2018-11-30 - TIMELINE 1: Skiis and Youth
| Title: Skiis and Youth | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Kasagami Araki invites various Sister Schools students onto the Hokkaido slopes! | |
| Who: Fuu Hououji, Homura Akemi, Kasagami Araki, Niramo Umokeshi, Nori Ankou, Steven Universe | |
| Where: Hokkaido Slopes | |
| OOC - IC Date: <11/30/18 - Winter in Hokkaido> | |
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Hokkaido! Beautiful mountains, a (thankfully) warm and comfy resort for the Sister Schools students and those with the money to vacation there! And of course, an obscene amount of courses ranging from slow and easy courses for the beginner to those fit for olympic athletes.
Take one single, ill-advised guess on which course one Newest Student Council Member Kasagami Araki /wanted/ to drag her newest friends, acquaintances and unfortunate victims towards?
Luckily a few students fainting in pure terror, a single Infinity teacher nearly having a heart attack, and gathering one or two less brave students she hopes to shepherd into proper bravery means that some vague sense of sanity has prevailed.
Kasagami Araki is clad in a black fur-trimmed coat snapped about her body with golden clasps over the cold-weather proofed version of the Student Council uniform (in red, of course) has her deceptively snug. Her hair is left to sway wildly in the light wind atop the skii course, and she has top-of-the-line skiis and skii picks clenched in gloved fists like dual blades. Both eyes, one steel and one a sightless white spark with ambition....
"Sister Schools! Don't let this great mountain intimidate you! For as the /AMBITIOUS YOUTH/ of tomorrow's Japan, you must do everything in your power to overcome your own limits! I, as Ohtori's Student Council Disciplinary Executive, shall show you the path towards bravery and realizing your dreams! My friends...Let's show this mountain what for! I believe in you!" One fist clenches.
It's the intermediate course, divided into two lanes. The one on the left will be a challenge for those who have never been down the slopes before. The one on the right will be a challenge for those who /have/, with a few more obstacles. Kasagami has had the sense to make sure EMT's, Ohtori bundled up servants with cocoa, food, and the like are ready as well.
She points down the slope, and then pitches down with a whistle. "Shall we? Come on, show your school spirit and your desire to overcome the thoughest challenges!" A nod.
Kasagami is down the right hand course...and practically arm-in-smaller-arm with a certain well bundled girl she's decided will be a vague passion project.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
While this trip has been pretty much Fuu's first opportunity to go skiing, she's made the most of it, duly encouraged by classmates from Infinity and counterparts from the other schools. She's largely been taking it easy up to now, but the invitation from Kasagami seemed a little too good to pass up.
Although standing on her skis at the top of the slope, polls dug into the powder, and two gates standing before her, Fuu wonders if this really was a case of 'too good to be true' after all. She pauses one more time, looking over at Kasagami ... then heads for the left-hand lane, praying in the back of her mind for favorable winds.
Whatever "favorable" menas in *this* context, anyway. "Good luck, everybody!" she calls out before reaching the point where gravity's say in the debate takes precedence ...
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"Snow! Cool!"
A fluffy-headed little boy was among those who made the trip to the mountain with the schools blessing. Though it took a great deal of convincing to let his moms (yes, plural) to let this particular child go. One was unsure, one was overprotective, and one was causing a scene with throwing eggs into the garbage disposal.
But... eventually they relented, as felt a little better about the situation. For their charge was him, but protecting him from danger was... potentially a little easier around these parts. As where they hailed from, they were the only magical protectors known. They thought themselves alone.
Turns out in Japan, that is far from the truth. Every time a situation arose, numerous magical girls came out of the woodwork to quell the threat. And when most of what you know is magical conflict, this is the only usual concern.
But against a pair of sweet little eyes and begging, all the magical defense in the world cannot save you.
And so, Steven Universe is galavanting through the snow, waring a large parachute material pink jacket that near doubles his size, an even pinker scarf, and a pair of bright yellow boots. "I should make a snow Cookie Cat! Heh heh heh. Wait. How do I..." The thought was fun, but his body can't... really make that shape. "I-I haven't gone skiing before! I have done tabogganing! Is it the same?" A look to others show that no, it is not. There are long mini-snowboards strapped to their feet! "Ohhhh freaky! I wanna try!"
This could go badly.
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (7)] has posed.
