[for Bitty] ice ice baby

[and_survive]

She'd been in Darrow some two and a half years now, and she was still discovering parts of it. She wondered if it was like that for people who'd grown up with the world like this, or if they just naturally knew all the parts of their city. Or maybe they didn't, and just didn't have the drive to note every part of it. In Ellie, this urge was part curiosity, fascination with the functioning of a city that wasn't ruins and remnants, and part preparation for the day when it might be.

Today, though, the former was winning out. She didn't know why she hadn't spotted this one before, but even today she'd initially thought that Darrow Ice & Aquatics would be some sort of industrial business. But the building's shape and location was wrong, and there were kids in and out, and so she'd followed.

She'd found the pool first, and stared at it for a long time. Some kids had been having a swimming lesson. She'd stared at that, too.

Then she'd gone and looked at the other part of the building and anything she might have been feeling with regards to the idea of swimming had been driven clear out of her head by the fact that they had a fucking frozen lake in here.

She knew about ice skating from seeing people do it in the winter. But that had been in the winter, outside. But this was spring, and inside. They'd built a building and filled it with water and somehow frozen the whole thing and kept it frozen, just to have somewhere to skate around. She almost couldn't conceive of what she was looking at.

"Holy shit," she said, heedless of the fact she was standing directly on an entrance to the ice, blocking the way.

Comments

[puckandpie]

Skates on, earbuds in, and muscles stretched, I make my usual walk to the rink, looking forward to another day of practicing the routine I'm very, very slowly breathing into life. It's little more than a vague sort of idea right now, but I know if I just keep working at it, I can mold it into shape. I'm trying not to be too discouraged with how slowly it's all going, trying to remind myself I've barely done so much as an Ina Bauer in almost five years.

It's hard sometimes, though. I feel like I'm basically retraining all my muscles.

I'm eager to get in some practice before work tonight though and I'm still warming up my arms as I come up behind a girl standing right in front of the door.

"Excuse me, hi," I say, pulling out one earbud so as not to be rude. "Just gonna squeeze right on..." I trail off when I notice the look of wonder on her face. It's a look I recognize, a look I'd seen on Thomas all those months ago when I'd brought him here for the first time. "Oh. Is... Is this your first time here?"

It's only after I ask that I realize it might not necessarily be the rink that's so awe-inspiring, but it's too late to take back now.

[and_survive]

"Hmm? Oh, shit," Ellie said, coming down on the side of not being defensive given that he was polite about the request, and that she was standing and blocking the way like a dumb goof who'd never seen what was probably super normal for everyone else.

She didn't really buy it. How could it? Someone just decided to freeze a pool, and then froze a pool. Not even with magic. (Not that magic would have been any less amazing a method.)

And the fact that she didn't know it was apparently obvious, so she guessed she just had to own that.

"Yeah, it's- is the whole place just a giant freezer? How do they even do that?"

[puckandpie]

It's honestly almost the exact same reaction as Thomas again and it's hard not to smile even as I find myself wondering if they're from the same world. Thomas has mentioned before that there hadn't been any girls in his Glade, but I know people pop in from all different timelines even within their own world. It's possible.

Then again, anything feels possible here, both good stuff and bad.

"You know, I've never really looked into the exact mechanics," I confess with a grin. "But I've always wondered what the electricity bill must look like to keep a place like this goin'. Have you never been in an ice rink before?"

[and_survive]

She hadn't even thought of that. Now that she paid the bills at Konoha-Uchi she was more aware of electricity as a thing you paid for, that was provided by the city at a cost, rather than something everyone worked together towards simply to keep out the darkness. But as wonders went, the cost hadn't exactly occurred to her.

"That obvious, huh," Ellie said, somewhat ruefully. "If someone had described this to me, I would've told them they were talking shit."

[puckandpie]

I can't honestly tell exactly how old she is, but I'd assume maybe a little younger than me. High school age. Her blunt way of speaking makes me laugh though, her reaction again similar to Thomas's even if she doesn't use quite the same words. Then again no one really uses quite the same words as Thomas.

"It is pretty magical," I agree, stepping back a little to nod at the booth holding the skate rentals only a few yards away. "Do you wanna give it a try? My treat."

