Pikekit purred at Drizzlecloud he liked it when he was scratched back there and the lick felt soothing which made him ease up a bit, He wagged his nub mossball and lunch after this how exciting, except for the pain at the moment, that kinda was a downer on that, though drizzle did seem to have a lot of commitment behind it
Through the small ringing he had he heard his name wait "CLOUDYKIT" he said not screaming as he would in pain rather in concern and excitment, after that he moved his body and head towards Cloudy in a attempt to see if they were ok which hurt but was worth it to see they were in a moss bed and fine
Drizzlecloud then focused back in for him as her paw was now at his nose with a strange small seed like thing, he sniffed it and it smelt ok though drizzle's scent masked it but that wasnt a bad thing, he gave a small lick after which he reeled away as it wasnt the best tasting thing in the world but he wanted to be strong so he went back in and took the poppy seed, he was guessing that it might take time for it to really settle in but drizzle was right his head didnt hurt as much and laying down on the rib that had broken hurt a lot less so he let out a relieved sigh before waiting for drizzle to bandage him up
• 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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Concern barrel-rolled itself through Springpaw’s system as the calico silently noted the lack of concentration that drew off from Cloudykit’s sluggish posture and deadpanned, dazed expression planted on his face. Great StarClan, the poor tom-kit just looked very disoriented from reality, in pain, and confused. The minor damage done to the side of his head must’ve been enough that it caused a small amount of distinction to his brain and a brief, temporary loss of memory. How was she espoused to fix something that’s as grave as that? Neither Coldamber or Roseraven told her how to fix something that was as grave as temporary memory loss or something that is close to a concussion as to what Cloudykit had experienced. Springpaw was quick to feel the hauntingly familiar bitter, bile taste of panic rise up against her throat; accompanied by the hanging metallic scent of blood mingling in the air that only made her senses wander into overdrive. Her heart began to accelerate at an alarming rate, her anxieties becoming more and more immense than the last. Her chest began to feel like it was tying itself up together into painful knots that couldn’t be separated by just a simple tug. Her legs felt like they were just weak, skinny sticks hanging her by a small thread, her body wishing to collapse right then and there from the immense pressure from the work being placed amongst her shoulders. Great StarClan, how was she supposed to fix this? An oriental-shaped ear quickly averted towards the direction of Pikekit as she painfully heard the anguishing, blood-curdling scream of Cloudykit’s name that came from his dreadfully tired little lungs. It was surprising how the young tom had managed to keep up with speaking so clearly even if his throat was burning worse than a raging fireball that was spitting across the deep night-blue sky.
Her focus drew back towards the bleeding body of Cloudykit again as she placed the young tom onto an unoccupied nest, gently brushing the white, fluffy tip of her tail comfortingly along his shoulders as she briefly scanned the den for any bundles of moss that was close by that she could quickly grab without the need to travel far from the sight of the injured Cloudykit. A short mixture of disappointment and concern dragged itself down onto her shoulders as she couldn’t find any moss bundles that were close enough within her reach, merely suppressing a sigh of frustration from the small matter. She was going to need to go back over towards where she got the other moss-ball so that she could get herself another bundle of moss so that she could properly cleanse the wounded areas amongst Cloudykit’s body. It was unfortunate that it wasn't closer within her view so that she could at least reach a forepaw over to grab it. Glancing back down towards Cloudykit, the calico briefly stopped her brushing for a moment to contemplate her words for a brief second before finally speaking again. “I’m going to go ahead and get some dampened moss real quick to clean your wounds and then I’m going to patch you up. Does that sound alright?” it was better to comfort the poor tom-kit than not because she didn’t want to risk him continuing to be in a dazed state of mind and she just left him like that, especially with the way that he reacted to Pikekit's current injury. That would just be absolutely heartless to do. Glancing back over towards the bundle of moss, the calico lifted herself up to b-line her way towards the storage so she could get what she needed. However, her ears quickly perked fully upwards as the tom-kit seemingly snapped back to reality, his expression twisted into a mixture of concern and anger for the current injured state of Pikekit.
