Fandom Going for Gold

[CJWrites]

"And so we finally had the wedding, a classical Japanese one under the cherry blossoms in Hasetsu at the inn, and a traditionally Russian one in a cathedral in St Petersburg." Victor finished.

"49" Elisabeth said.

Claire giggled. It really was kind of like a fairy tale, not even out of a romance novel. A romance novel would have pointless love triangles and misunderstandings. She wished her love life would be so simple.

The rest of the day went by simply. Victor's style was very different from Yuuri's but nevertheless, they continued to improve her technique.

"Now then everyone," Victor said cheerfully before "We're discussing themes and music tomorrow. Please also think who you want to choreograph it." He winked at the crowd, the implication evident. Yuuri sighed, whether it was out of exasperation or enchantment, Claire didn't know.

---

The new day arrived. Everyone sat in the lobby, not having changed into skates.

"Elisabeth? You're up next." Yuri waltzed out of the couple's office.

Claire wished her luck.

 

[SunshineStark]

"Thanks," Elisabeth said, giving Claire a nervous smile as she turned the thumb drive that had the music she picked out on it. The redhaired skater took a deep breath before knocking on the open door and, after receiving a cheerful call to come in, entered the couple's office.

"Hi." Elisabeth greeted the couple before sitting down in one of the chairs, crossing her legs.

 

[CJWrites]

"Hey, Elisabeth" Yuuri greeted. He had a notebook in front of him, already scribbled over with notes about Yuri and Minami's routines and themes.

Victor had nothing in front of him. Instead, he was absent-mindedly staring off into space, probably still thinking about Yuri's choreography.

"So last year we got the under your belt. We'll definitely have to include it in your program. Do you think you can manage to land it in the second half?" Yuuri asked first.

"Before that, let's talk themes and songs," Victor said excitedly, "What do you have planned? Who do you want to choreograph it? Me? Or we could get Kenji Miyamoto or David Wilson to do it? I'd actually recommend at least two"

 

[SunshineStark]

Elisabeth laughed nervously. "Straight to business, then? Umm, yeah, I'd like to try putting that in the second half." The redhead started by answering Yuuri's question before moving on to Victor's more complicated inquiries. "I have a couple of songs picked out and I was thinking the theme could be something along the lines of yearning... The two pieces I was thinking of was Entr'acte from Carmen and then maybe Syrinx by Debussy?" Elisabeth had been very passive the previous year as to her theme and the choreography, leaving most of the decisions to her new coaches. "And as for who choreographs my program I don't care too much as long as they give me some say." Elisabeth really was determined to be involved this year and while she was well aware Victor would allow her to have some input on the choreography she was hadn't worked with either of the others he'd mentioned before so she couldn't be sure there.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri scribbled furiously on his notebook.

"I think Jeffrey Buttle might be a good idea," Victor muttered. "Yearning .... yearning... what are you yearning for?"

His eyes glinted. "Is it gold? Or perhaps a lover?"

 

[SunshineStark]

"Umm, I don't know. I hadn't thought that far." Elisabeth admitted sheepishly. She knew she wanted a lot of things. She wanted to be near her family, she wanted to win, she did want a lover - though the term she would use would be partner - but there wasn't one specific thing and the young woman wasn't sure she would go so far as to say she was yearnign for it.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri chewed on his pen. "You might want to think about that then. It's better to direct your emotions to something specific rather than a concept" He and Victor exchanged a loving look that would've made Yuri gag.

"I'm thinking Kenji for the free skate and I'll do the short," Victor said. "Anything else? If not, please send Claire in."

 

[SunshineStark]

"I'll think about it, yeah." Elisabeth agreed. "And that sounds fine. I think that's all I." Elisabeth nodded and stood up, giving a quiet thank you before exiting the office.
"You're up next, Claire." She told the new skater, giving her a quick smile before heading to the locker room to go lace up her skates and start warming up. She knew she had a lot to think about with her theme, but she was sure that what she figured out would give her room to grow not only as a skater, but as a person.

 

[CJWrites]

Claire nodded and headed into the room.

She sat down on the chair in front of the desk

"Let's get started, do you have music and theme in mind?" Yuuri asked.

Claire nodded. "My theme this year is rebirth," She said. Yuuri and Victor nodded. It made sense. "I had my rearrangement of Vivaldi's Spring for my short program she composed something for me for the free skate."

She tapped on her phone and the music came out of the speakers. Unlike the springy melodic sound of Vivaldi, the song had long elegant notes, giving the music an ancient and epic feel.

"It's called Pheonix," Claire said.

 

[SunshineStark]

Victor pursed his lips and put a finger to his chin, taking a moment to take in what his newest student had told him. Yuuri, on the other hand, had immediately started taking notes down, his face clearly showing he was impressed by what Claire had said.

A few second passed before the silver haired man spoke. "That's a good theme, but it's hard to do right. What do you have planed for choreography?"

 

[CJWrites]

"I... " Claire said, thinking for a bit "I was thinking you for the free and Browning for the short. Alex and I, we've used Browning before. So it'll kinda be the old and the new."

She fidgited in her seat. She wondered if Victor would ask about what she wanted to focus on in the choreography, PCS or TES.

 

[SunshineStark]

"That's an interesting way to go about choosing choreographers." Victor chuckled. "That'll work well though, especially if it helps you connect more with the theme." The silver haired man waited fora moment. "Now, for your goals this season. Yuuri and I watched some of your old performances and noticed you relied heavily on your technical scores. Whereas that's not a bad approach since you're still recovering from an injury I think we should work on improving the performance aspects." Yuuri nodded along to his husband's suggestion.

 

[CJWrites]

Claire frowned. She'd always thought that their performance scores were pretty good

"Are you sure?" She asked. "I mean... increased performance. Its a lot harder to train for. With a triple Axel under my belt, I could win even with a mediocre score."

She realized what she was saying "I'm not planning to underscore on performance but..."

She and Alex had never focused on performance. She wouldn't begin knowing how to.

"I'm fully healed, I assure you. It was only a small break. It's been months."

 

[SunshineStark]

"We weren't suggesting you shirk away from the technical component, just that the performance aspects are important too." Yuuri responded. He had learned the importance of surprising the audience and doing the opposite what's comfortable from Victor.

"I know you've been completely cleared. And if you want to work on adding in a triple axle we'll see where we can add it in!" Victor responded excitedly. He knew that specific jump had very rarely been achieved, but Victor was hopeful his new student could pull it of.

 

[CJWrites]

Claire grinned "I won't let you down."

They talked a bit more about what elements Claire wanted in the program and what emotions she wanted to project before they sent her on the way and she was told to bring in Minami.

Minami bounded through the door and slammed it shut. They could hear him excitedly explaining his theme to his coaches.

"Let's go." Claire muttered to Elisabeth. "I feel like I shouldn't be overhearing this."

 

[SunshineStark]

Elisabeth nodded. "Ken will probably tell us all about it the moment he gets out, but yeah we shouldn't eavesdrop." The French skater agreed. "How did your meeting go?"

The redhead was excited for her own program, but always took an interest in the other skaters' as well, even if they were her competitors. When she opened the door to the main rink, Yuri could already be seen practicing some of his jumps. Elisabeth waved to the Russian skater after he did a successful quad flip, telling him good job which earned a scoff.