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#she has big roller skater energy.....
countessofravenclaw · 3 months
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So, thogh I'd share this drabbles that has been floating around in drafts. I think it's pretty fun, but don't know what I am gonna do with because it doesn't really fit in stoyr I have planned, ecet maybe as a prologue...
Gastón looked at the kids at the rink as he walked into the bleachers. The coach of the Junior Rollers was demonstrating some move he didn’t recognize. 
The group was pretty far away, but he could see the focus on Laura’s face. That must have been the move she had been complaining about not getting. It was exactly the same look Nina had, so it was easy to recognize. 
The Junior Rollers team was participating in a competition at Capitán Sarmiento Partido two weeks from now. They had done a few small competitions during the time Laura had been on the team, but this was the first big thing. They were going to be staying there for a few nights and everything, by themselves only with a couple of chaperones. But that was in two weeks, this weekend they had gotten a surprising opportunity to come rehearse at the rink two weeks before the competition. Since the opportunity had come so suddenly it had been left to the parents to get the kids there. Something that had given them all a headache, especially to Ambar and Simon, and Luna and Matteo. 
Since it was out of the question to make the girls miss the “most important training session of their lives”, Gastón had been the one who had had the best availability to drive Laura, Stella and Ivory two hours to the north. It was fine by him. The training took about four hours, so he had been able to grade a few papers, check the new plan that was going to be brought to the table on their next executive team meeting at Castillo Corporation and answer two thousand emails that he had gotten from students from the courses he teached.
He didn’t know how the other parents passed their time, he didn’t know most of them as it was. Most of the team members, outside of Laura, Stella and Ivory, seemed to be first generation roller skaters, who had picked the interest in the sport independently. It didn’t look like most of the parents really understood skating, but you couldn’t really blame them. Not everyone could be a former member of the official team of Jam & Roller. It still existed, after all these years, and you could start joining it when you started high school. All the girls were aiming toward it, and already talking about the auditions. 
Gastón leaned on the rinks railing. The training session would be ending in about an hour, as it neared 2 pm. Laura would have probably hated the idea of him watching the whole thing, because it would be embarrassing. His youngest daughter really had become a preteen… but the last hour wouldn’t hurt, right? This was also the most efficient way to get out of here once they were done, if he was ready to go waiting for them once they got out.
The circle the team had formed broke and the coach yelled something about the positions and started counting the rhythm. The choreo was quite advanced for their age, or just the training Gastón had been doing at ten had been lackluster.
“I’m so sorry.” Someone bumped into him in passing. “Wait…” 
Gastón looked up at the woman in her fifties. To his surprise, he recognized her. “Tamara?” 
“Gastón is that you?” It really was Tamara. “Almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Well, it's been a few years…” Gastón laughed. “...more like decades.” 
“I know, I’ve met Luna and Ramiro a few times at different competitions.” Tamara responded, “But I’ve sometimes wondered how the rest of you have been.” 
“Well, not skating. Luna and Ramiro are really the only ones.”
“Figured that. What do you do?”
“I’m an engineer at Castillo Corporations and also teach at UCA. I have a Ph.D. in Energy Development.” 
“That sounds great. I train solo skaters here and heard that the Junior Roller’s from Jam & Roller. I wanted to see them.”
“They’re great.” Gastón said as he focused his eyes back on Laura who was performing a coordinated twirl with two other skaters. “Roller has four teams nowadays. Early team, Junior, intermediate and the main team. Luna actually was one of the people who innovated the new system. My part in this is to be the driver. Junior and Main are the ones that compete. ”
“One of the kids is yours?” Tamara asked as she also looked at the rink.  
“The one with brown hair and the patel pink skates,” Gastón pointed, “That’s our youngest.”
“She looks quite like you.” 
“It’s very subjective. Everyone has a different view on the subject,” Gastón smiled slightly, “I always think she looks like her mother.” 
“Who is she?” Tamara asked.
“Oh, right. You wouldn’t know,” Gastón laughed again, spinning his wedding ring. “Even though you do know her as well. You remember Nina?”
“Simonetti? Of course I do. You mean…?”
“So, not Simoetti anymore, unless it’s on a book cover. We got married,” Gastón smiled, “...eventually, 2024 to be precise. We went to the same university and stuff. Closing on 20 years soon.” 
“That is amazing. It is so great to see all of you so grown up.” 
“You mean old,” Gastón remarked. “You’d be surprised by all that ended up happening, or has Luna told you when you have met?”
“We have never been able to talk for that long.” 
“You’re in for a story,” Gastón chuckled and pointed toward Ivory. “See that girl? Blonde, pink outfit, glittering skates? She remind you of anyone?” 
“Now that you mention it…” Tamara looked at the rink. “She looks exactly like Ambar did when she started going to Roller…but—”
“That’s spot on,” Gastón nodded. “Ivory and Laura have been best friends since they started skating. They’re already counting down the weeks until they can go to high school together as Simon and Ambar wanted her to go comprehensive school close to their house.”
“Simon and Ambar?”
“Yeah, we’ll come back to that,” Gastón turned his head, “First, you probably have noticed the curly brown pigtails, on that girl who can’t stand still.” 
“Something to do with Luna I presume.”
“Our goddaughter, Stella,” Gastón smiled, “Got all the hyperactivity from both Luna and Matteo, which is a lot.” 
“Luna and Matteo too?” Tamara looked surprised. 
“Those are thrilling stories, that only they can do justice to. The weddings were beautiful, trust me.” Gastón swiped through a few archived pictures on his phone from all their weddings in the 2020s. “We’ve all stayed good friends over the years, and it has been great, especially now with the kids. As I said before, Nina’s an author mainly, but she does some lyrical stuff as well, mostly for Mateo, but others too. Ambar practises law, while Delfi is motion picture production. Matteo and roller band obviously do music, and Yam released a few indie albums as well. She and Jim do a lot of teaching in craft as well. Luna and Ramiro kept skating as you know. Jazmin still does her thing.” 
“Time really has gone on.”
“Okay my junior rollerstars!” the coach's voice sounded. “Today, you have done such amazing work. We are going to be ready for the competition in no time. Now enjoy your weekend. I’ll see you all on tuesday!” 
“Dad!” Laura wheeled toward Gastón excitedly, Ivory and Stella following behind her. “Did you see the spin I just did? I finally got it!” 
“Yeah, I did see that” Gastón nodded, smiling, “It looked amazing. I should have filmed it, so Mom can see too.” 
“You don’t film rehearsals Dad,” Laura rolled her eyes, before noticing Tamara, “Who’s this?” 
“So, this was a funny coincidence,” Gastón started, “This is Tamara insert last name here. She is my former coach at Roller, back when we skated there.”
“Oh, the Tamara that coached the intercontinental?” Stella piped up, “Mom told me. The performance was amazing.” 
 “Tamara, this is my daughter Laura,” Gastón placed his hand on Laura's shoulder, “and then we have Stella Balsano and Ivory Alvarez, my almost daughters.” 
The girls started asking multiple rapid questions and Tamara answered the best she could. 
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painterofstars · 2 years
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roller skate into my view
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teaandsmut · 3 years
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Inspired by your dancing pic, what other hobbies would Glimmer and Catra enjoy together? What hobbies would one of them have that the other wouldn't share?
EASY I know the answer to this. Anyone who knows my main irl hobby can probably guess already: roller derby! I reckon they'd love playing a full contact sport where hitting people as hard as you can is encouraged.
Now that I'm on the topic, you're going to have to hear my headcanons about their playing styles/preferred positions to play haha. Under the read more to spare people from the niche overlap between two of my favourite things.
In roller derby, the point scoring mechanism is based on one skater (the jammer) passing skaters of the other team (blockers) who will try to stop them. There's a marked track to stay within the bounds of. You can bodily hit people, within particular rules (e.g. not with your elbows/forearms/hands/head, not below the knee/above the neck/in the middle of their back).
Catra would prefer to be a jammer. She's fast, narrow, and jumpy, she'd probably rely on that to get through gaps rather than hitting her way through. At first she'd be a really annoying jammer for her team and would ignore any assists they tried to do and ignore her bench coach's instructions. Probably a lot of penalties, especially insubordination penalties like mouthing off to a referee, and getting kicked out of the game for dangerous play (contrary to what films will tell you, deliberately punching someone would get you immediately expelled from a game).
But eventually she'd get into the spirit of it and stop all that nonsense. I think she'd end up being a really good double act with a blocker on her team who provides offensive assists for her. Obviously I like to imagine this would be Glimmer haha. And they'd be really in sync with each other once they had worked together for a while, no one would be able to figure out how Glimmer just happened to clear a path in the exact right place every time.
Glimmer would generally prefer to block, especially offensive blocking (helping her team's jammer rather than stopping the opposing jammer) and often playing in a position that can swap in for the jammer in the middle of a play. She would love doing big hits.
If it was a canon universe, she'd probably not be allowed to teleport! But either way she'd be surprisingly fast (if she can't teleport then she's just going have to be fast by trying really hard), which would earn her first the rivalry and then the respect of Catra as she'd be one of the few who could regularly block her with much success in training. Then eventually they'd be a formidable pair in proper games, as mentioned already.
I reckon they'd both love this. Get all that energy out now that there isn't a war to put it into.
As for hobbies of one but not the other... I can mainly think of hobbies Catra hasn't been exposed to and thinks are stupid at first but eventually gets into, while Glimmer has always had access to them but never saw the point and still doesn't. Relaxing hobbies like reading/drawing/crafting. That's not quite an answer to your question but it'll have to do for now! But I'd like to hear what anyone else has to say about it.
