reveilation | IC INBOX

[ Maybe moving around will keep him warm and they can forget about Kido trying to freeze Terry to death. Yeah.

She takes Terry's hand again— the same left one in her right— and then stares down at her feet. They're still standing on the riverbank where the area right around the lake has been cleared of snow, with the ground icy and hard but with a dip from ground level to the actual ice rink because the water level was low to begin with.

Seems dangerous.

She looks to Terry to drag them both onto the ice or however they're supposed to do this. ]

[ Terry continues to smile and slowly drags Kido onto the surface of the lake. He doesn't want to ruin it by suddenly going fast and scaring her. ]

It's okay. Make small steps at a time.

[ Can you go fast on ice? Is there enough traction to accelerate from 0 to 80mph in half a second? They're things Kido doesn't want to test out, so makes the beginner mistake of locking her knees so they don't buckle, and takes little steps towards Terry, not trusting her skates to slip out from below her for any larger ones.

The grip on Terry's hand might as well be a vicegrip. ]

Yeah, see? You're doing great!

[ Terry doesn't intend on letting go of Kido's hand, so it makes it much easier when Kido's grip is strong on his hand. It kinda hurts, but he'll deal with it. ]

Small steps, small steps... and try to relax your body a little.

[ There's the thought that if she relaxes any more, her jelly legs are going to give and she'll fall right onto the ground without slipping on anything, but she tries anyways, loosening her grip a little and also bending her knees a little at the expense of leaning forward slightly and now her weight's off balanced and more towards Terry than her actual feet.

Skating is hard and she's not even on the ice yet. ]

It'll be easier once we're skating, right? Then you can just... pull me along.

[ That's sort of skating. ]

Yeah! I'll start sliding you over slowly...

[ And he does that--careful not to go too fast and adjusts the speed whenever Kido looks like she's panicking even more. They're finally on the ice. He's happy that she's leaning towards him more, but. ]

Ah, wait. Don't lean in too much. I won't let you fall, so stand up a little straighter.

Like this...?

[ It's tough, trying to stand straighter without falling backwards the other way instead, Kido needing to take both of Terry's hands so they're facing each other and Terry is forced to skate backwards to pull her forward.

There's forward-backwards balance, and then there's also side-to-side balance, with the thin blades and the fact that the ice isn't perfectly smooth like an indoor ice rink would be, with no way to smooth it back over after so many people have already scratched up the surface, especially at the edge of the lake.

She looks around and there's like five-year-old kids zipping across the ice with no fear in the world. ]

Is it easier the faster you go? Like with riding a bike?

Yeah, but I think that counts for most things...

[ Terry can't think of anything right now though. Terry will keep leading her with both hands. ]

It's okay to take your time. We can come back here together at another day so I can guide you through it. Practice makes perfect. Did you want me to lead you around first?

[ No... Most things aren't easier when they're faster. Just things like biking and skating where there's some sort of physics involved.

Like the bathhouse, this was the only time Kido thinks she'll ever do something like this, not really one to seek out new experiences to do by herself in the first place. She'd originally expected to just be led around on the ice without needing to learn how to do anything more than to keep balance, so she nods and gratefully accepts the offer to be towed around. ]

[ Terry never lets go of Kido's hands and starts skating backwards a little at a time. They're starting to go around the lake, but not too close to the edge. ]

Let me know when you want to stop!

This is okay... But don't just stop all of the sudden if I stay stop, okay?

[ It feels like something he would do, hit the breaks and let her crash into him and take them both down. ]

Yeah, sure.

