with her training with Coyotesnarl, she might as well have been left on her own with what little he taught her. From her understanding, it was about the base knowledge most warrior's had and remembering it left a taste in her mouth. Not only did it leave the new Medicine Cat with more stress, balancing healing their Clanmates but now having to find someone willing to train them, it left the rest of the Clan in a dangerous position.
"I brought you here to share what I know with you."
She paused, allowing him room to object, but she didn't believe he would.

@Ravensong

**Pitou** · #4 May 14th, 2022, 07:38 PM

**Elmshadow**

@Rainquail

Coldamber, the name felt about as familiar as the rest of her. Elmshadow squinted slightly, attempting to place her in his memory. An eyebrow lifted at the information that she'd been a medicine cat. The only medicine cats he could recall in Shadowclan had been Ebonyfang and Bounceberry. His eyes narrowed suspiciously though it crossed his mind that the name could be familiar just in passing around the camp. Regardless, she was offering to teach him what she knew so he didn't see much of a reason to turn her away. Though, without knowing her origins in life and thus her true intentions, could he really trust her and the knowledge she shared? He realized he didn't have much of a choice; he couldn't be turning away the limited sources of help he was dealt being thrown into the medicine cat position after 32 moons of training and living as a warrior. He decided he had nothing to lose letting the she-cat speak; he could take the knowledge she shared and experiment with it before using it on his clanmates to ensure what she said was true and not dangerous or misleading.

Luckily his time as a warrior, and receiving his fair share of wounds, had given him at least some form of understanding on how to use cobwebs and poppy seeds and his multiple litters introduced him to the world of kitting. Unfortunately he'd never paid much attention to what and why the medicine cat was doing what they were doing other than to listen and carry out their instructions. He took a deep breath, that was why he was here. Making up his mind, he let his face fall stony again and nodded towards Coldamber. "You are correct. I have been asked to take over as Medicine Cat with no knowledge or training. I would appreciate anything you have to teach me so I can be the best I can be for Shadowclan. But I must ask," he made a point to meet the former medicine cat's eye. He wasn't sure if he could trust her or not and he wasn't sure what she could say to remedy that without him seeing it all for himself but it was better than nothing, "What's in it for you? Why are you training me?"

**Abyssopelagic** · #5 May 17th, 2022, 02:15 PM

Coldamber didn't flinch when Elmshadow stared her down as he tried to assess whether to believe her. While she wanted him to succeed in his rank, she found she didn't particularly care whether or not he believed her in full or took her advice with a grain of salt. As long as he was able to do his job and help his Clan.
She lifted her chin ever so slightly and looked him in the eye.
"I'm tired of cats being given this Rank without anyone to teach them the proper knowledge and having to rely on tenuous allies for their learning, all the while their Clanmates suffer. I saw it too much in my life and I saw too many die for this reason."
He can be suspicious all he wants. The most nefarious thing about her lessons was that he likely would not be the last cat she tried to teach. She planned to help as many Medicine Cats named without someone to teach them as she could. The boundaries of the Clan's meant little to her now. Now it was about helping lives and easing as much suffering as possible. Every Clan deserved a Medicine Cat that could see to their needs.

She relaxed her posture and let the slight tilt of her head rest, instead cooking her head to the side a bit. She hadn't wanted anything, but he was asking.... not really, but it gave her an idea. Her knowledge as it was is quite limited and her helpfulness as limited as what she could teach. If she could expand on this, would increase what she could offer.
"Originally..... I didn't want anything, but I suppose I have a request. If you learn the use of any herbs in other ways, I would be grateful if you would share them with me. Though, it is not a requirement."
And should she learn of more in the future from other sources, it was possible she might stop by again.

(I'm so sorry it's short, but I felt bad about not replying sooner kechnsedoehcn, I think I'll be more on top of this when it shifts to the teaching portion) @Ravensong

**Pitou** · #6 May 18th, 2022, 03:02 AM

**Elmshadow**

@Rainquail [It looks like Ebonyfang is teaching him about marigold, catmint, and traveling herbs. That RP is taking place after this one, but those will be covered^^ And no worries!]

The suspicion wouldn't ebb within the dark tom as he stared down the mysterious former medicine cat. What she said made sense. Elmshadow knew it was expected of Medicine cats to be above normal clan rivalries and he was aware that medicine cats had been known to help other medicine cats even in life. Despite knowing all of this to be true, Elmshadow couldn't simply forget his warriorhood with the changing of a title, though he realized that it was entirely possible for the she-cat to truly feel the way she claimed, whether she was a Shadowclanner in life or from one of the other clans. After a few passing heartbeats, Elmshadow nodded. He needed information and Coldamber was here to give him just that; it'd be nonsensical to turn away any source of information. Her request gave him momentary pause. Knowledge could be as deadly as claws but he couldn't ignore that the deal was fair. As soon as he confirmed that what she was teaching was true, it only made sense to return the favor. It bothered him that he could potentially be collaborating with an enemy's former medicine cat but his paws had been tied when he was handed this role with no prior experience. "Deal. You teach me what you know and I will share anything I discover along the way." He took in a deep breath but met Coldamber's eyes. "Where do we begin?"

