2024-11-28 - The Iceberg Lettuce Catastrophe

If only she had arrived here earlier, then maybe Esme may have made the cut for Spellbounds Thanksgiving Ice Shows. But fate had other plans for Miss St. Cloud and by the time Esme set ice skate on the islands, parts were chosen and practices had begun.

Oh, she couldn't deny that the Thanksgiving festivities were not a wonderful sight and the fireworks display which followed were magnificent. And the Thanksgiving Ice Show? It was as she expected.

Did Spellbound even have Black Friday events? After Thanksgiving things were quiet with most tourists having left just for subpar deals as the appeal of Black Friday has been waning more and more with each passing year.

Esme, however, has hit the ice in the early hours. With no musical accompaniment and wearing a pretty little silver glitters and stars dress, complete with her makeup done and a jeweled hairnet that makes her dark locks sparkle with crystal stars, she skates with grace to an invisible symphony. The way that she smiles, it's as if she's smiling for an audience, or perhaps judges. And she spins and leaps and twirls in ways that are rarely seen in actual ice shows and shows more of an athleticism one would expect from an Olympian figure skater.

And then, she'll stop abruptly. Perhaps, she was a wee bit late in her jump. Slightly off center in her landing. There's always a minor mistake. At times, she will roll her eyes. There might be a tightening of her jaw, but then she'll immediately skate to the point at the very beginning, smile brightly again and the program starts as if nothing had happened. This goes on for several times. Sometimes it's cut short early, when Esme feels that the performance was not perfect enough for her. Sometimes it goes for longer, but doesn't complete because of some minor error that non skaters nor skating judges would catch.

Then it's back to the beginning with Esme.

On her thirteenth try, it would seem that she performs the program in her mind to completion. Finally. As she ends in the center of the rink in a graceful and elegant final pose.

Jett, has a sub in his hand; cold slices, filled with cheese and veggies so that it's nearly bursting. He probably already ate a meal at the dining hall; this was him catching a snack. He half leans over the boards to the ice rink with an elbow negating his lean but not the crumbs that probably shed onto the ice itself. He does this sometimes. He ends up in various places across the theme park on his downtime and ends up watching what other people do. People watching is completely creepy and up his alley. He doesn't comment on the back and forth starts; yet. He is indulging his stomach with even more food as he rips through another large piece. He is most certainly watching Esme! Hard to not watch the sparkling glittery dress that whisks on by him time and time again. This would be the appropriate time for Theo to backhand him, probably. Oogling's gotta go!

He's not in uniform so he can totally be here without the uppers getting mad at him. He's wearing a black shirt and black pants and ... blends right in with the no-audience shadows? Or something. It's fine. He's just one more on looker right? Sharing his meal with the precious ice below.

Theo has made an effort to get to know those that work here that he might even be aware when someone is new. Esme is new. He had some time to kill because it was his day off. Sometimes he will even buddy with Jett when he's not off doing his own thing.

An elbow to Jett's ribs. "Dude, eating in a rink? Don't you think that is rude man?" Whatever argument he was going to get into with Jett he stops because there is something sparkly on the ice rink. "Wow." Hazel eyes go wide as he just watches what is going on. He is throughly impressed. He knows this is not something he could ever wish to accomplish even in his dreams.

Asking Jett, "Who do you think she is smiling at? You think she knows we are here?" He's trying to whisper but his voice probably carries as he goes into conversation with Jett. Okay. Fine. Theo makes his presence known because he starts applauding. "Bravo! Bravo! That was great!" Performer to Performer he can appreciate what Esme just did. Even if he doesn't realize she's been criticizing herself.

Since coming to Michigan Theo is cold. Michigan is colder than North Carolina. He's in a gray sweatshirt, black sweats and white tennis shoes. He's taken to wearing a headband to keep curls out of his eyes. He might also be considering whether or not he wants to grow his hair more and is on the fence about it. Hence the reason for the headband as he contemplates that very important decision.

She holds this pose for a few seconds, looking like a graceful, yet dramatic statue, before she finally draws herself to full height again as she takes in all of the deep breaths that she can muster.

Normally, this would be around the time her coach would critique her performance or discuss making changes to the program because OBVIOUSLY something isn't working if it took thirteen attempts to complete it perfectly. "But why should I dumb down the performance? You get higher marks, the more risks you take. That's silly!" Esme practically says that out loud to herself now with her brow furrowed just so.

