#continuous learning in snowboarding.

[techdriveplay]

How to Carve on a Snowboard

In this guide, we'll explore the personal insights I've accumulated as a snowboard instructor to teach you how to carve on a snowboard.

As a globetrotting snowboard instructor, I’ve dedicated the last few years of my life to mastering and teaching the art of carving on a snowboard. Carving isn’t just a technique; it’s the essence of snowboarding, combining speed, precision, and grace in a way that feels almost like flying. This guide is a culmination of years of experience, offering a deep dive into everything you need to know to…

[stove-top96]

Wicked Game

Ch. 00

Y Batfam x GN Reader

featuring: platonic Tim Drake.

1.3k words

It’s been a hot minute. I broke my hand snowboarding, then had tests. The writing for this one is significantly better, I’m taking a creative writing class for extra credits and decided to try something new with how I formate my chapters. I’ll be posting a chapter to both my story and my concept soon. This idea has just been in my head and the story I have planned out is exciting.

Prologue -> Ch. 01

Class Schedule

1st period: Art

2nd period: Maths

12:00 - 13:00: Lunch

3rd period: biology

4th period: English

3:50 Dismissal

4:00 - 6:00: Basketball practice

(Friday 5:00 -> Basketball game)

You twirl your pencil between your fingers, lazily watching as everyone else scribbles notes, following the math equation Mr. Snyder is rambling on about. It’s been ten minutes on the same question, and you’ve checked out about thirty minutes ago. Not that it’s Mr. Snyder’s fault—Gotham Prep has the best teachers. It’s just maths has never been your thing. It’s 2 weeks into the new semester and you're already falling behind. Probably not a great start.

You glance up at the clock—11:53. Ugh. Lunch can’t come soon enough. Mr. Snyder’s voice makes time drag on and on. You dash out of the classroom the moment the bell rings and head straight to Brandi’s locker.

“Girl, I’m literally gonna lose it. I can’t handle these people, they’re insane,” you spill out, frustration pouring from you. Rants like these have become more frequent.

“Tell me about it,” Brandi shoots back, her voice sharp with annoyance. “I’ve never met people so out of touch with reality. These pretentious assholes.” She grits her teeth. “How are they even real?”

You nod, walking together towards the cafeteria. Brandi continues her rant, but it’s nice—almost comforting—to know someone else feels the same way. She’s the only other Scholarship student in the grade—your only friend.

Lunch is its own endeavour. Students give weird looks as you two eat your packed food. The two of you learned very quickly that these kids were in a league of their own, and didn’t take too kindly to outsiders.

As you and Brandi talk mindless gossip, lunch flies by. biology’s next it’s your favourite. There’s nothing better than Mrs. Young’s lectures. She’s able to bring life to the lessons, and the material has a way of sticking.

Heading to class a little early you grab a seat near the back. It’s the only table without another person there. Mrs. Young tends to be late to class, so what better way to pass time than to scroll on your phone. Engrossed in TikTok a voice snaps you back into reality.

“Mind if I sit here”

Glancing up from your phone, you recognize the face almost instantly— you’d be stupid not to— Tim drake. Dark brown hair, bright blue eyes and a ‘pretty boy’ face. He’s practically the ‘it boy’ of the school, popular, friendly, and stupid rich. There’s still plenty of other open seats around the class. Probably beside people he’s better acquainted with. But he wants to sit with you? “Sure” you shrug, not like you were gonna talk to the guy.

The bell rings for the end of lunch, Mrs. Young still hasn’t shown up. The silence between you two is suffocating, even inside the room filled with mindless chatter.

“I’m Tim by the way” his introduction was meant to ease the awkwardness. He knew that you knew who he was. “y/n” you answer, praying the teacher will walk in, anything to get you out of this conversation.

”you’re on the basketball team right? You got in on an athletic scholarship?” He asked, ignoring the way you slump into your seat. “Yep” you mumble. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for students to recognize who’s on scholarship and who isn’t—especially athletes. But for him to know you're on the Basketball team 2 weeks into the school year— Kinda weird. But questioning him would mean talking to him, and you weren’t gonna engage.

Before the silence could get too awkward Mrs. Young walks in, and begins the lesson. The lymphatic system. It wasn’t your weakest subject but definitely not your strongest. Today is especially hard. Mrs. Young is unusually keen on racing through as much of the topic as possible.

You rush to write notes and keep up with the teacher but before you’ve even finished 1 sentence she’s erasing the board. Sighing in defeat, you slump back into your chair. Maybe if you just listen to the teacher you’ll be able to grasp most concepts? you’ll just scan through the textbook after practice.

Tim must’ve noticed your defeat, because a moment later he slides over his notebook. God, even his handwriting is perfect. Copying down the rest of his notes.

“thanks.” You mumble, he nods with a subtle smirk on his face.

The next 45 minutes follow the same pattern—you write down as much as, then copy the rest from Tim, and repeat.

It's only until Mrs. Young claps her hands together. The loud sound grabbed everybody’s attention “We finally get to start our first group project of the semester!” Her excitement is met with groans from the class. “because I don’t want you guys to get too comfortable I took the liberty of choosing your partners”. Your stomach drops. Not that you knew anyone here it was still obvious who would make a good partner and who wouldn’t.

As Mrs Young lists off names you don’t recognize “y/n l/n” your head perks up. “And Tim Drake”. Fuck. Your stomach twists. You really didn’t want to go with him. Sure, he’s nice enough to share his notes for sure but he’s still Tim Drake, it’d be much less drama to avoid him.

Tim didn’t even bother hiding his smirk. “The project must be a poster of any negative or positive feedback loop. Be sure to discuss details with your partners. I won’t be giving much class time, so plan accordingly”

The bell rang signaling the end of class, and you were quick to pack up and get out. The sooner you’re gone the better.

“So how do you want to do this?” Tim asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. “I don’t really care. you pick”

gym’s next, so you should leave as soon as you can. “Let’s work on it tomorrow after your basketball game. We can choose our topic together,” he answered.

Great, now you’re gonna have to spend your evening with the guy. “My game will probably take 2 hours,” you said. That should probably be enough to get him to back off.

“I’ll watch, I like basketball” you raise a brow. “I guess” you shrug.

The rest of the day blurred together— same mind numbing stories in English, same repetitive drills in practice. By the time it’s all over you’re already on the subway heading home. A wave of exhaustion falls over you.

Unlocking the Door to the empty apartment, you want nothing more than to crash into your bed and doom scroll for the rest of the night. Still you figure you should eat something and take a quick shower first.

Scanning the fridge and cupboards like expected there isn’t much. With a sigh you grabbed a box of cereal and poured a bowl before heading to the bathroom to shower.

The evening passed uneventfully. You weren’t expecting your mother to be back anytime soon, so it was just the quiet hum of the apartment.

A buzz from your phone snapped you back to reality.

<Unknown Number>

Hey y/n it’s Tim Brandi gave me your number for the project.

You roll your eyes. Why would Brandi do that? It's totally unlike her. Tim must’ve been persistent. Hovering over the message you debated answering or not. After a beat you typed back.

<Y/N>

Cool, I’ll see you tomorrow then.

Short and simple, Tim probably won’t send another message. With a sigh you put your phone on silent, and roll over to finally get some sleep. Once you get through this project you’ll never have to talk to him again.

little did you know the project will be the least of your worries.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

Ok I didn't expect Ace's Dream to end up this way, so now I have to tell you guys about it too:

The gang lands in a beach and Cater's having fun with Silver's UM, even taking a video but needing music as an overlay because of Grim's screams 😭. It's quite hot and Sebek asks if we're in Ace's hometown, that's when Deuce replies that Ace lives near the capital of Queendom of Roses while he lives in the southern area.

We also learn more about Cater and Idia as we're exploring the area. Other than skateboarding, Cater also likes to surf and snowboard. Idia tries to talk smack but Ortho butts in by telling the group that he's just like Cater as he rode a vehicle called a "Barca" to race around Island of Woe (and apparently you need a broomstick license and a special vehicle license to handle one).

We reach a vacation house where we find Ace, who's happy to see Deuce, Cater, Yuu and Grim, but is surprised to see the others (Leona, Idia, Silver and Sebek)

We also see Riddle in this dream, who's all decked out in vacation wear (from the Stitch event) that even Cater's surprised. But Dream! Riddle simply wanted to dress the part and even pulled Cater aside for a bit to asked if he looked weird. Sebek thinks that there's no way Riddle would wear something like that irl and that's just Ace's personlaity showing while Silver doesn't see anything wrong as Riddle said this is what people on the beach.

Trey also shows up wearing the Silk City outfit. It turns out that Trey's clothes, the house, and island they're all currently in were lended to them by Kalim's family. Dream! Trey asks Cater why he's in his dorm uniform when he was wearing something different earlier while taking pictures. Cater plays along by saying that he didn't want to get them dirty while cooking, which Dream! Trey believed.

Ace asks us if we want to change our clothes because our dorm uniform looks really stuffy with the weather right now. Leona warns Yuu to not get carried away. We find out that Ace's dream is a celebration for Yuu...because they found a way back to their world. Riddle explains further that not only has Crowley found a way to return Yuu to their world, but he also found a way for Yuu to visit Twisted Wonderland anytime they want to. Stop I'm not okay it's the way that Ace's dream is just wanting people to continue on with their studies safely and Yuu gets to go back home and visit them anytime is just 😭💔

Dream! Riddle suggests that Deuce and the others should go change to more fitting clothes for this occasion. While Cater volunteers with Idia, Leona and Silver to help Trey with the cooking, but really he just uses it as an excuse to discuss what he has observed. He tells Leona about the plan to look out for Ace as Dream! Riddle and Dream! Trey are most likely darkness, and Leona's impressed with how fast he's catching up with the dream mechanics. Even Idia finds it a bit creepy.

But Cater's already used to making the first move to avoid conflict. His plan was to use the first years as they're the only ones who are closer to Ace, meaning that they have a better chance of cracking him while the others keep the NPCs distracted. While the seniors are helping the NPCs, the freshmen are trying to brew up a plan. Ortho brings up the clue having needing a big "shock" from reality, but Sebek said he's useless here since he only meets Ace in electives and let's the main gang handle it.

