⊗ we should patrol with the little also
⊗ And seconding this
⊗ lets take gull and broken on a patrol and flirt with them both. maybe little if we get scared lets take little and gull and broken on patrol as FRIENDS like a NORMAL PERSON
You are literally the most normal person in the world, which is why you ask The Gull and The Broken to come along with you onto a herb gathering patrol with The Little. They seem aware that this is partially also an excuse to hang out with your friends, but seems amused and indulgent in supervising for you.
You're taking the back route today, and standing in front of the lake The Singer recently went swimming in. You called it small, but it's actually very big to a slugcat; you'd have to swim a while to get from one side to another. You've just left camp and circled around here, to start looking through the bank for more water-loving plants.
The view is clear, and you can see to the other shore. It's very open here, unlike the more forested area full of plants at the camp's main exit.
The Broken drops down onto all fours and plunges her head into the water.
⊗ immediately also plunge your head into the water. youre not a coward
⊗ drink
⊗ prove to broken you can drink the whole lake faster than them
⊗ agreed, we Must dunk our head into the water
You immediately join her in this. As you push your head in and begin gulping, you catch a glimpse of The Little putting their hands on their hips with a playfully exasperated expression.
You run out of breath and have to pull your head out eventually, gasping for air. You feel a little sick from how fast you gulped the water, but you feel proud of yourself anyway for having managed so much.
I totally drank more water than you.
The Broken rolls her eyes. Not everything is a competition, Winged.
She says it playfully though, and immediately proves herself a lying liar by adding, Bet I can get my water off faster than you.
She shakes her head, splattering the surrounding area with water. You squeal and do it too.
The Gull chirps in complaint, shielding her face with her arms.
⊗ pet the gull wethands style
⊗ splash
⊗ Invite the Gull to get wet too!!!
Haven't I gotten wet enough this month? She grumbles back, warding off your wet paws and splashing. She pushes you away. Not going back in there unless someone starts drowning.
Aren't we supposed to be here looking for herbs anyway? Not playing in water.
⊗ you're toooootally looking for herbs that grow in water. like bubbleweed!
⊗ We can look AND play c'mon. You know what they say, all work and no play makes no toys!
⊗ you some kinda stick in the mud?? too cool for playing??? take a load off!!
Pleasure is supposed to come after business, separate, She objects.
Oh, you might as well have a little fun, The Little says indulgently. There are herbs that enjoy growing in water after all.
Well if we're going to mess around and not concentrate on herb collecting, I actually wanted to talk to you instead, sir, She replies, but hesitates and shoots you and The Broken a glance.
The Broken gives a thumbs up and sticks her head back in the water.
⊗ thumbs up and lets start swimming!
⊗ i wanna hear the conversation if gull's willing to let us sit in but if not. sweem
⊗ ^ seconding
⊗ i wanna eavesdrop
It isn't that private, I suppose, The Gull says. She doesn't seem totally sure about this.
You want to hear, but you also want to respect her privacy, so you wade into the water and begin floating very slowly away. You've never swam in anything before, not this deep, so you're splashing and clumsy. You also accidentally kick The Broken in the back of the head, and she shoots out of the water with a faceful of lakebed, coughing and spluttering and snorting to get it out of her nose.
Because of this, as well as her shoving you underwater in revenge, you miss some of what The Gull has been saying.
When you surface again, she's still talking.
— I remember my seniors mentioning you, of The Pale's clowder, being our closest healer as well. Do you know why we have none of our own?
The Little touches a finger to their chin, thoughtful, and replies, Well, I did not live here any longer than the rest of our clowder, so I'm not clear on all the details. But I know that no one has had the medical knowledge to be a healer in that clowder for a long time. It takes a lot of training to learn everything you need, you see. There was talk of my training someone for them, but it never quite turned out due to the logistics of it. So for now, I am the only healer available.Will you go back to looking after the clowder in the future? The Gull asks, hesitant. I know The Shining had had some leadership I didn't agree with, but that's not the fault of the clowder members....
The Little lays his tail on hers. Rest assured, I would not leave those in need if I could do something to help them. I have not checked on the triplets' conditions in a while, so I would certainly like to when I have the chance again.
You are still surprised at how familiar The Little is with both clowders. You wonder what kind of people they know that live over there?
Clearly at least some of them overlap in mutual knowledge, because The Gull relaxes at this and gives a small nod.
At this point, you've started drifting far enough across the water that they leave your earshot, thought you can still read their body language this angle.
Floating on your back, you can't see what's under you in the water - it also lets you hear better outside of it, so you had thought nothing about it.
Now, something touches the bottom of your hind paw.
⊗ remember your drilling! the correct thing to do in this situation is panic and swim as hard as you can
⊗ Don't flail around just yet, it might make it worse! Try to ask Broken what's gotten you though.
