A/N. Inspired by the all the snow we've got of late and a word that kept cropping up in the profile book, one of the few I could translate without having to look it up. Lyle's section included the word 'fashion' more than once.
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will, just borrowing the characters.
The More You Know
The one thing Sumeragi had been looking forward to during this excursion to the surface was a touch of normality and a reason not to get up in the morning. It was something she was fairly sure Christina would have both approved and disapproved of, depending on how much they made of the escape from work after the trials and tribulations of the year having lost yet more friends. Had it really been seven years since she'd last seen the bubbly girl?
Still, the tactical forecaster shook her head and stared at the scene that greeted her on this particular snowy winter morning the day after arriving on Earth after a long journey. This wasn't quite the behaviour she had expected from the remainder of her crew.
They were acting like children. All of them, which, she supposed was stranger in some cases than others. However, the image of Feldt shrieking, arms pin-wheeling as she struggled to keep her balance on the ice skates in the middle of a frozen lake was not…normal in any sense of the word.
"Whatever is going on out here?" Sumeragi asked, finally finding her voice.
"Falling ovahhh-!" was the response from Mileina as she fell quite spectacularly backwards, only to be caught rather deftly by a laughing Lyle.
"You're almost there. Just, don't lean so far back," he said, making sure she was steady on her feet again before letting go and answering Sumeragi's question. "Free lessons, want one?"
"I'm fine, thank you." She watched for a moment as the Meister switched his attention to Feldt who was not doing quite as well as her friend. "I never knew you could skate."
"The lake used to freeze over pretty good back home, tell a kid not to do something and you can bet they'll go do it just for that reason." Lyle shrugged as he grabbed the girl's hands, "Okay?"
Feldt shook her head.
"Well, we'll go slow, left and then right, okay?"
It was an entertaining sight, and Sumeragi found herself watching for far longer than she'd intended. She'd intend just to come out, ask what the heck was going on and then go back inside where it was nice and warm. Instead she sat at the edge of the lake and watched as Lyle skated back and forth between his two impromptu students with far more ease than she'd expected until the tactical operators were quite worn out and in need of a break.
"Suit yourselves," he called after them, hands behind his back, casual as could be, yet something of a mischievous smile on his face.
"So, this was how you used to spend your holidays then?" Sumeragi said realising that the Meister wasn't planning to get off the ice anytime soon.
"Yeah, I beat everyone in the neighbourhood, it the one damn thing I was better at than Neil." He grinned over his shoulder at Feldt. "He spent most of the time on his arse, just like you."
The tactical forecaster could almost see the blush and slight irritation on the girl's face, and felt it best to avenge the girl's pride the only way she knew how: "Well, if you're so good, give us a proper demonstration instead of talking yourself up."
To be fair she hadn't expected him to agree, nor had she expected his coat to be thrown at her with a comment that the blasted thing would need dry cleaning should he – heaven's forbid – actually fall over. She also hadn't expected his boast to be true, and she was most certainly impressed with the display. Nowhere near as fancy as the professionals she'd seen at sport's events, but still, it wasn't amateur. Ian would never let Lyle live this down once the mechanic got wind of the Meister's hidden talent.
"Proof enough, Miss Sumeragi?" Lyle asked, stopping almost directly in front of her.
"Proof, yes," she agreed. "Proof that you are indeed a show off."
She punctuated the statement with the snowball that had thus far gone unnoticed in her hand, the shock at the sudden attack disturbing his balance and – THUNK – consequently causing him to fall on his arse.
"Never underestimated the power of a surprise attack," she smiled, right before getting caught on the back of the head by a well aimed snowball from a giggling Mileina.
Breakfast was late that day, and Ian thought it best not to ask when all four traipsed back into the supposed safe house covered in snow and arguing over who had won what and exactly why Sumeragi owed Lyle a dry cleaning bill. Winter did strange things to people, and he told them as much, only to be answered with a snowball from his daughter as she declared herself the ultimate winner, even if she did still suck at skating.