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[neverjedi]

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[neverjedi]

"I don't know, a little harm probably won't kill me.There's more out of my comfort zone than in, though, so we have options." Something, say, on par with the fact that Anakin was probably going to fall down.

He smiled to show he was joking, wrapped the brace around Anakin's wrist and checked to make sure it wasn't too tight or inhibiting range of motion and then unfolded and stood up.


"All right, since we're both here step one: Stand up and get used to the surface area you're on with the skates. Maybe do a quick mental review of how physics work and the relationship between action and reaction while you're there."

[darkforcerising]

“Alright,” he said.

He positioned his feet closer to the bench and planted them firmly. Then pushed up from the bench.

He was not as graceful as Obi-Wan, but he did make it to his feet and didn’t fall back. The floor’s rubbery texture made sense now. Normal locker room concert would have been a terrible surface to walk on.

Once standing, and not wobbling, he said, “okay, what next?”

[neverjedi]

"Stand on one leg - then stand on the other one. Use me for balance if you need to."

That wasn't a useful exercise, though it could have been. It was his method of getting the blade guards off Anakin's skates. He did the same for himself, though he would have usually waited longer.

Once he was done with that, he headed toward the door out onto the side, and held it open for Anakin.

"Step out, center of gravity straight down from your hips. Grab the wall around the rink once you can reach it."

Next? Was fun, dammit.

[darkforcerising]

Ya, fun.

Anakin understood the instructions in a way. So much of his physical therapy was learning how to balance again. Now, he told himself, he was just doing that same thing on two skinny strips of metal on ice.

He didn’t even try to leave the wall when he first stepped into the ice, he grabbed the waist high wall with his left hand and more or less just stood there.

At least he was still standing.

“Okay, how do I move?” He could just pull himself along the wall, but he figured that that was not the point.

[neverjedi]

He came out onto the ice behind Anakin and - obviously didn't need the wall. He skated slightly past Anakin, pivoted and stopped himself facing him.

"I promise you at least a few minutes of speed before we get you off the ice," he said, though admittedly that was going to be with Anakin holding onto him.

He would have been using smaller steps, more caution, but dealing with an Air-Force vet and someone who had clearly had physical therapy? No. The fitness level and ability was there. He wasn't going to patronizing. He did not need to know how to

"Keep your core tight and use your thighs to push off with the inside edge of your blade. Once you've done that once you'll have a front and back leg. Center over the front, push with the back."

He was, however, going to stay pretty close. So he demonstrated what he meant, but he also pretty quickly came back to Anakin. Within 'catch him' distance.

[darkforcerising]

“Show off,” he said good-naturedly.

And then he tried the thing with pushing with his thigh on the edge of the blade but he didn’t get very far.

He moved forward, awkwardly, but not really by much. And he felt really out of balance so he clung tighter to the wall.

“Okay, but what do you really do?”

[neverjedi]

"Save calling me a show off for when I start pulling out triple axles," he said, dryly.

He watched Anakin, opened his mouth to instruct him and then changed his mind.

"Do you have issue with being touched?"

[darkforcerising]

“Depends. I’m assuming you are going to stick a wet finger in my ear.”

So, sure, Obi-Wan could touch him.

“It’ll be better if you grab my upper arm. I can actually feel that.”

[neverjedi]

"I can't think of a single reason I'd grab your arms." Which is true enough since he's moving back around Anakin and putting his hands solidly on Anakin's hips. "Sticking a wet finger in your ear, though..."

He wasn't plastered against Anakin or anything, but since he was doing double duty on balance right now, he was close.

"Put all your weight on your left leg." And as soon as Anakin came even close to doing that, he pushed them both off with his right (skipping Anakin needing to weight shift yet) and got them away from the wall. Security was nice and all but so bad for figuring things out.

[darkforcerising]

Anakin was not expecting a - that Obi-Wan would be touching him there (though he didn’t fight it) and b - that they would leave the wall.

“There are easier ways to get your hands on my hips, you know. And I like the wall. I was making friends with the wall.”

But he tried. And managed a little better this time.

[neverjedi]

"You don't want to make friends with the wall. You hold onto the wall with your upper half, your center of gravity goes toward your grip, your legs slide the other way and you're stuck looking like you're the wall's clingy boyfriend."

He tightens the hand on Anakin's right hip slightly. "Shift your weight onto this leg."

Which meant he pushed off with his left.

"Right now, just do that. Shift your weight toward the tighter hand." He'd handle keeping them up and balance-

and he really could do that because in spite of being relatively small and not looking like he knew the meaning of the word 'workout' he was strong.

"And breathe."

[darkforcerising]

“The wall likes it,” Anakin protested. But he noticed the lack of Obi-Wan’s objection to the touching comment. And again, he found he didn’t mind.

Following the instructions was easy enough, and it seemed to be working.

“I see we’re coming up to the end of the rink. What do I do?”

[neverjedi]

He hadn't objected because it was true on two levels: He wanted to touch Anakin, but also that there were better ways if what he wanted was to get his hands on Anakin's hips. In front of or beside Anakin, he had the same issue as the wall - and wouldn't be able to get close enough to prevent it. He was also a lot less stable than a wall.

