RiverClan Medicine Cat's Den

[wren]

“Well now that this is taken care of” the tom murmured watching as Fawnsqueak left. He’d mark that down as one of the weirdest thing he’d ever done. Killed a cat twice. Well.. watched them die and.. killed them afterwards? No matter he didn’t need to bother with that logistics of the situation.

”I don’t want this freaky body lurching back to life. But if you want zombie cat to get a vigil that’s on you guys but I’d bury it now” the tom crouched again hoping the riverclan medicine cat helped hoist the limp body onto his shoulders again. The stench of blood was slowly getting to him. Gross.

@CheetahPelt

[CheetahPelt]

@wren

Otterstone nodded. “I don’t think anyone who wasn’t here, plus Lionstar, should hear about this.” She hefted Echobreeze onto his shoulders, making sure to not drop it too suddenly on the Windclanner’s back. Afterwards she continued. “I agree. We get rid of the body as soon as possible. Most bodies are set into the ocean to be swept off by the tides, or buried. Either one works for me. We can bring her to the seashore behind the den and decide there, but she needs to be out of the den.” She padded to the not as visible back exit to her den, looking back at Coyotesnarl.

[Cobra]

(Can you heal her? That's not really fair)

[Spiderfrost]

Originally Posted by Camilla

{That's fine! It hadn't been replied to yet}
@Spiderfrost

Aspenpool sighed heavily knowing that she looked awful and that Dawncloud was right. Dropping dead from lack of sleep certainly couldn't be the answer to her problems either. "Silverpaw stayed back. Not enough training yet to join in on the raid." Her apprentice was still new. Aspenpool hadn't suffered any injuries in the raid either. She wondered what made Dawncloud decide to inquire about herbs but figured it was just in light of the recent events.

Dawncloud nodded to Aspenpool. "That's a relief, it worried me whenever a young cat goes into battle." she sighed as they came upon the medicine cats den.

"Excuse me, may we come in?" Dawncloud spoke up, staying at the entrance to the den so as not to disturb any of the medicine cats that were inside if they were in the midst of treating someone.


-- @Dipper -- @wren -- @CheetahPelt

[Fawn]

Fawnsqueak peeked up and scrambled to his paws, expecting more mangled cats to be showing themselves at the mouth of the den but was surprised to see them, appearing as if they were okay at a glance. Perhaps he was missing something. "Uh, hey.. is there something we-- uh, I could do for you?" He wasn't sure if there was a "we" at the moment since Otterstone and Coyotesnarl may still be preoccupied with that.. burial task, her "revival" making him shudder for a moment. "Is there anything wrong?" he inquired, tacking it on when he didn't think they were the most... worse for wear clanmates that he'd healed in the past couple days.

@Spiderfrost @Camilla

[Spiderfrost]

Dawncloud gave Fawnsqueak a calm smile, walking in and sitting off to the side so that Aspenpool had room to come in.

"Don't fret Fawnsqueak," Dawncloud assured her clan mate that Lionstar had essentially shoehorned into a role they didn't appear to have been trained for. The poor thing looked about ready to jump out of his pelt and she really didn't want that to happen. Lionstar liked this one a lot, trusted him too as they were the first cat their leader had gone to for this task when Otterstone failed to be prepared for the after raid injuries.

"Aspenpool over here has been having difficulties sleeping. I was headed here already to ask for something else, but well, Aspenpool has an apprentice they need to take care of. She needs a good nights sleep." the amber eyed molly explained, turning to her companion in case they had anything else to add.


-- @Dipper -- @Camilla

[Camilla]

Aspenpool looked at both of the other cats, stopping for a moment to gather her thoughts before she spoke. She wanted to scream out for help. Wanted to tell Dawncloud and Fawnsqueak about the bumps in the night that kept her up. About the darkness in the forest so late, as she padded in silence, avoiding sleep. It wasn't just that she couldn't fall asleep. It was that she didn't want to. She wondered if these were the same cats that her tossing and turning would keep up all night in the den. She wanted to tell them that as she would drift off, she would already be beating herself up. Full of regrets.

She wanted them to know that every night she was greeted with visions of death and terror. Orange and red flames of fire and the screeching of other cats. Sounds of helplessness and horror. Aspenpool would feel like her ears were about to bleed. Sometimes she would swear she could smell the stench of burning fur. Other times she would find herself unable to awake at all. Stuck inside the nightmare with the screaming, and burning, and-

She stopped herself. She couldn't say anything. She had told so many med cats- and nothing ever helped. All saying anything ever did was tarnish her reputation and leave her with more questions than answers. She had done this whole poppy seed thing before. And it worked... fine. Along with the many other herbs the med cats had tried. But the nightmares would keep coming back. She had them since she was a kit, and nothing had helped so far.

