The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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Wrenpaw had just returned with the herbs she'd requested from her stores, and Sandyshell had finished setting up a clear, out-of-the-way spot in camp that was safe from the surrounding river. She’d been told she needed to spend more time out of her den, so training would take place in the nice breeze. Luckily today wasn’t as sweltering as others.
“Thanks, Wrenpaw,” she purred after receiving the materials, “This is everything we need.” Her creamy tan paws quietly organized the sticks, bindweed, and stinging nettle by her side. She felt relaxed once everything was set. “Okay, I’m going to show you how to treat a broken bone,” she started, “But… we’ll need a leg to work on.” The medicine cat glanced over and spotted Lavenderpaw nearby, seemingly doing nothing. “Lavenderpaw? Could you help us with something, please? If- if you’re not busy of course.”
Wrenpaw was excited, her head held high as she trotted out of the Medicine den. She smiled when Sandyshell confirmed she’d brought the right herbs, a pleased little trill of pride for having identified the herbs correctly going down her back. Her tail swished cheerfully in the sand as she leaned over to watch Sandyshell organize things. “Got it!” She said with a purr.
She followed Sandyshell’s gaze to Lavenderpaw and offered a broad smile and a wave of her tail in greeting, sitting up straight beside her mentor.
Lavenderpaw was between duties for the moment. Every day he tried to keep busy, but every so often he would look toward the entrance in the reeds, expecting Drizzlepool to come home from patrol. And then he had to gently but firmly remind himself the last time he saw her. When green-leaf flowers were scattered over her body. Her ginger-and-cream fur was groomed silky and cold to the touch of his nose. Her body was pushed out into the flow of the river. Lavenderpaw made it half-way across the island to bring a fish to Drizzlepool in the medicine den before remembering she was no longer there, either. He completely forgot what he had been doing before that.
Lavenderpaw was luckily not left to ponder long, glancing over at Sandyshell when she called him. Some herbs were neatly set out by her side. Wrenpaw sat proudly with her mentor, a broad smile and waving tail inviting Lavenderpaw over. He almost sighed with relief. "No, I'm not busy!" he smiled softly. He scooted promptly over to assist the pair, looking down at the herbs with interest.
Sandyshell smiled with relief and briefly meowed her thanks. She then noticed Lavenderpaw’s attention drawn to the prepared materials. “We’ll be using these on your leg, if that's alright,” she’d begun to explain, “I’d offer my own to practice on but wrapping bindweed can be tricky without help. We’ll also apply a poultice, but that can be easily washed off in the river.” She looked to him hopefully, a bit nervous he might refuse. Quickly she looked around for something comfortable for him to lay on. Thankfully, he agreed, and so Sandyshell gestured to a level spot of grass. “Lay down here with one of your legs stretched out for us- your choice which. Again, thank you.”
The medicine cat turned to her apprentice excitedly. Teaching her was one of the things she looked forward to most nowadays. “Ready? Oh, and since we have a clanmate this time, feel free to practice your bedside manner.” Once Wrenpaw was ready to listen Sandyshell began the lesson, speaking openly for Lavenderpaw to hear as well. “So there are a few different types of bone fractures, mild, moderate, and severe. Mild being the best-case scenario, where the bone is fractured in one place but is still connected to the other half. Moderate fracture means it is fully split in two. And a severe fracture is where it is split into multiple pieces, or completely crushed… Patients rarely heal from this.” The molly’s ears lowered while talking. It was important to know, but that didn’t mean she liked talking about it, especially to Wrenpaw, who she noticed was more sensitive to the notion of not being able to always save a patient or prevent their injuries. Sandyshell gave the young molly a few moments to retain all that information.
Wrenpaw greeted Lavenderpaw with a soft purr, before turning her attention back to Sandyshell. She listened closely to Sandyshell’s instructions, watching with sharp blue eyes, a look of focused determination on her face. Sandyshell seemed happy, which made Wrenpaw happy in turn. She was glad that Sandyshell seemed to look forward to their training as much as Wrenpaw did.
“Ready,” She agreed with another broad grin, eyes lighting up. She always liked facing challenges and learning new things. She listened closely, nodding along. Her ear flicked too as Sandyshell talked about the worst case scenario, taking a breath. After another little nod, Wrenpaw says, “Mild, moderate, and severe. Got it. What are we going to be treating today? How do you tell the difference? It's not a visible difference, right?”
