[iliri]

Springpaw
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
purrks: herbal knowledge - tier 2 | the collector | mind reader | skip the steps[all perm. active; sts for battle training]

cw; minor mentions of gore

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It was pleasing to hear that her mentor was as equally inventive in wanting to hear what Coldamber had taught Springpaw. It almost mirrored the childlike excitement that the young calico had once bore when she listened to the enduring information about herbal knowledge and medical advice from Coldamber herself when she was explaining all of the complex knowledge towards her. Even though she didn’t have the slightest idea about what both stinging nettle and yarrow did, she did have knowledge about what exactly lavender did; especially after hearing her mentor speak about it a good portion of times at half-moon gatherings and going into expert detail about its usage. So, with dainty paws uplifted, the calico’s lips wormed into a light grin as she began to speak. “I know… what lavender… does already… but I don’t… know how… those two… work… to be… exact… although… I would… be glad… to hear… what more… that you… know, Driz!” Springpaw allowed herself to let loose a giddily giggle after expressing her brief knowledge of the sweet-smelling herb. If she was being honest, she could’ve almost sworn that lavender was her mentor’s favorite herb from how often she spoke about it!

Moving onto the topic of deathberries seemed to quickly make the lightened demeanor from the both of them decrease in size. Even the simplest mention of the poisonous herb was easy to make a conversation go south. It couldn’t be an easy topic to explain how the dangerous berry worked whenever a random clan-mate of theirs ingested it by accident or on purpose. Hopefully no one would ever think of beginning back those berries if they ever caught sight of them. If they did, she’d be sure to quickly dispose of them so no kit or foolish apprentice that snuck into their herb storages would dare to eat any of them. Her thoughts among this matter finally dwelled away as she sunk in her mentor’s words, her brows furrowing in acknowledgment as she listened to Drizzlecloud explain the herb in immaculate detail. It was disheartening to know that she didn’t know how long it took for it to kill, but was informed that it was relatively quick and painless. It was a little strange to hear given the herb was known to be called an infamous “deathberry”, but she supposed that was just from how quick it takes its victims. Thankfully, Drizzlecloud was quick to add on the fact that if she ever had anyone sneak a deathberry anywhere, that stinging nettle seeds were good for making the patient induce any vomiting to get it out of their system. Other than that useful source of information, tampering with any other poisonous herb like deathberries sounded like a disastrous experience waiting to happen.

An uneasy shiver drew up Springpaw’s spine, making the fur among her shoulders raise indignantly as the thought of the berries ever so slightly crossed away from her mind. It wouldn’t be easy to start thinking of anything else while the topic of the poisonous herbs still struck her mind. But, her mentor’s words of her being prepared to learn about some complex techniques as she was mature enough at least made her distracted to focus briefly on her mentor for a few moments of silence. Hearing her mentor be able to tell her that she was mature enough to know anything complex made her heart swirl and twist itself into something that even she couldn’t quite comprehend. Drizzlecloud thought that Springpaw was prepared to move into more touchy, sensible topics, and Springpaw wasn’t sure if she wanted to feel physically and mentally prepared to hear what her mentor was going to teach her. Being a medicine cat was a tough challenge to face, but she knew that from the moment she had been assigned to be Drizzlecloud’s apprentice many moons ago. Either way, the calico felt at least somewhat prepared enough to hear the potential gruesome topics of any techniques that Drizzlecloud was going to mention.

First topic that they were starting off with was broken legs and tails, which didn’t seem so bad for something that was considered critical for the patient themselves whenever they got a broken bone. Her brows creased as she listened to the information pouring off her mentor like a vice, seeping it in as she began to think about the potentials of her running into any sort of situation with one or two of their clan-mates having broken legs or tails. Well, at least she knew what to do in case any patients ended up with any sort of stiffness in the healing process—get some daisy and use the stems to properly ease it from the stiffness. But, unfortunately, given that it was suddenly leaf-bare and the well-known knowledge that daisies do not grow well in the cold, spotting some in the potential future in case any of their parents end up with a stiffened joint while the broken bone is healing may be unlikely. “Well… I know… something… that can… also help… with… stiffened joints… too… for the… progress,” Springpaw explained, seemingly pleased to know such information due to Coldamber's efficient training. If she didn’t hear such knowledge that she had today, she could’ve sworn that it would risk them both being demoted in a matter of seconds.