Thanks for the interesting question! :) Sorry for swerving directly into one of my favourite topics with it haha.
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chelsfic · 4 years
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Leftovers - Part 4 - Nandor the Relentless x Reader Fanfic
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Previous Parts: Masterlist
Summary: Vampire (bite) aftercare, Nandor tries to pretend like he doesn’t want to fuck you, you bond with Guillermo!!, and the gang gets an invitation!
A/N: GUYS! You’re so nice to me with all these comments and asks!! You keep me going! I hope you like this chapter. I didn’t mean for it to be the Guillermo slumber party chapter, but here we are.
Warnings: Reader described as short and plays roller derby, vampire/human relationships, blood drinking, smut (in other chapters), power differential
---
Nandor lays you down on the towels and picks up the tube of antibiotic cream on your nightstand. He wrinkles his nose as he unscrews the cap.
“This ointment is putrid,” he grumbles, but he squirts some out onto his fingers anyways and gently applies it to the wounds on your neck. 
Whatever remaining energy you had following the feeding seems to have bled away with your makeout session because you can barely keep your eyes open now. The antibiotic stings a bit but you’re grateful for the attention and feeling a little light-headed and delirious--which surely accounts for the way you nuzzle your face against Nandor’s forearm as he tends to the wound.
“There, all better,” he proclaims as he places a large band-aid on your neck. He sits there for a moment, fidgeting awkwardly with his cape before abruptly standing. “I will tell Guillermo to bring you some of your electrolyte drink.”
---
“It seems the human wants to do the sex with me,” Nandor leans into the camera conspiratorially. “I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised. Humans have always been attracted to my dark power but…”
He grimaces in distaste and shakes his head, “I’ve never seen the appeal. Vampire/Human relationships? I mean...why? They die--either you eat them or they get old and gross…”
Nandor pauses at a muffled question from behind the camera.
He shrugs and knits his brows together, “Why would it be different with this human?”
“[Unintelligible]...out of your way not to kill her…”
“Yes, because of her virgin blood!” Nandor exclaims, enunciating his words condescendingly. “Why would I do the sex with her? Then she wouldn’t taste good anymore. Sex with humans is more trouble than it’s worth. They’re weak...fragile...they have to breathe. Where is the fun?”
Nandor reaches the bottom of the stairs and pauses to call out, “Guillermo!”
“Yes, master?” Guillermo pops out of his closet-bedroom and goes to the vampire’s side at once.
“I’ve just fed from the mortal. Bring her the Gatorade beverage and a snack. She’s very weak,” Nandor commands.
“Right away, master,” Guillermo does a little half bow and turns to leave.
Nandor puts out a hand to stop him, “She likes the blue flavor. Make sure you get the right one.”
Guillermo shoots a shocked look directly into the camera. When was the last time Nandor ever recalled a little detail like that about him?
Guillermo scurries away and Nandor rearranges his cape, making ready to leave for the evening. He catches the camera guy staring at him with a knowing smirk.
“What?!”
---
“Thanks, Guillermo,” you murmur after a sip of Gatorade. You have no idea what the proper treatment for blood loss is, but a snack is always nice. Maybe you should start taking iron supplements? 
Guillermo goes to leave but you stop him.
“Will you...stay with me for a little while?” you ask feeling unaccountably timid. “I feel gross and I don’t want to be by myself…”
Guillermo looks like he’s torn but he finally sighs and walks back over to you, perching awkwardly beside you on the bed.
“Sure, I’ll stay for a bit,” he says and you give him a toothy grin.
You turn on your side to face him, snuggling up under the covers and giving yourself some major slumber party vibes. You’re finally going to bond with Guillermo! He’s sitting rigidly up against the headboard and you have to swallow a laugh.
“Thanks, Guillermo,” you try to imbue your sincere gratitude into the words. “And...I’m sorry if you feel like I’m coming between you and Nandor. I don’t mean to…”
Guillermo lets out a long sigh, “It’s not your fault. He’s always been distant with me and I’m just...surprised to see him being so nice to another human.”
“Nice?” you laugh. “I’m still not convinced he isn’t planning on draining me dry one of these nights…”
Guillermo scoffs and shakes his head, “I don’t think so, Smash. I mean...he seems to care about you?”
The thought gives you a secret thrill that you try to ignore. Having feelings for a vampire--that’s pretty much the closest thing to a death wish you can imagine. But you find yourself raising your fingers to your lips and recalling the press of his mouth on yours. You look up to see the sad look on Guillermo’s face and it squeezes your heart.
“Hey… I’m sure Nandor cares about you, too,” you offer. You’re trying to come up with something to say to cheer him up when your brain backtracks and processes his words, “Hey! Did you just call me my derby name!?”
Guillermo blushes adorably and stammers, “Oh--uh, yeah? Is that okay? Or is it only for other skaters to use?”
You can’t help it, he’s such a teddy bear, you reach out and squeeze his arm in a hug.
“No, it’s great! Oh my god, Guillermo, we’re really gonna be friends, aren’t we!?” you gush.
“I guess so…hey, can I ask you something?” Guillermo scoots down the bed so that he’s laying on the pillow next to yours and facing you. Slumber party vibes!
“Shoot,” you reply.
“What’s it like?” he pauses and darts his eyes away from yours before looking back at you. “When he bites you?”
Your lips twist into a crooked smile and your turn your face into the pillow to hide with an embarrassed squeak. The bite and the making out are all jumbled together in your stupid human brain. Was it painful? Sexy? Hot? Horrifying? All of that, yes.
“It’s…” you struggle for words. “Intimate. You’re very close and he wraps his arms around you. He’s so strong, you couldn’t struggle away from him if you tried. But you don’t...try. Because his eyes are so dark and intense and...gorgeous and they’re focused just on you. And then he puts his mouth on your neck and for a second it’s like a kiss but then he bites and it hurts. But his lips are still on you and his hands. He puts his hand on your head to support you and you feel kind of...taken care of? While he’s--uh--you know, drinking your blood. You worry that he’ll go too far and forget to stop but then you’re floating and happy and you don’t care anymore if he stops or not. But he does. And his lips are red with your blood but they still look so soft and--and...uh. And, uh, that’s pretty much it.”
Guillermo’s staring at you with his eyes narrowed in suspicion, “Have you--did you two--? Smash!”
You’re burning with embarrassment and you stumble over your words, “What? No! We haven’t...well--not much. But--would it be bad if we did?”
In this moment Guillermo looks like nothing so much as a concerned older brother and you want to melt a little. 
“It’s...I don’t know?” he shrugs but his eyes are a little frantic. “Vampires are very, very...sexual beings. And you’re a virgin--which they love for, uh, other reasons but...I’m just a little worried you might be in over your head.”
You sigh and try to suppress your natural instinct to be defensive. You are in over your head. You’re living in a vampire house as a live-in blood donor. 
“So, you and Nandor have never…?” it’s a question you’ve been asking yourself since you first met Guillermo.
He smiles slightly and shakes his head, “No. We’re not--that’s not what our relationship is about. I care about Nandor, of course. And there was a time that I felt more but...I’ve let it go.”
You frown at his answer, “Are you sure? Because I don’t want to cause any drama…”
“Really, Smash. Nandor’s my... friend--even if he has a funny way of showing it most of the time. That’s all.”
Your eyes are feeling heavy and you yawn into your elbow before you answer, “Alright...if you’re sure.”
“But are you sure?” he quips, arching one brow. 
You let out a long sigh and shrug your shoulders.
“Hey...you want me to tell you what’s it like kissing Nandor?”
He giggles and rolls his eyes, “You shouldn’t kiss and tell.”
“What’s the fun in that?!”
---
“Nandor! Hey--come here you big donkey!” Nadja hisses from the upstairs hallway. 
She draws him over to your bedroom doorway and pokes her head inside, “Look at these adorable, baby humans, Nandor!”
You and Guillermo are asleep, curled up like shrimp side-by-side on your bed. Guillermo’s glasses are askew on his face and there’s a pool of drool on your pillow beneath your open mouth.
“Aren’t they precious?” Nadja croons. “I just want to chomp their little limbs right off.”
Nandor’s eyes flick from you to Guillermo and he stays in the doorway long after Nadja drifts back downstairs.
“Sweet dreams, my humans,” he whispers.
---
“Attention, everyone! I have some very exciting news to share this evening,” Nandor stands by the fireplace with Guillermo flanking him on his right brandishing a postcard-sized piece of mail in his hands.
You’re sitting sandwiched between Nadja and Laszlo on the long couch and Colin Robinson is sitting in an armchair with a newspaper folded on his lap. Nadja takes your hand in both of hers and holds it on her lap and you let your head fall on her shoulder. You’ve enjoyed falling into friendship with her even if you’re pretty sure she sometimes thinks of you as some kind of human baby doll to play with. 
“Nadja!” Nandor exclaims with a stamp of his heavy-booted foot. “How many times do I tell you to leave my human alone?”
“Nandor!” you shout in annoyance. “Nadja’s like my vampire mommy. Leave her alone!”
Guillermo’s eyes are wide with anxiety and he flicks his gaze from his Master to Nadja.
“Yes, Nandor. I’m her dear mama,” Nadja taunts and makes a show of baring her fangs and clawing her fingers over your head as if she’s about to bite you. “Chill out, donkey brain.”
Nandor presses his lips together in annoyance. Rather than reply to Nadja he turns on you, “You’re being very disrespectful to me, human. And I’m noting it. It’s being noted!”
