795/A Cold Date

A Cold Date
Date of Scene:	04 January 2016
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Madoka and Takashi go ice skating
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Madoka Kaname

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Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi Agera had spent the last few days cooped up in his lab, aside from a forced sit-down meal with Ayana. But just because he was fixated on his current project and his new interests, didn't mean he could go for long without some sort of distraction, some sort of time spent away from the machinery and equipment, the equations and plans.

So once his most recent experiment was set in motion, with equipment to keep track of it, Takashi tromped out of the lab. In the main room of UMBRA, he sat down in a chair and pulled out his phone. Not his Eclipse phone, but his civilian one.

And of course, he texted Madoka Kaname, asking if she was busy, and if she wasn't, if they could meet up. Her response made his eyes visibly light up, and he switched his labcoat for a blue jacket and black scarf. And he made his way out of the door that lead through the Stacked Space of the UMBRA headquarters, exiting out of a door in a storage shed on the docks. A few magic-assisted hops and he's at Mitakihara's downtown before the time they were scheduled to meet has arrived.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka texts back quickly saying she'd be happy to meet him. After a bit of back and forth they make plans to go ice skating at one of the rinks local to downtown Mitakihara. The actual meetup spot is at a halfway point between them(they can reach each other faster and spend more time together that way!), planning on walking to the rink together afterwards.

    When she arrives Madoka is wearing a cream colored winter coat with faux fur lining and big floofy button coverings and a pink tartan dress beneath it. For extra warmth she's wearing a dark pink scarf with a large bow on one side, red mittens, and long white stockings.

    She's carrying her ice skates in one hand tied together by the laces and as she arrives she lifts her hand and waves once she finds the white haired boy on the sidewalk. "Takashi-kun!" She jogs the rest of the way up to him, and rather than stopping at a respectable speaking distance she goes all the way up to him and wraps her free arm around him in a warm hug. "It's good to see you again, Takashi-kun!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi's stern face is only not stern for a few things. Most of these things are science or winning at some sort of a contest. Another one of these things is Madoka Kaname.

"Madoka-chan!" he says, as she hugs him and he leans over with his arm and hugs her back, tightly. "I'm glad you were free today." Takashi says, as though he's not usually the busy one. The two of them start walking together as the snow falls gently down around them.

"It's strange not seeing you every day at school. I think I kinda got used to being able to see you, to at least say hi every day." he admits, turning to her. "I'd probably at least text you more, but I also don't want to bother you - in case you're... reading a book or something." Alas, for Takashi has zero idea what Madoka does in her spare time.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The hug lingers for several moments of Takashi allows it, and Madoka lets out a happy sort of sigh before falling into step next to him. "Me too," she replies as she walks next to him in the snow, keeping very near to his side and not out of any kind of worry or fear.

    She nods and makes a small agreeing noise, "It's usually a lot nicer not having to worry about homework for a while, but this break has me missing getting to see everyone every day- especially you, Takashi-kun!" She giggles a little then at his words and shakes her head softly, some of the snow that had accumulated atop her head falling off, "It's never a bother, Takashi-kun!"

    Madoka looks over and upwards towards him, "I'm volunteering a bit more since school is out, but I've mostly been spending my extra time at home with my family. Papa loves spending time with Tatsuya, but he's such a handful even Papa needs a break sometime!"

    She looks down and ahead of herself for a moment, feeling just a touch shy while noting, "I'd be very happy talking to you or seeing you more often, Takashi-kun. If I wasn't busy with a patient at the hospital I'd be sure to get back to you right away if you texted me."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Hearing that he's not a bother makes him very happy. Unreasonably happy, in fact - he can feel that deep down. He does like spending time with Madoka, and talking to her. "Oh, well then, if it's not going to annoy you - then yes, I'd like to keep in touch more." he says, smiling.

When Takashi turns to look at her, some of the snow on his head drifts away too - the stuff was almost like powder, today. Madoka's talking about her family again, and almost instinctively, his hand comes up and just brushes against the locked Ayana got for him - the one with the picture of his mother in it. "Your family seems really nice."

"I'll see about keeping in better touch with you then, Madoka-chan." he says. Then after a pause. "I didn't know you liked to ice skate. Or even skated at all. I didn't until recently." he admits. "I got a lot of practice though..." he says, then his eyes get a bit shifty, in an overdramatic way, before he leans down and whispers. "If you're going to be making ice walls and throwing the stuff around everywhere, it helps to know how to move on it."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is walking close, but when Takashi acts a little surprise that keeping in touch isn't something that would pester her she reaches up to slip her arm inside of his, hugging onto it lightly. "That couldn't possibly annoy me, Takashi-kun. You're my boyfriend, I enjoy spending every moment with you that I can get."

