The sun set fifteen minutes ago and the moon is halfway to the center of the clear sky, those stars that can be seen past Tokyo's light shining up above. The air is still warm from the hot day and it won't even get truly cold throughout the night. The walkway up the hill is paved and well maintained. The simple wide grassy lawns of the far side of the hill belie the true beauty of the Hillside Park. Past the top the hill rolls gently downward, the skyscrapers Mitakihara's downtown glittering in the night's sky, and down below the side of the hill facing it is entirely covered in beautiful five petal bluets. The small, pale azure flowers with yellow centers shine in the pale moonlight in a way that gives them an almost magical quality, almost seeming to glow as they cover the hillside.
It's here amongst these flowers that the dance is being held. At the top of the hill several rectangular folding tables have been pushed together and covered with a long tablecloth to form the buffet, covered in appetizers. A pair of tall sticks are sunk into the ground on either end of the tables, holding up a banner proudly displaying 'Flower Field Dance' in big letters, cutesy depictions of the field's bluets drawn in around the lettering.
Tempura shrimp, small sausages cut into the shape of octopuses, complete with eyes and smiling mouths, and sandwich rolls provide sustenance for the hungry along with freshly cut vegetables, fruit, and chunks of neatly cubed melon. As a special treat there is a large platter of chocolate-dipped strawberries, though aside from the drinks that's as unhealthy as the provided snacks gets, a sure way to know it was Madoka's father that provided catering. Speaking of the drinks, there's a single large punch bowl with a fruity mix, but also an ice chest full of canned sodas and bottles of water set down beside the last table. The park itself has several picnic tables available to sit and eat at, and there have also been a few picnic blankets set around away from the designated dancing area in case people want to eat amongst the flowers themselves.
As with the Last Chance Dance before it a large sound system has been rented, not so much to blast the music as loud as possible as to fully encapsulate the depth of the music being played. A laptop fulfills the job of selecting and sending music to the sound system, currently a fine selection of classical music.
For once Madoka has everything done on time and isn't hurriedly finishing getting everything into place. She's acting as a greeter for now, welcoming anyone who shows up, ready to exchange pleasantries and point out the food and flower carpeted hillside that acts as the dance floor. Tonight she's dressed up to the nines, wearing a long, flowing pastel pink dress. It's strapless, lower in back than in front and leaving her shoulders and upper back bare. pairs of side-by-side ribbons with pink gems accent the front of the dress, with a wide wrap synching the middle and a very large bow set onto it in back, a smaller bow just below the wrap in front. The dress' skirt is airy and flowy, falling down to her calves, a matching pair of short shoes adorning her feet down below. For accessories she wears lace gloves that reach most of the way to her elbow, a beaded necklace with a single larger bead in the center along with a pair of large bead earrings with darker pink hearts on them.
All of her accessories are the same opaque pastel pink as her dress, including the large flowery hairpiece atop her head. She's gone for a very different hair style than normal, her hair worked into an updo bun at the back of her head and neatly styled so her hair sticks wispily out the back in a style reminiscent of her usual twintails. It's a formal, very elegant look on her, so much so that it might be surprising at first. She's even wearing makeup tonight, a tease of blush on her cheeks and lightly applied lipstick a single shade pinker than her lips are normally, just enough to draw the eye of a careful observer and nothing more.
Homura is here maybe a bit early, always eager to spend time with Madoka, and she's also dressed to the nines. Her own outfit is entirely white, contrasting with and complimenting her long black hair. White suit jacket, white pants, white button-up shirt, white bowtie, white leather shoes and a white headband. It's a very clean look, and among the glowing white flowers she almost looks like part of the scenery.
Her own makeup is understated: a bit of lipstick, a bit of eyeliner, and just enough highlights and other adjustments to make sure she looks nice without actually looking like she's wearing a lot of makeup.
Everything is setup, and Homura still is not a people person, so there isn't much for Homura to do right now to make herself useful. She hovers close to Madoka, offering a reserved smile for others as they arrive, and occasionally offering a few words in greeting.
The breeze picks up and plays with her hair, letting black locks float behind her haphazardly.
It might be a park, but there's anticipation rather than concern from Naru as she comes to the flower strewn park where the dance is going to be held. She's unfashionably on time, arriving all on her own, and clearly feeling just the tiniest bit awkward.
The invitation might have said semi-formal but there's few enough places that Naru gets to wear lovely things to, and she does have some rather lovely things. A cocktail length dress, in deep blue shimmers with lace that moves over the underskirt, slender and elegant. Sleeveless, the neckline comes up high on her collarbone, lace alone until the bodice starts. Her hair has recently been cut, a short-ish bob sleeked to something that will stay, even without a ribbon.
If Naru's wearing makeup, it's subtle enough to just give touches of colour and kick the jet lag zombie look.
Jiaying Maki had managed to catch word of this dance and though she had invited Sora, she hadn't gotten an answer. However, it is a good excuse to show up and get to know some people. Also totally a good excuse to show off a qipao, her own this time, unlike the last time she was out. Pale green in color, trimmed in gold, she's also gone for a hint of makeup, though just a light touch of dark lipstick and a few other light touches. She's also wearing a pair of bikeshorts that works well enough with the qipao actually.
She does recognize someone right away, waving out to Naru and calling out, "Heeeeey" Cheerfully as she hurries along. She slows down after a moment though, remembering why she doesn't wear the silk dress that often. It's actually kind of uncomfortable, but so cute. She has theoretically met the other two present already, but she never got to know them, they were a bit distracted. They get a wave too, but first, the most important thing for something with a huge metabolism. She goes hunting for food at the table.
