567/Revenge is a Dish Best Served Ice Cold

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Ice Cold
Date of Scene:	11 November 2015
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	In the full of her rage, Ayana kidnaps Madoka, thinking she's saving her from corruption by magical girls. She delivers her to Takashi giftwrapped with a bow, but Takashi doesn't take it well. Or perhaps he takes it too well, as he wars with himself and his rapidly growing alter ego. Emerge: Frost Knight, the Savior of Pink-haired Maidens!
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Takashi Agera, Ayana

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Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It's after school and the good weather has continued to hold, with bright blue skies above. There are some darker clouds on the horizon but for the most part they're blowing past Tokyo rather than over it. Today was an 'off' day for Madoka; neither of her clubs were meeting and she wasn't assigned to volunteer at the hospital today, so she was able to make her own plans. Most of her friends were busy though, so she decided to go up to the roof of Infinity University. It took her a few tries to get the door open; eventually resorting to rattling the handle while shoving against it with her shoulder.

    Madoka always liked it up here. You can take a look and see for miles around while still feeling safe. Aside from the door it's also perfectly accessible, and not at all a long walk. Less than five minutes walking and she could more often than not feel like she was completely alone in the middle of the busy, bustling Mitakihara District. Sometimes she needed that time alone, despite being almost as friendly as it's possible to be.

    That's not why she's up here today though. Today she's simply here to enjoy the view while she has no obligations, sitting down on a bench near the edge of the roof and lazily reading a chapter from her history book. Half the time is spent actually reading, while the other half is evenly split amongst daydreaming and enjoying the view out over the city.

Ayana has posed:
"Finally," a voice intones from behind Madoka. For days, Takashi's shadowy familiar has stalked Madoka (mostly as a Fox), seeking a way to enact her plans. She's lost track of the girl more than once, only to reconnect with her when Madoka returned to school. "Do you know how long I've been trying to find you alone?"

A pair of fluffy black foxy ears stick up atop her head, blended into her wild mane of hair. To match, a similarly fluffy black tail emerges from beneath the black sheath dress she wears over her volleyball shorts. "Days," she growls frustratedly, as sh e approaches towards Madoka. "Days." A black, shadowy gloom suddenly emerges from the creature, like a fog of dark energy that saps strength and will. "And always with those annoying evil friends of yours. But finally, finally I have found you alone."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A voice behind her! And with a tone of voice that doesn't sound ready to hand over an envelope sealed shut with a heart shaped sticker; about the only reason Madoka can think up on a moment's notice that someone would say such words without having something sinister in mind.

    At first she wonders if she might be about to be on the receiving end of bullying, but as she turns around and catches sight of the familiar, with her ears and tail that scream 'magic', she realizes it's much worse than that. "Why do you want me alone?" she asks, "What do you want from me?" She gets up off of the bench, setting her book down, just in time for the gloom to begin affecting her.

    She stumbles, barely keeping herself from falling to the ground. The gloom affects her almost as easily as it would a normal person; she has a tiny bit of resistance just from being magically aware and doesn't immediately pass out from the familiar's mere presence in the same way she was able to attempt to defend herself against the Youma that attacked Infinity's Gym. Even so this more concerted drain soon has her struggling to stay conscious as her body starts feeling heavier and heavier.

    "My friends?" she asks, her head reeling with confusion. "They're not evil! They're... misunderstood!" It's Hannah and Homura on her mind as she says these words, who've both admitted doing bad things to further 'good' ends to her. "Whatever you're thinking, you don't have to do this!" she manages to get out, her words coming slower as she struggles, having dropped to her hands and knees from the oppressive gloom.

    It's too late to do much to save herself, she realizes. Even trying to talk that little bit has give enough time for that magic to do it's work. She'll still try; reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone, unlocking it, and racing to enable the app she installed that would ping several of her friends with an automated 'help now' message and GPS coordinates.

Ayana has posed:
In truth, the familiar's gloom should never be allowed to grow this strong. But days of buildup of her mana--and willingly drawing freely on Takashi's magic--fuels the gloom to an all-consuming frenzy.

"Magical girls are all evil," the familiar informs Madoka as her energy is sapped. She kneels down by the pink-haired girl as she falls to hands and knee. After all, she doesn't even need to attack directly; Madoka is seccumbing just as she hoped.

"Every time even a hint of darkness appears in this world," the familiar continues, "Th--hey what are you doing?" She reaches out and slaps the phone out of Madoka's hands, then snarls and picks it up.

