The shadows won't fall around me [P/T]

[namen_roodles]

SPIDERPAW
Riverclan Apprentice | 8 moons | Lanky, amber eyed, blue-grey tabby she-cat with white paws, chin, and tail tip.
Heightened perception: Smell
~~~

A new interest had awoken within the young apprentice as she padded across the clearing. There were many reasons why her new venture had her interested in learning about herbs. Things from simply how approachable Berryshine was and how willing she had been to teach Spiderpaw about just what she had used for her maw, all the way to almost drowning and watching her clanmate break down afterward. It had brought a sense of importance to learning how to help any way she could in case her clanmates were injured.

She didn't even want to talk about the starry eyes she'd seen. For all she knew, that was just a dream that had occurred when she was unconscious. It didn't stop her wondering how many more cats could've been saved if only for a clanmate that had been able to act a little bit faster than one or two medicine cats could do alone or when they were too far away.

The apprentice paused in front of the medicine cat den. Would Berryshine be busy? She wasn't sure. She listened for a moment, but didn't here much going on, nor did she smell a lot of others inside. Maybe it was a good time.

Spiderpaw stepped into the medicine cat den, eyes seeking out the familiar pelt. "Uhm... Berryshine...?" Spiderpaw called. "I... I was wondering... if you could teach me a few more things... about herbs?" She asked.

@squidz

[squidz]

| BERRYSHINE |

small & nimble dark brown she-cat with darker flecks and light, leafy-green eyes | the collector | dreamwalker |

[ riverclan medicine cat | she-cat | 19 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

Berryshine had been changing the moss of her patient nests, creating a neat pile of the old stuff and replacing it with the new. It was good for hygiene, and a fresh, clean den could help ease cats' spirits. It was important to her to keep it up.

But her work was interrupted by a soft voice, one that she recalled hearing not too long ago. Turning, the medic's ears perked up when she saw Spiderpaw approaching. Thankfully, there was no scent of blood nor even a worried expression; that likely meant nothing major was wrong. "Oh, h-hello, Spiderpaw. What can I do for you?"

Learn more about herbs, eh? Berryshine's expression softened a bit more, looking relieved. Another opportunity for teaching — she always loved doing that. And Spiderpaw hadn't been present at her first aid event a few moons ago, if she recalled correctly. A smile broke out on her maw as she nodded, padding over to the apprentice.

"O-Of course. I know first aid lessons are part of warrior training, yes?" The usually-jumpy she-cat seemed to relax, pawing through her herb stores for a moment. She then dropped a few things near Spiderpaw's paws: a wad of cobweb on a stick, a ball of moss, and a few different yellow flowers (marigold and goldenrod). The medicine cat glanced down at them before meeting her guest's amber gaze.

"I know you'll recognize what cobwebs and moss, o-of course; you can find them just about anywhere. But do you know what these two flowers are, or their use?" Hadn't she used goldenrod on one of Spiderpaw's wounds? Berryshine thought so. Perhaps the 'paw would remember; but just in case, she'd ask to see. She always liked to get a grasp on what a cat already knew before she started rattling off more information.

[ @namen_roodles ]

[namen_roodles]

SPIDERPAW
Riverclan Apprentice | 8 moons | Lanky, amber eyed, blue-grey tabby she-cat with white paws, chin, and tail tip.
Heightened perception: Smell
~~~

Spiderpaw smiled as Berryshine agreed to teach her. Sure, the first aid class was available... Though, if she was being totally honest, she was interested in learning as much as possible. She nodded, anyway, as the medicine cat was right. She waited, paws lightly kneading the ground with excitement, as Berryshine started going through her herb stores.

As the molly brought over the supplies, Spiderpaw took them all in. Cobwebs, moss, Goldenrod... She sniffed at the yellow flower to make sure she was right. It had been applied to her muzzle, she could remember that much. "Goldenrod... Right? You said that it... cleans the wound when you chew it into a poultice?" She then looked at the other yellow flower. They looked fairly similar, but this one had wider petals. She sniffed at it. "You chewed it up and applied it with a mossball." She was pretty sure she remembered that correctly.

"I'm not sure what this one is, though..." She admitted, looking back up at Berryshine. The other yellow flower seemed very similar... but if they did completely different things, she imagined it would be terrible to mix them up. She tried to catalogue it's scent in her mind, knowing that was an easier way for her to identify anything over her eyes.

