Disease

[Blazepelt]

"Hello, Autumnstar?" Blizzardsnow called out a greeting. He hoped she was there. He looked behind him to make sure no one went near the dead rabbit that he had left a a tail-length or two behind him. He made a mental note to remember to clean of his paws later, they felt dirty from just touching the rabbit, and he had to force himself not to try and clean them. If that rabbit did die from a disease, he didn't want to catch it.

[*Nimbles*]

"Yes?" Autumnstar said and looked at Blizzardsnow. She was curled up in her nest, only just coming back from the morning patrol. Her green eyes glinted before her nose wrinkled wih disgust. "You're sick?" she asked quietly?

[Blazepelt]

"No, but Bluepaw found a dead rabbit that I'm almost positive has a disease, and if it does, who knows what other prey may have it. If a cat eats a piece of prey that had it, they could get really sick, there's even the possibility of death. The rabbit's right beind me if you want to take a look at it." Blizzardsnow tried talk he could, but not so fast the Autumnstar couldn't understand him.

[*Nimbles*]

Autumnstar moved forward and smet the piece of prey. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It's ShadowClan sickness," she growled. The disease had been around long before her time, and before it was like Greencough, uncureable, but now there was a cure. "Will you go and get Rivermist?" sheasked quickly. If prey was infecgted, they had to try and break the chain and use the cure to help, but what if the cure was forgotten?

[Blazepelt]

Blizzardsnow nodded his head. "As you wish." He turned around and started to run across camp. They couldn't spare a moment if the Shadowclan illness was spreading fast.

[Windfleet]

[[sorreh for making you wait.]]

Rivermist entered Autumnstar's den, locking eyes with her leader for a brief moment. "Blizzardsnow tell me that there is an illness." The clear gold eyes stared at Autumnstar for a moment, seeming to look straight through the proud leader. She remained like this for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and gave Autumnstar a hard stare. Abruptly breaking the moment and eye contact with her leader, she moved towards the rabbit, movements graceful and fluid-like. She dropped to the ground beside the limp figure, gently pushing it with her nose so that it would roll over so its belly was exposed. While the scent of sickness was so strong that even a kit could tell something was wrong, Rivermist had to make completely sure that this rabbit was, in fact, brought down with the Illness rather than something else - twoleg poisioning, for one. A single sharp claw shot out and she raked it down the rabbit's belly, cutting it open and revealing the innards. "Something I learned from Winter," she briefly explained, not glancing up. This was a technique that she had, indeed, learned from the RiverClan medicine cat, who had once been a loner. If the scent was not enough to confirm the fact that it was a rare illness, the insides would. Though this would never be done to a cat, prey was acceptable - as long as it was already dead. If truly sick, the insides would be writhing with maggots and the smell would be a sour, sharp scent. It would then be up to the medicine cat to figure out the disease - which shouldn't be hard. She sniffed the rabbit, then recoiled as a maggot writhed out onto the sandy ground. The scent of sickness was stronger now, and indeed it was a sharp, sour smell - something not preferable to have in ones den. Rivermist's eyes were clear with cold finality as she spoke her next words. "It is the ShadowClan sickness," she confirmed. Getting up, she grasped some of the moss that made up Autumnstar's bedding, then pushed the rabbit onto it with her paws. She pushed the maggot onto the bedding as well, then stood back and addressed Blizzardsnow. "Get this thing out of here," she told him. "Just grab the moss and pull. Bury it far away from camp. Have another warrior assist you. Then, wait for me in the center of camp. I need you to show me where you found this prey." Once Blizzardsnow had gone, Rivermist turned to look directly at Autumnstar. "I need to speak with you alone," she mewed.

[[How many lives does Autumnstar have left? Preferably less than 9... but your descision.]]

[fleabittengray]

Bluepaw, who had been sitting outside the den, stood to his paws as he heard pawsteps. HE had found the rabbit! Shouldn't he help too? He barged into the den and asked, "Can I help with hanything?" HE lifted his head, trying to look as strong and helpfull as Blizzardsnow. SInce he had no mentor yet, he wanted to hang around the other warriors and learn form all of them! "Do you want me and Graytail to go find Firestone?" HE meowed in a squeaky voice. HIs head was up to high that it was alomost upside down! He looked up at Autumstar and RIvermist. He was prud that he remembered the ShadowCLan medicine cat's name!