I'm pretty sure I can bribe Gary behind the counter into giving-- "Oh goodness, you don't even know me!" I rush to add before holding out a hand to her. "Sorry, I'm Eric. Eric Bittle, but a lot of folks call me Bitty. I'm here a lot so I bet I can at least get you a discount on the skate rental if you're interested."

[and_survive]

Ellie was, ofttimes, fairly suspicious of attention from strangers, especially male ones, but it was near impossible to be wary of this unstudied burst of earnestness.

"Ellie," she said, with a small smile as she shook his hand. "And I'm paying."

She hadn't entirely known she was going to try it until she'd said it, and she did give the ice another look, wondering if it was frozen all the way down, or if beneath it there was water.

Pointless thought. It was thick enough that people much bigger than her were skating away on it, so she was determinedly not going to concern herself with that.

"But I'll take that discount, because I'm not gonna turn down a discount."

[puckandpie]

"Great!" I reply, more than happy to give up practicing my routine for the day in favor of introducing someone new to the wonders of ice skating.

Nodding for her to follow me, I head to the rental booth where I easily lean against the counter and smile wide at Gary. After all the times I've spent in here with Thomas and earlier with Simon, he's not really surprised, his gaze sliding over to Ellie.

"This is Gary," I tell her, giving him a scolding look. "And he's really very nice when he's not busy givin' me a hard time."

"You're his newest convert, eh?" Gary says, ignoring me and also making me wonder, not for the first time, if he's secretly Canadian. Not that he could be, I suppose. He's said before that he was born here. Maybe he just really likes hockey. "Shoe size?"

[and_survive]

Small instances of plenty still surprised her, sometimes. It made sense they'd have a counter for them, that people would be able to rent them out, and yet it was still sort of startling to be able to just say her shoe size and they'd have one. No searching every time and maybe settling for something you could stuff with newspaper.

Although she'd mostly had good luck with shoes, which was lucky, considering how much walking they'd ended up doing.

"Uh, like a seven and a half," she said. "He does this a lot, huh?"

Oddly, sort of a relief. It suggested she wasn't being singled out here, that there wasn't motive beyond the obvious.

[puckandpie]

Gary responds only with a nod before briefly disappearing into the back, emerging a moment later with a pair of tan-colored figure skates, presumably in size seven and a half. "Think he might be single-handedly keeping us in business," he says, though it's evident from his smile that he's joking. Or at least it's evident to me.

"Oh goodness, I'm not that bad," I reply with a roll of my eyes, grabbing Ellie's skates and nodding toward a bench just a few feet away. "I promise, it's only been a few people. It's not like I go searchin' for people on the streets."

Gesturing for Ellie to take a seat, I hold one skate out to her. "If these don't fit we can try a different size. You'll wanna make sure they're on nice and snub but that you still have some ankle mobility. "Have you ever roller skated or anything before?"

[and_survive]

"That's the one where you roll around with the wheels on your shoes, right?" Ellie said, raising her eyebrows in slightly self-deprecating awareness that there were things she didn't know, still. She tugged off a shoe and took the proffered skate, gingerly poking the blade with a finger before she made any effort to put it on.

"So... not so much. Has anyone ever fucked someone up with one of these?"

[puckandpie]

She doesn't talk anything like him, but again I'm reminded of Thomas and I can't help but wonder what sort of world she's come from, if it's anything like his. It's obviously as devoid of recreational activities, it seems. I can only hope she at least still has most of her memory.

"I think it's safe to say yes," I tell her with a laugh, dropping down on the bench beside her so she doesn't feel like I'm just hovering. "Both on accident and probably on purpose, I'm sure. There was a guy a few years back who accidentally took a blade to the throat in the middle of a game. It was horrible."

It occurs to me only then that she might not even know what game I'm talking about so I rush to add. "I mean hockey. A hockey game. Have you ever heard of it?"

[and_survive]

"I'll fucking bet," Ellie said, making a face, if not much of one; it wasn't as if she hadn't seen more than her fair share of cut throats. It wasn't as if she hadn't inflicted more than anyone's fair share. It still wasn't a pretty thought.

"Hockey's the one with the sticks, right?" She thought she'd seen it played, not professionally or anything, just be kids, on streets or on frozen ponds in the winter. "Did he just fall over and the other guy couldn't stop in time? Should I have like fucking armor?"