It's been nearly 6 years since Niramo has last come to Hokkaido, and just as long since she has any sort of interaction with a set of skis. As a much younger girl, her parents had taken a very rare vacation together here, and she was able to get some basic lessons on skiing from her father, like staying balanced and how to slow yourself down. It's was quite enjoyable to spend time with the constantly busy detective, and still remains one of the prized memories in her life.
Those lessons have been dulled with time and lack of use, however, and now a much older Juuban student finds herself looking longingly at the beginner slopes and not at the intermediate courses just in front of her. "I knew I should have done a little practice on my own..." Mumbling plans that she failed to due in time through her warm dark green scarf, Niramo shivers slightly despite her slightly worn winter coat and mittens. At least she dressed for a bit heavier for the weather!
The half-blind Ohtori student doesn't let her disability gets in the way of her desire to help improve the other students through her gudiance and an impressive impromptu speech, enough that Niramo wears an unseen smile under that scarf. It doesn't change the fact that these slopes are going to be rough, no matter which path she takes, but a little encouragement can make all the difference. Well...that was the hope, anyways. "A slope shall be a path to our dreams? I'm...not quite sure of that. Unless i'm dreaming of hot chocolate."
Straightening out her skis and pushing off with the poles, Niramo starts to go for the left slope and face the smaller chance of wearing a cast on the trip back home. "I hope everyone has a safe trip down!" Maybe Fuu can be a good judge of where and where not to ski?
But the estatic cry of Steven behind the Juuban girl has Niramo twisting around, even as the distinct memory of a brushy mustache warned a 7 year old ravenette that's exactly the opposite of what she's supposed to do. "Steven-kun! Um...see if you can rent some skis, but maybe the bunny slopes might be-aah!" Twisting back around just in time to see that she was about to slide directly into a pole showing the border of the 'easier' course, it takes some desperate ski pole pushing to prevent her first fall before Niramo is even on the slopes!
It's off to a great start...
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
What few school trips the eternal transfer student attended before this point were things she'd rather forget than remember, either observed from her cocoon of loneliness or cut short by another trip back to the cardiac ward. Usually she dreads their announcement, and if at all possible opts out.
This year the dread mixes with another feeling: excitement, all fluttery-new in her chest. For the first time Homura Akemi is not alone on a school trip. All of the people she knows are going... and she knows people! Shizuki-san and Miki-san and so many of her classmates -- and not just classmates but girls she shares things with, like kitten secrets and magic secrets. Ankou-san and Minagi-san are here, Shimanouchi-san and Tomoe-san. And Kaname-san.
Dread and excitement. And snow!
Right now though, it's just about alllll dread and snow.
She wavers in the slope-top powder like there's a breeze pushing her around -- there isn't, though Homura would make an excellent sail today. In a purple puffy coat a size too big over warm black tights and woollen mittens, capped with a purple-plaid ear flap hat that braidtips still stick out from underneath, she's a purple-puff dandelion on a skinny black stalk. For some reason, for /some reason/, this opposite-of-athletic girl is atop the right hand course.
This might have something to do with the taller girl beside her, the one who burns of an ambition so powerful it both impresses and frightens Homura. Her tremors are half-cold, half-fear as she peers through the double-blurry layer of foggy glasses and foggy goggles atop them. That slope... it looks so... steep. Like straight down! How do people...
Homura looks around instead, a sort of 'help meeee' look. She hunches up like a purple-shelled turtle into her outerwear with an audible puffy-coat squish. "Are you... sure I can't just watch you try it first, Araki-san?" A backward shuffle has snow piling up behind her skis. "I've never, ah, never gone skiing before..."
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"Eh, it's just the mountains," says NORI ANKOU, native of SAPPORO, who is on the right-hand course. She is wearing a navy-blue ski suit and a quilted hot-pink parka over it, as well as wrap-around sunglasses and a felt beret on her head.
Blue, you say? What's a Red Future?
But she is in no great haste. She gives Homura a wider-than-usual smile and a wave-wave with one gloved hand because - well, her eyes are kind of hidden right now. After this she poles herself forwards, and if it is not quite 'as if the skis were part of herself,' she is at least not hesitant or clumsy. "The best way to learn is to try," Nori says to Homura as she approaches the slope. "Araki will keep you from hitting anything big. Just try to enjoy the feeling."
And then: Swish!
