#local skating comp

[doomduck]

Big day yesterday.

After skating in the morning I got to watch the Victorian state championships! Its a bench mark competition so I was hoping that ment getting to see some really good skating.

Here are what I hope are some very brief notes:

- the novice divisions where big

-i missed ice dance/pairs

- I sore maybe 4 men skate the whole day

- Chris showed me how to run the camera!

- there is corner that is known as the 'axel corner ' that camera can't see thanks to the hockey glass (?)

- there were a couple of triple axels. All of the. In the novice divisions.

- no quads

- Chris was not in pressed with the lack of transitions in the adult women's programs (there were only 3 competitors)

- alot of the skate school coachs were completing in the novice divisions (intermediate i think?) And did Really well!

Here is Camilo's free skate. He was the only one in the senior men's.

[winged-wolf-dreamer]

Question for my fellow Yumabots:

[beautification-tales]

The Talk Show

Gina, a tomboyish skater with a baseball cap and baggy clothes, was sitting on the hood of her beat-up car when she received the call. The producer of a new talk show about sports had seen her shred the halfpipe at the local skate comp and wanted her on the show. She didn't hesitate; the chance to be on TV and showcase her skills was too good to pass up. So, here she was, waiting in the green room of the studio, her heart racing and her knuckles white from gripping her skateboard so tightly.

The door opened, revealing a tall, stylish woman with a perfectly coiffed bob and designer clothes. It was Karen, the producer. Gina stood up, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. "You must be Gina," Karen said, offering her hand. "I'm Karen. I've been looking forward to meeting you. We're going to have a blast on this show."

As they walked down the hall, Karen explained that the first order of business was to get Gina ready for her debut on the show. They entered a luxurious dressing room, where a team of hair and makeup artists were waiting. Gina felt a little uneasy as they started to fuss over her, but Karen assured her that it was all part of the process. They sat her down in front of a mirror and began to apply foundation, concealer, and blush to her normally bare face. Then they brushed on some mascara and lip gloss. Gina couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious, but she trusted Karen's judgment. They fixed her hair by taking it out of the hat and styling it so that it fell upon her shoulders and covered her forehead.

Once they were done, Karen led her to another room where a stylist showed her the wardrobe she was to wear. It was a form-fitting, black dress, shiny sheer black pantyhose and louboutin black stilettos. “Wait, why do you want me to put this on? What does this have to do with skating? I can't skate in heels, that's just stupid," Gina protested. Karen smiled reassuringly and said, "Trust me, this is all part of the show's aesthetic. It's not just about your skating skills, it's about your entire image. You're going to look amazing and turn heads. Now put it on, we don't want to keep the crew waiting."

Despite her misgivings, Gina put on the dress and heels. As she stood up, she felt self-conscious and unsteady in the high heels. Karen, noticing this, laughed and said, “You look amazing Gina. Trust me this is how we get viewers hooked. Once they're hooked they will listen to every word you say.” Gina was still skeptical but she followed Karen out of the room and onto the set. “Oh one last thing, let's have you wear this necklace too.” Karen said as she handed her a gold chain with a tiny skateboard charm. Gina reluctantly put it on and it felt warm on her skin. Immediately she felt a bit better as her posture straightened. She thought she was imagining things but it was like her breasts felt heavier. She looked back and admired her ass. “Hmm my training has been paying off.” She said to herself.

As they walked onto the set, Gina couldn't help but feel like a fish out of water. The bright lights, the cameras, and the excited chatter of the crew made her heart race even faster. Karen led her to a comfortable chair where she could wait for her cue. As she sat there, Gina glanced down at the skateboard charm around her neck and tried to remind herself why she had agreed to do this in the first place. She took a deep breath and tried to relax.

She listened to the host begin to speak, his voice booming through the studio. The audience laughed at something the host said, and Gina felt a pang of nervousness. "And now," the host continued, "let's bring out our special guest for today's show! Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Gina, the tomboy skater who's taking the skate park scene by storm!"

Gina's heart leapt into her throat as she heard her introduction. She forced herself to stand up and walk towards the center of the stage. The lights were so bright she could hardly see the audience. The heels clicked on the floor as she was surprised how well she walked in them now. As she stood there, the host flashed her a winning smile and embraced her with a slight hug. He led her to her seat as she sat down."So, Gina, tell us a little bit about yourself," he said, his voice smooth and charismatic.

She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. "Well, I've been skating for most of my life," she began, her voice not as shaky as she'd expected. "I started in a local park with my friends, and I just fell in love with it. I mean, there's nothing like the feeling of flying through the air, spinning and flipping on my board. It's just...freeing." The audience laughed at her enthusiasm, and she felt a tiny bit more at ease.

Gina crossed her legs as she felt a bolt of electricity shoot through her body. It felt so good as she squeezed her legs together. “So Gina you really clean up nicely for a tomboy” the host said with a grin. Gina blushed as she realized he was flirting with her. “Well I’m usually wearing sneakers but I had to look my best for you Craig” she replied playfully. The audience laughed and cheered as they were enjoying the banter between the two of them. “Hey now! Careful or I might have to take up skating!” Craig joked.

“I can gladly show you the basics. You know I know my way around a halfpipe.” Gina smiled. She didn’t understand where this charisma had come from. She was usually quite awkward but looking into Craig’s eyes she felt amazing. Gina felt the tingle between her legs intensifying. She licked her lips and pulled at her dress and re crossed her legs. Another bolt of electricity shot through her system as her mouth opened. “Are you sure you’re a tomboy?” Craig teased, causing the audience to laugh even harder.

“I can be anything you want me to be.” Gina said, her voice dripping with sensuality. Gina felt like she was having an out of body experience watching someone else in control of her body. The audience in unison went “ooooh” as some male voices hooted in approval. “Damn Gina I think I’m buying my skateboard right now.” Craig joked pulling out his phone acting like he was browsing to shop. Gina felt her insides melt as she stared into his eyes, her heart racing.

Gina found it more difficult to hide the pleasure she was feeling. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to breathe normally. “Like I said nothing better than riding that sturdy piece of wood.” Gina closed her eyes as her body tensed. The audience was silent with a few gasps. Craig readjusted himself in his seat and took a sip of water. “Ahem well Gina thanks for coming on the show and making us all skateboarding fans.” He smiled.

“My pleasure” Gina replied, her voice throaty and sultry. The sensation in her body was becoming almost too much to bear. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to find some relief. As the segment came to an end and the audience began to applaud, Gina felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. What had just happened? She had never been so flirtatious or confident before. She couldn't believe how easily the words had flowed out of her mouth.

Karen greeted her backstage as she led her to the dressing room. “Wow Gina just Wow!” She showed the immediate responses that the show's social media received. “Bring Gina back!” , “We love Gina!”, “That woman is a smoke show!”, “Instant Fan!” The positive reviews were overwhelming as Gina’s phone started buzzing like crazy with notifications. “Feel free to stay and relax. Craig will probably want to come by and say thank you. Gina… you were amazing!” Karen gushed.

Gina sat down on the comfy couch as she felt her nerves calm down. However, the pleasure was more intense as she slowly slid her hand between her legs. The pantyhose was beginning to feel so slick as her wetness flowed from her panties. She rubbed as she held back her cries as she watched Craig end the show from her television. “What a great show We had tonight. I want to thank Tom Brady for being on and the up and coming huge star Gina White… She's going places! Good night everyone!”

Gina put her head back when she heard her name. “Up and cummin,” how appropriate she whispered.

She heard a knock on the door and took a deep breath. “Come in” she said as she fixed herself on the couch in a seductive pose. It was him. Craig. The man that she had just flirted with on national television. He walked in and smiled at her. Gina felt a flutter in her stomach. She didn't know what to say or do. "Hi Gina," he said, his voice smooth as silk. "That was... well, that was something else. I can't believe how confident you were back there. You were amazing."

“Thank you, I’m usually so awkward and nervous but tonight. It’s like I knew what to do and it felt so… natural.” Gina blushed as she looked at her lap, playing with the hem of her dress. Craig walked over to her and sat down beside her on the couch. He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. "Yeah, people love to see flirting. It’s a fun act to put on.” He whispered.

“Who said I was acting?” She grabbed Craig’s collar and pulled him in for a kiss. His lips were soft and tasted like mint. She felt his hand slip under her dress, tracing circles over her hosiery covered thigh. She moaned into the kiss, her body melting against his. He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue into her mouth, their tongues tangling together. Gina reached down and unbuckled his belt, then undid his pants, freeing his hard cock. She stroked it slowly, feeling the heat and the length of it against her palm. "I was serious. Nothing better than riding some hard stiff wood," she whispered.

Craig broke the kiss, breathing heavily. "Then why don't you show me just how good you are at it?" He said as he guided her upon his lap. He grabbed her ass with a hard spank as he ripped her pantyhose open. She grabbed the couch, slipping her wet panties to the side as she lowered herself onto his cock. He groaned as she took him inside her, her tightness sending waves of pleasure through his body. She began to ride him hard, her hips moving in a rhythm that was both sensual and demanding. The sound of their skin slapping together filled the room as they lost themselves in the heat of the moment. “Oh you are definitely coming back to the show.” Craig gasped as she leaned forward, her breasts brushing against his chest. She ground her hips against him, feeling the familiar tightness building inside her. With a final thrust, she arched her back, her orgasm crashing over her in a wave of pleasure. She moaned his name as her body trembled from the release.

“Mmm Craig I’m cumming multiple times tonight alone.” She restarted riding him as their moans echoed in the room.

Meanwhile, just outside Gina’s dressing room Karen and a Production Assistant were listening. “Karen, I think we can pencil her in next month but I think you put way too much charisma spell on the necklace.” The Production Assistant said as she smiled. Karen shook her head in disagreement. “You hear that in there? That’s the sound of future ratings and advertising dollars in all our pockets.” She grinned as she put her ear back up against the door. The sounds of their moaning and breathing filled the hallway, sending a shiver down her spine. “Yeah but what happens when Gina becomes addicted to fame and beauty… she won’t be doing much skating then.” The PA said with a worried tone. Karen smirked. “ From what I’m hearing. She won’t mind at all.” Karen walked away as she turned back to say one more thing.

“Anyway that’s show biz.”

[hopetorun]

i had a friend over to watch the skills comp so i wasn't liveblogging or even looking at tumblr really but all that means is that i'm going to subject all my friends and followers to my disjointed thoughts at 12:30 am instead

did we really all agree that the 2023 skills competition was so bad that it needed to be remade from the ground up?

like i definitely had notes (especially as an in-person spectator for that one) but like. it wasn't that bad? i had fun?

i'm not fundamentally opposed to some of the stuff that was going on with this concept, like having an overall winner of the whole thing with a prize

it was a bummer to not get to see my Guy from my Team show off his skills at all!

really missed having the benches with all the players and some of their kids milling around getting up to shenanigans

how am i supposed to write fanfiction where they plan their post-comp hookups now, nhl

the classics are solid (fastest skater, hardest shot, accuracy shooting) and i love an obstacle course event, but too many of the events were too similar (specifically the passing one, the stickhandling one, and the obstacle course)

really felt the lack of any events with any reward for flair or creativity. i've always really liked the breakaway challenge but even if you want to move away from that i feel like there's options. trick shot competition maybe? get ea to sponsor a video game moves type thing?

also no real sense of local connection at all! couldn't they have leaned in to the ~history stuff and made select players stickhandle or take shots with old fashioned sticks or some kind of like, oh old school hockey type thing?

watching the stickhandling event and seeing quinn be the only person who actually skated backward competently during the skating backward section has me like ... skating skill event?

death, taxes, and leon sucking absolute balls at accuracy shooting

cannot stress enough how much i missed getting to see even a modicum of personality and creativity from the players. i know they don't all have a lot of it but just having something to break up the onslaught of timed events is nice

connor mcdavid winning the mcdavid by connor mcdavid for connor by connor mcdavid skills competition is so predictable

they should've given the $1m to the singer who wore his daniel alfredsson jersey and his sens logo pants

[astars-things]

Can you please do:

y/n and boyfriend Luke hughes are skating on a lake with his brothers then the lake starts to crack and y/n goes through the ice 😐

sorry it took a while, hope you like it

You have known the hughes brothers most of your life and they were there for you most, so when you started dating Luke everyone was so excited, especially Ellen who viewed you like a daughter

It was finally winter break so you, Luke,Quinn and Jack all decided to go down to the local lake that had turned to ice over winter and go for a skate 

While the boys messed around with their sticks and puck you were doing jumps and leaps, practicing for your ice skating comps

Suddenly you felt the ice under you begin to crack trying not to freak out you tried to move to a different spot on the lake, suddenly you felt your body get surrounded by cold cold water, you could barely hear the boys yell out your name, 

Luke quickly grabbed a hold of you and pulled you out the water while Quinn and Jack were getting help for you

“Y/n, you’re going to okay” Luke comforted, that’s the last thing you heard…..

Requests are open 

Love you all 

Reblog 

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Under The Surface

December 19, 2022

Prompt - No Pressure

Notes - The final and longest installment of this trilogy, coming in at 21 pages! I had a lot of fun with this, but I didn’t finish it until last night because the ending was giving me trouble. Also, I know I mention it being 2023 in this, but I gave up trying to make it take place in the future after I started writing my novel version of this story, so we’re in modern times now, lmao. 

Cars and minivans lined the parking lot of the Myrtle Beach Sports Center, people young and old alike filling the area as they waited for the doors to open. The Snowflake Championship was a very selective competition, few skaters would have gotten an acceptance letter, but Vivien severely underestimated just how many people would be attending in support of someone they knew even if they hadn’t been accepted themselves. As the Birch family’s rental van rolled into an empty space at the back of the lot, Vivien got a good look around at the other skaters she would be going up against and felt a wave of anxiety hit her. She wasn’t used to this. The championships she usually competed in were local - other small-town skate companies duking it out for a shoddily made trophy to put in their glass cases by the check-in desks. This was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

The doors of the van opened and everyone began exiting the vehicle, shoving things they had taken from the old Murphy house back into the van since they wouldn’t be needing them. Vivien slowly made her way onto the tarmac, looking around at the other cars in the area until she spotted Riven leaning against a sports car that had probably cost his dad quite a bit to rent. He was on the phone with someone while his dad talked with someone else from their rink just a few feet away. A hand on Vivien’s arm distracted her from her skating partner and brought her attention to Carrie as the blonde held out the black bag that contained Vivien’s costumes for the competition. After thanking the older girl and turning toward the building across the lot, Vivien froze, a sense of dread settling in her chest as she spotted a familiar, raven-haired girl talking with her entourage by the front door - her friend and skating rival from Maine, Naomi Sato.

