destinystrings | It's Christmas time...

Entry tags:

It's Christmas time...

Who: Minako Arisato, Shinjiro Aragaki, and anyone who wants to run across them
Where: Libra district, then around Virgo and Scorpio districts
Summary: Despite the weird weather, Minako attempts to take Shinjiro out on a Christmas Eve date.
Warnings: Embarrassing lovey-dovey stuff. We'll see if Shinji's dignity survives.

Around 10 in the morning, Dec. 24th, a short text message appears on Shinjiro's COMP. Hopefully, it's not that unexpected.

Hey Senpai, merry Christmas Eve! ヾ(＾∇＾)*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

Don't make any plans for this evening, okay?

Of course, he's actually free to make plans, as long as they involve her. This is the first Christmas they've gotten to spend together. She wants to monopolize his time, at least for a little while.

In the late afternoon, as the sun is just beginning to set, the two of them set out into the city, trying to avoid the worst of the Jack mess. It isn't the best conditions for a date but Minako isn't about to let a little fight between demons get in the way of enjoying the holiday. Minako's chosen a coat that is easy enough to unbutton in the warmer sections of the city, but still protect from the snow.

The goal is to view the Christmas decorations around the city, see some interesting venues, go somewhere nice for dinner and basically spend time together. That is... as long as nothing, or no one, gets in their way.

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It's not unexpected.

He had seen this coming months ago. And if she hadn't asked, she would have been expecting him to ask, and he would have done it. Which means, of course, Shinjiro had prepared for both scenarios. This route just saves him a bit of dignity—a few kilobytes worth, at any rate. Some that he'll probably end up needing before the night is through.

Damn holidays. Hyping things up until expectations were ridiculous. All it is is perfection in the name of commercialism that enjoyed its hefty price tag, buoyed into public acceptance and Japanese tradition by overly romanticized nonsense.

And Shinjiro is no good at this kind of thing.

Not overtly.

And there is no way in hell you can be clandestine on Christmas Eve, really. Once you stepped out the door with a girl, you were One of Them.

And while he doesn't mind people knowing per se, not at this point, there is a part of him that still recoils at the idea of being so transparent. Even though it's... not really a bad thing.

But there's nothing to be done about it, and now he is One of Them.

And being One of Them has rules and shit.

…most of which he is quite content to murder while Minako isn't looking.

But the other remaining things aren't about to be snuffed out so quietly. So he'll adhere to those rules—that were really more like guidelines once Shinjiro got through with them—as best he can, because for all his reluctance, as much as he feels like a foreign body in a unfamiliar system, she deserves to have her holiday. ...Even if it's filled with people who probably won't mind their own business, thick crowds, Jack-fueled chaos and noise—everything that is a direct antithesis of the person he is now. She deserves to see the lights. She deserves to go somewhere nice. And she deserves to be normal. He likes her best when she's happy, and he likes being with her, even in situations like this when he doesn't mesh well.

Today is just going to kill him, is all. Not a big deal.

He's made reservations at a restaurant already, at a nice enough one that has good food at a decent price that isn't so cheap you could find coupons for it (because though he was practical, he wasn't some cheapskate when it came to good food, at least). If she wants to go somewhere else, he can cancel it and make some poor guy's day. Afterwards, she'd want to walk around, do something social enough that he'll probably end up looking like a moron (but he'll bear it), and look at all the Christmas decorations he's never really had reason to care about. When night hits properly she'll probably enjoy seeing all the lights, provided the demons running around don't screw things up.

And once all that is over, they can go home and unwind.

And then, finally, he can have permission to die quietly with whatever remains of his dignity.

But until then, he has to survive.

So he had grabbed his coat and shoved his beanie into his coat pocket (like it's some kind of goddamn security blanket), and set off, keeping to the slightly colder pockets of the Jack turf war as he takes her towards the station. For what it's worth, he likes the snowier side better. They don't try to set wolf-dogs on fire.

"I made dinner reservations at six," he says, allowing one of his hands to keep hold of hers, though his face is eternally impassive, "but we can walk around 'til then, if you want. Got any place you wanna go?"

Edited 2012-12-24 20:36 (UTC)

Minako squeezes his hand, maybe a bit tighter than strictly necessary. He'd offered it himself and that made it extra special.

