Cradily wrote:Fernpaw - She-cat - 10 moons - Med cat app - Mentors: Crowwhisper and Freshbreath - Tags: Freshbreath
Fernpaw sighed as she pulled her forepaws out of the pool of water, tirelessly fed by the waterfall that guarded RoseClan's camp. She had just finished rinsing out the dirt that had gotten under her claws when she'd helped bury Redleaf, yet somehow she still felt dirty. The scent of blood and death seemed to cling to her paws, no matter how hard she tried to wash it off. Shaking the droplets from them, she stood and retreated into the cave, making her way back to the burrow she shared with Freshbreath and Crowwhisper. She had only been a part of RoseClan for a few moons, yet already she had seen a body far more horribly mutilated than anything the cats of RoseClan had seen before. And, as a medicine cat in training, she was obligated to examine and tend to it alongside her mentors. Surprisingly, the sight of a cat mauled beyond recognition didn't bother her quite as much as she might have thought, at least not as much as it seemed to bother her Clanmates, who had surely seen more bodies in their lifetimes than her. Perhaps she had simply gotten used to it very quickly. Or perhaps she truly was a natural-born medicine cat, and dealing with death truly was what she was meant to do, the purpose given to her by StarClan. Or maybe she just simply wasn't able to process these sorts of things very well.
Or maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the first body like this she had seen. Maybe there had been others before that, buried in the recesses of her mind, that she just couldn't reach. Maybe she had grown numb to this sort of thing long ago.
Oh, nonsense, Fernpaw! She shook her head, as if to clear it of such foolish thoughts. Stop overthinking. She had made it to the medicine den and simply stood, staring at the wall, until a voice behind her made her jump. Whirling around, she relaxed when she saw it was just her mentor. "Oh, um...Sure. Thank you, Freshbreath." In truth, she had no appetite, but it would be good to eat a little something to keep her strength up. Paws still wet, she followed the medicine cat out of the den.
Timberwolf - Tom - 44 moons - Warrior - Apprentice: Lostpaw - Tags: Wolfshadow, Brightwing
Timberwolf flinched at the she-cat's harsh response. He knew that Wolfshadow was grieving, and that her grief happened to manifest in the form of anger rather than outright sadness, but her words stung as badly as if she had clawed him across the face. Perhaps he was just feeling extra sensitive in the wake of the clan's loss...or perhaps he was sensitive because, though he wasn't ready to admit it, he held deeper feelings for the prickly she-cat than what he had for most of his clanmates. Not wanting to show that he had been hurt by her words, he instead mirrored her demeanor, not caring that she had seemingly decided the conversation was over. "The safety of my clanmates is my business," he spat back, his tail bushing up. "What if something happened to you two? If I overheard your conversation and did nothing about it, I'd never be able to live with myself." Turning to Brightwing, he forced his fur to lie flat as he added, "Brightwing, surely you aren't actually considering such a mouse-brained idea?"