Maybe it’s Nadja’s presence that boosts your confidence or maybe it’s the memory of Guillermo telling you you’d be out of your depth with a vampire lover. But you want to prove that you can play on their level. You smile up at Nandor and bat your eyes.
“I guess you’ll have to punish me then…” you say with false innocence. You catch Guillermo’s expression in the corner of your eyes and he looks like he’s having a coronary. 
“Oh, you saucy minx!” Nadja praises.
“Shall I get the cat’o’nine tails from the attic?” Laszlo pipes in.
Nandor looks totally unamused. He narrows his eyes at you with a storm cloud gathering on his brow.
“Enough foolishness! I have an announcement. Guillermo, the letter,” Nandor turns to his Familiar and takes the paper from his hands. “We have been invited…to a vampire rave!”
“Oh, goody!” Nadja claps her hands together.
“Drug blood!” Laszlo cries in exultation. 
Even Colin Robinson perks up.
“What’s a vampire rave?” you ask smiling in curiosity. You’re getting excited just from the others’ enthusiasm.
Laszlo answers, “It’s like a human rave only with vampires. We feed off the humans and get high ourselves. It’s great fun.”
“Uh, okay, but we all remember what happened the last time you guys drank drug blood,” Guillermo’s warns.
“Oh, shut up, Guillermo!,” Nandor flicks his wrist at him. “It would have been fine if you were a little more careful.”
Guillermo looks like he’s about to make a retort but Nandor talks over him, “It’s tomorrow night at an abandoned Circuit City across town! We’re all going to have a great time! Except...for you.”
Nandor looks down his nose at you and you whine, “Me!? Why can’t I go?”
Nadja joins your cause, “Nandor, why can’t we take the little human with us? She will be fine. If any vampire tries to attack her she will do the hip-check on them.”
“You’ve disrespected me in front of the other roommates!” Nandor admonishes. “This is the consequence. You can’t come. You’re not invited.”
You stand, walking up to Nandor and poking your finger in his chest as you proclaim, “You’re being very mean to me. And I’m noting it!”
You storm out before he can respond. You hear Laszlo’s voice as you jog up the stairs.
“Are you going to let her get away with that kind of behavior!?”
Nandor holds out his hands helplessly, “She’s gone! She’s gotten away with it!”
---
“Human!” Nadja hisses a whisper as she creeps into your bedroom later that night. “Human! Wake up!”
You roll over in bed to find her looming above you. You can see her wickedly sharp fangs to full affect and you gulp down the instinct to shriek.
“Nadja?” your voice comes out full of gravel.
“Don’t worry my little roller warrior. I’m taking you to the vampire rave tomorrow! We can’t let that stupid piece of snake ruin our fun!”
---
A/N: Is my Nadja crush showing???
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@festering-queen​ @glitterportrait​ @kandomeresbitch​ @scuzmunkie​ @redwoodshadows​
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mahou-furbies · 4 years
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Magic items in Precure
(Note: "Hapuriainen bitches about children's cartoons" is the new tag for posts such as this, so people who aren't interested in yet another rant about how Precure isn't up to my standards can utilise their blacklist.)
Today I thought about how magic items (transformation trinkets, weapons and collectibles) are used in Precure, or more specifically how they aren't used. Which is the topic of this post, as in I find that Precure is very lazy in how it goes about this.
For comparison, in Magical Girl Raising Project there are various magic items that cost your lifespan to obtain and others can steal them from you, and the magic phones are used as plot elements in a murder mystery since they can reveal a character's location and held items. Or there's also Madoka, which has the famous Soul Gems which are at the core of the story.
And before you rush to criticise that I just hate everything that's not depressing and grimdark, note that less edgy works manage to do something with their items and collectibles as well. Like for example in Princess Tutu every collected heart piece changes Mytho a little since they're his emotions, and the heroine also has to spend a lot of time considering if she's ready to give up her transformation device for plot reasons. Or you have Sugar Sugar Rune, where the collectibles are people's crystallised emotions, which the magic world uses as an energy source. You need social skills to manipulate the person to have the emotion you want, and once you collect an emotion it's gone so your friend will have forgotten about his crush on you. And the character's magic weapons don't just pop out of nowhere when they reach a new level in character development, but instead are ordered piece by piece from a post catalogue (using the cystallised emotions as currency). So everyone gets to customise their own staff!
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So if you're going to do toy advertisements, advertise the toy, show me the toy! Have it be an actual part of the story! My body is ready! What happens if a Cure tries to use some other Cure's transformation item? What if a side character muggle gets their hands on the transformation perfume? Or you could have a weapon require a real skill and tie its use to character development, like if Haruka also got a magic violin and we got to see her grow from useless screeching to playing a melody that purifies every enemy within earshot?
The most offensive to me are the collectible outfit cards in HapiCha. This is a kids' show so I can excuse a lot of silliness when it comes to how the magic works, but I'd still like there to be some kind of connection to the theme or plot of the story. HapiCha, however, doesn't really give any reason as to why the world should revolve around plastic cards featuring teen fashion. Why do the mascots generate them when a battle is won, are they all fashionistas or something? Why does collecting a bunch of them give you a divine wish? What does once-an-episode clothing swap add to the theme of this season? If the end goal of the season big bad was to make everyone apathetic and wear the same bland grey clothing I could see why the Cures would have to collect the Fashion Princess's Divine Outfit Ideas to restore creativity or whatever, but as it is I really don't think it's very in-character for Blue the God to make a magic system about which miniskirt Megumi puts on today. And when the cards and the magic wish are completely forgotten as a plot element in the second half of the season it just feels like the toy department ordered the cards to be included and they were just shoehorned in without any thought.
I don't think that having collectible outfit cards is an awful as an idea though (I mean of course I don't I've spent hundreds of hours making dress ups), and you could have done a lot of fun stuff with it. Like what if the characters really want a specific card and spend half a season looking for it? Or they want a particular disguise for some situation but don't have the right card, so they have to make do with a less ideal option? Or how about combining the "wrong" top and bottom part of the outfit? Accidentally trying to henshin with a pyjama?
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On top of the outfit aspect there's the collectible card aspect too. You have all these dozens or hundreds of international Cures who presumably also collect them, but not a single card trade is made. Helping each other's collection could have led to some nice interactions if you ask me. (this would have required that the international Precure had been actual characters and not background extras though, so there were far more serious problems with how they were used than just not trading a pink ninja costume for Hime's roller skater top)
Fresh Precure had a joke where the characters brought an empty bottle to a battle by mistake and had to look for their transformation devices. This is the kind of stuff I mean, have the magic objects actually exist in the world outside the obligatory once-an-episode stock footage and have the characters interact with them in a natural way. I mean if I had a magic device I would surely want to find out what kind of stuff I can do with it. And preferably don't have it just be a one episode thing that gets immediately forgotten either.
While this post has been about Precure (and especially the HapiCha part bloated quite a lot), in all fairness it's not like Precure is the only show that writes magic items like this and instead is just the topical one. And while lately it's been fashionable to be subversive or deconstructive or reconstructive or whatever fancy term you can find at tvTropes, I'm not trying to suggest that every story needs to have some kind of witty twist. And that can even get annoying, like for example with MagiPro I've at times felt that the story got kind of tropey and some plot twists made me think that the author was just trying to be clever.
However I don't think that just playing a trope straight should be beyond criticism either and that having the magic items be total non-elements that don't exist outside that one stock footage sequence should always be the default solution because it's a kids' show and this is how it's always been. Sure if every show had the characters swap items or accidentally break or lose them it would get boring, but I also find it boring that it's so common to just not do anything at all with them and just include them because it's a genre tradition (and for toy advertisements). So I'm always happy to see shows actually try for something new. 
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evgeniamedvedeva4u · 5 years
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Exclusive: Evgenia Medvedeva Reflects on Difficult Transition Season, Newfound Love for Canada
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TORONTO, Canada — It’s been quite a year for Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva.
Around this time last year, the two-time World champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist sent shockwaves around the skating world when news broke that she was leaving her longtime Russian coach, Eteri Tutberidze, to train under Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson at the Toronto Cricket and Skating Club.
In a difficult transition season that saw her uproot everything in order to move across the world with her mother, Zhanna, the Russian teenager certainly hasn’t had it easy. Speaking in a narrow hallway at the Scotiabank Arenaahead of this year’s Stars on Ice show in Toronto, a relaxed Medvedeva reflected on her first season with her new coaching team, her newfound love for Canada — which she considers solely her new “work” home — and her first time touring in North America.
As anyone in figure skating will tell you, a lot can change in a few years. After winning back-to-back World titles in 2016 and 2017, Medvedeva was easily considered the most dominant force in ladies’ figure skating and seemed primed for Olympic glory. However, the unpredictability of injuries and the unexpected emergence of a compatriot three years her junior (Alina Zagitova) quickly saw that title slip from her grasp.
Determined to prolong her competitive career for as long as she could, Medvedeva made the decision to switch to Orser a couple of months after the Olympics, and she struggled in large part to recapture the same magic of her first two senior seasons. Through all her struggles, the 19-year-old admits that she was able to discover a lot of things about herself, thanks in part to her strong support system.
“I can say that I’m a really, really strong person,” she said with a big smile. “Last season, last year, I’ve just been through a lot of things — not always good things — through some bad things, but yeah… Now I’m here and things are going as it’s going and everything is fine.”
