Trek Into the Chill

Tiffie stared out the window. Her nose was pressed gently to the cold glass as she watched snow, light and fluffy, drifting peacefully to the ground. Much to her surprise, she had not simply ceased to exist when the temperatures kept dropping and it started snowing. She whined, she complained, she made herself a problem – but, eventually, she got used to it. Bundling up helped, but...

...after so many days of this cold, she was so bored of being inside. She liked reading, sure, but she also liked roaming the town and being around the other buns. She could see the twinkling of winter lights in the distance that she wanted to check out, and she could see buns gliding gracefully on the nearby lake. It taunted her, lured her, like a sirens song. Every so often, she'd see a white ball sail through the air and splat against someone. Was that the snow, too? It ignited her curiosity further.

She'd never been one to ignore her curiosity for so long, and this wasn't going to change that majorly. Soon enough she found herself bundled from tip to tail, a veritable marshmallow monster in puffy pink and white garb. A fuzzy pink scarf wrapped around her neck, sealing off the jacket from the nippy bite of breeze. Movement in this outfit was a new skill entirely, but she hoped it would be enough to stave off the cold.

She learned a couple of things quickly after venturing into the snowy outside. One – noses freeze very quickly, and there's not much you can do about it. Two – snow melts when it lands on people, and it melts into very cold water. It raised a bit of concern of how quickly she might end up soggy and colder than she started, but didn't prevent her from traipsing out into the white.

One hoof in front of the other, little prints left in her wake as she proceeded across town. She wasn't careful enough at first – apparently hooves didn't get the best purchase in ice, who would've guessed? - and ended up landing in a sprawl, back on the ground. (It took her an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to get up from that one, and gave her a new respect for turtles.) She was much more careful after that point, taking careful steps and focusing on her balance.

Fortunately, someone had done something to the surrounding pathways, so they were mostly ice free. Something grainy had been dumped on them. She didn't think too hard on what it might be.

As she tugged her scarf higher and continued along, she noticed the activities of buns all around, all enjoying this weather. Buns skating on bladed skates, buns hurling balls of snow at each other, buns building forts and running around catching snowflakes. She even saw some buns who had carved out resting places for drinks in the snow, cooling them for parties.

Some people were catching the falling snow with the cutest little net. 'I should get one of those...' passed through her mind and was filed away for later as she watched. Others seemed to be catching the snowflakes directly on their tongues. Well, the ones that didn't land somewhere on their face instead. It looked fun. Did snow taste good?

She decided to join, looking up with her own tongue out and trying to track one down. She absolutely got more on her face than anywhere else – little kisses of ice – but did manage to catch some of them. They didn't taste like much. Why was catching them so fun though??

She wouldn't quantify the time she spent chasing snowflakes like that. It was quite some time, though.

By the time she finally returned home, scarf and hair damp and frigid, she had found a new appreciation for the weather. She still preferred warmth, but even this cold could have its merits. Sounds were crisp, as were smells, and the lights were quite pretty surrounded by their white carpet. Winter games were unlike anything done in the warmth. Despite being chilled to her core, she was looking forward to her next outing! And as she settled in at home to warm up, stripped of coat and scarf, she realized that her cocoa had never tasted so good.