snuggled up together like two birds of a feather [p]

[squidz]

| BERRYSHINE |

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

[ riverclan medicine cat | she-cat | 15 moons | timid, kind, hardworking ]

—

The past few days had been... hard.

That was an easy way of putting it. With Owltalon having rightly returned to her Clan as Owlstar, and Cobwebfe—storm having earned her full name and medicine status, there was a brief flitter in the dark; bits of light to take off the edge of darkness that had enclosed the ever-cursed RiverClan, doomed to its vicious cycle. Still, everything felt heavy even days after Stormstar's death. Berryshine figured it wouldn't feel entirely right for some time. That would have to be okay; there was a time to grieve, and a time to move on. And sometimes, you had to do a bit of both.

The medicine cat sighed as she looked at the herb storage in her and Cobwebstorm's cozy den. Fawnlight had mentioned a method of preserving herbs that stuck with her; dipping it in some water and letting it freeze, as she called 'flash-freezing'. It seemed to have worked, and her experiments at least lifted her spirits a bit. She'd have to tell Cob sometime soon, if her appren— no, wait, her fellow full medicine cat hadn't already seen the brown-furred cat doing it to keep her paws busy.

Speaking of keeping busy... Cobwebstorm had been going through it. Maybe both of them could use the distraction and get out of the den. Rising to her paws, Berryshine peered out to see a white blanket over the camp to check the weather. It had snowed. She felt a little prickle of curiosity in her paw pads; as much as the herbalist had grown to hate the cold, especially with her thinner pelt, she couldn't deny the instinctual urge to want to... poke it. Jump in it. Find out what it really feels like.

She thought it'd be silly to wake her friend for such a... kit-like wonder. But they always needed herbs, especially those that would die off quicker in leaf-bare's killer frosts. So instead, she called out to her friend, her voice soft in case she was sleeping.

"H-Hey, Cob... we could use some more of whatever this stuff is." She poked over a yarrow flower, chuckling half-heartedly. "Maybe you could explain some of that to me, 'n w-whatever else we're missing while we go out together...? Get some fresh air...?" She suggested lightly, recalling some other herbs she'd seen but not recognized in the den. It was something Berry thought Cob should do, to get out of the darkened camp for a bit, but didn't want to pressure her at the same time. Grieving was... a sensitive process. And her friend was struggling the most. But she silently hoped the gray-and-white cat would say yes; Berryshine would be lying if she thought a peaceful, uneventful outing with just the two of them to escape the somber camp for a few moments didn't entice her. As well as properly exploring this snow stuff.

[ @finley ]