Naomi Sato was the ideal figure skater in the eyes of many. She skated only to classical music, her jumps always landed flawlessly, she just barely scraped five feet tall, and she had the body type of a toothpick. On the other hand, Vivien preferred skating to whatever she felt made her movements come alive, she excelled in spins while her jumps were more to fill in elements than they were to impress anyone, she towered over most of her competition despite being five-foot-eight, and she was the first to admit she had curves, but at least she liked that about herself. Naomi had multiple gold medals under her belt and had plans of going to the Olympics whereas Vivien was perfectly fine without having the spotlight on her skates and a heavy Olympic medal around her neck. The girls had known each other for a while and considered themselves friends, texting on Instagram and leaving comments on each other’s TikToks all the time, but Vivien knew that if Naomi was competing, she wouldn’t have much of a chance at seeing a gold medal at all, let alone having one to bring home.

A hand on Vivien’s arm brought her out of her thoughts and, as she took in Bentley’s concerned eyes, she shook her head and sent him a smile, “I’m fine, Beemer.”

“You don’t look fine,” he replied.

“Gee, thanks,” Vivien said sarcastically.

Bentley rolled his eyes as he sighed, “You know what I mean, Viv.”

“I do,” Vivien nodded, allowing Bentley to lead her away from the vehicle they’d arrived in. “I’m still going to say that I’m fine.”

Bentley turned to Vivien, stopping the girl mid-step. “So you’re lying to me?”

Vivien sighed, “I’m not lying. It’s just some pre-comp jitters. It happens all the time and I’m used to it at this point.”

Steel blue eyes searched Vivien’s emerald ones in search of any trace of a lie but found none. With a sigh, Bentley relented and turned back in the direction of the building, “Alright, but I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“You and everyone else once this all hits Youtube,” Vivien breathed, hauling her bag further onto her shoulder as she began walking once again.

A large group of skaters and their coaches were waiting by the doors, ready to be allowed inside to practice before the competition, but they would have more than enough time to get on the ice before the weekend. Just as the group inched their way under the building’s extended awning, a sharp squeal made everyone freeze, “Vivien!”

Turning toward the voice seemed to have been a mistake as a head of pin-straight, jet-black hair slammed into Vivien’s chest, nearly sending both girls to the ground from the sheer force the shorter skater exuded. Vivien’s arms came around the girl with a laugh as they swayed from one side to the other, “Naomi, it’s so good to see you.”

“You too!” Naomi exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were coming to this competition.”

“I didn’t know you were either,” Vivien explained with a smile as the two separated. “You here to snatch another gold for Knox Academy?”

Knox Ice Academy was a skating company in Rockport, Maine that was renowned for producing professional skaters. From their three-year-old beginners to their oldest, pro-level skaters, they had trainers and choreographers that outranked many other skating companies in New England. Naomi and most of her friends had skated there since they were little and had been loyal to the company since they were first strapped into a pair of little skates. To Vivien’s confusion, however, the raven-haired girl shook her head with a heavy sigh, “I left Knox over the summer after it was discovered that they were putting drugs in some of the workout drinks.”

“Holy shit,” Vivien gasped. “That’s insane!”

“Oh yeah,” Naomi breathed. “Thankfully, I was one of the few who tested negative, but they’re under investigation now, so I moved to Limelight in Dover-Foxcroft.”

“That’s a long drive from Rockport, isn’t it?”

“Two hours,” Naomi sighed. “Thankfully, we’re moving soon, so the commute won’t be too bad.” There was a brief pause as the girls nodded, but Naomi’s dark, almost black eyes widened as she excitedly slapped Vivien’s arm with a squeaky giggle. “That reminds me, I have someone you need to meet!”

“Okay, yeah,” Vivien chuckled before watching the girl take off to the gaggle of skaters she had been talking with earlier. “Ow,” she muttered, rubbing her arm until she saw Naomi turn back toward her and approach with a curly-haired girl trailing behind her.

“Vivien O’Brian,” Naomi began with a bright smile, gesturing to the girl she had pulled next to her, “this is Lexi Warren.” 

While Naomi rambled on about how Lexi was a skater that had taken her in when she first started training at her new rink, Vivien was trying to think of a way to tell the excited girl that she already knew Lexi. She’d known Lexi for a long time. Lexi had been a skater at Vivien’s Purple Finch rink for years before her family moved north. They had been close since they were both very young, spending as much time together as possible and even taking time out of their already busy schedules for each other. Their relationship practically dissolved a few weeks before Lexi left for Maine, but very few people knew why.

“-so I thought the two of you would be good friends,” Naomi finished, clearly not noticing the stare the other two girls shared.

Vivien tore her gaze from Lexi’s and smiled at Naomi, “We actually used to skate together when we were kids. We were good friends back then.”

Lexi scoffed, her arms crossing over her chest, “Is that what we were?”

“Lex,” Vivien sighed, “can we not do this right now?”

“Why not?” Lexi pressed. “I don’t see a reason why we can’t.”

A fire ignited in Vivien’s eyes as she readied herself to list all of the reasons she could think of, but a hand on her back stopped her. “There you are, Pip,” Riven said with a faint smirk. “You ready to go inside?”

“Yeah,” she huffed, allowing Riven to pull her toward the doors that had opened at some point during the conversation. Making sure the rest of the people she arrived with were following them, Vivien took in a deep breath, turned to Naomi, and said, “See you inside.”

The bewildered girl raised a hand and waved as Riven led her friend into the building and away from the conversation. Naomi turned to Lexi with an eyebrow raised, “What was that all about?”

Undeterred, Lexi rolled her eyes and tugged her bag further up her arm, “I’ll tell you later. Let’s just go.” Lexi took off, leaving Naomi standing by herself in the middle of the walkway. Naomi watched as a few other skaters joined the line of people filing into the building before heading inside with a sigh. She’d find out what was going on one way or another.

Almost as soon as they entered the building, Vivien split off from the group she had arrived with, telling her boyfriend and his family to wait in the stands for her family to arrive while she and Riven went to get changed into their practice clothes and hit the ice. Royce’s concern for his girlfriend only grew as he watched Riven put an arm around Vivien’s shoulders and guide her toward the other side of the building where most of the other skaters were gathering; whoever the girls outside were, they made Vivien uncomfortable. He wanted to know why so that he could help her deal with it the way she helped him deal with everything. Royce watched Vivien leave, rooted to the padded floor until Miles pried him away and moved him toward the bleachers.

“Any idea what that was all about?” Bentley asked as he and Royce found seats near the middle of the ice and claimed them for themselves.

Royce slowly shook his head, “Not a clue.”

“Maybe she’ll tell you later,” Lela offered from her seat behind the brothers. “You three tell each other everything, after all.”

“Yeah,” Royce agreed with a shrug. However, as he glanced over at where Vivien had disappeared with her mountainous skating partner, an unnerving pit began to form in his stomach, and all of a sudden, he wasn’t so sure of his own words. Taking a deep breath, Royce apprehensively muttered, “Yeah.”

After having changed into the matching outfits they usually wore on the ice during practice, Riven pulled Vivien down one of the halls, past a basketball gymnasium, and into an empty locker room. Once they were alone, he asked, “What was that about?”

Vivien was quick to fire back, “What was what about?” 

Riven’s gaze was firm as he growled, “Don’t give me that shit, Vivien. You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to talk about it.”

“You need to.”

“Still don’t want to.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Riven sighed, “Vivien, I know you and Lexi didn’t end on the greatest of terms-”

A scoff left Vivien as she dropped onto a nearby bench, “That’s putting it lightly.”

“-but it would be best if we just ignored her while we’re here.” Riven watched Vivien’s expression as her gaze fell to the floor. Riven crouched in front of his partner and took her hands in his. “I don’t mean to upset you, Pip, but at least try to think of the positives.”

“What positives?” Vivien choked out as she met Riven’s gaze. “I was hoping I’d never see her again. Now she’s here as a competitor and it terrifies me.”

“Lexi never skates with a partner,” Riven tried reassuringly. “We don’t have to worry about her there.”

“No,” Vivien agreed, “but I still have to worry about her when it comes to the singles. With her and Naomi working together, I’m off of the podium before I’ve even stepped on the ice.”

Riven’s chuckle delivered a direct, but painfully honest statement, “Lexi hasn’t seen a podium since she broke her leg. The chances of her landing any of her jumps properly are slim to none.”

“She could still mess with my head,” Vivien insisted. “Or my single programs.”

Riven’s grip moved to Vivien’s arms as he sent her an adamantly firm stare, “Don’t let her. If you think she’s messing with you, tell me, tell your boyfriend, tell someone.”

“I’ll tell you,” Vivien breathed, her gaze falling again before returning to Riven’s. “I’ll tell you, but I can’t tell Royce and neither can you.”

Riven’s eyebrows furrowed as he questioned, “Why not?”

Vivien glanced toward the door anxiously before turning back to Riven and muttering, “He doesn’t know about me and Lexi.”

“You never told him?” Riven asked, his eyes widening incredulously.

“It never came up!” Vivien exclaimed softly. “He knows I dated someone before and I know he did too, but I never told him who I dated.”

“He deserves to know, Viv.”

“I know he does.”

“Then tell him,” Riven pleaded. “Rip off the bandage before someone else does.”

Vivien froze, her gaze locking with Riven’s hazel eyes. “What do you mean?”

Riven sighed, “Think about it, Pip. I’m not the only one here who knows that you and Lexi dated. The chances of Lexi telling Royce or him finding out from someone else she told are high.”

As she thought over Riven’s words, Vivien let out a prolonged groan, her fingers twisting knots in her hair as she ran her hands over her scalp. “I’m fucked.”

“And not in a good way,” Riven chuckled.

“Riven,” Vivien barked, “this is serious!”

“I know!” Riven yelped, backing away and raising his hands in surrender. At Vivien’s whine of frustration, Riven sighed, “How about this: if you don’t tell Royce before we do our free skate program tomorrow afternoon, I’ll tell him for you.”

Green eyes widened in horror, a fleeting glance at the clock making them sink in fear. “That only gives me a little over a day to come up with something to tell him.”

“That should be more than enough time,” Riven said with a shrug. “You’re taking this all too seriously. It’s twenty-twenty-three, not nineteen-fifty-two; your past dating life shouldn’t matter.”

Vivien sighed, rubbing the sweat from her palms on her pants, “His family is old-fashioned and he values his family over everything. Our relationship could end over this.”

The auburn-haired male shook his head, “From what you’ve told me, you two have been together through a lot together; I highly doubt that your relationship would fall apart because of something that happened years ago.”

Although she still seemed hesitant to agree that Riven was right, Vivien slowly nodded, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I am,” Riven teased. Once Vivien let out a soft laugh and shook her head, Riven smirked and added, “So, do we have a deal?”

It took Vivien a while to think about her answer. She knew she would have to tell Royce about everything sooner or later, but she had been hoping to keep it as far on the “later” side as she could. Even though she wanted nothing more than to tell Riven she wasn’t up for the challenge, she knew she couldn’t turn him away. Besides, Riven wasn’t one to be pushy or rude, so Vivien knew that, even if she didn’t meet the deadline he had set for her, he would be gentle in telling Royce the same thing she had confided in him so many years prior. Finding nothing but sincerity and warmth in Riven’s eyes, Vivien sighed, “We have a deal.”

“That’s my girl,” Riven beamed. Pushing himself to his feet again, Riven offered Vivien a hand and asked, “You ready to go practice now?”

Vivien placed her hand in Riven’s, a small smile appearing on her face as she agreed, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Good,” Riven said as he hauled Vivien off of the bench she had perched herself on. “Let’s get some time on the ice before our short program and your solo.”

Vivien laughed, allowing Riven to drag her toward the door and through the hallways. As they neared the ice and made their way to the padded area lining the outside of the rink, Vivien spared a wave at her family and friends. As though the surging, crashing ocean waves had been let loose inside her stomach, the seventeen-year-old felt a wave of anxiety-riddled nausea flood her system once she spotted Royce beaming at her with enough love and adoration in his eyes to make Aphrodite sick. After sending a small grin in his direction, Vivien turned her back to her boyfriend and swallowed thickly as she gripped Riven’s hand just a fraction tighter. How on earth was she going to make it through their routines if she could barely think of anything other than her promise with Riven and the looming threat of Lexi sending her relationship with Royce down the drain over something that had happened ages ago?

The brunette was pulled from her thoughts as Riven returned her tight squeeze. Upon turning to her partner, Vivien felt little relief at his supposedly calming smile. He muttered something to her that she just couldn’t make out over the ringing in her ears, but his laugh was heard above the screeching noise. After asking him to repeat himself, Vivien let out a strained breath as Riven said, “Deep breaths, Pip. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

As she spared a look over her shoulder at Royce, she realized Riven was probably right. Sending him a smile and a wave, Vivien felt relieved to see him grinning right back at her. As Royce’s hand lifted into the air, Vivien caught a pair of golden eyes that distracted her. The glimmering glare Lexi’s eyes held as she watched Royce wave fondly back at Vivien made green-eyed brunette feel at least a hundred times worse than she had mere moments before. She had just unintentionally redirected Lexi’s anger toward her, onto Royce, the one person she wanted to protect from this mess. Looking back at Royce, Vivien found his head tipped to the side and an eyebrow raised as he glanced between her and Lexi. Once he discovered Vivien was watching him, he sent her a confused shrug and she shook her head in return, waving her free hand to show her brushing off the interaction before sending him a smile and turning back toward the ice. As she watched some of the junior skaters practice, Vivien took in a deep breath and sighed. What had she just gotten herself into?

