who thought moose guards was a good idea anyway?!

[rebella]

Who: Ella & you!
Broadcast: Audio, Fleet-wide?
Action: On Planet
When: Now

Hello? Is this working?

( Ella's keeping her voice low. Something whines near her communicator. She make a hushing sound in return before continuing to talk. )

I really hope it is... uh, if anyone's out there, do you have any... pointers... on how to escape a guard deer when you've been treed in an ice sculpture with a fox?

( Problems where children demand your assistance in rescuing their lost fox. Problems when you have to listen to direct orders. There' a loud THWACK and Ella tucks the fox in closer to her abdomen and pull her legs up while she hauls herself up another branch of the odd sculpture. There's one heck of a big moose huffing and circling this ice-carving tree-bird-angel she's climbed into. )

Comments

[betterthananetdrama]

Nope! I love adventures. [Especially since this is not likely to be an adventure where there's a risk of them, you know. Dying. She doesn't like those adventures quiiiite so much.]

[rebella]

I'm not sure if I love them or not, but I'm glad to be going on this one.

( She continues on, turning down another road and winding them back toward one of the frozen expanses of water. She squints at the signs they're passing, looking for one with the right illustration. )

Have you been on many before?

[betterthananetdrama]

Not really. [pause] Well, I've been on one, but it's waaaay more intense than I was hoping for. I guess I like them more in theory. Or, you know. Shopping adventures. Stuff like that would probably be fine.

[rebella]

They're a little easier to handle when you don't have to worry about being eaten along the way. Oh! I think this might be the place.

( Pausing outside a small shop with skates in front of it. She heads on inside, pretty sure they'll figure out if this is where they want to be or not soon enough. )

[betterthananetdrama]

Is that a thing we should be worried about? [Iko's pretty sure she wouldn't be tasty, but...

Oh, this looks nice! Iko will follow her in, immediately looking at everything] Oooh, look at these! [She's over by a pair of fancy skates, with sparkle all over them.]

[rebella]

I think those are the ones you have to buy. The ones for loan are over here.

( She says once she wanders by Iko again, glancing at the sparkling skates and suppressing another smile. All that glimmers may as well be covered in fairy dust.

The skates under the "for lend" sign are older, more worn, but serviceable. Ella lifts her head to find the shopkeep, a grizzled old woman who walks over with a huff and a curious expression in her deepset eyes. )

Both of you? Eh... you should find something that works in there.

[betterthananetdrama]

[Oh. Those are not nearly as shiny. Siiigh. Oh well, someday Iko will have lots of money to buy pretty things. Maybe. Today, they have an ice skating adventure that will probably not end in death. She can be good with that.]

Alright, thank you! [Even though she's a bit put off by the lack of sparkle, Iko makes her way over to try and figure out what her shoe size is.]

[rebella]

( Ella searches for what ends up looking like a child's size. Joys of having a drop of fairy in her family history - tiny feet. It's kind of ludicrous, but she does find ones that'll fit. After which, she heads out the side door toward the iced over, groomed river the locals use as a throughway. )

Let's try the river!

[betterthananetdrama]

[oh gosh her feet are tiny. how do they even support her, are human feet supposed to be that tiny? are iko's feet huge??

oh, well, this isn't looking like a terrible thing so Iko will grin cheerily and follow.] Alright!

[That's easy enough, but once they get there-] Sooooo... how does this work?

[rebella]

( Ella plops down onto a mostly snow-free ice-bench. )

Once we lace these on, we try to stand and walk like awkward birds over to the smooth looking ice. Then we fall down a bunch while trying to learn how to glide along looking half as graceful as the people who live here. ( She smiles, raising an eyebrow afterward. ) Laughter is probably the best salve for bruises, until we can get back to the ships and find some more herbal remedy to help out.

[betterthananetdrama]

[Iko could probably calibrate her balance so she'd be perfect at it immediately, but from the way Ella's describing it, it seems like that would kind of ruin the point.] Got it! Is it really that hard? Well, actually looking at how thing these blades are, I'm kind of surprised standing is even an option!

[rebella]

I'm not sure if it's that hard so much as it's almost more fun figuring it out from the start. I used to go skating just on the ice, without any metal on my shoes, where I grew up.

( Of course, once she's laced in, she's standing and balancing best she can. Which means walking pigeon toed for the moment. )

This is more of a balancing act... much preferable to walking with porcelain on your head. Or a book!

( Thanks, Finishing School. )

[betterthananetdrama]

Have you had to do that? Why would you have to learn how to do that? [Iko thinks she may have heard about that, somewhere. Through her vague knowledge of second era stuff, but like, early second era. So weird.]

[rebella]

It was my Father's idea. Something about making me into a finished young lady. Really, I was quite finished beforehand, all it managed to do was make sure I was very well done.

[betterthananetdrama]

...I think I'm probably missing something in here. How does carrying stuff on your head make you a finished lady? ...What does that even mean?

[rebella]

As far as I can tell, it doesn't, but it did make the instructors happy, so there you have it. The king and queen would have apparently been most dishonored if we couldn't balance the proper amount of china on top of our heads. I'm sure they'd be impressed to learn just what their thoughts would be on the subject!

[betterthananetdrama]

[Funny. Cinder could barely balanced herself on her own two feet sometimes (thanks, robotic foot) and the Emperor seemed to like her just fine. You know, until she became a fugitive. Iko still ships it, though.]

That sounds totally ridiculous. Maybe a fun kind of ridiculous when you suck at it, but.

[rebella]

But mostly just ridiculous. It's fun to laugh about it afterward. All those different subjects... as if we were doing the most important things, learning needlepoint, how to use the right utensils at the table, walking soft, walking straight, dancing, singing...!

[betterthananetdrama]

[Iko makes faces at most of those, but the last two.] Singing could be nice! And dancing. I would love to learn how to dance. I'll pass on the others, though.