[Open Log]

[bearshermark]

Who: Elliott and OPEN to ALL Different!
What: Beach Partyyy!
When: May 31st, all night
Where: Rockaway Beach
Rating/Warnings: Will update if needed



It's a good spot.

Two diagonal picnic tables are parked a within roasting fork distance of the fire pit. It starts as a small, flickering fire, but once everyone's gathered, Elliott takes the opportunity to kick the night off and turn up the heat with the aid of a few magical fireballs.

There's hotdogs and an overlaying grill to cook up Yotsuyu's mix of meat and veggie kebabs. A cooler filled with soda and water bottles sits further away to avoid premature melting. Cookies and marshmallows or s'mores feature as dessert- or dinner, if that's anyone's preference.

For entertainment, Roselia makes a live, musical debut with Lisa as its sole performer. Meanwhile, Elliott does his best to encourage socialization and facilitate any necessary introductions. There's even a volleyball net and ball, and at least one attempt is made to form teams and get a game going.

But for the quieter sorts, dark, ocean waves lap at the shore outside the firelight. The weather is perfectly clear, and the location affords a rare opportunity to enjoy the stars. There might even be a cat playing in the sand somewhere nearby.

Some accouterments (like cutlery or extra chairs) might have been accidentally overlooked.

...He tried okay.

Comments

Re: Ben/Bail

[consortofalderaan]

Speaking of sand, Bail kicked off his sandals and buried his toes in the cool, damp sand. He draped his arms over his knees.

"Oh my brother is fine." He waved a hand. "He and his wife are remodeling a part of their house and he'd asked me to come over to help prep the space... How was your weekend?"

[neverjedi]

Ben pretty well buried his feet in the sand again, too, and took a drink of his water. This really was a nice night.

His smile was warm, bright and open. "My weekend was good. Really good actually. I spent some time in the gym learning aerial acrobatics for my next exhibition skate. It's fun." A pause. "Definitely more fun than remodeling."

[consortofalderaan]

Bail's mouth didn't exactly drop, but he was surprised. "Yes." He nodded. "That sounds like it would be much more fun than remodeling..." Way to make him think his life is rather boring. "Do you do that kind of thing often?"

[neverjedi]

He laughed, just a little and shook his head. "I do three or four exhibition skates a year. I do not usually do aerial acrobatics or anything of the sort. But learning a new skill and having a new challenge sometimes is fun, you know?"

[consortofalderaan]

"What did you do for your last exhibition skate?" Bail asked, genuinely interested.

[neverjedi]

"Skated." He smiles, quick and warm. "It was a River Dance on ice thing. The biggest challenge there was an awful lot of people on the ice at the same time at points, which doesn't sound like much but was... interesting." He pauses, just a second. "One of the reason I keep doing them isn't so much the money, though it's nice, but because I can keep performing and find some lower impact challenges. I stopped the competitive skating because my back was done and my knees weren't far behind."

[consortofalderaan]

For a moment Bail lost himself in Ben's smile, hoping it never fell, and he almost missed what Ben was saying.

"Do you miss competing? Or is performing satisfying enough?"

[neverjedi]

'I sometimes still miss the... pressure of competition, but performing gives me enough structure that I don't miss it very much or very often." He's not sure how else to explain it, but he's still so... relaxed and just happy with the night.

[consortofalderaan]

"When is your next performance?" Bail didn't even know if he would go- maybe- he just... like this moment and at the very least wanted to get to know Ben more.

[neverjedi]

"It runs June 29th through July 11th. It's pretty kid friendly if it's something you want to do with your daughter." That was his assumption behind the question.

Certainly he took it as a maybe.

[consortofalderaan]

"She would probably find it entertaining, but if she gets it into her head to try aerial acrobatics, I am going to blame you. And have a solid panic attack at you." Sure, he was joking, but also. Not.

[neverjedi]

"Okay, first of all - absolutely not my fault." He was very serious about that point, "though I'll help you with the panic attack portion of the evening should it come to that. Second of all, it's low impact and relatively safe. Probably safer than martial arts."

[consortofalderaan]

"I'll only panic when my daughter decides to become a trapeze artist." He definitely wouldn't at Ben's show.

[neverjedi]

"Breathe in calm and breathe out anxiety; they have nets." He nudged Bail lightly and gently, he was teasing and not at all unsympathetic.

[consortofalderaan]

Bail laughed. "It's amazing how rational I can be with patients and other people about their emotions, but when I think about my daughter in any physical harm, I am not a rational person. At least emotionally, I've never prevented her from doing things that are objectively, statistically safe."

[neverjedi]

"I don't know how my parents did it. I don't know how my student's parents do it. I think it helps that figure skating is generally not seen as inherently dangerous, but some of my private coaching students give me near heart attacks on a pretty regular basis." Which was to say he was not unsympathetic, but he also wasn't pretending to know how much more intense that was as a parent.

[consortofalderaan]

"Lots of reminding myself that she will be just fine," Bail said. "And at any given tournament there are a handful of parents doing the exact same thing... DO any of your private students want to compete on the level you did?"

[neverjedi]

"All of my students want to compete at the level I did - especially the little kids." Which was not what Bail was asking and he knew it. "My private coaching kids are pretty serious. I think the most serious will probably pursue someone more experienced at coaching than me at some point. I'm trying to shove realism and life-work balance down their throat while they're with me."

[consortofalderaan]

"Do you ever want to coach an Olympic athlete?" Bail wondered if it was pure desire to stay out of that arena again. Or if this was more of Ben's self-depreciating opinion of himself.

[neverjedi]

"I don't know," he admitted. "Leaving aside whether or not I'm capable for the moment...." Because he didn't know the answer to that, either, "I love the sport, I love competing, I loved the Olympics, but there is a lot of toxicity, especially at those levels. It can be a pressure cooker and a meat grinder. I want to encourage my students to reach for their dreams, but I also want them... capable of recognizing the pressure, maybe countering it, definitely assessing whether the payoff is still worth it to them." That was a lot of words, and a lot of thought, but he had a lot of feelings about it.

[consortofalderaan]

"Do you think you're incapable of helping them navigate all that as their actual coach?" Bail asked.

[neverjedi]

"I think that I am better equipped than some coaches I've had, less equipped than others, and that most high level competitive sports professionals would benefit from a psychologist."

Which was to say he wasn't one. And also 'I don't know'.

[consortofalderaan]

"From what I've seen and heard... I would have to agree," Bail said. "Competition can be healthy, but like all things humans do, it can be unhealthy, as well. But... I think your students are lucky to have you, you who puts the whole of their lives first, rather than just competition."

[neverjedi]

He starts to say something then realizes they don't know each other nearly well enough for that yet - too personal on his end - but maybe someday. Hopefully someday.

"I appreciate that vote of confidence." He really did. "Let's go roast some marshmallows."