So far, things were going better than she'd planned. She thought it might be easier to invite him than wait for the other way around. Not that she doubted he'd come through... It's just precedent, for her to take charge of these things.

Still, her eyes light up when he mentions dinner reservations. ....And it's not just because she likes to eat.

"The arts district probably has events going on... I heard there'd be outdoor concerts and things like that, though I don't know if the weather will affect it." It probably depended on which clan controlled the territory at that moment. "The shopping district probably looks nice, too..."

Edited 2012-12-24 20:40 (UTC)

And he's oddly fine with that precedent. Most of the time. Her idea of initiative can range from infectious to exhausting.

"Virgo then?" he says, eying the station up ahead. It's closer, and probably something that's better seen in what remains of the day. She can wander in the stores she wants to. Brave the crowds. And perhaps the insultingly hot weather and the uncharacteristically high snowdrifts.

"That works for me!"

She shifts her grip until she's holding his arm, instead. Now he's free to put his hand back in his pocket. "Let's go."

He quirks up an eyebrow at the sudden change.

Maybe he should try that approach more often then. Usually she's the one trying wrestle his hand out of its happy, isolated seclusion. Question is whether this is good will on her part—not that he puts much faith into the "Christmas spirit;" you're either happy or you aren't—or some kind of subtle manipulation she'll cash in later. Part of him's given up even trying to analyze.

He doesn't say much of anything for a few minutes, approaching the station, making sure to board the right train, and generally trying to mull over the likely course of events. Easier to deal with things you see coming than things you don't.

It doesn't take too long in the scheme of things—despite the frequent stops—to get to the station in Virgo, stepping off into the almost claustrophobic crowd—the majority consisting of people their age—that disperses the farther away from the station they walk.

The fire clan seems to be owning the Virgo side. The unnatural heat and odd, supernatural humidity that seems directly at odds for how hot it suddenly feels like. Makes him groan inwardly, and starts to feel out for a colder or less bipolar pocket so he doesn't have to take his coat off.

Damn turf war. If he had the power, he'd solve the damn problem for them.

What do demons care about Christmas, anyway?

"Your brother didn't take Miki out today, did he?"

...Minato and Miki. That's probably something she should have asked about, but since she had plans for today anyway she was busy making, she hadn't thought to ask him about his own.

Either way, he probably deserves some privacy in his relationships. He hadn't asked her about details of her upcoming date with Shinji.

"I don't know, actually..."

....... "Are you worried about it?"

...And he hadn't asked either. He was even more loathe to dig into anyone else's private business than she was... for the most part. He certainly resisted and resented anyone digging into his. Not that he had known or had asked how the last "date" went, and if if it was going to go anywhere beyond a set up at Akihiko's oblivious insistence. It wasn't his business, when it came down to it. And he wasn't going to assume anything. But part of him didn't want her to spend the day alone. Christmas and Christmas Eve had never meant much to him—but for her, it probably meant something.

But beyond that, it's not Miki and Minato he's really worried about.

"No. I just remembered I left an idiot at home with nothin' to do."

...That is a problem. But at the same time, it's not their problem, even if people they like are involved with it.

"...If Akihiko-senpai wants to get into trouble, that's between him and Miki. She's going to have to deal with him herself or he'll never really get it."

Which is true enough, as it always is. If he ends up following Minato and Miki around, it's not their problem. He's not their awkward third wheel, trying to be stealthy and failing at it. Though he's always seen Aki as someone he has to take responsibility for. For all the stupid little things he did. Still hard, getting out of that mindset, even after he had left Aki well enough alone for a few years, in comparison to what his presence used to have been like. But he does need to learn how to take care of himself—and how to deal with other people and situations Aki has never had to acclimate himself to before. Deal with other people besides him.

Not like Aki really much bothered to listen to him anyway.

On the bright side, he guesses this probably means Aki won't be following the two of them around on purpose. Shinjiro had neglected to mention he'd be busy today. He supposes that makes Miki and Minato a pair of very effective decoys, if they're out.

