pafp cold as ice — prompt

[FOXTAIL]

Foxtail can remember that fateful day like it was yesterday. He was a brand new apprentice, excited to explore the territory and learn the ways of being a warrior. He didn't fully understand the dangers of this world, and how some of those dangers are so close to home. Now that he's older, he understands why he didn't recognize the danger of accepting that dare. While RiverClan relies on the river and it's apart of their way of life, the river can be the very thing that destroys them. The river is merciless, and will pull down any cat into it's currents, even experienced swimmers. One might think that they're safe from the risk of drowning in the river during the winter, but even that isn't true.

The young warrior shakes his head. Stop thinking about it, He thinks to himself as he curls himself up, squeezing his eyes shut. Why can't he have one moment alone when he doesn't think about it? Too bad there is a constant reminder: leaf-bare. The cold breeze brushes up against his fur, and he wraps his fuzzy tail around his body... trying to just forget for even a moment.

The sound of popping from ice causes his ears to prick up in an instant, and he jumps up in alarm. He knows that sound from anywhere... it's a sound he wished he wasn't familiar with. Without a second to lose, the tom leaves the warmth of the woven warriors's nest, and his green eyes scan the camp. His worried eyes land on Shellkit at the edge of the island camp, jumping around on the ice. The kit seems to be having fun sliding around, but he can only focus on the ice beneath her paws. Another pop from the ice reaches his ears, and his eyes widen with horror. The ice! It's going to break! "SHELLKIT!" He cries out, and he suddenly finds himself racing towards her, "Get off the ice, now!"

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₊ ⋆ * ⊹ ₊ —— 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦

• please wait until @SHELLKIT posts!
  
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  credit to tieirlys for the artwork <3
  
• Foxtail

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  warrior
  warmhearted
  timid
  experience: trained
  backstory: tbd
  biography: [HYPERLINK]
  credit to nopeita for the pixel <3
  

  cisgender male [he / him]
  eyes: green
  pelt: cinnamon/chocolate
  fur length: long
  parents: dawnflower and redfur (riverclan npcs)
  15 moons
  

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[shellpaw]

as most childhood whimsies, it had started innocently. shellkit was not often allowed near the shore — it was too cold here, not so surrounded by stone and willow trees to keep the wind from whipping wildly at her fur. her ears were already flattened against it before a paw had even brushed the scuffed surface of ice layering the camp’s frosted tides ; and though hazecloud was not here to shield her from the harsh weather, though she still had a few more tail-lengths to go, the lilac girl wobbles another determined step forward. ice bites at her paws, a sticky numbness to their bright pink pads with each lift of a reed - thin limb.

it had been only a swipe, a playful bat at her bundle of moss that sends it rolling across the ice instead of further down the sandy shores where she’d created a divot in the grain from an excitable back and forth. she’d watched it go, stony eyes trailing her plaything as it slid and slid further onto the river. she thought it would drop down into it, in the middle where the deepest waters still tremble black even at its surface. a glance around told her no one was looking, yet to realize she had made her way to the waters edge ; leafbare was hard, and the warriors milling about camp were tired, she knew..they wouldn’t help her get that mossball. they’d tell her to leave it, and she’d get a new one if an apprentice had scraps left over from the elders bedding.

she’d have to do it herself.

how foxtail spots the smudge of lilac ribboning crouching low over the ice, she doesn’t know. she is but a cygnet treading the frosted rivers, featherdown and delicate white like the ice she stands on. watching each step of her paws, watching the ice push down against the water underneath ( it was trapped there, beneath a layer of crystal. ) she gawks at the way it spreads white around her weight. the warriors were wrong — this wasn’t dangerous. with her body low to the ground, she reaches her mossball, snow - dusted now in its stationary position but enticing all the same. she bats at it, gleeful to have achieved her goal. she bites it hard, flops onto her side and if she were looking, she would see the ice turn whiter, and whiter.

she scrabbles up, crouched with her rear high in the air to pounce it again when suddenly — SHELLKIT!

panic, fear and guilt flood her all at once. her ears snap down, a faux - confused : ” no, i didn’t — ! “ flooding hoarsely back to him before she hears it. a crackling ; a low, crinkling noise, staticky enough for her skull to snap finally downward. her pupils dilate. terror pulses through her chest, dark and instinctive and all - encompassing. she warbles a shriek, lifts her paws off the ice and watches the splintering spread enough for water to begin welling through the cracks before she thinks to go. she wanted to remain there, wait until someone older stomped over and scruffed her, but she could not. shellkit would have to save herself.

her paws slip and slide, but she skitters towards the shore, a chunk of ice submerging behind her once she does. she wails, ice splintering further behind her with each hopping stride. foxtail is running towards her and in a desperate attempt to flee the shattering ice, stumbles. she cries — before awkwardly attempting to push off of her hind legs, aiming to slide towards him enough when she falls for the warrior to snatch her by the scruff.

she doesn’t understand the trust she places in him — but prays he pities her enough to help anyway, closing amber eyes and ducking her head when her paws come out from under her, awaiting either the cold submersion of water or the cold wall of wind when she’s lifted up, tiny paws shining with water the way her cheeks do with tears. when she’s caught, she will offer a small, shaking smile ; didn’t mean to, didn’t mean to. she most certainly had.

