in a snow-covered hill / incident on patrol

[THUNDERSONG]

Age was beginning to catch up with Thundersong. It was not something she liked to acknowledge or admit very much, but it was ever-present underneath her leagues of fur. Her bones creaked and her joints ached and clicked when she ran. She would balance on aching toes, breathe with half-full lungs, all things she did her best to hide from her clan-mates lest she be seen as a burden. She had long since accepted that she could never make the trek back to her mountainous home but now... now, she struggled to accept that the trek to the ThunderClan border was becoming just as insidious to her old bones.

It was her hips today. Pain laced up her side as she walked behind her clan-mates, dutifully taking up the rear but lagging further and further with every step. It hurt to walk today. Her mouth opened in a gentle pant despite the chilly new-leaf air, spit pooling on her maw. The effort it took to just put one foot in front of the other... couldn't they slow down just a bit? Just so she could catch her breath?

Too distracted by her own body, one of her back feet collided with a small rock, and Thundersong let out a yowl as a sharper, more instant sort of pain shot up her leg from pad to hip. She stumbled, her butt landing unceremoniously into snow melt as her feet gave out. WindClan's eldest warrior was down, her face contorted with shame. speech is in #825f87​

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[WOLFSONG]

──ᨒ↟↟ᨒ↟ᨒ↟↟ᨒ── Truth be told, Wolfsong fears growing old far more than he does dying in battle. To become slowly betrayed and confined by the widening limits of his body, to watch young warriors sprint at full stride and leap and bound, knowing he could no longer do the same— it would be torturous, and it terrifies him. He knows there are those his age who experience such pains already, but he is not one of them, and he knows only to define his life by what he is physically capable of: battle, hunting, digging herbs and tending wounds.

Needless to say, he does not envy Thundersong's position, and he knows the day rapidly approaches when she will remain with the elders.

Perhaps today is that day. While searching for newleaf's gifts, he overhears a great, clamorous cry that sets the medicine cat immediately on edge. He wastes no time hastening for the source, and when his gaze sets upon the crumpled warrior, he swallows hard. "Thundersong? Are you able to stand?" He does not see blood, fortunately, but if she fell –as it appears she did– that could nonetheless be ruinous at her age.
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WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN FORMER ROGUE TURNED MEDICINE CAT. 41 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 and his own pregnancy, 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.

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[Addervenom]

The thought of old age coupled with its infamous aches and pains that accompany a slow deteriorating body was the farthest thing from the young warrior's mind. Good health and strong, swift limbs were the only things he concerned himself with. As long as those two things remained in constant function he gave little thought to what he forced his body to withstand. Although, perhaps the notion of one day becoming elderly would finally begin to trickle into his consciousness.

Chocolate ears swivel backwards at the sound of a pained yowl, leaving amber eyes to seek who the voice belonged to. Thundersong, who lay crumpled in a withered pile of soggy snowmelt. While his sister's mentor loomed over the molly, Addervenom broke rank, watching with an unreadable expression. There was no danger to be seen around their patrol, no predator to mar her flesh. Yet she cried as if stricken by a life threatening blow. Confused, the tom's tail lashed once behind him as he found himself having more questions than answers to the elderly warrior's predicament. As he drew closer he stood about a tail length from the pair. "I can lift her," He began gruffly. "And she can lean on me if need be." His gaze then trailed from the healer to his current patient. ​

»»———- windclan warrior / thirteen moons old / he/him ———-««​

 

[SPARROWBREEZE]

Age is something Sparrowbreeze already worries about. Not in the sense of aching bones and diminishing vision, but in how swift it seems to move, a moor-runner itself.

It feels like yesterday she’d arrived to the moors a scared kit, and now she stands a warrior — though among WindClan’s younger warriors still — and a whole generation of kits now takes her place in games she used to play. The brown tabby can’t imagine how someone like Thundersong feels, someone whose seen the moors through far more shifts in season than Sparrowbreeze can possibly comprehend.

How fast does time run across the moors to her? She doesn’t dare to ask, doesn’t dare risk offending the older warrior with such a question, even if they take part in the same patrol now.

A yowl breaks the patrol’s silence, causing chocolate ears to twitch and an amber gaze to dart in the yowl’s direction if only to spot the senior warrior on the ground, a face contorted in pain. “ Thundersong? “ she speaks, concern laced in her call to the older she-cat. “ Are… Are you okay? “

Sparrowbreeze mirrors her patrolmates' movements, stepping toward grayed fur as Wolfsong and Addervenom do, her gaze inspecting the scene before her. She’s no medicine cat, but she doesn’t see blood, doesn’t see much of a visible reason for there to be pain spread across Thundersong’s maw.

