cascade ocean wave blues [sick]

[rimekit]

It creeps up sometime in the middle of the night.

Waning appetite unlatches the pale kitten from her mother's belly, greedy siblings quick to overtake her place and nudge her aside. A single whine of protest escapes in grated timbre before Rimekit falls silent. She has never known pain before - the prickling sharpness constricting her throat and chest, like claws raking sensitive passages each time she wants to call out.

Retractions tremble her small body (or perhaps the sudden chill she feels?) as Rimekit shifts away from kicking legs and closer to Bluefrost. The feverish child wedges herself beneath her mother's leg. With strained wheezing does she drift off into a fitful sleep, waking every so often to silently fuss at the discomfort spreading from the zenith of her chest outward.​

[ penned by kerms ]​

 

[BLUEFROST]

Bluefrost dozes almost as though she has wandered into another plane of existence; her body feels anchored to the nursery, to the hungry mouths that feed from it, while her mind wanders. Who knows how long it takes for her to notice the absence of one kitten? Who knows how long it takes for her to startle awake, to feel the unseemly heat radiating from Rimekit's body as she worms herself under Bluefrost's leg? The new mother blinks, her vision blurry, and twists to stare at her white-pelted daughter.

Something is not right. Bluefrost extends a wary pink nose to Rimekit's pelt. It sears her with fever, and she recoils. Fear claws through her midsection. The sickness. Cottonsprig... Will her sister's foolish kindness cause Rimekit's death?

Bluefrost is still for many moments before she noses rises from her nest. Any squeals of protests from the other kits are ignored; she does her best to tuck them into place, to ensure they share one another's feeble warmth, before she grips Rimekit's scruff with her jaws.

She does not realize it until she begins to walk, but she is trembling. She meets Dimmingsun's eyes with undisguised fear. Will he let me go to Cottonsprig? She settles her daughter between her paws and murmurs, "She is ill. Fever. I am taking her to Cottonsprig." There is a quiet steeliness beneath the subjugation; some of her mother has filtered back through her in this time of need.

She will not let Rimekit die if she can help it.

Whether Dimmingsun tells her to go or not, Bluefrost begins to sweep past him with the kitten swinging from her jaws. Cottonsprig and Celandinepaw are alone in the den right now — Wolfsong is sequestered beneath the moor, his throat constricted, his eyes glassy with heat. The familiar scent of herbs bathes her tongue and begins to sting her eyes as she enters.

"Cottonsprig." She does not address Celandinepaw at all. She meets her sister's blue gaze, judgment and fear like shards of glass between them. "Rimekit will not feed. She is hot to the touch. I cannot..." She closes her eyes, feeling lightheaded, light-pawed. "She cannot infect the other kits."

It is cruel, she thinks, for Cottonsprig to be the one responsible for Rimekit's life, to be the one tasked with nursing her back to health, but...

"Will she live?" Bluefrost's gaze sinks to Rimekit's tiny body, lain between them like an offering. Her niece. Her daughter. Her blood, no matter what has happened to bring her to Bluefrost.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: tagging @cottonsprig @CELANDINEPAW @dimmingsun
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 18 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring Brackenpaw ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan queen. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue smoke she-cat with white and emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.

​

 

[cottonsprig]

Who dictates the kinship between sisters? Is it fate or destiny? Is it pure chance, or is there someone out there that designates the little red ribbons between every living soul, forcing them to tug ever closer and accept the inevitable?

If there is by chance someone capable of controlling them - do they laugh when their cruelty reaches it's climax?

Cottonsprig will never experience a day where she does not regret being unable to mother her kittens. Her spare moments are held on the nursery, watching from a distance with pain throbbing in her chest. For their comfort and safety she would sooner bleed her own heart empty than expose them to the reality they must live. She wishes for times of yore, even, as if those times were not mere seasons ago. But as Bluefrost brushes past her nursery guard, a predominantly white kitten swinging from her jaws, Cottonsprig feels her chest clench with fear. Must their paths intersect so soon? Must the inevitability of their lives be so pathetically intertwined, with thorns and barbs tossed in intermittently?

Be another missing paw, she wants to whine, pushing herself to her paws once again. A missing tail, a missing eye. Anything easy, anything to turn you away... But it cannot be that. The twine of the world unravels on itself as her sister speaks, her words landing on muffled hearing as the blue-eyed medicine cat stares deftly at her daughter. Her poor, meek daughter - biggest of her three, yet somehow the weakest. How did it get to you? She wants to scream - she'd been distant! She'd been careful!

"With all I have," Cottonsprig starts, her nose leaning towards the sickly kitten. She sniffs her, and beneath the warmth and nursery scents, she finds her three-day-old daughter, several days older. Her child. Everything screams in agony, "I will ensure she survives." The blue smoke makes the promise to her sister with ease, a sense of grief and uncertainty eclipsing whatever assurance may have lingered in her gaze.

