Zyoom Noom Kazoom [closed]

Smallbean had risen early that morning, deciding to dedicate a good portion of the day to herb gathering. He and Softbreeze had been replenishing the herb stores from the moment winter began to creep from the moors, but it couldn't hurt to get more. Traveling the moors, he walked down a narrow path, knowing exactly where to go. He smelled the area before he saw it, the aroma of flowers drifting through the air. It didn't take long for him to find the flower field, gazing upon the many pretty colors of the flowers. Not only did he like coming here because he thought the flowers were pretty, but because some of the flowers here were useful for healing.

Breaking into a dash, he ran through the flowers, admiring the lilac, daisies, heather, dandelions, and some other flowers he didn't even know the names of. He slowed to a stop around the edge of the field so he could get a better look at specific flowers to see if he needed to collect any. He soon spotted a clump of daisies and began to strip them of their leaves, laying each one down into a delicate pile. He didn't recall seeing many of them in the stores, so it would be a good idea to stock up. He began busying himself, sorting through more flowers, laying each leaf or stem into it's own neat pile.

Despite every instinct Hyacinth felt, every little voice in her head telling her to turn around and face the marshes, she ran as quickly as she could away from it at every opportunity she had. The calling she felt to return to them was something she dismissed as grief- a longing for what was familiar, and what she knew. It was something she'd decided she had to oppose and to fight with every scrap of energy she could muster. So, in spite of the marshes calling her name, she darted through the outskirts of the forest and eventually found herself racing through and in between trees, running as fast as her body would let her. She didn't know why, but she couldn't force herself to stop.

At first, it was fun, but now she felt an extreme urge to come to a complete halt, but no matter what she told her legs to do, they kept on running. A sense of panic had overcome her, not unlike the feeling she'd felt in the marsh not long ago. It was almost like her brain had been cut off from her legs; from the rest of her body. She had no control over what they did or where they led her, and it only took a few moments for the sheer panic of that to take her over. Her breathing fastened from its already racing pace from the running, and her heart rate shot up as she continued to run, her paws hitting the ground and coming right back up a split second later. Soon she found herself surrounded by flowers, their colors all blurring together as she quickly darted from one side of the extensive field to the other. She was now running with her eyes shut, not caring where her paws took her. In truth, she almost hoped she'd hit a wall, or a fence, or something that would put this to a stop.

Seconds later, she crashed into something small, a shape just barely larger than herself. Because of her momentum, she tumbled over the form and crashed into the ground, rolling over before skidding to a halt. For a few moments, she simply lay there, chest heaving up and down because of the effort her lungs had to take to supply her with oxygen. Once she was able to think clearly, she slowly brought herself to her paws and turned to face... a cat. "Oh!" She gasped in shock, tail sticking straight up in the air. "Sorry, I just... I couldn't stop running. Something was wrong. You... You look like a healer. You smell like herbs. Help me?" She mewed desperately, green eyes fixed on the tom before her.

Smallbean continued to gather the flowers, feeling more satisfied as the piles grew. He thought all was going well, when suddenly he heard the thumping of paws from behind him. They grew louder with every passing heartbeat. Turning around, all he managed to say was a mere, "What the-" before being bowled over, his breath being knocked from his lungs. He lay there for a brief moment before raising his head to see what- or who- had barreled into him. His eyes rested upon a tortoiseshell she-cat who didn't smell like she belonged to any of the clans. He opened his mouth to ask who she was and what she wanted, only  for the other cat to speak first. "No, no, it's alright." He accepted her apology with a nervous smile. He didn't feel particularly comfortable around the rogue, but she seemed unthreatening. It wasn't as if he was going to refuse helping her though.

"I actually am a healer, although the smell of herbs may just be from the flower field." He explained with a small laugh, gesturing to the field with his tail. "I'm what's called a medicine cat, i come from the clans. I'll help you the best i can. " He turned around to check his herb piles, only to find that they had been crushed from when the she-cat had collided with him. Letting out a small sigh, he turned back toward her. "I'll need to collect some herbs before i can help you. You have... an excess of energy? Is that right?" He said, the confusion obvious in his mew. He had never heard of something like this before. Of course some warriors and apprentices had more energy at times, but it never got to this level. Standing up and walking through the flowers, he scanned over their many colors for the crimson one he was looking for. "Aha!" He yanked the poppy flower from it's stem when he found it, padding back over to where the she-cat was. After setting the flower down, he introduced himself. "By the way, i'm Smallbean." His words were curt as he began to focus on removing seeds from the flower, setting a them on a leaf nearby. Once he had collected a fair amount, he picked a few out and set them on a different leaf, pushing it toward the she-cat. "These are poppy seeds. From what it sounds like, you need something to calm you down. Eat these."

Hyacinth nodded intently as he mewed an acceptance to her rushed apology. "Oh, that makes sense! That's probably why you're out here, I would assume. To... To get the flowers, right?" The calico mewed quickly, still panting from her sprint. "Thank you!" She blurted out, still feeling that itch in her paws to run. It took every ounce of strength that she had no to burst away from where they stood right then and there, to leave the small tom in the dust she kicked up in the process. But... He was going to help her. So, instead, she pranced around nervously, shifting her weight from one side of her body to the other rapidly.

When he looked down to his now decimated pile of herbs, she panicked for a moment. "I'm such a toad-brain, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to crush your pretty flowers. I-I mean herbs!" Glancing down at her paws for a moment, she nodded intensely at his inquiry. "Uhh... Yes. That sounds right. So much that I just wanna go. I wanna run and run and run and never stop." Hyacinth hardly realized that she didn't just want to run physically, she wanted to run emotionally. She wanted to escape all the sorrows and tragedies that had now become her reality.