You fluff out your pelt in alarm, as much as you can with it wet. You can't help it; before thinking kicks in, you've let out a chatter of alarm and started flailing. You kick it off your paw before you can calm yourself down, and you stay tense as you turn to face Broken.
Something just touched my foot. Can you see what it is? You ask, tensely.
She sees your fear and comes without hesitation, peering through the water around you.
Uhhhh, looks like some kind of plant. It looks like it's got orbs on it? I think you crushed one of the balls a little.
⊗ swim back away from it anyway and look at it suspiciously...maybe ask the little if it looks like one of the water plants thst can gobble you up!
You're not sure what that is... You carefully paddle closer to her, spinning around once you're far enough outside to give it a glare of doubt. The description and look of it seems familiar, but you're not quite sure what it is. You're a little far away from the shore now, so you clumsily bob your way closer so you can call out.
The Little, what kind of plant grows underwater and has transparent balls? Is it one of those ones that eat you up?
They look up from their continued conversation with The Gull. Oh, you've found bubble weed! Very good, Winged - bubble weed is a herb I was hoping we would find. It allows you to breathe underwater for as long as the bubbles of them still have air in them, but those bubbles are also very good for soothing throats from those coughing.
It can help with all the different kinds of illnesses that affect the breathing, as it lets you inhale easier. Though the air won't run out on land, the sad thing is that you'll still eventually dissolve the bubble in your mouth, since without water that air won't be transmitted to you. I am surprised it's underwater, as far as I know it usually tends to grow near banks but not in the water. Perhaps someone used and discarded it? Best to check how it is, but it surely should still be usable.
⊗ let's check it out! pluck it out and bring it back to little.
⊗ go harvest some bubbleweed!!
Well, if it's bubble weed then that's a good herb and what you're here for! You don't really know how to dive, but you take a deep breath and duck your head under the water towards it. You break it off at the stem - if you keep the roots there that means it'll grow back, right? - then bob back up to the surface.
You swim back to shore, even more awkwardly now that you're holding something in one paw, with The Broken's help. Both of you damp and dripping, you hold it up for The Little's examination - they nod in approval, and you make a satisfied chirp as you store it in your pouch. It does kind of suck that you broke one of the bubbles, as you think it might not work now, but getting more herbs is always good.
Do we keep looking around here, then? The Gull asks. That was what you were looking for on the shore, right?
Yes, that was one of the herbs I was hoping to see. Since we are so close to camp, it's for the best not to pluck or harass the plants here too much, and allow them time to grow while we go further out. The Little replies, then smiles. Besides, I am sure The Winged is eager to see more than just the outskirts near our camp on their first proper patrol outside.
⊗ let's be on the lookout for something specific like a treasure hunt...like the mushroom that slows down time!
⊗ boy are we! let's GO! maybe we should find some high ground to scout the way forward?
Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to see everything out there! I wanna see all of our territory!!!!!
You think about looking for the mushrooms, but then you wonder if that would really be helpful since The Little is growing a farm of them already nearby. They're helpful as a minor painkiller, you remember, on top of making the world seem to slow down. But it doesn't really make time slow down, 'cause probably nothing can do that for real, it just makes you feel like you've got more time to think. You don't use them for that much, especially since though it feels like a sedative for the person taking it, in truth it makes them go much faster for everyone else, so you guess that's a stimulant? You're not sure how helpful mushrooms are medicinally, even if they can help during combat! You probably don't need that many, right?
You head forwards along the bank of the lake now that you're done playing in the water. There's some boulders that make up a cliff, but you don't think you can climb that easily - it doesn't have any easy footholds! But then, you see the metal platforms further ahead. You don't really know why there's metal everywhere, or who could have put it there, but these look much easier to climb... So you guess you're not complaining! You run up them to look around.
There's the lake, and then the river that it flows into. Or is it a stream? Is there a difference? It leads along until it goes into the more foresty part of the territory on the other side of camp, with more trees and bushes growing, plus even more grass than the few tufts over here. It's not so open over there, but you're sure there's plenty of herbs there too.
⊗ quick divebomb broken while you're up here
⊗ ^ Do this
⊗ attack attack attack
⊗ also ask little if there's any beasties in the forested area and gull if she's ever fought a lizard or anything like that
⊗ ask all this while atop broken
⊗ ^^^^^
⊗ ask the little if anything grows in metal! maybe if you climb up you'll find some more herbs...
⊗ remember your childhood quest to find the missing pearl, but don't act on the thought
⊗ invent a new quest
⊗ new quest: EAT the missing pearl
⊗ remember your childhood quest to claim the power of fire and destroy the nefarious plague king, but don't act on it
You poke your head over the side the platform and examine the slugcats below carefully. You guess the angle, tilt your paws the right way, nod... And leap right off, reaching out with intent. You land on The Broken with all four paws outstretched to distribute the impact out more, who crumples with an oof as the weight of your body and gravity work together to crush her completely. You stand back up on your hind legs and strike a pose on top of her.
