Sometimes learning is hard. (Semi-Closed)

The deputy nodded. His gaze softened only slightly as his apprentice spoke to him for the first without hints of disdain or arrogance. They had finally gotten somewhere. He wanted to just let out a sigh of relief, but that would have to wait until he retired to his nest. Rippedsky took a step back to give Sedgepaw a bit of space before meowing, "Good. Then you can prove it to me in the morning. You will meet me by the entrance at sunrise, no sooner, and we will begin some proper training. If there is any indication you're not ready, it is back to camp immediately." He turned back towards camp and began to pad away slowly, giving Sedgepaw time to catch up this time instead of sprinting off and beckoning with his tail.

"You should see Oceanlight and Rabbitfoot when we return, they will help take care of your wounds and make sure you're fit for tomorrow." The black and white tom flicked his ear before adding, "And you may remove the brambles from your nest. I cannot train with a torn up apprentice. Make sure they're properly rid of before the clan sleeps."

Sedgepaw nodded at Rippedsky's terms. The look on his face was more serious than arrogant as he took the deputy at his word. There wasn't any doubt now to Sedgepaw that he should and would listen to this cat. He began to follow slowly, cringing occaisonally as a muscle twitched wrong or a scrape reopened, though where it came from he wasn't sure. Half the scrapes on him were from the bedding he had been using. He nodded at the mention of seeing the medicine cats, biting back a comment on how useful they were compared to other cats. He had no place to say that, and if he did, he knew it'd be back to the snow. He was learning to hate the substance with a passion.

He looked up when his mentor told him he could remove the brambles. A grateful smile on his face as he picked up his pace a little. He couldn't wait to be rid of those awful, horrible prickles in his nest. The moment they got back to camp, he rushed to the apprentices den to pick them out of the nest he had weaved. He wasn't surprised to find plenty of scraped hair... but also the puddle of water he had left behind from his earlier attempt had frozen in the corners of the den. He stared at them uncertainly. There was no way to move puddles... he was certain of that, so he decided to leave it and instead take the brambles well out of camp, dumping them happily down the nearest drop he could find before he slowly made his way to the medicine den.

"Oceanlight?" He meowed from the entrance, wincing at the silence that greeted him. She must have been out gathering herbs... or trying to. He sniffed in disdain and tried to act as though he wasn't injured as he sat next to the den opening to wait. It was hard not to just demand that she be there. Difficult to conclude that she wasn't bound to the den. His eyes caught sight of one of the other apprentices near him and he huffed. "If you're here to blame me about the puddle, you can blame Rippedsky." He meowed as he fidgeted in the snow. His newly developing conscience sneered at the blame. It was his fault.

Mintpaw was relaxing just outside the Medicine Cat den, licking one paw. Her mentor was out training one of her other apprentices, but Mintpaw couldn't care less. Watching Oceanlight work was more interesting than battle training anyways, although Skyclan's medicine cat was currently gathering herbs at the border. The small apprentice looked up, her ears twitching in a fashion that was reminiscent of her adoptive father. "H-hi Sedgepaw." She mewed, her murky green eyes bright. "A-are you talking about the water in the apprentice's den? Ha! We thought t-that one o-of the younger apprentices had w-wet themselves."
The small apprentice pushed herself into a sitting position, looking the silver tom up and down. "A-are you okay?" Her smile faded and she flicked her tail, her paws kneading the ground. "You looked exhausted- where'd you get those scratches from?"

Without waiting for a reply she pushed her way into the den. "C'mon, lemme see what I can do. I'm not a medicine cat,
but I don't think Oceanlight would mind too much. I've watched her heal plenty of cats before..."
She felt a stab of doubt as she rummaged through the herbs. All of them looked more or less the same- green, brown and strange. Mintpaw cast her mind back, trying to remember a time she had seen Oceanlight at work. She bent over a small bundle of brown nuts, her ears twitching once more as she breathed deeply. That smell... of course! The first time she had ever visited the medicine cat den, as a young kit, Rabbitfoot had been doing something in the back of the den. Treating someone's wounds, although Mintpaw didn't think they'd been that bad because Oceanlight had seemed calm when she spoke to her.
A funny smell had come from the ointment that Rabbitfoot had been using, the same that Mintpaw was smelling now. With a concentrated frown, the young apprentice selected a few of the smaller nuts and turned back to her quarry. She picked up a small, sharp rock that was lying nearby- her teeth would be useless, the shells were too hard -and began to slowly, carefully grind up the brown nuts. "How's training? Is Rippedsky a good mentor?" She talked as she worked, trying to hide her uncertainty. If Oceanlight found out what she was doing, Mintpaw would end up cracking fleas from now until Greenleaf.

