pafp there goes my hero - drowning prompt

[Bounceheart]

bounceheart ✧ she/her ✧ riverclan warrior (=˃ᆺ˂=)

A few things had brought them to this moment.
Merciful temperatures being one - some days were not as cold. Winter was still young. During that afternoon, the river was not iced over. Swimming and fishing was not a task for the faint of heart or weak at this time. Whether it be out of confidence, stupidity, or necessity, there would be no changing of her path. The river was calling to her again - Bounceheart imagined it singing and reaching streams out to her.
Bellies needed to be filled. It did not take a mathematician to figure out they had not nearly as much fresh-kill as tails in the clan. Based upon the grumbling of their own stomach, it might be best to tag along on the next patrol. Little time passed before that opportunity came. A few cats joined to go find their next meal. Food was weighing on everyone's psyche. It consumed them, rather than the other way around.

Regardless of their leader's ordered buddy system, the tabby preferred to hunt without someone eyeing her from the other bank. Once reaching an acceptable area of the river (calm enough for apprentices and close to camp) and a couple cats hopping in already, she turned to Ferngill. "I'mma go down here.. we should spread out a bit!" It was a good idea in hindsight; spread out to increase their chances of finding decent game.
They did not trek far away. A hundred feet at most. Views of her could be obstructed by bends in the river, cat-tails, rocks, trees, or shrubs. Depending on where they had positioned themselves, maybe they could see her if they were not focused on the fish, like they should.
Bounceheart stood with her back to the current. Water brushed against white chest fur as they squinted into the depths below. Any glimmer across the bed of the river was met with claws or teeth, only to be tossed to the bank. A couple minnows and a chub were limp in her pile.
"I need more," she pleaded with the river.
Something bigger was ahead of her. It's shadowy figure moved a bit deeper into the water. Determined for a good catch to go to the pile, she waded further in.

Too far!
It picked up suddenly, and they had their back turned - caution was also thrown to the wind in lieu of a trout. Now, she was thrashing limbs at the water trying to pull herself upright and fight the current. Each time she got a breath of air, another wave would crash into her and leave her toppling over. A few rounds of this, and the warrior was already fatigued. Trying to gulp down air only to get water instead and the waves tossing her into circles left Bounceheart confused and panicking. The only sign of trouble was a gasp and a yowl that was cut short by water to the face.

/ please wait for @FERNGILL to save them to complete his prompt!
powerplay allowed​

 

[FERNGILL]

Diving was dangerous when the river was cold and fast. It seeped into your bones and stiffened them- Ferngill was well aware of it. For all he loved swimming, he could not let himself remain in the river for very long, lest he be at mercy to it. He knew Bounceheart was a strong swimmer, though- to let her out of his sight for a moment, he figured, was not too big of a deal. Anyway- around the corner he could hear Bounceheart's splashing, in-and-out. He knew she was fine.

Knew, until the moment he heart her yowl.

Ferngill was off like a rocket. A streak of fire, incinerating the frosty ground, burning pawprints into the grass. Among frothing spindrift, splashing thrashes, he caught a glimpse of Bounceheart's flailing paws. With kingfisher precision he dove into the depths- the icy-cold was a claw to the face, but Ferngill persevered as he swam through the water toward her. He'd saved a cat before. Not one bigger than him, even if she was only a little bigger... and never in this sort of cold. But Ferngill bore his name for a reason. He was a fish in the water, and fish braved any temperature.

Had he been panicking less, Ferngill might have worried he had hurt Bounceheart when he dug his teeth into her scruff. "Kick!" he yowled through a mouthful of fur- saving a Riverclanner was much easier than saving a Skyclanner. Weak as she was against the current, fatigued as they both were getting, Bounceheart helped propel Ferngill's powerful stroked to the shoreline. Lungs heaving, muscles stinging but all the while persevering, he at last managed to bring her to the bank, scrabbling up and tossing them both onto shore.

Dry land. Dry land, at last- Ferngill's entire body screamed with the effort, and his vision blinked in and out of darkness, wooziness rapping a drumbeat on his skull. "You... good...?" he managed to pant, eyes barely open enough to check, ears sopping and weakly angled in Bounceheart's direction.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[lichenstar]

⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ​

She had no great love for the river even in the hottest months.. it made her pelt cling to her leggy form more than uncomfortably, sent icy water against normally warmed skin... Took ages to dry... There were a host of complaints a fringe-maned molly could make (she didn't though). It was made all the more dangerous with frost summoned to every blade of grass, weakening the reeds to touch-fragile snapping.

