[X] "Well if you are sure..."
[X] Boost jump towards Ariane.
-[X] Accidentally hug Ariane instead of tagging her.
[X] "You're it!"
Your shoulders sag a little and you breathe out a small, wispy cloud of vapor to steady yourself. Ultimately, it's not really up to you to tell Mariko what to do, even if she would really benefit from practicing her skills. You can't force her to do anything against will… nor do you even want to.
That's not how you should make friends!
"Well, if you are sure…" you say and nod slowly to Mariko. The girl seems relieved about your answer at first, but a wave of guilt follows nigh immediately after that, even if she tries to suppress it as much as she can.
You decide the girl is in serious need of hugs. Now, if only she wasn't so averse to contact…
"Yeah… I'm sure," Mariko manages to say despite herself.
"Sorry."
"It's fine, don't worry about it! Now…" you reassure Mariko and turn to face the rest of your Magical Girl friends, leaving Mariko in peace for now. A cheerful grin splits your face as you will the lines in your shield to start spinning rapidly. Come to think of it, there actually is a way you can practice without any need for restrained levels of violence!
Ariane doesn't even get a chance to react as you guide part of the energy to your legs and boost straight to her, your extended arms first. With the distance between the two of you being measured in mere meters, you slam into her with a force great enough to send both of you flying and tumbling away. Only few billowing clouds of snow are left behind you.
You can hear Ariane scream in surprise at the sudden tackle, while at the same time your arms are almost instinctively wrapped around her back. Your impromptu flight ends with you two sprawled on the cold ground, with you on top of Ariane, grinning ear to ear.
"Tag! You're it~!" you announce triumphantly at your speedy capture.
Ariane blinks in bewilderment upon hearing your words. She seems to have some trouble wrapping her head around your actions and words here.
"Tag?" she asks you slowly.
"Yup! That means you're it! And you must now try to catch someone while they try to dodge you. They'll be it if you catch them!" you explain, figuring that she has probably never had the chance to play like this outside.
"Oh!" Ariane says, and raises her eyebrows.
"But is you hugging me on the ground also part of the game?"
Uh…
"Well, not really? And now that you actually mention it…" you blush a little. You didn't really think this one through, now did you?
"Just give me a second, I'll start running."
You still have the other half of your jump boost left for use. Now you just need to wiggle your arms out from under Ariane, and you would go flying away from her. Just pull out your hands and leap out. It's a simple plan, so it's not like it could-
You're suddenly thrown off balance by Ariane's body shooting up from the ground all of sudden, letting your hands go free, while causing you to slam your feet to the ground and accidentally release the charge.
The last thing you see and hear is Ariane pressing her right index finger against your nose and smiling mischievously.
"Tag! You're it!"
You are sent soaring right after that by the released power of your magic. You scream loudly all through your ungraceful backwards flight across the air. While you cannot really focus your gaze on anything specific with the spinning, you can make out Ariane flying away quite fast.
"Arianeeee!" you scream, inwardly swearing vengeance for this.
"I swear I'll catch you first! Just you- Umph! Blrrgh.."
You slam to the cold white ground and your mouth is filled with snow. You gag it out as quickly as possible and use your arms to push your upper body up from the ground to take a look around to locate your friends. Reckoning would be coming for them now…
You shake your head to drop a pile of snow stuck in your hair and jump up. You still have a good amount of the energy left in your shield. It's more than enough to jump several times. You did this all the time with Ami and the others, you're the veteran here.
You can see Kishi and Ariane both in the distance, waiting for you between the trees. At least they're not going to hide, even if you can't just jump straight to them right away.
You narrow your eyes as a predatory grin appears on your face. The game is on!
And so you speed toward your friends in this improvised game of tag made up to practice dodging. You manage to lose your track of time in the competition between you, Kishi and Ariane, but as the sky turns completely dark, you're left panting from the constant effort, but feeling better about yourself.
"This was so amazing!" Ariane wheezes out from her sprawled position on the ground, where Kishi's tagging has left her. She is utterly exhilarated and giggling constantly despite it becoming apparent that you've done enough here for both of you to be coated in sweat.
"I love it…"
You nod cheerfully yourself, but turn to look at your non-participating friends. Evelyn seems almost relieved that your game has already ended, and is standing up to move her body around while she waits for you to finish.
Why did you even drag her here?
Well, it is pretty cold out here, you suppose. And since she is not a Magical Girl, warmth may be a bit of an issue for her.
Mariko on the other hand is quietly looking down on the ground, unwilling to look at your direction. Her book lays closed on her side. It was able to distract her for only so long.
Some helper you are...
"Well, I take it we're ending it here?" Ariane asks out loud, her eyes also traveling to the pair near the benches.
'I-it's getting pretty late too. It's nearing half past seven already,' Kishi follows.
'Time to call it a day? I-I think it might be time to head home for most of us...'
Benefits:
- Tamiko, Ariane and Kishi all gain +1 to dodging rolls. While not the most direct way of learning, an intensive magical tag does offer enough practice to justify the increase.
- Tamiko makes progress towards making jump boost related skills more efficient. At this level, she will need a bit more practice to increase the skill in a clearly noticeable way.
What do you do?
[] Talk with your friends.
[] Insist on some last-minute science.
[] Leave for home and dinner.
[] Escort someone home?
[] Write-in.
===
Most of the options actually require some levels of write-in. But yeah, most of the gang is ready to head home there, so keep that in mind when thinking of a vote. Remember that most of them need to wake up for Saturday's Mitakihara excursion too
!