Audio version: https://youtu.be/SG9TCqnQDQw

Ch 38: A Rink-le

Command had been hesitant at first, as they had heard enough of why they were there, but there had been a small riot threatening to form from the entire battlegroup if they were not allowed to visit Station Finland’s Vengeance to skate.

Relenting only to keep their NCOs and Officers from leading the charge, each ship type was allowed to cycle onto Station Finland’s Vengeance and use the roller rink.

The Moose was allowed first, being the battleship, and it gave the great void-blade cover from all the other ships. Bloodmourne, being that his paramour was on the Moose, had been given special leave to join her at the roller rink.

Apparently, due to what his paramour had worn, he was also a day late coming back to the Wild Hunt, though he seemed as if he could care less about what his command could think.

Likely due to the claw marks all over his back.

As punishment, he had to stay behind on the Wild Hunt while everyone else went on their turn to Station Finland’s Vengeance, with the 1st Company of the Wild Hunt making quite the splash on the station.

Alias, being the ever devious sort, had linked up with Specialist Fredrick and Sergeant Ridrock for a “special intel mission", which turned out to be researching the concept of fashion known as “white boy summer”. With the application of the Moose’s engineering department and a heavy splurge on clothing, the entire 1st Company arrived on Station Finland’s Vengeance bearing the finest, and loudest, clothing they could find.

Anyone who managed to find their size wore vibrantly colored Hawaiian shirts, the colors so offensive to the eyes that the Company’s arrival on station caused many to visibly startle. Thanks to the engineering department on the Moose, every member of 1st Company, including their command, had their own style and color of pit viper sunglasses, a well beloved “meme” that survived to current day Earth.

Those who didn’t, or couldn’t, find a Hawaiian print shirt instead went with other vibrant clothing choices, raiding the 90’s themed parlor on the Moose and leaving the store nearly rampaged.

Rhidi herself looked as if she had popped off of a party poster from the year 2023; Morris and her had snuck over to do a little shopping the day before the rest of the ship was slotted to head to the Moose, which allowed them to choose a few more prime pieces.

Rhidi had found a pair of black jean shorts, mid-thigh length with the ends all tattered and torn in the most fashionable ways. To her delight, she had found a bright pink tanktop with catfish swimming on it, along with a Hawaiian print shirt that boasted both pineapples, and pineapple grenades.

Completed with her brand new ear-slotted baseball cap with the iconic jazz design coloring and pit vipers, she felt fully wrapped up in the warm embrace of Human history.

Morris went with khaki cargo shorts, something that “pained him greatly” as he put it to Rhidi, his own ballcap, the pit vipers he had gotten from Alias, a white tanktop, and the loudest Hawaiian shirt he could find.

Rhidi nearly had to squint when he had showed it to her, but gave him two padded thumbs up when he asked if it was “loud enough to scare the locals”.

As the Wild Hunt’s 1st Company arrived on station, Rhidi looked around as she walked arm in arm with Morris; The station was as purely Finland as the Humans could manage, nearly creating a one to one recreation of their cities within.

Naturally, at the first level where all onboard personnel left or arrived, was Helsinki.

Brightly colored with shops ringing all around the lower portions near the “cobble stone” road, the heartbeat of Station Finland’s Vengeance thrummed there. Humans were numerous around this level of the station, obviously, speaking a mix of English and Finnish as they went about their day, or harked their wares.

Mixed in amongst them were Pwah, Kojynn, Kafya, Skalathir, Lilgara, and a few other long-faring races that Rhidi did not immediately recognize. 

Even though there were stores, bars, and eateries aplenty, Rhidi and the rest of 1st Company head eyes for one thing only: The Rink.

Since 1st Company now had more troopers than previously, new faces drawn out from the recruits that wanted to get out into the void, their mass surge of three hundred bored Droppers clogged the street like a neon-colored plaque buildup.

Finnish Humans and anyone else who didn’t want to get lost in the brightly colored group gave way like a school of fish seeing a shark, with 1st Company making enough noise to give those ahead plenty of time to move.

The roller rink entrance, bathing in the hot glow of neon, made everyone’s eyes widen and ears perk. It bled and oozed pure nostalgia for the Humans who had only seen such things in pictures, while the star children of 1st Company saw the essence and soul of Human culture.

The windows and front doors were tinted darkly, allowing none of the interior to be visible to those outside, but the thump of music could be felt along the ground and within the air itself.

Drop Officer Duluth, wearing a scifi-combat shirt bearing mech units blasting their enemies with lasers, tipped down his purple pit viper sunglasses and observed the large double doors and turned to First Sergeant Lower.

“How do you want to breach this thing, First Sergeant Lower?” Duluth asked.

First Sergeant Lower, dressed to the nines in what could only be called ‘Nascar prime’, tilted his head sideways towards his CO. “Well, 4th Platoon’s 3rd Pod Section came in last during testing with the new suits, I would make them open the doors.”

