The Joys of Hearth and Home

by obsidian dreamer

He thought his family was about average and assumed hers would be the same. He could never have guessed just how wrong he was was going to be. Continuation from A Pair of Second Chances. BigMighty. COMPLETE but TBC...

11. Chapter 11 Snow and Sacrifice

Chapter 11 – Snow and Sacrifice.

A/N: I know this chapter's been a long time coming but, I'm afraid, the fact of the matter is that right now there are a lot of things going on in my life that have to take precedence over my writing such as it is. As such I might be a fair amount slower than I usually am at getting these chapters out; all I can say is that I'll try to be as swift as I can in typing them up for my readers. Speaking of whom, reviewers:

He took a last deep breath, glanced up as though asking for a favour from the man on high for Derek's sake at least, then twisted his hand on the door handle and walked through into the main bedroom. Or to be more accurate he tried to; at the sight awaiting him there he'd stumbled to a halt in the bathroom door, his conscious mind taking in the sight of the shape before him at the same time as his intellect was trying to make that shape out into the forms of two entwined armadillos; that's not supposed to bend that way surely…;

"Tap if it hurts"; …didn't think it was; judging by the agonised splutter and frantic banging on the floor from Derek's one free hand Big guessed his earlier postulation had been correct as Mighty relaxed the very slight modicum of pressure she'd been exerting on her cousin's pinned wrist and slowly released his trapped arm, almost tossing the extension of the limb back to its owner with a curt reminder,

"Next time I rip it off and beat you to death with it, got it?" Derek didn't reply for a minute, merely remaining on the floor and moaning in excruciation, his unmolested arm wrapping around to hug his violated one as Mighty stood up, a relieved sigh punctuating his lamentation of misery as he made contact,

"Oh thank God, it's still on there. Ah, pins-and-needles, pins-and-needles!" With a snort Mighty looked down at him, smoothing out her ruffled clothing as a saucy smirk sidled onto her lips,

"Be grateful I let you get away with that much buster – I only let you live because a couple of other people made fun of the fact I've got some non-armadillo inheritance and I'm running out of places to hide the bodies".

"Now that I do believe; speak to me", Derek broke off his death-glare at his cousin to implore his unresponsive limb, "give me some sign you're alive down there". Big gave a laugh,

"Rolling in the hay's bad for your health you said?" The cat pointed to where the blanket had been half-dragged off his room-mate's bed to act as an impromptu wrestling mat, "looks like romping in the sack with her isn't the best idea in the world either". Derek rolled his eyes and gave another pain-wracked groan at the lame quip; Mighty, however, ignoring him, her eyes fixed on her cousin's still-unresponsive limb,

"Hmm, I could…" Mighty stepped forwards an inch, Big had to stifle a laugh as Derek scuttled backwards a mile, huddled tight against the far wall and regarding her horror-struck,

"No chance, you've frozen my twins and cracked my arm one, leave the rest of me alone. Go beat Big up or something, and anyway when did you start taking up self-defence? You don't need any training; one look at your face should be enough". And you're trying to avoid trouble?; Big was only grateful Mighty's back was to him as he took it as a given that smirking right now would be taken in a very dim light as the insulted party bunched her considerable fists and placed them on her hips, her expression a certain scowl,

"For your second question there Derek, the training's a perk of my job and for the first part", thankfully the cat managed to just about sober himself up in time to look politely neutral as Mighty whipped around to glance at him, unable to look over her shoulder due to her shell impeding her neck movement, gave him a piercing glance before turned back to where her grey-shelled counterpart was just getting to his feet, "well I won't say it isn't tempting but by my reckoning a snowball to the mush first thing in the morning squares us up".

"Is that so?" Finally coming back to a vertical base and ceasing the massage he was performing on the twisted muscles of his arm, Derek looked over his cousin's head to raise and eyebrow at Big, "so what's the price for one to the jewels?"

"I let you live, on one condition, and that goes to both of you", Big froze in his smirking as his girlfriend raised her voice and cut his mockery of Derek's plight short; how, how do girls always do that? Not looking, no mirrors anywhere – how do they always know when to put the dampers on the fun time?; "get your tails in gear and get downstairs; snowball fight's already started and I owe a couple of Mobians not a million miles away a premature snow-burial".

The fact that she also owed one particular Mobian a quite literal burial flickered across her mind for a second but she cut the image off, picturing what she was going to do to that particular echidna next time she had her hands on him and letting the pleasing images of fire and brimstone warm the cockles of her darkest imaginations before a slight cough from behind her jarred her mental images; damn, and just as it was getting to the good, gory bit…;

"So I see – just our luck Derek", the grey-shell looked up, "a family of wide-awakers and us, two Mobians who know the true joy of taking it all in your stride and allowing yourself to have a decent lie-in once in a while".

"You bet – every year I have to put up with this…" For Mighty at least, the rest of her cousin's speech and recriminations about how he was forever being turfed out of bed at Christmas faded into the background as she took in what Big had been looking at recently. Like he had, she gazed out of the window he'd been observing the world through, though for obvious reasons of height she had to disguise such a look by taking a couple of half-steps to the side whereas he'd just had to turn his head and get a decent look at the scene of pure whiteness out there awaiting her just scant minutes for now.

The entire grounds of the Highland Steppes, all three or so square acres of it, was a blanket of utter whiteness, the snow on the ground garbing the scenery in a gown of stark, aloof brilliance. Going by what she had felt from the windowsill she knew it was the best kind of snow of all; powder-fine and delicate, no chance of a hastily rolled snowball containing a hazardous chip of ice up here in Scotland now; the thought, no, more than that, the need to be down there and starting to join in the ritualistic combat seized her, the unstoppable urge only increasing as before her gaze a couple of ants scurried over the frozen lawn, defiling its serene purity at the same time as enrich its barren stillness with shouts of challenge and joy she could virtually hear even from her eyrie up here. Right, enough talk, time we were gone; mind made up, she turned around and, disregarding where Derek was pulling up his jeans, she speared her boyfriend with a gesture that brooked no argument,

"Right you, downstairs, something to eat and then outside in that order, no arguments, no excuses, no nothing. Let's move". She clapped her hands; Big glanced off to the side of him as though looking for either an explanation or some help,

"I take it this is one of those 'I've made your mind up for you' kind of moments?" Derek nodded; well, after what I've already gone through this morning, I wouldn't be saying no to her;

"Looks like it mate; I'll see you in a second". Big nodded and, just before his girlfriend had a chance to blow some more steam off in his direction, he offered his hand forwards,

"All right, all right, I can see I'll get no peace until…" He got no further; instead he found himself trying hard not to wince as Mighty temporarily forgot her strength in her excitement, seizing his hand in a crushing grip and yanking him towards the bedroom door,

"Right, let's go, go, go; no rest of the wicked and all that – you've got to help me nail David this time around – smarmy panther plastered me last year, time for some revenge, best served, of course, ice-cold". No chance; glancing up to see the door to his room looming large in his vision and knowing that, off-balance and being dragged forwards at a rate of knots, he'd never fit through it properly, the cat concentrated all his energy on grounding his feet and bringing Mighty to heel. There was an incredible jolt of pain in his shoulder as for a second the irresistible force was tested against dragging an immovable object, though mercifully it passed swiftly as Mighty drew herself up short,

"What's up?"

"Just a minute, just a minute", not comfortable with being dragged out of his normal routine, the cat tried to regather both his breath and his bearing after his turbulent start to the day, "don't rush me, you know I don't like that. I know you're excited; Christ"; I sound like my dad; the sudden thought made the huge cat chuckle to himself, glancing over his shoulder at where Derek was still getting ready, "it's like looking after a two-year old". The grey-shelled armadillo shuddered,

"Don't; bad memories", Big was just quick enough to sneak a peek at where Mighty was attempting to look innocently coy before her cousin managed to get back to the real world and slam the cupboard door in the faces of his old skeletons, "you have any idea how hard it is for a six-year old to baby-sit a hyperactive toddler, least of all when the toddler's as strong as you are?" The cat chuckled again,

"I dread to think".

"I dread to remember", Derek shivered again before giving a final shake of his head, "she loves winter time, always has; first flake in the air and whoomph, there she was, trying to catch it. She was digging in the stuff before she could walk; did you tell him your old nickname Mich, you know, the one before you became Mighty?"

No she didn't; Big raised an eyebrow at this new titbit of information; another little secret you've been keeping from me Mighty? He turned around to see the armadillo looking a lot more ominous than she had before, a scowl on her normally smiling lips as she grated a response,

"Thanks a lot there Derry; no I hadn't. Again, nothing to it, I just forgot – do I have to?" Big nodded expectantly; he recognised the wheedling note that had crept into the armadillo's voice and was determined it wasn't going to get her anywhere this time around,

"'Fraid so, unless you want Derry over there to cough it up sometime tonight". I'm stuffed here aren't I?; just out of interest she looked past Big and parted the fingers that had spread over her face at this news – one glimpse of Derek's face sealed that idea for her; oh yeah, royally stuffed, roasted and served with an apple in my mouth.

"All right, just don't tell the guys on Angel Island. Okay I was", she cursed inwardly, feeling her face starting to burn despite doing her best to feel cool inside, "was Moley Armadillo; I just liked digging in the snow as a baby, that's not a crime is it?" Derek gave an outraged choke, a couple of choice reminders from his past giving him ample firepower to unload this time around,

"It is when they wire up yours truly over here to go down the tunnel you've just dug and pull you back out by your tail; you used to cling on like gum to a shoe sole, wailing away she was the second we broke the surface. How we never lost you for good I'll never know, more's the pity".

"Not as far as I'm concerned", Big chipped in, working out that a couple of compliments now would set him in good stead for later if things did boil down to a proper all-out snowball fight later on, "anyway, Moley's not too bad, better than Fluff-bert at any rate".

As he'd expected that name sent both armadillos sprawling with the giggles; Derek collapsed against the bed he'd been getting up from as Mighty imploded, hugging her stomach and laughing madly; into this hurricane of madcap hilarity Big tried to blow some words of explanation,

"Come on Might, you've seen the pictures; I was a real fluff-ball as a kitten. Didn't lose my powder-puff hair until I was just ready to start junior school, what were mum and dad supposed to call me?"

"Fluff-bert", Derek had just about made it to his knees only to collapse again as though hit in the stomach by the other armadillo in the room with him, "that's harsh man, hahahaha, harsh but funnehhee!"

"Tell me about it, especially when I got snapped just after a bath, came out to about here", he spread his arms wide to emphasise his point before Mighty, having finally got a handle on her hilarity, managed to finally come back to her feet and redirect her boyfriend to where she wanted him to be,

"Well then Fluffy, be that as it may we're moving on; catch you downstairs Derek, literally". The other armadillo snorted, taking up the challenge as she'd know he would,

"You wish, four-minute mile me, and yeah", he pulled his arm into one of his sleeves, "lightning can run on ice, carefully".

"Better hope for your sake it can; Big…"

"Way ahead of you; after you"; holding the door open for her politely, the cat allowed her pass before exiting the room himself, "look like you could use a bit of breakfast; the work-out downstairs is going to kill us".

"It'll kill you", Mighty riposted, revelling in the opportunity to score a verbal point of her own for a change, "no shell you know?"

"Just as well, lighter on my feet, I can dodge better. Being able to take a hit's all well and good but avoiding a hit altogether's better all round". Not from where I'm standing; digesting his words, Mighty was forced to discount the logic within them after a second's thought; one-on-one yeah maybe but in an all-on-all out there you'd have to be either Sonic or Shadow to get out the way of all of them.

"True, but take it from me there's going to be a lot of snow flying around out there; no chance you're getting out the way of all of it". Big had his answer all planned out, the response on the tip of his tongue when the need for it shrivelled away, all thoughts of humour dashed forever by a single, quiet and discreet cough.

XXX

Even without turning around both Mobians knew who it was; the glance they managed to share before being forced to turn and face their nemesis just confirmed the fact. Stefan was looking as gloatingly triumphant as Big had been afraid he would be, something namelessly cheerful in the armadillo's humourless figure lit up by apprehending them sharing a jokey moment,

"Forgive me but I must have missed the sign; Rebekka has relaxed the rule about opposite sexes cohabiting in her dormitories, unmarried partners that is?" Big tried to think of something that might salvage this situation, a scene from another part of his history that might have been of use here but nothing came to him, everything was a blank and, as Stefan had smugly known she must have, Mighty was forced to answer him with smouldering fury in her eyes and crimson beginning to spread along her cheek,

"No father, she hasn't, we were just…"

"So I see"; I hate that; no matter how much she wanted to carry on talking over the top of him, every time that stiletto dagger of a voice knifed her tongue with a pointed poniard of a tone, rendering her indignation at being treated like a child again mute; and because of that, because I'm not strong enough to talk over the top of you, Big's going to get another reminder of how sodding obnoxious you really are; "well in that, case, presuming the rules haven't changed, may I ask what circumstances contrived you to break them Michelle? What life-or-death situation made you go into that room and you, master cat, what was so important that both of you were needed to see it through?"