That was mostly a joke. She was pretty sure she was going to fall over, though.

[puckandpie]

It's hard not to laugh at her language even if the subject matter is pretty serious and I manage to hold most of it in, grimacing a little instead at the memory. "He was still skating, actually, and the other guy tripped. His leg kicked up and his blade just--"

I make a slicing motion against my throat, but then hurry to add, "That's really, really rare, though, I promise! I won't show you any hockey stuff today unless you really want to, but normally the game is played with a whole lotta padding. Helmet, shoulders, chest, butt. Knees and elbows. Everything. For now, we can keep it just to a helmet. Gary has plenty of those, too."

I pause then, giving her a second with her skates before I ask, "So you've heard of it before. But not ice hockey, I'm guessin'?"

[and_survive]

She pulled on the second skate and wondered if she could get her leg up that high. All the fighting practice meant extra flexibility, but even so, she wasn't sure.

"Guess it's good I'm short, if I could tear someone's throat out by tripping," Ellie said. "...you might want to keep your distance."

She had no illusions about how she thought this was going to go, at least at first. "Ice hockey'd be- hockey, but everyone's on skates? How are they not all just crashing into each other all the time?"

[puckandpie]

Weirdly, for about half a second, I'm not actually sure whether I should take her statement as a self-deprecating warning or an actual threat. Nothing about Darrow is ever what it seems and that definitely goes for the people living here, too. All of us.

But nothing about Ellie so far has struck me as particularly aggressive so I assume it's the former, giving her a quick grin in response.

"Oh, trust me, the that's all mite leagues really are," I tell her with a laugh. "Those are the kids just learning. The really small ones. Once you really learn how to skate though, it's... honestly, it's just amazing. It's beautiful. I mean, it's obviously still a sport and people do crash and get hurt, but ten skaters all moving together is a certain kinda poetry."

[and_survive]

"Watch who you're calling really small," Ellie said, tugging her laces tight and giving him a warning look that wasn't very, what with the suppressed smile and all.

"They have games and stuff here? They must do," she concluded, because they had this whole place, which was still kind of a trip.

[puckandpie]

It's obvious she's teasing, a smile just twitching the corners of her lips and I can't help but laugh in reply. "Pretty sure I'm the last person to be callin' anyone small," I promise here before quickly pushing up to my feet and holding a hand out to her to help lead her back toward the ice.

"They do, yeah," I nod, walking backward on my blades. "Just a drop-in league as far as I can tell, though. I've thought about joinin' a couple times, but I work on the weekends which is usually when the games are."

[and_survive]

"Ooooh-kay," Ellie said, gingerly standing up, swaying a little as she found her balance. Walking on them seemed fairly logical, but she wasn't about to go trying to do it fast. "Here goes. I am not gonna eat it before I even get to the ice."

She was determined of this, at least. "Drop-in, does that mean people just show up and play?"

[puckandpie]

Grinning, I shake my head. "I promise I won't let you fall before you make it on the ice," I tell her and then rush a little ahead to get the door for her, still holding a hand out just in case she needs it to stop herself from crashing.

"But yeah, that's exactly what it means. You pay into the pot for the ice time, I think, and then they divvy up teams and you just play for fun. I've really wanted to do it, but I just can't ever seem to find the time." And, if I'm honest, it'd feel weird now with Jack in Darrow. A little like it'd be something I need to hide given how adamant he still is about staying off the ice.

[and_survive]

"So just immediately after I make it on the ice, huh?" Ellie said, although she was doing alright, she thought, making it across the actual ground on the skates. She had pretty good balance. Maybe she wouldn't eat it.

"That seems- I dunno, it does seem fun. Do people get mad if you totally suck, though?"

She wasn't considering it herself -- she hadn't even tried skating, yet -- but it seemed like something that would come up for other folks trying it out.

[puckandpie]

"Possibly," I admit, still grinning because she makes it so easy. "Just hold onto the edge for awhile and go as slow as you need."

Once we're actually on the ice, I linger close, trying to give her enough room to move as fast or as slow as she'd like without hovering too much. "Usually, they have a few different levels so you can fit into one that works. If you're actually interested, I can definitely start teaching you though. It really is a lot of fun! I've only been playing a few years myself."