No other skating competition had ever gone by so fast, in Vivien’s opinion. Her solo short program had gone by so quickly that she was sure the person in control of the music had put Florence and The Machine’s “Lover To Lover” on three times its normal speed and she had still managed to find a spot in the top three for the day. Then, the short program she shared with Riven had flown by, literally in a few spots, and by the time they were in the ever-so-aptly named “kiss and cry” seat, awaiting their scores, Vivien’s anxiety had been replaced with adrenaline. A score of 75.19 had been given to the pair, setting them in the highest place for the short program, sliding the teams from Georgia and New York into second and third place for the time being. As soon as they were allowed to return to their families for a brief intermission, Vivien found Royce and Bentley attached to her sides.

“That was amazing,” Bentley commended into Vivien’s shoulder before allowing Royce to fill his space.

“I knew you could do it,” Royce muttered, his breath fluttering a few baby hairs that curled at the nape of Vivien’s neck, sending a shiver down her spine. “You two were incredible.”

“I’m just glad I landed that throw,” she breathed as they parted, his hand sliding down her arm to lace their fingers together. “I still have my individual free program and our free skate tomorrow both of which would’ve been insanely difficult with an injured leg.”

“You feel alright, though?” Royce asked. 

Vivien nodded, but before she could voice her answer, a voice from behind her cut in, “I sure hope she is.” Vivien turned to find Naomi and Lexi approaching them, Naomi’s arms outstretched for a hug as she scurried over. “I want a fair fight tomorrow.”

With a chuckle, Vivien brought the shorter girl in for a hug, “And a fair fight you shall get.”

“Good,” Naomi smiled as she backed away. Looking around at the group that now had their eyes locked on her, the raven-haired girl smiled nervously and waved. “Hello, people I don’t know.”

Vivien gestured to everyone as she said, “Naomi, this is my boyfriend and his family. Guys, this is Naomi Sato, one of my biggest rivals in the individual skate competitions.”

“Ah, well, I hope to see you all tomorrow,” Naomi greeted with a small bow toward the group. Turning to Vivien, she placed a hand on the brunette’s arm and beamed, “And I will see you on the ice!”

“That you will,” Vivien smiled as her hand searched blindly for Royce’s, latching onto his warm fingers as soon as she grazed them, a faint electric shock telling her she had found the right person.

As Naomi waved goodbye and headed for the people who were off to the side, waiting for her, Lexi remained, staring blankly at Vivien and her entourage. “Vivien.”

Vivien's posture turned rigid as she raised her head just enough for it to be noticed. “Lexi.”

Lexi’s arms crossed over her chest, “Didn’t know you were dating again.”

Royce’s grip on Vivien’s hand tightened for a second as he leaned over his girlfriend’s shoulder from the bleacher behind her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “We’ve been together for almost a year now” Royce proudly stated.

A look of disgust flashed across Lexi’s features, but it was quickly replaced with a clearly forced, saccharine smile. “Lucky. I bet you two are madly in love by now.”

Carrie, who had noticed the girl’s expression in the split-second it had been present, settled a glare on the opposing skater as she stepped off of the bleachers next to Vivien and snipped, “They are.”

Lexi’s gaze flickered to Carrie before searching the group on the bleachers behind the happy couple, finding matching glares coming from some of Royce and Vivien’s family members. With a scoff, Lexi said, “And they need their little guard dogs to prove that?”

Miles quickly wrapped an arm around Carrie’s middle, barely preventing her from launching at the curly-haired skater. As Bentley called Lexi a few colorful French words he had unintentionally learned from Miles, Riven marched over from where he and his dad had been walking, making his way between Lexi and Vivien with a scowl. “Leave,” he ordered, the darkness in his tone like a shadow looming from a skyscraper to the ants below.

“I don’t see why I should,” Lexi hissed, clearly undeterred by Riven’s intimidating demeanor. “I’m just conversing with an old friend.”

“Good to know you still consider harassment a way of having a conversation,” Vivien scoffed.

“Shut it, O’Brian,” Lexi snapped.

“You first, Warren.”

“Enough!” Riven snapped. In the silence that settled around them, Riven took in a deep breath to calm himself and said, “We’re meant to act like professionals here. Settle it on the ice tomorrow like any professional skater would.”

Without more than a roll of her eyes and a scoff, Lexi turned on her heel and headed for the door. As soon as the girl was out of sight, Vivien took in a deep, shaky breath and allowed herself to relax at least a little. Royce’s grip on his girlfriend tightened as he stepped off of the bleachers and pulled her into a hug. “What was that all about?” he questioned softly.

“Who was that?” Bentley asked. Instead of answering, Vivien wrapped an arm around her boyfriend and Bentley as the young blond joined them in an attempt at comforting his friend. 

Riven shook his head at Vivien’s silence and sighed, “Lexi Warren. She was once a close friend of ours and a skater Vivien grew up with. She moved away a few years ago and…” Riven glanced in the direction Lexi had left in. “Well, let’s just say it wasn’t the nicest of endings.”

The hotel everyone was staying at was within walking distance from the sports center and had beautifully made rooms, but after Abby tossed her suitcase on one of the two beds in the room and jumped into the shower before her older sister could do more than look into the room, Vivien didn’t have the desire to stay for long. At first, she thought of going down to the pool and sinking into the hot tub for a while, but the idea of running into Lexi or Royce or both of them was enough to deter her. She didn’t want confrontation and she certainly wasn’t ready to tell Royce about her past just yet. 

As she slid bobby pins out of her hair and tossed them onto the dresser she wouldn’t even bother using during her stay, Vivien came to the conclusion that she needed advice on how to handle everything. She instantly ruled out going to her parents and Mick’s parents since they already knew her situation and would probably tell her the same thing Riven had - to tell Royce and save herself the stress. Mick and Butchy were a close second, but after remembering that the couple had decided to go to the beach for a while, she ruled them out as well. She needed advice now and the only people in the hotel who could give her that were Carrie and Miles. After brushing out her hair and grabbing a few elastics, the seventeen-year-old left the room she shared with her sister and headed down the hallway to where she knew Miles and Carrie were staying. It didn’t take long for Carrie to open the door, allowing Vivien inside once the younger girl held up her elastics with a hopeful grin. 

Perching herself on the end of the bed, Vivien sighed, “You know, I actually need a little help with something important and it’s not just about needing one of you to braid my hair.”

Miles, who had been flicking through the TV channels to find something entertaining, stopped what he was doing to take a look at the girl and ask, “What’s wrong, kiddo?”

“I’ve never really told a lot of people before,” Vivien chuckled nervously, allowing Carrie to split her hair down the middle of her head. “Can we keep this between us for now?”

As Miles wheeled the desk chair over so he could see Vivien while she talked, he nodded, “Of course.”

Carrie took the elastics from Vivien and set them aside, telling the girl, “You can tell us anything.”

Vivien nodded, taking in a deep breath before asking, “You know that girl that was harassing us earlier?” While Carrie scoffed, Miles rolled his eyes and nodded. “Well, I think I know why she’s bothering us.”

“You do?” Carrie asked, threading her fingers through Vivien’s hair as she began braiding it. 

“Think she’s doing it to mess with your head?” Miles asked. “Mess with you so that you’ll screw up your skating - that kind of thing?”

“I think that’s part of it,” Vivien said, trying not to move her head as she shrugged. “But I think it has more to do with the fact that she was my girlfriend a few years ago.”

Vivien tried to gauge their reaction, but as Miles eyed her silently and Carrie’s hands stilled against her scalp, she had a sinking feeling she should have kept her mouth shut and never told them in the first place. The nerves that had begun building since she entered the room only seemed to grow as the silence in the room took over and nobody said a word. Miles watched the teenager, seeing her expression change ever so minutely and a panic settle in her eyes as the room remained silent. She looked like a scared baby deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle - wide-eyed and ready to run. Miles was almost sure she would’ve taken off if Carrie didn’t have a firm grasp on her hair. It didn’t take much for Miles’ brotherly instincts to kick in and the desire to help the child in front of him hit him full-force. He reached a hand out and Vivien hesitantly took hold of it as he lightly redirected the topic and slowly asked, “So, when Riven said that things didn’t end well with her…?” 

Vivien looked away, tracing the design on the carpet with her eyes. “I broke up with her before she moved away and she didn’t take it nicely.”

“How did she take it?” Carrie asked softly.

“She went into a rage,” Vivien breathed. “We argued for a while and she threw a pair of skates at me, but the last time we saw each other, she slapped me. Riven came into the room and separated us before she could do anything worse, but she had to be escorted out of the skating rink afterward.”

Miles’ grip tightened on Vivien’s hand as he wheeled his chair closer to the teenager. “Is that why you looked so tense when she was around?”

Vivien nodded, “Looking back on it now, she wasn’t the best person to be around, but we had dated since I was eleven and I thought that’s how all relationships were.”

Carrie’s hands began moving once again, threading Vivien’s hair into a braid on one side as she said, “Well, I’m glad you’ve gotten out of that mindset.”

“I think we all are,” Miles agreed.

Vivien hummed her agreement. “You know, we had been together for two years and I never once felt loved.”

“How come?” Carrie questioned.

“I don’t know. I guess it just felt like she was telling me what to do and how to feel all the time.” After a pause, a small smile appeared on Vivien’s face as she said, “Being with Royce is so different. It feels so surreal.”

“In a good way, I hope,” Miles chuckled.

Vivien laughed, “Yeah. It feels sort of like what Mick told me her relationship with Butchy was like in the beginning.”

Miles smiled, “Just wait until you realize you’ve fallen in love.”

“I already did,” Vivien confided, a fond look in her eyes that Miles didn’t need to work hard to decipher. “I fell in love with him a long time ago.”

Miles glanced over Vivien at Carrie, finding his girlfriend’s signature smile beaming back at him. There was a glint in her sapphire eyes that told Miles that she knew something he didn’t, but he wasn’t about to ask her what it was while Vivien was present. “Have you told Royce this?” he asked.

“No,” Vivien replied quickly, trying her best not to shake her head and disrupt Carrie’s quick fingers as they moved further away from her scalp. “He doesn’t know about any of it. Not me loving him, not me dating Lexi, nothing.”

“You should tell him,” Carrie suggested. “If not about loving him, then at least about the whole Lexi ordeal. I’m sure he would appreciate knowing.”

“I know,” Vivien sighed. “I want to tell him, but I’m just not sure how he would react to me having dated a girl before.”

Miles nodded thoughtfully, squeezing Vivien’s hand reassuringly before saying, “I don’t think it would matter all that much to him. It’s a part of who you are and he cares about you more than anything. I bet, if anything, he’d be grateful that you felt confident enough in your relationship to tell him something you hardly tell anyone.”

As Vivien felt Carrie tie off one braid and move to the other side of her head, she began thinking about Miles’ words. He had a good point. She knew Royce cared about her just as much as she cared about him. He showed her how much he cared about her every chance he got. The chances of him turning her away just because of who she had liked in the past were slim to none. The only thing holding her back from telling him anything was fear and she would just have to find a way to overcome that. She could do that for Royce. He deserved to know. Giving Miles’ hand a tight squeeze, Vivien smiled his way and said, “I guess you’re right.”

Vivien awoke the next morning with sore legs, a mild headache, and the desire to down a bottle of Tylenol and crash like the Titanic meeting the iceberg. With the stress of seeing Lexi for the first time in years, the waking nightmares of breaking a limb or forgetting her entire routine on the ice, and trying to come up with a plan to tell Royce about her previous relationship before Riven did, she had gotten little sleep. Knowing she had two routines that needed to be rehearsed later in the day, Vivien slipped out of the hotel bed and crept over to the suitcase she had left on the floor by the dresser, pulling out her practice outfit and heading for the bathroom to change without the risk of waking her sister who snored noisily in the next bed over.

Once she was changed and had her sneakers laced, Vivien grabbed her skates and her room key, wrote out a quick note that she put on the nightstand between the beds she and her sister slept on, and slipped out of the room unnoticed. The hotel was only about a five-minute walk from the sports center and, as she passed the room she knew Riven and his dad were sharing, Vivien knew at least one of them would be up already, waiting anxiously for the other to get up so they could head to the rink for practice. However, Vivien wasn’t about to tell Riven she was already awake. She wanted time to herself on the ice - time to think and relax before everyone else showed up and the hectic parts of the day could begin. With her keycard tucked into her wallet and her skates dangling around her neck, Vivien waved goodbye to the person sitting at the front desk and headed down the street toward the sports center.

The walk was quiet apart from the soft music playing from Vivien’s earbuds and it wasn’t long until Vivien was pulling open the doors of the sports center, the warmth from the building’s heat system taking the chill out of her skin as she made her way inside. As opposed to what she had done the day prior, Vivien set her skates aside and stretched the way her ancient ballet teacher would have vaguely praised her for. Once she felt ready, Vivien sat on the nearest bench and laced up her skates, only ditching her blade guards before stepping onto the ice. With her phone securely zipped in her pocket and her earbuds tucked into her ears, Vivien allowed her playlist to control her movements, gliding across the ice to some of her favorite songs.

As the music changed, so did Vivien’s energy on the ice. Once her playlist switched to a new song once again, I Hear A Symphony by Cody Fry, Vivien allowed the familiar tune to take over. She had watched Riven perform the song many times in practices, so often that she could probably do most of it in her sleep if given the chance, but she couldn’t perform it herself due to a cantilever that Riven had perfected over the years that Vivien could never get to look the way his did. The song was one of Riven’s more lyrical-style performances, a style Vivien loved to use for her free skate programs. However, as she glided to a stop and listened to the song fade out, Vivien heard someone clapping in the supposedly empty skating rink.

Eventually, she found Lexi leaning against the wall, clapping sarcastically. Vivien sighed as she pulled an earbud from her ear, “What do you want?”

“I was coming to get in some early skate time, but I guess you got here first,” Lexi claimed. “Was that your program for the free program?”