Deuce goes first, telling Ace that this is all just a dream created by Malleus and that they still haven't found a way for Yuu to go home. He also brings up that we still haven't contacted Mickey yet, Ace doesn't believe them but Deuce (with Grim this time) continue to push him further; this causes him (Ace) to start to disorient. Deuce tells Ace to calm down but he thinks they're just lying but Ortho vouches for them and tells him that they're not. It even goes to the point of Ace asking Yuu if what they're saying is true.

Grim latches himself onto Ace, repeatedly screaming that they're not lying; triggering another flashback. But Ace just chews us out for taking the joke too far, and that we shouldn't ruin the vibes of the vacation. That's when Sebek butts in, calling Ace shallow for ignoring the pleas of his friends. But Ace counters that Sebek couldn't read the room for randomly joining a vacation he has no involvement in.

Sebek replies that he didn't even want to go with the others, but here's just here because he needs to wake Ace up. But Ace's response to the whole dream thing is just him being apathetic, not caring if it's reality or not. Because he thinks if you've lived in a dream long enough, it's not longer a dream isn't it? But a new reality, and not a lot of people can say they're living life without hardship. It's like he already weighed all the outcomes and possibilities of the situation he's in.

Sebek argues back that he cares about Malleus, which is why he and Silver are trying to wake everyone to save him. Because to him, he doesn't want to continue if it means leaving Malleus alone. But Ace doesn't sympathize, he actually blames Malleus for their current predicament and if he gets lonely; he brought it upon himself. To Ace, Sebek's being selfish for ruining his dream just to go and save the one who caused the problem to happen; and to ask Ace's help to defeat Malleus? That's pretty much a death sentence (now Ace isn't exactly a saint either, both are selfish as to how much are they willing to sacrifice for the people they care about). Ace runs away, and that's when Ortho asks the question: if it were someone else, would Sebek hold the same dedication to wake everyone up? Deuce blames Sebek for this, whihc he goes "HUH? WHY ME?!"

Ortho agress with Deuce, Sebek got too emotional and Ace had a point with what he was saying. Sebek tries to defend himself by saying that it's for Malleus and Lilia but what he did is still considered selfish by anyone's standards. Even Ortho admits that's he's selfish too, and also helped because Idia was in trouble; not everyone is forced to do this.

The seniors are back and they all agree with Ace that he isn't exactly necessary to the plan. We actually get to see Silver get mad at Sebek for causing this whole mess, not realizing that his behavior does have consequences. Once again, Sebek tries defending himself but Silver wasn't having it; leaving him no choice but to submit.

Idia says that even if everyone teams up, it's not guaranteed that they can defeat Malleus and Silver prefers not to force people to fight. Even Leona acknowledges that Ace's current magical prowess is just that of an ordinary mage, and that they can simply move on without him (Deuce, Yuu and Grim are saddened by this).

Cater says that Ace is probably frustrated and alone right now, so he chooses to look for him to help him "sleep" without the interference of Leona or Idia. Cater leaves with Yuu, Grim, and Deuce going after him (the others follow suit too just to make sure nothing bad happens). Yuu catches up with him and tries to convince to let them talk to Ace one more time. But Cater affirms that he doesn't intend to leave Ace here and has a plan (awww)

So Cater was right, he finsd Ace alone thinking about the things the others have told him. He lends an ear as he listens to Ace rant about the whole thing, and he agrees that his reaction to everything was normal; but then he suddenly goes "what they're saying is actually true tho" then HE SUMMONS HIS CLONES TO BEAT ACE'S ASS NAURRR 😭😭😭

This causes Dream! Riddle and Dream! Trey to appear and they're mad at Cater for attacking Ace. EVEN DREAM! DEUCE AND DREAM! CATER APPEAR but they just take Ace away. Ortho tries to intervene but the others stop him. With Leona telling the others that Cater asked to not be interfered and Deuce adding that it was also his plan to find a way to trigger the darkness.

Cater's plan is working, as Ace starts to become aware of his surroundings; that the things his dorm mates are saying are stuff they wouldn't say in real life. He also points out that how can someone like him help defeat Malleus, and that he's scared. The darkness actually reveals Ace's vulnerable side and we're just watching it from afar. Silver notices that Ace is being persuaded by the darkness but Idia knows that Ace is clever, that's when Leona chimes in that Ace realizes that there's always going to be someone stronger than him, thus knowing his limits. That's when Idia's like "brotha aren't you just talking about yourself?", cue Leona trying to break his tablet.

We also learn more about how the Dark Mirror chooses its students, while the qualities in which one gets sorted into a dorm remains vague it usually chooses people who leave a mark on history in the future.

Okay going back to Ace, Cater brings up that time during Riddle's overblot and about how quick they were to jump into action. He thanks him for inspiring to fight against their Housewarden that day, also adding that going into fights that are "winnable" seem lame and that he's scared too, but they have to fight. Ace actually starts crying, because he doesn't want to look like a coward and that's what wakes him up.

Cater helps Ace out of the darkness and calls for the others for backup. After that, Grim and Deuce are mad at Ace for trying to stay in the dream. He also nags to Cater about him using his UM on him, but it was the only way to get him to wake up. They show Ace the video and now his pissed at Malleus, but Grim's like "weren't you scared of him earlier???".

Silver thanks Ace for his help and also apologizes for Sebek's behavior, in which Ace blames Lilia and Silver for spoiling him and Sebek's like "I'M NOT SPOILED BY SILVER 😡". Ortho did mention that Sebek looked awkward after their argument and suggests that he should apologize but Idia replies that he has too much of a pride to do so. Ace just bullies Sebek lmao, forgiving him with his "whole heart".

Cater steps in before it gets any worse, and we get ADeuce saying "Dream Form Change" now. Ace still doesn't want to fight Malleus, but given the circumstance he doesn't really have a choice. Once shown his dummy version, Grim just laughs at his outfit and Cater comments on the fruits

The dream ends with the first years complaining about how cramped it is and Leona just tells Silver to get on with it.

And that ends Ace's Dream, took me awhile to get this out because we actually learn a lot about him in this one and I really tried my best to give him justice yknow?

We're off to Trey's Dream next, see you then!

Previous: Cater's Dream Next: Trey's Dream

(Note: This post is a summarized version of the update, info and pics comes from @/LBucchie, @/WitchDrug, and @/acesuuu on x/twt, give them some support if you can)

[pandapool]

No Powers AU | Art Thief Wade/Investigator Logan (different first meeting) 🔻 Part I

🔺 Part II 🔺 Part III 🔺 Part IV 🔺 Part V 🔺 Part VI - End 🔺

Wade is bored as fuck at his car dealer job, but also doesn’t really want to go back to merc work. he even started to occasionally go to the museum with Peter during their lunch break or after work.

until one day, Peter looks at one of the paintings and jokes, ‘man, I wish that were hanging in my house. Imagine that,’ he chuckles and moves on to the next painting. Wade stays rooted to the spot, tilting his head in contemplation and staring at the painting as he quietly says, ‘yeah, imagine that.’

---

Logan has been a Private Investigator for over a decade. it's not quite as fulfilling as Scott's teacher job seems to be, but at least the work keeps him from completely drowning himself in alcohol plus, it gets him out of the house.

he gets consulted by the police and gets involved with a new job; an art thief and a good one.

they leave no trace, sneak past every security system and take everything from paintings to ancient relicts to jewellery. it’s always museums or private collectors and after 3 months the police still hasn’t even a starting point.

cue a game of cat and mouse with Logan tracking down Wade and Wade continuing to escape at the last moment. sometimes lingering on purpose, only to evade Logan's grasp.

and as annoying and pride-hurting it is, deep down Logan has to admit it's kinda... fun. even when he takes on other cases, he never stops his endeavour to find Wade.

it's also undeniable that they start to get to know each other. in some sort of twisted, unconventional way, they learn all those little facts about the other. during those late, lonely hours with only Jack Daniels to keep him company Logan can admit that there'd be missing something in his life without keeping out an eye for new thefts or artefacts mysteriously disappearing.

so he almost feels a pang of melancholy when he has Wade cornered at last.

'just tell me... how?' he asks, looking at Wade. trying to commit everything about his face to memory. 'how did you manage to steal all those things with absolutely zero trace?'

Wade chuckles, a small smile playing around his lips as he shakes his head.

'c'mon, bub. backup will be here in less than 3 minutes. i caught you, don't you think i deserve to know?'

a beat of silence, then. 'i never stole anything.'

Logan scoffs. 'cut the crap.'

'no, really,' Wade insists. he clears his throat. 'well, let's just say, all those people who had stuff gone missing? they definitely had an interest in it doing so.' then he adds thoughtfully, 'the only thing i truly stole is this painting that now hangs in my friend's bedroom. but good luck tracing that back to me.'

Logan faltered, just for a moment. was Wade actually telling the truth? in some cases there really had been some information that didn't quite add up, but the proof that the respective items had been stolen had been stronger.

'i'll see you around,' Wade says wiggling his fingers in a wave. there's a loud boom and Logan instinctively ducks and turns around, but there's nothing but a small trail of smoke slowly curling up into the sky.

Logan turns back around, but of fucking course, Wade is gone, despite Logan only having looked away for a moment.

---

three months later, Logan is in Canada for another case. Storm, his partner assigned to him for this case, had forced him to take a day off while they were waiting for some requested information to come through and spend the day skiing.

Logan is waiting for Storm to come back from the bathroom when a snowboarder sidles up to him.

'nice view, huh,' they say.

Logan glances over and hums noncommittally. the person is wearing black ski trousers over a deep red wool jumper. then they fully turn to him.

'told ya i'd be seeing you around, peanut.' Wade winks at Logan, before popping down his ski googles and starts down the hill, getting lost in the crowd.

'who was that?' Storm asks when she joins Logan not 30 seconds later.

'an old friend,' Logan says, still looking in the direction where Wade vanished.

🔺 Part II 🔺 Part III 🔺 Part IV 🔺 Part V 🔺 Part VI - End 🔺

now also on AO3

[kayakima]

How the 104th cadet corps gets their exercise routine

(Plus bonus Porco and Pieck)

Eren: Jumped around on different types of exercise until Tae Kwon Do really resonated with him. It ended up being a great outlet for his energy and temper and once he started doing it regularly, everyone noticed he mellowed out a lot in his personal life. He’s a probationary black belt currently and once he earns his black belt he wants to make a display for all of his previous belts to hang up in his living room.

