154 posts
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Post by Squirrelly on Sept 15, 2017 0:13:46 GMT
Herbs were already starting to die. He had already seen already seen wilting marigolds and the dandelions had long died. So he needed to gather as many as he could before they all became victim to the cold weather. He had ventured towards the brook that day, hoping to find some celandine or coltsfoot, and maybe even some feverfew if he was lucky. He had left camp hurriedly and grumbling, feeling too cramped there. He had probably made quite a seen, waking up and immediately leaving camp in a huff. But he hadn't cared, just wanting space and, of course, more herbs. As he padded over to the stepping stones to pull out the plants that grew around there, he suddenly realized that someone would follow him after the exit he had made. That was because the rest of the tribe stuck there noses into business that wasn't there own, at least in his opinion. As he pulled out some ragwort, he suddenly had a weird feeling that someone was following. Scenting the air, he could smell the faint scent of one of his tribe mate's nearby, though the scent of the herbs he was picking blocked most of the smell. "What are you doing here?" he asked without looking up, continuing to rip out ragwort.
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33 posts
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Post by ruby on Sept 15, 2017 17:49:33 GMT
Rising Lightning bristled as the healer acknowledged her presence without moving. What, she wasn't worthy of his acknowledgement? "Watching," she replied sharply. Perhaps she didn't need to be so rough with her words, but it wasn't in her nature to be that way. "After you left like that, I thought that someone should." Despite her attitude, she did want to help her Tribemates - whether they wanted her to or not. "What are you doing with those?" she asked, watching him rip plants out of the ground. She didn't understand what the few who healed the Tribe did. She didn't understand, but she did want to. Anything to understand why a select few of her Tribemates busied themselves with gathering plants. However, her methods of going about acquiring knowledge were less than stellar. "They're just plants," she scoffed, waiting for him to respond. As it was, she sat near the brook, yawning. This was, in her eyes, a waste of time, but if something happened to her Tribemate she would be there to help, at least. With any luck, he would be finished whatever he was doing before long, and she wouldn't have to speak to the older tom very much.
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154 posts
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Post by Squirrelly on Sept 15, 2017 19:47:36 GMT
At Rising Lightning's response, Frozen Pool couldn't help but scoff rudely. Who did she think she was, replying sharply and snobbishly when she was the one following him. In his opinion, it was extremely rude to follow some cat around like their shadow, which is what this cat seemed to be doing. At first, he considered if his first assumption about her wanting to help him was wrong, but then she kept speaking. So not only was she following him around, but she was also sticking her nose into business that wasn't her own. He hated when his tribe mates did that, which seemed very often. As she kept speaking, he dropped the ragwort he had pulled out and started heading towards some mallow growing in the mud beside the stream. However, when she made her next outrageous statement, he found it impossible to ignore here. "Watching? Stalking, more like it. And what I do is my business, not yours so shove off!" he hissed, though he was far from finished. "I'm picking these, thank you very much. And you your information, this ragwort can supply strength as well as soothe joints, and this mallow is great for treating stomach aches. Not to bad for 'just plants', right?" His voice was full of sarcasm as he continued, obviously annoyed by the intrusive she-cat. He inhaled the sweet scent of the herb he was gathering, trying to pretend he was alone. He grunted in annoyance as he realized that the leaves we wet, and he would have to dry them out later. Now he was in an even worse mood.
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33 posts
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Post by ruby on Sept 17, 2017 6:04:49 GMT
Rising Lightning was quite honestly starting to wonder if the older a cat got, the more irritable they became. However, despite her lack of tact, even she knew better than to insult his age. "Well, how would I know any of that? It's not what I'm good at, it's what you're good at. I'm good at fighting, and you're good at collecting plants," she added drily. No wonder nobody else seemed very concerned for him, if he was going to be like that, she thought - not stopping to consider that maybe her own demeanor wasn't helping very much. "It's not stalking! Nobody else seemed to want to make sure you'd be fine! Don't you know being by yourself can be dangerous? Especially near water!" She left the 'especially for a cat of your age' unspoken, simply huffing in annoyance instead. "I might not understand what you do, but you do. There aren't as many of you who know that stuff as there are of us who don't, after all."