[Blazepelt]

Blizzardsnow couldn't help but chuckle as Bluepaw tried to make himself seem bigger and stronger. "How about you help me properly dispose of this thing. We wouldn't want more prey to get sick, and eventaully have the whole clan fall ill." He started to bat the rabbit out of the den. He grimaced at the throught that the stench was probably going to be stuck in his fur for a moon at least.

[fleabittengray]

Bluepaw grinned. "Thanks Blizzardsnow!" he hopped towards the rabbit, harly brething in from the stink. HE knew not to put his mouth on it, so like BLizzardsnow he batted at it with his paws. It barely moved, but atleast he was helping!

srry! comp froze! cant post longs ones after it does that!

[Blazepelt]

Blizzardsnow smiled at Bluepaw's eagerness to help the clan. He continued batting the poor excuse for a rabbit untill they were a good distance away from the camp. "Here, help me dig. We need to bury it down deep so nothing digs it back up and eats it." Blizzardsnow set to work digging down into the dirt.

[fleabittengray]

Bluepaw dug quckly into the ground, holding his breath so as not to breath in the reak of crowfood. "Hey Blizzardsnow," he questioned, "Do y athink we should go get Firestone? Maybe he would know what to do!" Bluepaw almost licke d his paw, then stopped. What ahorrible mistake that would have been! "We better wash are paws before we go back to camp!" he added.

[Blazepelt]

"We had better ask Autumnstar before going over to Shadowclan and asking Firestone about it." Blizzardsnow knocked the rabbit into the hole and covered it with the dirt they had removed from the ground. "No matter how hard we try, we aren't gonna be able to get the smell off our paws. Our denmates aren't gonna be happy." He laughed

[fleabittengray]

Blue[aw grimiced. "Ugg! I won't be able to clean my paws for the n ext moon!" he joked. A grin slowl formed on his face. He helped cover the rest of the rabbit and sniffed loudly. The scent was still heavy in the air. "We should warn the elders and kits about the rabbit! The diseas could be in the air!" he quickly told. He lookeda round.

ooc:dont forget to post in unecpected meeting!

[*Nimbles*]

OoC||
She has seven lives left and i'm sorry that you too had to wait for my reply.

Autumnstar nodded at Rivermist and said quietly, "Go on." She twitched her speckled tail and sat down, her paws shifting side-to-side like an impatient kit. She didn't like to be in the company of a medicine cat for too long. She respected them greatly and was in awe of them, but she felt uncomfortable and small. She gave Rivermist a curt nod, wishing her to go on. "You do know the cure for the ShadowClan sickness, don't you?" she said softly. Autumnstar raised her emerald eyes and watched Rivermist with mingled curiousity, it was strange that they lead such different lives when their roles in the clan were huge. She smiled to herself for a second before she caught herself and sat down once more.

[Windfleet]

Rivermist's brow creased in anxiety. "I do," she answered in response to her leader's question. "But if I have your permission, I would like to speak to the other medicine cats. The illness has not struck in a while, and the remedy may be hard to dredge up from our memories." She fell silent, thinking. It was true that the illness had not been seen for a while, but she was fairly sure that if the medicine cats put they're heads together they would be able to come up with something. Firestone would be the one to know... after all, he was the medicine cat of the Clan that had suffered the most from the illness in the past. "I would like to go to ShadowClan, RiverClan, and WindClan," she requested of her leader. "Alone."
It was not pride or vanity that asked her to be able to go alone, though some would take it for that. It was more the fact that she wished to be inconspicious. The less cats got upset, the better.
"Because it has been seen in our territories," she continued, "Alert our Clan. I will alert the rest of the medicine cats as well, but as long as they do not have any signs of the sickness, they should be fine."
Standing, Rivermist met her leaders gaze, eyes burning into hers. "Autumnstar. You must be careful. You only have seven lives left, and there is hardly any prey from this frozen leaf-bare. The illness, if it strikes now, while greencough and whitecough are still able to spread, could wipe out even the healthiest of leaders. I will try my best, but if you die, ThunderClan..." she trailed off, unwilling or unsure of how to continue. "ThunderClan needs their leader."