Didn't think this through (OPEN, Needs Basilbloom)

Marshmallow walked across the marshlands that was Shadowclan territory. The trip from the thunderpath felt like it stretched so much longer than the trip to it. Loudnose was quiet, and she had to admit, it felt strange. She almost tripped a few times when she tried to walk through the marsh with a fully grown cat on her back. Hm, Basilbloom should take care of this. But finally, after what felt like moons of walking, she got there.

Scenting the familiar smell of her camp, her expression changed from annoyed and bored, to fearful and sad. Padding down into the camp, after adjusting her voice she finally yelled out. "Someone! Help! Loudnose got hurt!" She rolled him off of her back, breathing quickly in what seemed to be fake panic. She was convinced Loudnose was alright. "Someone, please! Loudnose got attacked by a monster! There's blood! Please come out! Anyone?!" She sat next to the tom, tail flicking, eyes wide and ears back.

Ospreykit peeked her head out of the nursery at all the commotion near the camp's entrance. Monster? Hurt? Blood? And who decided that naming someone 'Loudnose' was even remotely a good idea? There were so many unanswered questions and the more she stood there, the longer they'd stay that way. Best go and check it out.

Once she'd gotten close enough to see the details better, she couldn't help but raise a brow at the state of the tom. It looked as if this 'monster' had gobbled him up, chewed him a bit, then spat him out. She looked up at the older she-cat and then back at the crumpled tom. "You sure he needs help? Looks like he needs a hole to bury him in." she meowed as she prodded his face with a paw. When he saw him move she retracted her paw. Oh. "Ah. Well, never mind then. Seems like he'll be fine after all." she said, mostly to herself. She shrugged her shoulders and looked back at the other warrior. "What even is a 'monster' anyway? I thought all predators were monsters?" She paused for a moment before continuing, "And what's up with his name? Does he talk with his nose or?"

Emberleap was huddled at the back of the warriors’ den, trying to gather some measure of warmth before the next late-night patrol, when a frantic voice pierced the dark. Its tone tied his stomach in knots. Another murder. Freckleface’s body had turned up only a short time ago; the cat (or cats) who had killed her could still be lurking. As he shot to his feet, night’s chill forgotten, the words began to sink in—Loudnose and attacked by a monster. Not dead yet. He took a breath, bracing himself, and stepped into the open.

The scene he found was less horrific than what he’d imagined: Marshmallow, slightly bloody, shrugging a lump of fur off her back. Somehow, Loudnose looked worse on the ground. The position he slumped into accentuated the sharp bend of his leg and tail. At least he was breathing. Emberleap stared long enough to be certain of it. He snagged one of the questions tumbling through his head and turned to Marshmallow, mouth open, only to be interrupted by a chirp.

"You sure he needs help? Looks like he needs a hole to bury him in."

Emberleap gaped at the kit, who continued to ramble as if she hadn’t realized what she’d said, what she was witnessing. Maybe she didn’t. “What do you—” He shut his eyes. It wasn’t his place to mention it—and besides, whether she understood or not, kits weren't meant to see this kind of thing. “Go get Basilbloom, she’ll know what to do.” Again, he looked to Marshmallow. “What kind of monster? Did it attack you, too? What happened?”

Frostgaze had been gently snoring in the back of the Warror's Den, curled into a tight white ball. His face was buried within his fur as he slept, his mind roaming within the realm of dreams. Then he heard shouting, and he was brought to consciousness like he was struck by lightning. Immediately standing, and padding out of the Warrior's Den, mind still hazy as looked out, he saw red. Blood on the ground, his... Marshmallow was yelling for help. Immediately, he ran over, usually immaculate fur still spiky from sleep. He hadn't heard Ospreykit's comments, which for her sake, was good. Shooing her along with a paw, he looked his daughter in the eyes.

The body of Loudnose lay before him, breathing, but unconscious. His leg and tail were at strange angles, and he heard something about... a Monster? "Tell me everything that happened. Emberleap, would you please get Murkystar, she will want to see this." Want was a strong word. She wouldn't want to see this, but she would need to see this. Loudnose was her child, and his friend. Thankfully, his wounds, as severe as they looked, didn't seem severe enough to end his life. Basilbloom would be able to ease his pain.

Swiftpaw's ears perked up at all the commotion taking place outside the apprentice den.  She quickly walked out looking around seeing a large gathering of cats she curiously walked over.

She squeezed her way forward trying to see what the drama was about.

She froze, shocked at the sight, before her on the ground was her older brother Loudnose.  N-Nooo noooo she gasped not believing what she saw.

she turned toward Frostgaze eyes filled with worry... why wasnt he doing something he was in charge????

"WHERE'S BASILBLOOM! Do something mousebrain!!!!! she screamed at the deputy's face. Not really thinking clearly running more on instincts and emotion at this point.

