Don't underestimate yourself! (open)

Subject: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 9:50

He broke through the nursery to peek his head around; he did not see anyone that would outright notice him right away if he decided to sneak away real quick to climb something. Granted, he'd be in big trouble if his father caught him coming through the camp entrance or his mother happening to wake up and notice him gone. He didn't know if he had the courage to leave camp by himself as although he was larger than most kits his age...he was still small enough for something to swoop down and snag him and he was in no mood to die anytime today and become a snack for a bird of prey or large animal to swallow him whole; his mother would surely be upset. Golden amber eyes settled themselves on a bunch of large rocks that were his favorite to climb and decided if anything he'd just go sit there and hide among the rocks to observe the other cats again. No one else should be awake at this hour and he knew he should be in his warm nest besides his siblings and mother but he could not find it in himself to fall back asleep; so he left the nursery and slipped his way around the camp being as silent as his large paws could take him as to not alert the warriors guarding camp that he was awake when he shouldn't be.

Boulderkit managed to make it to the first rock and breathed a sight of relief as he snuck his way back around it and peeked out as if he was trying to hide that he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. He wasn't doing anything wrong right? He was not just not tired and couldn't just lay in his nest all day until everyone else decided to wake up. It was time for him to be awake when he felt like it and he felt like it right now. He wasn't disturbing anyone either as he had not gone to seek out anyone that maybe willing to play with him. Hence, why he came out here to his favorite pile of rocks.

He cringed when his claws scratched the rock as he tried to climb it. His limbs were not fully awake and it took him a try or two to be able to get in top of said rock. He crouched and looked warily over at the entrance of camp and than at the nursery entrance hoping that his mother did not have one of those moments that she knew he was out doing something without her. Mothers always seemed to have that kind of sense in them that irritated the young tomcat.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and made him look like a baby owl as he scrunched up as if the light breeze blowing was making him cold when he heard the sound of something coming towards him. Paw steps this early in the morning did not mean anything good and he knew he was going to get in trouble again. He gulped and tried to keep his expression as blank as possible despite his big amber eyes giving him away at the fact he knew he had been caught being out before everyone else again; good starclan knew his mother would burn his ears off with her rants and lectures if his actions ever got back to her.

Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 10:49

While most cats spent a cold leaf-bare morning trying to stay cozy in their nests with denmates, a certain pale she-cat spent her mornings herb gathering. The gathering had taken its toll on Aspenheart, and the apprentice was greatly worried about him. Before dawn, the she-cat had eased out of her nest and studied their herb stocks. Borage was needed badly, there were several kits in the nursery. She cringed at the pitifully small marigold store; frost had withered most of their supplies. Softpaw had discovered wrapping them in ivy leaves helped preserve them longer, as the frost had to ebb away the ivy leaf first. She'd need to gather more of those, too. While she wanted to, she knew it was too dangerous to go gather catmint from twoleg gardens on her own.

Sighing, she'd padded out of the den and out the camp entrance, nodding to the newly name Crowspirit, having finished vigil. It was still before the time the dawn patrol would be getting up when she padded in, a horribly small amount of borage and horsetail in her jaws. She was padding past the rock pile when a gray pelt stuck out against the sky. Blue eyes met dark amber ones as she stood, wide eyes at the kit on top of the pile of rocks. Slowly, she set her herb bundle down. "Boulderkit? Is.. Is that you?" She mewed, quietly but loud enough for him to hear. Downpaw, her dear brother, had always been getting into trouble as a kit, and she pitied this little one, as he reminded her of her brother, always restless being confined to the nursery. This kit was lucky she'd found him first.

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Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Untitl21

Storm(paw), ThunderClan Runaway l Sneezingpaw, RiverClan l Downtuft, WindClan l Whisperingkit, WindClan

Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 11:40

Boulderkit gave a small sigh of relief when his eyes met those of the medicine cat's. It wasn't his mother after all or another warrior that would tattle on him. He'd gotten lucky with this one. He straightened up a little at the sound of her voice and gave her a sheepish look. Softpaw was not one to tattle on anyone and he knew that his little adventure would not be discovered. He cleared his throat and composed his expression on his face. The she-cat in front of him was older then him by a good few moons but Boulderkit liked her because unlike the other apprentices and warriors who belittled him because of his no filtered mouth and almost bratty responses Softpaw was always nice to him. She always seemed like a shy and quiet sort of cat to the young tom and he secretly had a soft spot for cats like that. Not because he could bully them; he was not raised to bully even when his comments made it off to be like that.

