2025-01-09 - Show Off For Me

Lucien had sent a text to Ryu, who had asked if he could watch him practice, to let him know when he had some ice time on his own where the other could come down and hang out, finding a time when Ryu wasn't on shift.

Now, Lucien is out there on the ice in his practice clothes. It's just a navy blue pair of skating pants with a matching long sleeved form-hugging top in the same color.

He looks different now, different since New Year's when the magic in the park changed. His eyes are a prismatic hue, shifting pinks and golds and blues and his ears are tapered to a point like an elf's. He does nothing to hide either as he glides across the ice to the beat of the music currently playing through the rink.

Making his way inside, Ryu has a pair of wireless earbuds on and having a conversation which is wrapping up by the time that he gets into view of Lucien. He lifts a hand to take out the earbuds, putting them in their case and snapping the lid closed before shoving them into a pocket as he walks closer towards the rink itself.

He approaches wearing a pair of worn jeans, and a color blocked sweatshirt with black on the chest and a cyan blue on the sleeves. While some have gotten some new attributes, it would seem that Ryu just looks the same as he had last time he'd met Lucien. However, even seeing the odd assortment of changes to others doesn't seem to make him fully prepared to see what changes have happened to the skater he'd come to see.

"That a costume or..?" The question gets cut short, and with the shifting colors in Lucien's eyes, it's like he knows the answer without actually being told the answer to it. That, and it's uncertain that he's actually said it loud enough for the other to hear, even if he's made his way to the edge of the rink.

Out on the ice, Lucien glides slowly at first and then picks up speed, toe pick digging into the ice and lifting him into the air as he spins a couple of times and then comes down on the blade of his skate and glides once more, graceful and light on his feet. When he comes around, that's when he sees Ryu approaching and turns in his direction, gliding across the ice toward him.

When he comes to a stop, he can tell what Ryu is looking at. It's hard not to guess, all things considered and he smiles a little wryly, lifting up a hand to run his fingers through his hair a little. "Yeah it's.. something, right?" He then hesitates and asks, "Is it.. too weird? I can make it go away.."

It's not just a random edge he walks towards, it's to one of the spaces that leads to entrance to the ice even if he has no intention of stepping out onto the ice. It lends for a better view, which he does seem impressed to watch the jumps and spins into the air as much as the landings. "Ah. No, it's not bad." He says, and tilts his head as he takes in the longer ears and wonders, "Can you actually feel someone touch those ears or are they ... not as real as they look?" He isn't entirely sure the right word for an illusion, but surely his meaning is easy enough to pick up on.

He then glances around to see if there's anyone else lurking about, and failing that, he wonders, "Is it just us here?" He then quirks a slightly larger smile at the possibility of that, or the luck.

There's a little bit of relief on Lucien's features when Ryu doesn't seem to mind them. "I'm still sort of getting used to it. I can.. one of my things is that I can change my appearance, but I've never done anything like this. But this is how I look now when I haven't done anything at all." The question makes him grin a little. "Oh, yeah, they're real." He shifts over to the side of the wall and leans against it, resting his forearms on it and tilts his head a little toward Ryu. "You can touch them."

"Yeah, mostly. There's some people in the building working on stuff but I have the ice for about forty-five minutes or so before someone else comes out to take their turn," Lucien says.

One might think that Ryu lacks confidence with how little he seems to want to engage in large events, and works not in the public eye, but off in the edges where those that prefer to remain unnoticed lurk. Despite this, Ryu reaches out and slides his fingers into Lucien's hair and splays them across the skull before teasing the graze of his nails towards the slope of the ears. His thumb slides along the tapered edge, with the warmth of his touch gliding along cooler skin. "Reminds me of a character in an anime." He muses, slipping his other hand down along behind the shell of the opposite ear and along Lucien's neckline.

"Forty five minutes, hmm? I shouldn't distract you with such limited time to practice." He says, even if he's not exactly stopping from slipping his fingertips along Lucien's neck and towards the hollow of his throat.