Haruna Kurosawa spent no less than two hours getting dressed. Why two? Because she'd never ever worn a /really/ fancy dress before. She obtained a really fancy dress via shopping with Hannah on an awesome weekend off.
BUT alas, if Hannah was gonna show up at all, it was gonna be late- because busy bussiness girls are busy sometimes. So she needs a date... Her eyes slowly trace over to Corvus who is mid bite of a donut on the computer. "Mph?" came from his full of donut mouth.
Haruna shows up to the dance is a lovely long skirted dress that's a soft silken seafoam green with white highlights along the trims. It reeks of a ballroom affair. Her blonde hair has two hairclips in this time, one on the right and left giving her lovely feathers to either side of her ears. She has a date!
This a boy that looks just younger than Haruna with white hair with a gray strek down toward's his left and blue eyes- it's cut short--he's wearing a white tuxedo with a black tie and looks just mildly annoyed at being dragged off from computer and donuts.
"I swear to kami-sama." Corvus mumbles. "/Three months/ of a game time card for this." he mutters.
"Fine, but we gotta get at least one fancy dance~" Haruna insists.
"Fine, but no punch spiking."
"But....!"
"No."
"Argh, you're no fun!" she whines out.
"Hiii Madoka! Hiii Homura!" she says hopping up on her tiptoes and waving a moment at the two.
The sight of Homura in her smart white suit proves that maybe blush isn't the most necessary type of makeup for Madoka to wear, a soft natural rosiness rising on her cheeks to match. It takes an effort not to fly into her arms right from the start but it wouldn't make her a very good hostess to ignore the friends they invited. She doesn't actually talk to Homura at first either, letting bodylanguage do the talking as her eyes sweep over her dashing form top to bottom. A small smile to match her current elegant look is given, and she makes eyes at her girlfriend, their soft pink sparkling before sweeping over to the field of flowers that serves as the dance floor in quiet anticipation.
It takes Madoka a moment to recognize Naru when she arrives, partially because of the haircut and partially because she's never seen her in something so fancy. The pink-haired girl walks forward and smiles happily, lifting gloved hand to offer a small wave, "Naru-chan, you look beautiful! I'm glad you made it." Madoka loves beautiful and cute things so she spends a few moments happily looking over the details of the blue dress. In a slightly playful, not at all teasing tone she says, "Your secret admirers will be upset if they knew they were missing you looking like this." A small hand motion is made to the small 'buffet', followed by a particular part of the flowery hillside, "Refreshments are over here if you'd like, and this is where we're going to try to keep our dancing" The flowers there are already mildly trampled, though they're surprisingly resilient for being so beautiful.
A happy wave is also given to Jiaying and Madoka catches meets her halfway to the food, "Hi, and welcome!" A warm smile is offered and Jiaying's dress is happily enjoyed as well, "I love your qipao, it looks really cute on you!" Remembering the face from the beach party her smile turns a bit apologetic, "Sorry we didn't get to meet last time, I let myself get a bit preoccupied. I'm Madoka Kaname, pleased to meet you!" Bows are so out in a dress like this, so instead a quick introductory curtsey is in order.
Hearing a friendly voice she looks over her shoulder, giving a bright smile to Haruna. A polite little wave and, "Enjoy the food, and make sure to have fun tonight!" is given to Jiaying before she wanders in the direction of the befeathered blonde. A curious gaze is swept over the slightly younger boy and his tuxedo, followed by Haruna and her super awesome fancy dress. "You look amazing tonight, Haruna-chan!" Her girly senses tingle and she says a bit quieter, a bit more conspiratorially, "That dress is gorgeous, it looks like just the kind of thing someone would get on a shopping date..!" A soft giggle escapes her afterwards, and she smile in a more friendly way again. Corvus is met with a mix of friendliness and confusion, because while at a distance she was sure she'd never met him but up close she feels like somehow she has, even though she's clearly never seen anyone exactly like him. "Hello and welcome," she offers, and not quite able to help herself she asks, "Have we met before? I feel like I might be forgetting your name... sorry..!"
"Hi Haruna!" pleasantly greets Homura to her former co-worker. She glances at the boy and tilts her head. Is Hannah going to be late? (She often does not have a lot of time for these, Homura notes.) Who is this boy she's with? Homura offers him a small wave before turning to Madoka and shrugging.
Naru and Jiaying both get a wave from her, though unless they say much to her she might not have much to say back.
It takes a certain amount of self control for Homura not to chat it up with Madoka immediately, but she does glance at her often, and when Madoka looks towards the field of flowers Homura smiles just the slightest bit. Needless to say she's looking forward to it about as much as Madoka is.
Homura walks up to Naru, not having spoken to her in a while. She tilts her head slightly to the side as she speaks. "Osaka-san. Last I saw you, you mentioned wanting to train with Hannah-chan. I'm glad to see you seemed to have survived the ordeal."
A quick wave from Naru towards Jiaying as she gets greeted from that direction. A warm smile for Madok and Homura too, and a wave in their direction as well as she comes nearer.
Naru laughs softly as she twirls a little in her dress. "Thank you, it was a delight to have somewhere to wear my impulse shopping. You look gorgeous yourself, such a lovely colour."
