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Sonic was just about dead on his feet, he hated cold snaps. Going out in the cold wasn't too big. He could dress warmly or keep warm through exercise. The suddenness of the winter storm bearing down on the land had him feeling sluggish in the extreme. He and Tails had been forced from their home by a burst pipe, the first casualty of the intense cold. It was an easy enough fix but it would have to wait until the threat of being three feet under had passed. Sonic and Tails weren't the only ones seeking shelter though most for much less drastic reasons. Plenty of folks were coming in just to eliminate the chance of being cut off by the snowfall. Sonic's body had wanted him to go to sleep since he arrived but he had kept himself awake by checking in on everyone.
The cavernous common area of knothole which was usually so warm as to border on uncomfortable was only just holding at chilly today. The common area was not exactly easy to temperature control. It was mainly a hiding spot for bomb raids and while it was very sturdy and spacious, luxurious it was not it had an ancient airflow system that would keep things from getting too hot and the air going bad but that was the extent of it. The primitive airflow system meant that while the cavern wouldn't get too hot the cold air flowed in as easily as hot air flowed out. There was a time not too long ago by Sonic's reckoning when the entirety of Knothole and indeed most of free Mobius could reside in this area with space to spare. Today most residents of the fort were glad they had a private space and the space was packed with people displaced from outlying areas or damaged parts of other cities.
Sonic had seen earlier in the day that Team Chaotix had been hard at work digging into a dirt and stone wall with no apparent reason now though the method to their madness was clear. The wall had been transformed into a comb structure where Mobian birds, reptiles and insects rested insulated by the earth. Be it bee beetle or beyond all of the insect Mobians nestled together in the combs tight as they could manage literally snug as bugs. Avian Mobians packed in with one another transforming combs into nests fluffed by their own spare down, spare fabric and even straw. The various reptilian inhabitants had places lower to the ground, the combs around them packed with heaters and radiators. Sonic realized that Team Chaotix themselves weren't in the structures they had worked so hard on. Vector was laying upon a mattress with Espio and Charmy laying on his chest. The three had stacked their blankets atop themselves and then used two more mattresses to form a sort of tent.
Fiona and Zooey had tended to boiling pots until just awhile ago and been ladling out bowls of hot soup and warm drinks like tea and cider. The pair were assisted by Gadget, Lupe, and Whisper who were keeping the line running smoothly by taking care of the dishes and keeping track of who had and had not already gotten something to eat. Gemerl had manned the actual kitchen by adding water pots full of ingredients and setting them to boil. Tangle, Jewel and Barry had been helping by pulling items and running them out to where they were needed. Lanolin had barely been visible to Sonic going over the food stores with Nicole. Robians had taken over the kitchen duties now with only Gemerl keeping his post. The two vixens and three wolves had taken their rest in some of the more comfortable chairs the common area had to offer, now snug against the wall and each other. Tangle, Jewel and Barry had lost their battles with the cold induced torpor and were curled against each other on a single mattress just beside the chairs. Lanolin had seemingly fallen asleep mid-task, her head resting on a desk full of numerical sheets. Sonic had carefully moved the papers aside and draped a blanket over the sheep.
Tails had been bright eyed and his namesakes were truly bushy. The fox's white winter coat was coming in strong and full, a sign that the coming winter was going to get harsh as much as his maturation. The fox had been looking over the various heating elements that had been brought in to make sure everyone was safe since they arrived. looking to help them keep warm he had been putting his genius to work constructing thick pipes around glowing cores that radiated warmth to wide areas. Tails had spread warmth not just of the physical kind as he went through the crowds. A few hours ago his work was done and he was spent. Cosmo had pulled him into a recess in the stony walls and wrapped him in a blanket and held him to her chest as he slept. Cosmo herself was no winter flower; the alcove she was resting in was heated by no less than three sun lamps and was something she had dug out with her own hands. Rather than a mattress and blanket Cosmo had broken up the soil of the newly uncovered floor and made a pit into which she had planted herself.
Big the cat's home was a simple hut with very little protection from the elements. Big's fur was shorter than one might expect but his sheer bulk kept him insulated well. The same could not be said for his pet frog, and it had driven the cat to seek shelter elsewhere for Froggy's sake. Big was to put it bluntly too large for the standard sized mattresses and had brought his custom plush mattress with him. Said mattress had earned him a not insignificant amount of envious attention and more friendly designs. Blaze did not have a home of her own. She and everyone else were still trying to understand what had happened to the Sol dimension but at present the best guess was it had merged silently with this dimension and that meant that her kingdom still existed somewhere without her. Her powers of fire apparently did not keep her warm without active use so she had come here. Blaze had become friends with Big mostly by the proxy that she was friendly with Cream and Amy. Naturally enough when Big had seen Blaze looking confused about what to do or who to turn to he had invited her to stick close to him. An invitation that was likewise extended to Hershey whose love life had taken a downturn when it turned out her husband was a traitor to the kingdom. The tuxedo cat's own friends Honey the fashionista and Tiara the pro athlete weren't about to be excluded and neither Blaze or Big had any objections. The cats had piled bean bag chairs around Big's mattress tight against one another and covered themselves with heavy blankets. Sonic could faintly hear the contented purring of the warm felines.
