TO LET A GOOD THING DIE \ trampled herbs

[BERRYHEART]

The wind bellowed as it struggled through the treetops, tiny tornados whipping leaves in their trail. Berryheart had thought it profoundly unwise to travel alone to do his herb-gathering when the weather was like this, and thus had requested accompaniment when he had left camp, head bowed low and ears pinned seemingly-permanently to his head. The thread of the boars, too... many odds were stacked against solitary travel. He would not risk spilling a mind that ThunderClan still needed upon the dirt.

He had at last found a semi-reliable source for gathering marigold, and had cemented in his mind the area in which it lay. It was one of the most valuable herbs in his storage, used for even the tiniest wounds to stave of the fatal, miasmic touch of infection; thus, was worth keeping his supply up. There were alternatives, but... none were as versatile.

When he at last came upon the cluster of blooms, they lay flat and tattered upon the ground.

Dirt and trotter-marks were tracked into every inch- the leaved danced in the wind like tattered war-flags, and Berryheart felt his expression noticeable sink. A heavy sigh left him, and a seldom-seen flare of frustration rushed through his body, betrayed in the way his claws leapt out and gripped the ground. He could not lose another Clanmate, another littermate. But without these herbs, there was no guarantee he could save anyone should his supply run low. ​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​

 

[Chicky]

Back and forth Chickadeepaw had paced in front of Berryheart's den for the last day and a half, wearing a new path in the dirt where there didn't need to be. She awaited status updates like her life depended on it, even if it was Dovepaw who lay in stasis. Her aunts and uncles had come and gone, urging her to eat or rest. Other cats had pushed food towards her. She had only nudged it into the medicine cat's den - for my brother. Her brother.... her sweet little brother whom she had not been permitted to see. Mama could see him but she had to wait. Waiting was an awful game, a game that she didn't want to play anymore. She wanted to snuggle up with her brother and shove her nose into his patchy white fur and fix him all by herself.

She leapt at the chance to accompany Berryheart on his expedition. Maybe then, she could burrow into his red-and-charcoal brain and figure out why her brother wasn't better yet. This was supposed to be his job! His job was to save her brother, fix her brother, return her brother to what -

Her mentor lifted their tail. Berryheart had stopped, his posture moving to almost sink into the earth. Chickadeepaw peered around him, her golden eyes failing to see what made the medicine cat suddenly so visibly tired. Those were... flowers? Flowers were good, right? Berryheart used flowers for all the medicine-catting he did. What was wrong with them? She stared harder, squinting even, to understand. Slowly, the pieces fell together. Those were flowers, but they were dead flowers. Torn apart flowers. Berryheart couldn't use those now - torn apart flowers were yucky flowers and yucky flowers didn't belong on patients. She blinked. Torn apart, dead, yucky flowers didn't work on patients. Patients that included her brother.

Chickadeepaw gulped and made a squeaky little sound in the back of her throat. "They're all gone." Berryheart's reaction suddenly made a lot of sense. "They're all gone and... and you need flowers to heal my brother and if they're all gone that means you don't have any more and if you don't have any more then-then-then what's gonna happen to my brotherrrrrr-" Her fluffy little chest heaved and heaved, the onslaught of another childish tantrum threatened in her wail. She sniffled, teeny pearls of tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. "You-you-you-you don't have any m-m-m-more flowers and-and-and-and he-he-he-he-" It was an awful feeling, to feel as helpless as a newborn kit in front of grown warriors, but she couldn't stop it. Teeny pearls turned into little rivulets carving dark canyons down the sides of face - a full meltdown brought on by the overactive imagination and naivety of a child experiencing intense stress and exhaustion for the very first time. She wanted her brother, she wanted her nest, she wanted her mama, she wanted those stupid flowers that were gonna fix everything but now they can't and what were they gonna do-o-o-o-o-o!​

 

[WOLFWIND]

Wolfwind understands the importance of collecting herbs. Though with boards running afoot, she's not all too comfortable with the prospect of her family running about amongst them. Another uncle, especially makes her worry her lip. She does her best to quell her own nerves by volunteering to accompany Berryheart.

