Author Notes: Hey y'all. I had never really thought about author notes before, but I've come to realize they're necessary (if only for the disclaimer that should have been accompanying my work from the beginning!)
So this is to say that this story is written using many characters and other copyrighted parts of the games of SSX Tricky, part of EA Sports (and whoever they belong to).
I also thought I should mention to one and all, since some people have asked, that no, I have never played the original SSX on the PS2. Since I am so handicapped, my story will basically be taking SSX Tricky, and pretending that it was the beginning ;; Gomen.
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Elise stepped up to the edge, breathing in the fresh air. A clean pine scent reached her nostrils, and she closed her eyes, savoring the feel of the brisk chill against her cheek. No matter how many times she went down Aspen Hill, it never ceased to thrill her. True, it wasn't the most adventurous of mountains, but what it lacked in variety, it made up for in chances to deviate from the course.
Elise had already found several paths she had taken to make a change from the usual course, and all had offered interesting alternatives, except for one time when she had hit a jump at one path and fallen into the gap above a river. Her roommate had forced her to stay inside when she had gotten a severe cold from what she raved was hypothermia.
She teetered on the edge, enjoying the thrill in her stomach from the large jump in front of her. Finally, she pushed off, jumping off the mountain and free-falling through the air. She reached back and grabbed her board in a simple Stalefish. She landed at the bottom with a thump and continued on her way, gathering speed as she boarded over the icy trail.
Elise came out of her Judo Air, her face expressionless as she turned to stop at the bottom of the trail. Only then did she stop to smile. A perfect run. Every trick pulled off, every turn edged perfectly, with the snow gliding beneath her board just right. There was no way she could top that one. But she was going to have a heck of a day trying.
Elise bent over to loosen one foot-strap and glided out of the way of other racers who were coming to the small finishing area. Using her free foot to propel herself forward, she headed towards the ski lift, but pulled up short as she glanced at the large group of people who were collecting around a long row of makeshift tables. She flipped up her sunglasses to get a clearer look.
"Hey there, Riggs."
Elise turned to look at the man standing next to her and was surprised to see it was Mitchell. He ran the lift most of the time, and taught a few lessons on the mountain, so Elise naturally saw him constantly.
"Hey, Mitchell. What's going on here?"
Without responding, he handed her a leaflet, which she paused to scan. The small unimpressive looking red slip of paper very simply said in bold black letters: Auditions for Snowboarders for new competing league. Sign up at the post near the ski lift.
"Starting a league and they didn't think to leave any advertising before this?" Elise arched an eyebrow as she turned the slip of paper over before pocketing it.
"Well, actually, there have been ads all over the lodge and in the newspaper. Knowing you though, I bet you didn't notice, eh?"
Elise smiled sheepishly as she flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes. "Yeah, well, at least I was lucky enough to be here when they showed up."
"What are you talking about, lucky?" Mitchell called after her as she started to move forward. "You're always here!"
Elise stepped up to read the list of rules posted by the rough-shod table that had been set up with a few chairs and a pair of clean-cut looking officials in expensive uniform blue and white jackets and black sunglasses. Ignoring the stares of a few of the male snowboarders checking out the table, Elise concentrated on the explanation for the try-outs:
Welcome! Auditions for a new competitive snowboarding league today. Competitors must be at least 18, or have parental permission to compete. Competitors must be able to complete a black diamond trail. Get an audition sheet from one of our representatives and fill out the form. A cameraman will accompany you up the mountain and videotape your run. This video will be submitted to our judges, who will rate our contestants based on speed, tricks, and control. Good luck and we hope to see you on the mountain!
It seemed easy enough… Elise looked up at the two men in the sunglasses, who were smiling broadly at the crowd, and nodding politely as they chatted and laughed with some contestants. Elise stepped forward.
"Trying out, are we?" The man asked. He was the younger of the two, in his late twenties or thirties. Brown hair, brushed back from his face lay dully over a tanned forehead. He smiled broadly, his white teeth shining brightly in the sun bouncing off the snow. Elise found him obnoxious.
