Territory MORE THAN A WHISPER // OWL TREE + HERB PATROL

This thread takes place outside the clan's camp in its territory.
OWLBARK

OWLBARK

no one to guide me
ThunderClan
Colony Clan Founder
13
0
Freshkill
55
Pronouns
he/him
Rank
ThunderClan Warrior

The broken, brittle tree that loomed in the clearing casted a shadow through the milky leafbare light. Owlbark stood at the base, pacing and peering for any sign of herbs like Serpentberry had directed. He was not one to be told what to do, but he also couldn't deny the need for herbs. So he went. With @DARKPLUME and @rowanpaw tailing him. It was a silent trek. If the other two had spoken, he did not join in. He was content enough to plod to the tree he had noted earlier in his wanderings by himself and tolerated the pair behind him.

"I don't know what to look for," he admitted on his fourth turn about the tree. When he was injured as a loner, he mostly licked his wounds and let them heal on their own. When he was sick, he rested and hoped to see another sunrise. Herbs were a foreign concept to him. Owlbark assumed that either Darkplume or Rowanpaw would have some idea of what to look for.

He busied himself from sniffing for herbal remedies to sniffing for prey. He was much more acquainted with that. A pile of rocks, steady and quiet, reveals a small beady pair of eyes. Owlbark's ears perk and his body immeadietly crouches in preparation for the rodent to scurry out. He watched, though, as it nervously scanned the air above it. Odd. Did something live here that made that movement habit?

The mouse popped back into its rocky abode and Owlbark huffed in annoyance. "Owl? Hawk? Maybe some other bird," he mused to no one in particular. Only one way to find out. Owlbark looked to Darkplume and gestured her over. "I'm gonna climb the tree and see who's making the mice nervous. Watch my back?" If he was a moon or so younger, he wouldn't have asked for help at all. He wouldn't have even stayed around long enough to find out who lived in this tree. He would have moved on and found another tree with mice. This time, though, he was eager to learn more about the tree he was going to be seeing almost everyday.

i turned 'round and there you go *ੈ✩‧₊˚
  • ooc: prompt - the tree is tall, just like any other, but it seems to stand apart from its brotheren. its trunk is wide and sturdy, too, with a gaping maw high in the branches. nearby a stack of rocks settles, and a single mouse peaks out. does the patrol correlate these two? does someone begin the rumor that owls take to roosting here?
  • ☾ OWLBARK
    ☾ THUNDERCLAN WARRIOR
    ☾ 51 moons, ages every 1st of the month
    ☾ open to peaceful interactions
    ☾ "SPEECH"
    ☾ penned by muddly
    Click to expand...
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The trek from the camp was one they made in near complete silence, though not an uncomfortable one. They did not have much to say, and there was still in the air the lingering grief over what had passed. Additionally, Rowanpaw didn't know the other cats well, barely at all in fact, and thus found it harder to strike up conversation.

They come to a halt as the undergrowth opens up before them in a wide circle, in the centre of which a large tree is growing. It is taller than any tree Rowanpaw's ever seen, and wider too, its roots popping out of the cold earth here and there, gnarled and dark brown. It gives the impression that it stretches from here and out into the entire world, a network of roots covering more space than any one cat could ever hope to cover.

Rowanpaw has at some point sat down on her haunches, staring up at the tree as if held captive by its size. At some point she'd started thinking of that night, the fall. Her torn ear flicks involuntarily, and she's grateful for the distraction when the oldest of the cats, Owlbark, speaks up.

"I don't know what to look for," he says.

"I do," Rowanpaw says, back on four legs again.

Whether he hears her or not, Rowanpaw isn't sure. He turns away from the tree and begins to sniff the air as if for prey, and Rowanpaw takes it upon herself to do the herb searching. She's not sure if Darkplume knows much about herbs, but given her inaction, she supposes not.

But Serpentberry had taught Rowanpaw what she could in the days before she'd sent her out on patrol, and as they walked, it was what Rowanpaw had repeated in her head, like a chant over and over. She scans the area and spots a large leafy plant, which smells sour even from a distance– she pads over, prodding it with a paw and searching her mind. She recounts the words of Serpentberry, and feeling fairly certain of herself, guesses it to be dock. She carefully bites through the stem near the root like Serpentberry had told her to do, and holding several in her mouth, realizes she needs something to carry them in. She looks up just as Owlbark speaks again–

"I'm gonna climb the tree and see who's making the mice nervous. Watch my back?"

