Icicle that Melts at Dawn

Tribe

A large white tom with bengal markings and ice blue eyes

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Standing at almost half a head taller than most cats in the tribe, Ice is, without a doubt, huge. While he doesn’t tower over cats, he’s large enough for most cats to be almost certain he’s going to be a stone-guard, which he is perfectly fine with. His paws are massive, making him a poor hunter.

His broad shoulders and muscular body definitely help him when it comes to fighting. He owes his large, sturdy build to the his sire. With a large muzzle, he can do more damage with each bite than some cats.

While not overweight, Ice is on the heavier side. He uses this to his advantage in fighting, as he’s realized that his weight can keep him from getting knocked around as much in battle. Sure he’s easier to unbalance when he’s on his hind legs, but in standard combat, his size allows him to pin enemies down with ease.

Another thing he owes to his sire is his coat. While it is usually dirty or caked in mud in order for him to blend in better when out attempting to hunt, his pelt is as white as the snow. Beautiful, cream, leopard like spots dot his fur. As the reach the last third of his tail, they darken to brown and form rings around it. The further down the tail they are, the darker the rings get before they eventually end in a black tail tip.

The markings on his legs darken as well, but not to the level the markings on his tail get. Instead, the turn a dark brown color. Still, most of his spots are a lovely cream color that shows off his bengal markings beautifully.

His coat seems to have been built for snowy weather, considering that is both white and extremely thick. His coat is actually so thick and fluffy that he’s extremely warm during leaf-bare and can actually cause him to overheat during greenleaf if he’s not careful. Thankfully, the weather where the tribe lives rarely gets hot enough for him to have to worry.

His eyes are an absolutely gorgeous crystal blue color, and they are huge. Couple that with his fluffy cheeks and cute, pale pink heart shaped nose, and you have one of the most adorable faces out there. His spotted markings turn into symmetrical lines as they reach his face. A stripe goes from the top of is eyes to his cheeks, and another goes from the bottom of his eyes to the start of his muzzle where it splits into two lines. One follows the cheek bone before eventually meeting with the stripe that goes from his cheek to his eye, whereas the other one goes to his nose. A stripe also comes from the bottom eye stripe to the cheek, meeting the top one once it reaches the cheek. These appear on both sides of his face.

On his forehead sit two markings that almost look like drops of water, which is something that is surprisingly fitting. His name is Icicle that Melts at Dawn after all.

+ Cheerful- Ice is practically the poster child for the term “happy go lucky”. He is constantly cheerful, to the point where it may get on someone’s nerves. His muzzle is practically always curled up into a smile, no matter how bleak the circumstances really are. His cheerfulness allows him to tackle any task given to him, no matter how bleak the circumstances.

+ Playful- Ice loves to play. In fact, he can turn practically anything into a game if he wants to. Out hunting? He’ll turn it into a sort of scavenger hunt to see how many different kinds of prey he can catch. Sparring session? He’ll try to do his best to win each fight in a unique way. Cleaning dens? He’ll often get distracted playing mossball with himself or with kits. His playfulness is often considered immature, but he doesn’t care. Ice makes it his job to make everything fun.

+ Helpful- Ice loves to help. He’ll pounce on a request to help like a prey-hunter pounces on a mouse. It doesn’t even matter what the task is! He’ll offer to help the second someone says “I need”. There really isn’t a reason behind his helpfulness. He just loves to help. And he won’t let you give him anything in return. He just likes seeing cats happy.

+ Outgoing- Ice wants to know absolutely every cat in the tribe. Scratch that. He wants to know every cat in the world. Friend or foe, he doesn’t care. He will try to strike up a conversation with you, no matter the situation. He’s a people person. An extrovert. He sees every cat as a potential friend.

- Naive- Ice doesn’t think any cat can be genuinely bad. He thinks that there’s good in everyone and that any conflict that may arise is just the result of a miscommunication. His heart is too big for his own good. He really truly wants to be friends with every, and he tries desperately to become friends with everyone. Sadly, it’s only a matter of time before someone uses this to take advantage of him.

- Bottles Everything Up- Ice is the happy cat. Or at least, that’s what he calls himself. He believes that he needs to be happy all the time, so when things happen like the death of his mother, he shoves it down. He’ll allow himself to grieve for a day or two, but he’ll do so silently. For all the friends he makes, he doesn’t feel like he can talk to anyone about anything, so it just stays bottled up. He’s done well keeping everything under control so far, but one day he’s going to burst.

- Annoying- Ice... doesn’t really know when to stop. He’s too driven to make friends that he rarely stops to see if any cat wants to be his friend in the first place. This has led to him being snapped at by multiple cats, and occasionally he’s been cuffed around the ears because he just can’t figure out when to stop. Some day he’ll annoy the wrong cat and end up with a scarred ear.

- Loud- Alongside being annoying, Ice doesn’t really have a volume control. He’s loud. Very loud. It’s another one of the many reasons most cats think he’d make an absolutely horrific prey-hunter. He has a hard time realizing that he’s being too loud and therefore is prone to waking cats up or scaring off prey. He’s getting better at it, but it’ll probably take moons for him to finally figure out how to keep himself quiet when need be.

Icicle that Melts at Dawn, or Ice as everyone calls him, was born right at the cusp of greenleaf. While there were no icicles around at his birth, the vision that Creek that Breaks the Stone had made it easy to figure out his name.

He was born in the middle of the night with his mothers standing next to him. With sickness claiming cats left and right, Ice’s birth was a welcome change from the constant death. He was the only kit of his litter, but his parents were happy to have him.

The vision Creek that Breaks the Stone had and the description he gave painted a beautiful picture in the minds of Ice’s parents.

”I see an icicle that swirls with the colors of the dawn dripping down onto stones.”

