anything is dangerous in children's hands

[Mimi Westmore]

"Carmen, Abby, here are your skates... Oli? Oliver? Girls, stay here while I find your brother."

They were well-trained. The 7-year-old brunette twins sat quietly as Mimi went into her usual little brother worry mode. Distressed, but not entirely panicked, as this was a common occurance, Mimi patted a curious-looking Abby on the head. Handing the girls the rest of her soda to share, Mimi began her search around what seemed, to her, a rather sparse area. How many places could the kid possibly find to hide?

Oliver was not under the tables and chairs, not hiding in the lockers or trash cans (he had done that before), not visible anywhere outside, and the girls were getting impatient. Mimi was about to have her daily mental breakdown. The man at the snack counter was looking at her in a concerned manner, as was the rest of the staff, really. By this point they were used to the petite teenager and her taxing, if adorable, siblings.

The search was abruptly ended when a loud howl resounded from the skate cabinet, making everyone within hearing range jump. Throwing open the cabinet doors, Mimi let loose the breath she had been holding, and felt a little light-headed. Oliver had cut his finger on the figure skates, and was crying at a ridiculously loud volume.

"Shush, Oli," Mimi said softly, "It's only a little cut, ok?" She wiped the blood away with some kleenex, inwardly grimacing as she did so, and bandaged it with her constantly present mini first-aid kit. With Oliver, she needed it. Once the crying and bandaging was done, Mimi looked up. The rest of the place was silent, and people were staring quite blatantly. One murmured something about, "a teenage mother", a comment Mimi decided to ignore, instead tossing the crowd an apologetic smile. Mimi slid on Oliver's skates, and ushered him towards the rink. The girls took the que, and rushed towards the rink gleefully. Catching sight of her very pale reflexion in the glass that surrounded the rink, Mimi sighed. Another crisis averted, for the moment.

[Jack Newman]

A sigh left Jack’s lips as he took his time tying the laces on the skates. He was already done with the left shoe, and now was tying the right shoe. Despite the fact that he prevents driving at all times, his mum had made him drive Helen, his youngest sister, and her friends here. And since he was going to have to drive them back, Jack decided to come along onto the rink – even though he didn’t ice-skate much. Not since Daze died, anyways.

Pulling at the loops to tighten the strings, he heard a yell and he jumped, like everyone else here, and looked up. Mimi Westmore met his sight, and he raised his eyebrows, even though the small girl wasn’t even looking in his direction. Yanking hard at the loops for one last time to make sure that the laces won’t loosen it self, he stood up. As he was a bit wobbly at first, he stabled himself by putting his hand, palm down, onto the bench in which is trainers were under.

Now stable, he slowly let go of the bench. Jack was pretty confident that he won’t end up on his ass, so he started towards the rink, following the girls that was with Mimi, who he assumed was her sisters. He caught someone say something about a ‘teenage mother’, so he threw a dirty look in the voice’s general direction, even though he was aware of the fact that Mimi was ignoring whoever had said that.

Sliding onto the man-made ice, he rolled up his long-sleeved shirt up to his elbows, even though he knew that it’ll make its own way back over his hands. He put some speed into his skating and soon was skating backwards in front of Mimi. Usually, he won’t show-off, but since someone he knew from school was here, his mental mask was settled back onto his face.

“Hey, Mimi, right?” Jack asked, even though he knew, for a fact, that that’s the girl’s name. It’s only part of what he does every single day, even though it’s a lot more tiring than what everyone else might think. Not that they’re supposed to know that it’s all an act.

[Mimi Westmore]

For a moment, Mimi looked shocked, almost tripping over her skates, though only because she almost never saw anyone from school when she was with her siblings. The fact that she was a part-time mother, for all practical purposes, wasn't something she usually advertised. It cut into her social life, or lack of one.

Regaining her composure quickly, she put on her usual bright smile, though it was notably less so than usual. Still, it was the best she could pull off at that exact moment. Looking embarassed, she tucked her brown-blonde hair back behind her ears.

"Um, Jack, hi! Uh, yes, Mimi's right." Mimi stumbled through her words, flustered. She glanced up at him, one eyebrow raised in discomfort with her situation. "I guess you probably saw the little fiasco. My little brother is-- Oli, be careful! --- accident prone." Mimi's inner self clashed with her outer self, as her outer self went back to her "everything's peachy" persona, and her inner self droned on about how he barely remembered her name, though at least he did remember it, and how she was obviously a nanny of sorts... and how bad she was at ice skating. Mimi clung to the wall, looking nervous, as Jack was in front of her, skating backwards, and her siblings passed by her easily.