More vigilant to any beasts than plants, Wolfwind only knows they've arrived once Berryheart draws to a stop. Beside Chikadeepaw, Wolfwind keeps watch, keeping her head on a swivel as she waits for him to do... whatever. There are no gleeful sounds of harvesting (or something), though. At Berryheart's sigh, she turns to take a look. She's assuming the golden blooms now trashed on the ground is what they'd came here for. Wolfwind clicks her tongue. " Damn. " She frowns at the mess below them.

Chickadeepaw promptly begins to freak the fuck out.

" Woah, woah– " Wolfwind tries to cut in, eyes wide as she turns to look at the sniffling apprentice. She wouldn't call it dramatics or nothin'. She'd be freaking out if she had family in the medicine den too. She was freaking out internally, still. Any rustle of nature nearby makes her heart stop for a millisecond. It's fine. She's fine. " Relax. Relax. There are probably alternatives, yeah? This doesn't mean we're uh... high and dry or nothin'. " She'd offer Berryheart a sidelong glance. Are we? The question is spoken with raised brows. Wolfwind frowns, not really knowing how to deal with cryin'. She looks to Berryheart. " Uhh... Do herbs gotta look pretty to be used? " ​

 

[LICHENPAW ❁]

————— ❁ —————
AND ALL THE WRONG WORDS

Lichenpaw, like his friend, had been eager to tag along with Berryheart, but for different reasons. He did not bear the same agitation as her, trading his usual nervousness for her usual enthusiasm. He did not fear for Sandapaw the way she did her brother; enough time had passed to dull the aching fear. The reason Lichenpaw tagged along was simple: he'd been spending so much time in the medicine den lately that it only made sense for him to help out a bit.

Still, his heart drops when Lichenpaw sees the trampled herbs. Chickadeepaw's freakout is stressing him out; she's right, Dovepaw needs those herbs, and if they don't have any, then... "Um. Chickadee, hey, Chikky, look at me," his voice is shaky, but he tries to clear the worries from his mind. If they both freak out then they're definitely not getting anywhere.

"It's — it's alright, yeah?" he offers, smile unconvincing. "We're — Dovepaw's gonna be okay. We've — we've got more flowers back at camp. Berry's got all kinds of stuff in his den. Alternatives. Like Wolfwind said. It'll, it's gonna be okay, alright? We'll, um, we'll figure it out." They;re trying to ignore the way Berryheart's claws dig into the ground. If he's worried then surely they should be too... But it's alright, he thinks, if he has to lie to Chickadeepaw a little bit, to reassure her.

...He hopes it's not a lie. He hopes that they can find alternatives, that Dovepaw will be able to recover.

SEEM RIGHT IN YOUR HEAD
————— ❁ —————

.°❁ info ; visual

• //
  ​
• LICHENPAW named for the lichen on the trees of his home.
  — he/him or they/them. 10 moons.
  — thunderclan apprentice, mentored by blizzard fang.
  — bears a near-permanent nervous grin.
  
  primary character, high activity. penned by saturnid. IC opinions :']​
• "SPEECH"
  ​
• 

​

 

[BERRYHEART]

Wailing sounded behind him, and Berryheart's seldom-seen claws disappeared back into their sheathes, setting his lopsided gaze upon the source. His crooked jaw tightened. He had never been much good for comfort. Healing physical wounds was his specialty, not emotional ones. Such was an art he had not learned the basics of quite yet. Clamours and Freckles flocked to soothe her, assuring her that alternatives lay in stock, and Berryheart nodded his head in accordance with their words. Crying was unnecessary... he would not have left the den had he been worried for the currently-injured apprentice's health. He was already on the track for recovery.

"I still have some in stock." It was a flat-toned assurance, but the best he could manage. What better way to avert a mind spiralling toward a worst-case scenario than with the admittance of a fact, something undeniable in his practiced knowledge? Wails' brother was well tended to, well treated. It was not for a warrior apprentice to know, he supposed, that the stock had been well-kept out of caution up until now. "It's future injuries I worry for." Plainly claimed, his vision slipped down again to the unusable herbs. He would have to request caution from the Clan when interacting with these boars, if they were actively hindering reliable sources for his poultices.​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​

 

[Chicky]

"O-o-o-o-okay." It's all she can manage for the moment as the older cats reassure her with strained patience. She breathes in and out - one, two, three, four, five. Larkpaw, Duckpaw, Dovepaw, Oakkit, Acornkit. She has five siblings. One, two, three. Three of them are apprentices. One, two. Two of them are in the nursery with Mama. One. One mama. She's got her mama, always.

