[ Archive of Whitebark ] [dnp]

[Grey_Hoodie]

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medicine
[-] Alder Bark
[-] Beech Leaves
[-] Bindweed
[-] Birch Sap
[-] Borage
[-] Bright-eye
[-] Broom
[-] Burdock Root
[-] Burnet
[-] Catchweed
[1] Catmint
[-] Celadine
[-] Chamomile
[-] Chervil
[-] Chickweed
[-] Cobwebs
[-] Coltsfoot
[-] Comfrey
xxxxx
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[-] Daisy Leaves
[-] Dandelion
[-] Dock
[1] Elder Leaves
[-] Fennel
[-] Feverfew
[-] Goatweed
[-] Goldenrod
[-] Hawkweed
[-] Heather Nectar
[-] Honey
[-] Horsetail
[-] Ivy Leaf
[-] Juniper Berries
[-] Lamb's Ear
[-] Laurel Leaf
[-] Lavender
[-] Lovage
xxxxx
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[-] Lungwort
[-] Mallow Leaves
[1] Marigold
[-] Mint
[1] Moss
[-] Mouse Bile
[-] Oak Leaf
[1] Parsley
[-] Poppy Seeds
[-] Ragwort Leaves
[-] Ragwort
[-] Raspberry Leaves
[-] Rosemary
[-] Rush
[-] Sorrel
[-] Sticks
[-] Stinging Nettle
[-] Sweet-sedge
xxxxx
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[-] Tansy
[-] Tormentil
[-] Thyme
[-] Traveling Herbs
[-] Watermint
[-] Wild Garlic
[-] Willow Bark
[-] Willow Leaves
[-] Wintergreen
[-] Wood Sorrel
[-] Yarrow
xxxxx
poison
[-] Deathberries
[-] Yew Berries
[-] Night Seeds
[-] Foxglove Seeds
[-] Holly Berries
[-] Meadow Saffron
[-] Deadly Nightshade
[-] Water Hemlock

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legend will be colored-coded
friendships
crushes
mateships
ex-mates
parents and kits

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[Grey_Hoodie]

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- - Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Post 4
Post 5
Post 6
Post 7
Post 8

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Hanging from a branch of blood-hued clouds like a piece of rotten fruit, the sun cast off the last of its light to burn into the fallen cliffside, fierce flares glaring off of the wet, newly unearthed stone. Mountains of dirt and debris littered the ravine’s depths, torn roots peeking out from muddy clumps and offering a perch to confused insects unused to such wild activity and commotion. A single mangled tree held up by one of the fallen stones offered shelter to a lone molly, her body deliberately curled into the branches just so she could feel the pinch of the pine needles against her skin.

It felt like nothing compared to the vile bitterness running its course through her veins. Her head pulsed with each heartbeat, syncing with the atrocious thoughts infecting her mind every time she thought she was near forgetting them. The ginger molly pressed her muzzle into the ground, curling her paws around her eyes in a futile attempt to forget everything. She didn’t want to think about it – why wouldn’t her mind obey her? The molly choked out an aborted cry, convincing herself the soggy fur clinging to her cheeks was simply a result of the muddy ground beneath her.

Her throat felt like it had been burned raw, the memory of a furious snarl threatening untold violence rising anew with each and every scratchy swallow. COWARDS! Her final word – the last thing she’d barked at her clanmates before they’d vanished into the dust, ignorant to her pleas and dismissive of the loss they’d all just faced. It was the only word her mind continued to dredge up that she allowed herself to focus on. The imagery of the queen’s scrambling, her mentor, Brambleshade, tossing a sodden body back up onto the ledge even as the ground was crumbling around him – they were cowards. Cowards. Cowards.

The ominous tune of a lurking boreal owl overhead caught her attention, ears perking forward to pinpoint the predator’s direction. Her gaze soon followed and a cave-black sky closed in on her from above, oily shadows dripping down the walls of the ravine to pool in darkened corners. Fear had always been foreign to her, but it was ever and overwhelmingly present now. Her spine quivered against a phantom chill, each strand of fur creeping away from prickly skin to stand erect. If sleep should grace her at all, it would be after her mind had vanished in on itself and her body had shivered itself into exhaustion. She could only hope. A tired, distraught mind would only hinder the work she’d need to do tomorrow.

- - -

The molly woke to a mellow light flooding the ravine in soft, blue hues and a choked guttural cough breaking out into wet, rattily breathing from beneath the rubble. Tucked into the pine needles, she laid half-awake attempting to absorb her surroundings before abruptly realizing what she was hearing. The ginger tabby stuttered into action, holding her breath and leaping to her paws, her sleep heavy legs scrambling over the damp earth to approach the remnants of the landslide. Balancing on her toes as she skipped from one boulder to the next, the molly’s eyes desperately sought out gaps in the rock, heart spiking every time she thought she saw a familiar tuft of fur.