She was usually very polite and would never do this but seeing her older brother like this made her scared and lash out.

She spun around looking for her sister "BASSSILLLL she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Murkystar rushed into camp, her eyes wide and her pelt on end. She had just been returning with a jaw full of mice and frogs when she smelled the reek of blood, and she dropped them near the camp entrance as she quickly rushed over to the source. "No need to find me, I'm right-" Her response cut off as she caught sight of the tom covered in blood, even under the red stains she would recognize her son anywhere. A low, terrified growl rumbled in her throat as she took in the tail and leg that was unnaturally bent, her voice catching in her face as she stared down at her kit.

Swiftpaw's voice cut through the haze, and she snapped her head up, taking a deep breath to try to calm her emotions enough to make coherent thoughts. Swiftpaw, Emberleap, go get Basilbloom. Help her with whatever she needs. Take Ospreykit with you. If you see Mistyfalcon.... Let him know to come." She mewed quickly, her gaze returning to the bloody form of her kit. Lowering herself around him carefully, she turned to look at Marshmallow, her eyes narrowing slightly in expectation. Frostgaze had already asked to hear everything, and she was afraid her voice wouldn't hold out much longer.

Marshmallow watched as cats started emerging from their dens, some stunned into silence, others trying to take action. She looked down at the kit, a gaze that said. 'This isn't the time.' Emberleap took care of the kit, however. It wasn't long before Frostgaze appeared. She struggled to find any words to explain the situation, and Swiftpaw came over, started yelling and screaming for help. The fur along her spine and tail raised.

She did not like this.

Murkystar finally came over, demanding things to get done. She was scared, Marshmallow was too, but for a very different reason.

Well... No time like the present for an explanation. She just had to twist what happened into something that seemed like more of an accident... It was an accident, right?

"Loudnose invited me to..." Marshmallow kept her words and breaths shaky, her eyes wide. "... To go hunting with him, he said we should go along the thunderpath to search for prey because it's becoming leaf-bare soon and there might be some dead prey near the thunderpath." She glanced down at Loudnose, building the new story in her head, but not a story that wasn't so far from the truth. "I... Saw a moth, pointed it out to Loudnose because I... I thought he'd want to chase one." She flicked her tail towards the light grey moth on his claws. "He... He chased it onto the thunderpath. I was keeping an eye out for monsters, but Loudnose wanted my... My attention." She lowered herself. "So I looked away for a second, he caught the moth, then... Then his side lit up in a yellow light..." She trailed off, tail flicking and ears going backwards. "I didn't have time to call for him, the monster was fast and Loudnose wasn't paying attention until the very last second.... It... It hit him. I saw the blood, I was horrified, he kept running, leapt into a bush... And didn't come out." She was shaking, remembering the slight fear she had in that moment. She couldn't kill a cat, not direct- not at all. "I... I waited for him to appear."

"He didn't."

"I went into the bush, I thought he was dead. He... Wasn't, but I knew something bad would happen if I left him there, I... I carried him on my back, to camp. And... Well... I'm here now.." She wasn't a bad cat, she couldn't be, she was just playing with him.

But she knew full well the thunderpath was dangerous.

Duskflight emerged from the warriors' den, hearing the commotion that was happening outside. He'd expect regular sharing tongues and perhaps— other regular activities.. although it was much different this time. The horrific scent of blood and fear mangled in the air, and he felt himself tense. Approaching clser to the crowd, the warrior froze, seeing Loudnose's bloodied figure on the ground. Stars, just what has happened..?  Pure panic took over him, and he felt his ears flatten down, fur standing on end. Sure, Loudnose and him haven't talked much recently.. Although seeing him like that wasn't much better, either. It was an awful sight to see, that was for sure.

Marshmallow seemed to have been explaining the events, although he only managed to catch the few ends of the tale. Murkystar, Frostgaze, Emberleap.. And even a kit..? They seemed to be all there. He wasn't so sure what to do, although if anyone had wanted him to help— however he could, he'd gladly accept so. He couldn't bear the sight of seeing a clanmate so injured, right in front of his very own eyes.

Though Emberleap spun around to heed Frostgaze’s order as soon as the words clicked in his head, Murkystar appeared before he could take a single step. For a heartbeat, time stopped. Realization dawned across his friend’s face—then she snapped into action, giving her own orders before curling around Loudnose’s body. With Swiftpaw already on the move yowling for Basilbloom, Emberleap dragged his feet long enough to catch the start of Marshmallow’s story. So the “monster” had been from the Thunderpath. No wonder Loudnose was so torn up. Predators and other cats could kill, sure, but Iniko and Murkystar had drilled the Thunderpath’s dangers into his head what felt like twenty times over; its monsters could mangle the largest dog, the strongest badger.

