heat waves // cooling off

[✧ Stalkingpaw.]

˚⊹ MEET ME UNDER SHINING LIGHTS ⊹˚

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stalkingpaw & 09 moons & polygender & any pronouns & riverclan apprentice​

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The greenleaf heat has finally grown to be more than even stalkingpaw can handle. While her paler coat than most has certainly helped at first, by the time the sun begins to set the girl is all but panting after a hard days work - her paw pads leaving damp prints as she wobbles to the shallows, and promptly flops right down into the water with a sigh. Perhaps she'd pushed herself a bit too hard really, but with her assessment creeping around the corner, with only two moons till her warrior ceremony, she's felt a drive to prove herself more than she already had. A groan slips past her lips, and she rolls about the paw-high water as though scratching an itch, but really she's just hoping the cooling liquid will seep into her fur. When she's done, she rights herself once more, laying sprawled out instead - relishing the feel of the river lapping at her belly and legs. "Is it always this hooooooot in greenleaf? How do you stand it?," she whines, though her question is genuine as she turns to peek up at whatever clanmate is closest.

— I've been waiting right here all my life ⊹˚

• Actions && "Speech," && ' Thoughts/Quotes '
  
  ooc: —
  tw/cw: —
  
• 
  — a beautiful white furred apprentice with a black face and stripe down her back, and starlike freckles upon her cheeks. emerald eyes are wide and expressive, by far her most stunning feature. stalkingpaw is an emotional feline, quick to act and react before she really thinks, but you know that whatever she says and does is always honest and well intentioned.
  
  — physically easy && mentally medium
  — non-violent powerplay allowed && healing powerplay allowed && minor injury powerplay not-allowed
  — please attack using [b][color=crimson]action here[/color][/b] and tag account

 

[GILLSIGHT]

Gillsight's fur holds the same colors as Stalkingpaw's. However, where the apprentice's appearance holds that of a cloudy day, the warrior's own holds that of the following night.

Greenleaf's weather is not apt for either of them, the sun's rays gnawing at one's darkest features. Still, the tom finds himself grateful as his own form wades in the water that he was born with short fur, rather than the long fur of some of his clanmates - of Stalkingpaw, who whines about the weather nearby, questions brought forth for him to answer.

"I-It is," he tells her, though this is only his second greenleaf - though he can hardly remember his first. Was it this hot last time? He can't help but wonder if he'd managed to escape the heat last greenleaf, if he'd been too small for the sun's rays to find him as fast as they do now. He can't recall having to dodge daylight the same way he does now, anyway.

"Th-The water h-helps. W-Working at night too." he answers her second question with a twitch of the tail. Though he's had a tumultuous relationship with the river, he finds himself glad now that he's less afraid of it, that he'd pushed down most of his ice-ridden fears in time for the warm seasons. "I-I'd rather this than... than leaf-bare, th-though." Gillsight admits to the apprentice with a shrug.

Anything would be better than leaf-bare, he thinks, a pang of dread growing at the thought of the cold season's pending return.
​

 

[DIPPERFROST]

Dipperpaw is not the biggest fan of Stalkingpaw. In her mind, she is lumped into the same category as Squishpaw, whiny and annoying her voice seems to grate against Dipperpaw's ears. They are like kits she thinks. Always complaining about something. She wonders what kind of warriors they would be if this is what they were like as apprentices. She only spares the black and white she cat a momentary glance before her attention turns to Gillsight as he answers the apprentices question. His answers make sense in her mind. Patrol at night when the sun is not out, swim in the river. These were all common sense. It was late enough into green-leaf that she is surprised Stalkingpaw had not figured it out herself yet.

Whenever adults spoke about leaf-bare they always spoke with a tone of barely disguised dread. She and Jaypaw had been born in leaf-bare but she had been so young back then and it is only a hazy thought that she cannot quite grasp, it slips from her pawhold like a fish she cannot sink her claws into. Back to the river of thoughts it goes and its gone. "What is so bad about leaf-bare?" she asks curiously. If he told her it was only the cold that made him so wary she would roll her eyes but something in his expression tells her it is possible it is something worse than that.
​

 

[salmonshade]

"Starvation is a worry, amongst freezing to death." her tones blunt as the dappled warrior makes her way over, listening to everyones words and instead choosing to respond to Dipperpaw's inquiry. She's glad that the times of the marsh group are over, shes sure that the last leafbare would have been even more brutal than it had been. She remembers there may have been a couple of warriors that had fallen through the ice on the river as it froze over. The lack of food and the threat of frost-bite, turning skin dead before your very eyes- its enough to make Salmon send a silent prayer to Starclan. Though as she looks out, she realizes her coat is lighter than two present and even she feels a slight prickle of irritation at the heat that just so effortlessly seeps through it. "You'll see when it comes time, many warriors dread it for a reason." are her last words on the topic, a yawn splitting her maw.

