Quiet Ice, Silent Nights

It's Time to Prove It

"You know," a voice that unmistakably belonged to Alya called out, a teasing lilt in her voice, "you've never once talked about ice skating. Never ever, not even in passing like 'Oh it's a little chilly out Alya by the way I'm like a professional ice skater!'"

Marinette sighed heavily for the hundredth time that morning alone and straightened up from her hunched position over her desk to turn towards her best friend, who was sat cross legged on her lounge.

"It never came up," she defended weakly, shrugging her shoulders and containing a slight smile at Alya's irritated huff.

"You never brought it up! Being super bizarrely talented at something is kinda the sort of thing you bring up!"

"I just never brought it up! And I have never described my skill level as 'bizarrely talented', you made that up."

Marinette turned back to working on her contest outfit, which lay spread out in shimmering folds on her workspace. She continued to clean up any small mistakes she could spot, resigning herself to Alya's good-tempered outrage that had slowly built up over the course of the month.

"All the names of those insane maneuvers you've been telling me about!? I count that as bizarrely talented, especially since the first I ever heard of it was when you randomly entered a competition." Alya raised her hands to start ticking things off, staring into space as she counted. "Cantilever, catch-foot, camel spin, bracket turns, fan spirals, flip jumps, something insane called hydroblading which is where..." she pulled out her phone for reference, "a skater glides on a deep edge with the body stretched in a very low position, almost horizontal to the ice." She blinked once, still staring at her phone like it had to be wrong. "Are you going to do that at all? I can't even picture that."

Marinette peaked over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow as she was admittedly impressed. "Not in this routine. I'm surprised Alya, I thought ice-skating wasn't your thing."

Alya didn't even look up from her phone, flipping through dozens of tabs she had open on a daily basis, saying, "You find out your friend is a closet pro at something you take notes, if you're into this I'm into this especially if it's my girls competition day. I need to know enough to be able to tell why you're the best when you win this thing."

At the mention of the contest that would be happening in just five hours Marinette groaned, sinking low to the ground and thumping her head against the desk. Alya glanced up from her phone at the sound and rolled her eyes, moving to pull Marinette back into a standing position.

"Come on didn't you say you blew the other girls out of the water at tryouts? I haven't even seen it yet and I know you're going to be amazing so try and relax!"

Marinette looked like she was going to sink again so Alya grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, soon becoming Marinette's comforting shoulder as she cried, "What am I even thinking!? Adrien is going to be there, watching me!"

Alya patted her friend on the back, rolling her eyes again and chuckling. "Well you really don't have anyone but yourself to blame for that."

"Not helping..." she mumbled, letting Alya support her weight as she mourned the loss of her self-confidence.

As Alya pet her hair she glared sullenly at her contest wear, extremely proud of it in design but seeing it as the symbol of her impending doom.

It had delicate spiraling black floral like designs stretched across it, sleeveless with a simple neckline and an elegant black lace skirt. She might have taken the 'Ice Flower' idea and run a little far with it... but she looked forward to wearing it. That is except for the skating part.