@squidz

[squidz]

| BERRYSHINE |

small & nimble dark brown she-cat with darker flecks and light, leafy-green eyes | the collector | dreamwalker |

[ riverclan medicine cat | she-cat | 19 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

A purr of approval rumbled in Berryshine's throat; so Spiderpaw had remembered! Good! She often liked to explain what she was doing to whatever patients came in, and she bet that half of them either didn't care or just didn't mind, trusting the medicine cat to do whatever was best. It was nice when someone not only had listened, but remembered. It felt good.

"Y-Yes, indeed. Good memory," Berryshine praised, a glint in her bright green eyes. "Goldenrod does just that. I-It's wonderful for helping clean and protect wounds... but unfortunately, it doesn't do well to prevent infection, which is very important. B-But that's where this comes in... marigold." She touched a small brown paw to the ripple-petaled flower, its deep orange and gold hues a pretty sight against the stone floor of the den.

"Other herbs do this too, but marigold i-is perhaps the most plentiful and easiest to identify. Similarly to goldenrod, I chew this up into a poultice a-and apply it to wounds that are at risk of an infection. Something like a scratch from a branch, for example, isn't that likely to become infected; but things like bites or scratches from other creatures a-are much more likely, so it's better safe than sorry." She paused for a moment, gesturing to Spiderpaw's jaw with her tail. "Remember how I said that y-you should've come in earlier when you had that nasty infection? That was because I might've been able to prevent the pain and sickness you'd experienced w-with treatments of marigold. It's much easier to prevent infection than it is to treat it."

She'd stop there for a moment, waiting to see if Spiderpaw had any questions about the vital herb. If not, she'd go into the basics of first-aid and do a demonstration of sorts. The medicine cat's eyes were gleaming and a little smile was on her maw as she'd been speaking; teaching was a delight to her, and she was happy to spread her knowledge.

[ @namen_roodles ]

[namen_roodles]

SPIDERPAW
Riverclan Apprentice | 7 moons | Lanky, amber eyed, blue-grey tabby she-cat with white paws, chin, and tail tip.
Heightened perception: Smell
~~~

Spiderpaw smiled at Berryshine's approval. She had repeated the uses of those herbs quite a few times in order to remember what goldenrod and borage leaves do. She planned to do the same for this new herb, Marigold. It was good for preventing infections when applied in a poultice like goldenrod had been to keep injuries clean.

Well, that brought a new question up, or perhaps a hunch since both of these herbs were in front of her at once. "Does that mean... that when there is a new injury... you can make a poultice and mix them both to clean and protect from infection?" She asked the medicine cat, quite interested in seeing if that was what they were going to do.

Spiderpaw was interested in seeing what Berryshine had planned out, settling down to watch and be ready to follow any instructions the medicine cat gave her to practice.

@squidz

[squidz]

| BERRYSHINE |

small & nimble dark brown she-cat with darker flecks and light, leafy-green eyes | the collector | dreamwalker |

[ riverclan medicine cat | she-cat | 19 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

Berryshine nodded approvingly; the apprentice was smart, thinking of concoctions like that. "Y-Yes. Typically, marigold itself is enough to clean and protect the wound, but on bigger gashes it helps to add goldenrod to boost it and to make more of the poultice. the more you can cover it up, the better."

Seeing that Spiderpaw seemed to be following along well, the medicine cat pawed over the rest of her supplies: a stick with some cobwebs wrapped around it, and moss. "Now, i-it's important for every warrior to learn some degree of first aid. No cat should g-go around treating others on their own, especially if I'm available — it's dangerous for anyone but a m-medicine cat do to full treatments. But, that being said... s-sometimes there are emergency situations, and you'll need to stabilize somecat before you can get them to safety, or call me. In those cases... t-there are a few basics you can learn."

The small brown molly straightened up, sticking out a back leg as if it were being examined. "L-Let's say I have a large gash on my leg here, and it's bleeding profusely... d-do you have an idea of what you think the first thing you should do before all else?" If she didn't, no worries — that's why they were learning! But it was hopefully engaging to test the apprentice as they went.

[ @namen_roodles ]

[namen_roodles]

SPIDERPAW
Riverclan Apprentice | 8 moons | Lanky, amber eyed, blue-grey tabby she-cat with white paws, chin, and tail tip.
Heightened perception: Smell
~~~

Spiderpaw nodded along, purring lightly as she learned that her assumption was correct. Mixing together marigold and goldenrod was effective. Perhaps most effective when you had limited supplies of each and needed to split them. That made sense to her. It also made sense that a warrior shouldn't be a primary healer in any capacity, as it would be far too complicated. She knew there were far more herbs than just these two flowers, her nose caught the scent of quite a few different types just in the medicine cat den. However, she wouldn't hesitate to act if Berryshine was nowhere nearby. She imagined that she couldn't afford to hesitate to stabilize a clanmate.