    Her head tilts slightly when she sees him touch the locket. That's new! He'll probably tell her about it if it's important, she thinks. She then smiles happily, "They're wonderful. I've always felt very blessed to have the parents that I do. And Tatsuya is such a fun little brother!"

    "I'm a little rusty. I used to ice skate with Sayaka-chan in winter a lot when we were kids, but I didn't get any practice while I was in America. It's a lot of fun, though! When you get moving fast it's almost like you're flying across the ice." Her head tilts to one side a little as his eyes shift around, only to lean closer to him so she can cover her mouth with her bemittoned hand while she giggles.

    It also acts as a reminder for the time he saved her from a very dangerous situation, and so she sighs a little again, hugs a little tighter against his arm, and even rests her head against him a little as they walk. "Maybe you can help me learn some fancy ice-skating moves. I bet that would shock Sayaka-chan!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi nods. "Well, I mean... I'd hope youd spend time with me, but I also wouldn't want to become..." it takes him some time to find the word, likely dug up from conversations with or overheard around classmates "...clingy?" he half says, half asks.

"Your father seems nice, your little brother is adorable, and your mother is strong." Strong is a good, polite way to refer to Junko Kaname, right? "I have to admit it, I'm a little jealous." he says, his voice suddenly soft and low, devoid in large part of the self-assuredness it normally carries.

But then Madoka's talking about ice-skating. He almost makes a huge mistake, commenting that it's a lot like flying - before he remembers that Riventon flies, but the 'Frost Knight' does not. "Yeah, it's pretty wonderful. I really loved it, once I started." he says, instead. "I think I could teach you a few things, anyways. But don't expect me to go ridiculously fancy, because I wouldn't want to see you get hurt." he adds. A hurt Madoka is likely a Madoka he gets to spend less time with! Also, Scary Junko Kaname.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Not wanting to become clingy? Madoka considers that for a moment and nods, "Ohh, I see now. You don't have to worry about that with me, Takashi-kun, I'm always happy to talk to you or see you." A short pause and she adds with a bright smile, "But it's very sweet of you to be so considerate about how I might feel."

    Her reaction is almost the opposite; her family is one of the few things that she has always been consistently proud of. "Ahhh, Mama is so cool! She has advice for everything, never misses a detail, and works so hard." When he mentions being jealous and sounds like he actually means it it draws a soft, "Aww," from Madoka, and she nuzzles against his arm more gently, trying to be comforting.

    "Really?" she pipes up, sounding hopeful and excited despite the qualifications added, "I'd really like that, Takashi-kun! I understand if you want to be a little careful with me, too." It's not an uncommon sentiment, and she's starting to grow accustomed to it. "Even just little things would be a lot of fun. I know I can be clumsy at times, but with all the dancing and ice skating I think my balance is getting a little better."

Takashi Agera has posed:
It's not too long before they've walked to the ice rink itself. Takashi also considers... if he's being considerate about how Madoka feels. It's a thought most people wouldn't have, but it does make Takashi think a little bit, for a moment, about why he acts the way he acts around her. And then, before he can come to any real understanding, he promptly decides it doesn't matter - being around her does make him happy, and what's the point of looking deeper?

And there's Madoka nuzzling against his arm, and it /is/ comforting, and he's not going to argue with it. "Sorry, Madoka-chan. I'm not trying to bring you down. Anyways, we're here to have fun!" Takashi diverts from the subject, and nods. "I for one can say that you dance very well. Especially when it's just me and you. Especially considering how long we danced for." he adds, with a wink.

A few moments later, and they're putting the skates on. While Madoka puts hers on, Takashi takes to the ice. And soon, after doing a run around it, he's sliding back to meet Madoka - backwards - on his skates.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka giggles happily at the mention of their extraordinarily long dance. It's a very good memory for her and even just remembering it fills her with a certain feeling of bubbly, giddy excitement. When Takashi is putting on his ice skates he'll find himself ambushed by kiss on the cheek.

    In public!

    It takes her a little while to pull off her warm and fuzzy boots and replace them with her ice skates, especially considering how tightly she needs to lace them up to keep safe. When Takashi slides in towards her backwards she gets up onto her skates and claps happily for him- it's a bit muffled due to her mittens but he can probably still hear as she approaches.