Well, at least he was quick to snap out of that dazed state that he was once in. It wasn’t rather surprising to her that Cloudykit was going to be concerned for Pikekit’s well being, as it seemed that they seemed to be close friends. Springpaw could easily sympathize with his worry just as much as she would for anyone that was close with her for that matter. Frowning, the medicine cat apprentice had gently laid her tail among his shoulders once more to coax him back down onto the bed, worrying and concern creasing itself onto her very eyes as she looked into his direction. “Pikekit is going to be okay, Cloudykit. He’s being looked after by the both of us and we are going to make sure that you both are going to be okay. Now, currently, we need to look at the both of you separately and make sure you both are doing fine. As Pikekit is currently being looked after by Drizzlecloud, and you are being looked after by me. Now, to keep myself from talking any longer, I’m going to be getting that stuff that I’ll be needing to help out with getting you patched up, and I’m going to be making sure that you and your friend aren’t going to be hurting anymore, alright? How does that sound?” she casted the tom-kit a small, sympathetic smile, already lifting herself up to b-line her way towards the averagely sized bundle of moss so that she could get herself another bundle of moss before going over to get another wad of cobwebs and some marigold. Knowing most likely, she’ll have to get herself only one piece of marigold so that she could use that to patch up both Cloudykit’s head wound and his torn open paw-pad. She couldn’t help but feel the nagging feeling of questioning the kits of why exactly did Sootsong take them out of camp in the first place, but she supposed that could be something that’ll be done after they’ve been patched up and well.
Cloudykit | Male | Bilingual | Flock together Tier 1 | Status: injured
Cloudykit nodded gratefully to Springpaw, still trying his hardest to focus on Pikekit. Maybe if he focused hard enough he’d be healed! Cloudykit gave up after a good minute and curled up into a ball, sadness flickering into his eyes. He didn’t know why he was upset. It just came out of nowhere, he was trying his best not to make any sound as he cried silently. He looked over to Springpaw, feeling a little flare of admiration. She is so cool. He thought, smiling to himself. His smile faded into a frown. “I miss mother.” he whispered, the sadness pressing so hard into his heart. But, he didn’t express it and instead sighed before burying his head into his paws.
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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Tired, fumbled, and pitifully exhausted, Springpaw had herself currently occupied within the dark, cooler depths of the den as she had been silently studying the herbs that both Coldamber and Roseraven had told her about. Almost all of the herbs that were currently available within the storage were ones that she had been taught by both former medicine cats: borage was for lowering high fevers and to increase milk supply for queens, catmint was for cats that were diagnosed with green cough, juniper berries were used to help with stomach-aches and if they were having any critical breathing issues in the lungs—that was something that she silently thanked Roseraven for implying—and lastly, and quite frequently, lavender was used for covering the scent of death from an recently deceased cat. She was sure that there was another usage for lavender, but her brain was far too drained in exhaustion that it wouldn’t be necessary for her to properly explain how stardamned tired she was. However, other than that, he was certain that there were more herbs that she could go on about, but the rest of the herbs within the storage weren’t much of anything that she had any well-known knowledge for. She was certain that she had heard Drizzlecloud speak a little bit about the usages of stinging nettle or yarrow before while speaking to someone, but her mind was far too drowsy to properly remember what exactly she could’ve said.
Suddenly, the sound of an uneven gait filled her oriental-shaped ears, making them angle themselves towards the entrance of the den as Springpaw quickly pulled her head towards the direction of the sound. Her sensitive nose quickly took in the rather hauntingly familiar metallic smell of blood, both fresh and new, and a surge of dread was quick to roll through Springpaw’s body. Just before she could properly take on who exactly stumbled into the den, her tired senses awoke for a moment to briefly take in the scent of the possibly injured cat that strolled into the den, and it merely increased the amount of dread that was thumping through her veins. Sorreldust. She wasn’t someone who Springpaw knew personally, or someone that she interacted with in particular, but she was a fellow clan-mate that seemed to be in a dire need of help. Springpaw’s blood only began to run itself cold as her ears took in the molly’s voice—stars, she could simply just hear the pain and anguish in her voice—it sounded like she had been rushing herself back to camp after a grave incident had occurred… but what? That’ll be something that Springpaw will find out later. Now? She just needed to see just what exactly happened to Sorreldust and get her patched up as soon as she could.
