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Post by Taxx on Oct 17, 2018 9:06:25 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
With a sigh- partly relief at being back at the camp, partly at the reason he was there- Cinderpaw padded through the entrance tunnel of the camp and turned his steps toward the side where the medicine cats did their duties. He probably looked ridiculous, hopping along on three legs, but considering the fourth had been injured in the course of fighting, he wasn't about to try to walk on it.
It still bled a bit, small drops falling away to dot the ground now and then, but the flow had died off on the way. Pausing outside the den, Shadowchaser and Smokefur's scents strongest here, the young apprentice called out to them.
"Anyone there? Cut my pad, need help getting it treated." That said, Cinderpaw pushed his way into the den, settling down just inside and waiting for one of the two- didn't matter which, really- to respond to his call. |
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Post by Fawn on Oct 19, 2018 2:54:57 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser "I'll be right with you," Shadowchaser called from the back of the medicine cat's den. He had been sorting herbs, engaged in a mental debate over whether or not potency decreased over time when the leaves shriveled. Leafbare was a horrible time to get sick; with no plants to resupply their diminishing stocks, Shadowchaser had seen the ugly side of heavy demand and few resources.
It was crucial that they be prepared for this next season, whatever that entailed.
Padding to the dark-furred shape standing just inside the den, Shadowchaser noticed the raised forepaw - watching a small droplet of blood patter against the smooth stone floor. It was Cinderpaw, the son of the late Sootfeather. Shadowchaser's pace faltered for a heartbeat, but he recovered quickly, easing seamlessly into his calm professionalism. "I'm going to check it for infection, then treat it," Shadowchaser mewed as he moved, lowering his nose to the raised paw until contact was made; the pad was warm, but no more than normal. Satisfied with this cursory check, Shadowchaser straightened. "This won't take long. Please, clean the wound while I get the poultice ready."
With practiced ease, Shadowchaser zeroed in on the sorrel-like leaves sorted neatly with the other plants. It was dock, and once chewed and applied, could be used to soothe scratches - and cut pads, if he bound the wound properly. While he chewed the dock leaf into a pulp, Shadowchaser carefully wound a wadding of cobweb around his paw, and made did his best impression of a three-legged cat as he circled back to Cinderpaw.
"This will sting," he warned through a mouthful of leaf. Shadowchaser laid the paste over the split pad, then proceeded to nimbly bandage it with the cobwebs before other things could get in and contaminate it. "So... How is your training going?" Shadowchaser's question was soft, and sounded diplomatic at best, but the young healer truly wanted to know.
He was invested in the lives of Sootfeather's kits. How could he not be? He had helped bring them into this world, even while their mother was leaving it. It had been a day of joy and pain. A day not forgotten easily. medicine cat of nightclan |
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Post by Taxx on Oct 26, 2018 19:01:34 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
An answer was quick in coming, and Cinderpaw's gaze flicked to the older but equally dark-pelted tom as he approached. Cinderpaw offered a short nod of his head to Shadowchaser and held his paw higher, facing the pad out to allow the younger of the medicine cats a good look at his foot. The claws flexed, just a bit, at the flash of pain when Shadowchaser touched his nose to the pad, but he retracted them quickly enough to prevent them catching on skin.
Clean the wound- okay. Drawing his paw back to him, Cinderpaw obeyed, gently rasping his tongue over the gash, his tail flicking a bit as he did so. His yellow gaze watched the older tom work, a vague sort of curiosity in regards to him chewing the leaves he'd selected into a paste. He asked no questions, though, holding his tongue as Shadowchaser gathered cobwebs and headed back to him.
A nod to acknowledge the warning, and Cinderpaw tensed as he held his foot out again. The bleeding had all but stopped by now, but the sensitive skin spat with pain from the contact with the paste, no matter how gently the older's paws applied it, and then when the cobwebs were wrapped around to hold it all in place.
Ears flicked at the question, and Cinderpaw's gaze left his paw to blink into Shadowchaser's eyes. He didn't know the medicine cat well, though he had stopped by quite frequently in the days when the three had been younger, and Starlingcry had told them that he had been the one present at their birth- when Sootfeather had lost her life.
