Healing for two (closed)

Padding into camp and making their way towards the medicine cat den, Valerianroot and Bigfoot padded side by side, their pelts bloodied though luckily the majority of the blood wasn't their own. While on a reunited border patrol, Bigfoot had encountered a couple of foxes encroaching on their territory and had brashly engaged the hungry beasts in combat. The large tom was a formidable foe for a single fox, but two of them was another story and luckily for him, Valerianroot was with him and together they'd been able to fend off the predators.

"You don't need to fight every fox you see," Valerianroot mewed stoically as the two of them entered the dimly lit den. Most of the time, his younger brother acted like he was still an apprentice and he would never understand why. Luckily for the thick-skulled tom, there had been two of them on the patrol or else he would've been crowfood.

"Oh lighten up," Bigfoot chuckled, nudging the grey and white pelted tom playfully as he crouched down through the den entrance. "Patrols are booooring, those foxes brought a bit of fun!" he mewed with his usual big, goofy smile sitting across his maw.

Rowanpaw's ears twitched at the sound of approaching pawsteps. The distinct tang of iron overpowered the normal earthy, herbal scents of the medicine den. He quickly squashed the bubbling panic. There were no yowls of distress or fear from the camp so it couldn't be anything too serious. Instead he only picked up the casual rumble of approaching voices. Paws deftly replaced the herbs he'd be inventorying back into their proper spaces as he turned to attend to their visitors.

Calm, hazel eyes watched as two of his older brothers padded into the den, pelts splattered in blood. Rowanpaw was not particularly surprised to see Bigfoot, the large tom tended to being... Impulsive.

"Clearly you ran into some trouble," he mewed mildly. "Given the state of your fur and that you don't seem too concerned, I assume most of that isn't yours?"

"Yeah, those foxes were crowfood from the start," Bigfoot mewed confidently as his younger brother looked him over. "And once Val showed up they didn't know what hit 'em," the stocky tom mewed triumphantly. Raising his head with pride, a sharp pain came from his shoulder and he quickly dropped his head with a nervous chuckle as he met Rowanpaw's skeptical gaze.



Ears perking as his brother called him "Val," Valerianroot didn't know what to say. "Val?" What kind of name was that? Well, whatever it was he hoped Bigfoot never called him it again. For StarClan's sake, it sounded like some kittypet name.

"You know Bigfoot, always laughing at the face of danger," the stoic tom mewed with a raised brow as the golden tom winced in pain. He knew that even this wouldn't stop the brash tom from battling every cat and beast he came across and while he would never wish any ill-will over his family, he did hope that someday or other Bigfoot would be put in his place before he got himself killed.

Foxes as in more than one? Rowanpaw couldn't bring himself to be surprised. And given Bigfoot's demeanor he'd certainly learned nothing from the encounter. How Starclan had seen fit to give him so little brains was, frankly, astonishing at times.

Bigfoot seemed to be worse off with injuries than Valerianroot, not a shock based on Bigfoot's brief story. Trying to take on multiple foxes alone before Valerianroot showed up. Rowanpaw began looking over his golden brother, the shoulder wound was the most obvious aside from a smattering of minor cuts and scrapes.

"Well, I suppose you should thank Starclan it's not worse for having dealt with multiple foxes." he mewed impassively. "Anything particularly hurt other than your shoulder?"

Rowanpaw gave Valarianroot a quick look over, he trusted the more stoic brother to have a better grasp of his own injuries to direct his attentions. "Any particular injury bothering you?"

"Nah, those foxes barely laid a paw on me," the thick skinned warrior mewed mightily. Of course, it was somewhat of a lie seeing as though they certainly had managed to ruffle his fur, but even so it wasn't like the wounds wouldn't heal eventually and they were barely even noticeable under his thick layer of fur. "You shoulda been there to see their faces, what mousebrains," he chuckled as he imagined them fleeing from the battle with their tails tucked between their legs.




Letting out a sigh at Bigfoot's remark, Valerianroot didn't know what to do with his younger brother. There wasn't that much of a difference in age between the two of them, but sometimes it felt like there many moons between them. Bigfoot would need to learn someday that even strength needed to bow to wisdom someday, and he wondered when in StarClan's name he would ever get that through his obviously thick skull.

"Just a scratch on my hind paw," the grey and white warrior mewed with a nod, meeting the younger tom's olive gaze. Rowanpaw was certainly doing well with being the clan's medicine cat apprentice and he assumed he had Applestem to thank for that.

Rowanpaw flicked his ear critically at Bigfoot's claim. Barely laid a paw on him. Ha. Though, the encounter certainly could have ended much worse. Though, perhaps it would be beneficial if Starclan allowed him to get some sense knocked into his head? Given how big a knock he'd need maybe it was best to wait until greenleaf... Rolling his eyes, at his brother's boasting, he turned to the herb stores pulling out some dried dock leaves and goldenrod. That should be enough to clean the wounds and keep them from getting infected. He considered adding some comfrey root to soothe the shoulder wound and reduce the inevitable sting of the dock leaf juices but... No, Bigfoot is such a strong warrior he'll be fine. He quickly chewed his chosen herbs into a thick poultice which he reared up to pat onto the golden warrior's injuries. "This might sting," Rowanpaw mewed belatedly. Putting the last of the poultice in place, he scooped up a wad of cobwebs with his paw to hold everything in place. "Leave that, and get some rest. Don't do anything strenuous for a few days to let it heal up."

Finished with Bigfoot, Rowanpaw turned to examine Valerianroot's scratch. The injury really was just a scratch, nothing like Bigfoot's shoulder wound but all the same, best not to risk infection setting in. He pulled out a dock leaf and, after a moment of consideration, a small piece of comfrey root. Chewing a new poultice, he pressed it to Valerianroot's scratch, quickly wrapping it with a swath of cobwebs. "It's probably unnecessary, but best not to risk infection. You can just leave that until the poultice dries and as long as the scratch feels fine you should be set."

Wincing again as Rowanpaw applied something else to his wound, Bigfoot tried his best not to make a face or say anything. Did the stuff that medicine cat's put on injuries always hurt this much? Well, at least he'd be ready to go within the next couple of sunrises, though even he didn't know it he'd be able to rest for that long.

"Thanks Rowanpaw!" the built warrior mewed with a smile as he stood up. Giving his pelt a shake, he made his way to the entrance of the dimly lit den while the apprentice finished up with his battle partner. "See ya 'round, Val!" he purred before exiting, trying his best to not look as if he was limping, which may or may not have made it more obvious.



Watching as Rowanpaw finished up with Bigfoot, when the large boned warrior stood up it was clear that he was in a bit of pain, though it wasn't as though that knucklehead of a tom would say anything about it. As his brother passed him and then left, he stayed silent, replying with nothing more than a "hmph" at his brother's silly farewell and name calling. He'd certainly need to talk with him about calling him "Val" sometime...

Turning his gaze down to his paw that Rowanpaw now worked on, he was glad that'd he'd manage to acquire less significant injuries. With Bigfoot being out of commission, he'd most likely be the one to carry the warrior's weight... that was if he actually did what he was told and strictly rested, which he assumed wouldn't be the case.

"Thank you," the stoic warrior mewed with a nod as his younger brother wrapped up his paw and giving him some instructions on the webs. Getting up, the quiet warrior made his way out of the den, wondering if he'd go rest in the warrior's den or maybe grab a bite to eat.