Tough Luck. (OPEN, meddie appreciated)

see here for context. This topic is probably at midnight after she is brought home))

Birchpaw laid in the medicine cat's den, her breathing was much slower now that she was deeply unconscious. Her breathing grew more and more shallow until she finally stirred and began to wake up. The apprentice sat up sharply and looked around frantically. Pain shot through her at the action and she dropped back down. She was in camp, the sour smell of herbs around her meant she was in the medicine den. She shivered without the warmth of the other apprentices around her and squinted in the darkness. Her tail felt horrible, every motion caused her to feel pain and she smelled only herbs and blood around her. It made her even more dizzy than she already was. With a shudder, she tried to get up again, blood loss made her feel far too weak and she shakily fell on her side with a loud hiss of pain.

"You're awake. I guess we're denamates now." Shrewheart looked at the apprentice he was now sharing a den with as she woke up. Her bleeding stub of a tail was a little amusing, but he doubted that she found it that way. Birchpaw had been carried in here unconscious, and hadn't awaken until now. He hadn't been able to sleep, imagining what he would do if he got a chance to talk to the RiverClan warrior who caused the injury which left him sitting in this den. Plus Swooppaw kept waking him up by constantly coming in to check on his friend. He rolled his eyes at her hiss of pain. Didn't she know how to ignore pain correctly? Well, she was only an apprentice, so he could teach her. "You know, it's a lot easier to ignore pain when you aren't moving."
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"Birchpaw?" Swooppaw poked his head into the medicine den before stepping inside. He hadn't been able to sleep thinking about Birchpaw, and this must have been the fourth time he had come to check on her. Shrewheart must have been pretty annoyed with him, but he didn't care. Maybe if he had been a few moments faster in finding cobwebs she wouldn't have passed out, and the young apprentice couldn't live with that thought. His green eyes lit up with relief when she saw that she was awake, and in an instant he had gone to the prey pile and picked out a squirrel. He brought it back to his friend, smiling as he dropped it at her paws. "Thank StarCan you're awake!"

Leafstorm padded quietly into the den with Sharptooth in tow. "How're you feeling?" Sharptooth mewed, giving Birchpaw a small, friendly nudge. "Too bad you lost your tail. Now you really are like Leafstorm." She gave her stepfather a large grin. Everything ended up okay- for Birchpaw, at least.
The fluffy she-cat shot her mate a small smile. "How are you, Shrewheart?" She meowed, sitting next to him.
Leafstorm, meanwhile, had curled up beside his daughter. "Shh, you'll be alright." He cooed softly. "Just rest up."

"I'm not going to just lay here and rot, Shrewheart! Besides, ignoring my problem won't make it go away." Birchpaw said with an edge of anger in her voice. This was not the way she was spending her life, not when the clan needed her to do her part and then some. She made an effort to stand again when Swooppaw came in and dropped a squirrel in front of her. She smiled and nosed at his shoulder, "Thanks but, I might have to wait on eating anything for now." She gave a tired smile to Sharptooth "I'll be better once this headache goes away." Feeling Leafstorm curled up next to her was a welcome feeling but she much rather be the one helping out and not the one being coddled. "Leafstorm, I'm not going to become a warrior just sitting here..."

"I'm still alright. If it was up to me, I'd be in the warrior's den," Shrewheart replied as Sharptooth sat next to him, nuzzling her fur slightly. The brown tom hadn't mentioned the time he had tried to go back to his usual den, which had ended in his leg ceasing to function mid camp and Swooppaw having to help him get back. He barely gave a huff and rolled his eyes at Birchpaw's angry comment. How was focusing on her problem going to make it go away either? At least ignoring it got rid of the pain. He himself already had his injury at less importance in his mind than his next meal. "How are you recovering, my love?"
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Swooppaw nodded and pushed the squirrel away at Birchpaw's words, a sickening feeling forming a lump in his stomach. He felt useless. Entirely useless. His best friend was lying on the floor in pain, her tail nothing more than a stump, and there was nothing he could do about it. Heck, he didn't even know if she was going to survive this! He hoped she did. If she died, he didn't know how he would be able to go one living. For the hundredth time, he prayed to StarClan that she would be alright, and wouldn't have to join them for a long time. But just praying seemed like nothing. And they were nothing. But they were the most he could do. Unless he suddenly became an expert medicine cat and knew how to heal her. An idea formed in his mind. Maybe he could be useful and do something to save her. "Birchpaw? Is there anything you need?"

Maplepaw pushed her way through the small group of cats in the medicine cat den. Her eyes filled with sadness but determination. The medicine cat apprentice had been busy healing most of the clan after the war with Riverclan. Everything was even worse when Honeyspark was taken hostage by Riverclan so she had no mentor to advise her on what to do in certain situations. Maplepaw was carrying Goldenrod, moss soaked with fresh water and a whole lot of cobwebs. She placed them down and moved around to take a look at Birchpaw's tail. She looked over at the other cats with serious eyes as she began to unwrap the cobwebs that had been wrapped previously by Birchpaw's rescuers. "How did this happen?" she asked them. Poor Birchpaw. She turned to the other she-cat, "Birchpaw, can you eat these?" she asked sweetly as she pushed a few Poppy seeds her way. Afterwards, the young she-cat began to get to work. Her eyes were fixated on the tail, which had gotten infected since it was an open wound. She started to chew up some Marigold to treat the tail's infection and it luckily stopped any further bleeding. She applied the poultice to the wound gently but firmly. Soon she chewed the Goldenrod, which helped open wounds. She did the same with the Goldenrod poultice. She waited a few moments before beginning to apply the Cobwebs. She wove them tightly but not enough to completely cut off circulation. She got up and grabbed the moss. She placed it in front of Birchpaw with a gentle smile. "Please drink some water Birchpaw. I want you to be hydrated." she told the she-cat softly. She got up and moved to put away all the extra herbs in neat piles.

Birchpaw nudged his shoulder. "You keeping me company is enough, Swooppaw, I'm going to be fine." she said before looking at Maplepaw. "A RiverClan apprentice hit me into a bunch of rocks. They toppled from the impact and I got caught. He finished me off after I got pinned under them. Leopardclaw bit off the pinned part of my tail. I guess it wouldn't have been usable anyways." she meowed, remembering the sting and now the fuzzy redness rust out of her view on her cheek where the claw marks were still red and the panic that had filled her when Leopardclaw bit off her tail. She lowered her head to lap up the poppy seeds, the pain wasn't welcoming and neither was exhaustion but, she'd rather be more tired than stand the pain. The she-cat fidgeted a bit while Maplepaw worked, it was still painful for sure but, she kept her jaw clamped until the she-cat was done dressing the wound. When she was done, Birchpaw felt it was safe to relax a bit again and squeezed the moss to get the water out. It made her feel a little better. "I'm guessing I'll be in here for a while... Do you think I could maybe help you out,
Maplepaw? You're short a cat in here and I'd hate to just watch you work the whole time." she shuffled her paws a bit. She wasn't asking to share the secrets of a medicine cat's training, right? She just wanted to help out a bit.

Maplepaw smiled at Birchpaw. "Yes of course Birchpaw! You can help me sort out some herbs and maybe I can teach you about some herbs and how to use them, in case of an emergency!" she purred, delighted. She always wanted to teach somebody about the things she knows and does. She was just an apprentice and was still being taught herself but the apprentice was confident in what she does so she's also comfortable in teaching others. "But first, I want you to rest. You must be exhausted. You went through a lot Birchpaw. If you need anything or your tail begins to hurt, tell me and i'll help!" she said gently. The she-cat soon got up and returned to sorting out the plants.