Exhaustion!

[morganknight]

After fighting in a massive planetary battle -- well, less 'fighting' and more 'healing people, occasionally from literal death' -- the Akashic was, in a word, exhausted.

Not necessarily physically; regardless of how grueling shifts in Medbay might be at the moment, he made a point to stick to his schedule, sleep plenty, eat (ugh) enough gruel, and keep his body in shape. Not necessarily mentally either; good health and self-care, along with meditation and discipline, helped in that matter as well.

There was just a certain level of core, deep, ground-in exhaustion that couldn't be banished that easily, though. So that left only one thing to do for the best relaxation:

Snowboard in the sensorium.

Who wants in on this?

Comments

[morganknight]

Wasn't that the truth, but that was a good thing. It certainly beat meeting new people in medbay, or worse, near death in a med-tent...

"All right, then. Let's get you a board and down towards a short clean run of the hill, huh?"

He concentrated for a moment, instructing the sensorium to plop down a teleporter pad right next to the pair of them. It obligingly did.

[indeliblepast]

She grinned, and sauntered over to the teleporter pad. "This place is a lot more obliging than a real slope, I think."

[morganknight]

"No kidding," he said, stepping on after her. "This means I can skip the 'how to get on the ski lift' lesson."

The pad obligingly whisked them to a spot not far from the bottom of the bunny hill. Morgan thunked his board down in the snow. "Do you know, offhand, which is your primary foot?"

[indeliblepast]

"Well, I've used a ski lift before - it's just been a while." Not much time for mountain vacations when you spent life in space, after all. She glanced down the hill - didn't look too bad, though, again, it'd been a while. "Um... I'm not sure, actually. Right-handed and right-eyed, but it's never come up for feet."

[morganknight]

"It's actually not related to handedness, but there's an easy way to tell. Do this." He darted forward a couple of feet, then jammed his feet into the snow and spread his arms to slide a few yards. His right foot had gone forward, but that was just what felt most natural to him.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi watched Morgan with interest. Figuring it out based on muscle memory, huh? She repeated the motion - and her left foot came to the front as she slid on the snow.

[morganknight]

"Regular-footed, then," he said. He commanded the sensorium to construct a board for her, oriented left-foot forward, then held it out to her once it appeared in his hands.

[indeliblepast]

She took it from him with a smile. "I suppose the next step is getting on, yeah?"

[morganknight]

"Yep. Here's the easy way." He dropped his own board down into the snow, then simply dropped his butt down onto the hill behind it. "No sense getting elaborate for the first time. Park yourself, then strap yourself in."

By way of example, he fit his feet onto his board (which now had bindings, for the purpose of demonstration!) and began securing them tightly.

"You want them absolutely immobile. No twisting, space, tugging, anything."

[indeliblepast]

She followed his example, landing in the snow with slightly less finesse - but no sliding. She fit her own feet in, and then pulled the bindings nice and tight.

"I'm going to guess standing up is a lot harder than sitting down."

[morganknight]

"Yep. If your board gets straight, it'll start sliding, so!" He lifted his legs, then dropped them so his board dug into the snow. When he pushed himself upright, the wedge he'd cut kept the board tilted back so it couldn't slide.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi nodded, and tried to do the same. She got mostly upright, and then the board wobbled, and she slipped back onto her ass in the snow. "Ah-!" No harm done, really - but it caught her by surprise.

[morganknight]

Yep, that'll happen.

"When you get more experienced, it's actually a little easier to get when you're facing the hill, but you're less likely to fall down the hill this way."

He managed not to laugh, too.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi laughed a little - at herself, mostly. Figures she'd get that far before falling. She pushed up again, and this time kept her balance as she stood.

"There we go."

[morganknight]

"All right! Now. First step is to just go down the hill. That's easy enough. Just turn your body like you're going to point at it, and then, when it starts moving, keep your balance. Turning your torso, or leaning to one side or the other, is how you steer, but if you do it unconsciously or without intending to, you'll end up trying to compensate and fall over. Staying up is the first goal!"

He motioned her to go for it, with a grin.

[indeliblepast]

Ah, now came the real challenge. She nodded, trying to hide her sudden uncertainty. She shifted, and the board started sliding down the hill. Not too fast, thankfully - but she decided it was best to try and keep balance rather than attempt steering. She managed rather well, until she hit the bottom of the hill, and realized she didn't know how to stop.

A rather ungracious fall into the snow worked well enough, though.

[morganknight]

Close behind her, he sliced through the snow to a more graceful stop, then flicked off his bindings and came over to offer her a hand up. "That wasn't bad!" he said, his smile quite sincere and not at all mocking. "You didn't fall on your ass till the bottom, after all."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi took the offered hand with a grateful smile. "Guess muscle memory is a little better than I thought, after all. Though knowing the real way to stop would be good, I think."

[morganknight]

"Ah, controlling the board is the NEXT lesson!" He grinned, moving over to pick up his own board, then tipping his head to indicate the platform that would take them back up to where they'd just left.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi laughed, and undid her bindings so she could pick up her own board too. "Fair enough, fair enough." She headed toward the teleport platform for back up the hill.

[morganknight]

He followed along, dropping back onto his butt to reattach his board as soon as they reached their starting point. "Now, steering is about shifting weight and pointing, basically. Whichever side your weight is on acts like a brake. It goes slower, so you turn. So since you're riding regular-foot, if you want to turn to the right, you shift your weight to your toes and turn your body slightly. To turn left, shift your weight to your heels instead. Sounds simple enough, anyway?"

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi reattached her board as well - and managed to stand up on the first try this time. "Sounds simple - though somehow I'm guessing it won't be quite so easy in reality." Not that she minded - she was, she realized, having fun. While sober, no less.

[morganknight]

"It'd be pretty boring if it was, wouldn't it?" Yes, Morgan was the sort who enjoyed the journey as well as the destination.

"The simplest lesson on carving? Make a toe-side turn, let your board straighten, then make a heel side turn. Nice and easy. Get your balance and your bearing back between the turns... that's when you're most likely to catch an edge, going from one side to the other. Taken a few falls learning that myself, let me tell you."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi laughed. "True enough. I'll give it a try - and it's not a big enough hill to hurt if it doesn't work." She shifted, and started down the hill. The first turn went well enough - though the movement was... different than she was used to. Something that would take practice. The second turn however, sent her sprawling in the snow - though she sat up with a grin.

[morganknight]

He skidded to a stop next to her, board slicing perfectly through the snow till it came to a stop in a spray. He offered her a hand, doing his best not to laugh, though it was written all over him. "You got the first one down pretty nicely!" he said, truthfully enough.