private SCAVENGERS // herb patrol 1

[cottonsprig]

Cottonsprig has been a part of many tunneling patrols before. Given she had initially been under Scorchstreak's tutelage (albeit for a very short time,) it only made sense that she maintained some of her skills for exactly this sort of thing. Wolfsong could not squeeze down into the caverns below even if he wanted to, but she could. And more often than not, though she struggled on occasion with remembering how to mind herself in the tunnels, she could discern herbs simply by the smell of their roots. It wasn't fool proof by any means. Sometimes she'd surface to find a different plant or one not ready to harvest. She supposes there's always improvement.

"It's obviously hard to see down here..." she heads the patrol and keeps her voice low, patting some loose dirt down beneath her before prowling forward, "so we'll have to rely on our noses. Sometimes the roots of the herbs will carry the same scent as their leaves. Sometimes it's tangy, sometimes it makes you sneeze with how... sharp it is. Just be mindful of your surroundings, as usual, and all should be fine..." Cottonsprig knows that three of the four cats who trail her are well worked and well skilled cats, so she doubts she has to remind them of the obvious - yet it slips off of her tongue regardless. She opens her maw to scent the musky air, trying to catch something distinct.

𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

• ooc // HI FRIENDS!! to make this a littol fun... have some dice rolls :3
  the available herbs to find are 1 burdock root, 1 tormentil, and 4 rush. for ic purposes, all three have distinct smells (sharp, strongly aromatic, and fresh, respectively.)
  roll 1d20 in your channels!
  > 1-5 is a fail, and some dirt showers into y/c's face. unlucky!
  > 6-10 is a fail, try again next post!
  > 11-15 is a success, but you will have to flip a coin to figure out if y/c can find a tunnel exit nearby to harvest. (continue to flip the coin each post until y/c finds an exit!)
  > 16-20 is a success and there is a visible tunnel exit nearby to harvest!
  
  have fun! @downyfur @PINKSHINE @ROWANPAW @Paleface. <3

• ❥ MEDICINAL KNOWLEDGE
  ♥♥♡ WOUNDS ; can confidently stop bleeding and mend lacerations. will often request that you keep your injury clean and wait it out first.
  ♥♥♡ INFECTION ; as a side effect of likely her own doing, very dutiful with technique and treatment shortly thereafter.
  ♥♡♡ ACHES & PAINS ; will defer to a dark tunnel and rest. if pain persists, maybe she will offer something.
  ♥♡♡ BROKEN BONES ; has never dealt with a broken bone. likely will ask that you never move. ever again.
  ♥♥♥ TRAVELING HERBS ; learned well from her previous mentor. will pile even too many remedies to tough the wilderness with.
  ♥♥♥ KITTING ; having kittens of her own and helped several others with their litters, she is very well versed with calming techniques and quelling pain.
  ♥♡♡ POISONS ; she knows what they are... but that isn't enough, isn't it?
  ♥♥♡ ILLNESS ; having worked through two yellowcough bouts, she is confident in her remedies. much else... she's operating on trial and error.
  ⸻ cottonsprig is a dutiful and excitable medicine cat. she enjoys company and loves conversation. she'd rather not have too many curious noses snooping around her den... but who is she to quell curiosity?

• 

  ⸻❥ cottonsprig is the primary medicine cat of windclan. a former princess to the moors, she harbors many guilts for her actions throughout her short life. she has no consistent partner, unwilling to commit and settle, and she is training celandinepaw in medicine.

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[downyfur]

Downyfur wonders if the last time she'd been down here with Cottonsprig was seasons ago, when Sootstar's hounds bayed at their heels and the tunnels rumbled with their frenzy. Aboveground, she remembers it like a dream, faraway and almost pleasantly foggy. Here, the pitch black lets her mind run wild, unfettered by the chains of sight. Though only one of five, Cottonsprig's herbal scent unfurls larger than life in their nose, squeezing out the familiar scents of her sister and the others. The tunneler convinces themself it's a good thing. She's patrol lead, after all, and the only one who knew what they were doing in totality.

Despite most of them having tunneled for at least a season now, Cottonsprig finds it fit to remind them that it's dark. Downyfur chalks it up to plain awkwardness, filling the shadows with words rather than letting all manner of thoughts seep in instead. "Got it." Normally they'd just nod, but in these lightless halls they've learned to be vocal.

She crawls forwards, whiskers tracing the walls until she finds empty space where soil should be. Downyfur taps the flank of a nearby tunneler with their tail, quietly announcing, "I'm heading down this side tunnel," and disappearing with a whisper of dirt.

The scentscape of the tunnels isn't all monotony. Prey-scent, weak as it is, abounds. The sprawl of the moors is tangible even here, thin grassroots brushing the tops of flattened ears and catching in her longest whiskers. Pebbles dislodge at her paws, and she must be careful not to stub them on the larger stones. Gravity is king here; they're fiercely aware of whether they're headed up towards an exit, or down towards where water would pool.

Thankfully, Downyfur's path takes her upwards. Straight into the distinct something Cottonsprig mentioned, it seems. It hangs from the ceiling, bulbous and fragrant; her muzzle wrinkles as she tugs on it, careful not to dislodge the rest of the ceiling along with it. This must be the tangy one she talked about. The scent doesn't punch her in the face like a sharper one would, and the flavor bounces on her tongue.

The molly rejoins the rest of the patrol in good time. "I found one... I'm pretty sure," they call around their mouthful of tuber. "There's an exit from where I went down if we want to drop it off."

ooc: got a 15 + heads!​

 

[PINKSHINE]

Pinkshine is at home beside her fellow tunnelers. Especially besides her sister, Downyfur; and between them and Cottonsprig both, Pinkshine thinks about their apprentices outing a long time ago... Only there was less fire, and less twolegs, and less plants, and there had been no tunnels, so um... maybe it actually isn't similar at all? She likes Downyfur and Cottonsprig, though. She likes them a lot.

It feels like a fun scavenger hunt, to be following the scent of herbs rather than that of prey. She'd had no idea tunnels could be used for Medicine Cat stuff like this. At Cottonsprig's explaination, Pinkshine utters a loud, " Oooooh! " Okay, so she was looking for... tangy or sneezy stuff! Pinkshine has been lucky enough to not land herself in the Medicine Cat's den much, but she has been there to visit her friends, she just needs to remember all the scents and smells...

Downyfur's tail raps against her flank. Sightlessly, Pinkshine turns to the direction of her voice, mewing, " Okie-dokey! " in reply. She guesses she should do the same! Less eloquently, she turns to another-another tunneler. " Gonna do what Downyfur's doin'! "

Her whiskers guide her along narrow tunnel walls. She wouldn't go too far— she wouldn't wanna get lost, obviously... If an herb could smell strongly enough for her to catch it beneath the dirt, she wouldn't have to stray far away, right? She pads and pads, scrunches her face as if that would somehow help her smell better... but there's nothing here. Nothing at all!

Pinkshine rejoins the group with a huff, her jaws unfortunately empty. Downyfur has returned, and there's a weird scent with her too. " Wow, that is strong, " she remarks, tail grazing the tunnel wall. " There wasn't anything this way, " she laments. " I hope you got the biggest... uh, whatever ever to make up for it! "

OOC: rolled a 6! Sorry this is so late </3

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