"It's going well. That's how this happened- Graypaw got a little carried away, I think. Maybe I should let Gracklepaw take her on next time. If she hasn't already." It was a dry tease, just a hint of a purr at his sister's name, before he fell quiet again, for just a moment. "What about you?" he asked then, settling on his belly and carefully extending his paws in a stretch. "How are you doing?" |
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Post by Fawn on Oct 28, 2018 9:29:43 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser "NightClan seems to be famous for creating strong-willed, battle-savvy she-cats." Shadowchaser purred in amusement, sharing a certain kinship with the likes of Ghostpaw, Privetpaw and Cinderpaw; they all had headstrong sisters, who sometimes got a little carried away with their claws.
Cinderpaw handled the treatment well, and Shadowchaser had expected no more than a simple 'thank you' or even a nod of understanding. Instead, the younger tom was polite and even sounded genuine as he asked about his day.
"I'm--" StarClan, he was... coping? Life was throwing hurtle after fox-shaped hurtle at this Clan, and he simply had to grit his teeth and do whatever he could to keep the mortality rate from getting any higher. "I'm keeping busy," said Shadowchaser. Best not to use Cinderpaw as an emotional crutch and divest all his latest concerns on the younger tom. For a moment, Shadowchaser wished the cat he was talking to had ginger fur and an overwhelmingly gentle heart. Newtstripe.
Grief became just another emotion Shadowchaser had learned to carefully fold up and store away inside that compartment of his heart. He had to keep functioning, and it was like Smokefur said; that terrible feeling gave them purpose. It was the aggressive shove they needed to keep striving to be better.
He would do better. For Sootfeather's sake, for Hollowcry's, for Sunstorm's.
"I'd ask you to help me gather herbs, since you're here, but I don't want you to using that paw too much." Shadowchaser fixed luminous eyes on Sootfeather's son, accepting the tom's presence as a worthy distraction. "But I wouldn't mind an extra set of eyes while I check the elders' pelts." medicine cat of nightclan |
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Post by Taxx on Oct 30, 2018 18:35:46 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
"Aren't all the Clans?" Cinderpaw asked, sweeping his tail around so the tip rested at his belly. "Not that we'd know. But a she-cat leads LightningClan too, and StoneClan's deputy is female, and supposedly a good fighter." His head bent to lick at his chest, turning the answer given to his question on Shadowchaser's well-being over in his mind. Keeping busy. It wasn't really an answer at all, more of an evasion and an attempt at assurance.
He wasn't even sure why he'd asked. It certainly wasn't his place to question the medicine cat, but he had and Shadowchaser hadn't tried to bite his head off, so Cinderpaw decided to push his luck just a touch further. "Okay," he agreed.
Not necessarily because he wanted to- taking a nap sounded like a far better course of action, but there was no way to get out of helping. And maybe, if he did this, Shadowchaser might vouch for him and get him a bit of a reprieve so that he could take off a training session. Or two. Hopefully.
Pushing himself up again, Cinderpaw gently rested his paw on the ground and tried a step; it hurt, but not nearly so much now. The herbs had helped numb it. "Was my mother like that too? Like Gracklepaw, always ready to take on the next opponent, or throwing herself at cats without stopping to think first."
He'd heard plenty about her, from Starlingcry, from Coalmask and Ashfang, and those cats who had known and liked her, but it seemed more than not that they all preferred to highlight her good points: she was kind, protective, loyal. Which was great, but surely she had flaws, too. Would Shadowchaser mention those, or would he be like the rest and smooth over the less desirable traits in favor of pointing out those that made her kits see her in a rosy light? |
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Post by Fawn on Oct 30, 2018 20:55:05 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser Shadowchaser was not one to boast, even if he wanted to boast about his sisters' battle prowess. Instead, he let that thread of conversation fizzle away, and focused on answering the question that was much more important. The medicine cat's pace slowed, as if he needed to tread carefully if he wanted to wade through the dense memories Cinderpaw could not see.
Shadowchaser forced a smile. It would get easier to talk about Sootfeather if he just... talked.
"I didn't know her as well as Coalmask or Ashfang. But she was friends with Darkstorm, and that's a high honor." Shadowchaser's golden eyes grew brighter, made more intense by his concentration. "Sootfeather wasn't as... outright aggressive as Gracklepaw. But she was able to hold her own. She was private, though. I don't know how much she talked with her littermates, or her own family. If your next question is to ask about your father, I'm afraid I don't know."
