Chapter 103: Interlude 21 – A Change of Pace

=::= Kaylee's PoV =::=

"Woah, look out!" Melanie shouted, followed a moment later by "Crud, sorry!"

I turned in time to see the brunette wolfgirl careen directly into Cassandra. Then the two of them collided with Melody, and all three ended up on the ground in a tangle of limbs and skis. That was followed by some muffled curses, along with some giggling. At least we knew they were all having fun.

"I'll go tend to the noobs," Cerys said with a barely-concealed grin on her face. "If the rest of you want to move on to the grown-up slopes that's fine. I'm sure it won't take more than another hour or so before I get those three up to speed."

I glanced at Brooke and Paige and Nina, the four of us were all pretty good skiers it turned out. Brooke was the expert among us, although it seemed like Nina was a lot better on the slopes than any of us expected. I couldn't help wondering if she had some secret talent there she hadn't told us about yet, the same way she was good at video games.

"Cass?" I called to my girlfriend, "Do you mind if I go with the others to the bigger slopes for a bit? I'll stick with you if you prefer though, I don't mind that either."

She was still carefully extricating herself from the other girls, but she shook her head. "Go on, have fun. Sorry we've been holding you pros back all morning."

"Thanks for looking after them Cerys," Brooke said to the younger blonde. "I was thinking maybe four or five more runs, then we could break for lunch? If you haven't graduated to the intermediate runs by then, we'll meet up at the little lunch cafe? It's next to the equipment rentals, remember?"

Cerys nodded and waved, "Go on and have fun, we'll find you when we're ready."

"By scent if we have to!" she added with a smirk.

"Right," Brooke grinned. Then she and Paige and Nina and I turned and finished our last run down the beginner hill.

It was December twenty-eighth and we'd all survived xmas with our various families. Paige came around this morning to pick us all up with her mom's mini-van, and we spent the first half hour going up and down the kiddie slope while taking turns teaching the three new skiers what to do. Then the past ninety minutes we'd stuck to the solitary beginner run, while hoping the others would soon get the hang of it.

Cerys was technically a beginner as well, she'd only been skiing once before, but it only took her one or two runs to get the hang of it. The other three though were having a lot more trouble. It was kind of funny in a way, watching the tough rugged Melanie fumble around and fall every half minute or so. Same with my girlfriend. And Melody wasn't much better.

Fortunately none of them were frustrated or upset, they all seemed to appreciate the irony of the situation. Having three supernaturals who were supposed to be 'dangerous to humans' constantly face-planting in the snow and having a hard time just standing upright was pretty amusing.

"So who's up for some diamond slopes?" Brooke asked with a smile as we all got on the big four-seat chairlift together. "Actually they have a double-diamond run here, I bet that'll be exciting."

Paige rolled her eyes, "I'm going to need at least two or three runs on the intermediate slopes before I even think about an expert run. And I'm not even going to attempt the double-diamond."

"I'll do it with you Brooke," Nina volunteered. "If you're serious, I'll try that last one with you."

Our former club leader gave the small demon a look and teased, "Are you just saying that because you know you can't get hurt even if you wipe out? Or are you actually a better skier than you're letting on?"

Nina blushed, "I'm out of practice, but I used to be ok on skis."

"You said you haven't skied since the nineteen-thirties," I pointed out. "Ninety years is a long time out of practice."

Paige asked, "How 'ok' were you? What kind of skiing did you do before?"

My girlfriend's sister was still blushing as she shrugged, "I hung out around Norway for a decade or two, before another demon showed up and I fled back east. But when I was there I ended up skiing a few times with a girl named Laila Nilsen. She was really good. She taught me a few things."

"Should we know that name?" Brooke asked with a suspicious look on her face.

I added, "I'd google it but I don't want to pull my phone out while we're on the slopes."

Nina shrugged again, and as we got to the top of the lift she mumbled "Laila won the very first women's bronze medal for alpine skiing at the Olympics. I think it was in nineteen thirty-six?"

Brooke facepalmed as the four of us set out away from the lift, towards the intermediate runs. "So you used to ski with an Olympic medalist, and got some tips from her. In that case I'm not surprised you know more about skiing than the rest of us."

"She was actually a speed skater," Nina responded with a smile. "But the winter Olympics didn't have events in speed skating at the time, so she went for skiing instead. She'd have probably got gold if she gave herself more than a month or so to train."

All three of us rolled our eyes as we reached the top of our first intermediate slope of the day, then there was less casual conversation as we were more focused on the run.

