03 | Accidental Video

[icecastlemadonna]

[When this video turns on, it's facing out at the interior of the Mahogany Ice Rink. It's now evening, and the Mahogany Mamoswines have finished practice and gone home for the day, so the ice is currently empty...except for Yuuko, who can be seen skating in slow circles. She'd gotten a job here a few weeks ago and has been pretty good with managing the hockey equipment and helping to maintain the ice, but now that she's alone and at a skating rink for the first time in months, she just can't resist doing some after-hours skating herself.

She doesn't seem to be aware that she's being filmed; in fact, it looks like she's entirely lost in whatever music is playing through her head as she skates. At first she just slowly skates around the rink, but soon she picks up speed and does a few spins, first crouching down into a sit spin and then on one leg with her body parallel to the ice and her free leg held above hip level in a camel spin. At the moment, she's forgotten that she's been brought to the Pokemon world and is now immersing herself in the past, back to when she and Yuuri would practice their skating together at Ice Castle and try to copy the great Victor Nikiforov.

Then she picks up even more speed, and for the first time in a while, she does a jump, taking off from the back inside edge of one foot into a triple Salchow. The Salchow was the first jump she ever learned, but it's been a while since she attempted a triple; she manages the three rotations, though her landing is a bit wobbly.

There's an excited chirping behind the camera after Yuuko lands the jump, and that seems to snap Yuuko back to reality and look towards whoever's filming this.]

Wha--Twizzle?! [Yuuko's face turns red...mostly from embarrassment at being caught on camera during a private moment, but also from annoyance. She starts skating towards the camera, and the excited chirping turns into a nervous "eep!" at her darkening expression.]

What have I said about using my 'gear without permission?!

[The camera shakes and is then knocked onto its side as whoever's holding it hastily puts it down. You can briefly see a Sylveon bounding away through the doors to the front desk with Yuuko chasing after her, though Yuuko can't go very fast since she's wearing skates.] Twizzle! You get back here right now, young lady!

[The camera runs for another minute before a Snorunt hesitantly turns it off. Sorry about that last bit, folks.]

Comments

[Video]

[rimeblaze]

[While he doesn't know a whole lot about ice skating outside of what he does on the ice he creates back home (which isn't anything like what Yuuko is doing here), Shoto can definitely appreciate the skill and even the beauty of it.

He'd been taking a break training with his team, all of them settled in the middle of the forest to snack on some food, when he caught the video on the network.

A muffled laugh escapes him at the Sylveon's antics and Polar crawls into his lap to see what's going on, the Vulpix looking a bit amused now as well.]

You're very talented.

[Video]

[icecastlemadonna]

[It takes a few minutes for Yuuko to reply; she's still red-faced and a bit flustered, though that's mostly from having to chase down her Sylveon and give her a good talking-to about recording people without asking. Meanwhile, Twizzle is sitting next to her and there's a look on her face that clearly says "Worth it". She got some prime footage!]

Thanks...it's been a while since I've been in a rink, and even longer since I've skated competitively, though. I was a lot better when I was younger.

[Video]

[rimeblaze]

It doesn't seem like you've lost much of your skill, though my knowledge of ice skating is pretty limited.

[Still, it was gorgeous to him.]

I bet you could get back into skating competitively here if you wanted.

[Video]

[icecastlemadonna]

Well, the Salchow I just did is one of the easier jumps...I'm not sure if I could still pull off the harder ones.

I know there's a hockey league, but I'm not sure if figure skating is really a thing here. And if I did compete, I'd have to get back in shape...

[Video]

[rimeblaze]

It seems like something that would just take some practice and time.

Maybe it's something you could look into starting? Even if it was just lessons, it seems like something people would enjoy.

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[shiro2hero]

[He was going to compliment her on the skating. It looked great! In his woefully inexperienced opinion.]

[But then the camera's off and running.]

Yuuko! Everything okay?

video;

[icecastlemadonna]

[A few minutes later, Yuuko manages to reply. She's a bit out of breath from chasing down her Sylveon and giving her a lecture.]

Oh, everything's fine. I just had to remind someone that you shouldn't record people without asking them first.

[Twizzle the Sylveon is sitting next to her, and she doesn't look very sorry.]

video;

[shiro2hero]

They look really broken up about the whole thing.

[The Dad-liest of Dad Looks in Twizzle's direction.]

