Chapter Text
Thunk! Crash!
Thunk! Crash!
Thunk! Crash!
She knew she could do it. These old rickety machines ran once before, she could get them up and running again.
Thunk! Crash!
Thunk! Crash!
Thunk! Crash! Plink!
The stranger winced as a bolt jumped off of the steel plate she had been trying to hammer down and jumped directly into her cheek. She let out a quiet annoyed hiss as her eyes fell into the no-longer-fully-dead grass beneath her paws and stared furiously at the tiny piece of metal, the tiny voice in her brain telling her to stomp stomp stomp, growing ever louder as she stood still and let the near silence of the woods surround her. After a moment of letting her mind ease itself back into mind numbing indifference, she let out an annoyed huff as she simply picked up the bolt and shoved it into her pocket, moving her gaze back onto the machine in front of her.
What was once the source of the life-draining power that had destroyed the North Forest many months ago was now reduced to a hunk of scrap. The ominous black metal had slowly begun to fall apart with no one left to maintain it, not since the King and that freakish mole disappeared. Luckily for her, she was a pretty good DIY-er, and a pretty quick learner.
The bolt came back out of her pocket and rested in her palm momentarily before she held it back in place against the panel, slowly attempting to screw it back into its original position now that she had stopped hammering. The stranger twisted it quickly and effortlessly with her nimble fingers, furrowing her brows as she tried with all her might to twist until she couldn’t any further. She knelt and quickly flipped a wrench into her grip, twisting until her palms stung. This needed to work.
Quickly, the stranger pulled back and dropped the wrench back into her toolbox unceremoniously, letting it clatter as she slammed the finished panel shut with a loud thud that echoed off of the peeling trees. She looked at the hefty machine up and down slowly, checking it once more for any possible missing pieces, despite knowing she'd found every last nut and bolt that had belonged to this blasted creation. A soft shaky sigh left her lips as she tip-toed to the back of the machine and hesitantly flipped a switch, still holding her fingers against it in hopes that it wouldn’t just fall apart beneath her again. This needs to work.
Silence. Deep, unresounding silence. Then suddenly, loud sharp crunching. Had she not known any better, she’d have thought an animal was stuck in the gears and was being ground to a pulp. The gruesome image made her twitch, but a grin still worked a way into her face. Her eyes glossed over as a single flurry drifted upwards from the top of the machine, and suddenly, hundreds more followed. She did it. It worked.
Now everyone would see it the way she did.
——
THWACK!
Popgoes shot out of his bed and yelped as he landed back-first onto the cold hard floor. The… ice cold floor. He yelped again as he scrambled onto his feet and groaned, immediately grabbing his vest from his ever-so-slightly cracked open closet and his hat sitting on his bedside table. Jeez, had he forgotten to close a window or something?
The weasel shivered as he did a once-over of his entire bedroom. Closed windows, closed door, no weird cracks anywhere… but it was absolutely freezing. Was this some kind of weird prank? He’s sure he could see Saffron pulling it off, somehow.
THWACK!
Popgoes jumped as he heel turned towards his window. He squinted at the brightness peeking through the bright green curtains, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He had plans to hang out with Candy and Rachel today, for crying out loud! And he seemingly slept in?! This was embarrassing… he wasn’t ever like this! Yet he was here, being spooked by the cold and noises that were a result of his reckless decision to fall asleep much later into the evening than usual—
THWACK!
Oh, no. That— that was just 100% a real sound. It was so real, that the impact of whatever had made the sound (evidently against the window Popgoes was looking at) had caused the curtains to sway lightly. Popgoes sighed as he stepped towards the window at the other end of the room, lazily unlocking it and fumbling tiredly with pushing the curtains aside. Just what he needed today, someone deciding to throw things at his window again. He swears it, if it’s Candy trying to get his attention again instead of just walking in the front door like a normal person—
THWACK!
Popgoes was hit directly in the face with searing cold. He was hit in the face with snow.
“Whoops! Sorry Pop!” Rachel yelled, dropping the newer perfectly formed snowball she had already begun to gather in her hands. “Figured this was the best way to wake ‘ya!”
Popgoes opened his eyes as chunks of snow fell from his face and splattered onto the white wasteland below. His eyes darted across the Garden in horror as he quickly realized that he couldn’t make out the shape of anything. “You really invited us over when there was a blizzard goin’ on?” Candy teased, dragging a stick across the snow covered ground.
Popgoes actually couldn’t believe it. The entire grand expanse of the Garden was fully blanketed in a foot of pure white glimmering snow, bright as ever and piercing his sleep-ridden eyes like it was challenging him. There were flurries falling from the sky, more sporadic than what was usual in snow storms. Popgoes felt his jaw go slack. Was it not spring? Wasn’t snow confined to the East forest throughout the majority of the year? Was it not the warmest day literally yesterday? What on Earth happened overnight to cause such a drastic shift in the weather??? Had he not been literally hit in the face, he’d have assumed he was just still dreaming. He looked down at the sad remains of the snowball he was hit with.