"What was so important? Uncle Steve, that's a question and a half", Stefan whipped around and Big breathed again, Mighty by the side of him exhaling hard too; the grey-shelled armadillo had pinned them between a rock and a hard place and only the actions of the other grey-shell who'd just emerged from the bedroom door looking dishevelled but with an enlightened gleam in his eye had been enough to break them out of it. The cat counted his blessings as he realised that dislike of Stefan seemed to run through most of Mighty's family,

"What was so important was the two of them making mad, passionate love so damn good", Derek flicked some imaginary sweat from his brow as Stefan's fists clenched, "even I needed a cigarette afterwards".

Do not laugh; how he managed to convince himself to follow what his mind was screaming at him even he didn't know, the hand he brought up to his face to disguise an explosive smirk could itself be disguised in its true purpose by curling a finger or two around his whiskers. Derek's remark had been absolutely picture-perfect, even more so than Stefan's reaction to it; the older armadillo's hands were up now and Big could just imagine how sorely tempted Stefan must have been to wrap them around his cocky nephew's neck.

"Man you couldn't hear them; and they say I sleep well at night", just like his father Derek must have known every single one of Stefan's buttons and was now systematically prodding them all in a countdown to detonation, "put it this way the earth wasn't just moving, it was going so fast it didn't even have time to cancel the milk and newspaper deliveries".

"Be quiet!" Stefan's harsh growl managed to shut his insufferable nephew up once more; Big could only hope his face was at least semi-straight as his girlfriend's father span on his heel to send a venomous look his way before squaring off against Derek again, "my daughter's not all muscle, she knows that sleeping around could be enough to get both her and that cat…"

"Big"; what?; the cat himself whipped his head down, shocked beyond hope of emotional concealment as for the first time in his recollection Mighty took a stand against her father, Stefan having finally exceeded even her respect for him, "he is not just 'that cat', his name is Big, and I agree with what Nessie said last night; what we do behind closed doors is our affair. I do not sleep around, although", a devious smile lit up her face like a ghostly candle, "since you seem so convinced I could take that…" Stefan's face had clouded over to a storm-cloud black and now, finally, let loose its first clash of thunder, arcs of lightning all but spitting from his lips towards the target of his daughter,

"You do and you can consider yourself no daughter of mine girl; I raised you better than that…" Big tried once more to blend into the background as the dispute threatened to boil over, Stefan gaining no respite as his unguarded back was barraged by Derek, no mirth in the younger grey-shells' tone this time,

"Shut up you tight-assed hypocrite", seeming to forget that Stefan shared his daughter's massively enhanced physical prowess Derek snarled and pushed himself right up into the other armadillo's face, unafraid of his retribution, "you never raised Mighty, my aunt Millie did – all you tried to do was break her and you failed", he chuckled darkly, his eyes narrowed almost to nothingness as a malicious grin stretched his mouth apart, "you failed big time".

The hallway was as still as the gallows, tension and threats of violence on the air so thick Big could almost feel it, a lasso clenched tightly against his middle not letting him draw breath. For a horrible second Big was certain this whole thing was about to blow up, that Stefan was going to lash out and maim his nephew crushingly with a single punch and he made ready to follow on Mighty's heels, knowing that he'd have no choice but to get involved if anything did happen and damn the consequences until later, but somehow even that evil instant passed, then a second and Stefan was stepping backwards, away from Derek, speaking in a toneless voice that cut all the more deeply for its heartlessness at something as sacred as a family should have been,

"Raising a child is something you with which you have no experience, nor will you or any of your kind ever have experience of it", a ripple of rage crossed the younger armadillo's face and well Big sympathised with him; more than once he'd wanted to take Stefan's acerbic tongue and rip it out of his mouth by the roots, "I find it only a shame that certain traits seem to pass from father to son; you have Gavin's love of profanity and lack of proper manners, such a pity".

"Dad…" Mighty half-growled as a warning as Derek's eyes narrowed to slits; it looked like he would have said something less than complimentary to her as well before somehow Derek managed to speak once more, his voice so low it was virtually subterranean,

"Pity?" The younger grey-shell's chest hitched once but he managed to recover and speak on, "you are the last Mobian on this planet to pity me, if anything it should be the other way around. But it's not all bad", somehow he managed to lighten his tone, looking over Stefan's shoulder to regard his cousin with a favourable glance, "a shame some things go from father to son, even better that some things don't go from father to daughter – Mighty doesn't have your blue-blood, your attitude or your outright snobbishness. Oh, and as far as 'my kind' goes", Derek glanced around and lowered his voice at the same time as though afraid of being overheard, "I wouldn't worry uncle, you're perfectly safe".

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that", a dead, dry whisper was Stefan's only answer, nothing left in his voice that boded for good or for ill as the armadillo turned away and made to move through whoever was stood in front of him, "I am going for my normal walk; I do not expect to see any of you for the rest of the day, you'll be occupied with your childish games I'm sure. Good day, and do not let me see you in there again Michelle". Despite his best intentions Big couldn't stop his fists clenching as, wilting under the iron gaze of her father, his girlfriend lowered her head and mumbled,

"All right dad, I won't".

"Good", satisfied on that point the oldest armadillo present brushed his eyes upwards to spare Big a single, dismissive glance before simply walking past without so much as a good morning; Big had to shackle down his mutinous mind as the urge to call the armadillo back and demand he show some of the manners he professed to hold in high regard rose to almost irresistible levels.

"…let you see me in there".

"Nicely said", only Derek's low murmur let the cat catch up on what was going on; wait up, did you…?; obviously she had, the determined, fiercely rebellious glare on Mighty's face told him she had just whispered what he thought she'd let slip, "he's getting worse I swear he is; any day now the rod shoved up his tail-end is going to start showing out his mouth". Big gave a nod of agreement and grunted,

"I agree; one day, when Emily's not about for some reason, he is going to get exactly what he deserves and he'll have no cause for a come-back in any way, shape or form – it's only Em who's shielding him from that now. But anyway", not wanting to dwell on the armadillo who'd just walked past for obvious reasons, the cat tried to shift everyone's attention to a much more immediate and pleasant subject, "downstairs it is; the table's probably laid and, beyond that, the fight awaits!"

XXX

Uniquely almost, as far as Big could remember, the main hall was almost deserted; a couple of armadillos were scattered around and absolutely none of them looked in the mood for a conversation – to a Mobian they were frantically troughing through whatever was on the plates in front of them with a distinct lack of anything even remotely resembling table manners. Probably just as well Stefan made an early break for it; the cat looked around at the bedlam all over the dining hall, noticing the haphazard usage of forks, fingers and grabbing fists with light amusement; manners like this would have probably keeled him over if he'd seen them. He glanced down, ready to say a word to Mighty only to realise there was a blank space where an armadillo used to have been by the side of him; only the sound of,

"Move over Junior", allowed him to locate her bull-dozing a tardy younger relative out the way and pounce on an empty seat at one of the tables, "hungry lady coming through; Big, grab a seat and tuck in, I can't start hurling snow until you do, so get your tail over here". Deciding against argument on the grounds that it would probably only hack the armadillo off and he could do without Mighty bearing him a grudge on what was basically a whole three-acre's worth of ammunition for her to deploy, Big set off meekly to join her only to be stopped by a chuckle from the back of him. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Derek shake his head at him, only a slight redness around his eyes showing where the recent brush with his most hated uncle had affected his mind, especially the reminder that he would in all probability never have children of his own; oh well, just have to hope everyone else gives me some nephews and nieces to play happy-families with;

"Another of those mind-made-up-for-you-minutes mate?" The cat echoed his smile,

"Guess so; coming Mighty".

"Good", her answer was crisp and to the point; Big saw her turn to the relation by the side of her and gave a jolt when he realised he recognised the youngster, "budge up Rod, he needs a bit more room than that to sit down".

Roddy?; seeing the normally bombastic armadillo there made so little sense Big had to take a second look to make sure he was seeking things right; why's he here – I'd have thought he'd have been the first outside. Curiosity aroused, the cat approached the table with a slightly more circumspect air, taking a little longer to take in Roddy's expression when he could see it; for a second he thought it was possible he'd been grounded for some reason – certainly from the experience Big had of him he seemed to be the kind of kid who'd get into scrapes like that enough to warrant reprimand on occasion, but if that was the case he'd be expecting one of his parents nearby to make sure he was sticking to his penitence. In addition, he looked serious but not outright unhappy; in fact as Big took his seat next to his girlfriend he was certain that if anything Roddy looked, for want of a more accurate word, driven in a desire for something. Unable to see why exactly, the cat resorted to the normal option for someone wanting to find information out,

"Hey Roddy", the little armadillo pricked his ears, looking up at the source of the question, "where's everyone else, your family I mean; sorry but I saw that coming a mile off".

"Aww"; spoiled my chance of a joke; a little miffed by the cat ruining his fun, the armadillo simply shrugged, "outside most of them, I know mum is, don't know about Ed and dad".

"Oh I see", Big said as though considering his point; he was about to ask the hundred-dollar question and had in fact open his mouth to do so before Mighty swallowed her hastily-masticated mouthful of toast and managed to splutter,

"Rod, seen Uncle Gav around?"

"Yeah, he went out about quarter of an hour ago, said something like 'once more unto the beach' or something like that. Dunno why; who'd want to go to the beach when it's snowing?" Mighty shrugged at the same time Big fell quiet and hushed his previous question; the expression she'd flashed his way would have kept anyone from poking their nose in where she felt it didn't belong,

"Well you know Uncle Gav – if anyone would it'd be him even at this time of year. Anyway, since he's gone, why don't you go keep Derek company?" At the name Roddy's head shot up, his eyes following Mighty's pointing finger like the point of a sniper scope; once he identified his target he slid off his stool, burst under the table as seemed to be his custom and pelted towards where Derek was just reaching for some orange juice.

"Hey Big-D, didn't see you come down"; as the graven-shelled armadillo detected the incoming missile of his younger relative his face broke into a smile; Big, however, saw no more as he stopped to whisper into his girlfriend's ear,

"What's up?"

The question was enough; had it been anyone other than Roddy he might have needed to elaborate but when the effervescent little armadillo was concerned there was no need to say any more. Mighty for her part put down her slice of toast, appetite seemingly deserting her for a minute as she gave a regretful sigh,

"Roddy is, bless him; every year he does this, just because he made a mistake when he was a lot younger – it wasn't his fault, we, armadillos like us I mean", Big nodded to know he understood exactly why Mighty had indicated herself and her nephew as apart even from the rest of her family in this matter, "we've all made mistakes no matter how well we try to keep a lid on it, or how often people tell us how strong we are. It's just one of those things". Big nodded again, keeping up a semblance of normality as the subject of his curiosity flashed a look their way before jumping upwards, Derek's laugh quickly choked off as his favourite younger relative made to take immediate revenge of his low jab in the side,

"You're not the only ones; look at me for instance. In fact out the lot of you I'm the best example with what happened…to end my school career".

"I know", Mighty nodded sadly, aggrieved at Roddy's self-enforced moral stance at the same time as not a little touched by his dedication that he'd stuck it for the fourth year in a row now; his response to an accident that she for one believe he should never have shouldered any blame for, not really in any case, "but in his case, perhaps even more so than you, it was an accident; he really didn't mean to hurt anyone, least of all one of his grandmas. It's the reason he doesn't join in snowball fighting", she explained with steel in her voice that she didn't really feel; Big said nothing, merely letting her carry on in her own time as this less than completely pleasant episode in her family episode came out into the light, "years ago, the year he turned six, he was out there scrapping away with the rest of us and misjudged a high, hard one – it hit aunt Fiona right in the face, broke her glasses, even the lenses. There was", she swallowed, remembering the ambulance pull away towards the nearest hospital as Roddy had been inconsolable, sobbing in his mother's arms and begging for forgiveness that all present had willingly given, accepting it had been a genuine accident, "there was a lot of blood, she got a torn eyelid, some other shallow cuts in the face, looked worse than it was but he was convinced he'd nearly blinded her and it was all his fault. He swore then and there that he'd never join in again, went inside and stayed their all day, wouldn't come out no matter what any of the rest of us said or did".