It was an amusing image. Sedgepaw found himself smirking before he could stop it. He tilted his head and looked away pointedly when she asked if he was okay. A small slouch to his aching shoulders as he watched her pad into the den. Curious, he followed and watched her with a grimace when she found the thing she was looking for. The sharp smell of nuts being ground stung his nose as she worked and he flicked his tail irratably at her question.

"No. He's the worst mentor ever." He declared, his tone reached back to it's old arrogance as he shrugged off the fact that it was him making it worse. "In case you didn't notice, it was my nest covered in brambles and my fur." He added curtly. Though he longed to blame it solely on Rippedsky and his stupidity, he knew that it wouldn't work. Mintpaw looked up to his mentor too much, and besides, his lessons would begin in earnest tomorrow. It was better not to say anything that could make it's way back and make him rethink it. "He made me sleep in them after I brought back brambles instead of moss." Not like there's any moss anyways. He thought to himself bitterly.

Mintpaw winced as the rock slipped and cut her paw. Rippedsky? The worst mentor? "Really?" She mewed, stepping back as her paw bled. "My f-father... well, I suppose he has a r-reason for it. He always has a-a reason for everything." The small apprentice carefully scooped up the poultice she had made and hobbled towards Sedgepaw. "Stand still." She busily applied the ground-up herbs to his many scratches, pausing every so often to carefully untangle the many brambles. "My father... well. He-he might be old- really old -and he might be a-angry all the time, but he knows what he's d-doing. Why else would Crowstar ch-choose him as a deputy?"
The small she-cat winced as she clumsily applied the medicine. "D-Does it sting?" She asked quietly, hobbling towards the various herbs, hunting for something that might stop the bleeding. Her murky green eyes landed on a pile of sticky cobwebs. With a shaking paw, she reached out and tapped it lightly, her ears twitching with amusement as it stuck to her paw.
With a concentrated frown, the pale she-cat tried to put the cobwebs on her paw, but she just ended up getting hopelessly tangled. "Sedgepaw, can... c-can I get your help?"

Sedgepaw watched Mintpaw wince, though he scoffed at the bleeding cut, he knew he should be grateful and grumbled while she hobbled towards him.
"Does he? He sent me to find moss after all. That Featherbrain." Sedgepaw spat grumpily. He turned towards her, and winced as she rubbed against a particularly deep cut. "I bet Crowstar didn't even have much of a choice." He paused, then shuddered suddenly. "What kind of a name is Rippedsky anyways, or Crowstar." He griped as he watched her tap at the cobwebs. He was about to ask what she was doing when she asked for his help.

He stared at her incredulously for a moment, before he stood and began to begrudgingly help with removing the sticky strands.
"Careful Mintbreath." He taunted, as he pulled away nearly the last of the cobwebs.

Mintpaw stepped back. "Y-yeah, like Sedgepaw is any better." She flicked her tail decisively, tilting her head. "His name is Rippedsky b-because he came to Skyclan w-when he was an apprentice, obviously. Besides, I-I'd rather be called Rippedpaw t-than Sedgepaw. I-I think you're just jealous."
She rolled her eyes as he removed the cobwebs, but faked a laugh as he teased her. This tomcat was asking for trouble- and he was gonna get it.
"Oh, hello Rippedsky!" She chirped cheerfully, looking past Sedgepaw and laughing at his expression. "I-I'd watch that attitude, Sedgeface. A-after all, you have no idea what I j-just put in those cuts." She snapped uncharacteristically, giving one of his cuts a light tap with her forepaw.

