The Ranch

Happy Holidays (4)

The morning of the second day, Tih goes to Lake Phil. A fresh coat of snow blankets the area. Tih breath in and out, the exhale is invisible. Trees rustle as snow falls off its leaves.

The entire lake has been frozen over. The river is still running and has been redirected under the ice on the lake, so it still continues flowing into the ocean.

The lake has been sectioned off into four sections. One for hockey, one for racing, one for mini-games, and a larger section for recreational.

The hockey game is being played with swords for hockey sticks and a tear gas bomb instead of a puck. The bomb is set for three minutes. Either team has to score before that.

In the other section, a group of people play different games one after another. Red light, green light, tag, and wrestling...on ice." Two people slam into each other as they collide from fast speeds. They're malleable human body's crash and hit the ice painfully, but they get right back up like it was nothing.

A stall has been set up to rent ice skates. Going on the ice is free, no one would let it be monopolized by one person. The sections were decided by the populace and are an unspoken rule.

Tih sits on the snow and watches. He watches the hockey matches as the puck, more often than not, blows up in their faces. They continue playing with tears in their eyes and their faces red.

"Oi! Penalty!" Someone calls after getting cut by a sword lifted above the waist by someone wiping their teary eyes.

Tih slides his eyes over to watch the other section play human bowling. One person runs into a group of people, knocking a couple down.

The blade of a skate shaves the ice, blowing snow into the air as someone stops in front of Tih.

"Do you want to skate?" Casanova asks upon seeing Phillip's little friend by himself. The child is single-mindedly focused on watching. Tih doesn't attempt to move so Casanova takes it as a no. He goes back to ice skating in the recreational section. An hour later he notices the kid is in the same spot.

God forbid Phillip catches a word about his "neglect" and rats him out to their teacher and Sinclair has a good impression of the boy since who knows when. Looks like he's babysitting for the day. At least the kid's not fussy nor loud. It shouldn't be too hard to look after him.

Casanova walks Tih over to the rental shop, measures his shoe size, and rents the appropriate skates. He hands them to the kid but after five minutes of just Tih staring at the shoes, Casanova puts them on for him.

He loosens the strings, shoves the foot in, tightens the strings, and tied it around with the extra string. This kneeling posture is getting annoying and his pants are soaking up the water near the kneecap.

Once both shoes are tied, Casanova takes Tih's  hand and and pulls his to stand up. He keeps a hold on Tih, in case he loses balance as they walk over.

Tih stares at the skates suffocating his feet from any air or space. He teeters on the thin metal keeping him standing.

Casanova holds on to Tih as they do a couple laps, lessening his hold every lap, until he lets go. Tih watches the other skaters and copies. He bends his knees, keeping his feet a shoulder length apart, and arches his back.

He pushes off with one foot, then the next, then the next, then he slams into the snow at the end of the ice rink.

Casanova pinches his glabella with one hand, the other on his hip as he stands before the half visible child. He sighs before pulling Tih out. He teaches him how to stop and to Casanova's surprise, he picks it up after one go. Not just that, but he immediately picks up everything he teaches him, even complex figure skating moves he pulls up from a video on his watch.

They skate in a relaxed manner on the recreational side. Casanova admires Tih's cantilever when someone from the hockey match crosses sections, running straight towards Tih with a sword. Casanova's pupils shrink. He pushes off as quickly as he can, but there's no way he'll reach Tih's side in time.

"Tih!" Tih isn't facing the attacker. Casanova tries to warn him in time, but it is unnecessary. Tih performs a back handspring to dodge the sword slash. Tih looks at Axel as he wields the sword, scorn on his face.

"You. Me. Let's fight." The moment he saw Tih, he rushed over. Tih is and has been his inner demon ever since the incident. He's always slightly on edge, a little tense at all times even after over half a year has passed. If he wants to get rid of these demons, his nightmares, and his underlying fears he needs to face off against the monster that caused it all and defeat him.

"What are you suggesting?" Casanova shows a wary gaze at the hostile stranger.

"A match. A game of hockey." He looks at Casanova," You with him? Then let's play two on two."

Casanova's starting to feel a little pissed at this cocky brat that tried to trash Tih and is now suggesting a fight. If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get. "Don't go home crying later on."