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[He backs away once Leia comes inside the rink, letting the skates carry him across the ice. It's been a while and he may be bigger now, but it's just as he remembers with slight accommodations to be made. And where Leia is looking around, he watches her in faint amusement.]

It's an odd hour. Why are you holding your hands out like that?

[That just looks awkward.]

[Like what? is her first thought. She doesn't exactly realize it, but when he points it out, she lets them fall to her sides. She slips, nearly falling, but catches herself.

She's... laughing it off, yeah.]

Guess I'm still learning.

[She told you.]

[And he lets her – laugh it off, that is. There was a time when he used to hobble around on the ice before he got the hang of balancing himself, so as funny as it is to see Leia struggling, he won't tease (much). He perches his hands on his hips.]

If you're afraid that you're going to fall, you should hold onto the wall.

[...

She watches him, stunned at first, but... then she starts to snicker some more.]

Hey, you rhymed.

......But you're probably right. [hm.]

[She's like a kid. Regardless of what she does, IV starts off near the wall, his hands dropping back to his sides and his speed slow to accommodate the pace Leia chooses.]

Now, for one round. You can manage that, can't you?

[When she sees IV approach the wall, she snaps out of whatever silliness had come over her and follows. She hadn't exactly expected private lessons, but can't find it in her to complain, either.

She almost feels bad for holding him back.]

You mean a whole lap? [Clinging to the wall with one hand, she scans the rink.] ...Of course I can!

[He nods, then pushes forward to a particularly long glide. So he won't go too fast for Leia, but going too slow, on the other hand, is just boring and awkward for his balanced body.]

Try not to fall, but don't rely on your hands too much, either – that's your task for this lap.

[That's all he says as he waits for her to catch up to his side; he isn't too far ahead.]

...Homework. Bummer.

[Although in this case, it's more like after school lessons. She glides to catch up to him and as she approaches, her hands lower. "Don't rely on them too much," he says...

She stares at her feet, and while there are a couple of wobbly close calls, she seems to be...moving forward.]

Hey! This is fun.

What were you expecting it to be – boring?

[He waits for Leia, then glides another meter ahead. The true joy of skating comes from letting go and flying across the frozen surface (tumbling is optional), but it'd look stupid to do that while she's barely going anywhere.]

When was the last time you skated?

[At that, she actually looks up. On the one hand, she knows he's just teasing, but on the other--]

I- I never said that!

[Why would she have come if so?! Hmpth...]

It's been a while besides. The last time, I was in Kanbalar.

[She wasn't really good at it then, either.]

[It occurs to him then that, for how many names Leia's tossed around here and there, he still isn't too knowledgeable about her world.]

Kanbalar. Is that where you're from?

Yeah... [She answers without thinking, but corrects herself.] Well, sort of.

It's a different city than mine, and it's always snowy and cold there. Where I'm from is more of a town, but it all falls under Rieze Maxia anyway. You could say that's "my world."

[He hums. That's a roundabout way of saying that it's just another city, but he can understand the need for elaboration when they're from multiple worlds.]

And Elympios? You mentioned it when we were watching the sunrise.

Oh yeah. Elympios, too. I worked there.

[She's always wondered if that counted as her having two worlds. The two certainly have very distinct cultures.]

It's sort of a long story, but Elympios and Rieze Maxia existed completely separately until about a year ago. Now they're connected, but they're very different from each other.

[It sounds a little familiar, and so IV doesn't doubt that the story is indeed a long one.]

If they've been completely separate for that long, then of course they're different.

[He eyes the ice under them, studying the various streak marks of previous skaters in the rink.]

With a history like that, there must always be something to report about.

You can say that again.

[She smiles softly, feeling the air thicken as IV's gaze falls to the ground. Letting down her guard, she's actually gliding longer and moving a bit faster now, but she hasn't noticed yet.]

Cerealia's pretty interesting as a colony too, though. I get homesick like anyone else, but... I don't think it's all bad. [Sheepishly, she laughs.] Maybe only half bad.

[He gives a sardonic chuckle, the sound almost echoing off the ice rink walls.]

It's not bad until something happens, which is too often for anyone's liking.

That pretty much sums it up.

It'd be nice if they gave me something good to write about every once and a while, but so far, all the good stuff has been up to us.

[Sleepovers and the like, ViViD, gaming in general--even right now, ice skating. It's up to everyone to create their own fun. At least she's good at it, when it doesn't go horribly wrong.]

[He nods in agreement in spite of what he says next.]

Not all news can be good. It just so happens that CERES seems to prefer no good news at all. Must be irritating for you.

I try not to think about it.

[She shrugs, that embarrassed smile still lingering on her face as the realization dawns on her.]

...Hey. We're almost back where we started.

[She looks around. It feels a lot like a child learning how to ride a bike and wondering when they were let go.]

I made it!

[He looks up at Leia's exclamation, and a faint smirk creeps onto his face. So they talked more than actually skated, but this is progress.]

Oh? So you did. Good job. Now how about another lap, but faster this time?

[Like that's a bad thing. Talking made it go by waaay faster. And speaking of that--]

Or I could cheat and cut across to the other side.

[KIDDING

mostly]

[HOW FUNNY.

Not.]

Where's the fun in that? Rather, can you make it to the other side without the wall?

Where's the fun in clinging to the wall?

[She retorts without missing a beat, folding her arms as they come to a stop approximately where they began.]

Besides, I won't know 'til I try.

You're right about that. Well, then, let's do it.

[He glides away from the wall, edging toward the center of the ice rink.]

Are you coming?

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