Knotts & Dotts Skate

Knotts & Dotts Skate
moonstraw city

At the beginning of Moonstraw City, a figure skating duo named Esther Knotts and Grover Dotts started their own skating center. Since 2031, the two have trained aspiring figure skaters and helped them master the combination of skating and magic.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden is here early, sitting by the rink as she puts on a pair of skates she got from someone at the counter. She has been buzzing with excitement and nerves since she woke up this morning. Every once in a while, she checks her phone for a message from one of her teammates. She had called in sick today to skip practice (which she feels is well-deserved anyway; she has not missed a single one since joining the team) so they shouldn't be looking for her, but she is paranoid that she is being tracked or something of that sort and that this will come to bite her in the ass sometime in the future. It's fine, though – it is for Amor, so it is worth it.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor had discussed with Dotts beforehand that he was bringing a close friend, but he needed a private session even though it was not professional training. A romantic such as Dotts could not refuse and certainly not to one of his long-term skaters. It is chilly and silent in the skating center as he enters, waving to Dotts behind the counter before watching the man disappear into his office. When Amor turns and is faced with Arden again, his heart starts to race and he moves faster to close the space between them though he knows they still won't touch (or at least not for a few more minutes). "Hey!" He shouts, not meaning to have such a booming voice but it happens nonetheless. His voice echoes through the large expansive room, but he doesn't seem to recognize how loud he is being. "It's great seeing you again." Amor smiles, sitting down beside her and starting to change to his skates. His phone buzzes, so he glances down at it before switching the buzzer off. It's a message from Atlas, which prompts a little bit of angst over how long it's been, but he doesn't want to punish her for having a *career*. "How have you been?"

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden looks up immediately once he greets her and immediately her expression melts into a smile. She had initially thought that seeing him would make her more nervous, but she can already feel her anxiety beginning to fade. It is taking everything in her, though, to not hang off his shoulder as he puts on his skates or to close the gap between them somehow. In the corner of her eye, Arden notices her phone light up but ignores it for now. "I've been good! A lot better, now that we're finally hanging out." She laughs as she twists one of the rings on her fingers to keep herself from doing something stupid like playing with his hair. "Training has been boring and difficult and tiring..." She rolls her eyes as she lists the adjectives; in all honesty, she is exhausted from practice yesterday and also from being too excited to sleep the night before. "But I've been using today as inspiration to get through the week and now we are finally here, so it's all worth it." She smiles, letting out a content sigh. "How are *you*?"

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Her smile is beautiful and the chance to get lost in it again is very welcomed. Amor admires her as she tells him about how her life has been, frowning when she explains the negative aspects. When it's his turn, he moves to finish tying his laces before leaning against the bench and grinning at her. "Good! My program started on the 1st." It was a miserable experience considering he had to go through lycanthrope pains by that time and the full moon was days later. He is more sympathetic to Gen, who must have had it tougher than he did, so he doesn't find it worth complaining about. "It's good getting out and doing something even if it's academics. It helps with shit." It's not necessary to explain the long bouts of depression he goes through because it's apparent to anyone near him who possesses their own brain. His mother is, of course, brainless. "How sweet. I was your motivation," he responds, voice teasing as he grins and lifts his hand into his hair. He glances down towards her skates before gesturing at them. "Do you want me to do those?" Hers are not done correctly, and it's his responsibility to minimize her opportunities to fall.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden glances down at her skates again and frowns. "Grover told me they were fine." she says with a little *hmph*. Of *course*, Arden is talkative enough to have befriended the old man just while picking out skates. She glances at the counter only to find Dotts gone, so she looks back at Amor sheepishly. It is likely Dotts did this for romance's sake, she thinks, because he had kept probing about her relationship with one of his favorite skaters. "Maybe he wanted me to embarrass myself. How evil!" she says dramatically before lifting her feet onto the bench, hugging her knees to her chest so that Amor can help her. "And of course you were my motivation! I could not have asked for something better to look forward to." She grins as her mind absentmindedly drifts to the thought of how all healing students date other healing students because that is what is most convenient for their schedule; there must be a lot of pretty girls in healing school, Arden thinks rather miserably, and all of them would certainly be much smarter than her. "I'm glad that you get to go out and do stuff even if it is school." she says, "Are you liking your program so far?"

