friends in low places | priv for vanillatuft + tansypaw

VANILLATUFT ♡
windclan - medicine cat - female - 22 moons - tags

― a large leaf was folded in her jaws, filled with different herbs from poppy seeds to blackberries to comfrey root. the white furred molly padded quietly along, her eyes flickering around as she walked to see if there were any other herbs nearby that she would be able to fit in the leaf. she thought the leaf was getting pretty full though, so she may want to stop - but she wouldn't. she would push the leaf to the limit with how many things it could carry.

the deaf meddie had walked out past windclan territory, and had found herself at fourtrees, the gathering spot. there wasn't an issue being here; the site was open to anyone and sometimes she was able to find some good herbs growing in unexpected places! she had found a ton of chamomile last time she was here, so she was hoping she would find something of the sort again. her sapphire eyes glanced around for any herbs or anything out of the ordinary, gripping the leaf tightly in her maw so she wouldn't drop everything she was carrying. she flicked an ear, going to move forward when she stopped dead in her tracks with one paw still in the air. she froze like a deer. she swore she felt a vibration on the ground. was someone else here? she probably should've left camp with someone. nobody would hurt a medic though, right? she wasn't trespassing or anything, she was simply at fourtrees. slowly, she put her paw back on the ground, the short femme swiveling her head cautiously to see if she could find anyone since she wouldn't be able to hear them, merely feel their movement.

[sorry for short post, wasn't sure how to start it! i didn't;t realize they lived on opposite sides so i went with fourtrees as a meeting spot]

"speech."

VANILLATUFT ♡
windclan - medicine cat - female - 22 moons - tags

― vanillatuft had swiveled her head side to side a few times to check the clearing before she finally figured out that the paw step vibrations were coming from her right, and she could focus on that side. and surely enough, a small tortoiseshell molly was stepping out with her tail high, bounding towards her. why was she so eager to approach? she didn't recognize this cat - perhaps it was from another clan or a loner. but still, if it was from another clan, why was it so friendly? definitely an apprentice. she flicked an ear as the molly approached. she felt cautious, just because she didn't know her, but the molly wasn't much bigger than vanillatuft was. given, vanillatuft was a smaller molly and the size of an old apprentice, but still.

she could read the lips as she approached that the molly was greeting her, and she responded with a dip of her head; but immediately she knew that this apprentice or loner did not know who she was. well, she was from a different clan, so it wasn't expected; but most clan cats knew of the high positions of the other clans at least, and vanillatuft liked to think she was pretty well-known since she was one of the first deaf cats who had lived past kithood within the clans. maybe she was just full of herself, though. but this apprentice - or loner - was awfully chatty, which gave the impression she had no clue vanillatuft was deaf.

as the molly got close enough that she was now standing still to talk to the medic, she could smell the dastardly scent of shadowclan. vanillatuft personally did not like the smell of shadowclan, which is how she was able to recognize them so quickly.

the tortoiseshell across from her was babbling, she could tell. at a very high rate. it was overwhelming for vanillatuft, because she was having trouble keeping up with what she was saying. mostly because the molly was stumbling over her words too which made it harder for her to lipread. oh, man. she really regretted not bringing an interpreter with her, a clanmate, to stick up for her and point out vanillatuft was deaf so stop bothering her.

hunting patrol. left behind. warrior. tansy. defend herself. way home. there were so many different things spewing out of this person's mouth. she honestly wasn't sure what her name even was. she saw her say tansy, but..she felt like she had misread because she swore she said tansyfluff. that had to have been a mistake on vanillatuft's end though.

she breathed in a long sigh, before pointing her tail in the direction where tansypaw would have to go, and then taking out a paw and unsheathing a singular claw to point. she pushed her paw forward, signaling straight, and then swerved it to the left, go left, and then lifted it, should be a big rock, and flipped her paw upside down clearing. she gave her a nod to let her know that the clearing would be her camp and that was the end of her directions.

oh. thats right. she was from another clan...she wouldn't know vanillatuft's sign languages. if she tried hard then sure she could probably figure it out, but she didn't want to boggle this girl's mind and keep her waiting. this was awkward.

she lowered her leaf of herbs to the ground, inwardly wincing as she let go and the leaf tumbled open, all the berries and seeds she had collected tumbling out. that would take a while for her to pick back up.. "hi, tansy." she blurted out quick as a mini greeted, "i am vanillatuft. deaf." she said, a little loud, as she couldn't hear her voice. she flattened her ears in a bit of what could be embarrassment as she tried to explain herself and why she was so..odd in trying to point this apprentice in her direction. she wondered if it would be easier to just walk her back home, or at least onto her territory. "straight, left, past big rock, clearing there." she waited a few moments to see her reaction, to figure out if she would need to actually walk her home. tansypaw was lucky that she had run into vanillatuft, a nice molly, and not someone else who would've played around with her. "okay?" she asked as a confirmation.