Poor sod; it was a strange thought to have for an armadillo with an attitude and ego like Roddy's obviously was but there was reason behind Big's sudden stab of sorrow for his sake; typical, the one time it wasn't his fault he won't let anyone tell him it's actually not. It seemed the way for irony to stick the boot in good and proper; the thing the cat would have placed a hefty bet on would have otherwise been the highlight of Roddy's year was the one thing he denied himself for reasons he was convinced held tight water. With a last look at where the armadillo in question was single-mindedly wolfing down a bowl full of cereal, Big shook his head in regret as he reached for the sugar pot,

"Let me guess", he said in a quiet whisper a few seconds later, giving Mighty the time she needed to pull herself back together, "he hasn't stopped telling himself that he's to blame? He still won't come out and play?" Mighty hastily sniffed and, after pinching the bridge of her nose with her free glove, turned to look at him again, regret etched deeply into her demeanour as a whole as she shrugged her shoulders,

"No, he hasn't since; he said he'll never have another snowball fight and it's the one New Year's resolution he hasn't broken", she gave a weak smile at her lame quip, Big just about cottoning on at the last minute and giving a gruff snort of laughter, shoving her gently in the side and giving her the support she needed to finish her story, "but it's not all bad, for him at least", a little fire began stoking her belly, injustice firing her up as she recalled being piped at the post by the narrowest of margins last year, "because he doesn't fight like the rest of us he always gets head-start building his snowman – that's the only reason he's been the champ two years running but not this year. You hear that ya little rat-bag?" Suddenly she was on her feet, the challenge hot in her throat and the target of her ire for some reason not at all concerned about the possibility of his forthcoming dethroning as the king of Christmas sculpting,

"You've had your reign you little usurper", Big raised his hands in abject appeasement, giving an I'm-not-with-her sort of look as Derek raised an eyebrow across the hallway at him, "I'm the rightful queen of the ice out there, your days are numbered! You, get full"; yes ma'am; there were some times in life when it wasn't worth arguing and Mighty in this mood was definitely one of them – there was an almost ferocious zeal in her eyes as Roddy's impudent raspberry rasped across the hallway to answer her challenge, "I need a decent warm-up duel and then I'm going to rub his face in the snow so deep you'll have to wait until midsummer for it to thaw out!"

XXX

Any lingering sense of misfortune the cat felt towards Roddy lasted only until Mighty threw open the doors of the Highland Steppes once more and he beheld the bedlam before him – in such a chaotic, rough-and-tumble environment there was no chance anything like a frown or a sneer could possibly have survived. Save the few who were still inside eating, Roddy who felt he needed to sit this one out and, of course, Stefan, for whom even the idea of fun on this sort of scale was anathema, every member of Mighty's family was currently battling it out on a field that, having once been snow-white and pristine, was now looking distinctly ruffled as the Mobians swarmed all over it, tearing ragged handfuls of virgin snow from the ground, compressing it into useful ammunition and hurling it towards a distant, indistinct target only to repeat the process minutes later. The snow was constantly in use and being recycled at a frantic pace; in some of the cases Big saw it had no sooner broken over the shells and fronts of those it had impacted on than it was back in the form of another snowball and being returned to sender with interest. Speaking of which; spying a handful that had somehow escaped detection, clustered on one of the porch crevasses as it was, Big seized his chance for a little payback; a second later Mighty jumped at the sudden cold and span around to glare at him evilly,

"You are so going to pay for that"; he grinned in the face of her challenge,

"Oh and you weren't just asking for it after this morning?" He leered at her before a shape in the background caught his eye, taking shape more and more as he focused on it, "Sam? What are you…?"

"Baby-sitting", Mighty's youngest uncle glanced up to give a nod at where his niece and her partner were now descending the stairs of the Steppes towards where he was now sat on top of what looked like an air-bed, Jess in his arms wriggling like a pinned snake as her father fought to keep a grip on her enthusiasm for what she could see in front of her, "and if she gets any more excited I'm going to have to start taking that literally, gets it from her mum you know?"

"Right", Mighty drawled as she stooped down in front of him, one of her fingers reaching forwards to tap the point of her cousin's tiny chin, "and I suppose you're not absolutely busting your shell not to be out there spoiling for a fight yourself?" Samson drew himself up proudly,

"No of course not, well", he deflated his own ego a minute later, a little more candour in his words as he made his admission, "not too much anyway. Hey, get back here", scrambling forwards he just about managed to grab his infant daughter's foot before Jess managed to clear the airbed entirely, dragging her back into his arms with a light-hearted reprimand, "one of these days I'm gonna put you on a bungee cord ya little tearaway – reminds of someone else at this tender age". Big shook with mirth as Mighty attempted to look innocent before Sam's accusing gaze but cracked in mere seconds as he pursed his lips and raised eyebrows in concert,

"What? I was fine as a kid…"

"Yeah, if we hand-cuffed you to something and set a guard twenty-four-seven, then you were completely manageable. Don't listen to a word she says Big", the cat tried to look wise at the same time as avoid giving into his giggles as both armadillos turned to regard him, the elder of the pair speaking first, "first chance she had she was off, not that I can blame her all that much", he glanced around, his voice dropping to a temperature colder than the snow around them, a prelude to what Big was certain was coming, "if I had Stefan looking after me all year I'd be making a break for it first chance I got up here. Ah, you took your time"; the answer came before the cat could see who Sam was speaking at though he recognised the voice,

"And you won't be later", Paula riposted, curling her thick brush of a tail around her body in order to paw away some of the snow and ice that been embedded in it, the remnants of well-aimed snow missiles, "I just made the most of it while I had the chance; you armadillos keep time about as well as you get yourselves organised, or at least you do, the rest are all right". Sam snorted before pointing downwards, his finger trained on his daughter as she crawled towards her mother, Paula stooping to seize the inquisitive infant, rubbing her nose against her daughters slowly as her partner launched his riposte,

"Disorganised? Listen mush, the night after you said you wanted to be a mum someday I made sure you'd get that wish granted – try telling me that's not quick off the mark", Paula scowled at the same time Big tried not to shake with mirth; try to hide it all you like but you've gone red as a beetroot there lady; "and I resent you going around fobbing everyone off with the old line that I'm to blame for you not having a band of gold round your finger – all I'm doing is waiting for you to tell me when and I'll take it from there".

The little snow that had been left in Paula's tail was shaken free as the squirrel bristled at her partner's bare-faced cheek; dexterously flipping and folding Jess in her arms, she squared right up to where Samson was pulling himself to his feet, now slightly taller than her as he was stood on the airbed,

"All right, you're on", neither of the other two Mobians said a word, neither of them dared as Paula, her daughter held in her arms like a newspaper about to be unfolded and read, squared up to the armadillo and stated her demands, "before Jessie turns eighteen months I want us married and take it from me if we're not I'll be using your shell as a bob-sleigh this time next year". Samson nodded, not giving an inch as he raised a hand; Big fancied he could almost see him catching the fiery squirrel's words as she spoke them, holding them tightly as he closed it to a fist,

"Fine by me; we'll be wed in the spring-time, leave the rest up to me, I'll get it organised".

"You hear that?" Big jumped and had to catch Mighty in the same movement – she'd been as startled as he had when Paula had turned and speared them both with the same finger, a triumphant, almost maniacal gleam in her eyes as she crowed triumphantly, "I call you as witnesses to that; you heard him say what he was planning, you'll be there to testify if I haven't worn the white dress come the end of April?"

"Umm, yeah, sure"; thank you, a thousand thank-yous; Big let out a low, relieved breath as Mighty answered for the pair of them – he'd been too stunned to even consider thinking about answering, "well, you heard the lady Sam, better get your thinking cap on". Her uncle chuckled, though his laughter died slightly as he turned his head once more and stepped off the air-bed; his eyes never left Paula's face, not even when he reached down and tickled his daughter's chin, making her gurgle happily – he spoke to Mighty without even glancing at her,

"Later I will; now I'm going to get my gloves on and go fighting; go on", suddenly he did look at them and the fire in his eyes was so open and all-consuming that Big finally did make a break for it, barely hearing the armadillo's last words as he sprinted for the open ground, plunging headlong into the battle that raged in front of him, "five second hand-start, then I come hunting; got a load of shells from the rest of them all ready but I'm betting my Jess would love a nice, warm cat-hair blanket to wrap herself up in!"

XXX

Chaos; that was the only word that could even come close to explaining what this one – even in a lifetime of hearing, understanding and deciphering words spoken to him at all times and in many different languages Big couldn't think of a single one that came even close to encapsulating the roiling, seething, madness of merriment that immersed him now – even chaos was a pale shadow for what this snowball fight actually was. There was no plan, there were no sides; it was every man for himself, keep your head down, pick your targets and damn the rest – his fingers were numb even through reinforced gloves but still he crouched, grabbed snow by the fistful, balled it up roughly and hurled it blindly towards the largest gaggle of armadillos he could see; even if he missed, which he usually did, the splat of the snow would usually paint one or two with slush and provoke a furious response which he did his level best to avoid. Once more he ducked down both to gather up his latest missile and to simultaneously dodge as a barrage of snowballs whistled past his ears; sure they weren't aimed at him as they were flying way too high over his head to count as a genuine attempt at his well-being, the cat stood to his full height, compressing the snow between his paws softly enough to ensure the huge boulder wouldn't contain a shard of potentially dangerous ice at the same time as making sure it would be easy to throw; aha! A predator's smile flashed over his face, the tips of his canines showing as he recognised a sudden laugh and retort to some comment or other; spinning around, he took a quick, rough guess at the distances involved, tried to remember the elementary physics behind such simple ballistics, then decided it simply wasn't worth the effort and hefted the snowball up to this shoulder before launching it skyward at the ducking, diving armadillo he'd picked out as a target.

Sweet as a nut; it had felt good from the second he'd let it go and, as the back he knew so well continued to jig in just the direction he needed it to go, Big realised that unlike most of his earlier efforts this one was going to land right on the money. Or, in this case, it was going to land on the money-maker of his girlfriend's family; though he was sorely tempted to simply let nature take its course, his huge heart just wasn't up to it and so, seconds before impact, he took down a breath and let his voice ring out its warning,

"Oh Emmie", the armadillo spared him a glance but no more; for a second he thought he'd have to elaborate but the way his girlfriend's mother in law suddenly whipped back around with her arms up high let him know she'd seen what was coming. And no chance to get out the way of it either; her arms had instinctively sprung up to cover herself as much as she was able to but against such a mighty snowball, there was no way Emily was going to stand a direct hit without getting covered – with a flump that even he could hear, Big roared with laughter as the smaller armadillo got flattened by his sneak attack. Laughter that quickly died as, much like her daughter would have done, Emily exploded up from the snow entombing; next minute Big was forced to duck and dive as the enraged part-coyote flew at him, snowballs flying from her hands so quickly it almost appeared she was firing them from some kind of gatling gun,

"Oh Big", as he stooped low to the snow to try and minimise the target he presented and cursed silently as he realised that really wasn't doing much for him in the grand scheme of things, the cat had to grit his teeth as he recognised her use the same irritating, sing-song voice he'd just imparted in his warning, "time for a little payback".

"Duly received", the cat called over his shoulder as he felt several impacts on his tail and back, "now look out, bandits at eight o'clock". For a second he was afraid she wouldn't believe him but as his keen ears, even wind-chilled as they had been, were able to pick out the sound of a startled oath and a rallying cry, Emily using his early warning signal to turn the tables on those who would otherwise have ambushed her; right, hopefully that's me back in her good books now. Breathing a sigh of relief even if his never dropped his hair-trigger reflexes; in this fight he'd quickly learnt that there was no such thing as a second's pause as the minute you slowed down to rest you got buried, the cat was able to snatch a quick breath and look over his shoulder at where the armadillo he'd come to like and mutually respect more than was average for his girlfriend's family was facing off against the shadowy silhouettes he'd seen in the background threatening her from the back. Actually, there were more there than he'd first thought and he stooped once more, grabbing smaller chunks of snow this time as it seemed speed would be more important than big shots in this instance; skilled and swift Emily might have been in this kind of combat but even she was struggling four-on-one. Luckily all her opponents seemed to be younger and more excited than she was, most of their snowballs whizzing overhead or fizzling out in the snow around her feet as she put a little more consideration into her retaliatory firing – though most of them missed as well, they were forcing her aggressors to shift about, duck and dodge and disrupt their own attacks. It was a stalling tactic, simple but effective and was shielding her from the worst of their family attentions, but it was not a fight she was likely to win up until the point Big threw his considerable weight behind her attempts at self-defence.

Like howitzer shells his heavy ordnance fired from over her head, showering and peppering the other armadillos in drifts of snow and making them squeal in outrage at their plans going so horribly awry. To her credit Emily didn't even look to see where the help from an unexpected quarter was coming from, she kept on nailing her shots with sharp-eyed precision and a head cooler than the snow at her feet; eventually the combination of saturation shelling and sharp sniping took its toll and, with a last yell to break from combat, first one, then the other three of the armadillos who had been hoping to ambush their aunt ran from the victorious duo, their alliance fracturing even as Big watched them depart and shook his head as snowballs began filling the air between the previous rogue's partnership.

"And serves you right, little sneaks"; I suppose it does, in a way; even as the thought crossed his mind the cat rolled his shoulders in a shrug – at the end of the day fairness wasn't really what was today was all about, this was a war in which no-one could feel pain or bereavement and for that he was grateful. With a breath he could hear even from his distance the armadillo put her hands on her hips and started towards him, not dropping her reflexes all that much as she glanced up, something dangerously close to respect in her eyes as she nodded curtly, just once,

"Thanks".

"My pleasure", the first lull he'd had in what seemed like hours and he was going to take it; dropping his hands to his knees the cat sucked down deep breaths of the frosty winter air, the chill of it seeping straight through his chest and helping to cool the blood pounding around his body, "man, best work-out I've had in a long time".

