Scene #8872: Like Flying

Owner	Pose
Meika Kirenai	1-chome Take, Kagoshima 25° C, rainy. The outside air feels heavy and still. Sidewalks fill with umbrellas instead of staring eyes, gutters and stormdrains sputter and gurgle from the downpour. Oily petrichor permeates everything, and the trees of nearby hills fade away in low-hanging cloudcover. It's the perfect sort of day to spend inside. Meika's directions could be easy to doubt, laced through as they were with glaring tangles of emotion, for how mismatched the destination winds up. 'Ice Palace Sports Center' is nearly the most unremarkable name a skating rink could have. Situated in a wide, deep flat slab of a warehouse-esque building, between a car park and a dreary insurance bureau office complex, with the greyness of the weather one would be hard-pressed to guess this area was only a short walk from the bustling city center of Kagoshima. Gachapon machines sit both under the sidewalk-facing awning, and between the pairs of sliding glass doors that make up its tiled entryway. Snowflake decals dot the glass. Who knows how many times Meika passed through here. It'd be right to guess most of the keychain charms on her sports bag started off their lives in these contraptions. The similarity the doors have to an airlock isn't just coincidental. The degrees drop off sharply through the first, and even sharper through the second. Past the skate rental desk, in a side alcove with rubber floor padding, garrish blue shoelockers, and parallel rows of benches, Meika's seated and already waving the other magical girl over. 'I'll arrive early and get you your pass and some skates,' was the excuse Meika hoped, earlier, would justify why she arrived seperately- and it's not a lie, given what's next to her on the bench. In truth, she didn't want the other girl to see the hesitance and effort it took for her to even come in, or overhear any recognition by whoever here might notice Meika. Notably, she isn't wearing her familiar letterman. A soft-grey quarterzip takes its place, branded by some logo that's long-since worn out to illegibility. She's brought a similar one for Love, pale blue. "You- you made it. That's great. I was getting worried I'd said the wrong way to get..." It's not late at all, and Meika hasn't been looking at a clock. Every moment just feels warped and stretched, sitting still, here, and watching strangers come in and out. She blinks, train of thought lost, and looks away from Love to the spot beside her. "Oh. Here. You'll need your wristband, I only paid for an hour for each of us, but they use the same band colors all day, so it doesn't really matter. Teams won't- don't practice here till after open skate's done near dinnertime, so..." There's a sharp, heavy clack noise, even against the rubber padding on the floor, as Meika taps her heels against the floor. Heavy hockey skates, blades she bothered sharpening fresh this morning, even. She's been bracing herself for days to be here, and trying hard not to show it. "No hurry. We've got all the time we want, right..?"
Angela	Love has been practicing with rollerblades which isn't the same as practicing on ice-skates but she's been practicing. And she's taken some tumbles, even moving fast enough that taking a tumble meant getting a ding or cut here and there. She has a couple of bandaids on her legs where she ate asphalt but her smiles are still as big as ever--part of it is made with effort, she has ''worries'' after all, but dragging those worries to an activity that is ''supposed'' to be fun isn't something she wants to do. She is able to find her way there eventually--she's getting more accustomed to getting around Kagoshima. Even if she isn't going out of the secret base that often when there isn't an attack--the fact that the Temptation attacks are frequent has meant she's moved throughout the City a fair bit by now even if she doesn't strictly know were the skating rink is. Love isn't going to mention that the directions weren't the best either but there's even odds she hadn't noticed. She's got a lot on her mind. Her eyes slant towards the various strangers moving about, "M-Meika!" She says, with a little hesitation because she's more accustomed to using 'Vermilion' these days but shouting Vermilion in a crowd like this might weird people out? And she wouldn't want tat, she reasons. She rushes over, falls, gets up and continues the jog over to Meik, brimming with nervous excitement. "Ohh, tat's so cute..It's like Justice's colors..." If it's handed over, she'll pull it on over her current outfit--ice skating rinks tend to be pretty cold so another layer is pretty legit considering the sorts of clothes Love wears normally. "Ahh I get lost easily, it's okay! I hope I'm not too late." Love says. "I think I'm not...too late?" She looks aroun for a clock but doesn't see one. "Do you want to get out of here before dinner?" She bobs her head. "I...I'm ready to learn, Chevalier Vermilion..." She's in close range now so it's okay. The hardest part for her is getting the wristband on. She's noticed ''something'' but she's not sure what she's noticed. But she does think pointing out she's noticed something that doesn't seem to want to be noticed while not knowing what she's noticed seems like a bad idea. She wants Meika to have a good time. She's determined.
