Citizen 876 Deimos

The wind grew into a blistering gale as the two siblings stepped out from the protection of the buildings. Even with his thicker coat, Deimos shuddered at the cutting cold before he hurried to follow his sister, already several paces ahead of him. If it wasn’t for the slight shiver in her voice, he could have believed she wasn’t affected at all by the weather.

“I-it’s so-!”

“Cold, Phobos. It’s too cold. We should go back into the town, the wind can’t get us there.” Deimos trotted ahead and stopped ahead of his sister to block her path, then nudged her shoulder with his head to urge her back. 

“No! You he-heard that farmer! There’s s-snow out here somewhere, and I wanna- wanna see it!” Phobos pouted at her cold-induced stammer and tried to dart past her brother, but he continued to nudge her back towards the town. Determined, she leaped onto and scrambled up his shoulder, and the momentum carried her over his back until she hit the floor and crumpled into a fluffy heap. Whilst Deimos let out a frightened squawk and hurried to check on her, Phobos just pushed herself to her feet, shook her head, and continued to prance ahead, leaving her brother to hurry after her.

A gust of wind blew past the siblings, forcing Deimos to close his eyes against the gale. Before he could open them, something cold landed on his nose, making him sneeze and rub his snout.

Phobos stopped in her tracks and turns around, tilting her head, to face her brother. “Are you okay? Are you getting s-sick?” Her eyes widened in dawning horror and rushed back to him. “You should ha-have told me! I wouldn’t have dragged you with me if you were sick! I’m sor-“

“I’m not sick, don’t worry.” Deimos nudged her shoulder then scrunched up his nose. “That was cold. And wet.” He rubbed his snout as he looked up. 

“Are you sure? What i-if you ARE getting sick?! What if-”

“Phobos, I’m okay, really!” He grinned at her, as a little snowflake fluttered down and landed on his nose again, prompting him to sneeze once more.

Phobos’ eyes lit up as she watched. “Snowflake! Snowflakes mean snow! I knew it!” Her head snapped up to look for more and she stood on her back legs to reach one falling just above her, only to flop onto her back as she became unbalanced. But she just shook off the dirt and got up again to leap at the snowflakes. After a glance around, she darted off again to chase where the most snowflakes fell.

Deimos followed after her, but he took his time. He couldn’t remember if they’d seen snow before, and the shimmering white snowflakes that fell were mesmerising. Against the grey sky and the dull landscape, plants suffering from the cold weather, the snowflakes glittered as they drifted down, like gemstones from the sky. He’d never seen something so beautiful.

Then he realised he couldn’t see his sister. With a short yip of alarm, he ran after the last spot he’d seen her. She couldn’t have gotten too far… right? He would be able to find her, her fur didn’t lend well to hiding and he’d gotten very good at spotting her whenever they played hide and seek. But this time, she wasn’t anywhere in sight. 

“Phobos? Phobos, where are you?” All he could see were bushes and snow growing into thicker piles as he went along. Had this been a grassland without the snow? Or a farmer’s field? Were they trespassing? Had Phobos gotten into trouble-

Deimos’ thoughts were cut short when a very fluffy body pounced out of the snow and slammed into his side. They rolled until Deimos’ back hit the floor and Phobos stood victorious over him.

“I gotcha!” Phobos grinned before bursting into a fit of giggles. “I can still scare you! I’m the big scary one now- aCK!” She squawked as Deimos took a handful of snow and shoved it against her chest, sending her sprawling into the mud. “Hey! That’s playing dirty!”

“And hiding in the snow is too!” Deimos laughed and got up, to run after her through the snow field. Soft, powdery snow kicked up all around them as they raced around, chasing one another as their laughter filled the air. 

Whilst Deimos ploughed through the snow, his bigger frame pushing the snow aside with ease, Phobos had to dig and climb and dive into the cold to make her way through, as if she was swimming on land. Even still, she moved with surprising speed and cunning, leaving Deimos digging into the piles to search for her. They nipped and chased one another, both taking turns to be the hunter and the prey.

Phobos started to burrow into the snow, nestling into the piles to hide her bright fur and plan her ambushes. With the wet flakes clogging his nose, Deimos couldn’t find her scent, until she pounced with a roar and a cheeky giggle as she ran away.

All too soon, Phobos started to shiver and sneeze, and huddled into herself to get a bit more warmth. Deimos stopped his chase and trotted to her side before pulling her into his thick fur. “I think we should go back now…”

“Nooo but the sn-snow might- aCHOO… not be here tomorrow..” She whined but still nuzzled into her brother’s fur. 

“But you will get sick if we stay.” Despite his words, Phobos still pouted. “I know, it’s a lot of fun… but you know you’ll be miserable if you get sick.”

“I’ll be more miserable if I can’t see snow again…” Phobos mumbled and huddled closer to him, but looked longingly out at the winter wonderland around them.

“We can look for snow again tomorrow, come on. Let’s get you somewhere warm.” With a soft nudge, Deimos led them out of the field and back towards the town. Every so often, he had to nudge Phobos to keep going, as she stopped to press her feet into any piles of snow that she passed.

As they reached the edge of the town, Deimos paused and looked over his shoulder, at the trail of snow they left behind. He almost wanted to stay, to continue to play in the cold until night, but another sneeze from his sister reminded him of his priorities. 

“You p-promise we can come tomorrow?” Phobos looked up at him with shining eyes.

Deimos gave her a smile and pressed his forehead to hers. “Promise. Now let’s go get warm.” Phobos beamed and nodded, then trotted ahead, only interrupted by the occasional sneeze.

With one last look, out into the sparkling snow they left behind, Deimos followed his sister into the town.