Allegiances
When you see your father beginning to make his way up to the top of the shelter, you can't contain your squirming excitement.
Your tail slaps the ground and you wiggle your whole body from side to side as you hurry forwards, sitting eagerly on your haunches near the front.
You know exactly what he's going up there for: you are, after all, six months old now.
The Broken knows too - with a knowing smile exchanged with The Rain, she saunters up to sit beside you, nudging you playfully with her elbow.
Shame we won't get to train together all the time, but isn't it awesome that we'll still get some lessons together?
Yeah! You wag your tail. You're gonna beat me sooooo bad when we train to fight, so I have to learn all the herbs extra hard and then I can laugh at YOU when we're learning about first aid.
She scoffs playfully. Ugh, like you haven't already known the basics since your puphood, the way you follow The Little around. I'm never gonna catch up to you in that, so it's only fair I beat you up a little during survival training.
I won't let you beat Wiwi up! Your little brother cries indignantly, clinging to your other side as your family joins you.
I'll beat you up first! The Spark squeaks, trying for menacing and shooting right into adorable. Her whole pelt bushes up, making her look bigger than she usually does, and she waves her closed fist menacingly at The Broken.
Don't worry, Broken is my best friend! You laugh, wrapping them both against you as much as you can. You've been getting bigger, but so have they, and you can't totally get your tail around both of them. Your growth spurt has definitely made it easier to almost do it though. She won't hurt me.
Too much, The Broken adds, playfully challenging. This goads your siblings to both caterwaul their battle cries and jump past you to tackle her to the ground, leaving her to writhe in mock-agony under their small paws pummelling her.
Are you nervous? The Silky asks you, smoothing down your head fur with a paw. Ah, you've always loved the limelight, so maybe not. I do hope you have fun with your apprenticeship. Don't work too hard, Winged - remember, you're still young, and you can take as much time as you need.
I know, Mama. You look up at her, a small purr rumbling from your body. She's probably more worried about this ceremony than you are! Not that you aren't a little nervous, but it's like she said - you love the attention, too. You like that this is your moment, after waiting so long and so patient until you came of age. You can't wait until your father starts the ceremony. You'll finally be an apprentice! And that makes it that much closer until your graduation, when everyone will start chanting your name…!
Speak of the void; The Pale takes this opportunity to lift his paws up and spread them out wide. Everyone quietens down, and you wiggle your glee again. They're being quiet now for you!
Thank you for joining me on this happy occasion, everyone, He says, smiling down at all of them. While I wish all of us could have seen it, I'm nevertheless excited to announce what I know all of you already know too: my firstborn, The Winged, has now reached six months of age and is ready to begin her apprenticeship.
As I also am sure you all know, as they've made it no secret at all, Winged has shown exclusive interest in the art of healership. In his adolescence, then, xe'll be taught all that xe can learn about medicines, herbs, injuries, illnesses… And how to keep it all in xir head!
The Little, please come forwards.
They're smiling gently, paws clasped together in front of their chest, as they do so. Their raised tail slowly wags back and forth, and they look at you with kind eyes.
You don't wait for any prompt, and immediately charge forwards to join them. You jump up and down on the spot, already stretching out your neck in preparation to touch their nose.
The Little looks amused, and indulgently leans down, bumping their face against yours.
You were supposed to wait until your father said what skill he wished me to pass on to you, They whisper to you.
Oops! You whisper back, unrepentant.
They laugh softly before raising their head to look at your father.
I am the only healer, so this was an arrangement we already knew would happen. Far be it for us to delay poor Winged any longer, when there's been such a long and patient wait through puphood for this.
Quite so! Well, I hope you can pass on your canniness to my child, in addition to everything you know. The Pale chrrs his amusement, and gives you both a little bow.
With The Wild still resting in the healer's den [that's your den too, now!], it's also up to him to pass out the food. Crouching down to place one paw on the top of the shelter, he deftly hops off of the roof and slides down the side, landing down with a small thump.
Now, give me a minute before mobbing me, you beasts, He says jokingly. And I'll pass out the food for everyone.
There's still a pang inside when you turn around with them both to look at everyone gathered and don't see The Storm among them, but the beaming faces of those who are there do a lot to heal it.
You remind yourself that it's also for avoiding situations like this that you decided on this path, and let your excitement bubble back up again.
