Bayleaf~Skyclan Warrior
Bayleaf sat in the pile of honeycomb in absolute shock. His lemon-green eyes could barely open due to the swelling around his face and honey dripping in his eyes. He knew he could be clumsy and even downright reckless, but this was new for him. The tom cringed at the feeling of his paws crumbling the beehive. The mess he had made was partly on him and partly on the grass below him. "They're never going to let me live this down..." Bayleaf whined under his breath.
All he wanted was a treat! He thought he had been watching the hive close enough to guess it was abandoned. Bayleaf had an incredible plan and he was so sure it was actually going to work. He had thought through every detail... or at least that's what he had thought. Bayleaf climbed the tree and made his stance on what he thought was a stable branch. Just as he was reaching to gently smack the hive, the branch below Bayleaf had snapped. Out of pure shock and/or fear he latched onto the hive. Just like the broken branch, the beehive could not support his weight. Bayleaf could only remember hitting the ground with a painful thud and hearing a rather loud buzzing.
As the poor male dragged himself towards the medicine cat den, he realized the buzzing had been a few bees. Some bees must have stayed behind to protect the hive and Bayleaf must have missed them. He was glad it was later into the day. He scanned the clearing and thanked Starclan that no one seemed to be in sight. Bayleaf moved as quickly as he could but his face was incredibly swollen and made it difficult to see where he was going. He kept his head down and followed the scent of herbs to the safe haven of the medicine cat den. It was a relief to finally stumble into the den. He quickly scanned his surroundings.
"Hello? I know it's kinda late... But I have an emergency!" Bayleaf called out nervously. "It's Bayleaf." He did his very best to keep his voice clear, but his lips were swollen and caused his words to slur. The tomcat fidgetted in place as he hopefully waited for a response from the medicine cat.
Bayleaf~Skyclan Warrior
It was difficult for the tomcat to see clearly, but he wasn't one to easily give up. Bayleaf narrowed his eyes and stared closely at the medicine cat. He mentally wanted to slap himself for staring so intensely but if anyone would understand it would be Speckledmoss herself. The scar was not in a noticeable place and Bayleaf knows he would never have seen it if she didn't point it out. A warm feeling flooded his chest at her story. It made him feel less like an idiot and more normal. If the medicine cat could have silly and embarrassing moments, then why couldn't simple Bayleaf have those moments as well?
"I see it!" Bayleaf chirped, proud he could see with how swollen his face was. "That actually makes me feel a lot better. You should have seen me trying to sneak here! I don't know what I would have done if anyone else had seen me." He chuckled nervously. He shifted on his paws and took a much more comfortable position on the medicine den floor.
"Seeing as you told a silly story... I'll tell you what happened. I can promise you mine is much more problematic." He licked the honey that was stuck to his lips and looked towards Speckledmoss. "I've had my eyes on the hive for a couple of days. Yesterday, the bees left and I thought that was it. So I decided today was the day I was gonna go for it before anyone else had the same idea!" Bayleaf his nose wrinkled at his stupidity before sending her a lop-sided smile.
"As you can see, I was completely wrong. I climbed up the tree and used a branch to support my weight. And it did! Until it didn't... It must have snapped under my weight and out of pure panic I grabbed onto the hive instead. I'm shocked I'm not in pain from how hard I hit the ground, but so far I'm fine!" Bayleaf had a terrible habit of rambling and he was doing it now. "I may have blacked out for a minute because all I remember is buzzing." He laughed at himself before his ears flattened against his skull.
"Oh wow, I am so sorry about all that. I really have a problem with talking too much." The male gulped. "What I meant is; I really appreciate what you've said and done."