"Seriously? Like life alert? Ugh!" She throws the phone off the edge of the roof. "See, this is what I mean. They've trained you to think of anything that affects you as worth destroying immediately. You don't even know what I have planned; you didn't even bother to ask. Just like your evil friends, you simply assume that I have your worst interests at heart. 'Quick, attack now, destroy it before it completes ... whatever it's doing!'" The familiar scoffs angrily, then kneels down next to Madoka again. "Soon you will understand. I only want the best for you, Kaname-san."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka lets out a cry as the phone is slapped out of her hands, and collapses further onto her stomach. The physical blow to her hand wasn't strong, but the emotional one of keeping her from contacting her friends is powerful. With the gloom running rampant like it is there's very little she can do, her strength sapped away until even squirming on the ground and keeping her eyes open is a monumental task.

    Some of the familiar's words get to her, though most do not. Her own magical aura is making sure of that. A tiny shake of her head is attempted at magical girls being evil. She tries one last time to move, lifting herself maybe a sad quarter inch with her arms before dropping limply again to the rooftop. As her eyes close and the world seems to spin around her as she loses consciousness she makes one final little protest. "I...asked..."

Ayana has posed:
The fox familiar waits patiently for the last of Madoka's consciousness to fade before she reaches out to check the girl's pulse. "Still alive. Good," she says, allowing her gloom to subside to much more managed levels; just enough to keep Madoka under, not enough to kill her.

Ayana reaches down to heft Madoka up and throw her over her shoulders in a very undignified position, then rises and leaps off the rooftop, powerful magic propelling her to the next building, and then the next, and the next.

Within minutes, Ayana has crossed the city with her cargo. She slips into one of the back entrances to Takashi's laboratory and gracelessly dumps Madoka on the floor. "There," she says, as she allows her full furious form to fade away. In her place stands a much more cutesy girl, still with fox-ears and tails, but far less wild and untamed. "Now for the finishing touches." Ayana hastily prances over to where she's placed a spool of pink ribbon and scissors, then returns to Madoka's side. "It wouldn't do not to have you gift-wrapped!" she informs Madoka's unconscious form as she begins tying the young girl's hands together. She pulls Madoka's hands behind her back, then wraps the ribbon once around the girl's waist, as well, before tying it all off with a great big pink bow in the front. Hefting Madoka one last time, Ayana lays her very gently into a chair, careful to ensure that Madoka isn't sitting on her own hands. It's as comfortable a position as she can make the girl.

Her task complete, Ayana places the ribbon and scissors aside, and then presses a button on a console that will notify Takashi that something in his lab needs attention. Then, she slinks into the shadows to wait.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi had been in his office. Yes, he has one of those. He doesn't spend much time in it, preferring to delegate various boring, not-science tasks to other members. But sometimes he does have to do a little bureocratic manouvering. That's what he's working on when Axion buzzes to let him know there's something off in the lab.

Takashi walks down, expecting to see some sort of escaped youma - and causing him to henshin into Riventon before he hits the door.

He opens it, cracking the door slowly, hand outstretched ready to attack - eyes narrowing as he sees the girl in the chair, but before he can make it out. He sighs. "Helix, I told you to stay ou..." but he doesn;t finish it.

Because this isn't Helix. This is Madoka Kaname. Tied up. In a bow. His brain takes a moment to reboot, and immediately goes into angry panic mode. Madoka should not be here. Madoka should NOT BE HERE. WHO BROUGHT HER HERE?!

The look on his face is decidedly unhappy. And worried.

Ayana has posed:
"SURPRISE!" Ayana says, jumping out of her shadowy hiding place. If the look on his face could have an opposite, it would be Ayana's right now: cheerful, excited, so very proud of herself. Her tail is up and wagging lazily, her ears are perked and excitedly alert.

"I brought her to you, because I know you like her," Ayana explains to Takashi happily. "I spent all these days making sure her stupid evil friends wouldn't see me take her, and now here she is! She's asleep, but I'm sure a little energy would wake her back up, and now you can be her boyfriend and save her from evil magical girls!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi's mouth opens and then closes. And then his hand raises. And he almost shunts Ayana into the next room with a blast of energy. He manages to avoid doing that - but instead he closes the distance with her very rapidly, his gauntleted right hand closing around her neck and he lifts her up in the air - and there's pure rage in his eyes.

"YOU did this? Why would you do this?! Why would you bring HER here? What's wrong with you?" he all but screams, and almost subconsciously squeezes a bit. "This isn't... I didn't ask for you to do anything like this!!" he says, and Ayana can feel the waves of black energy likely radiating from his gauntlet. "You're going to ruin everything!"

Ayana has posed:
"Hrrk!" On the list of responses Takashi might have given, Ayana actually did include 'angry'. She knew she was taking a risk bringing Madoka here. She certainly thought she'd made the right choice, and Takashi needs a girlfriend. At least, that was the justification for risking his anger.