Mikasa: Hosts her own workout class once a week. Runs a fitness blog that focuses more on balance rather than pushing yourself continuously. Heavily cautions against eating disorders (especially towards men) and ends all her videos with “you are a warrior. Know this. You have the power to slay all the obstacles in your path, even if you have to do it alone.” Can bench 300 but doesn’t really talk about it. Is 100% that ultra-feminine girl that Eren loses his mind over when she randomly flexes and he calls her “muscle mommy” as a joke

Armin: Jogs casually in the mornings but he had a discount on ClassPass and eventually found a yoga studio he fell in love with. Wears traditional salwar pants and got embarrassed when Eren said he was wearing “MC Hammer pants”. Yoga is his time to decompress and he can probably fold his body into a pretzel. Goes to the meditation studio next door right after for an hour. Takes Annie to goat yoga for her birthday

Annie: Saw a run club online and thought that was cost-effective and easy to commit to. Sasha heard her mention it and got super excited. She still jogs with her headphones on and doesn’t talk while actually running but she enjoys Sasha’s company regardless. Does the color run every year with Sasha and Connie. Armin always writes a silly sign for her and sneaks a picture of her covered in rainbow cornstarch with a huge smile on her face and sets it as his phone background

Bertholdt: He’s tall and kind of lanky so you wouldn’t really think much of him working out, but he’s really into longboarding and is REALLY good at snowboarding. He’s casually doing Olympic-level stunts and is like “dude it’s really not hard you just have to lean into the movements and let the board go where it wants to go” if anyone asks him about it. His longboard is COVERED with OddFuture stickers he got at Zumiez

Reiner: Lives and dies by lifting. Has whey protein with every meal and curates everything he eats by its macros and nutrient density. It took Mikasa everything she had to convince him to stop paying attention to all of that and to just eat whatever he wants when he’s hungry because at the end of the day he’s still in great shape even if he eats some cookies. He still fell for the Bloom superfood powder hype though but at least it’s not creatine or alpha male podcasts.

Ymir: Doesn’t really think about working out but can hike from sunrise to sunset without so much as panting. Has a matching owala with Historia’s and could probably climb Mount Everest without assistance or gear if you left her to her own devices. When she’s in the vicinity of one she will scale a rock wall in ten seconds.

Historia: Works out more for the aesthetic than for the health benefits because she’s already hiking with Ymir pretty often. A stairmaster HATES to see her walking into the girls-only gym with her Owala that’s clattering with charms. Only wears matching sets from gymshark and does no upper body at all. Not because she “doesn’t want to look bulky,” but because she doesn’t know how to properly do any upper body and doesn’t really care to learn since Ymir is already physically strong.

Marco: Casually works out but he’s a swimmer through and through. Freestyle is his stroke but Jean keeps telling him he has the wingspan to compete professionally in a 200m butterfly. Goes to the local public pool on his own time but prefers when Jean is free so he can use his guest pass to swim in a private gym instead. His favorite pair of racing trunks are the ones Jean gave him for his birthday that look like Patrick Star’s

Sasha: Isn’t super devoted to working out but when Annie mentioned the run club she got SUPER excited and signed the both of them and Connie up. Took Annie to get matching running shorts and shoes and posts her stats on her Instagram stories. After running a 5k and the city’s annual half-marathon she celebrates by absolutely pigging out at Applebee’s

Connie: After joining the run club he unintentionally picks up a TON of girls on a regular basis. He doesn’t even notice they’re fawning over him and just thinks they want his number to get updates on official events. Gets really passionate about Hokas and all of his running shorts have some ridiculous pattern on them. Qualifies for the half-marathon every year and dumps a bottle of water on his face five seconds after crossing the finish line

Jean: ABSOLUTELY has an Equinox membership that his mom pays for (she knows someone in corporate who gets her a 75% discount). Brings travel bottles to fill with Aēsop soap every time. Does not have Equinox merch because he’s self-aware enough to know that it’s douchey. You’d think he lifts but he’s actually a great swimmer and invites Marco on his guest pass to race every week (he lets Marco win because he likes seeing him get so excited)

Pieck: Pilates Queen. Mooches off Jean’s guest pass at Equinox but he doesn’t mind because she always likes to take “gym couple” photos. Outside of that she goes to a local Pilates studio and gets the staff holiday gift baskets every year because they’re tight like that now. Has matching sets to work out in with the girlies but prefers to work out in biker shorts and one of Jean’s tshirts when she’s on her own

Porco: was originally a CrossFit fiend until he pulled a muscle and realized CrossFit does NOT prioritize form and you’re actually just destroying your body. Bought an Equinox membership at Jean’s behest but does wear the merch because he thinks it’s comfortable and doesn’t care if it’s douchey. Says Pilates is for girls and doesn’t want to be the weird straight man in a Pilates studio but is secretly very interested in it.

[veephoenix]

with the waves — noah & lola meet on a surf trip to costa rica. drawn together by the ocean and their love for surfing and traveling, they start a slow, sensual romance that becomes a journey of self-discovery, healing, and growth.

mini series ✨ | part one: riptide | words: 500ish | tags: strangers-to-lovers, fast-paced, summer romance, fluff, eventual sexual content

↝ PART ONE: RIPTIDE

They met in Costa Rica at the end of summer, while they were surfing.

Both were on vacation, though for Lola it wasn’t the first time. She’d been coming to that same stretch of beach in the country with her friends for three years now, always looking forward to the freedom, the waves, the sunburnt shoulders and the long salty days that bled into humid, bonfire-lit nights, after spending most of the year saving, planning, and counting down the weeks until she could return. 

Lola had been surfing since she was a kid. But over time, she’d grew tired of the same locations, the same crowds, the same rhythm. That’s why she started traveling. It became her way of breaking routine, and it provided her with a thrill that blended discovering new places, cultures, and languages while doing one of the things she loved the most. 

Noah, on the other hand, was in Costa Rica for the first time. He was newer to surfing, having picked it up a couple of years earlier in back home in California. His background was more pavement and powder—skating, snowboarding… Fast downhill runs, and the kind of adrenaline you could control with muscle memory. Surfing, though, was wavier. Slower. Wiser. 

He didn’t know yet.

This summer, one of his friends suggested a surf trip south, and after checking his bank account, Noah said yes without a second doubt. 

It was on the fourth day that they met.

They’d both been in the water, each with their own group, not more than fifty feet apart, bobbing between sets, focused on their lines, their footing, the next wave. It had been one of those long, perfect days with a cloudless sky, a warm breeze, and a consistent swell. They’d been surfing since morning, and by midafternoon, their skins were sun-bronzed and salty, their muscles sore but buzzing. 

That’s when Lola and her friends began paddling back toward the shore. 

She noticed it first, the change. There was a shift in the light, the water clouded. There was a subtle tension in the pull of the tide. Having spent so many years surfing, it was instinctual, almost subconscious. Years of surfing had taught her how to read the ocean. 

Her group gathered their boards and began wading out. But Noah’s crew stayed in, still laughing, still chasing the waves. 

One of Lola’s friends cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward them. 

“Hey! Get out of the water!”

Heads turned. There was confusion. Mild annoyance. Some of the guys exchanged glances, unsure. One of the girls muttered the word “shark”, and Lola nearly laughed out loud. 

“Not that!” Lola’s friend continued yelling, her board at her feet. She walked to the shore, where the water lapped at her ankles. “The current’s shifting and the water’s going murky! It’s gonna get rough! Riptides, closeouts! You don’t want to be stuck when the swell turns!”

That got their attention. From the looks on their faces, Lola could tell they hadn’t read the signs. Perhaps didn’t know how to. One of the guys in her group was shaking his head. Noah’s group didn’t look like beginners exactly, but maybe they were not experts at reading the water yet, either. That kind of awareness was essential for a surfer, though. 

They had time to learn, Lola thought. Just like she had. 

↠ part two: sundazed

Author's note: 🌅 I couldn't get this out of my head and I literally wrote like 4k in one day. Reading summer romance books and missing my boyfriend who's currently on the other side of the world can make you go on a writing spree, I guess. Last year I wrote the mermaid fic and this year I suppose I'm here with surfer!noah. This series will have about 10 parts, give or take, more or less of the same length as this first part. Updates every one or two days, as I've already got a lot of it written. Reblogs and comments are very much appreciated 💕 Let me know what you think if you give this a chance :)

[imaniwriting]

Could you do Zach MacLaren imagine where reader and him are alone at the ski lodge and they just spend the whole day cuddling and reader reading to him etc etc

(have I been gone for like almost 1 week? Yes yes I have. Have I go an excuse? Nope no I don’t, btw requests are being answered and are open but it may take a while for them to be answered and I am soon publishing a book abt rafe Cameron on Wattpad so make sure to follow me on there : h0gw4rts)

𝐂𝐨𝐳𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐞 (requests are open)

Warnings: really short

Summary : you spend a day with your perfect boyfriend.

Genre: fluff

When Connie invited you to go skiing with them you didn’t actually think she meant it but it was all to late when 2 days ago you sat between Zach and his cousin on the way to their rented lodge. You didn’t feel even the slightest bit of regret even though you didn’t know how to ski.

The first day was spent with you trying to learn how to ski you even tried to settle on snowboarding but that proved to be even more hard but it wasn’t even your fault you just get all panicky when both of your feet are tied to the snow board.

The second day, which was today, you chose to spent with your boyfriend who was forced to stay on the lodge because of his concussion.

“I’m boreddddd” whined Zach from beside you where he was forced, by you, to read a book according to you he read way to little and you went out of your way to get him a soccer related book.

“Well,” you started while rolling on top of him so that your face was uncontrollably near his. “What do you wanna do?” You continued making him break out into a smile. “This,” he said before leaning in.

He connected your lips passionately kissing you and also trying to distract you from him taking the book and putting it under a pillow. When you saw that you grabbed his hand and guided it to your waist before grabbing the book from beneath the pillow.

“Noo” he whined when he saw the book back in your hand. “Please baby I don’t want to read.” He said trying to reason with you. You just shook your head and sat up next to him.