Even though the process of explaining how to bind broken bones have been short lived, she could already see the difference in her mentor’s expression as she began to think of the next few techniques to teach her. Were these next ones going to be gruesome and more difficult to take in? Judging from the apparent somberness masking her mentor’s expression, that seemed to be the case. As soon as Drizzlecloud began to speak, the moment of flesh wounds being brought to the calico’s attention made the muscles in her throat tighten up. She wasn’t sure if it was due to the physical trauma that she had experienced a while ago back at the battle of Sunkissed Creek, but she knew that Drizzlecloud had instinctively struck a nerve with the mentioning of flesh wounds. But, thankfully in advance, the information that the ticked tabby was giving the young molly was only telling her other tactics that they could use while working on a clinically bleeding patient. She easily memorized the fact that she and Drizzlecloud had always memorized on putting pressure against gushing wounds to hopefully staunch the blood flow, but instead using cobweb wraps. The information sounded useful, and relatively important for the young calico to remember, for just in case they ever ran into trouble like that with clinically bleeding patients.

Springpaw easily noted the uncomfortable tension that her mentor began to mentally deal with, judging from her sudden lack of wording for a few moments as it seemed she was thinking of how she was going to describe the next techniques of which Coldamber had taught her. Springpaw could’ve sworn that she felt her brain begin to churn in gears as she began to figure out that this one may be one of those… gruesome techniques that Coldamber had told her about way back then. Just as Springpaw was about to assume that her quiet assumptions were correct, her mentor was quick to speak and began to move onto the topic and deep, more critical wounds. Uneasiness clenched itself onto her inner consciousness as she felt it crawl onto the back of her spine, making her tail whisk uncomfortably. Touchy subject indeed, given the fact that the feline that Drizzlecloud was telling this to had suffered a similar injury. The more that Drizzlecloud spoke, the more the dark memories had loomed themselves over her shoulders. Her frigid-cold muscles stiffening as she suddenly hauled herself to a stop during mid-trek, one of her snow-white paws instinctively reaching up to gently caress the gnarly, notable scarring around her throat. Her breathing had nearly stirred, but she made sure to keep herself content and steady to make sure that she didn’t freak.

“Was… that how… you fixed… this?” The question in general rolling off her tongue almost made her stutter, as her throat muscles instinctively clenched to keep herself from making a fool of herself and speaking any further. Her tongue felt as if it were freezing due to the foul, almost eerily familiar metallic taste that was engulfing her taste buds. It was a familiar taste of which she was far used to detecting whenever she worked on patients with crucial injuries. Blood. She hated its acrid, bitter odor, and yet its metallic scent at worst. It always turned foul whenever a wound started to turn infected, and yet, she was almost ashamed of the fact of having moons of medical knowledge to know such irrational scents. It was foolish of her to hold onto a small grudge like that, but the memory felt like it was tugging onto her very core the more that she thought about it. Just as Springpaw felt herself sinking into the deepest crevices of her mind, she hadn’t realized that Drizzlecloud was beginning to speak about another topic of any critical wounds. Disembowelment. The singular word itself made her stomach begin tossing and churning with unease, her ears taking in the grueling information that her mentor was somehow speaking so flawlessly about. The fact that she would have to potentially deal with any situations revolving… any of her clan-mates internal organs felt absolutely revolting to the young molly, but she knew it would happen sooner or later at some point of her medical career.

Even after Drizzlecloud had explained the process of having to deal with any possible complications of disembowelment, Springpaw couldn’t help but find herself critically thinking about how she would have to deal with such situations like that. She wouldn’t know how to feel if she had to be experiencing such grotesquely traumatic events that happened to one of her clan-mates. Sure, death was a natural part of life, but she wouldn’t know how to deal with something as complicated as that. Having to use tree sap to patch up the torn skin after the organs were placed back into the proper place made her stomach feel uneasy. Of course, there was also the option of mercily killing the patient and spare them from any terms of suffering, but it still felt wrong to listen to her mentor describe all of this so casually without much of an issue. Lips briefly quivering, Springpaw nodded to her mentor’s words of hoping that they’ll never have to come across anything like it. If they did, then Springpaw would surely feel herself having the unbridled urge to revolt at the thought of committing such acts. She forced herself to swallow the bile that collected at the back of her throat, allowing her mentor’s fluffy tail to comfortingly run across her back in an apologetic manner. Springpaw wanted to say something in reply, yet nothing submerged in her throat. It was almost like it was clogged, and Drizzlecloud’s next set of words only worsened the churning feel in her stomach.

