Berryshine was relieved; Pearlshine seemed grateful, and excited. "Of course," she purred, pausing to dig into her medicine stores. One of her flash-frozen preserved herbs, burnet, was dropped from her maw in front of the queen.
"Eat this. I-It's called burnet... doesn't taste great, b-but it'll help keep your strength up during these last few c-cold days of leaf-bare." Newleaf was coming soon, which was good; the queen could have her kits in a warmer moon. "I-If you ever feel off, o-or want to get something checked out, please let me know!"
[ -1 burnet ]
CW: blood desensitization treatment; a bit of vivid description
Berryshine's eyes softened at the apprentice's acquiescence; the medicine cat could sense that this was a lot for the young cat, but she was also being incredibly brave by rising to the challenge. Even if Berry couldn't sympathize with this sort of issue, she knew of similar ones... and had some ideas.
"Good... w-we can take this slow, a-and you let me know if you need to take breaks, okay? T-The focus is on getting you better, not to rush it."
She flicked her tail, signaling that she'd be right back, and disappeared out of the den. A few moments later, the herbalist returned, a mouse in her jaws. It was a simple little thing, not too meaty due to leaf-bare's scarcity; there shouldn't be that much blood, which hopefully would begin the process of desensitization.
"W-Well... there are a few ways I can think to go about this. One if them is that perhaps you can w-watch me treat a few patients. But since no one i-is in here today... we'll start with the next best thing." Berryshine looked down at the mouse at her paws; her own mouth watered at the scent, and the thought of biting into the half-warm fresh-kill was enticing. She tried to imagine how that might be different for Starrypaw, tried to empathize.
"I think, b-before we make you try to get used to touching or tasting it... perhaps w-we'll work on making you comfortable seeing and smelling blood." This was all a bit of guesswork on Berryshine's part, but it made sense to her to start out with what was easier to manage. Forcing the wary apprentice to munch straight into fresh kill was likely only going to drive her further away. "I'm going to cut into this mouse now, a-as if I were going to split it to share. I want you to think of blood, a-at least for prey, as a good thing... it's part of what's been given to us by StarClan's bounty t-to sustain us, give us energy. Obviously, blood from cats' wounds is different — but with our fresh-kill, it's like a life force. Does... that make sense?"
The medicine cat spoke gently as she extended one claw from her small paw, letting it just barely drag over the dead mouse's sandy-brown fur. A thin line of red appeared on its thin fur, blossoming with blood droplets; a small slice, barely breaking the skin. Wanting to see how Starrypaw would react to the small amount of blood, she stopped there, watching the apprentice's reaction.
Berryshine perked up her ears as Primroseadder called into the den; she'd recognized the younger warrior's voice at once. Turning to welcome her in, Berryshine flicked her tail in greeting. "P-Please, come on in..."
Her whisker brows furrowed slightly in worry, however, as Primroseadder spoke. Nauseous and lightheaded... could she be sick? A sickness wouldn't do the Clan any good right now.
"Mmm... I see," the medicine cat began, approaching the warrior. A distinct, familiar scent had touched her nose, one that instantly alerted her as to what might be going on... but wanting to be sure, she tilted her head, giving Prim a sniff and a quick inspection as if she were looking for any signs of illness. "Could y-you lie on your side for me?" She asked gently, using her small paws to part through Primroseadder's fur. She spoke as she worked. "H-Have you noticed any... mood changes, of late? Perhaps changes in appetite?"
Berryshine turned around from where she'd been fixing up a used nest. She nodded, rising to her paws and padding to meet Oakblaze; her eyes softened slightly in concern upon seeing the kit in his jaws. Was the kit sick or injured? It didn't look like it, but any visit to the medicine den with such a young cat couldn't bode well.
"O-Of course... come on in," she mewed warmly, stepping back to give the warrior room. She gestured with her tail for him to lay Frostkit down on an open nest, gently nosing the kit to take in her scent, searching for any illness. "What's wrong? Is Frostkit alright...?"
Berryshine glanced up, having just put away some of her herbs from her last patient. She nodded, rising to her paws to meet Moondew.
"O-Of course... make yourself comfortable," the medicine cat invited, flicking her tail to gesture to the nearest moss nest if Moondew wished to sit. Then she tilted her head with a soft smile. Moondew didn't look or smell sick, so that was good — perhaps this was about something else. "What can I help you with?"
