I get lost in the process, I do try but I'm hopeless [p]

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 9 moons | 93/100
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
· · ────────────── · ·
[Nathaniel - @Rani ]
· · ────────────── · ·
The screams of battle had died down hours ago. The moon had just dipped below the horizon, her light masked by the burning flames of dawn. In the shadows of the forest lay a young apprentice, slowly bleeding out on a bed of pine-needles and dirt. Her breaths came out in slow, uneven rasps, wheezing out of the giant gash in her maw that revealed gums and teeth that would likely remain revealed for the rest of her life.

If she survived.

It was in this quiet, sleepy forest that help would come. Unknown to the unconscious molly, someone would soon stumble upon her and bring her to a place that could finally heal something that had been thought to be irreparably broken many moons prior.


[Eaglepaw has a nasty gash on the left side of her mouth, as well as a festering bite mark on her left foreleg. Injuries clearly made by a cat]

[Rani]

Nathaniel
Kittypet Healer | He/him | Dreamwalker | Silver Tongue

Herb patrols were ever routine but always new in a strange sort of way. They had the same 'flow' to them, track down herbs by going to their probable growing spots and scenting them out, harvest and bring home, and yet there was never a normal herb patrol. Something always always happened to make things strange and more trouble then one would think they could be.

For example this outing.

Nathaniel didnt have any current patients that required herbs, Casket was in the physical therapy stage of recovery, having far passed healing. However he always liked to be stocked and was planning on running a training session with his kittens to make sure they knew what they were doing before they visited his healers den. Just so they didnt eat something they shouldnt or in case they got hurt, even if they were supposed to go there to meet their 'uncle' and maybe cheer the morose sod up. Those plans were thoroughly ruined of course when he needed to use his herbs before he even got home.....

A large chunk of burdock between his teeth the tom shifted, trying to make sure the poppy flower, burnet leaf, and chamomile stuck to his back with cobwebs stayed there for the trip home. It'd be a short term fix but once the kittens were taught about the herb the chamomile could be forced down Caskets throat to help his mental wounds and maybe he'd even feel well enough to face his- Ooop thats a corpse.

The lithe tom froze, mixed scent of blood infection and his own once clan managing to finally overpower the bitter tang of the burdock as he stood above Eaglepaw. For a moment there was not but fear, irrational paranoia racing thoughts through the toms head before he calmed and took in the situation.

The clan wasnt here, this was a kid, and she was hurt.
That was enough to finally push the healer into motion.

The herbs were placed down and, quickly snagging the burnet and shaking two poppyseeds into it before folding the leaf Nathaniel quickly fed it to Eaglepaw with the practiced paws of someone who knew his stuff. It wasnt hard to feed unconscious patients really, you just pushed the herbs to the back of the throat carefully, close the mouth and stroke the throat until they reflexively swallowed, and with the poppyseeds to help the shock and burnet to boost his strength the rest was just routine.
Wounds were cleaned with nearby moss, damp in the mourning dew, burdock was chewed with just a wrinked muzzle at the bitter tang, slathered on all wounds and cobwebs were applied to cover the rest. Honestly it was lucky he'd gathered burdock today rather then marigold, the flower was good as a preventative but burdock was harsher and so better for active festering in deeper wounds. Though it did sting a ton before it numbed the wound as a side effect.

As the tom cleaned himself off, staying within sight line of the unconscious apprentice the healer mulled over what to do. This kid had riverclan scent too fresh to be a runaway who'd be more inclined to not tell the clan that Snakeheart was alive and now a kittypet healer, and her wounds spoke of trouble, the scent of other clans to muddled to tell exactly who'd attacked a riverclan apprentice. So knowing who might still be after her was unknown. But..... this was an apprentice who wasnt among the clanmates Snakeheart had ran from, and regardless she couldnt be left here vulnerable.....

With a sigh the healer steeled his nerves, gathering several cobwebs as a delay tactic and sticking the rest of the poppy flower and unused chamomile (which might now be needed for the kid to help her deal with whatever had caused these injuries and driven him away from her clan) Nathaniel padded back over to Eaglepaw, resigned to his decision.


The molly would be gently lifted onto the healers back and he'd begin his journey home to the den, hoping Casket wouldnt mind a new roommate.


@Mica (if you do a short post next one I can have nate bring eagle into his den and tag redshift into the rp~)

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 9 moons | 93/100
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
· · ────────────── · ·
[Nathaniel - @Rani ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Something stirred the large she-cat awake. Dull, throbbing pain that sharpened before fading into blissful numbness. Cool water trickling into her mouth from moss as it wiped away the debris from the gash on her mouth. The apprentice whimpered slightly, fever turning her vision into a haze. Someone was here. Someone that smelled of herbs and something warm and stale. She thought StarClan would smell like the chill of winter. Not like a warm den.

As she was gently moved, unconsciousness slipped its tendrils over her eyes and dragged her back under.

[Sounds good!! Also Eaglepaw is a girl just fyi : D]

[Rani]

Nathaniel
Kittypet Healer | He/him | Dreamwalker | Silver Tongue

Good gods Eaglepaw was heavy. Or maybe Nathaniel was just weak and needed to exercise more. The issue was was the healer was not a large cat, average sized at best but with a naturally lean build that did not lend itself to strength but instead agility and speed, maybe endurance if he'd put more effort into his form. And sure he wasnt the half starved disaster he once was in riverclan, skipping too many meals in his frantic rush to help the clan and now even had a good chubby primordial pouch (though he wished he'd developed fat tom cheeks instead, a pouch being a female trait and ruining his figure making him feel crawly and- Oh shut up dysphoria) but it was still a hard trip.

