Nightwhisper nodded gently to Acornfall's gentle encouragments and kind words. "Gosh..... I would be such a mess, thank you for helping me." Nightwhisper mewed sincerely, his eyes shining in gratitude the awkward tom didn't know how to express. "A scent?" Nightwhisper's black and ginger ears perked up at Acornfall's next words, following the scene trail he'd now picked up, hearing Acornfall's gentle taking of control made Nightwhisper feel at ease, his fur brushing up in anticipation as he padded to he apprentice, Burnedpaw, as he found catmint. "Perfect, collect some but not all, we need the plant to keep growing, let the little leaves stay unless we only get two or three leaves, all these black leaves are clearly rotting so pluck them off." Nightwhisper meowed curtly, grabbing 3 leaves in his maw delicatly, grabbing a large tree leaf and placing them on it, "Grab a leaf and put your herbs on it, less of a chance of you taking away any goodness from them," Nightwhisper mewed, adding quickly, "Not that you will on purpose. But better to be safe than sorry." He mewed
Acornfall had given Nightwhisper a warm smile at his words. "We're friends, Nightwhisper." He had mewed. "I would never let you stay lost." Now, faced with their target, his eyes lit up joyously. "I told you!" Acornfall meowed with a wide grin. "You're not alone!" Acornfall nodded at Nightwhisper's directions, grabbing three good leaves from a nearby fern. One for each cat to use to carry their load.
"You sure you're not a medicine cat?" He asked in jest, realizing in retrospect that his words may have been hurtful. He touched his nose to his friend's ear, hoping to show that he hadn't meant any harm in it. Acornfall then gently took a stem from the flowerbed, pruning off the blackened leaves with his claws. The stem had at least 5 leaves on it that were for sure good, plus what was left of the purple blooms. Acornfall wasn't sure if the flowers were useful or not, so he carefully wrapped it in the fern leaf he got for himself and nodded to Nightwhisper to indicate he had his plant prepped.
Burnedpaw nodded at Nightwhisper's directions, appreciating how clear and concise they were. He found himself mentally agreeing with Acornfall, Nightwhisper sounded more like a medicine cat right now than a warrior. But he knew medicine cats couldn't have kits, which he thought was dumb personally but whatever. Watching the two warriors, Burnedpaw copied their behaviors, selecting a stem that had mostly good leaves on it. The blooms were starting to turn, so he pruned off anything that was brown or dry with his claws, including pruning the leaves. When he was satisfied, he wrapped the rest in the fern leaf Acornfall had selected for him. He had 4 good leaves left. He too looked up at the toms, flicking his tail to show he was also ready.
Acornfall had given Nightwhisper a warm smile at his words. "We're friends, Nightwhisper." He had mewed. "I would never let you stay lost." Now, faced with their target, his eyes lit up joyously. "I told you!" Acornfall meowed with a wide grin. "You're not alone!" Acornfall nodded at Nightwhisper's directions, grabbing three good leaves from a nearby fern. One for each cat to use to carry their load.
"You sure you're not a medicine cat?" He asked in jest, realizing in retrospect that his words may have been hurtful. He touched his nose to his friend's ear, hoping to show that he hadn't meant any harm in it. Acornfall then gently took a stem from the flowerbed, pruning off the blackened leaves with his claws. The stem had at least 5 leaves on it that were for sure good, plus what was left of the purple blooms. Acornfall wasn't sure if the flowers were useful or not, so he carefully wrapped it in the fern leaf he got for himself and nodded to Nightwhisper to indicate he had his plant prepped.
Burnedpaw nodded at Nightwhisper's directions, appreciating how clear and concise they were. He found himself mentally agreeing with Acornfall, Nightwhisper sounded more like a medicine cat right now than a warrior. But he knew medicine cats couldn't have kits, which he thought was dumb personally but whatever. Watching the two warriors, Burnedpaw copied their behaviors, selecting a stem that had mostly good leaves on it. The blooms were starting to turn, so he pruned off anything that was brown or dry with his claws, including pruning the leaves. When he was satisfied, he wrapped the rest in the fern leaf Acornfall had selected for him. He had 4 good leaves left. He too looked up at the toms, flicking his tail to show he was also ready.
