RiverClan Territory

[Pepperkins]

Raccoontail

The molly stared ahead at Smokepaw unbelievingly as she took the lead. Who was teaching who here? With a growl under her breath, she quickly padded to catch up and got back in front. "So you'regonna be difficult, alright then," she mumbled, walking along the worn path she had trailed onto and looking back at the apprentice confusedly. She wasn't even trying to respect her attempts, it was just plain rude at this point. With a sigh, she realized they were getting close to the first border and paused to see if the apprentice had noticed anything. Not spotting an immediate reaction, she just paused, stopping in her tracks and stepping off the path. "Alright then, since you think you can obviously lead me, tell me where the border is. And make sure not to step over it, wouldn't want a patrol to notice you," she meowed in instruction. Obviously she had to be a lot harder on this cat if she was going to learn anything.

[ @TeamRiverRipple ]

[CheetahPelt]

Originally Posted by Dipper

"Okay, well, sit down because this might take a bit. But, uh, I'm not going to sugarcoat it." Otterstone thought she could handle it, she was getting the truth. The full truth.

Fawnsqueak swallowed the sigh, but he couldn't say he expected anything more from her. Prior to this, he had no real reason to organize his thoughts in more than angry clusters that came and went, but to voice them for Otterstone would require thorough introspection. Objective.. analytic-- it wasn't personal. And if it was, that was a different conversation.

"You.. are so, so incredibly and objectively bad at your job as a medicine cat that I have no idea why you're super attached to this stupid thing when all it's ever done is damage your image in front of the entirety of RiverClan and ruin your reputation with everybody. It's like you think you're meant for this after falling into the position as a literal fluke because Lionstorm just wanted to get some dumb revenge on Dirtfur, but-- you were a way better warrior than you were a medicine cat both in, skill and just.. heart, I guess." Fawnsqueak gave her a measured look, taking this moment to breathe and letting the reply soak in before he continued. "Maybe.. maybe you don't realize this, but I'm pretty sure that Omenshade was more successful with more patients, and then-- he.. I don't know, left? And the complete forest fire that is you attempting to play medicine cat sort of came into the spotlight when it seems like you don't heal the Clan where you're needed. I, a dumbass random warrior who knows nothing about medicine, had to step in because Lionstorm thought I would be more qualified than you during a time you weren't even there, but then you showed up and.. somehow made things worse by fighting with Lionstorm over Gentlethunder dying at your paws! And then Goosefury! He had cobwebs stuck in his missing eye socket that you didn't bother to fix-- thank stars that Coyotesnarl happened to come along, but it's also so goddamn embarrassing to have him see what a ... a failure and a wreckage that whole thing was."

Fawnsqueak felt his claws digging into the ground, exasperation inching in. "But! The past is the past, y'know? Let's assume... that you had some 'come to the stars' moment where you recognized that, 'hey, I suck at this and Lion is up there telling me how bad I am, so I'm going to clean up my act' but now we're out of every herb because... who knows what you were doing after Shiverpetal died, and you stuck the last of our supply copiously on every patient that you could without even thinking it might bite us in the ass. It's wasteful and I think I mentioned that but you didn't care because you think you're older or more experienced just because you've been dawdling around in this position longer. Congratulations, yeah--your seniority level of crap work outdoes mine. So don't bother listening to a word, and I doubt you'll even listen to this after the leader himself said to get it together and nothing changed.

"And I'm not suspicious of you! What even is that? I think you're not... mentally alright for this, because you're misidentifying herbs and you're being careless with the mushrooms and you've 'treated' patients who didn't actually get treated because their wounds came back worse than before! Coyotesnarl has taught me way more in this, stupidly tiny amount of time that we had while he was here. More than you taught and I've just been waiting around and practicing, but you don't tell me anything except wrong information like.. Oh! Tansy!" It popped to mind with sudden clarity, his eyes flashing. Coyotesnarl never said a word about it after listing his infection cures, and Fawnsqueak had put two and two together after hearing about Warblerpaw. "Tansy doesn't cure infections! Okay? It doesn't. So all those patients where you were shoving tansy at them? Did nothing and their wounds are worse. You have been so negligent that it's unbelievable."

