sensitive topics Sewing the patches right onto my skin // return

[Periwinklebreeze.]

ATOMS AND LOW SELF-ESTEEM,
IS THAT ALL THAT I'M GONNA BE ? ​

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periwinklebreeze ❀ 28 moons ❀ demi-boy ❀ windclan lead warrior ​

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Limbs feel like lead - each paw step sending shocks of pain from tender paw pads through his whole body. Body trembles violently - teeth gripping his catch as though it is life or death, as he drags himself nearer and nearer to the camp. Ears pressed against his skull and tail dragging limply, he stumbles when he makes it through the entrance - blinking tiredly as vision swims. Rabbit drops loosely from his jaws, the prey pile seemingly miles away, and he wobbles again, swaying on his heels. Snow clings to tangles fur in matts - leeching what little warmth remains from the pointed toms already aching body. Wheezes and coughs flood from his lips, through chattering teeth and cheeks chewed raw in his anxiety, before tired mind remembers what he's supposed to be doing. " G-get... c-c-cottonsp-sprig, " he has no on to blame but himself and his own stupidity, but any hubris has long fled with the warmth he hadn't known he could lose.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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W H A T -D O E S - M Y -L I F E -E V E N -M E A N ?

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// @cottonsprig meddie ping but not PAFP

 

[downyfur]

Since their last herb patrol, Downyfur had been hobbling around camp on bandaged and blistering paws. Large ears droop with cobwebs swaddling their black tips, painted on the insides with some foul-smelling concoction of Celandinepaw's. The luck of the stars would have it that frostbite was nothing more than a wound, and that they had all trundled home early on their's or some other's request, with just the cure in tow.

The camp is quiet—no one was particularly up for conversation, not with all this work to be done, and the snow muffled just about everything else—when Periwinklebreeze stumbles through the gorse tunnel. The sight of him makes them leap to their paws, wincing at both the pain and the sight of him. "Cottonsprig!" they cry, instinctively tottering towards the petal-eyed tom. "Celandine! Oh StarClan, what happened?" they gasp. They've never dared to touch him before, fearing it would break some sort of illusion between them and their scarred mirror, but now they attempt to press themself into his side in attempt to get some warmth into him. Touching him would draw out a quiet hiss: "Great StarClan, Periwinkle, you're like an icicle..."​

 

[cottonsprig]

Cottonsprig is beginning to detest the sound of her name. With the ever present blizzard, she watches as cats slip out of the gorse on conquests to maintain their Clan's survival - all whilst risking their own. Paws as cold as ice have already crossed her path, sniffles and coughs not long after. She should've put her own paw down once she noticed the stores growing thinner with every lost daylight; but it's too late for that. It seems it will always be too late.

Again, her name is called, and again her apprentice soon after. She watches the rabbit slump to Periwinklebreeze's side, first, his expression lost and miserable. Downyfur seems to keep the tom upright, but truly, it seems like a wasteful effort. Every inch of exposed skin is tinged blue-black or caked with snow, hiding whatever beneath it - not to mention the wheezing she can hear from fox-lengths away.

"Thank you, Downyfur," she murmurs to the young warrior, briefly passing them a glance as she takes up the lead's other side. "Help me get him to my den. He needs to lie down..." and she'll have to do all she can to salvage what he has left.

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.

​

 

[Silk-kit]

Silk-kit's heart skips a beat at the sight of Periwinklebreeze stumbling into camp, looking as if the very weight of the snow billowing outside had crushed him. Her wide eyes blink, a sudden surge of worry bubbling in her chest. The poor tom is practically frozen, and the desperate way he grips his prey like it's his lifeline makes her stomach twist. Her usual flare for elegance is momentarily forgotten as the kit's paws tingle with nervous energy. She watches Downyfur rush to help him, and it reassures her a bit, but now her tail is also twitching with alarm. If the warrior is worried, something is definitely wrong. She has the sudden urge to do something - anything.

"I-I'll get some soft moss for him," She declares shrilly. The high pitch of her voice makes it clear the severity of the situation has shaken her. "Moss will keep him warm. I can make a soft bed in the medicine den so he'll…he'll be warm enough to rest." She pauses, her fur standing on end as she watches Periwinklebreeze's strained movements between the two cats. She's always liked him - he's always been kind to her and she hates seeing him like this. "I know it's not much, but I'll make sure he's comfortable!" She glances at Cottonsprig, her eyes filled with admiration for the medicine cat's calm under pressure. "If there's anything else I can do…I'll help however I can!" She knows she's no apprentice, but she's nearly there! She can help!

