Peculiar Scents

[alkaryco]

Hollyheart blinked as he grew quiet, not knowing what she had spoken to upset him. Surprisingly, she was a little saddened that he had ended their conversation: she had been warming up to the sharp-tongued medicine cat, however much she didn't want to admit it. The black and white cat blinked one eye as a butterfly drew close and swatted it absentmindedly out of the air. She didn't know what to say to break the awkward silence, so concentrated on her dock instead, trying not to drop a single one. it was surprising, to say the least, how her vision of Blazetail had changed so quickly. Maybe he wasn't such a grumpy cat underneath it all?

[Shinko]

The sudden motion of Hollyheart swatting the butterfly brought Blazetail back into the present. He shook his head roughly; he couldn't change the past. What mattered was seeing to the well-being of his Clan now.

As they neared the camp, he turned to the she-cat. He had meant to engage her again, but a sound from the camp stopped him. Someone was shouting, but from the distance he couldn't tell who. His head whipped around. There was no bloodscent in the air, and he didn't hear the telltale screeches of warring cats. Only yelling. "What in StarClan's name?" he mumbled around the leaves in his mouth, dashing towards the camp.

[alkaryco]

Hollyheart pounded after him, her eyes wide. What was going on? Her whiskers tingled in half-anticipation for a fight, but she felt strangely disappointed on not finishing her chat with Blazetail. Her ears stood to attention, her tail raised in the air; twitching at the tip, like it always did when she was agitated. She paced herself a few strides in front of Blazetail- StarClan only knew what was going on, and she had to protect her medicine cat if something had gone terribly wrong. She and the ginger medicine cat climbed the final rise before the dip into their camp and peered into the darkness of the cave below...

[Shinko]

A silvery gray tom pelted out, his tail fluffed out and his green eyes bright with surprise and something like fear.

"Briartooth!" Blazetail gasped, "What in StarClan's name is going on?"

The warrior blinked. Blazetail and Hollyheart? Now there was an odd pairing. He couldn't recall if the she-cat had said more than ten words at a time to the medicine cat before now. He shook his head to clear it of such inconsequential thoughts. "Nothing, nothing. I just got my tail chewed off. It seems that- ah..." he looked sheepish, "I took the apprentices out to collect moss yesterday, and apparently the batch they brought back for the elders was full of ticks. The apprentices have all been sent to Fallowpaw to get mouse bile to get ride of them, but in the meantime I'm in trouble because I was in charge and should have noticed."

Blazetail snorted, "Yes, you should have. However, seeing as how someone else has taken it upon themselves to give you a good tongue-lashing, I shall forgo the lecture this time."

Briartooth sighed, "Well I'm off to collect moss for the elders."

"Shouldn't the apprentices be doing that?" The medicine cat meowed, surprised. The warrior coughed with embarrasment.

"It's uh... my punishment for not watching them better. I have to gather it."

[Aerostrike]

(( Sorry for coming only just now.... ))

Fallowpaw scowled as the bitter scent of mouse bile on her paws reached her sensitive nose. "Who's first?" She asked the elders. She flicked her light tail impatiently while she truthfully wished to be back in her warm moss nest with no jobs to do while Blazetail treated all the elders for their ticks. /Maybe the apprentices who gathered tick-infested moss should be doing this!/ She thought sassily. /Blazetail will probably just scold me for not doing it 'thoroughly' enough for his perfect taste. That's how he is, with his unfriendly nature./ She thought, angry.

[Shinko]

((Hun, read the post, the apprentices were sent to you to get mouse bile, not sent to get you to do the de-ticking XD))

Blazetail trotted into the elders den, his lip curled back in distaste at the stench of the mouse bile. Seeing Fallowpaw alone in the den, he snarled, and whipped around. Shoving his way past the warriors in the main cave, he began to deliver to blistering lecture to the apprentices for lying to Fallowpaw and making her go over the elders for ticks when it was their punishment duty. When he had snarled himself hoarse, he stomped over to the elders, grabbed Fallowpaw's scruff, and started to drag her out. "Nuh-uh," he growled, "You are not letting those little fox-hearted idiots make you do their work for them. Come on, we're helping Briartooth gather moss. We need some on hand for water carrying anyway."

