Chapter five: Do You Wanna Build A Snowflake?

"I want to do a popsicle stick one," Brian said curiously.

"I'll paint one," Melody commented.

"I'll fold a snowflake," Ned said.

"I want to fold a snowflake too. Hehe. I get to make a folded up me," Snowflake said, joking.

"That can.. literally be arranged!" Rocky said making a few cuts to the accordion-folded paper he had and then spreading it wide he revealed a banner of a simplistic attempt at Snowflake's face with each fold joining them all together.

"Wait, did you just- How?! What?! How did you do that?!" Snowflake exclaimed, now shocked, baffled, and slightly scared at how Rocky managed to make paper versions of her face.

"Easy really.. just gotta know the right cuts to make and where." The mixed breed replied simply, though quite amused by the husky's reaction.

"Now that's impressive!" Brian commented.

"Is it against the rules to paint on something other than paper or canvas?" Kylie asked, looking around at the different items lying around.

"Depends on what you're thinking.." Ryder shrugged.

"Something like this?.." the cocker said, pulled a glass vase from under the folds of some kind of paper or material.

"You could paint that if you wanted." Ryder said, nodding.

"And I've got paint that will work for that!" Rocky said, appearing from around a ladder draped with long white paper from a roll.

"Great, thanks!" Kylie smiled, as she carefully set the vase on its side to gently roll it after Rocky to an open spot to set up the project.

"I'm not really the creative type.." Tiny mentioned. "Not really seeing anything that speaks to me here.."

"Me neither, but I'm game." CiCi decided.

"That's ok, dude." Zuma told him. "Chase says he's not that creative either.. But even he finds a way eventually. Just take your time.. You know we probably have plenty." And they looked toward the window when saying this.

"Right.. Ok.. let's see.."

"You know.." the wolf dog among them realized, looking around at a few various paints, brushes and paintable surfaces.. then finally at the pups all around her.

"I may have something.. Boomer, we need to borrow you.." she called looking up and wandered off for a moment. Zuma came to stand where she once was, looking down in a similar manner with Tiny reciprocating before both looked up with the same conclusion.. confusion.

The four huskies also looked in confusion.

"I... don't think painting the big, old, gentle giant would be a good idea," Ned said, before his siblings gave him stern looks.

"His name is Boomer. You don't have to be rude!" Melody commented. Ned's ears went back as he regretted his comment.

"Oh, don't mind him any.." Boomerang chuckled, as he wandered over gingerly. "I've been called worse things in my time. I don't find any offense in his description of me."

"Ok, I got this crazy idea.. This crazy awesome idea." CiCi began, quite proud of herself in this. "We need to paint your paw and put it here.." She told the old dog, placing her paw at the very center of the board in front of them.

"Then we can build the snowflake from there.." she finished happily, removing it to set it back to a more normal position.

"With what?" Tiny asked, still confused.

"With our paws, silly." CiCi replied simply. "Trust me, it'll be great. Come on, I'll show you."

"Okay.." Tiny sighed, shooting Zuma a skeptical look while following along anyway.

"We may need some help with this though, Ryder." CiCi added, while grabbing the blue and white paint.

"I'm right behind you," the boy confirmed, shooting her a thumbs up from where he was helping some of the other pups get set up.

"Looks like we got ourselves a mini art show up in here." Rayla mentioned openly.

"Yeah what fun right?" Chester smirked. "Now all we're missing is a judge." And the two pups thought for a moment before looking back between the two of them to the lone German Shepherd laying there. Who seemed to sense their looks falling upon him, when he immediately lifted his head to look back and forth at them each in turn.

"No way! Not me!" Chase quickly declined, shaking his head for extra measure.

"I can be the art judge. Unless someone else wants to," Melody offered.

"I was mainly joking,.." Chester admitted humorously. "But if you really want to."

"If the PUP Pals want one? Or just have fun," Melody said.

