Well, she was still missing someone, but this would do. If they wanted to learn, then they would come and partake in her lessons on their own accord. Now, she had to get started, because some cats were willing to learn more than others were.
“Alright, first we’ll be going over the basics of dressing flesh wounds… I’ll be giving a general warning on the contents of each lesson, just in case. Some of these things are sensitive matters, so I would not blame any of you if you needed to step out for some of the harsher lessons. However, these are the hardships that we must face during clan life, so as much as I do advise you to stick around, it is not necessary.” Mainly that was aimed to Woodpaw, as he was the youngest cat included within her group, as far as she was aware.
“A-okay! Let’s get started then, shall we?” To her left was a clump of moss, not too big but not too small, a single head of a marigold, and they sat alongside a large ball of cobwebs. “When it comes to your average flesh wounds, such as bites, scratches and scrapes, you name it–we want to make sure that the bleeding stops before we do anything else. In case of emergencies if you have no cobwebs on hand, you can apply pressure with your paws in an attempt to help in promoting blood clots… But, having cobwebs or even moss on hand would be more helpful.”
Lifting her paw, she patted Snakefang’s torso gently. “Let’s say that Snakefang got a particularly nasty gash on her side here. Hopefully after the bleeding stops, we would focus on cleaning up the wound with some moss soaked with water.” Her tail-tip flicked the moss clump at her side before she continued. “Simply, you’d just dab it along the wound and clean it up a bit. This is done to limit the possibility of any infection. After this, we like to apply a marigold poultice to the wound–which is this flower here. It’s our most used herb, as it’s used to help with any infections, so it’s best to apply it right off the hop so we can immediately fight off that possibility!”
“Snakefang, could you sit up for a moment, dear? Going to wrap you up!” She purred to the warrior before she continued. “To make a poultice, you just chew up the marigold in your mouth… It’s a little bitter, certainly an acquired taste–and with that poultice, depending on the wound you can either apply it directly to the wound itself, or onto some cobwebs, and then you wrap the wound with said cobwebs. That’s just personal preference, though. As long as the poultice is on the wound, then it will do it’s job..”
She snagged the ball of cobwebs at her side, unfurling it and kneading it so it was easier to use. “When it comes to actually wrapping and bandaging, it certainly takes some practice, but we want the cobwebs to be a bit on the tighter side–not tight enough to completely restrict movement, but enough to stop any blood flowing from the wound, to keep the poultice in place, and, well, to keep the bandage itself in place.”
He could tell the first part of Drizzlecloud’s speech was directed towards him. Woodpaw was unsure at first, but he believed he should be fine. Unfazed, the apprentice would nod his head with a flash of smile to ensure that he was fine.
Then, watching as the medicine cat show the basics, he listened closely and sniffed the scent of marigold slightly. Nothing seemed really bad right now— all have had wounds before. If minor ones like this, he was quite sure he could do it. Just the wrapping part being harder.
Riversong watched intently as Drizzlecloud demonstrated the cobweb method. It didn't seem too hard - just stuff a whole pile of cobwebs onto the wound to stop it from bleeding. And if the wound was red, grab that fluffy-looking yellow thing that was nearly everywhere in the forest. That's what it looked like, at least. Riversong could only hope that the rest of the lessons would be this simple. A lone thought strayed into the back of their mind. "What if it's one of those big wounds?" they mewed quietly. "Like one of those torn-throat ones? Where the cobwebs, no matter how much, won't work?" It was... a gruesome idea, but for some reason, Riversong couldn't get that image out of their head. It seemed frighteningly familiar, as if it happened to some cat they knew. Something that they needed to clarify, to prevent from happening ever again. They choked out their last question. "Then, are we supposed to leave those cats to die?"
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As she drawled on and on, Wolfhive's stomach churned unpleasantly. It felt unreal to be hearing Drizzlecloud talk about herbs when Springlight was the one handling the storm of injuries and ailments that flooded through the camp. Cobwebs, moss, pressure.. marigold, wrap.