[alkaryco]

Hollyheart gave an amused look to Fallowpaw as she started to wash her paw. "I've been enlisted for moss patrol," she muttered, "A grown warrior! Eh, that's Falconbite for you. He's in a mood today, yeah?"
The black-and-white warrior rubbed the thoroughly licked paw behind an ear absently. "What do you think, Blazetail? Has he finally gone mad?"
Her pondering was interrupted by Falconbite's throaty snarl. "Get a move on. The elders are complaining like they're about to meet StarClan 'because of broken bones from lack of moss', as they're saying..." He flicked an ear backwards without finishing the sentence to the sounds of a warrior screeching at an elder to stop taking their bedding. "The situation's quite desperate, really," he added unnecessarily.

[Shinko]

Blazetail snorted, "Keep your fur on, we're going, we're going." Flicking his tail at Briartooth, Hollyheart, and Fallowpaw, the medicine cat took off into the trees.

"Now, Fallowpaw," he meowed, "The best place to collect moss is near the black stream, where the ground is moist."

Briartooth chortled, "Well, you sound almost nice today Blazetail. Don't tell me you, old claw-tongue himself, actually like having a young cat to be responsible for? You always swore the only way you would be able to put up with an apprentice was if they never spoke to you out loud! Not going soft, are we?"

"Shut up you mouse-brain," the ginger tom snapped, "I'll do what I have to to make sure the Clan will be well cared for when StarClan calls me to join them."

"Which will be never," the grey warrior murmured to Hollyheart under his breath, "Because he's such a grouch that StarClan will make sure he lives forever so they don't have to deal with him except at the Halfmoon!"

[Aerostrike]

Fallowpaw nodded, still somewhat stunned from being whisked out of the apprentices den like a kit carried by its mother. "I'll try to hurry, because it sounds like they're getting impatient," she mewed as she padded briskly out of the medicine den. She navigated her way to the black stream and made her way towards the other side of the flowing water, which, thankfully, was low again. After she leapt over the thin line of water, she looked around for the soft, dry moss that she was supposed to collect for fresh nests for the elders. She quickly spotted a very comfortable-looking collection of more-than-adequate clumps of moss. She trotted towards them and carefully uprooted a thick sheet of moss neatly. "One," she meowed to herself. She needed to get several nests worth of moss to be done with her mission. She continued to collect moss until she decided that she had enough moss to satisfy the needs of the elders.

The fallow-pelted apprentice swiftly padded back to camp, careful not to drop her large bundle of fresh moss. When she finally reached the elders den, she spread out the moss equally and put together moss nests for all of the elders of her clan. She sighed in relief when she, at last, finished her mission. She quickly padded back to the medicine den to report her completion of the job that she was given to do. "I have done everything that you told me to do. All the moss nests are ready for the elders, and I double-checked to make sure that no ticks or fleas inhabited them. Is there anything else I need to do?" Fallowpaw asked hopefully. Her eyes showed her exhaustion, but she was trying not to show it, because she did not want to disappoint her mentor, Blazetail.

[alkaryco]

Hollyheart considered his statement. "Blazetail isn't that bad," she murmured almost shyly, "but I must agree. StarClan wouldn't know what to do with him!" She leapt into the air after a butterfly and came down a bit lopsided, stumbling a bit and then promptly falling into the nearest thorn bush, which in turn invoked a not-so-pleased hiss.
As the black-and-white she-cat got up, Falconbite sneered with disdain. "You're clumsier than a badger with two legs!"
Hollyheart gaped at the black deputy-- her brother, no less-- with sadness in her bright green gaze. She ducked her head and began to extract the thorns, but Falconbite interrupted. "Leave them, sister," he hissed, watching the rivulets of blood trail down his sister's fur in a kind of satisfaction. "Right, then, let's get the moss and a couple of mice to take back-- mustn't return empty-pawed, next the elders will complain about lack of prey!" He gave an amused look to Briartooth, now completely ignoring the black-and-white warrior trailing dejectedly behind him. "Beautiful day though, wouldn't you say, Blazetail?"