Sootfeather had taken the secret of her kits' father to the grave. Shadowchaser grimaced, wishing he could be more helpful. There were some things not even Medicine Cats were allowed to know.
medicine cat of nightclan |
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Post by Taxx on Nov 2, 2018 9:31:14 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
Shadowchaser slowed, their progress toward the elders' den becoming more of a stroll as the older tom took time to think- which was better than him just blurting out an answer he thought Cinderpaw might want to hear. Yellow eyes fixed on the medicine cat as he began, admitting first that he had hardly known her, pointing out the friendship she'd shared with Darkstorm, his sister and now Gracklepaw's mentor. He wondered if she was pleased about that- Gracklepaw, at least, seemed to have no trouble with the she-cat's teaching methods.
Cinderpaw hadn't been interested in the topic of his father, not really. He'd never seen any of them give him or his littermates a second glance, had never had one- who wasn't family- try to approach for any other reason than to encourage him to do some chore. Starlingcry hadn't had any idea either, and he hadn't cared to push the matter further. For whatever reason, even after the death of their mother, their father had chosen not to claim them.
"Have you seen her?" was his next question, steering clear of further mentions of a tom. "In your dreams, I mean. Does she come to you?"
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Post by Fawn on Nov 18, 2018 20:01:25 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser Cinderpaw seemed to have no more questions concerning his unknown father (or at least he was very good at bottling them up), and Shadowchaser met this latest inquiry with a curious whisker twitch. He should have anticipated that kind of question; how many times had Sootfeather crossed young Cinderpaw's mind? It was a natural line of thinking... As Cinderpaw aged and learned more about StarClan and the unique relationship medicine cats had with their star-studded ancestors, these sorts of ponderings were sure to come up.
Shadowchaser purred, pleased to give the tom a satisfactory answer.
"I do." He smiled, reaching the elder's den and pausing just at the entrance. "She's become my guide. She's always watching over you, as you grow and become everything you were meant to be." He hoped those words would provide Cinderpaw with some comfort. Nothing could replace the warmth and stability of a loving mother, but it was something precious to think about nevertheless. Sootfeather was physically gone, but her soul remained, and it burned bright from Silverpelt each night, a star shining over her sons and daughter with unapologetic love.
There was only one elder in the den, since Blackwolf's stubborn return from retirement. Shadowchaser greeted Ratfur warmly, and explained what they were doing here. The slender brown-furred tom gave them permission to check his pelt for ticks, and Shadowchaser stepped closer to begin the inspection, parting fur in the places most likely to attract the pests. medicine cat of nightclan |
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Post by Taxx on Nov 20, 2018 14:29:27 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
There was the slightest sense of longing within the apprentice as Shadowchaser answered, a vague sense of wonder as to what Sootfeather looked like, how she'd acted, what it would have been like if she'd lived. Would it have been the same as Starlingcry looking after them, or would there have been a different sort of bond since she was their mother.
It faded away soon enough- those were only wishes that he knew would never happen. Sootfeather was dead, and StarClan did not visit regular cats in their dreams. It was nice to know that she was still with the Clan in spirit, guiding their medicine cat through whatever would come, and he would hold on to that. He didn't think Gracklepaw would care, but Privetpaw might like to know what Shadowchaser had told him.
A frown crossed his face as they entered the elders' den- become what he was meant to be? Which was what, exactly? A warrior, like Sootfeather had been? Did his mother know what lay ahead for him? How could any cat know where life would lead them? Most lived to be warriors and died, only a handful chosen to become something more- was there a chance that he could one day become deputy of NightClan? He wasn't really sure he wanted that; he saw what Briarthroat did every day and it looked entirely too exhausting to want to have that much responsibility on his shoulders.