Riversong's question made his brow furrowed. He didn't remember how Finchpaw died, just that she had. "If herbs and pressure aren't working, there isn't much to he done is there? Some wounds can't be healed, regardless of what you do."
Orangeblossom didn’t like the implication that something or more so that someone will hurt Springlight or Drizzlecloud but he knew that they already have and knowing Riverclan and how they were more so a group of rogues than a group of clan cats knew the worry and foresight was needed. It didn’t stop him from wanting to hope he’ll never need to use the knowledge outside of collecting herbs to help out the medicine cats do their thing. Okay, basics, Orangeblossom has this! Though poisons made him nervous, it was good to know so you could avoid it but still, it reminded him of what Riverclan did to them. Marigold, cobweb, poppy seed, and yellow bell. Very easy peasy. Basics, though also there was a reason he wasn’t a medicine cat and never will be, he wasn’t very good at remembering stuff but he would try. Maybe he could pass on the knowledge to Vixenkit if he’d be interested at all.
It was pretty straight forward enough. Cobwebs are good for stopping bleeding, he knows that, that was pretty basic stuff. He listened to how he should collect and how to apply them though because that was new to him for the most part. Most times he kind of bats away the spiders and then just yoinks it onto his paw. Though a stick was a pretty smart idea and it made Orangeblossom feel a bit dumb for not thinking of it but onto the next stuff. Marigold is good in poultices to prevent infection but is more limited than yellow bells which are year around and also for infection. Alright sweet, then also poppy seeds which is vaguely familiar with from his trips to the dens. Numbing, sleeping, and dealing with shock. Sounded potentially dangerous but just gotta exercise caution which seems the case for any herb. Oh wait, also mixing some can help bleeding as well.
Orangeblossom turned his attention over to the hornet as the excitable as she asked a very good question and the warrior himself was pretty busy trying to commit each piece of information to his brain he was too busy to think of questions for the time being. Wow, just goes to show how much he was going to forget the moment the lesson was over because there was going to be a lot of info thrown at him. Perhaps teaching it to his siblings will help him reinforce the info into his own memory. And he thought he was going to try and catch wound treating as well and keep that fresh in mind until needed? That’s crazy, but he’ll try because why wouldn’t he? It just goes to show how talented Drizzlecloud and Springlight are! Crazy stuff. Fow now though he focused on Mudhound and Springlight as he waited for the herbalist to answer the hornet’s question.
A purr rumbled deep within the kitten’s throat as she felt Springy fix some of her long wayward fur, eyes squinting with happiness at her response. A bright smile was plastered across her face, returning Springy’s affection with glee – it had been some time since she last spoke to the medicine cat, and Poppypaw had failed to take proper notice of the new (or not so new) speech impediment, though it wasn’t as if she minded. It made them more similar, if anything.
Happy with her big sister at her side, little Poppypaw snuggled close to Springy’s side, head resting against the feline if she allowed, excited to be learning some things from Springlight. “Poppy learn!”
She exclaimed giddily, wobbling a little in place as her paws tapped the ground with excitement.
Her eyes focused on the herbs Springy had gathered around, an audible and excited gasp leaving her maw as she heard the word ‘Poppy’seeds and ‘Poppy’ flower, round eyes widening and curled ears twitching with excitement. That was her! Poppy was Poppy! Looking towards her sister with excitement, Poppypaw didn’t yet speak as the medicine cat began explaining further. The little one, she could barely contain her excitement.
Her eyes fell across each herb – the marigold, the cobwebs and the poppy flower – noting it’s use to treat the injured and numb pain; she wondered which did what. Ears flicking at the description of yellow bells – bushes of bell-like yellow flowers – she looked towards Springlight, blinking curiously as she mentioned clotting… Blood, when mixed with marigold. How peculiar.
