The fox clothed in festive red and white took his time as he wiped off the large sleigh, meticulously ensuring that every inch of its metallic exterior was polished and shined within the light. He concluded the task that he was given by wiping the runners one last time, managing to pick up a bit of dust that had landed there as he finished up. Dust was expected to circulate around him, however, as the sleigh sat in the aged shack and went unused except for one special time of year.
And that special time of year was steadily approaching.
Nick knew that this thing would take flight in less than ten hours, so after he had been given the instructions by the boss to get it ready for takeoff, he did the job and did it with pride. There was no doubt that it was a tedious task, but it was quite an honor to be the one to do it. To be the one that made the sleigh perfect for Santa Claws, reassuring the old polar bear that everything was in good working condition and ready to travel around the world.
Just as the cuckoo clock nailed to the wall behind him uttered its silly sound, the vulpine grunted as he got back up from off the ground.
"Got it done in pretty good time, if I do say so myself," Nick said. "Guess it's time to go and tell him that the work is done."
He made his way around the black of the sleigh he was finished cleaning, careful not to knock over any of the tools or canisters that were laying around there. He had been misfortunate enough to accidentally tip over an old can of paint the previous year, resulting in a spill that covered the structure's wood flooring and a portion of the sleigh itself.
Don't want to end up doing that again, he thought upon remembering that instance.
Nick made his way over to the doors he had walked through some time ago. They creaked as he stepped through the entryway and shut them securely behind him, and he made his way back out into the snowy landscapes that surrounded the North Pole workplace. The coldness bristled against his fur as he walked out here, but he had gotten quite used to such low temperatures having been employed here for quite awhile.
Up ahead was the main workshop, a building the size of a castle that would have belonged to royalty. The large place was painted a light shade of brown and had large posts surrounding it that looked like giant candy canes. From inside the many windows, he could see that there was much work going on inside, with figures bustling to and fro to get things last-minute tasks finished.
Just as he was making his way to the front steps that led to the grand entrance, Nick noticed a certain bunny standing outside, gazing out at the snow with eyes aglow. He knew that he would probably find her out here at this time, as this was normally when a majority of the crew went on their break.
The bunny by the name of Judy Hopps had quite the reputation around the workshop for having the bubbliest personality, and said enthusiasm for this time of year only grew stronger leading up to the departure of the polar bear. After all, it was the day that he delivered the toys that she and the others tirelessly made for all of the kits across the globe.
Nick smiled as he walked up to where she was standing. The doe was merrily humming one of her favorite carols to herself as she continued to gaze outward, and the fox chimed in as best as he could. The humming from the two gradually turned into them singing said tune together, the grins growing wider on both of their muzzles.
"Has anyone told you how wonderful of a singer you are?" Nick complimented after they finished.
The lagomorph looked back at him with a warm smile. "Well, I have been champion of the workshop's Christmas karaoke night two years in a row," she remarked in reply. "But I'm far from having the perfect voice."
"Nonsense," insisted the fox. "You have the most beautiful voice out of everyone on the crew. Anyone who says otherwise don't know what they're talkin' about."
"So how did the sleigh inspection go?" Judy inquired after a moment of stillness between the two of them.
"Everything's in perfect shape now," Nick replied positively. "There was some paint that seemed like it got scratched off last year, but I fixed it back to the way it was. Even went over the whole thing with polisher so I could shimmery, just like the day it was first used by the bear himself."
The bunny responded, "Sounds like a certain fox is hoping Mr. Kringle will give him that promotion he's been dreaming of."
The vulpine chuckled at her remark. "You're not wrong, Fluff," he said admittedly. "Had to work really hard to go from the Lump of Coal Division to the position I've got now, but it was absolutely worth it. And who knows? I might become the director of Santa's naughty and nice list someday."
"Yeah. I'm hoping for Mr. Kringle to make me the manager of the toy-making crew pretty soon. I'm sure he'll see how good I've done throughout the year with the quotas and everything. This morning's task for me was to get a hundred of those wind-up robots built, and I ended up building two hundred of them before noon."
Nick nodded his head. "That's pretty impressive. By the way, how's Jack been doing?"
"He was falling a little short on the tasks," Judy replied, "but I managed to pick up some of the slack." Judy's attention returned to the clear skies above them. "Just a few more hours and Christmas Day will officially be here," the bunny said optimistically.
"And don't forget that it's only a few hours until the workshop's big celebration," Nick reminded her.
After they made sure that Santa safely departed from the North Pole and saw the sleigh lift off, the workers (except for those that tracked the sleigh's flight coordinates throughout the night) came together and threw a jovial celebration. There was much singing, dancing, and other fun to be had every time this came to pass, and it would surely do so again pretty soon.
"Yeah," Judy said. "Getting pretty excited for that as well. I heard Clawhauser's been getting some recipes passed down to him from Mrs. Claws, and he said he's gonna try making some of them for the big party."
"Ooooh," Nick replied, his interest now piqued. "Will there be some of those amazing peppermint cookies?"
"I'm sure there will be, Slick. I heard about one recipe in particular Clawhauser said he'd be making for tonight, but I thought it'd be best to leave that a surprise."
"You can't tell me now, Carrots? Trust me, I can keep a secret."
"Okay," the doe laughed, "I'll tell you. It's a bread wreath made with blueberry cinnamon rolls."
The fox's tail started to wag in an excited manner upon hearing his favorite fruit on the planet being mentioned. "Gosh, that sounds delightful," he remarked. With a sigh, he added, "Well, I guess I'll just have to wait a couple more hours before I can dig into some of that."
A ringing sound cut through the frosty winter air, and Judy quickly reached into the pocket of her red and white uniform to retrieve her handy-dandy communicator she and the others all carried around while working.
"What's that?" Nick asked.
The rabbit flipped it open and quickly scanned at what was displayed on its little illuminated screen. "Seems like we got a Code Tinsel inside the workshop," she replied matter-of-factly.
The tod shook his head, uncertain as to what that translated to between that part of the crew. "Huh?"
"The conveyor belts that carries out all the parts for assembling is jammed again," informed Judy. She had been carefully memorizing what each code stood for when it was messaged, and she managed to obtain a good understanding of each one that was to be used in a certain workshop situation. "That's the second time it's gotten like that this week, as a matter of fact. Guess Fangmeyer's gonna have to take a look at all the gears and see what's going on with it."
"Well, Fluff, I gotta go check with Santa and see what else he needs me to get done before takeoff," Nick said. "See you later at the celebration. I'll be waiting underneath the mistletoe Emmit's been putting up."
Under her breath, his favorite bunny laughed as she smiled back at him. "See you later..."
Author's Note: Hey there, everybody! With it being Christmas In July and all, I decided to write something that took place around the holidays today and included our favorite fox and bunny. So I decided to come up the idea of writing Nick and Judy as being members of Santa's crew that works at the North Pole, loosely inspired by a couple of the many movies that I've watched in the past.
On another note, I've seen that a couple of ya'll are interested in the previous little story that I came up with, in which Nick is Judy's guardian angel. I originally had that planned out as just a single story at the time of writng it, but I'm actually thinking about making some sort of continuation of it in the future. :)
But anyway, I hope you all enjoy this little story of mine. As always, let me know what your thoughts are on this. Your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.
'Til next time! :)