FABLED ELIXIR ⚠︎ EXPERIMENTATION

[MARBLELEAF]

MARBLELEAF

SHE / THEY ◆ SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT

Swansong had sent her to the Thunderpath, and she, Greystare, and Cornflowerpaw had returned with their aching jaws stuffed full of greenery. Their biggest haul had been dandelion—and stars knew how she felt about that. She'd half-expected their destiny-bound deputy to have sent them there divinely; that, since she'd decreed it, they'd have found a magical cure for the poison infesting their waters. She had returned with the usual suspects—ragweed, rare for the season but necessary for the soon-to-be kitting queen; ragwort; sweet-sedge, which had done nothing for her ailing patients; and… dandelion.

Marbleleaf contemplates the pile of weeds with a somber expression. She knew the leaves, when chewed and swallowed, could kill pain. She often only bothered to harvest the top part of the plant, but her comarades' paws had not been as precise, and they'd walked away with the stalks in their entirety, soil-clotted roots and all. She knows the roots of some plants—like burdock, for example—had medicinal properties, but as she wracks her brain over and over… she can't remember Starlingheart ever telling her about the rest of the dandelion plant.

Her gaze flicks to Moltface, pale and sick and gasping quietly in his nest. But he is in pain, she tells herself; her expression clouds, uncertain. I could not cure them. But perhaps I can ease their journey to StarClan. The thought comes almost unbidden—and it rocks her to her paw pads, to realize she has sunk this low. That she has all but given up on saving her Clanmates.

Even if he does not die, she reasons, he deserves to have some pain killed. And I owe it to them—to all of them—to try to do just that. Marbleleaf seizes one full dandelion—yellow-topped, dark-leafed, dusty with roots—and begins to chew it methodically. The taste is unpleasant, and the variety in textures makes her gag; she hadn't expected the spider-leg quality of the roots to tug at her tongue—but at last, it is a paste, easy-to-digest and swallow. She approaches Moltface on silent white paws.

"Eat." This is the second attempt she's made at digging through her stores to cure the illness… but she does not expect a cure, not really. Dandelion is for pain relief… and she hopes that, at least, she can do for them. "Here. Chase it with some water. I know it's not good." She pushes the sodden moss against his muzzle, hoping he can find the strength to drink.

He sleeps after she has drugged him, and she falls blindly into her nest, too, waiting to see what new evil tomorrow will bring to her Clan.

ooc:

this is a CYOA attempt to find the cure :) tagging @MOLTFACE since the dice decided he was my victim!

accordion

Marbleleaf is the ShadowClan medicine cat. She is thin, with a short fawn tabby pelt; the base color is a dull, almost-gray slate, and the whorling classic stripes are deeper shades of wet sand. She has white facial markings, chest, and paws, an angular face and build, and moss-colored eyes.

Lilacfur x Siltcloud / sibling to Sycamorebloom / mate to none / parent to none
mentored by Starlingheart / mentoring none
15 moons old as of 04/01/2025

penned by Marquette

 

[Halfsun]

The moss hung heavy in Halfsun's jaws, saturated with as much rain-water as she could squeeze from the half-drowned forest. It dripped steadily as she ducked into the medicine den, its familiar musty scent making her nose twitch. She paused only briefly at the entrance— just long enough to glance over the dim space and note which nests were occupied, which bodies still stirred. Marbleleaf was at the far end, hunched near one of the nests where Moltface lay still as stone.

She stepped lightly through the den, careful not to jostle anything, and deposited the moss beside the medicine cat with a gentle thud. Her gaze drifted briefly to Moltface's side— still rising and falling, but shallow. Too shallow. She didn't ask how they were all doing. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Instead, her paws shifted restlessly, kneading the packed earth beneath her as if she could work the tension out of her muscles that way. Her eyes flicked to the pile of dandelions and other half-wilted plants by Marbleleaf's nest, then back to the medicine cat. "Did it work?" she asked, voice quiet but edged with something taut and sharp. Not accusation, just the same bone-deep frustration they were all living with. The helplessness that hung over ShadowClan like a second pelt.

Her eyes lingered on the chewed remains of roots, on the bitter yellow tufts that somehow still looked too bright for this den. She shifted again, then tilted her head slightly, just enough to glance at Velvetdusk where he rested nearby. Her claws flexed briefly. "At least it hasn't killed anyone," she muttered, not entirely joking. Then, more softly, "You look like you haven't slept in a moon." The words weren't meant to sting. If anything, they were too gentle for Halfsun's usual sharp tongue. She didn't press further. But her gaze hadn't moved from Marbleleaf's face.

( ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥) smile for me when you set me free

• 
• 
  HALFSUN SHADOWCLAN WARRIOR; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO APPLEJAW, ASHENFALL, SWANSONG, GARLICHEART, AND LAURELGRIN ; MENTORING BOUNCEPAW
  

  A tall and well-toned she cat with a long half-and half pelt, one side being a dark blue tabby and the other a bright cream, split by a pool of white at her center and travelling up her face like flames she is fire and ice simultaneously swirling into one. Her eyes are a mismatched shade of blue, with one being bright like the daytime sky and the other dark like the depths of the river.

  ✦ Difficult in battle + a skilled fighter

 

[BUZZARDPAW.]

I SAW A PHOTO, YOU LOOK JOYOUS​

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"you do...nt smell g...ood, dad."

buzzardpaw doesn't sound worried, but uncharacteristically her eyes show just that. worry. concern. uncertainty. she pushes her nose to his ear, eyes closing for a moment before she backs up, looking over at marbleleaf. there is this urge within her she can't explain, that she doesn't exactly like.

"i don't kn...ow how to h...elp but i wi...ll for mol...t...fa...ce."

not for anyone else. puddlepaw wasn't sick, and no one else was nearly as important. his stomach twists with hunger as he turns to look back and moltface, and the other sick cats within the den, and he finds himself twitching his nose. smells funny in here. he hates it here, having been in here way too much for comfort, but... moltface meant a lot to him. he had to be able to do something, right?
​