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+--- Thread: Heron Lake Plateau sky fire above, ice below the hearth (/showthread.php?tid=27541)
sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 02, 2018
With a little more than three weeks to go before her pups were due, when Raven wasn't busy with alpha or medic duties, she spent much of her time foraging for medicinal plants that she knew could be helpful for the various trials and tribulations of pregnancy and childbirth. She had managed to amass a small cache of remedies for nausea (which had been a blessing with her recent morning sickness), gas, swelling, and infection prevention. Poppies were in full bloom right now, so she had collected some poppyseeds -- her favorite painkiller and sleep aid -- so she felt well-prepared for what was to come.
She wandered along the fringes of the lake now, curiously eyeing some of the strange mosses, algae, and shoreline aquatic plants. She was unfamiliar with these varieties of flora and was itching to experiment with them, but had to restrain herself out of maternal caution. If they were poisonous or had any sort of potentially harmful side-effects, she didn't want to risk harming her unborn puppies. So for now, she just sniffed and poked, occasionally enjoying a dip in the lake to cool off.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 02, 2018
She didn't want to be so beat up the first time she saw Raven after her she had been recruited. But with the cut on her lip (that was sort-of healing) and the gashes all over her legs from her uh, incident with Nevouku, she figured that she needed to go see the medic. Her wounds would need more than battlefield patches if she were going to avoid infection.
She found the Alpha female by the water and lowered her position, calling out a friendly,
Hey, how's it goin'?
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 02, 2018
She had just emerged from another cooling venture into the lake, enjoying the relief from the sun beating down on her black fur, when a flash of fiery red caught her eye. She shook the water out of her coat and looked up to see the newest Redhawk approaching her with a friendly greeting, and the alpha started to return her salutations when she noticed the wounds that cross-hatched her legs. Immediately filled with concern, Raven rushed toward her and, as she drew near, she noticed the cut lip as well. "Ceara," she breathed, her eyes scanning the she-wolf for further injuries. "Good grief, what happened?"
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 03, 2018
It's dumb,she rushed out, heat creeping into her cheeks. Ahhhhhhh, she should have just taken care of it herself!
I was having a fun little contest with Nevouku to make him feel.. I don't know, included. Like, to be nice. And I chased a squirrel into some thorns, and then he ran into me. Not on purpose.
Ceara's mind was pretty much just doing the ": ^)" thing right now she was so embarrassed.
But I figured, um, I could help you.. with something, I don't know what, if you um. Took a look at this.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 03, 2018
"I'm glad you came to see me," she replied, smiling at the embarrassment in Ceara's demeanor. "It's better to be safe than sorry. It's a lot easier to prevent an infection than it is to cure one." She eased forward and peered at the slashes on Ceara's legs with a practiced eye. She'd begun studying medicine when she was just a little puppy, and she was now well into her third summer, so wounds such as these were easy for her to handle. Still, though, every body was different and she took nothing for granted.
"These are pretty shallow," she commented after a moment, still crouched down by the Blackthorn's legs. "But a few of them are a bit deeper and should be kept as clean as possible. Rising back up to face her packmate, she eyed the split lip as well and nodded. "I can show you where to pick some plants that are really good for preventing infection and bleeding. With a few treatments, I think these'll heal up nicely. Walk with me -- there's a grove nearby that I found just a few days ago." She gestured for Ceara to follow, and took up a leisurely pace along the bank of the lake.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 03, 2018
Raven was nice. She didn't seem like an alpha, she seemed like a mom, and there was something about it that was comforting to the young firebrand.
Sure. Maybe I can help you with some for your cache, too, since I'll be using some of your stores up.She followed Raven along the bank, strolling alongside the Redhawk alpha with ease.
So um, if you don't mind me asking, how long?She gestured to the Redhawk's protruding belly, but she seemed to shy from the question as if it were something too personal.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 04, 2018
"She didn't seem like an alpha, she seemed like a mom" <-- I love this <3
She nodded appreciatively as Ceara offered to help gather more plants for her stash. With a pack this large, it was a constant effort to keep her supply stocked, especially lately with everyone getting themselves all banged up at the same time. Soon she would have her hands full with newborn puppies and wouldn't have as much time to devote to her craft. Thankfully, the Redhawks had their very own master puppysitter in the ranks -- Eljay -- so hopefully she'd still be able to reasonably maintain her medic duties.
When Ceara inquired about her pregnancy, Raven's tail wagged and she grinned. It was still so wonderfully weird to be pregnant! She was quiet for a moment while she did some figuring, then answered, "I'm thinking they'll be here by the next full moon. (ooc: end of the month) I'm so excited! I've raised pups before but never had a litter of my own."
The more she talked with Ceara, the more Raven liked her. She seemed friendly, smart, and with her offer to help with the medicine stores, she was clearly already taking an initiative in helping the pack. The alpha was impressed, and hoped that the promising young Blackthorn would stick around. "So how are you liking it here so far?" she asked after a moment, curious how the newest Redhawk was settling in.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 04, 2018
Ceara did some mental gymnastics trying to figure out when the next full moon was. Um. She really hadn't been paying that much attention, to be honest? She made a mental note to start tracking the moon cycles more closely. And even though kids kind of gave her the creeps, she was genuinely happy for Raven.
You seem like you'd make the best mom, honestly.Wait, no, was that weird? That was totally weird. There was no coming back from that kind of embarrassment. She could feel the heat all the way from the tip of her tail to her ears.