[and_survive]

"So I'd be in the one with all the kids crashing into each other," Ellie said, trying to work out how to step onto the ice -- if she put one foot on, was it just going to skid away from her? -- before saying, "Okay, here goes," and just going ahead and doing it, slipping a bit but holding onto the edge as instructed. It did make staying upright achievable; she experimented with how to press her feet forward to move.

[puckandpie]

"Well, at the start maybe," I tell her with a quiet laugh, watching as she carefully steps onto the ice, holding onto the edge just as I'd advised. She slips a little, but recovers immediately and I skate just a few feet in front of her before turning to skate backward so I can watch her.

I hold my hands out then. "If it'll help, you can hold onto me instead for awhile until you get the feel of it down. I promise it'll come to you, it's just a matter of getting used to. There's probably physics involved or somethin', but I've never understood that part."

[and_survive]

"If this was all a way of getting me to hold your hands, I gotta tell you, you're barking up the wrong tree," Ellie said, although playfully, because she didn't think that was the case. He didn't set her on edge the way some guys did, didn't trigger whatever sense of danger she'd developed. Maybe she shouldn't rely on that for ruling out creeps, but she couldn't distrust everyone. Some people were genuine.

Odd as it sometimes seemed to her. So she did, in fact, reach out for his hands, letting herself shift away from the wall. "How do you even do that backwards? That's physics I don't understand."

[puckandpie]

I can feel my face color at her remark, but her words and her tone are still friendly and I laugh, shaking my head. "No ulterior motives, I promise. Just tryin' to help." It's only a second or two later that I realize what exactly it is she'd been implying, but it feels a little awkward to ask for clarification right now seeing as we've just met.

She does grab hold though and I make sure to go slowly so she can keep up easily enough. "Years and years of practice," I tell her with another grin. "I've been skating since I was little so it comes pretty naturally now. As soon as you've got goin' forward down, I can show you how to go backward. Probably not today though," I add with a wink. "You're doin' great so far though! Like I said, it gets easier as you go. And you can let go of me whenever you'd like, I won't go far."

[and_survive]

"Yeah, we're sticking to forward for now," Ellie said, because she didn't see any way trying for backwards didn't end up with her on her ass. She figured that was probably happening either way, but she wasn't going to rush it.

Although the way sliding forward felt, the hints of possible speed, maybe she kind of was. "Okay, I'm doing it, we're letting go, I'm flying solo."

[puckandpie]

She really is getting the hang of it pretty quickly and I only smile wider and nod when she gives the green light to let go. Gently, I release her hands and push back enough to give her a little more room so she can pick her pace. She's a little wobbly, but that's to be expected and I linger just close enough that I might be able to pad her fall if she topples.

"See, look at that!" I say as we round one corner. "You've totally got this. The speed will come later, I promise, but you're getting the basics pretty well. How do you feel?"

[and_survive]

"Wobbly," Ellie said, considering how she felt. "Like I don't know how to stop. Pretty great?"

She might fall over, but she'd had far worse than whatever a fall like this would do to her, and she was really liking the way a small effort with her feet propelled her ever faster. So naturally the only thing to do was speed up, realizing as she neared the curve again that she wasn't sure she could turn at this speed.

So instead of trying she just let herself slam into the wall and grab on again before she could eat it, laughing.

[puckandpie]

Ellie picks up speed faster than I'm expecting and I cringe as she falls smack into the boards, grabbing on before she can fall to the ice. Hurrying to follow, I find her laughing as I stop short, my blades shushing on the ice as I grin at her.

"Well, you found a way to stop!" I tell her, laughing myself now. "Honestly, that's as good a way as any sometimes, but I promise I can show you ways that aren't so abrupt."

[and_survive]

"What, that's not how they do it in hockey?" Ellie said, still laughing a little, re-balancing herself to push back off the wall. "Just fuckin' charge at each other full speed trying to score and then ram into the walls? Because that sounds like a fun game. Like ice jousting."

[puckandpie]

"Oh, sometimes they do," I tell her, laughing as she pushes herself off the wall and wobbles just a little before regaining her balance. I hesitate for a second, a little embarrassed as I confess, "That's actually my least favorite part. It's called checking. Back home, our captain actually had to set aside time a few times a week to help train me out of dropping to the ice like a fainting goat whenever it happened."