“ I… I can help too, “ she follows up Addervenom’s offer, looking toward the medic with an uncertain gaze.​

✦ ABOUT

• 

  SPARROW ‣ SPARROWKIT ‣ SPARROWPAW ‣ SPARROWBREEZE
  ── Moor Runner of WindClan
  
  ── Birdie x Fisher
  ── AFAB; She/Her
  ── A scarred, brown tabby she-cat with low white and amber eyes.
  ── Mentored by Clawtail
  ── "Speech"; Attack​

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[RATTLEHEART]

AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — Though not a subject that Rattleheart pondered often, time and age were a pair of reapers that eventually came for all - regardless of their loyalties, or the faith that they pledged themselves to. Aches and pains occasionally came to some warriors earlier than others, but they all eventually ended up in the same place if they weren't buried beneath the moors. Tucked away in the dug-out hollow of the elders' den, hopefully not too pained as they got the chance to relax and enjoy what time they had left. There were plenty of warriors that dreaded eventually meeting such a fate, but he had never been of the same opinion. Wasn't it a blessing, to end up old enough that you could watch the clan grow around you, rather than meeting a grisly fate that dragged you from your family before you were ready?

The tunneler certainly considered it to be, seeing as he had never truly been sure whether he would actually make it this far or not.

He'd been pawing at once of the nearby tunnel entrances when he heard the pained yowl that shot out from Thundersong's jaws, his ears flicking back and his heart hammering as he tried to figure out what had happened without sight. His tunnel reinforcing was temporarily abandoned for now in favor of rushing through the moorland grasses, face falling into a worried expression when he spotted the elder warrior's crumpled form. "What happened? All I heard was the shout..." Rattleheart's own pale gaze mimicked Addervenom's blazing amber one, scanning around for any sign of a threat that could have toppled Thundersong to the ground. A snake or a hidden trap - though there was a noticeable lack of twoleg scent on the air. Instead he came up empty, their surroundings barren of anything except for grass and rocks.

A perhaps more upsetting discovery, considering what that may have meant for Thundersong.

THE RIGHTEOUS HAND OF GOD 𓆩♡𓆪 THE DEVIL THAT YOU FORGOT

• 

• 
  ❥ longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
  ❥ 49 moons old; ages the 1st every month
  ❥ afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
  ❥ homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
  ❥ sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
  ❥ currently mentoring downypaw
  ❥ somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
  ❥ "speech", thoughts, attacking
  ❥ peaceful powerplay allowed
  ❥ all opinions are ic

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[THUNDERSONG]

They are all around her, questioning, worried, concerned. Shame burns red-hot under her fur, coloring her ears a bright, awful pink. All around her, all asking for an answer that she did not want to give, because she did not want to admit the one truth they could all see plainly in her sunken eyes and hips: her age was finally catching up to her.

"My leg, it feels as if fire has replaced bone." she offered to Wolfsong, trying her best to haul herself up to a sitting position. "Fire on the inside, wood around it so I can not bend or else I may break." speech is in #825f87​

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[dimmingsun]

-

In retrospect, Dimmingsun should have paid more attention. Guilt strikes him in similar fashion to how the pain climbed up and around Thundersong's body when her shriek jolts him out of his thoughts and finally gets him to stop. She is not the type of Clanmate who complains or asks for help - Dimmingsun had simply thought her pace to be normal, perhaps being lost in the scenery around them or looking for tell-tale signs of danger, as WindClan often does nowadays.

"Don't crowd her so much," he mutters under his breath despite the relief of having others around. Old age is not something he ponders about; only when the inhabitants of the nursery or apprentices' den move around. Even then - with his admittedly limited knowledge of what it means to be nearing your elder moons - he doubts Thundersong is very happy with the situation.

There's no one to doubt Addervenom's ability to lift her. Their very own medicine cat is here. And there's more cats offering their aid.

Thundersong couldn't possibly be in better hands. But...

Dimmingsun tears at the soft snow underneath him, clearly frustrated by something. "Just be careful," he tells her when she attempts to stand. It'd be most impolite to climb into her personal space if she thinks she can manage it, but the last thing they'd want is for her to injure herself further. "No need to hurry; if you can walk, I'll walk with you back to camp, but if not, well- there's plenty of us."

˗ˏˋ ᴀ ꜱɪɴɴᴇʀ, ᴀ ꜱᴀɪɴᴛ / ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪɴʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ´ˎ˗ ᓚᘏᗢ 03.06.24

• 
• ✦ OOC -

• DIMMINGSUN ⸝⸝-- WINDCLAN -- HE/HIM -- 32 MOONS

  ✦ Large golden-brown tom with green eyes.
  ✦ Penned by ˏ 𝙠𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙣 ´​
•  

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