Hunting of a Different Kind

[Ritz]

Briskwind

Briskwind scented the air as he limped along, his head swiveling from side to side to take in as much of the meadow as he could with his good eye. He was running low on comfrey, and had come to the meadow to replenish his stock. As this was one of the few places Comfrey grew on Dayclan terratory. Problem was, it never seemed to be in the same place. Elk tended to trample the plants, and then they'd end up sprouting in another place. Briskwind didn't enjoy searching out the plant, but it was nesesary, so he did.

Ah, there it was. The big leaves caught his attention shortly after he'd sniffed it out. He set about digging up the roots, which was as awkward as ever due to his crippled front leg. When he'd finally pulled up a decent amount of Comfrey root. Briskwind looked up and around himself. There were a few elk in the distance, not close enough to be a bother to the crippled tom. A different scent attracted his attention suddenly. Checking one last time to make sure the comfrey root wasn't going anywhere, he padded off to the source of the smell.

He found the source quickly enough, just resisting the urge to bounce up and down like an excited kit. Snakeroot! not a common find within the Dayclan borders. One of the elk must've wandered out pretty far to have brought back the nessesary seeds. He pulled up the plant with little difficulty, still reveling in his find. Padding back to where he'd left the comfrey, Briskwind started to wonder how he'd get all the herbs back to the camp. It wasn't far, but it was still difficult for Briskwind to travel with so many herbs.

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[|Marzi|]

(I think cripples are a DayClan theme)

Having left behind the rather paranoid deputy, Ambergale found himself wandering rather far. The Elk Meadow was not an ideal place for hunting, but his paws had brought him here. Crumpled ear twitching along with his tail, he turned to head back towards camp. He could collect the few things he caught along the way and take a nap.

All contented thoughts of napping melted away when a scent other than elk came to his nose. Cat, a familiar one. Scanning the meadow with his eyes (in flat land why follow a scent trail?) he found what he sought.

Moving quickly, he took in the sight of the medicine cat. He had had to come many times to Briskwind on account of his own leg. He wasn't all that friendly with the tom however, having always been in a relatively bad mood when he decided to actually get help about his leg.

"Hello Briskwind, herb gathering?" Ambergale stared at the pile in front of the cat.

[Ritz]

Briskwind looked up at the scent of another cat. One thing he had been blessed with; a very sensitive sense of smell to make up for his one good eye, and poor walking abilities. He recognized Ambergales scent before he looked up from the small pile of herbs he'd collected.

"Hello Briskwind, herb gathering?"

"Hello Ambergale," Briskwind greeted with a dip of his mangled head. "Yes, I came out because I was low on comfrey, and found this as well." He nudged the Snakeroot with his bad paw. "What brings you out here?" The silvery gray tom sat on his haunches, absently seperating the comfrey and snakerot into two different piles. He didn't think he'd confuse them if they were mixed, but Briskwind was a bit obsessed with having everything organized. Anyone who'd seen his herb stock could say as much.

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ooc: It does seem that way, doesn't it?

[|Marzi|]

Ambergale could easily see the difference between the herbs, smell it too, but he really had no idea what either of them were. Well, Briskwind had just called one of them comfrey, so he supposed that was at least one mystery solved.

Lowering himself to sit as well, (why stand when one could sit?) Ambergale smiled at the question.

"Wandered away without really realizing it, so no real reason to be here. Whitefur's a bit on edge, so I suppose I just wanted to get away from that. Anyone could be anxious, but she seems a bit jumpy."

Contentedly wrapping his tail around the side of his good leg, he watched the other cat sort. All medicine cats he supposed were orderly. Helped in a crisis to know where everything was. With the thoughts of crisis, Ambergale began to wonder how under StarClan a leader kept all of their cats together. Warriors anyway, he for one normally didn't say when he was going out. Everyone needed a bit of alone time, so why inform everyone you're going?