Her eyes fell on the orange flower, which was apparently the aforementioned marigold! So, it likes water, noted – Poppypaw took this very seriously – and it prevents infections, ooohh!! Is that the nasty smelling stuff? Hm, and it treated infections; applied in a poultice… What was that? It sounded goopy. Oh! And it didn’t like leaf-bare!! What a shame, the snow was so fun though!! Or at least, she thought. She spent most of leaf-bare sick with Springy and Frizzy. And it sounded like those yellowbells are similar to marigold, hmmmm.
Her eyes now fell on the funny looking cobwebs, whiskers twitching. Ohhhh, you used them to cover wounds to stop the red from flowing? Oh!! That was good!! So, so, so. It needs to be refreshed often but, but!! You can’t remove the lowest layer or it’ll hurt, mhm. So, so, cobwebs liked trees, trunks, dark, dewy mornings… Poppy liked those too, dewy mornings! At least, when they don’t make her sneeze. Ew, ew!! Cobwebs can bite, spiders?? Hm, gotta use the sticks to avoid being bitten by the cobwebs!! However that worked.
Oh, oh! Then that meant, that meant!! Her eyes fell on the red flower. “Poppy!!”
Poppy exclaimed, smiling up at Springy at her deduction, like her name! Hehe. The flower had little seeds and are everywhere with sun (because it liked sun, like many flowers!) and the seeds sleep inside the middle of the flower (must be comfy…) in big numbers and the seeds take away pain and shock and make sleepy! Oh, oh, that’s nice, that’s nice! Poppypaw liked that, mhm. Oh, oh, but more than two is bad, very bad! Poppypaw visibly grimaced at the mention of killing, or harming mumzie’s and kitties. That was bad!
“Springy! Springy! The yellowbells are like mari..gold?”
SPRINGLIGHT
long-furred, scarred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
active purrks: herbal knowledge - tier 2 | the collector | mind reader | skip the steps she/her | thunderclan medicine cat | 20 moons
Unfortunately for the medicine cat, no one seemed to step up with the opportunity to ask anything specific. It felt like a relatively harsh smack to the face, given the medic wanted nothing more than to grant some helpful knowledge to cats who needed it the most and they didn’t utter a single word during her explanation. Well, at least Mallowpaw and Mudhound took note of her info-dumping, the calico noting Mudhound’s question as they asked if poppyseeds would do any harm if you are just taking them as sleep medication. As far as Springlight was concerned, she was pretty sure that poppyseeds were meant to increase the quality of sleep and promote drowsiness. She hadn’t really thought about any negative effect occurring from the fact alone that they wouldn’t be able to commit anything bad other than potentially death from overdosage. But, Mudhound was curious, and she may as well give affair to their question. “As… far as… I am… concerned… there are… no effects… with taking… poppyseeds… to help… you sleep… at night… however… you would… only be… able to… limit your… dosages to… only two… seeds at… a time… as any more than… that could… risk… killing you… from an overdose.”
Hopefully, that was enough to answer their question, if it wasn’t then she wouldn’t be certain of how to properly answer their question without giving any other answer. Either way, now it was time for her to start explaining what other sorts of herbs did and how they contributed to helping them from anything specific. It wasn't a lot, and given that she didn't have these herbs at the moment, it wouldn't be easy for her to explicitly show you how they looked and felt without them needing to see the herbs first. “Now… since I… showed… you those… it’s time… to love on… to elder leaves… elder flower… boneset… and sunfuzzies.” The last herb sounded relatively silly, but it virtually served the same purpose as both marigold and yellow bells; stopping infection. In case none of her students found any of the herbs that she explained earlier, they could possibly find some sunfuzzies to help them out from any possible infection, while elder leaves helped ease sprains and fractures rjay rjeu could have at some point of their lives. At least they'll carry a good portion of knowledge of how to help themselves when it comes to that point in life. Especially if both medicine cats were available to help them.
