Falling Practice

Participants:

elaine_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Falling Practice
Synopsis Magnes teaches Elaine how to rollerskate.
Date October 2, 2010

A Skatepark, NYC


Another day, and more resisting the compulsion that plagues his mind practically every waking moment. But Magnes is trying not to let that make him a complete recluse, so after a shopping trip to Modell's with Elaine, they sit on some steps at a skate park.

He's in a red Flash t-shirt with an unzipped black denim jacket over some blue jeans. His skates are also black, with cartoonish magnet designs on the wheels as well as larger magnets on the toe and heel. He's down on one knee while Elaine sits, and he's almost done showing her how to strap up her remaining skate. She knows how expensive his tend to be, but he figures there might be a lot of scuffing in the midst of teaching her, so didn't exactly go for super professional. They do, however, look very nice, being a ruby red with green vines painted all around them, including the wheels. "You know you have to wear the helmet and the pads, right?"

Elaine giggles. "I know I'm going to need to. I'm going to fall flat on my face. I can hold myself up and be coordinated on my feet but you get me wheels and now I'm doomed. Just don't take me anywhere with a hill." She shakes her head a little bit. "I'm not sure if this is an amazing idea or if I'm going to end up with my face the color of my hair…" At least she's wearing jeans to minimize potential scrapes, but her snug-fitting green t-shirt has shortish sleeves so it's not going to afford much extra protection on her arms.

Magnes pulls the pads from the bag, first strapping them around her knees, then moves up to start strapping them to her elbows. He made sure to get plain red ones to match her skates, and of course a matching helmet that he plops down on her head. "The first part of learning how to inline skate is, ironically, learning how to fall properly."

"But I don't want to fall," Elaine protests, reaching up and buckling the helmet on once it's settled on her head. "I thought the whole point was to try not to fall, not to learn how to!"

"When you learn to fall the right way, you're able to keep from hurting yourself when you accidentally fall. Watch me." Magnes skates back away from her, then starts skating forward and slides down on to his knees. "See? You have to make sure you can turn a fall into landing on your knees, then you hit the pads.

"Do I really have to practice falling?" Elaine doesn't really have to ask this question, mostly because she stands up, moves forward, and loses her balance before she can catch herself on the handrail of the stairs. She does, however, end up on her knees, catching herself on her hands and the kneepads.

Magnes laughs when she seems to be alright, and bends down to take her wrists and help her back up. "Well, unless you want me to always have to be there to catch you." he teases in a bit of a challenging tone, pulling her close. "Skating is all about controlling your weight, and being aware of your center."

"You're better at the whole gravity-weight type thing than me. And I dunno about finding my center… sounds a bit zen, doesn't it?" Elaine sticks close as she's helped up, not really wanting him too far for the moment. "And I'm afraid of falling."

"I learned to skate before I had an ability. And your center is a real thing." Magnes takes her hand while keeping a firm grip under her arm with his free one, then moves it down to touch a bit below her stomach. "When you know your center of gravity, and get used to feeling it there, it's only a matter of time before you really know how to use it. It's what catches us when we lose our balance or trip, and is why gymnasts and ninjas can do what they do."

Elaine gives a slight, reluctant nod. "Alright. Guess I'll just have to fall on my face a few times to figure out my center, then." She looks at Magnes for a moment. "You just seem a lot more balanced than me anyways." She nods again. "You can… let go. I'll try not to die or anything."

"You're my girlfriend, I'd never let you fall on your face." Magnes assures with a brief stroke of her cheek, then releases her and skates about two feet back. "Alright, I want you to drop down to your knees, and make sure your arms are out and ready to catch you, just in case."

The redhead leans in and sneaks a kiss to his cheek before he skates back. "Good, I'd probably break my nose or something." Elaine focuses on the task at hand. It's simple… fall on her knees. It takes her a moment to realize it'd be a bit hard to just get to her knees standing still, so she experiments for a moment to see how to propel herself forward just a little. She's trying to make it insanely slow so she doesn't skid along her knees. She falls to her knees, arms ready just in case, but she thankfully doesn't fall forward, likely since she wasn't moving so fast as to set her off-balance.

"That's really good." Magnes smiles, then reaches down to take her wrists again. "Remember, you have your pads on, it doesn't hurt to fall. Once you do it enough, you stop being nervous, and you realize that falling isn't a big deal." he explains as he lifts her back up, pecks her on the lips, and skates away from her again.

"Yeah, but even if it doesn't hurt, falling is scary. I mean, the ground's coming at you so fast and your body's trained to think you'll get hurt." Elaine murmurs, deciding to try skating around a little. "Um, how do you stop on these?"

"Watch me, Elaine." Magnes makes a point not to alert her to the fact that she's standing up alone, then starts skating in a slow circle in front of her. After that, he begins moving in a straight line so she can see what he's doing. "First, you have to bend your knees together, then start moving your toes so your skates will come a little closer. Eventually you'll slow down and stop." which he does, about a foot in front of her. "But it takes a little practice."

"So… stopping takes practice, falling takes practice…" Elaine laughs. "I guess the actual skating should come easy then, right?" She moves, shifting from foot to foot testing the weight of things as she feels out moving forward. That and she's been watching Magnes' feet and is trying to figure out how to do it properly. She's getting the hang of that at least.

"Moving is the easiest part of skating. And hey, learning to skate is easier than learning to fly." Magnes skates backwards, keeping a good seven foot distance from her, but he fully intends to catch her with his ability if she falls. "It took me two months to learn to fly."

Elaine's finding moving's pretty easy, at least, so she'll just keep moving. "Well, I'm glad I don't have an ability like that. Flying, I can understand taking time." She moves, careful not to get too close to the fancy dips and holes that are made for skaters with more experience.

"You're really cute on skates, Elaine." Magnes motions his hands for her to go faster. "Come on, try to skate as fast as you can, I'll use my ability to make sure you can't fall at all." He may as well try to make it fun for her, since learning to skate is hard!

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this." Elaine looks for the clearest straight spot, skating to the end of it before she starts. She tries to skate fast, putting effort into it, but once she's like 75% through her straight area, her eyes widen. "Magnes, I'm not gonna be able to stop!"

Magnes nods slowly, keeping up with her speed, then holds his hand out and she gradually begins to slow until they're both no longer moving. "See?" he asks with a little smile, skating up to wrap his arms around her.

Elaine slides her arms around him and hugs him tight. "Okay, not a fan of stopping. Kinda scary. And by 'kinda', I mean a lot." She laughs a tiny bit. "I'm horrible at this stuff, aren't I? Do I look ridiculous?"

"You look cute." Magnes slides a hand up to her cheek, moving in and touching his lips to her's, just barely kissing. "You look really cute… Let's go get something to eat and pick up a movie?"

"Okay. I like this idea." Elaine smiles, hooking her arm in his. "Can we get chinese? I really want chinese." She pauses for a second. "Are we skating there? Cause that might be potentially deadly for the citizens of New York who I run into."

"Don't worry, just hold on to my arm. And we can get Chinese." Magnes starts skating slowly at first, trying to get her used to the feeling of holding on to him, then he goes a bit faster, picking up the bag with their stuff on the way out.

Elaine hangs on tight, smiling a little as she manages to keep her balance quite well as they go along. She'll stick real close, just in case, though. She's not sure she trusts herself not to go flying into some business man.


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