"You will have to visit the medicine den to feed her, Bluefrost," she says. I cannot, and the reminder is another stab to the gut. "I will spare you your own dose of lungwort to eat before you head back... May it be given to the rest of your litter through your milk." If StarClan were merciful, that is how it would work.

𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

• ooc //

• ❥ MEDICINAL KNOWLEDGE
  ♥♥♡ WOUNDS ; can confidently stop bleeding and mend lacerations. will often request that you keep your injury clean and wait it out first.
  ♥♥♡ INFECTION ; as a side effect of likely her own doing, very dutiful with technique and treatment shortly thereafter.
  ♥♡♡ ACHES & PAINS ; will defer to a dark tunnel and rest. if pain persists, maybe she will offer something.
  ♥♡♡ BROKEN BONES ; has never dealt with a broken bone. likely will ask that you never move. ever again.
  ♥♥♥ TRAVELING HERBS ; learned well from her previous mentor. will pile even too many remedies to tough the wilderness with.
  ♥♥♥ KITTING ; having kittens of her own and helped several others with their litters, she is very well versed with calming techniques and quelling pain.
  ♥♡♡ POISONS ; she knows what they are... but that isn't enough, isn't it?
  ♥♥♡ ILLNESS ; having worked through two yellowcough bouts, she is confident in her remedies. much else... she's operating on trial and error.
  ⸻ cottonsprig is a dutiful and excitable medicine cat. she enjoys company and loves conversation. she'd rather not have too many curious noses snooping around her den... but who is she to quell curiosity?

• 

  ⸻❥ cottonsprig is the primary medicine cat of windclan. a former princess to the moors, she harbors many guilts for her actions throughout her short life. she has no consistent partner, unwilling to commit and settle, and she is training celandinepaw in medicine.

​

 

[BLUEFROST]

She can smell her sister's fear, even through the heavily-spiced air of the den she shares with Wolfsong and Celandinepaw. Cottonsprig jerks her face toward Rimekit, inhaling her mostly-white fur, no doubt remembering the moment she'd first touched her tongue to that pelt to clean it. She is no longer yours, Bluefrost thinks bleakly. Dull emerald eyes flick from Celandinepaw to her sister, who promises everything in her power, in her arsenal, to heal Rimekit. She is mine.

"Is it... safe, to feed her?" Bluefrost frowns, tucking her tail close to her weeping stomach. Cottonsprig assures her she will spare her a dose of lungwort so that it may leech into her milk supply and strengthen the rest of the kits. Even so...

Bluefrost's shimmering eyes snap back to Rimekit, suspended between her trueborn mother and her protege and the only mother she will ever know. And now, now Bluefrost is loathe to leave her here, knowing Cottonsprig will yearn to curl her body around her, knowing Cottonsprig will cry into her sparsely-smoked fur and yearn for what will never be.

"My darling," she murmurs, pressing her nose into Rimekit's back. The flesh beneath her fuzzy pelt is sickly with heat. Her breathing is raspy, labored. Bluefrost's heart wrenches, and she wants to linger, wants to rest her cheek against her sick little kitten's body, but there are four others who need her.

"She fed before she dozed off. I shall return soon to see if she will latch." Bluefrost withdraws from Rimekit, her eyes swimming with conflict. The stench of illness radiates from her ill-gotten daughter, but beneath it is familiarity, kinship, and, stars damn them all, the love that has tangled every single one of them in a web so vicious, they cannot escape.

She looks to Celandinepaw, but the glance is dismissive. She knows nothing, yet. It will be up to Cottonsprig to nurse her daughter back to health — Cottonsprig, and the will of StarClan.

You wished for her kits to be born. You wished for me to take them. Surely, it cannot be your will for her to die here.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 18 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring Brackenpaw ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan queen. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue smoke she-cat with white and emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.

​

 

[rimekit]

A mawkish keen escapes the sickly child as she is lifted away from where she lay, coldness enveloping her like an unwanted blanket. She hangs limply from her mother's jaw, weak and longing to curl against the queen's warmth once more.

The journey from the nursery to the medicine den is not a joyous jaunt, rather an ode to a funereal procession. It is the ticking down of a clock that had only just begun. Rimekit does not know her own dire straits; she does not process the danger she has been thrust into.

The ground is unforgiving to the sickly kitten, regardless of how gentle she has been eased to it. Scents encapsulate the child, who whimpers and tries to lift her head, only to droop back to the dust beneath her chin. She is scared. In her most uncomfortable state she has been removed from her one source of comfort. "Mm-hck!," Rimekit rasps as her head tilts toward Bluefrost's touch - though the noise is interrupted by a pained cough that rattles her fuzzy frame.

Defeated for the moment, the pale kit becomes prone. The only movement from her being the irregular expansion of her chest.​

[ penned by kerms ]​