"Thank you for hosting a dance, not that I expect to dance, but it's just so /pretty/ here." Naru gestures around at the flowers. "Everything looks lovely. And delicious! I love the little octopuses."
Naru grins to Homura and nods. "I do train with Hannah-chan these days. Well, I will be again, I've been away. So far though, not dead yet. I've only wished it a few times." Naru winks, clearly teasing.
Jiaying Maki does find all of the dresses rather pretty of course. However, there's a food thing and food is more important. Besides, cocktail snacks are easier to eat lots of, people don't notice the tiny girl eating far more than should be healthy for a kid as scrawny as she is. Then suddenly, there's a Madoka between her and food and she actually manages to stop before it becomes obvious she was about to sidestep. She's getting better! She totally blames her constant use of magic for it too. The appetite that is.
Distraction aside, she suddenly looks thrilled and says, "You knew the right word for it!" She takes a moment to smooth the dress out, checking over her shoulder to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary there after her brief run. "Your dress is gorgeous, I'm always afraid to wear backless like that." Especially now. She might even make a subconcious effort to rub her shoulder. "I uh- It's alright, you were distracted flying I think. Other things too." She would tease her more, but then again, that might come back to her when she gets caught being all cuddly with Sora. So that stops quickly with an earnest smile, "I'm Jiaying, it is nice to meet you." The curtsy is met with a polite bow from Jia, wearing the right kind of dress for a bow, not so much for the curtsy.
After a quick trip to the food and a quick, ravenous pass of it, she hurries back over to Naru, taking a moment to examine her dress from all angles! Then there's a sudden look of confusion and she asks, "What happened to your hair? It's pretty, but it was longer right?" Not that Jia has any room to talk, her hair is rather short, barely past her ears now and layered in a way that it feathers out near the tips. She then hrks, looks embarassed and offers a polite, quick bow, "Ah! I'm sorry. Sorry sorry! That was rude"
Haruna Kurosawa beams! "Oh, do you really think so Madoka...?" she asks kind of sheepishly. "Hannah-chan helped me pick it out! Yeah! But um. She has to work. So I brought um..... oh!"
The boy waves short of sheepishly! "Hi Madoka-chan. It's uh. Me. Corvus." he says a little embarassedly. Haruna speaks up. "I brought him because I didn't wanna come alone." she then leans in conspiratorily: "Also. The whole 'turn into a human thing' is new." she pauses.
"Isn't he all sorts of cute!?" she insists as she leans back.
"Blah..." says Corvus as he crosses his arms.
She grins and looks over to Naru. "Oh! Hi! You're the person Hannah-chan's been training in the mornings, eh?" she asks.
She looks over to Jiaying and taps her chin. "That's an intresting dress! Like... the kind I see in Kung-fu movies...." she says tapping her chin.
"Haruna-chan!" chides Corvus as he gives a gentle tap to the side of her head. "Rude...!" he huffs! 'Kung-fu dress', huff!
Madoka's face lights up as Naru mentions how lovely the location is, "Yes! We came here by ourselves a few days ago and it was so beautiful we decided we had to try to share it with our friends." A soft giggle and she adds, "The best way I know to do that is to have a dance here!"
A quick look is given to everyone who's come as a whole, and Madoka claps her hands together trying not to look too overly excited; she looks like a refined lady and wants to act like one too. "I'm so happy everyone dressed up! I was a little worried people wouldn't want to wear their best outside, but you did. Thank you!" It really does make her happy that people dressed up.
Back to Naru she smiles, "You're welcome; thanks for coming! Though... if you'd like to dance I'm sure someone would be happy to. I'd share a dance with you, if you'd like." It might not be a romantic dance, but dancing with friends can still be fun. At mention of the octopus sausages she lifts her hand to cover her mouth and giggles before replying, "Aren't they cute? They're delicious too, I promise!"
She tactfully keeps from responding to training with Hannah; it's something she said she'd do with the older girl herself but so far she's managed slip out of it. Getting tossed bodily to ground and repeatedly socked and kicked isn't her idea of a good time. Maybe that's unfair, but Hannah doesn't seem to have a 'gentle' setting.
A quick, bright smile is given to Jiaying as the name of the type of dress is mentioned. She may know because she actually went shopping for Chinese dresses not all that long ago herself but shhhh. "Thank you! I'm glad you like it," she replies about her own dress, twisting a bit from side to side. "I've never worn something quite like this before today, but I think it was the right call." Half acceptance of the compliment, half encouragement for Jiaying to try new things as well! The small blush returns to her cheeks at the mention of flying and 'other things', but rather than getting shy about it Madoka smiles brightly, "I was... I do tend to lose track of time when I'm cuddling with Homura-chan." She isn't afraid to admit it!
A sympathetic pout is given to Haruna as she mentions Hannah has to work, "Aww, that's too bad. She did a really good job helping you pick out that dress, though." The boy outs himself as Corvus and in not her most tactful moment Madoka's eyes widen in surprise. She smiles afterwards and giggles, "You look good! It's nice seeing you again, Corvus-kun." That's the right honorfic since he's a human boy right now right? "He is cute," she agrees, though holds back a bit of enthusiasm so as not to embarrass him since he still seems a bit uncomfortable. "You should try dancing while you're here," she notes to him in a quick aside, "it's a whole lot of fun!"