Vanilla had explained to Sonic that their house's remote nature was a major concern before her power had gone out. She and her daughter had taken a trio of couches from the room and arranged them into a u-shape with their two mattresses in the center. Cream had then happily lined up the cushions from those couches around the edge of their mattresses to help better trap the warmth. Sticks the Badger had shivered and shook with cold as she added her mattress to the roof of this affair in exchange for help keeping warm. Marine, being of a tropical disposition, had furthered the roof with her own mattress before snuggling up to Sticks. Cream had changed into her warmest pair of pajamas and Vanilla got the three children all snuggled up with pillows under their heads and tucked in under a trio of blankets. Vanilla changed into a plush fur lined night gown that was while still fully modest felt scandalous when compared to her typical manner of dress. Rotor walked over, giving a shivering Vanilla his blanket before covering the only opening of the pillow fort with his mattress. Sonic was confused for a moment as the walrus sat himself into a bean bag and simply went to sleep, before recalling that as a walrus Rotor was naturally equipped for this weather.
Early in the day Antoine had been in charge of distributing supplies, handing out pillows, blankets and mattresses to those in need. A number of the families presently in the shelter were going to be staying for more than one night due to their homes no longer standing. Bunnie had done a lot of the heavy lifting transporting the goods down to the area. The cold was plainly affecting Bunnie, her smile, kind words and positive energy had been replaced with a dull glare growls and exhaustion. It wasn't hard to figure out why, Bunnie's metallic limbs made her very susceptible to the cold to the point they caused outright pain on the coldest days. Her normal leotard shorts and jacket were replaced by a heavy fur-lined bit of clothing that really accentuated her curves. Earlier in the day Antoine had wrapped Bunnie's robotic limbs in heavy thermal insulation which made her look like she was wearing an oven mitt across nearly her whole body. The two had brought in a privacy tent with a single mattress from their shared home and a dozen pillows. Sonic had wondered how they were going to sleep at all until only moments ago. Sonic had watched Antoine motivate his wife to lay down on the mattress. The southern belle had been asleep the instant she sprawled out on the bedding. Antoine had arranged the pillows around his wife, wrapped the blanket about his shoulders and zipped up the tent before laying down on Bunnie as his mattress. Sonic quietly thought it was extremely cute.
Rouge's presence had been a surprise especially since the thick parka muffler scarf, and beanie she was wearing kept him from recognizing her at all until he realized that the heating element before the bat was E-123 Omega who simply had extended all of his cooling units and was venting waste heat to warm her. Further assisting Sonic in identifying her had been the presence of Topaz and Madonna the two human GUN agents that were her most consistent liaison. Rouge herself was wrapped in their arms snuggled like a plush toy between both of the ladies chests. The humans had pushed two long sofas together to use as bed, as Mobian sized mattresses just weren't big enough for an adult woman. Likewise the pair were using the mid sized mattresses as added blankets because Mobian blankets were only big enough to cover their legs. Omega seemed to be in sleep mode utterly unaware of what was going on. Team Dark was only in knothole at all because they were performing a readiness check of the improvised defenses.
Early on Sonic had been confused to spot Sally Acorn in the common. The royal had calmly (if groggily) explained that Castle Acorn presently had a giant hole in it that made keeping it warm impossible. The chipmunk was the one that had realized the coming weather was going to be a problem and set about organizing the shelter that they were all presently enjoying. Her recently reunited family had been instrumental in the set up for the storm. Sally's brother Elias had hopped on an extreme gear and drove out into the storm finding homes that could be buried and warning them to seek shelter. Queen Alicia had mobilized the maids and guards to move all the food and supplies from the castle to Knothole. All three now rested peacefully in a hollowed great tree root. It was stuffed tight with pillows and blankets from their beds in the castle. Sally was sleeping on her side, nestled in tight with the root wall on her back and her mother before her. Queen Alicia was in roughly the middle with her children on either side. Elias was closest to his mother but facing away from her, with his arms about his wife and child tucked tight against each other. They had earned their rest having worked hard to arrange for everyone displaced to have a place to shelter through the storm. The contentment on the sleeping faces of the royals was as hard earned as it was heartwarming.
"So Ooooh nic!" Amy called out to him yawning halfway through her head poking out from behind a wall of mattresses and blankets piled into a corner. "over here." she beckoned languidly. As Sonic made his way over he was amused to note that Amy had invited him to a den of hedgehogs. Silver and Shadow were acting as anchor points for mattresses against the walls both deeply asleep atop soft looking pillows and wrapped in blankets that left only their faces poking free. His siblings Manic and Sonia were load bearing pillars with mattresses partially resting atop their curled forms and partly on the walls. There seemed to be two or three different mattresses covering the floor each with a blanket and set of pillows to further insulate the little nest. Sonic gladly added his mattress to the roof that started with his siblings before nestling into the warmth of the den himself, Amy wrapping the two of them in a particularly thick blanket. Sonic might have objected to the proximity if not for how gloriously warm she was. Within seconds she was asleep against him and his eyes were drifting closed as he joined her and the other hedgehogs in a deep sleep. For now at least all was right, it was cold and it wouldn't leave soon but he was warm and safe with those he held dear nearby warm and safe as well.