For a period of time, that did not seem to always be the case in a roller-coaster first season with Orser and Wilson. After winning a silver medal at the Autumn Classic International, the Russian managed to produce an incredible free skate to recover from a disastrous short program to place third at her first Grand Prix event, the Skate Canada International. With a shot at qualifying for the Grand Prix Final at her next event in Grenoble, France, Medvedeva barely missed the podium and, with it, her chance to qualify for the prestigious six-skater event.
A month later, Medvedeva returned to Russia to skate in her first competition on home ice since switching training bases at the incredibly competitive Russian Figure Skating Championships. With Orser by her side, the Russian didn’t know what to expect. When she made the unexpected switch last spring, she had inadvertently ended an unspoken trend that had become second nature for most of her compatriots: successful Russian skaters always stay in Russia. By becoming the sport’s first prominent Russian to leave the country to train with a non-Russian coach, Medvedeva did not know what sort of reception would await her in her unofficial homecoming. The result was better than anything she (or Orser) could have ever imagined.
Despite another disappointing short program that saw her sitting in 14th place going into the free skate, Medvedeva still received a hero’s welcome after both programs, which helped to finally put her at ease over a decision that she had mulled over for more than six months. With a 7th-place finish at this year’s Nationals, the 19-year-old left her homeland with a greater sense of purpose.
“That was really unexpected for me and so unexpected for all our team, ’cause Brian was, like, shocked a little bit and he would say that he never saw something like this in his life — that support, that energy that the crowd gave us at Nationals,” she said, beaming. “It’s really amazing and [at] Nationals, I started to feel confident in myself and started to understand that the real crowd really loves me.”
Due to her placement at Nationals, Medvedeva was not immediately selected by the Russian Figure Skating Federation to compete in the World Championships, but after winning the Cup of Russia, she became one of the three Russian women sent to compete this past March in Saitama, Japan. Despite sustaining an injury to her thigh, the two-time former champion managed to win the bronze, earning new personal bests in both the short and free programs in the process.
A couple of months later, Medvedeva says she feels much better now and just needs some time and practice to recover all of her triple jumps. While she struggled to find the words to describe the kind of technical strides that she has been making in the last 12 months with Orser and Wilson, the former World champion admits that she does feel like a completely different skater now than when she dominated the sport. “My body’s changed and the whole feeling of figure skating has changed for me in a good side,” she remarked.
“And I continue to improve my feeling of competitions ’cause the old ways that I went to competitions before, it doesn’t work at all anymore, so I have to find new ways to prepare myself mentally and physically ’cause I’ve got a totally different body, a different mind and sometimes I’m trying to go back to my old ways but it doesn’t work!” she said, laughing.
“So, yeah, I will continue to find it and I know Brian and Tracy will work [with] me and help me with it.”
For someone who has already tasted success at such an early age, it goes without saying that this was the most difficult season of Medvedeva’s career. Once considered the heavy favourite at every event that she entered, the Russian now finds herself returning to the same competitions as a sort of dark horse, which she says is something that she is slowly learning to take in stride, along with the little things that she continues to learn about herself every day.
“I’m proud of that I’m not gave up and I’ve been in situations where I’ve really thought to give up, but I’m lucky that now I’ve got a lot of people around of me who always support me and will support me in all decisions that I will do,” she said, when asked about what she is most proud of looking back on her difficult season. “There’s all my friends, all my coaches — Brian, Tracy especially — [and] my mom, who is living with me here and put everything into my figure skating. That’s amazing to have a lot of many people like this because not everyone has that person [or support system].”
With the help of this crucial support system, as well as an incredibly diverse group of training mates at the Toronto Cricket and Skating Club, Medvedeva admits that she has gradually become more comfortable with the idea of living in Canada. As an avid coffee drinker, she raved about the simplicity of Tim Hortons. While travelling from Ottawa to Laval for this year’s tour, she even ate her first Beavertail, a classic Canadian fried dough pastry that is shaped like a beaver’s tail. (“[The] guys just bought a box of Beavertails and they said, ’Ah, she’s Russian! She never tried it!’”)
While she has learned to appreciate some aspects of the Western world, Medvedeva has stated repeatedly in past interviews that she has no intention of representing any country other than her motherland and in many ways, she still considers herself to be completely Russian.
“I can feel a difference [between Canada and Russia] but in this difference, I’m trying to stay myself, I’m trying to stay Russian and yeah, I feel like work home here. I don’t feel like home home and yeah, I miss my country, I miss my language sometimes. I changed the language, even my main language that I’m talking every day.”
In a year of firsts for the 19-year-old, Medvedeva’s competitive career is not the only thing that has seen a refreshing change of pace. For the first time in between seasons, the Russian has decided to join the famous Stars on Ice tour in Canada, a 12-city tour that will finish in Vancouver on May 16. Asked about what the experience has been like before her fourth show in Toronto, a very exuberant Medvedeva exclaimed, “This is a lot of fun!”
“I was a little bit worried in the first few days ’cause I had to learn a lot — a lot of steps, a lot of material — and I just can’t see how [other] guys are learning so fast. I was really worried ’cause I’ve always been so slow in remembering something, but in the last day, everything’s fine and I just relaxed a little bit. We’re just having fun, especially the ’90s number — that’s so much fun and we can feel like the crowd loves it.”
While skating show programs has been a nice change of pace for the two-time World champion, one would be remiss to think that she has not been conscientiously using the extra ice time between shows to perfect her jumps, particularly her triple salchow, which appears multiple times throughout the show.
Going forward, as someone who has become more known for her world-class artistry, Medvedeva is well aware of the current state of figure skating across all four disciplines, whose new scoring system has been designed to benefit those who attempt more difficult elements. It is a system that the Russian unfortunately knows all too well — after all, she was only 1.31 points away from capturing the gold last year in PyeongChang.
With her sights already set on going one better at the next Olympics in Beijing, Medvedeva has set a very ambitious goal for herself — one that she knows could take years to properly develop, let alone put to use in competition. “Quad salchow is my main goal for me for the coming season and I would like to land it clean — maybe step-out, maybe three turns, but somehow land it with no under-rotations,” she revealed.
“Now you can see how ladies start to do everything like this (jumping quads) and keep ladies’ figure skating [at a high level] and it’s really amazing. Not everyone [can do it], of course, but you’ll see sometimes a quad sal even looking like a trick. But there’s a lot of girls who still look like [young] girls and doing quads, and it’s really amazing and it’s our future of figure skating and this is life. Life is always improving in whole things and figure skating is improving too.”
“I’m ready to improve myself and I’m ready [and know] that learning quads can take a few years — same as triples. I didn’t learn all the triples or even one triple, like a triple flip, in one year — I didn’t. It was three years.”
As she attempts to develop one of the most difficult jumps in all of ladies’ figure skating, Medvedeva will also be looking to add new combinations to her repertoire next season, explaining that the process actually fascinates her and continuously pushes her creatively as a skater. “I can do a few combinations with the loop too, like not only salchow loop, but it’s much harder for me so I have to work on it to make it easy,” she said, referring to the new 3S-3Lo combination that she added midway through this season.
With the most difficult part of her transition now behind her, the 19-year-old has already announced on Instagram that she will skate her new short program to Matt Bellamy’s “Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 3” and her free program to music from Memoirs of a Geisha, a decision that she made entirely herself long before this year’s World Championships.
In terms of goals for the upcoming season, the 19-year-old kept things short and sweet but in a way that perfectly encapsulated the maturity that she has shown in the last 12 months: “I just want to find the way how to prepare myself and to learn as much as I can.”
With a strong support system in tow and the lessons of a roller-coaster transition season now under her belt, Medvedeva will be in for a real battle next season with the emergence of a very talented group of young skaters, but like a phoenix rising from her own ashes, there is now no question that she will emerge stronger than ever, poised to reclaim her throne atop the world of ladies’ figure skating.
Author: Max Gao
Source: https://medium.com/@MaxJGao/exclusive-evgenia-medvedeva-reflects-on-difficult-transition-season-newfound-love-for-canada-100f385316a4?_referrer=twitter
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mylutteoheart · 7 years
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Luna gets to know that her real parents are dead thats why she was adopted. She feels sad and guilty because she resented them for not wanting her. She becomes this lifeless person the complete opposite of her self. She is like a "zombie". Matteo tries to cheer her up but he doesnt know why she is like that and no one knows why she is in that zombie state. And lutteo are not dating it happens after the break up. In the very end he helps her to live again. Full of angst. Hope you write about ff
Here I am, fullfilling another request. Sorry you had to wait so long but I hope you like it. There’s some angst in it, but there are also good things in it.
I’ll get to the rest of the requests later this week when I have more time. But until then enjoy this pretty angsty Lutteo fic. It’s also almost 2k words so it’s pretty long.
find my other fics here
The One Who Saved Me
Luna didn’tknow what came over her when she got to know the truth about her birth parents.She felt so many emotions at the same time. When she heard everything, she wasin a state of disbelief. She couldn’t believe how she thought about her realparents before, she resented them because she thought that they left herbehind. She felt guilty but she was also confused at the same time. How is itpossible that she’s señora Sharon’s niece? How is it possible that her birthparents died and she survived that horrible fire? Even though she got an answerto all of her questions, she didn’t feel any better.
She stillfelt terrible about what she used to think. She’s even a little ashamed. She didn’tknow how to deal with all of the emotions she felt, so she decided to not feelat all. She thought that it would make her feel better. In some way she did.
