private EVERYONE WANTS TO BE SAVED ｡:ﾟ.°✧ marblepaw

[lostkit]

it had been an accident -- at least, it had been on lostkit's part. still getting used to shadowclan's camp and the muddy ground, lost had been quite prone to various accidents her first few days in shadowclan, slipping around or stumbling. fortunately, most of the clan had been quite nice to her as she acclimated, or at least neutral enough not to laugh at her or get annoyed. still, she had noticed some of the darker looks she had gotten, from elders who muttered underneath their breath about how shadowclan's standards had plummeted, from some of the queens in the nursery who ensured their own kits slept a distance away from her, from the kits her age. that wasn't to say that she hadn't made any friends -- overall, she was quite happy with her new life as a shadowclanner, upholding her promise to ternstar when she had first joined to learn their ways and not cause trouble.

all that being said, though, it was quite the miracle that she had made it a moon past her joining without drawing the more explicit ire of some of her peers.

despite being more used to the footing change and the various obstacles around camp now, the kitten didn't quite have the muscle memory of the other older kits who ducked easily into small corners and various dens to cause a ruckus. plus, she had been growing recently, now that she was getting a more steady supply of food, and of course having reached the age where she was starting to fill out a little (though her overall form was, disappointingly, still quite slender and certainly not on par with some of the more well-muscled members of the clan). all of this combined made the thorn-tangled entrance to the nursery just a bit harder to navigate -- not drastically of course, just a few brushes here and there, certainly not more than a minor annoyance.

tonight, though, lostkit had stayed out quite a bit later than normal, enjoying the surprisingly mild weather for leafbare that day. the evening wind brought a pleasant freshness, not the biting chill that she had come to expect of the season, and if she squinted past the shadows of their sheltered hollow, she could see the stars above (whether she yet believed in that their ancestors lay in the silverpelt above was, of course, a different story). with no doting mother to hustle her to bed, it was easy to lose track of time, the sounds of activity around camp dwindling as the night passed.

when lostkit finally rolled herself up and glanced around blearily with a yawn, she could only see a few shadowy figures heading back towards their respective dens. sleepy and content, the cream tabby stretched before padding back towards the nursery for a good night's sleep. what happened next could only be called a true string of bad luck, a combination of lostkit's tiredness, the slippery footing, the thorns, and bramblekit's own distraction in the moment.

as she slid into the nursery, sleep clouding her eyes, she crashed into a solid but small body, accidentally bumping it into a stray branch of thorns. the she-kit jolted in horror, immediately wide awake as she registered the other kit's presence. bramblekit, almost six moons old and quite unwilling to shut up about how he had just missed being an apprentice last moon, was one of the most hot-tempered kits in the nursery. lostkit had been hoping to stay completely out of his way until he left for the apprentice's den (and hopefully cooled down a little there) after her last few interactions with him had almost ended in physical altercation.

and of course, bramblekit was fuming mad now, shaking a spare thorn out of his long brown tabby fur, yellow eyes glaring heatedly at lostkit. never mind what the older kit was doing sneaking out of the nursery this late anyways (a peek behind him showed the rest of the nursery, including his mother, sleeping soundly), lostkit could feel her senses telling her to run. "i'm - so sorry, i didn't see you," she gasped, careful to keep her voice down. "how dare you," bramblekit responded in a low snarl. "should've known letting some loner trash in would just cause trouble for the rest of us. you'll be actually sorry soon," he snapped, advancing quickly on her.

senses in overdrive now, lostkit immediately started backing away from the entrance, but the larger kit had already darted his head out, grabbing her upper front leg with pin-needle teeth, and yanked. for a brief moment of panic, lostkit was afraid he would try to rip her leg completely off, but the kit's intention became clear as she tripped forward from the assault, straight into the thorns she had been trying to avoid. she had the consciousness to turn her head to avoid her most delicate parts, but the thorns quickly pierced her thinner pelt. from the sharp warmth that erupted along her back leg, she could tell that they had drawn blood. a yelp threatened to erupt from her throat, but winded on impact, only a pained wheeze escaped. bramblekit had clambered outside the nursery at this point and loomed ominously over her.

