Drizzlecloud listened to Shypaw’s explanation, and a long sigh escaped her. She didn’t mean to sound disappointed–she wasn’t disappointed in Shypaw, just acknowledging how unfortunate the situation at hand was. It made her upset that this young molly felt so poorly about herself–but it was only natural, as it was a result of her surroundings and what she had been convinced of through situations. She opened her mouth to speak, but Springpaw arrived and began to talk to her, first.
Deciding to leave her own words of advice for afterwards, she noted the marigold that Springpaw brought with her, and she toddled off to go and soak a piece of moss in water so that she could clean up Shypaw’s wounds. She also decided to grab a wad of cobwebs, too, for when they wrapped up her wounds. As she returned, Springpaw was still speaking, so she stayed quiet and began cleaning up Shypaw’s wounds.
“Might sting a little bit, okay?” She murmured softly to her, not loud enough to intercept what Springpaw was saying, but loud enough for Shypaw to hear. Once Springpaw had finished speaking and Drizzlecloud had finished cleaning Shypaw’s wounds up, she sat up and leaned over to her own apprentice. “She’s all cleaned up, so we can apply the marigold now.”
She took a moment to nuzzle Springpaw between the ears, an affectionate and quick little gesture, considering what she had just shared with the injured molly. She was proud of her apprentice–very proud.
Sitting up straight, she offered Shypaw a gentle smile. “Believe it or not, I understand how you feel, too. I was a bit of a struggling apprentice–even a struggle to train.” It was probably something funny to hear from the clan’s medicine cat. “Before I was a medicine cat, I was a warrior. Before that, an apprentice, like you, of course. I became a warrior late, and during my apprentice moons I was always scared… And a little slow to learn. My hearing impairment was something that I hadn’t learned to exist with yet, so it was a struggle to deal with until maybe two moons before I earned my warrior name. It’s all thanks to my mentor that I made it to this point, y’know. Her patience with me, her undying belief in me and my capabilities.”
She leaned over, gently touching her nose to Shypaw’s forehead. “You are very capable, Shypaw. Do not let this battle deter you. You will heal, you will learn, you will adapt and grow. Becoming a warrior takes time, and I do promise you that you will get there.”
Drizzlecloud gave a nervous little chuckle at his reaction–she didn’t mean to scare them, after all! “Sorry, Wildtwist.” She apologized as she followed them back into her den, guiding him to a moss bed to sit in before she sat down beside him, inspecting his paw.
It seemed to be just a sprain–it couldn’t be broken, it would probably hurt more than what Wildtwist was letting on. From Wildtwist’s words, it was caused by sparring with Bumblestar–figures, honestly. She hummed thoughtfully before she glanced towards her apprentice. “Yes, please. You’re very right, Springpaw–grab a poppy seed, too. We’ll give them one to ease the initial pain of it.”
The whisper that followed caught her attention, and she tilted her head to the side before she leaned a bit closer to him. “Sure, you can. Anything at all, I’m here to listen.”
Drizzlecloud had been kind-of-sort-of snoozing off to the side of the den, curled up in her den. Everyone needed naps, c’mon! Feathernose’s initial call hadn’t awoken her, but it was the feeling of Sprinpgaw moving from where she had originally been–feeling the vibrations through the ground below. She blinked open her eyes, a yawn escaping her jaws as she turned her head to view the warrior who had entered. From here, her wounds didn’t look awful, but of course they still required attention.
She stood up, shaking out her pelt and stretching her shoulders. “Goodness,” She breathed to herself as she hobbled her way over to where they stored their marigolds. She noticed that Springpaw had already grabbed some moss, so she decided to grab a head of marigold to bring over, too.
Drizzlecloud slowly lifted her gaze to the tripod warrior, a frown carved deep into her lips. She truly admired Mudhound–their heart, especially. She felt that she could mutually agree with the warrior on this topic, understanding their concerns and their worries. If she were an apprentice, she’d be terrified. If Springpaw slept in the apprentice’s den, she wouldn’t let her–but thankfully she shared a den with her.
This all made her think of Cherrypaw, though. The sweet young molly that she had grown so fond of–she had to share a den with the fiendish tom.
