[ Herb Gathering Event ] well stocked and well of mind

[redshiftreign]

GROUSEPAW
THE TRAILBLAZER
"if only you knew what they're saying; just a game, it's me you're playing."
[ @Estelle [sleepypaw] ]

[554 words]

bathed in resplendent sunlight, the world unfolded before grousepaw as he made great strides out of camp with the mass patrol, tail swaying languidly behind him. the exhaustion of the move had yet to sink in, so his untapped energy fueled him like electricity in his veins. mania, almost, dominated his thoughts. where he had been serious during the more tense moments of the day, as sun-high crested it's final movement into late day, his grip on composure began to slip and a casual smirk dominated his resting expression. sunlight broke through the pine-needle canopy in shreds, painting the ground under his paws in an ornate splatter piece.

grousepaw lifted their head, flashing their pearly white teeth in a grin up at the sun, which they regarded through squinted eyes. this section of shadowclan territory, newly claimed, was far more lush than they were used too. the sun felt warmer here- or perhaps the movement and work was getting to them. glorious and resplendent as it was, grousepaw was suddenly acutely aware of the greenleaf heat.

evergreen grotto- a new place. one that sounded quite ornate, if she was being honest. which piqued her interest and spurred her forwards on large paws, humming in the back of her throat a low purr of amusement. once the group arrived, she lifted her head to survey the area. nosing around, she came face-to-face with the small trickle of water breaking on the lip of the cave, bathed in the mist spray. much better, and very refreshing. she let out a low laugh, before turning her focus back to the task at hand.

he spared a cursory glance over at sleepypaw and whatever she was up to, curiosity getting the better of him. trotting over to meet her, his tail swayed mildly behind him. though he didn't say much more than "g'day, little lady," as he got to searching, he preferred the company over not any day, and more paws was better than less in matters like this.

it got him thinking, with that whole announcement and whatnot, what mossfreckle was thinking. not that he doubted his clanmates- they were all. . . unique. but a lot of 'em were either meek and pushovers, or they were bloodthirsty power-grabbing sadists. neither really screamed medicine cat apprentice. grouse didn't envy the herbalist in his decision, nor did he envy the up-and-coming new royalist to add to the dynasty. stars know that shadowclan would find a way to indoctrinate them somehow, whoever they were. he supposed that if he had to pick anyone, he might pick sleepy- or. . . hm. maybe not. she was intense, and quiet, and a real fan of that grandmother of hers. maybe she'd be too much of a yes man. no, she'd definitely be too much of a yes-man.

so, if grouse was recalling correctly, he was looking for. . . ah, hell, what's the names. they all sound so similar. not important. what was important was their appearances, which he was pretty damn sure he remembered. so, with a good bit of rooting around through the shallow patches of soil and investigating every plant that decided to pop up through the surface, he got to work hunting down the herbs described. it was like, uh. . . a scavenger hunt! fun stuff. he grunted to himself, mildly amused.

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 38 moons
The Dancing Bird

[286 Words]

The large tom prowled clumsily through the forest after the medicine cat until they reached Evergreen Grotto. Tall pines loomed overhead and a thick mossy dampness filtered through the air, the ground littered with warm dapples of oranged hued light. He had loosely memorised Mossfreckle’s description of the herbs, it wasn’t exactly his forte but it was something to do to pass the time. Owlthroat’s blackened nose pressed gently into the dirt below. He had stuck to the edges of the large group, full of eager bright-eyed apprentices. He had enough of that. The enthusiasm was suffocating, it was simply a job to get on with. Never mind bouncing around.

He wasn’t quite sure where to look, trampling over what could have been what they were looking for without even realising. Knotted roots burst forth from the ground in front of him. He peered in looking with slitted yellow eyes, a few strands of grass burst forth. Mousebrain. He scowled, flashing his off-coloured teeth. The gruff warrior was never one for pleasantries, always plastered with an ever bitter expression. It was preferable that way, kept the small talk to a minimum so he could mind his manners for once. Usually it wasn’t uncommon to find him in a spat, threatening others and polishing up on his ego.