“No,” Vivien said, preferring to keep the conversation as brief as possible as she headed back to the gate she had entered through. 

“Well, it must have meant something to you if you made it look that passionate,” Lexi pressed as she stalked her way toward Vivien.

“It’s an old program Riven used to do, that’s all,” Vivien insisted as she sat down and began taking her skates off.

Lexi laughed as she neared Vivien, taking the brown-and-purple-haired girl’s jaw in her grasp and forcing Vivien to meet her gaze. “And what if I don’t believe you?”

Not one to be pushed around anymore, Vivien wrapped a hand around Lexi’s wrist, the fingernails Carrie had taken the time to paint the day before digging into the skin on the older girl’s arm. Once Lexi had released her, Vivien said, “Believe what you want, just leave me the hell alone.”

Rubbing the crescent-shaped marks out of her wrists, Lexi scoffed, “That’s no way to treat a friend.”

“You made it clear a long time ago that we aren’t friends, Lexi,” Vivien grumbled, sending an empty glare at the older girl. “Why do you feel the need to be such a bitch just because I moved on?”

“I never wanted you to move on,” Lexi argued. “I wanted us to stay together.”

“It never would have worked out!” Vivien exclaimed incredulously. 

“You don’t know that!” 

“Yes, I do,” Vivien laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “We were awful for each other.”

“Says who?”

“Says anyone who looked at us for more than two minutes,” Vivien claimed as she pulled her sneakers on and laced them. “You were always telling me what to do and who I could or couldn’t hang out with and I got sick of your bullshit.”

A rage burned in Lexi’s golden eyes that nearly made Vivien flinch away, but the younger skater remained defiant. “You would’ve been lost without me telling you what to do all the time.”

As Vivien rose to her feet, she stepped closer to Lexi and lowly snarled, “You moving away was the best thing to happen to me.”

The next thing Vivien knew, her head was snapped to the right, a stinging throb gracing her left cheek as she stared blankly ahead. Her skin burned, her eyes watered so much she worried that her contacts would fall out, and just as though a switch had been flipped deep inside of her, Vivien felt an almost eerie calm pass through her body as the urge to return the gesture to the older girl bubbled inside of her like a pot of water boiling over. It wasn’t the first time Lexi had slapped her, but Vivien decided in that moment that it would certainly be the last. Vivien’s head slowly turned back toward Lexi, dark green eyes piercing through furrowed brows as she unclenched the fist she’d been squeezing and rallied all of her pent-up emotions into the single blow she delivered to the girl’s face.

Lexi’s face didn’t burn nearly as red as Vivien’s did, most likely due to her darker skin, but the shock in her eyes was more than enough to satiate the urge Vivien had to knock the girl flat on her ass. “You fucking slapped me!” Lexi screeched.

“And I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Vivien said so easily that it almost worried her. “However, there are plenty of cameras in here, just like there are in every arena. They’ll all show - very clearly, might I add - that you started this.” Lexi’s eyes flitted around the room, finding multiple cameras pointing in their general direction. Vivien felt a smirk tugging at her lips at the sight, but fought it back in order to remain composed. “Now, if you have nothing better to say, I’ll be leaving.”

Vivien grabbed her skates by the laces and began making her way to the hallway so she could grab something to eat from the vending machines before heading back to the hotel to shower, but Lexi wasn’t done just yet. “I bet your boyfriend just loves being with such a bitchy little freak.”

Despite the spiked bundle of nerves that settled in her stomach, Vivien was determined to act as though Lexi’s words meant nothing as she flipped the girl off over her shoulder and said, “It’s one of the many things he loves about me.”

When Lexi said nothing more, Vivien assumed the girl was done and quickly made her way through the hallways to the front door as soon as she was out of the girl’s sight, forgoing the vending machines as she knew nothing in them would stay down even if she forced herself to eat something small. As soon as the cold morning air hit her face, Vivien felt a shaky breath leave her. Silently making her way back to the hotel, Vivien felt a wave of determination rising within her. With every step she took, the urge to go straight to the room she knew Royce and Bentley were sharing with her brother grew stronger. She was done with the fear and stress Lexi continuously caused her just by existing. After Vivien arrived back at the overly large, ritzy hotel, she made her way through the groups of people at the check-out desk who were only there for the junior skate competitions and wouldn’t need to spend another night once the day was done. Once she finally reached the elevator, she pressed the floor she was staying on. Instead of turning toward her end of the long hall, she turned to the left and made her way to the second-to-last room on the right side of the hallway.

Vivien raised a fist to knock on the door, but it swung open before she got the chance. Much to her surprise, Abby stood in the doorway, her bewildered stare turning relieved as she said, “Mom’s been looking for you.”

“I left you a note telling you I was going to the rink,” Vivien sighed. 

Abby rolled her eyes, “I realize that, but you weren’t answering your phone when she called you, so she was just about ready to call in the SWAT team.” 

Vivien shook her head - of course, her mother had overreacted. “I turned my ringer off before I hit the ice.”

“Thought so,” Abby said with a smirk. “Olly and I were just getting ready to head over to the rink and drag you back to Mom.”

With a sigh, Vivien glanced into the room past her sister to see if she could spot her boyfriend, “I just need to talk to Royce for a bit before-”

“Don’t you think we should tell Mom that you’re back first?” Abby questioned.

“It’ll only take a few minutes for me to talk with him,” Vivien insisted, trying to step around her sister and into the room. “You two can go tell her and I’ll meet you in their room in a few.”

“No can do, Viv,” Oliver said as he came from a room off to the side that Vivien couldn’t see, presumably the bathroom. “Mom said to bring you to her once we found you and we don’t want to get in trouble.”

Before Vivien got the chance to argue her case, Royce stepped up behind Oliver with a small smile, “Hey, Vivien Leigh.”

Vivien felt herself relax as she smiled back at her boyfriend, “Hey, Rolls. Look, I need to tell you something, and-”

“Vivien Harley!” a voice hollered from the other end of the hall. Vivien deflated as she saw her mom marching down the hall toward them. “Why weren’t you answering your phone?”

Royce chuckled as the siblings moved out into the hallway, collectively shrinking under their mother’s firm stare. Vivien glanced back into the room and Royce held the door open as he suggested, “We can talk later if you want?”

Vivien felt ready to argue that, no, she didn’t want to talk later, she wanted to talk then and there, but after taking a glance back at her mother, she knew that wouldn’t be possible until she was done getting reprimanded. “Yeah,” she reluctantly agreed. “Yeah, that would be great.” Royce nodded and sent his girlfriend a reassuring grin before slowly closing the room door as Chelsea O’Brian closed the distance between herself and her children, ready to tell them off for something or another. Vivien sighed - their conversation would just have to wait for later.

As the day went by, Vivien barely had a second to spend away from her family, her coach, or Riven, let alone have the chance to be alone with her boyfriend. Her practice with Riven was early and closed to the public, so she couldn’t sneak any talk with Royce then and, when she got the chance to leave the rink for the first time, her boyfriend was surrounded by his family and she only had a few moments to say hello to them all and answer their questions as to what had happened with her mother in the morning before she was dragged off to her private practice for her solo short program. With Riven as her choreographer, Vivien was grateful to be able to talk with him while she was practicing, but his topic of the day continued to circle around her relationship which didn’t do anything to keep Vivien's ricocheting nerves at bay.

“Have you talked to him yet?” he asked, skating alongside Vivien as she went through the end of her routine.

“Does it look like I’ve had the chance to?” Vivien sassed in return as she skated into a spin combination.

Riven watched her, reminding her to keep one of her turns tight before sighing, “Do you want me to put an extension on our little deal?”

Once Vivien ended her practice with her finishing pose, she answered, “No, I plan on doing it as soon as we’re out of here.”

“Do you want help?” Riven questioned, watching as the girl cleared her blades of shaved ice and tugged her leg warmers further over her skates.

Vivien stretched her arms over her head and sighed as Riven led her toward the rink gate, “Probably.”

A smirk appeared on Riven’s face as he handed Vivien her blade guards and said, “After you then, Pip.”

Vivien slid her guards into place, replaced her skates with her sneakers, and took a deep breath as she and Riven headed for the hallway. Once they found their way to the gymnasium where every other skater and their family were waiting to be let in, the intercom system called the next skater to practice and Vivien found her way through the masses of people to where her family, Riven’s dad, and Royce’s family were sitting and conversing. Before getting close enough to be pestered by their questions, Vivien glanced at Riven - who seemed almost excited about his role in her plan - and nodded to him, “Go ahead.”

As Royce stood to ask Vivien how her practice went, Riven ducked down in front of the teenager, wrapped an arm around his legs, and hauled him over his shoulder as he stood, earning a noise of shock from Royce who suddenly found himself facing Riven’s glorious backside instead of his girlfriend. “We’ll be back in a bit,” Vivien claimed to those who only watched the interaction in confused amusement. 

Royce used his arms as a brace against Riven’s spine as he watched his girlfriend follow Riven back into the hallway. “Where are we going?” he asked warily.

“To talk,” she told him with a small smile. “I’m sick of everything else getting in the way, so I asked Riven to help.”

With a confused nod, Royce chuckled softly, “And I couldn’t walk myself to wherever he’s bringing me?”

“That wasn’t part of my plan,” Vivien claimed, a faintly amused smirk appearing on her lips, “but I admire his enthusiasm, don’t you?”

Royce shook his head, a smile splitting his features, “I guess so.”

Without so much as a word coming from him, Riven pushed open a heavy door and set Royce back on the ground before nodding to himself and leaving the room. Before Vivien could close the door, she thanked Riven for his services and he nodded before heading to the vending machines at the end of the hallway. Vivien twisted the lock on the door into place to prevent any interruptions before glancing around at the locker room Riven had brought them to. She sat on one of the benches and gestured for Royce to join her before sighing, “I bet you’re wondering why I’m doing this.”

“I am,” Royce admitted with a hesitant nod. He took a moment to examine the seriousness on Vivien’s face before asking, “You’re not... you're not breaking up with me, are you?”

“What? No, of course not!” After a pause of hesitance, Vivien asked, “Why? Are you breaking up with me?”

“No, never,” Royce stated firmly. “Besides, you’re the one who brought me here, not the other way around.”

Vivien chuckled airily at the reminder, “Yeah, I guess I did.”

A silence fell over them and Royce watched as Vivien’s fingers mindlessly wove into the laces of her sneakers, twisting them around and tugging on them as she stared blankly into space. Not wanting to let her mind wander into, no doubt, negative territory, Royce took one of her hands in his and softly said, “If it’s too much, we can do it another time.”

Before Vivien could say anything, Riven’s voice came through the door - the older skater presumably leaning against the door, playing bodyguard for them, “No, she can’t!”

With a roll of her eyes, Vivien agreed, “He’s right. It’s something that I actually should have told you a long time ago. I was just worried that it would change things with us.”

“Whatever it is,” Royce began, “just know that nothing - and I mean nothing - could possibly change how I feel about you.”

The sincerity in Royce’s caramel eyes gave Vivien the validation that she was making the right decision. “Well,” she said after taking in a sharp breath, “you know that girl that’s been bothering us? Lexi?” Vivien waited for Royce to nod - a welcome roll of his eyes coming with it - before she said, “She was my girlfriend a few years before I met you.”

Vivien watched Royce’s expression change so quickly that she struggled to define each emotion that flashed across his face. She wondered what was going on inside his head. It was hard to tell how he was feeling or what he was thinking as he processed what he had been told, but Vivien tried her hardest to brace for whatever it was that he was going to tell her - good or bad. However, what came out as his response was nowhere on the list of potential things she thought he would say. “Is that why she acts like that? She’s jealous?”

Vivien took a moment to register what he said before asking, “What?”

Royce shrugged, “I mean, I could understand why she would be. You’re an incredible person and-”

“Woah, woah, wait,” Vivien sputtered, her brain struggling to catch up with Royce’s train of thought. “You’re not even going to react to what I said?”

An eyebrow raised as Royce tilted his head to the side, “What - about you and her being together before we met?” Vivien nodded slowly. A smile formed on Royce’s face once again as he reached up and took Vivien’s face in his hands, leaning closer until their foreheads touched. “I told you that nothing could change the way I feel about you and I meant that. Just because you had a girlfriend before doesn’t mean that you don’t love me now just as much as I love you.”

Vivien’s eyes snapped open at his words. He had never said something like that before - neither of them had. “You love me?” she muttered.

Royce’s eyes fluttered open as he backed away just enough to see her face properly, a shade of pale scarlet flushing his face as he meekly nodded, “I have for a long time now.”

All of the fear and stress Vivien had let build up inside of her washed away in an instant, a bubbling happiness spreading through her veins like liquid gold as she allowed herself to smile like an idiot at the boy sitting in front of her. While Vivien giggled like a spoiled child on Christmas morning, Royce watched her in nervous silence, waiting for her to say something, anything, in response to his words. Vivien didn’t leave him waiting for long and a blissfully idiotic, ridiculously huge smile spread across Royce's face as his girlfriend wrapped her arms around his shoulders, held him close, and softly said, “I love you too.”

Royce’s arms locked around Vivien’s middle, holding her as close as physically possible on the uncomfortable metal bench they were still perched on. It wasn’t the most romantic place they could’ve chosen to confess their love, but they didn’t need someplace over-the-top or romantic. They just needed each other. The pair stayed like that, perfectly content in one another's arms until a solid thump on the door reminded them that they weren’t totally alone.

“You two better not be going at it in there,” Riven warned through the door. “We have to be on the ice within an hour and I’m not covering for either of your asses if we get disqualified for being late.”

Vivien backed away from Royce with a huff, standing and unlocking the door before pulling it open and telling Riven, “Just because you’d do it with someone in a dingy locker room, doesn’t mean we would, you ass.”

“Love you too, Pip,” Riven said with a smirk. “Now, let’s go, lovebirds. If we take any longer, your family will think you two eloped or something.”

As Riven turned and stalked off down the hall, Vivien turned to Royce with a sigh and held out a hand for him to take. “You ready to go?”

