-x-
No Parking on the Battleground
the cabin in the night
-x-
Chopper feels the familiar cooling in the air long before the rest of them, and it delights him.
He feels the shift deep in his bones, prickling across his skin underneath the heavy fur, and he wonders absently if Nami - who is so amazing and smart when it comes to the weather and knows everything about it - well, he wonders if Nami feels it, too. She doesn't say anything if she does. It isn't a big, threatening type of shift, so it isn't really worth mentioning. It's subtle, and more like the way the wind smells, and maybe the direction, but Chopper never really pays attention to that. Nami probably decides that it's just the capricious Grand Line weather doing what it does best; the weather is mild, after all, warm and windy, gently-stormy, misleading like the final dregs of summer.
And then suddenly, a full six days later, the cold creeps into the cabin in the night. Chopper is lying in his bunk on top of the covers with his eyes closed, trying to absorb the crisp, clear air into his body so he can save it up for later. He takes a deep breath through his nose, relishing in the smell, and lets it out slowly.
"It's snowing," he says quietly, to no one.
The others are still asleep, all bundled up under heavy blankets - except for Franky, who is on watch and has probably already seen the snow fall first-hand. Usopp has abandoned his open bunk for the more solid warmth of the sofa, securing himself tightly in a blanket so none of the frigid air will get in, his nose pressed into the cushion. Brook doesn't seem to be bothered by the cold, and Chopper can hear him humming softly in his sleep from the end of the row. Sanji is sprawled out in his bunk, same as always except for the slightest, occasional shiver. And Luffy has rolled out of his own bunk and into Zoro's, and the swordsman has one arm and leg dangling out in the open air to accommodate his captain's gangly, intrusive limbs, the blanket clutched in his fist and caught between his toes to keep his digits from completely freezing. Luffy lies across his back, snoring soundly.
Chopper eventually falls back to sleep listening to the noise, a broad smile on his face.
-x-
-BobTAC