Injury Prone [Basilpaw]

Mistyfalcon limped back into camp, the owl that had tried to steal a hare from him between his jaws awkwardly along with said hare. His wounds from the fight with the rogues were still healing... And the bird that had decided he was competition hadn't helped matters. The gashes on his side had been reopened, and those talons had caught the back of his neck hard, too. With a grunt, the blood-spattered warrior dropped the bird of prey onto the fresh-kill pile, then limped toward the medicine den with a sigh, still carrying the hare.

Why did he always seem to be injured when he was to spend time with his daughter? He liked spending time with his kits, as extroverted as they were. He didn't like sitting still while she patched his wounds up with herbs that made his wounds sting even more. And he liked worrying them (or Murkystrike) even less.

"Hey, Basilpaw," Mistyfalcon skirted the thorn bush guarding the entrance to the medicine den, hoping that his daughter was actually in the den and not out gathering herbs... That would be his luck, wouldn't it?

She was there, though, and Mistyfalcon set the hare down, offering his daughter a sheepish smile. "Owl thought I was stealing its' kill. It was trying to steal mine, if you ask me."

"Hmm hmm hmm...burnet goes here, celandine goes there, daisy goes back there...hmm~"  Basilpaw's humming song echoed peacefully around the empty medicine den as she put all her herbs back into their rightful places, content that she had successfully treated and soothed every wound she could that was left by those horrible rouges on her beloved clanmates.  There were still a few that she was concerned about - Flintstar mostly - but they were all stable enough to recover in their own dens rather than be squished into her own.  

Her work went at a steady pace, and she was so focused on her organization that the sound of her father's voice at first didn't quite reach her.  His dark pelt finally catching her eye, the petite tortoiseshell let out a little apologetic squeal and trotted over to greet him; "Oh!  Hi Papa, I didn't notice you walk in I-"  All of a sudden though she saw the bloody marks on his side and neck, and the young medicine cat gasped.  "Oh StarClan, what happened?!"  The answer was a bit of a surprise, and after all the dire clawmarks and bite wounds she had been tending to the idea of her father fighting with a mere owl over a hare almost made her giggle, but she sprang into action right away regardless.  "Ooo, that sounds like too political of an argument for me.  Stay still and lay down, I just put away all my wound herbs."  

Trotting back over to her herb storage, Basilpaw reached and grabbed moss, horsetail, oak leaf, and some tansy.  Soaking the moss in a puddle of rainwater, she washed away the blood from his fur and the wounds before chewing up some horsetail stems mixed with oak leaf and applying the poultice to the open gashes.  Most of the bleeding had already begun to slow, so the horsetail made quick work of what was left before she moved on to the tansy.  She usually used goldenrod on these sorts of injuries but the battle had left her stock low, as she chewed up the second-best option and applied it to her father she made a mental note to gather more.  Finally, she took a thin layer of cobweb that was laying nearby and stretched it across both Mistyfalcon's reopened scratches as well as his new ones before stepping back to examine her work.  "There, I think you'll survive now."  

The she-cat's lighthearted tone was paired with a playful wink before she quickly put away the rest of her herbs and nodded towards the prized hare that was lying nearby.  "I just realized, I don't think I've eaten anything since yesterday!  Would you want to share?"  Sitting down with a smile, she couldn't recall the last time she and her father had simply settled down and chatted over a piece of prey...things had been so crazy recently.  Now though, seemed like the perfect time to get back to normal.

Stay still, lay down... She'd just put away all her herbs? Foxdung. "Sorry... I really do need to find the time to come visit you without injuries." He sighed, doing as instructed while she went to fetch the herbs she needed. It wasn't long before she returned, soaking his wounds and applying the herbs. Mistyfalcon did his best to stay still, suppressing a shiver as the sensation of herbs against still-open wounds. The bleeding had slowed significantly, at least.

"Thanks, Basil." He mewed as she finished. Reaching out a paw, he nudged the hare towards her. Not eating since yesterday wasn't good, and even less so when things had been rather hectic recently. "Here," He offered, "Thought you could use something... How've you been holding up? I know things have been busy recently." Filthy rogues, at least they had Batglow back where he belonged now. And hopefully the rogues would stay away from Shadowclan now that they'd lost their leader Vea.

Basilpaw emitted a relieved trill as Mistyfalson pushed the hare towards her, and the petite tortoiseshell laid down onto her belly and began taking a few small bites of the furry fresh-kill, which quickly turned more ravenous.  Curling her tail contentedly around her haunches, once she had eaten enough to curb the rumblings in her stomach she looked up at her father and purred.  "It's definitely been busy in here, everyone had been in and out asking for herbs or patch-ups, at least the ones who have the sense to stop by if something feels wrong.  Everyone is healing fine though, even Flintstar's wound is improving a bit...not as much as I'd like though."  The thought of Flintstar's limp leg made her heart feel as if it had been dunked into freezing water; it scared her how he couldn't move it, couldn't even twitch his toes.  Now wasn't the time to talk about that though, and she forced her smile to return as she met her father's dark blue eyes.  "I'll definitely need to gather some more herbs soon, I'm running low on a bunch of stuff."

Mistyfalcon watched as Basilpaw began to eat. She'd definitely been hungry, and he made a mental note to check in on her more often. Her duties being so hectic after a battle probably meant she'd simply forgotten, but he'd feel better knowing that his daughter was taking care of herself and not just their clanmates, too.

"It's always like this after a battle," He sighed, "Things will calm down soon." The rogues seemed like they were gone at least, though there was a cynical part of Mistyfalcon that knew something else would happen eventually.

"We could find your mother and Loudnose and go herb gathering sometime?" He offered. Mistyfalcon didn't really know what he was looking for beyond the basics from when he'd helped Rookfire, but he could do his best to try and help at least. And it would be spending time with Basilpaw without her having to patch him up.

Basilpaw flicked her fluffy ears excitedly at her father's idea, and purred; "Oh yes, that sounds great!  I could teach you all about herbs and their uses and where to find them, I'm sure you'd love it!  How about we go tomorrow if your wounds are feeling better?"  Leaving her question waiting for an answer, the petite tortoiseshell took another bite of the squirrel, a pensive look appearing in her eyes.  "I just realized...I don't think I've ever been able to wander the territory on my own before.  Flintstar put the no-solo-patrols order into place right after I became Rookfire's apprentice, and ever since then I've gone out with either you, Mom, or Batglow mostly.  Now that the rouges are finally gone, I suppose I could explore a little more."  Basilpaw knew she had the right to go outside the camp on her own, but for some reason, the thought made her uneasy.  She had traveled to Highstones on her own before, it shouldn't make her so nervous.  Perhaps because of inexperience, or maybe just because of her condition, but she couldn't help but feel the need to seek Mistyfalcon's words on the matter.  For so long their own territory had been a place of fear and mystery, now she wanted to conquer it.

Mistyfalcon could tell Basilpaw was excited by the prospect, and he nodded, offering his daughter a small smile. "Tomorrow then." He'd ask Murkystrike when he was done here, he didn't think she would object to the idea.

That Basilpaw had never had the chance to patrol the territory alone hadn't slipped his mind. It made him feel a bit guilty that they couldn't have dealt with the rogues sooner than they had. Basilpaw wasn't the only apprentice who had never known that freedom. There would be time to get used to that now that the rogues were gone, he hoped. "It was the same thing when the Asylum took over, I'd just been made a warrior. They followed us everywhere and nobody could do anything alone." He grumbled, "It took some getting used to after they left, it had been so long. It was a relief to not have a full patrol watching my every movement."