“With you?” Royce asked rhetorically as he stood and laced his fingers with Vivien’s. He brought their joined hands up and placed a kiss on the back of her hand before swinging them back down between them. “Always.”

[c-hamdeok]

informações

Nome completo: Matsuda Yuri

Data de nascimento: 20 de maio de 2000 (23 anos)

Local de nascimento: Osaka, Japão

Esporte: Skateboarding

Dormitório: Aereus (dupla)

Hall da Fama: Reconhecimento nacional e internacional moderado

Perfil: @hdcyuri

Faceclaim: Kyoya Honda - ator

entrevista

Com tantos Centros de Treinamento Olímpico espalhados pelo mundo, por que o Hamdeok Complex?

Me interessei pelo fato de ser um grande centro que busca alavancar atletas asiáticos, sinto que precisamos de mais apoio para nossos atletas. Alguns esportes só conseguimos apoio se formos para os EUA, o que foi o meu caso, mas agora finalmente posso ficar um pouco mais perto de casa. E, claro, além de ter a chance de aprender um pouco mais com a Skirk que eu admiro há muitos anos.

E como você entrou? Alguém te indicou e você passou pelos testes, você se inscreveu voluntariamente para fazer os testes ou houve alguma contribuição monetária envolvida?

Eu precisava de um lugar pra treinar que não fosse tão longe de casa. Fiquei nos EUA durante muitos anos pela falta de apoio que o Skateboarding tem no Japão, mas tenho voltado cada vez mais. Quando minha mãe comentou sobre o Hamdeok ter aberto vagas eu não pensei duas vezes antes de aplicar pra lá. Fiz todos os testes e passei, mas felizmente tenho ajuda de alguns patrocinadores para pagar os custos.

Você certamente se destaca no esporte que pratica. O que motivou a sua escolha por ele?

Pode parecer idiota, mas sempre achei o máximo os personagens que andavam de skate em desenhos animados. Eu gostava de assistir desenhos ocidentais, então eu assistia muito Rocket Power e Os Simpsons e, para a tristeza dos meus pais, queria ser que nem o Bart. O resto é história.

Pode nos contar, brevemente, sobre sua trajetória no esporte até o momento?

Quando comecei a me interessar quando criança, implorei pros meus pais para que eles comprassem um skate pra mim. De primeira eles não quiseram, pois achavam que eu ia me machucar feio e ia me impedir de focar nos meus estudos, mas depois me deram um de Natal quando eu tinha uns 9 anos. Eu treinava numa praça perto de casa todo dia, ia pra escola todo remendado, mas eu adorava. Conheci uns adultos que andavam de skate em outro bairro e fui conhecê-los escondido porque meus pais não iriam deixar, eles que me apresentaram às competições, essas de bairro mesmo. Depois que participei de algumas eu falei aos meus pais, de primeira eles enlouqueceram, mas depois deixaram e até me levaram.

Depois de uns anos descobri que nos Estados Unidos eles treinavam pra valer e tinha competições mundiais lá, eu queria muito ir, mas meus pais não tinham certeza se era uma boa ideia. Chorei muito pra tentar convencê-los e eles resolveram passar as férias de verão lá, eu sabia que tinha sido muito caro e eu me senti meio culpado, mas eu fiquei muito feliz por poder me inserir na cena de verdade. Tive umas aulas com gente que praticava outro nível de skate, eu me senti entrando em um novo mundo. Passei basicamente todo o meu tempo das férias praticando, eu nem saía com meus pais pra canto nenhum. Fiquei um mês nos Estados Unidos e não fui pra Disney (a de Tokyo é mais legal).

Quando voltei pro Japão, já estava decidido que queria competir profissionalmente, meus pais sabiam que não tinha como me impedir, então ao menos me ajudaram pra que eu não passasse nenhum perrengue. Eu queria morar nos Estados Unidos, o skate ainda era mal visto no Japão e eu sabia que não conseguiria ir muito longe ali, mas meus pais não tinham condições de se mudar para outro país e não queriam me deixar morar sozinho, mas eu iria dar um jeito. Continuei em contato com o pessoal que conheci nos EUA e descobri que teria uma nova competição da SLS (Street League Skateboarding), eu implorei pra participar, meus pais concordaram. Eu disse que se eu ganhasse eles deveriam me deixar morar lá porque mostraria o quão sério eu levo o skate, e pra minha sorte eles concordaram.

Participei da competição, era minha primeira competição a nível mundial e eu estava muito nervoso, cometi uns erros, mas ainda terminei em 3⁰. Eu deveria estar feliz por ter conseguido isso na minha primeira competição e com só 16 anos, mas eu só conseguia chorar em pensar que eu não poderia me mudar pros EUA. Alguns meses depois eu participei de outro campeonato, dessa vez o Asian Skateboarding Championships e eu consegui prata, acho que aí a minha família finalmente entendeu que eu realmente falava sério quando eu dizia que queria competir profissionalmente. Meus pais me deixaram mudar pros EUA depois disso, eles iam pra lá a cada 3 meses passar uma semana comigo e às vezes eu também ia pra Osaka.

Depois que me mudei pros EUA, minha carreira decolou. Participava de ao menos 3 grandes competições todo ano, eu conseguia ficar no pódio em quase todas. Consegui alguns patrocinadores pequenos no começo, mas que já me davam só menos um alívio que eu conseguiria viver daquilo mesmo. Mas o momento mais inacreditável da minha carreira foi quando consegui representar o Japão nas Olimpíadas de Tokyo em 2021. Ver o Skate finalmente ser reconhecido como esporte Olímpico já era muito emocionante, mas poder competir foi ainda mais. Poder competir também nos Jogos Asiáticos em 2023 foi absurdo, são coisas que não consigo acreditar muito bem até agora. Depois de ter competido em Hangzhou, decidi sair dos EUA e voltar pra Ásia, então apliquei para o Hamdeok para poder me aprimorar cada vez mais e ficar um pouco mais perto da minha família.

Quais são suas maiores qualidades e maiores defeitos? Como elas influenciam seu dia a dia como atleta?

Sou muito teimoso, muitos dizem que é um defeito, mas no caso do Skate acho que é até uma qualidade. Não paro até conseguir o que eu quero, tudo bem que às vezes acabei caindo feio e tendo que ficar um tempo parado, mas ao menos sou determinado. Sou meio estressado, o que me causa ser um perdedor ruim, eu detesto perder, fico emburrado sempre que perco algo, é algo que tento trabalhar em mim.

Uma parte do meu nervosismo ficou pra trás, agora sou mais confiante. Então tenho plena noção de que isso me ajuda em competições, consigo manter a calma e executar minhas manobras como precisam ser executadas.

Sabemos que é uma grande honra ser convocado para representar seu país nos jogos olímpicos, mas existe alguma outra razão pela qual você deseje isso?

Andar de skate me dá uma sensação de liberdade, pode parecer idiota, mas eu me sinto quase como se estivesse voando. Eu gosto de poder quase deslizar pelo mundo sem a menor preocupação, e claro, me sinto muito maneiro fazendo as manobras. Mas acho que roda a cena do skate representa muito do que eu sou, mesmo que eu não faça mais competições, nunca vou parar de praticar porque faz parte de mim.

atributos

Dedicação: 16

Determinação: 18

Equilíbrio: 11

Sorte: 09

campeonatos

Jogos Nacionais de Verão (2016) - Medalha de Bronze

Jogos Mundiais (2017) - Quarto lugar

Jogos Nacionais de Inverno (2018) - Medalha de Prata

Jogos Asiáticos (2019) - Medalha de Ouro

Olimpíadas de Verão em Tokyo (2020) - Medalha de Prata

Jogos Mundiais (2021) - Medalha de Prata

Jogos Nacionais de Inverno (2022) - Medalha de Bronze

Jogos Asiáticos (2023) - Medalha de Ouro

[sunskate]

anon, yeah, i'm always curious if we'll see him, but Scott's been at the Next Gen comp in July, the Quebec Summer Comp, US Champs Camp, Canada's HPC, and US Classic in Lake Placid. he's most likely going to the GPs in England and Finland for CPom (and SW), maybe he'll be at Skate Canada Challenge in December in Winnipeg, since a lot of his teams probably will go, idk if he'll be the one going to Italian Nationals with Leia/Pietro or not, but he'll probably be with Cpom at US Nats in California and will be at Canadian Nats, both in January - that's a good amount of traveling-- he wasn't at Lake Placid in July, at Georges Ethier for H/L and V/B in Quebec, or the 3 JGPs - but it's too much travel for one person. Alma was coaching the junior teams long before he was, and part of why Adrian and Madi are so valuable is that they can accompany teams on their own. i was a little bit surprised not to see him this time, but we never know all the logistics they're dealing with-- we hadn't seen Patch at a competition this season until Finlandia - even the local Quebec ones were Romain and Pascal, and Benjamin is really racking up his miles

[lazaruspithottub]

Natalie D’Alessandro and Bruce Waddell’s RD

Here @ 1:07:32. They’re at Skate Ontario Sectionals in the Junior Dance.

These two have improved so SO MUCH in such a short amount of time. Holy... wow. That was... they really brought it. I’m so impressed. Just when you start to doubt these two they step up and bring you to your feet.

The whole program just builds extraordinarily well (thx for the choreo M-F and Romain) and they skate the absolute hell out of it from beginning to end. The music and expression is spot on. The speed and ice coverage that they have is amazing. They even got a level 4 on the first half of the Argentine tango pattern (that’s a yes to all key points!!!). When well established teams in senior are getting level 2 step sequences these two (and many other juniors at the comp) are getting level 3s (okay so maybe a nicer panel but still).

The only things I would criticise are the opening twizzles, the second half of the pattern which they have the potential to smash just as they did the first and maybe the potential to even push the step sequence up to a level 4 for nationals.

A very very good outing for these two today 😄. Another panel could easily have been more generous with the PCS as well.

Please watch it if you can and you will be amazed to hear that they’re just 14 and 16!

The whole competition was fabulous to watch too and I encourage you to watch everyone!

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Punk-O-Rama, Volume 2 1996 Punk Rock / Pop-Punk / Skate Punk

It's been a long minute since I've gotten around to diving into some just straight-up punk rock shit, but here's a little sustenance to break the fast: this second volume of what's probably punk's most famed label sampler series, Punk-O-Rama, put out by what's probably punk's most popular and successful record company, Epitaph. All you have to do is look at the list of bands that occupy this track list to understand what a fucking juggernaut Epitaph's been over the years: Descendents, Pennywise, Rancid, Millencolin, T.S.O.L., NOFX, Bad Religion, and others.

This comp is mostly a contemporary mid-90s sampler that was made for you to get interested in each and every one of these bands so you could go to your local record shop and pick up all of their most recent albums. But it's not all contemporary; in fact, some of these tracks are actually quite old, like, T.S.O.L.'s "Code Blue," a silly shock-rockin' horror-goth-punk tune about having sex with dead bodies that originally came out in 1981 and still goes hard to this very day (that's a pun), so much so, that it outshines nearly every other track on here. And same goes for Bad Religion's "Give You Nothing," which came out in '88 on their classic album, Suffer.

And for the sweet, more modern fare, we've got some grade-A pop-punk from Sweden's top punk export, Millencolin, who contribute a song that sounds like it fits right into the mid-90s SoCal landscape, and we also have Western Canadian skate punk heroes, SNFU, who, in a bit of irony and with some hindsight, are telling us that we should've actually done the most un-punk thing possible and listened to our parents when they told us to eat our vegetables, because ya can't catch the mad cow if ya "don't have the cow" in the first place!

This isn't as strong as the first volume of Punk-O-Rama, in my estimation, but there's still some pretty kick-ass punk tunes on here. And it's a solid range too; not just one style. Plus, I also dig how they mixed in some older tunes among the contemporary stuff. It's a good way of introducing the younger crowd to some of Epitaph's past and showing them that some of those songs still definitely hit 🤘.

Highlights:

Descendents - "Coffee Mug" Pennywise - "Perfect People" Millencolin - "Bullion" T.S.O.L. - "Code Blue" SNFU - "Don't Have the Cow" Bad Religion - "Give You Nothing"

[holdoncallfailed]

I’m moving to nyc in september and I was wondering if you know any cool places I should check out!

well it depends on what you find cool and where you're going to be living :-) i'm just going to list a bunch of random stuff as it occurs to me under the cut. most of these are limited to the neighborhoods i've lived in or had friends in and also my own interests lol.

i like going to museums the most, if you are moving for school a lot of museums will offer a discount or free tickets for students or if you have proof of residency (rent email or whatever). some museums you can visit 1 million times and still find new things (the met) and some are worth just paying for once to see the space and the collection (the morgan)

met

moma

brooklyn museum (underrated and near prospect park which is great to walk around)

guggenheim (overrated, but it's cool to go at least once to see the building and worth it if you actually like the art that's on)

international center of photography

american folk art museum

museum of the moving image

lesbian herstory archives

frick

museum of the city of new york

met cloisters

new york transit museum!!!!!!!! such a good place to have a photoshoot with friends lol

the whitney. i guess

special collections exhibits at NYPL

^related to that: not really a ‘museum’ per se but places like printed matter and boo hooray are private dealers of art/ephemera which they will often have on display....and you can TOUCH them!!!!!!

barnard zine library

arthouse theatres like metrograph, ifc center, MoMI, anthology, lincoln center, and some other random spots downtown and in brooklyn still have film projectors and will do screenings of older movies on 35mm prints (or digital) which are always so exciting to see.

you can take the staten island ferry for free on a nice day and see a very classic view of the city skyline. there's not a lot to do on staten island but it's nice to visit the alice austen house.

thrifting but specifically in the bronx (best) and queens and some parts of brooklyn (don't bother in manhattan).

idk bars and restaurants?? bed-stuy, bushwick, greenpoint and williamsburg all have lots of cool bars and places to eat. obviously chinatown/flushing has great food and markets and so does jackson heights. i like the union square farmers market too.

bed-stuy is my favorite neighborhood to walk around because the architecture is beautiful. park slope and brooklyn heights/dumbo are also very picturesque.