“4th Platoon, 3rd Pod Section!” Drop Officer Duluth called out, the Section running to the front of the group with the excited expectation they were going in first. Duluth dipped his head towards them, catching them with his eyes before pushing his pit vipers back into place on his nose. “Hold the doors, boys.”

Rhidi and the rest of the Company pointed and cat-called the 3rd Pod Section as they hung their heads, though they made a grand show of opening the doors. The rest of the Section stood to the side, saluting smartly as if on parade.

The Wild Hunt’s 1st Company piled into the now booming and thrumming roller rink with a victorious cry, swooping inside in a wave of energy only matched by the thrill of combat.

Rhidi, despite herself, pulled her body close to Morris as she looked around wide-eyed; Neon and grid patterns danced along her pale ivory eyes as she took in the rink, and she was smiling so brightly her teeth were nearly bared.

Embracing the retro-futuristic elements of synthwave, dreamwave, outrun, futuresynth, and retrowave, the rink was decked out to the nines with every facet they could cram in. In the middle of the huge rink was the main skating area, a long oval of dynamic-acrylic that allowed the surface to appear made of wood, but to also be partially transparent. The rink was made to glow a soft white, casting the skaters in the warm light.

Running down the middle of the rink, much like a chariot course of ancient Human Rome, were seating booths and tall lights in the shape of martini glasses. Those relaxing from their time in the rink drank here and there while watching the other skaters, their skates glowing white, pink, blue, red, and orange.

Massive in scale, the rink was able to hold hundreds of skaters, with the inside being reserved for new skaters so they could go slow. On the outer rings of the rink, others danced and whirled on their skates, letting the music take them and guide the wheels under their feet. Around the rink were sections of booths for seating, bar stool type chairs, and rows of plants that were being fed sunlight via very small UV lamps that were hidden during work hours. 

The walls were hand painted with scenes of rising suns, palm trees, beaches, sky scraper outlines of skies, odd looking cities of bright colors, as well as vignettes of ancient Human businesses.

Rhidi was curious what a “blockbuster” was, as it seemed to fit the aesthetic quite well.

Smaller bars, confectioneries, and counters for ordering food ran around these booths and chairs, filling the air with the smell of fresh cotton candy, bubbling pizzas, and the ever alluring scent of sauce-covered wings.

What really caught Rhidi’s attention were the more specialized rinks that ran around the edges of the facility; Here there were rolling hills and humps to give skaters a little more variety to their skating pleasure, a smaller track for young children decorated with toy dinosaurs wearing sunglasses, and a sports rink filled with curved pits for tricks, rails, dives, and half pipes.

To Rhidi’s absolute lack of surprise, Saffi was nearly a green blur as she ran from the doors to get her skates, the rest of the Kafya following her to their own part of the rental area. To accommodate any races that came aboard the station, the rink took great care in making sure they had skates that could fit any kind of foot they may come across.

This included Kafyan feet, which presented its own challenges.

Working around the largest problem, the clever Finnish Humans created a wider skate base and internal structures to support the Kafyan foot. This allowed Kafyan skaters to have a proper spacing for their wheels, be comfortable with their partially digitigrade feet, as well as avoiding skating on their toes.

Rhidi, glowing actual safety belt yellow along with the other colors of the Kafya, got her skates and found her way back to Morris; It didn’t seem that the Humans glowed much under blacklight, mostly their teeth and the whites of their eyes, but a few Humans had painted themselves to glow in rather creative ways.

It clashed merrily with their clothing, while the Lilgara’s natural skin colorings gave them a zig-zaggy effect under the light. The Pwah glowed brightly, mostly from their hair and teeth, though their eyes were doing some rather fascinating things under the effects of the black light.

Saffi, the green streak of light that was likely her anyway, was making a bee-line for the skatepark area of the rink, with multiple others trailing after her.

Oddly enough, Rhidi spotted Alias off by himself as she was putting on her skates… but her mouth hung open when Sergeant Flores met him, his smile bright as they went off to the rink further off from the man lane.

“What in the fuck.” Rhidi mouthed to herself over the thrum and beat of the music.

Morris, stepping along on his skates, squatted down in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

“He… Alias… she!” Rhidi stammered, throwing her glowing hands towards where the two had been. “He… she! She… he!”

Morris blinked at her, then leaned down and helped tie the laces of her last skate. “Alright there strokey, let’s get out onto the rink before you start twitching.”

“But… but!” Rhidi sputtered, her arm automatically linking into Morris’s elbow as he led them towards the pathway tunnel that ran under the rink.

Naturally, no one wanted to dodge newbies trying to make their way to the center of the rink, so the rink had instead made a small tunnel that ran to the center. A rollerskate safe escalator then took new arrivals into the middle island of the rink, allowing them to easily access the slow lanes.