"Wait, Tiny, how will paws on paper make a snowflake- Oh! The paws make the snowflake shape!" Snowflake started to ask until she realized the concept.

"Beats me." The chihuahua shrugged. "Ask the wolfie."

"It'll work kinda like that." CiCi confirmed. "You'll see!"

"Okay," Snowflake said, slightly curious and confused.

"Just be careful with the paint, Melody," Snowflake advised.

"We got carried away with the paint," Ned told her.

Brian rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess; you got over excited and painted everything, tried to paint, but got too into it that you got distracted, or both?" Brian guessed jokingly.

"Both," Snowflake and Ned confessed.

"Not surprised, Snowflake and I made a mess of an art room once. Turns out the person wanted the whole room painted like crazy. Although, I was the one who got excited," Melody said, remembering a memory.

"Why am I not surprised?" Chester sighed, shaking his head.

"Oh trust me it got a lot more out of hand than that.." Marshall mentioned. "And it was not expected at all!"

"A lot more out of hand how?" Brian asked Marshall curiously with a smirk.

"You mean they got crazy excited or what?" Melody added before giggling.

"We.. painted everyone. Ourselves included," Snowflake answered.

"It started out as fun teasing.. but then we got into the fun of it," Ned told them.

"Sssshhhh! You're ruining the story! No spoilers!" Melody said with excitement, before looking at the pups with a child-like anticipation.

"Um.. well let's just say it started with a streak and ended with a splash." The Dalmatian replied slowly.

"Oh boy.." Boomerang commented, only able to imagine this.

"I painted Chase's shoulder green by accident. Then Rocky joked it was his color, before I chased after him, trying to paint him green. Ned did the same with Skye, but with pink paint," Snowflake said honestly.

"And it pretty much spun out of control from there.." Rocky finished openly.

"Got it," Melody said.

"Of course," Brian agreed.

"Well I guess we better decide what we wanna do." Marshall said, glancing round at Skye, Chester, Zuma and Rayla as everyone else returned to their tasks.

"And sounds like we gotta come up with something new and different." Rayla agreed. "Looks like everyone's already stepping up their game."

"Ummm. I thought we were just decorating? Not a competition?" Snowflake said now confused.

"We aren't." Rayla confirmed openly. "But who wants to just do what everyone else is doing?"

"That's Rayla for you.." Tiny commented with a nod, "..doesn't stick to the norm."

"True. But we do have options for how to make a fake snowflake. It's not like everyone's making only stick snowflakes," Snowflake mentioned.

"Exactly.." Rayla agreed. "Which means we gotta use our heads in new ways.." The golden lab looked among the various items left littered around the floor. And scanning through them, her gears continued to turn with any inspiration that might result from her efforts.

"You know.. Everyone appears to be making small snowflakes.." She said finally. "But I'm seeing some things that might go a little bigger."

"Bigger how?" Brian asked suspiciously, glancing up from his own project. "We can't make a fake snowflake as big as this room!"

"Well there's plenty of 1" pvc piping here.." Rayla ventured. "And look at that!.. They look to be a few different lengths.. Just a few joints can get us the geometric shapes we need to do it.. With a little help from Rocky."

"You got it!" Rocky assured her.

"I think I'm gonna stick to simpler things?" Skye decided. "Like this lovely old window." She stepped a paw back from the small window, which she'd found amongst the junkyard finds.

"Brilliant, Skye!" Marshall gasped. "That'll look amazing!"

"Thanks.." the cockapoo smiled. "But what are you gonna do?"

"Um.. well I see some old bicycle chains.." the Dalmatian mentioned. "Maybe I can do something with that."

"You're more creative than me, dude." Zuma shrugged. "I like to make stuff and all, but I don't think even I could do something like that."

"Ummm Skye, how are you going to make a snowflake out of a window? Isn't there glass? You could cut yourself," Snowflake pointed out cautiously.