in the winter i love to ice skate at wollman rink in central park. i also like going to coney island in the winter cos it’s mostly closed and usually quiet...it’s a very peaceful subway ride when it’s not busy.

idk i go to a lot of cemeteries and parks and hang around in there cos they’re free. those are probably more fun (social) if you have a dog or know how to skateboard tho.

tbh i don't really feel like i Do much besides hang out with my friends and going to whatever they're going to lmao. my advice: if there's a venue (theatre/bar/event space/club/concert hall/museum/local park/library/whatever) that you like follow them on instagram to see when shows and events are announced. re: broadway shows, make friends with somebody at columbia or NYU to get comped tickets or do day-of lotteries. DON'T go to times square unless you're seeing a show. also make friends with at least one rich person (or someone with a rich partner) and try to get invited to at least one of their parties or events cos it’s guaranteed to be cuckoo even if it’s just one time.

remember 2 open the emergency exit door for people in the subway and be genuinely nice to your bodega guy(s) and your neighbors. i hope u like living in nyc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ofherlionheart]

i swish you would write a fic with zukka as rival roller derby/skateboarding competitors!

oh my god i wish i knew anything about roller derby or skateboarding 😭 all i know is that elliot page movie and the lil rundown my friend gave me abt competition skateboarding vs street skateboarding in relation to the olympics

ignoring the fact that im not an expert in any of these areas tho … like what if. what IF. zuko and sokka first meet as 12 year olds at the skate park, sokka’s got five billion bandaids that barely cover the scabs they’re trying to protect, zuko’s got pads on every joint imaginable and an absolutely ridiculous helmet. they insta bond and quickly become best-skateboarding-buddies. if they’re not skateboarding together, they’re watching videos of street skaters doing tricks.

it only takes a year and change for ozai to realize ursa’s been letting his son do Hooligan Activities. he wants to eradicate skateboarding entirely but ursa convinces him, it’s not Hooligan if it’s an official competition format! z is torn. he’s sad he can’t hang at the park anymore, and he and s both decided a while back that the competition people were boring stiffs with no creativity. but at least he isn’t losing skateboarding entirely

without the skate park bonding, z and s disappear from each other’s lives. also, zuko’s family moves away. 

fast forward … hmm like 6ish years. z has Made It in the competitive skate boarding world — ozai has only kept allowing it b/c that sponsorship money got real 🤪 also zuko now has a RIVAL! they’re constantly battling for the unofficial spot of Best Young Male Upcoming Skateboarder. ppl in the community, ppl looped in the culture, mostly agree that while zuko’s technique is irritatingly flawless, his rival has this flow and artistry that just make him a joy to watch.

zuko finally meets the rival at a local comp. it’s Jet. they do NOT get along, at all, and their clash is so bad it results in zuko’s first ever scandal/bad press coverage. ozai and ursa are Not happy abt it until they realize that ppl are eating this rivalry shit UP.

fast forward another 2ish years of the media and also z and jet fueling the flames of their rivalry, z’s balancing college and competitive skateboarding. he and jet are set to face off at another competition. z’s fired up, he’s zoned in, he’s doing his usual pre-comp routine at the venue when …

“zuko?”

zuko almost wipes out just standing on his board for the first time in forever. “… sokka?”

sokka grins, comes over w/ a bro hug. “shit, dude! it’s been a long time, how are ya?”

but they’re cut off by the competition starting. “I’ll find you after,” sokka promises and then goes … to where the coaches stand?

cute, zuko thinks. bet he looks so cute mentoring some lil skateboarding tykes.

competition blah blah, zuko’s runs go well, but then Jet flawlessly executes his last run. even zuko’s a little breathless from watching him. the scores go up, jet’s clearly the winner, he shouts victoriously and then runs over to the coach’s area and … grabs sokka in a headlock and plants a big wet kiss on his forehead????

sokka has been jet’s young genius coach for the last 4 years, zuko learns. sokka’s the one choreographing jet’s routines [bro idk what they’re called]. sokka’s the one drawing the creativity out of jet, the artistry that zuko’s convinced has everyone liking jet’s skating a touch more than whatever technical perfection zuko can manage. so, in a sense, sokka’s the one standing in the way of zuko becoming the Best Sk8r Boi [of his age bracket].

zuko declares that they’re rivals. sokka humors him (also jet was watching). unfortunately for both of them, they’re bad a maintaining a rivalry when the rival in question is so. u know. cute and talented and hot when they skate oops

BOOM. skate bros-to-rivals-to-lovers (to boyfriends lol).

Send me an anymous (or not) summary of the fic you wish I would write. (maybe I will write a tidbit)

[acioo]

anybody who knows anything about me will be able to tell you i spend a bunch of my time ice skating & i’ve never seen a guide on how to write a character that figure skates , so i thought i’d compile some tips & explain things , because my whole childhood i was travelling across the country to spin on ice with nothing on but a leotard & some tights , and now i have nothing but a bunch of tacky costumes and this post to show for it . this is pretty in-depth , about 2.5k words , but if you have any questions about specific aspects or want me to clarify anything , feel free to shoot me an ask . oh & a like  or reblog if you found this helpful would be sweet ! tw : injury, mental illness, eating disorders

most people that wind up as figure skaters started ridiculously young. i was probably six, but at my rink, we train kids as young as four and five. if your character has competed professionally at a state-wide level or up, they most likely started super young and have been professionally trained. figure skating is not a sport that you can do casually, most of the time. ice skating, casually, however, totally different thing. but competitive figure skating, being on a figure skating team, and the like, it’s a lot of effort, time, and discipline. in a lot of families, it’s a tradition to teach your kids to ice skate. at my rink, there’s a lot of people who come from slavic families whose parents signed them up - or athlete parents in gen. so, if your character is SUPER GOOD, they’ve put hundreds of hours of work into it, and have years of practice. it is not something you can pick up in a day, and i’d even say you have to be at it for at least two years before you get good good, and it takes a while to even become comfortable on the ice before you can start to do any kind of trick - THAT is why they start young, so by the time we’re pre-teens, we’re really, really good. the problem happens, famously, at puberty, because your balance gets knocked off, your bones are growing, and you have to basically relearn everything you know.

there are so many different types of figure skating. i specialize in singles, but i’ve done showcase and solo dance ( but both of those skills are more for me to be a well-rounded skater, not for competing ), and would sometimes be put into pairs to help learn skills and work together. you NEED to be in one of these categories for competition because they are what all comps are based upon. singles is, as you think, one single ice skater individually doing their routine. singles will do various dances, jumps, spins, etc. i won't lie, it’s hard, and really, really competitive. singles is the most competitive of all these categories. it’s usually a short program ( jumping, spinning, steps - the easier portion of competition because it’s really just a routine that you need to get down pat so you can boost your score. you will learn to do it in your sleep. ) and then a free skate ( longer than the other, it’s more complicated and difficult ). pair skating is really, really difficult, tbh, and you need a good relationship with whoever you are doing it with because there’s a lot of trust involved. it’s hard to break into pair skating because you need a partner that you’re equal to in skill and you like as a person. you guys spend a lot of time together and you need to get along. you guys need to be equally proficient at ice skating. most pairs get put together when they’re still very young. it’s very difficult to from singles to becoming a pair skater. it’s two skaters and they skate around each other, they lift each other, and move in synchronized patterns. it’s highly technical, like all figure skating, but it is more difficult because you have to keep in mind both your own feet and someone else’s. you do NOT want to bump skates with someone. at best, that is very uncomfortable. at usual/worse, you’re both about to eat shit on ice. in pair skating the partner that lifts needs SO much strength. like, so much. i’ve tried to lift fellow skaters, who are the same weight as me, and it’s near fucking impossible for me. ice skates are HEAVY and skaters have a lot of lower body muscle. we are not light people. for example, once time my team and i were out of practice and just skating around and we started playing around and i did a cartwheel on ice and i fell very hard. wiped tf out. and that’s me, trying to handle my own weight. like singles, it’s a free skate and a short program. pair skating is typically male + female ( what a sad world, i know ), but i encourage every writer to take some suspending of reality. ice dance is, basically, dancing. it’s a lot more performative than other types of skating. it’s done in pairs, but can be performed alone, in a different category called solo dance. in the nicest way possible, singles/pair skaters usually look down a bit on ice dancers because it’s a bit less technical, and doesn’t have any jumps of lifts. but ! that doesn’t mean it’s easy because it’s not. it’s rooted in ballroom dancing and they have two parts of competition: rhythm dance and free dance. fun fact: pair ice dancers scott moir and tessa virtue, who are famous to be suspected dating, are the reason we had a no dating rule at the rink. showcase ice skating is usually for some kind of platform, or in front of a large crowd. i’ve done showcase for investors for our rink. there’s usually costumes involved ( there are costumes for all competitions, but their costumes are more, like, theatre - y ), and props, and acting. it’s actually very fun to watch, but you need acting skill. theatre on ice, however, is just what it sounds like. theatre on ice is popular with children and good for ways to show off an entire team of skaters, because you can have eight to thirty skaters on the ice. they can also compete and they can go international, but they aren’t in the olympics and there aren’t many competitions for them. it’s usually just a fun way to get together with your teammates, bond, and then show off what you did.

so, competitions. super complicated, and as a writer, i suggest really glossing over them, because it’s difficult to get it down completely right. there are nonqualifying and qualifying comps. the difference is that in qualifying competitions, you’re looking to start moving up, basically, so if you qualify in the first one, you go onto the next one, then state eventually, then national, and so on. you start with regionals ( singles ) /  sectionals ( pairs and ice dancers ). then, if you succeed, you go to sectional singles / pairs + ice dance finals. the goal is to get on the national team ( i’ve watched ameatur skaters tell other rinkmates they want to compete in the olympics - it was NOT pretty ), basically. which, let me say this. it is nowhere. near. easy. like, just go into youtube and search “ yuzuru hanyu “ ( gold medal in pyeongchang olympics for mens singles ) and watch ANY of his performances. now he’s the gold medalist, right. he started at four years old. so let’s go smaller. google elsa cheng and watch one of her routines. she’s a member of the us national figure skating team. she’s fifteen. YEAH. not an easy sport. nonqualifying is more laid back and for fun, or trophies. nonqualifying is also a way to practice before you enter into qualifying. competitions are really nerve-racking. it’ll cause stress between you and your rinkmates, because more often than not you’re going against one another. you and your coach will usually spend all the prep season creating your two programs, which you will almost always repeat in every single competition you attend. i have about 20 different routines stored in the back of my head. sometimes my coach would give us exercises of coming up with a routine during a time restraint. my friend junior learned a routine that was on yuri on ice. 

for competitions you arrive, you get ready. you’re almost always wearing some kind of elaborate costume/dress leotard thingy. this is a time to start getting mentally ready, talk to your friends, and do each other’s hair and makeup. costumes are bought way ahead of time, and are usually related to the theme of your routine. you do NOT want a wardrobe malfunction. it’ll mess you up & you’ll lose precious points. your hair will most likely always be back and, more often than not, braided or in a bun. the comp will begin and you have a practice session so that you can get warmed up and ready. it’s not long. you will get the music for your program played one by one, and you rehearse - this is usually to check to make sure your music is right & to get acclimated to the ice then you get off the ice and another group will warm up. your coach can’t be on the ice whatsoever, and has to stay outside the rink. usually, competition order is done by a random draw. one by one, you will do your routine. no one but you can be on the ice. then you go off to the “ kiss and cry “ ( because you’re either about to celebrate or get your ear chewed off by an adult in a tracksuit ) where your score gets announced. then, competition continues. your warmup + when you start is not based on how you placed in the last part of the comp ( usually started with lowest ) and you perform the second routine. then, and this is usually determined by like how serious the competition you're going to, but there are trophies handed out, a podium ceremony is held, or medals or flowers are given out. my coach would always make the team pose together after competitions and go out to eat - lots of coaches hold bonding exercises esp after comps. if we did well, we could skip our 9 am practice. if we did poorly, the team meets up at a local park and runs the three-mile trail, and then they do technical corrections at the rink. after your medal/etc ceremony, you’re done. sometimes the top people will perform, but by that time you’re usually exhausted and want to sleep for a billion years ( or, if you did really well, you want to go eat 15 ihop pancakes and conquer the world ). the competition season is from august to april. this is a BASE of what happens. it’s different at different kinds of competitions and for different categories of skating, but it’s almost always something like this. offseason is for practice, rest, and fun, basically, but if you're a serious skater, by the time you’re hitting july, you’re spending more time at the rink than at home. the most well-known and the hardest competitions to qualify for are the grand prix, europeans ( european championships ), worlds ( world championships ), and the, of course, olympics.

another aspect of almost any professional sport is injury. think about any ice skating routine you’ve seen. there is no protection. you’re wearing a thin sheer leotard. you have basically knives on your feet. it’s VERY easy to get yourself beat up by ice. the ice is very hard and not very forgiving. meaning, if you hit, you hit hard. you usually are putting a lot of force into it, too, because you’re falling. don’t even get me started on the BRUISING. you will look like you have gone thru something, all the time. ice skates, which have to sharpened routinely, are, as you imagine, SHARP AS FUCK. knife shoes. i’ve been recreationally skating, because i work at a rink, and just monitoring the skaters and usually messing around with my rinkmates, and i fell, and i sliced open my thigh. i didn’t need stitches, or anything, but there was blood everywhere. very gross. ( ask abt this answered here ! ) and i wasn’t even doing anything particularly hard. and this has happened before. they WILL cut you. ankle injuries are super common. i’ve seen someone break their ankle feet away from me. i’ve twisted my left ankle five times. as for dislocations, they also happen a lot. when i was twelve, i was at the top of my figure skating career. i was qualifying to competition after competition. during a regular, normal practice, i was doing a jump i had usually aced, and i landed the wrong way and i dislocated my knee and blacked out. it’s a very disgusting injury and extremely, extremely painful. like, a good 50k in hospital bills for the surgery to fix it. i was very good and it was my favorite activity on the planet, but it was so awful that i quit. when i was fourteen, i started skating again, joined my team, etc, etc, but it was very difficult to recover from. and that’s a very common story. most people get injured and they have to stop. i know a girl who got a bunch of concussions, and wasn’t able to skate. i’ve been concussed on the ice. people tear their acls or their hip. we have a sports medic at all figure skating practices and comps. and a lot of injuries, once you hurt something, you will hurt it again because you made it weak. we are all very flexible but overuse will make your bones brittle. there’s also stress fractures and different things you can get from just overworking your muscles. shin splints, tendonitis, jumpers knee, etc. you name an overuse injury, and i’ve had it. i was one so exhausted after practice that i laid down on the ice and cried until my coach ( who i love very dearly ) gave me a bag of skittles and told me to suck it up. that’s not saying my coach is a bitch ( john mulaney vc my coach is a bitch and i like her so much ), that’s to say there is no break, no stopping. you get better, and move on, or you quit.

