<USS Avalon> "Let it Snow!"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 12:46:01 -0800 (PST)
Let it Snow!
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury and
Junior Lieutenant James Monroe
"Is this really necessary?" she asked as the cold snaked its way up the back of
her coat sending her body into another fit of shivers.
"Where's your sense of adventure, Liss?" James grinned at her and handed over
the ski poles.
"Somewhere lying on a beach, I'm sure. Staying warm. Like people with common
sense would." She took the poles and tucked them under her arms in order to
rub her gloved hands together and blow on them. "My nose is frozen."
"Poor baby," he said with sarcasm as he leaned over and placed a soft kiss on
her nose. It crinkled involuntarily and he chuckled. "It's not frozen. It
still moves. C'mon, you're gonna love this, I'm telling you."
She gave up, knowing that once James was set on something, he wasn't going to
change his mind. And she had to admit, it did sound fun. But it was so cold!
She had grown up in much warmer climates, having only experienced snow once or
twice in her life.
"Okay, quick lesson. These are skis." He looked up to see her reaction.
"Do I need to hurt you? I can still kick your ass, even in the snow," she
smiled sweetly.
"Moving on, then. Here," he showed her how to snap her heels into the skis.
"Alright. You want to keep your toes pointed in. Pointing them out could be
bad. You go faster and possibly end up doing the splits. Then you fall. Skis
fly off and you do this," he rolled his hands over and over again really fast
to illustrate, "down the hill. Then you get up and kick my ass for bringing
you here. Keep your toes pointed in."
"Okay, toes in."
"Knees bent and you lean back slightly. The more forward you lean, the faster
you go. If you feel like you're gonna fall, fall sideways or backwards. If
you fall forward, the aforementioned head over heels maneuver could happen."
She nodded. "Okay, how do I steer these things?"
"You change direction by leaning. Or you can bunny hop."
"Bunny hop?" she asked incredulously. "Bunny hop!?"
"It's a little more advanced, but it's effective for quick direction change."
He illustrated his point once by hopping slightly and Lissi burst into a fit of
laughter.
"You - you should! - You should see y-y-yourself - doing that!" Her words
were broken by the uncontrolled laughing.
James bit his lower lip but ended up laughing along with her, "I'd pay a lot to
see you do it, Liss."
"I'm not gonna do that!" she laughed. "Oh, no. No way am I gonna look that
ridiculous!"
"For me?" James said, pouting.
"Aw, now that's just not fair," she said, awkwardly sliding over the two feet
to where he stood. She leaned the last bit for a kiss, but lost her balance at
the last moment and fell backwards as her skis went forward in the snow.
"Ooh, nice windmill action with the arms, Liss."
"You are so gonna pay for this," she threatened, laughing all the while.
James reached down to help Lissi to her feet, placing a quick kiss on her lips.
"You think you wanna try this? The bunny slope?"
"Bunny hop? Bunny slope? This isn't a sport, it's rabbit recreation!"
"And again, I ask, where's your sense of adventure?"
"Okay, okay, let's go." She tried maneuvering over the flat ground but was
getting no where sliding her skis back and forth.
"Try walking like a duck."
"Try what?"
"Like a duck, toes pointed out. Going down the slope it's bad, but moving over
flat ground, it'll get you somewhere."
"One more animal analogy outta you, Mr. Monroe, and I swear I'm leaving this
holodeck," she teased.
"Oh, you're no fun at all today, Ms. Marksbury."
"Fun? You want fun? Let's change this program to an arena and fight our way
out of ..." she grinned wickedly, "an angry group of Rydyn ambassadors. Now
that would be fun."
James laughed at her as they painstakingly made progress to the lift. "Think
you can manage? You have to move kinda fast."
"For your sake, you better hope so." With his help, Lissi managed to get
situated into the lift without major incident. The quick ride up the slope was
nice. They weren't going far enough to get comfortable, but the view was
pretty and she liked leaning into James with his arm around her, trying to keep
her warm.
"The idea when your skis hit the ground is to stand up and let the momentum
carry you away from the lift, okay?" She nodded. But when they got to the
top, Lissi didn't place her weight evenly on both feet, so her skis shot out in
both directions and she landed with a thump! once again. James cringed at the
lift chairs passing inches above her head.
"Computer halt lift." Lissi glared at him. "Sorry, Liss." He helped her to
her feet once again. "It takes some practice. Don't quit on me though. You
can do this."
"Rydyns. Fighting Rydyns. More fun, I say," she muttered, moving past him.
"At least I can do that without falling on my ass."
James chuckled and moved to catch up. She stood sideways at the top of the
small hill. James stood beside her and pointed over her shoulder. "You just
want to kinda weave a path back and forth down the slope. It keeps you going
slower. Lean or hop to change direction and keep your toes pointed in. That's
it. Ready?"
Lissi swallowed and turned her skis to begin the downhill momentum.
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