Okay. Okay alright okay. Salamanderpaw starts the trip with a few inane comments, just remarking on the cold or that she wishes they were hunting real prey instead of just herbs ("—I mean I know they're important but they don't even run away or anything,") but all her chatter dries right up the closer they get to Seagrass Fields. Her dislike for the place isn't a huge problem and it will certainly never impair her ability to patrol out here, but it's done a number on her willingness. She can do things in a bad mood, though. Especially when she knows they are things that have to get done.
Wisteriawren's been gathering flowers on the way. Salamanderpaw had politely bitten back the unnecessary remark that they're kind of withered and ugly, I'd hate it if someone put gross dead plants on my grave, because she knows better. That place she gently leaves them at is where Stormstar is buried, isn't it? It's not Salamanderpaw's job to decide how cats remember and pay respect to one another. It's especially not her job to let everyone within earshot know about every mean little thought she has.
Right now her job is dock.
It's hard to find anything through the tall grass, the mist, and the light snow that shroud this place, but she's determined to do an extra good job. The heebiejeebies don't get to decide how productive I am!! Salamanderpaw holds her puffy tail up as she sinks into the grass, letting it act as a banner to spot her by as she moves away from the two warriors. There are no obvious big green tongues for several pawsteps, but she eventually finds a plant that looks about right, smells about right, and feels about right. It's on the small and shrivelly side, so she plucks off the two biggest pieces and leaves the rest alone.
"There's one down here! It kind of sucks though. Maybe there's other ones nearby?"
The young warrior was being slower while trying to find herbs. He was a bit distracted at the thought of being in the new graveyard site of the clan. He was lost at thought thinking about his missing kit and while no one was looking he sat down for a few minutes and put a pile of stones together. He'd like to believe they were alive out there and healthy but how could he know that for sure?
After taking his time to mourn what was lost, he went back to looking for dock. Typically Sharkhail would keep searching till he could find all he could carry but his mind wasn't fully in it. All he could get himself to do was collect two things of dock.
Salamanderpaw and Sharkhail seemed to be on two very different wavelengths, but Wisteriawren respected that. She wouldn't nudge them on it - didn't think she had enough boldness to outright question them, anyway. They were doing their job, she would do hers. Offering her two companions a brief smile - whether they were looking or not - the plump molly shuffles off to do some searching of her own.
A while later, she was back with a good enough haul. "Shouv we go?" She mumbles around the dock clutched in her mouth, cheeks heating at the words being slightly muffled. Hopefully, it'd gotten the idea across at least.
Hrm. Well, all's good it looks like. Sharkhail goes off to do...something? But he returns back into view with about as much dock as Salamanderpaw's been able to scrounge up, so she doesn't bother questioning it. Wisteriawren's the big winner of the day, coming out on top with a considerable mouthful of leafy green tongues that Salamanderpaw has to work hard to stifle a giggle at.
"Yeah, go." She agrees quickly. Any excuse to leave this place now. She is not waiting long, already ambling back the way the patrol had come.
ROWANMANE Posts: 237 | Male | 45 Moons | RC Warrior (in this timeline) Purrks: Killer Aptitude T2
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Visit her sister…her sister…oh. Oh. Well, he was due to go there he supposed…a visit wouldn’t hurt. And guess who became mates there- Ahem-. His gaze seemed to somehow be growing softer as he gave a gentle nod. “Alrigh’ kiddo, sounds good t’ me.” RowanMane carefully started to the exit of camp. He would go at whatever pace she wanted.
Then- water. Rain to be specific. But…StarryPaw wanted to go. It didn’t seem like the soft drizzle would defer her. They were RiverClan after all, huh? “Ya good with the rain?”
@Wingnettle (you can post next in Seagrass Fields if you want!)
Starrypaw
Riverclan | 9 moons Mind Reader, Lucky Duck 3
Starrypaw nodded, unable to talk at the moment. She was too focused on observing the magical landscape around her. Elderkit's body lies here... in the sea of grass. Covered by the comforting blanket of the fog.
It was humid and definitely cold. But she felt relief melting the tension in her shoulder and the knot in her throat. The tears had finally dried up, and her white pelt was all ruffled.
She wondered for a brief moment whether Rowanmane had ever buried someone here. Some of his clanmates. But he didn't seem on edge as he made his way through the field.
"How.. will we recognize her place..?" Se dared to ask in a whisper, careful not to break the sacred silence. There was recent evidence of digging up soil and trying to cover them again, where the grass had been torn apart. But Elderkit had been dead for moons now... How would they find her?
very large, muscular, & scarred light brown tabby tom with stark blue eyes and a torn ear; killer aptitude t3 | just a scratch | dreamwalker
[ riverclan warrior | tomcat | 56 moons | gruff & battle-hardened, heart o’ gold; loyal to a fault ]
—
Stagheart padded in, glancing back to make sure Falconfire and Midnightpaw were with him. "We're lookin' for dandelion 'n goldenrod," he informed the warrior who'd swapped in, scanning the fields where the graves of their Clanmates lay. His piercing blue gaze briefly rested on Stormstar's, feeling a pang through his heart, before he continued on with a huff. "Mind the graves," he rumbled to the apprentice on their patrol; the kid probably knew that, but the mentor within him had to say it anyway.
Stagheart sniffed along the frosty ground until he spied some deadened patches of grass and foliage where herbs grew and died as the seasons changed. Peeking past a dip sheltered by a rock, he found a spot where the frosts and snows hadn't completely eaten away at the remnants of a dandelion plant. Using his claws to churn up some of the hard earth, he pulled out some roots and leaves, pawing it over towards Midnightpaw.