Nightwhisper purred his gratitude to Acornfall, nodding in thanks to the leaf handed to him. "Pfft- me a medicine cat? I'd claw off my own ears listening to that all day." Nightwhisper mewed, "As a kit I was sickly, speant every moment I could in the medicine den, picked up on some things. The rest of it's common sense," Nightwhisper mewed truthfully, his ears flicking playfully to take off any sting his last words may have left. "Alright, were all ready? It seems we've got.... 3... 7.... 12. Good 12, Burnedpaw on the way back, you can grab one elder flower and I'll grab two, should be enough." Nightwhisper mewed, flicking his tail and carrying his bundle as he started to head off.
__________________
Oceanstar is the leader of Beachclan!
"You did a great job today and I hope you smile a little by thinking about me at the end of the day" -Kim Hongjoong
"Glad someone thought it was cool." Wolfhive wasn't sure that was the term he'd personally use, but to each their own. "Not going to let some half-wit fleabag disrespect me as if they've any ground to stand on." It was frustrating, in a way. Wolfhive didn't mind if a cat was just having a bad day but Tigerkit didn't give him that vibe like Larkswoop or even Antpaw did. Just a problem to be a problem.
At the edge of the treeline where the forest opened to the Cove, Wolfhive paused to enjoy the view. The wind was whipping across the flowery field, and beyond that: the beach and ocean. Salt in the air made his nose itch, and he had to fight the urge to sneeze. "Can't wait for things to open up again! Gonna feel like a whole different forest."
”I’m here, I’m here! Wait for meeeeee!” That was the voice of a still-teen-aged warrior tripping over her own paws to skid to a stop beside Wolfhive, fur windblown and sticking up in what which direction.
While her roleplayer had been dying, the IC excuse was that Shockhoney had proceeded to get distracted the second they stepped out of camp. Look, she hadn’t been outside of the stuffy camp for sooo long. “I’m never going back!” Oh, oops. Hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Em. “Well. It’s boring in camp. All you do is sit and stare at other people’s boring faces. Which is boring— hey, speaking of faces…” Shockhoney squinted at the green-eyed tom. “What’s that? Ooooh, a scar! How’d you get it? Was it the coolest ever?”
Dawnpaw hoped Wolfsnarl had followed and she went on to check it out not seeing anything and caught a bird. It was small but it was something. {Sorry works been nuts} @Splitmoon
What were they supposed to collect again? Oh right, comfrey and honey. Not that Antpaw knew how to find or collect either item, but that was what the two warriors on the patrol were for. Hopefully they knew what to do. Antpaw glances over at both Orangeblossom and Lioncrest. Lioncrest looked dependable enough, if you could ignore their weird way of speaking. Orangeblossom was in deep thought and kinda jumpy and anxious, but Antpaw didn't really care as long as they got the job done.
When they finally arrive, Antpaw's eyes scan the cove for the comfrey that Hollowpaw mentioned, and his nose sniffs for the sweet scent of honey.
[Antpaw rolls an 18]
There is a vague, barely recognizable scent in the air. It's mixed with the scent of water and fall berries, but Antpaw soon recognizes it as sweet honey and waxy honeycomb. Bees buzz and make loud annoying sounds in that direction, so Antpaw's even more confident he has it right.
"Honey is that way." He meows, flicking his tail lazily towards the right direction and padding over. "Springlight shares leftover honeycomb with the kits, so I know that smell." Antpaw pauses, "Or she used to before she died, anyway." His meow is nochalant and blunt.
As he gets closer, Antpaw also spots wilted purple flowers on a plant with droopy leaves. There's only a few flowers, and they're faded, drying up, and falling to the ground, but they are still there, enough to be noticeable. Was this comfrey or not, Antpaw wasn't sure. He was inexperienced with herbs. Antpaw glances at the two warriors in the group for confirmation.
It had been... Well, it had been an unusually long stretch of time since he had been able to exit the confines of camp considering the recent calamities within Thunderclan's borders. As he padded through the forest alongside his patrolmates, the large golden warrior kept his nose to the breeze and amber eyes continuously surveyed their surroundings as they entered the cove.
