Snoomies [c]

It was leafbare, which meant that what once was torrential downpours of rain from the sky that threatened to root Mintglade to the forest floor now morphed into something else. What came down was much fluffier and lighter, significantly more gentle. It would land on her pelt for heartbeats at a time before melting away to finally become the water droplets she'd become used to, but it was only once her body heat seemed to reach the outside of her pelt. She had watched it with particular curiosity for long enough before deciding exactly who she needed to enjoy this with: Bubblepaw.

Practically prancing her way across the terrain, the large silver tabby's steps crunched gently in the powdery white terrain as she went right towards where the apprentice's were sleeping. With an excited prrr, the warrior called out. "Bubblepaw! Come on, ya sleepybird!"

SkyClan's apprentices were sleeping all together in a huddle, as close as they could for the warmth brought by each others' shudders. There were fewer of them than there should have been; several were laid up with illness, being treated by Smokepetal. And... of course, one conspicuous figure was missing. Ploverpaw. But despite the tangled mess of loss and homesickness and grief that growled within Bubblepaw's chest, she had finally managed to get some sleep, ignoring the chilly wind that bit into even her thick fluffy pelt. Some rest... Maybe she wouldn't be tormented by any dreams tonight...

It felt as if no time had passed before a loud purr woke her, almost vibrating through her entire being. She knew only one cat who could purr that loudly. Bubblepaw blinked herself awake, rubbing an eye blearily and attempting to clear her vision. "Minty? What's up? Did I miss a patrol or some'n?" But as soon as the fogginess cleared from her pale green eyes, she realized that she hadn't been seeing things. The ground was completely coated in white. In fact, she herself was covered in white! Whatever this stuff was, it must've fallen all night. It wasn't quite ice or rain. What was it? Cautiously, she prodded the substance with a soft gray paw, before retracting it hastily. It was cold! Cold and wet! She stood up and shook out her fur, sending a miniature blizzard in a cloud around her.

Sure enough, Mintglade had been the one to wake her. Gingerly Bubblepaw stepped her way over to her, eyes scanning the terrain. It was all completely white. There must have been a word for this stuff, but it was escaping her completely. Her eyes grew wide with wonder. "What... what is it?" All the messy thoughts and worries that she'd been languishing under for the past two moons seemed to vanish under the thick, pearly blanket. "It's freezing!" She prodded it again, allowing the chill to seep underneath the protective coating of fur on her paw pads, into the beans of her toes. A shiver enveloped her entire body, and despite herself, she giggled. "So weird!"

As she saw the vibrating body of her friend rise from the pile of slumbering apprentices, Mintglade waited for the soonest possible moment to be able to press herself up against Bubblepaw's side. Having such a thick, layered pelt also meant it was fantastic for sharing some semblance of body heat. Even then, it did little to prevent the warrior happily hopping from one paw to another, the tip-tapping of her paws on the pearly white earth making gentle chimes each and every time. She did her best to keep to Bubblepaw's side, but even then the duo were separated as they both investigated the wonderous spectacle that had blanketed their temporary home.

"Snow! I'm pretty sure this is snow!" The absolute giddiness that chirped in her voice was almost too much. Lowering her head towards the ground, she sniffed it, only to have to instantly recoil her head back a heartbeat later. Maw parted from the tickling in her nose, it wasn't much longer before a loud sneeze came from the warrior. It sent the white powder flying everywhere, another blizzardy cloud being created to scatter about.

Bowing forcefully into the cold earth, Mintglade's tail rippled straight into the air. "We have got to play in this stuff. I wonder if we could lump it together? Play something like mossball?" She mused aloud, the congestion creeping into her voice to make it sound a bit strange. But that didn't matter. Mintglade's strong back legs propelled her forward, practically turning her into a feline plow as she tunneled her way through. The grin on her face, the widened eyes... it was unmistakable: she was enjoying every moment of this, despite its frigid chill. "You can tunnel in it! Lookit, lookit Bubs!"

Snow. That had to be it. Bubblepaw's face lit up like the moon. That had to be the snow she'd heard of before! It was leaf-bare, wasn't it? "Snow," she said, trying the name out. It tasted sweet on her tongue. "Snow!" She prodded it again with a paw. In some areas it was pretty deep. She was light enough that she could walk on top of it, but if she were to jump... like... this...! Bubblepaw leapt up and was delighted to find that she landed heavily in the thick snowdrift, cold and soft flakes pressing up against her leg-deep on all sides. A blissful laugh bubbled up from inside her. Their own personal miracle; something so beautiful couldn't possibly be meant for anything but happiness and play. All memory of her scar and her sorrow were buried as she stuck her face in the snow for a moment, then emerged with shrieking giggles as she felt how freezing it stuck to her nose.

She clambered up out of her self-inflicted half-buried state, about to share her wonderful new find with Mintglade, only to find that her friend was one step ahead of her, face burrowed almost completely in the thick cold as she scrambled along with only her hind legs. What Mint had said earlier about mossball suddenly rose to Bubblepaw's mind. A mischievous grin crossed her face. "Hey, Minty! Look! Look over here, quick!" As soon as Mintglade rose her head from being pressed to the ground, Bubblepaw reacted swiftly. A soft gray paw dug into the snowdrift and sent a whole thick pawful of the stuff flying directly into Mint's face. She couldn't keep from laughing. Her face hurt from how wide she smiled. She hadn't grinned so big in such a long time. "Haha, I got you! What're you gonna do about it?" Oh, wait. Mint would probably send some snow flying at her now. With a squeal, Bubblepaw turned around to run away, though the slickness of the substance beneath her made traction difficult. She had to scamper off so that Mintglade wouldn't get her payback! "You'll never catch me!"