You've never had your own nest before this. [Your very own nest, all to yourself!] As The Little takes you out to collect fresh plant material to either tuck into yours or replenish what you'll use, you're already bubbling over with excitement.
This is also your first time out of the camp properly, after all! Not just to walk a little distance to a specific place, but to really wander, and explore - looking along through the long ferns growing from the ground, brushing past trees and structures. It's a feast for the eyes, and yours are wide as popped bubble fruit as you look around you, gawking.
Now, there are many different types of plants we can curate for use in our nest material, The Little is saying. In truth, you can use just about anything, so long as it isn't poisonous or prickly, but there are some plants that keep better than most. Something that can be dried but still stays soft lasts longest, and is good as foundational material. Other plants you would need to swap out as they dry out, for they are no longer soft and nice to lie on - so the higher up in the nest they are, the easier to swap out.
You may then line it with whatever you prefer - some plants give nice scents, and some slugcats will line their nest with fur of loved ones or fur from prey, as you know.
As we are in the healers' den, and closer to the stores than the patients' nests are, I will warn you that any scented plants will likely be overpowered.
What plants did you use for your nest? You ask, curious. You've seen their nest before, of course, and the accumulated trinkets they have, but you don't know the plant itself - now that you're out here where they grow, it's as good a time as any to learn it.
Hmm, currently? The Little takes the time to think for a moment. I have been experimenting with different nest materials myself, and have to gradually rotate some out as time takes its toll on some parts of it more than others. At the moment, I believe there is some rain moss, ever a staple, alongside circle plants. These circle plants are quite rare, so I haven't been able to use much of them - we only find them growing occasionally outside the shelter, near camp, or if you keep following the wall.
Mostly it is made out of root grass. It is fairly thick stuff, and quite comfy, though I find that it starts prickling the pelt as it dries. So it is a give and take, but it grows abundantly at least.
They reach up and trail their paw up a thick series of stalks, and you perk your ears up curiously.
Is that an example of a root grass?
Quite right! They smile down at you, and you puff up your chest.
Well, I dunno what material is good, so maybe I'll just copy you right now?
Certainly - until you've a better grasp on all the nuances of nest building, I'm sure using someone else's ratios of plants will work just fine. Come here, and I will show you how to strip the plant for what you need while making sure not to kill it.
Eagerly, you get closer, and they guide your paws along a stalk before demonstrating with another how to pull the grass down, then rip it off at the base - keeping the roots firmly planted, so that it will grow again given time.
Fascinated, you sniff at the fresh, wet smell seeping out of the plant's wound, the liquid beading out. It smells distinct, like the grass itself, but not unfamiliar - you've scented it before, after all.
You and The Little keep walking out further along the camp, until you've collected a good amount of the root grass, and then you scratch up some rain moss off a tree. The circle plants would be nearer to home, so you turn back then.
It amazes you, how big the world is outside camp. How the path back to camp looks, treading new steps to get back into a place you know so well. It's the nursery expanding out all over again, a wide new world - but you don't know if you'll ever be familiar of it, or bored of it, like the clowder clearing.
Your mentor [your mentor!] leads you into the healer's section at the back of the shelter, past The Wild, fending off your father's fussing - you wave hello to him with your tail, your arms full, and he chirps enthusiastically back, waving with both arms - and The Whistler's empty nest. There, near the medicinal stores, The Little sweeps at the floor with their tail; an offer for you to put your nest anywhere.
You look around, thoughtful, and then dump your load directly across from The Little's nest. Theirs is a lot bigger, to fit their size, but you don't need one as big - though you still had to gather a lot, because you're making a new one right now!
Now, nest-making is an important thing to learn for any slugcat, but as we also make the nests up for our patients, then it comes to pass that we should be conscientious and take more care than most, The Little says. First, start with your base material and arrange it on the cold floor - let it make sure the heat won't be sucked out of your body. We're using rain moss here. It really should be dried, so these ones we've collected I will set out in the light. I trust you remember where we keep the safe-to-store moss?
You nod. It's one of the things that The Little already taught you as a pup, because there's not much anyone can do to hurt themselves on rain moss; that's why it's such a good nest bedding, besides being soft and springy. Even if a curious pup eats it, and keeps eating it despite the taste, it still won't poison - it just won't be a very good meal either.