Blinking away as much drowsiness as she can, her paws nimbly began to work themselves from grabbing a small piece of marigold and a stick with a wad of cobweb. From how grave the condition might be, she might possibly need to use more than what she had. Nonetheless, she wouldn’t know unless she saw the grave injury herself once she got to Sorreldust. Her heart was already racing to the point that it almost ached from the many interpretations of what kind of injury the molly may have. Was it one that was similar to what Gentledoe had? A torn open eye socket and half of her face being caked in her own blood? Was it a broken leg? It could explain why Springpaw had heard the sudden uneven gait coming from the molly when she entered the den. Her mushed brain worked itself to try to accommodate the rest of what Sorreldust had spewed, and her throat tightened itself in its grasp when her ears took in the one word that almost made Springpaw lose the ability to properly stand on all fours. A dog. A dog was in the territory. A dog was what caused Sorreldust to be majorly injured. That was something that Bumblestar hopefully got some sort of notice about… if Sorreldust had explained the situation to the leader. Stars, why was something always going wrong or downhill? First the sinkholes from the old camp from two moons ago, then the recent fight with ShadowClan—not to mention the upcoming war between her clan and ShadowClan—and now… a dog? Great StarClan can she ever catch a break here?
Forcibly tossing her mind from the fact, she focused down towards her white paws at the marigold and wad of cobweb that she had just collected herself from the herb storage, quickly scooping them up by her jaws. However, before she was quick to forget, she made sure to take one of the poppy flowers and carefully prodded out two, tiny black seeds from the inside of the flower. It’ll be something that’ll possibly be required for this as Springpaw was certain that the wounds that she was about to face were going to be something critically grave and gruesome. All she needed to do was mentally prepare herself for it. Quickly swiping up the tiny seeds with a forepaw, the calico began to rush her way over towards the scent of Sorreldust, her ears gradually pinning themselves against her head as she grew close enough to digest the wounds that were apparent on Sorreldust’s face. It wasn’t just bad, but it was dangerously lethal. If Sorreldust receive any sort of healing now, she would be at a heavy risk for possibly dying right in front of her. Stars, not only that, but she was heavily pregnant with kits as well. What was an expecting queen doing going out into the territory and fighting off a dog? That’s just going to risk herself getting caught and brutally attacked or even killed by the dog. Stars, it was just something that Springpaw herself couldn’t bring herself to think about.
Nonetheless, she forcefully swallowed the bitter taste of raging panic that began to form among the back of her throat, limping herself towards the expectant queen as she rested her tail-tip along her shoulders. “Just follow my voice, okay? I… I-I’m going to get you to a moss-bed, alright? I’m gonna get you fixed up.” She ushered to the queen, gently guiding her as she did so. Was she even doing this right? Stars, she needed Drizzlecloud here. Right now. “D… D-drizzlecloud!” She faced back towards the darker depths of the den, worry and fear pondering through her as she struggled to find the right words to escape her throat. “W… we have someone that’s in a dire need of help. I-I need your assistance!” She continued, looking around restlessly for any sight of the blue-gray ticked tabby. Where could she be? Hopefully she was somewhere within the den, because this was something that Springpaw couldn’t handle on her own. Her oceanic hues quickly glanced up towards the queen that she had been taking over towards a moss-bed, being careful to place her down among the bed itself so that she didn’t accidentally trip herself and risk hurting her unborn kits. “I’m going to get a bundle of moss, okay? I’m going to clean off the wound and you’ll be okay.`` She assured, desperately trying to fight off the unbridled fear of losing Sorreldust to something as gravely critical as this. She just couldn’t be too late. Not one bit.
With that being said, the calico quickly dropped all the supplies that she currently needed and began to rush her way towards the extra bundles of moss that was kept in the deeper crevices of the medicine den, currently occupied by itself as Springpaw worked herself to get a small enough amount to use to clean off the bleeding from Sorreldust’s face, and hopefully to keep away and forming infection that could make the injury much worse than what it already was. Fueled by her restless desire to get a bundle of moss and to make sure that Sorreldust will pull through, the calico worked herself to pull away a mouthful of moss that was enough to work on cleaning out the wounds. Quickly, the calico trotted over towards the stream within the midst of the den and began to dip the moss multiple times in the clear water, the sounds of dripping coming off of the now-sodden bundle of moss. Satisfied enough that it would be able to clean off the wounds from Sorreldust’s face, the calico leapt back up and began to rush her way back towards Sorreldust, making sure that her movements became more slow and steady as she reached down and began to gently wipe along the torn skin with the bundle of moss; the bright green plant beginning to darken up with crimson as Springpaw worked to clean out the area. Hopefully it was going to be enough to possibly save the queen from any further damage from what she already had.
//I am SO SORRY for how long it took for me to get back to this\\
Sorreldust still hadn't quite processed everything that had happened, was happening. She barely registered that she'd made it to the Medicine Den and that she'd given a bare minimum response.
Her head was swimming, and her thoughts weren't with her body.