Nothing about this felt natural. It didn’t just feel irrational, but it just was. In every sense, this type of phenomena was simply illogical. Impossible, even. It rarely ever snowed in the main Garden, even during its colder months; seeing this much snow so dense and so highly packed was a work of fiction. Popgoes heard Candy and Rachel calling out to him below, but he simply couldn’t hear them over the gears turning and failing in his head. Surely this had to come from somewhere, right?
“What.”
Can’t and Rachel stopped talking and looked up at Popgoes. “Huh?”
“Literally what,” Popgoes tried again, words still failing him. Candy snickered. “Oh, so this wasn’t on the forecast for today? I thought you really invited us on a winter wonderland adventure for a sec.”
“I don’t think he would’ve invited us over if all of this—“ Rachel motioned her paw towards the deep snow they were standing in, “— was in the forecast.”
Popgoes gripped the edge of his windowsill and used a hand to wipe the remains of the snowball that was thrown at his face down onto the ground many feet below. He took another confused yet annoyed glance over the land and tried not to grimace as he saw Candy and Rachel stand awkwardly, only now seemingly realizing the gravity of the situation. Popgoes sighed deeply before glancing over to his closet, turning to look at his friends for a moment. “Don’t move. I’ll be just a second.”
——
“Ollie! So nice of you to join us,” Candy teased, crossing his arms as he watched the now bundled up weasel emerge from the Inn’s front door. Rachel held back a giggle at the nickname. Popgoes sighed worriedly. “None of that.”
Candy’s usually playful smirk faltered at the tone. He looked up at the sky while Rachel analyzed the surrounding area, her mind quickly jumping ahead to the problem at hand. “So, I’m guessing this is news to you, huh?”
Popgoes nodded. “I fell asleep to the grass being green, and now it’s… all of this.” He waved a hand loosely at the ground almost hoping the snow would all just immediately disappear. “I have no idea where it came from…” He looked up at the flurries filling the sky, “or where it’s still coming from, rather.”
Candy’s tail flicked in thought. “Maybe there was a surge of wind from the East Forest or something..?” He offered, raising a hand to catch some flakes from the air. A few small snowflakes fell into his palm and melted, leaving behind cool water droplets that he tried shaking away, to no avail. “It’s melting, so it’s not like, cheaply made fake snow. It’s coming from somewhere.”
“That may be our best bet,” Rachel said, a hand on her cheek in thought, “The weather isn’t nearly cool enough to be producing snow like this, even if it’s cloudy.”
“Then I’ll head out to the East Forest,” Popgoes said firmly. Candy immediately did a double take, looking between Popgoes and Rachel, bewildered by the statement. “‘I’? As in you yourself singular?”
Popgoes whipped his head towards the other man, flexing and unflexing his hands in anticipation. “Yeah? I don’t think you two should be here when it’s so cold out. I can handle this myself.” Candy immediately scoffed. “Yeah right, dude. We came out all this way to hang out, so we’re gonna hang out. Even if it’s just figuring out why we’re trapped in a blizzard.”
Rachel’s ears twitched as she waited for her moment to interject. “I don’t know about either of you, but I’m built for cold. Problem is, I don’t know the same can be said about all of your other friends living here.” Popgoes’ eyes widened as he smacked the side of his head with his palm. He had been so focused on what was immediately in front of him that he completely forgot about the rest of his friends. They would all survive surely, but it still worried him that they had all been hit with such a severe change of weather, and that he hadn’t seen any of them out yet. It made sense but was still worrisome nonetheless. He had to assume they could all fend for themselves just fine, but he couldn’t stop that anxious feedback loop entrapping the back of his mind, filling it with “what-ifs”. He just had to assume they were snowed into their Inns and staying warm. Rachel stared the weasel down intently as her foot tapped relentlessly in the snow. “Point is, you’ll have an easier time if you have us with you.”
He really wanted to say no. It would have been so much easier to shoo the two off and go figure out just what the hell was going on all by himself. However, Popgoes knew that she was completely right. Sure, he could handle this on his own, but that would mean more time for his friends to be trapped inside, more time for panic and confusion, and less of an ability to get to it all in time. It’s not like his friends can’t take care of themselves, but it still made Popgoes sit with a horrible feeling in his gut at the possibility that he couldn’t do anything for them. Against his better judgement, he nodded. “Right, fine. Sure. We’ll go together then.”
Candy audibly whooped and threw a fist into the air. “Hell yes dude! We are making sooo many snow angels along the way,” He said, grabbing the other two behind him by the wrists as he surged forward. “No way! You’re gonna complain about your wet fur later!” Popgoes retorted, one hand on his hat.
The three set off through the entrance of the East Forest, pushing against the cold gust of snowy wind that pricked at their faces. “Let him learn the hard way,” Rachel joked, keeping up in time with her friend’s footsteps, “He deserves it for convincing me to practically pelt you in the face earlier. Sorry, by the way.”
Popgoes gave her an apologetic smile. “It’s alright,” he said, looking up at the flurries in the sky with tired eyes, ignoring the searing cold hitting him in every direction, “It’s alright.”