Chapter 57

Snowfall

The Next Morning

8:00 AM...

Galen woke up, stretching out in his bed. As he pulled the covers off his body, he found the air in the room chilly. He looked around, seeing the rest of his coven brothers awaken, the ones without fur on their bodies immediately noticing the cold air in the room.

"Brrr!" Tommy shivered as he wrapped the top blanket around his body, standing up from his bed as Eli, Gareth and Bishop did the same. "It's kinda nippy this morning... I knew it was late fall here when we landed here, but this is a bit much."

Zarch got out of bed and walked over to one of the windows, looking out through the glass outside, sighing with a smile. "I think I know why it's so nippy today, Tommy. Fall is now officially over, and winter has begun: It's snowing outside."

Tommy let out a soft gasp of awe. "Really?" He walked over to the window, looking out at the castle grounds and forest beyond. Sure enough, large snowflakes were falling, and the grounds and forest beyond were covered in a white blanket of snow.

Tommy smiled. "It's beautiful... Sepharth had winters as well, but they were more chaotic. Not as tranquil and easy like this..."

"Yep. Though the first snow seems to have come early this year..." Jet said, turning on the large fireplace in the slave quarters. The hearth was loaded with wood pellets via automated dispensers, and lit with a self-starting spark mechanism. Soon after, the fireplace was ablaze, emitting a warm, comforting heat. "I'll have to let Master know, so he can break out our winter outfits."

"Agreed." Zhal walked up next to Tommy, nuzzling against him. "I'm looking forward to a bit of fun in the snow outside. With you, and everyone."

"Same." Gareth agreed. "Though we will have to bundle up."

"True." Chaos said. "But the way we bundle up is a bit different from the norm. Master gives us sexy-looking additions to our regular outfits, but to make sure we don't chill and get sick outside, he also gives us special body heaters that we wear on our bodies via belts. The heaters work in a special way, as they transfer heat directly into the body. I don't know exactly how it all works, but it keeps us warm outside, and helps to make sure we don't get sick from the cold."

Bishop wrapped an arm around Gareth, as well as Eli. "In that case, today is going to be a wonderful day. I'm looking forward to seeing our winter outfits, as well as playing outside."

Egad then walked into the room, with Mick, Symon, Anthony, and Alak at his sides. Anthony was in some flannel pajama pants and a robe, while Alak wore just a pair of drawstring sweatpants, as well as Mick and Xen. Symon wore simple cloth pajamas, and Egad wore a robe with just his thong underneath. Egad was also rolling a clothing case with him.

"Good morning, everyone." Egad greeted. "Looks like the first snowfall surprised us this year. I've already activated the castle's interior heat retention field, as well as starting up the heaters and hearths, and procuring everyone's winter outfit additions. Now, let's all get bathed, dressed, and ready for the day, shall we?"

Eli looked a bit confused. "...Master, with all due respect, we don't have to go to the bath house through all the snow, do we?"

Egad chuckled. "Of course not, Eli. There's an underground tunnel that leads to the bath house for the winter months as well, so we can still get there without being exposed to the elements. Please follow me."

# # # #

Egad led the coven through the winter tunnel to the bath house. After a quick morning bath, they all dawned their outfits, as well as the additions to their apparel for winter, as well as the heater units that the wore on their bodies, secured in various ways: Galen, Uniko, Zhal, and Amon's heaters were secured on belts around their waists. Bishop, Gareth, Eli, and Tommy's heaters were worn on X-cross harnesses on their torsos. Jet, Hatred and Chaos wore their heaters on belts wrapped around two of their arms and legs. Their winter outfits are what caught each other's eyes, which they thanked Master for with hugs, kisses, and nuzzles of affection.

Galen got some chap-like fleece trim insulated leggings that were held up by a belt that left his crotch and ass bare, showing off his thong. He also had insulated anklet socks and thick cloth gloves that left room for his claws to poke through that help keep him warm as well. with some fleece covered armbands and open heel and toe winterized boots, as well as a fleece cloak with a hood. Silva also got fleece chaps to go over his pants, as well as boots and a cloak that went over his vest.