Bubblepaw's giggles were infectious, the sounds of glee coming out in what Mintglade would consider tsunamis only causing a chain reaction to the silver tabby as she kept herself half-buried in the snow. It wasn't until her name was called that she'd stop her digging around, popping her head out of the powder. A pile of it sat perfectly atop her head, with half-melted circles stuck in various places all over her shoulders, chest, and front legs. If she twisted her head around enough, she could-- nom! ... "COLD!" Mintglade shrieked out as both her tongue was coated in the freezing water, as well as her body from Bubblepaw's swipe in her direction. As soon as the shock wore off, even more giggles came out from the warrior. A playfully devilish grin popped onto the silver molly's face as another sneeze passed right through her, but that didn't stop Mintglade as her friend took off running. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Bubs!"

Recoiling back just slightly onto her back legs, the warrior shot forward. Even as her muscles complained and cramped, the silver warrior was way too focused on the joy the activity was bringing her to halt for any remote moment of time. Snow sprayed out behind her as her legs kicked back with every bound, causing some semblance of a thick snowy curtain to trail behind her and betray her exact path. Watching how Bubblepaw made her path, Mintglade came up with an idea of her own, suddenly diving off to the side in an attempt to take her friend off-guard. She still kept her rump in the air, wiggling in excitement, and at the right moment Mintglade once more dove forward. Getting as close to Bubblepaw as she could, the warrior waited until the last moment before suddenly flinging her body upwards. It brought a thick blur of snow right with her, all spraying directly towards the blue apprentice. "Gotcha!" Mintglade squealed out on her own, her voice having raised at least an octave from her own enthusiasm.

Bubblepaw couldn't stop giggling as she ran through the snow, despite how every step with her fluffy paws skidded on the cold, wet surface. It was chilly outside and yet she hadn't felt so warm in moons. Heaves of breath, exertion, they were nothing. Hearing her own laugh, so light and impossible to stem the flow--and hearing Mintglade behind her, just as jubilant and loud, and the crunch of the snow beneath her feet--there was nothing better. "No way! I'm too fast!" Her gasps for breath made it almost impossible to talk, but she still managed the joyful taunt. She was just going in circles now--but she was smaller and speedier than her friend. Surely with a head-start, she would remain just one step ahead!

But of course Minty was too smart for that. By the time Bubblepaw realized that she no longer heard the heavy pawsteps of her friend behind her, it was too late. Pale green eyes widened in belated surprise as she came face-to-face with Mintglade, and with a veritable avalanche of snow. The apprentice let out a shriek of laughter as a wall of pure white descended upon her. For a moment it was all she saw. Cold and sparkling and clear and so, so beautiful. Where the soft gray she-cat once stood was now a mountain of powdery snow. Until finally she forced her head above the pearly frozen water, taking in a loud inhale of breath. Air had never tasted so fresh. Another laugh. "Mrrrrp... Brrr!" Her eyes contained the bright shimmery sunlight as they met Mintglade's, and then looked up. Sparse clouds above looked almost gray after the blindingly iridescent whiteness of the ground. But it was beautiful. Everything was so beautiful.

Had the sky always been so blue?

Suddenly exhausted, Bubblepaw let her head fall and rest on the snowpile she was buried in. She didn't feel the cold wetness seeping through her pelt. She just felt hot and giddy and tired... but in a good way. It felt nice to use all her energy towards something other than fruitlessly searching for prey, or climbing yet another practically impassable hill on the journey. Her limbs were not collapsed, but relaxed. "It's so... nice," she sighed. The corners of her mouth hurt from smiling so big. "I could stay like this forever."

Mintglade's ears had to pin back as her friend let out the shrill exclamation of her joy. While she had certainly gotten used to a lot of sound coming from the cats around her, it was a whole other game of mossball when it came from a younger voice. They simply had the ability to shriek in such high notes, it rivaled the very birds that they ate! She didn't mind at all, though. If anything, it just meant to her that she was helping her friend have fun! As the wall of snow began to settle down from where she'd thoroughly tossed it up into the air directly upon her friend, Mintglade watched with no shortness of amusement and curiosity as Bubblepaw went from being a silvery-blue to being nothing but pale white.

Giggles of her own continued to rise out of her chest, and once Bubblepaw's head popped beyond its snowy cage, her tail rippled with delight. It simply looked so silly! Almost as if she'd somehow managed to turn half of Bubblepaw into a white cat, completely transforming the color of her fur. "Snow looks good on you, Bubs!" Mintglade murred.

Her gaze followed that of her friend as she looked up, and she had to blink several times as the brightness of the sky fully registered. It hurt to look, but she could see the inherent beauty that came in the pure hue of the daytime. Her ear flicked at the gentle crunch of snow compacting beneath the weight of Bubblepaw's head, and that sound was a fair bit louder as the warrior plopped herself onto the ground right beside her. Belly-up and all, even as orbs of melted snowy-ice concoctions stuck to the tufts of her fur. Even as she, too, grinned. "I like leaf-bare the best, I think. This is why we have such thick pelts!" Mintglade beamed, even as her chest heaved from all the energy she'd just used. Looking at the world from the wrong-side-up as she was on her back, it made the warrior giggle to see the way she had plowed through the snow around their camp. "We should do this every leaf-bare. Always go play in the snow."