Things got a lot more exhilarating after that, and left me thinking I wasn't going on any expert runs today. Even some of the intermediate ones were exciting enough that I questioned whether or not I'd be willing to try them after the sun set. There were lights so it wasn't like we'd be skiing in the dark, but it was still a good reminder that the sport could be dangerous.

After a few more runs Brooke and Nina decided to try one of the diamond slopes before we stopped for lunch, but neither Page or myself were ready for that. So we agreed to split up for one run, then meet at the cafe.

As the two pros headed for the chair lifts Paige looked at me and asked, "Are you up for one more run? Or want to just call it now? We can get some hot drinks and find a table, then wait for the others."

"Hot chocolate sounds perfect," I smiled.

Five minutes later we were sitting together at a table in the cafe, Paige had a large latte and I had hot cocoa with whipped cream. My friend had a sip of her drink then grinned, "Skiing is nice, but stopping to warm up again is also nice."

I grimaced, "Except for having my glasses fog over as soon as we come inside. But yeah, it's a lot of fun. I hope the others are all enjoying it? And I hope you don't mind that we kind of co-opted the plans you and Brooke were making, to turn it into a club event."

"Honestly I think it's more fun this way?" Paige admitted. "Brooke and I would have enjoyed it on our own, and maybe it'd be a little more romantic with just the two of us? But it's a lot fun doing stuff as a group, with all our friends. Hopefully Cerys will get the other girls to the point where they can join us on the faster slopes."

After a gulp of my hot chocolate I responded, "Yeah. I'd like to get all eight of us together for at least a few more runs, down some of the other hills. Although to be honest, that beginner's run wasn't so bad? It's actually kind of scenic and a nice slow casual pace? But doing the same thing over and over gets repetitive."

"On the other hand," I added quietly and with a grimace, "I'm glad I know healing magic. I have to admit, some of those intermediate slopes were a little too exciting for me."

The athletic brunette made a face, "Honestly I'm glad you know healing magic too? Even if most of the club doesn't actually need it anymore, it's good to know me and Brooke can turn to you if we run into something on the slopes. Literally. The rest of them all have supernatural healing powers on their side, or they're just really tough."

"Huh," I frowned slightly as that left me thinking. "I hadn't actually thought of it till you mentioned that? But us humans are now the minority in Club Luna. Only three of us, compared to two werewolves, a demon, a shapeshifter, and Cass."

Paige frowned as well. She leaned closer and asked quietly, "You're not upset about that, are you Kaylee? I know you were uptight in the summer about the club being so diverse."

I smiled and shook my head, "Not at all. I was just thinking about the differences."

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After another gulp of cocoa I added, "Anyways Cass and the two werewolves are also witches, and the shape-shifter is learning too. So we're still a club of witches, but we're also a lot more."

"You can say that again," she responded. She paused for a sip of latte then clarified with a teasing smile, "By that I mean, what's it like being girlfriends with an actual literal demonic goddess?"

That made me blush, "You know Cass doesn't like it when we call her that. And she's still just Cass, still the same shy cute brunette as always."

Paige wasn't ready to give up so easily, "C'mon Kaylee, she's obviously not the same. She's a powerful supernatural creature, with all the strengths and advantages of both a demon and a god. It's been almost two weeks now since she single-handedly defeated both Socha and Brian. There must be some difference in her. So what's it like dating her?"

"She defeated them by reading books and studying," I pointed out. "She's the same shy nerd she always was. Her big ambition in life is to read a lot and maybe become a writer. The only supernatural ambitions she has is to keep helping trans people, but she wants to do that in secret. And like I said, she doesn't like it when we remind her of the divine demon stuff."

Before she could respond I added with a smirk, "And my 'powerful demonic goddess' girlfriend can't even stand up straight on a pair of skis, remember? I'm pretty sure if she was embracing the whole 'divine' thing she'd have done something about being so awkward and clumsy, right?"

"Touché," Paige giggled. Then she made a point of putting on a straight face as she added quietly, "Speaking of, here comes your goddess girlfriend now."

I turned in time to see Cass, Melanie, Melody, and Cerys just as they reached our table. My girlfriend looked tired and cold, but she was smiling. Actually all four looked like that, as they took their seats.

"Where's Brooke and Nina?" Cassandra asked as she sat down beside me.

Paige replied, "They wanted to try one of the expert slopes before lunch. They'll probably join us in another minute or so."

Melanie raised her eyebrows, "They're on a diamond run? Dang. I hope they're ok."

