{{Simple Nonsense}}

[{{Perception}}]

Thick clumps of snow cascaded from the dreary, inky clouds that suspended above the frozen body of water. A small sliver of sunlight peeked its head around the clouds, lightning the thick blankets a blinding white.

The sunlight did nothing to cast out the chill, however. Nothing but tickle the back of her fur as the Amur leopard bounded down the rocky down-slide to the lake. Bounding in the sense of charging down, only visible as a moving ball of light fur accented with black. Her long legs scrabbled against the frozen, crumbling rock, muscles aching in each powerful leap downward.

Foggy breath curling from her rubbery lips, ice air stabbing through her aching lungs and offering no help to her exhausted state. The leopard's tongue lolled from the side of her mouth, another fog exploding in the air before her eyes. Her sleek head waved back and forth, nose twitching ever so slightly as her movements stilled to nothing. Cautiously taking steps through the snow, she released her tense muscles, scraping at the ice with a blunt paw. A throaty, vocal growl rumbled in the pit of her throat, ears bent back in agitation.

Licking her dry tongue along her lips, she turned instead to the mounting piles of snow. The leopard curled her lips back, licking at the snow until her thirst was satisfied, for now. But as she raised her head and surveyed the area around her, she couldn't shake the presence of someone nearby.

[Autotune]

The cold breeze whistled through the air, stinging Aeria's muzzle. She allowed herself to shiver slightly as a sneeze violently shook her body.

She was headed for the rushing falls, hoping to get a drink not too close to the waterfall. Her creamy gray paws stepped forward, one after the other, and her gaping maw picked up a strong, recent scent.
Another animal was around. By the scent, it was a feline as she was, though not a snow leopard. She lowered her head sneakily, gazing around and trying to focus her hearing before a loud ringing occurred in her mind.

Aeria slipped as she walked, stopping the ringing as she fell down. This was, however, lucky. Had she not slipped, she would have been brought into the trance; into the stone-state.
Standing up again, she dug her claws into the snow for extra grip. Flakes clung to her fur, slowly melting as she tried to regain lost body heat. Blinking her pale gold and green eyes, she looked forwards and began to crawl, trying to camouflage should the other feline be unfriendly.

Poking her ears back, Aeria approached the stranger and stood up, seeing that it was an amur leopard; around her age, as well.
The snow leopard allowed herself to reach full height again, body poised to dodge and ready to defend herself through a sharp tongue. She whipped her tail to her side, staring.

"Who might you be?" She risked speaking before taunting, as she would not be able to run well on the ice. Peering behind the amur leopard, she saw the river was thickly coated with ice and sighed in disappointment.

[{{Perception}}]

"Whats it to you?" Demitri replied coldly, voice hardening in indifference. She turned her head to the direction of the new voice, pale yellow eyes narrowed. "Who do you think you are?" Her voice took a jagged edged, framed with a rumbling growl.

Unblinking yellow eyes stared into the stranger, ears pricked on top of her broad skull. The amur leopard showed no fear it seemed, but if she did it was well hidden. The snow leopard seemed to be cocky, poised in dangerous intent and eyes of judgement, but Demitri wasn't impressed.

A smirk crossed her lips, a chuckling growl erupting from her throat. "Oh kitty kitty, prepared to fight are we?" Her sarcastic words released a fog from her lips, easing the tension in her muscles. She paused, staring intently at the stranger before laughing beneath her breath.

She stalked around the snow leopards side, keeping her distance. Her long legs bent slightly, poised for a dash or defense, tail whipping back and forth like a furious snake.

Demtiri maintained an air of sarcastic indifference, but her inner thoughts reflected anger over her loss of solitude. This was supposed to be a good day, but now this fool strolled in as if she owned the world. Her lips twitched, eyes narrowing and whiskers flaring.

[Autotune]

Taken aback by the unfriendly tone, Aeria tilted her head in confusion as to how such a calm looking animal could be so snappy.

"I'm no more than a feline from the Ice Kingdom. One would think I could at least ask your name without such a fuss, but if you wish to be a child about it, be my guest."