Otterstone stood there for a moment. Anger roiled in her belly as Fawnsqueak berated her. She opened her maw, the mushroom strip forgotten as he spoke.



How.


Could.


He.


Her golden eyes widened flashing with anger, her jaw clenching, every muscle in her body went rigid. Ever ounce of her consciousness wanted to scream, but she didn't. She slid towards Fawnsqueak coming whisker to whisker with the smaller tom.


If she hadn't been through so much anger from other cats she would have clawed the spotted cat's eyes out, but her temper held together, though as if it was being held with cobweb.


Her voice was low and quiet as she began to talk slowly.



"I've healed more cats then you or Lionstar."

Her voice was a growl, but as she continued, her voice raised to a hushed tone.



"I was a successful medicine cat, until the last battle. Every cat from the battle with the coyotes was healed because of me." She accompanied her words with a wave of her claws, sheathing and unsheathing in anger, her other paws working up the ground beneath her.



"Lionstar lets his anger run deep that I had a makeshift medicine camp in the middle of battle field, but that wasn't my doing. My plan was to move from cat to cat, maybe even kill a coyote of my own. Incompetent warriors came and dumped injured cats at my paws, ignoring my commands to move them away."


She moved away from Fawnsqueak to pace the small clearing they stood in, whipping around when she had gone away from him to face the spotted tom again. Her voice was still low.



"I came to heal the clan at the second battle. My stores were so depleted with the small amount of time between the first and the second battle, that I had few herbs then. I had been away when the clan rushed into battle, looking for herbs, communing with Starclan. By the time I came back, you must forget this part, your precious Lionstar threw such a storm for me to leave the camp. If I had stayed and tried to heal the crowd of injured cats, he would have attacked me." Her mind flashed back to the stones he had thrown, nearly missing her.



She her paw flailing had grown wilder, claws flashing through the air.



"And I haven't used any tansy!" He didn't even know what he was talking about. "Tansy is used for breathing, not for infection. I used golden rod on all of the warriors with battle wounds, and dandelion instead of poppy seed. Marigold came after the goldenrod ran out" She flashed back around so he was facing her back, eyes turned to the sky. "Starclan! You don't even know what you're talking about, and you call me unsound of mind?" She whipped back to the tom, lips curled in a snarl. "You lay all of the blame on me. I'm using the best knowledge I can, when I had one moon of training with a old, forgetful, Shadowclan mudslinger. I've healed more cats then you give me credit for, kitten."



Fawnsqueak didn't deserve his title, he didn't deserve his name. Kitten he was dubbed. Kitten, for every time he had looked at her with disdain in his eyes. Kitten for every time she could see his irritated and disbelieving thoughts painted across his face.

[Fawn]

Originally Posted by CheetahPelt

Otterstone stood there for a moment. Anger roiled in her belly as Fawnsqueak berated her. She opened her maw, the mushroom strip forgotten as he spoke.



How.


Could.


He.


Her golden eyes widened flashing with anger, her jaw clenching, every muscle in her body went rigid. Ever ounce of her consciousness wanted to scream, but she didn't. She slid towards Fawnsqueak coming whisker to whisker with the smaller tom.


If she hadn't been through so much anger from other cats she would have clawed the spotted cat's eyes out, but her temper held together, though as if it was being held with cobweb.


Her voice was low and quiet as she began to talk slowly.



"I've healed more cats then you or Lionstar."

Her voice was a growl, but as she continued, her voice raised to a hushed tone.



"I was a successful medicine cat, until the last battle. Every cat from the battle with the coyotes was healed because of me." She accompanied her words with a wave of her claws, sheathing and unsheathing in anger, her other paws working up the ground beneath her.



"Lionstar lets his anger run deep that I had a makeshift medicine camp in the middle of battle field, but that wasn't my doing. My plan was to move from cat to cat, maybe even kill a coyote of my own. Incompetent warriors came and dumped injured cats at my paws, ignoring my commands to move them away."


She moved away from Fawnsqueak to pace the small clearing they stood in, whipping around when she had gone away from him to face the spotted tom again. Her voice was still low.