It's not addressed to Rowanpaw, but to Darkplume. She's somewhat grateful he hadn't asked her. The idea of climbing still made her feel anxious, but Owlbark was older than her, and probably far better at climbing. Despite the anxiety, the little voice in her head wanting to stop him– she didn't like the idea of telling someone so much older than her what to do.

She looks away, for anything that she could use to carry the herbs more easily, and finds a large fallen leaf that had yet to decay near a berry bush, and places the stems of chervil on it. Looking up, she blinks as she recognizes the blue berries that were Juniperstar's namesake– juniper berries. Serpentberry hadn't mentioned them, but maybe they could be useful for… something? She picks a few, putting them with the stems of dock she'd taken. Then, she glances over her shoulder, apprehensive, to see how the tree climbing is going.

 
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serpentberry had directed a rather quiet patrol. the trio's pawsteps fill the awkward silence, wading through snow to get to their destination. thunderclan's new residence hadn't been properly explored yet, so a natural path wasn't carved out yet from generations of exploring. darkplume's gaze drifts to the ground, white tipped paws patting down earth.

the tree stands, powerful with limbs stretching and curving out in all directions. her neck strains slightly from looking up at it, murky golden eyes squinting against the light that dapples through. it feels warm. she is uncomfortable.

rowanpaw's assessment would be correct. all darkplume sees is green plants, colorful plants, and some are kind of deadly. she dislikes fighting with tooth and claw, so she never spent time licking her wounds. so, she stands awkwardly, only seeing mounds of dirty snow and shivering, glowing tiny eyes in the shadows. owlbark looks at her, and she turns her head towards him.

she wasn't sure how to respond to him asking for assistance. they've been a clan for well over a moon now, but darkplume can't wrap her head around leaning on each other.

"sure." she finally decides on, "what do you think it is?" she climbs onto one of the roots, wobbles, then balances. for the extra height.

ᯓᡣ𐭩

 

At Darkplume's agreement, Owlbark wasted no time digging his claws into the bark and hauling himself from branch to branch. He raised himself in these woods, but never made his way to this tree. He tended to keep to the edges and avoiding as many cats as he could. How funny that his life had changed that he woke up around cats and was forced to venture deep into places he never had the courage for.

The rough bark flaked away at his paw pads. He did not check to see if it landed on Darkplume. He didn't know the she-cat very well, and had no plans to rectify that. She didn't seem to want to try and learn him better based on the silence they all comfortable walked in. Owlbark was content to let the apprentice that had joined them snuff around for any herbs Serpentberry could use.

The tom hoisted himself up to look inside of the hollowed out center of the tree. No one resided within, but downy feathers were strewn across the floor of the hollow, and a single clump of matted fur lay in the corner. He made a low hum and looked down at the cats that remained on the forest floor. "Owl." An owl pellet and the unmistakable collection of down feathers told him all he needed to know.

He turned his head over his shoulder and pushed off the tree with his back paws. Owlbark landed with a thump and shook pieces of bark from his pelt. "They'll be nesting soon. We'll tell Juniperstar to not send any young cats here alone during newleaf." A flashback to black talons glinting in the moonlight and his first true battle come to mind. As much as he learned from that encounter, he would wish it upon no young cat.

"Find anything, Rowanpaw?" He asked, eager to return to camp with his news. As soon as he could split from the pair with him, the sooner he could patrol on his own for more prey.

i turned 'round and there you go *ੈ✩‧₊˚
 

Rowanpaw looks up, blinking against the sun rising over the treetops. Owlbark is looking at her, the look on his face telling her plenty– he wants to get back to camp. To do something other than tow around a mentorless apprentice with a rudimentary knowledge of herbs. She quickly takes some more berries, not really looking, and wraps the leaf carefully around them, holding it together with a paw as she replies.

"A bit," Rowanpaw says, "not nearly enough, but… it'll have to do for now. We can head back," she adds. Then, unable to stem off her curiosity, she nods towards the tree and says, "I've never seen an owl before. Are they that big, that they could be dangerous to a young cat…?"
 
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