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

"I have been saying that shit for years," he tells her, laughing at the comment on Dotts' morality. Amor admires him, but he is one sort of character and he also whips him into shape when he's tired, which is enough to complain about. He shifts, turning to face her more directly before bringing one of her skates onto his thigh. It doesn't occur to him to hesitate until after his hand is around her ankle, but he commits after that. "It's fine. It's an education." Amor shrugs as he starts undoing the laces and pulling them snug from the bottom though he's refraining from actually tugging. "I'm not passionate about it, and the people aren't my sort of people," he explains further as he creates loops through the top eyelets of her skate and crosses the laces to bring them through again. It's a fluid motion when he does it, not really paying it much mind despite the fact that his gaze is trained down on her shoe. His mind is mostly preoccupied with the fact that his hand touched her even if it was just her skate and not even *her* skate. He feels desperate and shameful. "If she's single, then maybe Div would be interested in some of them," which he imagines that she is with how choosy she is. It occurs to him then that her little foolish astrology was right and he frowns, beginning to genuinely focus on how he crosses her laces twice and thrice over then begins to wrap them around her leg. When the laces are short enough, he ties them in a bow twice to secure them before gesturing for her other skate and repeating the same process. "A *lot* of weird ass nerds." Amor doesn't understand their hobbies and interests and a lot of their communication styles are off-putting. Why is he trying to fit into this profession when he so clearly doesn't?

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden brings the fixed skate back to her before extending her other leg so that he can help her. She feels rather pathetic, buzzing over the feeling of being able to touch him again. It occurs to her that she will likely be hanging onto him later as they skate, and she ducks her head, bringing her face to her knee to hide any blush from the thought. As embarrassing as skating will be for her, she is certain, perhaps this *was* a good idea. "I think Div is seeing someone, but I'm not sure. She told me she was going out with someone she met recently to discuss Dracula! I feel like that's such a nerd date. I don't know." Arden laughs. She is focused on the way Amor ties her laces, looking at his hands and wallowing over how badly she wants to hold them. She is about to say something about how he should probably do something he is more passionate about, but that would be hypocritical so she holds her tongue. "At least if they're all weird, then you know for sure you're the coolest one in that whole fucking school." she tells him, "Hopefully you find a crowd that's easier to fit in, though." Arden herself does not feel like she fits in very well where she currently is, and that has never bothered her very much, but the thought of Amor feeling like that makes her miserable.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor ties her laces and then moves her leg off of him to stand. "Dracula? How much is there to say about some asshole in Transylvania?" he questions, face knotting up in genuine puzzlement as he stares over the ice. When he turns down to Arden again, he holds a hand out. Even with skate guards, walking in them requires some balance that she obviously isn't confident in. His heart races as he glances down at his hand, waiting for her to grab it and questioning then if he will be turned down, but that seems ridiculous. They will have to touch. Was this the wrong thing to do? Should he have not taken her here, where they would be all over each other? Amor breathes steadily, trying to retrain his heartbeat. "Being friends with them isn't the problem. It's easy to become friends with nerds." People are so terrible to them in school. He can just see the excitement in some of their faces when someone who resembles him gives them some attention or engages with them on their interests (even though it's *obviously* a shared one). "Anyways, it's more difficult to balance off of the ice. It's only a short distance, but you might want to-" He extends his hand out further, then actually offering it.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden is so focused on him extending his hand that she almost forgets to listen to him talking. It has been so long since she has been able to hold his hand. It takes a while for her to register that after spending so long holding back, she is finally allowed to touch him again. He is offering! His hand is extended to her! She takes it and stands, immediately wobbling a bit but she tightens her grip until she steadies herself before relaxing. "Thanks." she says. Now that she is holding his hand, it is taking everything in her to not go overboard and begin clinging to him like she used to. Arden decides that maybe holding his hand might be too much (it is definitely not for her, but she doesn't want to assume he is okay with it), so she lets go and readjusts her grip so that instead she is holding his wrist. "It's harder balancing *off* the ice?" she asks in disbelief, "There's no way. You're fucking with me." She looks at the rink and it is rather daunting, but she is also so focused on the feeling of being able to be so close to him again. "And I don't know. It's hard to be friends with nerds, sometimes. You're just easy to like." she adds, smiling.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