Skidding to a stop at the entrance to a rocky hollow, the molly peered down into the darkness. Hope sparked in her chest at the sight of an empty space beneath the rubble, heart pounding eagerly at the premise of a miracle. Before she could get too excited, the molly shuffled her way into the gap, her breath stuttering as the stones above her scrapped along her spine. Gulping down her fear, tentatively she gasped out, “Brambleshade?”

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the creak of the stone she stood upon as it settled beneath her weight. Then, another cough and the familiar low tone of her mentor, the molly’s name slipping from his maw in a loose slur, “H’ny-pah? Wha--?” The tom let out a groan of pain, his words dropping off into agonized grunts as he shifted his weight. A shower of pebbles dropped down around him, coating his pelt in a fine layer of dust. The earth above him shifted, creeping down toward him.

Honeypaw stifled the sense of relief bubbling up inside of her, scolding herself mentally. They weren’t out of the woods yet – she still needed to get the tom out and to safety before they could celebrate his survival. The molly dropped to the ground, shaking the jittery feeling out of her paws as she marched forward, green gaze scanning the state of her mentor. Her mind skittered through all the possible injuries the tom might be suffering, hoping that the few moments she’d spent with their former medicine cat might aid her in helping him. The brief thought that maybe her attempts would be futile were immediately chased away.

The ginger molly crept gently over loose dirt, making her way down to where her mentor was crumbled beneath a long, thin slab of stone. A shiver worked its way down her spine at the sound of his breath and at the foam forming around his maw, but the molly refused to acknowledge her fears, bottling them up to deal with later. Honeypaw pressed her nose against the older tom’s forehead, offering some form of reassurance that he was no longer alone, before glancing up at the rock piled on top of him. There were a couple of smaller stones that would move easily enough, but the slab was another issue. Honeypaw might be able to lift it a couple inches off the tom, but she wouldn’t be able to move him by herself while also holding it up.

The molly grimaced, running her tail along Brambleshade’s flank and closing her eyes so that she might focus solely on her thoughts. She needed help, but she couldn’t wait for something she was certain wouldn’t be coming. The only cat who’d ever offered her any advice was pinned beneath the rubble. What could she do? Could she really ask her mentor to try and get himself out? Would he have the strength for that? A part of herself feared for the worst - that he would be incapable of moving from whatever injuries he must have sustained – but another, desperate, part of her demanded that she at least make an attempt.

The tom beneath her sputtered, working his jaw open and closed just above the pool of foam and bile he’d coughed out earlier. Hazily, he glanced upwards, recognition sparking in his eyes. “Honeypaw?” He mumbled, lifting his chin slightly to get a better look at his apprentice, hazel gaze working its way over her pelt to check for injuries. The molly wanted to berate her mentor for worrying when he was the one hurt, but she couldn’t find it in herself to do that. “’re you okay?”

Finding her words wouldn’t come to her, the molly offered a meek hum. After a moment to collect herself and to feel fresh determination flood through her system, the molly stood and motioned towards the rubble with a wave of her tail. “I’m going to get this off of you.” She mewed, tearing her gaze away from the older tom and pressing her paws against one of the smaller stones until it shifted and dropped off Brambleshade’s hip. “You’ll be okay. Do you think you can move?”

Brambleshade’s head shifted against the ground, but the molly couldn’t discern whether he’d meant anything by the movement. She continued sweeping off the accessible stones, shifting her legs until she was perched beneath the slab and could feel the rough texture pressing down on her shoulders. Her mentor rolled his head over to look at her, his thought process sluggish but evidently present on his face. The ruddy tom shuffled his paws forward, shakily pulling his chest off the ground and clawing at the stone in a weak attempt to slither forward.

Honeypaw’s eyes widened and she quickly pushed her weight upwards, ears twitching as the slab creaked and the stone moaned in distress above her. Another shower of pebbles and dirt splattered the ground, staining their pelts and clogging the air with dust. The molly gasped beneath the weight but held her stance, green gaze locked onto her mentor’s movements. He was slow, but the molly matched her determination to his, to keep the slab up and off of them until he was a safe distance away.

Honeypaw’s legs shivered with exertion, mouth aching with a rush of saliva and foreboding sense of nausea. Her brain buzzed uncomfortably, thoughts flitting loosely around the idea that their progress was stagnant, that they weren’t getting anywhere, and an encroaching fear threatened to swallow her. The ginger molly’s mind was blanking, kept focused only on her mentor’s sluggish figure and the soft light creeping into the rubble through small cracks.

Suddenly, the light shattered and two dark shadows slipped into the rocky crevice. Her muscles shuddered in relief as the weight was lifted off her back and she stumbled forward to aid the other shadow in pulling her mentor further away from the slab. Brambleshade made a disgruntled noise at being shifted so suddenly, his paws scrambling uselessly to keep up. The light grew sharper until at last the pair could flop down onto the earth outside the landfill.