She shuteverything and everyone out, she didn’t even feel the happiness she felt everytime she skated. There was almost nothing inside of her. She didn’t sleep, shebarely ate. She goes through life like it’s a routine, everything she does. Shedoes out of automatism. She even pushed all of her friends away. Nina was theonly one to stay. She heard her best friend talk to her, but she had no ideawhat she was saying. Her friend asked her a million times what happened but shenever got an answer. Nobody knows what’s going on with her, she barelyunderstands what she’s doing.
Just likeevery other day, she went to skate after school. She did a couple of tricks,but she didn’t feel the joy. She just skated and nothing else.
Matteonoticed her on the rink, he was very worried about her. Nobody had any idea asto why she changed so suddenly. Her friends talked about it when she wasn’taround. They called her a zombie. Because honestly, she looked like one. Her skinso white, you can almost see the bones behind the skin. Huge bags under hereyes. He even notices that she lost a lot of weight recently. He’s beenwatching her from a distance for a while now. He still isn’t over her, but itseems like she doesn’t care about anything at all. That hurt him a lot.
That’s whenhe decided to try and talk to her, she’s been sad for weeks now. He couldalways cheer her up whenever she wasn’t feeling so well. He’s hoping that hewill do it this time again. So full of hope, he skated over to her.
“Hello,chica delivery. You look like you need some cheering up” he put on a big smile.She just ignored him and continued to skate. He followed her, not giving upjust yet: “Oh, come on, Luna. I know you’ll feel better once you dance with me”he said, teasing her a little. She used to love that so much. “It workedseveral times before” he held out a hand for her to take it. But she turnedaround and skated away from the rink. His hope turned into a sudden sadness. Herrejection had felt like someone had punched in his stomach. He had no idea whatto do. He wanted to see her smile again, he wanted to see her energy backinside of her. It seemed to have escaped her. He wanted her to laugh again, healways loved the sound of that. He missed everything that made Luna well… Luna.Everything that made Luna who she was, is gone now. He didn’t recognize thegirl that looked like Luna. She looked like her but he knew that this wasn’treally her.
He hasn’tseen her since that day she rejected him, it’s been a few days now. He wasworried that she had locked herself up in her room so he went to check up onher. He went straight to the Sharon’s mansion after school. When he knocked onthe door of the personnel entrance, Miguel opened the door. He greeted Matteowith a small smile, it didn’t reach his eyes though: “Matteo, what are youdoing here?” he seemed surprised to see him.
“Luna hasn’tbeen to school for a few days, I came to bring her homework” Matteo made up theperfect excuse to see Luna.
“Thank you,I’ll give it to her” he did a gesture to take the papers out of Matteo’s hands,but he refused.
“I’d ratherbring it herself. She needs some explanation with the tasks and I think it’sbest that I give that to her.”
Miguel washesitating: “I don’t think that’s a good idea, my daughter doesn’t really wantto see anyone right now.”
“Please,señor Valente. I just want to see if she’s okay.”
Luna’s dadsighed: “Okay, fine, come in.” He opened the door more so that Matteo couldenter.
“Thank you.”
“She’s inher room” he said and went back to helping Monica in the kitchen.
He knockedon her door, no one answered. So he opened the door and looked at Luna’s bed. Shewas lying down, looking at the ceiling. It looked kind of creepy because sheseems to be staring at the ceiling like there’s more than just a white color,there wasn’t.
“Hello, Icame to bring your homework.” When Luna didn’t move at all, he walked over toher. Trying to get her attention. “Luna, is everything okay?” he tried, hereally hoped he would get an answer after the millionth time. The only thingshe did was turn around with her back towards Matteo. Matteo couldn’t take thisany longer, something had to change. He had no idea how he was going to dothis. But he’ll find a way. “I’ll leave your homework on your desk. When youhave any questions about it, you can always call me. After that, he left. Now hewould go back home to try to find a way to make her feel happy again.
A weekpassed by after Matteo visited her house. He laid out dozens of plans, none ofthem would work. But his last plan seemed one of the best. He knew that sheloved competing but she didn’t enter any competition in a very long time so hedecided to sign her up for the next one. It was one for couples, he signed himselfup to skate with her. He made Simón text Luna to say that there’s an emergencyat Jam & Roller. That way, she would finally get out of her room. After all,she couldn’t leave Jam & Roller behind for anything.
Someway,Simón got her on the skating rink and Matteo was already waiting for her there.She looked around confused, when Matteo arrived at her side, she asked: “What happened?Simón said that someone needed my help on the rink.”
“That someoneis me” he smiled a shy smile.
“What? Areyou serious? You’re king of the rink, you don’t need anyone” she said in a verybitter tone.
“You’rewrong. I need you, I need you to smile again. That’s why I signed you up forthe upcoming skating competition.”
“You’re kidding,right? There’s no way I’ll be participating in any competition” she soundedlike she wanted to leave immediately. She turned around but he grabbed her armbefore she could skate away again. He promised himself that he won’t let her gothis time. He did it once, never again. He has regretted this mistake eversince he made it.
“You willbe participating. Even if you don’t want to. I know you used to love thesecompetitions so much.”
“Well, I don’tanymore, okay? Can you let me go now, I don’t want to be here. Can’t you justleave me alone?” she was getting angry.
“No way, I’mnot letting you go this easily. This isn’t you, Luna. This is not the girl I fellin love with. The girl I know and love is full of energy and loves to skate andshe would do anything for her friends. She is full of life. You changed a lotlately and I would like to know what made you turn into such a mean andlifeless person. Luna, tell me what happened, I want to help you” he startedyelling. He was tired of this, he wanted to go back to the way it was before.
“Why do youcare so much? Just leave me be, Matteo. I don’t want you to help me. I want youto leave me alone for good” she was yelling as well, they drew the attention ofall the skaters around them.
“Listen tome. You won’t get away this time. I’m going to help you, even if you don’t wantto.”
For thefirst time in a long time, Lune felt that something was trying to find its wayto the surface. She thought it was happiness. A little spark of happinesswelled up inside of her. She had no idea where this came from. She had no ideathat she was ever going to feel it again. She had given up on feeling at all. Butmaybe, just maybe… she can feel again, the only one who will be able to achievethis is Matteo. Then it hit her why she felt this way, why he was the one tomake her feel again. She pushed her feelings for him as deep as possible eversince she found out the truth. She felt like she didn’t deserve to feel thisway, she didn’t deserve to have these kind of emotions because she thoughthorrible things about her birth parents while all they ever did, was love her. Butsince his confession, since he told her he loved her. She thought that she diddeserve this, that she is given another chance at love, not the kind of loveyou feel for your birth parents. But the kind of love she feels for him, thekind of love she has never felt before he walked into her life.
She cameback to reality. When she looked up at him, she saw him looking expectantly ather. He has been waiting for an answer for a while now. She didn’t know what tosay at first, all she could say was: “Thank you” she forced a little smile.
He smiledback at her, happy to get a smile out of her. His plan is working.
“I love youtoo” she finally said. He was surprised to hear that coming out of her mouth.
“You meanthat?” he asked a little insecure.
“I do” sheput on a big smile now.
“So are youparticipating in the competition with me or not?”
“Of course,I will.” He leaned in to hug her and when they go back a little. They look intoeach other’s eyes for a while. After what felt like forever, he finally leanedin and they kissed for a very long time with a lot of love and passion. They bothfelt like they were at home now and Luna even felt herself coming back to life.“Let’s go” she held out her hand and he took it. They started to make up achoreography. He was happy to have his chica delivery back, he was happy to seethe Luna he fell in love with again.
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lifesruiner · 7 years
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No tengo miedo de apostarte, perderte si me da  pavor.
Simon and Luna are stepbrothers and just arrived from Mexico to Argentina, they inmediatly friend Nina, but the power trio of the school gets really interested in this new squad.  
Chapter 3 | 2 | 1 
When Luna told to Nina that she liked to skate Nina got way too excited and told her that they needed to go to a place after school, the Jam and Roller, a skate rink that Nina described as the best place ever.
-It’s great, now I can go to see you skate, see friends, and not stare at stragers while they skate like a creep -Nina was saying while they walked the three together to the Roller, they talked to meet before on the park and then she would walk them there 
-Sure, and you could skate with us too, right? -Simón said excited but then Nina’s face became pale
-Oh god, no, I can’t, I like to see it, but not do it at all, sport and any physical effort is a big no for me -Nina stated completely sure
-But why? Is fun, and is a great way to let your stress and worries out -Luna explained to Nina 
-I just, don’t, okay? Just skate you guys and have fun, I’ll have fun the way I like -Nina said looking at the floor as they walked, so Luna knew was the time to let the topic go, but just for some time 
-And what is the way you like? -Simon asked curios to Nina 
-Reading, I love reading, sci-fi books mainly, and taking pictures -She said smiling a little shy but Luna could saw a little spark of pride in her eyes 
-Oh that is great, I love to read -Luna said excited 
-She does, so much, she starts a book and change it for another one just before finish it, she has read like a million of unfinished books -Simón said smiling and Luna punched his arm softly and he caressed it like it really hurt him, but was like a tickle for him 
-It’s just that I get too excited with new books-Luna said lifting her shoulders in form of apologyze 
They just spent the rest of the way to the Roller sharing stories and laughing, and when they got to the place it blown their minds, Luna did imagine a cool rink, but Nina wasn’t exagerating when she said it was the best in the world. There were skaters all over it, and a lot of people just haging out. The place was crowed and the music was fantastic, it also had plenty colors that made Luna feel even better and with more energy. 
