of mice and herbs (closed)

Dawnpaw awoke as usual, feeling the seeping chill of leafbare winding its way through the apprentices' den and striking through her fur, thick as it was. It was frosty outside and the sun was still below the horizon. She exited the den, stalking over the sleeping bodies of her denmates, and stretched a long, full stretch when she had enough space. Her eyes still stung with tiredness but Dawnpaw found it unbearable to stay cooped up in that den for too long. Her only regret was leaving Duskpaw's side every morning. She glanced at the fresh-kill pile. Empty. Now that wouldn't do. 'Where is Beartooth?' She mused to herself, a critical voice n the back of her head babbling about his laziness. No matter. She'd just handle this herself and find another warrior. Or maybe she'd just leave the camp by herself. 'Yes, that would be much--'

Harefoot halted in place. He was still sleepy, but it seemed his mind was awake and wouldn't let him return to his slumber cuddled up next to Beartooth. He had only just left the warriors' den despite the cold to see Dawnpaw attempting to slip from the camp. She froze, too, upon meeting his gaze. He stared awkwardly, and she stared back, practically daring him to say something. It was uncomfortable. "You... do know that you can't leave camp without a warrior, right?" Harefoot meowed to break the silence. She blinked. Clearly, they were at an impasse. Dawnpaw knew he'd probably snitch to the senior warriors and Harefoot didn't want to volunteer to take her out after this weird encounter. Hopefully someone would arrive in time to break up the tension.

Pricklepaw looked through his herb stock again, then gave an involuntary groan. He was almost out of cobwebs again, along with borage and blackberry leaves. Not to mention, some more honey, heather and catmint wouldn't hurt. With Mapleleaf increasingly busy and Mintwhisker not worth his time, he'd just made up his mind to go on an herb patrol alone when he saw Harefoot and Dawnpaw standing by the entrance. After calculating their awkward expressions, and his own needs, in a second, the medicine cat apprentice clicked his tongue. "Great! You're both just in time to help me get some herbs. Nothing too far, just in the territory. You can even get some prey if you'd like, while we're out." Without waiting for a response, the tom swept by them, beginning to walk off into the territory. He managed to repress a mischievous smile- annoying as his position was, it had some advantages.

Dawnpaw was both relieved and annoyed when Pricklepaw appeared. Fine, she'd go with them both. It couldn't hurt anyway. She wasn't one for being bossed around by cats with fake power, though and made a point to tread a small distance behind Harefoot and Pricklepaw. They'd scare all the prey away with all their stomping around. Speaking of which, the skittering of small paws on ice caught her attention, and she wordlessly branched off to track it. She'd find them later. Or maybe not.

Dawnpaw slipped into her frequently-practiced crouch by pure muscle memory. She had to do something with herself while her mentor wasted his time with other cats. This would be a breeze. Her chosen prey, a squirrel, sat on an icy log with a blade of dead grass in its mouth, chewing furiously. She caught it and began making her way back to the toms to share her success.

Harefoot sighed internally. "Of course, Pricklepaw. I'd be happy to assist." He meowed, attempting to be positive about this. The movement would keep him warm at the very least. Maybe they'd find a good stock of herbs for the season, and then fewer cats would get sick. The young tomcat followed along aimlessly until he spotted a hare long before it had sensed them. A tricky catch, and not common in the forest. It must have traveled over from WindClan. It would take a lot of agility and luck. "I'm going for it..." He whispered to Pricklepaw, crouching instinctively. He approached quietly and sprang, missing slightly but managing to land one of his paws on its back. He nipped its neck quickly and then buried it under a tree. "I'm definitely coming back to that." Harefoot meowed, pleased with his success.

The member 'Sun' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4, 1

The forest was quiet and peaceful, just how he liked it. Pricklepaw paused walking as the cats accompanying him began hunting, smiling at their successes. More food for the Clan. Though he was older than both of them, they were good companionship. "Just leave those here," he told them, "and help me look for herbs a little while. Then you can hunt some more prey. I'll look for borage. Dawnpaw, you should try and find me some cobwebs, and Harefoot, I'm running low on blackberry leaves- the dark, spiky leaves on thorny branches." Without another word, he set off to find herbs.

The warrior glanced briefly at Dawnpaw as she returned with her squirrel. He was glad that she got her prey and that she bothered to return, but now was the challenging task of gathering herbs that he wasn't sure he'd seen before. He tried not to get sent to Pricklepaw's den as a general rule, no offense to the tom. He wasn't sure the description was good enough, but the medicine cat apprentice was already off on his own search, and after a quick exchange of puzzled looks with Dawnpaw, Harefoot set off to look for thorny brambles with dark, spiky leaves.

Finding the thorns wasn't very difficult. It was the leaves that proved to be more difficult; many underbrush plants had lost all greenery, leaving behind brown skeletons. Harefoot padded from bush to push, sometimes unsure of whether they were even blackberry bushes, prodding high and low for any sign of leaves. Along the way, he did his best to rub against trees and logs to leave a scent trail. It wasn't until he'd traveled a good distance before he found a few sparse leaves on a thorny bush, dark green in color and chewed by bugs before they'd died off in the cold. It was disappointing, but it was something. Harefoot carefully gathered the four or five leaves in his mouth, doing his best not to puncture them with his teeth. He followed his own trail back through the forest in search of Pricklepaw and Dawnpaw. Hopefully he'd found the right plant.

Meanwhile, the she-cat had gone her own direction in search of cobwebs. 'Pricklepaw's crazy if he thinks there are any spiders still alive in this weather. I'd have to run all the way to twolegplace to find any of those around this season.' She kept her stormy thoughts to herself, plodding through the snow with an absent glance here and there for good measure. The sun was finally peaking over the horizon, and she appreciated the warmth of its rays on her thick pelt. She raised her head to look up at the dawn's glowing pinks and oranges when a slight shine caught her eye. Dawnpaw blinked, wondering if she was going crazy, when she realized she'd been looking in the wrong place. A spider wouldn't put its nest on the ground to get covered in snow. Instead, she realized as she saw the fine silk flutter in the quiet morning breeze, they would stay in the trees. It was almost ethereal, the way it reflected the sun with frozen droplets still clinging to the tendrils.

Too bad Dawnpaw wasn't feeling particularly reverent. She scaled the tree, grateful for more exercise to keep her blood pumping in her veins, and reached to wrap up the cobwebs. 'Would be better higher up on my leg. That way I could still use my paw.' She spun her foreleg about, wrapping up the dense web around her ankle so she could use her paw to walk unhindered. After she had it all collected, she was sure she had enough for a few wound coverings and decided to return to the group. Dawnpaw made her way lower in the tree and sprang from the trunk, landing softly in the snow, and wandered her way back to the pair of toms.