Her gaze returns downwards to Stalkingpaw, blue eyes squinting as she remembers the whine. "You'll get used to it. You have to, everyone does." even Salmon herself doesn't like the sweltering heat, so she can't fault the black and white apprentice too much. She much prefers leaf-fall over green-leaf, her coat able to stop most of the cold winds that blow through camp. Salmon wades a little further in to the water despite how low the river has gotten lately; we'll need to figure it out, she thinks with a hum. Small currents drag at feathery fur as she thinks for a moment, turning her eyes on Dipperpaw then Gillsight. Last time she had chosen a terrible place to swim, fur mucked with mud, and she had spent nearly the whole day trying to get the disgusting water and debris out of her pelt. She will not make the same mistake this time.

₊˚.༄ info

• 
  -> salmon ,, salmonshade
  -> cis female ,, she/her ,, 30 months
  -> warrior of riverclan ,, former marsh grouper
  -> fluffy & dainty chocolate tortie smoke with low white and blue eyes
  -> “speech, ff91a4” ,, thoughts
  -> lesbian ,, single
  -> smells like warm flowers & freshly cut grass
  -> image by @wrendoings [ disc ]
  

​

 

[lichenstar]

It is a fair burden, what with the way everything comes to die all at once... But it is not the worst, at times. The overbearing heat could kill just as easily.. and was often underestimated. RiverClan had it the easiest, in her opinion, what with being such excellent swimmers (well.... most of them). ThunderClan could do nothing but watch them enjoy the cooling waters... that offered her some peace of mind when feeling sore about the Sunningrocks' loss.

Salmonshade was as.. direct as ever and much as the blue agreed to the simplicity of the statements, she wasn't sure it was worth frightening the apprentices over. They had bigger concerns with the young... leaf-bare was still time yet away and they would be bigger then. Stronger... more prepared to endure that struggle.

"The river freezing is one of the major concerns- it is why land hunting skills are still important," the lead chimes in with a distracted gaze tracing the path of a passing bird. She is keen to give chase... though that is largely a bias of it being her favorite prey.

"Soon the sun will set... the heat is always temporary- though I do not envy your dark coat in times like these."​

 

[✧ Stalkingpaw.]

˚⊹ MEET ME UNDER SHINING LIGHTS ⊹˚

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stalkingpaw & 10 moons & polygender & any pronouns & riverclan apprentice​

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Stalkingpaw nods at gillsight's wise words - simply grateful that he's willing to share his own tips. A shudder runs through her at the mention of leaf-bare - she was but a tiny kit during the last one, and though her memories are all but a blur, she's fairly certain she can recall a time spent traveling upon the ice, and worse still the resulting thaw that had left the in the temporary camp. She is not looking forward to seeing what this leafbare brings, though she too hopes it won't be as harsh this time. "Yup - don't want to starve if there's no way to get to the fish," she agrees absently. A yawn splits her jaw wide, and she too watches the bird flutter by - though she's more preoccupied by enjoying the way it's feathers shimmer in the light than thoughts of catching it. She's to tired to give chase.

— I've been waiting right here all my life ⊹˚

• Actions && "Speech," && ' Thoughts/Quotes '
  
  ooc: —
  tw/cw: —
  
• 
  — a beautiful white furred apprentice with a black face and stripe down her back, and starlike freckles upon her cheeks. emerald eyes are wide and expressive, by far her most stunning feature. stalkingpaw is an emotional feline, quick to act and react before she really thinks, but you know that whatever she says and does is always honest and well intentioned.
  
  — physically easy && mentally medium
  — non-violent powerplay allowed && healing powerplay allowed && minor injury powerplay not-allowed
  — please attack using [b][color=crimson]action here[/color][/b] and tag account