But there are sounds of applause going on which does catch her off guard and it's only then that she realizes just how hard she is breathing, because skating and doing jumps takes quite a lot out of you physically. Especially, when you're doing those same techniques over and over again.

She turns that vexed frown upside-down as best she can when her bright blue eyes study her audience of two. Two is good! Right? Really, it should be no one, because the program wasn't perfect and she's a little embarrassed about that part. Still, after some thought, she decides to skate her way over out of curiosity. "How long were you two here for...?" She hopes they only caught the last performance. Or maybe the last two... Or three is okay.

Jett was not expecting to be elbowed directly in the ribs but it does have the effect of snapping him out of his intense shiny watching ... and it also means half of his sub SLUMPS out onto the ice itself. The expression is rather immediate, his eyes half lid and the side eye is his classic I AM NOT PLEASED withering stare at Theo. For a singular minute his eyes remain set on Theo and are almost unblinking. Then finally a grumbling, "Bruh..." escapes him and he half shifts the sub to expose that the insides of it belly flopped on the ice rink.

Exasperation leads to his eyes rolling upward into his skull and his shoulders sinking before his lips tighten and his gaze follows the pretty silver. "Not you, you idiot," Jett responds back to Theo's question about who she was looking at in a terse but oddly affectionate manner, followed by a more scathing response, "If she didn't before she does now..." Especially since Theo also starts to clap and cry out bravo. Jett's eyes get routinely smaller in size as his expression reads reaching inside for the strength of tolerance because he might have been looking at his sub in a way that would be a club.

Then she's skating over and that... that changes Jett a little bit. He straightens up and does a psst over at Theo, "Hey Theo...give me your hand..." he waits until his friend responds (if he responds) and promptly shoves the sub sandwich into Theo's hand if he does so. Then as if to get the first impression first well Jett answers the question with an almost charming (for him) retort, "The whole thing." There. That wasn't so bad was it. He adds in, "You're really good." Right? Smooth. That was smooth right? A quick side eye to Theo made and then back to Esme.

"We caught your last performance." Theo says brightly to Esme. But he can't look to charming because SOMEONE put a slimily sub in his hand. He notes to the skater, "Watch your step. My friend here has no MANNERS and has spilled his sandwich on your ice. Maybe he needs to grovel and clean it up!" Turning as he squints at Jett as he says that. Boys will be boys and Theo is trying to give all he can to Jett for making him look so foolish with dripping food off his hand in front of a pretty girl.

Earlier he did sigh when Jett pointed out that Esme's attention was elsewhere and not on him.

"Where's the trash can?" He asks Esme as he looks around to see where he can throw out the rest of this mess as he murmurs to Jett, "I'll buy you another one." He knows he was at fault for making Jett lose his precious, precious, food.

If the only the two boys had seen the way Esme was looking at that sandwich being passed around. It's been a while since breakfast, at least for her! And she's not sure if she should splurge on lunch or furniture for her new apartment. Of course, she's going to make eye contact with the pair once they're face to face!

Despite her hunger, she does possess this bright-eyed bushy-tailed look and it's not because she plans on eating either of these young gents.

"I'm glad that you both liked my performance! Do you know how difficult it is to land the starring role for any of these Ice Palace shows? Ah!" She makes that final sound, looking offended as she does so, "No matter your credentials, you still need to skate your way up. But I swear, I am going to reach top billing one of these days and everyone will know the name Esme Marie St. Cloud!" The longer she goes on, she speaks as if she's running for class president.

Theo then points out the slop on the ice that she's been skating in. "Oh! OH!" And she tries desperately to skate out of. "Um... It's... right over..." She lifts a leg, to shake off a bit of lettuce that's caught up in her blade as he points to the trash can not that far away.

Jett looks over to Theo with an open mouth at the accusations! The bro code has been set on fire. His mouth systematically picks up and he barely shakes his head but nods in Theo's direction, "He elbowed me and made me spill it." WAR it is Theo! War it is. Although he did kind of throw Theo under the bus there with his trickery! There might be a subtle kick given to the other's calf and a furrowing of brows as if to say, who's side are you on Theo! He's fully bent on probably making up a thousand excuses when Esme distracts him by asking a question. The question is unanswered because his blank eyed stare is pretty well the answer. And then she's all but announcing her lofty goes with a similar manner to some of those anime shows he watches; he's hooked. It works! "I'd vote for you," because that's how people get famous right? Votes?