It took less than five minutes of deliberation for them to choose the name Icicle that Melts at Dawn.

Despite the chaos he was born into, Ice’s parents did their best to give him the best life they could. He was raised by two she cats, both of whom would take turns in the nursery with him.

His sire had been a tom named Cloud that Rises over the Mountain, and he had passed due to sickness before he was born. That’s where he got most of his stature from. Mountain had been a massive, snow colored cream rosette tabby stone-guard with blue eyes.

His mother, the cat who birthed him was a prey-hunter who was named Frost that Covers the Petal. Petal was a small, fluffy, cream colored she cat with amber eyes and a dainty build. It was a miracle that she did not have many complications with her birth.

Ice’s mama is a small, silver tabby she cat with white paws, a white muzzle, a white chest and underbelly, and brilliant green eyes. Feather that Floats in the Wind is also a prey-hunter, though she is a bit bigger than her mate was.

Feather and Petal loved Ice, and Ice loved them. His mothers were always there to help him cheer up when he was sad or to play games with him when he was bored. They did everything they could to keep Ice away from the sickness that was ravaging the tribe, both in terms of making sure he didn’t get sick and trying to keep the severity of the sickness from him. He had kits to play with in the nursery, so they did everything they could to keep him in the nursery.

There were a few cats that Feather and Petal allowed to see Ice that weren’t from the nursery, and one of those was Feather’s father- Cry that makes Earth Tremble. Earth was an old silver tabby, and Ice adored him. He was kind, funny, and loved playing with him. How could he not love the tom?

He never asked why Petal’s parents never visited him, nor did he ask where Feather’s mother was. The questions wouldn’t have been answered if he asked however, as all three had passed from the sickness. In fact, Ice and Feather were the only family Petal had left. She had lost everyone to the sickness, and occasionally her tears would wake Ice up.

Despite this, the tom never really thought to ask why his mother was sad. His mama was always there to comfort Petal, and both would always smile when he was awake. So the tom went about his life, happily playing with his family until he was three moons old.

That’s when Earth stopped visiting.

Ice was confused. Why had his grandpa stopped coming to see him? Anytime he asked Feather or Petal why Earth had seemingly vanished, the pair would just say that the tom was busy or that he was too tired. Ice believed them at first, but after a whole of absolutely nothing, the tom decided he would go find out himself.

So, he waited until his mothers were asleep before sneaking out of the nursery. He had only been out a few times, as his mothers had told him that it was safer to stay in the nursery, but the tom knew enough to be able to figure out where the Has-Beens den was. Sneaking into the den, Ice came face to face to Earth.

Deciding that he needed answers, the tom started trying to wake his grandpa up. He whispered in his ears, he pushed him with his paws, and he even tried to open the tom’s eyes himself. Eventually, he realized how cold the tom was, so he did what any kit who didn’t know what death was would do. He curled up next to his grandpa in an attempt to warm him before falling asleep.

The next morning he woke up to Petal screeching that he was missing. His grandpa was still cold, and Ice still couldn’t wake him up. He smelt funny as well. Fearing his mothers’ wrath, he decide to slink out of the den. Maybe she could help warm his grandpa up.

Feather saw him first and sprinted over to him, Petal hot on her heels. After sniffing him over, his mothers let out a sigh of relief before they scooped the tom up and started towards the nursery, Petal scolding him for how he terrified the pair. They hadn’t even been in the nursery for five minutes when Ice told them he just wanted to see grandpa but then decided to sleep next to grandpa cause he couldn’t wake the tom up and he was cold.

Feather collapsed the second Ice confirmed what he had said.

Earth had passed away due to sickness sometime during the night. He had been trying to keep the fact that he was sick under wraps in order to prevent the Teller and her apprentice from wasting herbs on him, and it had finally claimed him. Ice had spent the entire night curled up next to his body.

That was when his parents finally told him why he wasn’t allowed out of the nursery. At only three moons old, Ice didn’t really understand why they had kept him in the nursery, so he was mad at them for about three hours before forgiving them. He didn’t like staying in the nursery, but his mothers were insistent so he just figured they knew best.

He mourned the death of his grandpa with his mothers, not wanting them to take his grandpa away. He loved playing with Earth and didn’t want to lose him. Feather was distraught, and that passed onto Ice. However, as kids do, he didn’t grieve like his mothers did. He’d cry for a little bit and then go back to playing. He felt weird about it, but Petal and Feather assured him that it was okay.

Then, two moons later, Petal started coughing.

Ice was a moon away from being made a to-be when he found Petal coughing outside the nursery. With no real concept of what the sickness was, Ice just thought that she had swallowed wrong. But when his mother stopped sharing a nest with him and Feather, he knew something was very wrong.

Petal went downhill fast. Within a week she had gone from coughing to barely clinging to life as Creek that Breaks the Stone desperately tried to cure her. He sent a cat out to try to find a cure, but it was too late.

Petal passed minutes before the cat returned with the cure.

Feather had been destroyed. She had lost both her father and mate within a season, and was utterly heartbroken. Ice was devastated himself. He loved his mother more than anything. He wanted her to see his To-Be ceremony! But she was gone, and Feather was broken.

That’s when Ice realized something. Feather had always been there for him, keeping her own feelings hidden so that he was happy. Why couldn’t he do the same thing?

Pushing his grief down, the tom started doing everything he could to cheer his mama up. From helping her with tasks to playing and joking with her, he threw himself into helping her. And honestly? He loved it. He started helping out more and more, doing things for cats that didn’t ask him to do anything.

The tom only recently had his to-be ceremony, and with the clan slowly recovering from the sickness, he’s optimistic that everything is going to get a whole lot better.

It’s a shame that Creek that Breaks the Stone never realized that some of the swirling of the colors he saw was due to cracks on one side of the icicle.