Moondew padded over to the nest that Berryshine indicated. She hesitated, and then started talking. "Uh... So, over the last couple moons, I have kept feeling really sick in the mornings. And I noticed that I put on a bit of weight, and I keep randomly craving food, like, really bad. I thought you migt know what's wrong, as you are the medicine cat..."
Primroseadder did as Berryshine asked and shifted so that she was lying on her flank. The she-cat's ears twitched. ''Freezin'fury said that I was actin' a bit...restless, but...I don't remember doin' anythin' that fits his description,'' she mewed, her emerald eyes narrowing down to slits. ''Besides that...not that I know of.''
Starrypaw
Riverclan | 10 moons Mind Reader, Lucky Duck 3
Starrypaw nodded. She knew she was extremely lucky that their medicine cat was such a gentle, caring cat and that she had some ideas on how to help her. Personally, she wouldn't have known what to do.
She watched as Berryshine went out and grabbed a scrawny mouse from the freshkill pile before returning and letting it down between them. Oh, of course... if I can't even eat land-prey, how can I hope to get over the whole thing? Like fighting for real. What would she do if a war suddenly broke out? She put aside the thought.
"Y-yes.." She acknowledged with a slight nod, trying to imagine Elderkit giving her this mouse as a gift, telling her she needed this energy to thrive and become a warrior. Starclan's gift... it's a nice thought. I like it.
Berryshine cut the mouse slightly, but blood didn't ooze out as she had imagined. How much had it remained on the prey pile?
The red color wasn't bright at all, but dark and scarlet. It didn't disturb her as much as she'd imagined.
"I think... the hardest part is opening the belly.. it really frightens me..." She admitted, remembering the scenes of apprentices hungrily munching the prey's insides after a long session of training, while she watched without a meal because the pile lacked fish at that moment.
Moondew padded over to the nest that Berryshine indicated. She hesitated, and then started talking. "Uh... So, over the last couple moons, I have kept feeling really sick in the mornings. And I noticed that I put on a bit of weight, and I keep randomly craving food, like, really bad. I thought you migt know what's wrong, as you are the medicine cat..."
Berryshine listened intently, her ears perked and her eyes flickering over the warrior as she spoke. Those symptoms sounded... quite familiar. With a hum, she nodded, waiting for Moondew to finish until she spoke.
"T-That... can be one of a few things, though... I have a feeling which one," she admitted, approaching the warrior. "Would you mind lying on your side for me?"
The medic would then place her paws gently on Moondew's stomach, giving the she-cat a gentle sniff. That familiar scent touched her nose, and the slight ripples she could feel in the swollen belly only proved it. Raising her gaze to Moondew's, Berryshine offered a small, sweet smile.
"Y-Yes, I believe that's it... Moondew, i-it seems you're pregnant. I hope this comes as good news to you... congratulations," she purred, her voice as warm as her expression. New life in the Clans was always good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kailie
art by star
Primroseadder did as Berryshine asked and shifted so that she was lying on her flank. The she-cat's ears twitched. ''Freezin'fury said that I was actin' a bit...restless, but...I don't remember doin' anythin' that fits his description,'' she mewed, her emerald eyes narrowing down to slits. ''Besides that...not that I know of.''
Hm... perhaps it was still early. The medicine cat noted the signs, her pink nose twitching faintly. She gave Primroseadder an almost sheepish look. "Hm... I-I see. T-That may be coming soon, then..."
Berryshine just realized how ominous that might've sounded. She chuckled a bit, giving Primroseadder a warm look, hoping this was good news to the warrior... well, queen now.
"L-Let me be the first to congratulate you, Primroseadder... from what I can tell, i-it appears you're pregnant," Berry purred, touching her tail to the young queen's shoulder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wingnettle
Starrypaw
Riverclan | 10 moons Mind Reader, Lucky Duck 3
Starrypaw nodded. She knew she was extremely lucky that their medicine cat was such a gentle, caring cat and that she had some ideas on how to help her. Personally, she wouldn't have known what to do.
She watched as Berryshine went out and grabbed a scrawny mouse from the freshkill pile before returning and letting it down between them. Oh, of course... if I can't even eat land-prey, how can I hope to get over the whole thing? Like fighting for real. What would she do if a war suddenly broke out? She put aside the thought.
"Y-yes.." She acknowledged with a slight nod, trying to imagine Elderkit giving her this mouse as a gift, telling her she needed this energy to thrive and become a warrior. Starclan's gift... it's a nice thought. I like it.
