JUST LIKE A PRAYER ✶ herb gathering

[SQUIRRELPAW]

Squirrelpaw had been eagerly awaiting the moment she was finally released from the medicine den. Not that she didn't love spending time with Gentlestorm, Hopepaw and Raccoonstripe; the four of them together was like a dream, really. But she was admittedly getting bored, and by the time the medicine cat had cleared her, she was practically vibrating with unspent energy. It would be great to get back out into the forest and do something useful for her clan, after laying around for such a long time. However.... as much as she wanted to be helpful, this was certainly not what she had in mind.

The winds were whipping and howling through the trees like banshees, the snow pelting the patrol like a thousand beestings. The blue torbie had lost feeling in her paws a while ago, and her teeth chattered so violently it rattled her skull. A pounding headache was starting to overwhelm her, making it even more difficult to find any living greenery through the endless sea of white. This mission felt hopeless, and Squirrelpaw regrettably found herself longing for her nest back in the medicine den. Would Gentlestorm believe her if she said her wound had opened up again...?

"Can we go home yet?" she whined tiredly to Lightflower. Her eyes were starting to water, and she was feeling the effects of her empty stomach. Luckily, a rare ray of sunlight peaked through the storm just long enough to highlight a glistening, barren bush nearby. The apprentice pulled away from her mentor to trudge through the snow, her gaze squinting so hard against the flurry that she could hardly see where she was going. But when she reached those bare branches, she was happily rewarded with the most beautiful sight; a nearly perfect cobweb, strung between the narrow boughs, weighed down by frozen droplets of what she assumed was morning dew. "Yes! I did it!" she cried into the wind, using a shaking paw to wrap the delicate web in her fluffy fur.

---

‎‎ooc ✶ info

• [ this takes place just before the flame hunting encounter! rolled an 11 for common treatment & 14 for whitecough // mentor tag @Lightflower ]

• 

• 
  SQUIRRELPAW ✶ she/her, apprentice of thunderclan, 10 moons
  ⭃ lh blue torbie with low white and green eyes // slender but fluffy
  ⭃ single, bisexual, crushing on no one // flamestar x flycatcher
  ⭃ sister to bugpaw, ravenpaw, sunpaw, falconheart and stormfeather
  ⭃ mentored by lightflower // adoptive sister to sparrowpaw
  ⭃ peaceful powerplay permitted // underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by limerence ↛ @limericks. on discord, dm for plots

 

[tigerwing]

she was tired of leafbare already! Even if she trained almost her whole apprenticeship in it- (back then though, it was three moons until nine moons for apprenticeship), it felt like a long time she'd trod on cold paws and feel her teeth chattering, with no hope of ever getting back to camp to cuddle up to warm bodies. but as a warrior, now, she tried to carry a positive outlook despite the cold. Which was hard.

Not moments after Squirrel paws complaint, she returned to the patrol with life hard spotted in the dreary white. "See! Imagine if we turned away to go home!" Though her smile faultered, and it turned into a frown of worry. "But perhaps we should consider getting you home- I know I wouldn't, but.. you're looking mighty cold, and that could mean another stay in the medicine den," She purred out, softly, hoping the apprentice was easier to convince then her own. Tigerwing had spent many and many days in the medicine den.

20- for healthy! 5- for herbs. Rip//

​

 

[Scarletpaw]

Scarletpaw trudges behind the others, her ears pinned against the wind. The biting cold nips at her nose and toes, and her paws sink into the snow with every step. I should've stayed in camp, She thinks bitterly, squinting against the flurry. But the idea of her clanmates going on this patrol without her had left her restless. What if they got hurt again?

At Squirrelpaw's triumphant cry, the tortoiseshell's head snaps up. The sight of her rival gleefully collecting a cobweb despite her shaking limbs makes her chest tighten with an unfamiliar mix of pride and frustration. "Don't push yourself too hard, mouse-brain!" The apprentice snaps, stomping through the snow toward her. Her voice carries a sharp edge, but her split-colored eyes betray her concern. Squirrelpaw is still a clanmate, after all. "If you collapse out here, Gentlestorm will never let either of us hear the end of it." She glances at Tigerwing, flicking her tail toward her denmate. "She's right. You look like you're ready to freeze solid." A gust blows around them just then, and her fur fluffs against the chill. She herself is quite ready to return home.

// @RACCOONSTRIPE
​

 

[Softsight]

In times like these, where prey was scarce and territory was being stolen, it was ever-important to mind one's hunger and stomach. But these times also called for herbs as important as prey, considering the consequences of hunting in such cold weather - chills, frostbite, and, StarClan-forbid, sickness, these all required herbs to heal. Softsight knew that Gentlestorm had his ever-trusty apprentice to help where he needed it now, but old habits died hard, and Softsight was always more than happy to go out searching for herbs in the cold so that the rest of the Clan might prosper.

Her patrolmates were complaining about the cold, and Softsight couldn't say she also wasn't frustrated with the temperatures; it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before, and she wondered if they would be able to find some herbs soon so that they might return to camp sooner and with full paws. Luckily, Squirrelpaw seemed to come up with something, even if it was as small as cobwebs - StarClan knew that they needed them after the attacks from ShadowClan and RiverClan.

"It's incredible that anything can find a way to grow out here in this cold." Softsight sighed, glancing around. She hadn't been able to find anything that might have been of use.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• !

• 

• SOFTSIGHT ✩ warrior of thunderclan, fourteen moons
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.

​