Meika Kirenai	The jacket and the rented figure skates get lightly shoved Love's way, as Meika stands up. "Yeah. You don't mind her colors, right? I... didn't really have a lot of options. Put these on." Half apologetic. "And don't tie them too tight, or you'll feel sort of stiff, probably. Make sure it's easy to lean forwards on 'em before we're off the benches." She's not a teacher, and the straightforward instruction can't really pass for the same as a lecture. Meika takes a deep breath, and glances at Love's face for a moment. It's not unusual, when Meika is transformed, for her to be ever so slightly taller than the other girl. What's odd is her being so without that, while Love isn't yet in her own skates. What's more odd, balanced on blade edges, is how much less hunched and worn down she looks, even with the stressed hint she's keeping from her expression. "It's really a lot like rollerblades. You move similar, toe weighting matters similar, you've got be leaned low like them, and-" A pause, and a half-forced smile. "Falls hurt similar, too. Be sure to go to the side, crumple more than plank. If you've been practicing, you'll be off to a good start, okay..?" The smile turns a bit less forced. "I guess I learned them the other way around, really. Ice first, then wheels, and- hey, give me your hand. I'll fix your wristband, okay..?" The carnival-esque paper band is fiddly, and Meika doesn't really stop to think before lightly grabbing the other magical girl's wrist, pulling it closer, and fixing the adhesive. More of that same oozing familiarity. A second later, once it's fixed for her, she lets go, and steps off. "... S-sorry. Should've asked." "Okay. Right- ready to learn." 'Vermillion' catches her off guard, in this space, in this regalia, in this moment. She bites the inside of her lip, and gestures with a shoulder towards the linoleum-lined wall of the rink. "First thing's walk flat up and down, when we head over. You'll trip if you don't, and you can do it a little on-ice without slipping too bad." Meika, the bad example she is, doesn't go towards the clearly-marked entryway into the large rounded rectangle of a skating rink. There's no glass wall bounding the midline sections of it, near the parallel benches it's easy to imagine teams of skaters congregating around. Easier for Meika to imagine, especially. Waiting just a moment for the scattered counterclockwise flow of freeskaters to open up, she hops up onto the wall and just swings herself over, hitting the ground like vaulting a fence. She slips backwards a few inches from the motion, tracking proximities to avoid oncoming others without even looking. The smile's back. "C'mon in! I'll see you inside, if it's slippery! And don't be afraid to hold the wall! Swear I won't tease much, or- Yeah." It looks more natural for her than walking.
