pafp WAIT FOR ME — receiving the lungwort

[RAVENSONG]

Ravensong sits with his back to the entrance of the medicine cat den, hollowed eyes staring at a certain point beyond the reed-coated walls of his home. The medicine den has halved its population within only a few weeks and all he could do was stare emptily as if he had completely lost his mind. Faith dwindled to the width of a single hair—and his dreams turned ever more disturbed.

Almost two moons ago he had cried wolf about the journeying cat's reappearance. So much has happened since then that Ravensong's delusions prompt him to believe more readily that they would never come back at all. StarClan hangs high above his head, holding within their paws powers he could not access. He wonders, not for the first time, how much they really know.

Something scuffles behind him. Ravensong turns his head, which he holds low beneath his bony shoulders. Glazed eyes focus unsteadily on the white figure that has approached from behind.

"Mouse..." He mumbles, recognizing the auburn flare in the white cat's eyes to be the newly renamed Moonpaw. Ravensong has not gotten used to the name and for some reason as his brains are racked with fevers, she is known simply as Mouse to him.

His breath caught in his throat when he parted his jaws and tasted the scent of lungwort. His eyes deceive him until he realizes the fat, spotted leaves are truly, in fact, the famed lungwort that cost so much to take.

"That's—that's not enough, where did you—?" His eyes widen and his body jolts as he looks in a panic behind Moonpaw. The muttering and murmurings of several cats outside suddenly hit his ears, as if they had been closed off in beeswax and finally hearing was restored.

Ravensong leaps for the entrance, pushing his way through the willow covering, and he can account for the scent and sight of every one except — "Where's Dovethroat?"


// wait for @Moonpaw 's post
its set directly after moonpaw's departure in journeying cats return thread

☾₊ ⊹ 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"

​

 

[Moonbeam]

The second she had been able to, Moonpaw wanted to remove herself from the grief-stricken cats that had come back from the mountains. She had thought their return would be a happy one, but that had also been before the rogues, before Cicadastar had died, before her clanmates had died. She had already begun her mourning, moving into the quieter phase of shoving it down and hoping that the sad feelings would go away, but she hadn't thought about how the returning cats would feel when they got back. It had felt wrong to be standing there speaking with them of their losses when they still had cats that needed the lungwort - Ravensong needed the lungwort - and so when Smokethroat mentioned her name and when Fernpaw shoved the herbs her way the ghost-hued feline had quickly taken it and ran off to see her friend.

As she pad into his den Moonpaw thanked StarClan that the only thing she could smell was the plant she carried in her jaws. It wasn't the best smell in the world, but she knew that it was better than the acrid smell of sick that would be filling the shadow-colored medicine cat's place of sleep. A pause came from her when he turned towards her, the small utterance of the word "mouse" coming from him and at first she was confused - was there a mouse in here? - until she realized he was talking to her, that that was her name for now and she would quietly nod. She placed the leaves as close to Ravensong as she could, a silent plea for him to do whatever it was he needed to do with them to heal himself and those left within his care before doing anything else, but that was when he began to speak of it not being enough and she moved back as he leapt forward, quickly following in momentary silence before he spoke once more.

Where's Dovethroat?

At first she didn't know what to say, brain scrambling to remember what had been said about him before she moved to Raven's side, sitting close enough to speak to him without raising her voice while far enough where they weren't touching, where she could get away if he told her to lest she somehow got sick. Even with the cure right there at their paws she was still scared of sick. "There's a lot more lungwort, Cicadapaw and Beepaw are going to help bring it to you." She'd make sure he was helped - and she knew others would too - whether he liked it or not. "Iciclefang said a ThunderClan apprentice got hurt and Dovethroat said he'd stay behind to help carry her back." She'd speak to him at last. It was an... honorable thing to do she guessed, but still wished Dovethroat had come back with the rest of the RiverClanners, that they'd all come home together as one.

☾₊ ⊹ give me a ghost of a smile

• 
  ⋆ ratkit - ratpaw - moonpaw - moon???
  ⋆ female - she/her - 6 moons
  ⋆ homosexual - not looking
  ⋆ apprentice of riverclan
  ⋆ peaceful powerplay allowed
  ⋆ attack - "speech" - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

​

 

[BEEFANG]

FIGHT SO DIRTY BUT YOU LOVE SO SWEET — Beepaw walks alongside Cicadapaw and gently brushes sides with him as she follows after Moonpaw to seek out Ravensong, she remembers his outburst when he had said that the journey cats had arrived earlier from their trip. A part of her wishes it had been true... Maybe then they wouldn't have lost so many cats or been chased out several times by those pesky rogues, the thought itself makes her blood boil for a few seconds but eventually is snuffed out by her exhaustion. The herbs feel uncomfortable on her tongue and mouth or rather what's able to brush against it as she ambles along, her ears rotate forward seeing Ravensong perk from at the sight of Moonpaw and calls her Mouse instead of by her new name.

The younger molly too tired to correct him and Moonpaw didn't seem to mind so she wouldn't say a word either, she glances at her brother briefly with a nod before pressing forward to place her own bundles of herbs next to her best friends then steps back with her gaze focusing on the pair. "He'll be back soon... I'm sure of it," She offers in reassurance to the pitch black tom not wanting him to get distressed further by the fact that Dovethroat wasn't here now, Beepaw can only hope that the rest of the cats that Dovethoat stayed behind with made sure that he came back home alive and safely. Ravensong already having to deal with enough stress as is with him being the only medicine cat and having to deal with several patients plus himself.

Who knew what would become of him if Dovethroat never came back... Her jaw clenches as she tries not to think about it.

𓆟. ° .• . TALK SO PRETTY BUT YOUR HEART GOT TEETH

• 
  ❥ 4 moons old
  ❥ riverclan apprentice
  ❥ sexuality unknown; single
  ❥ daughter of cicadastar and smokethroat
  ❥ sister of cicadapaw & starlightpaw
  ❥ "speech", thoughts, attacking
  ❥ easy; still learning how to fight
  ❥ peaceful powerplay allowed

​

 

[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw had been hiccupping, sobbing- he couldn't help the flood, the torrent of sadness that kept, kept, kept flooding out of him. A cascade of rain and grief, a storm that engulfed completely the happiness he thought would greet him at this camp. Fatigue clung to them all. And Ravensong was sick, he'd heard- his friend was sick. What if he'd been slower? The thought of a universe where he'd failed on an even greater scale did nothing to halt his tears.

And then he heard it. Ravensong's voice, sick-rasped but seemingly revitalised, facing the crowd and asking for the singular Riverclanner who wasn't still among them. Moonpaw had surged forward, delivering some of the lungwort that Fernpaw had dropped when he'd wailed- and he stumbled toward the medicine den with more lilac, leaf-speckled blooms in his mouth, sniffing heavily to try and force his tears away. He wanted to be happy to see Ravensong, and he tried to stay happy, but the pain of knowing he'd been too late to save Steepsnout felt as if fox paws were pinning him down again.

He struggled past them, though. Placed the lungwort at the medicine cat's feet, and let a trembling smile quaver across his face. "Hi," he said, trying to force the sorrow out of his voice and utterly failing. Still, he managed to take on some level of steadiness when he told Ravensong, on no uncertain terms, "He w-wasn't far behind. I promise." He knew, he knew Dovethroat had to come back. He'd seen in the tan tom, and every one of the journeying cats, an unshakeable strength and conviction.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​