The purring quieted down as Berryshine extended her leg and posed an interesting question. Did she know the answer? Well, she didn't. But, if she was in that situation, what would be the first thing she would actually think of? It was a hard thing to come up with, since she had never been in a situation like it. That was a good thing, but unfortunately made it difficult to think as such.

After a short pause, two ideas came to mind.

"I don't know... but if I guessed... would it be either making sure that the injury is only a gash and nothing worse, or maybe making sure the gash is already clean enough to be covered?" Spiderpaw asked, looking back up at Berryshine's face. Both answers had varying degrees of importance. She imagined that making sure the bleeding stopped was important, but that felt like it was part of the "anything else" half of the question. Maybe she was overthinking it. She didn't want to get the answer wrong, but she did want to learn.

@squidz

[squidz]

| BERRYSHINE |

small & nimble dark brown she-cat with darker flecks and light, leafy-green eyes | the collector | dreamwalker |

[ riverclan medicine cat | she-cat | 20 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

Berryshine nodded along to Spiderpaw's words; despite not having been the answer she was looking for, they were informed thoughts, reasonable and judged.

"Y-You have good points, Spiderpaw. But both of those are things that, in a more threatening (or life-or-death) type scenario, I-I'd focus on after one important thing: stemming the bloodflow. The medic's ears twitched as she took a pawful of moss from her nearby herbs, wadding it into a ball and pressing it to her leg as a demonstration. "Unless it's a smaller wound o-or happens to be bleeding sluggishly, making sure t-that your patient doesn't bleed out should be a top priority. T-That's because blood loss makes it easy for them to lose consciousness, w-which puts them at greater risk — and they can't tell you what happened, i-if you aren't sure."

Then, she gestured to Spiderpaw's leg. "If I may...?" If she got a nod, the small brown molly would step forward, gently applying a mixed pressure to Spiderpaw's leg as well so the young she-cat could feel it. "Moss is great for absorbing blood, b-but also acting as a bandage to stop the initial flow. Y-You want to put a certain amount of pressure to it, w-which may vary a bit wound-by-wound: firm enough to actually stay still a-and quell the bleeding, but not too hard to where you're agitating or further opening the wound. It may take a few tries to g-get the hang of it."

Then Berryshine stepped back, gesturing to the moss. "You're welcome to try it on me, if you'd like, a-and I can tell you to adjust if needed. Meanwhile, I'll let you know that your earlier answer i-is what I usually consider next: is it j-just a gash, or something else? Typically, I apply poultices after I stop bleeding, s-so figuring out what kind of injury it is is how I determine what herbs need to go where, or i-if the cat needs to eat one instead." She paused there for a moment, allowing Spiderpaw to process that information and ask any questions if needed.

[ @namen_roodles ]

[namen_roodles]

SPIDERPAW
Riverclan Apprentice | 9 moons | Lanky, amber eyed, blue-grey tabby she-cat with white paws, chin, and tail tip.
Heightened perception: Smell
~~~

Okay, that made sense. Spiderpaw's tail tip twitched back and forth as she realized that she had definitely over thought about the question. It was as simple as stemming the bleeding under severe circumstances. She tilted her head and watched Berryshine ball up the moss and press it to her own leg. She nodded as she listened.

Then the apprentice stretched out her back leg and nodded, trying to mimic the medicine cat's previous position as though gingerly stretching it out. The pressure that Berryshine applied had a strange effect. It probably would've been painful, she realized, especially if there was already an injury there. It made her toes oddly tingly, like a limb slept on at a funny angle. It was uncomfortable, for sure, but it wasn't like the medicine cat was applying pressure just to cause pain. It was more pressure to apply to moss, unlike just putting cobwebs over something.

As Berryshine stepped back, Spiderpaw wiggled her toes curiously, feeling returning quickly. She sat up again, returning her leg to where it was comfortable again, and listened. She did want to give it a shot and balled up the moss as closely to how she saw Berryshine do it as she could before approaching to give it a try on the medicine cat's leg. She was glad that her previous ideas were still part of the process and that they were still important.

She applied the pressure, trying to mimic by leaning weight onto her paw in a way that was quite foreign to her. It was hard to imagine what it would feel like to actually quell bleeding, and if there were differences between wounds, she needed to be very careful. "What do I do if I accidentally do apply too much pressure?" She asked, worried that she was already applying too much pressure to the medicine cat's leg. "Is it easy to tell?" Many questions circled her mind as she took any adjustments that Berryshine gave her. She was excited to move on to the next part of the lesson and ask more questions that would push it forward, but felt like this was probably the part that needed the most precision of anything.

@squidz