"I am just going to hope that neither of you is getting yourselves in trouble in the medicine cat's den." Rippedsky meowed as he padded in. Initially, the deputy had the intention of going back to the den to rest for a short while and aid in the recovery of his still sometimes aching lungs. However, he had caught sight of his rather troublesome apprentice and Pansyface's daughter going into the den. As he got closer, the scent of both Oceanlight and Rabbitfoot was faded. They were obviously in here alone. The sight of Mintpaw attempting to use the herbs on Sedgepaw was something that probably should have brought out the fatherly part of him. The medicine cats would more than likely be unappreciative to come back to a less than orderly den. However, he found himself unconcerned with his adoptive daughter working on fixing up the prickly tom's scratches.

"I hope you have some idea as to what you put into his wound," The black and white tom remarked, catching Mintpaw's meow, "while he may be a work in progress, I'd rather not kill my apprentice off just yet." There was an obviously teasing tone to Rippedsky's words. He supposed he still should have been rather angry with Sedgepaw, but at the sight of Pansyface's sweet daughter, he could not help but lighten up. Both she and her sister filled him with a mixture of happiness and sorrow. Each in their own way, the pair of she-cats embodied aspects of his lost friend. There were flickers of pain in his bright blue gaze, but they disappeared as he waited for one of them to speak up.

Sedgepaw spat out a bit of cobweb with a dry laugh.
"Jealous? Of him? Don't be mousebrained." He flicked his tail with a scoff, looking the picture of arrogance when he heard Rippedsky's name mentioned. He paused, a retort on his tongue, but Rippedsky's voice interrupted them both. With a barely visible twitch, he turned to face him and sent a retort to him instead. "If they didn't want us in here, then they would be here to do their duties like good medicine cats." The arrogant tom turned a glare towards Mintpaw. "You wouldn't do anything to hurt me." He added dismissively to the threat. Part of him recoiled at the attitude, but he ignored his newfound concience. It was tiring.

"She can't kill me off, I'm surprised she can even kill her prey." He muttered, keeping his voice low as he realised this could be pushing a line. Just because the brambles were out of his nest didn't mean he was safe. Starclan only knew the potential consequences... he froze as he realised that Rippedsky could simply move their lesson tomorrow. That concience was nagging him that he might not even deserve it at this point. Rippedsky could easily go and mentor other cats he considered more worthy. The thought stuck as he grumbled and tucked his tail towards his body. Mintpaw was trying. He really should give her more credit, but it was hard to. The idea of doing so made his body twitch uneasily.

OOC: frick sorry
IC: Mintpaw scrambled backward in shock as Rippedsky padded into the den. "Rippedsky! Hi! I was just... u-uh... I mean I-I..." Unable to do anything else she smiled winningly, her murky green eyes innocent. "I've seen O-Oceanlight using these h-herbs. He'll be f-fine. Probably..." The taupe apprentice muttered the last word so only Sedgepaw could hear, but smiled all the same. She had learned the dangerous herbs- Yew, Nightshade -along with the other kits in the nursery. She hadn't poisoned Segepaw with any of those. Now she was only glad that Oceanlight hadn't caught her.
"A-Alright, Silentpaw. Y-you should be g-good to go n-now." She mewed in a business-like tone, turning back to Sedgepaw. "C-come see me i-if the pain isn't g-gone soon."

Sedgepaw's last few words rang in her ears. She couldn't catch any prey, but was it really that obvious? The small apprentice shuffled her paws, her ears twitching.

"Go and rest." He ordered Sedgepaw, with an authoritative tone strong in his voice. The prickly tom needed to settle down for now. There was no doubt that after the brambles and their mock fight that he would be needing a break. Rippedsky silently begged Starclan for even a hint of cooperation from his apprentice. His blue eyes narrowed for a second as he awaited a response.

"I trust you, Mintpaw, but perhaps you should ask the medicine cats next time before messing with their supply. I don't want Oceanlight coming after me demanding answers." His whiskers twitched at the thought. The medicine cat, quite a bit his senior, was one of his longest friends in the clan, along with her apprentice. They had a good relationship. As much as he did genuinely trust Pansyface's daughter knew what she was doing. It was best she do it under the watchful eye of a more experienced cat. Rippedsky smiled softly at her before flicking his tail on her check and turning to lead them from the den.

OCC: topic end...?