Get off me!!! You suck, She complains, wiggling under you. You graciously ignore her to turn to the other two members of the patrol, one of whom is watching with great amusement and the other is watching more thoughtfully.
The Little, are there monsters in the forested area?
Oh, yes. Unfortunately, it's always the case that there are dangers just about everywhere. For example, right now we are in the open area of the lake - if we are unlucky, a salamander or eel might swim up the river and decide to take residence in the water. Alternatively, we sometimes have vultures swooping in - so clearings are not always safe, even if you can look around at ground level better. There may be lizards anywhere, of course, for they are as adaptable as we are. But then, in a dark place like the inside of a mountain, or a cave system, you could have spiders and other such creatures.
Hm. That wasn't what you were hoping to hear!
Gull, what about you? Have you ever fought a lizard?
Hmm? No, I've yet to encounter one myself. She replies, flicking her tail in a 'more's the shame' way. I have fought centipedes now, of course. But we have had some training about what to do with lizards, so while not put into practice yet, I am sure we could figure it out.
That's not the kind of attitude you hope to hear from someone that's never fought something, The Broken mutters from under you. Only you're close enough to hear it, though.
Does anything grow in metal, Little? Should I climb back up and look for herbs there?
Yes, there are indeed some plants that grow in metal, The Little replies, with a nod. However, I find they only usually grow on specific metal; I couldn't say why, but the circle plant is quite rare because it is usually found growing on metal, around our camp or high up on the wall. I haven't been able to ascertain if it has any medicinal use yet, but it isn't poisonous to the touch and as I mentioned I've experimented with using it as nest material. So I'm not quite sure you'll find too much of interest up there. If it's stone, however, I find quite a lot of plants will like to grow through the stone, so perhaps there are some plants that can grow through metal to reach higher?
You suddenly recall, though very dimly, that when you were very young, you had wanted to find a pearl the clowder had lost. The teenagers had used to play with it, right...? You still don't know where it would be, and for all you know the many rains in between have washed it even more away than it was before, but you keep the memory in your pouch [alongside the bubble weed] for later.
You also feel like you should have another quest, just for symmetry - two is better than one - and think that you could eat the pearl too. If you eat it, then it goes into your pouch, safe and sound! So it's an important part of finding it, really. Keeping it safe in your tummy. You also think about a quest to reclaim the ability to create fire and destroy a nefarious plague king - not that you ever had that ability, but you remember as a child hearing stories before about slugcats who could. Maybe one day you'll see one? And you can learn how to do it too, and maybe find a plague king to destory along the way, JUST like that dream you had. Maybe The Shining will spread a plague? But what's a king?
⊗ Where else are we heading? Let's ask Broken where they think we should go next!
⊗ and gull! we need to make sure she feels included even if we're not killing her
⊗ We should ask gull if she wants to be attacked! By you, of course.
⊗ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You bend down so you're leaning towards Broken, who takes this opportunity to lunge up and push you off her. You tumble away to the sand with a yelp of complaint, but recover your aplomb and sit back up.
Where do you think we should go next, Broken?
Well, I'm thinking about vultures coming in now so I kind of want to get out of the open space, if I'm being honest. We don't even have any tunnels or pipes over here, She replies, dusting herself off as she glances up.
You look up with her, but it still looks the same - just a normal grey sky, with the black silhouette. You don't see any shadows that look different, though you don't really know what a vulture looks like either.
What do you think, Gull? You turn to her.
It isn't my place to really say, The Gull responds with a pad up shrug. I'm no healer, so I don't know where would be good for herbs.
Well, they kind of grow anywhere is the thing, right? You glance at The Little for confirmation.
Certainly. Like I mentioned, exploring further would be ideal so we aren't overtaxing any resources close to camp, but otherwise there are different kinds of plants who grow in many different places.
You nod your satisfaction, then turn back to Gull. By the way, I don't wanna make you feel left out. Want me to attack you too?
She lifts her tail in challenge. Only if you want to feel my teeth! I won't turn down a spar, and I won't go easy on you just because you haven't trained at all yet!
Well, when she puts it like that....
⊗ SHE'S TOO SCARY DON'T DO IT
⊗ anyway let's head forestwards before we get eaten by 100000 vultures
⊗ well, broken spars with her, and you attacked broken, so surely it's the same thing? go for it.
⊗ FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
⊗ but after we're in a better space to fight
Okay, let's try it but later, when we're not here on the shoreline! You suggest, torn between being a little nervous and also eager to try it out. Before we get attacked by soooo many vultures.
They aren't common here, The Little notes helpfully, as they follow after your resumed walking. It isn't likely, or we wouldn't have chosen to settle here.
Is our camp clearing even that much safer? The Broken asks, clearly disturbed by this.
We have many slugcats there ready with spears, The Little responds, with a chuckle. It could certainly try, of course, but with so many people there, I suspect it's more likely we would have a vulture to eat ourselves!