**Abyssopelagic** · #7 May 19th, 2022, 09:46 AM

(The explanations of how to keep certain items and where to find/the rarity of certain plants is for flavour to the explanation, you don't have to remember it lol)

Coldamber nodded and couldn't help the extra deep breath she took in relief. She hadn't known what to expect, but seemingly 'yes' might not have been it. There was no way to express her gratitude other than to complete her end of this bargain, but she couldn't the small, almost unnoticeable smile.
Thankfully, as a dream it would be easy to show him the plants he needed, it would be more straightforward than trying to accurately describe them in a way the other cat would understand.
"We start with the most common injuries you'll come across."

[Daisy leaf, poultice applies to aching and swollen joints]

"Moss, sticks, and cobwebs are essential items to always keep stocked up. Your moss can also be used to cleanly store water and having just one already water full at all times would be a good idea. And as silly as it sounds, sticks you especially want to keep a few extra on paw. They're an excellent way to store your cobwebs, just keep them propped up and in as dry an area as possible. Dampness and moisture has a chance to make the cobwebs lose the needed stickiness. Do not store your water moss near the webbed sticks." She didn't believe he needed a visual for this, so she didn't bother, but she found that as she spoke, her paw unintentionally had lifted and started motioning in ways that sort on demonstrated a few motions related to what she was speaking about and stared at the offending paw for a moment and set it back down, muttering an apology.
"But even regular sticks have their uses, I might recommend keeping 3 unwebbed sticks on paw, younnever know when a cat is going to bring cobwebs but no stick."
She sighed, remembering a choice few warriors that had proudly walked in COVERED in webs as their method of bringing them to her. After a brief moment, she returned her attention back to Elmshadow.

"But sticks are also good for keeping broken legs and even broken tails straight and still, to avoid allowing the cat to accidentally make it worse.
You'd break the stick to the appropriate length to keep the whole limb still. Once they're the right length, it'd best if you have someone else hold them in place on either side of the break and wrap webs around them to secure the sticks in place. If it's a more delicate area like the tail, it might be best to use a little moss as cushioning.
But if there's excessive swelling or pain in the joints, chew up some daisy leaves and apply it to the area before wrapping it up, whether you want to change the splint after a time is up to you. Unless there are open wounds, other than some sticky fur, it won't hurt the cat to leave the paste on, especially if you're busy or low on supplies."
She paused, lifted her paw and manifested an image of the small flower, with delicate white petals and a soft yellow center.

"This is what they look like. They're most common in forests and tend to grow in clusters, making it easy to collect a small bundle." Once she'd given him a chance to get a good look at it, she let it fade. She paused before deciding to tack on the importance of rest.
"Before I move on, it's also important cats with broken limbs get at least a few days of rest, a week if it's bad enough or it risks permanent damage and further issues."
She wouldn't put it past Dawnie to get them back on duties right away and she hoped Elmshadow would dissuade this.
That seemed to be it for legs and sticks, so she gave a prolonged pause to let him ask any questions he might have so she could address them before moving on.

[Dandelion, poultice used to numb the skin, good for burns and bee stings
Mushrooms, when torn into shreds, can be applied to open wounds to soak up blood (as a note, he should only use the ones that DO NOT glow, as they will cause inflammation and irritation; while Cold addresses the two types exist, she doesn't know this)]

As well as moss, mushrooms are good for soaking up blood and helps allow it to clot. However, there are some that glow and some that do not annnnd, admittedly, I've never been told if one will cause problems, so perhaps be careful with this one." She wouldn't put it above him to test it on a low risk case and honestly..... sure, whatever. Hopefully if he did, more good than harm would come of it.
Once more, she lifted a paw, bringing up some rather plain and unassuming little mushroom.
"The glowing is only visible in low light areas, but since they seem to prefer growing in caves and dark areas, this might not be too much of an issue telling the difference." She eventually let the mushroom fade so she could move on.

