milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The sun silently beats down on the grounds, waves of heat radiating off of everything. But then, a soft rumble begins. It grows louder and louder, starting in the mountains and crashing down down down until a great roaring avalanche of snow arrives...

The calm returns but the blistering heat is gone. "How's that, Autor?" Mia asks.

The boy smiles shyly at her, his warm, knitted scarf demonstrating a clear gradient of skill from raw novice to advanced beginner. "It's lovely," he says, squeezing her fingers in his gloved ones. "Thank you, Mia." Releasing them, he turns and places a hand on his hip to watch the next step.

At the mouth of the inlet a narrow cliff juts out into the water, covered by a thin layer of soil to which a mat of short grass is clinging, littered with demon bunny droppings. On this ledge, Korra stands, her feet planted firmly against the ground. Starting with that wide stance, Korra moves a foot and then pushes her arms in front and up, causing the lake bed to shift, and the waters to part as a narrow ledge of earth divides a smaller pond away from the larger lake.

Turning into the inlet, she leaps onto the surface and slides out into the center on a shelf of ice that stretches out in larger and larger crystals as it thickens beneath her. In the center of what will be the ice rink, Korra stops, and takes one calm, centering breath.

And then with her eyes closed she moves again, this time much more fluid in her motions, turning a slow circle on the ice with her arms in front of her, swaying as her weight shifts from foot to foot. A bubble of water rises in front of her, and as she pushes out, the bubble expands, passing through Korra so she's standing in the center of an ever expanding air filled bubble of water, stretching further and further out so by the time it hits the shore any onlookers will feel the cool sensation of water vapor from a fountain. She shifts her movement again, and the snowflake patterns of ice crystals appear at the top and the spread around the bubble, crystallizing and solidifying in a lattice of clear ice.

Then Korra opens her eyes, and finishes the rink as she slides back to the shore. There, a further turn and a sweeping gesture towards one side shatters a large hole in the side, perfect for a double door.

"Neat trick, Avatar," Autor says, accompanied by a saucy grin and an informal salute. With a few simple words, Mia sets a flurry fluttering down in the dome.

Once the rink is complete, the boy heads off to help an industrious ten-year-old set up the food and drinks table. There are some things too heavy for Rae to lift.

[Credit to the respective muns for their pups' part in the EP! Standard party post rules apply, all tags welcome.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Once."

She scrabbles to her feet, grabbing onto his arm for support. Once she has her bearings, she smiles apologetically.

"Jus' last winter. I was a quick study, however I, ah — made myself quite acquainted with the ice."

"As do all new skaters. I just had the advantage of growing up near Detroit. Not many frozen lakes, but a few ice rinks in the area." He steadies himself. "Ready to take to the ice?"

She smiles warmly. It looks as though she's stumbled onto a partner, and she couldn't be happier.

"Ready an' rarin' t'go."

She runs through her mental checklist quickly, pushing off the way Tommy taught her. She's a little wobbly, and slow moving, but at least she's upright.

"It's not that hard if you've done it once. And not long ago." He puts one foot on the ice and then the other. "Though I can't remember the last time I went."

"Spent so much time in the sky you've forgot what it's like t'be on the ground, hm?"

She looks up long enough to give him a teasing look, and is rewarded with almost falling.

"We'll re-learn together, then. Where's Detroit?"

"Michigan. I think in your day, it was not much more than a trading outpost, even after the war. But that's where all the cars come from now...in my now." But surely for a long time to come.

"And it's less being in the air than being in California. Too warm for much in the way of ice." Except in drinks.

"Oh, I did know that, 'bout the cars in Detroit. I think it'll be a few years yet 'fore it's so big in my day.

"I know whatcha mean 'bout warm weather, too. I never saw snow 'fore I came here."

She gets a good rhythm going on her skates, but keeps holding Howard's hand tightly.

Howard cannot say he minds her holding his hand.

"I still see snow from time to time on my travels east. And I don't know if I miss it. But sometimes I think about the storms we would get, and school being cancelled, and building snowmen with my dad." Assuming his dad took a day off, even for a blizzard. "And there was this rink near home that we would skate at in the coldest months. Where I learned to skate and to play hockey."

"Why is it the days children remember most fondly are the ones where school gets canceled?"

She sighs, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I've learned some 'bout hockey. Seems like it's a lotta fun. Betcha y'could find folk here t'play with you."

"That's my hope. At least for a bit. I don't think a full game would suit me, being in a suit." He smiles at what passes for his wit.

"Perhaps it's about time y'loosened your collar."

Wit? What wit?

Kate smirks.

"I'd happily play if I could stay on my feet."

"I could even take off my tie entirely. Very scandalous of me, I know." And so he does!

She chuckles, taking a few wobbly steps on the ice while his hands are busy untying his tie.

"I'd endeavor t'be alarmed, if I hadn't seen worse 'round here already."

She'll do her best not to faint.

"All right. What's the first thing I should know 'bout hockey?"

"The objective is simple. Get the puck in the net.

"Only the other team wants to stop you."

"An' you've got those hooked sticks, right? How d'you skate an' move the puck at the same time?"

She starts swinging her arms in a facsimile of wielding a hockey stick. It throws her a little off-balance, and she yelps as she careens into his shoulder.

"You learn to skate first. And then once that comes naturally, you move on to stick work.

"Though no, it's not easy." And Howard is pretty sure that if he had to play in a real game, it would be hard for him indeed.

She chuckles, shaking her head.

"Learn t'skate first. Right. So's it jus' like golf when it comes t'hittin' the puck in the net?"

"Very different than golf. Here, speed is pretty important. In golf, finesse counts a lot more." Also, golf is less a sport than a business meeting to Howard.

"Oh. So y'hafta be speedy."

She's seen bits of a hockey game on television before. There was a lot of hitting, and slamming into walls.

"Is it on, ah — a time limit?"

"Formal games have three periods of 20 minutes. Though those aren't continuous." And now that he's thinking about it, he realizes he misses seeing sports in person. Maybe a trip to one of the six cities blessed with an NHL team will be worth taking in the winter.

"All right. So y'hafta be fast, y'hafta be strong, an' y'hafta skate an' move the puck at the same time."

All very basic.

"I don't think that's all there is to it, though."

"It's five on five, plus the goalkeeper. Getting down the ice and controlling the puck is not easy. Getting it in the net isn't easy, either.

"And it can get a bit rough out there." And painful. It's not like anyone wears a helmet.

She nods, taking it all very seriously.

"I'm a tough ol' bird. I can take care of myself."

She smiles, nudging him with her shoulder to further emphasize her point.

"Against five burly men with sticks and blades on their feet?" Clearly, he is only somewhat impressed by Kate's toughness.

"Well, I reckon it's a good thing I've got you for a teacher."

Oh, the ways he could take that, and the teasing little smile that chases after it.