Unfortunately when she realizes the slop that was on the ice and the crap that gets stuck in her blades he is unable to hide a cringe. Yeah that didn't play out right and his expression shows it. Reality bites sometimes.

Then Theo.

"Wait.. what? Trash can? Hold up.. Hey.. give it here.. It's still perfectly fine to eat," he tries to step toward Theo and wrangle back his sandwich before it's dumped in the bin.

Theo has no idea how hard it is to land in an ice skating show. He does know it is hard to land a performance in general and he simply says, "Massively hard. But it looks like you have talent and you know what you are doing. You look like one of those skaters you see in the Winter Olympics. Except where is your partner?" Looking around because obviously he only watched the couple ice skates and not individuals.

"Hi Esme, I am Theo." He then thumps Jett's chest with a clean hand, "This is Jett, troublemaker." A frown when he gets kicked on the calf but tries to not make a big deal about it.

Theo had turned to go throw away the remains of the sandwich but Jett intervenes and he hands it off easy enough. Not bothered by the exchange.

That soggy lettuce looked so gross wrapped up around Esme's pristine ice skating blade. How did it tangle up like that so bad in such a short amount of time?? She looks creeped about by it as she continues to shake her leg in the hopes of flicking it off at some point. With her leg strength, she could probably do this all day.

Hearing how everything went down, she can't help but peer up at Jett, "What did you do that made him elbow you?" She can spot the troublemaker out of the pair!

Speaking of the innocent now, her wide eyes blink and then blink again when she hears Theo's question to her. "My.... partner?" Oh God! Did he think she was just a pairs skater?! How embarrassing! Her lips part, but words cannot escape them. It takes a few moments before her shock wanes that she gains her voice back, "I... don't usually have a partner." But then the elevated leg is set down, with lettuce and all and she crosses her arms over her chest, "But they will give me one, I am sure of it, to let me know that I've a long way to go, baby."

Though she recalls hearing something at some point and this is when she flashes Jett a bright and brilliant smile, "And I appreciate your commitment and support to my lofty cause." Didn't she call him a troublemaker just moments ago?

Theo then makes introductions and Esme is still all smiles. When Jett is introduced, she knew she was right about him! "Do you both work at Spellbound?" She is curious now, though she's returned back to trying to kick that piece of lettuce from off her blade. Oh look, there it goes flying over to Jett once he makes it known that he actually wants to eat... that slop. She was helping him get that last bit of his sandwich to him!

With that over with, she stands beside Theo to get a better look at Jett, because she can't help but watch with morbid curiosity to see if the guy is actually going to eat trash. Even she's hungry, but she's not that hungry.

Jett's mouth practically babbles open with no words coming out as he sputters against the accusation that HE did something to get elbowed! Yet. He cannot refute it... at all. Admitting would mean that he was being creepy weird and staring at the performance too intently. His eyes coast away with a soft uttered 'shit' at the mental blockage he was having here to work out some reasonable reason why he was not the troublemaker!

It's a good thing that Theo puts his foot in his mouth because it's giving him time to recompose himself and sort out exactly .... what exactly? What are we talking about? Jett looks up in time to see the elevated leg go down and her arms cross over her chest. OH fuck. His eyes.. no they are so evil those eyes of his. He abruptly pivots and puts his back to the boards of the ice rink, elbows on the edges as he huffs out a soft 'whatever' .... to himself. Yes to himself. Or was it to Esme's response to his response. Or to Theo's introduction?! ALL of the above. It fits. He's just making sure he doesn't leech anyone right now by accident, truly.

Then SPLAT. The piece of shaken loose lettuce totally lands on his neck. Oh it gives him the hibbie jibbies; there's a visible shudder that runs down his spine. His hand otherwise picks it up off his neck and casually stuffs it back into the sandwich. He pivots around in time to showcase that he's finishing his sandwich, which is not trash, it's just mangled a little bit. BITE. Chew chew chew. Stare at Esme and then Theo, then back. Chew chew chew. "Yeah, I work the midway games," he explains. That does not at all help his reputation right now but then he's eating ice cold skated on lettuce with the remains of his sandwich; all hope is lost anyway.