But "angry" and "angry enough to be scary" are not the same thing. In fact, Ayana's never considered the latter something Takashi was capable of.

As she's lifted from the ground, the fox-girl kicks her legs worriedly, desperately trying to find purchase once again. Her sapphire eyes are wide with sudden terror, and her ears flatten against the side of her head. "But you were so mad when she was taken from you!" she protests, confusedly. "I thought ..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO /THINK/!' he shouts right in her face. "You're just supposed to do what you're told!" he growls as he squeezes a bit more.

"You just don't strike out on your own and do things, because I have long and complicated plans and letting you touch them tends to SCREW THINGS UP!" he adds. He's not sure what plan she's screwing up. Many plans. Many plans, preferences, goals. He knows he can't have Madoka Kaname wake up in his lab.

That's so bad on so many levels - personal, professional. How long until Homura showed up? Would Hannah keep her promise if she thought he kidnapped her instead of played nice? That certainly goes against Hannah's code as he understands it - or at least her loyalty to Homura.

Maybe he can just get her out before she wakes up? That thought is cut short by Madoka groaning a bit. She's waking up long before she should. He pulls a great deal of energy (more than he'll need to wake up Madoka) from Ayana in a fit of rage before he drops her. "Get out of here. Before she wakes up. Go back to the dorm and wait for me. I'll deal with you later!" Right now, he has a big problem to solve.

Deciding to remove evidence this was any sort of 'special' attack, he glares at Ayana as he throws his right hand out behind him, and small little black energy threads soar through the air, carving away Madoka's ribbon-wrapping. It serves two purposes; preventing her from seeing them, and more clearly telling Ayana how he feels about all of this.

Ayana has posed:
Energy. Mana. Power. Really, that's what this has always been about. Even from the very first they met, before Takashi ever imbued Ayana's soul with magic, it was about these things. The fox needed energy to live, and so she caught the squirrel. But before she could eat it, she recognized his power, and hesitated long enough to be caught. The fox became the familiar, and still she craved it. Power.

That same power that he's draining from her now. The very same power that he fueled her with only a short few weeks ago, when he told her how proud he was and allowed her to eat as much as she could at a little ramen joint across town.

Power.

And now she has virtually none. Ayana whimpers in agony as the power is drawn from her. She whimpers again as she is dropped to the floor. She barely even has the power to rise, but there is one thing that still comes natural. The familiar becomes the fox, and the fox slinks away, its tail and ears both tucked low, as it crawls out of Takashi's sight.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The world spins, and Madoka's head aches. The first thing she feels that she actually recognizes are pins and needles in her hands from her wrists being bound. They work back and forth a little, fingers opening and closing and simultaneously magnifying and easing the sensation.

    Shouting; angry shouting. She can't tell whose voice it is or where it's coming from. Her head lulls to the side and she groans a little, not yet awake enough to be aware of anything other than her head hurting, her hands tingling, and the angry sounds she doesn't realize should be scaring her.

    Suddenly her hands are free, arms dangling at her sides limply, and the tingling sensation intensifies as blood flow returns to normal. It's not that bad, but it's enough to jog her mind into recognizing the sensation is too strong to be a dream. Another groan and her eyes start to open, but her vision is too blurry to see anything other than a small, slow moving shadow slinking out of her sight.

    Her head tosses to the other side, and with some effort she lifts her hands to rub at her eyes, one after the other. After she's done she raises her arms above her head and gives a long stretch, yawning before resting one of her hands against the side of her forehead where the throbbing remains, though duller than before.

    Now her eyes blink open slowly before wandering the room and finding absolutely nothing familiar, putting her further into confusion and making her wonder if she really is dreaming after all. Wait- no. There is one thing familiar here, a man in black and blue with a face made of shadows and red energy.

    Riventon.

    Wait, what's he doing here?

    Wait. Where is here?

    Suddenly Madoka goes from groggy, barely conscious, to fully awake and sharply alert, her eyes widening while her pupils shrink. She stumbles up out of her chair and stands behind it, as if it will somehow offer her protection. Her last memories before she passed out return to her, and her head turns this way and that as she looks for the one that accosted her on the school roof, now gone.

    Her mind races even as her face pales- this is a man who she's seen say he's more than happy to kill to get what he desires. He's also a man she's seen use the kind of power that can easily do just that. Truth be told she hadn't thought of Riventon in a long time; he had attempted to kidnap her in a terrifying and traumatizing experience, but that was months ago with several fresher, equally frightening experiences since.

    In a brief moment she tries to remember everything she can about that encounter. There's one little detail that wasn't very important to her back then, but now is. It makes her stomach hurt, and Riventon might catch the almost queasy look on her face before she straightens her posture.

    Be strong. Be assertive.