She leaned closer to Mudhound, gently nosing at the tear that fell from their eye, humming softly to them. “If he gives you trouble, you tell him to take it up with me about it. If an apprentice feels unsafe in their own den, they should be more than free to sleep with a warrior in the warrior’s den if invited to do so.” She paused for a beat, flicking her tail as she thought for a moment. “...And if it’s really that big of an issue, then they can sleep in my den, too. The emotional stability of my clanmates is just as important as their physical health, and it’s my job to take care of my clanmates.” She offered Mudhound a smile–there was nothing that anybody could say about that, because it was her word and her promise to keep her clanmates healthy. Nobody could oppose that. “If Bumblestar does not tend to it on her own time, we can approach her together and express our feelings and opinions on the matter. If you don’t wish to come with me, that’s okay. I won’t even mention you if you’re worried about trouble with your sister, it will just be between Bumblestar and I.”
Movement from Ghostpaw caught her attention, and with Mudhound’s alarm came her own, as well. She furrowed her brows–she hadn’t noticed those before! Where did those come from? “It’s okay, Mudhound–it looks like these have been here for a little while, so they might be infected–I can take care of that though, she will be alright. I’ll get them cleaned up a bit and then I’ll apply some herbs, wrap up the wounds, and she’ll be good to go for the night.” She brushed her tail over Ghostpaw’s form before she padded off to grab two marigold heads, some cobweb and some water-soaked moss.
Drizzlecloud hummed softly in agreement with Springpaw. It wasn’t serious at all–she would just need to keep the pressure off of it and give herself some rest. Springpaw toddled off, probably to grab some herbs, so Drizzlecloud sat with their visitor while they waited.
“Well, Springpaw’s right. It’s nothing to worry about at all.” She nodded towards Springpaw before she returned her gaze to Larchflame. “She’s grabbing a few things to apply to make the healing easier, but I suggest that you just give it some rest, too. Going for a walk is fine, of course, but don’t do anything too physically straining, as you want it to heal correctly and we wouldn’t want it to get any worse… If it hurts, we can give you a poppy seed or two, as well?” She offered with a tilt of her head.
Drizzlecloud noticed the panic in the little one’s eyes, and she hummed softly, leaning down to press the tip of her nose to his forehead. “It’ll be okay, I promise. It’s just to make sure that your leg stays aligned in the correct way so that it heals correctly… And once it’s all healed, you won’t even have to think about this silly old stick ever again, okay? I promise that I will fix you.” She placed a few gentle licks between his ears before she sat up straight, getting to work again.
It took her a few tries to get the stick in place, but once it was, she made quick work of wrapping it up neatly. Once she was pleased with her work, she moved to wrap up the rest of his wounds, humming softly to him to try and keep him calm, and once all was done–
“Look at you! You’re all patched up now, little one. You did such a good job for me, such a brave little warrior.” She leaned over, gently nosing along his muzzle. “...And all brave warriors must rest so that their wounds heal, right? So can you do that for me, rest?”
Shypaw nodded, truly these two were too kind. she winced at the sting of the marigold but the pain wasn't as bad as when she got the scratches... "is... it okay... if i go back to the apprentices den now?" She meowed softly
Pikekit was comforted by Drizzlecloud and was put at ease when she treated him like her own son giving comforting licks which helped him through the failed attempts of putting on the stick, once it was finally on he tried to retract his leg but the stick stoped him making him shake his leg around but when drizzlecloud started humming he took a deep breath and relaxed letting the leg go limp in ease
He couldnt hear much from cloudykit something about apprenticehood, pikekit didnt like that thought of cloudykit having to leave him and do apprentice stuff, but seeing through distorted vision of coudykit being strong made pikekit feel strong
Still in pain though less now and very tired from thrashing about and sobbing he gave a small nod to Drizzlecloud and in a low tired voice said "yes mama" before attempting to curl around drizzleclouds nearby paw, gently purring and comfty in this moss bed
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
Purrks: Herbal Knowledge - Tier 1 | The Collector [active] | Mind Reader [active]
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Crow-food? Brows furrowing forward, the calico pursed her lips as her blue hues stared directly into his slitted jades, the white tip of her tail bushy twitched with infatuation as she stared half-hazardly in the direction of the injured feline. Humph, he wanted to call her crow-food, then she should call him something back. However, even with the single mindset of her mind focused entirely on that little spew, she shoved it aside with a simple whisk of her tail. Alderstep was injured and… he definitely looked like he had seen better days. Especially judging from the rather ghastly wound along his neck. Scrunching her nose a little bit, the calico glanced over towards her mentor to see her personal thoughts on the matter, and expecting the rather obvious to come out from her maw as she inspected his injury. The nickname that came from her mentor’s lips was more than enough to make a tiny snicker expel from her lips as she studied the tom-cat to see the reaction he would propel from her mentor’s nickname towards him. Then again, it wasn’t like she could make some sort of comment about it, as the young calico herself had been essentially calling the aloof tom-cat that seemingly always had a thorn stuck up his side every time she interacted with him.