Angela	Love smiles, "Nmm...!" She shakes her head. "I love Justice and--well I'm real now so I don't always have to wear pink and white right?" She LIKES pink and white (and magenta) but that doesn't mean she hates blue. And she does feel a little more real wearing it. And being real is increasingly important to Love. When she first became ''real'' she found it kind of scary and she's not entirely sure if she's clinging onto parts of herself that were just part of a story or are really ''her''. She's finding that urge to fight and fight and fight and fight and kill and kill and triumph to be a little less present in her thoughts--fighting evil is still important to her, but it's just absoltuely true that there's plenty of bad people in the multiverse. When she isn't imprisoned in a singular location, there's still plenty of suffering out there to give her meaning. Even if that need is weighing less heavy in her thoughts as of late. Other ideas and concepts are entering her mind that are also important to her. Like rollerblading and iceskating now. And Meika and Kayoko! Love does up her skates. She doesn't tie them too tight--they might be a little loose actually--but she does tie them. When Meika looks at her face, she's frowning as if in deep concentration--like tying shoes is something she is still getting used to (Meika might remember that her 'magical girl' shoes are slip ons). She should have memories of tying on rollerblades in the past but like any story, details are sometimes missing. She has the memory of going rollerblading but she doesn't actually remember putting the rollerblades on. More and more less of her life is placed in a fictional kingdom that never existed and more here in Kagoshima right now. "It's really sweet of you to help me, Vermilion." Love babbles, smiling as Meika seems--confident? Mostly? This is good, Love thinks, you want Meika to have fun too. "And--ah" Love's cheeks pinken a little as she extends her hand to get help, not placing her hand too close because she thinks Meika doesn't really want to be tou-- Meika pulls her in. There's an imagine spot in Love's head that slows time down and places shoujo bubbles in her field of vision as Meika fixes the strap. "It's okay--haha, I was worried I was going to snap it." Friendship is great, Love thinks. Love also thinks that Meika prefers Vermilion just in general and so doesn't think twice about using the name--just knowing to keep her tone low because of magical girl masquerade shenanigans, using Meika when she's being louder or when she thinks she could be overheard. Love nods to the latest instruction and follows after Meika, glancing in confusion when they don't go in the entryway but she isn't a narc. "Eheh, you can tease me if you want. I'll take it as encouragement!" She grabs the side of the wall, hoists herself over--so far so good!--and then swings herself over to the side of the wall. She immediately loses her balnace when she hits the ice but is able to flail her arms and grab the wall before she faceplants into the ice, her legs kicking out like a baby lamb for a moment as she pulls herself back up into a standing position. She gives Meika a thumbsup after with a free arm.
Meika Kirenai	"I- I said I'd help teach you. Besides, it's... I used to love it here. So it's not like it's something hard and dull, to be here, or help, or..." It's hard to be here for another reason. That reason is hung in fabric championship banners along the building's walls, out of sight up near the warehouse-esque rafters until properly out on the rink. "... So yeah. Don't worry about it." "... Blue matches your hair, at least, right..?" It's clashing, maybe, with the creamsicle-esque orange and white of the paper admissions wristband, the maroon of the rented figure skates, but the pale blue is icier than the white of the rink, somehow, and does still fall close to the shade of the other magical girl's hair. "Oh. Yeah. They don't snap easily. The wristbands. They twist and pull, kind of, but sometimes you need to get them wet to soften the paper enough to even..." A rambling reassurance. "I used to just keep the old ones on till they fell off. Team practice they didn't give them out, but I'd come here when..." Meika can't see the shoujo bubbles in Love's mind. She tries not to notice the rest of the magical girl's expression. Oh. I'm embarrassing her. Way to go. Of course she'd hate help with that. The awkward step away is pronounced, and Meika's hands linger where her letterman's pockets usually would- the quarterzip she has, instead, doesn't have any. Once in the rink, and just far enough from the wall to know better than to look up at those banners, know better than see any new ones, Meika exhales. Her breath is frosted over already. "I won't haze you. Oh, hey, be careful not to land on one foot only or-" Love does just that, unbalanced and kick-slipping out from under herself. Meika doesn't- does let out a little chuckle, even if just the tail end of it, watching Love nearly clatter to the floor in a heap. "Hey, you- you caught yourself. You're fine, you're standing. From here on it's close to blading, okay?" After a tentative moment, Meika mirrors the thumbs up back. Her fingers are still wrapped in numerous bright-red band-aids. "... Let's do a lap. Stopping's not an issue, yet, but it's just a-" Meika tries to form out the instruction, pauses, and pushes off ever so slightly just to demonstrate: a sharp hip twist, digging the blade edges opposite to dig into the ice surface perpendicular to her forward motion. "But moving's the fun part. You'll see. Come on." Again, the ice hisses with how she pushes off, staying away from the wall enough to flank Love if she wants to stick close to it in the circuit. Once she's a tiny distance away, she looks back, adjusting to still carry on forwards, and beckons the other girl on. "It's smooth. You shouldn't close your eyes. But if you do, it's kind of..." A shrug. See for yourself how it is.