Uniko and Zhal got similar winter outfit additions like Galen's, only theirs had their own special touches: Uniko's outfit bore certain additions that make it appear like an old, earth-terran western/pioneer/indian winter outfit: He had the chap-like fleece trim leggings held up by a belt, along with a loincloth that was square at the bottom, with lanyards at the end. The loincloth's length stopped at Uniko's knees. Uniko also had open heel and toe boots, along with a long insulated trench coat that went down to above his feet with lanyards going along the arms, and fleece trim and on the edges of the sleeves, base, and collar. Uniko also got a winter-style cowboy hat.

Zhal's winter outfit was designed in an Oriental Nomad style: He had a skimpy, but insulated han-fu tunic with elbow-length sleeves that went down to the mid-point of his thighs, trimmed with fleece, with matching leggings that were held up by laced fabric ties. Zhal also got boots, as well as an oriental-style beanie with gloves.

Tommy wore a fleece-trimmed insulated hoodie that zipped up, along with fleece leggings like Zhal. He also had insulated anklet socks and thick cloth gloves that left room for his claws to poke through that helped keep him warm as well. Tommy also got open heel and toe snow boots, like everyone else so far.

Gareth got a fleece-trim insulated variant of the hoodie he had now for winter. He also had an insulated, form-fitting tank-top that went under it for the winter months. Aside from that, Gareth also had leggings, toe shoes with claw openings, and gloves like Tommy, as well as a winter scarf.

As for Bishop, he had a long-sleeve form-fitting insulated shirt that showed off all his muscle definition, covered by a large fleece vest. Bishop also had fleece leggings with form-fitting long johns underneath that show off his bulge and ass, along with special toe shoes like Gareth, as well as gloves.

Eli's outfit consisted of a half-trench coat trimmed with fleece as well, that went down above his knees, with no sleeves on the coat. He had insulated armbands to compensate for the lack of sleeves, though. Eli also had fleece chaps, like Galen, along with gloves, toe shoes, and a scarf.

Chaos and Hatred wore identical winter outfits: Fleece-trimmed hooded capes, leggings, arm sleeves, and vests with toe shoes. They were both different colors, so they could be told apart from a distance: Chaos's outfit was a burgundy red, while Hatred's was colored a royal purple.

Zarch had a similar outfit as his sons, but his had some thin, decorative and insulated chest plating under the vest that hosed his body heater units. He also had a long, fleece and leather loincloth around his front that is wide around the waist, and narrow as it goes down. The loincloth's length dropped down slightly below his knees.

Jet's winter outfit consisted of an insulated trench coat that went down to his feet, with fluffy fleece around the collar and sleeves, with long, insulated lace-up leggings with open heel-and-toe boots with a loincloth.

Amon's outfit consisted of fleece-trim leggings, arm bands, and a vest to go over his body, as well as a long, hooded fleece-trim cloak and open heel-and-toe boots. Codec's outfit was identical to Amon's, with the addition of his gold and bronze jewelry, as well as a winterized headdress.

As for Egad, Symon, Mick, Xen, Anthony, and Alak, their winter outfits were rather standard. Egad, Symon, and Anthony wore warm pants and shirts, with the usual hooded winter parkas and snow boots. Mick wore warm pants and a warm shirt, with a variant of his leather jacket that bore more pockets and was winterized, as well as waterproof that he left unzipped. Mick also wore gloves around his hands, along with punk-style snow boots. Xen wore warm pants as well, with toe boots on his feet with openings for his claws and an insulated vest, gloves around his hands with a scarf.

After they were dressed, they all stepped outside of the bath house, into the snow-covered grounds of the castle which had been transformed into a winter wonderland of beauty. Tommy smiled, sticking out his tongue to catch a few of the falling snowflakes. Galen held his arms out, hands open as snowflakes fell into his palms.