"Yes, 'we' are. May I have a form?" She crossed her arms as she heard one of the boarders behind her mumble something too low for her to hear, and the other boarder gave a conspiratory chuckle. Elise pointedly ignored it, focusing on the obnoxious brown-haired man instead.
"Here you are, miss. Anyone else you can think of who might want to audition?" He smiled broadly as he handed her the sheet of paper and a pen. She idly counted the number of pearly whites he was showing, as she accepted it. Twenty-eight. That many was not normal. Did Elise even have twenty-eight teeth?
Elise smiled in return, and was glad her dark sunglasses hid her eyes, which would have given away how fake it was. Moving down the long table to one of the empty chairs left for contestants signing up, she took a seat, letting her leg with the board still attached to one foot stay to the side.
Elise clicked the pen open, stopping to look at the side. A small logo that said SSX TRICKY in large eye-catching blue and white block letters covered half the pen. She twirled it around in her fingers, looking at the anonymous blue form of a snowboarder in air. Bored, she glanced at the other boarders sitting at the table.
Farther down, a few guys in loose jackets and pants were scribbling down information as if they had nothing better to do with their time, but weren't really interested. Elise almost laughed at how obvious it was that they were just putting up the front for show. She finally made herself turn to answer her own questions and scanned the necessary information.
Name:
Age:
(Guardian Signature if under 18):
Address:
Phone Number:
Cell Number:
Weight:
Height:
Natural Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Contacts (Y/N):
Official use only- Contestant Number:
I hereby grant permission to the SSX Tricky league to use my image on videotape or photograph in all cases as I participate in this audition, regardless of whether or not I am chosen to participate in the league.
Signature:
(Guardian Signature if under 18)
Elise arched an eyebrow. Weight? Natural Hair Color? What was this, a modeling questionnaire? Elise scribbled down the information nonetheless and was soon back to hand it in to the obnoxious man.
"Ah, all done? Would you like to take your run with the cameraman now, or later?"
"Might as well do it now."
"Sure you don't want a warm-up run or two?" The man stopped to add a registration number to her form.
"Well, actually, I'm already warmed-up," Elise replied.
"Great!" He smiled up at her again. "When you get to the top of the mountain, they'll be a group of lazy-looking cameramen on snowmobiles. Tell em to send Diego down to tape you." Elise returned his extremely fake smile, and turned to head up the mountain.
"Stupid, egotistical, dumbass," grumbled Elise as she waited impatiently to reach the top, continuing to add more insults as they came into her head. When she finally reached the top, she launched herself off as soon as possible and pulled to a stop with a flourish next to where the lounging cameramen were waiting. She tipped up her sunglasses to look at the bunch, which sat around on their snowmobiles in a loose circle, their cameras sitting behind them on the seats. One in the back who looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days noticed Elise and nudged the guy next to him, smirking and jutting his chin towards her. The other man, who was more than a little overweight and looked like he could have used a shower, proceeded to look Elise up and down, a smirk spreading across his face.
"Hey there little lady," he said grinning, while he stood up and adjusted his waistbelt. "What can I do you for?"
A snigger passed through the majority of the men, while the unshaven guy gave the fat guy a friendly hit on the arm.
"Which one of you is Diego?" She asked, letting her sunglasses drop back down as she put up her best cold front.
"That would be me, sweetie," a third guy stood up, tipping back his own sunglasses to get a better look at Elise. "Who wants me?" Another snigger passed through as Elise sighed impatiently.
"The guy down there said for you to videotape me," Elise replied, jerking her thumb back over her shoulder to show which down there she meant.
"Oh baby, would I love to videotape you," the fat guy in the background said to his friend in a conspiratory, not-so-quiet whisper while Diego grinned.
"And which guy would that be?"
"The one with all the teeth. Now are you going to start that damn snowmobile and follow me down, or should I-"
"Ok, settle down, pussy cat. I'm coming." The guy sat down and took off his sunglasses while Elise turned around to wait in disgust. Soon she heard the snowmobile revving, and with a precursory check over her shoulder, she took off.
