camp cry for holy war in dallas — return

[RAVENSONG]

Snakeblink would not receive an excited greeting from the sleek dark cat as he finally reappeared from the mouth of the mysterious cave. Ravenpaw's eyes were hollow and heavy, he seemed as if he had aged several moons. He took one paw step outside and the fur along his spine bristled. "We must hurry," He warned his escort, recognizing the tell-tale signs of his aura blanketing over his brain. Soon, he predicted, it may erupt into a vicious migraine. Once that happened, they would be stranded on the way.

His breath was ragged in his throat as he climbed down the slope, muscles bunching with effort as he attempted to make great strides. As they traveled back home, Ravenpaw's head whirled with the sequence of events he had just endured. "You... would not believe it." He murmured to Snakeblink, remaining cryptic all the same as he wobbled back to the riverside. Subjected to a ceremony under Dawnglare, only to wake up in StarClan where Beesong was not present.

"And WindClan... did they ever arrive? Did—did—" His breath catches in his throat. "Did you see anything?"

The world was falling under his paws. Although he had his name and title, it did not feel right. There was no joy in his step, and he selfishly kept his name to himself while Snakeblink remained in the dark. For just a while longer, he wanted the illusion of having control over something. It could be anything. The only thing he had left was his name.

He did not care for a moment who would see them when they finally got to camp. Ravenpaw stumbled to the side and staggered. Birch sap, he thought frantically. He needed it. But the young cat could feel the eyes of the Clan upon them and they burned into his skin like the sun. Catching fire in his fur it was becoming too much for one cat to bear.

They are expecting him to return triumphant, but Ravenpaw feels sick in the head and he cannot tell anger from grief, pain from selfishness. They expect him to announce his name. Ravenpaw breathes in and out, the sound of a fish dying. His knees buckle and his haunches slump to the ground. He keeps it to himself for a heartbeat more. Another heartbeat, and then another. Four is too greedy.

"... song." He panted. "It's... Ravensong."

Acceptance.

Now Ravensong fully, he cringes. He needs birch sap.


// @Snakeblink but open! not pafp!

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[dovethroat.]

The undeniable tension between Ravenpaw and himself is still present. It is an unmoving force, not concerned even with StarClan or the machinations of the fibre of the world. They were like opposite ends—two sides of a stone. Drawn apart by their very nature but also predestined to be drawn to one another, to be close. He still holds bile in his throat from Ravenpaw's ascension to medicine cat apprentice. The words shared on a moonlit Sunningrocks, with nobody around but themselves and their hearts. Just as that was gone to them in territory, Dovepaw felt such a disconnect from the friend he had once cherished.

The doubts expressed by Ravenpaw that night ring especially hollow now, seeing him return from the Moonstone with the entire clan waiting to congratulate him for it. Bitterness burns at the back of his throat, catching fire that is visible even through his eyes. Even for him, however, seeing how distraught Ravenpaw is after all that had happened inspires a feeling of worry in his heart. A feeling so strong that he cannot properly deny it.

He thinks back to the night they first fought, where Ravenpaw and him had escalated to such anger that they had hissed and spit and tackled each other until they rolled off a cliff and very nearly died. Dovepaw had been the first to haul himself back onto stable land, and he had pulled Ravenpaw back up.

And in this instance, Dovepaw feels the urge to grab him again, and to pull him up.

But to Dovepaw, Ravenpaw feels so far away. Even as Ravensong is right across from him.

[⋆]​

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[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

Ravenpaw — though that’s not his name anymore, is it? — looks worse for wear, crawling from the depths of the earth with a new weight on his shoulders. He looks older. Snakeblink finds himself inclining his head respectfully, as he did with Beesong before the medicine cat’s unfortunate demise. But he has no time to observe the change: already the black cat is urging him forward. His voice is strained with a silent warning; he doesn’t hesitate or question it, only falling into steps with the younger cat.

Questions burn his tongue at Ravenpaw’s cryptic words: what of his name? And the visions? What did he see, in the great starry expanse beyond the cave? Concern over the medicine cat overshadows his curiosity some, making it a little easier to bite down on his curiosity. ”I saw neither head nor tail of Windclan,” he murmurs back, his tone an awkward hesitation between reassurance and apology. ”Nor of anything else. Only the stars, and a few moths.”

He sticks closer to the tom than he did on the way to the cave, wary of his dragging gait and tense face: it wouldn’t do to lose another medicine cat to the gorge’s hungry maw. But the trip to the riverlands goes smoothly enough, neither of them so much as stumbling on the stones leading to camp — though Ravenpaw doesn’t go further than that, half-collapsing on solid ground as he breathes out his new name.

”Ravensong,” he repeats, tasting the name’s bittersweetness on his tongue like honey and medicine. ”Are you ill? How can I— how can we help?”

He glances around, catching Dovepaw’s eyes and a few other clanmates’ in turn, and tries to communicate the need for assistance with nothing but a widening of his own eyes and an insistent jerk of his head towards the dark tom.
​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely ​

ooc. information.