Honeypaw’s mouth gaped, her flank swelling with each hungry gasp. Eyes pinched closed in a grimace, the ginger molly fought to regain her breath, only flicking her eyes open to reassure herself that her mentor was also safe. He seemed a little more aware now, with a set of clear eyes rounding the ravine and taking note of his surroundings. He’d also somehow found the strength to lift his chin and keep his head raised, and Honeypaw was immensely grateful for it. She took her time pulling in and pushing out breaths of relief, blinking warmly whenever the tom turned to catch her eye.

The ginger molly hadn’t even realized she’d closed her eyes until they were snapping open to catch a pair of small, pale paws inching over her mentor’s ribs without any regard to the tom’s grunts of pain and sickly expression. Dredging up the last reserve of her strength, Honeypaw swiped out towards the intruder, claws glinting in the low light, and rumbled out a warning growl, “Back off! Can’t you see he’s hurt?!”

Before the apprentice could attempt another attack, she was being pulled away by her scruff - apologies and explanations from her captor indecipherably muffled within the tangles of her fur - and dropped a few feet away from the pair. Honeypaw growled, spitting out curses and threats she’d fulfill once she’d gotten her strength back. The pale brown tabby perched over her mentor spared Honeypaw only a glance, before returning her sharp azure gaze to the scraps and cuts littering Brambleshade’s side and legs. A cool, lulling voice broke through the apprentice’s rant, offering a simple, “Feeling for breaks. Making note of wounds.”

A black tom circled around the apprentice, sitting down near her tail with an apologetic smile on his face, “Adrenaline’s still acting up, right? Think clearly – you do not need to fear us. That one is Lupine that Dances in Wind, healer of the Tribe of Sunlit Ice.” The tom blinked warmly at her before lifting his gaze away to watch as his partner worked. Much as the molly wanted to keep acting up – because she still didn’t know these strangers, and they could pull anything with both herself and her mentor weak –, she took a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts, keeping a watchful eye on her mentor even as she rested.

She knew they’d been the ones to help get her mentor to safety, even if the actual memories were fuzzy and focused primarily on her safety and that of Brambleshade’s. As the tension in her muscles loosened to leave Honeypaw inelegantly sprawled against the ground, the tom beside her got up and walked over to her mentor, offering a simple greeting before seeking instructions from the smaller molly – Lupine, the apprentice supposed she should call her. Brambleshade was still laying on his side, but his head was up and his ears were perked towards the conversation, opening his maw briefly to explain where he and Honeypaw had come from and how they’d ended up in the rubble of a landslide.

Honeypaw flicked an ear towards the group, but the noises washed over her, flitting briefly through her mind before vanishing. The molly stifled a yawn, determined to keep herself awake, but the morning light melted away beneath closing eyelids and the random chatter faded into nothing. Relief flowed loosely through the molly’s body, softening the hard hit her exhaustion would have given her anyways. Sleep came easily this time.

[Grey_Hoodie]

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Post 1
- - Post 2
Post 3
Post 4
Post 5
Post 6
Post 7
Post 8

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- - One Moon Ago - -
Puddles soaked the earth, pooling in the dips of flattened stones and rocky crevices. Heavy clouds sat overhead, threatening another wave of frigid rain. A steady drip beat against the pile of pebbles marking the cave’s entrance, and a cool light filtered in, offering no more color than the grey flooding the rest of the ravine. A puff of breath shuddered out into the open air, collecting itself in the shape of a cloud for but a moment before dissipating into wisps by a cool breeze.

A set of paws shuffled forward, pressing so softly into the ground they were almost hard to detect. A pair of sharp, azure eyes glanced up from the pebble stack, gaze glinting fiercely as her black-furred partner appeared into the myriad of puddles just outside the cave. The tom met her gaze within the water and he sighed, shifting to look her directly in the eye. “Lupine,” he murmured, ducking his head into her neck in comfort as she crumbled against him in defeat, “I will ask one more time - are you certain? I can take care of them.”

The pale molly’s mouth opened and close, but no sound presented itself. Her answer had settled deep in her throat, and the smaller cat clenched her jaw, teeth clicking together abruptly. Lupine eyed the pebbles, the markers she’d been using to pass the days, before hiding her face in the tom’s chest fur. Maw pointed to the ground, she made her words loud and clear, finality sharpening the edge of her voice and daring her partner to say anything in return. “It is my duty.”
A chin settled atop her head and the tom’s hum vibrated through her bones, but no more words were said. He would not argue with her.

Mesmerizing ringlets decorated the ground outside, disrupting the near perfect mirror displaying the sky at their paws. A haze filled the space between the ravine’s walls, raindrops falling faster and harsher, sending bitterly cold splatters towards the pair of cats. A hush filled the cave, but it was easily drowned out by the rushing of water against stone. The cacophony of noise was not necessary and Lupine wished she could tell her ancestors so. She would not cry, and she did not need them to offer her any form of relief. This was her duty – she could do nothing else.

- - -