You'll need enough to spread out under the whole of your nest, but if you haven't taken enough you can simply go add more, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Try it yourself!
You do, indeed, try it yourself. It's harder than you thought to make sure the moss is all arranged in a circle - a nest seems like a simple thing to make, just round, and yet making sure it's all layered over each other properly, trying not to knock other pieces askew, takes a little more concentration than you thought.
The Little makes an approving noise when they come back, and helps you to layer the root grass on top of it, then shows you how to tuck in the sides so that there's about a round shape - he says that the rest will flatten down with your weight in time, which makes sense to you. You flop experimentally on your side into your new nest, and find it smells very new, only of you and The Little - the grass you can smell a little, but the stores overpower it far too much.
When you look up and to the side, you can easily see all the herbs that will now become even more intertwined with your scent, given time.
It's really happening.
This is your first day in your new life.
You resolve silently to pull off pieces of fur from your family and The Broken to add in here, too, as soon as possible. Combining old constant scents with your new ones.
You'll be The Winged, The Silky and The Pale's firstborn, and the healer's apprentice.
Hello, everyone.
You look up from your work arranging leaves to dry on the upraised platform jutting out from the wall, not far from the shelter. On top stands The Pale, who you hadn't noticed climbing up at all because he's so fast and quiet about it.
You cock your ears in curiosity. None of the apprentices have gotten close enough to training to be graduated yet, surely? And the pups - now that you're kinda not one of them anymore - are definitely not old enough to be apprenticed either. What other ceremony could it be?
He answers your question as he continues to speak, gesturing to the gathering crowd that you turn around to join. It's a bit exciting, I must admit, to finally be able to put this ceremony into practice. It's the first time our clowder has gotten to see anyone grow into retirement!
The Whistler has indicated to me that, despite having relatively recently joined our little clowder, the long months it's taken to heal their still-injured jaw, has taken its toll on their body. While The Little is sure that they will be able to heal, The Whistler has conveyed that they find it a struggle to imagine still being able to work afterwards, since they feel they're a bit old to have had this kind of experience.
They'd like to live out the rest of their time with us in peaceful retirement, recuperating from this for as long as it takes. Well, of course I agreed - whoever wishes to retire has every right to, and that's why we're here.
Thank you for letting us get to know you, The Whistler, and I look forward to the long time after this where we can continue to do just that. I'm sure my youngest son is looking forward to the stories you could tell!
The Whistler, lounging in the clearing, wiggles their ears a little shyly and ducks their head at this.
The Whistler! The Whistler! You chant their name supportively, though you're not sure if it's part of this kind of ceremony or not - regardless, you saying it means others pick it up with you, until everyone is calling out for them. They hide their eyes with their paws, but they seem pleased.
The Wild had been relaxing outside of the den, still recuperating - now, he starts to hobble towards the food pile prepared for the ceremony. The Pale immediately jumps [not climbs, jumps] off the shelter and rolls back to his feet, chasing after him. You're sure he's scrambling to make sure The Wild doesn't have to do the work, but you're just impressed how flexible your dad is.
You remember when you hurt yourself doing something similar, but you're a lot older now; how would you fare if you tried it again? You're sure The Little has talked about how slugcat biology means it takes a much bigger impact to hurt, or kill you, compared to other animals, so it might just be a little splat. Maybe it's something you'll get the trick of during training?
There's some shoving and a bit of wrestling between the two slugcats, and some vigorous gesturing, but The Pale clearly wins when he pushes The Wild back towards the rest of the crowd.
Satisfied watching his deputy reluctantly shuffle back, he turns to the food pile once again. Rummaging through it, he stands back up once satisfied with what he's gotten to throw.
Out of your father's paw, you see the distinct, blue shape of a dandelion peach arc out.
I've been waiting for this! You cry, excited as you climb directly on top of, and over, The Rain in your haste to snag one of them. He makes an oof sound and mock-growls at you, pretending to try to throw you off while helping you to boost higher.
Little brat, He sniffs, even as he carefully sets you back down. That dandelion peach could have gone to me, you know.
There's more over there! You say, unrepentant and already turning back. I bet someone'll let you take theirs if you're too creaky to catch one.