Most predators probably aren't gonna be so stupid as to try their luck with a group of prey like that for that reason, The Gull opines. So if there is a hungry vulture, it would more likely to wait for a patrol to try to pick us off when we're more alone.
That's not comforting at all!!!!
You resolve to look up at the sky more often, just in case, and act on this decision every now and again as the ground beneath you turns more and more soily, and the plants growing by become more and more frequent.
Okay, now that we're in the forest, I'm ready! You cry, turning around and throwing yourself at The Gull.
She doesn't dodge, but surges forwards to meet you. She grabs you by the shoulders, shoves her face into your neck - you feel her teeth graze your fur and skin, but no deeper - and with her momentum against yours knocking you off balance, throws you onto the ground on your back. Immediately.
The Broken laughs.
⊗ Pretend to die dramatically!!! Give Gull the win.
⊗ NO!!! you nearly had her!!! stand and fight!!!
You sit back up just to cover your forehead with the back of your forearm, let out an agonised cry, and flop back on your back.
Oh! Oh, you got me! Wow, you're too strong! I can't do this, you've killed me! You roll around back and forth against the fallen leaves under you, clutching your stomach.
The Gull keeps her body tense, but pads closer to you again. So you probably should have expected it when, once you jump back up and try again, she grabs you and sends you sliding back across the foliage, skidding along the plant stuff.
Cheap trick, She admonishes, though not with any heat and in fact some amusement. Though if you actually had truly played dead, that would be a good way to catch an enemy off guard. Waiting for them to get close and then attacking them when they think they've won is a good tactic. It's a bit underhanded for sparring, but you need some underhandedness if you want the spar to be like truly fighting.
I remember a story about an orange slugcat that liked doing that a lot, The Broken comments idly.
You laugh too, and sit back up. Ouch, okay, you definitely have at least some training and I definitely don't at all. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to learning to fight if it'll be like that with you and Broken!
You're not sure if you still need to look up at the sky now, with trees in the way, but it's when you're giving it another glance that you see a flutter.
⊗ Quietly bring up the flutter. Was it anything?
⊗ Bring it up loudly. You saw a bug!
⊗ Um. Vulture
Hey, You begin, hesitant, quiet. I think I just saw something up there.
Hm? What is it? The Broken looks up too.
It's got to be a vulture, right? You ask with a touch of anxiety. Like Little was saying?
Hmm, I think this place would be a little small for a vulture... They muse in return, looking where you are too.
As you keep staring, eyes darting around for the flutter, you spot it again. This time, relief makes your body relax, and you wag your tail as you spin back around.
No, okay, it's not a vulture! You declare. I know what it is now! It's a bug! It's a BATFLY!
Are batflies bugs? The Gull wonders.
This would be a good time to take some for snacks, even if we can't store them, The Broken says, looking interested.
Just the one, or multiple? The Little asks with interest.
⊗ Were they multiple? You should check!
⊗ go grab it!!
Dunno! You're already starting to scamper after it, eyes fixed up on the flapping of little black wings. I just saw the one.
Hey, don't just run like that, you're gonna trip on something, The Broken yells after you, before grumbling and following after. At least glance where you're going sometimes!
Like a pup chasing a butterfly, huh? You hear The Gull remark.
You don't wait up for them, instead plunging deeper into the copse in pursuit of the batfly. It's far too high up for you to grab yet, and you haven't tried climbing a tree before, AND it's still moving too fast for you to try climbing, so you just follow after it for now.
It's not too long a chase before it swoops down over your head and then out of sight; you almost want to flinch for a second, except it's a batfly so you don't. When you push through the bushes that obscure your view, you see what caught the batfly's attention, and what's caught a lot of other ones' - there's some batnip growing out of the dirt, which they eagerly flutter around.
⊗ pick the batnip and wave it around!
⊗ try to eat a batfly right out of the air
⊗ command your batfly army
You jump forwards and try to snap a batfly out of the air with your teeth. It flies away from you with a deft dodge that leaves you disappointed, but at least you can pluck the batnip and lift it up to continue enticing the little creatures. They're more hesitant to approach now that you're standing here holding it, but not hesitant enough - you snatch up one that flutters too close with your other paw, and are snacking happily on it when the rest of the patrol catches up.
You got started without me, The Broken complains good-naturedly as she joins in on the veritable buffet of batflies. They're so focused on you and the batnip that they don't even see her at first, and she gets to snatch double pawfuls to take a bite of one after the other.
Batfly army, attack! You jokingly point the batnip at The Broken. Of course, they ignore you and keep trying to get at the plant. She sticks her tongue out at you between chews.
The Gull joins in on snatching up prey too - even The Little approaches to take some to eat, though they also are coming close to examine the batnip.