His heart starts racing the moment they have breached the line of contact and his fingers embrace her hand gently. When she squeezes, he resists the urge to do the same, not wanting to crush her. "You cut through the ice. You aren't cutting through the stone," he tells her, voice a little disgruntled at him not being believed. His reaction is more affected by how her hand moves to his wrist, a sadness washing over him before he decides to move on and start leading her to the ice. "At least the blade has somewhere to go, but that's just my opinion." Amor shrugs and tries to suppress the feeling of her hand wrapped around his wrist, which unfortunately brings too much attention to it. His hand feels cold and he just wants to move her hand into his one last time, but she's probably uncomfortable and he doesn't want to push it. He tried. "Grab ahold of the wall," he tells her, gesturing towards the half wall that surrounds the ice. Amor pries open the short door, snapping his guards off his skates before setting them aside and stepping inside. His entrance starts with small loop before approaching the door again, extending his arms out if she needs balance. "Just slide them off and step inside slowly." His confidence dwindles for a moment before he grins and puffs out his chest, deciding it's best to fake it at least. "Grab me if you need to. I won't complain."

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden nearly frowns the moment she has to let go of him, but she catches herself before she does and chastises herself internally for being so pathetic and desperate for contact. Carefully, she slides off the skate guards before attempting to step inside, holding onto the wall with a death grip. She is so in her head about not falling that she slips as she brings herself inside the rink, but manages to regain balance by supporting herself with the wall. She exhales loudly, relieved, before looking back up at Amor. "Okay, I'm in." she says. She looks down to her skates again, noticing that her feet are a little wobbly, which only serves to make her more nervous about falling. Arden has been so used to excelling at everything the first time she tries it. She knows now that had less to do with her than it did her mom's questionable actions, but nonetheless she is not very good at being bad even in the beginning. Realistically, she knows that she cannot be this hard on herself. She has never gone ice skating before. Still, of course she had hoped that she was some sort of secret natural. "What now?"

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor frowns, watching her cautiously. When she stares down at her feet, he immediately intervenes. "Try not to do that. Focus on me." It's a bit self-centered sounding, but it hadn't occurred to him until after he said it. Amor smiles out of the side of his mouth, hand still outstretched as he pushes forward and whirls around to face her. He can skate backwards. "Try to leave your knees bent, and then push off of one foot and lift it behind you. One foot has to be lifted to move fluidly, so you are almost always balancing on just one," he explains, appearing comfortable in this environment. It brings him some sort of happiness, and he feels confident knowing he actually knows something. It's his territory- his expertise. "A lot of people fall on their asses just getting in, so you're doing fantastic." He attempts to reassure her, smiling more genuinely. "But we will just skate facing each other for a while. We can hug the wall and shit. I don't mind."

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden is nervous and she knows that she will only fail and fall if she does not snap out of it, so on instinct, she reaches out and takes his hand. Immediately, the touch brings her comfort and she breathes in and out, bending her knees slightly. "How could you expect me to focus anywhere else?" she teases, comfortable enough to force confidence out of herself. The hand she was using to hold onto the wall drops to her side as she tries to push off one foot so that she can actually try moving – as reassuring as Amor is that they can just stay by the wall the entire time, she refuses to be *boring*. When she does, though, she stumbles again and ends up grabbing his arm to support herself. She is so afraid that she would drag him down with her before remembering that he is a werewolf with super strength. Nonetheless, she is self-conscious and she looks up at him, embarrassed. "Fuck, I'm sorry – " She realizes that in the process of holding onto him, she has brought herself so close and she adjusts her grip again and pushes back slightly to slide a couple inches further away. "I am so bad at this." she grimaces.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

His smile turns into more of a grin at her teasing, but a part of him is a little embarrassed given the current state of their friendship. He is more reassured when she reached out and holds his hand again, but he can't help but wonder if it's just because she has to and not out of a desire to. Still, it's something, and it's something that he has desperately missed. Amor starts gliding his skates against the ice to move when she starts sliding forward, but quickly snaps his skates to stop and catch her as it becomes apparent she is starting to stumble. Prone to not reacting when accidents happen on the ice, he doesn't show much of a reaction beyond holding onto her. After all, he promised he wouldn't let her fall. "You're doing good," he tells her, staring down at Arden with a more serious expression. The threat of her hurting herself is a little more genuine now. He hasn't dealt with beginners in so long that he forgot this is what it was like, but he still isn't worried about letting her fall. He slips his arm through her grasp, moving so her lower arms can rest across his forearms. It should be sturdier that way. "You're fine, Arden. You have been on the ice for two seconds. You *will* get better." His thumbs swipe across the side of her arms subconsciously. Amor watches her expression carefully before a softer smile appears. "Are you ready to try again?"