Lucien might have been expecting the touch to his ear. He'd leaned in to allow it, after all. But what he wasn't expecting was the fingers in his hair, or the other hand coming to trail along the side of his neck. There's a flush that touches his cool skin that is not at all caused by the chill in the air of the arena. His eyes close at the touch and for a moment he's silent, not sure what to say, not having expected it from Ryu who has, up until this point, seemed far more reserved. He wouldn't have thought lacking confidence, but perhaps just, shy, maybe. This does not feel shy.

His eyes open again and he sort of processes what Ryu just said but he's still leaning there against the edge of the rink, and Ryu's still touching him. And it's as though his skates have frozen right into the ground. "I.. I don't mind," is what his brain finally comes up with.

Pale skin shows rosy hues so well, and Ryu seems pleased to see the rise of color in response to his touch. His fingers graze against the skin along Lucien's neck while his other hand trails a fingertip along the edge of the ear's downward slope. Shy, he might still be considered that, as it's unlikely he would be nearly as bold with others around.

But, they are alone and with the indication that Lucien doesn't -mind- the distraction? Ryu leans closer so that his own face is drawn close and his cheek brushes against the opposing ear before he murmurs against it with a wash of heated breath. "Good." With a slide of his fingertips along the neckline, he seeks to encourage the tilt of the skater's jaw upwards so he might be more successful in grazing his lips against Lucien's.

The music plays on in the arena. It's fairly loud, but there's no skating going on now. Lucien is entirely enthralled at the moment, entirely focused on that touch. His head tilts just slightly, into the touch along the edge of his ear, and his eyes half-lid again.

He definitely doesn't mind the distraction. He is entirely too distracted to mind anything at the moment. He's never had anyone touch him quite like this before. And the wash of warm breath against his skin, that murmured word makes him shiver just a little bit. It's not hard to tilt his jaw upward. There's no resistance given. And when Ryu's lips touch his, they part in a little indrawn breath.

Only then does he seem to remember that he can move, and he grips the edge of the wall with one hand and reaches out with the other to lightly catch the side of Ryu's neck in return, thumb brushing his jaw, lips pressing to his just a little more firmly.

The walls presence is unfortunate, disallowing more contact than what they already have. But, it doesn't mean that Ryu is disinclined to continue - in fact, the press against his own neck has him lean just a little more forward and part his lips so he can tease a glide of his tongue against Lucien's lips.

Just as it seems he's going to press in for a deeper kiss, Ryu draws away to get a better look at Lucien's face. His fingertips glide along cheeks and jawline as he finally rubs a thumb along where his tongue had traced. "I've wanted to do that for a while." He starts, and the pause is brief before he adds, "And more."

What more? He doesn't elaborate, and simply allows the space between them to grow again as he leans back to get a look at the expanse of ice behind Lucien. "I want to see you show off. Show me what you can do?"

The sudden draw away is as surprising as the first touch and Lucien's eyes take a half-second to open after Ryu's lips are gone and he's left standing there at the wall, that slight flush in his cheeks. As Ryu traces his cheeks and his jawline he lets his tongue swipe over his lips lightly, refocusing. "You have?" he asks. And more. "Oh.." He doesn't really need elaboration for his mind to fill in the blanks with a few possibilities.

But then Ryu is leaning further back and Lucien's hand drops to the wall and he straightens a little, himself, the height of the blades bringing him just about eye to eye with Ryu. Show off? One can see the wheels turning in his head for a moment. Oh, skating. They were in the arena. Right. He's a skater. That's what he does. "Yeah, yeah, I can skate." One hopes he can skate better than he can brain or word in this very moment, because it's almost like he short circuited there.

He slowly pushes back from the wall and slides backward across the ice.

And then, he pushes off and begins to glide across the ice. He finds the pace of the music, finds the rhythm and then he just goes for it. It's not a set program, not anything he's practiced or rehearsed. It's just him and a series of jumps, spins, and leaps that carry him all the way across the ice and back. There's a swift acceleration into a toe loop, a graceful glide into a dip that brings his body down close to the ice, fingers brushing its surface, a light dance of swift alternating footwork that culminates in a triple axle. He goes for the entirety of the song and into another, just practicing every discipline that he's learned and stringing them together.

