About two months later it was December 8th, the day before the school field trip. Karkat had gone to Sollux's to escape Kankri's rants about what he should and shouldn't pack and what he should and shouldn't do. While they were there Gamzee phoned them and invited them to Calliope's place. He gave them directions and they all met up there.
Calliope's house was a normal size. But the property was expansive. There was a large field and a forest that her family owned. There was even a pond that was frozen, but apparently not safe to skate on, much to Roxy's disappointment.
"Is your family rich?" Roxy asked. Calliope shrugged like she was embarrassed.
"Um, kinda. We've got a summer home too."
"That's where I met you and your twin bro during vacation!" Gamzee said, grinning. Calliope nodded and smiled.
"Tho, what are we doing here?" Sollux asked.
"Snowball fight!" Gamzee declared. "We'll make our own forts and see who gets taken down first!"
"Yeah!" Roxy exclaimed. "Teams of two! I'm with Calliope!"
"Cool, I'm with Tavbro. Karbro and Solbro, you two are a team."
"This is like our drama class." Karkat commented.
"That's cuz you two are so cute together." Roxy said, grinning. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Let's get started."
They all made sure their forts had equal spacing between them. Sollux worked on the fort while Karkat made snowballs to throw. He made sure there wouldn't be any rocks in them since they didn't want to injure anyone. And of course none of them would throw any at Tavros. That would be mean.
When they all got theirs ready they started throwing. Karkat couldn't aim or throw so he just made snowballs and passed them to Sollux. Sollux was great at throwing and aiming it turned out. Calliope and Roxy were pretty good too. Then there was Gamzee. Since he was the strongest and tallest, he had the best advantage. Of course, he would usually be an easier target then. But he could duck down quickly if he had to and dodge easily. Karkat found in infuriating that Sollux couldn't hit him.
When they called for a break they were all exhausted and snowballs littered both the ground and the sides of their forts. Eventually Roxy declared it a truce and they all sat down in the snow. Roxy and Calliope made snow angels while Tavros made sculptures in the snow. He made a bull with wings and a sleeping sea-serpent of some sort but with a goat head.
"Hey, let's make a snow castle!" Roxy said.
"Sure." Gamzee said. So they used what was left of Roxy and Calliope's fort to start it. It wasn't very big and only had one room and a hole for a door.
"Okay Calliope! You stand in there and be the princess!" Roxy said.
"Um, okay." Calliope stood in the castle. "Now what?"
"Wait one minute. Tavros, can you help me sculpt something?"
"Oh, okay." Roxy whispered to Tavros and he nodded. They started sculpting something while the others watched.
"What are you making?" Calliope asked.
"You'll see!" Roxy said. After awhile they finished and Karkat saw that they had sculpted a dragon in front of the castle.
"What's that for?" he asked.
"Hang on, I need a big stick." Roxy said. She ran to the forest and came back with a branch. "This'll do!"
"Um, what are you doing?" Calliope asked. Roxy grinned and held up her branch.
"I'm the prince who's come to save the princess Calliope from captivity by an evil dragon!" She looked at the dragon statue and grinned. "I hope no one likes the statue too much because it won't last long!" Then she began attacking it with the stick. Karkat couldn't help but laugh as he watched. Even Calliope was smiling. When Roxy had successfully hacked away at the dragon to Calliope she bowed. "My dear princess, I, Prince Roxy, have rescued you from the clutches of that evil dragon!"
"I thank you kind Prince." Calliope said, grinning and curtsying. "Now we may ride off together in the sunset." Roxy grinned and picked Calliope up and put her on her shoulders.
"Of course my princess!" she said. She then ran around the snow castle, laughing. Calliope laughed too and Gamzee clapped.
"Great performances sis's!" he said.
"Now it's Karkat and Sollux's turn!" Roxy declared.
"What?!" Karkat exclaimed.
"Yeah! Karkat, get in the castle!"
"No! What the fuck?!"
"Yeah! Go on!" Roxy grabbed his arm but he pulled out of her grasp.
"No way! Fuck off!"
"Gamzee, Sollux! Help me out here!" Roxy lunged at Karkat again and he dodged out of the way. Then Gamzee picked him up.
"Fuck! Gamzee put me down!" Gamzee laughed and slung him over his shoulder.
"Don't worry Karbro. Tavbro and I will take a turn after."
"Put me down!" Karkat yelled again. He noticed Tavros had started blushing from what Gamzee had said. Huh, did he like him maybe?
"In you go!" Gamzee threw Karkat into the castle. Karkat stood up to get out but Roxy threw a snowball at him hard enough it knocked him down.
"Quick! Make the dragon!" she said. Karkat sat up and was about to get out but Gamzee had a talent of grabbing a bunch of snow at once and they'd blocked his path.
"Fuck you guys!" Karkat yelled. They all laughed.
"Come on! Let's make the dragon!" Roxy said. Karkat ground his teeth and looked around. Okay, he wasn't going through with this. So he walked up to a wall and started digging through it. It was a bit thick so it took awhile but eventually he got through. Then he climbed to the top of the castle and made a snowball. Then he leaned over and threw it at Sollux.
"KK! You jerk!" Sollux made a snowball and threw it at him Karkat ducked and laughed. He jumped down and tackled Sollux. They rolled around in the snow for awhile until Sollux pinned Karkat to the ground.
"Dammit Sollux." Karkat mumbled. Sollux laughed and got off him.
"I win." he said. Karkat stood up and brushed snow off him. Then he noticed the others were laughing.
"That was great!" Roxy said, giving them a thumbs-up. "Okay, if Karkat won't be a good captive princess let's go with Gamzee and Tavros. Who's going in the castle?"
"I will." Gamzee said.
"What?" Tavros exclaimed. "But, I can't walk. How am I supposed to get rid of the dragon?"
"Just use the stick." Gamzee said. "C'mon Tavbro."
"Uh, I don't know…why don't you?" Tavros said. Gamzee shrugged.
"Sure thing princess." Tavros blushed and mumbled something. Karkat watched as Roxy and Calliope put Tavros in the castle and then began working on the dragon, which they hadn't finished for Karkat.
It turned out Gamzee's method of getting rid of the dragon was to just club it with the stick until it finally fell apart. It took a lot longer than it took Roxy and they were all laughing as he did. When he got through he picked up "Princess Tavros" and carried him out. Roxy and Calliope cheered and Sollux clapped. Karkat just sighed and rolled his eyes. His friends could be so weird.
After all that they had hot chocolate in Calliope's living room. She lived with her grandpa, who greeted them politely and referred to himself simply as "their host". He was bald and surprisingly pale. He was wearing a green suit and talked a lot. Too much, according to Karkat's opinion.
"He's always like that." Calliope said. "Just try to ignore him."
"This place is a lot like your summer home." Gamzee commented. Calliope nodded.
"Yeah, it was built to resemble this house. There are a few differences though."
"Yeah, like there's no balcony that looks over an ocean." Gamzee commented. "Do you have a sky-light in your room here?"
"No, just at the summer home." Karkat was sure Roxy and Tavros's expressions looked odd. But he ignored it and just drank his hot chocolate.
When he got home he ducked into his room to avoid Kankri. He then finally decided to start packing. Kanaya had already folded some clothes for him and piled them on his bed. So he just grabbed his suitcase and some extra stuff, like coats and a hat and gloves and started shoving them all in. He (amazingly) managed to fit it all in and shut the suitcase without (too much) difficulty.
"You excited for the trip tomorrow?" Porrim asked at supper. Karkat shrugged.
"I guess." he said.
"Well I hope you have fun." Kanaya said.
"Yeah."