Morris, a seasoned skater, slowly showed Rhidi how to use her new skates as they slowly slid along the thin carpet. This resulted in Rhidi nearly going airborne in a horizontal flight path quite a few times, but the rock steady arm of Morris kept her from reaching escape velocity.

The same could not be said for Shaksho, the male green fur only having the black arm of Har to hold onto.

Their combined lack of skill resulted in both of the Kafya eating carpet halfway inside the tunnel, Muidi belly laughing from the entrance to the escalator. The red furred Kafya lost his balance as well, thumping down onto his ass as he continued to wheeze in mirth.

By the time Rhidi got to the escalator, she had gotten a solid understanding of how the skates worked, and enjoyed snuggling into Morris as they slowly climbed skywards. Rhidi took the moment to enjoy a few quick kisses with Morris, having to fight the urge to make impolite sounds in her throat when he pulled her closer to him.

“Barf.” Oin muttered from above them, turning her back to the two as Rhidi and Morris chuckled.

Rhidi let out a happy gasp as they came back out into the neon filled darkness of the rink, the colors hot and heavy here underneath the great martini glass lights. The music was thundering around them, some rather odd song she assumed was called “Elon’s Musk”.

“What is this song about?!” Rhidi called out to Morris as they made their way to the edge of the rink, minding the skates of those sitting about on the soft booth chairs and laughing, or talking.

Morris shrugged. “Beats me! I guess this guy was smart but didn’t bathe much!”

“Ew!” Rhidi cackled out, then grinned brightly as the slow lane of the rink came into view from the cutouts in the wall.

Rhidi stepped out with Morris when a gap appeared, and she began to skate along beside him.

It was odd how hard it was, rolling along on the four wheels while trying to move her feet in the correct timing. To Rhidi it was rather funny, since she was normally running around in what could be called a “walking light vehicle”.

Morris must have been skating for years, as even with his larger frame he was smooth on the skates, even skating backwards so that he could hold onto Rhidi’s pawed hands.

While Rhidi was jealous of his skill, she did deeply appreciate the support as she tried to find her feet for the first few minutes.

As they came around their first loop, Rhidi saw Oin breathing heavily while holding onto a nearby rail, her pit vipers askew from her near fall. Anfilid, squatting and leaning forward on the toe-brakes of her skates, was looking down at Intrikit.

The shorter, red furred Kafya had apparently fallen onto her back, and was angrily glaring at the ceiling.

Imridit and Inthur were doing their best to slowly skate forward, Inthur doing multiple windmills of the arms every couple of feet while Imridit tried to avoid her waving hands.

Rhidi let out a happy laugh as she went skating past with Morris, the Human slowly and smoothly working his skates from side to side as he slowly sped up their pace.

When “Money On The Dash” came on, the boosted bass rumbling in the air with the electronic beat, Rhidi had found her feet and was now skating next to Morris towards the center.

Uppil and Pobilo were here as well, smoothly pushing themselves forward as the red and blue furred Kafya wound their way through the other skaters.

From what Rhidi could spy in the distance, Alias had found himself entrenched with Saffi and a few of the other Droppers, enjoying the thrill of working around in the bowls and rails of the more athletic section.

She saw more of her female Kafya over on the hilly parts, Quinnit and Enflia glowing yellow and orange as they went over the small mounds.

A far more up-beat song came on, a small screen near the rink showing the song was called “Move Your Body”.

Rhidi became a little alarmed as the Humans began to actually dance on their skates, their legs moving in intricate patterns as they pumped their fists, spun, or moved their hips from side to side.

The bass from the dozens of speakers was so heavy that Rhidi felt the rumble in her rib bones, and she suddenly found it rather hard to breathe. Her vision shook as if she were sitting next to a firing M2 heavy machine gun, yet the Humans seemed to enjoy it.

As Rhidi leaned heavily against Morris, clutching at his arm with both of hers, she looked around; The other Kafya, Pwah, Lilgara, and even the unknown space races were slowing down, holding onto rails, or just full on sitting down as the music played.

The only ones in motion, and dancing to the beat, were the Humans.

Rhidi heard Alias call out and turned her buzzing vision towards the skate park area of the rink; All non-Humans were sitting down or standing still, their eyes squinted as they waited for the music to pass.

On the screen, a warning displayed that Rhidi had not seen before: “Human Skate: 4 Songs To Go! Non-Humans: Caution!”

“Morris!” Rhidi gasped out, but he was already taking her over to a bank of seats near the center island of the rink.

Morris sat Rhidi down, then kissed her on the top of her head before bending down to speaking into her ear. “I’m gonna go skate for a little bit, do you mind?”

“No! Go ahead!” Rhidi called back out, patting her pawed hands on the thighs of his shorts.

