Steph got her revenge after Maya used fire magic on her and the snow that was blocking the cave exit by throwing the cold-hating cat-girl in a pile of powdery snow, which ended up in a bit of a fight between them, but they got over it before long. Afterward, they continued the exploration of the snowy mountain range.

“I really was hoping not having to see snow for a looong time, but here we are… What have we done to deserve this punishment?” Sophia, the other cats, and Fen were trailing behind on the mountain when the blonde started complaining again.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Ari, Anna, and Maya were asking the same question.

“I mean, I could think of many things we did to deserve that, but…”

“Shush!” Sophia glared at him. “We don’t mention those things when we complain!”

“Ah, my mistake.”

“Anyway, I need some distraction!” The blonde then looked at her fellow tiger. “Anna, I think you mentioned that this mountain range is mostly unexplored?”

“As far as I know, yes.” The princess nodded. “That tunnel we found was probably unknown to previous explorers, and getting to the top without advanced magic is quite a hard feat. I don’t know if this specific mountain has been conquered by our folk yet, but if this nightmare continues and we traverse deeper into the mountain range, we’ll be the first.”

“Mhmm.” The blonde’s expression turned complicated.

“Stop that right now!” Ari didn't like the look on her face.

“What?” She tilted her head.

“The thought you’re having right now! No!”

“What thought am I having?”

“There’s no need to feign ignorance!” The jaguar glared at her. "Your expression clearly showed that you got interested in the part where no one has fully explored this place yet and how you want to be the first to see the unknown!” She then shook her head. “No!”

“Doesn’t she know me a little too well?” Sophia turned to look at Maya instead.

“Not really.” The cat-girl disagreed with her. “It was pretty easy to figure out what you were thinking right now.”

“I see.” As she knew that she wasn't the hardest to read, the blonde decided against making an additional comment on it. “What’s your opinion on it, though?” She was still looking at Maya.

“Ah.” She scratched her cheek for a moment. “On one hand, I definitely agree with Ari's reluctance to stay in this hell for any longer than absolutely necessary, but…”

“But?”

“The thought about seeing something nobody else has seen before is very intriguing.” Her newfound passion for exploration had gotten the better of her. "I'll be sticking close to you and your warming magic, though!" She squeezed Sophia's arm that she had been clinging to the entire while saying the last part.

“Sure~.” The owner of the arm didn’t mind that in the slightest.

“Why?!” Ari was not a fan of her decision. “We could be in this winter hell for at least a week if we’re going to explore the whole area!”

“T-That’s…” The cat-girl froze for a moment. “That’s a very convincing point, but… I still think it would be worthwhile if we could see something interesting."

“There’s also one more massive advantage we’d gain if we pull through with this.” Sophia tried to further convince the jaguar. “Steph and Chloe hate the heat, and they will be as intolerable and annoying about that as we currently are. We're already here and suffering, so if we pull through it now, they will have no room to complain once we find a nice and toasty area to explore! They’ll just have to agree to go.”

“Mrmm…” Ari growled for a moment before looking at Anna. “What do you think?”

“Well,” The princess tilted her head. "I don't really care about Sophia's argument because Steph will agree regardless of the temperature if there's something interesting to explore. She will complain all the way through, she’s Sophia’s sister, after all, but she will definitely agree to whatever we find.”

“Ha.” The blonde scratched her cheek. “You may have a point there.”

"The initial idea of exploring the unknown is very alluring, though." Anna wasn't done yet. “Being able to see a place of our kingdom no one has been to sounds amazing!”

“Ah, you struck her princess bone.” The jaguar let out a sigh. “It’s over now.”

“Sorry!”

“I want a reward from all three of you for that!” Ari glared at the three treacherous cats. “For me having to deal with snow because of you all again!”

“Hmm.” Maya stared at her for a moment.

“Not that kind of reward!” She immediately cut her off.

“Hehe.” The cat-girl liked her reaction.

“I don’t mind~.” Sophia just smiled at her. “Whatever you want!”

“Thank you! I look forward to it~.”

“I don't like the phrasing!” This time, Anna got loud.

“I just said that it’s not that kind of reward!” The jaguar glared at her.

“Get out of the horny corner, you two!” The blonde shook her head a few times.

“Yeah, do you need a time-out?" Ari did the same.