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𓇼 𝙎𝙊 𝙎𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙎𝙊 𝘾𝙊𝙇𝘿

• i.
  
  
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  SHELLKIT 𓆉 SHE / HER, KITTEN OF RIVERCLAN. KINDLING xx UNKNOWN, NIECE TO SMOKESTAR. TWO MOONS OLD, SMELLS LIKE SALT & RIVER BLOOMS. PENNED BY ANTLERS.
  delicate lilac - striped molly with sugarplum eyes.
  
  she is pallid ; platinum splotched with ribbons of shell - touched cream, wisped ends like memories of a distant shore. feather breath and elderdown fur conceals a body worn fragile by tumultuous youth, too thin in some places and round with baby fat in others. her face is short - muzzled, framed half mast by eyes coined warm, sugared amber ---------- ° ❀ ⋆
  

  currently exhibiting symptoms of whitecough. this includes a running nose, wheezing, sluggishness, and labored breathing. please keep contagion in mind.

  
  

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[EELPAW]

While not much older than Shellkit, Eelpaw too would have made the same mistake that the younger kit had made. Watching the scene unfold, she found herself jumping at the sound of the cracking and popping ice. Her mentor's shout rang out, leaving her shaking at the volume and panic of his voice. Was Shellkit going to be okay? Foxtail would save her, right? Anxiety would creep through her veins as she watched the scene unfold, wondering if she should run for help. Could she even run for help with the way she was frozen in place?

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[hazecloud]

Her Clanmates, Apricotflower had been helpful in the moments she could not split herself in two and watch over two different litters that had to rely on her. It was hard to give them all of her trust of course. Warriors seemed to underestimate the amount of persistence a child had to get what they wished, and perhaps it was slightly her fault that they listened more to her call and request more than any other. This mornings fright was not at the inaction of any but herself, this time. Long hours in the night wracked with echoed braying and the three newer additions waking up to shout their hunger had made her exhausted once the sun had risen.

Locked into the depths of sleep, Hazecloud was utterly unaware when Shellkit had left the nursery. Still weighed down by a dreamless rest that keot her tucked into a ball, fluffy tail wrapped around her brood in a bundle of warmth. The crackle of ice did not wake her, but the urgent yowl burst from Foxtail's maw snapped her chin from her paws in immediate attention.

Quickly the queen peeled herself away from the three, paws stumbling forward out of the nursery, still bleary with sleep. "Shellkit?" Her voice rasped as she turned her head toward Foxtail first, then followed her gaze to see the kit out on the ice. Already she is leaping toward the tom to catch her, and horror has grasped her throat too tightly to shout.

Catch her!​

 

[FOXTAIL]

He can feel his heart beating in his chest as he races towards Shellkit. She seemed to be confused at first by his outburst, but then she noticed the cracking in the ice. In a matter of seconds, he watches as Shellkit shuffles her way towards shore, but the danger is catching up to her with every step she makes. He gasps as the ice submerges behind her— it's getting so close to catching up to her! She pushes her legs and slides towards him, and in a quick motion, he snatches her by her scruff, right before the ice broke beneath her. He can feel the alarm bells going off in his head as his paws plunge into the ice cold water— his fur bristling at the reminder of how cold the water gets in leaf-bare. He quickly turns around and leaps back onto shore, his green eyes landing on his apprentice and Hazecloud for a moment. They look panicked, but he's sure there'll be relief on their faces in an instant. "I got her," He says, muffled from Shellkit's scruff in his jaws.

He pads further away from shore, and gently sets the young kit down on the snow covered ground. "You're safe now," He huffs, relaxing his fur as he looks down at Shellkit. She must be shaken up, even though she didn't fall in it's still terrifying. "Are you okay?" He asks between huffs, as he's still trying to calm himself down from the whole ordeal. He sits himself down on the ground, and his paws slightly tremble. That could've been a disaster if he didn't reach her in time! He was so relieved she didn't fall through the ice like he had when he was an apprentice. "You need to be more careful... alright?"
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𝐨𝐨𝐜 —— 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦

• powerplay granted by antlers!
  
• 
  
  

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  credit to skaicraft (via insta) for the artwork <3
  
• Foxtail

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  warrior
  warmhearted
  timid
  experience: trained
  backstory: tbd
  biography: [HYPERLINK]
  credit to nopeita for the pixel <3
  

  cisgender male [he / him]
  eyes: green
  pelt: cinnamon/chocolate
  fur length: long
  parents: dawnflower and redfur (riverclan npcs)
  16 moons
  

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