Playing In The Snow

The conversation turns to what we plan to do after lunch. None of us have really planned anything solid, I’d guessed that we’d just play games or watch a movie or something. That is, until Elsa brings up an idea. “How about we play outside in the snow?” She asks, and I’m a bit shocked.

“Um…I’d forgotten we could do that honestly.” I say after a few seconds. Elsa looks at me, amused. “You mean you’ve lived in this place for like 5 days now, and you haven’t spent any time playing in the snow?” She asks incredulously. My girlfriends and I all shake our heads, and Elsa giggles.

“Want to play outside after lunch then?” She asks. I look around at my girlfriends to see what they think, but I already know that I very much want to myself. Mia nods enthusiastically, and Ivy looks at me smirking, knowing what I think. I glance at Skylar, who seems pretty happy with the idea.

I answer for us. “That sounds really fun, let’s do it!” The ideas are running through my head rapidly about the different sorts of things we can do. I know that I can also change some of the weather settings and such for the kingdom, to a degree. I wonder just how much I can change it and what fun things we could do.

We all rush to finish lunch after that, eager to get outside and enjoy ourselves in the snow. It still boggles my mind that none of us have thought of really doing that yet, but I guess that’s what happens when you get so focused on training and levelling up.

We finish quickly and all pitch in to help Ivy and Mia clean up and do the dishes. I order us all some winter clothes from the abyss auction, including a bright pink winter jacket for me. As we finish cleaning everything, the winter gear arrives. I figure out how to turn off the comfy cold modifier to us all, as we all agree that we want the authentic experience for this stuff.

Once the modifier is turned off, we all change into the warm and comfy clothes that we bought from the auction. Sol and Luna still don’t seem affected by the cold even with the modifier turned off, but as I discover when we head outside, that’s also due to a temperature regulator inside the palace.

I inhale deeply, looking around at the gorgeous landscape. Our palace is situated in the middle of a wide open area of ground covered with snow. Mountains surround us in the distance, being quite far away from us but still visible. Closer to us, trees dot the landscape, beautiful Norwegian spruce trees, themselves covered in snow.

“Let’s have a snowball fight!” Mia yells and we all excitedly agree. There are five of us which means uneven teams, but we decide to have Mia and I on one team, with Ivy, Skylar and Elsa on the other, due to stat levels.

The sun shines down on us, its rays strong enough to light up the area with a beautiful glow, but not so strong to be overstimulating or too bright in the slightest. None of us need sunglasses to look around, a fact which I’m happy about.

Mia and I set to work packing together snow and building a small fort, while Elsa, Skylar and Ivy build their own small fort opposite ours. If we’re going to have a snowball fight, we’re going to do it properly after all. None of us use any of our powers to help us build our forts either, we’re doing it purely with our hands.

While we build our forts, our team and Skylar’s trade banter and playful jibes at each other. “We’re gonna smash you!” Mia playfully yells. “No way, we’re gonna smash you!” Ivy yells back, giggling. “I am going to throw so many snowballs directly at your face!” I yell, almost falling over with laughter at the ridiculousness. Mia cackles beside me, and even Skylar snorts at that.

This is my opportunity to enjoy the things I never got to as a kid.

It’s beautiful.

Eventually we all finish building the two forts, and we begin to stock up on snowballs. Mia shows me how to actually make them, scooping up piles of snow in two hands and shaping the snow into a proper ball shape. We stack up the piles of snowballs to make sure we have plenty to use.

Elsa’s group works faster, but that’s only because they have three people making snowballs instead of just two like us. Eventually, after a full 45 minutes of preparation, shaping snow and stocking up on snowballs, we all feel that we’re about ready to begin.

“Are we all ready?” I call out. Everybody nods an affirmative. I hold a snowball in my hand, weighing up the makeshift projectile. “Begin!” I yell, tossing the snowball at Ivy. As promised, it impacts directly on her face and I cackle in triumph. “Rude! That’s so cold!” She complains, laughing as she ducks behind cover and wipes the snow out of her face.

I duck down to pick up a second snowball, and as I stand back up, a snowball hits me in the shoulder. “Cold!” I yell, giggling. Elsa looks really pleased with herself. “Yay!” I hear her say, excited that she hit me. “****!” I yell playfully, throwing a snowball at her. She ducks and another snowball hits me a moment later, thrown by Skylar.

The snowball fight continues, each of us trading hits and banter, giggling like school children. I’ve near exhausted my supply of snowballs and decide to make a charge towards them with all I have left. I yell out a playful battle cry and run towards them, my few remaining snowballs in my hands.

Immediately, I’m pelted with snow but I don’t stop running, launching what I have left and laughing happily as I run towards them. I have nothing left and charge towards Ivy. She knows what I have in mind and gets ready, giggling. I run full speed into her, tackling her to the ground and pinning her gently.

The impact wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I’m kind of surprised I even managed to knock her over, but I get the feeling that she let me. “We win!” I giggle. Several impacts shower my back with snow and Elsa calls out. “Nope, we win.” Looking back, I see a broad smile on her face.

