The Swing of Things [CLOSED for Downfive]

Dennis rubbed his eyes, trying in vain to get rid of the sleepiness after a full night of arranging and rearranging the herb pile to make it look less empty. Of course, the laws of physics were against him as he had yet to find a way to make his 6 herbs look like 20. All these Moonstones lately were drying out the stores, as well as the fact that he hadn't gone looking for herbs in the past moon. He'd just been too tired, plus there was the constant awkwardness of being shadowed by a warrior there to make sure he didn't... uh, cause any inter-Clan conflicts, he supposed. But there were no excuses now. Not when he had little more than some chamomile, poppy seeds and a sad wilted marigold to keep the Clan alive. Arching his back and stretching in an attempt to force some energy into his spindly limbs, he left the den.

Going alone wasn't an option, he decided. He was too used to patrolling with company, but the alternative was letting Spiderquill fill the awkward silence in his mind. He shuddered at the thought. No, he needed someone to talk to. To distract him. The twins immediately came to mind, out of reflex more than anything, but lingering on that suggestion for more than a second eliminated it as an option. They were sure to poison themselves, squish him or both before the day was out. The warriors... well, he'd travelled with them unwillingly often enough. He didn't want to inconvenience them any more. That left the myriad of apprentices he'd never taken the time to talk to outside of health checks and Moonstones. Time to remedy that, he supposed. He trod the worn path to the apprentices' den. Unsurprisingly, it being early morning, most of them were asleep. Only one was visibly awake, a white she-cat he dimly remembered as Cloverpaw. Warm memories of finding Thornkit awake in the nursery filled his mind for a moment before he blinked them away and smiled shyly at the apprentice. "Hi, Cloverpaw, right? I hope I'm not disturbing you. Would you- um, I was wondering if you'd like to go on a herb hunt with me? I know it's probably boring compared to normal apprentice stuff, but I would appreciate it if you could lend a paw. You don't have to, of course. Just cause you're awake and all that. Um." Stars, when was the last time he'd spoken to someone other than the twins? At least a moon, probably. He was horrible at this conversation stuff, though in fairness he always had been.

Cloverpaw had just woken up, blinking sleep from her eyes. Over the last few sunrises she had come to dread her training, and today her solution would be to tuck her nose over her tail and pretend to be asleep for as long as she could. Maybe Ivystar would see her sleeping and give her a little more time before finally rousing her. She would just close her eyes and think really, really hard about being as still as she could...

Or, she'd do that until she realized she was holding her breath, and she inhaled hard. With a sigh, she tossed over onto her other side. As much dread as the idea of more training filled her with, now that she was awake, she was getting antsy. Her nest was suddenly uncomfortable, and more sleep, or even pretending to get more, was a lost cause. Suppose she would just sit here and plan how not to seem so disillusioned until someone came to fetch her.

She hardly had time to think, though, because she could hear paws approaching outside. Her ears flicked, and she contemplated burying her head in her paws again, but the cat had already ducked into the den, and his eyes had already found her. It wasn't anyone about to ask her on the dawn patrol, though, and for that she was deeply grateful. As soon as he made his offer, Cloverpaw shot to her paws, stumbling over a few stray, outstretched limbs as she got up.

"No!" She chirped eagerly before she remembered the others were sleeping, lowering her voice to a soft mew. "It sounds fun, Dennis, I'd love to go!" Herb hunting she was sure she could do. Herbs couldn't run away from her when she found them. At least it was something new, and something to get her moving. "Just lead the way. I– I don't really know them, though. What are we going to be looking for?"

Dennis beamed at Cloverpaw, almost overwhelmed with the positive response. For some reason, most cats didn't really care about herbs or found them boring. He'd never understood that perspective and finding someone willing to help him out was better than he could ask for. He turned around and indicated with his head, padding out of the den. His tiredness was gone, or at least distracted for a little while. "Oh don't worry," he spoke as they made their way out of camp, "finding herbs is easy! Especially during this time of year. If it's a funny-smelling plant, chances are it's useful. They're everywhere really, you can't go wrong! Though, try not to carry anything you find in your mouth. Better safe than sorry, some of this stuff is pretty potent." He smiled good-naturedly, though his tone was mostly serious. He did not want another poisonous mushroom situation.

As the scenery around them got more and more overgrown, Dennis became more alert as he scanned for a good area to stop. Settling on a sunlit patch of thick grass by the riverbank, he turned back to Cloverpaw. "We're here! it's pretty much like hunting for prey, minus the hard bit. Just sniff for any odd smells and see if you can spot any bright colours. Let me know if you find anything, and please don't eat any berries. They all look the same and some of them will kill you. We're not looking for anything in particular, every little helps." He smiled warmly and raised his head, sniffing the air to demonstrate.