Down she goes, leaning forwards to build up speed.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Endo has spent most of time keeping warm on the trip to Hokkaido. Also eating. There's a lot of crab to consume, and someone has to do it.
There is, however, time set aside to do the actual skiing. Which is what he's here for today, the boy wafing out into the snow with wide skis, big snow goggles, and a dark jacket. Poles help him along to the course, and he listens briefly to Kasagami's speech. It's inspiring enough that he even waddles a few steps out to look at the more advanced course--
And then immediately re-waddles back to the left side. "I think this is my limit." He decides somberly. There's a wave of a thickly gloved hand for classmates and familiar faces nearby, and then he scoots slowly out onto the slop.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Fuu pitches down on the left course, quite admirably down the gates. These intermediate courses are more well marked, and far less wild, with proper gates to guide you past anything particularly /troublesome/. But it's not without it's obstacles either!
Kassie clenches a fist, as Fuu wishes them luck. "Now that's the spirit! Ah haaaah!" She glows.
Steven gets, thankfully, pushed by one of the Ohtori students towards the /left/ course due to his small stature and his obvious inexperience. Still, Kasagami is all grins!
"You've got the right idea Steve-kun! Just go down, trust your instincts, and try not to chew snow!" She sounds /far/ too okay with his enthusiasm. Surely everything will be fine.
Several other students join in the chorus of Niramo wishing others a safe trip down! And she's not the only one that suddenly eats some of the first down: one or two on both courses eat poles. Two elementary school students eat fluff immediately, making snow angles. Two laughing ojou-chan's scream on the /right/ course as they almost immediately find themselves devouring a bank.
Atop the slope, Kasagami stands as a King-to-Be surveying all that is hers. Except until she looks down to eye that over-coated purple clad girl with long hair and those foggy goggles. Homura gets a confident smile!
It's precisely because the girl is so filled with anxiety and lack of confidence that she's doing this. A show of force of pride, and possibility.
There's a single gloved finger flickin on the back of Homura's head lightly. Then one arm clutches the shorter girl that dares shuffle /away/ just a little closer.
"It'll be fine." She starts.
Nori, in her beautiful and confident ways, beats her too it. Kassie takes it in stride, grinning to the young woman and nodding. "Darn right I won't! Even if a mountain bear or Great Snowman rose up, I'd slice them in half for my dear friend Homu-chan!" Kasagami practically bleeds confidence, in both the young woman so confidently dominating the right slope, and herself.
"...It's all about the experience." That last part, is, pointedly offered to both Homura...and then Endo as she notices him shuffling back towards the left slope. Swiiish~
~Left Course~
Gravity takes it's way, and Fuu's and all involved's particular paths down the slope is smooth going for a bit. An easy gentle downward slope that increases not too quickly, but still lets one pick up speed at a decent clip. Not too steep that one can't pull back and slow down, but enough that the ambitious can push forward. After a brief minute or so of thrilling downwards acceleration at self-determined paces (with a little help from more expert skiiers perhaps) comes the first true obstacle!
A turn that's swift, buffered by a large snow bank on the right. If you're too slow, you might just eat powder already!
~Right Course~
Kassie gives Nori a slight lead, given her companion, but all three are forced to contend with things. This slope is steeper, quicker, and an immediate acceleration. Those who take this course are swiftly overtaking those on the left one, yet have more room overall in maneuvering. It's a far more windy course, as there's a double-turn facing the more experienced (and one kidnapped homuguin!) to challenge! A right, then left bank one has to lean in to get across without falling! The speed is blistering, the cold cutting cheeks, yet thrilling!
Kasagami, for her part, tries to urge Homura forward. She means to press on, cut through snow towards that seemingly impossible drop towards an endless field of white. Both of her eyes briefly alight to the purple-clad girl, gaze full of adventure, ambition and /thrill/! A reach for a hand, and a deceptively light tug.
All Homura has to do is follow...and Kassie will cut close, to snow or Homura either way.
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (7)] has posed.
Cheeks visibly red from both the cold and embarrasment, Niramo manages to recover quickly and get herself back towards the middle of the slope with a little effort. The steady rate that the skiers are going down the slope is a great time for the Juuban girl to experiment with the poles and the angles of her skis. Maybe the old saying about how you never forget how to ride a bicycle has some truth to it!
Now if only she had ever used a bicycle...
