The Raccoon and His Boy - A Varian x Reader story

XIII

The winter winds whipped around you as you stepped out of the house, the bag holding your skates bumping against your thigh, but you just breathed in the sweet, cold air. Varian's Toaster Pouch was clipped to your belt as usual, and the warmth radiating from the bag countered the cold so well it felt like a normal spring day. Granted, you still had your coat on, and it was hard to feel fully like spring with the snow crunching under your boots as you walked, but you didn't really mind. Winter was just as beautiful, with everything covered in thick layers of fluffy, powdery white snow.

Your only disappointment was that Star wasn't with you. She refused to go outside to the snow, no matter how much you tried. It was annoying to know everyone but you would be bringing their pets, but your cat could be so stubborn sometimes it was safer not to put up a fight.

You were surprised when Varian had told you Rapunzel said you could come. Obviously you weren't part of her friends, just Varian's girlfriend, so it was really nice to see her respect your relationship and recognize it. The other good thing was that the location of the meeting wasn't too far from your home, just a ten minute walk through the woods behind your house.

You walked fast, wanting to arrive before everyone so you could work more on mastering the compass' magic. In the two-and-a-half weeks since you and Varian had found it in the royal library you'd made amazing progress learning the item's history, and two nights ago you'd finally started experimenting with its magic. Some elements were clearly easier to control than others, for example Darkness and Water compared to Fire or Air, but you were set on mastering all of them, even if it took time.

You stopped when you saw the pond before you, its surface frozen over with shiny ice. After a quick survey of your surroundings you found that you were indeed alone, and you stood yourself under a tree as you pulled out the compass. It was cold in your hands, the smooth silver slipping easily into a comfortable position. You blew a short breath across the glass, "waking up" the device. It was a strange mechanism, but the compass needed to feel hot air to start functioning.

Slowly, you turned in place so the thick arrow was pointing at the Water sigil. One of the books you'd looked through had a key as to which sigil meant what, but you were also able to tell by the colors traced around the signs, blue being a dead giveaway to Water. The device surged with magic, and you felt it tickle my fingertips as you turned to the piles of snow around you and focused. Your main goal was to prove your theory that, as a derivative of water, you would be able to control snow too, so you closed your eyes and imagined the pure white substance bending to your will, just as you'd been practicing.

It took you a second to think of a command, but eventually you got it, and you pushed the snow with your mind to form a short snowman made of three huge snowballs. It was extremely exciting when you opened your eyes and discovered a result similar to what you'd imagined, but the moment was ruined when something hit the tree behind you and shook out the snow and icicles from between the leaves, burying you in a mountain of slush.

You popped your head out from the snow, the powers of the Toaster Pouch neutralized by the cold. Varian didn't seem to care about his invention's flaws, however. He just watched you wriggle my way out, clearly holding back the full extent of his amusement. Ruddiger wasn't, though – the raccoon's chittering sounded especially mocking.

"Oh, yeah, keep laughing," you said, slowly standing up and brushing the snow from your clothes. "No need to help your girlfriend up."

"You're pretty independent," he replied with a smirk. "Besides, I'm not gonna give you an opportunity to drag me down too. You're gonna have to work a little harder to get your revenge."

"Not a problem..." you murmured, tightening your grip on the compass, which you'd somehow managed to hold on to during Varian's attack. You quickly pointed the arrow to the Water sign and focused, gathering several chunks of snow in your imagination and chucking them all at Varian.