However, before she could get started with the lesson, the calico found her side being rubbed by the smaller, brittle feline right next to her. The medicine cat couldn't help but put a smile across her face, a rumbling purr echoing within her chest as her tail instinctively wrapped around her little sister to keep her close to her. Poppypaw was one of the few cats to fill the empty void in her heart that her siblings had left after they were gone. She was purely innocent, and no one was bound to take that away from her. Her heart twisted painfully to know that at some point once she reached the age to properly apprehend the differences between life and death, Springlight would need to tell her that her father was gone and wouldn't be coming back. It was not an easy task to fall through; especially since it could easily crush her little sister’s innocence, but it had to be done. Poppypaw couldn't remain shielded away from the harsh realities of the world forever, even if Springlight would do anything to make that a possibility. Her thoughts quaked as Poppypaw’s chipper voice echoed in her ears, the calico focusing back towards her as she questioned both marigold and yellow bell’s similarities. With a half-hearted, crooked smile, the calico nodded. “Yes… they both… are similar… in usage… and can… be more… helpful… when… used together.”
Focusing her attention briefly on Poppypaw momentarily, she then focused back towards the rest of the group before starting on with the second part of the lesson. “Now… the first thing… that I… will be discussing… about… is how… elder leaves… work… elder leaves… are practically… a replacement… for comfrey… If you can not… find any… after you’ve… gained a fracture… or a… sprain… the leaves… themselves… are usually… broad-looking… and are… usually attached to… elder flowers… which are… attached to… elder bushes… which is a… tall stalked plant… with clusters… of white flowers… which is… the elder flowers… however… you should… not eat… the leaves… as they… are toxic… and could… kill you… just wrap the… leaves… around the… area to… help… sustain the fracture… or sprain.” That was one hell of a mouthful to spew. Her tongue instinctively drew itself among her dry lips to moisturize them after spewing what had felt like an endless charade of words. Despite the pain that decided to skyrocket in her throat after spewing out such valuable information, her expression remained schooled into neutrality. Something that she had been committing herself to as of late from all the overwhelming emotions thrusting themselves at her.
Nostrils flaring, the calico instinctively swished her tail among her white paws as she prepared to explain her next set of herbs that the group had presented themselves in wanting to learn. “Now… I will… be explaining… to you… how… elder flowers… work… if combined… with boneset… boneset is… a tall plant… with long, thin… leaves and… a head of… little white… clusters of flowers… it can… be eaten… to treat… a cold or… early stages… of whitecough… or greencough… or other lung infections… I… already explained… what a elder flower… looks like… but when… combined… with boneset… it can… help alleviate… congestion and… fever, soothe… aches, and… stimulates appetite… elder flowers and leaves… can be found… in newleaf… through greenleaf… while boneset… is found… growing during… newleaf to leaffall… and likes a… lot of sun… but moist soil." Again, it was a lot of information to dump onto the group, but if they wanted to learn about how specific herbs worked and affected others, then she needed to go into descriptive detail about them. She felt bad about it, but it was important for them to know.
“Now… I will… explain to… you what… sunfuzzies… are… I don't… know the… actual term… for this herb… but it… works the… same way… as both… marigold and… yellow bells… however… it is… a tall plant… with bright… yellow flowers… it's usually… common all year… around… and… is right… along the… Thunderglades… there isn't… a lot… to go over… this herb… other than… the fact… that it… works just… like marigold and… yellow bells… and keeps away… infections… and cleans out… wounds… if you… don't have… moss with you.” With that explanation done and over with, she peered her gaze over the group to analyze their reactions with her information. “Any… questions to ask… before I continue?”
