2025-10-24: Learning to Ride
- Log: Learning to Ride
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Suzume Fukura
- Where: A skate park in Iwatodai
- OOC Date: October 21, 2025
- IC Date: Sunday, July 29, 2012
- Summary: Ririka takes Suzume out to a skateboard park to start showing her how to skateboard. And they get to talking during.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka doesn't advertise it for... a lot of reasons, but it's no big secret that she likes to skateboard. She even feels like she's pretty decent at it, though she'd never brag. (But, well, she did manage to skateboard her way through the Dark Hour long enough to be rescued by SEES, so... she must be doing something right.)
But that aforementioned rescue is why she's not as secretive about it around the dorm, but she was still surprised when Suzume approached her about learning to skateboard after exams were done. But she readily agreed, and advised Suzume to wear long pants and maybe even long sleeves if she could tolerate it in the heat--all the better to reduce scrapes while learning how to ride a board.
And the next day found them at one of Ririka's favorite skate parks (after Ken was all moved in, of course.) There's not a lot of them, but there's still a few, even if they require admission since they're smaller and more often not publically funded. Around the dorm and in school Ririka is often quite and polite, but here, much like on stage, she seemed to come alive, joking, hollaring barbs with the other skaters (most of whom seemed to be male, of course), and just generally seeming more confident.
She's dressed in cargo pants and a black tank top currently, and a pair of white skate shoes. She does have her helmet on, but her pads are in her backpack--she's saving those for more advanced tricks later. And not only does she have a board for herself, she brought a spare one for Suzue.
They're off in a quieter section of the park, one meant for practicing manuals and other basic tricks. "Alright, Fukura-san. First things first. We gotta figure out which foot's your forward foot. You're gonna be pushing with your back foot, so you wanna make sure that feels natural." Ririka gets on her skateboard and demonstrates. "Give it a shot."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume knows perfectly well that Ririka skateboards, because she's seen her do it multiple times. Not even always in the Dark Hour, even!
It may not be a particularly 'feminine' activity, but if there's one thing Suzume doesn't care about, it's that. None of her hobbies are, either. It certainly isn't going to put her off that Ririka has a similar hobby - if anything, she approves of it.
Actually, Suzume wanted to try it. All she has is a bike, which doesn't hold a candle to either a motorbike (like Mitsuru, or Moriko) or a skateboard (like Ririka). And once exams were over, she wanted to do *anything* except think about her performance in them. So she asked!
When Suzume shows up, she is actually dressed appropriately; she's got a pair of cargo pants herself, though she has a T-shirt rather than a tank top, dark purple - nearly the colour of her hair. She does not have pads - she didn't own any to bring - but she does have a black bike helmet, and she brought that, because she figures that there's probably not much of a difference (there is, but not a relevant one at the speeds she'll be going on her first day).
"Yo, Kawase-san," is Suzume's call on the approach. She's looking around, having never really come to a skate park before - it feels like her kind of place, even though she's never been and doesn't know how to board, and so even though the *people* feel comfortable she still feels like an outsider. Ririka acts differently, too. Huh, she thinks to herself.
But: "It'll be left," Suzume says, confidently. And judging by her balance she steps on the board, she's not wrong, though it takes her a few moments to find her balance on it. "Where'd you get the other board, anyway? Did you borrow it from someone? Am I gonna have to thank them for it?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's seen some cool stuff done on a bike! But Suzume probably doesn't have the kind of bike you'd normally opt to do stunts on. But she smiles as she sees Suzume approach. "Hey, Furua-san! Glad you made it. I figured, we'd want a place where we would risk getting run off by the cops. But we'll start slow, okay?"
The skate park is pretty lively today--first day of summer break, and all. But every is is busy at the other parts, so their corner is pretty quiet. Mostly flat ground, some loosely spaced obstacles to practice steering, and not much else.
(And anybody who might give Suzume some gruff is shut down by Ririka yelling back at them.)
Suzume confidently picks Left, and Ririka watches, grinning. "Nice!" She shakes her head. "I borrowed it, but don't worry about it. Somebody owed me a favor, so this is them paying it back."
She steps onto her own board--her right foot's the front one, and she moves so she's facing Suzume. "Alright, next is pushing. You're gonna start with both feet facing the side, right? Lift off your back foot, pivot your front foot so it's facing forward, and push with the rear. Then when you're rolling, pivot your front foot back to the side and plant both feet on the deck."