"Same here, sure beats running for the last taxi to get to the last flight anywhere", Emily agreed with him, finally getting her breath back as she enjoyed a brief break from the continual battle, "any sign of my daughter per chance, at least"; here we go then; he could virtually taste the anticipation about what was coming next and could only brace for it, try and grin in the face of it as the older Mobian's sly, crooked expression regarded him calculatingly, "any sign of her since first thing this morning; from what my other half tells me you were having rather closer encounters than he would have liked at that time".

"Hey that was completely her idea; I mean", Big tried hastily to correct himself as Emily was suddenly forced to look away, shoulders absolutely heaving and one hand clapped over her mouth, "she started it, hit me with a snowball first thing in the morning – if that's not chilling to one's ardour I don't know what is".

"Ha, how about", with a visible effort the armadillo pulled herself back together, "how about one to a rather, lower region; Derek told me all about it earlier rather than eat another snowball – told him I could still run faster than him even at my age but would he believe me?" Finally re-oxygenated, Big pushed himself back to his full height and immediately his massive stature afforded him a sight that gladdened him immensely,

"Ah that's good – he shouldn't be cooped up inside all day, get out in the open air with everyone else, bet place for him".

"Who?" It was only at the sudden squawk of mingled shock and confusion that Big realised his arms had moved on autopilot from his brain; blushing profusely, he could only apologise as Emily smoothed down the sides of her coat, the material there rumpled under the pressure of his huge fingertips,

"Please forgive me", he spoke in a voice so thick it felt he could see it congealing in the fog of his breath on this windswept day, "I just…we were taking about her, Mighty I mean, I always pick her up when she needs to see things". Grudgingly he brought his face around to see his girlfriend's mother eyeing him up beadily – his relief when she cracked a smile was even more tangible than the heat on his face,

"I'll bet; I don't mind, just a little warning next time please? Mighty might have gotten used to it but the rest of us aren't used to just being craned into the air by our shell-sides, sensitive skin around there you know?"

"I should have guessed", the cat gave ground graciously before launching himself back on the front foot, stealing the initiative back with a stunning riposte, "I'll just hoike you up by your ankles next time then?" Emily spluttered, though whether from outrage or outright admiration at the audacity of his comeback he couldn't be sure,

"You do", she managed to choke, the tip of her finger quavering as she tried to skewer him with it, "you even try and, and I'll…I'll, oh just take a knee!" Eh?; it wasn't until she flattened her palm towards the ground that he understood the strange instruction and obediently sank to one knee in the soft snow, ignoring the sudden strain on patches of his fur a second later as Emily clambered ungraciously onto the raised platform of his extended thigh, clinging onto handholds in his fur and looking over her shoulder,

"What were…ah, I see now", as he'd expected the vision had brought a smile to her lips, "good for him, must have wanted to get a head-start. Heh", Big also smiled as the armadillo quite literally on his knee chuckled; he also kept up a fervent hope that anyone who happened to be noticing this little scene of his would have the brains or the decency to keep their lips buttoned when around Stefan – even after a few days of knowing him he could easily guess what the grey-shell would have though to his wife being in this position with a stranger, "looks like he got a bit of company too; ah, that's it lad, show her how it's…hoi, whoa!" Now they really better keep stumm; he'd grabbed her reflexively as, unsettled by both him half-standing and the way his fur bristled as the injustice perpetrated itself right in front of his eyes, Emily had lost her grip and started sliding towards the floor – having held her close for a second the cat abruptly put her back on the floor, mumbling something about being sorry for not giving her a bit of warning. An apology that, judging by the way Emily shrugged and swiftly grabbed for his hand, predator genes in control as her firm sense of right and wrong demanded the guilty party be brought to justice and needing a witness for the prosecution, seemed to be completely unnecessary,

"Come on"; I'm coming, I'm coming; Big caught up with the events a second later and began moving completely under his own steam, sliding across the snow deceptively quickly for such a large Mobian, managing even to keep pace with Emily as she snarled, the quarry in her sights, "new member or not that's going too far – no way is she getting away with that!"

XXX

Aha, Watson; just this once Mighty found herself wishing for a smoking pipe and tweed jacket; the game is afoot, follow and hail a cab good fellow, the streets of London are most worrisome this time of year. Though it was an endearing image, huddled in the snow as she was now Mighty was forced to concede that the normal attire of one of her teenage heroes wouldn't have been wholly appropriate to the game she was partaking in; after all, how could you have possibly lit a pipe that's had a snowball shoved down the smoke-hole? Still, as she crept and crawled towards her unsuspecting prey, the smaller, lighter Mobian completely in the dark about the hunter at her back, believing she was protected by her slight figure and the small scrape of cover she'd found in the bowels of the grounds of the Highland Steppes. How false that illusion was Mighty was about to show her but not yet, not yet; she was still a little too far away to risk an all-out rush – going by what she'd seen last night Mina was a slippery enough eel to slither away from her clutches and jeopardise all her good work so far. Once more she had a minute of fleeting regret about what she was doing; once more she squashed that regret in injustice, how horribly her pocket had been picked this time last year and her promise, no, more than that, her outright demand that the same fate was not going to befall her a second time around. Another pace she took, most of her normal clothing completely white by now due to all the slush and snow that had been flying around so far, the colouring helping her blend in with the surroundings, aiding her disguise as she inched her way across the almost open ground, her breath catching in her throat every time the mongoose stooped for a little more ammunition, every twitch of her little, shell-like ears, fear of detection so close to her goal stilling the desire for revenge, to consummate her perfect plot and take back what was rightfully hers. A step closer, then another; she froze, not even daring to blink her eyes as the lavender sheet before her, flecked with white from numerous snowball hits, rose up and then ducked down once more, payload delivered and back out of sight before her target could realised the direction of attack; no trouble I wasn't seen. The armadillo took a third, final step forwards, the prey in front of her crouched down, perfect position as Mina went for another snowball; now!

With a roar that made the airborne snowflakes quiver Mighty launched herself forwards, half-frozen snow crunching in her boot-prints like the brittle bones of an ancient burial pit; Mina jumped around, though thankfully not backwards as far as the armadillo charging her was concerned, and her face when suddenly bloodlessly white. Drawing on that primal fear Mighty let a feral snarl bedeck her face for a moment, not even flinching as the snowball, Mina's last, meagre weapon for self-defence, went whizzing past her left ear, the younger Mobians' aim destroyed by a combination of fear and the speed of her target; no chance, turn and run; belatedly the mongoose did but by then, with the full force of her momentum behind her, even she couldn't hope to outdistance her older half-cousin; that just makes the kill all the sweeter. She lunged forwards and something squealed, Mina's feet sparking up snow flurries from the souls of her boots as Mighty ripped her clean from the floor and crowed triumphantly in her ear, arms snapping as tightly as the coils of a constrictor snake with a mouse in its grip,

"Aha, who's this I've got…"

"Nooo-hhhooo!" The mongoose struggled gamely to get away, her desperation boosted further still as Mighty tickled her with a few stray fingers right where she'd pointed out the previous night, "Aunt Mighty, let goohhoohoho!" Ignoring her pleas and only holding her tighter, Mighty carried on as though no-one had spoken,

"…a little mongoose perchance; hmm, not much eating on a mongoose though, all bones and no real meat there; might as well let it go", she glanced down, just for an instant, just long enough to see Mina's little grey eyes start to widen in hope and expectation before digging her in the ribs again, making the mongoose collapse into laughter as she straightened up as though struck by a thought suddenly, "ah, but this little mongoose has a quick tongue on her. Hmm, no point eating that though, urgh, don't know where that tongue's been", if Mina had wanted to make a point here she wasn't able to force it out over her laughter and Mighty carried on unimpeded, "so back to the normal way of punishing the impudent. You missy", with a sudden strain of effort Mighty straightened her arms, her younger cousin squealing again, this time in fear as the ground sped away from her, "prepare to get rolled!"

"Don't roll me, don't roll me!" The mongoose screamed even if, deep down in some very vague part of her that really understood what was going on, she knew she was perfectly safe and that Mighty wouldn't let anything even close to harm befall her, "please Might, I'll never get it out my hair, it'll frizz up like nothing else". There was a long, torturous pause before her answer came back to her, the tone allowing her to breathe again as it was a more calculating tone that enquired her motives,

"So, you plea for mercy?"

"Yeah, yes of course I do, don't roll me in the snow; put me down, please?" She tried to make herself sound small and inoffensive even if compared to her massively muscled aunt she already was; the relief that flew around her body blew out of her in a deep breath of air that she heard as well as felt as, slowly, Mighty lowered her back to her feet,

"Hmm, well you are young, and I'm not all that hungry and in a good mood", she licked her lips and Mina shied away in mock-terror, secretly relieved as anything that she'd be able to quit this battlefield in one piece, "so I suppose I'll spare you that". As she'd expected the younger Mobian's face collapsed into a relieved, breathless expression; wait for it, not just yet…;

"Oh thank you", Mina hammed up the corny relieved look even if in all honesty she wouldn't have really cared much had she been sent rolling, "thanks for all your merciful…umm…bountinousness". Try as she might to keep a straight face the armadillo's façade crack a little at the word,

"That's a new one in the book for me Mina, but anyway, have a care you; I said I wouldn't roll you, I didn't say you were off the hook", the smaller Mobians ears twitched, not sure if this was a good or a bad thing as her older family member smirked evilly, "you want back into my good graces? Well, do you?" She added a second later as Mina didn't seem to understand; as soon as she did the mongoose sprang to attention,

"Er, yes aunt, I really don't want you mad at me".

"Clever girl. Well in that case, all you have to do – come a bit closer", cautiously creeping forwards, the mongoose lent a chilled, flickering ear, "this is what you have to do. Unfair, I know, unkind, probably, but believe me as far as I'm concerned it's for the best and that's all that matters…"

Ouch; minutes later from her high vantage point Mighty had to hold her stomach suddenly as the scene before her played out; that was genius – Mina love, I didn't mean you to take it that literally. Still, one hell of a move you pulled there. And it had been; the target of the her attentions had been well and truly blindsided and was now standing knee-deep in the ruins of his work so far and glaring angrily at where Mina was dancing away out of range of his retribution; she would have got away too, had not the bellowed command compelled her to stay exactly where she was; oh no, I know that voice. No choice here really is there; much as she'd like to slink away into the background Mighty was adult enough now to know when it was her turn to stand up and take the flak she deserved – standing up from where she'd been sitting to get a full view of the action, she jogged down the incline to deflect any criticism from the younger Mobian she'd roped unwillingly into her cause.

XXX

He wasn't jealous, not at all; well, not really at least – it would have been nice to be with the others dodging away and catcalling insults to other members of his family, but he was just fine where he was, pushing the lump of snow already up to his waist over and over in a circle to make sure he picked up all the loose flakes that could be hoovered up by such a crude method. Taking a step back for a minute, the juvenile armadillo scratched an itch just under his shell hood and looked at his work critically; in his experience the bottom ball was the absolutely critical one as it formed the base of a proper snowman – get it wrong and poor old Frosty could well end up flat on his face. Hmm, not too bad a shape; resetting himself to the task, Roddy ran his calculations over in his head again, working out if it was worth adding more snow now or trying to knock off some of the looser clumps off now before they got a bit too big; nah, they should smooth out if I get the rolling right. Hmm, which way?; interesting question – even though the ground off to his right was still virgin snow and usually the best for making snowmen, the eventual fate of the shapeless blob at his feet, off to his left and just in front of him was a patch that had been warred over; compressed snow was more solid, making for a more stable base. He sucked his teeth for a minute, then nodded and, giving a push, got the snowball rolling towards his target land, pausing only to take cover behind it when a couple of stray projectiles whistled around his head and ears. Wow; instinctively he brushed a few pebbles of ice and flattened snow from the top of his shell as something impacted just on the other side of his pseudo-snowman; that was a close one – come on you lot, shift your aim the same way your pecker aught to point – straight up!

The smile on his face as he thought words he'd never have spoken in front of his parents, or anyone else in his family for that matter, fell in on itself a little as he felt himself fighting for control again for a moment; once more he wanted to be in the thick of it with wild joy thumping untamed through his mind and a cry of war in his throat but every time, at every instance such a thought crossed his mind a second image rose up and swallowed it whole, the cloak of death shrouding his latest victim. Visions of a snowball, his snowball he bitterly reminded himself, going first pink, then red through aunt Fiona's bony fingers as he and the others he'd been playing with watched on, a wretched silence falling over them all as they instinctively understood that this had gone past a game, beyond a joke now. In truth he didn't remember much after that; he knew his aunt had been very, very ill and had to go to hospital to get well again, a fact that brooded ill on his young conscience, especially at this time of year. He shook his head, fracturing the images like a reflection in a pond before setting his shoulder to the ball in front of his feet, the work in front of him dulling the pain as well as the cold dulled his fingertips; I'll go to the left now, save the right stuff for later, go from there I think. With a nod he assured himself, reaching down to the bottom of his monstrous snowball again when a sudden call stopped him,

"Umm…hi?"