“Okay,” you said making him smile at you “I can read to you if you want baby.” You said making him nod before laying his head down on your lap. Your hand found his hair and you slowly started playing with it.

Then you started reading and not long after Zach’s attention was removed from the words coming out of your mouth he just stared at your face. “What?” You laughed when you saw him smiling. “Nothing baby I just think you’re pretty.” He said his right hand finding your chin.

He sat up and cupped your face slowly bringing you closer. “Zach.” You said making his eyes snap up to your eyes. “What is it?” He asks softly while caressing your cheek. “Wanna continue reading later?” You asked making his smile widen “sure” he said before he leaning into a kiss. “Come on let’s continue this somewhere else.” He said making you nod.

[gravitywonagain]

Mountain Immortal

(a Fresh Powder in the Pine Trees story)

.

Wei Ying is in the zone. 

It’s after lessons have closed on a Tuesday and he’s sitting at a table in the main lodge, editing his and Nie Huaisang’s latest video footage while waiting for Wen Qing to close up the clinic for the day. “Tangerine” is blasting in his headphones and his beat up laptop hasn’t overheated yet. The clips he’s working on are the fails, the attempts, the outtakes. They’re probably his favorites to go through because the pain has passed, but the lesson lives on, and, most of the time, they’re just really funny. Watching Jiang Cheng eat shit off a rail, while knowing that he’s fine, will never get old. 

So he’s totally in the zone. Which is probably why he doesn’t notice Lan Zhan over his shoulder until he feels a hand shaking him gently.

There’s something like panic in Lan Zhan’s voice when Wei Ying removes his headphones.

“When was this?” he asks.

“Ah? Lan Zhan…?”

“Are you hurt?”

“Am I — Lan Zhan, what’s wrong?”

Lan Zhan points to the screen where the Wei Ying of a little over a week ago just landed hard on his ass after a failed rail slide. 

“Ah, no, it’s fine. Wen Qing said all the bleeding was internal. That’s where the blood is supposed to be!”

Alarm lights in Lan Zhan's eyes, his eyebrows twitch toward his hairline.

“It’s a reference!" Wei Ying says, backpedaling hard and fast. "A bad reference. And a joke! Importantly, it’s a joke. I’m fine. I promise. No bleeding, internally or externally. Just a giant bruise on my ass. And on my pride."

Lan Zhan's expression settles out again, and Wei Ying takes a breath. He scoots his laptop over as Lan Zhan takes a seat, pressing play on the clip so that Lan Zhan can see the Wei Ying on the screen roll on the ground for a minute before hopping back up to his feet and trying the rail slide again.

"Nie Huaisang edits all of the good stuff," Wei Ying says. "I get to play with all the stuff he cuts out."

Lan Zhan hums as he watches Wei Ying fall off the rail a second time, though much less spectacularly than the first. "I didn't know you filmed snowboarding movies."

"Movies?" Wei Ying laughs. "You make me sound like Uncle Xiao. No, no. Just stupid little shit like this. Clips and compilations for YouTube. Huaisang just didn't want to go to film school."

“Uncle Xiao?” Of course he would pick up on that. Wei Ying can see him putting it together. He’s so smart. He can’t not. “Xiao Xingchen?”

Wei Ying really does try not to flaunt his connection to living legend Xiao Xingchen, backcountry snowboarder and filmmaker of many a ski resort employees' dreams. But Lan Zhan is Lan Zhan. His family does own this entire mountain. He won't likely be prone to the same starstruck jealousy as many of Uncle Song's rental techs.

“Uh, yeah. He was a close friend of my mom’s.”

Lan Zhan nods.

“He, uh. He used to film me when I was just learning. And then when I was getting better. He didn’t,” Wei Ying has to clear his throat against the memories before he continues, “he didn’t get into making movies for the money. He’s just always liked filming. Uncle Song fucking hates it. I still don’t know how Uncle Xiao convinced him to be in Distant Snow and Cold Frost.”

“Mr. Song does not seem the type to enjoy being filmed.”

“‘Mr. Song.’ So formal, Lan Zhan!”

“He is my coworker. And a department head.” 

“Sure, but he’s also a fucking knuckle-dragger. Just call him Song Lan. For me.”

Lan Zhan hesitates, and Wei Ying can see the impropriety of it eating away at him. But, after a moment, he acquiesces with a quiet, “Mn.”

“Have you seen any of Xiao Xingchen’s films?”

“I have. We screened Mountain Immortal here after it won an award at Banff.”

“Ah! I can’t watch that one without crying, like a lot.”

“It was a beautiful tribute.”

It was a beautiful tribute. Cangse Sanren, as she’s known in the world of winter sports, and Wei Changze had died in an avalanche in Colorado while Xiao Xingchen had been filming in Alaska. When he heard about it, Uncle Xiao had taken his movie about the history of splitboarding and made it into a memorial to his sister and her husband. Of course, it still flowed really well because he just made it a family thing. Grandma Baoshan was still a main feature as the inventor of the splitboard. She passed her backcountry spirit onto her kids and on down. 

There was so much home-video footage from Xiao Xingchen’s teenage fascination with cameras, so much footage of Wei Ying’s mom. Less of Wei Changze, but there was enough. 

Wei Ying pauses, considering how he wants to take this conversation. He could just pass this off as a passing interest, or shift to talking about outdoor sports in the film industry. But he’s been pushing Lan Zhan out of his comfort zone a lot. Possibly too much. He’s earned this, if he wants it. So Wei Ying takes a deep breath and says, “It’s my family.”

“Your… You’re Cangse Sanren’s son?”

“I am!” He smiles as bright and wide as he used to for her. It almost doesn't hurt to do it for Lan Zhan.

“So when you said ‘uncle,’ you meant…”

“Yeah! Mama was never formally adopted by Grandma Baoshan, but yeah. I meant jiujiu.”

This is the moment, usually, when someone will lavish him with sympathy, condolences or whatever. Wei Ying hates it, but he understands. Death is hard, but more than that it's weird. It lingers, haunting every relationship for the rest of forever.

But Lan Zhan doesn't say all the uncertain placating things that Wei Ying is used to. His face draws in, not in discomfort but in… understanding.

He hums, a small sad noise and then says, “My mom died when I was young, too.”

Wei Ying could almost fall over with relief. Which is. Not the reaction he should have to that. “Do you remember her?” he asks.

“A little. I was six.”

“Oh, I was fourteen.”

“Tell me about her?”

Wei Ying gasps a little, despite himself. “Really?”

“You don’t hav—”

“No, I’d like to. I just." Nobody has ever asked him that before. "Yeah! Okay.” 

Wei Ying takes a deep breath. He doesn’t really know where to start, so he just talks. He tells Lan Zhan stories from his childhood. Stories about snow and laughter and family. 

He talks about her smile and the way she always seemed to have snow in her braid. She used to spray him with powder every time he beat her down the hill. It was funny and very Mama, but it also taught him to go slower, to take his time on the slope. She refused to let anybody else teach him how to ride. She taught him to carve, first on groomers and then in powder. She used to put hand warmers in her boots because her toes were always cold. And she was just constantly losing pairs of goggles. 

He tells Lan Zhan the story of how Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze met. How they shared a chair at Park City and Wei Changze, a skier, had waited for Cangse to strap in. How he had followed her, kept up with her, impressed her. How she’d invited him for a drink at the lodge but, when they figured out that neither of them could afford ski resort alcohol, they’d crawled into the back of Wei Changze’s beat up station wagon and smoked weed in the parking lot. 

He tells him about skiing between his baba’s legs when he was too young to snowboard. About Wei Changze’s impressive will power and consistency, like how he would just quit drinking coffee occasionally when he felt he was too addicted. And his lifelong commitment to skis, despite his wife’s family’s many attempts to convert him. It won him great esteem from one of his mothers-in-law and… something else from the other. 

“Grandma Baoshan always called him an ‘unrepentant skier’ and I was never sure if she meant that as a compliment or an insult.”

He tells him about his first backcountry trip when he was 9. About the absurdly small splitboard Baoshan Sanren had built for him in her garage. And then about Baoshan Sanren’s garage. The things she made, the prototypes she’d scrapped. How Song Lan was, and still is, the only one she allowed to fully access the garage, not even her wife is allowed in there unsupervised. And the way she’d chase Xiao Xingchen away any time he’d tried to point a camera in her general direction. 

He talks about Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan and going on full family outings with all seven of them packing into two cars and driving to the slopes in the early morning dark. How little Wei Ying would just cruise up the skin tracks once they’d been broken in. How he’d built his muscles surrounded by family and fresh powder. How he’d learned early to earn his turns. 

“I’ll take you up a mountain the fun way sometime,” he offers, and then laughs, delighted by Lan Zhan’s eager acceptance. 

He tells stories of Song Lan teaching him how to do all of the practical maintenance on skis and snowboards and splitboards because he basically did all of it for the whole family. Wei Changze would help and Wei Ying would get the skins all tangled and stuck to each other. How difficult it can be to get that adhesive out of hair. Or hair out of the adhesive. 

“There’s actually a picture in Mountain Immortal,” he says, “of me sitting in a pile of probably ten pairs of skins that Baba and Uncle Song had piled on me because I was causing so much trouble.”

He tells Lan Zhan that his favorite memory, the one he always goes back to, is of just the three of them. They’re at a resort, actually. Which one doesn’t matter, Wei Ying wouldn’t be able to recall the name anyway. All he sees is Wei Changze with his ski poles stuck out behind him for his wife and son to hold onto as he skates the three of them over the flats. 

“I was probably eleven at the time? Mama was squatting low, keeping her board flat, but she kept reaching over and poking at my knees trying to make me fall over.”

He’s crying, he realizes. Laughing and crying. He wonders how long that’s been going on as he wipes the tears from his cheeks. 

It’s that motion that finally pulls him back into the present. The lodge is empty, there’s a red and white paper tray half-full of fries between him and Lan Zhan that he doesn’t remember either of them getting up to buy, but he can taste the salt on his tongue so he knows he’s eaten some. His laptop is dead, but its battery was low anyway. Still, it must have been at least an hour since Lan Zhan found him here. 

“Sorry,” Wei Ying says, “that was probably a lot more than you were prepared for.”

