tushanshu_logs | (no subject)

Characters: Wanijima Akito + OPEN
Date: February 14^th - 28^th
Location: primarily the Water District; anywhere there's ice enough to skate on
Situation: Skating!
Warnings/Rating: n/a

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Akito has long come to terms with the fact that he won't ever have someone special to spend Valentine's Day with him, and it really hadn't bothered him for years. He had friends he loved and could gift with giri-choco. He had friends who he could spend the day with; go shopping, buy snacks, play games at the arcade. Here though...

He can't say that he has nothing, because that isn't true.

He has a job that he enjoys - not his dream job, but enjoyable. A job that doesn't involve harming others and pays enough for him to live comfortably enough in addition to helping him foster new friendships. With every delivery Akito makes, he's carving out another small place for him atop the turtle. It's something he can be proud of himself for, and he knows Agito would be proud of him too. That doesn't lessen the homesickness any. If anything it actually makes it worse, because as he settles himself in the more he notices small differences that seem immeasurably huge to him. The scents, the sounds, the weather, the architecture, the language, the people, the animals, the food...

The one constant he finds joy in - something that transferred from one world to the next without consequence - is his love for skating. Fighting in the war had taken it's toll on him, as Akito is ever the pacifist and letting out his vicious side was... unpleasant, at best. He used his Air Trecks for harm despite promising himself he never would again. But circumstances change, and in the end he can find comfort in the fact that by harming the few he was helping the many.

However, now Akito can use his skills at skating to have fun and, donning a pair of figure skates he puts said skills to good use. It's easy enough to translate his A-T Tricks over into figure skating techniques that could put the best of Olympians to shame, such as upside-down bicycle spins and twirling backflips. It's also easy for him to mimic the simpler, more classic techniques like a triple-lutz or simple spins and finds himself sticking to those the most.

The only thing in Keeliai that could make him feel any more content in this moment would be music, but Akito supposes that only so much comfort and convenience can be allowed at once.

((ooc: basically Akito is pulling some standard figure skating tricks for fun, along with some crazy techniques that don't actually exist IRL because his canon is weird so upside-down bicycle spin tricks are actually a thing. :|

if your character wants to learn how to skate they're free to ask him! from the 14th - 18th or so he won't be inclined to give any lessons since he just wants to skate and skate until he can't even think anymore, but after that he'll have gotten the crazy out of his system enough to take on beginners! so if you want to you can just imply they asked earlier and tag in later on timeline-wise with a lesson starter, or tag in with them asking him.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Roller skates then? I didn't think you could do the same things on roller skates as ice skating."

"You can. It's easier to skate on ice than pavement," he supplies easily. "So it's easy to alter tricks to work with ice skating."

"I would wager there are a lot of people who'd disagree about the 'easy' part of that," Sonja said.

While Akito knows, logically, that skating in any sense isn't as natural as breathing to everyone, it's still difficult for him to comprehend. He was trained on Air Trecks since he was born - was born to be a Storm Rider (because there is no way Minami would have brought him to life if it wasn't to use A-Ts). The fact that some people have never skated before is just. Unthinkable.

And it shows on his face that he finds it difficult to comprehend, though it's also clear that he's intelligent enough to understand that it's true.

"Um, I guess if you know how to rollerblade you'll find it easy to adapt to skating since less control is required."

"That makes sense. Rollerblading is something my father never would have let me do. Or ice skating. Anything involving wheels that isn't enclosed with numerous safety devices, really. He is a bit of a worrywart." Sonja is not entirely sure she'd have wanted to rollerblade, but it was hard to judge how much of that was her own feelings, and how much of that was a result of her specific upbringing. Nature versus nurture was always an interesting debate.

"Oh," he says, absently wondering what having that kind of overprotective father would have been like. Deciding that for all of the abuse he endured he would much rather his own father, he adds: "My father made sure I knew how to rollerblade since before I can remember. My whole life has been skating."

"Have you enjoyed it?" An entire life devoted to a single skill seems horribly boring to Sonja, but she could admire the devotion.

"I wouldn't be skating in this place if I didn't."

Sonja wasn't so certain of that. Force of habit was a strong motivator, she'd found.

"Well, that's good then. Where are you off to now?"

"Um... To find somewhere smoother to skate," he says, not bothering to elaborate on what else he plans to do. While he has run into her a few times that doesn't mean he trusts her, or considers her a friend. "I ripped this area up too much to be able to use it anymore."

"Oh, well, good luck. I like to make a habit of walking through the city everyday, so maybe I'll see you around."