"I'm sure Nina will look out for Brooke," I responded. "Probably the bigger threat is they decide to keep skiing instead of joining the rest of us to warm up and have lunch."

The shape-shifter frowned, "Who's going to look out for Nina? She seems kind of small and um... Not what I'd expect for a pro skier."

Paige grinned, "Apparently she was taught by an Olympic medalist. Her skiing skills are probably on par with her gaming skills after all."

"She's also almost indestructable," Cass quietly reminded the others. "If she skis into a tree or something, it's the tree that's going to suffer."

Our two missing friends turned up a few seconds later, just like Paige predicted. They both had big grins on their faces, so we knew they had fun.

Soon enough everyone got themselves hot drinks and something to eat. The cafe was sort of casual dining, they had sandwiches, snacks, and a few hot dishes like soup or burgers. Nothing too fancy, it was all just kind of fun and relaxed.

And as we all ate together, the obvious topic of conversation was our plans for the afternoon and evening.

"I booked us reservations at the hotel's restaurant for six," Nina said. "It's my treat. That's kind of fancy food and stuff, but I thought it would be nice? Like a holiday banquet for all eight of us?"

Brooke added, "And after that we can all hit the slopes again till they shut down and kick us out."

"Sound good," Cerys responded. She looked to the small demon and added, "And Nina, thanks again for doing this? Honestly. It's been a load of fun and I don't think me and Melanie could have come if not for you."

The older wolf nodded, "Yeah. I wanted to, but when we heard the price I realized we really couldn't afford it. So thank you. We owe you one."

At that point we all raised our mugs in a coffee and hot chocolate toast to the small demon, who blushed and cringed and smiled.

"You're all welcome," she mumbled quietly. "And I'm glad everyone's having fun."

Then Melody changed the subject to something less embarrassing for the little demon, "So looking a few days ahead, what's everyone doing for new years?"

"I've got my boyfriends visiting again," she added. "Craig and Kelly will be here on the thirtieth, and they're staying till January second. We haven't got together since thanksgiving, so I'm really looking forward to a few days with my guys."

"And a few nights too, if you know what I mean?" the shape-shifter grinned suggestively. Which led to some blushes and knowing smiles around the table.

Then Paige spoke up, "Same as last year for us? Brooke's coming over to my place, we have the home theatre setup in the basement and we'll be having a quiet little family party down there."

"Same," I said. "Like last year, I'm going over to Cass's place. It'll be me and her and Nina, plus their moms. Not really a party, but a quiet friendly night."

"How about you two?" Melody asked Melanie and Cerys. "Any plans? Romantic date night maybe?"

Melanie shook her head, "Not really. We're both working on the thirty-first, after that we'll probably just head back to my place and take it easy."

Cassandra frowned, then she glanced at me and Nina before looking at the two wolfgirls. "If you like, you're welcome to come over to our house when you get off work. We're going to order something in for dinner, then maybe we'll play video games or watch a movie or something? We'll be up till midnight anyways."

The two weres looked at each other, then Cerys responded with a smile. "Thanks Cass. We'll think about that, and get back to you really soon."

I didn't say anything, but I didn't have to. As usual my girlfriend was always thinking of other people, and going out of her way to reach out to them. It's part of the reason I loved her, and whether or not the werewolves took her up on the offer I knew they were both happy she invited them.

After that the conversation was all about skiing again, and whether or not we'd get any of the noobs onto the grown-up slopes after lunch. Which we did, although it took some convincing. All three of them were still kind of hopeless, but the fact that none of them could be permanently hurt maybe helped them give it a try.

And in the end nobody needed to rely on magical or supernatural healing. Brooke and Nina did more expert runs through the afternoon, and Paige even joined them a couple times. Meanwhile the rest of us stuck to the intermediate slopes, and we even did that one beginner trail once or twice more just for a change of pace.

We stopped for dinner when the time came, and that was a real treat. The restaurant was easily better than most of the nicest places in town, and I was afraid to find out what Nina ended up paying for all eight of us when the bill finally came. Then after dinner we hit the slopes again, but none of us lasted until closing.

It was only about eight in the evening when one by one we all kind of ran out of steam. Me and Melody were the first to retreat to the cafe, then Brooke and Paige joined us one run later. Ironically both Cass and Melanie ended up going on the longest. Even if their last couple runs were back on the beginner slope, once they finally figured out how to not fall they were both really into it.

Nina and Cerys stayed with them till the end, then at long last we turned in the rental gear and made our way back to the minivan so Paige could drive us all home.