Watching from her spot at the edge of the flower field, Hyacinth bounced from paw to paw eagerly as she watched him gather herbs. The urge to move was growing stronger by the second, and she had to spin in circles just to stop herself from darting away. If she did that, she wasn't sure she'd be able to force herself back. "Smallbean... That's a nice name. I'm..." She drifted off, remembering all the times she'd heard her mother address her by her former name. She was not for theatricals in the same way that Galloway was- she wasn't about to rattle off all of her titles, for certain- but was she supposed to go by the name her mother had given her? Even after she was gone, after she put her siblings in danger...? Shaking her head, she continued, "My name is Hyacinthia. But... You can call me Hyacinth. It rolls off the tongue better,"

She looked down at the small black seeds that the tom had offered her on a small leaf, feeling a bit of apprehension for the first time. This cat was a stranger, and she'd just wrecked his entire pile of herbs, effectively ruining his outing, most likely. Should she trust him? With a bit of hesitancy, she leaned her head down and lapped up the seeds, turning to face Smallbean once she finished them off. "Um... Thank you. How long does it take for them to work?"

"Well, nice to meet you, Hyacinth." Smallbean replied, whiskers quivering in amusement when he saw that the she-cat was walking in circles. He watched as she turned to eat the poppy seeds, reaching forward and taking the leaf from her after she had finished. "Their effect shouldn't take too long to set in. Poppy seeds will make you drowsy, so it should take away your... energy." he explained, turning back to his ruined herb piles. It felt so odd, treating a cat for something that wasn't an illness or a wound. Then again, it wasn't often that he saw a cat have as much energy as she had. It was baffling to him.

Wrapping his tail around his paws, he began to re-sort the piles, pulling the leaf of poppy seeds toward him. "So," he began, "What brings you to Windclan territory? I'm sure this random burst of energy has something to do with it, but beforehand you must have been nearby, right? I'm glad it was me you ran into though, if it was any other cat you might not have had a very good time." It couldn't hurt to just talk to Hyacinth, she was a patient now, after all. He set all of the ruined herbs into their own pile, taking time to sort the ones that were still salvageable. Moving his gaze back toward her, he got an idea. "If you'd like, i could teach you a bit about herbs so that you know what to do next time something like this happens." he offered with a flick of his ear. "Herbs aren't for everyone though, so i'd understand if it's not something that interests you." He shrugged, switching his attention back to the herb piles.

Hyacinth nodded intently as he mentioned the poppy seeds making her drowsy, not taking too long to kick in... That would be a relief. She resorted to tapping her paws on the ground and swishing her tail, trying her best not to be an annoyance to the tom who'd just helped her, supposedly. That would be determined for certain once the poppy seeds kicked in.

"... Oh..." She mewed slowly in response to his question, frantically trying to come up with a story. "W-Well, I was just... Wandering. Loner life and all that, I... I don't really have any place to call home, so, um... Yeah." It wasn't a lie, at least. Perhaps not a full truth, but Hyacinth wasn't able to own up to what had happened herself, much less to a stranger she'd just met. Continuing to shuffle her paws restlessly, she watched as Smallbean sorted herbs delicately and with a gentle paw. When she wasn't shaking with so much excess energy, her paws were rather delicate and she could use them swiftly and dexterously. When the tom spoke up again, she lifted her gaze and stared at him quietly, wanting to say that 'herbs were for Standards to learn about!' but refraining. Biting her lip, she nodded along. "I would like to know about herbs," She mewed, becoming still without realizing it. The poppy seeds were just beginning to kick in, but it seemed perhaps she was paralyzed by the past as well.

The small tom raised an eyebrow [do cats have those?] at the answer Hyacinth gave, sensing that there was something wrong by her change in composure. He knew all too well what the stuttering and pauses in her speech meant, he himself had spoken like that many times throughout his life, rushing to come up with an answer, whether it was the truth or a lie. Either way, it wasn't his business, he would go on with the conversation as if he hadn't noticed. "Oh.. Doesn't that get lonely?" He questioned, mismatched eyes flicking up to meet the she-cat's pale green gaze. Those eyes immediately widened. "Oh- I'm sorry if that was personal." He said quickly, hoping that he didn't hurt her feelings. He had known loneliness for much of his kithood, the only cat he felt he could confide in being his mother.

The tone of the conversation switching, he perked his ears when he realized that Hyacinth had accepted his offer. "Delightful! Now..." It was a subtle change in his peripheral, but he noticed when Hyacinth's shaking ceased, turning his head away to hide a small smile. He beckoned her to his side with a flick of his tail as he hovered over what was left of the herb piles. "You already know about poppy seeds. They grow inside of the poppy flower, they ease pain and cause you to get drowsy." He explained, voice steady and clear. It was nice to talk to another cat about something he was confident in, dare he say a hobby. Eyes scanning over the flower field he soon caught the glimpse of a blue star-shaped flower. "See those over there?" His voice was a whisper, although he didn't quite know why. "Those are clumps of borage. It's not the flowers that are important, though. The healing properties reside within the leaves. What you'll want to do is rip the leaves from the stem and eat them. They're most commonly used to treat fevers, but they're also used to help queens produce milk." He paused for a moment, allowing Hyacinth to take in the information. The first time Softbreeze had tried explaining stuff like this too him, he had quickly gotten overwhelmed, struggling to remember which herbs did what and what each of them looked like. Maybe Hyacinth would be able to remember this information better than he had since he had only explained two herbs so far.