no direction nor location [open herb hunt]

Effect Dice Herb List:

The air grew colder each day, sometimes bringing with it light rain that turned to sleet, that melted as it hit Muddythorn's pelt. It wasn't yet settling on the ground, leaving the forest floor muddy and littered with puddles instead. His sister's disappearance weighed heavily on his mind, along with how Primroselight was coping. The warrior may've been good at masking her emotions, but her son knew her well enough to realise how much she was hurting. Anyone using logic could.

Medicine cats weren't supposed to have personal bias; that was why they couldn't have kits. And yet, he couldn't act as if Dawnfeather was certainly fine, completely removed from connections. There would always be members of his clan he was closer with than others, but he knew that he would care for each one equally. Or at least he hoped. He had found in the past, especially after losing his father, that if he hurried himself in his work, then he could stay distracted for long enough.

Today (for that exact reason), he had braved the bad weather - might as well get used to it, it's only gonna get worse from now on - to go search for herbs, his own dwindling supply a large concern.

Hollypaw flicked her tail lazily, watching the droplets fly down from the sky, safely dry in the apprentice’s den. The air was damp and cold, making her nose twitch, but overall, she was mostly feeling bored. Ravenclaw had canceled training for her this morning, citing it was far too slippery and wet; and though it was that simple, Hollypaw heard the unspoken “for a cat your age.”

Ravenclaw seemed to have been expecting an outburst, but Hollypaw had accepted it uncharacteristically quietly. Well. She huffed. It wasn’t like she was always unreasonable.

Hollypaw glanced at the sky, mottled as it was with dark grey, and thought of her own apprentice ceremony. It had been stormy then, too. With a sigh, she settled, and wondered what she was supposed to do, without training. She fed the elders and queens, and honestly had little interest staying beyond that. (They were lucky enough she came to feed them.) Her heart softened, though, when she thought of Muddythorn. He was cool, and didn’t treat her like a kit.

As if summoned, Hollypaw saw a dark brown form — Muddy! — pass by her den, as if heading toward the entrance to camp under the rain. Immediately, Hollypaw stood, sticking her head out and striking the side of the bush. “Muddy! I’m— gah!!” she called and then spat as she got a face-full of water like a wave, shocking her with cold!

Recoiling, the young apprentice shook herself vigorously. Starclan, that’s cold! Her shoulders were now all wet too, not just damp from it all. She glared at the spot she was abruptly rained on — stupid bush and stupid leaves, holding water to fall on unsuspecting victims! —  as if it could feel her ire. But that only reminded her of Muddy, who was now... gone. Her ears flattened.

Hollypaw felt a pang in her chest, at the place her elder brother used to be. She didn’t realize how much she missed him, until she saw him there. It was as if now that they weren’t kits anymore, he thought... they didn’t need him, their supportive and sometimes goofy older brother. Maybe— before Dawn, her and Wasp got caught up in their new lives and training, didn’t want too much fussing. But...

Making up her mind, Hollypaw stood straighter, getting to her paws. She had to be brave, this was for Muddy. (And it was only water! It’s not like it was going to permanently ruin her fur or anything.) It was still cold. Her whole body shivered with it, but by the time she was padding toward the camp entrance she thought her body was adjusting. For once, she hated that her fur was so short. It was just... being wet. Yuck!

It was unnatural. Like Riverclan! And made the wind chill her more.

At least that thought was reassuring. If she liked this, she’d be a fish face. (Thank Starclan not.)

It was difficult to follow a scent in this madness, and Hollypaw didn’t want to push her luck and like, drown or something. So she peered through the trees, trying to find any spot of Muddy. Trusting her instincts, she sped into a light run, looking for any sign of her brother. She was just behind him!

“Muddy! Muddy! It’s me, Holly! You know, your sister?! Wait up!!” she called, when — oh! There he was! Her heart brightened, and the calico apprentice took a running leap over a stone, trying to reach her brother. Her first paw hit the muddy ground fine, but the other was a traitor — it betrayed her!

It twinged and gave out on her, which sent her face-first toward what would normally be dirt, but just had to be... Ugh! Mud!

“Aaah!” she yelped, and she found herself sprawled icky and mucky and cold! And worst of all, it was on her face! She rolled on her back, trying to paw it off her face but only getting more mud everywhere, even stinging her eyeballs. “Muddy! Help me! It’s in my eyes! Oww! Stupid left paw...!”

It might not have been dignified but this was her brother, and a medicine cat — it was his job to fix things! And you couldn’t go blind from mud, could you? How would Shadowclan survive?