Ahead of her, Fuu seems quite capable in her skis, and now with Steven and Endo joining them, they have a small group going on! Was there a technical term for a group of skiers? "Also, remember! Straight for Speed, Slanted for Slow! It might help things easier for you!"
However, it's time to take those words and turn them into action. There's a sudden sharp turn up ahead, and Niramo bends her knees slightly. Locking your knees and trying to move at the same time usually tends to make you fall over like a stiff board, after all! Eyes focusing forward intently on the sharp twist, the ravenette decides it might be best to play it safe here.
Turning her skis inward and using the increased friction to slow herself down, Niramo leans into the direction she wishes to turn into, but it's a bit too much! A quick save using her poles to keep herself upright prevents her from taking a tumble, but her face gets a frosting of snow and some lost speed. "J-just do what I did, just not at steep!"
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
The trick to navigating any unfamiliar course, particularly at speed, is to pay attention to what's ahead and around you. Fuu has the relative advantage of being closer to the front of the group that's headed downhill, so she doesn't have as much to worry about in terms of avoiding collisions ... but she doesn't have anyone to help warn her of obstacles that might be more tricky to negotiate. Still, Niramo's advice gets an emphatic nod by way of reply, plus a somewhat muffled, "Got it!"
Of course, the fact that snowbanks are basically 'white on more white' makes them rather harder to spot. Fortunately, Fuu's ski goggles keep snow from plastering on her glasses, so she doesn't simply plow into that snowbank. She has to slow down quite a bit to make the turn with anything she'd consider 'comfortable safety' ... which makes it easier for people to get past her, if not on the turn itself, then after the turn where the path widens out, while Fuu is carefully picking up speed again.
But it's not a race, is it? Fuu is more concerned with making it to the bottom in one piece, upright, and with unbroken legs; she doesn't care if she winds up as the last skier in the group to get there.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
"Hi Niramo!" Steven says with a cute little wave over the head. "I think I will-- wait, bunny slopes?!" A pause. "...Are there actual bunnies on the slopes?" That sounds like an amazing time, skiing and petting bunnies!
Having gotten his skis (yes they are pink too) and put them on, he penguin-waddles his way over toward the courses, and is promptly moved toward a particular side. "Oh, this one? Okay!? he says, enthusiasm clinging to his voice like, well, snow to the ground!
It seems the ability to try something new is what Steven is all about, as he needs little encouragement besides what has alread ybeen said to go! And go he does!
Very slowly.
"I'm doing it!" he shouts, waving the guiding pole thingies he was given. His error in why he is going so slow is obvious-- his skis aren't parallel. Pointed intward in the front, as if he is trying to stop, but doesn't seem to realize that is why people do that. But he certainly seems to be enjoying himself! "Hiiii!" he says, waving toward Homura passing by where she is.
And then... THE OBSTACLE. "Uh oh! How do I turn? How do I turn?!"
The boy flails on his slow trip to icy destruction, whereupon he connects with the drift, and doesn't necessarily eat a faceful of frozen water, though does sort of a slow-motion tip over into snow.
"Steven has crashed! There were no survivors," the boy says, rolling over and playing dead
He doesn't play dead very well, as he starts giggling about five seconds later. He is obviously very well alive. And having fun! If not in his own way.
"How tough is the other slope?" he asks aloud.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Endo does kind of know how to ski, it turns out. Some time on the beginner slopes in the past day has helped familiarize him with not falling fast-first into white fluff immeditaly out of the gate. He he does pretty well at staying on his feet for the first part. He's happy enough to stay near the middle of the pack, nodding his head pleasently at Niramo's advice. That sounds right to him!
When it comes time to turn he slows to do just that, and he gets an excellent view of Steven toppling over in the process. "Steven-san! We won't forget you!" But also not stop for him either. Because stopping is kind of hard. Also, Endo is looking more at Steven's crash site than where he's going, and his balance shifts accordingly. And poorly. He's not falling, but he is making a crooked line off course.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
When Nori Ankou glides by, Homura could swear there are little ice crystals sparkling in her wake, like stars in the air... or is it just freezing condensation on the outside of her goggles...? She scrubs at the lenses with one blunt mittenhand and nothing changes, except that Homura's eyes widen beneath them.
Her impossibly cool black-coated senpai isn't having any of her hesitation, though! Homura feels the tug and it pulls her away from her Nori-dazzle. There's something a little infectious about that confidence in Kasagami's wide smile, and Homura tries to focus on that through a lifetime of doubts, like cradling a candle flame in a blizzard. Maybe... maybe if she manages it, she can tell Madoka about it later...