Brat, The Rain repeats for emphasis, making a mock-swipe at you. You dodge with a giggle. You spend your time with The Broken far too often by far. You've got her lip.
No, these are my lips! You retort, scampering away before he can retaliate. He shakes a fist after you, before turning around and returning to the catching game.
The Light and The Spark watch you return with curious eyes, while behind them your mother smiles fondly. She knows how much you've been looking forward to this, after all.
What's that? The Spark asks, sitting up on her haunches to place a paw on the peach you're clutching.
It's a dandelion peach! You say, proudly hunching down so both of them can see it better. It's a fruit, like the bubble fruit you had once! How many fruits have you had again since?
Blue and bubble, The Light says, looking a little disinterested. These fruit types are common, after all, so fruit must seem boring to him.
This is different from that stuff, okay? Forget that stuff. This is soooo hard to get, so it's been so long since I've seen any, but it's WORTH it. Imagine the sweetest thing you've ever tasted, but even sweeter! You hold the peach up to them triumphantly. It isn't watery, it's full of JUICE. Watch, I'll break it in half for you.
As you press your paws down against its skin and pull, the flesh splits open with a wet sound. As you predicted, juice starts dripping down past your pads, and you quickly put your tail under it before it can fall to the sand - that's prime licking material, you can't waste that! Some of the fluff wafts away, jostled by the motion, but most of it stays on the peach. You hand the two halves to your siblings, licking at your paws.
Don't eat the white stuff, okay? That's not good for food, but you can blow it and watch it fly off! Then you can eat the peach.
Expectedly, both of them immediately blow hard on it, and the seeds drift away in the wind. The Light giggles, mollified with something as fun as a toy you can eat is in front of him. He opens his mouth wide, way wider than he needs to for biting into his half of the peach, and sinks his little teeth into it. More juice gushes out as he chews off the chunk, and his eyes go wide as he catches the flavour on his tongue.
This is so good! The Spark gasps, face sticky with her own mouthful. She attacks the rest of her half with a fervour, ripping off pieces and swallowing with messy enthusiasm. The Light is doing the same with his half, tail thumping against the ground in his joy. His sister's tail joins in, an out of beat tune that professes how happy they are.
It makes you happy to see, watching them experience that sweet explosion of flavour.
A paw taps your shoulder, and you turn to see your father having joined you, holding out a sticky half of another dandelion peach to you. You're surprised to see it, and look at him with big eyes - you hadn't expected to be able to get a piece for yourself, with Spark and Light having to split a whole.
But he smiles and nods at you, and you take it gratefully. It's just as sweet as you remember, and you can feel a purr of satisfaction rumbling through your body as you chew.
You pluck off the pawful of seeds at the top of the peach, gripping it in one paw. You want to try tucking some of the fluff into your nest, so you'd rather hold on to it. It's so light it might drift away, but if you put it in tightly...
While you continue eating, you rub your face against the fluff, experimental. It feels so soft, you're sure it'd be a hit for nest material for everyone. But you want peaches to grow here too, so you'll have to only take this little bit, just for you.
You'll sleep on sweet fuzz, and dream of peaches.
It's not easy taking time out of your new, suddenly packed schedule to visit the lantern rabbit The Old Sun gifted you, but you still do it when you can. You have to be responsible, after all, and take care of it! It's like the clowder that hunts for you - you have to remember to bring food to something that you're taking care of too.
Or, you guess it doesn't need the treats that you're bringing it, because Old Sun said it usually eats grass, so maybe it isn't so bad that you can only visit every couple of days, if that. You still want to make sure it likes you though, and it seems to like the sticky treats of fruit you bring, so you do it.
At first it hides in its burrow and doesn't come out at all without The Old Sun with you, but eventually you manage to leave it enough treats that it starts anticipating your visits the way it seemed to anticipate hers - poking its nose out and perking its long ears, getting closer and closer until it starts eating out of your paw.
Sudden movements scare it right back into hiding, but you guess that just makes it smart at surviving! Even if you don't want to hurt it, you've eaten lantern mice before too. So slugcats must be super scary for it. Does it know how edible it looks?
It doesn't seem to trust you enough yet to follow you out of its little patch of territory, but you're sure it will soon. You just gotta keep trying.