People seem to be momentarily congregating around Naru and that suits Madoka just fine, since it means everyone can chat together pretty easily. It also means she can be a good host and talk to people while also spending time with Homura. She slips over behind her girlfriend, standing behind her and just to the left, lifting her right hand and setting it lightly on her left shoulder, and the reaching down and taking her girlfriends left hand in her own, lacy gloves mildly muting the touch as she interlaces her fingers between Homura's. "You look magnificent tonight too," she whispers into her ear.
Homura chuckles at Naru's joking, shaking her head. "Well, no one can say that you're not resilient. I admire your courage. She can get pretty intense sometimes." Yes, this is something that Homura knows from experience. "Still, she really knows what she's doing. You couldn't ask for a better physical trainer."
Homura's eyes scan over the fields, taking in the sights before saying, "It's lovely. Once we found it, we just had to tell people. The moonlight seems to make it all the more pretty. The flowers almost seem like they glow."
Homura overhears the conversation on who the new boy is. Oh, it's just Corvus, but he can turn human now. That makes a lot of sense. Now knowing who he is, she's a little less reserved in talking to him. "Hi, Corvus-kun. Keeping out of trouble?"
She isn't participating in the conversation between Jiaying and Madoka, but she overhears parts of it. When 'losing track of time' is mentioned, Homura can't help but glance Madoka's way and grin. She turns back to Naru and is about to say something else, just in time to feel a warm hand on her shoulder, and familiar fingers interlacing her own.
Homura has just the slightest tinge of red in her cheeks. It might only be barely noticeable.
She reaches up to clasp her right hand around Madoka's left, pinching it between two hands. She whispers back. "So do you, my dear. You always manage to catch my eye."
"It was longer, but it was an impulse move while I was away." Naru smiles brightly at Jiaying comments on her hair. "It'll grow back, but it's rather fun for the moment. A little annoying for not being quite so handy in a pony tail when I go running. Not rude at all."
"Nice to meet you Corvus, I dont think we've met before, have we?" Naru asks with a quirk of her head in curiosity and then she nods to Haruna. "Yes, I'm the one she's been running with in the mornings, and kicking at the gym. It's .. well.. don't tell Hannah." She looks around conspiratorialy to everyone. "But I think I'm starting to actually enjoy it. I even went running on vacation."
"Careful." Naru smiles to Madoka as she comments. "I might take you up on the offer of a dance, but I suspect that Homura might have first dibs, and second, and probably all of them." Her smile includes Homura on that declaration.
Jiaying Maki only somewhat cringes at Haruna's statement. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Mandarin and good ears might hear her murmur something along the lines, "At least it wasn't karate." One gets the feeling that's depressingly common sometimes. "I wish I could wear them! It's not even the bare shoulders." Well it totally is, but that's a different problem. "Maybe I'll try at some point. I do wear a dudou occasionally, but the dress- I can't put my finger on it." With a light shrug she laughs and says, "It is easy to lose time doing that-"
The mention of the bird's name does ring something familiar. She spins on her heel and asks, "Why does that name sound so familiar? -" a beat, then, "And not the bird." Or the Heretic character, but that's obscure even for Jia.
To Naru she nods quickly and says, "I kind of needed to get mine trimmed. Turns out freezing hair is bad for it right?" She looks reserved and says sadly, "I was going to use my silver chopsticks for my hair, but it was too short to really do anything nice with. I should have pulled it back, but it's too late for that. Your dress is gorgeous too~" Since she hadn't mentioned it.
Corvus humphs and looks over to Naru and Jiaying. "Huh?" he asks. "Oh. Hi. Um. Lots of reasons my name might be familar." he insists. Haruna Kurosawa nods in agreement. "Oh uh. Sorry. About calling the uh. Dress. A kung-fu dress." she says really ultra sheepishly. "I just dunno what it's actually called."
"It's very nice." insists Corvus.
She looks to Naru and winks. "Secret safe with me~" she says teasingly as she looks between Homura and Madoka with a grin.
"Right. You two went and talked to Hannah before she did the 'usual silly Hannah-thing' and left the Hospital before she was supposed to, right?" she asks with some concern. Then an mmph.
"S--sorry! Know this is a fun outing but. Just."
She then nervously begins trapising for the punch bowl. Corvus suddenly keeps and keen eye on Haruna when she goes to the punch bowl.
Madoka's hand is enfolded between Homura's, and her gentle smile widens. It must be the safest, most well protected hand in the world right now, she muses to herself. Quite possibly the best feeling one, too. She has to resist the urge to hug onto Homura's arm as she's whispered to, for now deciding to stay with the rest of the group at least a little longer.
Naru is enjoying her training with Hannah? Madoka is more convinced than ever that she's completely fit to be a Magical Girl. Sadly the only way she knows to remedy this obvious error in reality is Kyubey and that's enough of a non-option as to be instantly dismissed. At the mention of taking her up on her offer the pink-haired girl giggles, "I'm sure she would. Once we start dancing I don't think we're going to stop for a very long time, so if you do want to dance with me you should decide quickly." A warm smile is given, and she clearly wouldn't mind going off and losing herself in dancing with her girlfriend and appreciates the sentiment. Still, dancing with Naru could be fun as well and the offer is an honest one.
Jiaying sadly goes a bit over Madoka's head at the mention of a dudou though she tries not to let it show. She does this by continuing to be encouraging, "You should! There are a lot of nice dress shops around that will let you try things on to see if you like them first; they'll even help you into them if you need help." A moment later she adds with a hint of embarrassment, "Though the shops that do that are kind of expensive." Not everyone has a rich girlfriend to take them on shopping sprees for beautiful dresses to wear, she remembers.