Theo puts his foot back into his mouth. "You don't usually have a partner? Does this mean you have a partner?" That comment can be taken anyway that Esme wishes. He may not even notice that could be taken poorly. He's just talking. But then Esme was talking about skating and for some reason this makes Theo flush. Whoops.

"Yes, I am the performer you will see right before the firework show at Lamplight Amphitheater." Said a little proudly at that. "I'm uhhh a singing storyteller. Or you know you can call me Prince Theo." Looking smug when he says that.

Another nudge from Theo when he sees Jett turning around so he is not facing Esme. "What's wrong?" Oh. Maybe Jett was looking at things he wasn't suppose to. Whoops.

"Ewwwww. Jetttt. Really?" Frowning when he says that. Because he noticed when Jett stuck that neck lettuce right back into that sandwich.

"Hey, are you still practicing Esme?" Giving a thumb in Jett's direction. "Want to grab something to eat that doesn't include ice skate lettuce?" He knows Jett will be hungry again. That man has quite the appetite.

"Um..." Esme can't help but stare up at Theo with big, large confused blue eyes now. "Ssssssomet.." She's about to respond with 'sometimes' but, on second thought, she decides to furrow her brow and just flat out ask, "What are we talking about again...?"

Of course, during her conversation with Theo, she doesn't know of the crisis that's going on in Jett's corner, because she seems somewhat preoccupied. "I had no idea what kinds of shows went on at the Lamplight Amphitheather, but that sounds exciting! A singing storyteller! That, I most definitely must try to catch." Then he calls himself a Prince of all things, which gets an elated quick sound of exhalation, placing a splayed hand against her chest, "Ah! Very well then, Prince Theo it is!" Adding on, "From what I'm told, there's one they call the Ice Queen already. Until I claim that crown for myself, I'm merely an Ice Princess." She practically huffs at that. Also, because that's how Ice Royalty works...

Poor Jett, having to listen to all of this.

It's a good thing she didn't notice where that annoying piece of lettuce flew or that would gross her out even more. With all eyes on Jett though, she just can't help but watch as he bites and chews on what she heard was a trash sandwich. "The Midway games..." She says with a light trill laugh, "That sounds fun! I'm sure there's a lot of cute prizes to win there." Oh, she's trying her best not to look creeped out, but it's hard!

Sadly, despite her being slightly disgusted by all of this, what Esme was afraid of was that her stomach was going to rumble and that would be the end of it. Don't think of food. Don't think of...

"Hmmm?" Then there's Theo inviting her out to eat and that has her crossing her arms over her midsection, just idly. No reasons. "No.. I'm not practicing. And I would LOVE to go out and get something to eat! Let me grab my things!"

Jett openly stares at Theo when his roommate is delving into the questions of if she has a partner. The whole line of questioning has Jett confounded. And then Theo is laying it on thick and announcing he's Prince Theo which pairs well considering Ice Princesses bubbly reaction to it all. Theo's attempt to call him out for what was wrong is met with a grimace and the question goes unanswered, probably because he's enjoying a bit of neck lettuce. His eyes squint at Theo for trying to point out his grossness in that moment. He does say in a grumbling tone, "10 second rule, including the fact it was on ice. Chilled. 10 seconds chilled is like still good." It makes sense in his head.

To Esme about the prizes, "Oh yeah big prizes. All the plushies."

However ... Theo just goes for it and invites Esme for food. Just like that. The reaction seems so quick that Esme is responding positively that Jett is just like... watching her leave to go get her things and Theo is...

"Nice man..." Jett drawls with a dejected grunt, somehow he's not saying that as a compliment or a high five sort of way. He throws away the wrapper and whatever he didn't eat of the sub - wasting food?! That's not like him. "I'll catch you later," he says to his roommate and gestures with a hand, "Enjoy your date."

There is protest coming from Theo's mouth when Jett calls the inviting he just did a date. "What? No. You should come." Frowning when he says that. But it looks like Jett is moving and he calls out, "I can bring back something if you like. Text me your order!" He actually does not know how he ended up here but he is not going to leave Esme stranded. He will wait.