Scars Full of Pride [Fuzzybelly]

Fuzzybelly's body was sore; this sinus headache was without relent, and he was struggling a little bit.

What he wasn't expecting was his own father, bringing a dead fox to the den, covered in wounds.

"Well, this is the first time I think any medicine cat's been brought a fox into the den..."

A quick triaging glance immediately identified that Duskflight couldn't bear weight on one of his front legs. That would have been a serious injury on a young warrior, but his father wasn't a newleaf kit. Fuzzybelly took a deep breath.

"The rite of passage?"

What did his father have left to prove? He had served ShadowClan for longer than many cats had walked the forest. Fuzzybelly wasn't sure how much he liked this concept of hunting down known predators and battling for sport.

"It's always good to see you, Duskflight... you need to lay down. I need to look at that leg."

The fluffy brown tom didn't resemble his father much, if at all. He was his mother's kit. He took one of his paws and tapped the elbow joint and the forearm of Duskflight's legs.

Foxdung, that is broken, isn't it?

"That's a pretty serious break."

Well, darn it, that was supposed to be a thought.

"It could take a long time to heal right. You've got to be more careful, Duskflight..."

Was this where Snakebite got his personality from? Fuzzybelly blinked. Ivycreek wasn't perfect by any means, but he didn't think his mom would be hunting for sport.

Fuzzybelly got to work, grabbing bindweed, two twigs to set the leg, and some cobwebs and marigold to patch him up. Thankfully, most of the gashes seemed pretty uniform; less likely to get infected that way, the edges weren't as jagged as most battle injuries. That ear though... an injury that close to the head could have killed him.

"As your son and as your medicine cat, please don't hunt down foxes."

It took him a while, but once the bleeding stopped and the leg was set, he offered Duskflight some poppy seeds.

"You need to sleep, a lot. That leg could take a moon or more to heal, we'll have you walking as soon as we can. You could have lost the whole leg."

It still wasn't a guarantee that he'd be keeping the leg, especially if it got infected. But Fuzzybelly opted not to speak that into the eyes of Silverpelt. They didn't need ideas.