Looking towards Haruna she nods, "We did talk to her, thanks for getting me the message!" A bit of a sigh and a slight shake of her head, "I thought she was going to," she notes with a tinge of exasperation, "It would probably do her some good to let her injuries heal before getting back to work, for once." Then the seafoam dressed girl is off towards the punchbowl and Madoka giggles. Not surprisingly it didn't come pre-spiked, if Haruna is hoping it was.
Homura shakes her head ruefully as Naru mentions starting to enjoy it. "Her enthusiasm is infectious, isn't it? It's hard not to get excited about it, especially when it's so much fun."
On the mention of having 'first dibs', Homura shrugs. "It's not like I mind if Madoka-chan wants to dance with someone, but I'm never going to say no to a dance with her, either." With a grin and a glance in Madoka's direction, she adds, "It's just like she says, though. Once we get started we might not be able to stop. You might not get another chance."
Haruna asks if they visited Hannah, and Homura pauses. Her face is a little more serious, and she frowns slightly, but she does nod. "We did. She's recovering well." It probably isn't wise to say anything more than that, considering what was discussed.
Yeah, shopping sprees can be expensive, but Madoka's a valuable employee not taking much of a paycheck and Homura's girlfriend besides. She doesn't even blink at the mention of expense.
She also glances towards the punch bowl, but she doesn't say anything. She probably won't drink from it if it does end up spiked, she decides. She just doesn't feel like she needs a drink today.
"It's a nice evening, isn't it?"
Jiaying Maki catches herself trying to split her focus too much, mostly in translating it back to herself so she knows what's happening. The mention of enjoying her training with Hannah gets a grin from Jia to Naru, though that turns into the hint of a scowl for a moment, quickly masked, one might notice with illusion more than anything else. Jia's cheating more than usual with her magic tonight. "Are you doing any other kind of training, aside from running Naru?"
The kung fu dress comment doesn't get a second cringe and instead she says while smoothing it out, "It's a qipao if you're in Mandarin speaking areas and a cheongsam further north. I would never do kung-fu in one of these dresses... not the formal kind anyway, they're really pretty, but kind of uncomfortable. Maybe there's a different style though- that would be cute." And one she should totally look into, guessing by the look on her features, which goes from a neutral expression to a curious one like there was a frame of animation missing. "I know I've heard that name recently, not just in a show, like as some one's name." Not that she particularly remembers since you know, bird. She shrugs though.
To Madoka, she gets a kind of pained look on her features and says, "It's not just trying them on- also I have to save up enough for what I'm doing as it is, that's sadly out of reach for me. Besides, I'd have to figure out how to cut a hole in the dress and that just gets awkward when beautiful stitching is matched up against my not-so-good sewing and that's not even going into reinforcing the hole. Explaining it to a tailor is odd too unless they're in the know."
"Hannah was in the hospital?" Naru asks with a blink and a frown of concern. "Recently? Or was this a while ago? What happened?" She looks amongst the conversationalists to get a grasp on what all she's missed.
"The two of you are fairly adorable." Naru comments with an easy smile to Homura. "It's hard to protest the two of you being all adorable together. Other than perhaps hints of jealousy for those of us who are single." She winks, teasing on that front too."
"I also do weight training, but more bodyweight stuff rather than weight lifting, per se." Naru replies to Jiaying on the topic of her training. She lifts an arm to flex, and its clear she's no body builder. "Yep, still a wimpy artist, but getting there."
Haruna Kurosawa returns with punch cup. She, in fact, did not spike the punch or seem to hope it was pre-spiked. Corvus relaxes some when she returns. She looks between the two. "Good... Thanks you two." she says quietly. "I know it was probably hard to talk about what you guys did." she says as she takes a deep sigh and another sip.
Corvus just shrugs. He wasn't there for any discussion and has no clue what was discussed. Instead. He looks back to Jiaying. "I wouldn't worry about it too much." he gives a wry smirk.
She looks to Naru. "Awwwww. Naru, do you need a date? I know for a fact here that Corvus is a very eligible bachelor."
"H--hey!" says Corvus.
"Bachelor of the year!"
"Hey!"
"Eligible Bachelor of the aeon!"
"Argh." finally laments Corvus. "I'm going to. Go over. To the punch bowl now. Maybe I will spike it my damn self." he insists. It's obvious he's teasing or being melodramatic about this.
Haruna finally looks back at Jiaying. "Cheongsam..." she says. Because she can actually pronounce that right. She'd probably hilarously mangle qipao.
"Hrmmmm...." she taps her bottom lip some in thought a moment without explanation.
Madoka smiles a little as Jiaying brings up the actual reason for the two names of the dress she's wearing. She'd heard them referred to differently by different people when she thought they were very much the same, and separate languages makes a whole lot of sense. She takes a moment then to consider herself in a qipao and thinks it might work, and a moment later from Jiaying to Homura with a tilt of her head. Pink eyes linger for several moments and her lips curl into a smile. Yeah, something like that would probably look great on Homura. Though... "It's too bad they're uncomfortable," she laments with a small sigh. Uncomfortable means not the best for extended cuddling, alas.
At the mention of saving up money Madoka winces a little, feeling momentarily like a huge jerk for not thinking about that little point before she spoke. The comments about the tailoring though, gets a very slow, confused kind of nod from Madoka. Whatever the short haired girl means by getting a hole cut in the dress she has no idea whatsoever, and it shows despite trying not to be obvious about it.