    "Does Miss White know you have me?" she asks- shouts. "I'm her friend now, you know!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi - no, Riventon! - looks at her, regarding her. Regarding those words she says. It's so hard to see her like this. It's hard to act the way he needs to act. But he can't let the charade fall now. He has to do what he alluded to with Miss White - he has to seperate himself.

"She doesn't know and she never will." he says, his voice low and cold. "Because you're never going to leave." It turns out spending a long time as a villian means playing the part in certain circumstances isn't hard.

He shouldn't have to worry much about Madoka trying to make a real escape on her own - she's conscious, but he can sense how low on energy she is - even over the beating power, that potential power nobody understands. "Now that I've got you here, you stay right there, and I'll get started." he says, cryptically. He goes into the room next door.

He can feel it, welling up inside of him, displacing other energies. That hate. He's so upset. At Ayana. At the world, maybe. He's so furious she would do this. He'll have to get the door changed. It'll screw up so many things. But if he doesn't play this right, it'll be a disaster in every possible way.

Luckily, he needs to burn off all that anger right now, for everything to work. So he starts taking it out. On everything around him in the other room. Cabinets are thrown, expensive equipment blasted - the ruckuss summons several guard Robo-Goons, which stand dumbfounded not knowing who to attack until Riventon blasts them down too - which cases others to begin firing.

As Madoka tries to regain her strength, it sounds like World War 3 is happening next door suddenly.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Well shoot. That didn't work very well at all, did it?

    With her best hope of getting him to change his mind about whatever he plans on doing failing to even give him pause Madoka is back to cowering, stepping back from even the chair, if only to get a little more distance between them. Stuck in this unknown place, some kind of laboratory, she has nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. She's decided for a while now that running is by far the best course of action when finding herself in dangerous magical situations.

    There is one potential out she has, that technically speaking she always has, but she's been so frightened by what she's seen magically and so warned against that path to power she doesn't even think to call out to Kyubey. Good thing, too, since he would no doubt be beside her in a split second should she make that kind of decision.

    It just goes to show how frightened she is that Riventon leaving actually scares her more; sometimes the scariest thing is the unknown and as he leaves her alone in the room her mind fills with all manner of unspeakable things he might be preparing for her. This only gets worse as the sound of battle begin echoing from the room beyond, each slam, crash, and explosion causing her to wince and flinch.

    The only thing keeping her going is adrenaline, and as the ruckus continues unabated it gives way to fatigue. The pink haired girl slumps to the ground, dropping first to her knees and then into a half seated position, legs angling away from her as she hunches forward, palms pressed to the sterile floor.

    Her twintails fall beside her face as she trembles in icy terror, eyes wide. "It can't end like this, can it?" she asks no one in a strained voice. "I don't want to die..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
It takes a while for the war in the nearby room to die down. It takes a little bit of time for him to properly finish the rest of the illusion - the whole plan cooked up in the heat of the moment, some way to avoid the consequences of all these actions which have lead here. And in some ways Takashi considers the mark of a genius might be what you can come up with in a pinch, as well.

An untested weapon and idea might be his saving grace here, if he can pull it off.

What walks through the door again isn't Riventon - it's another boy (who is totally Takashi, but the magic of Henshin Identities is at work!) - he's got the same short haircut as Takashi, but is wearing what looks to be light plated armor in a light grey - swooping motifs at the edges, and small ice crystal designs come up on the gauntlets and boots. There's a blue cape, fastened to blue and silver-gray pauldrons and affixed with a short chain that runs across the front of that armor. In one hand he drags a heavy halberd, made of the same color grey metal - but the halberd itself seems to be made of ice.

The whole effect of the armor and it's brighter colors is somewhat ruined by the smears of blood on it - Takashi's own blood, cut to make sure the fight didn't seem to fake - and he's doing a good job of looking pretty roughed up. Partly because he is - he blew a lot of energy making the fight sound good, and a henshin that locks off access to his dark energy makes him a lot weaker. It shows.

"Are you okay?" he asks, sounding utterly exhausted, looking right at her with bright green eyes.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The sound of high powered magic continues, and Madoka remains sitting there on the floor. There's no more words from her as it goes on, but as she is further and further convinced she's going to die here, and likely soon, the tears begin to flow.

    By the time the armor clad young man enters the room she's crying in slow sobs, tears are trickling down her cheeks and drawing wet streaks on her face, her eyes reddened and puffy. She's effectively stopped trying to think of ways to escape, as the risks involved and likely failures only proved to scare her further.

    She looks up expecting to see Riventon, and the fact that it's someone else surprises her. Madoka sits up a little straighter, looking at the newcomer searchingly. There's something vaguely familiar about him, but of course where that familiarity comes from is blocked from her mind by the nature if his henshin.