"If your patient keeps bleeding through what you've placed, do not remove it, only keep adding to it. If there get to be enough layers you must remove some, do it slowly and layer by layer. Until the bleeding has completely stopped, do not remove the bottom most layer, it's it's helping the blood clotand removing it will reset your progress."
It was how she kept herself from from bleeding out when she'd had to gnaw her own leg off and how she'd saved Rushing moor when Dawnstar had sliced his neck open.
"Do not rely only on layering. Applying pressure to the bleeding and keeping the wound elevated above the body should further help slow it. It helps even with the most severe wounds, inuding lost limbs and sliced necks." And one disembowlment, but while she'd been able to stop the bleeding, she'd still lost them to other complications.......
"Once it's time to remove all of it, preferably with clean water, dampen the parts of the moss directly touching the wound and slowly peel it away, all of this is to avoid accidentally tearing off the scab. It might start bleeding again, but as long as the scab itself stays in place, it should be fine to move on with normal procedure."

Hmmm.... she tried to think of a tactile way to move onto less related herbs, but really, all she could do was jump into it.
"When a cat is having skin based pain, like a bee sting or a burn, poppy seeds can do little for those pains. Your go to will be dandelions."
She shows him a puffy but flat bottomed bright yellow flower.
"Chewing the flowering head and applying the poultice will numb the area. Be careful not to swallow any. Your mouth will still end up with some of them numbing. I'm unsure if there's away around that."
Her mouth tingled from the memory alone.
"Finding them won't be too difficult, as they grow pretty much everywhere and are quite common."

(Moving this from paper to text was fun)
@Ravensong

**Pitou** · #8 May 21st, 2022, 02:37 AM

**Elmshadow**

@Rainquail [Meanwhile, I'm transferring it all from text to paper >< lol]

Elmshadow studied the she-cat's face as he agreed to her deal and then as she got into her teachings, searching for any sign of...he wasn't quite sure. In the end he didn't see anything he was or wasn't expecting, she simply got to her teachings as any mentor would their apprentice.

Moss, sticks, and cobwebs were fairly straight forward. He'd dealt with moss plenty and had his fair share of cobwebs applied to him. Using sticks for broken bones was intriguing. If only there were a way to get an accurate view on what the break would look like. He decided to address that when he woke and surely his first patiently with a broken limb would serve as good paws-on learning. Everything he learned here he figured he'd simply have to reserve it to memory until he could get a chance to really put it to the test and set his learnings in his mind. The logic made sense to keep the cobwebs dry and out of the dirt. Walking around with cobwebs plastered over his body had made him a collection of everything he had passed or laid down in as the sinewy strands grabbed hold of everything until the collection hindered their stickiness. Dandelion poultice on areas with joint pain and swelling. He nodded to himself more than anything. His head jerked back the slightest amount as Coldamber waved her paw and a little white and yellow flower appeared in front of her. He was aware that this was a dream and this cat was dead and he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but it definitely wasn't random manifestations from her mind. He collected himself quickly and stayed with her as she moved on.

He'd never heard of mushrooms being used, much less to help staunch heavy bleeding. That would surely come in handy. As she brought up the different types of mushrooms, he nodded thoughtfully. He'd have to find some way to test that out, it seemed far too important a use to be wary of using the wrong type and this seemed like the exact opportunity for the mysterious former medicine cat to steer him wrong, even potentially fatally. He'd make this test a priority.

Elmshadow sat back and committed her instructions to memory. He had never considered how much went into the use of cobwebs and wounds. He knew they were applied but hadn't thought through the meticulous applying, reapplying, and removing.

Poppy seeds for internal and deeper pains, dandelion poultice for surface pains. As the image conjured in front of Coldamber again, he nodded. He'd seen plenty of that flower in sunny fields. That seemed like another tip that he would use frequently enough, especially with the ready availability. He nodded, again helping himself commit it all to memory. The appearance would steer him in the right direction, when he went out to look for the herbs he could get a good idea of scent and feel as well and experiment with its hardiness.

**Abyssopelagic** · #9 June 10th, 2022, 12:37 PM

He was keeping along well, which was good. There were only a few more herbs and she could be on her way, content in the knowledge at least one Medicine Cat would have the tools and information they need to help their Clanmates.

"While not an herb, honey is another useful thing to keep a small stock of. When swallowed alone, it soothes sore throats and can ease coughing. Or if you have a particularly fussy cat that doesn't want to take herbs needed to heal them, will mask the taste to make it more pleasant or if the cat has issues with swallowing in general, will help the herbs go down."
While she had used honey to get a kit that could barely eat to take herbs, she mostly remembered the headache she always had after Stagleech came home from retrieving more honey. He usually ate most of it by the time he came back, and was always covered in beestings. If it weren't for the occasional kit that needed help taking herbs, she would have wondered why they even need it.
She sighed lightly and one ear slightly flicked up as she tried to remember if she knew how to prevent the need for treatment after a honey run.
"They're found in bee hives and are usually high enough up, you'd have to send a cat that could climb to get it. To avoid getting stung during extraction, rolling around in and having some thick or clay like mud on the cat will protect them. Like the cobwebs, avoid storing it near water.... or anywhere where debris can get stuck to it."
Honey was ridiculously sticky and liked to catch anything in the air. It was somehow worse than cobwebs.