Tug. Through that double-fog she peers up at Kasagami, little bits of big violet eyes showing through all that condensation -- it's made worse because she's sweating, now. But she nods, at least it looks like it's probably a nod and not a particularly sharp little quiver.
Then she squeezes her eyes tight and scrunches up her face and holds on as tight as a weak mittened hand can -- Kasagami's swordwielding strength is called upon, here -- and tenses toes to tip as she feels herself pulled forwaaaaard...
...and even with her eyes shut so tight she can feel the downward slope and a sound starts to escape Homura like air would a balloon:
"...eeeeeEEEEEEEEE--"
--and the air grabs her braidtips and she hodls on tight but her skinny wrists are so sweaty in her mittens, her oversized mittens, that the glove pops right off and suddenly she's untethered from Kasagami and her eyes fly open and the sound gets louder as her mouth gets wider--
"--EEEEEEEE--"
--as she catches the tiniest bit of air, enough that her skis barely lift from the powder, and Homura Akemi flies face-first into a snowdrift at the very top of the right hand slope. Her legs stick up at an angle, propped by skis stuck toe-down in the snow, and otherwise it's purple coat and braid tips and that's all. She has a faceful of white stuff, right up against her goggles. Steven gets to wave at her skiis, but at least they're kind of waving back, with how she's flailing just a bit...
Maybe her blush will melt her right out of the snowdrift.
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Nori calls over her shoulder, "I only saw a bear once all the time I lived heeeeeeeere--"
RIGHT COURSE
Nori is some yards away, far enough away that she savors the rushing wind in relative silence. She adjusts her coure slightly and she leans down, the wind whipping at her firmly planted beret's little plume up top. The hat is not blown off, though a couple of stray strands of hair do get rustled. Lean to the right, bring your legs up... lean left...
Someone asks a question in the distance. Nori turns her head to call out, "Bicycle!" as if it explains everything.
IN THE DISTANT PAST
A dim memory of her mother. On these very slopes.
"Mm - well, if you're going to do it right, my little Noritte, you ought to think of it like riding your bicycle. You remember your bicycle, yes, before you lost it? You have to lean into the turn... here, try it again. - Ah! Very good, very good - "
HERE, NOW, IN 201X AD
Nori straightens out and looks over her shoulder for a fleeting moment. Huh, she thinks, Homura must have gotten a slower start than I expected.
She is absolutely going to hit an obstacle.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
~Left Course~
Niramo's advice seems to get a few of the crowd of left-course skiiers! Between her and Fuu racing (relatively in safety) down the course, the duo end up frosted while others have eaten that singular bank. A few others are face first in snow, while some are all tangled up in each other! Luckily, in vague two-by-twos, they're all getting downwards.
And of course, Steven gets a tumble into the snow! A younger ojou-sama titters by, but a fellow Juuban student more credibly laughs!
"This is the daredevil course! The other....is for Ohtori princesses!"
They then skii on down to avoid a scathing Kassie Glare.
"AND KINGS, YOU FOOLS!" Howls Kasagami amidst snow.
But those barreling down towards the last section of the course are left with one final obstacle: a single, looming /jump/! ...It's only a couple feet, but even the weakest of speeds gained will result in at least a five foot drop to the end of the course! How thrilling! Endo might want to be wary of that flipping bank that keeps people from going /too/ off course, given his current trajectory!
~Right Course~
Down Kassie and Homura go, and complications arise. Kassie is all confidence and surity that they can do it. Even a scrunching face, that tight hold, and obvious doubt doesn't penetrate the self-centered world of a certain Duelist, even in this time of comparative innocence for the young woman. She simply /does/, both to drive discovering who she should be, and to not /think/ of what has been.
Thus, Homura might catch the lightest hint of a shiver from Kasagami. But maybe it's imagined. Surely not, scarrs or no.
POP! Kasagami is cutting snow and there's this 'Eeeeee'. She somehow manages to swallow the vague sense of guilt as she watches Homura cromp onto the slope almost....artfully. She still clutches Homura's mitten in her hand, even as resort workers are going for the blushing, flailing girl!
Kasagami's smile, as she looks from mitten to Homu to mitten as she cuts down /backwards/ upon snow holds apology in them for Homura alone. For all of half of a second.