As the apprentice stated his observations, Lioncrest's gaze flicked over to confirm his findings.
[ Lioncrest rolled a 15 ]
There did seem to be a perpetual hum emanating from a nearby tree on the edge of the cove... And those plants seemed to match Hollowpaw's description...
"Let us remove the herbs before attempting to harvest anything from the hive," he rumbled, large paws carrying him towards the faded flowers and beginning to scrape at the earth around them to reach the roots. "I anticipate the bees within that hive will not be pleased with our intrusion to collect their honey, and I am not looking to acquire more stings than necessary today."
Pulling out 3 decently thick roots from the soil, the large tom effortlessly bit them off from the surrounding plant before grimacing slightly at the slippery texture and bitter taste [+3 Comfrey Roots]. Padding several foxlengths away from the hive, he placed down the herbs before returning next to Antpaw and tilting his head up to the buzzing tree to inspect it. There was a small hive just under one of the upper branches...
"If I knock that out from this tree, we have a decent chance of gaining an entire hives-worth of comb," he mused, evaluating the climb before turning back to Antpaw with a searching look. "Will yourself and Orangeblossom be able draw away the swarm or snatch a few chunks away if we go ahead with this? You will most definitely gain a few stings, but your contribution to our herb stores will be significant."
Stings? Antpaw was not looking forward to that. He copies Lioncrest to dig out the comfrey, [+5 Comfrey Roots] then glances at the hive uneasily.
"Do we have to get stung?" He asks, "Is there no other way to get the honey?" Drawing away the hive or snatching chunks of the hive, both sounded pretty dangerous. He hadn't ever been stung before, which only made his nerves worse.
Orangeblossom watched as his patrol companions collected quite a few comfrey roots, which was good but they also needed to collect some honey and he wasn't sure how much more they could carry. So instead of gathering any of his own he decided to leave his paws open solely for some honey. He glanced to Lioncrest as the warrior mentioned the actual collecting. Then to Antpaw as the apprentice questioned. "I don't think any cat can manage to get a fair amount of honey without a couple stings to show for it. But the honey is more needed than ever with the amount of coughs going around the honey can help lessen some of the pain so we want to drag in as much as possible."
"I'm fine taking the stings from the hive, so Antpaw if you would be willing to act as a sort of distraction and run off after Lioncrest knocks down the hive, I can swoop in and grab the whole thing to bring it back. Just... don't, like, jump into any water, sometimes bees will wait you out above the surface so it's just not worth it." The warrior spoke as he glanced towards the hive. Bees honestly weren't that fast or smart and a cat could definitely outrun them if you're smart about it. The bees that remained inside the hive will probably be the biggest culprit of stingers.
It seemed that his patrolmates were amicable to his plan. Giving a rumble of acknowledgement as Orange blossom directed Antpaw in their role, the large golden tom padded up to the tree and tested the bark with his claws. Sturdy. No rot that he could tell. Should be able to hold him nicely.
"Antpaw," he stated, turning back to give the apprentice an evaluating look. "Leave your roots here at the base of the tree, and grab the three on the far side of the clearing after your distraction. I will pick up these 5 and assist Orangeblossom with moving the hive. I would suggest stepping back out of sight for a moment."
Turning back to his task, Lioncrest began hauling himself up the tree without another word. The plan was made, the stage was set, and all he had to do was send their prize hurtling out from the tree. The hive was small, but the steady buzz and the occasional insect flying too and fro guaranteed a decent amount of honey for the clan.
Clambering onto a branch beside the hive the buzzing changed, rising in pitch as more insects excited their home to investigate the movement. Squinting and flattening his ears as the bugs began to buzz around his head, the only warning to his companions was a brief bellow of, "Move!", before the hefty tom swung both rear paws into the connecting structure of the hive... Then chaos.
Bees exploded from the impact point as the hive broke off from the tree, and Lioncrest let out a hiss of displeasure as several of the bugs stung his rear legs. It was time to leave, and he certainly hoped that his companions would follow through on their roles as he began scrambling down the trunk.