The fox kit pushed with all his might, making his way from one side of the snow-covered backyard to the next. The snowball he spent a good amount of time working on was nearly as tall as he was, so it was becoming a bit difficult to roll across the ground.
Noah Wilde continued to push it until it was in the middle of the backyard, standing not too far away from the fencing and beds of mulch that once had the plants his parents grew in them back when there was warmer weather.
"Whew…" he muttered to himself, wiping a gloved paw across his face and taking a few steps back.
There was no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon then playing in the fresh fallen snow they had gotten overnight. When he woke his parents up early in the morning to tell them they had gotten a bunch of it, they first thought that meant they had gotten only a sprinkling of it, since that was normally his idea of what a lot was. Turns out they had gotten much more than just a little bit of it, which meant there was going to be a lot of shoveling to be done around the neighborhood.
Even though he loved the summer and how he got to go to the beach his parents during that season, he had an equal amount of love for wintertime once the first flakes of snow started to fall down from the sky. Getting to make snow angels or have a snowball fight was what made winter so much fun, even if the grown-ups that lived in the neighborhood thought otherwise, grumbling about how much they hated it.
Noah was only eight years old, though, and had yet to learn about the negatives that came with the season, the icy driveways and all of that other stuff.
The sound of a door being opened and shut came from behind him, and he turned around to see his father walking outside into the snow.
"Hey there, buddy," he said to him as he walked up to where he was standing.
"Hey, Dad," replied Noah with a smile.
Nick looked over at the snowball that the kit had been rolling earlier and asked, "What ya makin' here? A giant snowball to conquer everyone else's in a snowball fight?"
"Dad," Noah giggled at his father's humorous remark. "How could anyone throw one that big?"
Nick pretended to scratch the top of his head as if he were contemplating on how to do that. "I dunno," he replied. "Guess we could always build a catapult if we get a blueprint jotted down. Think we have enough spare wood in the shed to get that built?"
The fox kit shook his head as he grinned. "I'm making a snowmammal," he told his father.
"That sounds like fun," replied Nick. "You need me to lend a paw?"
"Sure, Dad," Noah answered, nodding his head. "Can you help me push that snowball to the other side?"
A smile now formed on Nick's face. "Sounds like a plan."
"Okay," responded Noah joyously. "And I'll make the head for the snowmammal."
While the kit got to work and started to sculpt another snowball to place on top of the one he already made, Nick carefully rolled the big one to where he thought would be a good spot. Once he was finished with that task, Noah started to make his way over to that part of the yard. He bent down and lifted the snowball he would be using for the head of his snowmammal and cautiously placed on top of the other.
"Looking good," Nick remarked, "but now we need eyes, nose, and mouth for him."
"Let's use those pebbles over there for the eyes and mouth," Noah said, pointing to some of the decorative little stones nearby in one of the empty spots that annual plants used to grow. He tapped a claw on his cheek as he thought about the next step. "Now, what can we use for the nose?"
"I bet Mom will let you use one of the ends of those carrots she was putting in the soup for a nose," Nick suggested.
"Did someone say something about needing a nose for a snowmammal?" inquired a certain gray-furred doe, standing outside bundled up in her purple coat.
The kit and his father were both surprised to see that she was standing outside with the carrot piece they were looking for in her grasp.
"How did you know we were looking for one of those, Fluff?" Nick asked his bunny from where he stood, both paws now in the pockets of his coat.
"I can read minds," joked Judy as she twinkled a smile back at him.
"Really?" replied Nick as he went along with her little jest. "You never told me about that before."
Judy chuckled before stepping from the porch out into the snowy backyard. "I saw you and Noah were out here making it and thought you might need something to put on it," she said to the fox.
"Thanks, Mommy," said Noah as his mother handed the carrot piece into his paw.
Now that the three were outside together, they all put the finishing touches on the snowmammal. Nick and Judy placed the pebbles on to make the two eyes and wide grin, while Noah was the one to place the nose on it that marked it as complete.
"Ta-da!" Noah proclaimed exuberantly, waving his paws in the air like he had pulled off a magic trick.