[But:] You looked amazing out there, though. That was incredible.

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[icecastlemadonna]

[Twizzle's ears droop a bit at the Dad Look, but at the same time she looks a bit defiant. She got some great video footage, okay!]

Thanks, but I'm still pretty rusty...I didn't exactly stick the landing for that Salchow. But it's been a while since I was last at a skating rink, so I just couldn't help myself.

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[lyingheart]

[ This is enough of a pattern across multiple people's pokemon that Annie ends up talking with her two about not stealing her gear in order to record moving photographs, but because it feels almost stranger to have ended up watching part of this and not saying anything, she comes back to it after a while. ]

What was on your mind, out on the ice?

[ Skating like that is a whole ??? as it is, and she can nod toward the skill being demonstrated by Yuuko and... her Twizzle? For having held the gear that steady before running off. ]

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[icecastlemadonna]

[Yuuko thought it was bad enough that her triplet daughters would use her phone and upload videos on her account without permission, but it seems she wasn't quite prepared enough to deal with her Pokemon doing it as well. Especially now that Twizzle's evolved into a Sylveon and has gotten the hang of using her ribbon feelers to pick things up.]

I guess I was feeling some nostalgia, mostly. It's been months since I was last at a skating rink, and even longer since I've really skated. I used to figure skate competitively, and I'd spend a lot of time at the local rink practicing with my friends. I think for a moment I almost thought I was back home.

[lyingheart]

[ Axel, Lutz, and Loop would be even more enthusiastic, and probably have a running blog-show about pokemon and ice skating if they were here. Which might be better and worse; though pokemon figuring out how to sneakily record their trainers for whatever reason is a nuisance, and all of it usually live broadcast. ]

If I understand, then you use to do this competitively? I can see why it would be nostalgic. It was just interesting, seeing how you moved to something not heard.

[icecastlemadonna]

[The three of them would be a force to be reckoned with if they were here. For a number of reasons.]

Well, you're supposed to skate to music in competitions, and you usually practice to music too. Sometimes it gets to the point that you can skate without it, though. I find it can be kind of relaxing when you're just skating and it's completely quiet.

[forsaintcecilia]

[Both Kazuki and his Primarina, Honky Tonk, are energetically applauding]

Brava! Brava!

[icecastlemadonna]

[Twizzle the Sylveon looks very proud about successfully capturing Yuuko's skating on film. On the other hand, Yuuko just looks embarrassed.]

Thanks...but I'm still pretty out of practice, honestly...

[forsaintcecilia]

But you did all the spins just like you said you could! It looked really amazing!

[icecastlemadonna]

I guess so...I didn’t land that Salchow very well, though. [She knows people who are gold medal winners while she had to stop her career, so naturally she doesn’t see herself as being as good as them.]

Video

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

They can be little troublemakers sometimes, can't they.

[So very familiar.]

That was some skilled skating though. I'm glad you found a rink.

Video

[icecastlemadonna]

They really can...especially this one here. [She gives Twizzle the Sylveon a very meaningful look, but Twizzle doesn't look that sorry. She managed to shoot a great video, thank you very much!]

Thanks, though I'm still out of practice. It still feels like it's been ages since I was last at a rink.

Video

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

Some of them can get really good with the gears after a while. I had some of my own go off and make their own video for the network about themselves the last time I was here.

[He sees that proud look, Twizzle.]

Well I'm sure you'll be back into it in no time. Especially now you have a rink. It's always interesting to see the sorts of non pokemon related things people do here.

Video

[icecastlemadonna]

Twizzle's already been learning how to pick things up, so I guess I should have expected that she'd try using my 'gear at some point. [Though Yuuko would really prefer that Twizzle not do that without asking. She got enough of that with her daughters at home.]

I'm usually kept busy helping out the hockey team, but I guess I could try to skate some more when I have the chance.

Video

[sleepallthewayhome]

How did you do that without falling over?

[The important questions here, clearly.]

Video

[icecastlemadonna]

A lot of practice! I was pretty young when I started learning how to skate, and at first I would fall over a lot. But the more I did it, the better I got at keeping my balance while skating.

Video

[sleepallthewayhome]

But...doesn't spinning like that make you dizzy?

Video

[icecastlemadonna]

Well, sure, a little. But you get less dizzy the more you practice, especially once you learn to control how much you spin.