Private Medicine Cat's Den your mother's name ──✩°｡⋆⸜ the medicine cat's apprentice

[juniperstar]

juniper

she'd been more than generous in her idle waiting... had assumed maybe Serpentberry would afford her the information willingly when Rowanpaw was safest to begin her rounds as a normal apprentice. she'd been injured or found herself in the position of near-death too many times for even the spotted leader's comfort and so she'd relented not to shove her into the terrors of the forest's reality too quickly. but time had passed... and nothing had gone said... so she decides in an effort to escape the camp herself, and to gently reintroduce Rowanpaw to the skills she'd need to develop, that now was as good a time as any to borrow her.

"Rowanpaw...?" poking her head through the curtain that divides the herb-soaked den from the camp clearing, she knew well enough how much her tortoiseshell friend liked to keep her children close. they are ever at her heels when they can be, the smallest bunch at least... "I was hoping I could bring you with me... to go for a patrol? Stretch our legs and show you the borders at least..." her ears flick with a budding nervousness, realizing that she isn't so certain herself how to go about training anyone.

mentors were a good idea, right?

or were they more like kitsitters than anything close to genuine teachers? the difference makes her head ache and she isn't eager to articulate this anxiety to her council for fear of being ridiculed for her uncertainties. why implement something she didn't have faith in?

"Sorry you don't have a mentor yet... I don't really want to rush you." perhaps some of that bias stems from her ties to Serpentberry... or maybe some of it is her own encounter with a bloodied Rowanpaw carried back to the great oaks in a state of half-consciousness with her leg mangled in a gruesome twist.

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

• juniperstar leader of thunderclan nine lives remain

  ignore me

 

[serpentberry]

The context of the before does not matter. Not when the now is suddenly threatened by a well-meaning but shaking tone. Serpentberry could not care less what lesson she had been bestowing upon Rowanpaw in the moment, which leaves lay scattered at their paws in an effort to encourage her daughter to sort them. The details fall to the wayside as her loving, adoring, careful, anxious friend, Juniperstar - tries to take her Rowanpaw from her. It's just for the borders... A little voice whines in her head, and the stars that glitter at the corners of her eyes beg for her to still her rapidly beating heart. But she fears being stolen from again.

Maybe she fears the forest in totality. Maybe she will leash Juniperstar, next, and do so with a flashing grin.

"We're a bit busy, Juni," Serpentberry interjects with the sharpness she always has, the coiling of her strike still tightening. She turns to face her leader, eyes bright and tinged with that unbidden fear. It's the lingering, final comments that ring in her ears. She never did come out and tell the Clan her role, did she? Perhaps she told Juniperstar and she relayed it elsewhere, or perhaps they've all bid her her grieving space and simply accepted the sort of role she intended to play. In the same breath, she never announced Rowanpaw's new duties to the Clan, either. It's a brief flash of guilt, covered by the sweep of her tail, only for it to land in front of Rowanpaw, dividing her from their leader's hopeful words.

"I took care of that, love," Serpentberry speaks with the same aching sweetness she tends to with Juniperstar. Her anger riles with poisonous edges, but rarely does she strike. The other has a means of tapering out her aggression, just like Thornstar had. They are two sides of the same tree, those two. Or were, at least. "She's safer here, with me - so I'm training her with leaves and flowers. Gifting her everything I know..." she turns her gaze to her darling daughter, as if daring the child to want anything else. Her teeth click with a fastening grin, "You could call her my apprentice, Juni, if anyone is bothered by it. Surely a medicine cat could use the extra paws..." she trails off, eyes half lidded.

 

[rowanpaw]

☼ Rowanpaw had been so focused on paying attention to Serpentberry's lesson that she doesn't notice Juniperstar's presence till she speaks her name. She looks up from the herbs, her eyes wide. Leave the camp…? Leave Serpentberry? And what did she mean she doesn't have a mentor yet– Rowanpaw does have a mentor. Her mother. Had Serpentberry not told Juniperstar about it? Before she has time to process this, let alone reply, Serpentberry speaks up. There's a certain edge to her voice as she does, though it softens quickly, to something familiar and smooth. She turns to look at Rowanpaw, who looks back at her, still wide eyed.

Resolution quickly settles in her, though. Her mother wants her here; that's what matters. Even if… even if Juniperstar is her leader, and even if Rowanpaw does want to go see the borders…

"I'm alright Juniperstar," Rowanpaw says, meeting her eyes now. "I… Serpentberry is my mentor, and I want to learn about this, to help… to heal, not hurt… and if this riverclan turns out to be bad news, then we'll need healers, and…" she hesitates for a moment, eyes flicking to Serpentberry, then back to Juniperstar. "Maybe some other time, you can come with me on an herb patrol…? With new leaf approaching, there'll soon be plenty to find…"

An attempt at peacekeeping– she doesn't want them to fight. Not over her. She's not worth fighting over, she… she just wants to do what's best for… for everyone, for the clan, and… surely Juniperstar would understand…? She doesn't want to disobey her leader, only to do right by her mother and the clan.

creator, you destroy me

you know my hunger well.

• ooc: -
• 

  
  

  rowanpaw, 9 moons, thunderclan apprentice
  russet furred she-cat, lawful neutral
  healing and soft powerplay allowed

 

[juniperstar]

juniper

despite her efforts to dampen the sharp edge of a bladed tongue, Serpentberry's near instant dismissal of her presence is plenty to make the dark fur along her spine ripple with discomfort. it's a wound carefully covered with a simpering explanation, meant to be soft... meant to be gentle... but it isn't in her nature, not anymore, not really, if it ever was. the spotted cat casts her gaze over her friend in unspoken question, not kept in the dark for long with whatever paw-waved story she is meant to deliver to the clan...

no one had asked... this was no interrogation of Rowanpaw's purpose. and yet... they both curled around the herbs they studied like they were cornered into such studious work. she blinks, looking towards sun-warm eyes as the apprentice declares her allegiance, promises her comfort. "Right..." a quivering tail-tip is the only sign of tumultuous storm brewing in her humors.

"I didn't realize; it's my fault for assuming. You'll be a fine medicine cat's apprentice..." it is the first time the title has been formalized, though she'd always understood Serpentberry's role as something uniquely 'other.' maybe that alienation suits them both... star-carved souls set about lonely paths. at least the tortoiseshell molly would not have to endure hers in pure, silent isolation.

"I'd love to accompany you, whenever you have need for me. And... congratulations, I suppose... you're learning something very important." something unique. something that Rowanpaw would never be able to walk away from. was that the goal...? so desperate not to lose anything else; she could not have her entire litter left to be her little students. what would happen when Thornstar's progeny were finally big enough to learn to hunt...?

it's a question unvoiced in the russet she-cat's company... all too familiar with how those lovely teeth of her mother's had a hunger for sinking into flesh when it suited them most. snakes couldn't help but bite. it was just their nature.

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

• juniperstar leader of thunderclan nine lives remain

  ignore me