as-is with basically any competitive sport, if you get serious, you will probably go onto some sort of diet along with it. you want to be eating a lot of nutritional stuff ( granola bars are HOARDED in my locker room & to this day i gag at the sight of protein shakes ), anything with a lot of calcium ( because we do be breaking bones ! ), and iron. i used to eat pasta before comps ( like wayyy before not an hr or anything ) because it gives you ~energy~. you need to be eating a lot because you’re exercising a lot. gatorade is banned by my coach because it's so much sugar. you need to drink so. much. water. we all take a bunch of vitamins. usually will eat chicken / meat in general. but keep in mind, like any sport in which you are cutting things from your diet / eating specific things / etc, it can easily lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. there’s a lot of shitty mindsets you will encounter with coaches and fellow competitors about what weight a figure skater should be, and it's even worse in pair skating ( because of lifts ). when i was eleven, one of my old coaches told me that she hoped i never hit puberty because it’d fuck up my balance & when i did i cried. a fellow competitor once told me she wished she had my “ figure skater “ body ( and at this point of my life, i had very unhealthy eating habits ). another time a group of older kids made fun of how gangly i was while i was in earshot. the amt of times my coach has SCREAMED at ice skaters for making fun of / putting down fellow ice skaters is astronomical. it’s rough. a lot of figure skaters have opened up about how figure skating caused / contributed to their mental illness. it’s very easy to fall into because of how “ perfect “ you need to be. you can look up various figure skaters stories on this: adam rippon, gracie gold, and yulia vyacheslavovna - a very famous one as it was part of the reason her career ended & she was the youngest ever skating gold medalist. and i will say, personally, my unhealthy relationship with food ( that would eventually lead to lots o problems & i still feel the impact of today ) began when i was figure skating. there are other risk factors for mental illness as well because there’s so much focus on winning / losing. more than once, competitions would give me panic attacks because of the great stress.

another thing is MONEY. as fucked up as it is, you need money, or a grant, if you want to get good. you need expensive skates, costumes, travel fees, and more. my pro figure skates, not my casual ones, cost upwards of 300, and that’s low balling it. when i was ten, my parents spent upwards of 10k on figure skating. there are rink fees, there are competition fees, there are coaching fees. it adds up extremely quickly. i know a lot of skaters who stopped competing because it was just too expensive. i work for my rink by teaching classes and monitoring open skates and additional things, but if i added up every single dollar i ever made, it would be nowhere near enough to pay for everything. but the thing is, if you get really good, you can make money off of competitions, but getting there is the hard part. at one point in my life, my parents were paying $100 an hour for my private coach who i was seeing multiple days a week. figure skaters also oftentimes will take additional classes to help. my coach made the entire junior team take ballet one year. i took a ton of gymnastic classes as well to help with skating.

so, who are the kind of people that ARE figure skaters ? what do we act like ? there’s a lot of stereotypes that figure skaters are cold people. that’s not necessarily true. i would say that we are extremely competitive people. i’ve seen rinkmates get into full-blown fights during competitions. one of my best friends, who i met at my rink once i returned from my hiatus, HATED me because she knew i was competition. we are on-edge.  stakes are high and the pressure is on. a lot of us are very perfectionistic because you sort of got to be to get to our level. we can have control issues and we can become easily frustrated if we flop jumps or keep stuttering coming out of a spin. the other stereotype is that we are super delicate little flowers. probably because of the way we have to move. realistically, we’re a tactile bunch of people who would probably wind up hurting someone if we played hockey. ( another stereotype : figure skaters and hockey kids. the closest i’ve gotten to a hockey player is the one time i threatened to quick him in the nads because they came early and insisted we get off the rink. ) we all love skating and have a lot of fun while doing it. it’s dangerous, and that’s part of the thrill. speeding around the rink at extremely high speeds is, honestly, exhilirating. we love our sport and, though we can get on each other's nerves, love our rinkmates. it’s not easy, but it’s our favorite thing to do.

[wizardouxie]

Trollhunters but it’s a figure skating au

So Jim used to skate when he was younger

But he left the rink to take care of his mom after his dad abandoned them

Weirdly enough it was his dad who originally got him into ice skating

But it was for hockey and not actual figure skating whoops

Steve constantly tries to bully Jim about it

Apparently it’s a “girl” thing

Toby on the other hand tries constantly to get Jim back into the game

“Come on dude, you used to fly across the ice! It’s super cool,”

“You know I left that behind Tobes,”

When they find out Claire is a skater Jim is Interested™

Toby notices LMAO

“DUDE DUDE DUDE YOU CAN IMPRESS HER!”

“TOBY NO –”

Jim kinda wants to but at the same time he doesn’t really have the motivation for it

Or a coach…

OH BUT HE DOES

Because it’s Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!

They’re really good coaches

Well Unkar begs to differ but THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT

Aaarrrgghh actually teaches Toby to skate as well

“Jim look I’m doing it!”

“That’s great Tobes! A couple of years and maybe you’ll reach my level!”

“Haha nice joke!”

“I was being serious –”

Draal gets lowkey pissed that Jim is trying out for nationals cuz he’s been working up to this to prove to his father Kanjigar

Who by the way, was the one who always faced off Gunmar in the finals

However Bular beat Kanjigar one competition and ever since then the pro skater has given up his claim to glory

Anyways there’s a regionals competition that Jim and Draal are competing to win because after that they can move onto state

Toby somehow lands himself as a commentator for the ice skating competition so you can bet your money he’d yell into the mic over Jim 

Eli is the other commentator

Jim beats Draal fair and square

Draal grudgingly accepts defeat and decides to help Jim on his journey to winning gold

Trollhunter amulet? Nah. Ice skates that make Jim feel confident? YAH.

No they are not enchanted nothing is enchanted in this AU

They’re his lucky skates leave him be ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

Meanwhile Strickler is Bular’s coach

…They really don’t get along

Strickler and Nomura try to spy on Blinky and Jim to see what routine and music they’re planning to use

They also steal Jim’s skates cuz they notice how he some gets better with them in comparison to his practice skates

Blinky and Jim find the skates in their bag and exposes them

SCANDALOUS

Lmao doesn’t stop them from sending Angor Rot to do their dirty work

Angor also steals Jim’s skates and Jim’s like bruh

Jim breaks something of Angor’s and Angor freaks but the adult is quickly taken away by security and now banned from all local skating rinks

Jim breezes through state competition thankfully

Unfortunately so do others 

Here comes the Return of Gunmar and Morgana

Aka the two of them getting back in the competition because Bular repeatedly FAILS to demolish Jim and Morgana wants to claim the win she was denied before

They both “need” a coach so Usurna backs Gunmar while Morgana has Dictatious

Blinky is appalled to see his brother fraternizing with the enemy

The Tribunal (without Usurna) are the judges of the competition

Meanwhile Jim really wants to impress Claire

He hopes she’s watching him from home

But get this, she’s going to nationals for the women’s division

Small world we live in, huh?

NotEnrique is her coach but they have a hard time getting along with each other

For the most part she’s been studying Morgana’s routines from past competitions and borrowed some sequences while putting her own spin on it (literally)

Jim loves to see her practice and the feeling is mutual from Claire’s side!

Even if it meant seeing Jim always tripping on his feet

And getting his skates stuck rip

She finds it cute lmao

They begin to fall in love yada yada yada PAIR SKATE

They do a pair skate to Eres Tú for fun

At one point Merlin pops in to give Jim advice and everyone freaks

He’s an ex Olympics gold medalist what’s he doing here???? OMG???

He takes Jim to another room… and tells Jim to switch his entire routine

“Gunmar will easily defeat you with that mediocre performance,”

Jim is Offended

But after some consideration he takes Merlin’s new routine, shuts out everyone from the rink to practice on his own

Quickly reaches brink of exhaustion, like he’s caked in sweat

Still keeps going at it despite the shouts from the other side

Blinky is yelling at Merlin and Claire is trying to break through and it’s BAD

Meanwhile Jim is tearing up because he’s gotten this far and he’s trying his best and everyone is rooting for him

He can’t let them down, he just can’t

He collapses on the ice the same time the door is broken down

The press learns about this and the headlines are raging about whether Jim will participate in the finals or not

“I’m going to win,”

“No, you’re going to hurt yourself,”

“I don’t care,”

“But we do!”

Unfortunately his mind is set

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh can only watch him push himself

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Grand Prix Nationals

Jim goes up against Gunmar and Claire goes up against Morgana

Jim takes his chances before getting into the rink

“No lucky kiss for me?”

Claire raises an eyebrow and then kisses him on the cheek

“Go get em tiger.”

After that Jim is absolutely feral on the ice

Homie is out for blood

The commentator remarks that he’s not even human at this point with his new routine

Merlin watches with approval, stroking his beard

Blinky has a strong urge to pull it but Aaarrrgghh holds him back

Jim finishes his routine while looking at Claire and Toby and they give him a thumbs up

Gunmar does his performance and it is definitely professional, after all he’s been doing this for a long time

He ends by smirking at Jim

But let the results speak for themselves

Drum roll please!

…

…

…

JIM BEATS GUNMAR BY A LARGE MARGIN LETS GOOOOOO

And so Gunmar dies figuratively (HA get it figure skating fig- okay nvm)

Press goes nuts that the rookie beat a pro

Suddenly cameras and mics are shoved towards Jim and Toby is loving it

Toby, certified public relationship agent

Blinky is so proud of Jim

“I knew you had it in you.”

Now we move onto the women’s division

So Claire definitely has a few tricks up her sleeve

She pulls off a costume change and her outfit goes from white/gold to black/purple

Then she pulls off a move that Morgana attempted in a previous comp but failed to perform which leaves the crowd shocked

Morgana is utterly stunned to the point it affects her performance

She over rotates, trips, slips, every ice skating nightmare, you name it

Everyone watched the Grand Prix thinking Morgana would win and came out just knowing Claire would seize the gold this time

Morgana is humiliated with a bronze… again

Afterwards Jim and Claire are yelling at each other because they won nationals together

Merlin walks up to them and offers to coach them for Olympics if they’d like

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh definitely tag along

Merlin isn’t about to get all the credit

Toby unfortunately has to fly back to Arcadia while they train :((

But no worries, he can always commentate on the ice skating performances at home!

*sigh* They’re not as fun though, mostly showcases rather than competitions

But one day a new rising skater from Cantaloupia shows up to the rink and changes everything

[divine-draws]

okay i had a whole google doc that i wrote a buncha shit but imma try to CONDENSE it and make my ideas more clear bc there was some wishy washy in there. BUT dabihawks ice skating au bc im gay for that shit. all of it under the cut bc this shit is gunna get LONG. buckle in fuckers. ALSO FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ABOUT this i will be happy to answer shit :3c

SO fair warning before we begin. i know shit about ice sports. im like 1) not THAT educated nor have i legit participated though ive always wanted to and 2) this is just self indulgent so like if i dont get shit right or whatever dont come at me bro. im here to have FUN and live a bit vicariously. also as for location of all this shit i dont know and dont care and am american so my perspective on things are skewed. anyway cw: abuse mention

so dabi (touya) is a previous figure skater

he’s a figure skating prodigy 

enji was a pro hockey player (id say figure skating but this man was BUILT like a brick shithouse idk man) has a lot of championships under his belt but doesnt even begin to touch the legacy of his one sided rival yagi toshinori

him and rei meet and marry at a young age. she like.. actually liked him then?? shit was kinda okay but things kinda.... got bad quick. the abuse etc was ... yeah. she ends up having dabi and fuyumi (they’re twins babeyy) at a young age too and kinda doesnt feel like she can get out of her horrible marriage 

we wont dwell too much on the bad part of all of this though. anyway rei was a figure skater

p well known and known for her fucking GRACE god she moved so well on the ice.

she was so beautiful and spoke through her movements and enji loved that... and so as a hockey player and with a (now previous) figure skater wife he was like aight my kids WILL take up an ice sport and be the FUCKING BEST

dabi isnt made for hockey. enji tries to get him into it but it’s... nah... fuyumi isnt the best with figure skating. she’s good!! and her and dabi do some pair skating when they’re younger but it’s.. hm. dabi is the one with the clear talent here. (fuyumi is a beast on the ice when it comes to hockey though. will dominate. but she kinda... didnt really continue with it)

enji isnt PLEASED that his son isnt gunna be a hockey player but he still values figure skating and will fucking make sure he’s the BEST at it. and so the brutal training starts. he gets some good coaches and also takes up the coaching mantle 

the thing is.. rei was amazing as a skater but her body just... wasnt really made for all of that??? and dabi unfortunately kinda inherited that. his body hates the impacts and such. he’s amazing at figure skating. he has a grace similar to his mothers but there’s something more fierce to him. 

and honestly !!! he gets far!!

also natsuo comes around. he’s a bit too clumsy for either sport and resents the fact that him and fuyumi are neglected by their father. he also loves touya and gets so pissed seeing his brother so hurt

and shouto is born and this kid was made to be on the ice. he’s skating from the moment he can fucking stand on his own.

obvs enji’s attention is split but it’s mainly on touya who is winning championships and GOING places but it’s still not good enough

anyway idk how far he goes?? but it’s the biggest competition yet and on ice mid routine he lands wrong

one thing leads to the next and he’s pretty much medically retired from a young age. he can skate. he can still kinda preform but he cant do what he used to at ALL and he cant keep up with the brutal pace enji sets. there’s a lot of trying to push him still and it’s just.. not happening

for all it’s worth dabi is kinda glad he isnt doing it anymore. but he fears for his babies brother. shouto is a natural and while yes being a professional athlete of any sort is brutal on your body, his body is a lot more capable

but like touya before, shouto is pushed to his absolute limits. bleeding and injuries and puking his guts out from being pushed too far

there’s a lotta resentment but he still pushes through w skating. 