When you hear the sudden increase of sound in the camp clearing, bodies moving and slugcats chittering, you know that the latest patrol has returned. When you hear the pad of paws tracking sand and tapping on to metal, you know that they've come into the shelter.
You peek out of the section that walls the healer's den from the entrance, and see the motley patrol of The Rain, The Untouched, The Gull, and The New Sun have returned from a hard day's hunting - all four of them proudly presenting the large centipede at the shelter entrance behind them, that they're now talking about butchering properly. (Will you learn about butchering, too? That's not gonna be part of your job, right?)
You can see the cuts, bruises, and blood on them though, so you suspect that they've come in here first for the specific reason of calling on… You! And The Little, of course. Mostly The Little.
Ah, minor injuries from all of you? The Little asks, walking past your peeking head to approach the patrol leader.
The Rain nods, puffing out his chest. T'was a vicious one, but the patrol did well! The Untouched with his usual skills in dodging, The Gull with her aggressive lunging, and The New Sun to track it all the way. We'll be having feasts for days, that's for sure.
No big ouches here, The Untouched agrees.
In that case, I hope you won't mind if I set my apprentice on you all so that she can put her skills in practice. They gesture at you, and you pop the rest of your slinky body into the doorway to wave.
You're both excited and a little nervous for the first time ever that you can finally test your skills. The Little has been teaching you a lot, but learning it and using that knowledge feels so different…! You want to do a good job.
The Gull holds out her bleeding arm expectantly towards you, and you approach while sniffing cautiously. The first step is to staunch the bleeding, so a clean leaf to wipe away the blood… She winces as you wipe at her wound, almost drawing back, but stiffens herself and stays still for you to tend to it.
Then, a horse tail to bind another leaf to it? Or is that only if the flesh has split and you need to splint it?
Oh, but centipede bites can have venom in their mandibles, right? How do you get rid of toxins again…?
I think you need to eat this so you can cough up anything that might've gotten in your bloodstream, You say to her, offering a seed.
Before she can take it, The Little interjects. Ah, not quite. You must be noting that there's a centipede bite on her arm, yes?
You nod.
While it's true that there is some residual poison in them, there isn't enough for us to worry unduly. The majority of a centipede's power lies in its electric shock, and the poison mainly exaggerates the pain already present from the bite, which is liable to stun us. For The Gull, I believe washing her wound out with warmed water will suffice for getting rid of it. Mostly heat will get rid of the venom, but rinsing it out doesn't hurt.
Oh, yep. You feel a little embarrassed about having gotten it wrong, and wiggle your ears. You turn around to go and find some water - you don't really have any fast way of warming it up, but it's been in a bucket in the den for a while so it'll at least be warmer than any water outside.
You rinse her wound out as best you can with the water, ignoring the way she tenses every time you touch the raw flesh. You let the used water splash onto the floor of the den for later; you can soak it up in moss and give it to The Little's mushroom farm, so it isn't a big deal.
Finally, you tie a clean leaf over it. Just to make sure sand keeps out of it, You tell her. She nods, and steps back towards the rest of her patrol now that it's been taken care of.
You turn expectantly and prick your ears as the others begin to approach one by one, but most of them only have minor scratches and scrapes that you can easily help with - wash them out, don't even need to bandage them.
The Rain, however, has a burn wound on his flank - From their damn electricity, He says. Didn't get to make a closed loop of me, but those antenna can sting! The stuff's like acid, I'll tell you. - that you try to remember how to deal with, but can't think of at all. Did you ever learn how to help with acid burns??
The Little steps in to help guide you, reminding you that bubble weed also has soothing properties, and can help alleviate burns of any kind; whether that's from a fire, or acid, or electricity. You pop one of the bubbles over The Rain's leg and rub the gel over it.
With everyone properly examined and taken care of, they chitter their thanks to you both, and wave their farewells. As they turn away, they're already back to discussing how best to split up the overgrown centipede.
Your shoulders slump a little, once they've all left the shelter again. You tried your best, but you messed up with the two big things you saw…
It was a good first time, The Little says to you kindly, seeing your expression. Certainly, some mistakes were made, but that's to be expected. You can't remember things just from knowing them, you must learn to do them as well. Why, when it came to my first time as a healer apprentice… Ah, but one shudders to remember.
You gotta remember! You say, putting your paws on their arm with wide eyes. What did you do on your first try applying theory?