Who are you again?; much as he'd been reminded he just couldn't put a name to the face – he knew it began with M but that was as far as he could go. Disguising his confusion behind a cough, Roddy looked the mongoose who'd appeared from behind him as if from nowhere up and down, trying to work out what she wanted and, more importantly, what she was called,

"Err, hi", she cocked her head, sizing him up the way he must have been doing the same, "is this…I mean, your first time, up in Scotland that is?" She nodded, the movement rippling the scarf around her neck and sending a large clod of snow to fall at her feet; as Roddy tracked its descent with his eyes she cleared her throat and answered him,

"Yeah, yeah this is it; oh, Mina by the way".

"Thought it was", Roddy's answer was immediate, nodding enthusiastically as though he'd known that fact all along, "I'm Roddy, well actually my name's Roderick but everyone calls me Roddy; you can tell why right?"

"You bet I can", Mina answered with a very nice smile, the young armadillo thought, finding himself suddenly wondering quite why she was here; not like I'm doing anything interesting, at least, not interesting compared to everyone else. He sank into a bit of a reverie, a slight brain-trance that he only snapped out of when he realised suddenly that Mina wasn't looking at him directly, she was actually looking past him,

"Wha'ya doing?"

"I'm, er", it wasn't until he looked over his shoulder that he remembered himself, "I'm building a snowman". Those sharp little grey eyes narrowed a second in confusion; why? I know Aunt Mighty said he always did, but I thought that was only in the afternoon;

"Shouldn't you be waiting until…?"

"I get a head-start", Roddy cut her off, a little too loudly for his own liking, his voice hollow and booming, maybe even a little scary for someone not used to it, "well, more practise than a head-start; don't like snowball fighting".

In perfect honesty Mina would have said in later years that she had always meant to ask the killer question when Roddy admitted to this; the question of 'why'? In fact her mouth had fallen open in order to allow the necessary syllables to peep through and form the question but just before the first one could be uttered, in the split-second before her brain completely OK-ed the query she glanced up into Roddy's face and caught the barest edge of his warning look – in the next split-second she'd snapped her jaw shut for that was a look she, perhaps she better than anyone else in her new family, knew all too well. More than a few of her former friends from the many care homes and foster houses she had been pillared and passed around between had given her that draining, daring glare; it was an expression that warned of forbidden territory ahead, do not ask what you were about to ask because I won't ever want to talk about it. It was something she knew and she'd grown to respect, truth be told it was even something she'd employed on more than one occasion as she had her own secrets that she didn't want to speak of and, as such, she respected the privacy of others much more than a child of her age might have been expected to. Quickly disguising her former query as a gesture of surprise, rather badly she thought in hindsight, the mongoose attempted to look interested rather than intently curious.

"Oh, okay then; gets a bit old after a while I guess", she said with a shrug, trying to think of something else to say that would firstly make sure the nasty silence coiling around them wouldn't thicken any further, and secondly that standing around doing nothing wasn't going to help her achieve the mission Mighty had appointed to her, "are you….are you, good at building them?" Whew!; that had been a shot in the dark and no mistake so the sight of Roddy's face suddenly splitting into a grin came a real shot in the arm for her flagging hopes; with a depreciating laugh the armadillo back-heeled the snow behind him and replied with more than a hint of smug pride in his voice,

"Huh, you bet I'm good, been champion two years running now, gotta make it three this time round". Mina's eyebrows rose,

"Really, twice; that's a real…a real", the word escaped her, she had to fall back to simpler language, "that's really neat in a family mad about snow like this one. Roddy…" she let a thoughtful expression cross her face before giving an excited clap, struck by a great revelation, "…I remember, I remember now, dad said about you".

Okay, what did he say about me?; Roddy felt a little uncomfortable prickling sensation just under his shell – it was the same feeling he got when he knew he'd put too many toes over the line and his mum had got to hear about it. He didn't get on exactly well with Uncle Kerry and Aunt Kirsten, if anything he tolerated them and they extended him the same courtesy; he'd never really had a chance to get to know them all that well. Still, exactly what they'd told Mina about him he could guess and, as only one particular example of former conduct was sticking out in his mind at the minute, he was crossing his fingers and hoping against hope that Uncle Kerry hadn't mentioned the one incidence of his bad behaviour that he and everyone else really, truly regretted had ever occurred.

"He said you were one of the really strong ones, really strong armadillos like Aunt Mighty".

"Oh", it was such a relief that he wasn't sure exactly what to say, "yeah, I'm ah, I'm what they call a throw-back, Mighty is too", he mentioned defensively – from what he'd been told being a throw-back wasn't anything to be proud of and he made sure that he wasn't the only one that was going to be snared into that trap. Mina's reaction, however, wasn't the one he'd been expecting; rather than ask anything she took a pace to the side – more to keep her in his vision than anything else Roddy tracked her movement, not sure what she was up to and not comfortable with exposing his back to her,

"Hmm", she gave a slight hum in the back of her throat, the looking him up and down before shaking her head again, "you don't look all that strong; sorry", she blushed and covered her mouth with one hand as Roddy glowered; how rude did that sound?; "I didn't mean it like that, you just look really normal". The explanation was hasty and muffled through the material of her thick glove – for a horrid second she was sure he hadn't been enough and that the armadillo before her rejected her ideas of reparations; only when he gave a dismissive snort and rolled his shoulders did she dare draw breath again,

"I don't look it, none of us do. Watch!" Having always been something of an extrovert, Roddy looked around for something to prove his power with; that'll do; and seized the closest object, his own partially-formed snowman. Despite its relatively small size it was still a fairly heavy chunk of snow, even more so now it had been rolled and partially compressed to ice, far too much for a normal child to handle; with the benefit of his recessive genes, however, Roddy had no such problems. Digging his fingers into the top of the mighty snowball, he lifted and twisted in the same movement, keeping his purchase on his prize at the same time as raise it squarely above his own head. Flushed with pride at his achievement though he knew that if he tried he'd do so much better, he slowly revolved around on the spot to crow of his achievement, Mina standing in front of him now looking suitably awestruck,

"Well", he said in a ragged gasp, really wanting to put the weight above his head down as it was starting to freeze his fingers, "don't look it, don't let that fool you".

"I guess not", the mongoose managed to murmur; suddenly her gaze was broken form the snowball and she lunged forwards, a devilish smile on her lips at the same time her trap was sprung, "electric shock!"

Hearing the challenge and knowing that, after what his dad had done to him the previous night in punishment for his wandering off and crossing swords with Big, the armadillo knew he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that and immediately dropped his guard, ready to defend himself from the lightning sneak attack. Unfortunately, in his understandable haste to get himself ready for the rumble, he'd neglected to remember the rather pressing matter of what he'd left behind in order to protect himself. In fact it was only when he saw Mina pull to an almost dead halt, eyes suddenly wide and shocked, trained at a point above his head, that he recalled the rudiments of gravity and knew, suddenly just knew exactly what was about to come crashing down upon them both.

Freed from its support, what had once been a snowball suddenly found itself suspended in the air for a brief second before it was dragged down to earth once more; Roddy didn't even have time to duck, dodge or otherwise try to avoid the impact. Fortunately his shell saved him from too much damage, the thick natural armour withstanding the sudden impact on the crown of his head though the impact made him see stars for a moment, the concussive force rattling around in his skull as Mina was likewise caught in the impact radius. As the snowball exploded from where it had been arrested in its downward descent the mongoose took a decent amount of shrapnel all down her face and front, the pure whiteness caking her almost from head to toe. Blinking and dashing the white cloud from her eyes she looked forwards again and felt misery grip her to a certain degree; Roddy, not quite realising what a comical sight he made with a large, pointed hat of compressed snow still resting on his shell top, was looking around a little confusedly, not registering what had happened and why it had happened. Guilt seemed to pool in the young Mobian's stomach; Aunt Mighty never meant this to happen, she just said disturb his efforts, not break them; her mouth was dry yet she forced it open anyway, taking down a biting breath of winter air to being her belated apologies, only to have it snap shut once more, the wind ripped out of her sails as another voice came lancing in overhead,

"Hoi, you pair, stay where you are!"

XXX

Emily's shout had frozen them both just long enough; as Big felt himself slither to a halt he drew himself up short at where the older Mobian had already stopped and was inspecting the damage, her fingers brushing the snow off Roddy's head and now combing his ears, checking they hadn't been crushed or lacerated by the mammoth impact they'd just been exposed to. Mina stood to one side, one toe scuffing the floor at her feet as she didn't dare look or speak, instinctive respect for an adults order pinning her in place and preventing her making a bolt for it.

"Right", slowly letting her nephew's shell-top loose, Emily finished her inspection with curt instructions for the wounded, "you've been lucky Roddy, nothing's cut from what I can tell. Just go steady for a bit, that was a heck of a thump you just took. As for you", Mina trembled, Big so badly wanted to step forwards and try to cool Emily off but at the same time forced himself not to – the mongoose had done a trick that could have resulted in a more serious injury than had happened; if Roddy had been any other species that armadillo it could have been an awful lot worse than it actually had, "Mina I'm disgusted with you…"

"Sorry", the mongoose managed to mumble; Emily, however, was feeling far too bloody-minded to let her off easily now,

"…it's too late for that now. What would have happened if that had been a bigger snowball, Roddy might have had his skull cracked open by…"

"Wait!" The shout came just in time; all present looked across as Mighty, ducking a last couple of errant snowballs dogging her heels, pounded through the trampled snow to join them, chest heaving as she gasped for air, "don't, phew, don't have a go at Mina", she looked over at where the mongoose appeared on the verge of tears, giving her a fortifying nod, telling her without words that this wasn't her fault, "I had a, a word with her earlier; she was being a smart-aleck last night and I caught her just now".

"So?" Emily questioned her daughter, not altogether unfairly, "you saw what just happened; the only thing that kept Roddy's head in one piece was the shell surrounding it". Mighty chuckled, slapped her knee and, having finally recovered her breath, stood to her full height,

"Nothing in there worth losing even if he did break it, but anyway", her mother's stern look told her she hadn't found that amusing in the slightest, "I caught her, Mina that is, just now, told her that Roddy always gave himself a head-start in building his snowman and that was cheating; I told her that unless she wanted to me to give her a good roll in the white stuff she had to knock all his early work out of him". With a gesture she beckoned; after a second, stepping carefully lest she draw unwanted attention to herself, Mina crossed over and took the pro-offered paw, taking gladly the sanctuary it represented for her; Mighty looked down at her for a second, face softening in benevolence before facing Emily again, conscience clear as she took the rap for what had been her idea in the first place,

"Don't blame her, I asked if she'd distract him until the competition started; thanks Mina, you did what I asked", she gave a slightly rueful chuckle, the mongoose managing a weak smile as her eyes flitted between her aunt and her great-aunt, "next time though, don't do such a good job of it".

All was still for a minute, Emily taking it upon herself to play the role of mediator in the complex drama; logically processing everything that her daughter had just said she attempted once more to make the punishment fit the crime. In doing so, however, she failed to notice someone behind her making his own plans; Roddy pricked his ears and, realising that with his would-be snowman now more of a snow-lump, heeded the silent summons as he had nothing better to do. Even as he reached the massive cat that had beckoned him he quashed his ideas for questions as Big put a finger to his lip; as he squatted down and began to whisper, his words were muffled by Emily coming to something like a decision in her own mind – ignoring the frantic signals Mighty and Mina were both sending way as they sought to enlighten her to the skulduggery at her back, the eldest present spoke once more,

"Well, Mina look on this as a lesson when up here with the rest of us; if someone asks you to do something a bit fishy make up a reason why you couldn't do it. But as for you, you've got no excuse; I've a good mind to tell Nessie not to count your snowman in the competition at all after this blatant cheating". Mighty's mouth fell open; she did not just say that, or if she did she definitely didn't mean it;

"Mum that is definitely unfair!"

"Wait, stop, cease and desist", before she could get any more impetuous behind her arguments Mighty found herself choked off by Roddy walking forwards, arms upraised in a promotion of peace; what are you up to – hmmm…; catching the barest hint of a smile on the bewhiskered lips of her boyfriend she gave a slightly concerned scowl; …nothing good if you've been involved I'll bet. Quite what was running through her nephew's mind she had no idea so she, like everyone else present, had to wait for his uncharacteristically calm explanations,

"No need to adjudicas…aducate…adj, judge this one aunt Emily", he said with a polite smile, the word 'adjudicate' defying his vocabulary for a moment, "I've got a plan; okay you pair", with one movement he'd pulled the glove off his right hand and whipped it around the cheek of his older relative and then, much more softly on the backswing, against the side of Mina's face, setting down his challenge, "I challenge you, both of you that is, to a contest, no-one else involved, just two teams going at it head to head, winner takes the title of best snowman builder. The gauntlet", with a theatrical flourish he hurled his glove on the floor, "is thrown down; who's man enough to take it up?"