“…”

“Should we try and catch up with the others?” Fen noticed that it may have been a mistake to stay with the four and suggested regrouping now that they agreed to continue the exploration of the snowy mountain range.

----------------

“I love this place!” Far in front of the others, the trio was happily exploring the area while Steph was having an especially good time.

“Yeah!” Chloe nodded a few times.

“I have some mixed feelings about the amount of snow.” Aura sounded a little dubious about the current situation. She currently was a little taller than a regular wolf, with her shoulder height being about one meter, and that came with a bit of a problem in their current situation. Only the very top of her back and her head were visible as the snow was high enough to almost completely bury her inside of it.

“You look so adorable!” The dog-girl was having a great time watching the wolf jump forward in the snow only to immediately sink in again, causing a trail of holes in the snow behind her rather than a full path as she tried to traverse the terrain.

“Maybe I should transform to my regular size?” Aura remembered that she was normally at least twice as tall.

“Would that be as much fun, though?” Steph smiled at her.

“You really enjoy even the simplest things to the fullest, huh?” The wolf stared back at her.

“Absolutely!” She gave her a strong reply. “Everyone who does not, is living their life the wrong way!"

“I love you!” Chloe, who was living with the same motto, liked that a lot.

“Ehehe~.”

“You do have a point there.” The female wolf also could sympathize with that. “It is fairly entertaining to jump through the snow like that. It’s not like we have to travel efficiently, either.”

“Exactly!” Steph reacted with a big nod. “The cats will take forever to catch up with us, anyway, so we can take our time and play around as much as we want!”

“The cats and Fen.” The fox slightly corrected her.

“Is there really that much of a difference?” The dog tilted her head. “He’s pretty much an honorary cat at this point. He was just as lazy as the others during winter.”

“Fair enough.”

“His poor dignity.” Aura tried her hardest to hold back a chuckle. “He’s a cute one, isn’t he?”

“Well, he couldn’t be further away from being my type, but I definitely see your point!” A male wolf wasn't Steph’s partner of choice, after all. “He’s a good one.”

“I like how wide his personality ranges!” Chloe also was a fan of the male wolf. “Fenfen seems grumpy and complains a lot, but he goes along with absolutely everything! He often looks bored, but the moment someone mentions any remotely interesting magic, he gets more excited than any of us! He and Sophia also get along on a whole other level, so he has to be amazing!”

“Hehe!” Aura loved to hear her partner being praised. In some way or another, at least. “Yeah, he and Sophia have a special bond. It makes me a little envious and sad that I wasn't there for Fen when he actually wasn't doing well.”

“Hmm?” Steph tilted her head.

“You heard about my accident when my teleport experiment went wrong?”

"Where you almost died and ended up on the demon continent with amnesia? Yeah, I don’t remember who told me, but I heard about that story before.” The dog-girl nodded a few times.

“Yes, that one.” Aura paused for a moment. “From what I’ve learned afterward, he kept looking for me for a long time until he eventually gave up… Gave up hard enough that he even stopped enjoying magic. Sophia was the one who made him enjoy life again after they met. She’s a special kind of interesting oddball, after all.”

“That’s true!” She agreed with the description of her sister. "Well, one thing's for sure: Sophia is definitely no competition. Also, while I get why you’d be envious, the only thing you should be is being thankful here!"

“I absolutely am! I will never not be thankful to Sophia for pulling Fen out of his low! They also helped each other get over a hard time, so it’s natural they have a special connection. I’m fine with that, and happy, but it’s just a tiny bit unfortunate I caused Fen’s depressed state and wasn't there to help him. Still, I’m beyond glad he’s doing so well now! He definitely changed for the better, thanks to Sophia, so everything is well!"

“Good!” Steph was glad about the happy end. “Also, take this!” Immediately after, she made a snowball and threw it at the wolf. “That’s for ruining the mood of our fun exploration with gloomy topics!”

“Oi! Aura did not appreciate the sneaky attack and immediately fired back at the dog with the use of magic. After all, she was missing hands to do it the normal way.

“Let’s go!

As this was a declaration of war for Steph, their snowball fight officially started, and countless balls of snow were flying through the air mere moments later. It didn’t take long until Chloe was hit by a stray attack, which caused her to enter the fight and turned it into a three-way standoff. The trio continued to play around like that until the latecomer cats, including the male honorary one, finally caught up to them.

 

 

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