She couldn't stop thinking about Russetpaw, and wondering her daughters' fate. It was all she cared about, even now.
Even following Springpaw further into the Den and heaving her full weight onto the bed of moss. Everything just felt so heavy, a million and one things weighing her down like little anchors to the bottom of a roiling and churning sea, desperate to devour her whole.
And she, powerless to stop it.
Too weak was she to paddle her paws and fight the waves that crashed so violently above her head, stealing her breath and dragging her further until the sky itself was lost to her, and there was nothing more than the encompassing abyss, and Sorreldust drifted into an uneasy sleep as the adrenaline wore off. "Russ....et.....p..."
Her paw stretched forward weakly, reaching for a cat that wasn't there, and her resting moments were filled with yet another child she could not save.
After a split few seconds, she was brought back by the cool, damp touch of the moss Springpaw had to her face, slowly cleaning the scalding blood, and soothing the angry and fevered skin. Her head jerked up as she was startled awake, breath coming in ragged pantings.
Her eyes were wide and wild as she stared down the wire-frame apprentice for a few heartbeats before settling back down, enough sense to feel shame for her reaction. "Sor...ry." She croaked.
It was so difficult to speak, to fight past that instinct to curl up and pretend she didn't exist.
But she hadn't treated Sprinpaw with the respect she deserved, so an apology was owed. "Tha...nk yo...u for.... heee.....lpin...g..." was all she could manage before the rest of she wished to say came out in wordless mouthings.
The deep red queen sighed uneasily, screwing her eyes shut as she felt the expanding of her lungs irritate the bites upon her shoulders.
With a shudder, Sorreldust allowed herself to lay her head back down, trying to ignore the way her stomach was desperately fluttering, an unwelcome sign that she could go into labor at any moment. She wasn't ready.
She couldn't even save the others, how could she bring such new and vulnerable life to the world in such a state? She didn't even know where her other children were.
She nearly choked as a sob wracked through her body. Focus on the pain.... ground yourself.... get through this..... it's just another day. It's always just another day. Soon you'll move on, like everyone else already has.
She hated that stupid, cruel little voice that had saved her for so many moons and that she desperately clung to it, it's presence, it's advice even now.
But.... she didn't want it anymore. She refused to need it's advice.
Find something else.... ground yourself, do not lose yourself to grief.
Her one eye that wasn't squeezed shut to keep the blood from dripping in slowly looked to Springpaw, a desperation in her gaze.
Soundless, she pleaded: talk to me.
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Profile picture drawn by Rani and used with permission
Hearing the pair of kits wailing for each other nearly made her heart shatter within her own chest. She wished that she could coddle the both of them, shield them from all of the awful things in this world, and truly protect them as any kitten should be.. But everything had already been done. The best that she could do for them now was try to heal their wounds–and she trusted Springpaw with Cloudykit’s wounds. If Springpaw needed her assistance, she was positive that she would call for her.
“Cloudykit will be okay. Springpaw is going to take care of him–he’s in good paws, I promise you. I trust Springpaw to help him, can you trust her, too? Like you’re trusting me?” She asked quietly, gently poking at his forehead with her nose. “I’m going to get started with cleaning you up–it’s going to sting, and I’m sorry, I’m very sorry, little one.”
With a sharp inhale, she plucked up the sopping wet piece of moss that Springpaw had fetched for her. Feeling anxiety creeping up her spine, she gently pressed the moss to Pikekit’s wounds, trying to be as gentle and thorough as she possibly could. Once she finished cleaning his wounds she sat up, placing the moss off to the side. “Now, I’m going to apply some marigold, and then some cobwebs to make sure that the bleeding will stop.. This will also hurt, too, I’m sorry if I jostle you too much. If anything hurts too much, you tell me, okay?”
She let the question hang in the air, waiting for the little one’s answer before she continued. While she waited, she began to chew up one of the marigold flowers that Springpaw brought her.