"wow, lostkit, i had no clue you were so clumsy," he said, the threat in his glare apparent enough. "you better see marblepaw about that. maybe you should watch out more in the future -- it's such a shame to see an outsider like you drain our medicine cat's precious resources." the kit waited until she nodded, then, satisfied with himself, whirled around and disappeared back into the nursery, whatever he had been doing sneaking out in the first place forgotten.

--

lostkit winced as she untangled herself from the thorns, peeking over her side carefully. a patch of them had dug into her skin on her right hindquarters and leg, and she could tell they had scratched up her pelt more than a little. though she had felt blood earlier, the wounds were thankfully small, mostly small pinpricks staining her pelt red. she almost considered cleaning it off and ducking back into the nursery to sleep and forget about it, but she didnt quite fancy following bramblekit in so soon, and she knew that injuries that broke skin, even if small, should at least be checked over. at least it was small enough to still convincingly have been a drowsiness-induced incident -- she didn't have to admit that she had been so easily pushed over.

hissing, the she-kit pushed herself to her paws and padded towards the medicine cat den. it was only as she stuck her head in that she realized that, at this late hour, she wasn't even sure if marblepaw was up. still, it was too late now, not with her halfway inside.

"um, marblepaw? are you up?"

｡:ﾟ.°✧ PLEASE DONT LET THEM SEE ME

• ooc. @MARBLEPAW i am so sorry something possessed me in the first half of this... please do not match this muse i am never writing this much again. feel free to powerplay any healing / guiding her inside the den! injuries are the following: thorn in her right front pawpad, four puncture wounds running down right hindquarter/leg, various scratches/scrapes along her right side (surface level).
• 

  LOSTKIT (she/her) is a four moon old shadowclan kit with shorthair cream tabby fur with low white and blue-green eyes. she is the gen1 daughter of two rogue npc's.
  
  TAGS. penned by riyue. dm me on discord (xriyue) for plots.​

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[MARBLELEAF]

The moon is high, though Marblepaw does not slumber; she keeps herself busy scraping bits of dried herb from her stocks and replenishing empty spaces with new stalks of greenery. Her marigold is at least looking respectable, again, though she grimly acknowledges her paltry stores won't be enough to take care of the Clan if another battle breaks out. Her ears twitch as she examines her marigold, her goldenrod, and she sighs. Maybe I should warn Ternstar and Sharpshadow about it so they know to keep the warriors in line.

"Um, Marblepaw? Are you up?" A tiny voice, tight with discomfort, echoes within the confines of her cavern. The pale tabby turns, her moss-colored gaze softening at Lostkit's silver-edged silhouette. "Of course, Lostkit. Come in. Did you have a bellyache? One of the crows on that pile looked off, I'm telling you..." She tastes the air and stiffens at the sting of copper present.

Marblepaw sweeps closer, her stores abandoned for a moment. Lostkit isn't badly injured, but she can see that she favors her right forepaw, and her body is littered with nicks that look painful, if nothing else. The medicine cat apprentice's whiskers tremble; her mouth hooks into an uncertain frown. "Let me see your paw, little one." She does not wait for the kitten to comply before gently coercing the limb toward her with her own foreleg.

There's a thorn protruding from the tender flesh there. Marblepaw's eyes round with sympathy. "Did you fall into the thorns outside the nursery? Really, you kits should be more careful. Any one of these little cuts could get infected, you know. I'm glad you came to see me right away." Marblepaw lowers her muzzle and flattens it against Lostkit's paw pad; she closes her teeth around the base of the thorn and jerks it free.

Marblepaw spits it to the side. "There! Lick it clean, and then press some of this against it." She disappears into the shadowy half of her cave for a moment and emerges with a wad of cobwebs. "Now sit still. I'll have to get some marigold for those scratches. Some of them look..."