Ivy takes the opportunity to slip out from under me and push me to the side, sending me sprawling into the snow. “Mean!” I giggle, and she laughs playfully, tickling me for the fun of it. “Snow angels!” Mia calls out, coming up to the rest of us. I kiss Ivy quickly as she backs off from the tickling, falling into the snow next to me.

“Yes, snow angels!” Elsa says happily. Mia, Skylar and Elsa fall into the snow around us, making a star shape with the five of us laying in the snow. We spread our arms and legs in jumping jacks motions, making our angel imprints in the snow. “We won that fight though.” Mia says, and Skylar immediately fires back.

“No way, we won!” She says, and I cackle. We all fall silent, staring into the sky happily, just enjoying each others company. I open the kingdom menu and shift through the windows, managing to find the options I’m looking for. The sky changes, from bright blue and a shining sun to a deep night sky, dotted with what must be a million stars.

The switch is sudden, and breathtakingly beautiful. The moon and the scores of stars light up the area around us in a gorgeous soft glow. The patterns the stars make seem unlike the mundane night sky, somehow even more beautiful. The lack of light pollution means that we can see everything.

Snow begins to fall around us, with all sorts of awe-inspiring varieties of snowflakes falling from the sky. With the help of the magic of this place, they never seem to fall on our faces. Just everywhere else around us. The wind blows softly through the trees, making a beautifully peaceful howling sound, enough to be relaxing but not enough to be overpowering.

Once again, as if by magic, the wind doesn’t disturb the snowfall in the slightest. This place is absolutely beautiful. It’s our home, and magic and beauty flows through everything. The land, the sky, the snowfall, the trees, the animals, and our palace. Most of all, through the people I love.

I don’t know if our love is magical in nature, but Gaia it feels like it is. At that moment, I feel in sync with my loves. I even feel connected with Elsa, despite not sharing that same love with her. But it feels right. The five of us laying in the cold snow, enjoying the magnificence of our home. The wind howling, the snow falling, the magic flowing.

Our love uniting us.

I don’t know how long we lay together in that snow, silently enjoying the moment. It could be five minutes, it could be an hour. None of us want to move. But eventually, we know we have to get up. Stiff muscles, the call of nature and other such things.

We get up silently, the broadest of smiles on each one of our faces. Trudging back to the palace, I hold hands with Ivy. I stop for a moment as Elsa, Mia and Skylar press ahead, and I look back at the snow angels we made. Five perfect snow angels lay in the snow. Differently sized for height, but otherwise perfect. The sight makes me smile.

Ivy and I get inside, and while I flop down on the couch, Ivy asks everybody a question. “Hot chocolate anyone?” We all chorus enthusiastic agreement, and Ivy smiles, going to the kitchen. Luna mews at me, and I pick her up, setting her on my lap. Sol jumps up onto the couch next to me, curling up beside me to wait for Ivy’s return.

Skylar enters the room with Dave in tow, and Elsa gasps at the sight of him. “He’s super friendly, don’t worry.” The umbramancer reassures. She sits down on the couch and guides Elsa gently in petting the happy wolf. Mia relaxes next to Elsa, and the fateweaver seems more comfortable than ever around us.

After a few minutes, Ivy comes back into the room carrying hot chocolate for the five of us, along with mini marshmallows on top. I giggle excitedly, like a little girl. I really couldn’t be happier with my life. Sol jumps up and meows at Ivy, who smiles at the little orange kitten. The healer sets down our hot chocolate in front of each of us, along with blankets to wrap ourselves up in.

The nature spirit kisses me as she sits down next to me, Sol curling up in her lap happily. We cuddle together, petting our cats. Mia cuddles with Skylar, with Elsa sitting close by, all three of them petting Dave. I have some fun with my magic and light the fireplace in the living room by shooting a fireball at it.

I giggle happily when it works, and Ivy chuckles with me. “You’re adorable.” She says. “Of course I am. I love you.” I reply, and she kisses me on the forehead. We turn on the tv and put on a random cartoon. None of us really care what it is. We’re just enjoying the moment.

Wrapped up in blankets, snuggling with each other by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, petting cute animals and watching a cartoon in the background. Life really can’t get much better than this. The rushing wind in the background and the crackling of the fire provide an extremely relaxing atmosphere. The magical seal on our front doorway prevents the outside weather from coming inside. The fire crackles, the kittens purr, the hot chocolate flows and the peace settles over all of us.

Life is perfect.

Eventually, Elsa does have to go home. She looks regretful of that, but she does still need to. We all hug her goodbye and promise that we’ll hang out again soon. After Elsa exits the barrier, the only thing that really changes is that we all take our clothes off to cuddle.

An hour or so later, while we’re having dinner, we get a slightly concerning text from Paige. “Can I talk to you all tomorrow?” It reads. It’s quickly followed up by another message that reassures us at least. “This isn’t bad or anything, so please don’t be anxious.”

Mia looks around quickly to gauge all of our reactions, then types out a response based on that. “No problem! Hope you’re okay! Of course you can talk to us all tomorrow, we’ll be here. Just let us know when.” Mia replies. A time is quickly organised for mid morning and we go back to eating dinner.

That night, I fall asleep pleasantly, thinking happily of the day’s events, and looking forward to the future.