"Never you mind, I don't need to know what happened, just do try and be more cautious around beehives the next time around. You can never really tell if they're actually abandoned, it's best to steer clear of them, unless you know the safe method of drawing them out, before you scoop yourself a pawful of honey." Speckledmoss replied, a rumbling purr of amusement flooding her chest, as she scooped up some more stinging nettle seeds and two more poppyseeds into a leaf, before rolling it up, and putting a few strands of old grass around it to keep it closed up tightly. "I would recommend you stay for at least a few motions of the sun, so I can monitor you, your swelling could worsen, and your throat could close up- that wouldn't do at all if you weren't around so I could assist you.
I suggest you stay until the sun is at the highest point in the sky today, then you may take your leave, and take this leaf wrap with you.
Take a few stinging nettle seeds for the next few days, and the poppyseeds only when the pain is unbearable and then come see me again for an assessment, and I'll let you know if you're back to health." The Medicine Cat gave him a reassuring smile, "It's quite alright, Bayleaf, none of us are perfect. We all do silly things from time to time, take myself for example, I ended up stuck in a rose bush while trying to catch some herbs that blew away on the breeze a moon ago. I still have a scar right on my chin and some under my paws," She lifted her head to show off the tiny nick under her chin and then lifted her left paw to present the tiny scarring on her light pink paw pad, "you're not the only one that ends up in silly situations." A twinkle of amusement shined in her eyes, alongside a soft understanding.
Bayleaf~Skycaln Warrior
He cringed at her gasp. He knew it was bad, he could feel the throbbing pain of dozen of stings and the swelling was enough to know he had a bad reaction. But hearing her verbal reaction seemed to be worse for the poor tomcat. Luckily, Bayleaf was still able to breathe through his nose and therefore let out a hefty sigh through it. He wanted to send Speckledmoss an apologetic smile, but his smile ended up looking deformed. Bayleaf used his tail to dust the floor quickly before plopping down.
"Thank you so much, Speckledmoss," Bayleaf mumbled quietly. He was incredibly embarrassed for his action and forever grateful for the medicine cat before him. "I hope you don't need the story." He laughed. He watched as she searched for herbs, curious as to what would actually help with his problem.
His ears twitched at the odd flavors that swirled on his tongue. Bayleaf was not about to disobey Speckled. His canines gently chewed the poppyseed and nettle seeds. If he had been able to do so he would have turned his nose up at the taste, but the movement in his face was very limited. Once he determined the herbs were chewed thoroughly enough Bayleaf carefully gulped down the ingredients. He sighed in relief knowing he wasn't about to choke. His attention turned back to the feline before him.
"Should I stay here till the swelling goes down? I am so sorry for any problems I have caused." Bayleaf sheepishly spoke, his tail wrapped firmly around his paws. "I know this was very silly of me to do in the first place."
"Ah, Bayleaf! I'll be right there with you in a second!" Speckledmoss swiftly deposited the last of the catmint she had managed to find, still somehow miraculously growing through the specks of snow earlier this morning- into her herb stock.
She turned tail and padded up towards the entrance of the den, Bayleaf's form coming into view, "Dear Bayleaf whatever seems to be the matt- OHHHH!" Her sweet tone of voice morphed into a sharp squeak of surprise when she saw that Bayleaf's face was swollen up far sizes too large for his poor body to support.
The poor Tom looked as though he'd land flat on his face and be helpless to move from the spot he occupied, at any moment. She didn't even need to be told what happened to put it together, she could smell the aroma of honey wafting off of him. Oh, Toms and their sweet fangs, she swore that one of these days a Tom would meet an unfortunate end trying to satisfy their fangs.
"Oh Dear, this is quite the emergency, hold still and I'll be right back." With urgency she shuffled herself back towards her herb stock and began sifting through it on the hunt for stinging nettle seeds and a poppy seed.
She promptly returned to the Tom, "Alright, open up your maw as much as you can and chew these. This is stinging nettle seeds; they'll reduce swelling from the bee stings and the poppy seed will reduce pain." Once Bayleaf's mouth opened up enough, she lightly shoved the seeds in with her paw.
"Chew slowly, don't rush, choking is the last thing either of us need to be dealing with now." She instructed gently.