But um, I like it. I've met.. I don't know, quite a few people now. They've all been nice.Yeah there, that would help.
If you have any like, I don't know, scouting missions or whatever, I'd love to stretch my legs sometime. Just um, hit me up.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 05, 2018
Whatever awkwardness Ceara felt at her comment about Raven's capability as a mother, the alpha didn't pick up on it. In fact, the comment warmed her heart and she found herself smiling and waving her tail as they walked. Raven led Ceara along the shoreline of the lake for a while; when they reached the north end, they branched off and headed downhill toward Grouse Thicket. The thicket itself was, for the most part, too densely-forested and shady for the plants they sought. Along the outskirts, however, where the tree cover was sparser and more open to sunlight, the clusters of snow-white flowers could be found in abundance.
"What we're looking for is called 'yarrow'," she explained as they continued down the gentle slope of the plateau's northern shoulder. "It usually grows in clusters and it's easy to spot because it has bright white flowers. It has a ton of uses, and it's one of my favorites for treating wounds." Raven liked to educate her packmates about things like this because she felt that a truly good healer should empower her patients with the knowledge they needed to take care of themselves. Knowing basic wound care was, in her opinion, an essential skill that every wolf should have. "So you mentioned you were looking to do some scout work. I might be needing a message carried to a pack up the coast. Interested?" (Tagging @Rosalyn for reference/heads-up. This thread takes place the day after Roz's thread with Niamh, so Raven would presumably have heard about the need for a messenger by now and have it on her mind. The thread with Raven and Roz is dated for the day after this one. Timelines! Ugh! XD)
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 05, 2018
Sweet, sweet. It wasn't awkward at all. Instead, Raven's demeanor shifted into something... impossibly more sunny. Could she really get any nicer? Or prettier? Or...
Good to know,she said before she turned her attention to the ground. She had an eensy bit of medicinal knowledge (enough to help someone, well, not die) but she'd never really done anything more advanced than a patch-job. It wasn't long before she pulled something that looked like yarrow from the ground and presented it to Raven for confirmation — if there was something easily confused for yarrow, that's probably what she had. But if not.. Hey, yarrow!
While she definitely wasn't expecting now, she wasn't put off in the slightest.
Oh, sweet. Yeah, sounds good to me.It felt good that Raven trusted her to do such important work already, even if she had just gotten here, uh... whenever she had gotten here.
Just let me know when you'd like me to go, who I'm going with.. that sort of thing.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 07, 2018
What Ceara pulled up and showed to her wasn't yarrow, and the medic shook her head. It looked like just a small white daisy, but it was okay. Flowers were one of those things that were hard to identify by description alone, because thousands of plants had "bright white flowers", as Raven had said. They continued to walk, and the alpha was pleased at Ceara's willingness to act as a messenger to Roz's pack. "It'll probably be in the next day or so," she explained. "I'm treating a friend of my sister's who was injured by a bobcat. She's too hurt to return home and she needs a message carried to her pack. I'll howl for you when I confirm the details with her. It's up to you who goes with you, though. You're welcome to travel alone if you want, but for safety's sake, I'd prefer if you had a partner."
As they neared the thicket, she spied the telltale snow-white bunches characteristic of yarrow flowers and said with a smile, "There we go!" Pointing them out to Ceara, they approached and Raven explained further, "Everything from the blossom down to the root is useful. I like to grab hold of them as close to the ground as possible when I pull them up. Makes it easier to get some of the root along with it." And she did so, demonstrating her technique to Ceara in the process. A thin clump soon hung in her teeth, complete with a few hairy, dirt-flecked tendrils of root at the ends.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Fire - June 09, 2018
She was kind of disappointed that she had screwed up, but at least Raven seemed like she was a good sport about it. She blushed and tossed aside the daisies, listening to Raven as they walked.
Yeah, I think three's the best number. Not too many it pulls resources from the pack but if someone gets hurt, one wolf can stay behind with the injured while another looks for help.She didn't know if she could even get two others to want to go with her but.. eh! Whatever! She'd travel alone if she had to.
Raven found the yarrow because Ceara was pretty much fucking useless. It was even pretty difficult for her to be gentle enough with the plants to not render them completely unusable, but when she concentrated she was able to do it.
Thank you for showing me all this.
RE: sky fire above, ice below the hearth - Raven - June 13, 2018
Raven grinned and nodded in approval at Ceara's words, uncertain if the Blackthorn would actually be able to find two wolves to accompany her on her trip but totally in favor of whatever she felt was best. This was a great opportunity for her to prove herself to the pack, and Raven was glad that she was so willing to do it. Their attention then returned to the yarrow, where Ceara proved herself to be an apt and attentive student. The healer appreciated the extra help gathering plants for her stores, and now that Ceara knew what to look for and how to harvest it, hopefully she'd have an extra set of helping hands with all the injuries she'd been treating lately.
The epsilon thanked her for the lesson, and Raven wagged her tail happily. "You're welcome," she answered as she dropped another sprig of white flowers onto the small pile they'd collected. "I'm always happy to teach, anytime." As they continued to work, Raven continued to explain the various applications of the different parts of the plant, how to use it, where it grew, and when it was easiest to find. It was a very productive and enjoyable afternoon, and later on, the medic would return home with a hefty new addition to her medicine stash.