She didn't want to bring unwanted attention upon herself. "Yes, Fawnsqueak. I know you are busy. I have always had the hardest time sleeping, but I really need to get some sleep so I can do my duties for the clan and...I don't know...just function." That was her pitch on why she wanted poppy seeds- just function. She wanted to go hide under a rock. It was just impossible to tell anyone how she felt.

The truth was she was glad Dawncloud cared at all. It was nice of her to offer to come with Aspenpool, and she really tried to focus on the positives.
@Dipper @Spiderfrost

[Fawn]

A little taken aback, a heat rose to his cheeks as he frowned. "I'm not fretting," Fawnsqueak protested lightly, eyebrows pinching together in thought, "I'm just.. trying to figure out what you're doing here?" As far as he knew, medicine cats didn't receive social calls that were just for the sake of being pleasant, not that he would know what to do with them anyway. Barring the whole.. "clanmates in trouble" thing, he'd probably prefer business if only to act on a social script of identify the problem and fix it. Idle chatter... that was where things got rocky. Peering beyond Dawncloud to Aspenpool, Fawnsqueak surveyed her for a second--noting the overtired and lethargic appearance--before returning to the escort. "Wait, so.. what do you need?" he asked Dawncloud after she mentioned she'd been heading here already, yet if there were any injuries visible on her, they were escaping his attention.

Fawnsqueak wasn't quite grasping this was a request for poppy seeds considering those were painkillers (as far as he'd been taught), and he was a bit skeptical but finally said, "To be honest, I... would assume you're probably better off getting the, uh, good night's sleep in your nest rather than here, but you can take one of these nests.. I guess." They had patient nests typically set aside for the cats that were too injured or sick to be mixed in with their clanmates, but maybe she wanted the peace of a medicine cat's den. If it could really be called peaceful. "So.. yeah." He flicked his puff tail and gave a cough, uncertain. "Those are all ready for you if you want to have one to rest in for a while. I... don't think there's any sleeping herb or anything, but maybe once Coyotesnarl comes back he can help you."


@Camilla @Spiderfrost

[Camilla]

Aspenpool looked past Fawnsqueak at the neat little nests laid out. It was an idea. She was surprised as in all her moons of complaining about sleep nobody had ever suggested to try to take a nap in the med cat den. She wasn't quite sure what that would do, but knew that Fawnsqueak hadn't seemed ready for the role, he was just doing his best. She didn't expect him to fix a problem twenty moons old on a whim anyways. Aspenpool nodded "Sure. Maybe I can get some good sleep in here. I appreciate your offer, Fawnsqueak." Maybe the background noise of cats chatting and knowing others were nearby would help her fall asleep. She was long overdo and would have probably passed out anywhere in camp but this seemed like a good spot. "I wont stay to long. Promise." She said as she tried to make herself comfortable in a nest over to the side. She laid her head on her paws and attempted to close her eyes. Hopefully she would fall asleep soon.
@Dipper @Spiderfrost

[Spiderfrost]

-- @Dipper -- @Camilla --

Dawncloud watched the glazed over look in Aspenpool's eyes as she lost herself to her thoughts. she was concerned. The blue she-cat brushed her tail over her clan mates back as a soothing comfort. The warrior had a terrible feeling this was more than just having an issue sleeping. Looking closer at the fellow warrior, she looked a lot less open to explaining something.

It wasn't until Fawnsqueak spoke up that Aspenpool was broken out of her thoughts as he offered a nest in the den to her. Perhaps having that privacy would help? The unsure, but slightly hopeful look that crossed Aspenpools face made the molly think otherwise. She would have to ask about it later if Aspenpool felt comfortable enough to speak to her about what was really causing her sleeping problem. They didn't really know each other well, but Dawncloud worried about everything is she was honest with herself. And Dawn was knew herself better than any other cat her age knew themselves.

She watched her companion walk over to make herself comfortable in one of the available nests and close her eyes to attempt sleep of any kind. It was then she turned to Fawnsqueak with a furrowed brow.

"I wanted to ask if I could learn some basic first aid. But...perhaps I should wait for Otterstone and Coyotesnarl. You seem as lost as a any cat thrust into a position they weren't prepared for..." Her plummy tail twitched at her paws as she inspected Fawnsqueak, though not harshly.

"Are you ok? Truthfully? I'm not asking because I think you are an incompetent cat, it was all just very sudden and it has me concerned." she asked sincerely.