It's not a formal program. But it does show off every ounce of skill and precision that has brought him so very close to the Olympics.

A faint shrug is the only response that Ryu gives to the question, followed by a coy seeming smile. His dark eyes lower to watch as Lucien's tongue swipes over his own lips, and there's a faint chuckle when he can almost visualize the cogs turning in the skater's head as he clues in to what's being suggested. "Mmhmm, you can, I've seen a little." He says, and sighs a bit as he's drawn farther away from and the ice is retaken.

His gaze follows after Lucien, and while he isn't someone who knows much about ice skating in so far as how to tell the difference between someone who's a professional level versus someone who isn't, it doesn't mean that he doesn't enjoy what he sees. The transitions between graceful movements and those bursts of speed required for jumps draw his attention as though he's glued to the performance. When it culminates in a triple axle, that's when he calls out, "Woooo! Lovely! Ii-ne!" It's only when his voice is raised that it shows its true quality, even in this short of a burst. His voice carries easily across the ice, especially the tones at the end in his native language.

Leaning more against the barrier wall, Ryu appears as though he's half tempted to climb onto the wall and try and sit on it. But, he refrains from doing so. However, he doesn't seem inclined to beckon Lucien over, no - he's happy to watch him skate as long as he would like to.

Lucien can hear the cheer from the wall as he goes through another series of jumps that take him high into the air and across the ice. It's clear that he loves the aerial jumps the most, those spins in mid air that always seem to land gracefully back on the blade of one skate at the end and then carry him, gliding across the ice. Ryu had asked for him to show off, and so he does show off. It doesn't seem to matter that there are no judges there to score, or even an audience beyond the one individual standing at the wall. He goes until he's pushed himself about as far as he can and he has to glide toward a close.

He's lost track of exactly how many songs it is when he stops and it feels like a long time, but it really hasn't been in the grand scheme of things -- perhaps ten, fifteen minutes? But he's crammed a lot of performance into that time. Slowly, he winds down, until he gradually drifts back over to the wall again, chest rising and falling with the exertion as he works to catch his breath, temples damp with sweat. He's a little breathless, but he seems to have regained both his senses and his composure as he comes to stop a few feet away.

Then he gives a little bow, as he would if Ryu were indeed a competition judge. "Not one of my regular routines," he says a little breathlessly, "But I hope it meets with your approval." There's a little tug of a smile to his lips.

At times there's a wistfulness, as though Ryu wishes he could glide as effortlessly across the ice as Lucien does - though he knows he holds very little hope of being able to do anything quite so artful as the way the other moves across the ice. He simply isn't built the same, and hasn't had the likely years of training to do so. For something that seems so effortless and beautiful to watch, it's almost surprising to see how breathless Lucien is afterwards.

Sure, he's seen performances on the television, but that's not the same and divorced from reality in many ways. It's different seeing the dampness of the sweat at the temples, the chest rising and falling much closer than what is seen on TV. The little bow does make him smile though, and give a faint shake of his head. "I'm hardly a good judge." He admits, and then adds, "I might be a little biased, but I thought it was excellent."

Time has been passing, and it's getting closer to when there might be others starting to encroach on their venue. "Would you like to go get something to eat with me or .. something?" He asks, leaving the suggestion open for other options should there be something presented.

A long program is typically only four minutes of performing in competition. To go for almost four times as long as a regular program just for the pure rush of it is definitely not as effortless as it looks from a distance, and Lucien definitely looks like he gave it everything. Ryu did ask him to show off, after all, and show off he did.

He chuckles a little when Ryu says that he's not a good judge, but he'll take the compliment, gliding a little closer to the wall now, catching his breath. The invitation has a little smile curling his lips and he says, "Yeah. Can you wait for me for.. fifteen minutes maybe? I need to go back and clean up and change and then I can meet you out here?"

It takes him about that long to dip back to the locker room and return before the two head out.