Pikekit stared at at drizzle and put his trust in springpaw to heal his bestsest friend and only friend besides drizzle but she seems busy a lot, he purred at drizzle who made him feel safe and thats what he wanted right now, "O-o-ok" he says through a teary throat but with each dap of the moss pikekit lets out small whimpers of pain it really did sting
Pikekit after going through the pain of the mossball hestsantly nodded saying he was ready for the marigold before squeezing his eyes shut readying for a large amount of pain
• 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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Springpaw’s blood was quick to run cold as her oriental-shaped ears drew forward to listen to the silent, staggering words that escaped Sorreldust’s mouth, her lips turning into a frown as she silently eyed the injured molly. The name that she had uttered was quick to ring a bell in the midst of her mind. Russetpaw wasn’t exactly an apprentice that Springpaw knew personally, but she knew by some experience that the other molly was indeed an apprentice that she knew before. At least, Springpaw had remembered speaking with her way back when she had still been merely six and a half moons old; being merely young and naive at the time. That time was only when Russetpaw had just been made an apprentice and the calico had gradually offered herself to show them both around the apprentices’ den to give them a brief tour of the place. The such thing never truly came to be due to the young molly’s constant anxiety that kept troubling her in every way that she went. It sucked, but it was unfortunate that the calico didn’t exactly bear the proper chance to interact with the russet-furred apprentice. She seemed quite the spunky type in her personal opinion, and she definitely seemed to love to speak with Thrushstar at the given time. A brief smile drew across her lips for a short moment, before losing it just as quick as it came as she focused back down towards the figure of Sorreldust, feeling her heart twist from the immense guilt that laid off her shoulder. A mother's grief wasn’t something that Springpaw knew well off, but she saw it enough to know how it felt. It was something that hurt. Something that left an internal scar that never seemed to heal itself no matter how hard you try. It just says there and affects you for the rest of your life.
A flash of worry drew across her system when the injured pregnant molly passed out due to the bloodloss right in front of her, the calico almost abruptly stopping at her gentle rubbing to silently observe to see if the molly was potentially still alive, her breath almost getting caught in her throat. Luckily, to her surprise, Sorreldust was almost quick to jolt back to consciousness just as she had when she fell unconscious. It was a good sign, but it was also something that was worrisome that she needed to keep an eye out for. “Try to stay awake for me, okay? I’m going to get you all patched up here soon.” She mumbled, being sure to keep her voice low enough for Sorreldust to hear as she gently continued to clean out the gruesome wounds among her body. The molly gave out a silent, startled yelp when Sorreldust jerked her head up out of surprise and from being startled from the feeling of the moss against her wounds, but she was quick to place her head back down where it belonged so that she could keep cleaning out the severed areas. The deep green coloration along the moss was already turning into a deep, crimson red from all the blood that soaked into its depths. Her ears briefly twitched over towards the direction of Drizzlecloud when she spoke, giving her mentor a mere brief nodding as she maintained her focus towards Sorreldust. She didn’t want to risk losing her and her unborn kits just from an gruesome injury that she bore from a dog attack. A suppressed shiver ran throughout the calico, her paws almost stopping their movement for a brief moment as she felt an uneasy feeling of anxiety surging through her system. What was Bumblestar going to do with the fact that there was a dog in the territory? Was she going to try to send out a patrol to fight it?
The thought only made Springpaw feel a more immense panic attack away from her system. If Bumblestar ever sent out a patrol to fight it, then they were just risking cats that were going to get severely brutal injuries like how Sorreldust was injured, or they could ever get slaughtered and left on the territory for the crows to feast upon. Oriental ears perked directly down towards the molly when she heard her trying to speak once more; an apology escaping from her maw. Stars, her voice sounded so dry and filled with distraught. “Do you need a drink of water?” She asked carefully, stopping for a split second to study the queen’s expression. After a moment or so, the calico processed the apology that slipped from her mouth, a quick ray of puzzlement rushing through her faster than wildfire. Why was Sorreldust apologizing? She didn’t have any reason to apologize to her. It wasn’t like she did anything wrong—except mutilly going out of camp while heavily pregnant and putting her own life at risk fighting a dog while also looking for her daughter, but she supposed that was understandable. “You have no reason to apologize. You didn’t know that I was cleaning your wounds.” She explained carefully, trying to address the situation as best she could. She didn’t necessarily think that she would be able to explain that better if she put it into another set of words, so she supposed that the ones she stated were going to have to do. Springpaw’s eyes briefly glanced towards the queen’s swollen belly, feeling her stomach fluttering from the mere thought of the queen in front of her potentially going into labor while she was being patched up. That was something that Springpaw definitely did not want to deal with. She didn’t even know how to properly help a queen through kitting, anyways. That was her mentor’s job.