A couple times the healer felt the apprentice rouse, twitching as movement alerted her before the poppyseeds dragged her under again and he stopped every time to watch her, determining she'd need borage once she woke for that fever. But for now she stayed under, lingering blood on her pelt soaking through to Nathaniels, marring his fur.

Eventually he made it to the park that held his healers den, groaning at the strain before stopping outside to.... Well give the cat inside some space and called out, Eaglepaw still on his back.
"Casket! I found a patient on my herb patrol and...... Well you might wanna brace yourself before coming out. She's alive but, its a situation.
Come take a look maybe you can help me figure things out."
And sooth the apprentice who would be waking shortly he had no doubt. Walking here had taken some time and there was only so much poppyseeds could do to keep a cat out when you were constantly disturbing them.


@Mica @redshiftreign

[redshiftreign]

WHEN I GO INTO THE GROUND

THEY GOTTA BURY ME FACE DOWN.

CASKET ; he/it
@Rani , @Mica

it had been a good few dozen sunrises since casket had woken, half dead and held together solely by cobwebs and acrid herbs, in an unfamiliar den owned by a face he vaguely recognized. he had recovered a lot- maybe not fully. maybe never fully, but enough to be able to pace restlessly around the den, and sit outside and bask in the mid-morning sun when Nathaniel was off. enough to stand confidently on his own four paws again, at least.

his nerves were worse for wear, though. with each step forwards he took in recovering his physical capabilities, he got more restless and alert. as much as Nathaniel had helped with the fear by simply being there, casket had his own battles to fight. ones that wanted him dead. ones that haunted his every step.

so, the blue-grey tabby was pacing restlessly, lean muscle rippling under a glossy coat (he was finally just bringing to build that back up; all the lean muscle he had worked hard over moons and moons to maintain and had wilted in his stillness, and the sheen to his coat that he had once spent painstaking time to take care of.) when the familiar and welcome voice of Nathaniel called out.

then an even more familiar-

too familiar

-scent hit his nose.

and with all the fire and fury of a dying man, the once glorious tom streaked along the too-green grasses, maintained by the twolegfolk and to the entrance of the park, jaws parted slightly to drink in the scent. and stars, was he right.

"Eaglepaw." he said, with more life than he'd had in moons. maybe ever. maybe even before the real him died. his metaphorical death. his self-sustaining exile. "Eaglepaw. Oh stars." He surged forwards as if to investigate the massive apprentice carried in tow by Nathaniel, then fell back, hesitant.

"she's alive? she's okay? what happened? who did this-" the questions came out faster than he had wanted, desperate and rambling and splitting on his cracked voice. crumbling on his scarred vocal cords. then, after fear came rage. fury. hotter than anything- scorching brighter than the nurturing sun. a river could run, meander and flow, but it too could carve, and rush, and it could kill.

casket squared his emotions into neat little bottles in his mind, corking them up in tidy filing cabinet-like zones until a cold feeling settled in him like silt or stones to the bottom of a river, expression steeling into something very reminiscent of the tom he had once been.

perhaps, perhaps Rushwater was dead. but casket survived.

the stoic tom stepped in a half-circle around the pair to assess the damage, a switch flipped in his brain as he went into work mode. like a retired bomb dog, he would do what he was trained to do. even after everything.

"that's my daughter, Nathaniel. you found my daughter."

[Rani]

Nathaniel
Kittypet Healer | He/him | Dreamwalker | Silver Tongue

The healer had seen what the weighty claws of depression could do to a cat. He'd both grappled with it himself and come out the other end horrified at what that beast had done to him, body mind and soul but had also tried his best to coach cats through their own in his den. Life changing injuries and confronting your own mortality tended to drag a cats mind to dark places after all.

But in all his time he'd seldom seen such a dramatic change as Casket- though the tom supposed this was Rushwater in a way Nathaniel never had been able to meet him as even as the toms form had returned until now there'd been an aspect missing. He supposed it was passion now, seeing the other toms face change as he beheld his daughter.
Things made sense in that way now, Nathaniel was sure he'd be rocked much the same if he saw on of his little girls in this state.


In that he knew there was no response he could give that'd really fit in this circumstance. Though reminded that Eaglepaw had really only gotten lucky in being found by him and saved would be painful and terrifying, any expression that Nathaniel was glad he could do this for a cat who he was viewing as some sort of distant family now was already implicit. Nothing fit, and so he simply nodded small, normally sharp green eyes soft in a rare way as he moved on.

Moving forward would protect and nurture all the most, Nathaniel had learned in his life. Though it'd been a hard lesson to learn.

"She'll find your nest a comfort then, lets get her inside. Id rather her not wake and panic at being on some strange toms back after whatever she's been through. She's safe and will live and now even has you to help her on that path. Ill prepare a batch of herbs for her when she does out here to give you space while she rouses, but please try and keep her calm and still to not reopen things."

The tom could and did deposit the cobwebs and poppyseed in his store, confident he wouldnt need them for awhile as the herbs yet lingered on Eaglepaw and didnt need refreshing. But the chamomile he wished to give a dose of to both patients and so would need more, and borage was a priority to sooth that fever.... Ever more things to do and at least the time that took would provide space for a reunion Nathaniel didnt wish to intrude on.

So Eaglepaw was brought under the foot bridge to the sheltered spot that created a den, filled with stolen twoleg blankets softer then moss could hope to be and gently slipped into the one that held her fathers scent. She could share that with him, at least until a decision on what came after was reached and wounds were healed, and the healer himself laid a comforting tail on the no doubt hovering fathers shoulder before giving the two room to be alone.

Which was a form of healing, in its own way.


@redshiftreign @Mica