"I came to heal the clan at the second battle. My stores were so depleted with the small amount of time between the first and the second battle, that I had few herbs then. I had been away when the clan rushed into battle, looking for herbs, communing with Starclan. By the time I came back, you must forget this part, your precious Lionstar threw such a storm for me to leave the camp. If I had stayed and tried to heal the crowd of injured cats, he would have attacked me." Her mind flashed back to the stones he had thrown, nearly missing her.



She her paw flailing had grown wilder, claws flashing through the air.



"And I haven't used any tansy!" He didn't even know what he was talking about. "Tansy is used for breathing, not for infection. I used golden rod on all of the warriors with battle wounds, and dandelion instead of poppy seed. Marigold came after the goldenrod ran out" She flashed back around so he was facing her back, eyes turned to the sky. "Starclan! You don't even know what you're talking about, and you call me unsound of mind?" She whipped back to the tom, lips curled in a snarl. "You lay all of the blame on me. I'm using the best knowledge I can, when I had one moon of training with a old, forgetful, Shadowclan mudslinger. I've healed more cats then you give me credit for, kitten."



Fawnsqueak didn't deserve his title, he didn't deserve his name. Kitten he was dubbed. Kitten, for every time he had looked at her with disdain in his eyes. Kitten for every time she could see his irritated and disbelieving thoughts painted across his face.

Fawnsqueak didn't flinch but could've gone without her breath in his face. "If that's what you call healing, maybe," he retorted. "But do me a favor and stay far away if I ever get an injury." His chances of surviving it were significantly better without her interaction, as demonstrated by the warriors that'd come forward with infections after "treatment" and her repeated abandonment of the Clan and her complete lack of awareness in regards to her own failures. "I don't know why I expected anything different from this. You wanted my problem with your incompetence, and you got it-- you literally told me to tell you, and you're throwing a kit-fit because you'd rather yell at me for being truthful than face your own shortcomings. I think that says a lot about you as a medicine cat who supposedly cares about her clanmates; you care more about your goddamn pride than bothering to take responsibility. Look, I'm sorry that you're terrible at this, but anyone who had half a wit left would get that it's time to either do the Clan a favor and let someone else take over, or actually make a change." Otterstone had plenty of opportunity for the latter, even after promising Lionstar that she'd be able to handle it, but went on business as usual. "All your effort is going toward screaming at everybody who dares to criticize your poor work instead of attempting to get better."

He didn't believe a word of it when she said she was successful. "You weren't, though," he pointed out, rigid. "You were trying to do full healing for every single patient on the battle field while the more pressing wounded were dying. I get that you might consider that successful given your record, but I don't. Nobody does." Bitterly, he was reminded that Omenshade did the majority of the actual healing for that -- Otterstone moved like a turtle from patient to patient, on the battlefield itself no less. "YOU'RE THE MEDICINE CAT, FOR STAR'S SAKE!" Fawnsqueak yelled suddenly, tired of her excuses and blamings during her recollection of the coyote battle. "You can ignore that Omenshade was doing your job and claim Lionstar demanded you to do this and that, or the warriors weren't listening, but it's still your job. You were supposed to be the expert and you need to have gripped the authority to be able to do that job you were assigned. Cats' lives were on the LINE, and you have the audacity to say it's others' fault, their incompetence that hindered you. You are.. are--" he sputtered, blinking with furrowed eyebrows, "just a disgrace. Talking about your clanmates like that, they've depended on you and you continue to let them down without batting an eye." Not only was her healing a joke, but she was too lazy to be out there collecting herbs despite having known Shiverpetal's supply was dwindling.

He might have been more sympathetic to her next claim if she hadn't been incredibly late to healing her dying clanmates, then ignored them to fight with Lionstar instead. "You have no other duties except to be the medicine cat. The battles were more than a moon apart! What were you DOING?" he asked, voice cracking from the strain of the question. "If you were so busy communicating with StarClan and collecting herbs, you must be just as bad at those things because you have nothing to show for it. No herbs, no messages from the stars, no wisdom, no... desire to be acceptably decent..? And he only told you to leave because you weren't doing anything! You could've, oh I don't know-- worked on the patients but you were preoccupied by telling him he was wrong, that you are a good medicine cat because clearly that's what a good medicine cat would be doing during such a dire time. You should have been healing first, having your tantrum and pity-fest second." That bit about Lionstar attacking her made him snort a bit, rolling his eyes.