"Not like that silly!" Skye giggled. "I'll just paint snowflakes on the window glass. So the light can shine through and brighten them up like real snowflakes."

"Okay. Phew! Thank goodness," Snowflake said in relief.

"Ok, now let's see what we can come up with.." Marshall decided.

And as the remaining pups dispersed Ryder turned to the others that were already engaged in their projects.

"How's it going, pups?" Ryder asked the busy pups.

"Good so far," Snowflake said as she and Ned started to fold the paper in front of them.

"Should I use tape or glue?" Brian asked as he put two popsicle sticks together.

"Either one would work.." Rocky figured, shrugging when he looked up from observing CiCi painting Boomerang's paw.

"But perhaps the glue might be more effective.." Kylie suggested, looking up from her vase. "..as long as you put the right amount into it so it doesn't fall apart.. not too much, not too little."

"I'm fine," Melody replied to Ryder's earlier question, as she held a paintbrush in her mouth that had light green paint on it.

Skyler closed her paws with the tool that held the scissors in place as she snipped out another notch in the paper.

"All good," the border collie answered up. "Great invention, Rocky!"

"Thanks!" The mixed breed smiled.

"Hmmm. Could we make a snowflake out of something that's not paper? Like a parachute?" Ned asked curiously.

"Why? It won't float you down from the sky if it has holes in it," Snowflake pointed out.

"Neither will most things we're making them with.." Marshall shrugged. "Or on.."

"Yeah. Remember what happened to.. well, that one skydiver?" Melody added hesitantly.

"Yes. You don't have to tell me twice," Ned replied.

"What.. skydiver?" Chester wondered, not entirely certain he actually wanted to know.

"There was a skydiver who was skydiving one day and it turns out the parachute was accidentally dusted with corn husks. It wasn't washed and.. birds pecked at it, making holes in the fabric. He fell down and the people on the ground had to use an emergency chute to not only catch him, but the guy had a spare chute to use after he detached his main one. Thank goodness because it could have ended badly," Melody explained.

"Oh.." Chester blinked, not sure how to respond to this. "That.. skydiver."

"At least he had enough time to use his emergency chute." Skye commented thankfully.

"And you know.. for a pup that doesn't seem to like air travel.." Zuma mentioned thoughtfully. "You seem to be really into skydiving for some reason."

Melody blinked in confusion.

"Actually, it's more falling and heights. I never said I didn't like air travel," Snowflake corrected Zuma.

"Yeah. And we have that rule for a reason," Brian said, before all four huskies shuddered and looked down with ears folded back.

"Oh.." the chocolate lab realized.

"Makes sense I guess." Skye shrugged. "You didn't seem to mind the rush of the fall once you'd done it a time or two, knowing you were safe with your gear on."

"So Chess? What're you gonna do?" Chase heard someone ask, and he barely peeked an eye open to view the conversation a fair distance from him.

"Not sure yet.. but I'll let you know if I get an epiphany at some point.. if ever." The German Shepherd replied, and Chase just smiled when returning his gaze to a resting position to give the illusion of rest.

At least I'm not the only one. He thought smugly to himself.

"Yeah, so I was thinking of a fake snowflake out of a spare parachute. If that's okay?" Ned commented.

"If you can find one,.. I don't see why not." Ryder shrugged.

Thank goodness! Chase gasped silently, releasing a deep breath that hardly drew any attention at all.

"Thanks Ryder, but I'll need some help. Even I can't make a big fabric snowflake by myself," Ned responded casually.

"If you're wanting to do it the way I think you're wanting to do it.. it might be similar to doing the paper ones." Rocky mentioned. "However I guess the fabric might be flimsier than paper, and that's saying something."

"Hmmm. Flimsier huh? Care to help me, Rocky?" Ned asked kindly.

"It shouldn't be too hard.." the mixed breed thought, "but sure."

"Okay," Ned said before going over to his backpack and pulling out a spare white parachute. "But I'll let you help out my sister, and any other pups making paper snowflakes first."

