AN: I didn't think much of Rhonda before I wrote this. She was the one that I had to actively force myself to include in the first fic, and whenever I think of the Hoboken animals, I usually don't tend to include her. I didn't like...hate her or anything, it was just harder for me to think of her since her debut (and only focusing episode) was so early on.

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Powder - to sprinkle or cover with or as if with powder

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Snow was many things. To some, it was beauty, a comfort. The calm quiet and the delicate fall of snow enveloped the world in an air that felt almost magical. To others, it was just miserable. It was cold and wet, and in the city where the white powder would melt into grey slush as soon as it touched the roads, it was anything but beautiful.

To Hans, it was a reminder- of good times and the bad. Looking up at the grey sky, the snow falling slowly in the hush of an otherwise completely average January morning, he couldn't help but think back on days long past gone.

"I vonder if Skipper is enjoying this snow" he mumbled, more to himself than anything else. "He alvays used to make the best snowmen"

Hans expected to spend the rest of the day like this, just sitting at the ledge of his habitat. Zoos didn't tend to get busy during the cold season, and Hoboken even more so as not a single human wandered the grounds. Not even their zookeeper is out, as he had gone into his office to the comfort of his heater. The quiet was soothing compared to how rowdy the zoo usually gets with visitors, but it also put him in an uncomfortably somber mood.

He absentmindedly started making a snowball in his flippers, and yelped when another animal's shout broke him out of his trance. By instinct he smacked the snowball in the offender's face.

"Wow, real classy" Rhonda wiped the snow off her face, leaning herself against the fence. "Maybe you should make that your next weapon against uh- Skylark? It'd probably work better than the fish."

"I'm not in the mood today, Rhonda" Hans grumbled, turning himself away from her.

"Whoa, who farted in your herrings?" She dropped back to the ground, "It's snowing! Aren't you penguins supposed to like the snow?"

"First of all, I'm a puffin. And vhile I do enjoy a good snow day, it just- nevermind"

"Hey! You can't just cut yourself off!" she stomped around his habitat, until she was facing him from behind his fence. "Come on, tell me!"

While Hans didn't make it a habit to speak to Rhonda much, he did notice she seemed more active than she usually was. The walrus tended to stay in her habitat and laze about most of the time, and it would take some serious convincing on Lulu's part for her to even join the all-zoo meetings. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was a spy for Dr. Blowhole at all. This was the most he'd ever seen her do since the Frances incident.

It was a bit unsettling, and he couldn't help but just stare at her blankly.

"And now the silent treatment?" she rolled her eyes. "Geez, you're no fun at all."

"Why me, anyway? Can't you go bother Clemson- he is always saying the mean things and you hate him, don't you?"

"Ugh, no. He's all curled up with Savio. He says it's because Savio's the only one with a heated habitat but I think he's just into weird shit."

"Um-"

"You didn't hear it from me."

"Well...uh, vhat about Lulu?"

"I tried. She says the cold makes her 'cranky'" Rhonda folded her flippers to indicate quotation marks. "I didn't really wanna test her, you know how she gets."

"Eh- good point."

Rhonda was still looking at him expectantly, and Hans fidgeted under her gaze. On one hand, he could tell her to leave him alone. He could stay in his habitat and gaze over the piles of snow that accumulated in the park. Each one reminded him of a memory, playing over and over in his mind until he lost track of time. That was always the case whenever he thought too much about his now-mortal foe, though.

Their scuffles in the snow, and their elaborate play wars that Skipper would always take so seriously. Hans remembered how elated he felt when he outplayed the penguin for the first time: when he set up dummy forts to lure him out only to hit him right in his beak with a snowball. Skipper couldn't hide the fondness in his voice when he conceded defeat back then. Hans always thought he was unusually serious for a penguin, but playing in the snow, it was almost like he was a chick, giggling and hopping from place to place, goading Hans into catching him.

Hans felt the guilt creep into him again- "Sure, fine". He said, far too quickly. He'd had enough of pointless nostalgia.

The walrus immediately brightened, and gestured for him to get out. "There's a lot more snow out here, ya know."

"Vhat about the humans?"

"If they see us, they see us. It's not like there's a worse zoo they can send us to."

Hans couldn't help but giggle at that, and hopped out of his enclosure. He shivered to get the snow off his feathers, and tested the slowly growing piles of snow with his feet. He made another snowball, and tested it in his hands, throwing it up and catching it.

"This is some good quality snow- reminds me of Denmark" the puffin remarked.

"Sweet, huh?" she swept some snow into a ball of her own, though her's was significantly bigger. The walrus then pounced into it, giggling like a pup. "Dr. Blowhole always gave me missions in the Bahamas or something- like, hello? It's too hot, you know"

Hans joined her by jumping into the snow, fluffing up his feathers. "You'd think a smarty-pants like him vould send a walrus to cold parts."

"I know, right?"

"How is he, anyway?"

"I dunno, last time I called, the crabs said he's Flippy now, or something." Rhonda sighed, and rolled onto her back. "But it's whatever, I've been meaning to vacay anyway."

"You don't vant to check on him?"

"Why should I? He's my boss."

"You're not...vorried, or anything?"

"Nah"

"Oh."

Rhonda sat herself back up, shovelling more snow with her flippers as she made another ball. "Listen birdy, I don't care about all that super villain stuff. For some of us, it's just a job."

"Oh…"

"That Skylark guy, or that other one, what was his name? Jubilee. I couldn't care less about them. Hell, they seemed pretty boring when I was undercover that one time."

Hans immediately stiffened at the mention of Skipper's (albeit incorrect) name, and looked away.

"Oooh, touchy subject, huh?" Rhonda whistled, though she did sound genuinely apologetic. On some level.

"You could say that…"

"Hey, if you need any ice-cream to eat your sorrows out, I'm your gal"

"...Thanks. I think."

After finishing her handiwork, she shoved the comically large snowball over to Hans, completely engulfing him in it. He squawked, and hopped out of it to face the other animal who was laughing uproariously.

"Vhat was that for?!" he fumed.

"A challenge. Bet you can't hit me."

"You're like a giant slab of ham, you can't seriously expect me to-"

"What's that? It sounds like some bawking. I didn't know we had chickens in this zoo-"

"Oh, fine, you're on!" He pointed to her. "And I am a puffin!"

With another fluff of his feathers, Hans immediately set to work, giggling maniacally as he created snowball after snowball to lob at the walrus. Rhonda was surprisingly agile, quickly and expertly using the slippery paths to her advantage as she twirled behind signs and snow mounds she made with ease. They were whooping and hollering, their laughter ringing out into the still morning and well into the afternoon.

In an area not too far from the animal's play fighting, in the deep crevices of a reptile house empty of all except one terrarium, a lemur groaned with annoyance.

"Seriously? It's what- minus, whatever degrees and they can't bother to let some of us sleep? Some of us are sleeping. That is what you do, when it's cold. The nerve of some animals. You know, in Madagascar-"

Savio mumbled something in response, too sleepy to say anything coherent, though he did use the end of his tail to lightly smack Clemson back onto his head.

"Fine, uh- yeah, you're the boss." he sighed. "Only 70 more days until spring."