"Hey Softpaw. Y-yeah," he cleared his throat and gave a small smile hoping to seem a bit more friendlier than his usual grumpy self. "What are you doing out here so early?" he asked and inwardly cringed at the question; funny how he should have been asked that question.

His gaze landed on the small meager pile of herbs by her feet and inwardly wanted to smack himself in the face for the question. Why else would she be out this early in the morning while everyone else was asleep? He guessed not even medicine cats got much sleep on most days. He didn't often go visit her for anything but he'd see her around and she always seemed a bit tired to him if he had any sort of guess. But he was a tom, who knew what was going on in her life or brain as a she-cat.

@stormy

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Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 12:17

Softpaw had always found it easiest to talk with queens and kits, and such meant she was much more ease here with the gray kit. Her light cream paws still damp from the fresh morning snow, she shifted her weight on her paws. When he'd asked about what she was doing, she panicked. How could she be so stupid, leaving herbs on the snowy ground? She picked them up delicately and brushed some snow of a rock before she placed them down again. "Oh.. I was just gathering h-herbs.. Aspenheart has trouble with that, his paws aren't steady.." She explained gently, nodding her head to the medicine den when she mentioned her mentor. Aspenheart's head injuries had rendered him unsteady, gait wobbly at best. Due to this, herb gathering and leaf wraps were Softpaw's main job, which she did happily, doing more than what was expected. It was true she didn't need to go out every morning before dawn; but she wanted to be helpful to her mentor.

A thought rang through her head. "Why are you out here Boulderkit...? Isn't it a bit too.. I don't know, cold?" She inquired, looking up at the kit. Knowing kits, Softpw assumed he'd snuck out of the nursery before Shallowbreeze had woken up. Glancing towards the nursery, everything appeared silent, so Softpaw assumed Shallowbreezze hadn't realized he was gone yet. Her dark ginger ears flicked back up to Boulderkit, and she sat down with her tail over her paws. She had time before Aspenheart woke up; he liked to sleep in.

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Storm(paw), ThunderClan Runaway l Sneezingpaw, RiverClan l Downtuft, WindClan l Whisperingkit, WindClan

Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 12:44

Boulderkit's amber gaze studied the ginger molly and shifted on his larger than age appropriate paws. Despite both of them finding it seemingly easier to talk to each other due to rank and situations; they were not very good at socializing very well at all and that almost brought a smile to his maw, well it did in his head anyways even though his head turned to follow her gaze as it turned towards the nursery as she stammered out her replies. Of course, she had to ask the same question. He was hoping that he'd be able to avert her attention to something other than him being out here but he guessed he set himself a trap by asking her that loaded but rather open question.

"Oh! He's not doing too good huh? You're his apprentice though so that means you can heal him right?" Boulderkit commented tilting his head trying to dodge the question of why he's out in this cold by completely ignoring it.

He honestly didn't want to tell her he was restless and didn't want to be in his nursery by his mother's side even if it was rather cold outside. He didn't even notice that his body was shivering slightly; him having fluffed his fur up earlier had given the chilly wind the opportunity to sneak under his warm thick coat. He looked back at the ginger molly and gave her a small hopeful if not a bit uncomfortable look as he spoke up.

"Want some help that those?" he offered tipping his head towards the herbs. He didn't know why he offered because there wasn't really much he could do without leaving camp besides carrying the herbs to her den across camp but he rather be anywhere but near his family right now.

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Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 13:09

That means you can heal him right?
That question caused a small frown to appear on the molly's muzzle. "N-no.. No, I can't.. He has something that is i-incurable... Aspenheart.. He just has to there to live with it, and he has!" Her voice came out more defensive than she meant for it to, and she instantly felt bad. Boulderkit knew no better; she didn't either, until he told her. The apprentice desperately wanted to heal her mentor, but that was out of her paws.

Asking if he wanted to help her, Softpaw nodded in relief. The last few nights she'd been restless, unable to sleep at night and leaving to gather herbs before dawn. To the untrained eye, she appeared fine. To those close to her, it was painfully obvious something was off. Her coat seemed less shiny, and her eyes more sad looking than normal. She'd avoided Barleytuft and Graybriar, her parents, as much as she could, so they wouldn't worry about her. She was grateful for the offer; nobody had yet to offer her help or ask how she was since the gathering, aside from Downpaw, so she greatly appreciated this. So grateful for his help, she didn't even realize he'd never answered her question.