    His voice seems to bear no malice or ill will when he speaks, and a spark of hope returns to her upon hearing it. "I'm scared," she responds, her voice still strained and weak. "I don't want to be here," wherever here is. "I don't know who you are, but please help me! Please help me get out of here before-" she can't even finish the thought.

Takashi Agera has posed:
It's a strange feeling, the way she looks at him in this henshin. How scared she seems does seem to eat at his heart. "It's okay. He's not going to come after you." Takashi says, reassuringly. "He's busy."

He grabs his halberd in both hands and cuts a gash in the door she was brought in. The gash turns blue, fills with ice, and then the door bursts open. There's another Roboguard in the hallway - for about a half second before the blade cuts sideways through it and it explodes in a small burst of dark energy. The good thing is, Robogoons are really replacable. That door, less so.

"I'm sorry it took me so long, Madoka-chan." he says, leaning down. "I followed the shadow across the skyline but it took me a while to figure out how to get in here." One or two or ten lies wouldn't ruin everything. As long as he never gets caught.

He leans down and tries to collect Madoka in his arms, if she doesn't resist it, he'll carry Madoka like a princess, right out the door, into the hallway, and out another door into the bright blue sky.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    When the unknown magical hero speaks to her some more and reassures her Madoka lifts her arm to her face, wiping some of the tears off of her face with the white cuff of her school jacket. Had she the strength for it she'd stand up, but the effects of having energy drawn out of her are not so easily shrugged off, especially not when what little remained was burned up adrenaline fueled terror.

    The hopeful look on her face grows as he slashes into and through the door with his icy halberd. She is momentarily still once more when she sees that Robogoon, it's weapons more than enough to finish do her in should it try, but lets out a little sigh of relief when he dispatches it so quickly.

    "No! Don't be sorry. You're here now, and that's what matters." She still doesn't know who it is, of course, and being on a first name basis with most people she knows doesn't make it all that much easier to pin it down. She is getting the feeling she -should- recognize him, but simple can't though.

    There's no resistance as she's scooped up into his arms, and in fact she does what she can to help, putting her arms around his neck to make herself easier to balance. "I'm sorry to be a burden," she offers softly, not moments after saying herself that apologies were unnecessary.

    Madoka feels amazingly fragile, carried his arms like this. She's a small girl, and physically delicate as well. On top of this she only has the strength to hold herself weakly to him as she's carried. Though the potential he finds so striking still resides within her as strong as ever has it's probably never been more clear to him just how easy it might be to extinguish forever.

    Once out of the shadowy laboratory and into the bright daylight the girl closes her eyes, turning her face towards the sun and letting it wash over her. The warmth is rejuvenating, and it's only now that she starts to feel safe- which is why she begins to cling even closer to her rescuer, the peril she was in made all the more real by it's passing. "Thank you so much! If you hadn't followed I probably never would have been found."

    If she just hadn't had the wits scared out of her she'd probably blush at being carried around like this, but for the moment the relief from mortal terror overrides such happy frivolities.

Takashi Agera has posed:
"You're not a burden to me, Madoka-chan." he says with a soft smile. Ayana is a damn burden, though... he pushes those thoughts aside. They're not productive, right now.

Once they're out of the halls of the UMBRA base, he tells Madoka to hold on - and when she clings closer, he starts to make large leaps across the city - similar to how Ayana travelled with her earlier, only being held in a far more dignified manner.

"I'm sure someone would've found you." he responds. "You're very precious to a lot of people." Once they make it to a small park in Mitakihara, he sets her down gently, underneath a tree which is slowly dropping fall leaves.

At least, he thinks to himself, she seems to have bought the ruse, backed up by henshin magic. The last few moments have been hectic, and only now is the crushing weight of everything really hitting him.

"I don't know what I would've done if I had lost you, Madoka-chan." He's honest about this, and his face shows it - though his sense of 'lost' may be more about a loss in how she sees him and in her desire to spend time with him on her own, rather than in loss of Madoka proper.

He puts his hands on her shoulders and begins to channel some of the energy - energy that was stolen from her, that he later stole from Ayana - back into her body, hopefully regenerating some of her strength and alertness.

"I guess now you know your dance partner's secret." he adds with a smile - remembering only now that the magic has prevented her from connecting the dots.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka closes her eyes as they go leaping through the air. She feels safe with him but seeing the ground repeatedly rush up at her is not she'd find exciting in a good way just now. "I hope you're right, but I'm glad I won't have to find out," she replies.

