legionworld | Don't tell him inline skates are out of style

Who| Casey and YOU
What| Casey deals with downtime almost entirely through extreme sports
Where| The Hab deck and the Sim Room
When| Whenever, he does this a lot.
Warnings/Notes| Risk of injury = high

The Habitat Deck
Some battle skills you can't hone in the training room.

Of course not everyone incorporates hockey into their fighting style. Casey's pretty unique in that way, but it also means that finding a place to practice is a little more difficult than it might be otherwise. But somebody in the Habitat Deck is a guy after his own heart, and Casey found himself a perfect skating rink!

He'll likely be well into slapshot drills before anyone finds him. A proper hockey net proved to be a tall order, but there were plenty of target dummies around and Casey's mostly hitting bulls-eyes, but he's starting to get bored. Anyone finding him is going to be an instant distraction...

Simulation Room

And later, Casey would have the greatest stroke of genius he's ever had. Why not use the sim room to make the Ultimate Skate Park?!

Ramps, rails, floating islands, massive dips, jumps, scaffolding, ramps as high as they'll go. He shoots off a quick mass text: "skate party in the sim room!!!" and proceeds to skate at full speed towards the nearest rail. This is going to be so METAL

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Considering that this was his part of the Habitat Deck, Victor was a little surprised to enter the rink and hear the sound of someone doing...something that's definitely not figure skating in it. But a surprise wasn't necessarily unpleasant, and definitely worth investigating. Victor heads for the side of the rink, his (golden bladed) skates slung over one shoulder.

"Helloooo in the rink!"

Casey slapped one last puck, banking off the side of a dummy, before turning around in time to spot the glint off his golden blades. If the dubious smirk is any indication, it doesn't impress Casey all that much.

"What ancient mummy's tomb'd you steal those from?"

Victor's smile doesn't even waver. He's been skating on golden blades for years, it'll take more than that to rattle him.

"The Athramites made them for me," he answers easily. "It was kind of them, since my skates didn't make it here with me."

"So your skates back home are gold too? Skills gotta be pretty slick if your gonna bling 'em out like that."

Golden skates aren't 'hockey,' so this guy can't know his way around a puck. Of course, the only way to know is to actually see him skate, so Casey watches to see what he does.

"I should hope they are," Victor says with a laugh. "I've been skating with competition in mind for...well, probably longer than you've been alive."

Ugh, he sounds so old.

"I can only assume, based on the equipment, that your preference is for hockey?"

That could mean anything about this guy's age, really. He doesn't look out of his 20s, but he's a figure skater. Could be that they freeze these guys between competitions so they always stay young.

"My dad was a pro hockey player," it's basically his boilerplate explanation, "I was practically born in the rink! I'm pretty much the star of my high school team, could go pro myself if I wanted."

So what if Victor was probably a pro, it's basically only age he's got on Casey.

Victor leans on the low wall surrounding the rink.

"And do you want to?" he asks with all signs of genuine interest, because he is interested. Hockey might not be his sport, but he's always believed strongly in following one's passions and encouraging others to do so as well. It doesn't matter how many hours of practice someone puts in if they don't really, truly want it.

"Well...yeah."

He wanted it for his whole life until his other dream of being a bounty hunter suddenly became a lot more feasible.

"I mean, I always did, but I gotta lot of options. I mean, I've been doin' the whole hero thing for so long back home that I could make that my life now if I wanted!"

Line up the puck, come back on the stick, follow through and -BULLSEYE! Naturally.

"And they both use the same skills too!"

"Well, you'll have to decide which option you want to pursue sooner rather than later," Victor said, his tone matter-of-fact. "Because if you truly want to become a hockey player, you're going to be competing against people who aren't dividing their time between it and heroics. No matter how many of the skills overlap, not all of them do, and that will absolutely handicap you in favor of your competition."

"What are ya, a coach?" Casey and coaches don't always get along, though admittedly, he's not sure what to do with one that isn't specifically his coach.

"Jeeze, I got time. Not like the heroics are gonna dry up anytime soon. I mean, most superheros got secret identities, right? Why can't mine be hockey star?"

"Well, yes," Victor says, because he is a coach now. "But I was speaking as a competitor. You can do hockey and heroics if you're okay with being, at best, a middle-of-the-pack hockey player. But if you want to excel, if you want to lead the pack, if you want--" The corner of Victor's mouth flicks upward, "--to be the person who can wear skates with golden blades without being laughed at, then you will need to focus. All of the talent and pedigree and time spent on the rink doesn't mean anything if you can't devote yourself to it."

He waved a hand. "I'm not saying that you have to decide now, when we're looking at the end of all realities." His tone was light and breezy now, much less serious than it had been moments before. "But it's something to keep in mind. You have a lot of options, but sometimes it all comes down to what you can't live without."

"'Middle-of-the-pack?' Do you even know who you're talkin' to?" Casey lines up a shot at one of the dummies and hauls back. "I'm Casey Jones, and I'm the best!"

He slapshots the puck at one of the dummies, striking it square in the head. It ricochets to the side, striking the dummy right next to it and flying back towards him. He reaches out with a gloved hand to catch it and does, sliding back only an inch.

Try to tell Casey Jones he can't do everything. This guy has no idea what he's already done.

"And dude? Nobody can wear golden skates without getting laughed at."

Victor is unmoved by Casey's demonstration of the powers of ricochet. Not that it isn't impressive, but...

"And how much time did you spend learning to do that instead of things that are useful and 'legal' in the hockey rink?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. "Because you'll be going up against people who can hit just as hard as you can and skate as fast as you can and show up on time to practice and stay late after."

Casey scowls, tapping his stick to punctuate his sentences.

"I stayed in that rink 'til midnight after school every night 'til I started getting attacked by ninjas and aliens mid-skate. Even if I gave up the hero business, the city's scumbags wouldn't give up tryin' to ice me, alright!? Don't act like I ain't tryin' as hard as anyone!"

He picks up another puck and gives it a slap. "You try to do your figure skating while a gang of robo-ninjas attack you with buzz saws and then talk to me about competition."

Victor props his chin on the heel of his hand and raises his eyebrows in a manner he knows infuriates Yurio. Competitive teenagers are so very easy to needle sometimes.

"Yes, berating me will solve this problem," he says blithely. "It is clearly something I'm doing to you. From another reality."

He shrugs his shoulders. "It's not a problem I've had to solve, no, but it's certainly possible that someone else here has some advice. All you have to do is ask."

Don't tell him inline skates are out of style

Hab Deck

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