"This is some dandelion. Berry needs the roots 'n leaves, if I'm rememberin' right. When it's warmer, these grow with lil' yeller flower heads and are practically everywhere. Same with goldenrod." He swiveled his large tabby head as he spoke, gesturing with his tail to a nearby taller bush with browning leaves and stems, though some still held a yellow sprig here or there. "Taller, 'n they grow on bushes. Berryshine'll need just 'bout as much as we can salvage from each of these; there ain't much out here, but we'll do what we can. Newleaf's comin' sooner or later, anyhow... don't go too far," he added, giving his companions a glance before continuing to carefully dig around.
[ Rolls: 1, 4 | Fail! ]
The senior warrior straightened up with a frown. Well... it looked like that first little plant he'd shown Midnightpaw was just about all he was going to get. They were so fragile from the frost that his little maneuver to try and dig up the roots just about shredded the rest. Grunting, he moved on from there, going to inspect one side of the dead goldenrod bush for whatever leaves and roots he could salvage there.
Bump Policy: Bump after a few hours or a day!! I'm very forgetful
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Re: Seagrass Fields
Midnightpaw
black tuxedo | he/him | brown eyes ”Trust me, I got nothin’ for you other than love”
``Alright!`` Midnightpaw looked around carefully. He started to wander off a bit while still making sure he was in the warriors' sight.
[ Rolled 18, 6 ~ Success, Fail ]
``Ahah!`` Midnightpaw had found a big sprout of goldenrod and a small, probably unusable strand of dandelion. ``No luck with dandelion, but I got some golden rod!`` He called to the other warriors. He sniffed it and bent down. ``Wait, what did we need? The stems?`` He asked, stepping away.
Seagrass Fields, not exactly her favourite place in the territory. Even if they weren’t buried here, it reminded Falconfire of quite a few of her close friends who now hunted in StarClan, like Leafstream or Reedclaw. She listened as Stagheart informed her of the herbs to look for. "Dandelion and goldenrod." She nodded. "Got it." She knew both plants from moons and moons of being sent on herb patrols, not that she knew too much about them but at least the bare minimum for finding them.
Falconfire quietly slipped away to look for herbs, not too far away from the rest of the patrol but enough to search a wider area for the herbs. The icy frost of leafbare killed off most of these plants, but she came across two clumps of dandelions poking out of the ground underneath a tree, she figured the tree must’ve provided some kind of shelter for the plant and that’s how it survived.
[roll: 12]
As Falconfire got closer to the dandelions, she realised one of them was beyond being salvaged, killed off by the cold. The other was just about still useful, so she dug her claws into the ground and started tearing the frozen soil up, grabbing the plant in her jaws and pulling, careful not to damage anything useful. At last, the plant came out of the ground, roots and leaves still intact.
Her ears perked up as she heard Midnightpaw’s voice in the air. "Leaves and roots I believe." She responded, not lifting her head as she continued to look for other dandelions.
[roll: 19]
Ah! Two useful clumps of dandelion! Perfect! Falconfire inspected the plants closely, before she started digging up the soil around the base of the first plant, pulling at the plant with her teeth as she had with the last one. Once again, the plant came out of the soil and she placed it on the ground beside the other one she’d already taken out. She quickly did the same with the second plant, making sure to save as much of the roots as possible.
very large, muscular, & scarred light brown tabby tom with stark blue eyes and a torn ear; killer aptitude t3 | just a scratch | dreamwalker
[ riverclan warrior | tomcat | 56 moons | gruff & battle-hardened, heart o’ gold; loyal to a fault ]
—
Stagheart nodded to Falconfire's response. "If ya see any of the flowers left on there, might as well grab 'em too. I know Berryshine uses everything she gets. But just get whatcha can... she knows there ain't much left out here."
[ Rolls: 5, 2, 15 | Fail, Fail, Success ]
He squinted, trying to carefully prune the stalks of goldenrod he needed from the half-dead bush. The first two were too brittle and broke off into dry crumbles, falling uselessly into the cold dirt. But the last one he'd at least managed to salvage some of the leaves, carefully pulling up the roots as well. There was even a little sprout here...
A quick search around told him the rest of the bush was as good as dead, like the first two stalks he'd grabbed.
Grunting, Stagheart picked up his one measly dandelion and two goldenrod, setting them down on the ground back at their meeting spot. "Any luck? We should be getting back soon, but ain't no rush," he mused, flicking his tail. If his patrolmates found any more last minute, that'd be great. He was sure Berryshine would appreciate all efforts they could muster.
[ Roll: 14 | Success! ]
But as the large tabby tom waited, he looked once more in a nearby clump of dead grass, carefully sniffing... and found the remains of another dandelion plant sheltered underneath the stalks like a blanket. Carefully, he was able to uncover the roots and leaves with only minimal damage, feeling a glimmer of satisfaction. The warrior wasn't the most... graceful, or gentle. But at least he could do this, at least, to help his fostered daughter.
Bump Policy: Bump after a few hours or a day!! I'm very forgetful
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Re: Seagrass Fields
Midnightpaw
black tuxedo | he/him | brown eyes ”Trust me, I got nothin’ for you other than love”
``Kay!`` Midnightpaw responded, as he picked at stems and leaves to gain something. The tom plucked stems with his teeth and carried them over to his group.
[ Rolled: 10 /d10 ~ + 3 Goldenrod ]
The tom dropped his collection at the warriors' feet. ``This alright?``
Re: Seagrass Fields
Berryshine is RiverClan's medicine cat! 