She rubs her face into her friend's shoulder, drying her tears on his multi-colored pelt before turning her golden gaze back to Berryheart. "Okay, Mister Berryheart, sir, can we find the alternatives? Y'know, for the other people? Can you tell us what the flowers look like so we can help find 'em? They're.... they're all flowers, right?" Chickadeepaw has no interest in herbs or plants. The sacred art of medicine-ery seems downright boring to her, but as long as she's here, she might as well help as much as she can.​

 

[WHITELION]

make peace with your broken pieces .​

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶​

He watched from afar, ears settled back against his helm at his apprentice’s panic, sighing softly. Whitelion clambered forward to rest a tail against her side in gentle comfort, offering a crinkle of his eye in a silent smile. “Don’t be scared. Dovepaw is a strong apprentice. He will make a recovery.” He offered in consolation, directing his gaze to Berryheart.

“Not all are flowers.” He hummed, tail flickering, staring at the ruined herbs with a crinkle of his brow, worry gnawing at his insides. He feared the worst, glancing up at the darkened world above them. As Oakfang would often express, one must bear down the hatches, braving the storm.

“Let’s hope this storm hasn’t destroyed more.” He murmured, frowning, returning his gaze to the gathering cats. ​

​

thought speech​

 

[Flamestar]

( ★ ) She had arrived to the scene a little late, but that didn't make it any less rough of a sight to see. If one hadn't known what was here before, there was no way it would be believable that this was once a patch of herbs. In front of their paws looked like a battle had taken place...the once plentiful flowers were trampled, destroyed...turned to nothing but footprints. Her tail lashed irritatedly, her gaze momentarily locked onto the mess. First they killed a warrior, now they destroy their herbs? Her nostrils flared, and she sunk her claws into the soft ground. It was well known that it was a death wish to fight those beasts, but stars she wanted to sink her claws into one of those smelly boars.

It took a few moments, but she finally gathered herself enough to speak. She rose her attention towards the Medicine Cat, hoping that his answer wouldn't be what she feared it would be. "Is this the only spot that these grow?" ​

( WHEN I FIND MYSELF ; I'MA BRING IT ON HOME )

 

[leopardtongue]

☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ── | Leopardtongue knew nothing about medicines and herbs, barely even knew about the small basics, as she had never needed the information. She knew it was important, but there were always going to be medicine cats now that could help to heal those that were injured with physical wounds, and so she didn't need to know them. She had wanted to, at one point, when she was younger, but then the clans were formed and there were medicine cats, so it wasn't important to her anymore, it wasn't of necessity like it would have been if things had gone different.

She knew that different flowers and plants could do different things, what they were she didn't know, but upon coming across the scene before her she did know one thing: those plants that were at Berryheart's paws did not look good, and by the reaction that Chickadeepaw was having, she didn't think so either. As things calmed down, Leopardtongue looked towards Flamewhisker as she asked her question, and soon Leopardtongue found herself nodding slightly, as if to echo the question as well. "Maybe if you told us what the other plants look like, we could try to help gather some, or find a new spot where these ones grow?" So long as those ones weren't also trampled, of course.​

​

 

[BERRYHEART]

The clamour died down soon, assurance's having worked their magic. Still, Berryheart's frown did not disappear, even as Leaf-eyes gave hopeful reassurance. All the tortoiseshell tom could do was let free a low hum of thoughtfulness, his features darkened by the cumulonimbus cloud of concern. He could not fault the worries undertones that writhed through the voices of his Clanmates; it was a disconcerting sight, such a reliable herb being trampled. But there still lay alternatives... perhaps more eyes seeking them out would not be a bad thing.

Berryheart could only nod slowly in response to Sunset's question. It was the least complex answer he could give; this was the most reliable spot he had found in his moons of healing. Spots and Wails suggested something similar, and for now it seemed the soundest option. He was usually confident in seeking herbs alone, but protection and aid would hopefully allow his tenseness to ebb. "Let's try goldenrod. It has big, long clusters of yellow flowers." It was his best description from memory; but there were many plants that looked similar, including marigold. Concern was still etched audibly in his monotone.​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​