Very good, They say approvingly. Batnip can be used to soothe itches or otherwise abrased skin - the juice from it helps with bug bites in that way, while eating the plant itself can help with coughs as it soothes the throat. We just saw bubble weed, so I will note while they both help with coughs, you may realise that I stated that their assistance manifests in different ways. Bubble weed can allow the person to breathe easier despite respiratory problems, while the batnip soothes the throat that's been irritated from all the coughing.
⊗ The Little, you forgot the most IMPORTANT property!!! The ability to summon batflies!
⊗ But oooh, can it help with when someone's insides are swollen too, or is it just on the top of the throat and on top of skin?
They laugh. Of course that's an incredibly important part, but it isn't a medical use!
Growing more thoughtful at your next question, they reply, No, as far as I know it can't assist any deeper organs after ingestion. It may be that it becomes too digested within the stomach to help with aches such as that, I'm not quite sure.. It is mainly a surface level soother that is also edible to some extent, so it may also be that it needs to be more potent to affect organs like that.
You nod along thoughtfully - this makes sense to you, or at least it makes as much sense as anything else medicinal.
You jump and nearly drop the batnip when the wail of a slugcat in pain splits the air. It sounds familiar.
But a slugcat in too much fear or pain becomes dead silent... So this is good, right?
⊗ let's go see what that was!!!
⊗ and take everyone with us of course
⊗ Take the batnip too! What if it comes in useful? Or what if it's nothing and you want a snack afterwards?
You do a quick check around your fellow patrol-mates just to be sure, but it definitely isn't any of them. They look as startled as you do, and also as perfectly fine as they were before the alarm call, so nothing happened to them in the seconds between you looking at them.
I think it came from over there, The Broken says, ears flicking to the up-left as she swallows the last of what she was eating.
The Little is frowning worriedly. We had better get over there and see what's happened.
My pouch is already full, but this is medicinal, so we should hold on to it, right? You hold out the batnip. Most of the batflies that had been fluttering have scattered at this point, scared away by your group too much to take the siren lure of their favourite treat.
The Gull nods and snatches the herb out of your paw, swallowing it as she turns. Her haunches tense in preparation, tail shifting before she springs forward through the bushes. You bounce forwards after her, and together with your little group head in that direction.
As you get closer, you scent the distinctive tang of blood. There's centipede blood, which tastes different on the tongue, and is strongest in the air - but you think you can just barely catch a hint of slugcat too, if only because you heard one calling out. Maybe you're just imagining it because you expect to smell it?
When you finally find something through the forest again, it's another patrol from your clowder: The Untouched, The New Sun, and The Wind.
Your eyes sweep over them at first, because they're all still standing, and you can't see what the threat is, but then your gaze stutters back. You realise The Sun is bleeding.
⊗ get to work!!! triage time!
⊗ there's a healer and a healer-in-training here, get to work!!
You're about to rush forward to her side, just as The Little is hurrying forwards, but you hesitate. You can't say what small animal instinct makes you do it, but you sweep your gaze across the clearing again, and freeze when you catch the gaze of the thing in the shadows.
A glowing blue head. Wicked black teeth, sharp and sank into the orange chitin of the meat in its maw. The black eyes. You can't see the body in clarity, but the blue scales travel down its back, to the frills on its tail.
You're transfixed. You've never seen it before, don't have a name to put to its face, but your instincts know exactly what that is. It's screaming alarm in your head.
A predator.
And you're prey. You're rooted to the spot, unable to look away from its stare. If it came closer, you would be able to see its teeth even more clearly. See what must surely be wicked claws in the darkness, for splitting wet flesh open in ribbons.
But... But it doesn't come closer. Instead, it breaks eye contact with you, and turns its head to the side. As it begins to turn its whole body around, you notice it has a scratch on its nose. And then it's gone, with a flick of its tail, vanishing into the forest.
You can breathe again.
⊗ run after it and feed it the batnip trust me trust me trust me
⊗ don't go after it!! you're a healer not a fighter!!
⊗ yeah probably do some medical things before you take up animal taming.
⊗ TRUST ME TRUST ME TRUST ME
⊗ You've places to be.
When you finally break out of your stupor, your mentor has started tending to The Sun.
It's just a torn ear, She's saying, holding back a wince as The Little touches over the rip with light pads, searching. It startled, more than it hurts.
It was my idea, The Untouched says it a tad guiltily. I should have known better than to try to harass a lizard without a spear, even if it was just a wall climber.
It had such a big centipede. The Wind makes a wistful hum, but worry shines clearer in her eyes as she gazes at your injured comrade. It would have been nice to get at least some of that meat off it.
We should follow it, The Sun insists. I am fine. I can track its trail, so it will not be a problem to find it again. Its teeth just grazed my ear.
I get you wanna keep going after it so we have something to show, but even if The Little agrees with it being not a significant injury, I think I'd feel better if we all just went home instead, The Untouched says, crossing his arms and frowning.
You think about chasing after it too, but you don't really feel enthused with the idea. You don't really want to follow after a monster like that.... And what would batnip do to it? You'd have to ask The Gull to spit it back up for that anyway, and you don't think you know anything about tracking like The Sun can either, so you can't find it yourself.