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden wonders how obvious she is being, especially since the moment he swipes his thumb against her skin reassuringly, she visibly relaxes. It is more meaningful and reassuring to her than anything he could have said, and with that she is inspired to try again. "Aww, I have such a supportive teacher," she says, poking fun at him. She is glad, though, that he is being so reassuring. Arden is far too used to being yelled at whenever she is less than stellar at any given task, even when she is still a novice. She nods at his question, trying to push off one foot again, trusting that he will support her as she glides across the ice very slowly. "How old were you when you started skating again?" she asks. Her voice is more quiet than usual because she is still a bit nervous about falling, but that doesn't matter considering their proximity. She is certain he can hear her. She almost glances down at her skates again, but she stops herself, instead opting to focus on their conversation and also admire his face. She has not been able to from such a close distance in a while.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

His face scrunches up playfully, not being too enthused about the teacher comment coming from someone who he is so in love with. "Actually, my identity aligns closer with 'tutor,'" he professes, lifting his head up and shaking his hair out of his face. Light beams from the glass ceiling and rains down on them, hitting his face just right. Amor doesn't maintain these antics for long, not wanting to give her the opportunity to hurt herself because he misses something. "Or maybe mentor. No, not mentor." His mind changes just as soon as he says it, immediately bursting into laughter. He's still able to maintain his small backward swivels, holding onto her and occasionally letting his thumb graze across her skin. Amor becomes more aware of it then, but she hasn't shown any signs of discomfort so he chooses not to stop. Her touch rejuvenates his confidence, easing the tension he had previously felt between them. He wishes they could be closer, but he will accept what he can get. "Maybe seven or eight. It's been a long time," he tells her. "But I've skated on holidays for longer. My grandmother is really into this shit." It's a good thing they forced him to do something he's actually relatively interested in. He's won it that regard. "Whenever we compete, she comes by to try to intimidate the competition. You two would-" He loves his grandmother, but it occurs to him then that she is one of the people who thinks he should have stayed with Skye. Maybe she will get over it if she meets Arden. "- *maybe* get along." He laughs nervously.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden laughs along with him; it is contagious, after all, and combined with the feeling of his thumb grazing across her skin it is easy for her to pretend that things are fine between them at that they never had their falling out. She misses him so much and she is so in love with him, that she has to consciously snap herself out of looking so enamored when the light hits his face. "Wow, so it's been like ten years?" She is amazed by this even though she started flying younger. Arden is good at Quidditch but she has never felt very passionately about it whereas Amor looks like he genuinely enjoys himself when he is on the ice, and that is what makes it more amazing to her. "Dude, you are *so* cool." she says, "Seriously, this is *so* difficult – I can't even imagine what it's like doing all that shit you and Skye do during your competitions." Arden has never seen one in person, but she has watched videos and she still follows Skye on Witchagram until now. Sometimes she would watch her stories after she and Amor split, which she is ashamed of having done in fear that it paints her as some sort of obsessive ex. "Speaking of, do you still compete? I should watch your next one. Your – " She stumbles again, but this time she just laughs it off, steadying herself and holding onto him tighter. "Your grandmother and I can intimidate the competition together. We will be a force to be reckoned with." she declares rather confidently.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