Lan Zhan’s eyes are rimmed red and it’s possible he was crying at some point, too. He smiles. It’s small but real in a way few smiles are. It makes Wei Ying’s heart jump into his throat. 

“Thank you for telling me about your family, Wei Ying,” says Lan Zhan with an honesty that matches his smile. 

Wei Ying sniffs and rubs his hands against his snow pants. He shakes his head to shake away the ghosts. "You should really come out to one of our sessions some time," he says, gesturing toward the laptop. "You would look great on film."

Lan Zhan doesn't roll his eyes. Instead he looks pointedly toward the black screen where Wei Ying was just editing videos of him falling on his ass.

Another laugh jolts its way out of Wei Ying's lungs. This one isn't sad at all. And Lan Zhan is smiling again.

[sillygoblinantics]

Back to my regularly scheduled Lily tearing

*ahem*

“Jock Imoen”

My good mutual @agramuglia covered everything up to Gen 8 in his multi-stream and comprehensive compilation/analysis of Lily orchards over six hour cognitive hazardous brain vomit barely digested review of the main line games of the Pokémon franchise.

And of course, she got many things wrong, so when ant stopped after gen 8 I took it upon myself to finish it for ant and my arceus did I suffer for lilys pokesins.

And let’s get this out of the way:

No she didn’t play arceus because she couldn’t handle the amount of control changes and lore that went into that beautiful (imo) game.

No she didn’t play the dlcs. And frankly I’m glad she didn’t because we all know she’d make the sibling story of Kieran and Carmine weird (and perverted) but she’d misinterpret the entire arc he goes through in all three dlcs)

So how fucking wrong did Lily get with scarlet and violet?

Everything

Points to get out of the way before my reason of pain:

She continues to imply that pennie is a stalker, saying she’s the worst person who shouldn’t be redeemed and that team star terrible. Yes the bullied outsiders who formed a group to stand up to the bullies and later try to breakup only to meet up and assure Pennie that they love her and remind her that they’ll be friends even if the team splits up. In the dlc they’re even working to better themselves for Pennie trying to surprise her even. And yes Lily PROJECTS SO MUCH ONTO PENNIE!

Misgenders grusha (the beautiful snowboarder champ now depressed and detached gym leader who you learn more about the intropersonal conflict of in the dlc!)

No she doesn’t take the classes (doesn’t understand there’s more to the game or)

… continuing from the previous point: SHE DOESNT KNOW ABOUT THE RUINOUS POKÉMON NEVER MENTIONS THEM ONCE

She leaves out the fact Nemona teaches the players about terastalization before you even get to the academy!

She disrespects the entire story line and arc of our boy Arven nor does she fucking cry over the mabostiff arc

Never explains how she got ceruledge. At all

Complains and uses spiderverse as a way to talk about crunch time (LILY I SWEAR TO FUCKING MEW IF TALK ABOUT THE INDUSTRY ANY MORE I WILL REVOKE YOUR INTERNET ACCESS)

She brings up kingdom hearts

11. Never addresses the music or even gen one references

12. (Yes that’s a loss joke)

Now that we got those out of the way, allow me to rant:

OUT OF THE PAST 9 GENS, THE CAST OF FRIENDS IN SCARLET AND VIOLET HAVE THE MOST DEPTH AND PERSONALITY! THEY HAVE SO MANY SIDES THAT UNFOLD AS YOU FOLLOW(KEY WORD BEING FOLLOW) THEIR STORYLINES!

Lily you continue to prove your mental decline and intolerance to human traits and habits and devolve into a fucking ameba! Nemona from the start is not a jock. She is a himbo, she is the current/new student council president of the academy, she’s the champion and she is an only child of absent parents in a big *empty* home, her parents are running around who knows where and she most definitely has undiagnosed adhd or add, she has trouble with socializing because of her confident and pure genuine enthusiasm. She had trouble catching her own pokemon and even throwing which is why she wears that glove so she mostly rents out pokemon from the academy. When your character moves in she’s hoping to not just have a friend, but someone to rival her in battle, because she’s beat the league and everyone is afraid in some way of her because of how forward and high energy she is. The REASON SHE’S SO “CLINGY” IS BECAUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME SHE HAS SOMEONE WHO ISNT AFRAID OF HER REQUEST TO BATTLE! She’s mindful and has had to realize that which is sad if you’re a kid who is as high energy and has trouble waiting to speak. (A bit personal on my end but thats the read) NEMONA IS NOT YOUR JOCK SISTER GIRLFRIEND YOU INEPT PERVERTED CANADIAN FUCKWAD!

LILY LEAVE MY MASTER CHEF SON AND HIS PUBBI DOG ALONE BEFORE I GET THE SANDAL AND BEAT YOUR PASTY WHITER THAN MILK ASS UNTIL YOU SUBMIT AND APOLOGIZE! Arven, is a boy who lives in the shadow of his absent parents who were renowned scientists, he wasn’t given the attention he needed at some point when they got busy with research but after having to leave area zero due to a grievous injury/trauma his truly only family member received he was cooped up in the lighthouse he once lived in with his parents. Arven holds so much resentment to his parents because he (validly) feels abandoned by them as they pushed him aside. Hell, he even shows a grudge and envy to our player when he learns his parent is talking to us in secret! The most painful thing we learn by the end is, arven’s mom and dad… died… they had been dead for quite some time and sadly only synthetic programmed copies of them survived but then they have to leave… arven’s story is him learning that he isnt in his parent’s shadow and realizing he doesn’t have to be alone. The friends made are his family- oh before i forget- THERE IS MORE LORE IN THE FUCKING CLASSES! THE HOME EC TEACHER WORRIES ABOUT ARVEN AND HAS A STORY LINE WITH HIM IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO STUDY! Arven is a sad grumpy puppy, leave him alone you cynical mustache twirling puppy stomping carbon copy villain stereotype!

LEAVE MY VEE-VEE LOVING INTROVERT ALONE YOU NTH ROOM BROWSING TROGLODYTE! Penny out of the two others has present parents, her dad, who is revealed to be peonie in the dlc, is just loves and cares about her but pennie is going through that phase where “ugh my parents are so annoying with how much they care” type personality. Kids like that exist. Penny is also a vastly intellectually gifted kid, she’s able to do so much with computers and coding and hell she used technology to make friends. She and team star are adorable. They were all bullied and penny thinking quickly hatched a plan to gather them together but when things got out of hand she panicked and thought to run from it. When you meet she takes note of how you respond to her “peril” and thinks of a way to get your help. She thinks that her friends hate her or dont hold her in high regard until you defeat each of them and get the full story. Hell I’ll grab a clip i saved! But she learns to come out of her shell during the main plot and that staying in her head she’ll shut the world and truth out. She’s also such a fucking mood!

Also lily, you hate her because she’s better than you are you eternal hermit!

As you can see I adore this game and while I have my qualms with it I still love it and the story because that’s what I care about and appreciate in this and previous games and with what I wanted said out of the way: that’s

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.248 Going in

Sauteed peppers and onions lured me out of my sleep. My arm flopped carelessly to the other side of the bed, landing on the blanket instead of my wife's body. She rarely got up early, but she was downstairs preparing breakfast for us. I must have been in that good good sleep when she got up because I never felt her leave. I thought about lingering in bed a little while longer since breakfast was no longer on my list, but I wanted to see Desiree before she left. She and Sophia were eating together at the island, so I sat alone at the dining table. I loved watching them get closer, but it would have been nice for all three of us to dine together on the first morning back in our house. True, we had nowhere else to eat in its former state, but the dining table had become a strong symbol of togetherness in our family. Oh well. Change is always afoot, right?

Sophia forgot to take the day off, so she left me alone to put our house back together. It was all good, though. Having more to do meant I could stay busy longer. I tried to get started after she left, but Kooper was oddly rambunctious. Honestly, he reminded me of Rosie, barking at me like he was fussing and running around like a crazy dog. I took him for a jog so he could spend that energy. Even though I loved Gilbert Gardens with all my heart, I was so happy to be back in Hopewell Hills, my home. That neighborhood held so many memories, especially when I passed by Dad's house. When we moved in, I was a silly boy, scared of the world and all the women in it, ha! But I left there a man. So glad my dad lived long enough to see my life turn around.

I spent the rest of the day framing and hanging family pictures and was so grateful Mama left me all her most treasured photos. Seeing her as a child and my grandparents in their youth was so special. Those pictures were all I had of my grandfather, and I hoped learning about Gammy would give me insight into him as well. I carried his name, but that was all I had from him.

Desi came home, raving about camp and all the fun she had. It turned out I had the completely wrong picture of what this camp would be. When she told us about it, I imagined them playing "yard sports" like basketball and soccer all day. But she said they had learned the basics of snowboarding and rock climbing. Sounds like those folks were trying to turn my child into a professional extreme sports athlete! Not mad at all. They also did yoga, and my baby was the best one in the class. #prouddad

She went on and on late into the night, making me realize how little time we had with her. Camp went from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The next week, she'd be back in school. And then it'll be her birthday again. If we kept waiting for the perfect time to talk to her about woohoo, we'd never do it. I risked repeating my last mistake, but something in my daughter's eyes told me she was ready to dive headfirst into this crazy dating world. Now or never, Luc. This time, though, I didn't go rogue or leave Sophia out. I caught her eye and tried to communicate my intention as Desi continued on. It took her a minute to get it, but we conversed silently with our eyes and subtle head nods. She nodded and gazed at me as if to say, this is your show...you're up. So, at an appropriate pause, I jumped in.

Jumped in was more like a figure of speech because my palms were just as clammy as when I talked to the boys. My fear wasn't quite as high, though. Talking with the boys was a favor for my sister, but talking to Desi was my duty. Maybe even an honor. That depends on whether I can get through this, heh.

"So, Des, uhh—if you don't mind—I was hoping we could have a, uhh, a bit of a...grown up conversation tonight," I said, wiping my hands on my pants under the table.

Her eyes brightened, surprised and eager to know what was on the agenda.

"We, uhhh, we heard you and Breanna talking about some boy the other day."

I didn't mean to pause there, but I definitely alarmed my poor child.