The rather random assortment of words that escaped the deputy’s mouth when he spoke with Drizzlecloud was more than enough to make the sleep deprived calico more puzzled than what she liked. Since when did Alderstep increase his vocabulary levels? What did simpleton even mean to his weird assortment of languages? Whatever it was, Springpaw didn’t stay on the matter for too long, as Drizzlecloud gave her the okay to go ahead and gather up the medical necessities needed for Alderstep’s treatment from his… rather unfortunate event. Briefly nodding her head, the calico turned herself around to go across the den and towards the storage to gather up the three required items: a sodden moss-ball, cobwebs, and a marigold. Her blurred vision and hazy mindset made it difficult for the young feline to properly trek her way towards the back of the den, where she stopped in front of the narrowed pit-like holes where each of the herbs had been properly arranged and organized as they all were in their little pits. The fragment smell hit her tongue as sharp as the pungent scent of pine-trees as her whiskers twitched daintily against the random mixtures of scents; both bitter and sharp. Briskly, she swiped her tongue along her lips as she knelt herself down closer towards the small pits, squinting her eyes to get a clear view of the darkened pits to make out the one that had the recognizable orange-yellow petals of marigold that laid daintily in an organized pile.
It wasn’t hard to locate the cobwebs, as the neatly wrapped webs were lightly visible to the dim light that was eliminated through the narrowed entrance of the medicine den. Alderstep’s exclamation was almost quick to make her head pop up from her simple inspection of the herbs, overhearing him getting ‘his ass beat by shadows’. Springpaw resisted the heavy temptation to either roll her eyes or make a comment towards his indigenous words, the calico silently drawing a paw into the den and grabbing a reasonable amount of cobwebs and gently drawing it back towards herself. The soft webs tickled at the sensitive skin beneath her paw-pads, almost making a half-lit smile tug itself towards Springpaw’s lips. It almost made all of the other thoughts that burned through her mind slowly sweep away with simple ease, almost making it seem that she hadn’t been bothered by the simple touches of the memories that flashed through her mind like a raging wildfire. Sighing beneath her breath, the molly carefully gathered up both of the herbs that Drizzlecloud requested for her to gather before gingerly scooping them up and b-lining her way back towards both Drizzlecloud and Alderstep. Her paw steps were rather sluggish due to the sleep deprivation that attacked her mind, but she managed to keep herself afloat all the while.
“Here you go,” Springpaw gently dropped the bundle of herbs in front of her mentor, her voice a hushed whisper as she quickly noticed the sleeping body of Alderstep passed out on one of the medicine dens. Huh, he must've worn himself out to the point where he was just exhausted. Springpaw couldn’t really blame him, she almost felt like her paws were bound to fall off if she continued standing any longer right in the spot where she was at. “I’m going to try to get some rest. If you need anything, please call my name or come get me. I don’t wanna be asleep in case something dire or critical happens,” she focused her lapis hues towards Drizzlecloud for a brief moment as she explained, only giving her mentor a tired smile before turning and trudging her way towards her moss-bed. Stars, she was ready for a nap.
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
Purrks: Herbal Knowledge - Tier 1 | The Collector [active] | Mind Reader [active]
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ShadowClan… Does it always have to be some sort of skirmish with ShadowClan? A quiet sigh surpassed Springpaw’s lips as she looked closer in further inspection on the gash among Feathernose’s face, silently mumbling in appreciation for the molly kindly tilting her head just enough for the apprentice to have a clear view of the gnarly gash along her head. Her nose instinctively scrunched up in response to the rather gnarly appearance of the gash, the calico silently eying the skin that was peeled back and revealing a ray of torn ligaments that looked indefinitely fresh and new. “Well, luckily for your case, the wound doesn’t look entirely that bad in itself. It looks to just need a small bit of marigold and some cleaning and you should be good to do,” Springpaw gave the molly in front of her a appreciative smile as she backed herself up, using the paw that she was using to grab the moss to carefully compress it into an average sized moss-ball to soak into the water. She listened carefully to the rest of the story that escaped the warrior’s mouth, and she gave out a thoughtful hum to her concerns about the two cats that she mentioned—Alderstep and Shypaw. The names were quick to click in familiarity in her sleep-deprived brain, making her glance up towards the injured warrior with a tiny glint eliminating in her lapis blue hues.