(side note but there DEF is some todomido/tododeku w hockey player izuku who ends up being coached by THE yagi toshinori and who helps shouto out w making shit his own)

anyway so in the end dabi ends up working at a rink tho lol

it’s p much owned by shigarai and run by the lov (who in this au end up making their own little ragtag unofficial local hockey team p much and play games against other teams like them)

despite his father’s whole career, dabi does enjoy playing hockey with these dipshits

but yeah he enjoys his time working at the rink, fucking around and sleeping in random places and sometimes running the zamboni

he’s also best frenemies with shigaraki. they get along and both deal with a shitty upbringing and despite some slight animosity they both would kill if someone fucked w the other 

(also at some point dabi DEF teaches some little kid classes lol)

also dabi does sometimes skate his own routines from time to time. only when he’s alone really. though fuyumi has a pass to be there though he will gripe still

SO HAWKS AM I RIGHT??

now there is a couple ways to go with this and somewhere in me there is an au with hockey player hawks who takes skating lessons from figure skater dabi BUT

i think for this au we’ll just say he was a figure skater from the get go

i think he WANTED to do hockey as a kid. like shouto he’s also a fucking natural and was skating as soon as he could fucking stand and walk. and he looked up to enji and kinda wanted to take up hockey but 

listen,,, trans hawks. who wanted to be like todoroki enji and be a pro hockey player. shit just.. didnt work like that though and besides he’s a tiny dude and god he’d be fucking obliterated 

he kinda is self taught and the ice is his escape from his shitty home life

idk how this works but listen gotta tie in the commission somehow???

he’s scouted or whatever for figure skating at a very young age and his mom is happy to take the heavy scholarships and happy to sign him over to skate for these ppl and have them push him to be The Best

and this kid is FAST. he’s fast and is insane with his jumps and stg it almost looks like he’s FLYING (which gets him the nickname hawks)

the coaches are brutal and shit sucks and a lot of the time it kinda sucks the life out of the sport but he still enjoys it

he has a love for outfits that legit have flare to them (also im thinking of johnny weir’s one outfit w the feathers but yknow instead of white they are RED) and while he does do routines to boring ass music he mainly likes doing shit different (also dabi was p much forced the whole time to do shit to that boring ass music but on his own he’d use his own music taste to skate to)

and he’s good!! he GOES places. he’s like makes it to the olympics at a young age and is one of THE youngest gold medalists for figure skating

im sure somewhere along the line him and dabi DID meet. it was at some competition and hawks was VIBRATING bc there’s ENJI and he wants and autograph and oH GOD IS THAT HIS SON??? he’s HOT. (and at this time dabi still had his red hair and like no piercings and what little ones he had they were out but this dumbass will not recognize him later on)

but god he needs to chill TF out or he will fuck up in the competition 

he hears about dabi’s whole accident and like feels for him but again it’s not like they were friends. there was more of a slight rivalry and they barely spoke if they did

but so idk like.. between seasons hawks finds himself going like nearly every day to this rink.. aka shigaraki’s rink (also sidenote but lbr it’s really run by shirakumo who kinda has to fucking herd the cats w this group)

as frenemies dabi and shigaraki share their distaste for some of these pro athletes (tho some get a pass) and kinda complain about hawks a bit tho like..... shigaraki cant complain TOO much bc of the money from hawks renting out the rink for a few hours almost every day

dabi is too gay for this shit when he actually sees hawks in action. rip him 

tbh they dont really interact tho (besides dabi telling him to gtfo the rink or he’ll run him over with the zamboni) until one day that hawks catches dabi skating

he was done and should have been gone but he forgot something on the bleachers and then he sees dabi and.. oh boy he’s GAY AF

and also dabi is RLLY GOOD???

and so hawks makes a FOOL of himself and startles the poor guy and p much presses all the wrong buttons w asking why he doesnt compete or something

and i mean im sure they had some SLIGHT progress w talking before. nothing significant but god the walls go RIGHT THE FUCK UP and dabi is pissed

tbh dabi was gunna get to the point where he LEGIT talked to him and maybe lowkey asked him out (he says this but shigaraki calls his bluff) and now there is no way. he storms off and tries to avoid him so hard

and hawks tries to corner him a bit but after some time he does manage to corner him and be like pls just let me take you out to dinner to make up for that shit????

aaand dabi accepts bc listen okay he cant say no to free food ??? like he’s kinda pissy w this guy but also.. listen he has EYES 

anywayyy p much this just leads to them dating

hawks DEF looks him up and watches all the vids of him and like the idiot he is realizes that he met him before ( “oh my GOD i know you” “uh… we’re dating i hope u know me?????”  “nO I MEAN WE MET AT (insert comp)”)

but before that dabi did like tell him some shit. mainly about like how he used to skate blah blah and the whole thing that ended all of that

he doesnt really delve too deep into like his shitty childhood until well later

idk what leads to it but the convo finally comes up and it’s so draining for dabi and hawks is horrified and ready to fight his dad (“listen i just sharpened my skates i’ll just-”)

anyway some side things bc this is long and i will answer questions on this tho

rumi is a women’s pro hockey player and fuyumi who actually follows hockey and shit has the BIGGEST crush on her (they end up together)

also natsuo comes to see one of the leagues games (he hasnt really seen them play tbh?? he hears about it from dabi but he lives like at least a few hours away on campus and is going for med school so rip him) and like he meets shigaraki and anyway dabi is losing his FUCKING MIND bc his best frenemy/boss and his younger brother are FLIRTING. RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM???

dabi and hawks are really gay together and have skated together by this point and made out on ice a few times and shigaraki was miserable and is like “NOW U KNOW!!” and dabi is pissed bc “yEAH BUT THAT”S MY LITTLE BROTHER??? IT”S NOt thE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Challenge Cup, Haag

Another competition is here! And I bought the ticket just for one reason - Misha Kolyada. And then for seeing some more skating ;)

ICE DANCE

I really like these events when there are just a few participants and when you like all of them it’s even better.

Lopareva/Brissaud (FRA), Yankovskaya/Lukacs (HUN) and Verhaegh/van Geffen (NED) all have great rhythm dances.

The French with their Too darn hot and the Hungarians with Grease went for trusted programs many teams decided for and they did good job with it. I especially liked Grease (in my private ranking I’d put this Grease on third place behind Smart/Diaz and Guignard/Fabbri). 

On the other hand Chelsea Verhaegh and Sherim van Geffen decided for Diamonds are a girl’s best friend and I love it. I don’t think anyone else is skating to it. 

I generally prefer rhythm dance to free dance but I like everyoneeee here, so I liked Lopareva/Brissaud’s Daft Punk, Yankovskaya/Lukacs’ Une hymne d’amour and Verhaegh/van Geffen’s War of hearts. During ice resurfacing they were showing V/vG’s free dance from the previous season - Andre Rieu, Waltz and that was amazing. I have to say they are the discovery of the season for me! 

PAIRS 

So here are some highlights and thoughts... I wrote it after SP and then added some more thoughts after FP so... the opinions change quickly :D 

I know that Tarasova/Morozov are in the league on their own, but - to my own surprise - I caught myself thinking that I really liked their Bolero SP and that it was hot. And their FP to Adagio! Especially the second half is amazing and the last spin is so wonderfully performed to the music. They won very comfortably even with missing the jump combination. 

It was so nice to see Hocke/Kunkel in competition again after she had problems with a balance organ (I assume in the ear?). And that one lift in their FP? She just stretches her leg absolutely upwards wow. 

I really love Chtchetinina/Magyar’s Renaissance short program and they skated it without any mistakes here! They really are a great team on top European level. 

And I also loved Keriven/Pierre’s Corsica SP. They had a bit unfortunate FP. Fall on a throw and immediatelly afterwards interrputed the lift. (This lift gave them troubles also at nationals :(  ]

Netherlands has two pairs! (thanks to a little help from Russian ladies). And Osipova/Epstein got their TES minimum for Worlds. As for the other Netherlands’ team Danilova/Tsiba I really liked how commited to the performance they were in their FP to All of myself.  

The Program for me is Broda/Betegon’s The lion king SP. I wasn’t even breathing when they were skating because I want them to do well so much. And they did! They did a great program but unfortunately didn’t reach the TES minimum. I don’t think Spain will have a participant in the pairs category at Worlds... Laura Barquero teamed up with Marco Zandron but I don’t know how it’s with his release and their training... (now confirmed, no participants from Spain in pairs)

I don’t know I found Zhuk/Bidar’s West Side Story SP underwhelming? Maybe it’s because of the music, yeah there were also two falls but they are kind of bland generally? Oh, nope, sorry, change of opinion. It’s just the music. Because then I saw their Ave Maria FP and they were wonderful. I was a bit surprised to hear this music but they both were so graceful on the ice. How is such a change possible? And I love the moment when she’s doing a solo spin and he’s doing a spread eagle around her. 

Sweden has a pair! Twins pair Greta and John Crafoord. 

I’m so happy for Alexandra Herbrikova/Nicolas Roulet that their FP went so well! They skate to Imhotep and the drums really make sure that you hear every note and get the rhythm :D but they kept up with the music!

Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii. I love their Oblivion SP. Here they had an unfortunate hard fall after a twist. I really thought Sara was almost on the way to the hospital and they returned on the ice and flawlessly performed and finished their program. And they got the TES minimum for Worlds. (If everything goes according to the plan it will be Della Monica/Guarise and Ghilardi/Ambrosini going but why not to have an alternate?) I’m half shocked that they could continue and half admire their, especially Sara’s strenght. Understandably, they withdrew from FP.

MEN

Another portion of highlights and thoughts... Not me not only not watching the FP live but beginning to watch it two hours before the access to it expires. Ooops. But I managed to watch it just in time ;)

Jari Kessler’s SP is amazing. Really, Jari Kessler was another discovery for me at this competition. 

In the short program, Burak Demirboga was great! And Gabriele Frangipani too. I preferred his FP this season to the Impossible SP but now I’ve paid proper attention to the SP too and it’s great. The FP didn’t go so well here for Gabriele with two falls and he slipped off the podium. 

Romain Ponsart is like a different skater this season. Expressive performer. I love it: his SP as well as his Elvis FP. 

Georgi Rhestenko from the Czech Repblic got the TES minimum in SP! Yay!  Unfortunately, the FP went ... not well. Poor him. He skates to Joker (I have to admit that Joker is even bigger no-no for me than Mouline Rouge) but at least his program isn’t terrifying and he does a cool cantilever there.

Tomas Llorenc Guarino from Spain also got the TES minimum in SP! And he has such an amazing program. That’s so big. Can you imagine a Spanish skater again at Worlds? In 2019 there was no Spanish participant in men singles and the future looked bleak. Javi, Javier Raya and Felipe Montoya retired, then even Hector Alonso retired... And now? There are new upcoming skaters! Tomas, Aleix Gabara, Pedro Garcia, Arnaud Joly and Iker Oyarzabal. Some of them getting close to or achieving TES for Europeans and now Tomas even fighting for World’s TES. I’m just so so happy. His FP to Angel and Devil didn’t go that well, he had two falls and in the end didn’t get the necessary points for Worlds but he was close! I really have high hopes for next year’s Europeans and Worlds!

There was a really strong Spanish participation at this competition. Arnaud Joly and Aleix Gabara also took part and I really liked Aleix’ FP to Romeo & Julie. 

We had also two Hungarians there! Mate Borosz and Andras Csernoch. He has a really good Attack FP. 

I adore Morisi Kvitelashvili’s Amsterdam SP. I have to repeat again that his skating is so “civil” no pretending of fake deep emotions, just beautifully skating to Jacques Brel’s magnificent voice. Poor Morisi, the FP went really bad, falling, popping jumps... Though I’d watch him just skate without jumps any day.   

Still no opinion about Adam Siao Him Fa. I’m sorry. Though... I kinda liked his FP to Leave a light on.

Another skater I saw for the first time: Kornel Witkowski from Poland. Skating his FP to Fly me to the moon. I looooove jazzy programs. I love him already. 

Another big revelation for me was Basar Oktar from Turkey. I only knew Burak... And Basar skated absolutely amazing FP to Notre Dame. In fact, they both skated so well that they placed fifth and sixth overall.  (Basar 8th SP, 5th FP, 5th overall, Burak 5th SP, 6th FP, 6th overall). With a difference of just half a point between them. But I assume this was what decided and a day afterwards, Basar was nominated for Worlds. Woohoooo

Donovan Carillo is a sweetheart. He has so much charisma, he’s so authentic while skating (also his costume is awesome and he has suspenders which automatically means I love love love the costume, the program, the skater ;) ) His In the mood program is such a nice jazzy gem... though it wasn’t his day. Fortunately he already got the TES for SP and was fighting only for the FP.  OMG, yesss, skating gods, yess, he got the TES! His program to Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps is just so Donovan. Engaging, sweet, charming. I like this formula. One program to a well known English song, the other program more “local”. In the past, he skated to songs by a Mexican author, with Perhaps it’s really not “local” per se, but the lyrics in his program is sung in Spanish. (Matteo Rizzo goes the same way - one known engaging pop song and the other one Italian) 

 Misha Kolyada. I think it was a good decision to go to an international comp instead of Russian Cup final, to get used to it again, to international competitors and judges. (Ok, shame about the 1A) but he’s a king. Absolute king.  He’s also absolute king in the free. The way he moves on the ice is unreal. The emotions he makes us feel...