"Celandine is good for the eyes. The juice is squeezed in to soothe infection and inflammation. They're about the size of a paw, can be found in shady patches surrounded by large patches of dark green leaves."
She showed him an image of the small, bright flower and the distinctive petals.

"The last herb I can teach you is borage. It's leaves are used to ease fevers. I recommend always having a few on paw, you never know when some cat will come down with something."
Usually kits and queens came to her with fevers..... if they'd ever had any elders (she doesn't remember ever seeing any), chances were she would have seen quite a few of them as well.
"The flowers that can be pink or blue. The most potent leaves are about halfway up the stock and has a distinct zesty scent to it."
She showed him the small, star shaped flower, in the usual pale blues she found them in.

"But one last thing, before we consider this lesson through."
She spent the whole lesson looking directly at Elmshadow as little as possible, to concentrate on what she needed to remember. She had been going to end this on Borage, but the reminder of how much she'd used it during the white cough outbreak reminded her he needed to know how to quarantine in the case of an outbreak. She looked him in the face, to emphasis the importance.
"Should one or more of your Clanmates have severe coughing accompanied by fever, you need to start a quarantine as soon as possible in the event you have a white cough or green cough outbreak. It spreads faster than you'd believe and I have seen even perfectly healthy warriors die to it, but your kits and queens are most susceptible.
If you believe there to be green cough, you need to make two new Dens to keep your long term patients. Do not simply section off one Den and believe it'll be safe. One cat can pass it to another by simply breathing in the same area of each other.
It would be best to make these Dens as far away from any other Dens, I personally suggest not making them in camp, and house those that you're unsure of in one Den and that cats definitely have green cough in another Den.
Spend as little time in the Den with the infected as possible, and do not store herbs with them. Use the Den with the uninfected as your main. Have cats meet you there, but do not let them stay if they do not have to."
It might seem paranoid of her to frame it this way, but she'd watched and put down too many kits that were o ly just suffering with no way of recovery, and lost too many cats to it to *not* be. One outbreak could easily cut the Clan population down if they couldn't carefully manage it.
And left untreated, could cause long term breathing problems. She didn't know how it looked like as a warrior, if it seemed like it wasn't that big a deal, but when the lives of your Clanmates were left in your paws, you saw the devastating reality that one mistake could lead to another wave of cats becoming sick.

[as a note, Borage also helps with milk production, but Coldamber does not know this, theres probably shenanigan potential in finding out for Elm; I'm sorry it got rambley, I ended up with 0 notes before sitting down to type]

@Ravensong

**Pitou** · #10 June 11th, 2022, 11:50 AM

**Elmshadow**

@Rainquail [Not at all! This has been insanely helpful to get Elmshadow started ^^ ]

The dark tom blinked as he listened to Coldamber discuss honey. It made sense to him that he'd never before heard of honey being used. He'd never been a warrior that frequently needed any sort of soothing and any herbs he had to take while young were generally forced down his throat by Hawkscreech's ever-watchful eye and threateningly heavy paw, if he ever needed the reminder; that was also assuming any of the previous medicine cats even offered honey. Elmshadow wasn't a particularly empathetic cat but the honey would ultimately reduce his own headache of having to deal with fighting with kits or warriors and apprentices who couldn't manage to suck it up. He admitted honey would likely be a useful bit to know. He committed it all to memory. Celandine, borage. Celadine for the eyes, borage for fever. He realized now the most difficult part was going to be keeping all of the different herbs straight and not mixing up their uses. He was sure he didn't want to figure out what happened if he mixed them all up. Instead he focused on making sure it never happened.

Elmshadow cocked his head as Coldamber got into quarantining. It seemed aggressive and he couldn't imagine kicking sick cats out of camp but if it was really as contagious as Coldamber was suggesting then it made the most logical sense. He imagined the former medicine cat had had experience with this to be so adamant, or this was a ploy to get him to do something so outrageous as to banish sick cats... He couldn't yet be sure so he decided not to dwell on it and address it when it arose. He dipped his head slightly to the dead medicine cat. He didn't yet know how helpful any of this encounter would end up being as he was unsure what he could trust from the older cat and what would be setting him up for failure but at least it all gave him somewhere to start. Relaying any information he learned was still slightly irksome though at least he'd be able to experiment some with verifying her teachings before he knew anything of worth to bring back to her. "Assuming everything you've taught me is true, I will hold up my end of the deal as well. This is...appreciated." He continued to burn the images of dandelion, daisy, mushrooms, borage, and celandine into his mind so he could find them in life and get a better idea of their scent, feel, texture, and durability.