The familiar ticked gray tabby form of her mentor shown up into view when she showed up right beside the young feline, holding the bundle of marigold and cobwebs as she quickly began to chew up the marigold into a poultice to slather onto Sorreldust’s wounds, quietly eying the calico apprentice and sending out her own message. She briefly eyed the injured queen in front of her as she stopped her cleaning for a split second; most of the blood and debris had been cleaned off thanks to the help of the sodden ball of moss—that was now drenched with both blood and debris. Pulling the moss away from the molly, she gave a quick, firm nod of approval as she quickly walked away to discard the sodden ball of moss from the den. She couldn’t take it right directly outside of the den just yet, but she placed it in an area that was close to it so that she could take care of it afterwards when she and Drizzlecloud were finished treating Sorreldust. Even, while in the midst of discarding the moss-ball, she made sure to make a quick stop towards their other bundle of clean moss so that she could get another one in case Sorreldust did in face need a drink to drink from. Making her way towards the stream that was in the middle of the den, the molly carefully dipped the moss-ball a few times in the clear stream before waltzing her way back towards the duo of felines, placing the sodden ball of moss right in front of Sorreldust. “Here,” she gently pushed it towards her direction, “in case you are thirsty.” She then sat down close by her mentor once again, keeping an eye on both her and the injured queen in case anything were to happen during the time she was being patched up.
The other set of words that escaped Sorreldust’s maw were more than enough to catch Springpaw off guard, her lapis hues blinking incessantly. She didn’t necessarily really expect the sudden respect that came off from the pregnant queen that she was helping to patch up, especially with the fact that she mainly merely cleaned away the bacteria and excess blood from her severed skin and stained fur. Pushing off the sudden feeling of both apprehension and wellness, the calico molly merely nodded in response as she mumbled, “I’m just doing what I need to do to help the best I can. No need to thank me.” her choice of words weren’t really exactly the ones that she wanted to say, but it wasn’t like she could necessarily say anything else. She was currently busy trying to help Sorreldust get better and hopefully get back onto her paws whenever she could. Which, now that Springpaw was thinking that, it was going to definitely take a long while before Sorreldust had the full capacity to waltz out the den without any major problems. That also meant that she might have to potentially bear her kits here as well. The thought made her stomach curl, her lips pursing uncomfortably against the thought of watching a queen giving live birth to a litter of kits. She hasn’t experienced it yet, but she knew that at some point that it’ll happen. Her gaze briefly shifted to make contact with Sorreldust’s own, merely reading the need and guilt in her gaze as the molly silently pleaded for her to talk to her. To keep her mind off of what she was currently saying. Springpaw felt her breath hitch in her throat as she tried to think of something to say that’ll help the poor queen. Sorreldust needed comfort and comfort is what she could try to give… but she also wanted to know what potentially happened with Russetpaw, but that’ll be something she’ll ask later.
“Your going to pull through this, Sorreldust,” she carefully stated, briskly swiping her tongue across her lips as she kept circulating thoughts on what to say, “I’ve… never dealt with the loss of a loved one myself before, but I have dealt with my brothers and sister leaving and never coming back. It was a pain to try to overcome; the grief being too powerful that it almost overtook me itself. All I did to distract myself from it was to speak with the ones that I loved-” a vast view of her mother flashed across Springpaw’s mind, causing a smile to tug briefly among her lips, “and doing other activities that help you stray away from that grief. It’s much easier said than done, however. It’s not an easy task to get over the grief of losing someone you love; either if it’s by death or from them leaving and never returning. My advice may not be the most constructive, but it’s what I did to help ease away some of the pain from when my younger siblings left and never came back.” she paused for a split second, maintaining eye contact with Sorreldust as she continued to speak, being sure to allow her voice to maintain its balance in tone. “I know that you are going to pull through this tough time, Sorreldust. Your daughter would’ve been so proud of you when you bear your litter of kits. She would’ve been glad to have been a big sister to them. I know it, and so does she.” she knelt down to be more at the injured molly’s level, a soft smile apparent on her face as she expressed her thoughts. Hopefully it would do more than enough to help the russet-furred molly at least feel a little bit better—emotionally and mentally. The loss of a child is hard for a mother to take herself, and Springpaw knew that from when her own mother grieved for the loss of her kit a couple moons ago. It wasn't something that she liked to think about often, but she might as well for the sole purposes of this specific topic.
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@Abyssopelagic @Omari [ wanted to get this response out first before working on the other one for here! #air ]
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━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━ “Despite everything, it’s still you.”
⊱ my carrd ◦ future roleplay tracker ◦ future character bio ⊰
━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━
u know u wanna
Last edited by iliri; February 1st, 2024 at 01:09 PM.