Berryshine cut the mouse slightly, but blood didn't ooze out as she had imagined. How much had it remained on the prey pile?
The red color wasn't bright at all, but dark and scarlet. It didn't disturb her as much as she'd imagined.
"I think... the hardest part is opening the belly.. it really frightens me..." She admitted, remembering the scenes of apprentices hungrily munching the prey's insides after a long session of training, while she watched without a meal because the pile lacked fish at that moment.
CW: vivid-ish descriptions of blood desensitization !
Berryshine nodded sympathetically; that was understandable. All the blood 'n guts of the insides could be rather... disturbing, for someone with an aversion. Even if this was a cat's natural meal. But it was good to see that Starrypaw didn't look too affected at all by the thin slice on the mouse.
"T-That's understandable... with all the parts inside, it's a little harder t-to stomach," she mused, not realizing the... indirect pun, at first. Clearing her throat, the medicine cat placed her small paw over the mouse's stomach; it was a tiny creature, so there wouldn't be too much to see, though she knew it might still be unnerving to Starrypaw. "L-Like I said before, I think of it as StarClan's gift to us — natural energy, one life force to another. Those parts that kept that prey alive... n-now help keep us alive, as we eat them. It's good—healthy, even—for us."
She paused, unsheathing her claw once more, placing it on the mouse's tiny chest. "Here... I'm going to cut a little more into it. I will go s-slowly. The more you see it, perhaps it'll become less daunting... just try and get used to the sight and smell, y-yeah?"
Cleanly and carefully, the jumpy medic's paws were surprisingly steady as she dragging her claw down the middle of the mouse. It began to split, and her eyes flicked between the prey and Starrypaw. If the she-cat wouldn't immediately recoil or look away, perhaps just... getting used to being around the darker, gorier parts of the prey would start the process.
That would be the first step to keep working on, she assumed; if the young she-cat couldn't even stand to be around blood at all, how could they hope to get her to eat more land prey? Or be able to stomach combat? Well, cat blood was going to be a different problem than prey blood, she assumed... still, this was a start. At least with prey, blood being spilled was a good thing. If she could make Starrypaw's mind (and belly) agree with that, then perhaps the other issues wouldn't be as hard to tackle.
__________________
art by c1nder Berryshine is RiverClan's medicine cat!
she has a semi-closed den policy.
Craneflight stumbled, into the medicine den, coughing and wheezing. "Berryshine?" she gritted out. "I think-no, I AM sick. I thought it was just allergies, but I can barely stand or breathe."
Primroseadder RiverClan Queen
She / Her ; 23 Moons
Killer Aptitude Tier 3 [Inactive]
Ultimate Predator [Perm. Active]
Go with the Flow [Inactive]
Shadow Fiend [Inactive]
[this post takes place before primroseadder's kitting o7]
What...?
Her? Primroseadder? Pregnant?
Primroseadder's emerald eyes were wide with surprise, with shock.'''m...'m pregnant? Ya---Ya mean that 'm expectin' kits? Freezin'fury's kits, at that?'' The queen shook her head. ''I---Don't tell 'im, Berryshine. Please. I---I need ta tell Owlstar first.''
Moondew nodded. "That is good news, indeed." That was... rather a lot to take in. She stood up to leave. There were some cats she had to talk to. "Thank you, Berryshine." She left the medicine den, thinking over what she would do now.
@squidz
Berryshine was relieved; Pearlshine seemed grateful, and excited. "Of course," she purred, pausing to dig into her medicine stores. One of her flash-frozen preserved herbs, burnet, was dropped from her maw in front of the queen.
"Eat this. I-It's called burnet... doesn't taste great, b-but it'll help keep your strength up during these last few c-cold days of leaf-bare." Newleaf was coming soon, which was good; the queen could have her kits in a warmer moon. "I-If you ever feel off, o-or want to get something checked out, please let me know!"
[ -1 burnet ]
CW: blood desensitization treatment; a bit of vivid description
Berryshine's eyes softened at the apprentice's acquiescence; the medicine cat could sense that this was a lot for the young cat, but she was also being incredibly brave by rising to the challenge. Even if Berry couldn't sympathize with this sort of issue, she knew of similar ones... and had some ideas.
"Good... w-we can take this slow, a-and you let me know if you need to take breaks, okay? T-The focus is on getting you better, not to rush it."