    She's not so weak that she can't remain standing once she's set down, especially not when there's a tree and a magical boy to help keep her steady. Right now Madoka doesn't seem to have the slightest clue there's anything dishonest happening between her and the armored boy in front of her. She has no reason to believe there is, and as Kyubey would attest teenage girls aren't the best at sussing out the full truth amongst several half-truths and lies, especially not amidst traumatic experiences.

    His next words stir a little confusion on her which is plain on her face as he reacts to the danger she was in; or the danger his facade(is that still what it is?) was in. She makes a soft, "Mmm," as the energy returns to her taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly once the transfer is complete. More color returns to her cheeks, and though she still keeps a hand on him to stay standing there's much less weight on him as the strength in her legs and her balance mostly returns. With no real physical injury the only actual damage is what's attenuated and lost in the actual transfers.

    Then he says a few simple words, and her eyes widen the slightest bit. "Wait, are you?" She looks at him closer, eyes softly looking over the features of his face, his silver hair, and then into his bright green eyes. "Takashi-san! It really is you, isn't it?" It's a good thing he gave her the energy back before telling her, because it lets her move forward to hug him closely without losing her balance and falling. That'd be pretty embarassing.

    "I had no idea you had this kind of power, T-" she cuts herself off there, realizing saying his name while he's transformed could give away his secret. "Thank you so much," she says again, "I really have no idea what would have happened if you hadn't saved me."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi shakes his head. "I wouldn't have shown you if it wasn't important." he responds at Madoka's incredulousness. "I wanted you to get to know me outside of all of /this/" he says, gesturing at himself and his armor, "first, but thaty didn't turn out to be an option. " Or, more accurately, that option was ripped out of his hands by an overeager familiar.

"There's enough chaos and confusion swirling around me in rumors and things people think and opinions of your friends... I kinda wanted to avoid throwing a whole secret identity in the mix." he says. "But... I also wanted to let you know it was me, once I saved you." At least that much is honest!

"I don't really want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't been around." This is also an honest truth. It could've been strange if Helix found her first... "When I saw you in that room, so scared, I got scared too. Scared for you." he says, his hands finally letting go of her as all of her color is back and the energy he acquired from Ayana has run down. He's no healer - he can only move energy around. Though the effects might make it seem that way.

"So seeing you smiling and safe - that means so much to me, Madoka-chan. Oh... safe. Is there somewhere you'd like me to drop you off? I don't feel comfortable leaving you in this park right now, though I'm pretty sure the two jerks I just fought aren't gonna be coming after you any time soon." Very sure in fact.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "It's important to keep that secret as safe as you can, isn't it?" Madoka responds, missing a little of his point about how complicated it makes things. It does make it pretty obvious for Takashi to know she'd previously been exposed to magic and secret identities though, nevermind that he knew that already for other reasons. "Even so... since this did happen, I'm glad that you showed me. I feel a lot safer already, knowing you're there to look out for me." She feels a little sad needing protection, but at the same time it's heartwarming to know so many people are there to protect her. It's just a shame she has to make use of it so often.

    As he lets go of her Madoka takes a small step back herself. "I hadn't been that scared in a long time," she admits. She's not sure if she'd ever been that scared for so long before; anticipation has a way of making time stretch out forever, especially when alone.

    She does give him a small smile, and even manages to look bashful for a moment when he says she means a lot to him. "I... I'm not sure." She looks down at the green grass, shifting a little in place before looking up to him. She opens her mouth to speak, but gasps instead. "You're hurt!"

    She reaches out carefully towards the bloody area, only to stop just short. "I don't have my first aid kit with me here; it's back with the rest of my things on the roof of the school. I'm so sorry I didn't notice before!" It's very unlike her not to notice something like that and she knows it. "Is it bad? Do you need to see a doctor?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi... isn't sure how he should tell Madoka to handle this identity. Obviously the identity is designed to work in a different way that most secret identities, but would giving that away be a problem down the line? Oh, what tangled webs we weave, Takashi! "I think I want to keep the number of people who know about this reasonably small, yes. But I trust you. And I hope maybe this can make you trust me a little more." Or a lot more. It's kinda the point of the whole process, though it ended up being even more important than he could've imagined.

"You don't have to be scared any more, Madoka-chan. I'm here with you now." he says, shifting to lean a little closer to her.

"No, no, it's okay. It's not very deep. I'll be okay." Really, he doesn't want her to be aware of just how superficial his injuries are, though it's unlikely he can hide that for long. "The armor is magical, it took most of the damage. Besides, I gave as good as I got." he adds with a very wide grin. This is because he finds that comment to be very clever.

"No no I shouldn't need a doctor. I should heal up fine. Besides, you need to worry about you. How are you feeling. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you still tired?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka gives a little shake of her head, "I won't speak of it to anyone unless you tell me it's alright first or it becomes very urgent." One of his next comments gets a small tilt of her head, because at the moment she can't see why having magic would make him innately more trustworthy. On the other hand rescuing her like he did sure does!