"Bend your right knee, keep your weight above and on it, and just like a motorcycle - lean in the direction of your turn. In this case right."

Stopping with Anakin was - they should have gone over that before. Oh well, they still had a wall.

[darkforcerising]

The analogy made sense, the follow through was wobbly. But they were turning. And then they were going the other direction.

“Maybe I can try it on my own now?”

[neverjedi]

"It's like you read my mind." Aside from that 'oops' on not teaching a stop.

He was careful to let go of Anakin without allowing any sort of pressure in any direction to happen, but he wasn't hesitant in letting go, either.

He didn't continue to hover, either. Once they were no longer attached, he moved off so a location where he could watch Anakin,

[darkforcerising]

He wasn’t going fast, but he kept the motion - push back with the edge of his skate, glide, switch feet - going.

Until he caught the toe pick, lost his balance, and ended up on his ass.

By now he was used to falling so he just let it happen, laid back on the ice until his butt stopped smarting.

“I’m really narrowing down the possibilities for my revenge.”

[neverjedi]

He skated over, looking for all the world like he wasn't on skates or ice - more like crossing the street in sneakers for all his stability.

He reached down and offered Anakin his hand.

"Why? You're doing remarkably well." Not a lie. He was pretty impressed.

Of course most of his students were four or had been skating for more than a decade, but still.

[darkforcerising]

“Stop smirking.”

But Anakin smiled and took Obi-Wan’s hand. He’d watched the man skate over and had admired his ability to make the act look effortless.

He remembered what Obi-Wan said about getting up from his knees and shifted to do just that.

Once standing he asked, “What’s the point of these gougey things?”

[neverjedi]

If he was going to be accused of showing off and smirking, could he do just a little? Just once? Instead of offering a calm verbal explanation?

...He was going to.

He took off away from Anakin, backward with cross-overs that gained speed and power fast, dug into the ice and launched up into a near perfect triple axle, landed and glided out on one leg toward Anakin.

His other leg came down and he stopped hard enough to actually have the snow created by the sideways blade be visible as a plume. "The point's to dig into the ice as a point to launch or push from. Now I've shown off and am smirking - do you want to go fast, yet?"

[darkforcerising]

Anakin watched Obi-Wan’s demonstrations with admiration. This was something he’d probably never get that good at. And Obi-Wan must have spent more than that magic 10,000 hours of practice to get this far.

But the spray of snow was a bit much.

But tending towards showmanship himself - in other things - he couldn’t fault Obi-Wan.

“I am impressed.” He was also thinking, for the first time, what he’d like to do to that Man’s smirk with his own mouth... to keep the impulse from showing, he hurried on to say, “Yes, I would love to go fast.”

[neverjedi]

It was the natural result of a hard stop.

That he could have softened by not waiting to the last second to stop.

His smirk turned into a grin and laugh.

"Now I have reason to hold onto your arms." He put one hand on top of Anakin's right shoulder, though more distance would have been more ideal, and offered his other arm to Anakin - "Hold onto my forearm and let's give you something to make this worth your while."

[darkforcerising]

Anakin smirked, thinking this already had been worthwhile. But if Obi-Wan insisted on touching him, he’d give him the pretense.

And he’d take the pretense himself, taking hold of Obi-Wan’s arm.

He didn’t know what kind of distance they needed, but he was suddenly very aware of how much - or little - space was between them. And now he was thinking whatever revenge he had planned, it should involve touching.

“I’m ready when you are.”

[neverjedi]

He very, very, sincerely hoped that 'revenge' involved touching, but his primary consideration and hope was that there was revenge.

Meanwhile he was very aware of how close they were, both because it he needed to be. He didn't immediately begin moving, but took a second to be serious -

"Keep your core tight arm rigid. Don't get pulled in to my skates or more than your pride might end up hurt."

With that warning, though, he did take off. Backward, as he had before. Slowly at first, to make sure Anakin had time to figure out where Obi-Wan's takes were moving, what the rhythm was and that he could keep them from getting entangled.

Once he was relatively sure of that, he did begin to gain speed. Those same crossovers he'd used before, in being a show off, because they allowed a lot of power and ground coverage fast, which built speed fast.

He kept his eyes on Anakin's fast, rather than looking over his shoulder this time - since he wasn't about to jump he didn't need the twist for additional power.

[darkforcerising]

“Like dancing.” He meant the comment about keeping his arm rigid. His mother had raised him right, taught him the basics about dancing. So arms locked, core locked. He watched Obi-Wan’s feet and figured out a way to keep up.

When he was sure he had a rhythm down, he looked up and found Obi-Wan looking back. And he gave over to letting Obi-Wan take them wherever he want, because right then he didn’t want to think about or focus on anything but Obi-Wan’s eyes.

[neverjedi]

There it was.

He could feel the second Anakin relaxed and let him have control, trusted that Anakin wasn't going to get in his way and his speed went from fast, to really, really pushing it fast, covering a lot of ground every time he stepped back and over, pulling Anakin with him and giving him some real speed - like enough to get a good breeze on his face.

Ultimately he stopped in a glide, pulling them into a wide, but tightening as they slowed, turn.