He walks with her around a corner only to find himself the street itself covered by a couple inches of water, pooling in the gutters and dips in the road as it disappears down the drains in the street. It had probably been snow once upon a time, not so very long ago, before the other Jacks had gotten to it. He grimaces, debating whether or not to turn around and choose a different way, but the sidewalks were clear enough. Not like they had to walk through it.

"Probably," he says, walking along the sidewalk, about to say something more before he cuts himself off and stops, feeling an abrupt drop in pressure and a sudden snap of cold as the temperature plummets and the water running down the street flash freezes. Raucous laughter quickly follows as a pack of very familiar-looking demons skate along the now-frozen street, bringing with them a blinding, blizzard-like torrent of ice and snow that will certainly amount to more than just a few scant inches of snow by the time their holiday work is done.

Minako understands his hesitation. Her busybody instincts tell her that she should be getting involved... after all, her brother is a part of this. She's supposed to look out for him. On that level, Minako knows Akihiko's feelings perfectly.

But Minato isn't the same little boy she used to drag around, force her friends to play with and protect by beating up anyone who gave him a funny look. He's capable of handling his own social life and relationships. That's an understanding Miki and Akihiko have to come to as well. Involving herself, or Shinjiro involving himself, will only impede the process.

She is in mid-stride and about to comment on this further, when the temperature suddenly drops and the Frosts zoom down the road like a bobsled team. But it isn't only the road that freezes. The damp sidewalk instantly becomes a thin sheet of black ice.

Minako's boots loose traction and she slips with a rather unleaderlike noise of surprise. She clings to Shinjiro's arm and hangs her full weight on him, desperate to stop her fall.

Edited 2012-12-26 23:24 (UTC)

He hasn't even been outside for an hour, and the world is already attempting to kill him.

He feels the sidewalk turn into ice under his feet, and loses all hope of keeping balance once he feels Minako's sudden weight on his arm. He fights to keep her from falling, but he has nowhere to dig his feet in, no place to root his center of balance. He suddenly feels like a child learning how to walk for the first time, struggling to keep up on his feet. His free hand reaches for the wall, something to lean against, but that doesn't ground him either—can't when he's already sliding wherever the ice feels like sending his legs to, rarely pulling both in the same direction. He does, however, manage to grab her arm to try and keep her upright just as the harsh, following gale of ice and snow crashes into him and everything else.

And that's more than enough to obliterate whatever illusion of equilibrium he had. Doesn't help that he suddenly can't see, though he the shrieks that he catches picks out of the roar of snow let him know that they aren't the only couple unfortunate enough to be caught up in the turf war. No longer able to main tain his balance, he feels himself falling. Nothing much he can do about it really but let gravity do her work. He can, however, do something about where Minako falls, what with her hanging on him like she is, making the process easy rather than difficult. He utters one of his more more characteristic curses, pulling her towards him as he falls over backwards, so with any luck she can land on him instead of the icy sidewalk. If he's lucky.

He feels his back and shoulders hit the ice first, eyes not making out much but flashes of color and snow while the rest of his body follows, sliding along the ice until he comes into contact with sizable Jack-made snowdrift. It doesn't take long for the blizzard-like microburst to begin to disperse, calming in time with the fading chortles of demonic laughter.

For a minute, she can't breathe, and the whole world turns black.

Then she realizes this is because her face is smushed into Shinjiro's coat, along with her elbow. She probably smashed him in the ribs pretty hard during that fall... There's also snow covering them both due to their landing place. Even without seeing, it's easy to tell that her carefully chosen date outfit is soaked and ruined.

...She doesn't feel like getting up right now, but she needs to make sure neither of them have broken anything. Carefully, she pries herself a few inches off his chest.

"...Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says after a few seconds, when he's damn sure he's not going to be the first man to choke to death on snow. He feels a bit winded, and he takes a moment to glance around at the newly made snowscape, spotting a single Jack Frost in the near distance, standing atop a pillar of snow, staring in their direction and looking pretty damn pleased with itself, if the stupid, teetering dance it's doing is any indication. His eyes circle back to Minako again, evaluating. He doesn't know how ruined her outfit is—though he can perhaps guess. His coat, however, has weathered far worse.