"Oh, would you? Thank you, Boulderkit, that would be very helpful." She mewed to the little tom. Then she had an idea. Kits were allowed to leave camp if an older cat was with them, right? Besides, this was an important task, surely nobody would get mad at Boulderkit for helping a medicine cat? "Hey.. Boulderkit, how would you like to, uh, go herb hunting with me? You could be my little helper!" Her blue eyes shone at the prospect, and she appeared happier than she had in days.

Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 13:27

He couldn't help that twitch of his lips at her sharp tone when he made that comment. He wasn't frightened or felt scolded in the least; he didn't like being talked to like that though all the same. He saw the look in her eyes and softened slightly; she didn't mean to snap at him like that such as much as he didn't mean to get defensive either. The thought of having something that couldn't be cured seemed unthinkable to the young tom; since when is something not able to be cured by a medicine cat? What did the older tom have that Softpaw couldn't help him heal? Boulderkit put that to the back of his mind to think about before if not investigate himself; if he was to become a good warrior of Windclan someday he needs to use his brain a bit more, at least that's what his father always told him.

His thoughts and wondering about the other medicine cat got derailed when Softpaw's tone changed and her words finally registered in his ears. He blinked at her a moment to make sure he heard her correctly before looking over at the nursery; if his mother found out he would never hear the end of it...but he was going to be helping a medicine cat so that meant some kind of privilege right? That made it okay. He turned his attention back to her and gave her an actual smile; he never smiled all that much being a rather grumpy looking kitten 90% of the time anyways. He scrambled his way down the pile of rocks he was on and nodded eagerly. Anything to get away from the camp and explore. He took the herbs from the older clan mate and pranced in placed with his tail wagging in the air slightly in excitement.

"Of course! Lets go put this away first and go quickly before someone wakes up and finds out!" he said from around the weird tasting herbs in his mouth.

He never picked herbs before so he didn't know how to do that but if it tasted anything like this a part of him may regret it later but maybe Softpaw will have something to give him to get the taste out of his mouth. Not that it was horrid or anything but he was not used to the earthy and odd taste mixed together by the different plants he held in his small mouth.

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Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 14:08

Softpaw brightened at the prospect of an adventure, she hadn't done anything fun and exciting in a while, and this was the best kind of fun. It was a productive fun, which made it okay. Right? Right. She brightened even more at the tom kit's smile, and nodded. "Be quiet; Aspenheart is sleeping." She told him before picking up some of the borage and some horsetail. She led the gray cat into the medicine den, breathing in the scent of the den she treasured. The scents in the medicine had never bothered her, even as a kit. Softpaw gently placed the herbs down and sorted them neatly into their respective places. Afterwards, she turned to Boulderkit and collected his herb bundles and put them away.

Leading the kit out of the den, she slowly padded to the camp entrance. Thankfully, Crowspirit was gone. Softpaw had heard him tell Spotlake to meet him in the flower fields before sunrise. Padding out of the camp, she turned her head to look at Boulderkit. "This is your first time out of camp, right?" Walking ahead, she paused about four tail-lengths from the camp entrance.

"Okay, Boulderkit, we're looking for marigold, chervil, lavender, juniper, and coltsfoot. Chervil have large leafy fern-like leaves and white flowers. Coltsfoot have yellow or white flowers and are found in wet areas. Juniper berries are the purple-blue berries from the juniper bush. Lavender is a really pretty purple flowering plant. Marigold grows near water, close to the ground and they are bright golden yellow flowers. If you find any red berries, don't touch them!"

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Storm(paw), ThunderClan Runaway l Sneezingpaw, RiverClan l Downtuft, WindClan l Whisperingkit, WindClan

Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 16:14

"Uh - hey, Softpaw, aren't you forgetting something? Something important?"