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154 posts
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Post by Squirrelly on Sept 17, 2017 12:33:39 GMT
"I don't expect you to know all that! That's why you shouldn't go badmouthing it! I don't say that fighting is just a weird form of dancing!" he replied harshly, growling under his breath. He didn't want her just standing around insulting him instead of doing something that could actually be useful. As she kept talking about wanting to make sure that he was fine because being by himself near water was dangerous, he had finished gathering the mallow and had piled it up beside the ragwort. As she finished speaking, he looked up at her and stared at her for a long time, wondering how to reply. Then his gaze fell to the plant behind her. It seemed to be a daisy plant, which he had noted earlier to not get, as daisies were extremely common and he had a lot of them. But it grew taller and thicker, and was lighter colored, plus it seemed to be growing awfully close to the water for daisies. A rare smile spread across his face, then stopped because he didn't was Rising Lightning to think he was smiling at her. "Okay, okay. For your information, I was fine, but as long as you are here, you can help me. See that daisy like plant over there? You can help me pull some of it up," he decided, padding over to the feverfew. It was not to common, and could treat fevers, aches, and infections, which were three of the most common serious sicknesses or injuries. He started pulling up the shrub, making sure to leave a few so that they could grow back. The mud between the stepping stones was the perfect growing place, and would make this place a valuable part of their territory. As he continued picking the plant, he realized that the tedious work would be better with a partner, in more ways than one.
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33 posts
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Post by ruby on Sept 22, 2017 21:16:42 GMT
Rising Lightning nodded, and began helping Frozen Pool with the plant he pointed out. She supposed that Frozen Pool had a point regarding her treatment of his work - not that she would say it out loud. "What does this plant do?" she asked as she did so, figuring if she was going to rip it out of the ground she ought to know why. She was, for the most part, just glad that he had actually given her something to do, however. A small part of herself told her to apologize, but she brushed that thought aside. Apologizing would be showing weakness, and she couldn't do that. Particularly not to this cat.
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154 posts
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Post by Squirrelly on Sept 23, 2017 16:22:19 GMT
"This is feverfew. It treats fevers, infections, and aches. I don't know why you need to know that, but I guess there's no harm in it," he grumbled in response. The thought had occurred to him that he should thank her for helping him, but he pushed the thought away quickly. She owed it to him after so rudely stalking and arguing with him like that. So instead of thanking Rising Lightning, he just continued to rip the stems out of the ground into a pile. After they had collected enough, he stepped back. This would be enough to treat his tribunates without taking so much that the plants died. Looking over to the Sharpclaw, he nodded to her as his way of saying thank you. "You can stop now. You don't want to kill all of them so there's none left next year."
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33 posts
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Post by ruby on Sept 27, 2017 2:42:41 GMT
Feverfew. The name stuck, but the things it apparently did went in one of Rising Lightning's ears and out of the other. It was too much information that she wasn't particularly concerned with, and besides, it wasn't her job to know these things, anyway. She knew what it was called, at least. So she pulled up the plants - the feverfew, she corrected herself in the way she thought Frozen Pool might - doing her best to be careful about it although carefulness and delicateness were things she was particularly unskilled in. However, she happily stopped when told, and looked at the healer with curiosity. "Won't they just grow back?" she asked. She was a fighter, and a hunter, and many things besides, but she was also young and naive. She had always assumed plants would just reappear at the start of each time of the freed-waters. She hadn't ever considered that maybe that wasn't the case.
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154 posts
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Post by Squirrelly on Sept 27, 2017 21:38:45 GMT
Frozen Pool let out a snort at her question. In his mind, it was one of the stupidest things he had ever heard. But after a few moments he decided that that wasn't the case. He had heard a lot of stupid things in his lifetime, most of them a lot weirder than this. And unfortunately, he had believed one of them. Real emotion and grief crossed his face for a few heartbeats, but he tried to stop looking like that and was mostly successful. It was no use thinking about the past, only about what he would do in the moment and in the moments to come. And right now, he had to face the silly question he had just been asked. After combining the two piles of leaves and stems they had gathered, he looked into her eyes, all traces of emotion that had been there now replaced by sarcasm and scorn. "Won't they just grow back? That is one of the stupidest things I've heard in a while! What do you think happens, they just magically reappear?" the healer asked, only the smallest hint of laughter in his voice. Without waiting for a response, he continued. "No, they don't 'just grow back'. If there isn't any plants left, they won't be able to spread again, and therefor there will nothing left to grow back." He hoped the explanation was satisfactory, as he didn't want to go deeper into the subject. They had spent to much time together already. As he picked up the large pile of feverfew in his jaws, he realized he hadn't talked that much with a cat since his sister had died. And much to his surprise, even though they had mostly been fighting, he had actually enjoyed it.
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