username; hazilnut
sima name; Sandpiper
gender; female
how do they feel about cold temperatures and why?;
Despite her relatively short fur, Piper thrives in the cold arctic tundra that her tribe calls home. While
enjoys might be too strong a sentiment, Piper certainly appreciates the colder climate both because it is her ancestral home and because it inspires her to remain resilient. From childhood, Piper trained under the tribal leader to follow in her pawsteps, learning the ins and outs of diplomacy (both inter and intra-tribal), decision making (for the short and long term), administration (including brief apprenticeship in jobs she would oversee), sparring (primarily ceremonial at this point), and survival (which would
never become solely ceremonial). It was with this last skill, the one most important to nomadic life, that Piper struggled. Born with unusually short and thin fur, Piper was especially susceptible to the elements. Her rounded ears could not capture the nuances of sound, like ice cracking in the thaw or the murmur of a building storm, that could mean the difference between life or death, and her horns, the nubs that they were, only added to the laughable softness of Piper's appearance. There was talk, when Piper was recovering from a fever that usually only affected young kits whose pelts hadn't fully grown in, of apprenticing a different cub to the current leader. It wouldn't be unheard of, the leader before that of present day hadn't had an alpha jewel, and while Piper had proven very adept at all other aspects of leadership, putting someone with a weak constitution into a position of great power, and of great stress, would be a recipe for trouble. Piper wasn't deaf to the talk around her, but she refused to be swayed by it, instead she set out to prove the others' fears unfounded. Never one for foolishness even when others her age might have been blinded by anger or the stubborn side of determination, Piper approached gaining cold tolerance the
smart way. She exposed herself to cold slowly, standing outside for ten minutes before dawn broke every morning, washing with cold water even when warm was available, wearing thinner layers when health allowed. Within biological limits, Piper prevailed, and for those biological limits there were layered furs, medicine, and compression relief. Piper would have to prove and prove again her worth to many, many different people, but whenever she grew tired and doubtful, she only had to take off her jacket and let the biting truth sink into her veins once more.
