TAKE THIS BEATING HEART ✦ cottonsprig

[MIDNIGHTPAW]

Midnightpaw spent many sleepless nights staring up at the stars. They had always brought her an indescribable sense of comfort, ever since she was old enough to look up into their twinkling depths. They were the reason she had pushed to become a moor-runner; in truth, her frail body would've faired much better in the tunnels. But she couldn't stand the idea of a life spent away from the open sky. There were mysteries up there, stories that she wanted to hear and dreams she wanted to discover. Family, too. They were up there, star-pelted ancestors watching her with the same intensity that she gifted them.

But it felt different now. Nightingalecry was up there somewhere, and she shouldn't be. Midnightpaw couldn't help but wonder, as she gazed up at those distant lights, if her mother was okay. And now she knew the truth about her birth parents, or at least, some small portion of the truth. Nightingalecry hadn't told them everything, but she could tell by the secrecy that they couldn't have been kind or good. Cats only ever talked about the damned in hushed whispers the way they did with her parents. Did that mean they were up there now too? How could evil rest beside the purity that was her mother? None of it made sense anymore.

A gentle breeze whispered through the sleeping camp, ruffling pitch-striped fur. Her ears swiveled at the approach of paw steps, and she turned over her shoulder to find ocean eyes looking at her in the dark. With all the time she'd spent being treated for various illnesses throughout her young life, Midnightpaw had grown comfortable in the company of their medicine cats. Wolfsong felt like stength to her, but Cottonsprig felt like warmth. Her tail twitched slightly, but she didn't object as the ashen molly approached. "Cottonsprig," she whispered suddenly into the night. "Do all cats go to Starclan? Even... the bad ones?"

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‎‎ooc ♡ info

• [ @cottonsprig ]

• 

• MIDNIGHTPAW ✦ she / her, moor-runner apprentice of windclan, 8 moons
  ⭃ short-hair black tabby with low-white, vitiligo and blue eyes. petite and fragile
  ⭃ hollowcreek x harbingermoon // littermate to whitepaw and grasspaw
  ⭃ adopted by nightingalecry // adopted sister to frightpaw, witherpaw and deathpaw
  ⭃ single, crushing on no one // currently mentored by redheart
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted // underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by limerence ↛ @limericks. on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

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[cottonsprig]

Cottonsprig has long since understood the necessity for some cats in the Clan to have a permanent spot within her den. Whilst many push to sleep in the open, like any other WindClanner, there will always be a cluster of nests for when the air bites too much or a returning illness renders them incapable for an afternoon. Midnightpaw, along with her brother Grasspaw, were among these sorts of cats. Cottonsprig had tried to treat them each relatively the same to their peers, but admittedly seeing the young she-cat awake in the dead of night unnerves the medicine cat. Initially, she worries that something is wrong, and is quick to her paws to investigate.

However, as she approaches, the youth asks her a question. The greeting is immediately forgotten with the gravity of what she is asked, and Cottonsprig nearly stalls entirely, her lips parting as initial reaction is to simply stonewall the apprentice and refuse to answer. Several seconds pass before she tries to flatten the ruffled fur of her pelt and lean into a seated position beside the apprentice. Her gaze tilts up towards the stars, and she almost remarks openly how they do not speak with her. The urge to be blunt hurts her, but instead she carries the conversation as she should.

"Bad... Is a hard trait to define, Midnightpaw," she offers. Should the young she-cat allow her, she leans over to groom the other's fur. "Some cats act in good faith, even if their actions are not inherently good. Sometimes... all they know is bad, because no one gave them the chance to be good." Cottonsprig thinks of her mother, of her father - of the grimy place they prowl through for eternity. She cannot curse Midnightpaw with that knowledge - she refuses to. Instead, she offers the alternative.

"I had an older sister, you know. Older than Moorblossom and Bluefrost - her name was Shrikethorn. Sootspot's littermate," her tail twitches as she speaks. "She was our mother's little prize. Spoke exactly like Sootstar, acted very closely too. She was killed because she tried to be good in the end... and despite all of the bad that she did, I still saw her in StarClan." Redeemed, she almost calls it, but she leaves the tale there for Midnightpaw to absorb.

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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