Closed Thread [Closed] Mossy Breeze & Prickly Dreams (13FG20)

Mistyleaf had been bringing a very freshly-killed dove to the elders' den, both to give it to them and to use its feathers in the den's insulation. When she got to the log entrance, she heard the way its younger occupant had sighed and she noticed the disturbed moss. A bad dream, perhaps? Or was his paw bothering him?

When she thought about the day of that fox attack, there was still a pang of guilt and she still wondered what could've happened if she'd been faster at reaching him. But, as her mother and her mentor had both told her many times, there was no practical use in wondering what could have been, because life happened in the present and the past couldn't be changed.

And so, practically, Mistyleaf set down her dove, and asked in plain and gentle mew, "Bravesong, are you alright?"

Tigerrush was pleased with her day's work so far. She had only recently returned from her jaunt out to Fourtrees and now had a properly filled belly. Making sure the celandine and ash were prepped properly to dry, she decided that it was probably time to go check on the elders. As the days warmed up and the cold became a seasonal memory, there could still be aches from the rains and that also meant that ticks and fleas would be making an appearance again. The brown tabby medicine cat would know more and be better able to care for the elders if she knew what troubled them first.

Slipping from her den, she trotted towards the elder's den, holding her tail high. When she saw the long-furred form of Mistyleaf slipping in with freshkill, she purred to herself. Someone must be awake then. Or if they were, the smell of freshkill would soon rouse them. Even if they were waking, the mood in which one did so often proved to show the way the day of the inhabitants might go. If a cat was sore, they might be prickly from the moment their eyes opened. Similarly, if a cat slept well, they might be all purrs. Tigerrush wondered what moods she might find when she arrived.

Poking her head in, she softly trilled a greeting to the cats inside before pausing to blink as she caught Mistyleaf's question. She bit back the question she was about to ask as Mistyleaf had beat her to the punch and she needed to hear what Bravesong's response might be.

"Okay," Mistyleaf replied lightly when Bravesong said it had just been a bad dream. Dreams, even nightmares, were fascinating to her, but the silver torbie knew better than to pry. Cats would talk about their dreams if they wanted to, or not. Mistyleaf could think about hers all day when she actually remembered them. Instead, her tufted ear rotated when Tigerrush approached and Mistyleaf looked over to greet her.

"Hey," she meowed brightly, then returned her attention to Bravesong when he complimented her catch. "Thanks!" purred Mistyleaf. "I caught it not far from the Great Sycamore. If either of you'd like it, it's all yours."

The little brown she-cat felt bad now that she had nabbed a little something when she had returned to camp. The dove Mistyleaf had caught was a fine catch indeed. "Thank you for the offer, but I've already eaten. My goodness, what a lovely catch though! And the feathers should nicely line some nests!" 

Tigerrush relaxed her ears as she heard Bravesong mention a bad dream, though she pretended not to see him adjust his paws underneath him. She, of course, was going to double check anyway and while she hadn't seen Bravesong wake, she could tell by his ruffled fur that he had only recently done so. "Are your aches manageable today, Bravesong? I can bring something for you if you feel it needed." She enjoyed checking up on him and speaking with him. Bravesong seemed to rarely sharpened his tongue on others when he was in pain. 

"Won't they?" Mistyleaf agreed heartily with Tigerrush about the feathers. "That's one of the reasons I brought it straight here."

While Bravesong started on the dove and he and Tigerrush spoke, Mistyleaf started inspecting the walls of the den. This moon had been alright, but she always found early and mid-newleaf to be a bit deceptive. It would get warm and then cold and warm again.

Thanks to all her fur, she could handle a lot of cold weather, but of course not every cat had such a coat. She often wondered if it was much worse in other Clans, since they didn't have the abundance of trees that ThunderClan did.

The marshland must be awful, Mistyleaf thought. She absently marked a spot on the ground to remind herself to put feathers into its part of the wall. When Bravesong mentioned itching and fleas, she was wondering if ShadowClan cats even went into the swamp's waters during leaf-bare.

"Oh, I hope it's not," Mistyleaf commented sympathetically. She was about to offer to check, but stopped herself. Tigerrush was already right there and Mistyleaf didn't want to be in her way.

Tigerrush's ears pricked when Bravesong mentioned the itch on his shoulder. Mistyleaf seemed like she would have gladly helped Bravesong and the petite she-cat waited only for a moment, just to make sure she didn't push the other to the side. Instead, Mistyleaf began to examine the den's walls and so the brown tabby made her way over to nose lightly along the black shoulder. Shifting to use a paw to help part the fur, green eyes landed on the source. "Looks like it's just a tick." Tigerrush purred, though she felt relieved that fleas hadn't seemed to pop up just yet. "I'll be right back. I'll go grab some mouse bile and we'll have you pest-free shortly!" 

Stepping back and turning, the medicine cat trotted from the den, her tail held high as she hurried back to her den. Even in the dark of her den, between the scent herself and the herbs and the guidance of her whiskers, Tigererush easily found where she stored the moss and grabbed a small mouthful. She was pleased she had decided to have mouse today. It meant she had some fresh bile to work with and in no time, she was trotting back to the elder's den with the soaked moss in her jaws.

Setting it down on a leaf near her so she could part Bravesong's fur to get to the tick, she cast him a sympathetic glance. "Unfortunately, I still can't make it smell nice." Then Tigerrush reached over, grabbed the moss and dabbed the bile onto the tick. As she placed the moss back on the leaf and watched, the pest quickly relinquished it's hold on Bravesong's shoulder. With a deft paw, she brushed it off his shoulder on bundled it and the moss up in the leaf. "There! How does that feel?"

"Ooh, you plucked them perfectly," Mistyleaf purred when she took the remains of the bird. "Thank you."

She got to work with them as Tigerrush came back to the den. Mouse bile was not by any means her favorite scent--there was much worse out there--but why did it smell like that? It came from a mouse's liver of course, but as much as Mistyleaf might want to know how different it smelled from a cat's, she was grateful not to know well enough the scent of cat liver bile to compare it to.

"Nice-smelling or not, they stand no chance against you," Mistyleaf meowed playfully as she added feathers to another part of the den wall. "And it is a fine day," she agreed and turned a bit to look at the two properly. "There was a great warm breeze coming and going earlier. I hope it'll keep up all day."

Tigerrush's whiskers twitched lightly in embarrassed pleasure. She felt warmth from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail that they were pleased with her abilities as a medicine cat and believed in her. "It'd be a lovely day for you to come out and get some fresh air!" She agreed enthusiastically with the other two. "I'm sure there's a sunny place out in the camp to do some sunbathing and feel the breeze ruffle some fur and whiskers! If you wish for some company, I can take care of this bundle and join you." 

"Oh absolutely," Mistyleaf meowed with an excited swish of her fluffy tail, glad they'd already agreed. Their enthusiasm was refreshing! "I'm ever ready for a stroll. I love it when we're all of one mind!"

She finished with the last section of wall that she'd marked and turned to face the two. "Where would you like to go? Tigerrush, is there anything you need to gather? Or shall we just pick a direction?"

"I just made an herb run earlier, but I'll see if there's something else I can refresh." Tigerrush started to bundle up the tick and the mousebile soaked moss. "If you two want to head out, I can catch up once I've disposed of this! It'll be nice to have some company this time when I leave camp!" With that, she picked up the bundle and strode out of the den, tail held high as she left to dispose of the bundle. It wouldn't take her but a shake of a squirrel's tail to take care of this and do a double check her supplies.