VANILLATUFT ♡
windclan - medicine cat - female - 22 moons - tags

― oh, bother. she can immediately tell that this molly - this apprentice, who tried to say she was a warrior - did not understand her directions at all. and also, based on the look on her face and how she keeps agreeing with her deafness yet continues to stumble around on her words - she realizes this apprentice also has no clue what being deaf means. she let out another little sigh, giving a glance at her herb pile on the ground. she didn't want to just leave it here, because what if someone came and took it? or a fox or a raccoon or something came by and started eating the berries of the pile?

but she knew that if she continued to try to explain to tansypaw how to get home, she would be here until next moon just talking with her. unfortunately, she would have to walk the molly home. she certainly didn't want to drag all her herbs along with her, though; it would be better to just leave them here then come back to get them. she thought a few moments, trying to figure out what to do with the herbs as tansypaw continues to rattle on about which way she could go, before the short white molly turns to walk towards her, closing the gap between them.

and whenever she reaches the apprentice, she uses her tail to drape over her shoulders and turn her around, pointing her in the direction they would be going. and then she announces with a bit of a sigh - sounding like someone who was most definitely about to lose their cool, but trying to hold it in - "follow me."

she begins walking, giving a brief glance to see if tansypaw is following, and when the apprentices is alongside her, vanillatuft continues. "i walk you back." she flicked an ear, before continuing, "deaf means i can not hear." if the apprentice did not understand that, then well - there was simply nothing else that she could do at that point. this apprentice was just..helpless, at that point.

VANILLATUFT ♡
windclan - medicine cat - female - 22 moons - tags

― okay, thank starclan! she's thinking the apprentice understands what deaf means now, so they don't have to keep going over this. she knows that tansypaw will probably have a ton of questions now, because - who wouldn't? its quite an odd concept, and if you're not deaf yourself, its interesting to hear about and learn about other people's problems. she doesn't blame the apprentice for all the questions that may come out of her mouth on this journey, so she looked over at tansypaw, ready to read her mouth for what was about to come. she flicked an ear as the apprentice starts off with her questions. the first had to do with the paw movements.

immediately, vanillatuft lets out a trill of laughter. she can't stay irritated at anyone honestly, she just doesnt have it in her body. she is naturally a nice cat; sometimes she just gets overwhelmed, as anyone in her shoes probably would. she nodded to answer tansypaw's question."motion language," she said loudly, "easier than lip-reading." she doesn't feel like explaining it, unless tansypaw asks then she will, but signing is just so much easier because she can fully understand the other person that way rather than having to pretty much guess what they are saying. and then she watches as tansypaw tries to redo some of the movements that vanillatuft had done, and she laughs again. funny kid. she had the right idea, but what she was doing was sloppy. "left," she tells tansypaw, repeating the movement what she had just done, and then flipped her paw upside down to continue, moving it in sort of a circular motion, "clearing, area." it was a lot to grasp, but it wasn't impossible to learn. batfang and mercybloom had picked up on it all within three moons.

VANILLATUFT ♡
windclan - medicine cat - female - 22 moons - tags

― vanillatuft flicks an ear as tansypaw says she is merely an apprentice, and she lets out another small mrrow of laughter. it takes everything in her to remind herself not to motion, but instead to talk and lipread. she is just so used to motioning and sign language that she always forgets that not everyone else knows it and that its a hard concept to grasp. "i know," she told her. she could tell she was an apprentice. she wasn't very large - vanillatuft was small for a warrior since she was part munchkin, but this apprentice was still closer to her size than how vanillatuft knew a normal warrior was supposed to look. "i forgive you." she added, knowing that apprentices always needed to be told that their actions were okay and they could move on. she knew as an apprentice she always found herself dwelling on things unless she was told her actions were forgiven and everything was okay.

she flicked her tail gratefully when she noticed the apprentice called her nice. well, she couldn't let the compliment game end, could she? she would of course compliment her back. "you're funny," she told her positively, hoping that tansypaw understood that she meant it in a positive way and not negatively. "beauty too. you'll be good warrior." she offered her a smile, hoping that all this made the apprentice feel a bit better about herself and maybe not so down in the dumps or shameful. "everyone has mistakes."