live without warning * comfreypaw

[newtpaw]

she's shooting around camp from place to place for a lack of anything better to do. netwpaw is somewhat spiteful towards the sun pouring warmth in, heating her long fur, despite the relative shade of the camp. she's spent the day hunting, despite this she's not entirely taken to it and many of the kills are sloppy, leaving more than a few bitemarks in the process.

on her entry into camp she firstly drops a munched on looking mouse to the freshkill pile on her way in, mentor wandering off to tend to their own duties. secondly and currently she's doing little more than nattering on to whoever will listen.

certainly newtpaw has a lot to say, what she's seeing is usually the first thing out of her maw, not much of a filter between brain and mouth. "some of these nests need fixing!" is announced. she's recognized the wear and tear of her own nest, the way it protested under her during nights.

she's been planning on the repair for a while - has been keeping it in the back of her mind when camp began to get more packed with the rouge attacks, as such she drags her stock of admittedly ragged moss, hunting for volunteers. her paws lead her to one of the dens, carrying the soft moss between her jaws.

"what about you, would you like to fix some nests? you make a start and i'll get more stuff around camp."

@COMFREYPAW ​

 

[COMFREYPAW]

Her first cautious steps out of Starlingheart’s den had been painful. The sun had felt strange on her fur, too-hot and filling her eyes with blinding fire. She can taste, and the air is fragrant with the scents of the marsh—reeds, cattails, stagnant water, moss, bracken, algae. She inhales as though she’s never scented anything so fine. And truly, she hasn’t—she will never take her home for granted again, never. There is still the lingering stench of yellowcough, all of it nestled into the moss beds that need to frankly be destroyed. Comfreypaw realizes with a jolt that she’s permitted to return to the apprentice’s den now, allowed to sleep with her denmates and share tongues and prey with her friends.

Her paws tingle. Life is beautiful today. When Newtpaw recruits her to repair some of the more busted nests in the apprentice’s den, the charcoal tabby smiles brightly in her direction. “Of course! We should keep ourselves busy while the cats are out looking for those kits.” A terrible thing, for such tiny kits to go missing… it’s better to stay distracted. She wonders if Applepaw is afraid for her siblings. With a pang, she realizes she hasn’t gotten to talk to her friend much at all since the kits’ births.

Comfreypaw settles next to a wad of moss and begins to pull it taut, fluffing it with her paws. “So I bet it’s nice to have camp to ourselves again! The medicine cat’s den was super cramped!”

, ”​

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[newtpaw]

newtpaw catches herself wrinkling her nose at the heated scent, tries to smooth her face out as quickly as possible, taking a few beats to shudder at the reminder of the illness that has plagued the land. she makes the short trip to scoop up another bundle from the back of the medicine cat den.

the company makes her wriggle. newtpaw's always had an appreciation for the company, and the tabby is seemingly in good spirits, seemingly a shared feeling.

with the combination of the smell and the den, newtpaw tilts her head. the illness that ravaged the clans has left it's impact. she doesn't event want to think about the bodies left in it's wake, seemingly she escaped from it unscathed, much to her relief. "how are you feeling? it's good to see you out and about!"

she nods vigorously in agreement, "yeah! there's lots to do here. i really hope they're found soon, it's really sad. those poor kits.." her head lowers, a spike of worry shooting through her chest, although not too familiar with the current nursery occupants, the word of the situation has spread quickly, and the ripple throughout the clan has been undeniable. if they were her kits - well the prospect would be terrifying. "what do you think happened?" newtpaw's unable to resist asking, eyes roudening and her voice lowering, a hushed curiosity leaking into the words.

her eyes are drawn to the moss when comfreypaw works it between her paws, "show me how you make it stay," she urges, settling to the floor with her moss: "mine always fall apart.." the last addition is whispered like a secret, a smile tugging at her, as if her usual technique isn't pulling at it vigorously until it falls to bits.

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[COMFREYPAW]

Comfreypaw does not miss the wayward twitch of Newtpaw’s nose, the quiet disgust. She can hardly blame her companion—and she yearns for her own scent to return, past the stench of lungwort juice and the other bitter things she’d choked down to alleviate her symptoms. “I feel almost new again,” she chirps, her tail flicking behind her. “I’m really lucky, I know. I should be thanking StarClan and the journey cats every day for the rest of my life.” Especially, she thinks sadly, when so many of her Clanmates did not make it past the hurdle she had. Applepaw’s mother, Heavybranch, and so many cats from the other Clans had not pulled through to the other side.

She tilts her head, pondering the black-and-white apprentice’s question. “Surely they just wandered off, right? Like kits are always doing.” She frowns. “Why, what do you think happen?” Comfreypaw cannot imagine a cat being so cruel as to steal kits from right under an entire Clan’s nose, but they had had so many cats from other Clans in their camp… she shakes her head to clear the thoughts away.

Newtpaw smiles, then, and asks her how she makes her nests stay. Comfreypaw giggles at the conspiratorial note in the other girl’s voice. “Mine don’t always stay that great either,” she confesses, “but if you pull it suuuper tight, like this…” A charcoal paw reaches toward Newtpaw’s moss and stretches the bit of moss taut, “—then it will stay better when you weave it!” She smiles. “Just, uh, don’t pull it so tight you break it, ‘cause then you have to start over.”

Oh, it feels good to be with a friend again, to be able to laugh without hearing the breath wheeze in her lungs. She closes her eyes, shooting a quick thanks to StarClan for the life she’s able to resume.

, ”​

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[newtpaw]

Her head bobs in agreement. "I'm so happy for you!" It's amazing to see what recovery has happened, she shudders to think otherwise. "You're free from the den." She offers a toothy smile, genuine excitement thrilling her, the expression settles into something more serious, or at least as serious as she can be. "No idea, I just thought that it's been getting colder.. I would be really worried if they were mine." She clears her throat, eager to jump to more light-hearted topics.

Newtpaw concentrates suuper hard, watching Comfreypaw putting together the nest with ease. "Wow! I must be pretty bad at it, or maybe you're an expert." She teases, the self-deprecation easily slipping out. The apprentice pulls another chunk of moss towards herself. "Okay." she breathes in deeply, as if it's a daunting task. "Watch this." She pushes it all together, tugs and pulls, and through copying Comfreypaw it stays firmly together, even as she pushes a paw, then two down on it. Deciding to see it in practice, she steps forward to collapse on the nest. "All thanks to you!"

The fuzzy apprentice squints as if thinking deeply, then looks at the other apprentice with a glint in her pale eyes, rising to her paws to tug free more moss. She pauses, a question sitting on her tongue, "Do you find you've missed much? Being ill and all." She nudges some in the direction of the charcoal tabby with her pink nose. "Do you think you can do one faster than me?" It's a challenge.

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