-Oh my god, this place is amazing -Luna said smiling in shock
-I know, you weren’t lying Nina, this is the best place I’ve ever seen -Simon stated roaming the place with his eyes wide open and a big smile as always 
-I am not much of a liar, look, you can go there and put your skates, and then the door next to it, that is the rink, I am going to wait for you in the benches there -Nina said and headed where she indicated them, they rushed to put on their skaters and go to find out how crazily amazing that rink would be.
Once they were on the rink they continue to stay shocked, amazing skaters doing great tricks and color in every inch of it, it radieted so much energy and happiness, they couldn’t help but rush in and start skating together. Simon and Luna have been skate partners since their parents bought them the first pair of skates, as bestfriends overall they had such a strong conection that didn’t imagine to have it with anybody else.
They started skating doing their regular steps, the ones they used to do back in Mexico, when they finished all people in there were looking them and clapping for their performance, Luna and Simon did a bow as a thank you and they skated their way back at the benches next to Nina.
-Guys, that was incredible, I imagined you were good, but that... that was another level, it was more than great -Nina said very impressed 
-Thanks, is just something we’ve been doing since little kids -Simón said smiling the brigthes to Nina
-It’s just practice, anyone can do that with practice, and I mean ANYONE -Luna said to Nina and she knew that she was finding a way to encouraging her 
-Still not interest -Nina said lifting a hand in sign of denial, they were talking when they realize another couple was entering in the rink and suddenly everyone that were there rushed out like it was on flames, then Luna could observe how the italian guy from school was entering with a blonde girl that looked like she could slap you and you’ll thank her. .
-Why did everyone leave? -Simón asked to Nina curious
-They are Ambar Smith and Matteo Balsano, they are the queen and the king of the rink, always winning competitions and doing great performances, so when they come to train, everybody just leave to don’t look like a fool skating next to them -Nina explained but none of the three looked away from the couple in the rink 
-Are... hmm. are they couple? you know, like in a romantic way? -Luna asked trying her best not to sound very interest in him, but Simon did looked at Nina for an answer very interested
-I don’t think so, they are always together, but I’ve heard about Matteo going out with a lot of girls, and a girl like Ambar wouldn’t let her boyfriend do that -Nina explained and then turned to see Luna’s face, concentrate in the couple on the rink -Why? Do you like him? -Nina said smiling teasingly
-What? Me? A guy like him? He is just a snob, so full of himself, and thinks that every girl would die for him, and... -Luna was rambling but got interrupted by Simón 
-Oh my god, you are so into him -He said laughing without taking his eyes out of the couple -They are really great skaters, look that spin, they make it look so easy, its incredible -Simon kept saying in shock, once they finished their performance Simon headed towards them -Hey guys, that was mind blowing, really 
-Thanks man -Matteo said offering his hand to shake it as a thank you -You are the new kid of our class, right? -Matteo asked 
-Ugh, don’t remind me -Ambar said under her breath rolling her eyes, but Simon only gave her a little giggle in response 
-Yes, Simon Alvarez, nice to meet you 
-Matteo Balsano, is nice to meet you too, and you already know my beautiful and moody friend Ambar, right? -Matteo pointed at her who just gave him the fakest smiled he has ever seen -You annoy her so much, I think we are going to get along very well -Matteo said patting his shoulder smiling big 
-Great, I have to go back with the girls -Simon said pointing out where Luna and Nina were sitting -But just wanted to say that you were awesome really, blown my mind away
-Thanks, but we already know we are great, so good bye -Ambar said taking Matteo’s arm and dragging him out of there
-Thanks man -Matteo said while being dragged by Ambar, and Simon just waved him as good bye 
-You know she is totally out of your league, right? -Luna said as Simon sat back next to them 
-Why so much violence towards me? -He said sarcastically -And for your information, I am an adorable guy, girls love adorable guys 
-Yes we do, as bestfriends, that is why you are the king of the friendzone -Luna said making fun of him and Nina couldn’t help but let a little giggle out
-Thanks for the support sis, and Nina, you too?, You know what is the worst about betrayal, that it comes from the person you expected the less -Simon said faking hurt and then all burst in laughs 
-I am not laughing at you, is from Luna’s comment, but being honest with you, Ambar is out of everyone’s league -Nina said lifting her shoulders a little bit 
-You are making a whole movie in your heads, I just like how easily she gets annoyed, that’s all -Simón explained laughing -But on the other hand, Luna does like Matteo so much
-Wha..whaaat? -Luna said in a very high note
-Sure, that demostrate how chilled you are -Simon said amused
-I am chill, I am the chillest, you know, and being so chilled makes me hungry, so I’ll go to the cafeteria to ask something, you can join me if you stop talking about that snob -Luna said and rushed towards the locker where she and Simon left their shoes. Luna was turning to enter when felt how her body bumpted into someone and this time couldn’t avoid the floor. 
-Oh my god, you are okay? -Was the first thing Luna heard, and reconigze the accent inmediatly
-Yes, I am -Luna answered caressing her head where she felt she hit the floor 
-You bumped your head, you need stay still, What is my name? Do you remember it? -Matteo asked her leaning to her and taking her head in his hands 
-Matteo, though snob fits you better -She said smiling teasingly 
-Okay, I’ll let you this one, Can you remember your name? -He said and Luna could saw real worry in his eyes
-I’m Luna, Luna Valente -She said and sat straight getting her face very close to Matteo’s, she couldn’t help but get lost on his eyes, they were brown, like a sea of chocolate that she would love to get drown in 
-Well, Luna Valente, you should start to look for other ways to call my attention because I don’t want you to get hurt for real -He said low with a raspy voice that made her feel like electricity going through her veins, and his face was just centimeters away, so she was feeling his breath in her cheeks 
-Luna are you okay? -Simon said approaching behind them, causing that Luna moved away from Matteo abruptly
-Yes I am fine, just a little bump -She said trying to stand up with help from both Matteo and Simon 
-Sorry I couldn’t rescue you like this morning, with you wearing skates were harder -Matteo said laughing 
-It is okay, I need to pay more attention where I am going -Luna said careless
-Okay, I need to go but I’ll see you guys around, bye Simón, bye Luna Valente-Matteo said heading to the exit, but before he leaned close to Luna’s ear and whisper -Even though, Piccolina fits you better -He said smirking and then left.
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sky-girls · 7 years
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I am what I feel
Summary: Luna is a cupid (an eros to be exact, but no one uses that term anymore) a minor goddess of love. Her next job? Making sure that two couple of soulmates find their way into each other but ofc she runs into trouble while doing her job, more specifically she meets Matteo Balsano.
what’s this even? I have like no idea, but still it’s here and I hope you guys enjoy it, this has Lutteo and Ámbar and Simón finally make, small, appearances
Chapter 1/ Chapter 2 /Chapter 3
If a snob gives you an opportunity, take it  
Luna’s phones vibrates while she is walking through the school doors, a few seconds ago she texted Nina asking her if she was in school already and she just got a confirmation that she was. Luna’s been texting the girl the whole weekend  in an effort to start creating a connection between them so the shy girl can feel like she can tell her anything, especially things related to her crush.
Luna sighs, she might be in the path to form a good friendship with Nina but she still doesn't really know how to get her and Gastón to form a connection that might grow into romantic feelings. And she doesn't even want to think about Simón and Ámbar,because she has absolutely no idea what she is going to do with those two.
“What are you thinking so hard about, munchkin?” A male voice says right behind her startling her.
“What the hell, snob?” Luna exclaims turning around to find herself right in front of the boy’s chest, she takes a small step back so she can look him in the eyes and glare at him.
“I just came by to say hi.”Matteo shrugs casually with a big grin on his face. “But I saw you so focused and I got curious.”
“So you saw me focused and your first instinct was to interrupt me?” Luna asks him trying to sound annoyed but it sounds teasing instead, like she is inviting him to banter.
“Of course.” He tells her. “Besides you looked lonely and what better solution than my amazing company.”
“You think so highly of yourself.” She tells him, once again failing to make it sound like something more than friendly teasing.
“Well, I’m really good at assessing myself objectively.”Matteo tells her and Luna can’t help but laugh.
“I noticed.” Luna says sarcastic. “You are also extremely humble too, apparently.”
“I’m the most humble person you’ll ever meet.” Matteo leans in closer to her with a teasing smile.
“Oh, I can see that.” Luna smiles up at him shaking her head. For some reason she can’t be truly annoyed by him.
“So now that you’ve seen how awesome I am.” Matteo says dramatic. “May I offer you a tour?”
“I’ll sadly have to decline.” Luna shrugs  with a smile tugging the corner of her lips. “I gotta meet with Nina.”
“She can come too.” Matteo offers and Luna shakes her head, but an idea is forming on her head, Matteo seems nice enough and he is both Gastón’s and Ámbar's friend, she doesn’t want to say he will be useful, that she will use him especially since so far she has actually enjoyed spending time with the guy despite her best efforts, but it's true that he can make her job easier.
“Sorry, no can be.” Luna tells him. “Gotta go to my friend now.”
“Are you trying to tell me we are not friends?” Matteo asks, pretending to be offended and Luna giggles.
“We’ve talked like twice, snob.” Luna retorts.
“Well, we can fix that.” Matteo winks at her and Luna is embarrassed to say that she can feel herself blushing a little. “How about you have lunch with me and my friends.”
“I promised Nina I would have lunch with her.” Luna bites her lower lip, surprised that she is actually disappointed about not being able to take on the invitation and not just because this would be a great opportunity to get Nina to talks to Gastón if she was ready.
“She could come.” Matteo offers again, his deep brown eyes inviting, and Luna smiles softly at him.