    When he leans closer she takes it as a signal that being close is okay, and without saying anything she steps closer and leans against him, resting her head against his shoulder as best she can without pressing against his injuries, which he has just assured her are no reason to rush off to the hospital for stitches. "I'm glad. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. I don't really want anyone to get hurt because of me."

    His comment about fighting the two off draws a smile from her, but only a small one- she's glad he was able to fight them off, of course, but unless it's a Witch or a Youma or some similarly mindless construct she'd rather nobody actually get hurt. She tilts her head up, keeping her chin at his shoulder, and looks up to his eyes, "I know it isn't reasonable, but if there was a way to get that Riventon man to stop hurting people without having to hurt him, I'd always choose that."

    When he asks how she's feeling Madoka hugs him a little closer, "Better now. I don't think I'm hurt, and I don't feel weak, but I am a little drained." She swallows a little, her bottom lip withdrawing inward to be lightly bitten before she admits. "Actually, I'm still a little scared. I..." she gives a small shake of her head from side to side and her eyebrows come together in an anxious expression, "I just don't want to be alone, right now."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi picks up on that small tilt, and decides to clarify. "Because I'm willing to show you who I am." he says. And then there's a pause. Saying that actually felt a little wrong inside for a moment. But he quickly brushed it off, away, and to the very back of his mind.

He doesn't push Madoka away when she rests her head on him, and he only says "I don't think anybody really wants to see other people be hurt because of them. Sometimes... there's just a battle between two people's ideas of what needs to happen." he adds, looking up a bit. "Sometimes that battle can be won with words. Sometimes it comes to blows. But I've never killed anyone and I don't intend to start now." he says. The whole attempt notwithstanding. He'd like to get everything he wants with less bloodshed, though.

"I think you're right - it's not reasonable. Someone like Riventon - the future he sees is very different than the future other people see, and he's willing to go to blows himself to make what he wants to happen, happen." He is trying really hard not to talk his 'other' self up ridiculously. "That means fighting him to put a stop to it. But I couldn't let him have you. You're too precious to me." There's also more truth in this statement than perhaps even Takashi knows, and there's a long pause. "I don't think it's safe for you to try to help him, though."

When Madoka hugs him closer, he puts an arm around her and pulls her in close. "Don't worry. I'm with you." he says again. The difference in thoughts between 'I'm here' and 'Stay away from Riventon' is clear in his head. She wouldn't be hugging him if she knew. She would be afraid of him. He doesn't want Madoka afraid of him. And that thought shakes him, a bit. He doesn't want Madoka to be afraid of him at all.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Cue a blush of embarrassment. Madoka closes her eyes, feeling silly as he reads her expression and answer the question she didn't voice. It actually causes her to laugh, which lasts a little while because laughing suddenly makes her feel a whole lot better and more comfortable, even if it's because she was embarrassed. "I trust you, Takashi-san."

    She didn't want to say his name again, but there isn't anyone else near and she spoke quietly. More importantly she really wanted to put emphasis to her words by using her name. That said... "What should I call you while you're like this? I know it's wrong of me to keep using your name like that."

    She smiles a little more to his words of not intending to kill people in battle, though it takes on a slightly sad cast when he agrees with her assessment of the situation with Riventon. At his final point her eyes widen though and she shakes her head, "Me? No, I'm not going to try. If there was a way I could protect myself, perhaps I would, but it wouldn't be right for me to put myself in that kind of danger when there are so many people looking after my safety; including you." It doesn't hurt that she had the daylights scared out of her only a little while ago.

    She sighs a little as he pulls her closer, and he can feel her relax. She lets herself close her eyes, continuing to simply lean on him and hug him. "Thank you. It means a lot to me, that you're here for me. Not just that you saved me, but staying here with me. I know that's not something you have to do... so I'm glad you care enough about me to do it anyway."

    It's undeniable that this kind of closeness isn't something everyone would share with her. It's also hard to avoid the fact her budding romantic feelings for him colors the moment a little. But for her this is as much, if not more, about friendship than it is about a romantic relationship. It's about a something deeper than a silly crush.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Those words. 'I trust you, Takashi-san'. He cherishes those words deep down. He cherishes them in a way he knows he shouldn't. Because it shouldn't matter to him that she does. Because she shouldn't trust him. Because it's all incorrect in so many ways. But still, he cherishes them. When she says it, he hugs her tighter to him for a moment. "That means a lot to me."

