Overreacting [c]

"ROOKFIREEEEEEEEEEEEE"

The piercing scream came from none other than Rosethorn as she stumbled into the den. It was clear she was panicking, her breathing rapid. Where she walked, blood had been left behind, staining the ground below her. The way she was acting, she may as well have been on her death bed. At the very least, it was not an asthma attack that brought her here, as it so often did. No, a scream such as the one she produced could never come to be if such were the case. In fact, she would not be able to speak at all, should she truly be struggling to breathe.

No, the problem here was much simpler than that. A mere thorn had simply lodged itself within the pads of her paws. The pain had simply come as a surprise to her, as she had not been paying attention. And then her brain took over, making her believe that she was in danger when none was to be found, and thus the reason for her extreme reaction.

In simpler terms, Rosethorn was overreacting.

"IT HURTS, ROOKFIRE! MAKE IT STOPPPPPP!"

Rookfire turned his head up at Rosethorn's wail for help. As a medicine cat who constantly prepared himself for the worst, the cries of a clanmate made him go into overdrive. The medicine cat quickly grabbed the cobwebs, horsetail, and catchweed from the medicine den, messing up a lot of the herbs that were usually so neatly organized. When he was finished, Rosethorn was there, waiting for him to help her. Well, she seemed to be well enough to walk over by herself, so that's a positive sign. "Okay, what's the problem?" the medicine cat said, his assertive voice hiding any worry that he may have felt.

Once the she-cat showed him what was wrong, the worry dissipated into complete annoyance.

"A thorn," Rookfire said, gazing at the tiny thorn. "A thorn." After putting the herbs back approximately where he thought their piles were - he couldn't tell because of the mess he had made due to thinking that it was an emergency - he turned to Rosethorn. "From how you reacted, I thought it was a little more than a thorn. Hence, me bringing out cobwebs and horsetail." The ShadowClan medicine cat grabbed the thorn with his teeth. Now, he was less agitated by Rosethorn's outburst, as while it was annoying that she made it seem like she had just been mauled by a predator, it was also very, very hilarious. "I should tell Misty about this," Rookfire said, giving Rosethorn a smirk. "I'm sure he'd love to have something to tease you on after you continued talking about him and Murky being a couple."

At the thought of Rookfire telling Mistyfalcon about her display, her eyes flew wide open. "Noooo, Rookfire, pleaseeee! I really would die if Mistyfalcon knew about this! And in my defense, Musty would not be a couple if it weren't for me. Really they should be thanking me!"

Rosethorn let out a purr, standing up and testing out her paw. Shockingly, it did not hurt as much as she thought it would. "Wow, Rookfire, you really do work wonders. If only you had something to make my nose grow now!" Of course, she knew that was impossible. Still, it was a nice thought, to be able to breathe normally like everyone else. But there was only so much Rookfire could do, she was just thankful that he could make it easier, at the very least.

Rookfire gave Rosethorn a cheeky grin. "Aw, come on, a little teasing ain't that bad!" he mewed. "And the seeds of Misty's relationship with Murky were already planted before you started teasing them. You probably did speed the process up, though, I'll give you that." The black tuxedo couldn't help but tease the tortoiseshell she-cat whenever he could.

At Rosethorn spoke once more, this time about her paw, Rookfire grinned. "Make your nose grow longer? I wish! If I could, I would in a heartbeat. But I can't work miracles, believe it or not." He could at least make it easier for Rosethorn to move around, and she certainly made her place here in ShadowClan - especially as the clan's relationship-pairer. Rookfire decided to call cats who try to pair two cats in a relationship "shippers". In his opinion, shipping was just in good fun, but at the same time there was a fine line between having fun and causing harm. It didn't seem to happen with Mistyfalcon and Murkystrike, which was great for everyone involved.

"I agree, as long as I am not the one being teased, it is not bad." She chuckled a little, sitting back down. Sure, she could leave at any time, as she was healed, but at this point, she was enjoying talking to the medicine cat. "And seeds or not, those two would have never gotten anywhere if I didn't give them a little push to help them out. Go ahead, praise my name to the stars, I deserve it."

Still in the joking mood, Rosethorn continued her little rant. "I think you should be able to make miracles! If StarClan can bring in my father to see me for a moonstone, they should be able to give medicine cats powers to heal anything their Clan comes across! Make it so no cat ever has to die or get sick or anything!"

Rookfire chuckled at Rosethorn's comment of praising her name to the stars. "I'll think about it. It will be with tell Mistyfalcon that Rosethorn cried like a kit because of a thorn in "might say"." Really, he was considering telling Mistyfalcon just a little more than praising Rosethorn, and he thought that the tortoiseshell she-cat knew it.

At the mention of her moonstone - and the cat who was in it - Rookfire's cheeky smirk faded away to a gaze of shock. Her father... Iniko? He was in her moonstone journey? WHA- HOWWW!? DID HE MAKE IT TO STARCLAN OR SOMETHING!? OH MY STARS THAT IS A MIRACLE! The medicine cat didn't say it out loud, of course, but the thought of his own mentor possibly being in StarClan made him excited. "No way," Rookfire finally said, getting some composure to his form. "You saw Iniko? In StarClan? He's there?" All this time, he had thought that Iniko couldn't have made it to StarClan because of the tom's Asylum affiliations, but he was there all along. It was crazy for the young medicine cat to think about.

Now Rosethorn was a little confused. Why was Rookfire so interested in learning about Iniko? "No, he isn't in StarClan, I don't think. I don't know where he is. He said that StarClan let him in so he could speak to me, but I don't think he lives there. Wherever he is, though, it has to be nice, right? If StarClan let him see me, they must think he is a good cat! He must be good, he is the only family that doesn't hate me."

There was a small smile on her face as she thought of Iniko. She could not help but wish that he was here with her. But above all, she was thankful for StarClan. She now knew that her father loved her. She could not ask for anything more. Except for maybe one thing.

"Did....did you know my father? Did you know Iniko? What was he like? When he was alive, I mean."

Rookfire nodded. That was a very strange thought, but it comforted the black tuxedo to know that his mentor was at least allowed to visit StarClan when he wanted to. When Rosethorn asked him about Iniko, and what he knew about Iniko, the medicine cat told her everything he could, from his relationship with Iniko to who the calico tom was as a cat.

”Iniko was my mentor. He taught me everything I know about medicine, and he also taught me how to fight. The combination of the two was really a blessing for me, as it helped scratch the itch of ‘I want to be able to fight’ while also teaching me how to be a great medicine cat.” Rookfire was glad to be able to share what he experienced to Rosethorn. She deserved to know how great of a cat her father was. ”As for what kind of cat he was, he cared about everyone, Asylum and ShadowClan alike. In fact, he ended up sacrificing his life to save one of our warriors, Freckleface, from dying.” Now that he was saying it all out loud, it made a little more sense that StarClan allowed him to visit from time to time. ”Honestly, he made ShadowClan’s occupation very bearable. When he died, everything got significantly worse.”

So Iniko really was a good cat. Something about that thought brought a smile to Rosethorn's face. It was a sort of bittersweet revelation, that someone in her family had left a good impression on ShadowClan at the very least, but she still could not help but be sad that she had never known her father while he was alive. Then again, maybe he was alive. He was alive within Rookfire's memories. And in the cats that Iniko had helped while he was here.

"Thanks, Rookfire. For telling me all of that. You really liked Iniko, huh? Do you think that I can be like him? As selfless and brave? He sounds like the kind of cat I would want to strive to be."