“She is way too shy for that.” Luna tells him and he nods in understanding.
“Well, maybe I will see you on the roller this afternoon.” He tells her and Luna shakes her head, that smile still attached to her lips and unwilling to go.
“That could happen, yeah.” Luna says.
“Well, I can’t wait for it.” Matteo smiles widely at her, seeming genuinely excited by the prospect. “See ya later, munchkin.”
Matteo leaves, taking the the hallway to his left and for some reason she can’t quite understand she stays on the same spot she was, staring at his back.
Luna turns around and heads to her classroom, or what she hopes it’s her classroom. She doesn’t like to use humans to get her work done, even when she has to, she always feels guilty but in the end she always manages to do it if she has to, that’s what she will do now.  The other gods always tell her she is too sensitive when it comes to humans, that they are not that important, that them and their feelings are only the source of their strength, nothing more and definitely nothing she should worry about too much, but she can’t think like that.
“You seem worried about something.” Nina says in form of  a greeting.
“It’s nothing.” Luna says sitting next to her.
“Are you sure?” She asks skeptical.
“It’s just school.” Luna nods.”I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I can help you with that.” Nina offers immediately and Luna smiles at her. “Was your school behind in a lot of subjects.”
“My last school was.” Luna nods, remembering the last school she has to go to because of a case. “It wasn't great and it definitely wasn’t at Blake level.”
“Your last school?”Nina echoes. “You were in more than one.”
“I’m always moving around.” Luna tells her truthfully, in a way. “So yes, I’ve been in a lot, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with so many changes in curriculum.”
“Well as long as you  are here I can help you with whatever you need.” Nina says not asking anything else and Luna has to smile, Nina is such a sweet and kind girl behind all of her shyness, she hopes she can help Gastón see that.
“Thank you that’s really sweet of you.” She says as the classroom fills with students.
Two girls sit in front of them, the same blonde and redhead that always sit in front of Nina, and turn around to them.
“Hey.” They both say at the same time startling Luna a little.
“Hi.” Nina says. “ Luna, these are Jim and Yam.”
Luna smiles openly at the two girls who just smile back at her.
“We saw you skating the other day.” Yam comments.
“You are really fast.” Jim adds.
“Thank you.” Luna shrugs, not sure of what else she should say.
“Do you do freestyle?” Yam asks.
“Not really.” Luna answers looking at both girls not really knowing which one to look at since they seem to be talking together, Luna would even bet their energies are merged.
“You should practice and try to get into the competition, you look like you could be really good.”Jim offers.
“That’s actually what we wanted to talk  to you about, Nina.” Yam says. “Has Simón told you if it’s going to be in couples or with groups?”
“They still don’t know what Tamara will do.” Nina lets them know. “But it will probably be in couples since the national competition is too.”
“There’s a national competition?” Luna asks surprised.
“Yes, there is.” Jim says pouting. “And it’s great but it sucks because it requires a girl and boy couple so Yam and I won’t be able to compete.”
“Unless we get a partner.” Yam sighs.
“Maybe we should this year.” Jim offers.
“You guys totally should.” Nina tells them enthusiastically. “You guys are great, you should try to get into the national competition, even if it’s just one of you.”
“Like that's going to happen with the queen and king of the rink as our competition.” Jim says bitterly.
“Queen and king?” Luna asks raising her eyebrows.
“Ámbar Smith and Matteo Balsano.” Yam offers. “Two of the most popular and smart students in Blake school and the most talented skaters on the Roller and they always skate together.”
“So it was true.” Luna giggles remembering the exchange she had with Matteo last friday.
The three girls throw weird looks at her but Luna just shakes her head since the bell rings and the teacher enters the classroom.
Besides she has more important things to worry about than Matteo’s, probably self imposed, title, she needs to figure out how to make Nina and Gastón interact more and how to get Ámbar and Simón to actually acknowledge each other.
It’s not that Matteo is waiting for her, he is actually not really paying attention to whether or not she enters the Jam&Roller but when his eyes go from Gastón to Ámbar he passes the door and she is right there, she doesn’t notice him and that’s better for him because that way he can stare at her freely, not that he wouldn’t if she had noticed but maybe she would have made it awkward. She is with the Simonetti girl, who walks her to the bar, where they start talking animatedly to the guitarist, at first it’s mostly the Simonetti girl talking but then Luna butts in gesticulating wildly making Álvarez, Simonetti and Matteo himself smile, there’s just something about that girl.
“What?” Ámbar asks in a teasing tone. “Eyes already on the new girl?”
“Wow, you work fast, Matteo.” Gastón teases him and Matteo rolls his eyes at him.
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about.” He sees Ámbar and Gastón share a look and he shakes his head. He is pretty sure he is not as much of player as his friends seem to believe he is,
“Yeah, right.” Gastón chuckles leaning back in his seat.
“Though I have to admit.” Ámbar says resting elbow on her knee and he head on her hand. “I’m surprised you are into her.”
Matteo turns to look at her with a questioning look, not sure what she means by that.
“I mean she is so…” Ámbar eyes examine Luna and her nose scrunches up with distaste. “ So little.”
“I don’t see why her height matters.” Matteo shrugs, a little defensive for some reason. “Besides I think it’s cute.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Ámbar rolls her eyes. “She is just...not on your level.”
For some reason he wants to defend Luna to Ámbar, tell her that this ‘being on someone else’s level’ idea is ridiculous and even if it weren’t Luna wouldn’t be below him but he barely knows the girl and he shouldn’t be feeling so defensive of her.
“No one’s on my level.” He tells her trying to be casual and teasing but it still comes a little short.
Ámbar raises her eyebrow, urging him to fix that sentence, to throw some flirty comment about how only her could ever compare to him, like he has been doing the last few weeks but suddenly he doesn’t want to do it anymore and it’s not like he was ever so invested on the idea of Ámbar and him, she is incredibly attractive and he loves her but he also knows that she is not someone he would fall in love with, they have only entertained and explored the idea for convenience, both of them.
Ámbar continues staring at him for a few seconds and then purses her lips, obviously annoyed with him.
“I’ll go to the rink with Delfi and Jazmín.” She says standing up and sending him a glare, she walks to the rink with her head held high like she owns the place, which she basically does.
She walks in front of Luna and Matteo notices how her curious eyes follow Ámbar into the rink, after the blonde disappears into the locker room Luna’s eyes go back to the place where she stormed off and her eyes meet his.
Matteo smiles at her and a pretty shade of pink fills her cheeks but she raises her eyebrows at him, questioning why he is looking at her and telling him to look away at the same time. Thing he won’t do of course.
“Want another juice, mate?” He asks Gastón, not looking away from Luna, who despite the fact that her cheeks are becoming redder and redder by the second is still not looking away, almost like this is a competition she refuses to lose.
“Yeah, sure, ‘cause you obviously need an excuse to go to the bar.” Gastón tells him pushing his empty glass towards him. “Why not get juice out of that?”
Matteo takes both glasses and walks to the bar, Luna’s eye widen in surprise but she doesn’t do anything else, next to her Simonetti and Álvarez are still talking, but Luna’s attention is completely on him.
“What’s up, munchkin? “He asks standing right in front of her, she is sitting on one of the high chairs and he still has to look down to her.
“Not much, snob.” Luna shrugs. “You?”
“Not much.” He echoes and a small silence falls between them. Matteo takes the opportunity to examine her face closely, she is really cute but objectively talking there’s nothing special about her, or at least until you reach her big green eyes that are truly hypnotizing on their own right but it’s still not enough to justify the weird pull he feels towards this girl.
“So…” Luna clears her throat and squirms nervously under his gaze. “Aren’t you gonna order your juices?”
Matteo looks down at his hands, his excuse almost forgotten.
“Of course I will.” He says placing them on the counter. “But can’t I say hi first?”
“You never said hi.” Luna’s eyes go to Nina and just then Matteo realizes that both,Simonetti and the guitarist had stopped talking and were looking at them curiously.
“A mango juice and a pineapple one, please.” He tells the guitarist.
“Do I take them to your table?” Álvarez asks.
“Nah.” He answers while looking at Luna. “I’ll wait for them.”
Luna raises her eyebrows at him and Nina raises hers at Luna.
“Why don’t you guys come drink your juices with us?” He asks looking into Luna’s eyes.
Luna turns to look at her friend, who is looking at her with an alarmed face, the poor girl seems actually terrified of the prospect and Matteo actually feels bad for suggesting it but then Luna bites her lower lip, turns to him and nods and he doesn’t care that much anymore.
“Sure, why not?” She says smiling up at him and Matteo’s heart does not beat faster with her smile because that’s simply ridiculous. “Why don’t you go to your table and we’ll take the juice.”
The last thing Matteo wants to do is go to his table but he also notices that Luna probably wants to use the time to talk with her very distressed looking friend so he’ll do it anyway.
Matteo nods and with a wink to Luna he turns around and walks to his table.
“What?” Gastón asks teasingly. “You got turned down already?”
“I never get turned down.” Matteo tells him, looking at the two girls. They are obviously having a  small discussion,one where Luna is trying to calm down her friend and Nina is trying to run away as fast and far as  possible, or at least that’s what her face says.
“So why are you here?” Gastón asks.
“They are coming here.” He inform his friend.
“They?” Gastón turn to look at him confused.
“Yes,  Luna and her friend.” Matteo clarifies. “The small brunette who you dropped smoothie into last week.”
“Nina?” He turns to look at the girls who are still in the middle of their discussion. “And it wasn’t my fault, bro.”