He swallowed hard and glanced aside at Duskflight, who had joined the gathering crowd looking both helpless and horrified. Right. The last thing Murkystar had asked. “Dusk—Duskflight”—Emberleap stumbled a little over his apprentice’s new name—“could you get Ospreykit out of here? See if you can find Mistyfalcon, too. He needs to know.”

That said, he uprooted his paws and hastened to Basilbloom’s den, poking his muzzle inside. One hint of motion from within was all it took to send a flood of words pouring forth. “Basilbloom—we need you outside, it’s Loudnose. He’s not dead but it looks bad, his tail might be broken, his leg too—” Biting his tongue to shut himself up, Emberleap shook his head. His ramblings were never useful, but at a time like this, they could only make things worse. “He got hit by a Thunderpath monster,” he said, and that, at last, was something a healer could work with. Shutting his mouth once more, he shifted on his paws in the den's entrance.

Mistyfalcon too, had been out hunting. A small collection of rodents dangled from his jaws as he headed towards camp. The scent of blood soon became very apparent, and it most certainly wasn't the blood of the prey he carried. Fur lifting, the dark-pelted tom sped up, tail lashing. As he approached the entrance of camp, the scent of did not lessen, and his claws dug into the wet soil. Asylum, a predator, another fight at the border... Someone was hurt, clearly. It was just a matter of how. And who.

Dropping his prey near the entrance to camp, Swiftpaw was yelling for Basilbloom and seemed distraught, and it made his heart sink. Mistyfalcon's ear twitched at the sound of his name. "I'm here." He managed gruffly to Emberleap and Duskflight, shouldering his way through the crowd to see what was going on.

...No. He very much did not want to see this. Loudnose, bloody and still, the acrid scent of thunderpath mingling with the metallic scent of blood in the air. A memory of Daisyflame's mangled and twisted body stirred, and he ignored it. Before he could ask what had happened, Marshmallow was talking. Mistyfalcon's ears slid back as he eyed her, carefully stepping over to Murkystar's side. Thunderpath... Seen a moth...

His eyes narrowed, a flash of disbelief and rage flashing in their depths, fluffy tail lashing back and forth as he took in the warrior's words. A. Moth.

Loudnose... No, he couldn't be that frogbrained. Absolutely not. Marshmallow couldn't have been that dumb. Chasing anything along the thunderpath? Foxing fools."Even a kit knows how dangerous the thunderpath is." And you are no kit, hung heavily in the cold air, unspoken but accusatory all the same. He dug his claws into the earth, forcing himself into stillness. He'd seen the damage monsters could go, and for the moment, Marshmallow was a very lucky cat that Loudnose appeared to be breathing.

His mentor called out for him, and although it was slightly strange hearing Emberleap calling him by his warrior name, too. Perhaps he'd been too used to the warrior calling him by his old apprentice name, though he felt sure that Emberleap would get accustomed to it soon, too. He nodded, and turned his head over to the kit with a somewhat awkward smile. It wasn't so like him to give such a smile before, though he churned at the thought of a kit having to see such an event, and walked up to her. He gave Ospreykit a small nod, then gently picked the she-kit up by the scruff, carrying her back to the nursery. Kits should never have to see such a thing, when they're still so young.. The tom lie her down on one of the mossbeds, then returned to the commotion.

Trotting back to the crowd, Mistyfalcon seemed to have pushed his way in to see the sight. Perhaps he didn't have to call for him after all— as the warrior have surely noticed the event, too. After all, who couldn't, with this much commotion? Mistyfalcon's eyes trailed down to a moth, and so did Duskflight's. A moth?  Then the realization hit him, and he froze yet again. That seems.. so much like him, going after a moth to acidentally get in danger instead. His ears flattened down at Mistyfalcon's comment, and he knew that the tom wasn't wrong. He couldn't defend for Loudnose, no matter which excuses he came up with in his head; and how much he wanted to defend the tom from getting in trouble. Though his appearance now seemed to have carried much trouble already.

Basilbloom has been asleep when the commotion started, deeply asleep.  Lately, it seemed as if her mind was being pulled even deeper into the depths of unconsciousness than normal, but eventually, sound managed to break through the void and she awoke, startled by cries of her name.  Forcing herself to slowly get to her paws, the tortoiseshell medicine cat was met at the den entrance by Emberleap, and the toms's words came like a whirlwind.  Loudnose?  Hit by a monster?  Stunned, Basilbloom for a moment couldn't move, but forced herself to come back to reality.  "O-Oh, um...I need ...rush stalks and sticks.  Comfrey root, cobweb..."  Her words were more a panicked ramble than instruction, and she walked out into the clearing towards her brother's slumped form, the scent of blood and the Thunderpath stinging her nose.  She knew her parents were there, and Frostgaze, as well as Marshmallow who he seemed to have been with, but tunnel vision prevented her from acknowledging them, and she instead looked at the job to be done.

