Ice Skating Drabble
Fiske's Point of View
Winter has always been my favorite season. The cold breeze feels so nice against my skin and the air itself seems to have more clarity to it. Summer in San Fransokyo the air is all hot, muggy and gross. Or it's just scorching and dry. Then again I grew up here on Berk. Nine months of snow and all that jazz. Maybe I'm a little biased but I still think that it's easier to add another layer of clothing rather than taking one off. You can only remove so many layers before you start getting crap like "You're under arrest for public indecency" or "Look at the crazy naked guy".
On this particular cold winter's day my good friend and I were out ice skating at the pond near the village. We were visiting family and friends of my mother's and I got to take a friend along. There aren't many other 15 year olds around here and I wasn't one to enjoy being talked at by old people for days on end, so my parents took pity on me and let me drag Hiro along for the ride. He's been adjusting pretty well to the whole no electricity or running water thing, and by that I mean it's like toting around an obnoxious white girl around the island. Hiro isn't comfortable with the whole toilet situation and he's having phone withdrawals. At the very least the ice skating is going well… mostly.
My dad and I go ice skating all the time, at the local ice rink in the city and Dad's homemade ones. I'm actually more graceful on the ice than I am off of it. There have been several occasions when I twisted my ankle walking on flat ground minutes after looking fabulous in the rink. Much to my dismay my father still makes fun of me for pulling crap like that. For being the great Jack Frost he's definitely not as lithe and agile as the legends make him out to be, so he has no room to talk.
The ice feels so much more forgiving than the concrete does. Gliding across the frozen pond feels more like flying than anything else. The way the blades on the skates effortlessly cut through the smooth surface below is incredibly satisfying. My state of weightlessness was rudely and loudly interrupted by a yelp and a crash from somewhere behind me. Startled, I slid to a halt and turned around to see a grumpy Hiro trying (and very badly failing) to get up off of his probably aching bottom.
"You alright?" I asked, extending my hand out to help him up.
He reluctantly grabbed hold of my arm and hauled himself up to a wobbly standing position, "Did I mention I've never ice skated before?"
"I figured it was either that or you learned how to ice skate from a retarded moose," I replied, "Do you need help?"
"After the retarded moose comment, no thank you," Hiro retorted letting go of my arm with a huff.
It was really painful watching him try to scooch forward. It kind of looked like a baby deer trying to stand up for the first time. You know, once the fawn gets two of its legs cooperating then the other two would screw up kind of thing. Hiro was unconsciously searching for a safety wall that simply wasn't there and his balance was all kinds of out of whack. After two more falls and a lot more arm flailing, he finally conceded to receiving assistance.
"You keep your balance by focusing forward. Ice skating is kind of like walking in snow shoes. You push off with one foot, then lift the other one, bring it down and push off again. Up, down, push, and switch. That way you're always moving forward. Come on, I'll be right here with you the whole time," I said, trying not to further injure his pride.
I positioned myself in front of him and helped him up again. I started skating backwards and slowly began guiding him forward along with me. I could tell he wanted to smack me for being coordinated enough to do all of this. The look he was giving me told me that he was less than pleased. He started to get the hang of it after about 30 minutes of me serving as his human walker. Now comes the fun part. Weaning him off of his human safety net and getting this strong, independent fawn to skate on his own.
I tried to let go of him but he immediately panicked and almost took another swan dive straight into the ice. Once I had a firm grip on again him he relaxed. Obviously I was going to have to get creative, something I'm not really known for doing. I can get creative with interior decorating but this required a little more abstract thinking than arranging some furniture and wall decorations.
"Let's see how many ice puns we can come up with in the next minute," I suggested.
"Damn. Only a minute?" Hiro asked, then smiled, "That's cold."
I grinned, "That joke gave me the chills."
"Really? I thought it was the icing on the cake," Hiro replied.
"It's not icing, it's frosting. My mom would be so done if he heard any of these puns. He'd probably give us the cold shoulder," I said, slowly and cautiously letting go of Hiro while he thought of another pun.
"He'd condemn you to ice-olated containment," Hiro said, oblivious to the absence of my hands. Excellent. My bullshitted plan was working.
"There's snow way he'd ever let me live this down," I said, feeling pretty proud of myself. It's not every day I do something right.
"I think it's time we put these shenanigans on ice," Hiro replied.
"Well would you look at that. You're actually ice skating by yourself, Bambi," I said, silently hoping that I wouldn't screw up a good thing by pointing it out to him.
Hiro looked down at his temporarily unclumsy feet, almost lost his balance, and then managed to get himself together, "Well it's about time. We made so many ice puns it's become a frozen pundra out here."
I shook my head, "Wow. You really need to chill on the puns."
"Aw, come on Frisky's. Don't leave me out in the cold," Hiro replied.
"Seriously going to slap you," I chuckled.
"Thanks for not giving up on me," Hiro said with an unexpectedly non-sarcastic tone.
I smiled, "Come on now. If a blonde can ice skate, so can you."
Hiro laughed, "Damn son, you didn't tell me you were going to take over my job of insulting blondes."
"Yeah well you took over my job of being the clumsy one," I retorted, then dodged an incoming slap.
We continued ice skating well into the afternoon. There were many more ice puns to be made and so little time to make them. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day for everyone excluding Hiro's poor backside. It suffered greatly throughout the entire experience. So you could say Hiro's rump was really the butt of the joke in the end.