“Indeed they did,” she confirmed, lifting herself back onto all fours and bringing the moss-ball towards the clear stream that ran throughout the middle of the den, leaning down and grasping the moss-ball gently by her jaws. The simple taste of the plant touching her tongue was more than enough to make her almost gag, but she held herself back. She picked up many moss-balls more than once—mainly specifically for the sole purposes of cleaning out bizarre-looking wounds and for any brief drinking in case the patient couldn’t get to the stream of water within the den. “Luckily, they both are healing up just fine and they are bound to be healed up completely here in a couple of days or so. The same should be said for you, of course. However, that’ll only be likely to happen if the wound doesn’t become infected with anything that’s incurable,” she warned, briefly glancing at Feathernose for a split second before tilting her head down and dipping the moss-ball into the stream, watching the water ripple and swerve in response to the sudden contradicting movement along its surface. Her whiskers twitched as she felt tiny water droplets land atop of them, almost quick to increase the sensitivity that they bore. She remained resistant to the urge to use a paw to swipe the random droplets away, as her mind remained potent to the current task that was at paw at the given moment.
After a few more seconds of dipping, she finally lifted her head back up and glanced back towards Feathernose again, her ears angled downwards towards the sound of the water pouring off of the now-sodden moss-ball as it trickled into the stream. It sounded almost satisfying in a way, but she made no comment towards it. Blue hues flickered over her shoulder as she watched the dark silhouette of her mentor move around in the darker depths of the den, hearing her rummaging through the herb storage to gather the necessary supplies for this case. Well, at least Drizzlecloud was quick to be on her paws and Springpaw didn’t have to do this entire procedure by herself. That would’ve been a little bit tiresome. Exhaling through her nostrils, the calico trudged her way back towards Feathernose and planted herself in front of the molly, furrowing her brows to get a good look at the wound. “Well, whichever ShadowClan warrior attacked you surely got you good. Probably hurts worse than hell,” she commented, raising her head slightly so that she could close in on the wound and begin to gently clean the area. It felt like something that she had practically gotten used to at the given point, and it wasn’t like she could give any comment towards it. It was something that was important for her role, after all.
Feathernose quietly traced Springpaw's movements, giving the little occasional comment as the apprentice spoke.
"Okay, that's a relief. I was worried it was worse."
"Good, they came by. I was so worried about them!"
"Yeah, now you say it, it does hurt to StarClan. I don't remember seeing that warrior before, actually. Must be new," Feathernose finally concludes, giving the young medicine cat an appreciative lick. She worked so hard for her Clan, the warrior felt that deserved some recognition.
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
Purrks: Herbal Knowledge - Tier 1 | The Collector [active] | Mind Reader [active]
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It was always one thing after another, wasn’t it? The thing that decided to stumble towards her paws was none other than a kit seemingly tripping and twisting their paw in the wrong direction. What were other things that a kit could do these days that didn’t result in such feeble accidents such as these? Blinking, the calico briefly eyed the lame paw that Lilackit kept hovered around, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she knelt herself down for closer inspection. Sparkkit’s add on to the situation made the calico briefly make quick eye contact with him, a quiet hum escaping her lips as she pulled herself back up onto all fours. “I’ll see what I can do,” she explained, whisking her tail as she pointed it towards an unoccupied moss-bed. “C’mon, I’ll go take you towards that moss-bed over there and I can take a good look at that paw of yours. Does that sound alright?” Springpaw glanced back down towards the duo of kits as her lapis hues glinted with inquiry, patiently awaiting for the kit’s responses to her offer as she hoped they wouldn’t start making a large fuss over it.
Cloudykit sighed, looking at Drizzlecloud and Pikekit. “Will Hound be able to walk again?” he asked, referring to Pikekit, even though that may be unclear, he didn’t bother to clarify. Cloudykits amber gaze shifted to the exit of the den, longing clear in them. He wanted to play outside, he wanted to explore with Pikekit. Cloudykit looked at Springpaw, worry clouding any other feeling. Cloudykit looked around the den again, twisting and turning to see things. He pointed at a tall herb with pointed, needle like leaves and purple flowers. (Rosemary) “What’s that?” he asked
Re: ThunderClan Medicine Cat's Den