"It's fine-toooootally fine." I was definitely trying to convince myself. "Having those feelings is totally normal. Hearing you guys, though, it just made me realize how fast you're growing up on me. I mean, just last week, you were a kid, and now you're talking about cute boys." I snorted, shaking my head. "Anyway, me and Mommy thought we should talk to you about some things before...before, ummm-"

My voice failed me, so I cleared my throat a few times to get the words out. Honestly, I found the situation quite comical, even though I didn't laugh. I had low key accused Sophia of fumbling the ball the other day, but here I was over here straight trippin'. Luckily, she jumped in—all the way in.

"We need to talk to you about woohoo."

[fatphobiabusters]

Hi, do you by any chance know any fat athletes who ski/do wintersports? I got very spontaneously invited to go skiing with some coworkers tomorrow (I've never been before) and when I tried on skiing shoes they didn't really fit/the top couldn't be closed all the way, so I've just been feeling pretty meh about it, even though I know it's not my fault those things are only designed with thin people in mind.

(Totally fair if you don't get to this before tomorrow/doesn't fit the blog/etc)

I feel for you about this. I tend to feel self-conscious in similar situations, especially when there's not much time to mentally prepare for the outing. There's so many ways that fat people aren't included in daily society, like the problem with those ski shoes. I haven't done a lot of research into fat athletes, especially winter fat athletes. The fat athletes I know of are the fat athletes I happen to find while looking at fat positive stuff in general. BUT you're in luck!

lainedubin is a fat ice skater on TikTok. I've posted them a few times to this blog. This is one of their videos. They don't ski, as far as I know, but they have amazing videos of their ice skating. They look so graceful, and I know that their TikTok is welcoming of fellow fat people who want to feel comfortable doing what this ice skater does.

I also did a search of some more fat athletes who do winter sports! This Instagram account seems to post a lot of fat people doing winter sports like skiing:

The account apparently posts to this Instagram now, so both accounts show fat people skiing. Although this seems to be a brand selling plus size winter gear, a lot of their videos I looked at just now are fat positive and encourage fat people to feel comfortable doing winter sports! They show a lot of examples of fat people skiing and snowboarding.

I found that Instagram account while reading this post about skiing while fat. I haven't read the entire post, but what I did read was fat positive. The post includes tips for fat skiers. Tip 3, "Don’t be embarrassed to ask for boots that fit your calves," may or may not be helpful for you. I'm not sure if you already have the skiing shoes and can't switch them for a different pair. If anything, I think tip 5 will help give you confidence:

I felt inadequate the first time I showed up to ski at the resort. I felt that my body size wasn’t designed for skiing and that my lack of knowledge at my age would prevent me from learning how to ski. I felt that others would judge my size and think that skiing isn’t for plus-size people. WRONG! We have a place on that mountain along with everyone else. I changed my mindset and recognized that I had to stop putting limits on myself. I’m not concerned what others think anymore. I just get out there and have fun. I am loving skiing and will continue to do it because I CAN and because I love it. I will continue to take up space on the slopes, and I hope that you will too.

Additionally, we have a tag for posts about fat athletes. I've kind of lost track if the tag is "fat athlete" or "fat athletes," but it's one of the two. This recent post of ours I hope will also give you the confidence to enjoy skiing without thinking about other people.

I'm proud of you for putting yourself out there and allowing yourself to take up space!

-Mod Worthy

[sillybayo]

A Winter With You

(Originally posted on fanfiction.net......yesterday!)

A krusie fic with fluff and only a small amount of discomfort. Trigger warning for small mentions of global warming, poisoning, and then a slightly more in depth discussion about sex and child sexualization. NO smut is in here, they're teens.

Kris asks Susie what she likes more; winter or summer. This question leads to something neither of them could predict.

Susie was invited over to the Dreemurrs house again for dinner and pie. Kris and her decided to not go to Castle Town today, after they convinced her that they really needed to go ahead and work on their group project…though, they seemed just as reluctant as she did. So after they finished planning out and getting a good start on their work, they ate Toriel's steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and then a warm apple pie to top it all off, to reward them for their hard work. Well, it wasn't that hard once they understood the assignment better, actually sat down, and plotted out what they wanted to do exactly. But Susie thought of the meal as a bonus nonetheless.

Now, they sat on the floor in Kris' room, leaning against the side of their bed. The sun was setting, and the light coming from the window became dimmer as the clock ticked. Susie just said she'll sleep in the guest room tonight, since she didn't feel like going home again. But in the meantime, the two chatted all evening about various things: school food, virtual idols, whether they would eat dirt if there's no other options or not, all the good stuff. Then, Kris came up with another;

"Which is better, summer or winter?"

"Summer, obviously! There's no school and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and nobodies bossing you around like a smartass!" Susie beamed as she went on, "And there's ice cream, burying nerds in the sand, stepping on the hand-ass shells when you get deeper into the ocean, the heat from global warming—summers literally the best!"

They snickered. "You make it sound sarcastic."

"Well what do you like best, nerd?"

"I always liked the wintertime…"

"But it's cold as hell! And you're forced to go to school! The pain isn't even enjoyable or anything!"

"Yeah, but don't you like the little jingles? The commercials? All the lights around town? And counting down the days until you rip open your presents?"

They seemed to drift further into a daydream when listing some of the things they liked. Now that Susie thought about it…while they definitely are mischievous, they do like things with a certain elegance and sentimentality to it, huh? She always found that interesting about them, one moment they could tie a rubber band around the sinks sprayer, and the other, they'd be playing a melancholic tune on the piano.

"Well, yeah, I guess that's nice or whatever. Oh, but what about snowboarding?! Or sledding? Skiing?"

"I was always scared of it." they giggled to themselves, "One time, my dad brought me and Asriel to this snowy hill, right? He went down first with his little baby sled. But when he picked up speed, he flipped over face first. I clinged onto my dad and begged him to not make me go down…" they continued to smile and laugh recalling the memory.

"Ok, but without any of that, winter is just plain boring. Sure, you have the vibes, but so what?! Where's the fun in that?"

"Where's the fun in sweating your ass off?"

"Sweat is a sign of endurance!" Susie shoved them a little, making them lose balance and having to prop themselves upwards with their elbows to stop them from falling all the way down. But they laughed anyway. She found herself getting lost in the sound a little, but went right back to the argument.

"Ok, but with summer, you have swimming pools. There's nothing risky about that unless you're dying from the baby waves at Great Wolf Lodge."

They stifled their last few laughs while sitting back up. "I never learned how to swim."

"How?! Swimming is literally the best!"

"My parents never knew how themselves. I guess it's because their fur is too heavy. So I never got the chance."

"Dude." she placed her hands on their shoulders. "I need to teach you how. As soon as possible."

"You don't have to…"

"Of course I do! How else will I convince you that summer is better than winter?!"

"There's no way to convince me, my mind is set."

They sounded so matter-of-factly that she felt like she had to humor them, at least a little. "Ok then, then enlighten me without the cheesy Hallmark stuff."

"There's baking cookies…"

Well, cookies are nice. Chewy ones with melty chocolate chips are her favorite. And letting them soak up milk to get extra soft to the point it's crumbling? Absolutely perfect. It's just that whenever she tries to bake some, it never turns out right! She'll follow the measurements and follow the steps the best she can, but they always come out too thick and not as sweet as she wants them to be.

"Nah. I'm more of a taste tester myself."

"Why? Because you're a bad bakerrr, hmmm?"

Damn it! "I-I'm not bad. It's just too complicated for me."

"Cookies are too complicated? I can always teach you, silly. The trick is combining the ingredients in a specific way and order. Unless that's truly too hard for you…"

"It won't be! I just didn't know the steps were like that, I just gather the ingredients and pour them all into the bowl!" though, the idea of Kris teaching her does sound pleasant. They can watch cool movies while relaxing on the couch when they're done cleaning up the kitchen, covered with warm and heavy blankets, waiting for the oven to go off. Then they can eat them together, laughing their worries away until they fall asleep…however, she'd gladly do the same with Ralsei, or Lancer, or Noelle, or Berdly. She's sure of that. Because that's what friends do! And Kris is her best friend, and that's why she always thinks about them. But…there was a feeling alongside that platonic joy. Eh, it's probably nothing though.

"...Ok, you can teach me, if you want to that badly. But just know I'm only in it to eat the raw batter." she flicked their forehead.

"Sure sure…" they pondered for a moment, then returned to the original topic. "I also like snowball fights. Those aren't too bad, and it seems like your constantly-searching-for-action-and-pain-ass would like it."

"Hey!"

"Where did I lie?"

"Just for that, I WILL steal every last cookie that you plan to eat for the rest of your days!"

"Careful, I might put nastyyyy things in there…like weed…laxatives…poison…" their expression turned more and more sinister—grin getting wider and wider, and the eye that peeked through their dark brown coils gave off a negative aura. But it was playfully so.

"Oh please, as if a wimp like you would do that just to trick me!"

"Oh really?"

Ok maybe she was wrong. "Then I'll poison you back! As revenge!"

"Alright, if you say so, Susie-Wusie." they poked her twice in tune with her new nickname, and she responded by taking their wrists and making them hit themselves. Kris attempted to break free and poke Susie more, but her fists were too strong, and both of their play fighting and struggling led to them laying on the floor and laughing so hard that Susie's chest ached and she found it hard to breathe. But she didn't care at all. God, she loved every moment of this. When the laughing died to giggles to silence, she could see Kris laying sideways and smiling sweetly at her in the corner of her eye.

"...A snowball fight with you wouldn't be so bad." she finally responded, facing them. "I…like them too."

"So you admit winter is better than summer?" they said in a tone that was in a complete contrast to their earlier expression.

"When the hell did I say that?! Summer still rules, no matter how fuzzy you make me feel!"

"Fuzzy?"

"Well, yeah? Isn't that how best friends feel about each other? With your stomach trying to kill itself and your blood pumping to your face and shit?"

Kris' eyebrows shot up. They just looked at her for a moment before saying "I-I guess. To some extent…"

"What are you acting so weird for?" Susie squinted. "Shouldn't you be flattered that I think of you so highly?"

"I-I am! I am. It's just…c-could you tell me more about these 'fuzzies'?"

"Well," she looked up and thought about all of the things she felt recently. She couldn't help smiling a little. "I like the thought of sitting or lying comfortably with you. Probably in warm covers and blankets or something." she also recalled the moment a few seconds ago. "I also like hearing your dorky ass laugh, and playing around with you. Why are you so curious about it?"