- May 5th; marigold, yellow bells, cobwebs, and poppyseeds - May 13th; elder flower/leaves, boneset, and sunfuzz/goldenrod
- May 16th; comfrey, honey, burnet, sunset roses, and borage
- May 18th; catmint, juniper berries, sorrel, and tree sap
- May 20th; burdock root, chickweed, celandine, chamomile and chervil
- May 23rd; daisies, mushrooms(glowing ones will be excluded until the 1st), ragweed, spider egg sac, and feverfew
- May 26th; oak leaves, parsley, lavender, rosemary, and lady's mantle
- May 29th; blessed thistle, coltsfoot, dock leaves, yarrow, and stinging nettle
- June 1st; foxglove seeds, water hemlock, glowing mushrooms, deathberries, and meadow saffron
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Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 35 Moons
Bilingual T2 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Beefed up T3
Wow with all this talking Spinglights throat must be getting pretty sore! In a gap of her speaking the hornet made sure to dart off and grab some soaked moss to drink out of and nudged it towards the molly, wanting to make sure she was cared for.
There was even more information to remember this time and a couple of times Mudhound had to ask the molly to repeat herself, confused and lost as they tried to absorb everything. But in the end it kinda made sense..... For the most part... Yeaaaaaaah Mudhound was gonna ask a lotta questions.
"Whats comfrey? Oh and does the elder leaf do anything herby or is it just a good broad strong leaf to wrap sprains and strains in? Ooooooh and does elder flower have to be used with boneset or can they be used separate if you cant find both? Like what happens if you use one without the other?"
Springlight must be the smartest cat ever to remember all of this really, it was already doing Mudhounds head in even if they were pretty sure they could deal with the hurt and sad cat side of healing ok. Herby stuff was waaaaaaaay too much though.
SPRINGLIGHT
long-furred, scarred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
active purrks: herbal knowledge - tier 2 | the collector | mind reader | skip the steps she/her | thunderclan medicine cat | 20 moons
Unfortunately for the medicine cat, no one seemed to step up with the opportunity to ask anything specific. It felt like a relatively harsh smack to the face, given the medic wanted nothing more than to grant some helpful knowledge to cats who needed it the most and they didn’t utter a single word during her explanation. Well, at least Mallowpaw and Mudhound took note of her info-dumping, the calico noting Mudhound’s question as they asked if poppyseeds would do any harm if you are just taking them as sleep medication. As far as Springlight was concerned, she was pretty sure that poppyseeds were meant to increase the quality of sleep and promote drowsiness. She hadn’t really thought about any negative effect occurring from the fact alone that they wouldn’t be able to commit anything bad other than potentially death from overdosage. But, Mudhound was curious, and she may as well give affair to their question. “As… far as… I am… concerned… there are… no effects… with taking… poppyseeds… to help… you sleep… at night… however… you would… only be… able to… limit your… dosages to… only two… seeds at… a time… as any more than… that could… risk… killing you… from an overdose.”
Hopefully, that was enough to answer their question, if it wasn’t then she wouldn’t be certain of how to properly answer their question without giving any other answer. Either way, now it was time for her to start explaining what other sorts of herbs did and how they contributed to helping them from anything specific. It wasn't a lot, and given that she didn't have these herbs at the moment, it wouldn't be easy for her to explicitly show you how they looked and felt without them needing to see the herbs first. “Now… since I… showed… you those… it’s time… to love on… to elder leaves… elder flower… boneset… and sunfuzzies.” The last herb sounded relatively silly, but it virtually served the same purpose as both marigold and yellow bells; stopping infection. In case none of her students found any of the herbs that she explained earlier, they could possibly find some sunfuzzies to help them out from any possible infection, while elder leaves helped ease sprains and fractures rjay rjeu could have at some point of their lives. At least they'll carry a good portion of knowledge of how to help themselves when it comes to that point in life. Especially if both medicine cats were available to help them.