An eyebrow raises cockily at the compliments, truly flattered by such niceness. Arden has seemed enamored with him more often than not and this affection is not surprising, but it feels weird coming from her after everything they have been through. It's reassuring that at least she isn't angry and is still seeing him in a similar light as before. "Thank you," he says, laughing before being cut off by her slip. Even if she laughs, he merely smiles at her, happy that she is okay. "You should. It's in late November." With both him and his partner's schedules becoming more hectic, their practices were thinned out for about a month and they are just now getting into the swing of things again. It sort of forced him to have to figure his shit out in regards to the healing program, getting his things in order. "She would appreciate it." Amor laughs again. "My mother doesn't engage with her, so she gets bored. Plus you would have company too." Sure, Arden could spend time with his mother, but why would he want that? Why would *she* want that? His mother is not necessarily great company. "Do you know when you might start playing? I'd love to come support your shit and see you do your thing." Amor doesn't understand how quidditch teams are arranged because it has never interested him. All he really knows about the sport is that athletic women are attractive and Arden has to find a flying golden ball called the snitch while other people toss or hit other balls. A lot of complicated ball action.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

"It's still off-season." she says, "And I'm not even sure when *I'll* be able to play. I'm still just on the reserve team, so it will be a while." Arden is not even sure if she wants to make it to the official line-up, because that just means more work. She does not really enjoy the company of the other reserve players, so she supposes that at least on the real team, she would have Wren. They're not exactly close, but his presence is more enjoyable than most others'. "But I'll let you know! You can bring your friends, if you like. Div will also probably be there when it happens." Arden has not missed the way Div and Amor would butt heads but she knows that at least while she and Amor were a thing, they were trying harder to get along for her sake. She wonders a bit miserably if all that progress has restarted because of the break. Her thoughts then drift to what Amor's friends must think of her. Skye probably wants her dead, she thinks. She snaps herself out of these thoughts by focusing on him again. "Okay, I'm done gliding around and ready to do something impressive." she says, way more confident than she should be about skating. She falters again, nearly slipping right after she says it, which fails to support her declaration. Holding on tightly to Amor again, she relaxes after she has regained her balance. "You did not see that, mi amor." The nickname slips out before she realizes; she is so caught up in being able to joke around with him again. She continues, "I've got this."

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor *knows* it's off-season, but they have to be communicating more with her, right? Shouldn't the league have their matches in order ahead of time? He's just antsy to support her and wants to ensure he will be able to. That's all. For now, it seems to be the only way he can show her he still loves her because saying it won't do anything, he thinks. "Let me know," he tells her, nodding absentmindedly before glancing over the ice. Apart from Atlas, he isn't sure who he would invite and actually inviting *him* sounds awful. Amor loves him, but goodness gracious. He wouldn't want to sit through any disgruntled comments about him being led on or how he needs to move on. Going to her quidditch game would probably be too much. Maybe he isn't giving Atlas enough credit, but he finds the concern appropriate regardless. "I didn't see what?" He teases, snapping out of his trance and glancing around as if trying to search for something. It's partially to distract from how his eyes widen at hearing the nickname again. "Huh?" He laughs before turning over his shoulder and starting to lead her off of the wall. "How about moving backwards? Then we can try some side glides and two foot spins. Or...stopping. We should probably cover stopping." He gets a little excited by the idea of showing her more and forgets to do the most important part. "Just bend a little more and point your toes in. Try that first."

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden is overwhelmed by all these unfamiliar terms, but it is endeared nonetheless because Amor looks so excited. "How hard can stopping be?" she says, though obviously her confidence is fake. It is better though, than panicking or being nervous. She relaxes her grip on Amor so that she can come to a stop, also trying to get used to being able to balance without having to rely on him the whole time. While he seems pretty comfortable with her holding onto him like this, she does not want to force the physical contact. She continues gliding for a bit on her own, keeping a close proximity so that she can hold onto him again in case she falls, but she is doing well so far. When she tries to stop, she is successful and she looks up at him with a big smile since she is proud of her accomplishment. "Dude, I did – " She attempts to skate forwards to him again to close the distance once more but in her excitement, she loses her balance and stumbles forward into him. She steadies herself again, using him as support. "Technically, I still did it. I stopped." she huffs.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

