video;

[happyends]

[ Guess who's trying really hard to ignore all the more aggressive posts on here. ]

Um.. H-Hi everyone! In case anyone doesn't know yet, I'm M.. Madoka Kaname, nice to meet you.. [ Is she looking more nervous than usually though? For sure. Although that's not because of the mood of the last posts as much as she's dying internally at the thought the whole train can hear and see her right now. ]

M-Maybe some of you might remember that a while ago mister Stark suggested we could put plants around the train.. I thought it'd be a good idea s-since it'd be good for both the air and just for making things look nice, so.. E.. Evie and I volunteered to work on it! But there's only two of us, so..

[ She sucks in a deep breath. You can do it, Madoka. You almost said your piece! ]

We.. could use some help, if anyone wants to help. The boxes all need to be p-put together, and the plants need to be taken care of in the l.. long run too. So I thought maybe we could start a gardening club.. I was part of a gardening club back home at school, so if you don't know what to do, I.. I can help you! But if people already know a lot about plants, it'd be g-great if they could help too..!

Um, of course it's voluntary, but.. i-it'll be fun. I think. And you can work together with Evie too then, and she's really pretty and smart and nice..! [ And, you know, Madoka is also pretty cute. But she apparently has no compliments for herself to spare here.

Also, her face is starting to turn the same colour as her hair by now. ]

I.. I think that's all..! T-Thank you so much for listening to me and I'm sorry for taking up your time-- ouch!

[ She was bowing to end the message politely, but instead just accidentally bumped her head in the process.

She's trying. ]

Comments

[runs_on_batteries]

Attagirl!

..

Is your head okay?

[happyends]

It's fine..

[ It definitely hurts. But it doesn't feel like she has a concussion or anything, so there's no way Madoka is going to utter a single negative word. ]

B-But.. I did it! [ Making the message, she means. Somehow. ] Do you think I got the point across to everyone..?

[runs_on_batteries]

[He chuckles a little, poor kid!]

You nailed it! Great job.

[She was terribly nervous though and he felt bad for her. So clearly he should address that with a way to help, right?]

Feel up to maybe one more job around here?

[happyends]

One more job? [ Hey, apparently it's an approach that works, since she doesn't look nervous at all when she repeats those words. Just curious, mostly. ]

Of course! Is there something that has to be done..?

[runs_on_batteries]

What would you think about doing a weekly announcements or news update for the train? You're a natural at this.

[Well, not yet. Give her a couple more times and she'll lose all that timidness.]

[happyends]

...

[ She just stares. It's like he broke her brain with that simple question. We need a new backup Madoka, this one's done for.. ]

H.. huh..?

[ Apparently that's the only response she can make to that. ]

[runs_on_batteries]

[Damn, he broke her. Ignis, help! He broke their daughter!]

In America sometimes at schools they have morning announcements over the intercom or it could also be like when they announce advertisements or lottery winners?

...

You're cute and people like listening to you!

[There, that last part was his point. Now he's going to await getting scolded by Ignis.]

[faithfulsupport]

Tony..

[He almost said Anthony because you're in danger of being in trouble here Mister Stark. Don't break their daughter.]

Let her decide.

[runs_on_batteries]

What? She is cute and people like listening to her!

[He so knows he did something wrong, he just doesn't get what.]

[faithfulsupport]

I'm not debating either of those things. It's up to her comfort level.

[runs_on_batteries]

That's why it was an offer. Did it not sound like an optional thing? I was just explaining some examples of the kind of thing that would entail.

Evie thinks it's a good idea!

[faithfulsupport]

I will talk to you later regarding this matter. One in a far more private setting.

[And Ignis disappeared from the network.]

Action

[runs_on_batteries]

[Tony curses and turns the ICP off. Okay, Mady, you're off the hook.

He looks around the train to find the other man.]

Is this private enough or do we need to go to our room?

[faithfulsupport]

Somehow when Ignis looked up he isn't surprised at all to see his fiancee' standing there and there's a serene sort of smile as he's working on an almost final draft of the paperwork for the council. There's still a few blank spots like godparents, more back up plans and what Madoka wants for her last name to be. "Hello darling."

He got up, moving to walk over to Tony after locking the car door. At first he's confused why Tony wants to talk because his mind is on paperwork. "Private.."

Oh. Then it hits him.

The advisor goes straight for holding onto Tony's collar and looks into those beautiful coffee coloured eyes.