Little wings?
You jolt at the nickname, still gazing after where the lizard went, and look back at The Little.
Would you be able to pluck some of the leaves from off that bush, please? Yes, that one. We can at least wipe the blood off and try to staunch the bleeding, though I have no poultices on me.
The Little pauses. You reflect as you obediently go to pluck up the leaves that, though they haven't said anything to you, you live beside the herb store now, and have noticed it hasn't been as plentifully stocked as it used to be. You think something they're not saying may be that they don't want to use too much medicine on an injury that really is mostly superficial.
⊗ go get the leaves... think about maybe going out more often like this and maybe with less silly vibes. people need medicine :(
⊗ Whisper to someone other than the patrol group. Are we short on food if they don't bring anything back?
⊗ make a mental note to go to the Bouncy for self-mediation later? It's not that we were WRONG to freeze but...if we were patrolling in the future and no one else had seen that lizard, panicking like that could have been bad....
⊗ Or like. Talk to an elder about avoiding a freeze response. The Little would probably know who to talk to about it at least!
You think that though this is your first time patrolling, it'd be good to come out more often after this. If there's not enough herbs, that makes gathering for them even more important... Even if you can't find them every time, like, that just makes it EVEN MORE important, right? You resolve to try to be a little less lackadaisical about it next time. You don't feel bad, exactly, since this was still your first time, which is a Special and Important Event, but you'll be more serious in the future. Or more focused at least. One of them.
Hey Broken, You say quietly, leaning towards her. She leans towards you back. If they don't bring anything home, will we not have enough food?
She wiggles her paw. We have enough for everyone today, but there'll only be a little bit left over. And what if something happens? We like collecting more food just to be safe, plus we like having feasts. So it's good to get more. They probably didn't get nothing, but I bet it's just small stuff like fruits or small centipedes.
...Naaaaah, you don't need to bother The Bouncy with asking about this. This is normal! Probably. You haven't even trained how to fight yet, so you're sure it's not weird that you froze when you saw a predator for the first time. It was, after all, your first time. And you have NO self-defense lessons. If you were patrolling alone, you'd probably be way older! And way more capable. You're sure no one would let a 6 month old go running off alone - you don't even know where all the territory is, or anything in it. So you're sure you don't need to talk to anyone about it.
⊗ Untouched can go home if he wants, but we've barely started! Besides, that lizard's finished its day's hunt, it's not gonna be out any longer.
⊗ That said Sun's plan is fucking bonkers let's not do that.
⊗ Yeah this. ^^^ We haven't gotten a lot of herbs yet! We should go find more but chasing lizards is SO off the table
⊗ Then again... there's so many of us...
⊗ We should keep looking for herbs, and IF we can find some spears go after the lizard.
⊗ You're shaken! Even if the hunting patrol goes after it, you're honestly in no shape to assist them. Leave it up to them to decide, and focus on gathering herbs. Everyone has a part to play in all this.
⊗ agree with sun! we still have herbs to gather! more seriously, now...
⊗ but if sun wants to go after the lizard, they should really get their gear in order
I think it's kinda none of my business what you decide for the hunting stuff, but I do wanna collect more herbs before I go home, You say. I mean, we only found two plants....
Two plants can be converted into quite a few leaves for individual use and storage, so it is a little more than how you are counting it, The Little notes. ...But a little more would not hurt, either. It is true that it's a mere superficial wound, as The Sun stated.
The Broken shrugs and says, Yeah, I'll go wherever The Winged is going. Bet you need more paws to hold the stuff or pouches to store it, so I'll come.
My esteemed mentor is right, The Gull pipes up, squeezing her paws together. No surprise that she's volunteering for this either, both because she wants to fight and she seems like she'd automatically back The Sun. It was only a fluke, a surprise attack. Blues aren't that scary. They're the weakest lizards, that's what I know. Every other lizard will harass them. We could too. Perhaps we could even eat it ourselves. Besides which, strength in numbers; even if some of us aren't equipped to fight, how will a lizard know that? It just knows a pack of slugcats are coming after it.
We don't have a spear with us, The Wind points out. But there is always garbage laying around... I think we could hit the wall lizard and stun it, get it to drop the centipede. Then we grab it, break the centipede in half, and make off with it. It's so overgrown, I doubt one lizard can even eat all of it anyway. It'll just stash it in its den or something. We don't have to take all of it and leave it to starve and want to try its luck with us. Just enough that we have more to work with. I'm the fastest runner we have, so I could get close then dash the easiest.
The Untouched sighs. Outvoted again, huh...? Well, I guess if we're going to do it then it's best to be safest. The Wind's idea could work with what we have. Let's go into this one with a concrete plan. Less surprises.