Pushing his head in between another crevice he glimpsed a sight of something. Thistle? Uncertainty flashed in his features as he moved further forward, it was a squeeze for his large frame. But he wasn’t about to let an apprentice claim his glory.

”ACHOO”, Owlthroat ripped his head backwards. Covered in a fluster of thick dandelion seeds. Desperately trying to paw both them and the embarrassment from his maw.

[​​OPEN]

[idia]

SQUIRRELPAW
she/her. 11 moons. small russet molly with brown markings and yellow eyes.

the new territory (or..old? just a new spot, she supposes) was something squirrelpaw had yet to explore. eyes peeled and surveying the surrounding area, she follows the group. traveling deeper into the forest that shrouds the territory, she follows mossfreckle to a small clearing. sunlight covers the forest floor, providing a comforting atmosphere. or, it would be comforting if her nerves weren't running wild like always. the cannibal stalking about has her wary of, unfortunately, all of her clanmates save for..three, possibly. she sighs, ignoring the discomfort that comes with wondering if anyone in this group could be the cannibal. and the fact that, more than likely, this was preparation for the incoming war..something she's still not sure if she agrees with.

shaking her head, squirrelpaw watches the rest of the crowd disperse. blessed thistle, boneset, borage...er, bright..eye?, she ponders with a frown as she breaks away from the spot she'd been standing. a general sense of unease drapes over her like a moss blanket, fluffy tail occasionally lashing nervously behind her as she pads towards the shaded spots with shallow soil, patches of moss surrounding the spots.

broom, burdock..root..burnet? I think.., squirrelpaw thinks with knitted brows. closely inspecting each plant that's sprouting through the soil, she begins her search for any of the described plants.
_____

QUILLPAW
he/him. 7 moons. dark grey tom; tabby markings; light grey markings, amber and blue eyes.
[ mind reader ]

in confident strides, quillpaw follows after mossfreckle, keeping near the front of the group. how exciting, he thinks with a small smirk as the group reaches the new landmark. evergreen grotto – dappled in golden hues of sunlight that filtered through the canopy of the dense pine trees that loomed overhead. he gives the area a brief look over, gaze sweeping over the scenery before he's walking off. mossfreckle said to stay within a yowls distance and as much as he wants to venture further into the forest, he decides to follow the medicine cat's request.

in all honesty, quillpaw isn't sure where to start looking - something he curses himself for. blessed thistle, borage, burdock.. many other herbs, too many to focus on all at once. eyes narrowing and nose scrunching in a flash of annoyance, he grumbles something incoherent under his breath. then, he clicks his tongue as he explores the new grotto in search of the herbs.

curious eyes find a small crevice in the ground behind a thick, gnarled root. swiftly, quillpaw approaches. he crouches down, peering inside. though, it's hard to make out anything considering how shaded and dark it is inside the crevice. reaching in with a paw, he feels around in hopes he's going to snag an herb or two.

[Estelle]

Evergreen Grotto. This was one of the places she had come to mark alongside Miss Grandmama, with some other faceless warriors; it had served its purpose, accompanying Miss Grandmama, not only in marking this as ShadowClan land but also giving her a head start in committing these new grounds to mind. That is to say, the area was entirely unfamiliar, and as such she saw little risk of getting lost.

These new areas, she had to admit, appeared more densely grown than that of their previous territory; that, on the other paw, took some getting used to. While the general brush was far softer, it still meant she had to be all the more careful where she walked, her guard always up just as mama had told her to do. Sleepypaw's eyes wandered about, taking in her surroundings as they travelled and halted, as Mossfreckle gave their instructions and the necessary hunt for herbs was called to a start.

She had never gone on patrol in such masses, much less gone out in such masses. It was strange, and perhaps it was wariness or interest that led the feline to stray away from the masses, bringing her whiskers to brush above more narrow and damp areas, occasionally lifting her nose to sniff the surrounding area (after all, from the few herb patrols she had been on, the apprentice had learned that herbs tended to have a rather distinctive smell - evidently different from prey, and sometimes, nature).

She kept her footing light as she walked along the growth of the grotto, her gaze sharp as she scanned the wider planes and senses alert for any intruder drawing near. Grousepaw. Her head lifted and an ear turned back when she sensed an approaching presence, that voice of theirs following near.