Tough topic it was, especially with the fact that she had mentioned ‘slit throats’. But the horror wasn’t over just yet, as her mentor had seemingly mentioned that the next few topics that they were going to go over weren’t going to be as light as the other two topics surprisingly were. How were severely critical wounds and disembowelment considered lighter topics? Maybe they weren’t as sensitive as to this particular topic that Drizzlecloud was going to dive into. Just as the young molly had been curious with what it may be about, her heart sank as soon as Drizzlecloud began speaking about kitting. There was going to be a point in time where Springpaw was going to need to learn about kitting, huh. To be fair, she never ran herself into a situation where she needed to aid a queen in kitting, but her mentor thankfully stepped up to explain the scenario in case she needed to help a queen give birth to any kits. It didn’t seem so bad with Drizzlecloud explaining that she would need to be moral support for the queen and just simply require her presence in case the birthing goes wrong. From what the molly got from most of that, she just needed to aid the queen and make sure they are able to properly give birth to a litter of kits. Of course, she’d have to check and see if the kits were alive, of course, which sounded relatively straightforward even though it was a little bit of a disgusting task. But, Springpaw dealt with worse than just childbirth.

Her small glimmer of hope for the next part of this being not as gruesome as this was quick to diminish as Drizzlecloud began to go into… grotesque detail about how labor would work for a queen. Each word made her mind go hazy, the world feeling tilted in its axis as her ears barely took in the brutal information of how she should aid in a birth. She understood that she needed to replace the moss as soon as possible before any predators would become attracted towards the scent. That she would need to do breathing exercises with the queen to try to keep them from freaking out and keep them calm. Of course, a sturdy stick would be needed for the queen obviously so that she would have something to put pressure against. It was a little unfortunate that she couldn’t give poppyseeds to a queen while she was having kits, but it made sense why she couldn’t. She knew the power of what those seeds did, and they could easily become fatal if she gave anyone more than two seeds at a time. The next pouring of info felt a little bit uncomfortable to bear, making the young healer briefly tense up as Drizzlecloud described the way kits looked afterbirth. It sounded relatively disgusting, if she was being honest. Thank the stars above she ain’t having any kits in the future! She wouldn’t even know how to properly handle the probabilities of parenthood.

“Wow… being a… queen sounds… like a… tough job… especially when… having kits… thank… the stars… that I’m… never having… any kits… in my… life,” Springpaw chuffed, a smile sleazing its way onto her maw as she allowed herself to at least bring some amusement to the tour. Half of her wondered if they were almost to Willow’s Rise at this very moment, but that thought didn’t linger for very long as Drizzlecloud began to speak about another thing that she would need to do in case a queen has any sort of struggle with pushing any kits out. Massaging sounded simple, even though the molly herself hadn’t done anything like massaging before. It sounded relatively strange on her tongue to say, but she supposed that it was a technique that her mentor knew how to use whenever aiding in an occasional birth. When Springpaw began to think that was the end of Drizzlecloud explaining how birthing worked, it had only seemed to further continue as her mentor began explaining the next topic, which was something that was considered the most… gruesome of all the topics that she had already mentioned beforehand. Stillborn kits. Springpaw never knew the horror of what it was like to lose a kit, as she was still a mere apprentice, but she knew that it was a devastating pain to endure for a queen. Listening to Drizzlecloud explain the scenarios of what she would need to do during a situation like this made her heart feel heavy, but it didn’t compare to the next set of emotions for the next topic afterwards.

Losing a queen sounded much worse than losing a kit, in all fair honesty. The kits would never have a proper chance to know who their birth parent were in the first place if the queen died either during the birth or after. Springpaw remained stolid as she listened to Drizzlecloud explain the fact that she would have to manually remove the kits if they were still inside a queen that died during the middle of birth. It made Springpaw a little puzzled at first, as she wouldn’t be certain how exactly a cat like herself would get kits out of a queen if she couldn’t push them out. Well, thankfully for Drizzlecloud’s keen knowledge, it had seemed that she would have to… cut open the queen? That sounded relatively difficult to do, and also gut-wrenching. Springpaw wouldn’t be sure if she would be able to handle such a situation like that, since all it did was just make her stomach whirl uncomfortably. The rest of what her mentor stated sounded almost familiar to what she stated about her having to clean the kits after they were born, but they would have to be fed off from the deceased queen if there were no nursing queens around. It sounded… just sad, if she thought about it long enough. No queen deserved to die after having kits, let alone the kits becoming orphaned from the whole ordeal.

By the time her mentor had finished speaking, it had seemed that they had arrived at their destination: Willow’s Rise. The place would’ve looked beautiful if it wasn’t covered by the snow, but Springpaw supposed that it looked fine the way it was. The snow wasn’t that horrible to look at. It looked relatively beautiful, but Springpaw would think that it would look better in the summertime without all the snow covering all the burial areas of where fallen clan-mates lie. “So… this is… Willow’s Rise?” Springpaw questioned, craning her head to look up towards her mentor after asking, feeling unbothered by her mentor wanting her to take a minute to think out through all the topics that she had been exposed to. Sure, it was a little gruesome, but she was still standing tall by herself, if not just only a little shaken up by the sheer weight of the detail in the topics.

@Omari [ now my turn to apologize for this insanely long post lol ]