Whatever the plan is, it isn't really your business. You listen with half an ear as you scout around where you're standing, examining the plants and trying to think if there's anything you need. More of the clean leaves for bandages is never bad - there's plenty near the camp, but like The Little said, the further out the better. You start stripping off leaves of different sizes, making sure they're clean as can be.
The hunters are discussing the best approach, but it seems like the straightforward is the best. If it fears for its life because of a menacing band of seven slugcats, it might lash out again like last time instead of backing off, so best to keep on your toes and make sure not to get too close - that had been most of the plan they'd tried before, with less of you, and this time they also have Wind's idea of catching it and stunning it with a rock. You feel like it makes sense, but you don't really know what you're doing! The Little doesn't comment either, so it's probably fine.
With all this agreed upon, The Sun gets to her paws and paces towards where you last saw the lizard depart. Sniffing intently and peering down at the tracks its claws left, she points at the drag marks left by it carrying the centipede as well to you all, and starts walking.
⊗ find the coolest best leaf as you walk.
⊗ find an ugly boring leaf too
⊗ find a leaf that's just kind of ok.
⊗ try to chuck a rock also! maybe you can hit a batfly with it?
As you trek along with the others, you entertain yourself by examining the plants you're passing.
You find a leaf that smells very yummy when you sniff it. It makes you want to rub your face on it, and it's also a nice, crisp green, so you decide it's a Very Cool leaf indeed. You hold on to it for later.
You then find a torn, browned leaf on the ground, covered with other leaves and dirt, and decide that this is the ugly boring leaf because it's already died. Then you feel bad, because you feel like that's not fair to the leaf. Still, it is true that you can't use it for anything, so you leave it alone.
Then you find another leaf that looks like it could work fine for bandaging, so you pull it from the bush as you pass. It rattles from your touch, almost as if in annoyance.
With one paw full of leaves, and your pouch... Maybe not full but at least filled with some useful herbs, that leaves a paw free to throw rocks! You can't see any batflies anymore, but that doesn't mean there aren't any around.
The Untouched stops you, however. Uh, we probably shouldn't be making that much noise if we're going to go after that lizard. Sorry Winged, can you just hold on to that rock for now instead?
⊗ :( But whyyyyy?
⊗ AKA just hold the rock but be a little [quietly] annoying about it.
Aw, but wwwwhy? You immediately start whining, though you know why because he just said so. You're holding on to the rock as he said, but being very, very annoying about it. It's part of your responsibility, really, because you're the youngest person here. That means it's important to keep everyone humble by reminding them that they can't take everything too seriously.
The Untouched snorts a little and rolls his eyes, amused. Okay Winged, I already said why. You're going to scare the lizard off or worse, let it know we're coming like this.
It is true that you don't want to do something like that though... You were already scared enough when you saw the lizard for the first time! Is that really not normal...? Well, you'll see it again now, right? And it'll be the second time, so maybe you'll be braver, or at least you'll expect it so it won't be as scary.
The Sun leads you towards a much smaller wall than the infinite one you live against, though no less impressive for that - it's still quite tall, even if you can see the top. As you get closer to it, you can see that there's a hole very high up on the wall that must be the wall-climbing lizard's den; if you could climb walls as easily as they could, you'd probably do it too! And much closer to slugcat level, are some very pretty vines - that open up at the lizard's approach.
Wall flowers, The Little breathes.
The lizard turns as you all emerge from the brush back into this open space. Its eyes flash at the sight of so many slugcats at once, and it lets out a low, rumbling hiss.
⊗ Oh god lizards are BIG and REAL
⊗ Panic a little but try to do it really really quietly
⊗ SCREAM AND THROW ROCK AAA
⊗ Try not to panic
⊗ Panic a lot
⊗ GET BIG. BE BIG AND SCARY ARMS UP FUR ON END
⊗ get big! brandish your leaves
An 8 out of 20 is rolled.
Your eyes widen, seeing the beast in front of you again. In a way, seeing it out of the shadows makes it a little less scary, because it becomes so much more obvious that it's an animal like you - paws and tummy, back and tail, a long snout with whiskers. In another, though, it's also still scary, because it's so much bigger than you are - it could split you in half with one bite!
You don't really have a role in this anyway, because you're not a hunter - you privately feel a little grateful for this, because you don't want to get any closer than you already are. You puff up your pelt, bushing it as large as you can, lifting your tail behind you and bristling that too. You have leaves and a rock, and, and, you can't do anything with it!!! You don't even know how to fight back yet, this is your first patrol, you don't know anything!!! You squall at it, a rough, low-pitched cry that makes it turn its head to you and regard you while you make yourself bigger, bigger, raising your paws at it and standing even higher on your toes, flailing your arms and snaking your head back and forth.
You don't feel hypnotised this time, but only because the need to move, move, do something! has taken over. You bounce on your feet, and as your hand passes by your vision you remember you have the trash in your hand.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see The Wind move. It's only after you've hurled your own rock, fast and frantic, that you realise that she was tossing her own rubbish to try to stun the lizard. Your rock misses the lizard entirely, not even close to hitting it - but it does clip hers and knock it off target, culminating in it leaving only a glancing blow on the creature's face. It makes a yelping sound and backs up, its tail lashing.
