(Don't) Help Me (P)

[Natalia]

Dove

Natalia dragged her paws along.

She cursed herself for being so careless. Deep claw marks decorated her pelt, the blood darkening her already red pelt. Stupid fox. She'd been dragging some prey back to her den to have a nice quiet meal, when she'd attracted a fox with her prey. It had been a messy catch and was bleeding, leaving a trail. She should've just eaten the meat right then and there and high-tailed it out of there. As it stood, she had both lost her prey and her blood.

She took another weak step and leaned against a tree, as she crumpled to the ground and curled up, laying down, in a small pool of her own blood. 

She didn't think the wounds were serious... She wasn't dead right now, and it wasn't like they could get worse, right?

[Dove]

Dove was patrolling the outskirts of the territory today. It was something that she was to do for a while, but she would always rather find herself doing other things instead. A bark was released, and the tabby fell to the ground. 'Fox? What would one be doing here? And one so close to Deathclan?' She remembered her encounters with the creatures before and quickened her pace into a trot in the direction of where she heard the voice.

Then she found blood tracks. The tabby cautiously approached, sniffing it. Definitely fox. With cat? Dove hissed and focused on following the path, getting deeper into the forest. By now, the smell of fox was getting weak, but the smell of blood still strong. Stronger by the moment. 'Please, please still be alive whoever you are,' she hoped. She was supposed to protect her rogue clan, and neglected to by not patrolling earlier.

There she saw her. Natalia in a pool of her own blood. "Hey, you!" She called out, still keeping an eye out for her surroundings. Who knew who else would be out here? "Let me help you, okay?"

[Natalia]

Natalia weakly lifted her head to see... Dove?!

She gritted her teeth. "I... I don't need... Your help..." She managed to get out, as she used the tree to prop herself up, so she lean against it in a standing position.

Why was Dove here? No wait. That was obvious. She smelled that a fox had been here in Deathclan territory. That sort of thing warranted the leader's concern, didn't it? The silvery tabby must've seen blood tracks and followed them to Natalia. She probably wanted to let her die off. One less nuisance to be forced to take care of. She wasn't ready to die yet though... At least that's what she was telling herself right now, as she continually tried to stand up on her paws, but kept being forced to lean back against the tree.

[Dove]

Well, that was not what she expected to hear. The tabby hissed and almost dug her teeth into the weakened female's neck, but decided not to. She didn't need to have Natalia submit to her yet - not when she was still in such a vulnerable state.

The tabby saw that Natalia was struggling, and against the fire tabby's will, Dove reached out, supporting Natalia's weight, offering to walk back to the leader's tree with her. "Just. . . let me try to help. . . please. . ."

[Natalia]

Natalia couldn't do anything to stop Dove.

She tensed as the silvery tabby forced Natalia to rely on her, at least a little bit, practically begging for her to accept help. She closed her eyes tightly. She hated this. 

"You're the leader." She meowed reluctantly. It was true. Her word was the law. No point in going against it. She figured Dove thought she was still useful and didn't want to lose an asset. There was no possible way Dove would lower herself to care about her.

[Dove]

Dove nodded, half leading the way back to her den, half supporting Natalia. They weren't that far, but the leader still kept an eye out for any stray signs of fox. Sure, Dove would be able to fend the two, but she didn't know if her clanmate would even be able to make it out of the fight if it were to happen. 'Come on Dove, you have to believe that nothing's going to happen. . .'


As they were walking, the tabby tried to recall her herb training with the infamous Brokenclan, where she trained as a medicine cat apprentice. Back when she was a clan cat. . . What was it? Something green. 'Chervil!!' She almost forgot that she had Natalia leaning on her. 'I'll drop her off and then go hunt for chervil!'

"We're almost here, Natalia," she kept mentioning, letting her clanmate know that she was still here. You're going to clean yourself up and I'll be back with some herbs to try to help you get better, okay?"

[Natalia]

Natalia leaned against Dove, dragged her paws as her leader led the way.

She closed her eyes and let Dove take her wherever. She was weak right now and Dove was the leader. It was... Fine. It would be fine. Since Dove decided Natalia had some value, she would probably make it out of this alive. Then things would be exactly the same. Her, being generally alone and not talking much to anyone. Aside from the occasional unplanned encounter.

Dove kept muttering their progress... Which seemed to be continually almost. Murmuring about how the silver tabby would get some herbs while Natalia cleaned herself. "Stop... Lying. What good is a bunch of plants...?" She mumbled.

[Dove]

'What good is a bunch of plants?'

This enraged the silver tabby. Dove completely dropped her support of helping Natalia and took a few steps back. How dare the firey she-cat say that. She flattened her ears and spat at her clanmate. "The herbs would have helped you if you're not that stubborn!" With this, she then re-approached Natalia and once more helped her up. "Fine, we'll do it your way, grouch. Where to?"

[Natalia]

This was completely expected.

Natalia was dropped and she stumbled a bit before slumping to the ground. Then came the anger. Dove even spat at her. So it would appear the current leader of Deathclan wasn't so stupid after all. She supposed there was hope for everyone.

When Dove moved back to help her back up, she shied away from the contact. "Doesn't matter. Wounds are..." She hissed softly. "They're not that bad. Just leave me alone...."