"Well... this..." he taps the ground with the ice-like axe blade of his halberd "...is Eiszapfen. It means icicle. And it's a Belkan Device - a powerful magic weapon from a distant world." Well, the designs came from a distant world. It's from Riventon's Lab. Things like this are why she shouldn't trust him. "People who wield them are called Knights. So I'm the Frost Knight. Not the most interesting or creative name, I guess." he admits. It's because he had to come up with it on the fly.

When she admits to not intending to try to save Riventon, he agrees. "He's incredibly dangerous. You shouldn't be anywhere near him." he says, even as he holds her close. The hypocracy is unmistakable. Thankfully, the subject is left behind soon.

"I like being close to you, so that makes it a lot easier. I'm happy I was able to be there. To protect you. Not that I was happy you needed it, or anything..." He's doing something very uncharacteristic; stumbling over his words. "I care a lot about you." he says after a moment. "I don't even know how to explain it. But I've told you that before. Just being around you, it lifts my spirits. It makes me warm." he says, finding the best word to explain what he does feel.

He's still not entirely sure what it all means. He's not sure he wants to commit to knowing, either. It might mean very dangerous and strange things for the person he thinks he is - for the person he's been. For the man behind that shadowy lab coat.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles a bit more warmly as she Takashi hugs her closer and tells her how much her trust means to him. The fatigue of stress from the previous encounter is starting to fade and melt away now, being so warm and close with someone she feels safe with the majority of the reason for it.

    She has little choice but to nod along as he explains about his weapon and the title being a user of it makes him, since no one has ever really taken the time to explain these sorts of things to her; mainly they've tried to make sure such explanations would never be necessary. Homura has said she would share some of her knowledge, but as today has proven current events and juggling an active job alongside school and Witch hunting have taken a rather significant amount of her time.

    "Eiszapfen..." she says quietly, mangling the Belkan a fair bit, while trying to use her speaking knowledge of English to help pronounce it. She then shakes her head a little, "Frost Knight is fine. You should be proud of your power and what you're able to accomplish. You rescued me tonight." She giggles softly, "That makes Frost Knight a wonderful person. I think it's who you are that makes the name wonderful, not the other way around."

    Now that she's starting to feel a lot more like herself she does blush a little when he talks about being close to her. "I like it too," she replies, managing to keep from blushing this time. That's certainly no lie; she doesn't feel like she needs to cling to him right now. She doesn't feel like she really needs to be around someone. Right now she simply wants to, and since he's not trying to stop her from staying close she isn't moving away.

    There's an undeniably sweet look on her face as he keeps talking to her, the way he stumbles over his words as he explores his feelings is endearing to her. "I'm glad. I... I want to lift your spirits, and make you feel warm. I like that it makes you happy just to be around me. I'm happy just standing here with you, too."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi just stands there, with Madoka. The way she mangles his device's name is cute in a way, too. (He mangled it a few times and /HE/ named it!). It feels nice, to talk to her. To explain things to her.

"Well, if you like the name then that's good enough for me." he says, grinning. "If I'm the knight does that make you the princess I just rescued?" he asks, that grin still holding. He still feels that bitter pain back behind it all, though - he rescued her, but he essentially rescued her from himself. On the bright side, perhaps that was safer than having to rescue her from something that posed a legitimately dangerous threat to her for his first time out in this henshin.

As he holds Madoka close, he looks up and notices the sun setting. It feels like they'd only been like this for a short time, but perhaps with all of the kidnapping an unconsciousness and fake fighting time has passed by quicker than expected.

He looks down at her. "I think, though, I should be a chivalrous Knight and get you home before your mother starts to worry." He leans down and moves to pick her up just like he did before. "And we've gotta stop by the roof and get the stuff you said you left there."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka blushes and shakes her head a little at the thought of being a princess. "I don't know about that," she comments softly, though the way she peeks up at his eyes shows the playful flattery is effective. She follows his gaze as he looks away, eyes widening slightly as she sees the sky starting to change color from the setting sun. She hadn't realized it had been nearly so long. She's not sure how much of the last several hours she spent unconscious or terrified compared standing there with Takashi, and isn't willing to think on the matter.

    "Yes, you're right. Though it would be my father that will worry. Mom probably won't be back home until a few hours after dark." She laughs again, genuinely amused with her family's slightly abnormal but happy schedule. "I'm going to have to make up for lost time on my homework too," she adds, sounding only nominally upset by it- it's not like she usually does much of it before getting home anyway.

    As he leans down she puts her arms around his neck again, helping lift herself a tiny bit as he scoops her up. This time she is blushing a little at being carried like this. Then on a more practical matter as he prepares to jump off towards Infinity she asks, "Um... does your magic have anything that could help me find my phone? It's probably broken into pieces, but maybe I can get my memory card."

    And they're off, skyward bound, leaping into the sunset.