The black tom leapt gracefully over a log while his sister scrambled over behind him. "We're going to have to watch the CloudClan border more closely," he now mused to himself from the head of the patrol, low enough for no one to hear him, "Heard some rather nasty things about some rouges over there on the sunhigh patrol..."

Hollyheart's ears pricked and she dove into a bush, chasing after a...

[Shinko]

...Sparrow. Unfortunately, Briartooth had spotted the same sparrow from the opposite side of the bush.

Blazetail me the deputies eyes with his own amber ones. His voice was frosty when he meowed, "It's lovely." He turned to Fallowpaw with relief when he spotted her carrying more than enough moss to give back to the elders, and meowed, "That'll do, youngster. You go back to camp and rest. And don't let the warrior apprentices push you around!"

At that precise moment, Hollyheart made her leap for the sparrow, as did Briartooth. With both cat's heads down, they collided in midair over the stunned bird.

[alkaryco]

Hollyheart gave a surprised and somewhat pained yowl, backing off and shaking her head to clear it. Her vision swum for a few seconds before the world righted and she looked straight into the blue-green eyes of Briartooth. She kept staring for a few more heartbeats until, finally, she burst out in a chorus of amused meows. She flicked her tail and looked at Blazetail eagerly, bounding over to him and circling the poor ginger tom. "Blazetail, did you see that?" she mewed excitedly, balancing on her hind paws and snatching a blossom from the air before it hit the ground. She started plucking the thorns from her fur, ignoring Falconbite's annoyed huff from behind her. The black-and-white warrior purred and frisked back over to Briartooth, who had managed to sink his claws into the bird that had caused her headache. She felt the dull pounding of her head and smelled the blood trickling down her pelt, feeling it course through black fur and watching it run through white. She felt alive! Out on a patrol with her brother and two friends: what could be better? Hollyheart flicked her ears and butted Briartooth with a paw. "You've got a hard skull," she pointed out.

[Shinko]

Briartooth groomed his shoulder, his expression embarrassed. "I'm such a mouse-brain! I can't believe I didn't scent you there! Sorry, Hollyheart." The grey warrior glanced at Falconbite, his expression apologetic. "At least I got the sparrow. And now the elders will have a new story to tell about the incompetence of young warriors these days, which aught to sooth the fur we ruffled over the moss. You know how they are; any excuse to brag about how much better then were in their day."

Suddenly, Blazetail glanced at the horizon and bit back a yowl of alarm. "It's almost sundown! The Halfmoon meeting is tonight, we're going to be late!"

[alkaryco]

Falconbite turned to Briartooth and sighed. "Right," he mewed, raising his face to the dying sunlight. "Hollyheart, go with Blazetail and see him back to camp. The rouge smells we're scenting may be dangerous. They won't care whether or not the cat's a medicine cat." He sighed again before blinking one eye. "Blazetail, Hollyheart will accompany you to the other medicine cats. We can't lose you."

Hollyheart nodded and flicked her torn ear. Falconbite flicked his tail at her in acknowledgement before turning to Briartooth. "You and I will collect our prey and our moss and head back to camp before the elders try to bring themselves out of retirement. Is this alright with everyone?"

Falconbite's bright blue eyes gleamed in the half-light as he turned toward a sound in the undergrowth.

[Aerostrike]

Fallowpaw stretched and headed out to join her mentor for the medicine cat meeting. She had rested all day long to make the long journey to the meeting place of the medicine cats. Now she was refreshed and ready to walk for miles on end. She ate a rabbit to keep up her strength and energy, and padded into the medicine den to meet Blazetail. "I am ready for the meeting now. When do we set out?" She meowed comfortably. She twitched her tail and her blue eyes gleamed with excitement. /My first medicine cat meeting!/ She thought in excitement. She purred to herself. /I can't wait!/ She thought.