I don't mention that said captain is here, though. If only because then I'd maybe have to get into why he's not on the ice with me right now, why he hasn't been since he got here. Better to avoid.

"A lot of people really like that part, though. I'm guessin' you would! If you're really liking this, I'd be happy to teach you some stuff about the game."

[and_survive]

"Wait, it's seriously a thing? That is awesome," Ellie said, pausing between each word. Not for everyone, apparently, and she wasn't going to judge. Maybe if he hadn't been so clearly good people, but he was, so if he didn't like it, he didn't like it.

But she wanted to skate into some folks. What was it? Check some folks. "I have gotta learn to do it. I gotta."

[puckandpie]

"Well, you're only really allowed to do it if the other person has the puck," I add, grinning because she's clearly really into it. "Otherwise, it's a penalty."

Even if checking isn't my favorite thing, I love every other aspect of the game and I'm already getting a little excited by the idea that I might actually get to show her more. That she might actually like it. I can't help wondering if Jack might consider putting his skates on if just to help me teach Ellie. He'd be way better at it than I ever could, I know that.

"If you mean, we can set something up," I tell her then, practically beaming even as I rush to add, "Not that you have to! There's no pressure. But I bet I can set aside an hour or so couple times a week if you wanna meet me here and go through some stuff. It's really fun, I promise. And we can always pop in for the drop-in sometime just to watch them so you can kinda get an idea of what it all looks like."

[and_survive]

"I guess you gotta have some rules," Ellie said, wondering how bad the penalty was. But even just running -- skating -- pell-mell at whoever had the puck sounded like her kind of game.

"No way, man, I'm into it, let's do it," she said. "Don't worry, I'll probably crash into the wall more than I do you."

She could do straight lines. Well, they were mostly straight. She could do lines. Changing direction she figured would take work. Maybe she'd crash into the actual ice more often, as well. But she could think of far worse ways to pick up a few bruises.

[puckandpie]

It's stilly to be so excited by something like this, I know, but I can't seem to help it. I may not know much about Ellie just yet, but I know enough to like her and I already can't wait to show her everything I can about hockey. I'm already making mental notes to find her a stick and maybe some padding for next time. The rink will provide her a helmet so I just need to worry about the other stuff. Maybe there's a rental place.

Laughing, I shake my head. "You'll stop crashing into the wall eventually, I promise. If you want, I can talk with Gary about maybe getting you a discount so you can come in here and skate on your own if you want. That's the best way to get better -- just keep doin' it over and over."

[and_survive]

"Today, the wall, tomorrow, whoever has the puck," Ellie said, speeding up and then experimenting with letting herself slow down naturally, without just playing it out and ramming into something.

"So, I mean, yeah, let's get Gary on side."

[puckandpie]

Laughing, I nod. "You're gonna be great at this, I can already tell," I say, watching as she pushes ahead again and manages to stop on her own. "I think most of the rec leagues tend to frown on too much physical contact, but it's still hockey. Sometimes it's unavoidable."

And I'm pretty confident I can schmooze Gary onto my side. If nothing else, I can promise him a year's supply of lemon meringue in payment.

"Do you wanna come with me sometime to watch a game? That's really the best way to really get a feel for it. And I explain it all while we watch!"

[and_survive]

"Hell yeah, I wanna see this shit," Ellie said, pushing herself into motion again. "Best way, right? A friend of mine tried to explain football to me, once -- I mean, pretty much for days -- but since no one had played football in twenty years, I still have no idea what it actually looks like."

She knew a lot of the rules, and the theory, but the only way to know what a game of anything like was to see one.

[puckandpie]

"Oh goodness, football would be impossible to understand without watchin'," I agree, grinning as she starts skating forward again. She's still a little wobbly, but her determination is wonderful; I can already tell she's gonna take to hockey almost immediately. "My dad's a football coach back home, actually. He tries gettin' me into it when I was little, but it never really took."

Mostly because of my size, I think. And because I've never really liked hitting all that much. Figure skating was a lot more fun and the only bruises I endured were from falling on the ice.

"Did you have anything like this back home?" I ask her then. "Not the skating, obviously. But sports? Games?"

