FROZEN AND CAN'T BREATHE — leaf-bare pondering

[TIDEFROST]

There was a chill in the air this morning, when Tide woke up.

It's old news, as of late, the dropping temperatures. He's woken up cold other mornings too - woken up shivering, begging to stay in the warmth of his nest for just a little longer more often than not, this past moon. However, this morning?

This morning it was freezing.

And, oh, how he curses his short fur, right now! Short fur could only keep him so warm! Why couldn't he be born with one of those pretty, flowy coats? Certainly, he'd be nice and cozy right now, if his fur was longer!

The last leaf-bare, things had been different. Once the shores got cold, the water-monster went into hibernation, and his twoleg elders took him into their nice, warm land-nest, where Tide could spend the leaf-bare watching through clear barriers as frost and snow took over the land. This leaf-bare, he lives with RiverClan. Lives outside, where it's cold. Things would be different, this leaf-bare.

He can't help but wonder - what happens when the river gets cold? Does it freeze without a pelt to keep it warm? What happens then - to the fish they eat, to RiverClan? Sure, they've got other things they could be eating, but what about the fish? Would they be able to survive without use of the river?

"What happens to the river in leaf-bare?" he asks no one in particular, frosty gaze locked on the stream. Stars, it already looked cold.
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[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw, too, was blessed with a sparse pelt. And blessed was perhaps a generous word, for in these colder months the air was beginning to bite at his skin without much shielding. As the dawn rose him from his nest and a clatter of rocks were kicked in the delirium of drowsiness, he could already feel the morning chill; and outside, a voice. Half-lidded eyes peered through the morning blear, finding the smoke-strewn form of Tide just outside. His question lead a tiny brain to begin work, undersized form wandering over and taking a clumsy seat beside him.

The river- it seemed as alive as ever. But in living, was it susceptible to this chill as they were? The creeping frost that iced the grass... could it begin to spread across water's surface, too? It was a good question! "Mmmmaybe it... f-freezes," he wondered aloud, perhaps an obvious conclusion to reach. His voice toppled with the chill, slight shiver shuddering his tongue. If it froze solid, what of the fish, what of the shells and trinkets? Word became obvious in his demeanour, oversized paws beginning to knead the earth.​

( penned by pin )​

 

[CRAPPIEPATCH]

With the weather growing colder and the breeze growing stiffer, the thin tortoiseshell has found themself confined to the medicine den more often than usual. The near-constant pressure in their face has shifted to their chest, and they’ve realized something important: they hate the cold. Much like Tide and Fernpaw, their fur is too thin to provide much protection from the chill.

Crappiepaw is too young to have lived through a winter before now, and they know that frost coats the grass when it gets cold, but the extent of their knowledge about the cold season ends with that fact. so when the older feline asks about what happens to the river when the weather gets colder, their curiosity is piqued.

The apprentice’s ears shift backward, pressing against their head, when Fernpaw poses a possible answer. It might freeze? Crappiepaw has seen ice before, but never in enough capacity to freeze a river. "If it freezes, then what happens to the fish? Does it freeze all the way down?" Do all the fish in the river die if it freezes? Worry furrows their brow; how will RiverClan hunt if there’s no fish in the water? Are they all going to die when the cold of winter sets in?
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[ FORTUNE LOVES THE BOLD ]​

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[TIGERHEAT]

As long as he has been here he has seen different varying results when leafbare arrives. The large tom merely clicks his tongue as he watches the young cats from where he lays. Despite his own...annoyances he can find the time to be a little nice to children. After all they are the lifeblood of this clan and without their delicate little minds to manipulate what fun will he have. Rolling onto his paws he pushes himself to stand and he makes his way over, gaze of ice shimmering with hidden mirth as questions are thrown in the air. "Well, I for one have never seen the river freeze all the way through." His tail curls against his thick form before he rolls powerful shoulders. He knows that it can freeze up though and he supposes it will be difficult for these cats. Something he will watch.

"But I doubt there is much to worry about. If it does freeze, catch something else." The land had many different prey and he glances over his shoulder to look at the direction in which land was ​

 

[TIDEFROST]

His question is met by those younger than him. Those carrying paw names, those too young to have seen another leaf-bare in their lifetimes. But, perhaps they provide some sort of insight, as if they've been told the river's secrets.

"Freeze..." he echoes, pale eyes staring at the chilled water before him. Rain turns to snow in leaf-bare, so perhaps the river would do the same? Turn white with the cold? But, the fish - could they survive swimming through it? Tide looks over to the two apprentices, at the worry in their demeanor. Stars, had he scared them with his question of what was to come? He hadn't meant for it to be such a fearsome thought.

"No, I'm... I'm sure the fish will be fine!" he quickly says, an attempt at easing the kids' worries, "If they're still in the river in newleaf, they must be able to survive the cold!"

Tigerheat's voice reaches him next, and he turns to look at the warrior as he speaks some sense into the three of them. The river doesn't freeze all the way through. Which meant the fish should be fine, right.

"Well, that's good news, isn't it?" Tide speaks, curling his tail around his paws in an attempt to keep himself from freezing alongside the river. If only the cold would go away.
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