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To be fair, Viole hadn’t exactly known what ice skating was when he agreed to Wangnan’s plans. But the blond seemed excited, everyone else seemed more or less excited, and Viole nodded and went along with it because why not? He didn’t have any immediate plans from FUG, and as much as he tried to deny it, he had grown attached to this team.
Which is why he’s a bit caught off guard when the next day, Wangnan drags them all to what he calls an “ice skating rink”. To Viole, it just looks like a frozen lake. There’s other people on it, though, wearing some odd bladed shoes.
He pays for everyone’s tickets before they can get into an argument about it, and after another half hour of trying on rental shoes, everyone finally manages to get a pair that fit.
“So, we all can skate, right?” Wangnan checks as he stands up on his skates, stretching.
Akraptor nods. But besides him, the blond is met with resounding silence. “Wait. You guys don’t know how to skate?”
“There was no ice where we lived,” Miseng says.
Ehwa looks away sullenly. Prince is still trying to tie the laces properly. He shrugs, as Horyang shakes his head at the same time.
Viole tries to stand on his skates. He wobbles and falls over immediately. Everyone’s attention snaps to him. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he pulls himself back onto the bench. Jyu Viole Grace, fearsome Slayer Candidate, walking like a baby deer because he can’t skate.
“You can’t skate either, Viole?” Wangnan asks, adding on as an afterthought, “I guess that’s not that surprising. We’ll just have to teach you all, then!”
Viole looks at the rink with slight trepidation. He tries to get up again. Wangnan grabs him before he can fall over. “C’mon, Viole! It shouldn’t be too hard for you.” Viole stumbles after him, trying not to trip over his own feet.
He wonders if Khun would be better at this. Probably. Khun’s always reminded him of ice and snow, with his pale complexion and shimmering blue hair.
“Okay, so we’re going to step onto the ice now,” Wangnan says. He hops onto the ice nimbly. “Just put one foot on the ice first…okay, then lean forward and pull your other foot in…”
Viole follows his instructions, gets both feet on the ice, and nearly falls over again, barely managing to balance by waving his arms wildly.
Wangnan snickers, although he quickly stops when Viole looks at him. “You can’t learn if you cling to the wall like that. Here, you can hold onto me first.” He carefully holds Viole’s hands in his. “You can just glide along with me for now. Just keep your feet parallel to each other—don’t look down, that’ll increase your chances of crashing.” He skates backward, pulling Viole along with him. After a few minutes, when Viole no longer seems in danger of falling on the spot, he instructs, “Now take a few steps and then let yourself glide. You don’t need to lift your foot very high, just a little off the ice. Step, step, glide. Good.”
They’ve made one loop around the rink. The others are starting to get onto the ice now. Akraptor helps Miseng and Prince, although the kids seem to pick it up fairly quickly, maybe because of their low center of gravity. Goseng and Horyang also go together. They stumble and trip as they try to skate, but it looks like they’re having fun.
“Okay. I’m going to let go now,” Wangnan says, as Viole turns his attention back to the blond. “You’re already getting into the pattern of ice skating.”
Viole glances down briefly. His feet have surprisingly settled into a pattern, each foot gliding outward slightly to glide forward. He nearly stumbles as Wangnan lets go, but quickly catches his balance.
The blond whistles. “Jinsung was right about you being a fast learner.”
“…How did you learn?” Viole asks quietly.
“I used to skate with some friends,” Wangnan explains, before his expression then turns sheepish. “And then uh…I used to run from loan sharks a lot, and sometimes it’d be snowy, so I’d try to escape on skates. It never worked, of course, but…” he shrugs. “It’s a nice skill to have.” He looks across the rink. Viole follows his gaze to see Ehwa struggling on her skates. Wangnan sighs. “I guess I should go help her. Hopefully she doesn’t melt the lake. Have fun, Viole!”