Watching her do this... odd battle dance in the space around him was beginning to give Fawnsqueak major psycho vibes, and he stared at her through narrowed eyes, somewhat concerned for his own safety at this point. Stars knew she wouldn't be patching him up successfully if she did start shredding him. Dryly, he commented, "What?" he squawked, disbelieving. "YOU told me tansy was good for infection! [x] Besides, you're forgetting about the ten other herbs you slap on every patient needlessly." Fawnsqueak couldn't take her seriously when she was walloping the air and ranting like a deranged lunatic, so he wasn't about to believe her when she provided her herb usage. "You're literally prancing around and clawing at.. nothing, as well as being a senior warrior acting like a spoiled apprentice because I gave you the criticism you explicitly asked for. So.. yeah, I think I can kind of call you unsound here."

Fawnsqueak didn't know how long they'd been out here, but it felt like a lifetime and a half. He felt dumber just listening to that, and about ten times as useless since she was grouching his ear off instead of--once again--being a medicine cat, or even just a mature warrior. "I'm gonna, uh, head out. And try to get something done." Bending down, he plucked the flowers that he'd collected. "You can continue whatever this is for however long you want-- I honestly don't care anymore since I've been healing your patients anyway."

[MEAT ANGELS]

@Pepperkins

The border? Easy. She could hardly smell anything else over the stenches Clan cats. Sighing irritably, Smokepaw padded down a mud covered slope, almost retching as she neared the border. The scent of fish was overwhelming, with a slight hint of dung. The scent was suffocating, and Smokepaw shifted behind her mentor, eyes narrowed. “You go first.”

[dionysus]

[ @elysian ]

Grizzlybug led the way out of camp with a smile, waving his tail for Beanpaw to follow. At the apprentice’s question he paused and chuckled,

“Well, yes,” he answered truthfully, “but there’s a large portion that I’ll just point out to you from afar. We don’t take new apprentices there. Now, I’m gonna move a bit fast to make sure we fit everything in before the sun starts going down so just let me know if you need a break.”

With another encouraging smile, the fluffy tom set off for the nearest border, working out their route in his head. The closest border was with Windclan and he could hit Sleepy Thicket and the river on the way. In fact, they were closing in on it now.

“This is sleepy thicket.” he pointed with his tail. “It is good for walks and you can find some smaller land prey in there too.”

They didn’t go too near the thicket, just close enough to see the beginnings of the snarled branches, and they were quickly off again in the direction of the first border. They eventually came upon the river and Grizzlybug paused on the bank, nodding to the other side.

“Over there is our border with Windclan. It stretches pretty long down there, toward Lionsbeach- which we’ll get to- and we are at the end near where it meets the Shadowclan border. It is important to mark the borders daily. They save us from attack due to territory confusion and they keep us from losing territory. Territory is also gravely important to have because without it we would starve. This river is a little safety feature since the Windclanners aren’t likely to cross it, but it is also our main source of food. On any given day, you’ll probably see a few warriors here fishing- this is where a lot of our bigger fish come from. I’ll be teaching you to fish as well as hunt land prey and how to fight. We’ll also give swimming a refresher some day even though you learned with Ternsky- every apprentice learns either as a lit or as an apprentice but most have refreshers too later in their apprenticeship since it is such an important skill. Let’s move on to the Shadowclan border.”

Grizzlybug dreaded the day he’d have to refresh Beanpaw on swimming. He paused a moment to look at the distant border and the moors beyond, wondering if he should take the apprentice through the river to mark it. He could always walk down to the stepping stones to keep his fur dry but the warrior was loath to do either. He’d demonstrate marking at the next border and he was sure that the border had already been marked that day. So, off they set for the nearby Shadowclan border.