Lavenderpaw was curious how the sticks, bindweed, and nettles were going to be used. "Alright," he agreed, settling down on the level spot of grass where Sandyshell gestured. He extended his closest front leg for the medicine-cats to work with, hoping it would be simpler than his paralysed back legs.
He smiled gently, "Of course, happy to help." Lavenderpaw turned his ears to Sandyshell to listen with interest to her teaching Wrenpaw. His face showed a similar focused determination to Wrenpaw, Lavenderpaw's soft yellow eyes watching alongside her sharp blue eyes.
He was a little curious about the lesson, since the injury he had been too young to remember which meant he didn't have use of his back legs was a break as well, of his spine. Luckily, the medicine-cat apprentice repeated back the facts, allowing it to sink in for Lavenderpaw.
Wrenpaw asked good questions and Lavenderpaw waited attentively and patiently for Sandyshell's next instructions.
Subject: Re: Sticks, Stones, & Broken Bones [c] Sun 1 Oct 2023 - 20:25
Sandyshell
[OOC: Now it's my turn to stall the topic ^^']
“Perfect questions.” Sandyshell turned to their pretend patient, dear Lavenderpaw. She hovered her cream-tipped tail above the apprentice’s chosen limb, explaining to Wrenpaw as she drew it along the bone, “Start by lightly tracing the leg with your tail. You might feel it risen in a particular spot. Once you do, poke your claw into the damaged area.” The medicine cat demonstrated as she spoke, ever so carefully pressing a claw into Lavenderpaw’s arm. It shouldn’t hurt, but she glanced up at her assistant just in case. “If they feel an awful pain, or if you hear a crack, then you know where a fracture point is. Some visible symptoms of a broken leg are bruising, swelling, physical deformity, and maybe even some blood. At this point, you might need to treat them for the pain, or shock. Do you remember what herbs work best for those things?”
OOC: The wait was once again on my end this time… I’m sorry y’all!
Wrenpaw listened attentively, blue eyes narrowed slightly in her focus. Her tail lifted to follow Sandyshell’s movements to get a feel for what Sandyshell was demonstrating, sending Lavenderpaw a smile in gratitude for being their pretend patient. She nodded slowly, absorbing the information Sandyshell gave her, and turned her eyes back to her mentor as she’s asked a question. “Poppy seeds for pain,” She started with a small nod. That was one of the easiest to remember. Poppy seeds like Poppyshine, and they made pain go away, just like how Wrenpaw always felt more cheerful even when she was in a bad mood after visiting her aunt. “And.. that can be used for shock too, right?” She paused then, thinking. “I… don’t think I remember the others,” She says apologetically, shaking her head with a small frown. Wrenpaw isn’t entirely used to being uncertain like she usually is when treading the still-new territory of learning how to be a medicine cat. She’s been working hard, but she’s still learning, and memorizing herbs doesn’t come instinctually like a spar or a hunt.
Lavenderpaw’s whiskers twitched and his mouth twisted just a tiny bit as the pair of medicine-cats traced their tails over his foreleg as lightly as the breeze. It was a grimace of laughter, and not pain, from the pretend patient. Laying relaxed on the grass in the sun and the nice breeze, receiving Wrenpaw’s brisk warm smile and Sandyshell’s nervously soft-spoken lesson, it was painless. It even relieved some of the hurt of his friend’s recent death. Still, Sandyshell glanced at him attentively as she delicately pressed a claw into the imaginary injury. Lavenderpaw smiled. He was used to being poked and prodded by Sandyshell! After all, the medicine-cat had saved his life when he was small, helped him grow into a strong young apprentice, and checked up on him to see he followed her prescribed treatment to this day. Lavenderpaw observed alongside Wrenpaw, trying to learn even a fraction of what the medicine-cat apprentice was. When she named poppy seeds, his light yellow eyes lit up with recognition. “Tiny black seeds, right?” Lavenderpaw knew that from his usual duty helping organise the herbs, though he was more clueless about uses and gave Wrenpaw a little apologetic helpless shrug when she got stuck. If poppy seeds were for both pain and shock, surely it was a good answer. “There seems to always be some in the stores.”
