sensitive topics NEAT THE GROVE IS A HEART [ graves ]

[rivewhisper]

// tw for some sensitive topics surrounding grief, loss, and family loss!

There is a group of apprentices behind her, and the medicine cat apprentice. Rivewhisper steps on solid paws, having collected what little wildflower was left near camp before leaf-fall took the rest of the flowers for itself. The moors were growing, yes, but they were about to go through a period of regrowth- the coldest moons of their lives before newleaf came. She wonders, briefly, on their short trek if it would burst and bustle like it had before, if the bees would be plenty, if the food would be like leafbare thaw.

Rivewhisper doesn't attempt to say anything on her lead to the graves, but she grows to a slower pace, then a stop as they arrive. She lowers her head down, wildflowers tangled together, but enough stems for each apprentice to grab one or two and place it on a grave of their choice. Perhaps she attempts to channel Starclan's wisdom, like she had done when she was young and dreamt of being Wolfsong's apprentice, where she still played in the medicine den. She swallows gently before she speaks. "Here lay the bones of those past." Her tone is soft, and she pulls free two wildflowers. Lead by appearances, right?

She slowly steps into the neat rows, to where she knows Bearflight rests, his body long without his soul, but she imagines that he's watching her now. "Here, their spirits are closest with us, when they are not with Wolfsong or Sunstar." She speaks, loud enough for the apprentices to hear- but maybe she's saying it for herself? Rivewhisper is not sure. "We care for their graves, to keep them clean of debris and to place offerings to them." She continues, leaning down to place a wildflower on Bearflight's grave. Her nose shifts, brushing at the dark stone that one of their family made the run to fetch from the Moonstone.

She stays there for a long moment, then sinks down to her haunches before her brother's grave. Blue eyes, the softest they've been in a moon, are half-lidded as she looks on. Are you there, brother bear? Are you watching us, our family, our friends? She thinks, and she thinks loudly, hoping that Bearflight hears her. There is still a second wildflower, one she will move to place soon- but for now, she is settled by Bearflight solidly.

‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ┌── AND ITS BEEN SO LONG THAT IM ⋅❁⋅ FORGETTING WHAT IT FEELS LIKE ──┐‎

• "speech"
  // no need to wait, but it was targeted for these apprentices that she brought from this thread!
  // @Frightpaw @CELANDINEPAW @Grasspaw @SHEEPPAW @cottonsprig @MIDNIGHTPAW
  

• 

• RIVEWHISPER she/her, moor runner of windclan, fourteen moons.
  ⭃ LH broken braided chocolate tabby with high white and piercing blue eyes. scars stretch over her left eye and across her stomach. graceful, sleek, average height. built for running and stamina
  ⭃ mentored by snakehiss / sunstar / / mentoring no one
  ⭃ small romantic interest in redheart / / sibling to featherspine ; sunlitwing ; bearflight ; singedpaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[CELANDINEPAW]

Celandinepaw had intimately learned of what leaf-fall heralded, as though flowers had been embrittled by the less-forgiving winds, reduced to nothing but hollow husks of their vernal ardor. She had been too young to see it before, how the verdancy became nothing but a shell of itself, perhaps cloying itself away from the clutches of winter's wrath. Nevertheless, there was a unique sense of dread that followed the inevitable - with leaf-fall came the reclusion of the herbs and flowers. There would be less resources to help her kin with and less that she could do for them (and she hated how contingent it seemed to be on the whims of the mercurial season). The wheat-hued medicine cat apprentice followed Rivewhisper through the tangles of wildflowers, and immediately did she feel a different chill follow the ends of her spine, as though it were a rosin edge that led from the nape to the tip of her tail. The graves lie silent, though they beckoned to the young cats, as though they subsisted off of tribute and thought. Celandinepaw would not be the one to sustain them, to care for them as if they were her own, but she was sure that the rest would do so in her stead. The spotted tabby allowed the rest of the apprentices (and her mentor) to filter into the clearing, lingering behind as if a specter tethered to its place between the door and its rough-hewn frame, existing only between the spaces in which the outside gazed inwards. In situations such as this, she felt like a complete outsider, as though she had not been trained to revere the stars and to place all of her faith within that which was intangible and unintelligible. That was the only thing, to her, that still made no sense about the wild cats. For those honed and sewn in war-time, the beliefs they clung too were almost childish, to her.

I don't have anyone or anything to mourn here. The thought dropped in her mind like a steel ball within her stomach, roiling about the pith and plush, so heavy that she could not move from where it had made itself home upon the grounds. Should she have someone to pray to? Someone to lose? If there are spirits here... Do they know that I don't really believe they're here? The dead are here... But I don't think they've stayed here. But, I won't tell them that. They really value their ancestors, and they speak to them as if they can listen and respond.