[Ritz]

Briskwind considered the seperate piles of herbs for a second, before nudging them a little more. He did it more to have something to do with his paws at this point. His small bit of remaining tail twitched slightly as he silently berated himself. Briskwind had a tendency to fidget when he had nothing else to do, so he kept his paws busy.

"Wandered away without really realizing it, so no real reason to be here. Whitefur's a bit on edge, so I suppose I just wanted to get away from that. Anyone could be anxious, but she seems a bit jumpy."

Half of Briskwinds face twitched up in a grin, while the other half remained in a permanent grimace. Being the medicine cat, Briskwind didn't have to deal with Solitudestar and Whitefur. At least not like everyone else did. "Wonder whats got her so anxious?" He wondered out loud, a bit of his grin fading slightly. He straightened the comfrey a little, realizing there wasn't much more he could do to the piles without seeming paranoid.

[|Marzi|]

"Wonder whats got her so anxious?"

Flicking his tail at the comment, Ambergale gave his shoulder a brief lick. There was no need to flatten his fur, but the medicine cat's twitching had made him want to move as well. Was he anxious as well, or just as fidgety as always?

"Hard to tell, but she did seem a little worried other Clans might attack us. It's always a possibility, but why get worried over it?"

Directing his gaze away from Briskwind, Ambergale watched an elk roam into view. They really were monstrous creatures. Twolegs even avoided them. Sighing to relax his tensing shoulders, he poked his crooked leg away from his body, given him a hunchbacked broken look.

His ears flattened. "I don't think we should be bothering with the other Clans right now though. Our camp is too quiet, an attack would create just enough noise to lift the mood."

And give him something other than aching joints to think about.

[Ritz]

"Hard to tell, but she did seem a little worried other Clans might attack us. It's always a possibility, but why get worried over it?"

Briskwind followed Ambergales gaze to the elk that had ambled into their range of site. Briskwind couldn't help but lean away from it, even though it was still too far away to be a real threat. For a cat that was missing an ear, an eye, half his tail, most his fur, and had a crooked leg, you'd think he wouldn't care about something like an elk. Not like he could have lost much more, could he? Truth was, the elk just freaked him out. Who wasn't iffy about a giant four-legged animal with multiple sharp objects growing out of the top of it's head? Briskwind looked back at Ambergale, noticing how he held his leg and the way he was sitting. He opened his mouth to ask about his leg, but was cut off by Ambergales next words.

I don't think we should be bothering with the other Clans right now though. Our camp is too quiet, an attack would create just enough noise to lift the mood."

His good ear flicked and he couldn't help but grin. "True, it might lift the mood a little. But chances are Whitefur would be even more uptight then she is now if it happened" He nudged his herb piles one last time before straightening up as best as he could. "Is your leg alright, Ambergale?" He didn't have the herbs he needed to treat his leg here, but he had a stock of Ragwort leaves and juniper berries back in his den that would help.

Briskwinds one-eyed gaze flicked back to the elk, and his stub of a tail twitched slightly. He wondered dimly if their antlers served any other purpose besides cutting up other elk... Maybe he'd try to drag one of the antlers that they tended to drop around newleaf. There were probably a couple still laying around somewhere, and they might serve some kind of purpose to the medicine cat. He'd seen other animals with antlers that, if lined with moss, would have made good nests for sick or injured cats (Moose). Elk antlers? No.

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[|Marzi|]

True, it might lift the mood a little. But chances are Whitefur would be even more uptight then she is now if it happened."

Ah, bitter truth. One good thing cannot get you all of what you want. He dipped his head in agreement, still thinking a fight would be the better action. After chasing away the intruders (oh yes, they would win) Ambergale felt no matter how paranoid Whitefur became it would be easy to ignore her after that.

"Is your leg alright, Ambergale?"

His relaxed mood slipped, and he scowled at nothing in particular. Did they have to ask? Even being a medicine cat, Ambergale felt he didn't really need to ask. If he was in pain, wouldn't he go to him? Having been born this way, he didn't need to be continuously checked up on!