"Every march across the Alps upon Hannibal's elephants starts with the first skii step of his soldiers, Homu-chaaaaaan!" 'Consoles' Kassie as she laughs. Not nervous, nope, as she waves with that homu-mitten in hand still.
And is quickly forced to rotate around, mitten in a pocket, as her coat flutters behind her. Turns and poles are navigated, until the true test of skill hits those who've braved this true challenge!
Nori gets it first. Trees. They're little more than saplings, but they're dense, along with shrubbery that approach in /loosely/ packed snow in comparison to the upper portions of the course. One will need to cut a zig-zagging line to avoid eating /too/ many branches. No dramatic leaps, just pure skill!
Sorry Nori-chan, this may or may not be the doom of your snowy bicycle ride that memory offers. Such is the life of those in Ohtori. Memory is, after all, weak.
Still, up here, even certain StuCo might have issues on this fool's errand. Kassie, for her part, ends at the bottom of the slope with a rather lashed up cheek after getting /way/ too ambitious with some needles across sapplings, and is missing one arm of her coat after nearly getting entangled, forced to headbutt a branch off in retaliation. But she's survived...even as her good eye casts upwards towards a certain young girl's fate. ~Below~
Regardless, both courses end up at the same end goal! And there's towels, warm cocoa, first aide and /delicious crab/ awaiting those who've made it all the way down! Kasagami gets quickly patched up on the cheek, and is congratulating those who made it down with gusto, and coupons for extra luxurious meals in the skii lodge normally reserved for the rich!
And a skii ride back up towards warmth!
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.
'This is the daredevil course!' Fuu overhears, and she does a brief double-take at the speaker, then at the other course, or at least what she can see of it, before turning her attention forward and downhill again. Kasagami's two-word rejoinder just makes her smile a bit underneath her scarf; then she focuses -
Wait why is there a gap there? Even white-on-white she can see the snow's surface come up and stop and then continue ... she should slow down but then she'll never make it past that 'ramp,' will she?
There is, to those who are listening closely enough, a faint sound of a whimper before Fuu hunkers down, the noise of dismay turning into a sound of determination. SHe's come this far, the only way out is through - or over, as the case may be - and she'll just have to make the best of it now.
- zoom*
Her skis slide up the rise and into the air, and for one brief, transcendent, heart-stopping moment, she is genuinely airborne. Without engines or wings. Without magic. Without *anything* except the elegantly brutal laws of physics.
Fuu Hououji untucks from that not-quite-fetal curl, gauging the surface beneath her, and tries to match the angle of her skis to the angle of the once-more-approaching snow-covered ground - and lets out a yelp as she doesn't QUITE get it right. She manages to salvage her balance, but she's flailing, sticking her arms out to the sides for balance, dropping one of her ski poles, and at the tail end, nearly running over one of the first-aid attendants ... or maybe closer to 'walking over,' given how slowly she's going at that point.
"Boring or not," Fuu decides, "I think I'll stick to the easiest slope."
<Pose Tracker> Niramo Umokeshi [Juuban Public School (7)] has posed.
The turn is sharp and hazardous, but it's only enough to get Niramo's heart racing from her recovery from her near fall. Thankfully, wrist straps makes it hard to lose her pole with that turn, and she turns her head towards Fuu, with a grin heard if not seen due to the scarf. "Have you been skiing before, Fuu-san? You took that turn better than me!"
Endo calls out to Steven as he passes by, and a pink pair of skis can be see sticking straight up, with a seperate set sticking out of a snowbank close to the other slope. The slopes were certainly taking their fair share of victims today! "Steven-kun! Fuu-san, Endo-san, i'll see you at the bottom, okay?" Stabbing the snow in front of her with both of her ski poles (and nearly sending herself flying from the sudden forceful stop), the Juuban girl turns herself around and starts pulling herself up the slope and back towards the snowbank. No man, woman or child left behind to be devoured by snow bank monsters!
Panting with the effort after climbing back up to Steven, it's a relief to see the transfer student not looking any worse for his trip, and he was even making a joke. "I think that's why we need to try the starting slopes later and take it easy, Steven-kun. Here, let's get you back up on your feet." Letting go of her poles, she offers Steven up with a double-mitten grab.