Naru is the recipient of a very warm and friendly smile when she calls Madoka and her girlfriend adorable, "Thanks. If you'd rather enjoy the sight of us being cute together it might be rude of me to deny you." Then on a slightly more serious note she notes exasperatedly, "Hannah-chan was Hannah-chan." Naru might not know the woman well enough to know why that would get her injured and she's about to explain further, but she doesn't actually know Jiaying that well and so can't be entirely open. "She, um, got a bit too intense in her 'training' and 'worked out' way, way too hard."
Subtle.
To Haruna's worrying Madoka quickly waves her off, "You're welcome Haruna-chan, but it's fine. It was important to talk with her." Dealing with hard issues seems to be something that goes with the territory, Madoka is starting to realize.
After another moment Madoka gives a gentle tug to Homura's hand and takes a small step towards the refreshments tables. "Why don't we get something to eat and then head to the dancefloor?" she offers, sending a quick, thankful smile to Naru. If Homura agrees she slips over and starts gathering herself a little bit of everything, eating pretty slowly so she doesn't get anything on her dress or her gloves. Eating grapes with chopsticks is an interesting endeavor!
Homura notices Madoka glancing at her, and has a pretty good idea of what she's thinking. At the mention of them being uncomfortable she helplessly shrugs as Madoka sighs. What can you do?
Homura hears Jiaying's complaint about holes, and blinks at the comment about tailors being 'in the know'. It's not that she misses the meaning, and it's not like anyone here is unfamiliar with it, either. Homura just isn't sure what she means unless she's talking about an extra limb or a tail or something.
Naru mentions Hannah being in the hospital, and asks why. Homura gives Madoka a guilty look, because they both know exactly how Hannah ended up there, but then she looks away from both Naru and Madoka. That one flower over there in particular, among all of it's peers, is suddenly very interesting.
"Things got a little crazy. Hannah went way overboard and got hurt." There are details that she is intentionally skimming over and not mentioning, mostly things having to do with Puella Magi which she's still justifiably hesitant to spread too much.
Homura lets a small 'eheh' at Naru's teasing, and then leans against Madoka. "She's so sweet to me. I really am so lucky."
Then Corvus is offered up as an 'eligible bachelor', and Homura raises an eyebrow and curls her lips into something of an amused expression at the exchange.
"A chance to sample your father's cooking, and then a romantic dance among the flowers? How could I ever say no to that?" Homura all-too-easily goes along with Madoka as she's tugged, starting to take a bit of food for herself and enjoying the taste. Some foods are challenging with chopsticks, but Homura endeavors.
"Hannh-chan being Hannah-chan.. I /see/." Naru nods with a little sigh. Apparently she knows just enough about that state of affairs. "I hope she heals well and quickly. I'll try and remember to text her tonight when I'm not sleeping anyhow."
"Do you have to get all your clothes tailored, Jiaying?" Naru asks calmly as she moves towards the refreshments.
Naru just winks at Corvus as he's offered up as an eligible bachelor and then laughs softly. "I'm hardly about to turn down potential dance partners. I even promise not to step on any toes."
Jiaying Maki crouches down and carefully picks one of the flowers, hoping no one complains as she takes the step and sets it behind her ear after brushing some loose hair behind it. Of course, she's doing this with fox ears so it looks funny for a moment before she remembers, passes her hands over it and gets it to look... right enough. She's sure no one will notice. She'll work on that next.
"I think she was hurt the same night I was, she's more intelligent about it than I am though." She reaches up and fiddles carefully with the flower and grins as Naru shows off, "Oh! I don't do a lot of weight lifting, I was kind of tempted to do that. I've been doing mizongyi with Sora though- albeit less often with her. You should come learn with us, it's a fun style~ A lot of really neat people have used it too. I want to go from it to Jeet Kun Do!" What, she likes martial arts... a lot especially lately.
Noting the confused look, she murmurs, "I didn't show off last time did I, oops." Oh well. She does decide to make a return trip to the food table. No one noticed the first time right? She's stopped by Naru's question and she looks over her shoulder, "I do! Why do you think it took so long for me to get a new uniform? I didn't want to deal with the alternatives!" Nope, no straight explanation yet. There's a brief pause, "Spike the punch again? Like the water last time?" Or the times before that she's not aware of. Homura's explanation gets a shrug from Jia, "That's close enough probably. If it's the same thing I'm thinking?"
Haruna Kurosawa smiles at Madoka. "Still. Thanks, you two." she says with a grin as she looks over to Corvus, who comes back sufficently punched up. He did not spike the punch. Corvus actually has some sort of 'class'. Somewhere. Look. Seagulls are sterotyped! He needs to be beyond that!
Then Naru offers a dance and he blinks once. "But I haven't danced in nearly 3--- uh."
"A very long time." he says.
Haruna huffs! "Give it a shot Corvus!" she insists.
She looks over to Jiaying and Naru and frowns. "Yeah Hannah just did a Hannah." she insists. It's the best way to describe it.
Madoka's smile brightens as Homura compliments her father's cooking, and then herself. The first is something she's always been very proud of, and the second is something she's starting to be come more proud of as well. How could she not with all the wonderful things Homura is always saying about her? It takes a bit of effort not to grin when Homura follows her so quickly, noticing how easily she's led towards the food, and eventual dancing. "It's all a part of my secret plan to make you never have to say 'no', Homura-chan. I'll make you so happy you'll always want to be around me~."