"Great job, guys," Judy complimented. "High-four!"
With that, all three of them raised their arms and slapped paws in celebration of the construction they made together as a family.
"It's not quite finished yet, though," Nick remarked shortly afterwards. "He can't go without a name."
"You're right, Dad," Noah responded, nodding in agreement. "But what do we call him?"
"You two come up with good name for him," Judy said to Nick and Noah. "I gotta head back inside and finish making the veggie soup."
"It's gonna be amazing, Carrots," replied Nick with his tail now wagging. "Any Hopps Family recipe is a recipe that I'm a fan of."
With that, Judy made her way back up to the door and went back inside the warm house. Meanwhile, Nick and Noah started to brainstorm about what they would be calling the new friend they had made out of the snow.
After thinking about it for a little bit of time, Noah looked as if he had hatched an idea. "I got it!" he told his dad with excitement. "What about Chill?"
"Chill?" Nick repeated as he thought about it. "Y'know, Noah, that's actually a pretty good name for him. To be honest, it fits him being a snowmammal that's out in the chilly air all the time."
"Yeah," Noah agreed before looking up at the sky. "Hey, Dad, did you know that snowflakes get their shape by atoms that are bound to another?"
"Really, huh?" Nick said as his son told him about this.
"Mm-hmm," the kit said, "I think they were called, uh, h-hydrogen and oxygen? Mr. Beaverton in science class taught us about how they're made."
Nick knew that out of all the subjects that he was learning in school, science turned out to be Noah's favorite. Getting to know how things work and where things come from was really cool to him, and he was always so excited to tell his parents about all the neat things his teacher taught him in class. "That's pretty fascinating," he responded. "Say, do you think if we sing that song, our new friend Chill will come to life?"
"I don't know," Noah chuckled.
Just then, Noah's pointed ears started to flicker as he became still. He suddenly turned around with a cocked head before looking down at the snow around him, crouching down before leaping straight into the air and diving headfirst into it. He was stuck in the snow for a brief moment, kicking his foot paws in the air as he pulled himself out of it and dusted himself off.
"What was that?" he inquired to himself as he shivered.
Nick chuckled upon witnessing what had instinctively occurred. "That's my boy," he remarked with pride. "I remember when I was around your age that I did the same thing."
"I don't know what happened. I just… felt like I needed to jump into the snow," replied Noah.
"Nothin' to be ashamed of," his father responded. "That's a milestone that every vulpine has when they're growing up."
"V-Vulpine?" inquired the kit with confusion.
"That's just a fancy word for a fox," Nick clarified. "Anyway, that instinct comes naturally with being one, kind of like how that wolf you're friends with in school has the instinct to howl whenever his friends do. That's what we like to call a pounce."
"Huh," Noah said, having learned something new in that moment. "Cool."
"Say, Noah…" his dad replied after pondering something for a short moment. "What do you say who can jump further into the air? Think you can beat me at it?"
"I dunno, Dad," the fox kit said with doubt, shrugging his shoulders.
"Come on. Let's give it a shot..."
Nick leaned downward and got on all fours, and Noah copied his movements. He then jumped up into the air with his arms out in front of him, his son mimicking the same action only a few seconds after him. Both father and son landed into the thick snow before picking themselves out of the snow, wiping the dusting of it off their faces and fur.
The two exchanged a laugh with one another as they shared the fun moment playing in the snow together, and as she watched from inside the house through the window, Judy couldn't help but chuckle as well.
Author's Note: Hey there, everyone! After falling a little short on ideas on what to write as of recent, I thought it would be fun to come up with something about the snow. The concepts of building a snowmammal and the fox's instinct to pounce into the snow were first going to be their own separate stories, but I later decided to merge them into this. :)
Also ended up learning something pretty neat about the instinct in foxes to pounce while trying to write this out. Turns out that whole technique is actually called mousing, but I figured that term wouldn't work too well in a world like Zootopia and might be upsetting to the mice that live there. I'd be a liar if watching clips of foxes doing their headfirst pounce into the snow wasn't something I did while figuring out how to write that part into this story. XD
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this little story of mine. And as always, your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.
'Til next time! :)