With that, Silk-kit scampers off to gather what little she can to assist, her earlier thoughts of beauty and decorations replaced by a genuine desire to care for one of her clanmates in need. She may only be a kit, but she would prove that her heart is that of a warrior's - fierce and strong!
​

 

[SPARROWBREEZE]

What blessing the Stars had placed over WindClan had been short-lived. Sparrowbreeze can't help but wonder if they'd been fools for celebrating the frost's subside so soon, for the cold was swift to make its return, to press onward in a second round more fierce than the last. Where frost had once cast itself against the moor-cats' fur now sits snowlakes, large and billowing across the plains. Her own paws feel heavy with ice, a weight just as much a burden as her fears for her home.

Ones that are made worse with a shock to her heart at the scene before her. Periwinklebreeze trudges into camp, and the moor-runner suddenly finds herself wondering when the last time she'd seen the lead warrior was. How long could he have possibly been out there? Stars above, he looks as if he's made of snow!

Though not close to the pointed warrior, Sparrowbreeze can't help the worry she feels as her paws move toward the scene. " Oh stars — " she finds herself croaking out, paws shifting beneath her as she looks to her former nursery-mate with concern. Cottonsprig is a good medicine cat, she knows. Periwinklebreeze will soon be on the mend under her care. " Let... Let me know if I can help, " she finds herself saying, as if it's the least she can do as she bears witness to the scene before her.
​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

ATOMS AND LOW SELF-ESTEEM,
IS THAT ALL THAT I'M GONNA BE ? ​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

periwinklebreeze ❀ 29 moons ❀ demi-boy ❀ windclan lead warrior ​

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Shivering violently, half dazed - he almost doesn't notice when Downyfur at last breaks the carefully maintained gap between them. It'd always been strange, unsettling even, the way they'd looked so much alike and yet decidedly not - and Periwinklebreeze, in his less... lucid moments, had struggled to keep from comparing the younger warrior with the figure that haunted his dreams. And yet the press of fur against his own, snow-laden and half-numb though it may be, is decidedly real - tangible, in the wya his weight shifts as he is suddenly leaning upon them.

There is a moment where is is spellbound, rooted in place not by the cold but by the touch, and then head shakes violently again. Paws are spurred forwards by the sudden warmth - so hot he fears he has been set ablaze. Cottonsprig does not even ask what happened, and he winces as guilt rocks him. He will be wasting mor eof windclans precious herbs, and for what? His own stubborn pride?

Eyes take one last glance at the rabbit - a pitiful prize for his efforts - and he follows, trudging slowly after the medicine cat. For once, he is almost certain that sleep will find him tonight - he is already terribly close to letting the world fall away around him.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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W H A T -D O E S - M Y -L I F E -E V E N -M E A N ?

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[downyfur]

Periwinklebreeze's weight judders almost fully upon them. She grits her teeth and stiffens her limbs, trying not to let his trembling infect her lest they both fail. Cottonsprig is quick to rescue her. Azure eyes flash with something, not exactly gratitude, but concentration. The same kind they see in Featherspine's gaze as she stalks a particularly fast-looking rabbit, or Scorchstorm's before another round of a tiring spar.

The lead warrior seems to have gotten himself into a particularly un-healable situation, and Downyfur doesn't know whether to feel sympathy for the tom or anger for the mouse brain that'd gotten him into it. Mostly she's relieved it wasn't her who had to be half-carried to the medicine den in front of the clan's worried eyes, and certainly not her who was going to consume two cats' worth of herbs for it.

Silk-kit scampers up, baby blues round with shock. She declares herself of some help, and Downyfur gives her a smile beneath the tom's weight and her own hurting paw-pads. "Thank you," they puff to her. At her age, they would've been one of the ones sent out into the storm, or preparing for it at least. It's heartening to know that WindClan's kits retain some sense of duty, though Downyfur agrees with not asking too much from them.

Sparrowbreeze draws closer, offering her larger paws for help, but Downyfur shakes their head. I've got this. It must be them and them alone being seen escorting a foolish lead warrior to Cottonsprig's den, even while their own paws and ears heal. How noble, how selfless.

After what feels like a thousand tree-lengths of walking, she carefully dislodges the smoky warrior from her shoulder and into a waiting bed. Awkwardly, she meets the medicine cat's gaze. (Leaving her in their periphery means leaving a Sootstar-like ghost there.) "I hope he'll be okay," she offers, knowing that asking about it would just put her on the spot but feeling like she should say something anyway.​