the itsy bitsy spider [closed]

Mistleshine returned from what would be her last herb patrol until warmer moons arrived. Snow had begun drifting down and covering the earth in a blanket, leaving behind vast fields of white in their wake. To find any remaining herbs meant she'd have to dig through it. The snow wasn't the only thing dissuading her from searching during leaf-bare. It was the fact that she couldn't smell any animal dens that she might be digging into. The gray she-cat swore that she saw something green peaking out underneath some snow and began to dig. Unfortunately for her, she managed to dig herself right into a porcupine den. The porcupine wasn't too thrilled to be awakened by some rude cat with no manners and promptly used its main defense mechanism on her. Mistleshine high-tailed out of there immediately, empty-pawed with plenty of quills stuck to her muzzle to show what shenanigans she had gotten herself into.

The pain faded into a dull ache after a while, but she was sure they would start to hurt again the minute she attempted to pull them out. Besides, they were stuck to her face; pulling them out would be no easy, relatively painless task. So she swallowed her pride and padded into Riverclan camp, scowling at any cat that dared to even snicker at her predicament (after the first few cats though, she allowed herself to relax and smile). She strode into the medicine cat den, where she had left her apprentice, Spiderpaw, to sort through herbs and memorize them. "Hey there, Spiderpaw. How's the herb sorting going?" she mewed a greeting to her apprentice as she settled down into one of the nests, "you can stop that for now, though. Time to get some real healing practice in. Go ahead and take a look, but I swear to Starclan, if you laugh, you'll be fetching water for the entire clan for a moon."

Ooc: apologies for my lateness!
Ic: It was cold inside the medicine den, but Spiderpaw could swear that it had just gotten a little colder when Mistleshine walked in. Looking up to greet his mentor, he opened his mouth only to close it again, unsure of what to say. The medicine cat seemed fine, there was no visible blood and she was acting normal. However, her body and face were littered with long black and white quills that stuck out at odd angles. She gave off a clear 'Don't you dare' message with her tone, but he was young after all and couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle that he hastily disguised as a coughing fit. "Sorry, I have a, uh, terrible cough. Leafbare, y'know?" He smiled awkwardly, not at all convincing. "Uh, anyway, thank you for letting me help! Where do I start?"

ooc; you're fine! <3
ic;

Mistleshine caught her apprentice's chuckle which he hastily disguised as a coughing fit once he took one look at her stern gaze. Although she didn't fall for his trick, her eyes shone with amusement. She couldn't blame him for laughing; when she was his age, she would've done a similar thing as well. She cleared her throat and shifted a bit in her nest, clearly nervous for the pain that was to come. "As you can see very clearly," she meowed, gesturing to her face, "I got myself in a bit of a...predicament. Your job is to remove the various quills protruding from my face, wrapping them in some moss, and burying them. Be careful not to break any off or leave any in, since porcupine quills can migrate and lead to immunity failure which will cause eventual death. Unless, of course, you want to be out of a mentor." She paused for a moment, receiving flashbacks to the various mentor her poor younger self had to burn through. Blinking away the memories, Mistleshine continued explaining what Spiderpaw would have to do. "After all the quills are removed, you're gonna need to ground some cob nuts into an ointment and rub them over the affected areas. Do you remember why cob nuts are used like that, and what they look like?" If the sorting and memorizing was going according to plan, Spiderpaw would hopefully know the answers to those questions. Still, he was young and had just received his name, so the gray she-cat wouldn't blame him for being confused.

Spiderpaw nodded wordlessly, afraid that if he opened his mouth he wouldn’t be able to stop the laughter bubbling in his chest. Mistleshine just looked so weird with quills sticking out of her face, and Spiderpaw didn’t often get to laugh at such things given his own strangeness. The grin was quickly wiped from his face, however, when his mentor explained the risks of keeping the quills in. He didn’t quite know what immunity failure was, but death was a very familiar and jarring word. Mudfrost and Treepaw were testaments to that. All the more reason to get this right. He grabbed moss from the opposite end of the den, then approached Mistleshine’s nest and placed it at her side. The little apprentice scrunched up his nose in concentration at her question, turning to where he had been sorting herbs just earlier and looking at the herbs one by one. Horsetail, chervil, poppy seeds, dock... then a pawful of shiny brown objects caught his eye. ”Aha!” he meowed, ”I found them! They’re used... they’re used make cuts and stuff hurt less? I think?” Grabbing a few of the cob nuts, he padded over to Mistleshine and set them down. Now prepared, he gently placed his paws on the base of one of the quills and got ready to pull. Trying to think of something to make his first healing easier for the medicine cat, he thought about what he had seen her do for other cats before. ”Ah! Hang on,” he went back to take some poppy seeds into his paws and returned hastily, ”here, have these, they’ll—well, you know.” He replaced his paws on the quill, looked to Mistleshine and waited for her confirmation for him to begin.

Spiderpaw could tell Mistleshine was only humouring him in taking the poppy seeds, but he appreciated it nonetheless. He didn't want his first ever experience with healing to be painful for his mentor, after all.