For a second neither other Mobian answered, both were too shocked by the impacts they'd felt; Mighty rubbed her cheek at the same time as stare down at her nephew dumbstruck, mute fascination at his action suspending her normal cutting retort with shock. In fact she was so taken aback by Roddy's, if not unexpected completely formal and calculated challenge that only a voice by the side of her brought her attention back to the present,

"Right, you're on", outraged at being treated in such a manner, Mina stooped and seized the glove from its bed of snow, thrusting it back to the armadillo it belonged to with a haughty snort, "me and aunt Mighty'll take you on, and we'll win won't we? Won't we?" It was only when the mongoose glanced over her shoulder at her that Mighty realised she was being addressed,

"Umm, yeah, course we will", a bit more with the times now, she even managed a steely glare at the challenger, one hand protectively coiling around Mina's slim shoulders, "you think you can take on the pair of us pal? Boy have you bitten off more than you can chew this time". Roddy smirked,

"Maybe, but I reckon he's got a big appetite; he's the one helping me".

"Oh is he now?" Mighty raised an eyebrow as she followed the younger armadillo's thumb to where Big was trying to look innocent, huge lips creased into a knowing smirk, "well, on your heads be it". Will it now – well it's already been on Roddys'; typically, however, just as the cat opened his mouth to snap his comeback to his girlfriend, someone else ended up putting words into it for him,

"Maybe, maybe not", Emily, who'd been a silent arbitrator for most of the proceedings, stepped forwards, a referee in this sudden-death situation, "okay, the way I see it is that you pair", she pointed at the boys, Big stepping forwards to cast Roddy into shadow as the armadillo folded his arms, "are going head-to-head against you two", Mighty nodded, eyes never dropping even when she accepted the challenge offered, Mina likewise offering her acceptance of the terms, "to see who can build the better snowman. Okay, I think I can handle that", Emily clapped her hands and the duelling quartet leaned in to listen, her suggestions well-courted by all as she outlined her plans, "listen up, here are the rules you're working to; you both start when everyone else does, no extra time for the pair of you, and Nana Nessie gets the final say on which is better – you don't argue with her". It was a challenge as much as a statement and all present knew that; they also knew it was perfectly true – a chorus of affirmations let Emily know she'd got their promises on that one and emboldened she continued,

"Okay, one last thing though, this is a head-to-head so neither of you are going to get judged for the overall prize, you're working in a team after all, wouldn't be fair on the others. All agreed?"

"Yes aunt Em".

"Sure mum"; both present armadillos answered while the other two Mobians in this challenge simply nodded their agreement,

"Good, I'll let Nessie know soon as; until then, you better get your acts together and imagination in gear", the eldest present gave a smile that left none in doubt of her carnivorous inheritance, "only an hour and a bit until we get star-blumph!"

Everyone scattered and dived for cover as Emily half-inhaled the snowball that came out of nowhere and half-engulfed her face; Big and Roddy sprinted from the impact zone as Mighty set about gaining revenge for her mother, the sight of the panther who now stood with a knowing smile on his silver-furred lips a violent stick in the anthill of her rage and granting her extra speed in her missiles,

"David, I don't care how many doctorates you've gotten your greasy paws on now", the armadillo raved, the barrage of snowballs launched from over her head telling her that she was being backed up by her mother even if Derek was still defying his years and darting away from her aim with the ease and grace of a feline ballet dancer, "nothing, but nothing is going to stop me proving you wrong in the field of ballistics; run all you like, but you're not dodging all of them". As the panther fled away she and Emily chased after him, Mina following after a second of looking a round and realised it would probably be more prudent to stick with them than be left to the tender mercies of those who would be her competition in fairly short order. The two remaining Mobians, team mates as they were now, shared a glance and hurried the other way, keen to be gone from the war-zone before any other disaster could follow on their heels.

XXX

"So", having finally found a safe haven untouched by the war his family was raging against itself, Roddy was the first to regather his breath and glance up at the cat he'd buddied up with, "what's the plan?"

"Huh?" What plan – why's he asking me, he's supposed to be the snowman-building expert; "what you on about?" The armadillo rolled his eyes as though Big were being obstinate on purpose,

"What are we building you dummy; you said we aught to work together so I thought you had a plan of what we'd be making. You do have a plan right?" Confronted with such driven hope Big found himself a good distance from comfort, having to reach back and tackle an itch that had sprung up between his shoulder blades,

"Not as such", he wheedled, hoping Roddy would be able to take the hint without having to be let down too much further, "but I'm sure we'll think of something".

"We'd better", without further ado the armadillo half-closed his formerly bulging eyes and brought one hand up to his chin, stroking it as though the movement would stir up his creativity even as his gaze hardened, his next words laced with venom Big was sure he didn't really mean, "I am not losing to them, not to girls anyway". The way the armadillo spat the word 'girls' made Big's shoulders shake even as he wracked his brain for a little inspiration, half-turning to see quite what they had to work with this time around – despite the snowball battle still raging all around, it looked like there was still at least a good acre, maybe acre and a half of completely untouched snow out there for them to play with. Fingering his lip the cat thought back, something like half an idea in his mind now as he remembered a very vague concept, back from his childhood, a film he'd been far too young to see but had at least got a glimpse of the front cover of, an old-fashioned thriller or horror movie. I never did see it afterwards did I; no, he hadn't but then again it didn't really matter – as far as his memory was concerned the vision he could see from the front of the video box was enough to go on; and we've got enough to pull it off I reckon, yeah Roddy's strong enough to roll up the head and I'll get most of the body upright. After that, it'd just be some sculpting and we'd be away.

"Actually", he said at length, having rotated the idea over and over in his mind and found no obvious flaws, "think I might have something, assuming you're still not sure what to do yet?"

"Nah, I was going to say we made up a sports-car but I did that last year", the armadillo admitted, the reaching up to dust off the last few flakes of snow from the top of his shell from where Mina had sandbagged him utterly, "don't think it'd pass muster a second time around. Why, what's on your mind?"

"A picture", the cat said at length, still working out some of the finer details about how to make this sculpture come true, "something from a film I saw once, a long time ago; I doubt you'd have even heard of it. Listen though, I think we can pull it off but it'll be more like carving a shape out of a big ball of snow, rather than making a snowman the normal way. Reckon you could do that?" Roddy scratched an ear, a little puzzled about the complete ins-and-outs of what he was supposed to do but ready to go along with the cat's idea as his bank of inspiration was temporarily cleaned out,

"I guess so, what's the plan?" With a wicked smile the cat bent to whisper something, casting an eye around as he did so hoping to catch a glimpse of Might and Mina likewise planning but in this he was denied; oh well, that'll just make it more a surprise for them when they see our sacrifice for their hopes of winning!

XXX

With a stretch and yawn as she emerged into the bright new day, Bekka shook her head and, still holding the hot tray and a spare blanket deftly in her arms, easily identified where she needed to be next. Heading over to the back of the wheelchair she could see, the proprietor of the Highland Steppes announced her arrival quietly as Nessie put down the book she was reading to peer owlishly at the latest arrival for her,

"Here Ness", Bekka announced, setting the tray down across the arm-rests of the armadillo's mobility vehicle, "sumthin' tae keep oot the chill, an' an extra blanket if ye'be needin' it".

"Thank you Bekka", the wizened Mobian answered with a nod of her head, moving her remaining fully-functional arm to pour a little tea from the willow-patterned teapot she'd been provided with, "you know I swore a long time ago I'd never need any of this to pull through the traditional snowball fight, no tea, no blankets and most of all, no help to drag this old chariot over the snow and ice", she shook her head again, reaching down to take a pull of oxygen before finishing, "sounds foolish now, a younger woman trying to defy Old Father Time. A battle with only one winner there". Bekka nodded, settling herself down on the closest arm of Nessie's wheelchair at the same time as making sure she wasn't going to jar the steering column by mistake,

"Aye, true enough. But ye canna mak Time stan'still, ye gave 'im a damned braw sprint fer'is money, an' he'll be runnin' fer a few years yet I'll b'betting".

"A bet you'd be losing I'm afraid Bekka, ach, don't look that way", Nessie raised her half-paralysed hand as much as she was able to as the woman looked both alarmed and horrified at her morbid talk, "you know as well as I do I can't go on forever; I don't have long left, I can feel it even now. Because of that I need to see Wull and yourself tonight, in my room if you wouldn't mind; I'd like the two of you to act as witnesses to my will. It's all signed by the lawyers and the people who need to make it legal, but I'll rest easier knowing two old friends have seen it and liked what they read". She gave a smile, perhaps tinged a little with weariness and maybe even a pang of sorrow at what she might have been leaving behind when she finally found her last rest but Bekka didn't see it; she was too busy looking away, trying to choke down the sudden tears in her eyes and bile in her belly at Nessie's candid announcement; she did not want to face the idea of the armadillo she had known since virtually the day she had been born just suddenly not being there any more, absent from her hostel every Christmas time. Even if she knew it was now a matter of when that day came rather than if it did, it was still not something she wanted to face up to, nor was it a topic she wished to linger on; now, focus on somethin' else, there's a whole family – wha's been pullin' ma garden up by the roots!

The sight that eventually caught her eye was so subtle, and then when she'd finally realised what it was, so shocking that she had to stand up to take it in fully; only when the mammoth snowball seemed to turn a bit of a corner and its creator emerged from behind its bulk did she take in what she was seeing,

"Nessie man, yon guest o'yers, is he planning' t'clear all o'the white stuff awa'?" The armadillo looked up, teacup halfway to her lips and squinted, closing her weaker right eye as so to not blur the picture; just as Big heaved against one of the sides of his creation, the ball itself already bigger than he was even before he added more to it, the most venerable armadillo of all settled back in her chair and gave a chuckle,

"Oh aye, I almost forgot about that; there's been a little change to the contest this year – don't worry, nothing drastic", she amended smoothly, stalling the disbelief in Bekka's face even as she attempted to compute a change to one of the most sacred rites she had the privilege to be a part of every Christmas, "just a little feud being ironed out this year, nothing more".

"Right", the redhead said carefully, trying to work out the combatants in this challenge, "who's been ridin' burr on som'an else thus year?" Nessie chuckled, the memory of Emily telling her what was going on making her chuckle even now,

"All of them on each other, as it ever was; but no, this time it's Roddy and that cat of Mighty's up against Mighty herself and Mina, remember her, the little mongoose with the really long hair?"

"Oh a'course", Bekka affirmed a few seconds later having put face to unfamiliar name, "how's the wee sprat settlin' in noo?"

"Well it's her first time here and she's already up to her neck in a ruck with someone else in the family, so I reckon about as well as any of us could have hoped", the matriarch of the armadillo family mentioned, a twinkling smile on suddenly furtive lips, "apparently she submarined Roddy's normal early start on the building because Mighty twisted her arm – because of that we're where we are now, two teams against each other. As a plus though, because he's in a team and working just against his aunt Roddy's had to give up his crown this year; I don't think he'll mind though as long as he pulls through against his aunt".

"Ye reckon he wull?" The armadillo gave a snort of laughter, pointing at where Big had finally brought his snowball to a screeching halt and was now wiping his brow and looking around for something or someone,

"If that's anything to go by he's in with a decent shout, though how they're going to get a head on it is a bit beyond even me".

The two sat in silence for a little while, each lost in thoughts and drinking tea as and when they wished to, until a chance glance brought something else back to Bekka, a vague rumour she'd heard and, knowing that if anyone would have had a good idea it would be the Mobian she was sat next to, moved to verify or deny it,

­"Ye see those two o'er there now Ness", startled out of her reverie by her friends words, the armadillo followed Bekka's fingers to see the couple of Mobians she had pointed out, the two swinging someone along between them in a rhythmic pattern to the tune of 'one-two-three-and hup!', "micht ha'been hearin' things bu'I coulda sworn ane o'yer lot said they'd be tyin' tha knot fur next yur, how'd this come aboot?"

"Same way anything comes about with them", the ancient Mobian replied with a chuckle, seeing one of the newest additions to her family giggle as she was swung from her parent's arms, what looked like a small ball of snow being moved by her foot as Paula and Samson moved her along by the arms, "something about a dare or other such nonsense but who cares?" She gave a shrug, her wasted shoulders clicking as they brushed against the chipped, now-brittle sides of her shell, "as long as it sees them together what does it matter how?" Bekka nodded, reaching down and taking the finished tray off Nessie's lap with a practised movement at the same time as offer her comment,

"Well they were alus mad keen on each ither; ah 'member the first time he showed her roond this auld shack, ah reckon she were in the family way iven then, jus' hid it well. Unlike wha'ever tha' pair are up tae", she choked off a second later, seeing Roddy clamber ungainly up the back of his building partner and, once stable, the cat hand another snowball, much smaller than the one he had rolled but still substantial enough, up to him. For a second her heart was in her mouth, she was certain he'd drop in and probably knock Big into a coma, but he seemed able to bear the brunt of it and heft it steadily atop the one the cat had rolled, a gargantuan head crowning a boulder-like body, "ah dinna ken if tha's all of it, but ah'm no findin' a carrot tha' size for a nose!"

"It'll certainly be interesting to see and that's for sure", Nessie added carefully, slightly more at ease with the proceedings than Bekka was as she had seen so much more in her life, "though I hope I'm right when I say their doing more than just that as an entry; impressive it might be but size doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned; it's the look that matters".

