camp Standing in the tall grass | lesson | thinking nothing

[Dandelionwish]

What was just a normal practice session ended in concern. Scratches were nothing new in WindClan, their insistence on teaching combat with claws unsheathed had been a thorn in his side since he'd been apprenticed and it wasn't going to change just because he complained so he opted for a compromise to some degree. With Brownpaw's scratch patched up and some marigold plastered over it for good measure, he held up Spiritpaw's paw for examination and gave a throaty sigh at what he saw.
"Unsheathe'em please." Upon doing as he asked he tilted his head, carefully scrutinized each curved hook and let her go with a shake of his head, "Clean'em a little better 'fore ye go practicin' next time. Takes only a little dirt under a nail to get in a wound and then we get a problem. Body don't like dirt in it. It'll act up real nasty when it finds somethin'." The chocolate dipped tom smiled, the wheatstem clenched tight between his teeth going slack as he lost the tension in his jaw and rose his voice up to the other cats present around the edge of camp.
"Ye hear me? Ye keep them claws CLEAN 'fore ye spar or else ah'll put ye to work pickin' plants fer me to replace the stock I waste keep'n yer cuts from goin' sour! It's real unpleasant! Don't do that to yer clanmates and certainly don't do that to me..." He WOULD make a cat pay for adding more to his already astronomically large workload, perhaps he was exaggerating a bit but he had not stopped fretting about leaf-bare since the first orange leaf done fell from a tree and got crunched under paw.
"Yer not in trouble, Spiritpaw-it's not somethin' no cat really thinks about. But keep'em nice and shiny from now on if ye'd be so obliged." Dandelionwish gave his head a little tilt of a nod, grinning lightly to show no harm done. This time, it was just a scratch and he'd cleaned it quick, but he'd really prefer they didn't all go taking such risks in the future. If he had to pick his battles, he'd compromise here. Fear of being put on boring herb gathering duty would hopefully keep even the most rambuncitious apprentices picking at their toes to remove the grit and dirt before a tussle. Hopefully, anyways...

@spiritpaw - No need to wait for them to post first though!
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[Bristlekit]

WILLING TO SACRIFICE​

---

The boy hears the call, blue eyes snapping toward the medicine cat as he offloaded his lecture to the rest of the clan about cleaning claws before every battle. Bristlekit sticks out his tongue, a half expression of annoyance as his nose scrunches. Take a bath before every sparring session? That would take way too much time away from training! He wasn't an apprentice yet, but even he could see that. Learning to fight was way more important than taking baths.

"Who's gunna remember that? Take a bath before every spar? It's only dirt." Bristlekit points out, clearly announcing his youthful ignorance to the entire clan, not that he knew that. Bristlekit is yet to experience any sort of infection, so as far as he's concerned, dirt is entirely harmless!​

 

[Galeforce]

↞ RACE THE WINDS

"Keeping clean is important, ya know! Can't become a good warrior and take care of the clan without pausing to take care of yourself first." Galeforce chimed in as he padded his way over to stand beside Bristlekit. The young warrior beamed a smile down at the kit before he shifted his focus towards Spiritpaw and Dandelionwish. "I always remember to have a good long scratch on a log to help keep my claws clean. Also keeps 'em sharp!"
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[MALLOWLARK]

In his short time knowing Honeytwist, Dandelionwish seemed to have learned a whole lot- or maybe it'd been trial-and-error! This seemed almost an old mollies tale, passed down through whispered words- had he not seen infection's growth from birth with his very. own moon-wide eyes, he might not have believed it. Thankfully he had lived enough life to be knowledgable of it, enough that he found point in bounding over to offer his own input, ever-unwarranted.

Through the dog-fang grin always set upon his expression, Mallowlark offered up wisdom he had gathered. "I heard if you don't clean 'em well, they get all flaky and snap right off- HAH!" It was decidedly not a joke, but the image of it blandished a very abrupt cackle from him. The snap of it, the spurt of scarlet ribbon- whether the stream would go up, straight forward... claret everywhere, all from boredom of bathing!​

[ PENNED BY PIN ]​

 

[Bristlekit]

WILLING TO SACRIFICE​

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The boy rolls his eyes toward Galeforce, although he does like the idea of keeping his nails sharpened. Maybe he could find a log to scratch on? Bristlekit finds himself examining his own nails, vision lingering upon the curved, sharp tips. They looked sharp, but if digging into wood could make them even sharper, then he'd surely be a terror on any battlefield.