Ririka demonstrates it slowly a few times so Suzume can get a feel for it. "So give it a shot. And if you don't mind my asking... what made you interested in learning to skateboard?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume's bike is not exactly impressive. It gets her around the city faster than her feet (and these days, it has the added advantage of 'works in the Dark Hour', which lets her scout around when it's a day she handles some of the lesser Shadows) but otherwise has little to recommend it. Her helmet isn't very stylish either, even by bike helmet standards.
And Suzume can definitely take care of herself if someone gives her shit. She has a sharp tongue when it suits her to use it.
"Huh," is Suzume's response to the board. Does she owe Ririka now? She will worry about it later - Suzume doesn't like letting owing people things hang for too long, but she doesn't have to deal with it now.
"I figured, if you're pushing with the back foot, I want my right foot back because it's my better leg," Suzume says. "It's my primary leg for other sports too. And arm. Are you left-handed?" Maybe that's why Ririka likes her feet the other way around. She never thought to watch while Ririka was writing or anything...
Suzume actually gets the hang of rolling pretty quickly. For all her lack of attention at school, when she cares she actually learns reasonably quickly, and especially so when it's a physical skill like this. Balancing isn't hard at all either - well, so far. It's not like she's done anything complicated yet.
"I am DONE with thinking about school for a while. Exams suck. So I want to get out and do something else, and why not? You're the only skateboarder I know. When I was younger I wanted rollerblades but I never could afford a pair." Suzume rolls to a stop, turns the board around, and kicks again - she hasn't figured out turning yet, though judging by the way she leans it's only a matter of time.
"It was that or I go down to the arcade, and I did that yesterday, right after the last exam. Went into Tokyo." Suzume got in late yesterday, on Saturday, and went straight to her bedroom without talking to anyone. It doesn't appear to be doing her any harm today, though - she's not tired-looking.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka will let Suzume handle herself if she feels like it! She's just used to doing it here, so it's a bit of a reflex.
"Like I said, don't worry about it," Ririka says with a wave of her hand.
"Well, if all you're trying to do is speed, sure, but... if you want to learn tricks, you need to think about which leg gives you better control. Because something like a kickturn..." Ririka leans back on her left leg, lifting the front of the board, and then she twists her hips, shifting the direction she's moving in. "... needs you to use your better leg to control the direction of the board." She shrugs. "But you can probably learn it either way."
"Nah, I'm mostly right-handed." 'Mostly' since, she's got a lot of manual dexterity from years of piano and guitar playing.
"Yeah, exams were rough. Trying to keep up with all of the Dark Hour stuff, studying, practice, going up to Sumaru a lot..." Ririka sighs and shakes her head. "At least we can take it easy for a bit, right?" But she nods. "Rollarblading is cool... I'll be honset, I only got into skateboarding becaue of the Bony Eagle games, sooo..."
Ririka just skids to a halt and does a kickturn to change directions to keep up with Suzume's turn. "Hey, cool. Oh, that reminds me! Did you see the message I put up about concert tickets? You should check it out, it'll be cool. I have it on good authority there'll be some Drake Adventure music in there... And the So-young Park is directing!"
Ririka, that might not mean as much to everyone else as it does to you.
"Looks like you're getting a feel for the balance, though. Wanna try some turns?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume, when challenged (if challenged) takes a somewhat confrontational stance and attitude. She's *very* used to standing up for herself, and even gets aggressive... but the attitude here isn't bad today so she doesn't really have to. Score!
Suzume takes in what Ririka has to say about kick turns. "Makes sense," she agrees. "I don't exactly have a *weak* leg though, so I'm probably okay." She used to do a lot of running, after all; she does have strong legs, even though you might not be able to tell normally. Unless you've seen her jump at someone in the Dark Hour, anyway.
"Why were you going up to Sumaru - oh, right, your sister's up there." Suzume doesn't know Ichika but she is aware of her existence and also that Ririka would probably like to visit; that Suzume never liked her owl sister is hardly universal. "Well that's not too bad - I mean, it's kinda an all-evening thing, but you can do it. I go up there sometimes, to the Cardboard Dragon, but I've been down to Shibuya and Akihabara too, in Tokyo. I was into the card games for a while, though I'm probably gonna sell my collection soon." To do what? She hasn't decided.
She can't afford rollerblades on them, though, so so much for that dream!
She scowls at 'exams were rough' - they were, for her. "Concert tickets - oh, right. Yeah, I heard, but... I dunno. It might be interesting but it's kind of weird, to hear video game music played in real life? And I know there's some NOT video game stuff too, and I don't know s - crap about fancy music. Don't you have to dress real fancy to get into one of those?"