𝘚𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘈 𝘔𝘖𝘕𝘐𝘊𝘈, 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘝𝘌 𝘉𝘌𝘌𝘕 𝘛𝘖𝘖 𝘎𝘖𝘖𝘋 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘌 ₊˚❀ ༉ ‧₊ ˚. ☘︎ 𝘐 𝘞𝘖𝘕𝘛 𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌 𝘔𝘠 𝘔𝘈𝘔𝘈 𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘋

• OUT OF CHARACTER. text
  
  

  ❁ — MEDICINAL EXPERTISE: Celandinepaw is the current medicine cat apprentice of Windclan. Although she is quite new to her position, she also has much expertise with treatment regarding infectious diseases and basic remedies. As for anything more complex... you're better off asking a more experienced medicine cat. WOUNDS — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES — ★☆☆☆☆ INFECTIONS — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES — ★☆☆☆☆ CONTAGIOUS ILLNESSES — ★★★★☆ CHRONIC ILLNESSES — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS — ★☆☆☆☆ KITTING — ★☆☆☆☆ TRAVELING — ★★★☆☆​

• ​
  
• 

  CELANDINEPAW & TRANS WOMAN & 12 MOONS
  —— Medicine Cat Apprentice of Windclan / Mentored by Wolfsong & Cottonsprig
  —— A shorthaired, wheat-yellow spotted tabby with yellowish-green eyes. Somewhat pudgy, though lean and able to hold her ground in the wild.
  —— Extroverted and unafraid to speak her mind, she is a friendly and affable face in Windclan. Though ditzy and somewhat cowardly, she tries her best to help her clan. She is prone to outbursts when spurned or stressed.
  —— Penned by Tempest. Contact on Discord (naruk4mi) for plots and threads.

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[cottonsprig]

Cottonsprig doesn't think she's found the graves since her arrival home. Her limbs feel weak as she holds to the tail of the parade, watching as Rivewhisper guides the curious (and mourning) apprentices forth. Wildflowers are placed gently upon the ground - gifts for the long gone. The medicine cat doesn't think long about it, in truth. The cats before her may never see their ancestors again, not until they meet them in the stars. And now, the same can be said for the young woman.

In a space of heartache and grief, there's a spot of comfort in knowing she's not different.

It hurt to learn she wasn't favored. To have her father's sneering grin in her face, even if he comforted her sadness moments after. It hurt more to be shunned by the very stars she tried to worship. But in this moment, she breathes out an air of freedom, padding past the younger cats to find Icebreath's stone. The recognition of the other is brief, though much more certain is the realization that her daughter is named for her first mentor, too. Maybe not intentionally... but intention doesn't always rule.

You forgive me, don't you? She doesn't ask. Heathermoon's grave isn't far, and she wants to beget him the same inquiry. Shrikethorn, Vulturemask, Quietcrow, more... She clenches her jaw. You don't have to, she decides solemnly as she kneels before the graves and prays in silence.

𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

• ooc //

• ❥ MEDICINAL KNOWLEDGE
  ♥♥♡ WOUNDS ; can confidently stop bleeding and mend lacerations. will often request that you keep your injury clean and wait it out first.
  ♥♥♡ INFECTION ; as a side effect of likely her own doing, very dutiful with technique and treatment shortly thereafter.
  ♥♡♡ ACHES & PAINS ; will defer to a dark tunnel and rest. if pain persists, maybe she will offer something.
  ♥♡♡ BROKEN BONES ; has never dealt with a broken bone. likely will ask that you never move. ever again.
  ♥♥♥ TRAVELING HERBS ; learned well from her previous mentor. will pile even too many remedies to tough the wilderness with.
  ♥♥♥ KITTING ; having kittens of her own and helped several others with their litters, she is very well versed with calming techniques and quelling pain.
  ♥♡♡ POISONS ; she knows what they are... but that isn't enough, isn't it?
  ♥♥♡ ILLNESS ; having worked through two yellowcough bouts, she is confident in her remedies. much else... she's operating on trial and error.
  ⸻ cottonsprig is a dutiful and excitable medicine cat. she enjoys company and loves conversation. she'd rather not have too many curious noses snooping around her den... but who is she to quell curiosity?

• 

  ⸻❥ cottonsprig is the primary medicine cat of windclan. a former princess to the moors, she harbors many guilts for her actions throughout her short life. she has no consistent partner, unwilling to commit and settle, and she is training celandinepaw in medicine.

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