"It has never been fine Briskwind, but being born with an ailment one can ignore and get over things." He kept his tone flat, and didn't look at his companion.

Feeling he may have stepped over a boundyr with his remark, he kept speaking so he wouldn't get yelled at. Or told-off, or whatever it was medicine cats could do. Or did. "Do you need help getting these things back to camp?"

He could always go back for his prey later, or send an apprentice.

[Ritz]

Briskwind frowned as he saw Ambergales scowl. Briskwind knew all too well how irritating it could be to have others check on you because of a handicap, but he also knew how necessary it could be at times. The embarrassment of admitting he needed someone to help him with basic things like moving from place to place used to stop him from asking altogether.

"It has never been fine Briskwind, but being born with an ailment one can ignore and get over things."

Briskwind looked down and studied his front paws through his one-eyed gaze. One was regular, with only sparse amounts of fur missing in places. The other was bent at an odd angle, with patches of extremely short fur where there used to be none. His pelt was taking a long while in growing back. He sighed and turned his thoughts back to Ambergale. Since he'd gone through everything and more that Ambergale had had to, and was still going through for that matter, he should know better then to say anything. But he hadn't, and he was silently berating himself for it.

There was a number of things he could have said, not all of them kind. Briskwind, however, said nothing. If Ambergales leg became a real problem, he'd come to Briskwind for help then. If it wasn't that serious now, he'd drop it. The silvery colored tom just nodded, still studying his paws. A few of the hairs on his good leg looked white. was that the light that made them look that way? Or was he aging before his time? Well, he wasn't getting any younger, that was for sure.

"Do you need help getting these things back to camp?"

Briskwind looked up, the good side of his face grinning as if he hadn't heard Ambergales previous comment. "Yes, that would be great." His stub of a tail twitched slightly, as if it were trying to flick around to rest at his other side, but had forgotten it couldn't reach. Briskwind didn't really have much control over what his stub did, it just moved when it felt like it apparently. He'd tried to make it stay still when he was younger, but if he wasn't paying attention it just flicked around like a normal cats tail, minus about 3/4^th the length.

He nudged the pile of comfrey toward Ambergale. Granted, it was slightly larger then the few Snakeroot plants he'd managed to pull up, but Briskwinds mouth didn't open up wide enough to fit all the comfrey. He could bite the tips and drag them back to camp, yes, but whoever would have to chew it up later wouldn't thank him for that. If he'd found the plant in the forest, maybe. But through the elk meadow? With the multiple piles of 'surprises' the big creatures left laying around? Protein or not, that stuff was disgusting.

ooc: w00t! My muse has returned to me! ;D (At least for Briskwind )

[|Marzi|]

(Lucky you, I doubt I can give you something so good in return >.>)

"Yes, that would be great."

Ambergale seemed to have gotten off for now, and dipped his head to take the comfrey. He noticed the slight difference in size of the herb piles, but he ignored it. Having probably insulted Briskwind, he felt he was getting off fairly easily. There would be a chance to apologize later, once he was in a better mood.

Slowly standing, he stretched out his legs and waited for Briskwind. Running off and leaving him alone would probably cause more docked points for Ambergale.

Maybe if he acted nice, he would feel better and then actually be nice. He would have laughed if his mouth wasn't full, so he nearly choked as he held back a cough. Going rigid, his eyes watered. Coughing on the herbs probably wasn't the best way to keep them useful and clean. Of course, nearly killing himself in the effort to prevent that form happening seemed a little foolish. The pile of herbs wasn't that big either.

Slowly sucking in sweet air through his nose, he tried to regain his composure. Maybe Briskwind would brush it off, seeing as he was going to be carrying the snakeroot. He wouldn't stop to talk just because of his little pause, would he? Who was he kidding, of course the medicine cat would!

Feeling embarrassed, he started to walk forward, hoping to avoid a conversation. His eyes were still watery.