At least the other skater had the decency to help. Slower skaters floated by them while Mint tried to stop feeling the pain. “Yeah- thanks-” he began, cutting himself off as he grabbed Felix’s hand and was promptly pulled up to his feet with ease. Seafoam green eyes were wide with surprise and maybe even a little horror as he looked up at the taller trainer. He recognized them for a mission once. Mint had been helping move merchandise form warehouse to warehouse and Felix had been the muscle. There had been a fight, and he had watched a rather brutal annihilation of the people that had tried to encroach on Rocket owned goods. [break][break]

Ever since he’d sort of avoided the guy at Headquarters. And maybe that was rude, considering he still like jayden cross despite watching him very easily threaten his own life on Rocket’s loyalty. There was nuance, you know. Still, he couldn’t help but be dumbstruck by the far more capable fighter in front of him. “Y-You’re not hurt, are you?” he blurted out, finally breaking eye contact as he dusted himself off in an attempt to not look up. [break][break]

It was clear he was intimidated, who wouldn’t be? “I’m sorry- I-I’m usually pretty good at avoiding head on collisions.” He added as if he had anything to fear. The ywere in public. Was would he do? Throw him?!

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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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“y-Yeah!” Mint yelped before clearing his throat in an attempt to calm down. “It’s been a while since I fell that hard, actually.” He said with a nervous laugh. It was a reminder of days long gone, when he’d been younger and learning to skate if only to help his balance. Gelatto had watched him slide around an empty rink for hours easily running and moving on the slick surface himself. Mint had collided many times into walls or fallen on the ground trying to move gracefully or avoid the vulpix. [break][break]

“I- uh…Felix was it?” he asked, pulling for a name from his memory. He’d only done one mission with the guy, but the man had left an impression. He didn’t ask, and they hadn’t explained. That had been a work situation. Here it was casual. He didn’t need to be nervous, but that didn’t change the fact that he was. Most people in Rocket he knew before he watched them fight or work. That was the only reason he hadn’t been so afraid of jayden cross . Felix was the opposite, and he couldn’t quite separate the images he had of him. He seemed harmless as he was, fumbling around on skates and soft spoken. “Uh-…I-I’d never expect to see you at an ice rink. How long have you figure skated?” he asked, smiling politely as he slowly glided forward, an invitation for conversation.


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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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Mint isn’t stupid. Most of the time. He was quick to turn away and pretend not to notice his coworker not remembering him. Or perhaps he was surprised Mint had bothered to. Either way, it’s slow and awkward but he would give him a little help. If only to keep the conversation going. As the glided around the rink, he reintroduced himself. “It’s Mint. We…uh…we were on a big mission together but nothing that bad happened. Just moving supplies and stuff.” He said. “Someone told me who you were.” He added. [break][break]

“Why? Uh.” He echoed, pausing to let his brain catch up and form something tactful. “You seem like you’d prefer a gym and a sandbag.” He said before adding quickly, “B-Because you fight good. And lift heavy things. You know-” Gym Bro stuff. Mint, by contrast, only figure skated. That had been his only sport and it wasn’t like he’d ever bothered competing. Speed skating was boring and…well figure skating was performance. That was just something he never would’ve worked up the nerve to do as he was.


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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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Mint smiled, not pushing the subject any further. It'd taken him a while to play a more active role in his missions with Rocket. At least, he eas attempting to manage. Perhaps his friends had gotten a little busier during the holidays, but there was always someone training and someone looking to take out their anger in a spar. One day he'd dare foght someone with his fists. For now? A bat and Cacio'd paralysis it was. "It's ok. We didn't talk too much." He said hoping to aleviate some worry, if Felix even had any. [Break][break]

Mint frowned ar his response. Work huh. Well, yeah you could have hobbies outside of work but from his understanding the guy was some sort of super soldier. Or ex merc. Something like that. "You don't like being strong?" Its hard not to keep thr envy out of his voice. Its as if he was accusing Felix of something. He shouldn't. Work was work, he understood that too. And physical strength, like any skill, could he honed. But still. The pressure was starting to mount now that Rowan Wrynn had more or less told him he was being watched. Why? Gods only knew. His anxiety spiked and his resolve had doubled after that. "What else do you do for fun, besides figure skating then?" He said, skates taking to ice with ease.


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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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Mint blinked, unsure how to respond. He dind’t think about huh. He wondered what it was like to life that confidently. “Must be nice.” He said, still managing to smile despite the frustration at himself bubbling up. That hadn’t been why he’d come to the rink at all. He was here to have fun, distract himself for work. Maybe he should stop pursuing a topic that would only piss him off. [break][break]

Besides, he didn’t really know Felix. He shouldn’t burden him with that on his free time either. “N-Nothing?” the grunt blurted out, laughing a little before he could even stop himself. He managed a snort before clamping his mouth shut and looking straight ahead of them as they continued laps around the rinks. “So, 2/3s of the year you just…don’t go out?” he asked. The Ice rinks weren’t operational year-round after all. At least they hadn’t been since he’d lived here. Maybe there were, and Mint just had no idea where to find them. But there was a reason he kept visiting Shoal Cave with his ice types. “That’s not exciting at all, Felix.” He said, teasing the boring man just a bit. “Is it a time thing or you don’t want to do anything?” he asked pestering the man with more questions than he ought to. “OR is it more, you don’t have anyone to do stuff with?” Maybe he was shy. Who knew at this point? The man was weird, but he felt a little bad for him.



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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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Mint watched the other curiously, trying to get used to Felix. He wasn’t as threatening as before and there is some comfort brought to him by being out in public, and also of being coworkers. “You love skating, huh?” He asked. A time constraint, eh? And because he had such little time, he probably stuck to something that would be a surefire nice time. Something familiar. “I love skating, but even I’d get bored of it if I did it every day.” There’d been a reason he’d not pursued the sport.
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Perhaps Felix wasn’t fishing for pity, but he would still get it from Mint. “Hey, why don’t we hang out sometime? We can come here again.” He asked, before offering a cheeky grin. “Or we could go somewhere else? Somewhere new, maybe?” he asked as if dangling the prospect would entice the taller man. “Give me your phone number after this lap, my schedule’s pretty flexible and there’s really fun looking welding class I’ve been thinking about going to!” he added excitedly as he clung to the other skater’s arm forcing the subject before their time together ended.


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+ Felix Gallagher mission prompt: break the ice [break][break]



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