Angela	The Magical Girl of Love blinks once like she hadn't even considered that she had hair at first. She takes a moment to look and says, "Oh...! Yeah, it ''does'' kind of match my hair!" Her hair isn't a... normal color, is it? Her eyes aren't a normal color. Ah, it's because... She was a story meant for someone. Maybe she should dye it a little? Cut it? She's not sure the hairstyle seems like it makes sense. She can fight this fight forever. She can protect her friends. She can do this forever. That is the least that she owes her. Love manages not to cry with joy, figuring Meika would probably get the wrong idea. She knows about ''the wrong idea'' now and knows that sometimes she needs to obscure how she feels so she doesn't cause trouble. That's part of being normal, she imagines. It's hardly a price. She's happy. She's just so happy and it's unfair that Meika has to struggle so much to be so herself. At least she can help her have a really good day today. It might not help at all, but even if it's an ultimately forgotten moment that effectively has never happened--she'll remember. When Meika awkwardly stepped away, she gave the Chevalier what she's aiming as a reassuring smile. Regardless, she's on the rink and she adds, "Haha, it's okay to laugh, it's okay to haze, you know--i mean, friends do that, right? Sometimes?" She pauses a moment as if unsure. "R-right? Um, you don't have to though, of course, I'm just saying I wouldn't mind haha..." Once she feels secure on her legs, she pushes free. She waves her hand to the side as she pulls free but manages to not fall on her face. "Okay...! I think I'm ready...!" She doesn't flinch or anything at the laughter--if anything she just kind of joins in a little. "okay...!" She skates, slowly at first, following after Meika. She is staying close--she isn't afraid of falling over, but she wants to be. "I wouldn't want to crash into anybody but once the space... opens up..." Once she has momentum it's easier to keep going (stopping and starting are the hard parts) but once she sees there's a bit of space ahead of her without other people in front. "Okay--i'm gonna try it...!" She warns Meika. SHe fans her arms to the side a bit and closes her eyes as she skates, hunching over slightly. She feels the icy cold air in her face, passing over her, jostling her hair. It really is... "...It ''is'' like flying," She marvels. "You can fly without even leaving the ground, that's amazing...!" While she's not about to crash into anyBODY she is about to slam into the wall, getting lost in the moment for a bit longer than she expected she would...!
Meika Kirenai	'Oh...! Yeah, it ''does'' kind of match my hair!' "Y-yeah. It looks alright with it. Looks good." There's a high likelyhood that Meika sticks to the palette she often does for a similar reason. It looks less out of place, amongst everyone else, if it at least makes sense on you yourself. She hopes that's true. It doesn't ever really seem to work. 'Haha, it's okay to laugh, it's okay to haze, you know--' "What, do you want me to..?" Meika sounds incredulous more than anything else. "I- I guess friends do, sometimes. Our team didn't-" Meika almost stops herself from continuing, the thoughts closer at hand here, of all places. "We didn't really get anyone new, often. But, yeah, if there was funny stuff, I guess we'd give one another a bit of a hard time..." "But you haven't done anything like that. You're fine. Everyone falls like that. I- I sure did, plenty. Even if you kind of looked like a baby deer kicking like that..." It's clear that's an effortful jab, friendly and smiling, even if it's not that easy to want to say something jokingly mean about her. Side-eyed, from further up ahead, Meika notices the periphery flurry of Love waving around, keeping balance as she's slightly free of the wall. Good. It'll be better if she practices leaning with her torso, the wall makes that tougher... "Huh? You're gonna try- I said you shouldn't, that's-" A laugh crackles out, and Meika turns, shifting pace to keep closer to Love's. I'm lucky. I can do it without worrying. Her eyes are closed, too, before the thought is gone from her mind. Less bearing on location means less bearing on speed, bending in even further, to preserve the glide and the effortless sensation it carries to just float on razor-thin blades. It'd be decadent, if not for the existence of others here, watching and skating. "Ah, shoot, hey-" Without thinking, pace paired in tandem, her own eyes still closed, too- Meika reaches out to grab Love's hand, firm, and tug her away, a big shift in trajectory away from nearing the wall, and slower skaters hovering around it. "Bend your knees lower, lean with how I-" Another trajectory shift, ice shears underfoot and Meika's words get replaced by a bright, sharp laugh. It's like a game. Lighthearted, looking out for her friend, it's breaking rules, it's causing stares and fragmented attention from other freeskaters, and Meika isn't seeing any of it either. "It really is, right..?" No wonder, really, why it is this familiarity, this specific brand of freedom in motion is what she's carved into Chevalier Vermillion. Tugging Love's hand to close the side-by-side distance between them, momentum shifts and twists into a fading half-spin, glide slowing halfway towards the emptier center of the rink, where practicing figure skaters have left to give the giggling magical girls space for their reckless careening. "How's that! It's great, right? It's-" It's like a jab in the lining of Meika's heart, cracking an eye back open to the bright halogen lights way up above. She stops, and squeezes at Love's hand, cognizant of the contact finally, even as it feels like it should burn or itch or ache. Underfoot, faded hockey rink linework sits, zone markers and faceoff lines. The smile falls off her face. Her breathing comes silent. "Hey. Love? Can I ask an awful question?"
