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bites, bumps, and lessons to learn (cougar + open)
coalgaze
ThunderClan
Posts: 10 
Rank: Deputy
Age: 32 Moons
Gender: Tom
Crush: Open
Apprentice: Open
Played By: Boggs
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Post by coalgaze on Jun 23, 2015 21:03:54 GMT -5
(if I tagged you at the bottom you don't HAVE to join, I just thought maybe you might like to. If I didn't tag you and you want in, jump inside of it anyway)The places where the badger’s teeth had torn through the skin on his leg burned in ways Coalgaze was only sorry to remember so clearly. In the end, as he limped back alongside Redfang, Sparrowfoot, and the also-injured Cougarstrike, he supposed he had to be grateful that the battle had gone as well as it had, especially with as few warriors as he had taken with him.
It could have been much worse. Looking up as the patrol entered Thunderclan’s camp, Coalgaze sent a silent bit of thanks to their ancestors in Starclan for their good fortune. Like all good things, it would eventually come to an end. He was loathe to think of when and how that would come to be—but for now, he would enjoy their present prosperity… as well as get off of his leg.
With strained grumble-growls tightening in his throat, Coalgaze limped his way over towards the medicine cat’s den. ”Cougarstrike, with me. You need to have that bite looked at—it’s even worse than mine,” the deputy asserted, his brow creased sternly. Looking to Redfang and Sparrowfoot, he nodded his head, sending the two warriors off with only a cursory glance at the tiny scratch at Sparrowfoot’s temple.
They had all done well… even Cougarstrike’s untested boldness worked out in their favor, if it cost the young tom… perhaps it would work as a lesson for the future.
Sprawling out on his side in a patch of sunlight—Coalgaze never did like going inside of Brackenfang’s den, though no one had thought to ask him why—the smoky furred tom cat twisted around to lick at the blood matted fur that coated his lean muscled thigh. The bleeding had slowed drastically from the initial bite, but it still hadn’t stopped completely. With a bit of cobwebs or something comparable, Coalgaze knew all would be right again soon enough.
”You did well and showed the bravery that earned you that name,” Coalgaze told Cougarstrike between short laps of his tongue, ”But let that wound remind you the risks of drawing the focus of battle to yourself. Only do so when you believe it’s necessary, or you put yourself at undue risk.”
starlingflight brackenfang fernpool foxstar
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starlingflight
ThunderClan
Posts: 13
Rank: warrior
Age: thirty-five
Gender: tom
Crush: silver-flower
Mentor: petal-bloom
Apprentice: wasp-paw
Played By: athena.
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Post by starlingflight on Jun 24, 2015 12:28:22 GMT -5
WHEN TOMORROW COMES, the black toms paws paced anxiously around the camp. it had felt like moons since four of his clan mates had set off to remove a young badger from their territory. the tom was still rather annoyed that he had not been on the patrol himself and now he was more than a little restless as he awaited the return of the others. finally, a rustle at the entrance and the sharp tang of blood told him that the battle patrol had returned and he raced to meet the cats as they pooled into the camps clearing. his eyes rolled from one cat to the other. coalgaze seemed okay, aside from the deep wound on his flank. redfang and sparrowfoot looked alright as well, aside from the obvious scratching and bruising. cougarstrike was the one that seemed to take the worst injury with a deep laceration to his chest. starlingflight waited until coalgaze had addressed his patrol with the praise and constructive criticism, before padding up to the deputy with his head held high. "it looks like things went well." he meowed, his voice rather gruff and still edgy from the pacing and frustration of waiting for their return. his amber gaze ran over cougarstrike as he spoke. the wound on the front of his chest was a deep one and he was curious of how he obtained it, but was not bold enough to ask. "is the badger gone?" a tilt of his head and his eyes returned to the deputy, though by the lack of injury in the patrol, it told him what had happened. if the badger had beaten them, there would be much more injury, more of a fatality. they had gotten lucky this time, the clan was strong. hopefully though, the badgers would stay well away from their territory.
words: 304 tags: coalgaze cougarstrike notes: sorry for the crappy post, next one will be better! LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY |
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cougarstrike
ThunderClan
Posts: 7
Rank: Warrior
Age: 14 Moons
Gender: Male
Mate: None
Crush: ???
Mentor: Bournheart
Apprentice: Not Assigned
Played By: Gleam
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Post by cougarstrike on Jun 24, 2015 12:57:05 GMT -5
”Cougarstrike, with me. You need to have that bite looked at—it’s even worse than mine,” Cougarstrike hobbles beside Coalgaze, his head held low with shame. Everyone would see how he was injured, how he took the worst that the badger had to give. Redfang and Sparrowfoot were not even injured, how could he be like them if he kept sustaining injuries?