[and_survive]

"We had games, I guess? But it was always just- kids kicking a ball around, or just, doing whatever, you know?" she said, not sure how to put it, the difference between the sort of thing that happened here and what happened in the Quarantine Zone, where recreation wasn't codified, it was just what you did in stolen time and stolen spaces.

"I sort of come from one of the shitty worlds," she said, shrugging, wobbling again with the motion and putting her arms straight out to the side to regain her balance, which maybe stole some of the dramatic revelation from that one. Kind of how she liked it.

[puckandpie]

Ellie wobbles and I slow just a little, holding out a hand for her to grab if she needs it. But she recovers well on her own, regaining her balance and continuing on in a way that definitely solidifies she's getting the hang of this really quickly. I know she's still got a ways to go before she's ready to gear up for an actual hockey game, but it's obvious she's a quick learner.

And I'm not sure what she means by one of the 'shitty worlds' exactly, but I can probably harbor a guess. "Yeah, it seems like there are a lot of people here from shitty worlds," I agree, grinning faintly at the sound of that word on my tongue. Weird how it feels to use that now and not be referring to a person. "My friend Thomas is, too. He barely remembers anything though, which might be for the best. I've been teaching him to skate a little here and there. Slowly trying to break him into the hockey thing, too." I pause then, wondering how much I should ask given that we've just met before deciding to just go for it. "So what was it like where you're from? If you wanna talk about it, of course. You don't have to."

[and_survive]

"It's okay," Ellie said, slowing down a little, because even if she could talk and go fast -- she couldn't, really -- it wasn't exactly convenient. Didn't exactly fit.

"It was- basically, the world ended," she said. "Before I was even born. There's this fungus that turns people into monsters, and when it showed up everything fell apart." She shrugged. "Like I said. Shitty world. But it was just sort of- how things were. Until I got here, where you still have ice cream trucks and, you know. Buildings where they just keep whole frozen fuckin' ponds."

[puckandpie]

"Oh, wow," I breathe, just trying to even imagine such a thing. I'm not sure what kind of monsters she means, if they're like Thomas's zombies things or something else altogether. I'm not sure I want her to clarify either.

I'm curious though. It's hard not to be when something like a skating rink is so familiar, so normal to me, and she can't stop marveling at it. "Did you ever see one? Or were they all gone by the time you were born?"

[and_survive]

"I saw a lot more than one," Ellie said, slowing down a touch more and then accelerating perhaps a little fiercely, wobbling slightly alarmingly; she wasn't good enough to put that sort of energy into it. "I lived in a Quarantine Zone, didn't see any for a long time, but then- we'd sneak out from time to time, and we had run ins. And then later I left and it was nothing but run-ins."

That was maybe overstating. There'd been long periods where they hadn't seen any infected. But generally every time they hit a population center, anywhere there'd been people, there'd been infected, too.

[puckandpie]

She slows for a second and then zooms a head, wobbling in a way that looks a little worrying, though she doesn't fall. Grinning, I push forward to catch up with her then spin to skate backwards, facing her as she continues talking.

I can't begin to imagine what a Quarantine Zone might look like, but in my head I see a lot of zipped tents and white suits and biohazard signs. "But why would you leave?" I ask, frowning before glancing over my shoulder real quick to make sure I'm not about to stake into anyone. "Weren't you afraid you'd get infected, too? I mean, that's why you were in the Quarantine Zone, right? I mean, I obviously don't much about any of this -- I'm just pulling from things I've seen in movies."

[and_survive]

"It's a long story," Ellie said, looking down to try and work out what parts of it to tell, how to arrange it, or whether to simply demur entirely. "Things kind of..."

This proved to a mistake, though, because looking at her feet turned out to throw her off her hard kept balance, one foot coming down wrong, blade striking the ice instead of gliding across it, and then she was going over, arms windmilling.

Once she'd come to a halt, which was fairly quickly now that she was on the ice, she said, "...fell over."

[puckandpie]

"Oh goodness!"

I don't move fast enough to stop her fall and I'm cringing as I skate up beside her. She doesn't look hurt, at least, if just a little put out and I can't help but smile a little as I bend to check on her. "Are you alright? Is your butt okay? That looked like kinda a hard landing."

Goodness knows, I know a little bit about falling on ice. It's a lot easier when you have ample padding, I'll say that.