    "You didn't even have to warm up! No fair," she teases playfully while stepping carefully onto the ice, taking a few moments to get steady on her feet. She actually manages it fairly quickly, soon carefully making her way around the rink in a rather mundane fashion to warm up. Considering this is her third time on the ice since she got her skates a week ago it's maybe not too surprising she isn't immediately falling on her butt.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is absolutly sure that it requires no further thought when she kisses him on the cheek. There's just a big dumb grin on his face from the time when she does it until he's returned back to her and waits for her to get stablizied - he'll be tempted to hold out a hand, but she seems to get herself together relatively quickly.

"No, I just did all of the warmups I'll probably ever have to do at once earlier, when I was training." he says, with a grin. "Landing on your butt in that armor gets real uncomfortable real fast."

He smiles, and if she's good to go, will start skating with her, moving slowly so she can get her bearings and get used to being on the ice.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    The big grin on Takashi's face draws a happy laugh from Madoka and she gives him a playful wink as he goes onto the ice ahead of her.

    "You must have practiced really hard! Ice skating isn't as easy to pick back up as riding a bike," she notes with a little tilt of her head, only to laugh with him at the mention of crashing and burning wearing a bunch of armor. "Then I'm glad you've worked so hard at getting it right, because I'd hate for your tushy to always be sore!" More playful teasing it seems, as she giggles for several moments into her hands at her audacity to mention hit butt. Now that she's thinking about it he might even catch her peeking when he isn't looking.

    Madoka seems to take things pretty slow at first. Once she's gotten back into the swing of it she's actually going to reach over and take his hand herself. No, this isn't going to help learning any tricks, but just skating side by side holding his hand is a lot of fun for the pink haired middle schooler. She is wearing mittens, but even so she'll squeeze his hand tightly, starting to be a little bolder about wanting to hold hands and hug a lot now that she's more comfortable with their relationship.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi has to slow down from his usual 'I could do skatebys with a halberd' combat speed of skating for Madoka - but that's fine with him, because skating with her is a lot of fun by itself.

"Trust me, it was for a little bit." he adds, laughing as he remembers. "Spending all that time reading and thinking didn't prepare me for athletic pursuits." he admits. In actuality, if he wasn't a magical boy at his core - his dark core - he would've had to put a lot more time, in order to get his body up to speed. Even as Riventon, he's not been a big mover (and most of that movement was aided by magic!).

With Madoka's hand in his, he skates quite happily, trying to match his speed to her level of comfort. He does have to agree with Madoka - while it's not quite as fun as flying, it's reasonably close... "It's also a little bit like dancing, don't you think, Madoka-chan?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "It's a good thing you're so smart and such a quick learner then, Takashi-kun," Madoka responds to him noting his more intellectual over athletic pursuits. Not knowing the real reason he was able to pick it up so fast she says what makes the most sense to her. It's not like her compliment is simple flattery either; she's seen his perfect test scores!

    Hand in hand as they are Madoka is willing to push the envelope a bit on her own comfort level. Skating fast is pretty fun, after all, and she trusts Takashi to be able to keep them from crashing and burning. "It is! And there's even special dancing on ice, but I think that's a little advanced for me. Figure skaters look so pretty, gliding across the ice."

    Her voice is somewhat soft as she speaks, a tone wistful admiration. She holds her free arm out a little and waves it through the air, pretending to be so pretty as that. When she's done she also notes, "There's also special ice dancing for couples!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smiles a bit. "Well I think you're stable enough on your feet that we can do a little of that. Dancing together, I mean. I admit a lot of what I studied wasn't that - not so much couples dancing as just learning to move and jump and such." He grins.

"Dance-fighting is a whole different skillset. I think they give out medals for that." he says, slowing down with Madoka, but pulling her close.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka looks up to Takashi with a bit of surprise, "Do you think so?" A warm smile spreads across her face, "That'd be a lot of fun!"

    She's certainly not going to pull away from him when he pulls her close, letting out a sigh of contentment and hugging to him for perhaps a moment longer than he'd intended. Once more her pink eyes turn upwards towards his face, "I've only seen a little bit of it on TV before, but it does sound wonderful, doesn't it? Dancing together while gliding over the ice."

Takashi Agera has posed:
"Probably as close as we can get to flying together. Well, until I figure out how to fly - I've seen the other Knights do it. The jumping was close-ish though." he adds, referencing the Daring Escape From Himself.

Takashi smiles. "Here, we'll go slowly, Madoka-chan." taking her hand in his and starting to skate forward. "Just try to match your movements to mine. Like dancing."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka considers that herself for a moment, "It might even be closer than if you could fly. If you were flying you'd probably have to hold me." A little smile, "I like being held, but that's not quite flying 'together'."

