Unearth without a name | herb patrol

[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

When Smokethroat assigned him to help Ravensong, Snakeblink thought he knew what that would entail. It would not be the first time he has to help the medicine cat gather herbs — or rather carry the bundles that the trained healer picks up.

He did not expect Ravensong to need this much help.

It’s not that Snakeblink minds. He enjoys feeling useful and the green, bitter scent of freshly cut herbs, and Ravensong has been growing on him rapidly, like moss. But even with his symptoms mitigated by his various plants and tinctures the black cat looks ill and feverish, watching wearily from a distance while Snakeblink and Robinpaw putter around at his behest. It worries him. The clan relies on his medicinal knowledge and his alone; unlike other clans, they do not have a medicine cat apprentice to pick up the slack. It inspires a strange, nagging feeling: half practical concern, half irrational regret, as if there had been anything he could have done about it yet didn’t.

Keeping an eye on Robinpaw proves a decent distraction. She doesn’t seem keen on escaping her duties, but Smokethroat did tell him to watch the wayward apprentice while his own is out hunting, and it’s a tangible thing to focus on, unlike the thousand other worries plaguing them.

”A few more balls of moss would not go amiss,” he tells her, gesturing with his tail to a fresh, green patch of it growing on a fallen log. ”We will soak them in water and bring them to the sick so they can drink. And to cool their fever, maybe?” His voice dips in a questioning tone, turning to Ravensong. ”Is there anything else we can help you with?” Their lack of expertise limits their helpfulness somewhat, but maybe he can point at things for them to pick.​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely ​

ooc. information.

• @robinpaw. @RAVENSONG but you don't have to wait for them!
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 45 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

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[RAVENSONG]

Ravensong stares blankly at a point beyond Snakeblink as the lead warrior fusses about with the tasks that Ravensong can no longer carry out. When he shakes himself out of lucidity, he can care for the sick, giving them a few more doses of feverfew or honey, but even those are running out as leafbare threatens to close its icy grip around the forest.

He would have never guessed he could ever become so tired and exhausted that he did not care about anything else.

Rheumy eyes blink at the brown tabby and his wayward apprentice to watch. He had heard of Robinpaw's disappearance and reappearance and he sympathizes with her youthful rashness. He folds his paws underneath him and lowers his head so his chin rests against the ground.

"Why is there not enough food as there used to be, Snakeblink?" His question is entirely non-medicinal, and he stares up at him with watery eyes. "Leafbare isn't here yet."

☾₊ ⊹ темная ночь — dark is the night

•  
• 
  RAVENSONG of RIVERCLAN
  — LH BLACK POLYDACTYL MALE (CARRYING CINNAMON, DILUTE) a tall, slender creature with pitch-black feathery fur, large ears, and a sharply angled skull held up in an aloof manner. smells of dried herb, speaks with a low and rumbly accent and walks with an elegant slinking gait.
  
  — born in twolegplace and orphaned at a young age, he joined riverclan at its inception and began training as a drypaw warrior known for a bitter temperment until beesong made him his medicine cat apprentice. after his mentor's untimely death, he had been named ravensong at the moonstone, young heart revitalized with anger and guilt. he is a somber and thorough medicine cat that guards every word spoken in the confines of his den.
  
  — secretly loves "the stars but not so much what inhabits them"
  — openly suffers from chronic migraines
  — single, but "it's complicated"

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[robinheart]

Robinpaw is obedient in following through with Smokethroat's assignment, keeping close to Snakeblink and glancing back at Ravensong often to make sure the medicine cat was doing alright - or, as alright as he could be while feverish and exhausted. It isn't her place to speak, but the multicolored apprentice wishes Ravensong had not come along. Not because she feels any ill-will towards him, rather because she believes rest and conserving his energy would have benefitted him more than joining her and Snakeblink on a herb patrol. But therein lies an issue given the two of them do not know which herbs are needed and which aren't, thus needing Ravensong's presence to carry out their duties.

It is enough to make her head spin if she frets too much about it.

Fortunately Snakeblink keeps her busy, her current task being to collect fresh moss sprouting from a nearby fallen log. Robinpaw nods and grasps quite a few good sized clumps. She makes sure to leave some moss behind for a later date (or maybe it'll grow more? She isn't sure if moss works that way or not). "Do you think this is enough?" Robinpaw asks Snakeblink, motioning to the balls of moss she had collected before perking her ears at what Ravensong has to say. A concerned expression crosses her features, not only for the point being made but also because it doesn't seem to correlate to the task at hand. The tortoiseshell doesn't say anything though, instead waiting for Snakeblink to answer the medicine cat.

 

[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

”That’s good.” Snakeblink nods to Robinpaw, jerking his chin at the mossballs. Wayward though she may be, he appreciates her diligence in this somewhat boring task. ”Now to take them to the water’s edge and—”

Ravensong’s words steal the sound from him, trailing off to listen to the medicine cat’s hoarse question. It doesn’t occur to him to lie: Ravensong may be feverish, at times barely lucid, but he is still their medicine cat with all the respect and responsibilities that entails. Voice flat like a patrol report, Snakeblink says: ”The more the sickness advances, the fewer cats are available to hunt — and something has been scaring the fish away.”

He hopes, uselessly, that it is only some freak weather, or perhaps the beavers. He does not like the ghost of future danger that hangs over the territory. ”But we have been working hard to make up for the absence, have we not?” He directs that last question to Robinpaw: in lean times, apprentices tend to get twice as much hunting training as any other lesson.

”Why, have you been lacking food? The medicine den is supposed to get the first pick in fresh kill — I can go and get you something to eat, if you would like.”
​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely ​

ooc. information.

• 
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 45 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

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