Little lady. How could he; she was not that little, was she? Sleepypaw paused. It may be true that most of ShadowClan towered above her, it may be true that some even rose in height above her mama and that, begrudgingly, she was not of Dawnstar's physical blood, and that she did not know her blood family' origin (some of which, unbeknownst to her, were in fact quite lanky on her mother's side - though, that of her father remained a mystery even to the forces behind the screen).

That is to say, it did not have to mean that she was little. She was merely still growing, is all; Grousepaw had earned the size lord's favour with an early growth spurt, she decided, noting the significant difference in height.

"..Good day."
It was belated; perhaps he had already gone - she would not know, Sleepypaw had not looked up once from the moment she raised and lowered her head in deep thought, continuing her search. But she was not rude, either, despite Grousepaw's evident lack of knowledge in names - or rather, an inability to use one's actual name (she wondered if many shared poor memory for others' namesakes).

Point being, she responded, albeit belatedly while continuing her thorough search of the area, hoping to find what Mossfreckle was looking for.


[ @redshiftreign ]

[Fish]

Seems like Leapingpaw was able to join up with the herb gathering patrol. That was fine and great yet it knew none of these cats. Other than the medicine cat but just knowing someone's position didn't actually feel like knowing them. So still it knew no one here. It seemed strange to him to have so many empty faces around it when he lived in this clan for so long. Then again thinking back to it its personality might have been off putting to them. All it cared about was its siblings, and even that what it truly cared about was its brother Bitternpaw.

Bitternpaw was the runt of the litter so that meant it was Leapingpaw's sole responsibility to make sure that no harm came to him. This was a burden it enthusiastically took. Forget all the other cats in this clan, the only cat that was important was Bitternpaw and it was going to make sure that Bitternpaw turned out to do great things. Which meant that it had to make sure that its brother was healthy and that meant going with a bunch of strangers to get herbs.

Now what was it that the medically inclined stranger said to it? Oh that's right, it had to find blessed thistle, boneset, borage, bright-eye, broom, burdock root and burnet.So did this knowledgeable stranger just have a thing for the letter b, whatever that may be? Leapingpaw shook its head. It was getting distracted looking at patterns within words rather than finding where those words lead to.

Now steeling its focus, Leapingpaw set forwards to look for those herbs. It wished it knew other clan members just a little bit better to want to walk with them, but it didn't trust them as far as it could throw them. So it was walking practically on its own in new lands. Fun.

[elio]

Event [#event]

Due to the current busyness of the battle and such I will be cutting this event short, here are the rolls for the first round, thank you to all who participated. Please note an edit was made to my post to add in an herb left out in oversight.

{ @Luminous ~ Pigeonpaw // 510 + collector }
[ 16 // 11 // 1 // 20 // 6 // 15 ] - + 3 borage // + 2 burdock root // + 3 burnet
[ 14 // 12 // 8 // 13 // 9 // 9 ] - + 2 blazing star // + 3 bright-eye // + 3 broom

{ @Daragca ~ Owlthroat // 286 }
[ 10 // 14 ] - + 1 blazing star // + 3 blessed thistle // + 1 boneset

{ @SuspiciousMindz ~ Fogwatcher // 120 + collector }
[ 11 // 20 ] - + 3 blazing star // + 3 bright-eye // + 2 burdock root

{ @Dark ~ Hazelstripe // 330 + collector }
[ 2 // 17 // 3 // 10 ] - + 1 blazing star // + 4 boneset // + 3 borage

[ yes, moss is just doing his own thing /w\ ]
{ @ellie ~ Mossfreckle // 531 + collector }
[ 5 // 12 // 5 // 10 // 13 // 18 ] - + 3 lovage // + 3 ragwort // + 2 tormentil
[ 9 // 8 // 17 // 2 // 7 // 10 ] - + 1 tormentil // + 3 watermint // 4 + wild garlic

{ @SeongwasBunnyEars ~ Fallenmoon // 370 }
[ 11 // 2 // 11 ] - + 3 blessed thistle

