[ti]Private[/ti]Hit The Ground Running For My Life

[GnawingOnIce]

Meteorfall woke up from her living nightmare and winced, feeling all the cuts and claw marks stinging and bleeding. She tried to not breathe too hard as she stood up, her legs shaky. She really didn't want to wake anyone up. Maybe she could get out of camp to clean her wounds a little before everyone was awake and without getting caught. She limped out of the den, feeling blood trickle down her sides and down her face a little. Maybe she wouldn't leave any blood tracks, she highly doubted it though. Oh, and luck didn't seem to be on her side tonight.

[M'Lady]

Over the past few moons, Tansysong had become a light sleeper. She didn't mean to, but whenever Finch would turn or move in his sleep, she wanted to know about it. She knew that those dreams were stressful, that they were like nightmares. She couldn't bear to watch her brother go through it, she couldn't believe he didn't see that damned place for what it was.

So when Meteorfall stirred and limped out of the den, she passed right by Tansy, and the warrior wasn't so new that she didn't recognize the scent of blood.

The dark tabby's eyes flickered open, and she watched silently as her denmate made it out into the clearing. She didn't waste a moment in going after her, her steps quiet and carefully determined to pick her way around her clanmates without disturbing anyone else. In the little light that filtered through the water that cascaded down in front of the grotto, she witnessed the full extent of Meteorfall's wounds. Without hesitation, she came up by the she cat's side, pressing her pelt against her own in an offering to help her make her way out of the camp so they could attend to this in silence, it seemed to be where the other was going anyway.

"S'it her that did this?" The warrior asked softly, as she directed Meteor towards the entrance of camp, her eyes kept straight ahead.

[GnawingOnIce]

Meteorfall nearly jumped out of her fur when she felt another pelt press against hers, turns out it was only Tansysong, Finchtongue's sister. It made her wounds sting, but she was grateful for the help. "S'it her that did this?" Meteorfall looked surprised and glanced at Tansysong, hesitating. "Yes.. I tried, I tried to teach her a lesson, to get her away from Finch, but I couldn't, I couldn't." She choked out, truly saddened that she didn't help Finch. After a moment of silence, she asked, "How do you know about her?" as they slipped out from behind the waterfall, a cool breeze ruffling her fur and making her injuries sting more.

[M'Lady]

She only nodded her head at the other warrior's words, as they continued to head out of camp. It was only when they passed the waterfall that Tansysong responded to Meteorfall's query.

"Same s'you. Finch." She sighed at this, her poor naive brother. So Meteor was stuck going there too. Spottedheart had told her, once they got their claws into you they could keep dragging you back when you were asleep, there was no escape. Tansy was lucky that she was as intuitive as she was. "But I saw 'er for what she was." She then added, a bit of bitterness in her tone. Perhaps if her brother's friend hadn't also gotten into it, she could've convinced him that Sweetoak was bad news. "Is she still tellin' y'both that 'er name is Rosespark?" The she-cat grumbled, clearly done with the whole affair. She was just glad that she had some Dark Forest cats on her side of things, or at least, they found her interesting enough to not allow Sweetoak to kill her.

They moved away from the camp, and Tansy thought back to the little emergency herb training given to all apprentices by Silverfang. Every warrior knew that dock was good for scratches and sore pads, but beyond that, they'd have to come up with an excuse to their medicine cat. "C'mon, I think I smelled s'dock around 'ere th'other day."

[GnawingOnIce]

Meteorfall listened as Tansysong talked about Rosespark. "Is she still tellin' y'both that 'er name is Rosespark?" "Er, yes. Is that not her name? I didn't think it was." Meteor followed Tansy, saying that she thought she smelled dock in this area. Huh, Tansy must've really caught on to how Silverfang did things. "Okay. Thank you for helping me, I owe you." Meteor was starting to get a bit tired. She panted and sat down, grateful to stop.

[M'Lady]

She nodded slightly as Meteorfall sat down. Tansysong went a bit ahead, sniffing around what snow there was left, and soon returned to the other warrior with a mouthful of dock leaves, all that she could find among this frost. Chewing them, she thought of what else she could say to Meteor, could she convince her at this point to join her side? If she was this injured, Tansy might have a chance at persuading her. She began licking the juice from the dock onto her scratches and wounds, scrunching her nose up at the taste of blood. She then gestured for Meteorfall to do so as well, with what places she could reach.

"'er real name's Sweetoak," She began softly, fern green eyes flickering towards the ground. "I onl' met 'er the one time, but I could tell she wasn' a good cat," The warrior sighed, absentmindedly flicking a stray dock leaf with a claw back towards the small pile she'd made. "I didn' see 'er again, but I keep walkin' that Forest ever' night, talkin' ta cats, gettin' some ov them on m'side." Tansy glanced back up at Meteor, trying to gauge her reaction, but for once wasn't able to focus on analyzing the cat before her. "If I can' stop Finch from goin' there, I can at least make sure she doesn' kill him. That's what she does, kill cats."

[GnawingOnIce]

Meteorfall's wounds started to sting less as Tansysong put the dock she had found on them. Tansy started telling her about Rosespark, who's real name was Sweetoak. "Wait, wait, wait, you still go and get the others there on your side?? How, though? Aren't they all mean?" Meteor asked, disregarding whatever else Tansy had said. Needless to say, she was concerned for Tansy's safety. She was Finch's sister, Meteor couldn't let anything bad happen to her.

[M'Lady]

She scowled, as Meteor only focused on part of what she said. Rolling her eyes, Tansysong continued to elaborate. "It'sa numbers game," She hummed, pausing to chew another dock leaf and apply it to some hard to reach scratches on her clanmate's back. "Some'r there because they made'a mistake, spend eternity regrettin' it," The she cat continued, frowning as she thought of Tanglefur, the tom with shadows spilling from his jaw. "They can' manipulate me, Sweetoak tried and failed and she's th'worst of them all. Some find m'interesting, I dunno why." Her fern green gaze fell, staring at the ground underneath her paws.

"I don' know what else ta do, Meteor. M'worried abou' Finch, he's in trouble, an' he won' believe me," Her brows furrowed, and a hiss escaped from between her teeth. "Why would 'e? He'd rather trust th'cat that tells him 'e can be glorious one day, and th'she-cat that didn' abandon 'im when 'e brought her ta meet th'friend." She looked up at Meteorfall once again, a bit of frustration in her eyes, a bit of an accusatory glare. But it faded, as soon as it came. "... It takes somethin' like this ta open yer eyes," She grumbled, digging her claws into the soft earth beneath her paws. "And yer all concerned abou' how m'trying ta save his tail?"