Once Steven is upright and hopefully none the worse for wear, she tries to give Steven a little bit of advice. "To turn, try leaning in the direction you want to go, like leaning to your left. Just, uh, don't do what I did and almost fall over. Use your poles to help keep you steady if you need to!" It's...not quite the most informative, but perhaps experience will be the better teacher here.
Down the slope Niramo goes, sparkling snow being kicked up with her passing. It looks like they're nearly at the bottom now, but...oh, that's a jump. That's a big jump! But she might lose the poles if she tries another sudden stop...! Turning her skis inward to the point they were nearly touching, it's enough to slow the neckbreak speed the Juuban girl was racing down the slopes for, but not enough to make it a small jump.
As a young girl take flight into the air, there are a few emotions being felt as liftoff is achieved. Fear. Anxiety. Excitement, and a little bit of joy as well. And it's not just the matter of a few feet either. 10 feet through the air...passing by 20 now and now fear is taking full hold. Arms and poles flail, and Niramo tries her best to keep her feet in just the right position...!
Landing is achieved at just over thirty feet, bent knees helping to absorb some of the shock. However, you shouldn't try to bend them too much, either, as the Juuban vacationer is realizing. Down goes Niramo after a panicked moment of trying to stay upright, and she crosses the goal on her stomach, sort of like a penguin. Thankfully, scarfs are great for keeping snow out of your mouth. "I think...I would like a slope without jumps, Fuu-san."
So much for trying to be the cool, supportive student...
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Everything happens much more quickly than Homura Akemi is able to track. She's no action hero!
It's just movement-tilt-scream-speed-slip-bump-air-FLOMP-andafacefulofsnow from her perspective. The snow gets burny-cold on her exposed cheeks and that shocks Homura out of her, well, shock, and that's when the blushing and flailing begin.
There's time to reflect on what a phenomenal failure /that/ was, and after Ankou-san and Araki-san both encouraged her so nicely, taking time out from their fun for her sake... Homura remembers that fleeting daydream, the one in which she told Madoka about how brave she was flying down the slopes over cocoa later tonight in the lodge, and she promptly burns it to dream-ash on the white-hot sear of her embarrassment. Instead she promises to herself to never ever tell Madoka about this moment.
A shame. It really /was/ brave of her.
At least she doesn't have to steam away the snowbank from the inside for long. Having completely eaten it at the very beginning of the course, however humiliating that is, comes with an advantage: the ski lodge workers get to her quickly.
She's ensconced at a first aid station lickity-split, just to get checked out (she's fine, just winded), and from that slope-bottom vantage point gets to enjoy the finish line accomplishments of Hououji-san and Umokeshi-san! That they make it somewhat off their skis doesn't matter a whit to Homura, they /made/ it. Fuu's jump was so graceful, and Niramo stopped to help Steven -- just like at the athletics day, she remembers. She pumps one scrawny arm in the air, but then withdraws it again sheepishly after.
She has a puzzle to work out, a couple of snowbank-muffled and thus maybe quarter-heard shouts. Something about... bicycles? And then elephants? What do those things have to do with skiing? Homura tucks her legs up underneath the cot she's perched on and gets a preoccupied, thoughtful look on her face.
But she's far too self-conscious to just /ask/ Ankou-san and Araki-san what they meant -- it's probably obvious to people who know so much about skiing! -- so instead she starts stacking skis and elephants and bicycles mentally in various configurations, trying to figure it out. It's a weird circus tent in Homura Akemi's imagination, even moreso than usual, right now.
<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.
Steven jsut seems content to play in the snow where he fell!
Though as he makes a snow angel, another crach happens right by him! A wince and a peer over toward Homura comes before he speaks. "Ah... you okay?" he asks nicely. She might not even be able to hear him.
He watches the others go by, laughing, mocking, waving and looking on curiously. "Daredevil course?!" he asys, trying to peer beyond their slope to the next. "That sounds way too tough! "Write me a good memoir!" he calls back to Endo. "Or I will haunt people!"
He's not serious, is he?
...
Anyway.
"Oh, thanks Niramo!" he says kindly, taking her hand and propping back up on his skis. "Like leaning, kinda?" he says, trying to maneuver himself property, going down the slope again. At a slow pace. Painfully slow.
And yet, the little poofy-haired child is cheerign the whole way, as if he is living the dream. "Ohhhh man I hope there is hot cocoa here somewhere! Do the yhave hot cocoa in Japan?"
A silly question from a silly kid, of course they do.