Though it was his first injury, Cougarstrike still felt as if it were some monumental failure that would cause him to be the laughing stock of the camp. His Father will have plenty to say. His mother would have worried over his wounds. An eternity seems to pass during the short hobble to Brackenfang's den where they would both receive medical attention. At least Coalgaze was not injured too badly from the young tom's ambition.
”You did well and showed the bravery that earned you that name,” Cougarstrike glances at the older, more experienced warrior and his eyes light with a hopeful eagerness.
”But let that wound remind you the risks of drawing the focus of battle to yourself. Only do so when you believe it’s necessary, or you put yourself at undue risk.” Cougarstrike nods slowly, wincing as his chest and shoulder wounds throb. He had taken a risk, and he had payed for it. The fact that Coalgaze was not avoiding him allowed Cougarstrike to accept the tom's words into his heart. Next time, he would do better..
Cougarstrike drops his gaze away from Starlingflight's, lest he surely see the disappointment and amusement from the other warrior. Indeed, the badger was gone. He would think of that while recovering from his wounds.
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coalgaze
ThunderClan
Posts: 10
Rank: Deputy
Age: 32 Moons
Gender: Tom
Crush: Open
Apprentice: Open
Played By: Boggs
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Post by coalgaze on Jun 24, 2015 19:42:51 GMT -5
Coalgaze kept his body twisted up at an almost strange angle while his dark little tongue worked to lick his wound clean. The more passes of his tongue, the less red muck clung to his fur. As Starlingflight approached, Coalgaze waved his skinny tail in greeting, letting his eyes cut to Cougarstrike to see the young tom cat’s reaction. For a moment—he was tempted to steal a snicker. For a fresh warrior that had willingly charged in to face off against a badger without complaint, Cougarstrike certainly acted as though he thought quite lowly of the whole experience.
”Well enough,” Coalgaze nodded in response to the older, black-furred tom, raking his eyes over him appraisingly, ”I want to see more training drills involving teamwork. This one is gone, but it’s not the last badger we’re going to see—and we can’t afford for injuries each time.” he said, characteristically detached from the entire event. For the most part, it seemed that Coalgaze never invested himself personally in much of anything. Once he had cleaned his wound to the best of his ability, Coalgaze craned his neck to look over his shoulder at Brackenfang’s den. Was he away from camp? It was still daylight—an ideal time for gathering herbs. Perhaps he would return soon enough… If not, Coalgaze paused his train of thought to spare a look down at the wound on his flank, the bleeding had slowed well enough to be manageable.
”How’ve things been here? And the borders?” of most cats within the clan, Coalgaze quite obviously favored Starlingflight. The two toms seemed quite similar in nature, and it surprised no one that the work-oriented deputy would value the tireless performance Starlingflight delivered time and again.
”Cougarstrike, keep your chin up,” Coalgaze shot the young warrior a glance, ”Self-pity makes a wound bleed more.”
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starlingflight
ThunderClan
Posts: 13
Rank: warrior
Age: thirty-five
Gender: tom
Crush: silver-flower
Mentor: petal-bloom
Apprentice: wasp-paw
Played By: athena.
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Post by starlingflight on Jun 25, 2015 13:07:58 GMT -5
WHEN TOMORROW COMES, the companionship between coalgaze and starlingflight went back for moons, and it was obvious how much the toms respected each other. ”I want to see more training drills involving teamwork. This one is gone, but it’s not the last badger we’re going to see—and we can’t afford for injuries each time.” the black tom dipped his head to the deputy, flicking his ears and bringing the thought into his mind. he would make sure to keep that in mind when he was taking wasp-paw out to battle train. he could probably speak to the other mentors and work on joint-training them. "i will speak to the other mentors about it and see if we can compare battle training with the apprentices. i will leave the warriors to you and foxstar." he meowed with another respectful dip of his head. his ears twitched at the question of borders and the tom raised his head to look at cougarstrike than back to the deputy. " clear so far." he meowed, twitching his tail thoughtfully. "nothing over the borders since the slight issue with whitepaw and that skyclan elder."there was a bit of a sour taste to his reply about skyclan, but he forced it down. no one was truly happy about the whole situation of allowing another clan into their boarders, but it needed to be respected. and it could have gone a lot smoother if the white apprentice had not run her mouth in front of the skyclan leader. his tongue ran over his muzzle before he turned his gaze to cougarstrike, listening to what coalgaze told him and blinked an approval to the deputy. ”Self-pity makes a wound bleed more.”the deputy told the younger warrior. starlingflight padded over to the young tom and rested his tail on his shoulders for a brief moment. "i hear you fight well and i'm sure coalgaze has told you how to improve. just remember, we fight as a clan, not as an individual." he meowed, his voice stern. "but, you are still young and have many more experiences to make you a strong warrior. we are proud to have your bravery in our ranks." the black tom removed his tail from the embarrassed warrior, then dipped his head before moving back to where he had stood before, in front of the clan's deputy.