“So you are telling me it was her fault?” Matteo teases. “Is that why you don't want her to come.”
“I never said any of those things.” Gastón huffs and Matteo chuckles.
“So you are admitting it’s your fault.” Matteo states and Gastón rolls his eyes at him and flips him off. Matteo laughs at his friend, delighted by his answer.
“Wow, not even your friends can stand you, snob.” Luna’s voice says putting two juices on the table, Simonetti does the same but says nothing, the poor girl still looks like she wants to run away.
“Everyone loves me, munchkin.” Luna sits next to him with a mocking expression and Nina is left to sit next to Gastón and  for some reason she looks truly terrified, Luna wasn’t lying when she told him her friend is shy.
“Yeah, sure.” Luna pats him on the shoulder with a fake sad expression. “Whatever makes you feel better about yourself.”
Matteo looks at Gastón offended when he starts laughing, the traitor soon enough Luna starts giggling next to him and Simonetti is the only one not laughing at him because she is polite enough to hide her own small giggles.
“You are the only one in this table I like right now.” He tells her glaring at her friend and Nina smiles shyly at him, still trying to suppress her giggles. “By the way girls, in case you don’t know, this asshole is Gastón and I hate him now.”
“You hate me, bro?” Gastón takes his hand to his chest dramatically. “Can you two believe this guy?”
Luna starts actually laughing and Nina can’t hold her giggles anymore.
“I can’t be here anymore.” Matteo says dramatically. “I will go to the rink where people actually appreciate me.”
“Oh, right, you are their king.” Luna mocks him.
“Nothing less.” Matteo tells her standing up and winking at her. “Are you coming, munchkin? I have a few more tricks to teach you.”
“I don’t know.” Luna looks at Nina hesitant. “Nina doesn’t skate and I don’t wanna leave her alone.”
“It’s okay.” Nina encourages her. “I will hang out here and talk to Simón when he is not working.”
They all throw a look at Álvarez, who seems really busy, Luna bites her lip and Matteo gets ready to go to the rink alone.
“It’s okay, I can hang out with you.” Gastón chimes in. “I wasn’t planning on skating yet anyway.”
Nina looks at Luna with wide eyes, begging her not to leave her alone with Gastón but Luna just smiles mischievously at her.
“That would amazing, thanks Gastón.” Luna says and stands up, Matteo doesn’t move to give her space so she is left standing just mere centimeters away from his body, she takes a sharp breath and a small step back, to put as much space as she can between their bodies. “I’ll be back soon, Nina, I promise, I’m just really liking this whole freestyle thing.”
“And not everyday you have me to teach you.” He tells Luna. “So you really have to take advantage of this.”
Luna rolls her eyes and pushes him so he starts walking.
“I won’t be that long.” Luna reassures her friend again. “Have a nice time you two and don’t drop smoothie into each other.”
Gastón and Nina blush at Luna’s words and turn to look at each other with an apologetic smile. Matteo can’t see what they do later because Luna keeps pushing him into the rink’s direction but just as they are reaching the locker room the little brunette turns around to look at them and he takes  the opportunity to do the same, they find them still smiling awkwardly to each other.
“I hope that doesn’t last long.” Luna says obviously feeling bad about leaving her friend alone with someone she doesn’t really know. “I’ll probably have to come and save her soon, though.”
“They’ll be fine.” Matteo tries to convince her so their time at the rink won’t be cut short, but truth be told he doesn’t believe it.
“I hope so.” Luna’s worried eyes are fixed into Gastón and Nina, she is looking like she regrets accepting going to the rink with him and he can’t have that.
“Come on.” He says taking her hand and dragging her into the rink’s direction. “Let’s go skate, munchkin.”
Luna lets herself be dragged into the locker room and doesn’t let go of his hand until they have to put their skates on, not that Matteo cares or anything, of course he doesn't, there’s absolutely no reason why he would because he is Matteo Balsano and he couldn’t care less about this stuff.
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biofunmy · 5 years
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How Long Has Roller-Skating Been ‘a New York Thing’? Take a Look
They came to Brooklyn from as far away as California, dressed in cutoff shorts, sequins and cowboy hats. It was September 1980 — the last days of disco — and Donna Summer thumped on a boombox in Prospect Park. There, 800 people had gathered to compete in what was billed as the first roller-skating marathon on the East Coast.
Never mind that modern skates, with their two-by-two design patented by James L. Plimpton, a New York City furniture dealer and inventor, had been around since 1863. Suzy Chaffee, a former Olympic alpine skier and something of a celebrity then, was on hand to salute the winners. She wore a shimmering bodysuit and waved from the back of a truck at the end of the course. (“If you’ve got any juice left in you,” she told the crowd at the finish line, “you’re invited to boogie.”)
Giuliano Maddamma, a 22-year-old construction worker from Cleveland, won that year, skating the 26.2-mile course in an hour and 37 minutes.
“Skating was such a New York thing,” Ms. Chaffee said in a recent interview. “It lifted the city.”
Roller skating has long been an integral part of city culture. And even now, as summer slides into fall, groups of skaters convene around town for weekly get-togethers. Last month, they gathered for the Big Apple Roll and made their way from Brooklyn to the Bronx. In late September skaters will be back in Prospect Park for the NYC Skate Marathon. But unlike four decades ago, the equipment is high-tech and the participants are more professional.
The crowds are smaller, too, mostly because many of the city’s rinks built in the 1930s and 1940s have either closed or been demolished to make way for condominiums. But skate professionals say there are signs of renewal. Myles Cotter-Sparrow, a marketing executive for Rollerblade Inc., said he had seen a 10 percent increase in the number of people using skates compared with a year ago. Actors like Chris Evans (Captain America!) tout the sport. And around the world, skate marathons are big business.
“The sport has redefined itself,” Mr. Cotter-Sparrow said. “Athletes are as fit as any top-level sport.”
For others, roller skating is a wink at a vibrant past. Bob Nichols, 72, has a 1936 poster on the wall of his Midtown apartment of a woman in a red coat and skates, her hand tucked under the arm of a man. “Halloween Roller Skating Carnival,” it reads. “Bring Your Skates.” The poster was created to promote a party on the Central Park Mall.
A poster for a skating event in Central Park in 1936.
Then, the park was swollen with roller skaters — children, mostly, and their keepers — who looped around the Great Lawn in summer and in fall before the snow choked the streets with slush. Mr. Nichols said his parents used to skate at the Empire Roller Skating Center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, when he was young. His sister did, too; she had a pair of skates with wooden wheels.
Mr. Nichols liked skating outdoors. He began in the late 1970s, just as roller skating rebounded with a disco beat. Then, roller disco dominated popular culture with the catchy sounds of Gloria Gaynor, KC and the Sunshine Band and, later, the Bee Gees. It was popular, too, at exclusive clubs like the Roxy, in Chelsea, where Mr. Nichols occasionally skated.
“It was a celebrity thing,” Mr. Nichols said of the club. “I’m a baby boomer person. We were young and in good shape and athletic enough. Either that or people made fools of themselves.”
In 1980, skating entrepreneurs estimated that roller skating had developed into a $6 million to $8 million business in New York, according to The New York Times. People would roller-skate to their doctor’s appointments. Enthusiasts wore their skates for eight hours. “Roller-skating is now transportation plus meditation plus aesthetics,” a skater told The Times.
Roller-skating was so popular, there were magazines devoted to the sport. And in 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared October National Roller-Skating Month. But skaters did not lace up only for fun: Many New Yorkers used their skates to go to work. Ms. Chaffee said she used to glide from her apartment near Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Central Park before heading south to the garment district, where she had an office.
“It was great exercise,” she said.
The death of disco in the 1980s dealt a blow to roller skating. But by then, two brothers from Minneapolis, Scott and Brennan Olson, had come up with a new design for an in-line skate that gave users more control and flexibility. (They named the company Rollerblade.) By the mid-1990s, New York’s parks were bustling again, this time with in-line skaters and dancers who performed tricks for eager spectators.
But city officials saw the free-spirited dancers with their loud boomboxes and volunteer D.J.s who played music on weekends as a nuisance. So, they tried to eject them. (The city had sought to limit roller skaters in Central Park going back to the 1880s.) Mr. Nichols, along with a fellow skater, Lezly Ziering, founded the Central Park Dance Skaters Association and negotiated with the mayor’s office to establish hours and regulations so they and others could perform.
According to Mr. Cotter-Sparrow, costumed disco extravaganzas like the one in Prospect Park in 1980 gave way to today’s sometimes grueling professional races in which world-class athletes compete. Among the biggest are in Paris and Berlin, where thousands compete for prize money in a race sponsored by BMW and Adidas. And in Georgia next month, 58 participants are expected to skate 87 miles from Athens to Atlanta.
Now, as then, outdoor skate culture maintains a certain camaraderie. “The strategy is not to elbow someone to victory,” Mr. Cotter-Sparrow said. “It is to outstrategize your opponents by using energy.” Marathon skaters race in close-knit packs, often warning fellow skaters of hazards so they don’t take the pack down.
Mr. Cotter-Sparrow recalled a 2017 race in Duluth, Minn., in which a skater slid in front of him on wet pavement. “I jumped over him,” he said. “You’ll hear someone shout, ‘Wet line!’”
“There is subtle communication among skaters,” he added. “They are like Canadian geese: They draft off each other. Or like a school of fish. They have synchronicity.”
That is what is appealing to Ms. Chaffee, then and now. She still promotes the sport even though it has lost its disco flair from the 1980s.
“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “Those were fun days.”
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