Ah, void! You hear The Wind curse.
Without giving the group of you a second glance, it turns and launches itself at the wall, lengthening its strides to a gallop as it runs up the metal like it's flat ground, until it vanishes into its den.
The Sun exhales in frustration. It's not going to come back out of there. I think we spooked it, and now it has plenty of food stored. Which is just as well, I guess.
At least it won't be needing to hunt again for a good while, The Untouched agrees, folding his arms and frowning. They're not very brave creatures, so it might avoid heading our camp's way for a while. We didn't have the resource to try to hunt the thing ourselves anyway.
The Wind flicks her tail, frowning deeply. Ugh, yeah. Wall-climbers are the easiest to pick off, but we don't have spears. Even if it came back out, we're not getting anything from it to eat now. Ugh, let's just look for some other small stuff to take home.
I'm sorry, You say meekly. You feel really bad now that the danger has vanished, and with it the beginnings of calming down. You really screwed this whole plan up...
The Wind lets out a sigh, but shakes her head. No, it's fine. It's your first time out and the first time you ever saw a lizard, of course you'd be on edge. I should have expected that, you wouldn't even had any survival training yet. That's my fault for not accounting for it, I forgot you wouldn't have the basics like a hunter.
⊗ there's no recovering from this. you can never go outside again. they're going to tell STORIES about this
⊗ die inside
Wow, The Gull says, sounding kind of impressed. That's not easy to hit a small moving target like that. Is your aim always that good?
The full impact of how hard it is to mess up as impressively as you did is starting to hit you. You didn't know this, because you hadn't realised, but managing to collide a small moving thing with another small moving thing is a really hard thing to actually do. And you managed it! Which would be cool, except doing that was how you managed to screw the whole plan up, so that's actually bad! You're never going to recover from this! Everyone is going to talk about this, and no one will ever forget it! This is the worst anyone has ever done it, and you weren't even trying to hunt because you aren't a hunter so that's even worse because you can't hunt better to make up for it!!!!! You are going to pass away and—
Hey. The Broken claps you on the back, snapping you out of your thoughts. Come on, Winged. There's nothing here to see, you don't need to look into space like you saw a red. Stop picking up stuff from your parents! You look like you think you've ended the world or something. What, do you think our first hunts were always going well? S'not that easy to kill a big predator like a centipede or lizard, or fight it at all. You missed it and hit the rock instead, big deal! It's not your job, anyway, and you didn't even get trained.
Yeah, it's really fine, The Wind says. It isn't your fault, you're completely new to this. I just didn't think of this, it's alright.
We do have other food we caught, The Untouched nods. It's not that bad, we're not hurting for it or anything.
The trip is still fruitful, besides, The Little says to you, soothing. See those plants there on the wall? They are wall flowers. While common in the places where they do grow, I've not seen any in a while. They can be crushed into a paste for easing aches and inflammations, such as back pain or joint pain. It is useful for travel or when food is scarce too, as it reduces one's appetite and can make it easier to weather such hard times.
⊗ walk reaaaaal slow. notice many more interesting things that have to be described in depth
Even if you didn't help on the hunting trip, at least you did get more herbs for the herb collecting trip - which was your actual job, so you guess it's not so bad... Your patrol parts with the hunters as they go off back into the forest to find more food, and you stay here to collect some of the wall flowers. The Gull says she'll keep watch, and spends your collection time staring fixedly at the den above you. This does make you feel better.
The Little explains to you how the smaller wall flowers need to be left alone to grow bigger, and how the bigger ones will be better for having more, bigger petals to use besides. It can be harder to crush when you start from something bigger, but it isn't so bad; most slugcats use a mortar and pestle, but in a pinch chewing it up in your mouth will also release the juices and create the paste. It just won't taste very good, but that's a lot of herbs so you came into the job expecting that too.
As you're coming back home, you keep your steps slow both so you don't drop any of the herbs you've collected - though most of it has been stored away in everyone's pouches, since they knew they were coming for herbs - and so you can look around for neat stuff to see. There's a really cool rock jutting out of the ground in one part of the forest, with a shiny surface. Then you see some beetles flying around, which makes you want to catch one but you are a little tired from all the walking around. You all find a spear embedded into a platform, so The Gull and The Broken take turns trying to pull it out but fail. Finally, The Little pulls it out - you're amazed that adults can still be so strong! - and walks back with it. They mention it isn't one they've seen before, but you know there are other slugcats that come by sometimes so it's probably not that weird.
Eventually, you make it home. You guess in the end, that wasn't so bad, for a first time ever patrolling.
You collected 15 herbs total.
Bubble Weed - 6
Batnip - 4
Wall Flower - 5