It's bittersweet having her let go, but he focuses more on being proud of her. He would rather she has her independence and believes in herself enough to do it on her own than to have her cling onto him even if the closeness brings him his own comfort. Watching her, he does a few whooping noises before grinning and pumping his fist excitedly. "Whoa-" He lets out, reaching out and letting an arm wrap around her as she falls into him. "You stopped twice!" Amor laughs, but that only highlights the fact that they are so close together. He wants to say something about it, but doesn't want to sound creepy. God, he knows he would usually kiss her right now and he can't help instinctively glancing down at her lips. "You're doing fucking *fantastic*, *mi sol*. You're getting there," he tells her despite knowing it is probably falling on deaf ears. The thought creates a small sadness in his chest that he would rather not have, so he tries to believe it's doing something. Amor's arm slips from around her, moving so he is holding her hand. "When you want to try again, we can do it." He's a little worried she's rushing herself, but he's glad he's there to prevent her from doing too much too quickly and inevitably hurting herself. Most importantly though, he doesn't want her to feel pressured to learn so much all at once or to have to try again so soon after a stumble. So, he can wait for her to be ready.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

True, Arden is not receptive to words, but coupled with the feeling of his arm around her and then her hand in his, it is very reassuring. She laughs as he pulls her closer to him, then almost lets out a disappointed sigh when he removes his arm from around her but she controls herself. She has missed being so tangled up in him and will likely wallow about this later when she gets home, having to deal with the reality that she is still not allowed to kiss him. "Okay, okay, I'm ready." she says after snapping out of her thoughts.
As expected, Arden has gotten much better than she was at the beginning of this endeavor. She can skate and stop by herself pretty confidently now, but has trouble doing some of the spins and other tricks that Amor had tried teaching her. It's fine, though, because watching him do these things is incredibly impressive to her. He doesn't even need to try that hard to show off; it helps that she is in love with him and finds everything he does fantastic. It is a bit disappointing, though, that she is now capable of balancing on the ice by herself because that means she has less of an excuse to hold his hand. "Maybe I will be able to do the spins and other stuff next time," she says. It occurs to her that she can't even be sure if Amor *wants* a next time, but she continues nonetheless. "Then when I'm good – *when* – " She laughs at her own confidence. "We can do the *Dirty Dancing* shit you mentioned." The thought makes her burst into laughter because she cannot imagine ever getting that good. "Skye better watch out."

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor laughs, skating around her before reaching his hand out and starting to guide them towards the exit. "Well, shit, we have better chemistry," he mentions it casually, not wanting to stir up the situation too much. When he glides and smoothly runs into the door, he turns and faces her, waiting for her to catch up to him. He's grinning as he admires her, feeling stupid and foolish yet not intensely enough to cause him to wallow about it quite yet. For now, he's just glad nothing imploded on him. Something, however, has emboldened him and he feels compelled to chance it. "We should try to spend more time together. We can go skating again and develop those spins some more, but I was thinking why not get dinner?" He smiles with hope, but it starts to fade the longer he gets to sit on the topic. "I don't fucking know. We can do whatever. I've just missed having the *Sol* under my fingertips." To cope, his voice becomes more exaggerated and subsequently becomes louder, echoing through the rink. His face pulls in mock strain to top it off.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden skates over to the exit slowly, taking his hand to help stop her movement once they reach at the entrance. As he talks, she absentmindedly begins moving her thumb in small circles on his skin like she used to when they were together, and then he tells her they should get dinner sometime and the motions stop. She does not let go, however, and instead beams back up at him at the suggestion. "I would love that." she tells him, excited. Dinner would be easier to make time for, too, since she can always just go after practice. It is kind of thrilling to her that he suggested it; they hadn't really gone on real dates when they were still a thing and instead opted to just hang out in the Pit or spend afternoons in one of their dorms. This would be different, but it is an exciting kind of different that makes her feel more reassured that perhaps this time around it will work out better. She then realizes she is being presumptuous and that friends get dinner too, and the thought that his intentions might be entirely platonic depresses her so she lets go of his hand. Nevertheless, she is happy that they can be a part of each other's lives again when the two months they had spent not talking were certainly so grim. "I've missed you too," she says, "And I'm so fucking glad we were able to hang out today, of course I'd want to spend time with you again."