Aeria faced the amur leopard side on, head still raised. She refused to bow down to such a creature, no matter what impermanent they took on.

"I don't fight. Stop your damn judgement." Aeria snorted, flicking her ears back and walking towards the frozen lake. "You're not even worth arguing with."

The snow leopard's tail waved slowly as she moved, and for once, she wasn't going to run from a challenge. If the amur leopard pressed further, she'd fight tooth and claw, but currently... The creature would be a waste of blood.
Stepping onto the ice, Aeria dug her claws in and held herself steady as she walked on it, sniffing and looking for any breaks in the ice. The snow was too difficult for her to get enough water from, and dehydration was slowly sinking in.

Heading across to the other side, she sensed a shift in the ice below her. A tiny cracking noise sounded beneath her, though she was unsure if it was only quiet due to her deafened left ear. Either way, she pulled her paw up and took a few steps back, then used a claw to make a mark in the ice.
Seeing her claws and strength would not work, she continued to the other side, grabbing a small log in her teeth and carrying it over.

Pain ebbed away at keeping her jaw open to carry the heavy object, but her throat ached.
And so, she poised herself above the crack and leaped into the air, dropping the log at the crack, and aiming her own body at the scratch mark she had made.
Sure enough, the log's gravitational force cracked the ice, weakening it, and Aeria's weight broke a small section open.

Panting from effort, she waved her tail and perked her ears forward.
Success! She thought, greedily lapping at the water. Only after did she notice a stinging pain in her leg, various small shards of ice piercing her skin.

Aeria walked back to the other side and sat down, using her teeth to lick away the dribbles of blood and pull the shards out. They may have been melting, but they were like thorns to her.

[cookiecutter]

A crack. Sharp ears lift to stand at attention, dark eyes glancing around at the sudden interruption.

Flake did not particularly enjoy being interrupted by other lifeforms, but to deal with them was a necessity of life- he dusted water from his paws and looked away from the small gap in the ice he was trying to fish from. His breath rolled from his muzzle in swirls of fog as he let out an impatient sigh- so many interruptions, these days. Not that he was surprised, this being a prime hunting location (and sometimes he wondered what the unfortunate fish did wrong for evolution to leave them behind and deny them rationality that all other creatures came to possess.) But still, what wouldn't he pay for a nice quite afternoon of going about his business in peace!

But his breath was fogging up his vision. Air he can deal with later- the Arctic Fox stilled his breathing, his eyes the only part of him moving as he scanned the frigid landscape. Freezing himself into a statue, almost. Letting the whiteness of the Great Lake blot him out, white converging on the white of his fur and blurring away his edges from anyone who didn't look too carefully.

The other two cats, on the other hand, stood out quite a bit. Spots of the Snow Leopard, the entire goldenrod yellow of the Amur- the center of attention in a sea of unremarkable white. Flake let himself heave another soft sigh, one that quickly transformed into a growl of surprise as the ice underneath him groaned with the strain- the Snow Leopard, that one with the log, she should be careful where she cracked the ice. Idiots, they could have all fallen into the lake...

"Hey. Watch how you're swinging that thing." He lifted his voice just enough to be heard, moving towards them slowly.

[{{Perception}}]

"Excuse me if I don't act like a complete doofus, tripping over my own two feet to make everyone happy." She replied stiffly, her face unchanging as the snow leopard carried on with her business, throwing snippy words over her shoulder.

She narrowed her eyes, watching the leopard's strange progression with the ice. Demitri flicked her whiskers, lips twitching as she quietly muttered beneath her breath, "If you fall through I'm not saving you..idiot."

What in the world possessed her to try and crack the mound of ice? No sensible creature, she appeared to be. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. The amur leopard gave a smirk to herself, then continued to lick at the mounds of snow.

As the Snow leopard positioned herself on the other side, Demitri raised her head with a blank expression. "When the ice cracks on some poor creature, I hope you realize how stupid that was."