words: 391 tags: coalgaze & cougarstrike notes: i hope it's okay i put the skyclan border thread in past tense. if not, i can change it around! LAIKA OF ADOXOGRAPHY |
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brackenfang
ThunderClan
he never performed with sadness or joy, he was just simply programmed to sing
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Post by brackenfang on Jun 26, 2015 8:17:43 GMT -5
brackenfang had gone out in search of snakeroot after sorting his herbs that day, having realized he had next to none. he had not wagered, however, that when he returned it would be to injured clanmates; of course, he had known about the badger patrol - but he had not assumed they would have come back before he would. well. it did not look like they had been waiting too long, at least. as the cream-colored tabby approached the three cats, he paused upon reaching the spot between them and his den, turning to blink at his clanmates. cougarstrike seemed injured the worst out of the two badger patrol cats present - and a little down on himself, perhaps, as well.
"hello, starlingflight," he greeted, though his words came out muffled, spoken around the bundle of snakeroot he held in his jaws. he bent down then, to set the flowering stems at his paws. "coalgaze, cougarstrike," the medicine cat went on politely, giving a dip of his head as he addressed each in turn and then an extra for starlingflight for good measure. "i didn't think you'd be back so soon." he blinked for a moment, eyes narrowing a sliver as he seemed to consider them. they had not entered his den - though he knew some cats simply did not prefer to. well. he could always treat them outside. "let me get these into my den, and i'll be right with you. those wounds certainly need looked at." though his words and tone seemed light, unaffected, there was a hint of concern in his gaze as he attempted to meet cougarstrike's eyes before bending to retrieve what he had collected that day. without another word, he moved to drop off the herbs and gather what he would need - he hadn't done a serious assessment of the injuries yet, but he was fairly sure he had a pretty good idea how bad they were.
when the cream-and-white tabby cat returned, his jaws were stretched to carry the beech leaf he had wrapped the herbs in, before he moved to stand closest to cougarstrike. "i hope you don't mind if i treat our young warrior first, coalgaze," brackenfang mewed mildly. "though i'm sure, of course, that you do not." it was a mere formality, in any case. of course coalgaze would not mind - and were he to, as the deputy it would not be his place to express so anyway, not if he were to remain in good standing with the clan. cougarstrike was worse off. brackenfang soon learned just how much so as he inspected the laceration to the young warrior's chest; it was definitely a wound which needed attention, though brackenfang was at least confident that he was in no danger of it proving lethal. wordlessly, he chewed some of the marigold he had brought and applied it over the wound, smoothing a layer of cobwebs on over it afterwards; then he bent to chew some of the oak leaves he had brought, dabbing the poultice over the cobwebs when he was done. that, at least, would prevent any infection that might set in - if the marigold did not first.
"how did you get such a wound?" brackenfang asked cougarstrike, tone bordering on stern. "you should be more careful next time - although i know an injury like this is lesson enough on its own. you're lucky it was not any worse - though i'm sure you must have fought very bravely, by the look of you." he gave the tabby tom a small nod, as if in approval. "thunderclan is lucky to have loyal warriors such as yourself." he hoped, though he was never very good at expressing much emotion, that the words themselves at least might have helped a little. though his clanmate's wound did indicate perhaps a bit more recklessness than a medicine cat should approve of, it was no reason to let cougarstrike beat himself up so thoroughly over it.
he turned then to coalgaze, looking over him with an equal amount of stoicness. "and you as well, of course, coalgaze," he mewed conversationally, as he sniffed at the wound on the smaller tom's thigh. "your wound doesn't look quite as bad, at least. though i would bet that it hurts." he repeated the process as with cougarstrike, but did not apply the oak leaf afterwards; the deputy's wound was not as bad, and there was no sense wasting any. once he had finished, he grabbed the poppy head he had brought and shook out a few seeds, nudging two towards cougarstrike. "you should rest in my den for tonight. i'll assess your wound in the morning and make sure you're well enough to return to your duties."
pushing the last one towards the deputy, he gave a flick of his ears. "i know you won't have quite as much time for rest, as the deputy, but this at least should take the edge off. and i don't want you leading any more patrols today at least - though i won't complain if you want to stay up and organize any. let me know if the pain gets worse, though. and report back to me tonight and tomorrow morning, so i can look at you again. we wouldn't want your wound getting infected."
