omgnochecksyet | A Skating Rink on the Mainland, Monday Afternoon

A Skating Rink on the Mainland, Monday Afternoon

So it had taken a good amount of planning- finding skates that would fit Tali, a time that would work for both of them, and then a rink open at the appropriate time- but here they were. There were a few skaters already on the ice, but it wasn't crowded or anything. Eric finished tying up his skates and then tucked his shoes under the bench along with the backpack he'd brought (what was in said backpack? well, that was for later.)

"You ready?" he asked, looking over at Tali.

[ooc: for the one that's mentioned in the post!]

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"I think I've already had three people ask me if there's some kind of sci-fi convention going on," Tali said, sounding amused, as she finished getting her skates on. "I'm going to start telling them it's viral promotion for some upcoming vid series. Time to see how well my work holds up, I guess."

Because of course the engineering nerd would build her own skates just because it was fun.

"You know, given the crazy stunts I've seen people pull to promote stuff, that could definitely work," Eric acknowledged. Curious, he glanced down at Tali's skates. "You made those?" he asked, clearly impressed.

"What can I say? I like a challenge." Tali spread her hands in a sort of 'guilty as charged' gesture. "And it's habit, anyhow. Almost everything quarians tend to own has been used or repurposed in some way . . . and it was fun to do."

"That's so cool," Eric enthused, walking over to the gate and stepping on to the ice, where he skated back a few strides to give Tali room to join him. "And eco-friendly!"

Tali laughed and took an experimental step out onto the ice. It was a little wobbly, about as expected, but thanks to having decent balance she managed to recover with minimal loss of dignity.

"That's the idea." She took a few more careful steps, trying to get the feel of the skates before she actually tried any gliding. "Resources are limited, so we have to make the most of everything. I still have a hard time getting used to how much disposable stuff humans tend to have. Okay, here we go."

She pushed off carefully and glided along on her left foot for a foot or so.

"So far so good?"

"You're still upright," Eric pointed out. "I'd say that's a pretty good start." He'd give in to his own urge to work up some speed and try a jump or two in a bit, surely, but for now he was just going to keep pace with Tali. "If you're worried about falling, stay near the edge so you can grab on to the wall if you need."

"That was my plan," Tali admitted. A medical incident would be awkward, to say the least. She waved a hand. "Don't let me slow you down, though. You probably want to do something a little flashier."

"If you're sure," Eric said, already quickening his strides a little as he headed in to a loop jump. As he landed, something occurred to him and he skated back over to Tali. "Did you make your skates with toe picks, or no?"

Tali shook her head. "From what I read while I was researching them, that seemed more advanced than I needed. Thought I'd go with something simpler while I get used to this, so I based them on hockey skates."

And if she'd included tiny mass effect fields to make them lighter SHE WAS NEVER TELLING.

"You really made that look easy," she had to add.

"Yes, well," Eric said, blushing a little, "I've been at this since I was really little," a beat. "Well. Littler. Do you want to practice stopping, then?" Going, after all, was pretty easy. Every little twitch you did on the ice would send you going. Stopping was harder.

"It shows," Tali told him, clearly impressed. She tried another stride or two, still a bit awkward but not quite as shaky. "Can you do more complicated stuff than that?"

Another couple of strides, and she drifted closer to the wall and grabbed hold. "Keelah, okay, maybe learning to stop would be a good idea."

"Whole routines and stuff," Eric confirmed. "I was Junior Regional Champion last year." He gave Tali a moment to steady herself, and then took a few quick strides before pointing his feet together in a triangle shape, bringing his forward movement to a stop. "This is probably the easiest way. Wanna give it a try?"

". . . huh," Tali said, looking down at his skates. "That makes sense, actually."

You know. Considering physics and all, because . . . yeah.

She followed suit, only with somewhat slower strides, then tried it again just a touch faster. "Watch out, you'll have on-island competition any day now!"

In ten years' worth of 'any day,' maybe.

"Maybe we should propose a talent show at the next Student Council meeting," Eric called back, working up speed before he went in to a spin. "Although admittedly this one doesn't work very well outside of a specific environment..."

"I was just going to suggest seeing if we could set up a rink at the school temporarily." Yeah, Tali wasn't even going to try anything close to a spin, but she did manage to go about ten feet at decent speed before slowing to a stop. "That might be fun when winter comes around. Until it rains fruit preserves or something, anyway."

"The ice would get so sticky," Eric said mournfully. "See, you've got it!" he added enthusiastically. "But that would be kind of cool, to have somewhere to skate on-island. Maybe it actually gets cold enough for the pond to freeze over..." he mused.

"Well," Tali said slowly, but with an eager lilt to her voice, "I could probably try to rig up some kind of system to maintain the right temperature, if we want to set up our own little outdoor rink -- or there's that girl, Elsa, with the ice powers . . ."

Which would be less of a technical challenge for her, but probably more efficient.

"There's a girl with ice powers?" Eric had no idea! That was so cool. Pun intended. "But would she have to like, be there all the time to keep it frozen?" he wondered. Ice powers might be more efficient in the short term, but were they sustainable in the long run?

"Uh huh. I don't know exactly how they work," Tali admitted, and picked up a little bit of speed. She still wasn't doing anything more than basic skating, but she might actually get somewhere about as fast as she would walking now! "It could be worth asking her."

"Maybe," Eric said, tapping his chin. "But if you think you could make some sort of cooling... thingy... you ought to give that a try, too." Look, if she'd had fun making skates, she'd probably have fun designing this, he figured. "Oh! Hey! Can I put a clip of us skating up on my vlog?" he asked, fishing out a digital camera.

"Vlog?" Tali echoed. Internet -- er, extranet terminology had changed a lot by her time, shh. "And sure, I know I could come up with some sort of ice machine. That's not a problem."

"Awesome," Eric grinned at her. "Uh, vlog- video blog? I have one where I kinda just... talk about recipes? And stuff that happens here in Fandom? I only have like, three subscribers." One of which was his mother. "But it's fun!"

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A Skating Rink on the Mainland, Monday Afternoon

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