    She takes his hand happily and nods, her face turning a bit more serious as she tries to focus. Moving on ice isn't nearly so natural to her as moving on normal ground. She's ready to follow his lead as best she can, though he'll probably find her a lot less stable once they start doing more than skating in the same direction while close.

Takashi Agera has posed:
After skating in the same direction for a little while, he leans in close. "Do you know how to twirl yet?" he asks. "If not I'll try to teach you that, maybe. Or... we don't have to do anything really." he admits.

"I'm happy just skating together with you. I get to skate with the most beautiful girl here."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka gives a shake of her head, "Not on ice. I think I could learn but I haven't tried yet." She looks up and gives a sympathetic smile, "I'd be happy to learn if you want to teach me, but I'm not nearly as quick a learn as you are, Takashi-kun."

    She tilts her head a little then, "I'm happy just to skate with you too. I really like spending time with you. It makes everything more warm and fuzzy." She giggles at saying those obvious words, possibly cliche words out loud.

    The compliment doesn't fail to put a smile on her face, "Maybe that's true... but I definitely get to skate with the best looking boy!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi nods. "Well, not many people are as a fast at picking up things as me." he says with a wink. Then when she makes her little comment, he looks down at her, especially when she giggles. "No, I understand. Believe me. I wasn't the same before I met you." That is an incredible understatement. "I don't know if you can say the same for me, though. Every time I've seen you, you have been so bright and happy."

He stops skating to pause, and pulls her hand upwards a little. "I'll help you balance on one foot first. Once you're comfortable with that, we'll go from there."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles a little at the wink, having given him the compliment deliberately. It's an easy way of making it easier to take that he might have to hold back for her a little. She considers his comment about herself then for a moment. "I wasn't always this happy. I had a lot of doubts and worries about myself. It's and it's to be happy when I have so many nice people to be around!"

    She slows to a stop then and nods, raising her arm as he pulls on her hand. After a moment she lifts one foot, pulling a bit on his hand for support. Her leg is a bit wobbly- her ankles could probably use a bit of strengthening. She's light enough that it's normally not an issue, but all her weight being on a single thin blade complicates things. Eventually she stabilizes. "I think I've got it..."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi stablizes her with his hand, giving her somewhere else to work with than just that leg, and is strangely... patient... with her getting stablized.

Then he slowly lets go of her hand. "You know what... I bet I'm going about this all wrong." he says after a moment. "I'm not a great instructor. I'm, a better demonstrator. And maybe you do better learning while watching." he says, smiling. "It's probably less cuddly this way, though."

He lets go of her and tries to walk her through what he's doing. He backs away from Madoka. "You need to get some momentum..." he says, skating and then turning forward. "and bring your hands in a little. Ignore what we just did, do it on two feet at first." Takashi's having trouble because he's trying to teach Madoka something that, somehow, came naturally to him.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles when he lets go. She holds her arms out to her sides and manages to stay balanced on one leg for a few more seconds before putting her other foot down.

    "Hmm." She tilts her head slightly. "That's probably true," she comments about that first part. She actually has no idea if she's a better learner watching than being instructed. 'less cuddly' earns a playful but deliberate pout.

    She's actually glad when step one is getting a bit of speed. Momentum has so far makes balance a much easier thing, so long as it's controlled. Madoka watches him curiously as he skates and explains, nodding slightly while making a curious face. Ignore what they just did? But then why did they do it?

    Well, having her hand held was nice!

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smiles and pulls his hand in. "Your hands will slow you down - you'll be faster the closer in you can be, but you have to keep your balance." His voice keeps rising and lowering because he's spinning now - slowly, but still spinning.

Eventually he sticks a leg out because he's a show off and revolves faster on one leg before gracefully coming out of the spin, and skates back to her.

"If you want to try it now, I'll stay close in case you fall?" he offers, the statement as much a question. He's really not much of a teacher.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Move arms in, spin faster, move arms out, spin slower. While she might not understand why that is Madoka can at least be taught that it does happen. Seeing the example in motion makes it click a lot faster, at least. When he puts his leg out Madoka laughs a little and claps her bemittened hands together, though secretly hopes he's not expecting her to try to show off quite so quickly herself.

    "Okay!" she agrees. Rather than getting to it right away she skates over to Takashi and gives him a quick hug, "I know I can count on you to catch me!" Then she'll skate backwards a short ways. She gets up a bit of speed, like he did, tries to turn and get herself into a spin. ...and just ends up going around in a tight circle.

    "Eheheh..." Bear with her! It takes a few more tries, but eventually she is actually spinning around. "Ah, um! I think I'm going to be dizzy when I stop!" She holds her arms and starts trying to slow herself down, starting to look a bit wobbly.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi wraps an arm around her as she looks a little dizzy. "Sorry, sorry. I forget you like... don't... spend a lot of your time moving really fast in magical armor." Or flying through the air and doing corkscrews and loops. Same principle, really.