There's a sharp ache radiating from his ribs and back, but that will fade soon enough. It's nothing that he won't be able to ignore in a moment—he's had worse done to him in Tartarus. He's secretly glad, however, that she isn't trying to stand up, because at the moment he doesn't particularly want to try. "You fine?"

"...I think so."

Well, if he's not planning to get up, she won't, either, although she does roll into a sitting position. She looks across at the Jack Frost, who grins and waves at the both of them. "Maybe it's too dangerous to be out after all..."

He laughs at that, brushing some of the snow out of his hair as the Jack Frost swandives down his personal snowbank. This is why he wears a hat. "This coming from you? Don't you want to go see the lights?"

Edited 2012-12-27 03:30 (UTC)

"Well, yes... But I don't want a concussion on the way there, either. That would ruin Christmas."

She's ready to try and get back up, but it's still a pretty daunting prospect. There's ice everywhere and no real handholds. She settles for trying to use part of the snowbank as leverage, with minimal results.

With her ready to try, he carefully leans forward, turning over onto his knees. He watches her carefully as he surveys the area around them, studying it, trying to chart a suitable path in his mind. "I won't let you get one."

"You getting one instead would have the same result, you know."

Now that she's on her feet, she turns and offers a hand to help him up as well. "But maybe we'll dry off if we find a street that's still summer."

"Might be more festive with a concussion."

He knows how he is. Isn't going to pretend that he's not.

After a moment he gently grasps the hand offered him, standing, winching inwardly as he takes a moment to brush off some of the snow with his free hand. He spots the Jack Frost again, and it's closer this time. Damn thing's staring at them. He stares back.

"What about your outfit?" Did she need to change? Hell if he knew if any amount of sun would help with that. Maybe it would, or maybe she'd just be walking around cold.

Edited 2012-12-27 04:51 (UTC)

"...I'll be okay!" She's completely wet and starting to shiver a little, but she's not going to let that get in the way of their plans. "And anyway, are you saying our date would be better if you forgot all about it later? Because that's what a concussion will do!"

He snorts and squeezes her hand, navigating his way down the snowdrift and pulling her slowly along, making sure to take care of where he places his feet. He keeps mostly to the snow. Be more traction there, even if there is ice. Even if they fell again, chances were they'd just land in a snowdrift again.

"Even if I did, pretty sure you'd remind me." But no, he wouldn't want to forget. Not particularly. And he's halfway towards saying something along those lines—(a solitary "but no," perhaps)—when the Jack Frost that's been watching their progress skates across the ice towards them.

Shinjiro has half a mind to tell the thing to scram when it stops next to the path he's trying to create. It's almost unnerving, watching it stare at them, looking them up and down as if they were something to be weighed and measured, when it frowns, and its expression changes to something almost... sympathetic, if somehow amused.

It mutters something—which sounds suspiciously like it's making a particularly (if over) honest comment about how a certain girl looks kind of funny, because fire-haired girls and snow don't mix (Ha ha ho! Snow melts in the sun and on fire things, silly girl!)— when it stops and slips off its hat and holds it out to said silly girl like it were some kind of offering.

At first, Minako is confused by the Frost's approach... but when it offers her his hat, she grins and thanks him. "You're giving this to me? Are you sure?"

But if he insists, she'll take it and put it on her own head. ...It helps that Frost looks rather silly without wearing his hat.

The Frost seems insistent enough, and Shinjiro has just enough time to shoot her a passivly dubious look before the demon allows her to take it, grinning impishly before darting ahead, babbling something Shinjiro isn't going to even bother to try to interpret before disappearing into the distance, leaving a trail of light snow in his wake.

Shinjiro's look remains rigid, but unchanged. She's not seriously going to wear that, is she?

Edited 2012-12-27 08:24 (UTC)

"What's that look for?"

Even though she has a few good guesses. This hat is surprisingly warm for a frost demon's belonging, okay. Plus she probably makes it look good.

...And she's wearing it.

He stares at her for a moment and laughs. It's as quiet as it is brief. "You look ridiculous."

...And cute, he supposes, in a 'I have no right to call myself a man anymore' sort of way. But he has a reputation to uphold. And he's going to uphold it, and start searching for pockets of 100 degree summer while trying to pick a way out of this mess without falling victim to black ice and gravity again.

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