Their eyes narrow. They know the difference between the puncture of a thorn and the shape of a cat's teeth, the inlay of their jaws. There are four little wounds decorating Lostkit's leg. Those didn't come from thorns. She blinks, then turns, grabbing one of her freshly-plucked marigold stems. She chews with her mouth open as she asks, casual: "So what happened?"

… ❞​

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[lostkit]

low sounds of scraping and shuffling clue her in to marblepaw's consciousness before the she-cat even responds, which makes lostkit feel at least a bit better about disturbing this late in the night. hopefully marblepaw didn't have any permanent occupants at the time, either, if only because she didn't want another cat seeing her like this.

the medic's voice is relaxed as she responds, though clearly her senses are keen enough to pick up the faint scent of blood as she abruptly cuts off (lostkit had noticed the off-looking crow in the pile, though; in fact, it was still in the pile, since most of the clan had also saw that it looked off -- maybe she'd feed it to bramblepaw as revenge). but that's a thought for later -- marblepaw approaches, and lostkit recognizes the distinct turned expression of concern, ears flattening slightly in embarrassment.

at marblepaw's gentle nudging, lostkit offers the paw, settling backwards to sit -- which stings the cuts on her haunches a bit but at least takes the weight off her thorn-studded paw.

"Did you fall into the thorns outside the nursery? Really, you kits should be more careful. Any one of these little cuts could get infected, you know. I'm glad you came to see me right away."

before lostkit can say anything confirmatory in response, the thorn is pulled out, a small sound pulled out of her throat with it at the suddenness. she appreciates to lack of warning, though, so that she's not tense with anticipation. she follows the instructions, pressing her tongue to the wound and swiping it firmly a few times, though careful not to rip her skin more open as the cloying taste of dirt and coppery blood meets her.

marblepaw reemerges soon after with a wad of cobwebs, which lostkit had only seen in passing, perhaps swiping a small patch off her nest before. she's fascinated by the sticky texture, but manages to get most of the clump wrapped around her paw. she tests her paw on the ground -- not clumpy enough to interfere too much with her walking, but she's satisfied that it'll protect the injury. marblepaw had given her the perfect amount (though some of the webs had stuck around the kit's inexperienced maw in her attempt).

the kit patiently waits for marblepaw's return, missing her narrowed eyes of suspicion in the darkness. she comes back with marigold, and the curious kit looks over at the brightly colored flowers with interest.

"So what happened?"

ah, right -- she hadn't answered. "i fell into the thorns outside while we were -- playing," she says, tone embarrassed though her voice catches. it's a believable story, one that marblepaw herself had suggested. "i promise i'll be careful in the future, though," she vows. she feels bad for sapping up their limited healing store for an easily avoidable mistake, especially when marblepaw worked so hard to gather these supplies in the dead of winter.

speaking of which (and also hoping for a distraction to avoid questioning)... "so that's marigold?" she asks, giving the flower poultice a sniff before wrinkling her nose. the mixture smelled slightly bitter in the way that most crushed up plants and herbs did, though also quite fresh. "is it hard to gather in leafbare? i never see flowers or plants around," she notes, then paused. "well, not alive ones."

which, of course, only makes her feel worse about draining their supply. "i'm sorry again," she said, wilting like the dead flowers she had just been talking about. "when i'm an apprentice, i'll go help you gather as many herbs as you'd like to make up for it!" she vows solemnly.

｡:ﾟ.°✧ PLEASE DONT LET THEM SEE ME

• ooc.
• 

  LOSTKIT (she/her) is a four moon old shadowclan kit with shorthair cream tabby fur with low white and blue-green eyes. she is the gen1 daughter of two rogue npc's.
  
  TAGS. penned by riyue. dm me on discord (xriyue) for plots.​

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[MARBLELEAF]

The pale ginger she-kit's voice is rife with embarrassment and trepidation as she recounts her story. "I fell into the thorns outside while we were — playing," she mews, and Marblepaw lets her sundried-moss gaze meet the foundling's azure one. Part of her wants to challenge the story she'd offered herself. She has seen the wounds only a cat's teeth could inflict; she has treated them herself, after ShadowClan's seizure of ThunderClan territory. But Lostkit is guarding the truth carefully, believably, and Marblepaw has to believe she's purposefully protecting the culprit for her own reasons.