• 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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Springpaw felt her heart ache from the sight of the young tom-kit trying his hardest to focus on his best friend; almost in hopes that if he did it enough that it would help make him fully healed. The calico almost wanted to let him know that Drizzlecloud was doing the best that she could, but she resisted the temptation to do so. He was upset. He looked like he wanted to give up entirely and just curl up into a ball—which was something that he had just done. The calico briefly brushed her tail among his shoulders once more before he began to trek her way back towards the herb storage, her eyes adjusting to the dimly lit atmosphere as she trekked her way closer towards the storage of herbs. The bitter, tangy smell was practically something that she had grown accustomed towards after she had been inside of the den for a few moons. It wasn’t hard to feel welcomed by the usual scent of the herbs overfilling her nose. Stifling a sigh, the calico trudged her way over towards the narrowed pits of where each herb was organized, narrowing her eyes when she took notice of a wilted rose and some blooms that had been in the storage for quite a while. Huh, did Drizzlecloud forget to do a check-up to see which herb was wilting and which were perfectly fine? Rolling her shoulders, the molly knelt down and snagged the herbs with her teeth; grimacing against the bitter, bile taste that landed on her tongue, but she ignored it nonetheless, placing the herbs to the side so that they could be discarded after she was finished patching Cloudykit up. [ -1 rose | -3 ‘yellowbells’ ]
After that, she went ahead and plucked a piece of marigold with a foreclaw and made sure to grab a wrap of cobwebs by the edge of a lanky, small stick. She then turned over towards the direction of the stream as she made her way towards it, carefully placing the bundle of herbs beside herself so that she could get herself a moss-ball and drip it into the stream to get it sopping wet. She carefully eyed over towards the direction of Cloudykit occasionally to see if he was doing okay, making sure to keep a keen eye on the tom-kit in case that concussion of his would start to act up again. Since it had recently given him a brief sense of temporary memory loss, she didn’t want to risk such a thing happening again so she was wanting to be prepared. Sighing, the calico made her way over towards the bundle of moss, extending a forepaw to carefully use her claws to take small bits and pieces of the material from its base so that she had enough moss to use to cleanse out Cloudykit’s wounds. She was certain that neither she or the tom-kit would want to deal with blood sticking onto fur everywhere you went. That sounded like it would just suck and wouldn’t be fun at all. Once she had enough moss, the calico knelt down and scooped up the small moss-ball; carefully adjusting it in her mouth so that it would properly form into a stable moss-ball for her to carry. She made sure that it wasn’t too big though, or else it wouldn’t be easy to carry all three items back towards Cloudykit so that she could get started with cleaning out his wounds and patching him up with the marigold and cobwebs. Making her way back towards the clear stream within the middle of the den, the molly carefully dipped the moss-ball a couple of times so that it could properly soak into the green depths of the plant itself.
Once she felt some of the cool, tasteless liquid ooze itself onto her tongue, the calico pulled herself back up onto all fours and gradually listened to the sound of the water dripping from the bottom of the now-sodden bundle of moss. Carefully using a forepaw to grab both of the herbs, the calico molly hooked the marigold with a foreclaw and put it over her back, gradually doing the same with the cobwebs. Satisfied with her work, the calico began to make her way back towards Cloudykit, casting him a soft smile behind the sodden bundle of moss. She then knelt herself down to the ground as she rolled her shoulders to get the bundle of herbs to slide down her back, gradually landing safely onto the soft ground as they remained right beside her. Glancing back towards her patient, the calico set herself down onto her haunches as she knelt in towards the young tom’s head, carefully beginning to cleanse the severed skin and stained blood as she cleared away as much bacteria as possible. She could feel words of sympathy bubbling up her throat, only to quickly die down when the young tom began to speak about missing his mother, her precise working and ministrations. She couldn’t help but feel a swarm of sympathy form deep within her chest. The calico herself never really had a mother figure when she was only a mere kit; having only been raising her brothers and sisters solely by herself. It was a difficult task, but Springpaw knew immensely how the young tom-cat felt, a short frown forming among her maw. “I know how you feel, Cloudykit. I miss my siblings all the time and everyday.” She spoke behind the sodden bundle of moss, feeling it vibrate softly while she spoke. She didn’t necessarily have much to say to the young tom-cat, but that didn’t mean that she was going to stop her precise working and concentration for his wounds. “How does your head feel? Do you remember anything that happened at all?”