He said nothing about that, only followed Shadowchaser into the den, greeting Ratfur with a nod, and bent to the task of sifting through the ragged fur for any sign of ticks, settling his weight on his haunches and gently using his uninjured paw to get a better look in places; his eyes briefly strayed to the medicine cat as he asked another question. "Is medicine cat what you knew you were always going to be? Is it what you always wanted?" |
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Post by Fawn on Nov 21, 2018 10:19:53 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser Shadowchaser found a tick, fat from Ratfur's blood, just behind the elder's right ear. He cracked it between his teeth, swiping a paw over his tongue to get the taste of it from his mouth. Cinderpaw was diligently working beside him, and before long, a question came. Looks like my remark about his future unsettled something. Shadowchaser appreciated cats who asked questions, he realized; he didn't always have time to answer them, but curiosity and a thirst for learning struck near and dear to Shadowchaser's heart. "You know," he began, tail sweeping to settle around his paws as he sat. "I asked Smokefur almost the same thing, when I was your age. I admire everything my sisters and the warriors of this Clan can do, but it didn't feel like something I could do. I can hunt a little, and fight a little, but I think my best asset has always been my mind. Not to say warriors are frogbrained."
Shadowchaser chuckled. "Just that... herbs fascinate me. Finding out their healing properties. It's tough seeing your Clanmates injured and uncomfortable--" or worse "--but I found my passion the moment Smokefur took me on as her apprentice. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. At your age, I probably couldn't articulate how well suited I felt for medicine cat duties, but deep down, I knew I wanted to walk a different path than Thornscar, Cobrastrike and Darkstorm."
And that desire had not changed, though the path had been littered with blood, bones, and the corpses of their Clanmates.
"Have you given any thought to your future, Cinderpaw? Don't feel guilty if you haven't. It wasn't long at all that you were in the nursery with Pipitwing." Shadowchaser spoke with kind, calming words, hoping he hadn't riled up Cinderpaw any more than he'd intended. It was good to think of what you wanted out of life, and what you could give to the Clan, but it was just as detrimental to brood over it. Shadowchaser was an expert in brooding, in letting his mind steep itself in shadows until he forgot what sunshine looked like.
Cinderpaw was far too young for that kind of ruminating. And if Shadowchaser could help guide Sootfeather's kits away from the shadows, he would. medicine cat of nightclan |
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Post by Taxx on Nov 21, 2018 14:53:00 GMT -5
CINDERPAW NIGHTCLAN rather be the hunter than the prey
The answer, in a rather long-winded way, was 'yes'. Between Shadowchaser and Ratfur the apprentice split his attention, continuing the search for ticks as the medicine cat expressed his certainty in his younger moons about the path he wanted to walk- one that was no less important than that of warrior, but with its own set of rules and required teachings in the pursuit of caring for the cats injured in the course of their days.
Locating another tick at the base of the elder's spine, Cinderpaw carefully tugged it from the dark fur, killing it with a quick bite and then spitting it out in distaste, pawing it further from the old tom's body. Then, his gaze back on Shadowchaser, Cinderpaw blinked and then shook his head. "Not really. I guess I figured I'd just be a warrior, like Gracklepaw and Privetpaw- there aren't any other roles to fill and it's a good path to walk. I'll just have to find my own place, that's all."
It was straightforward enough to him: he might not be excelling like Gracklepaw, but he was learning well enough... "I'm content where I am," he replied, and nodded with the sense of conviction that came with the words, a sense of rightness for his place within the Clan, now and in future. "A NightClan cat, a warrior; that's what I am and that's good for me." |
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Post by Fawn on Nov 25, 2018 11:01:17 GMT -5
curiosity is not a sin... ...but we should exercise caution with our curiosity Shadowchaser Shadowchaser outwardly smiled, and inwardly marveled at the strange sense of pride he felt over Cinderpaw's conviction. Stars, he really did feel responsible for Sootfeather's litter; enough to feel something like... paternal affection for them? Great StarClan, I'm not ready for that. Shadowchaser balked at the idea of being any kind of father figure to anyone, he hadn't even hit 30 moons yet. It was a fact of the path he'd chosen that he would never sire a litter on his own (though the idea of settling down with a she-cat struck him as oddly... ill-fitting). Reining in his thoughts, Shadowchaser managed a supportive mew. "You will. You'll find your own place as a warrior of NightClan."
"I'm proud of you, I know I am not kin or your mentor, but I wanted to say that just the same." As Shadowchaser spoke, a not-so-polite cough pulled his attention back to Ratfur, whose narrow features looked even sharper with displeasure. Apparently he'd had enough of their 'bonding'. Shadowchaser's whiskers twitched, mirth warming him under his dark chestnut fur; he dipped his head in apology to Ratfur, getting back to work.
"Let's finish up, then I'll let you get back to your training." medicine cat of nightclan <3 Done! |
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