If she wasn't wearing those nice gloves Madoka wouldn't bother with the chopsticks, but somehow the idea of getting sticky melon juice or tempura crumbs on them seems like a terrible idea. It's a bit of a shame, really, because she wouldn't mind feeding Homura a grape or two but with chopsticks it just wouldn't be the same. A thought then occurs to her, and her eyes slowly turn to the chocolate covered strawberries. Yeah, the gloves are going to have to come off at some point tonight.
Ah, so the short description was enough after all! Luckily no one seems to have teased her about the odd way she was explaining about Hannah getting hurt. "Eheh, yeah, exactly that," she confirms to Naru amongst the chorus of agreement. "I think she'd really appreciate that," she then offers with a smile about texting. It's always nice to hear from a friend if your sick or hurt, right? Well, maybe not if you did it to yourself. She remembers a certain someone being frantic and worried when she ended up in the hospital through her own dumb mistakes, peeking over towards that same someone with a sheepish look.
"You should dance!" Madoka insists, first to Corvus and then with an encouraging look to the others as well. In fact...
A bit of quick eating means she finishes up her small plate of food while luckily managing to keep clean.
Madoka thinks people should start dancing, and there's no better way to persuade than to lead by example, right? She takes Homura's hand in both of hers and starts walking backwards towards the dancing area, her smile growing very bright with her pearly white teeth shining in the moonlight. She moves slowly and carefully but with ease and confidence, and once surrounded by the beautiful glowing flowers releases one of Homura's hands and lightly sets it up on her shoulder, swaying with the sound of the music to pick up the rhythm, lifting her hand with Homura's still in it before releasing it, letting it rest so gently in Homura's palm, seeming to have no more weight than a feather.
Soft pink eyes seek purple and she can't help but feel a flutter of romantic excitement. Even though she was expecting and anticipating this doesn't make it any less wonderful. "Shall we dance, Homura-chan?"
Homura lowers her voice a little. "You've already accomplished that last part, Madoka-chan." Anyone who thinks that Homura wouldn't want to spend time with Madoka just either doesn't know them or hasn't been paying attention. Anyone who thinks that Homura isn't happy can't see the way she's looking at Madoka, or hear the lightness in her voice.
Madoka's gloves are amazingly pretty, and it would be a shame to muss them up, but Homura is wearing no such thing. Instead she has a very white outfit that would be a shame to spill anything on, but she's not quite that clumsy. She does pick up a grape from the table and tries feeding it to Madoka, at the same time leaning close to her ear and whispering, "For you, my dear."
Homura for one is glad not to have to explain too much, because Jiayang, Madoka, and herself all know the story firsthand and even if it wasn't strictly Homura's fault she still feels a bit guilty. She just... never really wanted to fight Hannah, even if they weren't on the same side anymore.
Any and all thought of that is banished from her mind as Madoka starts to pull her towards tonight's dance floor. She starts to listen to the classical music very closely, as its rhythm suddenly becomes much more immediately relevant. She's all too happy to dance, and her hands go where moved. When asked, all she can say is, "My little angel, I'd love to."
Homura takes the lead at first, moving smoothly to the music as the flowers hide the motions of their feet. Like this, they seem to glide across the field.
Naru watches Madoka and Homura get properly adorable and onto the dance floor and she chuckles softly. "Well, we've lost the two of them." She notes with a fond quip, letting the love birds take to the dancing first.
Naru reaches to pour herself some punch and looks to the others as she sips from her glass. "The main challenge with being dressed up is not really wanting ot lay in the grass and watch the stars, but it's still tempting."
Yup. Time to dance.
"Hey Naru, Corvus'll dance with you when I'm done dancing with him~" she insists. "He owes me a dance~" she grabs Corvus's hand and drags him off dually to dance into the flowers.
Corvus looks taken aback! Did he just let out a 'sqawk!?' like a bird. Yeah he did.
Madoka looks into Homura's eyes and her own sparkle as Homura whispers back to her. She giggles quietly and gives her a knowing smile, because how could she not have noticed how much time her girlfriend wanted to spend with her? It warms her heart and puts butterflies in her stomach to see that look she's being given, even after six months of being together.
The grape is offered to her and she opens her mouth, accepting and eating the yummy piece of fruit as well mannered as she can manage. It earns Homura another of her pretty smiles, and she quietly replies, "You knew exactly what I wanted~." A half second later she adds even more quietly, "I bet you know what else I want too." Is it any surprise they go to the dance floor right after?
Madoka has danced with Homura so much now that it's very easy to fall into step with her, almost instinctive. Homura leads and Madoka follows without prompting, picking up on all the little cues dance partners develop with one another. And if Homura decides to be a bit more adventurous here beneath the moon and stars, with Mitakihara glittering behind them? Then Madoka will continue following her lead, sure to have fun even a stumble or other mistake is made.
As they glide across the field of flowers Madoka's dress flares with her movement and flutters as breeze catches hold of it, her eyes drifting from Homura's over to her hair as the wind plays with it as well. She can't help but think they look spectacular right now, and though a tiny part of her mind makes her wish she'd asked someone to take a picture she pushes it aside, because distractions aren't allowed in a moment as perfectly romantic as this.