Angela	Love does smile at Meika making the effort of a jab--though just as likely at Meika smiling. "Ahah...well, I mean, you don't have to seek it out! But I won't get upset if--well if it's funny, we're a team too." It's actually nice to be on one again. She giggles a bit at the baby deer comparision. As the Winged Serpent, she can use her tongue too!). Meika's laughter only encourages her to close her eyes but it's probably a good thing that Meika pulled her away from that wall, Love was really getting lost into it. She misses flying, actually--she knows that Meika accepts her winged serpent form (otherwise why would she offer her that drawing?)--but she can't exactly go around the City like that. Not after what happened before. Maybe if she's really good she can find some other world with nobody around and just fly all day before coming back home to the sewer base. When Meika holds her hand, her eyes open up again--she sees how close she was close to the wall and she says, "Oh--I was having so much fun..." She says, trailing off. She bends her knees--she can follow basic instructions at least. She wouldn't know of any rules but--that joy of freedom in movement is something beyond 'magical girl' and 'monster form' that these two have in common. Maybe it's the truest thing. Love's thoughts don't dwell on that, exactly, she doesn't even think of it quite so cleanly--but she can't miss that she's having fun--Love is also having fun. Maybe they could make a habit of this--once a week, just going around skating places like they could fly forever. Maybe they could actually fly-- "Haha--yeah, I love it. It just feels good and--" She blinks her eyes quickly as they're still adjusting to the bright light. Love returns the squeeze instinctively. ''Hey. Love? Can I ask an awful question?'' "Of course--" Love says easily. Meika accepted her even after seeing her monster form after all. "I'll do my best to answer it."
Meika Kirenai	"Okay." There's a moment where it looks like Meika is lost in thought. She is. Just not her own. Like we could fly forever. Wouldn't that be nice? I wish we could. I wish I could. Her hand squeezes, tighter- quite tight. It's almost painful for them both. People shouldn't just sit there, standing still, in the middle of the rink like they both are. It's not stopping them. "I want to come here again. I missed it. I hate it here and I love it here. I don't think I ever will come back. So I want you to." The grip turns painful for real. Meika doesn't notice. "Could you do that? That's what's selfish and awful of me to ask of you. Would you. S-so it's me that's why you would, instead of you, and that it's something I'm still putting into motion, even after..." Finally, she lets go. Ice hisses and cracks when her weight shifts back and away. "... Hey. One more thing. Here." From the pockets of her worn-out, dusty black jeans, a flat coil of red ribbon gets extracted. Love would recognize it. It's usually up in her hair, tying it like that half-up ponytail, bright red but not quite the right shade of it, some little effort at making a habit stick she's just about- "There's- there's no more point in me holding onto this. I'd hate if whoever's on the other side looks just like... w-whatever." She holds it out, a silent expectation for the other magical girl to take it. "It's- it's like the silly wristbands, here. Tie it around your wrist until it breaks and falls off. Wear it back here. I'll- I'll tie it tight, for you, if you just-" She doesn't take the other girl's arm again, not before it's held out if it is, but stands, silent, eyes unfocused, breath foggy. For how still Meika is, she looks remarkably unsteady. "It's not fair for you. I'm sorry. Say you'll do it anyway. That's the best I can do. I- I hope that's the most of me that'll ever be back here." A sudden shift. Meika f-flickers slightly, and puts her hands to Love's shoulders. "And say you'll fly as long as you can." There's frantic, tight-held desperation to the ask that's more of a demand. Regardless of answer, there's barely the time between finishing the words, and pushing the other