"Um.. ok.. uh.. sure." Rocky wavered curiously and turned to walk away.

"Actually, I think we got it.." Skyler said, carefully propping up the folded paper for Rubble, who now had the scissor "gloves" which he was now using to cut the notches he wanted for his snowflake. "Thanks to Rocky's invention we're getting the job done."

"Glad it worked." Rocky smiled, his tail wagging happily behind him.

"That's good. I don't think we could cut the paper with our claws," Snowflake said as she looked at her right front paw.

"If we had claws." Chester deadpanned, looking at his paws, pointing a toe up and extending the leg slightly. "I couldn't even make a mark with these bad boys!"

"Chester.." Chase sighed, somehow hearing him from across the room.

"I thought we do have claws?" Snowflake responded as she kept looking at her front paw.

"We do.." Chester confirmed mildly. "Just not very effective ones.. for most things."

"Anyways, what do you all want to talk about now?" Melody asked, still holding a paintbrush in her mouth.

"Well, how's everyone's projects coming?" Rocky asked.

"My project is coming along," Snowflake said as she held her folded paper.

"Same here," Brian commented as he taped popsicle sticks together.

"Mine's pretty," Melody answered as she kept painting snowflakes.

"We.. are almost.." CiCi pressed down gently on Tiny's paw and lifted quickly, freezing to stare at what they'd just done for a long moment.

"Done!.." the wolf dog announced proudly. "Now it needs to dry.." Rocky, Rubble, Skye and Marshall came up to look at what the three pups had collaborated on. And saw now how the central large paw split six ways to smaller paws, which split into threes that ended as even smaller paws.

"Ohhhh.." the pups realized.

"Now I get why you wanted Boomerang involved." Rubble said, as they all shifted back from their positions.

Ryder came up behind Kylie, who was very carefully painting a few delicate touches to her vase which was upside-down on her cardboard work area.

"Looks good, Kylie." The boy mentioned, kneeling beside her carefully.

"Thanks." The cocker smiled. "Just gotta complete the final few touches before it's officially finished."

"Well keep up the great work." Ryder told her, before rising to his feet to wander off again.

"Look at what we did Ryder!" Skyler announced proudly displaying the snowflakes she and Rubble made, pressed out on the cardboard they'd painted and secured them to.

"Looks great." Ryder smiled, giving her a thumbs up. Skyler gushed, proudly then set the board aside.

Rocky twisted the last rod in place with his claw and nodded to Rayla, who returned one. The golden lab hopped across to the same side as Rocky and they both nosed under the new structure to lift it up and lean it against the elevator.

"Ta da!" Rayla proclaimed, revealing her giant pipe snowflake. "Thanks for the assist, Rocky."

"No problem!" The mixed breed beamed. "Way to upcycle!"

"And you said you weren't that creative.." Chester teased.

"For some thing's perhaps.." Rayla shrugged, indignantly smiling. "What does that say about you?"

"Oo, ouch! My heart!" Chester reeled, clearly faking his theatrics. "But you KINDA got a point.. I got nothing.. this time."

"You're still creative. You've done fun things before," Ned commented, who was now under the white parachute, looking like a ghost pup.

"Thanks. I.. think?" Chester queried. "What are you doing? Did you finish your snowflake already?"

"No. Just having fun while I wait for Rocky..." Ned replied, as he kept pretending to be a ghost under the white parachute.

"On my way!" The mixed breed called, turning from looking over someone else's shoulder, then came over to now focus his attention on the parachute-covered husky..

Oh what fun it is to write in one horse open-wait.. That's not right. Oh well.. That's ok.

Anyway, got another chapter here, and what fun it was.. The banter among the characters throughout this chapter has probably been my favorite so far! But we still got quite a bit more to go so that notion might change as we go on.

But what about you? What do you think about all that has happened so far? Can't wait to find out! Till then, we'll see you next time! Thx!