- the day had arrived. the sun was at the top of the sky, but was mostly covered by thick, grey clouds. for that moment, however, there was no rain nor wind, so most of the clan was out enjoying it. windstar had perched himself on a tall boulder, watching his clan as they went about their day.
mousefoot stood anxiously in birchfall's den, shifting around like she had ants in her pelt. birchfall had nosed the rotten piece of prey over to the deputy, and after much persuasion, convinced her to put the thing in her mouth for long enough to take it to windstar. "do your part, and leave the rest to me, okay?' the medicine cat repeated the same sentence to the she-cat as often as he could, until it was finally time. "do whatever you have to to get that mouse-brained tom to eat it," birchfall commanded, nosing the grey cat out of his den.
"okay, okay - don't prod me so hard, birchfall!"
mousefoot now stood outside of the den, with a mangy vole at her paws. after a deep breath, mousefoot reluctantly grabbed the old prey in her mouth and rushed over to the boulder where windstar sat. she had never moved so fast - the longer she took, the more time she had to keep that disgusting piece of meat in her mouth, so anything slower would've killed her. in one rushed leap, mousefoot stood beside the leader. immediately, the prey fell from her mouth and beside her small grey paws.
"ah, good sun-high, mousefoot! have you found a good time for us to go hunting yet?"
mousefoot had to hold back her strong need to gag, both at the rotting meat she had just had in her mouth and at the bulky white tom sitting a tail-length away from her. "i'm sorry, windstar, but i've already been hunting this morning - but look what i've brought you!" mousefoot exclaimed with her fake cheerfulness, hoping the tom would buy it. the deputy nosed the horrible vole across the boulder and closer to windstar, whose face wrinkled up at the sight of it.
"what in starclan's name is this? did you leave it out in the sun for fifty moons before giving it to me?!"
mousefoot stared at her paws, giving the tom the best upset voice she could muster. "s...sorry, windstar... this leaf-fall has been so difficult... it took me all morning to find this vole... i thought you'd be more appreciative than this," the grey she-cat mumbled quietly, even getting in a few voice breaks. luckily, it was enough to convince whitestar that he had truly hurt the poor cat's feelings.
"oh, mousefoot," the white tom began, wrapping his tail over mousefoot's shoulders. "i didn't realise it took so much of an effort to get this prey, just for me," windstar apologised, with slight hesitation in his tone. mousefoot looked up with an expectant expression, waiting for him to eat it.
windstar paused and stared at the vole for a while, trying his hardest to hold back a grimace. the tom squeezed his eyes shut and took a large bite of the vole; while the tom's head was down, mousefoot couldn't help but gag. even now, the smell was becoming unbearable - mousefoot could only imagine how it would taste. "thank you so much, windstar," mousefoot meowed finally, struggling to hide her own disgust. much to her luck, the tom was too focused on trying to swallow his mouthful to notice her terrible acting.
"mousefoot, can you come here for a moment? minksplash has something to show us," falconfang's yowl came from just under the boulder that the two cats stood on. mousefoot turned her gaze from her brother onto windstar, smiling cheekily. "i have to go now - maybe we can get that hunt in later tonight?" the deputy gave the tom a flick with her tail, and jumped back onto the ground, shuddering at the performance she'd put on. she was more surprised than anyone else that she'd managed to pull it off. the small grey cat trailed off after her brother, turning back for just a moment to give a look to birchfall, who sat still in his den. the white and brown tom gave mousefoot nothing but a blunt nod, but that was all the praise she needed.
-----
- no sooner had mousefoot disappeared out of the camp, windstar had thrown himself from the boulder and charged into birchfall's den - just as he had expected.
"birchfall, birhcfall, birchfall, please do you have something, anything to get this horrible taste out of my body?!"
the medicine fought back a smirk, nodding gently. "you're going to need more than a little treat to get rid of that awful taste. that vole looked pretty foul to me... so you'll need something to put in your stomach to burn off the infectious particles and keep you safe," birchfall told the leader. nothing he said was correct or real medicinal terminology, but it was enough to convince windstar, who was now begging the tom for the remedy. birchfall turned away for a moment, filing through his herbs until he found what he was looking for - a pair of fresh, juicy deathberries. any and every cat should've known about the dangerousness of deathberries, and that if one were to ever eat one, the consequences would be fatal. but when covered in mouse blood, they looked like a special remedy to fight against rotten meat.
birchfall instructed the leader to open his mouth, and the tom shoved the berries in, watching with held breath as the tom vigorously chewed and swallowed. "thank you, birchfall," windstar meowed, starting to back out of the den. birchfall darted forward, bringing the white tom back in. "i would strongly advise that you stay here overnight. i need to keep an eye on you, to make sure that the remedy works consistently."
windstar sighed, suddenly feeling very heavy. "o...okay, i'll st.. stay here," his words became slow and slurred as the deathberries began to do their work. birchfall guided the white tom into a nest, and then watched intensely as the light began to die in windstar's eyes.