However, before she could get started with the lesson, the calico found her side being rubbed by the smaller, brittle feline right next to her. The medicine cat couldn't help but put a smile across her face, a rumbling purr echoing within her chest as her tail instinctively wrapped around her little sister to keep her close to her. Poppypaw was one of the few cats to fill the empty void in her heart that her siblings had left after they were gone. She was purely innocent, and no one was bound to take that away from her. Her heart twisted painfully to know that at some point once she reached the age to properly apprehend the differences between life and death, Springlight would need to tell her that her father was gone and wouldn't be coming back. It was not an easy task to fall through; especially since it could easily crush her little sister’s innocence, but it had to be done. Poppypaw couldn't remain shielded away from the harsh realities of the world forever, even if Springlight would do anything to make that a possibility. Her thoughts quaked as Poppypaw’s chipper voice echoed in her ears, the calico focusing back towards her as she questioned both marigold and yellow bell’s similarities. With a half-hearted, crooked smile, the calico nodded. “Yes… they both… are similar… in usage… and can… be more… helpful… when… used together.”
Focusing her attention briefly on Poppypaw momentarily, she then focused back towards the rest of the group before starting on with the second part of the lesson. “Now… the first thing… that I… will be discussing… about… is how… elder leaves… work… elder leaves… are practically… a replacement… for comfrey… If you can not… find any… after you’ve… gained a fracture… or a… sprain… the leaves… themselves… are usually… broad-looking… and are… usually attached to… elder flowers… which are… attached to… elder bushes… which is a… tall stalked plant… with clusters… of white flowers… which is… the elder flowers… however… you should… not eat… the leaves… as they… are toxic… and could… kill you… just wrap the… leaves… around the… area to… help… sustain the fracture… or sprain.” That was one hell of a mouthful to spew. Her tongue instinctively drew itself among her dry lips to moisturize them after spewing what had felt like an endless charade of words. Despite the pain that decided to skyrocket in her throat after spewing out such valuable information, her expression remained schooled into neutrality. Something that she had been committing herself to as of late from all the overwhelming emotions thrusting themselves at her.
Nostrils flaring, the calico instinctively swished her tail among her white paws as she prepared to explain her next set of herbs that the group had presented themselves in wanting to learn. “Now… I will… be explaining… to you… how… elder flowers… work… if combined… with boneset… boneset is… a tall plant… with long, thin… leaves and… a head of… little white… clusters of flowers… it can… be eaten… to treat… a cold or… early stages… of whitecough… or greencough… or other lung infections… I… already explained… what a elder flower… looks like… but when… combined… with boneset… it can… help alleviate… congestion and… fever, soothe… aches, and… stimulates appetite… elder flowers and leaves… can be found… in newleaf… through greenleaf… while boneset… is found… growing during… newleaf to leaffall… and likes a… lot of sun… but moist soil." Again, it was a lot of information to dump onto the group, but if they wanted to learn about how specific herbs worked and affected others, then she needed to go into descriptive detail about them. She felt bad about it, but it was important for them to know.
“Now… I will… explain to… you what… sunfuzzies… are… I don't… know the… actual term… for this herb… but it… works the… same way… as both… marigold and… yellow bells… however… it is… a tall plant… with bright… yellow flowers… it's usually… common all year… around… and… is right… along the… Thunderglades… there isn't… a lot… to go over… this herb… other than… the fact… that it… works just… like marigold and… yellow bells… and keeps away… infections… and cleans out… wounds… if you… don't have… moss with you.” With that explanation done and over with, she peered her gaze over the group to analyze their reactions with her information. “Any… questions to ask… before I continue?”
- May 5th; marigold, yellow bells, cobwebs, and poppyseeds - May 13th; elder flower/leaves, boneset, and sunfuzz/goldenrod
- May 16th; comfrey, honey, burnet, sunset roses, and borage
- May 18th; catmint, juniper berries, sorrel, and tree sap
- May 20th; burdock root, chickweed, celandine, chamomile and chervil
- May 23rd; daisies, mushrooms(glowing ones will be excluded until the 1st), ragweed, spider egg sac, and feverfew
- May 26th; oak leaves, parsley, lavender, rosemary, and lady's mantle
- May 29th; blessed thistle, coltsfoot, dock leaves, yarrow, and stinging nettle
- June 1st; foxglove seeds, water hemlock, glowing mushrooms, deathberries, and meadow saffron
Re: Helping & Healing Paws [ Healing/Herb Lessons ]
