December 22, 1894 — Irvingly Ice Skating Party
Annora McKelvey Daffodil Grimstone

Life was a delicate balance of "Things One Knows How to Do Safely" and "Things One Wants to Try Because It Seems Fun"--the latter sometimes regardless of one's ability to do it "safely." Unfortunately, there was not much opportunity for Protego to become skilled at ice skating in particular, since there were long months between times when there was sufficient ice available. Ah, well.

Protego stood at the edge of the lake, teetering awkwardly on borrowed skates. He considered his feet with mild amusement. "Hard to be too graceful in these, isn't it?" he commented to one of his fellow potential skaters. Protego did wonder if ice skating wasn't invented by someone with an odd sense of humor, no matter how enjoyable an activity it may be.

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After managing to get her skates after running into Mr. Applegate, Annie had taken to the ice with about as much grace as she handled everything else in life; not well. It was fun, and she wasn't terrible at it, but she was not an effortless skater and she had already fallen three times now. Perhaps it might be time to give it up for the afternoon.

"I do now know how people manage." She chuckled in reply to the gentleman who had spoken to her. "I fear I look like a baby giraffe learning to walk." It was an amusing (and true) picture, but Annie realized belatedly, that it was probably not the best comparison to make to a handsome gentleman. Now she could be as graceless in conversation as she was on the skates.

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Protego chuckled. "Some people make it look remarkably easy," he agreed. "They'd make good salespeople, honestly." Protego, of course, ought to know. Making things look easy was a powerful tactic sometimes, assuming you were selling something people wanted to try. Even if Protego personally thought skating on ice must have been a hard sell for the first person to ever think of it.

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Someone went whizzing by her and Annie nearly went down again, she flailed her arms in a circular motion, not entirely unlike a windmill and now she was truly done comparing herself to strangely tall things.

Then her toe caught on a divot in the ice and down she went.

"Oh!" She squeaked in surprise. She'd had fallen on her hip and side, elbow connecting painfully with the ice. "I think I ought to give up." The sigh was audible; this should be more fun than it was.

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For Protego's part, he thought it was a minor miracle that he was on his own two feet still. Maybe his balance was better than he'd given himself credit for. "Are you all right?" he asked the woman, reaching down a hand to help her up--unsure if that was a good idea for his own ability to stay upright. Chivalry was a dangerous game sometimes.

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"I think so," she sat up better, assessing the damaged. Bruised most likely, so she supposed it could be worse. She blushed a little deeper when the gentleman offered his hand. She reached up, trying to settle her own balance on the slippery ice so she didn't make anything worse than it already was. She really wasn't doing well with not making a fool of herself in public lately. That candy had clearly been pointless.

With the gentleman's help, Annie was upright again, as she tried to steady herself, she leaned on him accidentally, using both hands on his arms to keep herself from falling again, wincing as the pain in her hip radiated outward.

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Protego dutifully stood still as the woman steadied herself, though he did take note of her wince. "Perhaps you should sit down," he said, turning to look for a place for her to do just that. "Here," he said, gesturing toward a bench nearby. "You can settle here for a minute."

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Maybe she ought to just give up. Annie sighed softly, letting the gentleman lead her over to the bench and she sank down gratefully. "Thank you, you're very kind." She hoped the flush on her cheeks could be attributed to the chill in the air and not her sheer embarrassment. Her hip still ached from the fall and even sitting was still bothersome.

"Perhaps I should try something else," she chuckled quietly. "I remember being able to at least get around as a child, but perhaps that could be the sense of childhood fearlessness giving false security." Maybe she'd had a brother to hold onto to keep her upright. That would have made sense. She could see some children now, skating circles around some of the adults, weaving their way around the ice with reckless amusement. "But oh, you didn't need the whole story," she realized belatedly she was carrying on about nothing. "Thank you again," this time she knew her red cheeks would indicate her sheepishness over the whole thing, but he didn't have to stick around.

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"That's all right," Protego said. It was possible he was being particularly agreeable because she was pretty--Protego never claimed to not be a little bit shallow--or if he was just in a pleasant mood in general and that made things easier. Possibly it was both. "I wish they could bottle some of that fearlessness, just for the occasional taste." Well. That was probably a thing that could be done, but Protego was no potioneer.

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After locating her boots, Annie untied her skates to swap for the warmth of her own shoes. "I wish for just half of their energy sometimes." Annie chuckled as she tied up her boots, setting the skates aside. Annie rather thought she could use it sometimes. Her work was not quite so demanding as the debutante life she used to leave, not nearly as many late nights or social engagements. It was only when there was an emergency issue of some sort that she got pulled into help with printing and organization. She didn't mind those nights either, they were often exciting, if sometimes a little harrowing.

"I wonder if the children know how good they have it," she chuckled. Well most of them anyway. She was not so naïve to think that all children had it so good, but the ones she could see right now with their carefree laughter and speed on the ice.

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"I know I didn't realize it until it was too late for me," Protego replied with a chuckle. "And they've got all that energy to boot." He didn't really miss being a child, but sometimes he thought it would be nice if you could combine the best parts of childhood and adulthood into one. "Protego Lochrin, by the way," he said.

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