Her head swung around, abruptly ending her next words as another voice carried across the ice. Demitri refrained from growling, but stood up slowly and peered out. She squinted, then spotting a moving blur of white. An arctic fox, she noted. "Greetings." She said, sitting down again and taking another mouthful of snow.

[Autotune]

Raising her head, Aeria stared at the arctic fox. She let out a snort of amusement. "We live in a frozen wasteland. I didn't 'swing' it, I dropped it, to get water, like any creature with half a brain would."

Now the shards were removed, she went back to the water hole. The ice around the hole was slowly melting, rushing water flowing freely again, down to the waterfall. Some water splashed up over the ice, and she slowly lapped up some that did so.
She gave a tired yawn, fairly happy with the accomplishment. After all; not much liquid could be gained from chewing on snow, as she knew, and she didn't fancy freezing her mouth to test it.

The log had rolled to the side, now laying against the ice. She had learned to use tools to do things as she wished, though, with only tooth and claw to move things around, this was a difficult task.
She could only imagine how much more horrid it would have been to be an equine.

Hearing the amur leopard's line, Aeria poked her head up to look pointedly at the other feline.
"Right. And you know, any animal dumb enough to fall into the small section I broke wouldn't last long anyway. I have no sympathy. As I said, we live in a frozen land. If someone isn't smart enough to avoid falling into freezing cold water, then they should go join the Southerners."

Aeria was fairly solitary at the time being, though even without other creatures beside her, she knew of each territory's hatred for the South.
Then again, similar could be said for their own tyrant leader. She couldn't help but be amused as the amur leopard ate snow, seemingly too proud to actually drink from the various, though few, holes created.

[cookiecutter]

Civil greetings deserved civil responses. Flake dipped his head to the Amur, cordially returning a "Salutations." as his pawsteps slowed to a stop next to the two cats. The two of them looked mildly offended at each other, with restlessly twitching tails and the gleaming ice in their eyes being utilized to their fullest potential. It was rather amusing- until the Snow let out a snort directed at him, pulling him into a argument he didn't particularly want to parttake in. An ear flicked in annoyance- he did not like being talked back to, even if she had a point.

"And did you take into account the thickness of the ice? Your location? Cracks can easily spread if you so much as hit it at the wrong angle. And if you so think that any animal with a pelt not thick enough to witstand the North should tuck their tails in-between their paws and migrate South, then-" He let out a bark of laughter, bitter and scathing. "-pretty sure half the North should be out of our sight by now. Do I see us electing ourselves a new court to replace our dearly departed?"

He curiously pretended to glance around. The cold wind nipped, and his ears flattened- just to illustrate his next point. He exhaled, watching the clouds of his breath temporarily obscure both cats. "We live in a frozen wasteland. Every creature will complain for his own benefit."

(This, in fact, isn't so bad after all. If their argumentative skills was as good as he thought...well, he hadn't had a good debate in a while. Too many idiots. This could be refreshing.)

[{{Perception}}]

Her scathing eyes cast away from the two strangers, breath clasped within her stout jaw. Demitri took a chance to cool her boiling anger before staring pointedly at the Snow Leopard, "Excuse me, princess, mind if I kiss your paws and lick your fur while I apologize?" She snorted, "Please, don't you have somewhere else to be?"

She turned to the Arctic fox, grimacing. "Pardon me, I'm Demitri."
Every fiber of her being wanted to lash out at the Snow Leopard, but her better sense told her to be the bigger person. Better to make allies than enemies, right?

Turning to the Snow Leopard, she bit her tongue and stared her in the eye. "Pardon me aswell, no matter how much you irritate me, civility is a must for me. I apologize. But I'll just as easily take it back if you so much as act like a brat." Her eyes narrowed, before she sat back upon her haunches with a deep breath.

"Frozen wasteland, yes." She agreed, ears flicking against her head. "And yes, only strong can survive here, but I don't believe only a certain type is the only to survive here." Demitri pawed through the snow, breathing deeply. "But I could be wrong. I have been before."