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cougarstrike
ThunderClan
Posts: 7
Rank: Warrior
Age: 14 Moons
Gender: Male
Mate: None
Crush: ???
Mentor: Bournheart
Apprentice: Not Assigned
Played By: Gleam
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Post by cougarstrike on Jun 26, 2015 16:51:04 GMT -5
"I hear you fight well, and I'm sure Coalgaze has told you how to improve. Just remember, we fight as a clan, not as an individual." Starlingflight’s stern tone caused Cougarstrike’s eyes to lift until the young tom could observe the older warrior’s face, "but you are still young and have many more experiences to make you a strong warrior. We are proud to have your bravery in our ranks."
Cougarstrike’s ears perked and he lifted his head to watch Starlingflight return to his former position. We are proud to have your bravery in our ranks. Cougarstrike’s chest swelled noticeably with newfound pride, before deflating with a pained flinch. His fur had begun to mat with blood, and he felt dizzy.
Brackenfang’s greeting startled the young tom, but he managed to perform a hasty bob of his head. “Hello, Brackenfang,” he calls to the Medicine Cat. Brackenfang needed time to prepare, and he could wait. His utmost desire at the moment, however, was to just lay down and get off his paws. Maybe the dizziness would pass.
He watched patiently as Brackenfang treated him with a clever mix of remedies, managing to refrain from wincing in the process. When questioned about the wound, he sighed nervously. “I got caught off guard, and had to back up on my haunches so that I didn’t fall. It charged me, so I tried to fight it,” Cougarstrike admitted, “I know, I should have followed Redfang’s example.”
A smile tugged at the young warrior’s lips when Brackenfang spoke of his bravery in battle. Doubt faded from his mind, and Cougarstrike stood as tall as he could without placing weight on his injured quarter. When Brackenfang administered the poppy seeds prescribed to him, Cougarstrike dipped his head to take them in his teeth. The young warrior’s eyes widened with excitement. He had never spent the night in the Medicine Cat’s den!
Cougarstrike then took his place behind Brackenfang and watched Coalgaze and Starlingflight. He did not look so enthused anymore, and longing tugged at his heart to return to the warriors den. He found the snores comforting.
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coalgaze
ThunderClan
Posts: 10
Rank: Deputy
Age: 32 Moons
Gender: Tom
Crush: Open
Apprentice: Open
Played By: Boggs
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Post by coalgaze on Jun 27, 2015 3:15:21 GMT -5
Coalgaze nodded his head at Starlingflight’s report, and it seemed that some of the tension that was ever present inside of the smoky hued tom cat abated for the time being. Always with a head for business and work, it was no surprise that Coalgaze found it difficult to sit still most of the time. There was always more work to be done, more trouble to see to and amend. As the familiar figure of Brackenfang worked his way into the clearing, Coalgaze pricked his ears in the cat’s direction, dark eyes following him attentively, though from the way his narrow shoulders began to pitch together, it seemed the deputy was steeling himself up for some kind of fight.
He was not staying in that den, no matter what Brackenfang said, and if he—the line of thought halted itself as the ginger furred cat’s attentions were focused on Cougarstrike. The young warrior still seemed shaken from his encounter with the badger, but it was to be expected. No cat came away completely unfazed. He watched and gave a satisfied dip of his head once Cougarstrike’s wound had been treated and the medicine cat gave his orders. A night of rest would do the young tom good—especially with settling his nerves. ”Silverflower could clean that blood out for you,” Coalgaze volunteered his lighter furred sister to the young tom with a nod over towards the nursery—the typical place gestured when one spoke of the pretty she-cat—for reasons he didn’t understand, it seemed that Silverflower inherited all of the social qualities he found himself lacking. She was good with other cats in ways he never would be.
Perhaps she would know what to say to put his mind at ease—though it seemed praise from both a respected warrior as well as the medicine cat were going quite a long way.
As Brackenfang tended to his wound, Coalgaze’s dark eyes shifted back to Starlingflight. ”Whitepaw…” he murmured, giving a single shake of his head. Few things could get Coalgaze prickling like disrespect. He still had yet to come up with a fitting punishment for the she-cat. ”She could have torn everything apart and she doesn’t even know it. That’s how fragile these circumstances are.” he replied, his whiskers straining as Brackenfang’s attentions to his injured flank began to sting. Still, he gave no protest, and when the order to remain in the den never came, it seemed the dark furred tom’s relief only multiplied.
”Thunderclan’s ripe with capable warriors, I’m sure they can manage leading the patrols without me for a day.” he said, though from the way the tips of his claws began to anxiously seek the ground to prick at, it was questionable if he could manage going without patrols. At the very least, there were plenty of duties to assign within camp.
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