"I'll make sure my claws are so sharp, the kittypets in SkyClan cry every time they see my face." Bristlekit announces with a bold purr.

His aqua vision slices through cold air toward Mallowlark next, who was making his gruesome statement about the loss of uncleaned nails. Bristlekit didn't believe a word of it... did he? He's quiet, uncertain, thoughtful, as much as a kit his age could be. Surely the pale warrior was just joking around? This was like those kit tales that mothers told kids to stop them from acting out!

"I've never even heard of a cat losing their claws like that." The little tabby points out. Surely it wasn't true?​

 

[Dandelionwish]

Galeforce was, at least, enthusiastic about self-care and for that he was grateful. It meant one less cat he had to constantly keep tabs on.
When he'd first been taught about infection he'd been cynical of the idea that just a little dirt could cause such a fuss, but the body was a strange thing; the more he thought about what held him all together the more uneasy he became at the idea of what exactly made up a cat. Bones, blood, flesh and fur, there were lots of other things inside them too that kept them running and working right and sometimes these things didn't do their job. Just from what he could guess, when dirt got in it started to get gross as if just touching the blood in a body made it turn into some kind of new substance; a fatal transformation at times even. This pus and such that stayed in the body was poisonous and could kill a cat, but he wasn't exactly sure how it went about it-only that he'd seen it happen with his own two eyes and Honeytwist had told him enough on the matter that he understood. Clean was important.
"Sharp claws make cleaner cuts that heal better too, we ain't tryin' to kill no cat-just put'em in their place when ye gotta." He raises his own chocolate-dipped paw, flexes the claws there and sheathes them back as Mallowlark appeared and add his own commentary-of course the cat who picked apart bodies was a little knowledgeable in how they worked or, in this case, didn't work. "Think 'bout the dirt like a rat. If ye let a rat in ye, he'll chew up all the important stuff and that means even yer claws getting trimmed off. Then ye won't be able to put them SkyClanners in place like ye want."

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[nettlepaw.]

Nettlepaw had to admire Dandelionwish for all his efforts. He couldn't imagine the weight of the entire clan's health resting on his shoulders, especially when plants and herbs were beginning to wilt from the sheer cold settling over the moors. He watched silently from afar, grey eyes alight with a new interest as the slightly-older medicine cat explained. He knew all about the effects of infection; he was the one to stay pressed against his little sister's feverish side through the night, soothing her as she shuddered and gasped and wheezed, even after she dropped into a crushing stillness and grew cold. All because of a single claw cutting too deep, too long.

Bristlekit's exclaimed rejection of anything to prevent infection shouldn't have upset him, but his hackles lifted themselves all the same. An irritated huff escaped him as he trudged over, eyes narrowing at the other kit for a moment before he corrected his expression into that of neutrality. Dandelionwish started another tangent after Mallowlark's morbid statement, one that he listened to as well while he perched himself nearby. The metaphor for how infection worked made sense, as much as he cringed to imagine it happening to Lilypaw. Briefly, he checked his own claws, but a nervous habit of grooming his paws kept them from gathering much of anything to clean. "I'll remember," he quietly promised to the medicine cat, dipping his head. "And you should too." His shaggy tail waved near Bristlekit, brushing above the kit's back as he addressed him.​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

IS IT OVER YET - CAN I OPEN MY EYES?​

periwinklepaw | 04 months | demi-boy | he/they | physically easy (pacifist) | mentally easy | attack in bold #ccccff​

---

Sometimes, he really wishes dandelionwish wasn't so creative with his metaphors. Looking rather queasy at the idea of a rat crawling inside of him and eating away at him and glances at his own paws - soft and clean. He doesn't think he'll ever have to worry about giving another cat an infection though. He doesn't have any plans to raise his paws against another - though perhaps it's something to keep in mind if sootstar or jaggedoak ever make him be target practice for another apprentice's training. "Lisssst-en to d-d-dandy, he knows all 'bout th-this kind of st-st-stuff," he says to bristlekit quietly - periwinkle isn't that much older than him after all, but he's spent enough time in the medicine den to understand such matters really are important.