[Pepperkins]

Raccoontail

She looked at the apprentice with a shake of her head. She knew exactly where the border was, and though it seemed Smokepaw had figured it out to, she wasn't leaving till she showed her some respect. It was harsh and she didn't like it, but this cat was getting on all her nerves. "Excuse me? I think you forgot who's in charge her, Smokepaw," she replied, giving her chest fur a lick casually, "I can sit here all day, now where is the border? I want you to show me." Raccoontail wasn't quite sure how that was supposed to be done but she was getting tired of the she-cat's attitude.

[ @TeamRiverRipple ]

[MEAT ANGELS]

@Pepperkins

Smokepaw gagged, before narrowing her eyes and glaring wholeheartedly at her mentor. Annoying coward. "You're in charge. Why don't you show me? you're the mentor, being irresponsible and making me do the work. Now, off you go." That'd show Racoontail to not be annoying, and stay away from Smokepaw. "Well? I'm still waiting." Ooh, this'd set her off. How fun. The only cats nerves she could get on as a kit were Hivekit's and Eveningpaw's. Both of which were on a whole different rank, so she was a bit unable to annoy them now. But, here, Raccontail! She could share her beliefs, feelings, and.... tell her how stupid Riverclan was. She'd known her and her sisters would be better of on their own.

[Terrestrial]

@Dust

Cherrypounce had arrived at the river before Pebblepudge. The fluffy caliby patiently awaited the new warrior's arrival. As she waited her eyes had been glued onto the big ball of fire sink into the land beyond. The sky turned from a light blue to pinks and purples along with light oranges. It was a stunning sight to see, surely Pebblepudge would admire the sunset too!

The molly always admired the tom when he was an apprentice, even more now that he was a warrior. She guessed that..her admiring was a little more than just being fond of him...but it was just fondness when Pebblepudge was an apprentice, warrior apprentice relationships were against the Warrior Code too!

Oh why was she even thinking about this kind of stuff?! Cherrypounce shook her head with embarrassment as a light pink blush formed on her cheeks.

[vellichor]

Beanpaw

__________

The timid cat followed, wide eyes taking everything in for the first time. While he had been out of camp before, he never stopped to look around like this. And Grizz had even admitted that the territory was huge. Beanpaw looked down at his legs, short and stubby compared to the larger warrior's long limbs. How would they cover everything? 'No, I trust him, we can do it!' he thought to himself, determined to have a positive outlook. At least he'd gotten a mentor who knew him and his ...shortcomings.

"Sleepy Thicket... wonder why they call it that," he said softly, mostly to himself. "Sure doesn't make me sleepy." He didn't waste any time walking away from the intimidating branches, nearly bumping into Grizzlybug and squeaking an "Ah, sorry!"

Beanpaw listened as Grizzlybug gave a little speech on borders. He had no clue what a border was, so he paid close attention. A few terms were lost on the poor cat -- WindClan (he'd heard chatter of other cats, more Clans like the RiverClan kind of made sense), Lionsbeach (he assumed it had something to do with Lionstar... but what the heck was a beach?), and ShadowClan (probably like the WindClan... why did the name sound kind of scary?). From what he picked up, the other Clans were trying to steal their territory and their food. And by ...marking the border, it was safe? The logic didn't quite make sense to the young cat, but Beanpaw would commit this to memory. But what he was most excited about was fishing. Fish tasted so good, and he couldn't wait to share that goodness with other cats! "Great!" He meowed a bit too enthusiastically, voice echoing slightly. It was enough to make the new apprentice duck his head and chuckle with embarrassment.

@Beau

[Loon]

Originally Posted by Splashy

+ @Loon +
Rainsplash smiled, gently putting his paw on the scales to determine how they felt. "Seems to be a Silver Carp. Well done, Loonpaw" He purred, touching his nose to her cheek as to say "I'm Happy for you" or "Well Done".

Loonpaw puffed up, even more if possible, with pride. She rubbed against him affectionately and back at the River, her body trembling with excitement.
"Can I try again, or should we bring this back to camp before it goes bad?" She asked, casting a nervous glance to the sky, wary of any birds that might swoop down and steal her new catch.


[ @Splashy ]