Having received Mistleshine's nod of approval and braces himself. He pressed his paws harder into the quill so they wouldn't slip and began to pull. The quill thankfully wasn't very deeply embedded in her skin, so it was pretty easy to remove. His breathing quickened as he saw blood collecting at the little wound the quill had made, but he swallowed his queasiness and continued. Every small movement from Mistleshine made his breath catch in his throat, scared he'd hurt her. One by one, the thin pelted apprentice removed the sharp spikes and placed them on the pieces of moss he'd prepared. After what seemed like an age to Spiderpaw, the final quill was out. He sighed in relief, glad he didn't mess up. He rolled the quills up in the moss and placed them aside, now focusing on the cob nuts. He needed to grind them up. But... How? "Mistleshine? How do I use the nuts?" He blinked at her nervously.

Mistleshine did her best to remain quiet and not squirm, as to not startle her apprentice into thinking he was doing more harm than good. She knew how it felt; during her first healing, she grimaced and felt immediate guilt every time the warrior made a gesture of pain or discomfort. Still, the gray and white she-cat couldn't suppress the grunts she made when the particularly stuck quills were forced out. Still, she encouraged her apprentice, stating that he was doing great even if it did hurt a little bit. Eventually, the worse was over with, and all the quills were removed. "Well done, Spiderpaw. I'm very proud of you," she hummed, smiling broadly. "The nuts? Ah, yes. You see that rock over there? Grind the nuts against that," she gestured with her tail, pointing in the general direction of the stone.

Spiderpaw smiled a little at Mistleshine's praise, glowing with pride and gratitude. He was really glad to have her as a mentor, he felt happy under her guidance. Taking her instructions, he took the cob nuts and began to rub them again the rock. It was a bit of a slow process, but he discovered that by peeling them with his claws first they were a lot easier to grind. Three ground nuts later, he had a small pile of light brown mush on the piece of moss he'd laid out to place it on. They had a pleasant smell, earthy like the inside of a den. He approached the medicine cat once again, dipping his paws in the thick ointment and getting to work on spreading it over the wounds. He was a lot more confident about this bit, since it didn't really require much medical prowess.

Once he was finished, he stepped back to make sure he hadn't missed a spot. "Okay, I think I'm finished! Though, I probably wouldn't recommend going outside for a bit. You know, brown mush on your face and all." This uncharacteristically snide comment slipped out of his mouth before he could think about it. His eyes widened as he hastily tried to make up for it. "I-I mean, you should probably rest here for a while! L-let the medicine work, y'kn-know. Not that you have to, of course! You, uh, know better than me. Do whatever you want, I'llgoburythisandmyselfnowbye-" He grabbed a moss-covered quill and prepared to leave the den.

Soon, the worst of it was over. Mistleshine didn't bother to examine her apprentice's work for two reasons: one, she was sure he did a great job, and two, regardless of whether or not he did good, she did have brown mush all over her face. As her apprentice hurried out of the den, the gray she-cat settled down for a nap, careful not to get any of Spiderpaw's hard work on other parts of her body. "By the way, Spiderpaw," she meowed, her green eyes focusing on his retreating figure, "I'm not sure if you knew but, for most of my apprenticeship, I didn't have a mentor. All of them tragically passed away..one after another." She gulped, eyes hazing over with grief. She hadn't addressed Fallowlight's, Jaystar's, or Pricklebush's deaths out loud since...well, since forever. Their deaths all felt like distance memories for her, except for Pricklebush's; the scar from the badger bite and the limp on her leg was a constant reminder of the sacrifice he made for her. 

She shook her head gently to banish that awful day from her mind, and continued, "I have no idea when Starclan will take me, but I want to be here for you. I want to give you what I didn't get to have for so many moons: companionship. Up until my final breath, dear Spider, I will make sure you will be the best healer Riverclan's ever seen. And your progress today shows that you're on the right path. I'm so proud of you." A purr rumbled from her chest as she said the final words, her eyes shimmering with pride and happiness. She rested her head on her paws and let her eyelids slip shut as the poppy seeds began to take full effect. "I'm quite tired, though, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap."

Spiderpaw stopped in his tracks, gently setting down the quill. He listened intently as she recounted her past, little tendrils of second-hand sadness wrapping themselves around his heart. He couldn't think of anything to say to what she had told him, so instead he simply listened.

His heart skipped a beat at her next words. He was doing a good job! Not only that, she promised to help him become the greatest medicine cat RiverClan had ever had! He felt inexplicably proud, ecstatic, sad and confident at the same time. The memory of Dewshine's first contact with him surfaced in his mind, remembering her telling him to help Mistleshine. That was his calling, and he'd make sure his mentor and friend would never leave his side. He was a medicine cat to-be, after all!

As Mistleshine drifted off to sleep, her little apprentice pressed his nose to her shoulder. "Sleep well, Mistleshine. I'll be back s-soon." His breath hitched at that last part, little tears of gratitude glistening in his amber eyes. He picked up the quill again and left the den, a warm feeling inside him repelling the frosty leaf-bare air.