• 
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 42 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

​

​

 

[BONERIPPLE]

જ➶ Since Beesong's death the woman has been wondering vaguely about her younger niece. Starlingheart as her name is now and she hopes that all is well with her. That her role as medicine cat is more than a blessing for them as a whole than she was herself. It makes her wonder and think about her time there walking that path. Seeing the Moonstone for the first time and seeing Starclan as new as it was. Her paws itch slightly to see that again and yet she dares not to go near it. She doesn't think she deserves that much. Still she hopes all is well when Ravenpaw went to go and see Stsrclan for the first time. The journey is a long one, and meeting them a tiring occasion. Some come back filled with fire and passion but as she comes to greet the newly fledged medicine cat she does not see vigor in his eyes. Her muzzle tightens in thought as she catches sight of Dovepaw, tilting her head. The way in which Ravepaw says his new name seems to be pulled between clenched teeth. "It is a pleasure to have you back, Ravensong." Named after his mentor it seems. With a small nod she sees the look on Snakeblink's face.

Mentioning of possible ailment and she turns her gaze back to Ravensong then. "Perhaps he just needs to rest after everything he has been through." She can help him get to his den if need be
and she steps forward then with the idea to do so. He can lean on her of he needs to. ​

 

[hazecloud]

A mix of overwhelming emotions had begun to swirl as Ravenpaw had departed to meet the Moonstone. For the first time without his mentor, and for the last time as a -paw. As he disappeared through the other side of the reeds, his chosen Lead in tow, the silky she-cats mind had felt a rush of memories. The ornery tom as a little scrap, often passed around between sitters to handle his snappy manners. Always extending her patience for him, shrugging away the bitter retorts he held and continuing to watch over him. Of course it hadn't left when he became an apprentice under both Darterwing and Beesong. The 'Little brother' she had affectionately called him.

Had he really grown up so fast? Now he was a full-fledged medicine cat, gifted to commune with the stars even more than their own leader. Ravenpaw had been his name for so long, but she eager to hear what name the stars had blessed him with. A new name, a new beginning, a new era.

His return was not as regal as she imagined. His paws stumbled, his frame swayed like a single gust could throw him over his heels.

Hazecloud raised to her paws in concern, approached until she was a few tail-lengths away. "... Song." Ravensong. A strange sinking feeling sat in her gut. Part of it felt... cruel. To name him after such a painful loss. She understood the intention, that the tom would honor his mentors teachings, but she wondered what his thoughts were.

Hazecloud's gaze turned cold when Boneripple came forward. Her tail lashed as she remained behind the former ShadowClanner, but refused to say anything. Not so openly. Instead she decided Snakeblink would receive her attention, not looking to overwhelm the shaken tom. She came closer to Snakeblink as she mewed, "Thank you for returning him safely." She offered the Lead an affectionate nuzzle against his shoulder, a genuine relief in her action. ​

 

[Mosspool]

He had returned.

Mosspaw perked up at the buzz that fell over camp, but her heart sunk as she caught sight of him. Both his breaths and his gait were unsteady. Something terrible must have happened. Her mind raced and she felt sick with worry. She had thought that her conversation with him the night before had availed her of all her concerns, but suddenly they all came rushing back to her.

"What happened?" The question came out in a whisper, and for a moment she was afraid of his answer. Then he spoke.

Ravensong. Her eyes widened at the new name. All her anxieties vanished in an instant. The stars had given him Beesong's name, what an honor! It was an auspicious sign if she had ever head one. Starclan must know, she told herself, that he would be a very good medicine cat indeed. Mosspaw dipped her head in respect to the new medicine cat. She should not have worried, just as their last conversation had assured her, he would be a good medicine cat.

She could not imagine what had him so distraught. This was wonderful news.​

 

[FERNGILL]

The buzz of commotion reeled Fernpaw from the apprentice's den like a caught fish, verdant eye scraping across the horizon for the midnight medicine cat's return. It didn't take long for his attention to settle upon Ravenpaw and Snakeblink, returned from the moonstone- but immediately Fernpaw noticed an unexpected twist in his friend's expression, one that seemed almost pained. He hurried over, fretful- though it seemed he was not the only one, for a crowd had already begun to gather. He glanced to Mosspaw- to Boneripple, to Hazecloud, to Dovepaw and at last to the night-painted tom as he choked out his new name between iron-fastened jaws. Ravensong.

It is a good name, but one that carried a legacy- one Fernpaw wasn't blind to. He swallowed, eyes widening slightly- narrowing again, a little, in thoughtfulness. A flurry of questions flooded from maws, checking that he was alright, asking what happened. How can we help, asked Snakeblink, and Fernpaw's eye glimmered with worry as he looked to Ravening for an answer. He didn't want to hurt his friend further by crowding him, by smothering him- but he was there, blazing bright, if he was needed. It was the least he could do.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[lichenstar]

Hardly more than a fledgling and still he flutter home on weakened wings to collapse at their door. Snakeblink had been successful in making sure he came home safe (one could never tell where WindClan was concerned) but it seemed the emotional toll was not so easily defended against... It was easy to sink into, that despair... that loneliness. And with a name like Ravensong, it was plenty clear where his heart still stuck.

Oh to help that little bird and his broken wings... so he might fly back amongst the stars again with joy under his wings rather than pain. Frowning slightly, she could tell the other lead was struggling to assess the problem- it seemed so out of character and so sudden. Typically so reserved and mature and serious and now... a pile of fur, shaggy and haggard from the long trip over an exhausting night.

"I'll go fetch him some water..." Turning on her heels to make a expeditious path towards the little stream just out of grasp, procuring the moss to soak some of it was a simple enough task, one practiced over moons of chores (the elderly were not always so willing to get their own drink, much to the chagrin of others). Careful not to lose much of it to passive dripping, they hurried back to stand awkwardly beside Snakeblink, casting him a nervous glance before returning their gaze to their medicine cat with a silent offer.

Thirsty maybe?​