Morris grinned at her, then smoothly took off into the stream of Humans as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

The song ended, blending smoothly into a new beat that repeated the phrase enough times that Rhidi assumed it was called “Take It Off!”.

Rhidi looked around at the other non-Human races and they, too, seemed as discombobulated as her as they all watched the Humans.

Many of the non-Human males were watching the female Humans with wider eyes, with quite a few resting on the muscular Shorsey and the grizzled Angel as they danced upon their skates. The two female Humans were moving around as if they were snakes, their hips and thighs in constant movement as their feet twirled and scissored beneath them.

Even Rhidi had to blink a few times, while Oin held a hand near her eyes with a grimace.

Her heart hammered a little harder when Morris came buzzing by, dancing a little more subdued but enough to make Rhidi’s ears stand up quite pert.

As Rhidi followed Morris’s path along the rink, she caught what the rest of the skaters were doing; While the Humans danced in their own way on their skates, everyone else’s heads were oddly… bobbing as they watched, as if locked into a trance. The bass seemed to command and control their bodies, forcing them to obey the Human beat.

The heat in the room was growing to a nearly sweltering degree, and Rhidi found herself having to part her mouth to pant. To her curiosity, everyone else was as well, even the far more Human-like Pwah.

The song melded into a new beat, the screen now reading, “Human Skate: 3 Songs To Go! Non-Humans: Caution!”... and it was like someone had snapped their fingers, the sudden heat drawing away like morning fog.

Rhidi was rather curious how the Humans weren’t affected by the music, as they seemed to enjoy it immensely, drawing out another side of them that she had yet to see before. She didn’t have long to ponder it before her ears came under assault of “I Really Want to Stay at Your House”, the sudden appearance of its electronic bass-filled thunder hitting them all like the ray of a laser rifle.

The merciful pauses between the music allowed them all to gain their breath, though Intrikit had her ears perked up the entire time while listening to the music. As Rhidi watched her, the shorter red furred Kafya was the only one of their kind that appeared to like the music, her skated feet moving in place as she watched the skates of the Human dancers.

Joining the next song, several hidden screens lit up with green, blue, red, and green visuals of cartoon drawings, and the colors began to warp and dance along the walls as the next song came on.

It was a hard hitting, constant barrage of beats that filled the rink like jello into a bowl, and the only hint Rhidi had to the name of it was “L-79”. There was no rest as the song came to the next, a piece known as “Dirty Vibe”. It was loud and heavy, the Humans reacting to it as if it were a signal from a hivemind.

When Rhidi looked around to find Intrikit again, she saw the shorter red furred Kafya now fully mimicking the movements of the Human skaters while standing in place, even twirling around from where she stood and dancing to the music.

The lyrics alone had Rhidi’s face burning, and she did her best to keep a straight face as she watched the brown haired Avlov dance her way around the rink.

For the song alone, Rhidi wished the female Human had worn more clothing…

The song was mercifully short, and the last song came on to assault them all for the final time.

Another song with absolutely questionable lyrics, “Drift Barbie” left a mental and physical impression on them all as it thundered across the rink.

The Humans seemed to love it, but a few of the non-Humans who knew Japanese were hiding their faces in their hands.

Morris came skating around in front of Rhidi and grabbed her by her hands, grinning widely at her as he launched her back into action. Rhidi let out a loud, open mouthed giggle as more suitable music came on, though Shorsey, Angel, and Avlov seemed a little put out as “Caramelldansen” came over the speakers.

This music was, by far, more cheerful and fun to Rhidi’s ears as the rink lit up with lights akin to the inside of a multi-colored disco ball. To placate the non-Humans, the bass was far more subdued, something that Rhidi greatly appreciated as she danced with Morris upon their skates.

She was not fully fluent in the language yet, which required Morris to quickly snatch her towards him before she went sailing through the air to eat the ground. Her breathless laughter made up for it all, and time became a music-filled blur to her mind.

One song in particular caused Morris to laugh aloud and take Rhidi by her pawed hands, slowly turning them both around on their skates as they slowly travelled down the lane.

As Rhidi was spun around by Morris, their hands tightly hooked together by interlinked fingers and her skates rolling underneath her, the skating rink darkened. Bright lights and strobing lasers lit up along the walls and across the polished floor, all while the huge bass speakers began to warm with music, and grow in volume.

“Lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly…”

Rhidi cackled as Morris continued to spin them to the beat of the song, only gaining relief when the Human himself became dizzy and spun them to a stop, giving Rhidi a little twirl before pulling her close to him.

Rhidi smiled happily and pressed the side of her face to his shirt, though when she opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but tap him on the chest and point to a particular couple in the crowd.

Marides, wearing exactly what Rhidi told her to wear, was slowly skating forward with a charming Finnish man. His road-gray hair and handsome face was talking to her as she kept looking down from her skates, then to his face, and it was clear he was teaching her how to skate.