They hum a little, contemplating telling you, before conceding. Well, our clowder was much bigger than this one, and my teacher was often very busy indeed. Like you, I was in the healer's den a lot as a pup, though for me it was because I was a sickly sort, and needed a lot of care.
So, as an apprentice, of course I was of the impression I'd do much better than a peer who hadn't had such a head start. While in some ways that's certainly true, well, conceit can lead to quite the experience...
Why?? What happened?
That is to say, my fellow healer apprentice stayed humble and stuck to his roots, making sure not to make decisions he wasn't informed about. I, on the other hand, was sure that because I knew more than him, I could do anything, and...
And???? You press your paws further on their arm, leaning even closer.
Well, suffice to say that I presumed I remembered something I didn't, and gave some bad medicinal advice to the clowder leader at the time.
No! You gasp. And it wasn't someone you were close to?
It was not, They confirm, mock-grave. So I received quite an earful later on, when my teacher and the leader both realised what I'd done.
What did you do!!!
Instead of correctly stating that they should use some strong, binding material for adhering their splint on their tail, I advised they used snail slime - not only did the splint not, in fact, adhere to the bandages, they also couldn't get the stuff off their paws all day.
You immediately chirrup your laughter, falling back to kick your paws in merriment as you roll. What a disaster that first time trying to help was…! Your relief in not being alone and in fact, not even failing that bad, is palpable.
You're not entirely sure if that really was true, and that happened to The Little, but what is true is that you do feel a lot better about your own mistakes, now.
You'll just have to keep trying, and that's not so bad.
The Spark is watching The Light pretend to hunt something, his body crouched on all fours as he clumsily slides forwards towards his invisible prey.
The Rust is looking around in distress, searching. You can hear from his calls that he's asking if anyone has seen The Singer.
The Moon suddenly yowls loudly in the middle of the clearing like they've been hurt.
The Amber is sunbathing with The Whistler. She beckons you with her tail.
The Singer is watching their brother intently.
By dint of passing into adolescence, two of the three [LOCKED] actions have now been unlocked: you can now Flirt and Patrol.
Flirt, due to being a speaking / interacting action of the same category as Talk, Insult, or Listen works in a similar way; you need to specify a target, and you can only use it once per month on the targeted slugcat, but you can use it on others in the same month. As this increases their romantic feelings for you, only slugcats in your age group can be flirted with - at the moment, this means the other apprentices.
Patrol is a slightly different action from all of the other actions thus far. When we choose to patrol, we will embark on a / a series of smaller update[s] where The Winged goes onto an adventure outside of camp. Up to 5 other slugcats can be chosen to accompany you, or none at all, but they need to be healthy enough to be outside of the healer's den, as well as allowed out of camp; while you might be able to bring your little siblings out of camp briefly for a Talk interaction, these extended adventures are too dangerous for them!
As you are a healer apprentice, your patrols will either involve gathering helpful medicinal supplies, or training - a common apprentice would also be able to choose between hunting or patrolling the territory, looking for danger. The type of patrol desired, as well as which slugcats are to come with you, if any, will need to be decided by majority vote.
Patrols can only be embarked upon once per month. Once you have finished embarking on your patrol of the month, other prompts from other slugcats who also patrolled without you may show up - previously these were automatically done at the start of the month, but now that you can include clowder members on your own patrols, they are delayed until after you've finished.
I will also note that the patrols may be subject to adjustment as I figure out how to properly host them, due to being a faster-paced mini-adventure within the scope of the story. Currently plans are to write up faster paragraphs with perhaps less detail or polish, and post them directly onto Discord, then write the response to whatever commands were given during my absence whenever I come back to Discord / leaving it for a limited amount of time, e.g. 10 minutes, then coming back - almost a "stream" style adventure, if you will, rather than waiting for people. It could also be thought of as a "dungeon", "adventure", or "mission" one embarks on, for video game parlance, so commands would work best on such small-scale, quick actions.
Some actions may also be decided as a success or failure based on dice roll. It may take more than one day to get through. I will only be collating all the commands + text after the patrol is over and recording them on a page afterwards. They will be the only updates until we finish the event that it consists of, and end it.
I am, of course, willing to listen to alternate suggestions and would welcome other proposals for how to handle this.