Jiaying Maki stops at the table, having stacked up a good little plate. One of her chop sticks has been turned into a skewer and there's whatever else she could get away with. Proverbial fox in the hen house as far as food goes. The two dancing tells her they're out of the conversation for... a while. She checks to make sure she didn't get anything on her dress, wondering if it wouldn't have been worth the effort of recreating the magic on her mother's qipao for this. Still, there's a Naru all alone. On her way by, between bites of food, she says, "If you're not going to acknowledge that offer of mizongyi, you should look into either external martial arts, or something like aikido you know. You should look into those either way, I just know where to go for the former."
"Oh! Sorry about that." Naru looks sheepish as Jiaying prompts about a missed conversational tangent. "I'm generally open to trying most things. Mizongyi or other martial arts. It's absolutely on the list for things to start pursuing once I get a bit more of a basic fitness foundation going, which is probably soon, now that I no longer sound like I'm about to die after a workout. Usually. At least not much." She smiles easily, sipping from her drink as she watches Corvus get dragged to the dance floor as well and then back to Jiaying and there's a little smile. "Thanks for the offer though, I'll absolutely keep it in mind."
It may have taken a moment for Homura to figure out what Madoka wanted, but eventually she did get the picture. When Madoka mentions 'what else she wants' Homura responds with, "Oh, I think I can guess." It's dancing, because of course it is. Why would they have a dance unless they intended to do just that?
There is a certain spring in Homura's step, and it shows in the way she dances. If this were six months ago, she might take things slow for Madoka's sake, but the two of them have spent so much time dancing together that Homura knows about where Madoka's skill level is. Yet Homura is so, so happy right now, and in her excitement she can't help but push maybe a little bit further.
If anything might be different, it's that she's never danced in a field of tall flowers before. Yet it doesn't prove to be too much of a hinderance, and Homura just can't help but add flourish after flourish to their steps, twirling Madoka around and moving with her gracefully and flawlessly.
From the way Homura leads, one might think that they were watching a pair of professional dancers, though there's no routine and their motions are very much improvised.
Homura's long silky black hair doesn't hurt their image, nor does her white suit, or Madoka's beautiful pink dress. The whole time they dance, Homura looks softly into Madoka's eyes.
Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says, "You don't need to wait for aikido, it's- not quite as energetic as Jeet Kun Do and doesn't have some of the force behind it required that judo or other grappling type arts." Another bite of food from her improv skewer. She's got too much food for the dancing thing and she'd feel kind of weird dancing with someone other than Sora, the least of which being that she cant' dance. Still, it was a pleasant night out with free food and that's a good thing right? On her way past Naru to settle down for a moment on the off chance that Sora might show up later, she says, "Call me if you want to try a lesson or two with us."
Homura guessed right, and Madoka knew she would. They do so love to dance together, and it shows.
The spring in Homura's step excites her, and Madoka mentally prepares herself to move a bit quicker. Homura's lead does push her, but having to work to keep up is fine, and Madoka trusts her dancing partner not to push her too far. Maybe a step or two is a bit less graceful, but flourishes are fun and the flowers hide a mispositioned foot so long as the next step recovers.
Madoka's hand lifts above her head and her skirt flares and lifts to her calves as she's twirled and she feels so very beautiful right now, and it's all thanks to Homura. When she returns to Homura after the spin she momentarily breaks with the elegant girl look she's been trying to maintain and smiles brilliantly up at her, eyes shining and sparkling and not again moving away from the beautiful purple of her partner.
For the most part she is very happy to let Homura lead, especially when they're dancing together as amazingly as they are, but Madoka does make one little request. When she gets a moment where she can follow along naturally and is sure she has Homura's attention she quietly mouths the word 'dip'.
And if Homura dips her as she asks? When she slips her hand behind Homura's neck for proper balancing she'll pull a bit more to tell her to follow her down, lifting her head and pressing a loving kiss with her soft lips right onto Homura's own.
"I will." Naru nods to Jiaying at the offer of lessons and makes her own way towards moving away from the grouping. She gives the couples dancing a wave, even knowing full well they aren't paying her a whit of attention.
And without much further ado, she's gone out of sight as she takes her leave.
Homura knows not to push too hard, and she does try to cover for Madoka's mistakes. If Madoka ever needs a moment longer to recover, Homura would give her that, too. Yet Homura almost can't help but get a little carried away. She's with Madoka, so how can she not be happy?
Madoka's beautiful twirl captivates Homura's attention, so much so that she doesn't yet notice that others are leaving and that they are the only two dancing. She's happy to be in her own little world with Madoka, with no cares at all. When their eyes meet, Homura's stay pinned to Madoka's, and she is so in love with that brilliant smile.
So enraptured and captivated as she is, Homura can't help but notice Madoka's silent request. She doesn't nod or speak, but there's a knowing look in her eyes and the corners of her lips curl up just a little bit more. She got the message.
She waits for a perfect moment, planning to make her move at the end of this measure, and it doesn't take long for it to come. When it does, Homura twirls Madoka around one more time, catching her with one arm and pulling her close, then leaning forward to dip Madoka. Arms are around her neck, and Homura doesn't even hesitate to follow Madoka down, kissing her in the middle of their wonderful dance, surrounded by a field of brilliantly glowing beautiful flowers.
Homura's eyes remain half open during the kiss, taking in the lovely sight of Madoka, her fluffy pink hair, and the blunets beneath them that reflect the moonlight overhead. There was a time when Homura might have scoffed at the idea of a 'perfect moment', but here it is.