"Ah dinne think ye'll be disappointed there man; they're up tae sommat", even as they both watched the cat, having set his diminutive partner back down, unsheathed his claws and set to the creation so far, causing snow to fly off in all directions in a series of flurries, "tho' wha' they're up tae's a complete bloody mystery".

XXX

Okay, got the basic structure, now got to make it look realistic; carving and cleaving his way through the virtually compressed snow as it was, Big tried to superimpose the vision in his memory onto the blank canvas before him, replicating the pattern of ululating bands as best he could in the circumstances. He started from the top down, figuring it would be better to strip away unnecessary weight from the top first rather than weaken the bottom and risk the whole structure coming down completely; it would also allow him to take a better guess about how thick the legs would be to be support the trunk of the body. Snow flew away in whirls as he gouged the rough chunks of snow into a more finished article, geed on by the sudden arrival of his working partner and his declaration that there was little more than an hour to go before the five o'clock deadline,

"An' we've got to be ready", the armadillo finished breathlessly, "I've gotta make sure we've got the whole thing set up; it'll look so funny when she's up there…"

"Quiet", Big warned him chidingly, "everyone's got ears you know, we don't want the girls to find out what we're up to do we?" Roddy shook his head disgustedly,

"No way, we've got to make sure ours is better than theirs; it will be won't it?"

"It will if we get it finished on time, now come on; got that fluffy stuff I asked for?"

"Yep", Roddy said proudly, indicating the hastily balled-up bundle of virgin snow he'd managed to cart over before anyone else had claimed it, "right, you need me up top to get things rolling up there?" The cat nodded and, taking that as his cue, the armadillo seized two handfuls of the snow and made ready to stand on the cat's head once more,

"Ready to go; remember to pack it down really well now, we don't want his head to fall off; not from that height anyway. And take a look at this, we might as well do it now while you're up there – see the pattern". Big indicated where he'd started the pattern and, after a minute's squinting, Roddy settled back down from his tip-toe and nodded hesitantly,

"I think so, you need that on the head as well?"

"Yeah, just also try to get the features very roughly right; it needs a very rough nose, really craggy eyes and cheeks and no hair style; that is important. He's completely bald, just like you lot; nothing on top, 'cept maybe snowflakes". Roddy stuck his tongue out for a second at the jibe before the Big gave him the boost he needed and he set to work; easy now, might be able to get something else done while he's busy up there, just catch him if he falls. So warned, the cat very gradually began to scrape out more of the continuing pattern as at the same time as try to ignore the freezing sawdust now drifting onto his ears, fallout from Roddy's work above his head,

"Hey, guess what?" The disembodied voice drifted down to him a few minutes later, just as he was beginning to wonder if he should hollow out the chest now or leave it until later, "those girls are seeing what we're doing; they look dead jealous".

"Well don't you be looking at girls now Roddy Armadillo, we've got more important things to deal with now", Big reminded him with a laugh, "don't forget, it was a girl who got us into this challenge and, if we get it right, it'll be a girl getting sacrificed to Jack Frost before this day's over. Know what you've got to say?"

"You bet; can't I knock it over while…?"

"No and that's definite Roderick", the cat told him sternly, his use of the armadillo's full name letting him know this point was completely non-negotiable, "that much snow, you'd crush or suffocate her – you don't want that do you?" There was a slight humming noise from over his head and for a second he wondered quite what his answer was going to be; he let out a slow breath quietly when it came back in his favour,

"Nah, I guess not; hey you", had he been in a position to Big would have shaken his head as it seemed Roddy was unable to resist the temptation to get under his opponent's shell and skin, "see this, this is going to be so much better than yours you'd never believe it!"

XXX

"Pay no attention Mina", Mighty called over as she heard her nephew's cat-call, standing up from the latest creation she'd managed to roll up to a decent size and looking over at where the mongoose was supposed to be sculpting the raw material she brought her; after a second of no response she was forced to raise her voice, "hey!" Mina jumped and looked around guiltily,

"Sorry". Mighty gave a snort and crouched, ready to pick the snowball up to transport it back to the major production area,

"You will be if we don't win this bet babe; take it from me when Roddy gets one-up on you, you never live it down. Come on, we've got three more dwarves to do yet, and are you sure that's quite big enough to be Snow White?"

"It'll do, we don't have time to really alter it do we?" Mina called back before blowing on her fingers, trying to coax some heat back into them; they'll fall off in a minute if I'm not careful – oh to hell with it; with renewed determination she plunged them back into the ball before her, trying to unlock the figure of the dwarf that she was sure was locked within this snowball itself; I'm sure someone'll stitch them back on. A grunt and slight plopping noise let her know she had company now; looking up Mighty was silhouetted against where the sun was beginning to set, forcing the mongoose to shade her eyes as the armadillo looked over at where their challengers had set up shop,

"Huh, call that a snowman", Mina flinched as her aunt unleashed full volume of her lungs across the desolate wasteland populated only by armadillos frantically seizing new snow to boost their flagging prototypes, "what is it aunt Nessie always says; size doesn't matter". There was a short pause before she was answered, the sight of Big shuffling around the side of his creation with Roddy gripping onto his ears like a crouched monkey made her guffaw out loud; as she was laughing her answer came echoing back to her as the younger armadillo regained his bearings again and spoke as he worked,

"It does when it's this big and this good; I hope you're ready to lose Mighty, if those are the best you can do". She scowled across the snow before turning to Mina; perfect, just the motivation she needed – cheers Roddy;

"You hear that Minnie; they think they're better than us? And are they?" The mongoose shook her head and snarled, crumbling a handful of snow in her fist as though Roddy's skull was trapped between her fingers,

"No chance, they're no good at all; come on aunt Mighty, let's show 'em!"

"That's the spirit, now get old Bashful over there up and running and I'll see to the other two, sorry, three. How we doing on time?" Mina checked her watch, a grave expression settling over her face as she registered how long was left to get their display ready,

"Not good – we'll have to get one done every quarter-hour. We better get a wiggle on"; Mighty needed no encouragement,

"I'm on it, get moving babe; nobody, but nobody beats me three times in a row when it comes to building snowmen. You with me Mina?"

"You bet – let's do this!"

Both teams, as well as the rest of the family equally, frantically strained themselves as much as they were able to as the deadline drew nearer, calling on every ounce of their creativity, every scrap of determination and exercising all the willpower they had to force freezing, snow-deadened fingers into the breach again and again, one eye always on the clock as the time wound down. Everyone carried on, no-one dropped out as Bekka disappeared into the dark hallway of the Steppes for a minute and re-emerged with a large brass gong; even when she struck the metal itself on Nessie's command, the sound rippling all across the plundered snow itself and instantly silencing all conversation, a couple of shifty individuals quickly made some last second adjustments to get their pieces finished. Then, as they saw the final judge rumble into view silently, her path guided slowly by Rebekka at her back, everyone stood in front of their work whether it be an individual effort or a team participation; how the snowman was built didn't matter, it was how well it stood within Nessie's view that mattered now.

XXX

The older armadillo settled back in her seat, keeping a beady eye on where the supposed snowman-maker was currently laid down docile in her mothers' arms at the same time her father was fighting hard to keep his face straight,

"Hmm", Nessie kept her expression studiously careful as she shifted her gaze from one to other of the parents, "are you sure this was all her own work?" Paula bit back a snort, rocking little Jess in her arms as though afraid she'd be upset by the accusation,

"Of course", she replied in a wryly hurt tone, "she did it all herself; I didn't lift a finger to make this little fellow and you know how much use Sam is at the best of times". The named armadillo said nothing, merely folded his arms contemptuously at the same time as Nessie answered her great-granddaughter-in-law,

"Don't I know that just. Well, as far as I can see he's certainly a cheerful little chap", she said with lightness in her voice, casting her eyes down to where the snowman Jess had supposedly built stood proudly, a mere six or so inches high and with two tiny chips of gravel for his eyes and a small icicle, snapped from the edge of one of the Highland Steppe's many birdbaths, protruding from his head as a nose, "just have to hope he doesn't end up buried before tomorrow if the weather closes in. Okay, you've convinced me; everyone, this year's champion".

As with most things around this time in the year there was no physical prize as such that awaited the winner of Nessie's verdict; instead there was a general hurrah for the victorious party which Jess appeared to be sleeping though, as well as a couple of venomous whispers from parties certain they'd been robbed and what they'd do take the title that they felt was rightfully theirs back at this time next year. Before the clamour could get too far started, however, Nessie raised her hands for silence, backed up by Sam's noticing and demanding quiet in a way that got everyone's attention,

"Hoi, you lot, button it!" When he was certain all were silent, he gave the nod to his dearly-beloved older relative, "sorry nana, all yours now".

"Thank you Sam; now, as most of you are probably aware this year we've had a bit of a backdrop to the usual competition", there was a ripple of laughter at this statement as it was obvious that one of the entries Nessie hadn't looked at yet provided a very obvious, and in truth faintly ominous, backdrop to the entire proceedings, "time to bury that hatchet now so I can't call this, it'll be a show of hands at the end for who you think the best is. Right then, when I grew it up it was always a case of ladies first, so; Kerry, don't do that when your daughter's looking – the last thing she needs right now is bad habits from you", the named armadillo went red as both his wife and the mongoose he now loved and cherished as a daughter sniggered at where he'd been caught out mouthing off at one of his numerous younger nephews, "as I was saying, Mina, you and Mighty take us through what you built". Virtually glowing with pride, the mongoose led the group towards the sight and her now-favourite aunt had set up from them to view, blocking out the hovering spectre of what they were up against as the creation of the rival team had dwarfed their ideas from the very outset,

"Okay, well we thought we'd go for something…something very traditional and Christmassy, thanks to Danny and Uncle Derek for moving over and letting us nick some of their snow when we were running out", the two named armadillos took a sheepish bow before Mina took over once more, "because of them now, we've got enough to give you all this. Everyone, I present you with…", she gave a drawn-out pause before whipping herself to the side, standing next to where Mighty was waiting with arms folded, "…Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs".

The result to this announcement was a lot of general laughter and a few good spots of applause; now everyone was clear what they were looking at, eight separate figures rather than a single piece in its entirety, it did make a good deal of sense. The girls had worked hard and well on their pieces; all the dwarfs had obvious faces and a large, pointed hats with magnificent beards trailing all the way to the floor and Snow White herself was beautifully sculpted in what looked like a large dress, though unfortunately some areas of that had been knocked off and broken into with the time elapsed judging the rest of the entries. Overall it was quite a well-animated, well put together scene with some very nice detail work done on some of the dwarfs and the princess herself; as David remarked while polishing his spectacles, whoever had crafted their faces and hair certainly had a touch of the sculptor about them, though it was unfortunate that there hadn't been enough time to finish them all. It's certainly a sterling effort, especially for Mina's age and the fact this is the first time she's ever really been here; just before Nessie could verbalise such thoughts, however, someone else made an observation,

"Hang on a minute", Gavin took another second for a swift-head count, only continuing when he was certain he was right, "there's only six dwarfs there". Mighty gave a chuckle,

"Dopey fell over". Her uncle chortled in kind and shot a wink her way,

"Did he now, or did someone fall over him I wonder?"

"He tripped over his own feet, like someone else not a million miles from here is a master at", Mighty assured him, her smile widening a second later, "tell you what though, you stand under a tree and let me kick a bough-full down on your head and you'd make a fine stand-in". Gavin pursed his lips at her impudence before Nessie, fighting back giggles with the help of her gas canister, spoke to break the argument before it could get any impetus behind it,

"Hold it, no fighting now or we'll not get under a roof before dinner. So then, very good the pair of you; what about you Roddy, what have you and Big been up to?" Even before the two girls' grins from the praise of the eldest present had faded the new target of Nessie's attentions had stepped forwards, interlacing his fingers and pushing forwards, resulting in a noise like dried branches being trampled underfoot,

"Roddy!" He immediately stopped and looked around guiltily,

"Sorry mum", Lianne fixed him with a piercing eye before giving a nod; taking this as permission he carried on, "well ours is a bit different to everyone else's, in fact to see it right you've got to come around to this side", beckoning, Roddy began to lead the group to where they needed to be to get the full view of the masterpiece he and Big had carved and crafted together, "he's not a traditional snowman by any means, in fact, if you saw a real one of these you'd probably want to head for the hills as fast as your legs could carry you". As he walked along, Derek shouldered his way through the press of his kinfolk enough to come close to Mighty; as she looked across at him he darted his eyes up towards the monolith they were approaching with a slightly apprehensive air,

"Tell you what, fake it might be but I wouldn't say no to heading that way right now truth be told".