[ Terry smiles, trying to reassure her that it'll be okay. They keep up the pace but go slightly faster than before. ]

[ This isn't too bad, when she can just stand still and glide around wherever Terry takes her, and any time they're going too fast or they take too sharp a turn, she reflexively squeezes Terry's hands which lets him know too— sometimes belatedly, though, since there are other people on the ice too and not all of them are great at skating either, once in a while somebody slipping and yelling and going sliding across the ice yelling sorries at whoever might get bowled over in their wake. Terry doesn't have eyes on the back of his head, so instead, she summons Nekogami to """gently""" nudge anybody aside if they're about to collide into one another. He's here to play traffic control. ]

[ When Terry watches Nekogami play traffic control, he can't help but laugh. It's like watching bumper cars and it's so funny to him for some reason. Terry adjusts speed and helps with Kido's posture whenever they make turns or going too fast for her. ]

Let's do a trick when you get the hang of it.

[ It's like bumper cars but people are just spinning out of control all of the sudden without being able to see this large fire tiger bat people out of the way. ]

I think I'm okay. But what sort of trick is it...?

[ Kido immediately looks wary. You are not throwing her into the air, mister. But it looks like she's at least getting the hang of keeping her balance while they skate, although she hasn't lifted her feet off the ice once this entire time. ]

It's nothing too hard! All I need to do is pull you along, like I'm already doing now.

[ There will be no air throws. Hm. He looks over at Nekogami. ]

He's not melting the ice...

[ That doesn't sound too bad, especially if Kido doesn't have to do anything else than just stand there, and she relaxes a little with that thought. ]

Yeah? Do you need him to? That's not a good idea.

[ Nekogami looks at Terry too, because he can differentiate well enough to leave the ice alone but still set Terry on fire, if he wants to see. ]

[ fuck you bongogami aaaaaaaaa

Terry focuses on Kido and continues to keep pulling her along. ]

I was just wondering because he's always on fire now.

[ Kido shrugs, because she's not a Persona guru enough to know why, but she has her guesses. ]

It's not real fire— it's probably a remnant of having been a ghost. Fire can be destructive, or it can be warm and comforting... I'm not scared of it anymore, so the fire is warm.

[ So Nekogami has decided to be warm, or something. He comes back to Kido's side now, pressed up and it feels like nothing more than warm breath against their hands where his flames reach up to lick them. ]

[ So it's something like symbolism. Terry looks down and... yeah, it's warm. His smile widens a little more. ]

That's nice to hear, Kido. I'm glad.

[ Since she's had a lot of fire-related shit happened to her. Terry looks over at the lake and since it looks like Kido got the hang of balancing, he leads her to the portion of the lake where there aren't many people around. ]

We're gonna draw a heart on the ice!

[ She's less afraid of fire and more afraid of other... things... but anyways. That's in the past. ]

...That's so sappy.

[ A heart on the ice. She bets Terry is the sort of person to draw hearts in the sand at the beach too. But she laughs a little and lets Terry glide them along. A heart sure has a lot of quick directional changes. ]

[ It sure does have a lot of quick directional changes, but Terry's here to lead Kido along to draw one half of the heart and he will draw the other half. The point is that they move together and finish drawing the single heart simultaneously.

Terry attempts, carefully leading Kido around. ]

Yeah, but it doesn't look like you hate it. That's good enough for me.

[ Cute. Where is Minato remember 1633 things and cry. Maybe he and 45 are in the background watching and going "ew" ]

I don't hate it. I've just never done this sort of thing before, so...

[ She's not the adventurous type. She likes stability and familiarity, and she hates being stared at, so something like this is still embarrassing. At least it's just a heart and not carving their initials or something, because then she'd be tempted to have Nekogami melt the ice. That doesn't need to happen until the 19th. ]

[ I guess that's gonna be a thing now. Who knows what's going on with Toki anymore... forward dating is too dangerous. Terry thinks that everyone else is too focused on themselves and the spinning skaters that Nekogami caused earlier.

They finish and Terry leads Kido to the side so that they can see a heart on the ice. Cute. ]

Now you can do lots more new stuff!

I guess...?

[ The major accomplishment of the day is that she can finally stand on the ice without slipping and falling, and Kido lets go of Terry's hands so he can get some circulation back into them, and links her arm with his instead. ]

It's not like I have some strong desire to go out and skate by myself from now on, though. I like doing things with you. That's all.

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