Chapter Text
Monday, January 22
It was two days before the 562703 (Sebacean calendar) Planet Farm Uncharted Territories Figure Skating National Championships were to begin. All the competitors had arrived on Moya, whose Terrace, once flooded and chilled, had won the bid to host the competition. It was to be four days of "Competition, Glory, Agony, Beauty, and Really Cute Butts." Or so it was advertised, anyway.
The pairs were on the ice for practice. Most of the spectators' attention was focused on the top contenders for gold: the teams of Aeryn Sun & John Crichton, the reigning champions, and Princess Katralla & Counsellor Tyno. The two teams were fierce rivals, due to how evenly they were matched and, in part, to the short time that John and Katralla had skated together before calling it quits and finding new partners. They were still uncomfortable sharing the same ice.
John and Aeryn were currently having problems on their new throw triple loop. Specifically, Aeryn was landing on her eema every time they tried it. After five incidences of this, Aeryn announced that her butt was getting cold and skated over to the boards to consult with her and John's coach.
Noranti, known in the skating world as "Granny," joined her skaters. She was wearing the requisite coaches' costume of a long fur coat and an expensive handbag. She seemed rather lost in her own world, kind of bopping around to music that only she could hear, but she did take hold of John's arms and positioned them in the correct way for the throw to be successful. However, after she had finished, she didn't let go. Rather, she began stroking his biceps and purring.
John quickly yanked his arms out of her grasp and took hold of Aeryn, who was beginning to look like she would gladly slice her coach's head off with a skate blade for such an impropriety with her man. They skated away from the boards and tried the throw jump again.
Half an hour later, the pairs session ended, and the ladies practice group came on to the ice. John was just about to leave the rink when he caught sight of one of the main contenders for the ladies' title, a tiny woman by the name of ro-NA. His jaw dropped practically to the floor, and he stared in awe for several long moments until Aeryn pulled on his arm.
"Put your eyes back in their sockets and let's go. We have to eat before the next practice." Her tone was sharp. *Why does he always fall for the other skaters?* she asked herself as she tugged at her partner. *Can't he see me when I'm right under his nose?*
In fact, John did "see" Aeryn. During long nights alone in his cell on Moya, he freely admitted to himself that he was in love with his partner. However, to his mind, her near-constant aggravation with him meant that she most definitely did not see him that way, and if he tried anything, he would probably get a skate blade in his head during a lift for his trouble. Thus, he had decided to appreciate the scenery--in more ways than one--when they attended competitions.
Aeryn finally dragged John off the ice, and they left the Terrace to the ladies.
* * *
A quiet rivalry had been going on between the reigning ladies' champion, Zotoh Zhaan, and the newcomer to Nationals, ro-NA. Just a few "near-misses," some showing up out of the blue when the other was setting up for a jump, that kind of thing. Zhaan had not expected the level of sophistication that ro-NA's skating showed, and decided to try another approach to psych the younger woman out a little. She usually frowned on the antics others used to try to break her own mental focus (which, with Zhaan being a tenth-level Pa'u, was rather hard to do), but when the competition was this good, she had no problems at all with employing some of those same tricks.
Ro-NA's music, a playful Hynerian composition that included lots of bubbling sounds and highlighted her youthful sparkle, began to play. As ro-NA started her run-through, Zhaan began to improvise to the music, a dopey expression plastered on her face. If anyone asked, she could say she was just working on her musicality.
Against all odds, Zhaan found, the little woman didn't seem to notice.
Zhaan decided to try something more intense. Blithely, she stroked backwards around the rink, pretending not to see ro-NA. At an aptly-timed crescendo in the music, she slammed into the other skater.
The collision knocked ro-NA down, but she was up again in less than a second. It was almost like her body was made of rubber. The bright smile the younger woman gave her as Zhaan apologized confused the hell out of the reigning champion. Perturbed, she slowly skated away in the opposite direction.
*Okay. So she has more jumps than me *and* she has nerves of steel. I need a plan.* Zhaan's train of thought ran on without her as she looked into the spectator seating. There, seated directly in her line of vision, was a rather scruffy Delvian wearing a hat and holding a violin case. He met her eyes and smiled. *Hmmm...*
* * *
Ice dance practice was scheduled after the ladies. This was only the second season together for the same-gender team of Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis and Chiana (no last name), but they were quickly gaining on the previous year's winners, Mele-on Grayza and Miklo Braca. Grayza was beginning to sense that maybe, just maybe, her excessive eye makeup and hair in unnatural colors might not be enough to win this year. She and her partner might, just might, have to actually work for this competition.
When Braca slipped during the footwork sequence for the original dance, as he usually did, Grayza pulled him up by the collar and shoved her forehead to his. Braca gulped.
"Do you know how important this is?" Grayza asked. Braca nodded nervously. "It doesn't seem that way. You realize that if we lose to that second-rate Nebari and her Interion partner, we don't go to the Inter-Planetary Championships, and we slip *even* *more* in the rankings than we did last year? Do you want to come back a year later and not even be in the top twenty? Do you understand how *bad* that would be?" She shook her partner slightly to get her point across.