(I was given permission by Omari for Cherrypaw to come and warn the med cats about Bumblestar's war choice.)
The calico/tortoiseshell she-cat was frozen in shock at Bumblestar's words. War. Was her only thought. For a few seconds, she couldn't move, her paws were stuck to the ground. Drizzlecloud and Springpaw need to know this. Her thoughts spoke.
Cherrypaw soon found her multi colored paws moving for her, racing to the medicine den, her heart pounding. She burst through the opening and began talking before anyone could say anything. "Drizzlecloud! Springpaw!" She gasped, already out of breath from the short run she took to get here. "It's Bumblestar! He's chosen to go to war with RiverClan! He didn't say it outright at the meeting, but he is most likely turning his back on StarClan just to get territory! RiverClan could be in danger! What will..."
The apprentice collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. Her heart was thumping hard against her chest, her breathing heavily, as she was panicking badly about the outcomes of this choice.
Drizzlecloud had been off gathering marigold and cobwebs while any conversation had been happening, so she hadn’t heard much from where she was.. Nor was she going to pry about any of it, even if she did. It wasn’t her conversation, so why would she go poking her nose in their business, right?
When Springpaw had finished cleaning up the poor queen before them, Drizzlecloud hummed thankfully. She would have expressed her gratitude verbally, but it proved to be difficult with a mouth full of marigold petals.
“S’gonna sting,” She mumbled, one of the most informal statements that she had probably ever uttered in her entire life, but it was hard to string together a complete and cohesive sentence when your mouth was full. Even so, she wanted to at least try to give Sorreldust a warning.
The blue-grey molly was silent as she applied the poultice to Sorreldust’s wounds, first to her head. A soft whimper escaped her at the sight of her ear–now that she was up close to see the damage, she.. Wasn’t sure about saving that ear of hers. Her eyes darted to Springpaw as she spoke, not wanting to say anything that would put Sorreldust into further distress, but the way that her brow furrowed was enough to say what she was thinking–there’s no way we’ll be able to save this.
Deciding not to linger, she applied the rest of the poultice to the bites on Sorreldust’s shoulder. The advice that Springpaw gave was.. Well-spoken. It made her chest feel warm, like–ah, pride. That feeling was pride. She sat up once she had finished applying the paste to Sorreldust’s wounds, sending a small smile Springpaw’s way. Drizzlecloud would praise her for her words later, but not at this very moment.
“You’ve been doing very well, Sorreldust. We’re almost finished up, we just need to use some cobwebs to bandage you up, make sure that the bleeding can stop and the marigold will stay in its place so it can do its job.” She informed carefully, not speaking too fast, pronouncing her words as perfectly as she possibly could so that Sorreldust would be up to speed with what was going on with her wounds.
Drizzlecloud had stormed into the medicine den not too long before Cherrypaw came rushing in–and initially, she assumed that it was her own apprentice entering, so she was surprised to see that it was someone else entirely.
A deep frown carved itself into her features at the apprentice’s clear state of distress. “Cherrypaw, darling.” She breathed out, letting her built up frustrations drift away, if only for a moment. “Take a breath. Try to calm down, okay?” She advised softly, although her attention was still fixated on the bundle of herbs that she was desperately trying to put together as quickly as possible.. Two marigold flowers, some cobwebs.. She managed to squeeze in a poppy seed that hopefully wouldn’t fall out, too.
She trudged her way back to the entrance of the den, but she paused, leaning over to touch her nose to Cherrypaw’s head. “Bumblestar believes that she is doing the right thing.” Hopefully. “This is.. Her way of leading. I don’t think she is trying to outright turn her back on Starclan, she… She’s trying to make sure that we can sustain ourselves when times get tough.”
Did Drizzlecloud personally agree with the decision that Bumblestar made? Goodness, no. However, she could not simply say that outright. If she had an issue, she would take it up with Bumblestar privately. There was no point in causing tensions within the clan due to some disagreements among high ranks.
“Listen to me, Cherrypaw. I want you to stay here. I want you to rest. This is far too much for your heart to handle, I can tell you that much.” Drizzlecloud was stern with this apprentice–but it came from a place of wanting to take care of her. She gently nosed at the apprentice’s cheek, inhaling deeply before she exhaled slowly. “Replicate my breathing pattern–steady, okay?”
Drizzlecloud could not stay here, not while her clanmates were diving head first into Riverclan territory. She had to be with them. Even if she didn’t agree with it.
Re: ThunderClan Medicine Cat's Den
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