Clovertwist's voice called out with a faint tone of panic from the entrance of camp, where the young silver tabby warrior had quickly emerged, his pale amber eyes set on the shape of a pale tabby and a small, fluff-coated gray kit beside her. He was wasting no time in exiting the camp and crossing the few tail-lengths between them. "I know Barleytuft had the talk when Downpaw was still a kit, so I'm certain that you must have heard it, too. You know kits aren't supposed to leave camp without a warrior - no, not an older cat like I'm sure you're thinking," he interrupted himself, giving the pale medicine cat a knowing glance, "a warrior. Predators don't care that you're a medicine cat, Softpaw. Even Aspenheart doesn't usually go by himself - protecting him on a patrol is how I ended up with my scars, you know."

There was no reproach or anger in his voice as the warrior looked at his younger sister. His eyes were full of a quickly subsiding concern as he glanced at Boulderkit, fresh from the nursery, then back to his medicine cat sister. "As a matter of fact, Aspenheart talked to me last night, Softpaw," Clovertwist explained. "He said he was feeling a bit under the weather but thought you could still use some company who knows the moors and the basic herbs. He didn't want you out by yourself, so he asked he to come with you when you went out for herbs this morning. I don't think he meant for you to take a kit as company." He gave Softpaw a teasing grin.

His ear flicked then, and he looked back at Boulderkit. "I don't want your parents stealing mine and my sister's pelt just 'cause you wanted an adventure, okay?" he teased. A little more sincerely, he stated, "You have to promise you'll be on your best behavior. No getting hurt so your parents have a reason to hurt me. I only accept scars from dogs."

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Don't underestimate yourself! (open) VWfKplK

Clovertwist the Loner
WindClan ex-Warrior
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Barleytuft of StarClan
WindClan Warrior
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Marmalade the Kittypet
ex-SkyClan Medicine Cat
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Dacedream of StarClan
ThunderClan Warrior
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Summer the Loner
gay drifter
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(Not Pictured: Frogmarsh of ShadowClan; Lightstep of RiverClan; Mottledspark of RiverClan)

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Subject: Re: Don't underestimate yourself! (open) Sat 18 Jan 2020 - 19:52

Boulderkit was more than excited to be going out of the nursery as long as it was away from everyone else that liked to bother him; mainly his siblings and overly fussy mother. So he was more than happy to follow the younger molly into the odd smelling den to place the weird tasting herbs down and let her take care of them; absently making a face at the taste and gave his paw a few good licks to groom himself and get rid of the taste on his tongue. His ears perked up when he heard her speak and turned his amber eyes to look at her and blinked around the den as he listened; he did not come here at all so this was his first time. It looked as he imagined it to be and smelled to match but one look at Softpaw's expression made him keep his tongue for the moment. At the mention of her mentor his eyes scanned the large but homey room to find the one and only Aspenheart lying asleep. He'd seen him around a decent bit but never talked to him; never had a reason to anyways.

He turned quickly and followed Softpaw outside again into the chill and nodded eagerly at her question. No hiding his excitement at this point even if he wasn't one to show much emotion to begin with but anything to prove himself and find out more than just in camp clearing would make a kit change his mind. "Yeah, it's my first time!" he agreed wondering all about what's outside the camp entrance.

Half the stuff she rambled on about went straight over his head and he looked at her blankly as they moved towards the entrance. He was no meddie so he had no clue what the heck she was actually talking about. All he knew was that they were looking for plants; face palm at that mentally. He felt himself freeze when he heard an unexpected voice pipe into their conversation and he whipped his head around to look up at the warrior in front of them that just appeared from the entrance the stood at. He gulped; he was in trouble wasn't he? His amber eyes looked between the siblings wondering if the newcomer was going to tell Shallowbreeze that her kit was going out of camp. Ears slightly falling back at the light scolding that honestly was not unexpected Boulderkit expected to be sent back to his nest by Clovertwist but instead looked up surprised at the fact the tom did not seem to care that Boulderkit was going out as long as the warrior came with them. Or at least that's what the tom kit gathered from it.

"I just wanted to get away from mama." he gave him a sheepish smile. "Camp is boring and I'm big enough already...." he trailed off looking back over his shoulder to his nursery where he knew trouble would brew later on. "I don't want to go back to mama...so I'll be on my best behavior." he agreed quickly.

Honestly, he was glad he was still being allowed out but he was worried that Clovertwist and Softpaw would get themselves into trouble with his parents or the other warriors if anyone found out that they had taken Boulderkit out. "You won't know that i'm even there!" he finally agreed giving the older tom a look and a faint smile.

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