Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human
Rating: T (nothing explicit, but one line as a memory of Ripple referencing her bad experiences as an Eden Club Traci)
Words: 1,357
Notes: I have never written the Tracis before, so I hope you guys like this! I am trying to write characters I usually don't with this series. By the way, I have a personal headcanon that Echo and Ripple have PTSD from what they went through. It's not really brought up much here, but there is a paragraph that shows a bit of what Ripple goes through.
This fic is Part 2 of my Winter is for Warmth and Soul series. Part 1 of the series is called Home is Where Laughter Lives.
Prompt: Skating, & Ice | Lights (mixing two different prompt sets)
Her Angel on the Ice
It was hard to believe that as recent as a month ago, they were considered unfeeling machines, incapable of being alive.
Ripple sat on the bench on the edge of the makeshift ice rink, adjusting the straps of her skates. She contemplated everything as she looked up at the fairy lights that were strung from pole to pole on every side of the rink. The lights shone like little balls of glowing stars, warm under the coolness of the ice under them. She looked around at the skaters in the rink. Most of them were human, but there were a good number of androids, too. This was not an official rink by any means—a group of androids and humans had come together and cleared an area, icing over a large swath of space so that it could be skated upon. Someone had put up what looked to be garden lamp holders in order to be used as poles for the fairy lights. The fairy lights, as many as they were, looked cheap, most likely from a local thrift store. A wireless radio had been propped in-between the Y of a thick tree, and it poured out a constant flow of Christmas-themed songs with only a faint crackle or two.
They were in an area that was safe for the comingling of humans and androids. Although they were officially declared to be sentient and given some rights, there were still those that thought androids should be melted down and destroyed…among many other horrendous things. Here, though, this little ice rink was nestled in one of the lower-class neighborhoods of the city, one large building complex giving shelter on one side, and a taller one sheltering the other. Smack in the middle was an icy, temporary area of fun, cobbled together by creative people who just wanted some fun and peace.
Peace.
A sigh escaped her.
Even amongst the colorful hats and even more colorful hairstyles, it was easy for Ripple to spot her girlfriend in the crowd. Blue hair practically sparkling with little ice flakes, she zipped and weaved her way around the slower skaters around her. The smile was bright on her face as she laughed when she pulled off a rapid twirl. From her spot on the wooden bench, the flush of blue on her cheeks was easy for Ripple to see. She looked so happy. I always want her to be happy.
Before she could trail off into her own thoughts more, her girlfriend began to glide over to her like an angel. It may have sounded sappy, but Echo would always be the light of her laugh, her angel.
Angel…
—"C'mon, angel," a man's voice drunk sluiced out from her memories like rancid oil. "I got another round with you, and then you can entertain my buddy here. I know you want to."—
She shuddered, though not from the cold.
"Ripple?"
Echo appeared in front of her before her mind could take her somewhere that she knew from experience would be hard to come back from. A quick inhale, then Ripple disguised a shuddering breath behind an exhaling laugh. "Ha, well you sure do like showing up people, huh? How's the ice treating you, angel?" She prayed she would buy it.
She was rewarded with a blink and a quick once-over from Echo before the other woman shifted her weight. The smile that had been on her face dimmed slightly, though not from sadness or anger. Still, it made Ripple's stomach component twist funny at being the cause of it. The smile still rested upon Echo's lips but changed to match the understanding that reflected in her eyes. There was a little scrape-scrape from the ice when she shuffled her skate-clad feet closer to reach out to Ripple. Within the blink of an eye, that beautiful smile was back at full bloom as she took her hands in hers. "I think it'd be better to find out how the ice is yourself, love. Let's get out there."
A gentle tug pulled Ripple off the bench and onto her feet. She was unsteady for a moment, but before anything could happen, Echo had her hands on her waist to balance her. Ripple kissed her cheek as they skated out on the ice together. The fast skaters easily maneuvered around them as Echo had slowed her pace to match Ripple's. Ripple was not as adept at ice-skating like her girlfriend was, but she appreciated that Echo wouldn't leave her in her metaphorical dust.
In public, at least.
They got close to the center of the ice rink where the slower skaters were. Most were couples, a few small children, and visible beginners. Once there, the two women slowed until they shifted back and forth in a lazy bob to the music. They enjoyed the music in the air and the quiet between their bodies until Echo muttered into her neck.
Ripple brushed a thin strand of blue hair from Echo's face. "Huh? What was that?"
"…I don't like showing people up," came the hesitant, shy reply. It was almost a pout.
"You silly girl," Ripple simply smiled and kissed her forehead. Not before long, they shared a small fit of giggles between them.
A faster-paced song came on the radio, and the skaters around them reflected that. People were whizzing and zooming by with even the beginner skaters doing their best to pick up their speed to the beat of the song. It was a cheerful, bright number—the 2033 remixed version of "Jingle Bell Rock". Once they were free from the giggle fit and could properly keep their balance, Echo put some distance between them, though still connected their hands. Curious as to what she was doing, Ripple let her girlfriend take the lead. Her answer came when Echo began to skate to one side, forcing Ripple to go in the opposite direction With their hands meeting at the center, they began to spin in a circle in the middle of the ice.
One rotation, two, then more. The spinning increased in speed at almost every turn, and soon they were going as fast as they could. Round and round they went, going at a speed that would have made Ripple fall had she not been connected to Echo. (If she let go now, she knew she would have been launched into another person, one of the snowbanks, or both.) If they had been consumed by giggles before, something unbridled came out of Ripple's chest, powerful and light like she had never felt before. She shrieked with laughter, excitement pulsing in her code. Her eyes leaked saline from the wind. The synthetic muscles in her face hurt from smiling so hard. Her gyroscope was going to make her regret moving like this but hearing the equally loud laughter coming from Echo, she didn't care.
Eventually, they slowed down, panting from laughter and clutching each other's hands tightly. At some point they had opened an interface, and Ripple only realized it from the cold against her exposed chassis and every positive emotion in her body being reflected back at her as Echo's own emotions. The laughter died, but the happiness stayed, guiding them so close to one another that they were breathing the same chilled air. Habit and the gravitational pull of their emotions brought them together, one magnet of a woman to the other. They rested their foreheads together, and so close, Ripple could see the lenses in the back of Echo's beautiful light brown eyes. Those eyes twinkled at her with pure joy. That look overwhelmed Ripple sometimes, but she would never want those eyes to be out of her life for even a day.
One moment passed, a private sort of quiet surrounded by holiday cheer of ice skaters around them. The two women closed their eyes and shared a kiss, smiles still on their faces. It was perfect.
[I love you.]
[I love you, too, angel.]
Ripple still could not believe this was the life that they had.
With Echo by her side, she hoped it would always stay like this.
Published: 12/20/20
A/N: Thanks to Bethesda551 and CleganeSnape for reviewing the last installment of this series!