Coming up short, he surveyed the area with his overlarge eyes instead. It didn't take much searching to find his target- a particularly large dandelion, its bright yellow petals impossible to mistake. "This is dandelion, though you probably already know that. It's not super versatile, we mostly use it as a poultice for bee stings, but it's common and still pretty helpful during Greenleaf. We use all of it, and it's so common that you can take the whole plant and not worry about the population. Just grab it like this-" he demonstrated, using his front paws to pluck the plant from the ground, "-and pop it somewhere easy to see to start a herb pile. Easy enough, right?" He put the dandelion next to where he found it.
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Okie consider this your herb hunt training, since we may as well get it out of the way now and I think I need a system hunt. It's super simple, just roll an effect dice and pick a corresponding herb from the list below:)

1: Nothing or poison
2-3: Mallow Leaves, Ragwort Leaves, Nettles, Dandelion, Cobwebs
4-5: Horsetail, Marigold, Feverfew
6: Dock, Juniper Berries, Chickweed

forgot to roll a dice hhhhh-

The member 'Snickerdoodle' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3

Dennis made herb hunting sound so easy, and Cloverpaw felt herself growing more excited by the heartbeat as they set off out of camp. The territory felt more and more familiar underpaw with each day, and she could figure they were coming closer to the river before they arrived.

That she could be proud of, at least.

The air was warm, and the sounds of rushing water helped soothe the apprentice even further. Dennis was nice enough, and he'd reassured her plenty of times she would do just fine. He even gave her an example, gently plucking the dandelion from the earth and setting it off to the side. The plant had only swayed gently as it was moved; no squealing, no darting off into the underbrush... No surprise ambush from a weasel also looking to eat. Just.. collecting.

With a determined nod, she breathed in deep. The first smells she noticed were those of prey – a frog down closer to the water, a mouse hidden in the grass.. Quickly reminding herself that wasn't what they were here for, she tried to focus in on anything odd that she couldn't place.

Herbs, herbs, herbs..

Her nose led her further away from the river, where a little bush had grown, littered with dark berries. She gave them a curious sniff before turning to look back towards the other cat, calling out, "Dennis! Dennis, what are these? Are they any good?" Hopefully, they were something useful. She hoped they weren't anything poisonous – wouldn't that be her luck?

The member 'downfive' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

Denni watched alertly as Cloverpaw searched for herbs. Her form was good, though it was pretty difficult to have bad herb hunting form of all things. Still, it was a good sign. She seemed distracted at first, but it was seemingly easy for her to get back on track as she picked up a scent. Dennis didn't move from where he stood, he didn't want to mess with her concentration, but he couldn't help but smile proudly as she followed a scent out away from the river. He couldn't quite see what she was smelling, but he'd soon find out- she called his name and he trotted over to where she stood in front of a spiky-leaved bush with clusters of dark berries.

He grinned. He already knew what it was, juniper berries were hard to mistake even for a beginner, but he gave it a cursory sniff just to be thorough. "Fantastic! You're a natural, this is juniper! It's pretty hard to find here, more common in ThunderClan I'd say. Doesn't like wet soil. It's got a fair few uses, but mostly we use the berries for bellyaches and laboured breathing. If I'm really in a pinch, it doesn't do any harm to a travelling herb bundle either." He motioned to the bush with a paw, teetering a bit until he put it back down on the ground. "Go on then, it's your find! Try and take them with your paws without squishing them. They won't harm you if you have to use your mouth, but it's not the best habit to get into once you start finding things like nettles or deathberries." He waited for her to take the herbs and began to walk over to the herb pile so she could drop the berries there.

Cloverpaw had been trying to think of any of the dangerous berries she'd been taught as a kit, trying to solve her worries on her own before Dennis could make it over to her, but he had come quicker than her mind could start to race and just as quickly confirmed what she'd found– not only that, confirmed they were something they could take home.

The young cat instantly lit up, beaming under his praise (and his subtle mention they weren't common here, either). She couldn't hold in a grin, smile wide as he went on about their uses and encouraged her to take some. Giving the prickly bush a glance, she stretched out her front paws, trying to take the berries as gently as Dennis had his dandelion. She pressed too hard against a few of them, and they stained her white fur a deep purple when they popped, but she had gotten a few off the plant safely.

Carefully as she could be, she made her way to the pile Dennis had started. Her steps were cautious, and a bit awkward, but she had made it with every berry she had gotten, and she joined them with the yellow weed. After giving her paw a brief lick to clean off the juniper she'd gotten on her, Cloverpaw turned back to the medicine cat, tail waving excitedly. "What else do we need, Dennis? Or–" she paused to think, looking around the riverbank– "What'd'you find out here?"