nothing so soothing as /blood/

[Ten]

ooc| "she had dismembered the poor right" -- rat?
Since you don't like getting messages and I'm too lazy to write one.

bic|

Frozenheart met Speckledclaw's gaze, blue eyes dark with disgust, not so much with Rainstripe and the carnage at his own failings in foresight. How could he not have predicted this? Take a cat struggling with violent thoughts, throw her into a fray of bloodshed, and expect it to help? He felt like the stupidest oaf to walk within the walls, even though he hadn't known the extent of Rainstripe's mental conflict. He released a bitter sigh, knowing regret wouldn't get them anywhere, and picked a chunk from the maimed rat. With meat in his teeth, he gave Speckledclaw a glance and a nod to the plunder to let her know she could help herself. He was heading for the wall.

The white tom dropped the tender flesh a tail-length from Rainstripe's paws. Removed from its source, away from the torn limbs and glazed eyeballs, the meat looked much less like gore and more like ordinary food. He began to lick the blood off, having no understanding of sanitation, and recalled how his mother used to do this for him in the early stages of weaning. He had at first shied away from eating straight from a rat's carcass, too fearful of the danger the rat posed in life and ignorant of the permanence of death. The differentiation between warm sustenance and living beast had helped him accept rats as a food source. He knew his efforts couldn't fix everything, but he was willing to do anything that might help.

All these thoughts and memories passed through his head in the instant he lowered his head to drop the meat, and when he looked up and saw Rainstripe's wounds, his eyes widened. If infection didn't get her, blood loss would -- unless they did something to lessen it. He gave her a soft purr and a brush of the whiskers to let her know he was coming back, then sprinted away. Even though he had just participated in a hunt, the tabby's condition gave him a new urgency. He knew how to find sizable spiderwebs. With a clump of them on his paw, he hurried back and tried to apply them to the wounds, but he was no medicine cat of old. He only knew how to do this from watching others, and he'd only done it once himself. Yet still, it had to help. Somehow. Masking panic, he gave her a stern glare as a warning: she'd better keep herself breathing and out of the boneyard.

Frozenheart then raised his head to see if Speckledclaw was still around. His paws were clumsy and inexperienced in this line of work. Despite her gruff persona, he had it in his head that a female touch would be of further aid in bandaging the bite and claw marks.

[Darky [Megan]]

ooc
Frozenheart to the rescue! x)
Ugh - upon rereading I can see that my previous posts were atrocious. >.>

bic
Speckledclaw watched in silence as Frozenheart leapt into action and frowned at the fact that she had not taken the initiative to do so herself. Standing here was not going to improve matters. She was already halfway towards them when Frozenheart looked up, and after spending a few seconds examining the wounds Rainstripe had sustained, took the spiderwebs from Frozenheart and set to work.

In her opinion, you weren't a proper warrior unless you knew how to take care of yourself. The many scars littering her pelt had thought her a lot throughout her life. Speckledclaw set to work.

[duckyaisha]

Ooc: Much better. Thank you Ten, I'll fix it.

Bic: Rainstripe pulled herself up from her spot near the wall, blinking her eyes as if having just woken up. The Other was the first one to notice Frozenheart there; to Rainstripe's horror it began assessing her chance against him in battle. / I am never go to fight Frozenheart!/ she snapped at it. /So you can stop that now./ Normally she was worried that it would take over and completely ignore what she wanted to do, but she would never allow herself to attack Frozenheart. /But that's what you thought about the rat,/ she thought doubtfully. But the Other was satisfied with its rat mutilation and did not make her fight anyone. It could tell she was injured, and settled in its corner, waiting for the next opportunity to strike.

Frozenheart dropped a piece of rat meat in front of her. It was a kind gesture, but she pushed it away. Seeing it reminded her of what she had done despite the fact that it was no longer attached to the rat, and her stomach was still unsettled. She was glad, however, when he left to get spiderwebs for the wounds which were only just starting to ache.

It was Speckledclaw that actually applied the cobwebs, and Rainstripe felt as though her mother had come back form the grave. This sent a fresh wave of sadness through her. Would her mother ever forgive her for what she'd done? It seemed that Speckledclaw and Frozenheart did, and besides, her mother was nowhere near here anyway. She lay absolutely still so Speckledclaw could have an easier time with it. The Other was uncomfortable with another cat so close, Frozenheart was one thing, but she still didn't know Speckledclaw very well, and the Other wanted to attack her, or at least hiss.

Rainstripe did neither of those things. When Speckledclaw had finished applying the cobwebs, she sat up, the pain from her wounds hindering her movement, and said, "Thank you." She wanted to give a more heartfelt expression of thanks, like giving Speckledclaw some of the rat, but just looking at the thing was a bad idea right now. She was hungry, but there was no way she was going to eat that.

[Ten]

ooc| Were they, Darky? I don't remember anything bad about them.

bic|

Frozenheart frowned at the she-cat's refusal to eat. Rat hunts used up a large supply of energy and nutrient reserves. In order for Rainstripe's body to rebuild her flesh, it would need flesh to build with. He pushed the meat back towards her. She could close her eyes if she wanted to, but she needed to eat.

He knew, however, that no one could feel comfortable eating with him watching, so he settled on the ground beside her, gazing out across the enclosure and making up his mind not to leave her side for a good while. There were cats out there who would see Rainstripe's portion as easy pickings. As the thought occurred to him, he realized he had left the rest of the rat unguarded, and swiveled his head to look back at the carcass.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe looked down at the meat, knowing that Frozenheart was trying to do what was best for her, but she couldn't bring it close to her face without feeling sick at the memory of what she had done. Blood still stained her claws and leaked from the freshly killed meat in front of her. Blood made the pile of meat seem more like a living creature, one that she had destroyed. But Frozenheart had done so much for her; she could do this for him. Shakily, she bent her head to the rat meat and closed her eyes, swallowing immediately so she couldn't taste it. Small bites were essential unless she wanted to choke, and it took her much longer than usual to eat even half the meat. At that point, she pushed the rest firmly towards Frozenheart. Eating any more would make her feel sick.