In the debate world, there are five unspoken rules. The first four are trivial; simple social laws that every sane person would understand.
But the last one. Now that's something.
Rule Number Five: Never, ever, under any circumstances, date your d...
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today's theme: potentials
Minho stared in awe through the glass windows of the rental shop, out at the rinks. "This is some major Rockefeller shit."
Jisung giggled, moving up in the line. "That's what tourists say all the time. Modenna might be the most boring District in the City, but their winter events make up for it quite well."
"You'd honestly expect Ninth to have the most artistic ways to celebrate winter," Minho murmured, snapping a photo. "But Modenna is the northern-most District, I guess, so they do have the most snow to work with."
They reached the front of the queue, facing an open back room with racks of skates and helmets, multiple people in bright red sweater-uniforms pulling them out and adjusting them at lightning speed before handing them out to customers.
"Two skates, please." Jisung spoke to the woman behind the counter, handing her their tickets. "A men's size seven, and...uh, an eight and a half. No helmets needed."
He looked out at the view Minho had been entranced with for the past few minutes while she went to get their equipment.
Modenna was always the primary hotspot when it came to Christmas and winter break in the City. They spared no expenses in completely monopolizing their fortune with snow and geography each year, and the skating rink was no exception.
The rink was known for being at the border of the district, where the roads and buildings began to blend and seep into the forests that lined the edges of the City. The main area had one massive rink, surrounded by little food vendors and souvenir shops, and it split into four different paths that snaked around the trees like hiking trails that led to other separate rinks farther into the forest.
It all came together like one fantasy woodland world. The twenty-foot sparkling Christmas tree in the center of the main rink and the copious amounts of lights strung around all five rinks and four paths certainly added to the glow as well, and they looked even better when they were decked out in full brightness at nighttime.
Coming in the evening was a smart move. They were out in semi-wilderness, where the remnants of the City's light pollution hadn't just yet dissipated, but had thinned out to a point where the night sky was visible as an integral role in the harrowing whispers of darkness. The sheer calmness of the sky contrasted the Christmas lights incredibly, turning them into so much more illuminatingly hypnotizing feats.
If Jisung hadn't gone here every year since he was five, he definitely would've been just as shocked as Minho. Beautiful couldn't begin to describe it—it would've been a crime to not take his partner here at least once this winter.
The woman plunked their skates down on the counter, snapping the two of them out of their silent phase of admiration.
She looked over their receipts. "Your tickets expire at ten tonight, so you have about...three hours. Your drink and meal vouchers are included in your wristbands, which I presume you were given out at the entrance?"