"It's nothing." they said as they flipped onto their back. Distant as ever, she thought. For someone who's flattered, they sure as hell aren't showing it. Maybe they don't get compliments often? Well, it makes sense. They're the weird kid who's quiet half the time and who's the only human in the entire town. People probably think they're ugly or something like that, but Susie never thought that. Not even when she bullied them. The way their coily brown hair reached their shoulders, the way their wide nose scrunched when they smiled, the way their brown skin complimented it all…

Susie couldn't help but to admire them. That's just a normal best friend feeling, right? Why is Kris being so damn doubtful and quiet about it?

"You give me the fuzzies too." they admitted softly out of nowhere. "A lot of fuzzies…it means a lot to me to hear you say that."

"No problem, dude. But uh…what do the fuzzies mean to you? You've been acting all weird."

They stayed quiet. Again. Of course they did. Kris does keep secrets often, like how they feel about being a human, and what was up with them after they fought that puppet guy, and what happened in the bunker. But this was a secret relating to her. And she didn't like it. Seriously, what could the fuzzies mean? All she said is that she liked being around them to the point it feels weird yet pleasant at the same time.

…

…

…

Hold on.

"YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON ME?!" she sat up and looked right at them. That only made them flip their laying position so Susie couldn't see them. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"You're the one with the crush on me…" they said, still refusing to look at her.

"Well how was I supposed to know!?"

They groaned and laid on their back again, facing her with an unreadable expression. They seemed a bit frustrated, but she knew they wouldn't be mad at her over something like this. Maybe she saw a bit of a darker brown flushing their cheeks, but it was hard to tell.

"You said," in their best Susie impression, "'I like the thought of sitting or lying comfortably with you. I also like hearing your dorky ass laugh, and playing around with you.'"

"I don't sound like that!"

"Ohhh, but you dooo~" they laughed to themselves for a second. "But you're right. I…like you a lot, Susie. I just never thought this would be happening so soon, or even at all. You said it so bluntly."

"W-well you can just forget about it if you want to. Uhm, I don't really know how to do relationship stuff that much. I'm not sure if any of it would even fit me…"

They rolled over and over so they'd be touching the side of her leg. "We don't have to date if you don't want to. But if you do, we don't have to do any of the typical stuff either. We've always kind of did our own thing together anyways."

Hearing that brought relief to Susie. But she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to cuddle with Kris. And play with their hair…if they'd let her. "Susie, if anyone tries to touch my hair, bite them for me please." they said to her once.

But she already cemented herself as someone tough, cool, and violent. There's no way someone like her would hold someone's hand…

But Kris was kind to her. Undeservedly so. They treated her like the greatest friend they could ever have. They knew how gentle Susie could be. The idea of having them so close to her heart made every inch of her sing. So maybe…maybe…

"I-I uhm. I wouldn't mind hugging you right now, if you want. Move over and let me lay down."

"On the cold hard floor?"

"Kris!"

"Sorry, sorry, just trying to ease your nerves. Here," they sat up, leaning against the side of the bed. Whilst intertwining their fingers into her claws, they laid their head on her shoulder.

Their hand was much smaller than hers…and soft and warmer, too. "Ha! Look at your little baby hands!" is what she thought about saying. But it felt as though her and their soul were merging, and that she was starting to melt away. Warmth was rising to her cheeks, God, they smelled so much like apples. Maybe a bit of cinnamon too. She has never felt so speechless before, and they weren't even doing much.

She felt so sleepy…she wasn't even that tired before. She wanted to yap all night, and sneak into the living room so they could watch movies until it's time to go to school. But the weight and comfort of Kris felt so nice. She felt so safe. Though, it's a little scary imagining how things are going to be from this night forward, all of this is going to take some getting used to.

How would everyone react to the mean and brutal Susie being extra soft to Kris of all people? Maybe Ralsei wouldn't mind, he probably saw it coming more so out of everyone. Lancer wouldn't care either, he would probably call Kris his sibling in law or something funny like that. Noelle would DEFINITELYYY be happy for her. Yup. Without a doubt. Berdly too.

But the rest of Hometown? She's not so sure…it's probably best to keep it all a secret. She never really liked how people talked about relationships anyways. No one can spend alone time together without "Ooooooo…"'s and shit. It made her want to vomit. Hopefully no one said anything when her and Kris disappeared into the closet and went out to the Card Kingdom. She liked them, sure, but never that way. Even if she did, it would still feel uncomfortable as hell. So yeah, she's definitely making sure the romance between her and Kris remains private for the most part.

Susie let out a loud and long yawn. God, what time is it? It feels like they've been sitting here forever.

"I should really go ahead and put my bonnet on…" Kris murmured as they got up, waking her up a little. She suddenly felt cold and light again, and the floor felt a lot harder. She watched as Kris' dark silhouette placed their tight curls inside of the green silk cap. No wonder why their hair is always so pretty…they definitely do some touch ups in the morning—it is a bunch of hair, after all. But to look so flawless with only half a bit of effort…

"I can feel you staring at me." their accusation startled her. "It's fine though. In fact, do you want to lay in bed instead? I don't want to sit on the floor all night."

"B-bed? With you?"

"Just to cuddle. You know I'm not like that, Susie-Wusie. You can sleep in Asriel's bed instead though, it might be more comfor—"

"No no no! I…I'd like that. But I snore. Really loud. I kind of stink too. And I hog too much space."

"It's cool. That's what I like about you." they walked over and sat on the bed, making a soft creak. Hesitating a little at first, Susie followed and made the bed complain louder due to the weight of two people on the surface. Their covers felt homemade with love, she wouldn't be surprised if Toriel sewed it herself. Maybe she should pick up some lessons…ripping up her clothes feels cool until they're ruined and basically unwearable.

Midthought, Kris took her waist like a teddy bear and looked up at her, as if searching for any signs of discomfort. It caught her off guard for a second, but Susie relaxed. They guided her down onto the cold pillows and hugged her closer, becoming as small as possible. Yeah, this is definitely new. 100% not a part of her nightly routine. But she supposed she could subject herself to it while she's…drifting off…to sl—

"Winter is still better by the way."

"Oh, FUCK you."

[yuurei20]

Jack Info Compilation part 24: Jack and Vil

Jack and Vil meet for the first time when child-Jack saves child-Vil from other children who were bullying Vil for his role as a villain in a TV show.

Vil insists that he didn’t need Jack’s help and Jack apologizes.

Jack doesn’t recognize Vil as a celebrity because he doesn’t watch much TV, but he still tries to reassure Vil by saying his acting must have been very convincing.

Jack says that he and Vil went to the same school “for like a year or two,” and Vil seems to have several stories about Jack from their childhood. Vil relates a time when they went out to play together in the snow and Jack made him a life-sized throne (Vil helped with design and decorations).

The two also took skiing and snowboarding lessons together and Vil says that as Jack was “already quite skilled at both” he helped Vil learn, but Jack insists that Vil mastered everything with just a few tips and he hardly needed any teaching.

Jack seems to be low-key hiding his past connection to Vil, telling Ace that there is someone in the school that he knew before he enrolled but not who it is.

We see the two reunite at Jack’s first opening ceremony where Vil says that Jack was the only one in their town who would ever say hello to him, as people tended to resent him for being a celebrity. Vil says that Jack left an impression on him “as an oddball who never cared about such things.”

When Vil is revealed to be the group’s trainer for Fairy Gala IF Jack says he is honored that Vil is personally stepping in to help.

When Vil says that Jack’s catwalk is “passable” Jack responds, “You mean it?! Ah, sorry, stupid question. You never say things you don’t mean…”

In another vignette Vil scolds Jack for wearing his ceremonial robes in a slovenly manner, insisting that he dresses himself in a way “befitting Night Raven College’s stories history.”

Jack promises to be careful, saying, “Can’t say I understood half of what you said, but…I know it’s somethin’ real important to you.”

Vil responds with “Huh…you really are an interesting one.”

After the performance in Book 5 Jack says that “Vil’s stage presence was incredible,” and when Vil says that he has added something special for Halloween Jack responds, “Now that you mention it, you’ve got more…grandeur than usual.”

In what may or may not be a regular occurrence we see the two students go jogging together early in the morning, with Jack commenting that he is impressed with Vil’s ability to keep up with him.

Vil says, “You’d do well not to underestimate me” and Jack apologizes. Jack continues on his morning run and Lilia appears, commenting to Vil that he finds it surprising that Vil gets along with an “athletic type” like Jack.

Vil explains, “Anyone who is working towards a goal, no matter what it is, deserves respect.”

[excarow]

so I've just binged Sk8 and it's left me wondering what would happen in season two.

Now this is gonna be a bit of a long one, so buckle in.

If we are to get a season two (and I'm definitely not holding my breath) what would be the end goal? Season one was very much Defeat Adam (after Langa learned to skate, and kind of learned to love again), and honestly I think the premise of season two would be similar; defeat the opponent (it is a shounen after all). HOWEVER, I do think there should be a secondary goal:

Reki wins a race.

throughout all of season 1 Reki never wins a race. Hell, Reki never wins anything, which is very strange as he's one of the protagonists. We see he loves skating, he's hardworking and honestly pretty good but we never see any of that rewarded. We almost see him turn into a supporting character for Langa, even as the story continues to revolve around him (not in a bad way, but more in a contrast way)

So honestly, I think Reki deserves a win, and not a win based on luck (like how the weather helped him in his race with Adam) but purely on his hard work.

and how would this work? Easy; training parallels with Joe and Cherry.

If you were to look at them, Reki seems to take after Joe (loud, brash, lovingly stupid) and Langa takes after Cherry (quiet, doesn't show off as much, doesn't want a spotlight) and while you can say that for personalities, for their skating style its the opposite story.

Joe and Cherry are the opposite dynamics of Brawn vs Brains (a tried and true trope) while Langa and Reki are Talent vs Hard-work.