She flicked her tail, signaling that she'd be right back, and disappeared out of the den. A few moments later, the herbalist returned, a mouse in her jaws. It was a simple little thing, not too meaty due to leaf-bare's scarcity; there shouldn't be that much blood, which hopefully would begin the process of desensitization.
"W-Well... there are a few ways I can think to go about this. One if them is that perhaps you can w-watch me treat a few patients. But since no one i-is in here today... we'll start with the next best thing." Berryshine looked down at the mouse at her paws; her own mouth watered at the scent, and the thought of biting into the half-warm fresh-kill was enticing. She tried to imagine how that might be different for Starrypaw, tried to empathize.
"I think, b-before we make you try to get used to touching or tasting it... perhaps w-we'll work on making you comfortable seeing and smelling blood." This was all a bit of guesswork on Berryshine's part, but it made sense to her to start out with what was easier to manage. Forcing the wary apprentice to munch straight into fresh kill was likely only going to drive her further away. "I'm going to cut into this mouse now, a-as if I were going to split it to share. I want you to think of blood, a-at least for prey, as a good thing... it's part of what's been given to us by StarClan's bounty t-to sustain us, give us energy. Obviously, blood from cats' wounds is different — but with our fresh-kill, it's like a life force. Does... that make sense?"
The medicine cat spoke gently as she extended one claw from her small paw, letting it just barely drag over the dead mouse's sandy-brown fur. A thin line of red appeared on its thin fur, blossoming with blood droplets; a small slice, barely breaking the skin. Wanting to see how Starrypaw would react to the small amount of blood, she stopped there, watching the apprentice's reaction.
Berryshine perked up her ears as Primroseadder called into the den; she'd recognized the younger warrior's voice at once. Turning to welcome her in, Berryshine flicked her tail in greeting. "P-Please, come on in..."
Her whisker brows furrowed slightly in worry, however, as Primroseadder spoke. Nauseous and lightheaded... could she be sick? A sickness wouldn't do the Clan any good right now.
"Mmm... I see," the medicine cat began, approaching the warrior. A distinct, familiar scent had touched her nose, one that instantly alerted her as to what might be going on... but wanting to be sure, she tilted her head, giving Prim a sniff and a quick inspection as if she were looking for any signs of illness. "Could y-you lie on your side for me?" She asked gently, using her small paws to part through Primroseadder's fur. She spoke as she worked. "H-Have you noticed any... mood changes, of late? Perhaps changes in appetite?"
Berryshine turned around from where she'd been fixing up a used nest. She nodded, rising to her paws and padding to meet Oakblaze; her eyes softened slightly in concern upon seeing the kit in his jaws. Was the kit sick or injured? It didn't look like it, but any visit to the medicine den with such a young cat couldn't bode well.
"O-Of course... come on in," she mewed warmly, stepping back to give the warrior room. She gestured with her tail for him to lay Frostkit down on an open nest, gently nosing the kit to take in her scent, searching for any illness. "What's wrong? Is Frostkit alright...?"
Berryshine glanced up, having just put away some of her herbs from her last patient. She nodded, rising to her paws to meet Moondew.
"O-Of course... make yourself comfortable," the medicine cat invited, flicking her tail to gesture to the nearest moss nest if Moondew wished to sit. Then she tilted her head with a soft smile. Moondew didn't look or smell sick, so that was good — perhaps this was about something else. "What can I help you with?"
Oakblaze looked at Berryshine. I- ah, I don't think she can see anything. He mewed quietly. Can you look at her eyes?
"uung.." Greenkit moaned, barely conscious. "s-s-stormwish?" he mumbles. "Where..." Is all he can get out before he slips back into a feverish slumber.
[ @Dreamheart / Stormwish
@squidz / Berryshine
OMG sorry it took forever i'm moving rooms]
__________________ ” If you can't run with your legs, why won't you run with your arms instead?”
Stormwish looked around wildly for the clans Medicine Cat. "Berryshine? Berryshine?!" They practically shrieked. "Somethings wrong with Greenkit!" They yowled again, laying down their kit gently in a nest, white and black fur ruffling. Seeing Copperpaw, they said, "I don't know sweetie. But he'll be okay, once Berry gets here." They licked both their kits.
Re: RiverClan Medicine Cat's Den
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Re: RiverClan Medicine Cat's Den
Berryshine is RiverClan's medicine cat! 
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