"But see? You did pick it up. Now you can say I taught you something." he adds with a grin. "It's not a huge thing, but it was nice. You've still got a sort of grace about you, Madoka-chan, even if you are dizzy." he adds, with a grin.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka comes to a slow stop as he puts his arms around her. Once she's stopped she's wobbly enough on her feet that it probably was a good thing, "I-it's okay! I do want to learn, it's just a little disorienting at first." She giggles a little, "It makes me really appreciate the people who do it in competitions. And the people who do it in fights." She looks up to him and smiles at the last comment.

    Then she nods, "I'm sure I'd get better at it if you wanted to keep helping me." She giggles a little more at his grin, only to smile with a slight blush as he compliments her. "Do you think so? It must have something to do with trying to keep up with my suave dancing partner!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
"That might be have SOMETHING to do with it - your partner, I mean." he says with a smile, pulling her closer to him. "You know... I'd spend more time with you, but I'm not sure what I should spend it doing?"

"I mean..." he stops. Trying to figure out exactly what he DOES mean. "I like spending time with you, but it feels like we should do things other than just be close up and talk. That's nice too though..." he says. He sounds almost confused. So he just hugs her a bit more.

"I'm sure you'll get it after a few more tries. Once you're not dizzy, anyways."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles brightly as he goes along with her playful assertion. When he mentions not knowing what he should be doing her mind wanders off a little, envisioning an outlandishly dressed girl dancing around. Almost too quiet to hear she singongs, "Just spit it out, it's no fun if you do nothing at all~" to a familiar tune.

    She blinks a few times and shakes her head a little. Then a bit of a face is made and she tilts her head, "Really? I thought maybe we were doing too much; we've danced and gone to the amusement park," ok so that wasn't -alone- but it counts, "and now we're ice skating together. We haven't just sat close to each other and talked much other than when we ate lunch together."

    She blushes a little, because he did actually hug her more, to which Madoka responds with a tight squeeze of her arms around him, "I like being close to you, Takashi-kun. Sometimes I feel like I don't want to do anything except be close to you and hug you. Or have you scoop me up and hold me..." she admits with a brighter blush.

    "I'm not really dizzy anymore..." she notes.

Takashi Agera has posed:
"I don't know..." he says, softly. "Maybe I'm just looking for more excuses to spend time with you. Or maybe I just feel like I should be doing more?" he asks, letting go of her - so she can try again, obstenisbly, but it might feel like he's stepping away?

"I'm not sure what I should or shouldn't be doing, really." he admits. "I'm just trying not to screw up too badly."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka sighs a little as he lets go of her. She... just said she wanted to be hugged, and even held, and he's moving away, not closer. She thought that was a pretty obvious cue, but maybe she'll have to be a little more straightforward next time.

    "For now you don't actually have to do much of anything. I'm happy just spending time around you, Takashi-kun. But if you like I'll come up with some fun things for us to do, okay?"

    Having said that she skates around a little before moving into another spin. Well, she consoles herself, ice skating -is- really fun! If not the same kind of fun as being snuggled by her boyfriend.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi watches her for a moment. It's clear he's thinking about her, about things. He waits for her to finish - before grabbing her in a hug. "I still feel like ought to. Maybe that's just me being me though. I'm used to always having something to do, something to think about, some problem to overcome." he says with a grin.

"And so I'm always looking for those, I guess." He inclines his head to see if she'll come forward with him for another lap or two around the rink.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka manages to bring a safe halt to her spin, maybe because this time she doesn't spin for so long that she can't handle it, only to be drawn into a surprise hug that gets a happy laugh out of her. She leans against him a little. "Does that mean I'm too easy to please?" she asks teasingly.

    When he motions to keep skating she slips her hand into his and then starts off making circles about the skating rink, trying to go a bit faster this time, push herself just a little bit more. "A problem or something to think about... maybe we should try doing a project together? Like a big complicated puzzle!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takshi smiles down at her. "Too easy to please doesn't sound right. I'm not asking for you to be difficult. Just..." He doesn't know what he's asking. Maybe he's the difficult one.

"I think I'd like to do something like that, yeah!" he says, almost excitedly, picking up speed alongside her - both from trying to match her speed and the idea of two of them trying to work something out.

Of course, the kind of problems that Takashi spends his time working out are not exactly the kind of problems he wants to share with Madoka Kaname, but perhaps there's another idea in there.