camp IF IT ALL FALLS APART / rta

[SEDGEPOUNCE]

The morning is light and cold.

Nothing like the mountaintops, with their blistery snow and unfiltered-white sun, but...chilly. Sedgepounce's fur is fluffed as he trudges through the frost-nipped camp, dragging with him stalks of heather yet to die out in the Leafbare weather. There are nicks and scrapes left here or there since the attacks on the camp; small patches in the dens, with just enough room for winds to whistle through and stoke the ire of some elders and queens. Remnants from the rogue invasion, apparently. (He can't believe he missed it!) Besides, he's well enough to do it. Not like Peri or Milkpaw, StarClan help them.

It's earlier than Sedgepounce would have been up at work, before, but he's dutiful about it. The heather is heavy and dragging on the floor; like he's a young apprentice who's just caught a hare twice his size, only without the naive triumph and with a lot more weathered contemplation.

He sets his jaw and drags the stalks closer to the dens, mind wandering despite his steadfast determination. Being home isn't as easy as he thought it would be. A lot of things feel different—feel tense. Unless...unless it was always like this, and he just never knew to notice?

Lost in his head, Sedgepounce is ignorant to the cat he's trudging toward until he's knocking right into them. Startled, he drops the bounty of heather in his teeth, whipping around to meet whoever he'd collided with. "Agh, sorry!"

// feel free to be the character he bumped into!​

 

[WOLFSONG]

──ᨒ↟↟ᨒ↟ᨒ↟↟ᨒ── The collision is partly Wolfsong's mistake; in normal circumstances, he would have likely side-stepped the young warrior and his wandering mind's distracted path, but his gaze roams skyward. He watches the birds, the few that remain when the weather turns bitter, and it is clear that something has snared their attention. Their black pinpricks hound Outlook Rock, but before his observations can continue, a shoulder knocks into his and Wolfsong hackles raise instinctively. It is only Sedgepounce, and he forces himself to relax. Between Sedgepounce's journey and the rogues' ambush, he supposes his senses need a little time to...readjust.

"I was at fault; my attention was elsewhere," Wolfsong says apologetically. His gaze drops to the heather Sedgepounce lost. "Repairing, I see?" His gaze shifts once more to the distant, tall silhouette of Outlook Rock and the birds circling there. It can wait, he reasons. The dead have time. "It must be strange to be home, especially when it is not the way you left it." ​

WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN FORMER ROGUE TURNED MEDICINE CAT. 38 MOONS, HE/HIM, NPC X NPC. MATES WITH SUNSTRIDE (07/05/2023). BIOGRAPHY, PINTEREST, & PLAYLIST.

medicinal expertise med. part ii med. part iii med. part iv

• — ★★★☆☆ WOUNDS: You're (mostly) in safe paws. You'll know if he's less experienced if he asks for your permission to try a treatment. No wound can scare him away from knowledge.
  — ★★★☆☆ INFECTION: He can prevent most infections. If you feel feverish, let him know; he'll hum thoughtfully over herbs and sniff your wound before saying, "With your blessing..."
• — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES & PAINS: If you complain to him of pain, he'll ask where. If it's a headache, you'll likely feel a bit better. For anything else, "Try this, if you'd like, and tell me how you feel."
  — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES: At best. he can ask you to remain lying down in the den. He may try to distract you with conversation while he considers what herb to feed you.
• — ★★★★★ TRAVELING HERBS: Going somewhere? No worries; Wolfsong knows just what you need to stay hale and healthy during your journey. The rest is up to you.
  — ★★☆☆☆ KITTING: Thanks to Starlingheart, he's better prepared for the arrival of kits, but any complications will need a little faith and a lot of luck.
• — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS: It's best if you avoid eating anything unfamiliar to you— it's probably just as unfamiliar to Wolfsong. The best he can do is offer you yarrow and sit with you.
  — ★★☆☆☆ ILLNESS: If it's white or greencough, you'll likely recover. Otherwise, prepare for odd concoctions and the usual request that you consent to a little trial-and-error.

​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

Though it was a relief to have the once journeying cats home again, Rattleheart had to admit he wished it was under better circumstances. They had come back to a camp still in shambles, with the air tense and full of sharp words exchanged when they had all still been absent. He only wished they could have been allowed more time to rest, and more time to celebrate what they had accomplished. After all, he wouldn't be among one of the Windclan warriors standing in camp if not for their journey - he'd be among those that were now buried beneath the earth. A place that had always felt like a second home to him, but certainly not in that context.

