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“Master! Big Bro! It’s starting to snow again!” Garu spots Eiden and Rei in the hallways as he runs out of his room and towards the front gates.
“Snow?” Rei frowns and looks through a nearby window. The winter sky shows signs of sunset with gray clouds floating by but there is no other indicator of a weather change. “It’s not supposed to snow today.”
Eiden watches as Garu speeds down the carpet, kicking it up into tripping hazards in the process. “How would you know? It was snowing not too long ago.”
Rei crosses his arms as he begins to follow after Garu’s figure. “I’ve taken notes on the weather in the Light Territory for years. I’ve looked at the average wind speed, temperature, and humidity for about ten years. It helps to know what to expect since the climate can influence the experiment’s outcomes. It hasn’t snowed in two days, and there’s a low chance of it snowing for the next five days.”
Garu sprints through a corner making a sharp turn. The duo hears a shriek from a maid and a quick half-hearted apology from Garu before they turn the corner as well.
“Okay okay, I get it. You’re always right.” Eiden rolls his eyes at Rei’s unwavering confidence. When he reaches the waves in the carpet, he tugs lightly, smoothing the carpet back down.
“That’s right.” Rei turns his head and makes eye contact with Eiden. He smirks, pulling his lips up. The sexy mole by his mouth tugs, taunting Eiden.
Eiden sighs, knowing he’s never going to win against Rei. He really should’ve learned his lesson by now not to question anything around him.
The maid that Garu bumped into earlier is no longer seen but the pair watches as Garu pushes open the front doors and bounds outwards. “Master look! So much snow!”
Finally caught up to the overly excited puppy, Eiden and Rei look quizzically at the out-of-place pile of white.
“Uh, that doesn’t look like snow.” Eiden steps closer and slowly puts a hand on the pile.
Ignoring their concerns, Garu steps backward and suddenly sprints towards the pile. “Snow!!” He shouts as he squats and jumps high into the air. His body curls up as he prepares to cannonball into the soft, fluffy, wet, fuzzy. . . moving. . . balls?
“Garu!” Eiden shouts as he watches Garu’s body disappear under the white mass. Frantically, he begins to dig through the fuzzy pile. Expecting some weight to the snow, he is surprised to find himself clawing through them with ease as if they were made of air. However, Garu is still nowhere to be found.
Rei hovers over Eiden and watches the Grand Sorcerer attempt to save his clan member. “That’s definitely not snow.” He confirms.
“No shit Sherlock. Help me get him out.”
“Hey. Help him get Garu out.” Eiden hears Rei talk to another person. He turns his head, curious as to who it is.
“Eh? Did Garu-Garu turn into a fluff ball?” Blade stands off to the side, carrying an armful of random toys, watching Eiden dig into the pile.
“Fluff balls?” Eiden stops digging and instead sits back and watches as the balls that he previously scooped to the side begin to wiggle and float.
The entire pile begins to shake and separate. A soft giggle emerges as Garu breaks into the air. The fluff balls bend so that Garu settles back onto the ground. The wolf continues to giggle as the few remaining fluff balls leave his coat.
Rei leans down and offers a hand to Garu, helping him up. “Don’t jump into random things. You don’t know if it’s dangerous or not.”
“Sorry Big Bro.” Garu at least has the grace to look apologetic despite the low dangers. “I saw them falling outside my room so I thought it was snow.”
Rei gently pats Garu’s coat, removing some stray fluff balls and random pieces of leaves. “Where did you even find so many of them, Blade?
Blade shrugs. “I was just in the woods looking for some rocks. I thought they were cute and brought them home! But there were too many for me to carry so a lot of them flew and followed me. We were just playing outside since Little Aster was scared they would make a mess inside.”
“Interesting. . . I want to observe you while you play to analyze some of their behavior. Fluff balls tend to be pretty useless and stick to their own group. I’m surprised they were willing to follow you out of the woods.”
“Okay!”
Eiden laughs as he pushes himself up and pats Garu’s head. “He really can’t stop thinking about experiments and observations. You alright Garu?”
“Yup! Do you want to play with us, Master?” Garu holds up a handful of fluff balls.
“Depends on your definition of play. . .” Eiden watches as Blade happily scoops up the fluff balls and throws them into the air. They don’t make any sound of happiness nor sounds of complaints. Rather, their expressions never vary from the neutral poker face.
“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Garu shouts and immediately launches three balls straight at Eiden’s direction.
In a panic, the Grand Sorcerer raised his arms in fear. The physical memories of the icy smack and the cold freeze sends shivers down his spine. But the actual impact is much more tame. In fact, Eiden can barely feel the attack as the fluff balls slowly float down his jacket sleeve.
A puff of laughter comes out of Rei’s mouth as he watches the over exaggerated fear.
“SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!” A war cry comes from Blade’s direction as the e-droid and wolf pup begin to throw and hide behind piles of fluff.
The genuine glee radiating from Garu’s and Blade’s faces makes up for the unnecessary excitement from the day. The fluff balls slowly float down, completely contrasting the strength put into the throw from the two clan members. The researcher, however, took it all very seriously. Eiden can just see the mental calculations going on in Rei’s head as he measures their buoyancy.
A small group of balls floats over to Eiden’s thigh. They jump up and down asking to be carried. “Alright! I’m gonna show them who was King of the playground on snow days!” The Grand Sorcerer picks the fluff balls up and prepares to launch. He grins as he plays the most calming fight ever with his beloved clan members.