Sharp Thorn Thingies [Closed]

There was a slight grimace from Flintshard as he forced his way through the thorn tunnel, wincing as it tugged at the sharp thorns that pieced his pelt from all different angles. He wasn't alone, with Frecklepaw curled on his back covered in quills of her own as he quickly turned and padded toward the medicine's cat den. "Mothglow?" he called out, poking his head into the den, doing his best to avoid the needles getting caught on anything as he glanced around. "I...Er...We require you assistant. We ran into...Something out in the territory and whatever it was left Frecklepaw and I with..." he paused, trying to grasp a word that would properly describe the things before he decided to simply fall back on how Frecklepaw had described them on the walk back. "...Weird, sharp thorn thingies in our pelt." With that, he took a moment to lower himself so that Frecklepaw could scramble from his back as he waited for the medicine cat to show her face and hopefully help remove the annoying sharp thorns.

OCC: Continuation of The Night is Yours Alone

As Flintshard and herself entered camp, Frecklepaw continued going over what had happened in her head, silently reviewing everything she could have done differently. The sharp tug of the thorns in her back and shoulder pulled her out from the realm of her thoughts, though, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Brushing against the entrance to camp was the absolute worse part of the journey, as the pain had almost subsided to a faint, aching throb where the thorns pierced her skin. Now, though, the pain was back full force and all she wanted was her mama... But she had to be strong, like a warrior... Like Thornstar! When Flintshard lowered himself so that she could hop off of him, she hesitated for a moment, considering asking him if she could just stay seated where she was, before taking a deep breath and slowly clambering from his side. It had been warm, nestled in the fur on his neck, but now she had to be a true warrior and be strong on her own. Looking around quietly, she tried her best not to move as the sightly pair waited for Mothglow to appear.

Mothglow took in the sight before her, blinking once. Then blinking twice. For a moment, she thought a porcupine had poked its head into her den, but then it spoke with Flintshard's voice. The description was familiar enough - she'd gotten in her fair share of scrapes during her warrior training, after all; and she'd learned a decent amount about the damage other creatures could inflict when she became a medicine cat. Porcupines and their spiny quills fell under the category of things she'd learned first-paw, and the memory of just how sharp the quills felt made her shiver even now. "Well, come on in," she told them. "Those quills aren't coming out on their own. And you can tell me all about how you got so many of them stuck in your pelt."

Flintshard simply nodded his head, pulling himself fully into the den as he silently moved to take up the patient nest...Which had become almost like a second-home to him with how long he had spent in Mothglow's care after his leg injury. "A...Creature covered in these 'quills' stumbled across the two of us when I was taking Frecklepaw hunting. It clearly saw us as a threat so I worked to chase it away. It smacked me with its body and tail a few times before it fled," he explained, curling his tail around the side of him that happened to be spared from the quills. He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, accompanied with a slight rattling noise as the quills shifted with the movement. "I removed one of them from me on my own but I suspected it would go easier in your...Care." Added the fact that there was no doubt he wouldn't be able to reach all of his himself and he wasn't about to make Frecklepaw do it - he suspected she could cry if she thought she was putting him in any pain even when he tends to mask it rather welll.

Looking up to the medicine cat with bright eyes, Frecklepaw immediately decided that she liked Mothglow. She seemed friendly, and that was exactly what Frecklepaw saw in a friend- hopefully, Mothglow would want to be her friend, too. "That was a foul creature, really... We hit him several times, but he just wouldn't go away, until Flintshard smacked him extra hard, and he went bowling into the ground and spun around in a circle. He ran away after that, he was super scared, I bet." With her last words, she immediately felt bad for it, since it probably only wanted to protect itself, anyway. But, alas, they did what had to be done. Curling up in the nest beside Flintshard, Frecklepaw waited for Mothglow to pull the thorn thingies from her pelt. "So... does it, um... Hurt, when you pull on them?" Her voice was tinged with the slightest bit of fear, but she tried to cover it up to the best of her ability as she waited for her turn.

Mothglow hummed in acknlowedgement as she sorted through her herbs. "I've fought them before. They're the worst, and when you don't know what you're up against the quills get everywhere," she commented. At the time, ShadowClan hadn't had a medicine cat, so most of the quills she'd pulled out on her own - the ones she couldn't reach, she'd had to get Silent Snows to help her with. Despite the pain at the time, she'd almost forgotten about it, but the sight of her newest patients brought back those memories.