Joe uses his body more, his power and instincts when he skates which is very similar to Langa, who uses he prior 15 years of snowboarding knowledge to shape how he skates. (that and i think he's a prodigy? Don't know if that's true or not)

Cherry on the other hand uses intellect and sharp precision. Which is like how Reiki uses his knowledge on building skate boards to make a board that adapts to Langa's snowboarding style and why he changed his wheels in his race with Adam. (Reki builds skateboards as a job, there is so much potential in that)

so for a hypothetical season 2 it would be nice to see this sort of training dynamic where we see Reki grow confidence in himself and it would be really nice to see he and Langa finally kiss skate together as true equals

ok rant over, sorry the moment i see any kind of opposite dynamics and character parallels i go feral

[haee-elia]

spence-tober: day 9 - snowboarder

pairing: snowboarder!spencer reid x fem!reader

summary: in which you take a tumble down the slopes, but someone is waiting to make sure you're okay

word count: 1282

warnings: just a lot of fluff, snow?, skiing, snowboarding?? are these warnings????

spence-tober masterlist

It was like a moment where you’d blink and you’d miss it. One second, you’re tightly gripping onto the poles in either of your hands. Even through the thick insulated gloves, you continue to have a death grip onto them. Your legs aren’t much better. They’re ramrod straight and solid in their position like steel, you’re too afraid to move them too much.

The next second, you’re face first into the padded snow and tumbling down a good few yards, finally coming to a stop when the skis on your feet pop off with the connection to the ground.

You groan and let go of your poles now that you aren’t moving down the mountain of the ski lodge you’re vacationing at with your friends, and shuffle your goggles onto your helmet. 

“Woah, there!” A voice from above says.

It’s a man’s voice. You can tell that much even in the haziness and embarrassment of the fall.

“Are you okay?!” The same voice says.

You look up. 

Instead of the skis that were attached to your feet, there’s one long board attached to his. His attire is similar to yours, with ski pants, a big puffy coat, gloves, helmet, and goggles. 

“Are you okay?!” He echoed again, this time a bit more frantic.

You nod wearily, “I’m okay,” You say. Your ego and pride is a bit bruised, probably along with your knees, but other than being mildly embarrassed, you’re overall fine.

The man seems to take a sigh of relief, “Here,” He says, then unlocking his boots from his snowboard. The control he has over moving on the slope of snow is amazing.

He offers his hands to help pick you up, “I’m so sorry,” He says apologizing.

Your eyebrows furrow, “What are you sorry for?” You ask while accepting his hands to pull you up onto your two legs again. You already nearly slip again on the slick hill.

Now that you’re on the same level as him, you can see the man more clearly now. With his goggles moved up to his helmet, same as yours, you can see his hair, crazy and wild, wisp around his face from beneath his helmet like a brown mane. 

His face is flushed by the cold and there’s a friendly smile on his face that also reaches his eyes. 

“I cut in front of you and you took quite a tumble there,” He explains, “My name’s Spencer by the way.” He introduces with a pleasant smile.

You return the smile and give him your own name, “Please, you’re hardly the reason I fell.” You say, rolling your eyes, “I’m shit at skiing.”

A curiosity peaked in his eye, “Then why are you out at a ski lodge?” He asked.

“My friends,” You say simply, “They convinced me that skiing would be fun.”

Of course, all of your friends had skied before and left you to your own devices. You had joined the lessons the day prior, but felt a little embarrassed when a literal 6 year old was doing a better job than you and decided to tough it out and ski with your friends. 

Your friends, of course, wanted to do black diamond slopes and you, of course, had stupidly went along with them.

“And are you having fun so far?” Spencer inquired next.

You shrugged and then bent over (as much as you could with ski boots and thick snow pants) to collect your abandoned skis. “Every time I feel like I’m having fun, I instantly fall.”

You eye his snowboard. It looks well used and certainly not like one of the rentals back up at the lodge. “I can’t imagine learning how to snowboard.” You admit.

He laughs, “Just takes some practice.” Then he bites his lip, “And, if I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m shit at skiiing too.”

“No way,” You laugh with him, “You mean to tell me that you’re a pro at snowboarding down black diamond slopes, but can’t ski to save your life?” You question, doubtful.

Spencer nods, a large grin on his face, “I promise!” Then he takes his gloved hand and cross a small ‘x’ over on his chest where his heart resides. “Cross my heart! I swear.”

“Okay!” You reply, “I believe you, I believe you.” You assure him in a joking tone.

“Do you, um,” Spencer starts to say to you, “-need some help getting down to the bottom?” He offers with a kind smile.

“Oh, I don’t want to keep you from snowboarding.” You say, not wanting to impose, “Trust me. I’ll be falling down every two minutes.”

“How about we walk down?” Spencer says, bending down to grab his board and stand it up next to him. With even how long the snowboard is, you note that Spencer is still taller. 

“Are you sure?” You try to confirm.

Spencer nods and chuckles, “I’m sure, we can stick to the sides of the slope and my jacket has a reflector on the back. So we won’t get in anyone’s way.” 

With your hesitant nod, Spencer’s smile gets a little bigger and he waddles over to you and helps you with your own skis. Once you’ve finally got a good grip of both of them, then you two veer off to the right of the slope and start walking down carefully. 

“So,” You start to make small talk, “What are you doing at this ski lodge? Vacation?” You guess.

He shakes his head, “I actually come up on the weekends whenever I have the time.”

“And you’ve never tried skiing?” You question, glancing up at him. In the moment that your eyes wander off from the ground, you stumble and Spencer catches your shoulder with his arm. You instinctively use your own arm to stable yourself on his. You recover smoothly with his help and keep scaling down the snowy hill.

Spencer shakes his head, “I tried when I was younger, but never could get it. Then I got free snowboarding lessons at a raffle auction and kept on snowboarding afterwards.”

He looked at you with ease, no stumbling on the snow, “What about you? You decided to keep hitting the slopes? The lodges are pretty nice here and there’s plenty other to do.”

You chuckle, but keep your eyes on each step you take, “I could call it and stay in.” You admit.

“But, I really, really want to get this.” You admit also, “I guess I’m just stubborn.” Your cheeks flush, but its undeterminable from the redness from the cold.

“Or determined.” Spencer counters, a smile on his face.

Silence falls on the two of you for a moment. Only the sounds of the snow cracking under the weight of the ski boots and the whooshing of the wind against the tops of the trees around you.

“If,” Spencer’s voice cracks and he clears his throat. This time you do look at him, risking the fall.

“If you still wanna take another crack at skiing tomorrow, I’d be happy to join you.” He tries again.

You notice that his cheeks have become a lot more red as well, you’re sure it’s not because of the cold wind. 

“We can be shit at skiing together.” Spencer offers, his tone optimistic, “Or maybe we could learn together.” He says the last word softly, as if not to scare you.

You smile and look down for a moment, then stop completely in your stride down the slope and look back up at him. By the way you watch his eyes scan your face, you can tell that he also has noticed your very red and flushed cheeks.

“I’d really like that.”

a/n: if y'all could please request me to write another blurb about their ski lesson, i would do so in a heartbeat

[zoekeating]

Dear Listeners,

It’s winter break here in Vermont so my son and I have been out on the slopes every day. For many years I have stayed away from fast slidey sports because I was afraid of injuring my hands. If my hands don’t work, how do I make music? But among the many bits of advice I’ve gotten in my parenting journey, “be into what your kid is into” has been one of the best. My lad needed someone to ride the lifts with and I needed to overcome my fear and learn how to fall properly, so here I am.

I found that skiing is not all that different from rollerblading, which I learned to do in Central Park the summer of my junior year. I brought the skates with me on my year abroad in Florence. On weekends there was this amazing city to explore but buses and museums and cafes cost money. And whenever I roamed the quiet streets and parks alone, I would be perpetually harassed, groped and even flashed by pathetic men. But rollerblading was free and, bonus, I am already quite tall, so with skates I was at least 6ft2in. No one ever messed with me on skates. I adapted to the cobblestones and explored all of Florence with exhilarating freedom.

One Sunday, as I was enjoying the expanses of asphalt in Parco delle Cascine, I came upon a group of folks on old-school rollerskates. They had a boombox and were dancing, just like the skaters of Central Park but without the sequined hot pants. They waved me over and exclaimed over my weird skates. They invited me to join them and for the rest of the school year, I spent every Sunday afternoon I could with the rollerskaters. We would gather, dancing and skating around obstacles, and once we had critical mass, tear off along the Arno and into the old city. We’d skate past the David, circle the Piazza della Signoria multiple times and whizz down the marble collanade along the Piazza Republica, ending in a bar, still on skates, for an espresso or aperativo. Those are some of my best memories of my year in Florence.

I continued the skating when I moved to San Francisco, zooming most days through Golden Gate Park to the beach and back again. Sometimes I’d join a similar group of mad skaters on Friday nights to roll fearlessly down hills and through tunnels. Skating was always a great source of joy. But then I moved away from the paved environment of the city and I transitioned to music full time. After acquiring a broken finger from an Evil Door and being shocked at how much that tiny injury impacted my ability to play, I quit skating.

Fast forward to Vermont. Like many people did during the pandemic, I got back on skates except this time with padding, wrist guards and a helmet. And then, as my boy learned to snowboard, I learned to ski. We still ride the lifts together but now he zips down black diamond trails while I ski carefully down the easy ones. He is mystified as to how I can bear to do the same runs over and over but I like it that way. It’s like a meditation. I focus on perfecting my technique and try to make each turn better than the last. It feels similar to one of the things I enjoy about playing the cello, which is noticing tiny details and gradually polishing them. How can I improve this one phrase that I have played thousands of times? It never gets old or boring for me.

I hope it never gets boring for you either! Next week I’ll get back to work improving my old songs and figuring out to play some of my new ones in time for my concerts in March.

March 15 - ArtYard in Frenchtown,NJ

March 16 - Underground Arts in Philadelphia, PA opening up for my old friend The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

March 17 - Le Poisson Rouge in NYC

March 21 - St John’s Cathedral at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN

And one more

April 6 - Unitarian Univeralist Church in Burlington VT, accompanied by mesmerizing visuals by Alex Reeves

also, outside my solo work on April 7 I’ll be a part of composer Randal Pierce’s ensemble, performing his live soundtrack to George Méliès’ silent cinematic masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon

6:30 and 8:30pm shows

More about all the events happening in Burlington around the eclipse

Thank you for listening and please wear a helmet when you are going fast.

celloly yours, Z