"Yes, ma'am," Braca managed to squeak out. "Whatever you say."
"Good." Abruptly, Grayza turned her head, smiled at Granny, their coach, and patted Braca's head. After another covert glare at the younger man, she pushed him away so they could do the footwork pass again.
* * *
Meanwhile, Chiana and Jool were practicing lifts for their free dance. Their program was unusual in that it included three lifts by each of the two girls. It was one of the benefits of being a same-gender pair.
Grayza and Braca paused to watch the young team. "There has to be a way to stop them," Grazya fumed. Suddenly, she, too, caught sight of the scruffy Delvian with a hat and a violin case. "Braca?"
Her partner faced her. "Yes, ma'am?"
"Go talk to that man over there. See what he can do about our...difficulty."
"With pleasure, ma'am." Braca began to skate towards the stands.
* * *
That night there was a competitors' ball, sponsored by the Uncharted Territories Figure Skating Association and the Inter-Planetary Skating Union. The heads of these two organizations--Moya's Pilot and Rygel XVI, respectively--were on hand, or onscreen as it may be, to open the dinner in the mess hall.
Rygel floated up in his hoverthrone beside Pilot's clamshell viewer and banged a knife against a glass. When that didn't work, he yelled "Shut up, you lot! We're supposed to open the competition here!"
Gradually, an annoyed quiet settled over the competitors, their coaches, and various officials from the UTFSA.
Pilot began, "As the president of the Uncharted Territories Figure Skating Association, I'd like to welcome you all to Moya. Everyone involved in the organization of this competition would first of all like to wish all the competitors good luck. Second, we have made every effort to ensure that every competitor will have an equal opportunity at succ--"
"The short version of what he's trying to say," interrupted Rygel, "is don't try anything, because we have enough security to make sure it won't happen. Now, I'm starving. Where's the food?"
With that, several DRDs dragged out buffet tables laden with dishes from around the galaxy. Dinner passed relatively painlessly, possibly because careful planning had seen that no rivals were seated at the same table, and it wasn't long until the DRDs returned to clear away the tables and Little Blue began to DJ the dance.
It wasn't long before Aeryn noticed two of the competitors in the men's championship making their ways toward her from opposite sides of the mess hall. "Oh, hell," she muttered, and scurried over to John in case she had to do what she thought she might have to do.
Larraq and Velorek were not to be thwarted, though, and each approached Aeryn at the same time. After glaring at each other in a sickening display of machismo (it always seemed to affect the male singles skaters...), they both said, "Hello, Aeryn."
Aeryn attempted diplomacy. She would much rather have cut to the chase and told them to frell off, but nationals were going to last a week, and it was only the first night. "Hello."
"I saw part of the pairs practice today," Velorek began. "Your positions in the lifts are exquisite."
"Ah, thank you," Aeryn replied, glancing at John. "I certainly couldn't do it without such good support." She smiled her cheesiest smile at her partner. Oh, they were all going to regret this soon...
John, somewhat perturbed by the soppy glance he was receiving from Aeryn, simply nodded and smiled gamely.
Larraq, never one for small talk, went for the direct approach. "Aeryn, I hope you will consider attending one of the parties after the gala with me at the end of the week."
Velorek had a feeling that this actually meant "alone in my room with me and some reslak," and was about to protest when Aeryn stopped them both cold.
"Sorry, boys, I already have plans." She stood up on her toes and kissed a very shocked John lightly on the mouth. "Don't we, dear?"
It took a moment for John to regain heart and lung function. "Uh...we sure do, sweetheart."
The expressions on Larraq's and Velorek's faces were priceless. Without a word, they turned and walked away from John and Aeryn, looking somewhat like dejected puppies. Dejected puppies that were glaring at each other with an even fiercer intensity than before.
*That is not my problem,* Aeryn told herself. She looked up at John, who still wore a confused expression. *This, on the other hand, is.* She waved her hand in front of John's face, and he slowly came back to the land of the aware.
"Uh, Aeryn?"
"Yes, John?"
"Was that just a ploy to get them off your back, or is there something you'd like to tell me?"
With an opening like that, what could you do but...
"No, just a convenient opportunity to get rid of them for the rest of the week."
...blow it all to hell?
"Oh. Ooookay."
Dammit.
* * *
In addition to the puzzling exchange with his partner, John was to have another surprise at the dance. Out of the blue, his old friend and training partner, DK, showed up and tapped him on the back.
After much slapping on the back and other human greetings, John asked, "So you're competing in singles here?" DK nodded. "Huh. When did you switch allegiance to the UTFSA?"
"When the competition back home got too tough, that's when. You seen those Russian guys? I can barely hang on to my quad toe, and they're working on flips. There's no way I'd get to Inter-planetaries if I competed back on Earth."
He had a point, and it certainly wasn't the first time someone had switched nationalities to skate for a federation less advanced in one's area of competition. Besides, it wasn't exactly like the UTFSA had any sort of citizenship requirements anyway.
"So other than changing federations behind my back, what else have you been up to?"