{ @redshiftreign ~ Grousepaw // 554 }
[ 20 // 3 // 14 // 10 // 10 ] - + 2 blazing star // + 3 boneset
[ 4 // 11 // 10 // 9 // 19 ] - + 3 borage // + 2 burdock root

{ @furrensic ~ Squirrelpaw // 216 }
[ 18 // 6 ] - + 2 broom // + 1 burdock root // + 2 burnet

{ @/furrensic ~ Quillpaw // 215 }
[ 15 // 2 ] - + 2 bright-eye // + 3 broom

{ @Estelle ~ Sleepypaw // 517 }
[ 14 // 1 // 14 // 17 // 20 ] - + 3 blessed thistle // + 1 burdock root // + 1 burnet
[ 19 // 16 // 1 // 19 // 19 ] - + 2 boneset // + 2 borage // + 1 bright - eye

{ @Fish ~ Leapingpaw // 311 }
[ 4 // 13 // 15 ] - + 2 broom // + 3 burnet

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 38 moons
The Dancing Bird

[206 Words]

Owlthroat had carried on moodily searching, he spent his time ducking and clambering over branches. His hulking shape deftly pawing and clawing at anything that seemed to match the description that the medicine cat had given to the patrol. It wasn’t long after when he finally managed to strike a patch of luck.

Blazing star, at least he thought it was, only a small sprig but it was immediately recognisable based upon the description Mossfreckle had given him. Short, brightly pink stems curling upwards, it wasn’t particularly a big specimen but it was better than turning up empty pawed. A glint of triumph flashed in his yellow eyes. He clasped it and pulled, it came free easily and he tucked it for safekeeping into his dense bushy coat. He must have hit the right spot, After came three blessed thistles, the texture uncomfortable in his maw. Finally one Boneset, the small pale flowers erupting from the forest floor amidst the grass and the thickets. Pride tinged him deeply and he sauntered off to find Mossfreckle.

”Here”, the black and white tom pulled the various sprigs from his fur before spitting them at the healer's paws.

[​​ @ellie ]

[Luminous]

Pigeonpaw

Another one, and another one, and another....

With a wide grin on her face and a victorious spark glittering in her eyes, Pigeonpaw danced around between the different patches of greenery, checking under bushes, sniffing around in the undergrowth, and glancing behind trees. Herbs, as it turned out, were not as hard to find as prey. Probably because they didn't have feet to run around with. Pulling up from a thick bush with a mouthful of (what she based on the description guessed to be) borage, the grey apprentice grabbed the (presumably) burnet and burdock root, and bounced back to Mossy. Or rather, bounced back to where she was sure Mossy had been a while ago.

Oh well. Dropping off her herbs, Pigeonpaw was pleased to find that she (once again) was super duper speedy and many of the other cats were still not back. But it meant she had more time to fetch more herbs! Like she had already grabbed eight whole plants, so she would have time to find some more!

***

Oh this must be Blaing star! It was such a cool name too. Two more of those, but she couldn't carry the third. And when getting back, Mossy was there! Perfact! Pigeonpaw was amazing! "I found more plants, Mossy!" she grinned. "like 16 total! Youre gonna heal so many cats with these... these leaves..." honestly she had no idea what parts of what plants were used for what, but at least he had all of them now!

[Estelle]

Between two separate trips, much to her ease, it seemed Sleepypaw was able to gather quite a haul - or at least, no more than most, but enough for her to have to make to make two separate trips out of it, bringing her first five findings to Mossfreckle followed by the next five. Having searched high and low, between groves and wide open spaces, calmer and less crowded, served well. Most the herbs she carried were unfortunately unknown to her, and an itch in her brain demanded she asked the medicine cat what each of their uses were but alas - this was not the time nor place. And with Mossfreckle being undoubtedly busy these coming days, Sleepypaw's endless search for knowledge would have to wait. She would have to accept that she couldn't ask right here and now and bring up these inquiries with Mossfreckle at some later date if both time and the medic allowed. Through her searched and trips, the young apprentice couldn't help but momentarily glance Grousepaw's way, wondering how his searches had gone. After all, they had set off in a similar direction it seemed.


[ @redshiftreign - Grouse mention ]