A shrill cry almost like a bird's dying song makes her freeze in her tracks... if it weren't for the daffodil-gold of Ferngill's pelt streaking past, she might've thought it a trick of her imagination. But he soars across her vision faster than the sun can set and is buried in ice-harsh waters, only to resurface with stubborn demands for his catch to move.

Rushing to the shore to offer some sort of support, he hardly seems to make it before she's able to strain her neck in an effort to grab at sopping fur and yank them with some small amount of help onto the shore. His limbs look frozen... his lunged shocked by cold as he pants out a confirmation he was successful. He is certainly a fish in his strength... to have done that and not simply drowned with her...

"Stars Ferngill..." she sighs out nervously, anxiously licking the top of his head once to make sure he is not genuinely dying of the chill before moving to inspect Bounceheart more closely. She seems utterly shaken.. and why shouldn't she? To have almost drowned like that... Planting herself as begrudging victim, she offers her dry body as a chance at warming them, draping herself across the molly's back despite the way the frigid water seeps into her underbelly like a knife. "Stay down... don't try to get up..."

Their legs might just snap in half like icicles...

"Sorry... I'm going to ruin your fur," she grumbles with a small frown before setting to the delicate task of grooming the silver molly's fur the wrong way to warm her up.

---

WELL IF YOU WANT MY BLOOD I'LL MAKE SO MUCH BLOOD

THAT YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING DROWN​

​

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[SMOKESTAR]

—————————————————————⊰★⊱————————————————————
An orange dart blurred out of the corner of his vision, Smokestar's head lifting in brief alarm as he sees Ferngill's sleek dive forward into the frozen waters and his heart is gripped in an icy panic as to why - it doesn't take long to spot Bounceheart's blue furred form ahead, struggling in the current and being dragged swiftly along despite her flailing efforts. With a speed he was not accustomed to, being a tom built more for endurance than swiftness, he quickly rushed over as fast as his paws could carry him, dark shadows sweeping over the snow with one vanishing white dipped into the slush with each press forward. By the time he reached the cats there, soaked and shaking; trembling upon the pebbled shoreline in various degrees of sopping and exhausted. He wastes no time stepped forward to crouch over Ferngill and drop, smothering the ginger tom in long dry fur to help ease the chill of the ordeal; alongside him Lichentail does the same with a little more grace for Bounceheart and he takes a moment to let his heart stop thundering in panic before speaking.
"...we need...to be more careful with the river. It's too cold for mistakes, it's too cold for..." He trails off, memories of Cicadastar's dip in the ice, storm-colored fur wretched free from the jagged waters to shore by Houndstride's teeth; the black curl of a scarring alongside the right of his maw that was forever chill touched and hard. Smokestar gives an involuntary shudder, "Thank you Ferngill." There was no need to scold Bounceheart for her slip up, the near death experience was lesson enough and she didn't need to be barked at while she shook there so terribly.

——✘ when does ripple become a tidal wave ———✘ when does a candle become a flame

• OOC can go here.
• 
  
  
  Smokestar
  —⊰⋅ Leader of RiverClan
  —⊰⋅ He/Him
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  —⊰⋅ Black tom w/vitiligo & one orange eye.
  

​

 

[Bounceheart]

bounceheart ✧ she/her ✧ riverclan warrior (=˃ᆺ˂=)

Having been brought down with each breath attempted, at some point they stopped trying - the air brought more water in with it. Water that made her lungs and eyes burn. The feeling began to subside, replaced by numbness and peace. And.. light? No, not the light, there was something tugging at her neck and suddenly she could see something besides deep dark blue. Now, the waves were back and she was being dragged across the surface of the water. Bounceheart was still holding her breath as she kicked at the water with her last ounce of energy. It still wanted to take them; her weak legs buckled to the direction of the current as Ferngill fought it with all his might.

As the two hoisted her up the river bank, she finally released the sputtering cough that had clawed at her throat. Some liquid came with it, dislodging from lungs that still rasped with each new breath. That must be enough of a response to his question, but she croaked out a half-hearted "uh-huh." Reality had hit and she was not only hacking up liquid, but shaking from cold-wetness and adrenaline. Lichentail and Smokestar were wise enough to not let freezing temperatures do to them what the river had not. Their words were almost unrecognizable. Like distant echoes. Bounceheart gives a sigh of relief at the deputy's warmth, almost resisting in favor of their orange-furred savior. He was covered too, though.
Her eyes were darting between the three of them and her brain rattled around in her head in search for words that had already been uttered, though not by her. Spit it out! "Th-th-th-thank youu," she stares at Ferngill and Smokestar with stars in her eyes. ​