Chapter Text
Mei-Ling peered out of the little lander craft and let out a happy gasp. Through the tiny viewport were endless fields of snow and ice, broken up by looming mesas. Between them lay the imposing domes of an encroaching glacier. A frozen hell, seemingly devoid of life. Mei couldn’t help but smile.
“It looks so nice and cool…” the climatologist remarked. The lander’s heating system could not cope with the extreme temperature outside, already bringing its interior down towards single digits temperature. A far cry from this summer Mei spent at balmy Gibraltar.
With a grunt, Mei maneuvered her chunky body around the tiny space to crawl over to the opposite viewport. The lander was stuffed to the brim with supplies and equipment, leaving precious little room to move.
Finding an equipment cabinet unwilling to let her rear squeeze past, Mei groaned and craned her neck. Outside she saw her destination: Ecopoint Baranov. Only the peninsula’s harsh winds had kept the compact structures from being completely covered in snow and ice.
“Miss Oxton did a great job, don’t you think?” There was an electronic hum as Mei’s drone companion whirred overhead to give its inscrutable reply.
The facility’s landing pad was completely frozen over and as expected they couldn’t risk a landing. However, Tracer had managed to drop the specialized lander within searchlight distance of the outpost.
“Oh shush, a short walk will do us both some good,” Mei admonished Snowball while trying to extricate herself from the viewport.
Snowball darted around the cramped cabin, observing its owner’s substantial backside bounce and heave from different angles. Each push and pull seemed to stretch Mei’s blue leggings further and further beyond their breaking point. Somehow the seams managed to survive, even as the scientist’s behind bulged and billowed underneath the beleaguered fabric.
Finally, with a heroic wriggle, the poor climatologist tumbled backwards and into the lander’s seat. Recovering quickly, she leaned forward to retrieve her cold-weather gear from under it. A hint of confusion passed across her face as she struggled to reach the pack, but vanished quickly once she got her hands on it.
"I know! Let's make snowmen!" Mei suggested enthusiastically as she put on her hefty boots. Snowball retorted with a stern beep. "Yes I know we're here to study the permafrost."
Grinning eyes appeared on Snowball's faceplate as it hovered into its owner's field of view.
"You're the last person to tell anyone to be more serious," Mei chided the drone, huffing as she slipped an arm into her thick jacket. "Anyways, Miss Oxton will be celebrating Christmas with her girlfriend, so there's plenty of time before she comes to pick us up again."
Snowball did a quick loop, emitting a series of high-pitched boops.
"Ehe... I think they're pretty cute together too..." Mei blushed, lowering her voice as she rather clumsily figured out the other sleeve.
The drone observed its owner silently for a moment. Mei tugged at her jacket's front, brow furrowing gradually as she looked down at it. "Unnh..." she grumbled as it became clear that she was failing in her task to close it up.
Letting go of the edges, the jacket parted to reveal a big, round boulder lying in Mei's lap. She gave her nascent gut a tentative prod, as if to confirm that it was real. She had never been exactly slender, but this was an entirely new and unfamiliar development.
Tugging at her tank-top – but still failing to cover all of her belly with it – a small voice reminded Mei that she shouldn't be too surprised. She had appreciated the company at Watchpoint Gibraltar, but it was company that always brought over an extra helping of cheesecake and chicken wings. The other girls really liked to bond over food and Mei had been too appreciative to protest.
Tracer would jump at any excuse to have a snack and routinely roped in Mei to be her alibi. And it seemed that Brigitte was always stopping by to check up on the machinery in her lab. Mei wasn't entirely sure what the Swede actually did, but she never failed to bring enough treats for a whole day of idle snacking. And idle her days were, for the summer was far too warm to run about.
All this sitting around eating had obviously had its effects and Mei finally had to face the results. She conveniently left out the many tubs of ice cream she had gone through on her own volition to cool herself down while at Gibraltar – and how it factored into the doughy evidence before her eyes.
"I guess I've put on a bit of winter weight..." The obvious understatement earned her a sarcastic whirr from Snowball. She let her jacket hang open around the soft flab draping itself over her chunky thighs and glanced outside again.
"It's no use snowball. Without the cold suit we can't make it over to the base," Mei sighed and slumped in her seat. Her malleable midsection poured even further down her thighs. "We'll just have to wait for the temperature to rise a bit once the polar night is over..." She glanced up at the display in front of her, looking even more dejected: "...in 12 days..."