Gareth smiled. "The snowfall here is so calm and tranquil..."

Bishop nodded. "Yes. It's quite a difference from Sepharth's winters. The snow season at our house back there was very bitter and vicious, with high-speed icy winds. This is very different. It's still cold, but it is much calmer, as the snow just flutters in a light breeze, settling into fluffy drifts..."

Uniko then put on a playful grin, getting an idea. "Anyone want to have a playful snowball fight?" The unicorn scooped some snow into his hands, rolling it into a sphere, tossing it up and down in his hand. "Get some fun exercise to work up an appetite before breakfast? I bet I could get more snowball hits than you, Galen~!"

"Oh, you're on, bro!" Galen said, rolling a snowball of his own in his hands.

"If you don't mind, I'll sit this one out for now." Codec said, standing next to Egad.

"Just remember to keep it civil, everyone." Egad gently reminded. "That means no packing the snowballs with harmful and offensive objects like rocks or twigs." Everyone nodded, confirming the request with a happy "We understand, master."

"I'll help keep score!" Jet exclaimed playfully, bringing up a holo-display from a computer wrist-watch he had on. "Anyone else participating besides the Elite Gallery?"

"Me and Xen are, of course!" Mick and Xen walked up, rolling up some snowballs of their own. "We're not missing this for the world!"

Alak looked at Anthony. "Wanna join in? Could be fun."

Anthony looked at the coven, then back at Alak as he gave him a quick smooch. "I'd love to."

Shortly after, everyone was put into the score system by Jet, dividing into teams of two with several people on each team. Galen, Uniko, Silva, Zhal, Symon, Chaos, Hatred, Alak, and Anthony were on one team, while Mick, Xen, Jet, Zarch, Bishop, Gareth, Eli, Amon, and Tommy were on the other. After that, the snowball fight began. Uniko, Galen, and Zhal had the advantage of range, as their physique, strength, and martial arts training allowed them to not only throw the snowballs great distances, but they also were able to dodge a lot of incoming shots with kung-fu and karate style jumps and flips. Mick was annoyed by this when he missed Galen multiple times as the lion dodged, but he didn't let that discourage him, and quickly adapted his strategy to compensate, as well as staying mobile in the same way to avoid being hit.

Jet also dodged snowballs with martial arts flips, jumps, and tumbles. Though when he dodged, he would do it in such a way as to show off his body in sexy positions, being an erotic tease as usual with a lusty grin on his face, giving taunting winks to the opposing team.

That didn't prepare everyone for an idea that Tommy got, which he whispered to Eli and Bishop after a quick tactical retreat. They fell back and rolled up a bunch of snowballs, scooping them into their arms. They then took flight in the air, flying over the opposing team at a low altitude, and dropping the snowballs onto them, playfully pelting them from above!

After Galen, Uniko, and Zhal were buried by the snowball payload that Tommy, Bishop, and Eli dropped, the three dragons landed. Tommy walked up to Zhal, who was as still as a statue, as well as Galen and Uniko. "Zhal? Guys, you okay?"

Zhal then reached out of the snow without warning, grabbing Tommy by the arm and pulling him down into the drift playfully, the tiger hugging and nuzzling the dragon as they both laughed, Galen and Uniko doing the same with Bishop and Eli. It was obvious by that point, that the snowball fight was over.

"Well played, guys!" Jet said, walking up. "Even with the snowball bombing run by Tommy, Bishop, and Eli, your team still came out on top, Galen, winning by five points!"

"Totally!" Mick said. "We nearly had you guys, there!"

Symon laughed with a grin. "Yep. There's always next time, though. Just remember: Now that the coven members who can fly have shown that inventive trick, we'll be prepared for it next time. Now, let's go inside and get some warm drinks, as well as some nice hot food. A nice cup of breakfast tea sounds good right now..."

"I'm in full agreement there, love." Egad said, nuzzling Symon as they all went inside.