It was snowing.
That was…unexpected.
It wasn't that Rythian didn't know it snowed in Minecraftia; in fact in some places he knew it snowed quite often. He appreciated that about this world, that it could have so many different areas that each provided so many different pieces of nature. It wasn't just monochrome white and black (and purple…) but a whirlwind of sights and smells each unique from the last. He just wasn't expecting it…here.
But now he was faced with the things he had hoped Mother Nature would never bring him. Snow, and cold, and wet, and a very excited Zoeya slowly choking him by pulling on his scarf.
"Rythian! Rythian! Come on Tee's already out there and he's gonna beat us if we don't get out there soon!"
Rythian sighed. "Beat us? Beat us at what?"
"The snow fort contest!"
The snow fort contest. Of course.
Giving one last strong tug on the scarf, Zoeya scampered away, shouting at him to hurry—or she'd get Gilbert run free inside the castle. Shuddering at the thought of even more snow (and indoors for christ's sake), Rythian reluctantly headed towards the doors, making sure his thick leather boots and gloves were as magically waterproof as they could be.
Pushing open the heavy doors of the castle he squinted through the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow—he'd forgotten about that too—at the bright red figure of Zoeya, wrapped snugly in the rose-colored fur cape he'd enchanted with extra warmth when the days had first started to shrink. She already had a steadily growing pile of snowballs stacked behind her, no doubt the mushrooms' doing. Her mittens smoothed the snow under her artistic eye, creating a fort that, while not extremely protective, was admittedly very pretty. Curving tops sloped into thin walls, covered in various images she had carved into the ice. Two picturesque windows were dead center, punched out by a helpfully tall Red Five.
Teep's fort was a single large wall, pile, thing. He did only have t-rex hands to work with after all, as clever with a bow as they were. Two small lumps ran out from both ends, just high enough to hide a large scaly tail. Exploring behind the wall revealed rows of sticks topped with snowballs. Teep nocked one to his bow, his wide mouth drawing back into a gleeful smile.
Rythian decided this would be a great time to return indoors and continue work on sharpening his katars.
As he stepped around the corner of the enormous pile he could only just hear a excited battle-cry before his was blinded by water.
wetcold burninghissingpain hurts!
make it stop!
make them pay.
Laughter
The clenching anger in his gut released his muscles from its grasp as Rythian raised a shaking hand to wipe the remaining snow off his skin, careful to hide the fading violet glow of his eyes as he did. His cleared vision showed him a vision he could only describe as perfect joy. Zoeya bent over with laughter, leaning on Johnny Iron as she reached for another snowball from the endless mushroom-made supply beside her. Her hair glittered with the remnants of Tee's snow arrow response to her barrage. Willow and Ghost Jr. chased her next throw past Gilbert, who was twirling happily in place.
Well, he still deserved some kind of retaliation.
Carefully gathering as much snow in his cloak as he could, Rythian took advantage of the remnants of his excess energy to teleport behind the distracted techno mage and drop the pile directly on her head.
G-d damn was that gasp worth it. So was the smile.
"Rythiaaan! That's two against one that's not fair!"
"Better get those mushrooms to hurry up then." He smiled cheekily, teleporting himself back behind Teep's walls.
Magic and mushrooms did well at launching snowballs, although Tee's snow arrows were the unanimous winner of the contest. It helped that his fort didn't have holes in it, but he wasn't nearly as concerned with the 'eye-pleasing aesthetics of snow fort windows'.
If Rythian flinched inside at every snowflake that flung on him from an icy projectile, then he never let that stop his mushroom queen from giggling and tossing more.
With the rising of the stars they left their chilly forts for the comfort of the fireplace inside their fortress. Hot chocolate floated their way from the kitchen; both were too comfortable under a fire-warmed blanket to make it themselves so Rythian had spun a spell to make it for them. Another added logs as they fell asleep, so their dreams would be just as warm.
In a few days when the sun had melted away their lucky snowfall, Rythian glanced out the window and told himself he was glad the frozen water was gone. He steadfastly ignored the old storage room that had recently become unexpectedly…white.