"Darling, I just want Madoka to be comfortable with whatever you're proposing for her to do. She doesn't have your go getter temperament. So if you talk to her privately, you two can decide what to do from there."

[runs_on_batteries]

"Forgot alright?" He asked with a chuckle. Clearly he hadn't been too bad on the ICP then if Ignis had forgotten.

"And I want her to get some confidence and learn how to talk on the ICP. There's only one way to do that- practice. It was the first thing I could think of to give her some practice."

[faithfulsupport]

There was more affectionate curling of the collar and Ignis smiled. "I know darling. You're trying to instill confidence in our daughter and I love you for it."

Tony received a soft kiss to his cheek after those words had been spoken. "And I'm probably being a horribly overprotective parent and I admit it." He gave another soft kiss and smiled. "And if I haven't told you lately, I think you're doing wonderfully with her."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony shook his head. "But you don't like how I was going about it, right?" He slipped his arm around Ignis' waist, keeping him close. "I'm used to a five year old where you can convince them to do just about anything if you put enough enthusiasm behind the request. Like 'Whooo! This is going to be so much fun! Let's go upstairs and do your favorite thing in the world! A bath!' And off she goes."

He chuckled at the memory and gave Ignis a return kiss. "I didn't want her to think I thought she'd done anything wrong with her message."

[faithfulsupport]

"She's a young teenager darling." Ignis smiled. The smile faded a bit but then returned. "I just want her to be sure she wants to do something and not do it just to please you or even myself. And you have a charming ability to make people want to push themselves just to please you."

The advisor knew all too well what he was talking about. "She didn't do anything wrong and was actually very brave to post in a time of..more serious matters." Pointless dick waving is what he'd call it but he refrained.

[runs_on_batteries]

"What's wrong with someone pushing her? That's how you get better at things. You find your limit and you push past that." He really wasn't getting why this was a big deal. "You know Kaito's teaching her how to fight, right?" Which Tony approved of, but hopefully Ignis did too.

"Well right, and I agree. That's why I thought if she could get some practice.." They were going around and around on this. "Sometimes when I try to give Peter tips he gets very self-conscious about it. So that's why I was coming up with a different way to approach this." Tell him to get his head out of his ass though. That might help.

[faithfulsupport]

Ignis withdrew himself from Tony at hearing all of this and he sat back down at the table with a sigh. This was just like the conversations he'd had with Gladio about Noctis. The shield accused him many times of spoiling or coddling the king, especially when it came to things like not forcing him to eat vegetables.

He didn't want to push against Tony but instead to try to find some way that would balance and produce a solution that had Madoka's best interests at heart. Hearing someone else was teaching their daughter how to fight wasn't happy news either and Ignis felt lost at trying to find a balance between holding onto the daughter he just got while also trying to figure out how the hell to let go.

[runs_on_batteries]

"Hey," Tony followed Ignis to the table and sat down across from him. He held out a hand to take his fiancee's. "I'm really asking. I want to do this in a way you'll approve of too. It's important to me what you think is right."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just making this up as I go along, just like I did with Morgan. That's the only reference I have too. I can't rely on what my parents did because.. well, at least my dad was horrible. So, I really want to know what you think."

[faithfulsupport]

"Yet you sound determined and on a set course of action." Ignis quietly pointed out. There was no bite to his words, they actually sounded more tired and resigned. His hand tightened around Tony's because he was worried and didn't want their different approaches to parenting to be combustible.

Green eyes worriedly looked at the older man and he sighed. "Darling..do you think it would be a good idea for us to set some ground rules for each other with this? I've no wish to fight you and I want to protect our daughter more than anything."

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony glanced down at their hands a moment before finding Ignis' gaze again. "I'm sorry. I'm used to situations where I have to come up with those things and sound confident even if I have no idea what I'm doing. I didn't mean to use that tone with you. The truth is, I really don't know and I'm just trying to take a guess at what might work. I'm willing to hear you and your thoughts."

He nodded at the suggestion. "I'd be willing to come up with ground rules if you think that would help, especially if it'll help me understand what you want better."

[blueberryprincess]

I think you’d be great at this, Madoka, but don’t feel pushed. Maybe we can get a couple others to help out, like news segments.

[happyends]

Y-You think so too, Evie?

[ It's already amazing enough that Tony would think that, but if Evie agrees that makes it two awesome people's opinions against her own! ]

I think I'm probably a little too nervous for it though.. I bet other people could do it without feeling worried at all.