I NEED A DOCTOR - OOH ⸸ cave aftermath

[Magpiepaw]

He is doing his best, but he's worried it isn't enough. He was not able to carry much with him to begin with but the few herbs Starlingheart had gifted him for the journey are already depleting. It was fortunate they had a small water source nearby, everyone had gotten filthy after the collapse and ensuing exploration to find their ways out. He'd remained stalwart and quiet, as though unbothered, but inside the very real fear of death rose its head up. If he died in a cave with no access to the sky, would he go to StarClan? Why give wings to beasts that lay under the ground?

Magpiepaw stares down at his paws, kneading the ground by the stream as he fetches more moss and he can't help but catch his reflection in the frigid waters. He looks more ruffled than before, can see the uncertainty evident in his gaze and feels his stomach tighten. Had to be strong, had to hold it together. Part of him was wondering if this was a task he was even capable of at all now, that he had come into this so confident he could help keep everyone healthy and alive and now look at them all - faces cut up, shoulder's split, pads cracked, countless wounds he was only just not getting through to the best of his abilities. Having to make a call on whether one looked serious enough for the plants to stopped infection and risk them festering or waste the limited supply he had to be extra sure. So this was the burden of a medicine cat, he had only the faintest idea of how cruel it was through Starlingheart's eyes and he could only feel more and more guilt for abandoning his mentor now to deal with it all alone. Were they out of feverfew now? Did they still have chickweed? He had helped her gather more before he left but was it enough? Or was the entire clan dead already, would he return to a graveyard?

The black and white apprentice tucked his broken tail around himself, hunched over near the stream and felt a strained whine rise in his throat. They had come so close to death already, they had not even begun to traverse up the mountain and how...how would they get home with the path blocked now from the collapsed cavern? The tears bubbled up despite his best efforts, a paw raised to impatiently brush at his eyes to rid him of them so he could get back with his moss and keep doing his check-ups but he found his attempts only made him cry more.
He was embarrassing himself, StarClan had given their blessing to them, Flickerfire had called him brave and now he was acting like a homesick kitten when he had more important things to tend to. Magpiepaw couldn't help it, he missed Starlingheart, he missed Maggotpaw, he missed his fellow medicine cat apprentices and most of all he missed home. He missed the marshy territory of ShadowClan. Many clans might think it a horrid place to live, but it had been his home since he was taken in and he loved it despite the struggles.
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[DUSKPOOL]

anger makes you stupid . stupid gets you killed .
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

His shoulder wasn’t nearly as much of a bother as it had been in the caves. One less thing to worry about. Unfortunately, it seemed they had spared none of them. He breathed, curling his gaze to watch their only cat with enough herbal knowledge to see the heavy burden the young cat carried. He couldn’t help but remember Fireflypaw during their brief interaction, padding up to the apprentice with a crinkled brow, sitting some lengths away from the crying tom.

He didn’t bother with ‘Are you alright’ since it seemed pretty damn obvious the other wasn’t, so why bother with the useless question? He sighed, turning a molten gaze to the other, curling a wooly tail around his bulky frame. “Not doin’ yourself any good by bottlin’ those emotions of yours up, kiddo.” He rumbled. “You’re still an apprentice.” He reminded the other, instead turning his gaze to the stream. You're still a kid. He wanted to say, but refrained, torn ear flickering. He breathed, chest rattling with the motion. “Still learnin’ so don’t put all that pressure on yourself. It won’t do ya any good, but makin’ ya feel awful.”

He shifted, rotating an aching his aching limb, shoulder pulling with the motion until he felt the familiar burn, not excruciating, but enough to remind him he still wasn’t all that healed. “If my words have any worth, kid. Don’t sell yourself short. You did well with what little ya have.” He rumbled, turning a deadpan gaze to the crying apprentice. ​

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thought speech​

 

[iciclefang]

With her wound clean from grit and given a preliminary treatment, Iciclefang finds mobility to be less of a struggle. The young ShadowClan cat who has the burden of treating all of those scuffed and scraped by the rockslide has gone to the creekbed, dutifully laying moss into the water. He’s hunched over so that she cannot see his expression—but when she approaches, her pale gaze flicks to the water to see gleaming, tear-filmed blue eyes.

For a moment, Iciclefang is startled, even as the big, battle-scarred SkyClanner comes to join them. She hadn’t expected to see the strange young tom in such an emotional state, and it takes her several heartbeats before she considers his age. Perhaps he’s overwhelmed. She stares at his reflection in the water without ever moving her gaze to meet his—she can’t help the uncomfortable prickle stirring the fur on her shoulders. The SkyClan warrior offers him some gruff words of comfort, but Iciclefang does not bother.

“Are you hungry? I can catch you a fish. My shoulder doesn’t hurt as bad anymore.” Still, she keeps her eyes trained on the ripples in the creek, stock-still until she sees a shadow slip beneath the waves. A white-tipped paw flashes into the water and sends the small fish flying up and onto the bank. She smacks it against the head and pushes it toward Magpiepaw, all without looking at him directly still.

ooc ✧ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦

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  — iciclekit . iciclepaw . iciclefang
  — she/her ; warrior of riverclan
  — lesbian ; single
  — short-haired tortoiseshell with white and ice-blue eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Pin

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[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw couldn't imagine being a medicine cat. It was a given that he didn't really have the memory for it; training to be a medicine cat took longer than warrior training, and Fernpaw was already on borrowed time for that. Magpiepaw was, thus, already impressive to the flame-striped tom- even with his wobbling walk and unkempt appearance. Seeing him take himself off to the side, Fernpaw's solitary eye followed the young tom, padding after him. Seeing shoulders shake a little, Fernpaw picked his pace.

He was not the only concerned one, it seemed. Even icy Iciclefang was showing some car in the same way she always did- doing things for everyone. Though he was sure Magpiepaw would appreciate the gesture, his freshly-hurt feelings kept his gaze pointedly diverted away from his sister. All Fernpaw felt he could do in that moment, following Duskpool's gruff-but-encouraging words and Iciclefang's gesture, was fix the dark-pelted Shadowclanner with a soft look. "You're doing great," he murmured, voice slightly hushed. It wouldn't be good to overwhelm him, would it?​

✦ penned by pin ✦​