Turns... "Yeah, I think I can. You lean, right? Like a bike?" Suzume is guessing, but she isn't wrong - though on her first attempt, she almost overbalances, because it's a lot harder to turn when you're moving slowly on a skateboard than faster and she doesn't realize it. She has to change her stance, taking a slightly wider one for stability.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Suzume says both legs are strong, and Ririka nods. "Cool! Well, then if it feels like it works, go with it." Ririka's been aat it long enough she can switch it up, but... that's experience that mostly only applies to this one activity.
"Yeah. We've been trying to spend more time together, so... I go up there quite a bit." She sighs. "Yeah, I try to get work done on the train ride up, but sometimes that's hard... at leat headphones don't take up a lot of space, but then you need to be more careful on teh train, so... sometimes not. But nee-san's moving back home for the summer, so it'll be easier to see her." She nods. "Oh yeah, I've been to the Cardboard Dragon a few times now, too! The setup's a little weird, but I kinda like it."
"Some of the card games are cool, but... I kinda have a hard time keeping up with them? Like there's always new cards coming out for whatever game, and then you gotta learn alll the new ones... Akihabara's got some cool arcades, though."
"Oh yeah? Just not feeling the card games anymore, then?"
"Maybe it's a little weird," she admits. "But I kinda like seeing how everything gets changed and transformed, you know? But then, music's my whole thing, so..." Ririka laughs a little, a bit self-deprecating. She grins a little as she catches that cut-off word, steering her skateboard closer to Suzume. "You don't have to dress that fancy, just 'kind of nice'. It's not black tie or anything. But it definitely won't be super 'traditional', so maybe it'll be interesting?" She shrugs a little. "I got the tickets for free, so it's okay if you don't want to go. I'll be there too, if that helps."
Granted, she'll be performing, but she's trying to save that as a surprise.
"Yep. You can do a kickturn like I did, or you can carve, which just involves leaning. But be careful with your balance--" Whoops, too late. She zips over to check on Suzume. "You lean your body, but you have to make sure you're leaning the board on the trucks, too, like this." She demonstrates, exaggeratedly leaning the board down the long axis.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume *does* try standing on the board the other way too, but only for a few moments - she apparently decides she liked it the first way almost immediately and swaps back pretty quickly to left-forward.
"Just so long as she doesn't get in your way," is Suzume's response to Ichika coming down for the summer. It's still her personal experience with siblings talking, but... "Especially since I don't think Shadows take the summer off." SEES is probably going to have to do things even when class isn't in session. Perhaps especially when class isn't in session.
There's always new cards coming out... "That's why I'm dropping it," Suzume says. "I don't wanna keep up. Mandai-chan is too, you know, and we were the ones who played most of it. Yamamoto-san, I guess, but he stopped before we did. And yeah, Akihabara's got some cool arcades. My system's a little out of date so that's the only way I can play the new ones..."
Dress 'kind of nice'. Suzume doesn't really dress up, but talking about that gets awkward. She doesn't know a lot about girls' fashion since she never bothered to learn - she wears a lot of jeans and T-shirts when she's just sitting around the dorm, though she does wear her uniform at school (obviously) and has a couple nicer outfits. One, at least.
"When is it?" she asks, slightly non-commital. "I'll think about it." Not that her schedule is particularly full around summer - and she likes it that way! "It'd be different, at least."
As for the turn, Suzume didn't fall, but she did kind of stumble, catching herself with the stance shift and putting one foot down for a moment. She does stay on the board, other than that one foot to brake, and Ririka doesn't have to deal with her falling off (or stumbling into her).
"Oh, like, shift your feet and your weight..." Suzume looks down, leaning slightly as she examines her feet on the board. She shifts the way she has them planted a little bit, and when she kicks off, she *does* successfully turn this time, pressing down differently as well as changing her body weight. "Ha!"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"It'll probably be fine. And... it'll be nice to have her closer for a while, you know?" She pauses nad then frowns, making a face as Suzume reminds her of Shadows. "Damn... and here I was thinking I might go crash at home for the summer..." She sighs. "... maybe not."
"So it's not just you, huh? Maybe I should get rid of mine, but... it's still fun to play with Emi-chan." That's one of the people in her band--and her best friend since 2nd grade, too. "Oh, yeah... like the new Night Parade version. Have you gotten to play a lot of that yet? I'm still getting the hang of some of the new mechanics."
Ririka grins. "I'll get you the dates! I think you can redeem the tickets for any performance."