She left the cameramen and all their nasty comments behind her, losing herself in the thrill of the ride, accompanied only by the dull thrumming of the snowmobile behind her, which she heard somewhere in the back of her consciousness. Elise knew she should be nervous, knowing the stakes, but the run seemed so familiar. She had raced down the mountain often enough on bets or just to show her own merit to other boarders who thought she was all silicon and no skill, and in that familiar frame of mind, she raced down with ease.
The ride wasn't as perfect as her last- she wished she could have gotten that one on tape. But it was one of her better ones. It was lucky she didn't suck like a few weeks ago when she had had a hard time recovering after she hit a bump in the snow. As she finished up, she pulled out of her fast pace, finally turning to face Diego, coming up right behind her on his snowmobile, camera doggedly held up to still catch her on film. On a spontaneous urge, she tilted up her sunglasses, gave a wink and her best model smile.
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Elise dropped her cold wet jacket on the floor as soon as she was inside with a groan, and hobbled over to the cupboard where she proceeded to pull out instant ramen noodles. Wincing in pain as a hand went to her hip, she pushed a bowl of noodles into the microwave and jabbed at the buttons. She then hobbled over to the couch and collapsed, letting out another, louder groan of pain. She tentatively felt at her hip, taking in as much information as she could about how big the bruise she knew she would get would be.
One of the worst days she had had in a while at Aspen Hill, she had hit a large ice patch, and gone down right in the middle of it, slamming her hip into the rough patch. And she had already been in a bad enough mood because of the Boarding League.
The auditions had lasted another week before the league left, promising to call anyone they found noteworthy. It had been another two weeks since then. Elise had pretty much abandoned any hope of getting a call already. But there was still a sliver of hope, because Mitchell hadn't heard of anyone else on the mountain who heard anything either. And Mitchell heard EVERYTHING on the mountain.
Maybe I'll just leave the ramen in the microwave. I'm not that hungry, she thought to herself, as she finally settled down enough on the couch that the pain in her hip was almost not bothering her. Probably scratched it all up when she hit the ice patch. She'd probably have a bunch of painful scratches to go with the painful bruise.
At that moment the phone rang, and Elise groaned. Looking at the table where the cordless phone sat in it's cradle, she tried stretching to reach it, but finally gave up and lay back on the couch, trying to get comfortable again.
"I'll just let the machine get it," she mumbled to herself, shutting her eyes. Just then, the machine picked up and her recorded message started to play.
"Hey, Elise Riggs here. Sorry I can't answer the phone, but I'm either busy or boarding. Please leave your message and I'll get back to you later. Bye."
"Hello, Ms. Riggs? This is the SSX Tricky Snowboarding League."
Elise eyes flew open as she fell off the couch, having not enough momentum to actually carry her weight onto her feet. As she winced in pain, she hurriedly got to her feet and hobbled as best she could over to the phone while the message on the machine continued to ramble on.
"We were just calling to inform you that you are one of a handful of contestants chosen to try-out a second time for the SSX Tricky lea-"
"Hello?" Elise tried to keep from sounding desperate as she listened. "Yeah, sorry bout that. Just hopped out of the shower," she lied, as the microwave went off. Hobbling over to the microwave, she listened to the representative on the other line. "Next Thursday? 9:00? Sure, I can make it. Where? Oh we're not doing it at Aspen Hill again? Oh, sure. Yeah. Ok, I'll be there. Uh huh. Yeah, thanks." She turned off the phone and placed it on the countertop. Running her fingers through her hair, she started to feel much better, considering the horrible day she had been having.
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Hello again! I've had people ask about whether or not Elise will always be the main character. At this point I'm not willing to say () although I can tell you that I love ALL SSX characters (even Luther… tough he's a bit of a stretch for me). The main reason I am using Elise is that she is the only female character you can use when you first start SSX Tricky. I thought I should start with something easy (meaning being able to understand certain aspects that come along with being a certain gender) and save the cross-gender writing for a time when I'm feeling a little more confident. Hope to see you again soon!