[Jack Newman]

Turning his head to look at Mimi’s brother, Jack found himself looking at a boy off-balance, his arms flapping all over the place. Jack was about to reach out to stop the boy from falling when he stabled himself and sped pass the pair of them. Jack turned his attention back on the girl wobbling in front of him.

“Relax.” Jack advised. He was not an expert at ice-skating, but he was undoubted to be a lot better than most people, as he could ski and play snowboard. Glancing behind him, he checked to make sure that no one was in his way, and that the wall was no where near him.

Looking back at Mimi, he asked her whether she needed help or not. Not that he wanted an actual answer. Jack leaned over and grabbed her hands from where she was holding onto the railing at the side. He grinned as he pulled her forward. “Just relax.” He said again.

[Mimi Westmore]

It was a good thing Mimi's siblings had put her through so many awkward situations, otherwise, she would not be used to being flustered, and then would not be able to keep her face from turning bright red. Her general fatigue, probably helped as well, keeping her complexion rather pale. "Just relax." An incredibly hard bit of advise to follow at the moment.

Out of instinct, Mimi looked past Jack for her siblings. The twins were giggling happily, and Oliver hadn't yet decapitated himself or anyone else with his skates, so Mimi figured the three would be alright if left to their own devices for a bit. Besides, Mimi needed a break from watching them. They had given her quite a headache all day, and Mimi had probably taken enough excedrin to kill an orca whale.

"Relax... um," Mimi said to Jack, pulling her attention away from her siblings, "this might come as a surprise," she continued jokingly, "but, I'm actually not that good at that. One of my weak points." It was truth, but Mimi still returned the grin, hoping that if there was a God, said God would not allow her to fall flat on her face.

[Jack Newman]

Having good observation skills, Jack noticed Mimi's change of attention. He turned his head slightly to look at whatever she was looking at, and was once again met with the boy. Plus two girls, who were twins. The kids looked quite a lot like Mimi, so he could only assume that they were siblings, and she was the oldest. The girls looked like younger versions of Mimi, and the boy was exactly like the girls, except was sporting a more boyish version.

"The girls, what are their names?" Jack asked, geniunely interested in her life. He continued to skate backwards, slowly leading her away from the railings. A quick glance behind him assured him that he still had a lot of space to pull Mimi into. But then again, even if he did end up crash into someone, she would fall on top of Jack. At least then she won't be hurt. Jack hated to see a girl hurt, both emotionally and physically. Of course, no one knows that.

Laughing, Jack had no idea that Mimi was actually telling the truth. Ah, well. At least that'll do her good, seeing as she didn't really want Jack to know that it was, in fact, the truth. "Wow." He said, feigning shock. "I never expected that from you. Seriously." He nodded, trying to look like he was being dead serious. Jack managed for two seconds, then he bursted out laughing. Very nice.

[Mimi Westmore]

After Jack's laughter faded off, a little smile rested on Mimi's lips, eyes pulled towards the ceiling with resignation at her own nature. "That's me for ya," she said, with a slight chuckle. "Anyway, the girls are Abigail, well, Abby. And Carmen. They're good kids- we just happen to be a family of accident-prone people. Makes outings a little dangerous, but I can't just leave them in the house all the time."

Mimi's mind flashed to Oliver's newly-cut hand, Abby's skinned knees, Carmen's black eye, the brace that was still on Mimi's own wrist. Accident-prone, indeed. Mimi sighed. "I'm sorry," Mimi said, concentrating very hard on her skates and making sure they didn't fly out from underneath her, "I'm babbling..."

She was also skating a little better than she had been, probably due to the fact that she was no longer clinging to the railing, and maybe she was relaxing a little bit. That in itself was no small feat. Her hair flopped over half her face, and she shook her head to get it out of the way, not wanting to move her hand, both for fear of fallng, and the fact that Mimi, who almost never had relationships, didn't exactly get the chance to hold hands with anyone often. It was dumb, but like everything else she wished wasn't, it was the truth. The truth could be annoying harsh.

[Jack Newman]

"Nah, it's all right. I- Tons of people do it." Jack said, shaking his head. He was just about to let his tongue slip and say 'I do it all the time' when he stopped himself. The truth is, he doesn't do it all the time, and therefore, if he said that, it'll mean that he's only saying it to reassure Mimi. And that, is not fucking Jack Newman.

Smiling, he realised that she was getting better. "You relaxed." Jack stated, grinning. Slowly loosening his grip on her hand, he released her. "Don't worry, you won't fall." He reassured her as he skated to her side. He didn't know whether Mimi would fall or not, but reassurance was always good for a nervous learner.

Now that they were skating side-by-side, Jack could see Mimi's siblings. They were good skaters, well, compared to Mimi, anyways. It was like they have regular visits here at the ice rink, which is not unusual. Just makes Jack ponder about why Mimi still have to cling to the wall if she were to be here every week or so.