The thought was enough to send a shiver down his spine, prompting him to hop up from his relaxed position and head over to where Sedgepounce and Wolfsong had accidentally collided. He purred warmly at both of them, hoping a friendly face would help put both the moor runner and the weary medicine cat at ease. "Sedgepounce. Wolfsong. Do you need any help with that? That heather looks like it's quite the burden, plus I haven't been able to help much with repairs just yet." He had been waiting for the last bits of sickness to leave him, half due to his own cautiousness and half due to Wolfsong's fussing over him and the other yellowcough patients. If it had been any other illness he probably would've complained over the anxiety, but this time he had simply remained silent until his lungs finally permitted him to go to work once again.
​

[ PENNED BY EO ]​

 

[sparkspirit]

Tension is one way to describe what happened to WindClan, but that word alone isn't quite enough. When had it started? With this sickness? The rogues? The cats that left? With Weaselclaw? Thinking of his mentor's death is always a sharp stab through his chest, but maybe it was the closest he would get to understanding. The others had said their goodbyes with spurned StarClan stones and Sootstar's raging grief. And the whole clan....shattered. The pieces would never quite come together again. Sparkspirit walks on the shards throughout camp, feeling them crawling up through his limbs. Sometimes it feels good to see another struggle with it. To see those glimmers on their faces where they see it too. Pain and sorrow and unease; missing spaces.

And then he remembers his clanmates, and things lose their painful tinge. "If our medicine cat gets put out of commission, it's your fault, Sedgepounce," he deadpans, but there's a tired smile glimmering in electric eyes. "Who else in camp can keep Rattleheart in his nest?"

𝘛𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘐  ･｡ﾟ  🗲  ╱╱ 10.15.2023 𝘊𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘚𝘈𝘠 ˊˎ＜

• OOC. —
• 🗲　　. 　 ˚　.  SPARKSPIRIT. HE - HIM - HIS. 12 MOON OLD MOOR RUNNER OF WINDCLAN. VERY LOYAL TO HIS CLAN. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ————
  
  
  ——  a trim mock tortoiseshell tom with mostly black fur splashed with the occasional patch orange. he has a singular white mark on the back of his neck shaped similarly to a lightning strike, and a small scar across the bridge of his nose. his eyes are a shocking electric blue.
  

  ✦ ECHOLIGHT x ELMBREEZE. ADOPTED BY YEWBERRY. BRIGHTFAM, BUT SOMEWHAT ESTRANGED DUE TO HIS LOYALTY TO WINDCLAN. ————————

• "speech"

​

 

[SEDGEPOUNCE]

At once, the flaxen face of Wolfsong greets him, burdened with thought but relatively unchanged by the past few weeks. A familiar sting of embarrassment burns through him at the sight of the medicine cat—Sedge may never recover from his constant pestering and chattering around the medicine den in his late apprenticeship—but he's surprised to find that it's lessened, now. Something something time heals all wounds something something. Prudent philosophy he attributes more to Hailstorm or Duskpool, but which soothes him nonetheless.

"Um, yeah," Sedgepounce responds, hazarding a glance to the leafy stalks of heather at his feet. The morning frost has mostly been shaken from their leaves. "I mean, it's not so bad," he ventures. Except for it is kind of bad to be home, in a myriad of ways that he isn't sure how to articulate. Sedgepounce shrugs. "Everyone in camp was either sick or scared to be when we left, so. I'm kinda glad things aren't the same."

At that he gives Wolfsong a sort of bemused smile, which is then turned toward—"Rattleheart!" He grins brighter, thrilled to see the older warrior up and at 'em. Maybe a little shaky, but well overall. "Sure. Anything to get the elders off my back faster," Sedge says with a waggle of a paw. It's all for show; he doesn't actually mind the work, and no one actually asked him to do it. Younger him would throw a fit.

Sedgepounce's head swivels toward Sparkspirit, leaning foward to imbue their burgeoning crowd with his dreary-eyed joking. Something about it hits the nail on the head of Sedge's medicine cat-related angst, and he locks up, grin stiffening. "HA!" he barks, just a bit too flustered to be wholly genuine. Sparkspirit does bring up a good point, though, and Sedge latches to it like a fly to glue as he shifts back to Rattleheart. "Right. I mean, if Wolfsong thinks it's okay," he amends, shooting the golden tom a glance from the corner of his eye.​