"It's going to hurt to take them out," she admitted as Frecklepaw asked. She wouldn't lie to her patients, that wasn't fair to them or to herself. "But that's what these are for!" she added, nudging a small amount of poppy seeds toward each of them. "You'll have to stay in camp for a while, since they tend to make you sleepy. But it won't hurt as much after you eat them. So go ahead!"

Flintshard listened quietly as Frecklepaw regaled Mothglow with the events of the battle, turning his attention to the quills that poked from him, taking the time to actually study them. They were...Curious. Long and mostly white, but he could see they had a large band of two of black that broke them up. His ear twitched as Mothglow took up the conversation, explaining that she had seen the like of the creature before, before adding that it was going to be painful to remove. Flintshard was well aware, he had removed one on his own and opened his mouth to reject the poppy seeds when he paused.

...He knew he could deal with the pain, but found his eyes flickering over to Frecklepaw. She was a young apprentice, impressible no doubt. There was a chance that if he denied it, she would do the same in an effort to look strong but he had seen her on the verge of tears after one good smack from the creature. He sighed softly, shaking his head as he leaned down to lap up the poppy seeds before he settled even more into the nest. "I'm ready," he meowed, letting his eyes close as he waited for Mothglow to start removing the annoying quills.

Round, large eyes grew wider when Mothglow admitted that taking them out would indeed be painful. Hesitating slightly to take the poppy seeds, the little she-cat watched as Flintshard carefully took his share, and she immediately proceeded to do the same. She was half tempted to try and convince Mothglow that she could live with the thorns, really, but she watched Flintshard prepared for the medicine cat to remove each little quill. "What do we call the weird creature with the sharp thorn thingies?" She asked quietly, trying to take her mind off of the quills. "I vote in favor of the name... Spiky rat." It was the only thing she could think of that made sense, at the time.

"It has a name," Mothglow murmured, thinking. "Spine something?" As Frecklepaw continued, she laughed. "That seems like a fair enough name if you ask me."

That said, she started in on Flintshard first. She didn't linger as she pulled out the quills one by one. Once his were safely removed, she applied a bit of cobwebs to what looked like the worst spots; and then she turned to Frecklepaw. "You did well to chase that thing off, both of you, and I'm sorry its quills have decided to stick around," she informed them both. "Okay, Frecklepaw. Hold still, so they can't poke you again as I get them out."

Once more she swiftly removed the quills, one after the other, and carefully observed Frecklepaw's pelt. She gathered a poultice she'd prepared not long before they arrived - garlic and oak leaves, to prevent infections - and applied it to where the apprentice had been poked, before also placing some cobwebs in her fur. "That's to keep the areas the quills poked into from getting infected," she explained. "You're younger, and not as used to being injured," she explained, sparing a moment's glance at Flintshard as she spoke. "So I think it's best to be safe. If you feel strange at all, come back to me." With another perfectly innocent glance at Flintshard, she added, "Both of you."

The quills had gathered into a pile just far enough from her herbs that she wouldn't get them stuck in her own pelt, and she observed them momentarily. What to do with them? Well. It could wait until her patients were dealt with, at least. "Now go get some rest, okay? I'm sure you'll need it, in case you run into another spiky rat."

Flintshard let his eyes fall shut as Mothglow started to remove his thorns, listening to the two chatter with each other about the name of the beast that they had found. He didn't have anything to say - he didn't care what it was called. His eyes only flickered open once Mothglow had stepped away, taking a moment to admire the quill-free pelt he now had. Soon, Mothglow had finished her work and had stepped back, Flintshard taking the moment to push himself to his paws as he spared a glance toward his adopted sister - catching her glance as she stressed that they see her if they felt weird. "Of course," he replied with a curt nod, before he took a step toward the entrance of the den and glanced back at Frecklepaw. "I'll go inform Thornstar about the...Spiky rat's presence. Once the poppy seeds wear off and you are up for it, Frecklepaw, we can fetch the prey we left." He took another step to leave, before he paused for a moment and glanced back at Mothglow. "...Thank you, Mothglow," he said with a dip of his head before he shouldered his way out of the den and into the camp clearing. Perhaps if he was lucky, Thornstar wouldn't be busy and wouldn't mind him hiding in her den once he gave his report until he wasn't tired from the poppy seeds and could return to his duties...