Mighty nodded her agreement though she said nothing; it wouldn't do to say anything that might be construed as praise for her rivals efforts. However deep inside her a twinge of worry was make her belly feel unsettled; aside from its imposing and obvious size, the snowman she was heading towards seemed to emit an aura of almost imperceptible wrongness, an eerie sensation that made her skin crawl. It might have been to do with the size, or with the pattern that had been carved all the way down the huge statue of snow, a continuing pattern of bands going inwards and outwards that blurred its outline, making the snowman as a whole indistinct and somehow more threatening. Or, as she drew closer, it was that it actually looked far more like a man, much more lifelike and in proportion, than anyone else's efforts; it did indeed have a head and a body, two separate legs and arms, though admittedly the arms were made from the same chunk of the snow that the torso was constructed from; the arms had simply been carved out of the huge snowball as a whole rather than being stuck on later separately. It just didn't look like an average snowman, it looked taller, bigger, much more ominous and overshadowing, a dark god of the snow-people tired of being mocked every year and coming back to claim revenge for its kin. And the worst thing of all; twinned with the worm of apprehension she was feeling getting closer to this thing was the snake of frustration coiling around her mind; I get the feeling I've seen it somewhere before – I could swear this is something else, a replica of something else but what it is I can't remember.

"Now there is one thing you all need to know about this, before you get ready to judge us for it", Roddy's voice dragged her attention back to the present, away from where the giant loomed up ahead of her, "I'll say this now, it's not finished yet…" He braced for what he knew was coming and, sure enough, it arrived,

"Hey, no fair, aunt Nessie", Mina made a plea to her elder's sense of fair play, "they shouldn't get a time extension or extra marks because they ran out of time, no-one else did". There was a fair amount of head-nodding and general murmurs of agreement, all the time coming to the feet of the massive snow behemoth where, some could now see, the other constructor of this idol was waiting for them. Eventually, when they all drew to a halt Nessie took it upon herself to remind Roddy of the rules,

"Sorry Roderick, you know what happens, you should do, having won Jess's title for a good number of years. When time's up you have to get judged on what you've done so far, you can't put any more snow down after Bekka bangs the gong". I was expecting that; Roddy kept his face blank as he raised a hand in supplication, though he let a bit of a smile peep though his lips as he turned to the targets of his attentions more fully; though thanks, you just made life easier – you're going into the cold-seat Mina, and you deserve it!;

"I know nana, but me and Big don't need more snow, we need someone else", he let his smile deepen, a lot more darkly this time around as he slowly brought up one arm and extended a finger, "we need her to finish this".

A ripple of consternation ran around the group this time, Kirsten stepping forwards to put a hand on her daughter's shoulder as Mina shrank back, almost afraid of Roddy's declaration,

"Me", she managed to squeak before clearing her throat and standing tall, gently easing off her mother's protective paw before standing up and deciding to look after herself, "what do you need me for?" Roddy seemed about to answer but, instead, his voice was drowned in that of his partners; Big's deep bass rumbled over his counterpart's voice like an avalanche,

"Just to add the last touch; don't worry though", he gave a genial smile as he approached from where he had been stood at the foot of the snowman, ready to lend a last-ditch support if anything went critically wrong at the last minute, "nothing bad will happen to you I promise; it's up to you though". For a second the mongoose looked like she'd bolt down the escape hatch Big had just offered her but from the very edge of her vision she saw Roddy's sudden smirk and something within her hardened; no way was she going to be brow-beaten by a shorty like him!

"Okay then", boldly striding forwards she marched up to where Big was standing and planted her feet directly in front of him, hands on hips and ready for anything, "what do I have to do?"

"Nothing", the cat stated before beckoning her forwards, "just follow me, right up here and, here we go; see that hole there, in his chest?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well just hold still a minute; don't worry, I won't drop you, just don't wriggle and..." the mongoose didn't struggle as Big's massive hands came down to gently lift her into the air and hold her at a height here the soles of her shoes were level with the bottom of his rib cage, "okay, curl up a little and, in we go". She gave a sudden shiver at the cold as ice encased her on five sides,

"It's like a freezer up here", she complained as the cat removed his hands and backed away a little, "h,hurry up for all our sakes!" Taking this as a cue, Roddy stepped forwards and, in his best showMobian's voice, told the entire audience what they needed to know,

"Everyone, I present you with the Wicker Snow-man!"

There was a rushed intake of breath as at his words everyone suddenly understood, especially those who had actually seen the film that had provided Big's inspiration for the concept in the first place; with Mina now in the sacrificial position within the fake wicker-mans' chest it looked very real and, now they all knew it wouldn't burn, a lot less dangerous that it had on the approach,

"I thought I'd seen something like that before; well done son", Gavin gave his nephew an impromptu round of applause, "very nicely done, you an all Big, looks a pearler that one". Mighty gave him a heart-broken look, knowing now that if she and Mina were going to win this competition she'd need to pull out all possible stops to trump the ace her boyfriend and her cousin had pulled from their sleeves,

"Gavin, I'm wounded". Unfortunately her workmate chose that moment to demonstrate her keen hearing,

"And I'm freezing my tail off; for goodness sake just get this over with, did we win or not?" Deciding that it was getting uncomfortably close to tea for her liking, Nessie swivelled her wheelchair around in the snow and announced to all present,

"I agree with young Mina up there; show of hands for whose you think is the better. Snow White…?" There was a generous smattering of hands went up and several nodded heads; all four members of each team kept every finger and toe crossed,

"…Or this wicker-man?"

XXX

As a forest of hands suddenly sprang into bloom Roddy bunched his fists and hissed in triumph; no contest, we won! In your face aunt Mighty; as he opened the eyes he'd screwed closed in delirium he scanned the crowd for the signs of his aunt only to have her movement stopped as a heavy weight settled on his head,

"Don't make a mistake now Rod", Big's voice drifted down to him, the cat speaking quietly in the lull as the result was made semi-official, everyone asking everyone else how they'd voted, "no-one likes a graceless winner; just accept it, move on and don't brag about it".

"But…"

"No buts", the cat's voice grew a bit firmer as he let the armadillo look up at him for a minute, "no need to labour the point; fact is I reckon we won, but that's not the point is it. The point was to have a bit of fun and we all did that didn't we? Well, didn't we?" The armadillo scratched an ear,

"I guess so".

"Right", Big explained, the hand raised as he moved onto the next logical point he had, "so we had fun, but if you keep crowing about it do you think Mina will want to do something like that next year – Mighty wouldn't mind too much probably but its better safe than sorry isn't it? Otherwise all they'll think is 'don't wanna run the risk of that loud-mouth getting another shot at me' – I'm right aren't I? I mean, no-one likes it when the champion mocks the guy who gave him a good run for his money do they, I don't at least?"

Roddy was silent for a few more seconds, seemingly totting the arguments for and against up in his head; for a minute the cat wasn't sure if he'd said enough or if he'd laboured the point too hard, but his attention was caught as something hard hit him on the back of the head, just behind his right ear,

"Hey, get me down", looking around he saw Mina shivering, still encased in the chest of the wicker-man he'd jointly built; oops, nearly forgot; well, he hadn't forgotten of course, he'd just been put off by other matters. With a snort he ran the palm of his hand over the top of Roddy's shell one last time before turning around, an apology on his lips that dies an instant later as something seized the end of his tail and tugged,

"No way Big guy, I'll handle this", having not expected this in a month of Sundays, the cat simply gaped open-mouthed as Roddy strode past him bold as brass, going almost to the feet of the snowman itself, spreading his arms and grinning up at the captive prisoner with a cheerful wink,

"Jump".

"What?!" Mina wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh or look shocked at the announcement, the resultant ambivalent expression making everyone who's head her previous shriek had alerted hold in a chuckle, "are you crazy; I'm not jumping!"

"Why not?" Roddy looked genuinely perplexed, "I'll catch you".

"Yeah right, you'll jump out the way and I'll break my legs".

"I will not"; you're not fooling me buster; Mina had fallen for that trick once too often and was resolutely certain she wasn't going to do so again,

"You will, I've seen it before". Roddy threw up his arms in disgust,

"Mum, tell her I'm not like that".

"Roddy, unfortunately you are like that", Lianne's voice cut through the dispute and Roddy felt himself wounded as his mother seemed to come down definitely not on his side, "but I tell you now if you drop her I'll drop you, right off our room balcony, you got that?"

It wasn't a threat, it was a promise and everyone who heard it knew it, none more so than the armadillo it had been aimed at; with a slightly tautened grin he set his sights on Mina once more, perched precariously in her icy eyrie, and called up,

"See, would you argue with that? Come on, I'm hungry; we could just leave you up there all night you know?" The mongoose stuck her tongue out,

"You wouldn't", she shuffled her feet, tension thrumming the air around her like static; I must be mad; "o, okay, just, you better not miss". Roddy gave another nod and spread his arms wide; taking this as a sign, the mongoose crossed her fingers, took hold of the sides of the wicker-mans' chest, screwed up both her face and her courage and then launched herself forwards in a leap of faith.

Oh no!; even with his basic understanding of elementary physics Roddy came to a quick conclusion; Mina had pushed herself out far too far – at this rate she'd go sailing clean over his head! Frantically back-pedalling, he tried to take a rough guess of where she was going to land at the same time as brace himself for the impact; the silhouette of the mongoose framed with the setting winter sun almost seared into his mind, a second that felt like eternity as she came back to the earth under the effect of gravity. Everything was going in slow-motion for the armadillo as he sought desperately to recover his position and make sure both that his mother wouldn't think that he had made a mistake intentionally but also, more importantly, that no-one else would get hurt in winter because he'd screwed up. Mina suddenly swelled in his vision, still moving so slowly he could see virtually every detail, freeze in his mind each lock of her violet hair as it streamed around her, every line of worry as it creased her face; gotta get rid of them lines; he was as close as he was ever going to get, threw his arms wide ready for the last catch; here goes nothing!

There was a soft, seemingly slowly mounting impact on his front for the very briefest of seconds before with a thump, all of Mina's bodyweight hit him at once; admittedly compared to most of her new contemporaries that weight was very slight indeed but, backed up by the height from which she had made her leap and Roddy's less than ideal receiving position, it amplified the burden placed on the young armadillo considerably. With a sudden wheeze he was forced back a step, than another one in rapid succession, hoping against hope that he wouldn't hit a patch of ice as that would simply be the end of them both. Thankfully though, fortune smiled on them and he managed to lose the necessary momentum enough to bring his strength into play, killing the flying mongoose's suicidal plummet and turning it instead into a gentle halt. Okay, okay crisis over; he dared breathe again only when he was sure they'd stopped, in the same movement it looked around and opened his eyes only to go red as he realised his head was buried in the stomach of the other Mobian's coat. Hastily dropping his arms, he felt rather than saw Mina drop back to the floor and froze as she huddled against him out of shock; only a second later did she dare look around and see she was safely back on terra firma and, as such, jump back from where Roddy had cushioned her fall.

"Wow, not doing that again", she shivered, still not exactly sure she'd done what she'd just done and lived to tell the tale, "thanks for the catch". When there was no reply she looked across to see Roddy staring, not something she enjoyed by any stretch of the imagination. Crossing her arms, she made certain to make her displeasure clear,

"Hey I said…" Only then she realised he wasn't staring at her, he was staring at a point over her shoulder; even as she turned to join his gaze, unease already gnawing at her willpower; a vice-like grip seized around her slim wrist and she was jerked almost off her feet, Roddy leading the way with his voice bellowing in her ear,

"Run!"

XXX

All present scattered or took cover as they could as it became obvious that something about the way Mina had jumped from the creation of her opposing team had upset something important and fundamental within the replica wicker-mans' snowy structure. Slowly it began to quiver and topple, by the time she'd actually touched down it was obvious to all present what was about to happen and everyone ran for it pell-mell as, with a loud, dull crumping noise, the top half of the structure disintegrated in its entirety. Both the arms were first to go, first the right one then the left falling onto the snow that had birthed the massive stature before the hole in the chest cavity was filled in completely, the weight of the head suddenly too much for the chest to carry. Like a miniature landslide the top half slid forwards, seeking something to bury as though desperate for the victim it had been cheated of; luckily though, warned by Roddy's shout and half-dragged into cover by him, even Mina was out of the impact zone well before the thing finally came down, fallen to the ground with a rumbling splat. All present shook heads and stood back up, one or two stretching off as though trying to kid on there had been nothing to worry about; even Roddy, once he'd dusted himself down and given Mina her hand back, fixed the mongoose with a shrug and affable smile,

"Well", he said chirpily, "suppose it would have made a change from setting it on fire". His smile lasted until Mina's face darkened, then promptly turned upside-down as she stooped, scrabbling around for some scrap snow. All thoughts of valour and pride gone, Roddy ran for his life towards the welcoming entrance to the hotel where snowballs were forbidden inside, ignoring the barrage both verbal and physical Mina sent rocketing his way. After a second of genial laughter at the pairs antics, everyone else took the as a cue to head inside towards a nice long meal, leaving behind only a pair of stout, compressed legs to show what once had been present in the grounds of the Highland Steppes, facing the setting sun.

A/N: Just out of interest, if anyone ever wants to see the film of the Wicker Man, watch the original; the new version with Nicolas Cage in it's just rubbish (nothing against Cage, just the setting and everything else is all wrong). Still, glad to have got this chapter written at last; I can't say when the next one will be ready but I promise I'll be as quick as I can!