Muddythorn's ears pricked up at the sound of his name, turning around at the last minute to be met with his sister uncontrollably dashing towards him, braving the weather. Hollypaw was sweet, but she really needed to think things through a bit more, especially things like this. He tried his best to surprise his laughter at the apprentice's fall that splattered her calico coat brown, giving her an uncanny resemblance to Muddythorn himself. "I'm here, and I'm waiting!" Unable to hold it in any longer, he laughed as he padded towards her to help.

"Hey, stay still." He gently brought his paw to Hollypaw's eye, much more steadily than she had. After all, he didn't use them for hunting or fighting, but much more gently in situations like these, and often much more drastic ones. "Look, you're all fine now!" He waited as his sister got to her paws, her brief roll on the ground meaning she was now even more muddy, but at least the dirt was off her eyes. If she needed to for whatever reason, she could probably camouflage herself on the forest floor, although he didn't think that's what she was going for.

"You can't catch a cold while we're looking for herbs, because then I'll need even more to heal you! It's an endless cycle Holly, so please try not to get sick." There was no way their mother would be pleased at Hollypaw getting sick because she was following Muddythorn around, doing silly things like going out in weather like this. Alright, maybe this wasn't the best idea looking back, but what could he do now? He might as well make it worth it. 

He began to walk further, hoping that the apprentice hadn't actually injured herself in the slip. "Well now that you're out here, you might as well help me. Try find anything that smells remotely like my den, give me a shout, and I'll come check it out. Good?" Over time, he'd learnt that that was the easiest way to help those who knew very little about herbs to find things.

However, he didn't want to stray too far from Hollypaw's side, and so was close enough to carry a conversation. "How are you? Ravenclaw putting you to work?"

He listened as he stayed alert for herbs, searching through each slowly withering cluster. Eventually, after some searching, he uncovered a small bunch of raspberry leaves, fairly common in Skyclan territory, but very useful to him. There weren't any queens close to kitting at the moment, but leaf-bare litters were often already at risk from the harsh environment alone.

The member 'khamosa khristmas' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3

Hollypaw blinked, smiling sheepishly up at her older brother. His paws were much more gentle, and cleared away the muck stinging her eyes. She was saved! ”I’m saved!”

Rolling over made her want to groan, though — she was covered in it, now! It squished in her fur, and would probably taste horrible when she licked it out… “No offense, Muddy, but your namesake is gross.”

It did make her a little more thankful for the rain — maybe it’d all wash out before they got back to camp? But then Muddy was speaking, and Holly flushed. She… Er, would try? To not get sick? She… probably did not make the best impression, right then. He’s not gonna send me back, is he?! But… I just got here!

Thankfully, her brother just kept walking, and — score! — decided she could stay. And help! “You can count on me, Muddy!”

Granted, this wasn’t anything she really knew how to do. But! That had never stopped Hollypaw before. So she pushed back a shiver and bounded forward, testing her limbs  — but really, the only thing injured was her pride. (And her beautiful pelt.)

With other cats, maybe she’d be embarrassed to be basically painted in mud. Buuut… well. With all she got up to as a kit, Muddy had seen her in worse. (And — wait, as medicine cat, probably when she was born, too! That was definitely a weird thought.)

Shoving away those thoughts, she went to sniff around the surrounding foliage. Mirroring Muddythorn, of course. But then, he actually knew what he was looking for.

She glanced down at the edge of a bush. To her, all plants... basically looked the same. The smell, right!

Hollypaw got closer to investigate, padding quickly and sniffing. Rain. Rain. Dirt. Um, very faint mouse? Long gone. Tree. Rain…

...more rain? No, some kind of green-smell. She sniffed closer. But then Muddy spoke to her.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, immediately distracted and jumping up at the question. “Great! Just as I knew it would be! Ravenclaw’s a good mentor, and I’m a fast learner. At least, I think so, whatever Wasppaw says. We’ve been training together, you know.”

Her chattering continued, easily enthused by her beloved audience. “I’ve really enjoyed learning to fight. You wouldn’t believe all the battle moves I know by now! And hunting, I’m… getting the hang of. Wasp… er, might be better at it. But it’s just because of my paws! Well, that and I’m too loud. Um ...kind of like now. But we won’t scare off any herbs by talking… right?”

It couldn’t be. But once she said it, Holly felt a bit loud herself, like maybe plants did hide away from noisy apprentices. It couldn’t be so, right? She was just being silly! ...probably. She glanced dubiously down at the little, drooping white flowers in front of her.

They were... a little sad looking, if Hollypaw was being honest. Like they were hunched over and sad, or bending under some great weight by the water. But they did have a peculiar smell. Distracted by the tiny flowers, she mewed, ”Hey, Muddy, are these important?”

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

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'Effect Dice' : 4