She flicks the tip of her tail, unable to hide its disbelieving momentum, but otherwise she only nods. "Very well. Please do be careful. And let me know if something needs to be done about those... thorns." She leaves it at that, for now. Perhaps it would be prudent to keep an eye on some of those kits in the nursery.

Lostkit's attention turns to the marigold, though, and Marblepaw lets her suspicious gaze soften at her interest. "It is. Marigold has these bright yellow, almost orange flowers; they look a bit out of place in the marsh." She pushes the unchewed stalk forward, letting Lostkit sniff it. "It is hard to gather in leafbare," she confirms. "It grows best in newleaf, long after the snows have melted." Her whiskers twitch. "Newleaf is the season you'll start seeing flowers. ShadowClan territory absolutely comes alive when it gets warm. You'll see for yourself."

Lostkit wilts before her after the explanation. "I'm sorry again," she says, and Marblepaw shakes her head. "It's okay, Lostkit. I promise. Accidents happen! For StarClan's sake, even the warriors get into bramble patches when they're not paying attention." She smiles and noses the marigold. "I will take you up on that offer, though. I'll need all the helping paws I can get in newleaf."

Marblepaw chews the flowers, her expression unchanging as the sweet, tender flesh becomes a paste in her jaws. With care, she smears the pulp first against the puncture wounds in Lostkit's hindleg, and then begins to work what's left into the thorn prickles. "There. It might sting just a little, but think of it as practice for when you become a warrior. That's what most of my marigold goes to."

… ❞​

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[lostkit]

lostkit is worried for a second that the medicine cat wouldn't believe her, or worse, keep pushing. she could deal with bramblekit very well on her own, the last thing she wanted to do was to drag marblepaw deeper into her own troubles. and she was already troubling her enough with her injuries at this time of night. thankfully, the she-cat simply flicks her tail in a disbelieving fashion and is happy to move on. lostkit nods to her words, though the motion is empty and automatic..

more interesting, though, is the explanation about the flowers. the kit's eyes turn up as marblepaw tells her about the marigold, leaning forward to give the unchewed stalk a good sniff. the scent is, predictably, much weaker in this form, hidden behind the strong stalk. still, the petals themselves are fragrant in a different way from the crushed up poultice -- a much more pleasant way. maybe once newleaf began she would be able to have some flowers of her own to decorate her nest with -- it would certainly make sleeping in a den full of swamp-covered cats more bearable.

she's about to ask about newleaf but the medicine cat is explaining it already, as if predicting where her thoughts would go. at least marblepaw doesn't seem upset at her -- small miracles.

"I will take you up on that offer, though. I'll need all the helping paws I can get in newleaf."

the kit's chest puffs up proudly at that. "i'll be the most helpful apprentice," she vows seriously. she would learn how to support her clan by hunting and fighting and gathering and then no one could stick their nose up at her for not being clanborn.

"There. It might sting just a little, but think of it as practice for when you become a warrior. That's what most of my marigold goes to."

lostkit hissed at the initial press of the poultice, stinging as it seeps into the wounds. it's surface-level, though, less annoying than the initial injury had been. and at marblepaw's words, she quickly schools her expression and nods solemnly as if entirely unaffected (even though the medicine cat had surely noticed her reaction before).

"thanks, marblepaw," she says happily as she gets up. "how long do i need to make sure it stays on?" she asks, already fearing that she was going to forget and take a roll that would undo all of marblepaw's hard work.

｡:ﾟ.°✧ PLEASE DONT LET THEM SEE ME

• ooc.

• LOSTKIT (she/her) is a five moon old shadowclan kit with shorthair cream tabby fur with low white and blue-green eyes. she is the gen1 daughter of two rogue npc's.
  
  TAGS. penned by riyue. dm me on discord (xriyue) for plots.​

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