Viole watches him skate off towards Ehwa and exchange a few words. They seem to argue a bit, but finally, Ehwa lets him help her. Viole continues skating on his own, slowly getting used to the ice under his feet. It’s not too bad at all, he thinks to himself.
Akraptor skates up to him. “How is it?” he asks.
Viole stays silent for a moment as he tries to figure out how to respond. “It’s…nice,” he says finally.
“That’s good to hear,” Akraptor smiles. “My daughter used to love ice skating. I ended up learning it so I could teach her.”
Viole tilts his head slightly to indicate he’s listening.
“I gifted her a pair of skates one year,” the man sighs fondly. “It’s nice being able to skate with friends again.”
Miseng and Prince zoom past them, laughing. “You’re it!” Miseng cheers, skating off as Prince chases after her. Viole’s lips twitch upward slightly.
“It seems like most of us picked it up quickly,” Akraptor comments. “Wangnan is surprisingly good, though. Not that I was expecting him to be clumsy, but I didn’t think he’d already know how.”
Viole looks towards the center of the lake, where Wangnan seems to be doing tricks on his own. He really is impressive, nimbly spinning and leaping across the ice. They watch him for a while as they skate on their own, before a tug on Viole’s robes startle him.
Miseng stares up at him. “Do you want to play tag?” she asks. “It’s boring with just me and Prince.”
When Viole stays silent, she adds, “Please?”
Viole gives in to the wide eyes. From next to him, Akraptor adds, “Why not?”
He’s still not the most adept at ice skating, but neither are the children. They cheer as they chase each other around the rink, sometimes colliding but getting up just as quickly. Viole’s movements are much quieter, and he often tags them just by brushing his hand over their shoulders, but the kids don’t seem to mind. They skate around until they’re tired. Viole is actually sweating slightly at the end, despite the cold. They’re just getting off the ice to take a break where a sharp crack rings through the air.
Everyone freezes.
Team Sweet and Sour automatically looks towards Ehwa, who has faint smoke rising off her body.
“EHWA! DON’T MELT THE ICE!” Wangnan screeches.
“I’M TRYING NOT TO!” Ehwa shouts back.
“WELL TRY HARDER!” Wangnan retorts.
Viole silently calls Shinsu towards him, already predicting what’s coming. He presses his palm to the frozen lake.
The ice splinters and cracks.
Panicked screams, then silence and everyone realizes they’re not falling into an icy lake. Instead, a large disk of Shinsu covers the lake, stretching all the way to the edges. Viole strains under the pressure of keeping it up, not used to one this large, with so many people on top.
“Get everyone off!” Akraptor orders.
It’s not until everyone is ushered off the no longer frozen lake that Viole sighs in relief and releases the Shinsu, letting it dissipate into the air. As Wangnan and Ehwa break into an argument, he sits down heavily on a bench.
“Are you okay?” Miseng sits down next to him. Viole nods. He’s just tired.
Miseng offers him a peppermint. Viole vaguely recalls sneakily buying them a while back when Goseng refused to. He takes the offered candy.
“And the lesson we learned is: Don’t let Ehwa near anything ice,” Wangnan declares.
“I didn’t mean to melt it!” Ehwa exclaims. “It just happened!”
They bicker back and forth as everyone else watches awkwardly.
Finally, Viole breaks the argument when he speaks up. “I had fun.”
The two fall silent instantly, glancing over in surprise. “W-Well, I’m glad,” Wangnan smiles. He seems to notice the way everyone was watching the argument and sighs, deciding to drop the topic. “How about we go and get some hot chocolate?”
“Hot chocolate!” the kids shout excitedly. Goseng frowns slightly, but she doesn’t comment, letting them have a sweet just this once.
As they leave, Viole glances back at the lake. The ice is gone, but he thinks he wouldn’t mind doing this again one day. Maybe if he ever reunites with Khun and the others—but that’s a wishful thought.
For now, he’ll enjoy what he has, and summon his Pocket as the team starts to argue over who’s going to pay.