 The first thing she grabbed was cobwebs and goldenrod, quickly soaking up the blood on Loudnose's leg before inspecting the wound.  The surface damage wasn't bad, but the slight way in which his ankle was bent as well as his tail was what she was really worried about.  Heart beating quickly, she chewed up the goldenrod and some comfrey root and plastered it onto the open wound, before wrapping it in cobweb.  She continued wrapping the tom's foot, gently moving it back into a normal position with a wince before grabbing her first rush.  Working silently, she slowly placed the solid stalks against his leg and tied them with bindweed, until it stayed straight without having to hold it.  Satisfied with the splint, she turned her attention to his tail; the bend seemed to be near the middle, so she would need something longer to hold it in place.  Reaching for a long stick nearby, she tied it to Loudnose's tail in the same way she had with the rush stalks until it was firm, applying some comfrey root before covering the fracture in cobweb.  

As soon as her work was done, Basilbloom let out a deep breath she had been holding and felt her paws sway unsteadily, guiding her to the ground before she addressed the crowd.  "Please...take him to my d-den, but be careful.  D-Don't break the splints, and support his tail and l-leg.  I'll be there, in a moment..."  Her heart was beating in a fluttery sort of way, a mix of anxiety and her condition, and she forced herself to close her eyes and recenter herself.  It'll be okay...he'll be okay...he's okay..."

Swiftpaw watched her older sister Basilbloom work on Loudnose. She was filled with grief and worry to the point of feeling sick.

"L-L-loud?" she meowed in a shaky voice.

(Swiftpaw always showed her emotions very clearly rather than hiding them like most cats.)

Tears began running down her face as she looked at the state her older brother was in. His leg and tail held by sticks and stalks it was a scaring sight for her.

Was he going to die? Would he be able to walk again if he lived? Would he ever be the same?

These negative (overdramtic) thoughts swarmed her until she couldn't take it anymore.
She laid down on the ground face covered in her front paws as she began to sob quietly her sides rising and falling. She couldn't keep acting like everything was ok or that nothing affected her. She felt numb and isolated.

How was everyone else so calm all the time? Were they all mellowed out on catnip? Did they simply not have emotions? Maybe this was just a bad dream? Maybe she was just weird... Yeah... probably the last one she thought


What would her clanmates think of her for this?

She wasn't sure, but at the same time it was not a strong enough factor to make her stop crying. She had little use for her own pride or ego.

Murkystar's eyes narrowed, focusing in on Marshmallow as she explained what had happened. Red flashed, and her claws pierced the ground beneath her paws as a low growl rumbled in her throat. She registered Mistyfalcon's arrival, and his comment about the insanity and stupidity of chasing something that close to the Thunderpath, and she rode to her paws as Basilbloom arrived and got to work on Loudnose. Her gaze never left Marshmallow, and she stood over the young warrior. "There is absolutely no excuse for this. He never should have stepped paw on the Thunderpath, and you should have stopped him if he was too hare-brained not to. The Thunderpath is dangerous, the monsters that roam it have killed cats for generations, and you just... Stood by?" She hissed, her voice low and menacing, barely not a growl. "Marshmallow, you are sentenced to remain in camp until Loudnose wakes up. Once we're able to hear what happened from him, we will further discuss any punishment that may follow. If you are found leaving or outside of camp, even for a Gathering, you will be in even more trouble than you already are. If he..." Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "If he doesn't pull through, then you will be held responsible for his death." She hissed, flicking her tail to dismiss the she-cat and looking back down at Loudnose, covered in cobwebs and wrapped with a splint and stinking of herbs. Tears welled up in her eyes, a lump in her throat silencing any further words as she silently, carefully picked up her son, looking to Mistyfalcon to take the other side. Swiftpaw lay sobbing nearby, and her heart broke further, the tears falling into the fur at her cheeks as she led the way to the medicine den with Loudnose's unconscious form.

He was relieved when Basilbloom finally arrived and began to work on Loudnose, though his tail continued to whip back and forth like a snake as he glared at Marshmallow. She was lucky that Murkystar was the level-headed one. If it were up to him she'd be chasing moths somewhere else for this beyond infantile act of stupidity. Loudnose could have been dead because of her, and for all they knew that could still happen.

Basilbloom had stepped back, with instructions to move Loudnose to her den. Mistyfalcon gently brushed his tail along Basilbloom's back, quiet concern for her wellbeing mingling with worry for Loudnose. Carefully he moved to support the unconscious tom when Murkystar did, hardly registering anything else around them.