Romancing the Slopes (Final episode)
hive-199275·@litguru·
0.000 HBDRomancing the Slopes (Final episode)
The peaks were at eye level on the summit, and Alicia stared at them in wonder. The snow-capped tips seemed to thrust up and down, bending from side to side, around and around, then returning to their erect position. <center>  *Read previous chapters: [Part 1](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/an-immodest-proposal), [Part 2](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/an-intriguing-amendment), [Part 3](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/a-change-of-plans), and [part 4](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/swinging-hearts)*</center> It was another world. Another dimension on the summit. Explorers, who had made the trek by gondola, were dressed in bulky outfits and headgear, strapped onto skis as they slid down the marshmallow mountain. <center>  </center> <center>  </center> Sitting beside her, Danny lowered his goggles. Alicia saw her reflection in them, twisting and swirling in a kaleidescope of colors. She smiled lost in the visions and hallucinations. Danny shooks his head as one shakes off snow. The swirling colors on the goggles burst and popped. Alicia gasped and giggled. “Are you ready?” he asked her. She looked down the slope that hugged the mountain side, there was a gently dropping slope, and she could see the top of the pine trees rising over the cliff's edge. The skiers swiftly disappeared round the bend. <center> </center> <div class="pull-left">https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/AKRC7T6vivtDQ653uPfXDgL5PgLGyPEnw7CTj15NtCsWvUBdwCQLTTZ48PpD3AH.png</div> <div class="pull-right">https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/AKPkvPXHh38baw7sxWBGWkvZNn8iGEkZ5KG2eZM93FYgBMoaS5j3Ytw4iZ4awCy.png</div> “I’m ready,” she said and stood up, clicking her skis into place. Her heart pounded, generating soundwaves all over the mountain. A purple ripple that expanded outwards in the cell shaded medium. She took a deep breath, then turning one of her skis to the side, she began to glide down the gentle slope. Her palpitations increased as she headed towards the edge of the cliff. A brief moment of panic, she quickly turned her skis to point in the opposite direction, and she marveled as her body followed the new trajectory. <center>  </center> Danny skied ahead and stayed within sight of her. He was like a zen teacher, not interfering with the apprentice's lesson but present if necessary. She sped up, and the increase somehow made her feel more stable. When she was first learning, every mogul, bump, and patch of ice was a source of danger. Her body rejected the idea of going fast, every neurotic insecurity seemed to drive her movements. Now, under the influence of Danny’s toxic flowers, she understood that speed was control. Understood that her body was a vehicle with pulls and levers, capable of fine motor control along the slippery vertices. The mountain itself was an anti-gravity machine for the body to ride in its attempt to navigate the micro-g forces charged up by the gondola ride to the summit. <center>  </center> Gravity waves. Now high, now low. Her heart skipped a beat. Snow wolves ran beside her. The white caribous through the pine trees. Mile after mile carving and twisting. Marvel after marvel. <center> </center> <center>  </center> Danny had stopped at the edge of the run and waited for her there. “We’ll take a small detour,” he said. He skied off to the side. Alicia followed him into the forest. All around her, the pine trees glistened completely covered in snow and ice. Their low hanging branches bending in the weight of the fluffy clusters of snow. The light was sharp and atmospheric. Rendered with absolute perfection and beauty, as if it was paradise itself. <center>  </center> Perfection and beauty! They carved the soft powder, and tiny crystals of ice shimmered and struck her cheeks. Melted on her warm lips. She licked them and exhaled a soft frosty breath. <center>  </center> “Wooohooo!” Danny hollered. She laughed. Accelerators, energy clusters, modulation, amplification… These were not her words or her thoughts. They were Danny’s. It was his language. She thought it was just techno gobbledygook, but now she understood that they were a linguistic attempt at describing the effects of the psychedelic flowers. She remembered the hippies talking about karma, samsara, chakras, and all the colorful slogans of eastern religions. Danny spoke in similar flowery breathtaking descriptions, except that his language was modern and scientific instead of ancient and poetic. She was not just *skiing* down a mountain. She was an energy field interacting with other energy fields. She had physical and neurological tools at her disposal to navigate over, around, and through them. Her movements in this altered state were not robotic game sequences based on years of socialization and enculturation; her movements were the graceful motions of the universe, beyond the imperatives of survival and territorial stability. Danny’s magic flowers had short-circuited the old learned sequence of behaviors. Now her body-mind system had no choice but to update itself and learn a new way of operating in this alpine world. Skiing was not a sport. Skiing was a yoga. One had to learn the positions that not only increased effectiveness and efficiency but also facilitated energy transfers to hedonistic centers. After all, she wasn’t doing this because of some basic need. It was pleasure in its pure raw form. As she slid across the soft powder, she had countless thoughts and ideas. Yet she wasn't distracted; her body effortlessly shifted its weight, extended a limb, pulled back, leaned forward as she came around the mountain in gently gliding curves. There was nothing to fear. She was in perfect balance and control. UFOs appeared in the sky and blasted technicolor rays. A giant Sasquatch snowboarded alongside her and said hi. Then a band of little elves, raced by in rolling barrels, throwing pixie dust in the air. In the high-speed descent, she felt an indescribable sense of bliss. Detached from gravity. A free fall. <center>  </center> As far as Danny was concerned, she wasn’t quite done with that little rascal. He had brought her to such great heights and practically pushed her over the edge. He had promised to turn her into a world-class skier, and he had kept his promise. No, she wasn’t going to participate in ski championships or the Winter Olympics. It was nevertheless clear in her mind that she was not separate from anything, not from history or culture, not separate from her skis, the snow, or the mountain. She was one with everything around her, including the world-class skiers who lived yesterday, today, and tomorrow. In that literal sense, she was everything, including a world-class skier. She laughed aloud and watched Danny skid sideways at the base of the mountain. <center>  </center> They skied all day and well into the night. They were the last ones to get off the mountain. Exhausted but vibrating with the released energy on the slopes. Alicia watched as Danny strapped the skis to the top of his souped-up jeep, noticing the beautifully defined muscles on his forearm. They drove back to the cabin following white snowy roads that led deep into the woods. Soft flurries began to fall and swirl across the stillness of the road. Their bodies steamed and gave off a wonderful musky scent that made Alicia tingle all over. She was looking forward to settling down in front of the fire with Danny beside her... *or on top*, she added as an afterthought. As they approached, Alicia noticed that there was light emanating from the cabin. <center>  </center> They looked at each other. “Are you expecting anybody?” she asked Danny. He shook his head and pulled beside the entrance. Going up to the cabin door, Danny grabbed the handle and was about to insert the key when he realized the door was unlocked. Slowly, he opened it. “Oh, hello there kids," said a voice inside, "had a nice time on the slopes?” Annie sat on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand and a smirk on her face. The fire roared and crackled as the flames consumed the burning logs. *** [Part 1](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/an-immodest-proposal) [Part 2](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/an-intriguing-amendment) [Part 3](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/a-change-of-plans) [Part 4](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@litguru/swinging-hearts) **Part 5** *** <center>  *Images generated by @litguru using stable diffusion software* *** [Twitter](https://twitter.com/litguru23) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/litguru23/) [NFT Showroom Gallery](https://nftshowroom.com/litguru/gallery) </center>
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