girl away, hard, fast- Ice doesn't creak and hiss beneath Meika, as blades dig into it for the leverage used, bracing against strength the teen shouldn't have. Frictionless ice waits behind Love, as she careens away from Meika- directionless, without a guiderail, without a hand to hold, back into the midst of other skaters to sink or swim or fumble and fall or float. Meika doesn't even bother to watch. She turns away, kicks off, and dissapears, silent and quick into the crowd. It's okay if you hate me for spoiling this. I would. I just don't want to see it in your face. Please don't come after me. If the universe was fittingly dramatic, a thought might cross Meika's mind that spilt tears on an ice rink would just add to the material's volume, locked in place and made permenantly part of the cycled water. But it's not so fitting. Meika's eyes refuse to even tear up. Outside, in the heavy, muggy rain, storming her way back home, she's glad that something at all could stain her cheeks.
Angela	Love comes to a stop in the middle of the rink. Love doesn't really care about what all these other people in the rink are thinking about, why would she? She is completely cut off from Society. The only Society she has is Kayoko, Justice, and Meika. And it's all she really needs. She has monsters to fight and she'd do that for free. And she understands it's not supposed to be a job you enjoy doing, but it's a job that she enjoys doing and recently she learned she can feel a little guilty about that because now when people die... She can't just forget about it. She'll never forget how desperate Meika was trying to resuscitate that poor girl even after the Temptations split. Was it someone she knew? Someone she'll forget. Who else has she lost that she'll lose along with everything else? Will she remember their deaths differently or will it be as if they never existed? But despite understanding this much, she doesn't really understand the rest. She doesn't understand that 'I want to come here again' and that 'I hate it here and I love it here'. Loving and hating something or someone simultaneously is something Angela can do, but Love mostly either loves someone or hates them. Maybe that'll change soon, now that she doesn't forget quite so easily as before. "Ah...ow..." Love manages but doesn't try to pull away. Instead she looks into those desperate eyes. ''S-so it's me that's why I would, and that it's something I'm still putting in motion even after...'' "...I will," She promises, knowing it's important to Meika and even understanding a bit why it's so important, and she tries not to sound sad about it and she completely fails to not sound sad about it. ''Tie it around your wrist until it breaks and falls off. Wear it back here.'' Love obediently raises her arm up. She isn't so uncouth as to deny Vermilion right now. "I will, it's ok, I want to remember you as you forever and ever and ever..." Love manages, feeling guilty for saying it, like she's losing. Like she's giving up. But she's known she couldn't save Meika but she can at least remember her. She wants that ribbon to be invulnerable. Because Meika gave her the ability to remember. ''And say you'll fly as long as you can.'' "I'll fly as long as--," She repeats loyally. The push is unexpected. She waves her arms wildly to try and catch herself but this time she smacks into the wall and and falls on her butt. She watches after Meika as she slips into the crowd. Chase after her, Her body screams. Chase after her! Try or you'll regret it forever! And so she tries, but even as she gets up, her body feels so weak and her legs struggle to obey her as she falls across the ice again and again. A few people in the crowd laugh. Some express concern. Love doesn't pay much attention to any of that. And eventually, she starts shedding all the tears that a dramatic universe necessitates as she says, "I'll fly as long I can." Love promises. This might be Meika's last gift to the Magical Girl. At least you can do this for her, Love tells herself but it is not a satisfying thought. There isn't one for a situation like this. Not for her.