She watches as Suzume manages to successfully carve the turn, letting out a small cheer. "Yeah! There you go. And you can do the same thing in the other direction to turn the other way." She builds up some speed and demonstrates, doing some long carves back and forth, at varying turn radii.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"I mean, you can visit." Suzume can't imagine that they're trapped here FOREVER. "But - "
Well, she can't really keep talking about SEES stuff anywhere near public. 'Shadows' is easy to talk away if somebody gets suspicious. Going into details, not so much. And there are people at the skate park even if none of them are that close.
"Well, I figure you joined for a reason. I did," Suzume eventually settles on. "So you probably wouldn't want to just bail. And if you did, there's faster ways to do it." And it might be dangerous, depending - especially if Ririka tries to get involved while she's on her own.
Suzume would, granted. She's not in much of a position to say.
"The new Night Parade's pretty good. Most of the changes are good," Suzume says, as she practices some simple turns. Left, right, left but in a slower, wider arc, right in a tight near-spin... "It's getting a home release." Not that Suzume can really buy it, not having the system it's for. "So the tournaments are gonna pick up in challenge, if you do that at all."
But now Suzume is feeling a little confident, and when Suzume gets confident she takes risks. She kicks a couple times to pick up speed and tries a more complex pattern of turning - no especially flashy tricks, just moving faster, more aggressively than she has been, even daring to go over a slight slope. It's pushing and she really should take it slower than she is...
...but she manages to stay on; even if she nearly topples once she recovers in time, wobbling back upright, laughing in an authentic way she rarely does.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka shakes her head. "No, I'm not bailing. I just... hadn't thought through everyth8ing for summer break, I've been so focused on finals, and then getting my shows going..." Ririka sighs. "Man... well, at least my family lives in Iwatodai... maybe I can spend a night or two over if I don't have anything else going on..."
"Yeah, I like what I've gotten to play, but a console release, huh...?" Ririka considers that as she brings up the nose of her board for a manual before manualing, doing a shove it, and landing in a nose manual. "It's fun to try tournaments every once in a while," Ririka admits. "I main Koto Furunushi, which is kinda hard but usually pretty good at throwing people off." It's a yokai with a--you guessed it--music based mechanic, one that allows it to switch to a number of different stances.
Yes, Ririka picked the character with the music gimmick. Shock of shocks. (It's not a shock, she used it at the launch party's tournament.)
"Hey, take it easy, Fukura-san!" Ririka calls from where she's watching. "Nice moves, but you wanna really nail down the balance first. If you wanna keep pushing speed, though, you can borrow my pads, just in case."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume manages (successfully) to spin herself around not quite in place, but at least pretty close, and then come to a stop. She's still grinning, at least a little bit.
"C'mon, you don't think I'm a natural?" she says. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything TOO stupid." And indeed she intends to behave - she just had to see if she could do it. Even Suzume's daredevil attitude isn't enough to try a jump when she just learned how to go left and right. "Anyway, I don't want to take your pads."
It's not a sizing thing. Suzume just doesn't want to use someone else's gear. She's already stuck using the board.
But she picks the board up to go back over to Ririka so she can try it again. There's only so much you can do on day one.
Ririka might want to visit her family, but Suzume doesn't. Her expression momentarily looks stormy; she hopes they don't send her home. "I'm gonna stay at the dorms mostly," she says, instead. "If you get a day free we can swing up to the arcades or Shibuya or something. Or I'll hook up the old consoles and we can give it a shot."
This is by way of thanking Ririka for showing her, at least the very basics, of skateboarding. Suzume, as always, has trouble thanking people directly. But... she's smiling, at least, her slightly crooked smile.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka laughs a little as Suzume mentions being a natural. "You're doing pretty good," she admits. "Annnnd I do remember wanting to keep pushing things when I was learning, but I'd hate seeing you get hurt, too."
"Oh, okay," Ririka says of the pads. "They're there if you want them, though." If they get to doing something actually challenging and tricky... Ririka will figure something out.
Ririka pauses, when she sees Suzume's expression. "... cool. Yeah, makes sense. Like you said, Sadows probably don't have the summer off, so... I'll probably still be around the dorm a bit, too."
She smiles. "That'd be cool! Both of those sound like a lot of fun, Fukura-san." Ririka doesn't think Suzume owes her anything for the skateboard lesson; she's happy enough just to be able to share it. But she'll gladly accept 'more hanging out' as a payment regardless.
"Alright. Next step, if you're feeling up to it, I go grab some cones and we set up some slalom courses."
And the lessons will keep going until they're both ready to leave.