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Making no attempt to hide his disappoint, he glances down at their hands the moment she lets go again. His hand remains suspended in the space between them, waiting for a moment before his gaze returns to her face. A large vast part of him remains depressed even as he regains his smile for her. It's clear there's something sad behind it, but sometimes not acknowledging these things is what's best. Sometimes. Amor opens the door to get off the ice, grabbing the guards he left on top of the wall and slipping them on. "I'll have you know, Arden. I plan on wooing you over this dinner," he tells her playfully. It isn't said with enough seriousness partially because he has to protect himself from being shot down by her. It would be fair. He was the one who cut things off in the first place. Arden is the one who said they were friends though, so what did he even cut off? Amor refuses to accept full responsibility for the downfall of their *thing*. It was a dance between two. "Unless you wouldn't want me to," he calls over his shoulder before fully turning to watch her, but no longer offering his hand out. If she starts to fall, he will move to grab her. If she reaches out, he will bridge the space between them. Otherwise, he needs to cut it off. Amor stares at her, watching her face to gauge her reaction before inevitably focusing on her legs to catch the signs of slipping or falling before it even happens.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden notices how he looks at the space where their hands once were with disappointment and it makes her hopeful. She snaps out of her musings to locate the guards that she had slipped off, then attempts to put them back on. It is difficult staying balanced as she does this, so she reaches out to him for support. When he mentions his intentions of wooing her, her heart flutters and she becomes more inclined to believe that this is not entirely platonic. Still, *he* was the one who ended things with her though she is completely aware that she gave him good reason to. She cannot imagine that he would want to be with her again after that, but she can hope. "I'll have you know, Amor," she begins, matching his tone, grinning as she slides the guards on again and steps off the ice. She holds onto his arm to steady herself, and the action brings them close together again as she looks up at him. "There's no need for a plan to woo me when you already have me." Her tone is teasing because his did not sound entirely serious, and while her words are true she does not want to embarrass herself by being too sincere about something that might not be completely genuine.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Amor's muscles tense as he brings her over to the bench again. It's as if she's purposefully not seeing it. "You told me that last time," he comments miserably, leaning down to untie his laces and switch over into his trainers again. He cannot stare at her and tell her this because then he would certainly back off of it altogether. A very large part of him wants to, but the part of him that had been working this afternoon into something it isn't in his head- oh, that part insists he can't just brush past this. "You're not acting as if that's the case." It's his last push, leaning into the seat and still not facing her. He brings his skates into his lap, tying together the laces and only then does he glance over at her. Amor smiles a little, but it's with some attitude and defeat. "That's fine, but just don't say it then." Unlike Arden, words mean something to him. He might as well draw the line here.

Arden

seeker for the tutshill tornadoes
paintedred

Arden unties her skates as she listens to him, grateful that she has something to do instead of looking at him as he speaks. She slips into her shoes again after she finishes and waits for him to stop talking before thinking to herself quietly just for a couple of seconds. Words certainly have never been her strong suit, and hopefully he recognizes that she is silent because she is trying to say the right thing and not because she doesn't care. The situation is stressful and on instinct, she rests her hand on his to calm herself and also to hopefully communicate that she is being genuine. "Well, it *is* the case. I mean it." she says, frowning. Her brow furrows and as she speaks, she traces small patterns onto Amor's skin to help distract herself from how vulnerable the situation is making her feel. "And when I said it last time, I meant it too." She exhales, feeling frustrated and is quiet for a couple more seconds. "I don't know what else to say." Everything she *wants* to say does not seem appropriate right now, like how she has been holding back from kissing him this whole afternoon or that she loves him still and has ever since they were still in school. "You know I'm bad with words." she adds lightly, not wanting to be too depressing, but it is obvious that she is pushing herself to smile.

Amor Santiago

first year healing student
ateleia

Her fingertips are hot irons against his skin and he wants to flinch away from surprise, but knows better than to do that. It would give the impression that he isn't interested, and he knows that. "I know," he answers, staring at her with a deadpan expression. It's becoming increasingly more difficult for him to force a smile and he suspects that this is either incredibly depressing or his potions have started to wear off. Still, he knows that. He is well aware of that. It hurts to watch her struggle except he needs this from her— something, anything. "It's fine." It isn't though, is it? Amor turns his hand over to grab hers, running his thumb along the side of her hand for a brief moment before letting go. "We don't have to discuss it anymore or at least not now." Eventually, the conversation will come again, but he sees no point in forcing her to when she clearly can't articulate her feelings and he doesn't even fully believe them when she does.