Envious Gaze

After handing over the flowers, Michael leads Tiffania down to the shore, and onto some flat ice burgs so they could get further out to sea. After some walking hand in hand, Michael finally stops when he spots a circular hole in the ground, one used by desperate fishermen. Indeed, there were even a couple frost-bitten wooden chairs next to it.

"I know you and Charlotte are into experimenting with alchemy ingredients, so I wanted to take you here." he gestures at the hole, "Apparently a shoal of Slaughter fish have set up shop here, so we'll catch them and scale them... I know it's not first date material but, there isn't much else to do around here." he says while sheepishly scratching the side of his face.

Tiffania nods at his words but pauses at the mention of a 'date', "First date? Michael, is this a date?... Oh! It must be, you gave me flowers and everything!" she murmurs, eyes wide but not looking as upset as her surprise would make out.

"Is that, not okay?" he tentatively asks.

She rapidly shakes her head, "No, no! It's fine! I just... Wasn't expecting it! We've been together for so long and we... I was starting to think you weren't interested..." she admits.

He crooks a brow, "If you were waiting so long, why not just ask me first?"

She blinks, "But, that's a man's job, isn't it?"

"Is a woman's job to silently stay at home, cook and look after the kids?" he answers her question with another question.

...

"Yes...? Maybe?"

"Maybe I'm making the wrong choice here then, me thinking I was asking a girl on a date, turns out she was a manly man, a manly man who fights, uses magic, and looks good in a dress." he laughs.

She jabs his arm with an embarrassed flush on her face, "Can we just start fishing?"

"Not before you admit I was right and you were wrong."

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The date continued without interruptions, the duo learning together how to ice fish, occasionally catching a flailing Slaughterfish which gets unceremoniously dumped onto the ice next to them. Neither had much experience with fishing, so it was a learning experience for both of them... Not very date-like, but fun nonetheless.

Evening rolled around soon enough, and the temperature started to dip from 'uncomfortable but manageable', to 'Freeze your piss in mid-air'. Most folk would have had to take the long way around back to the College since the cliff wasn't really scalable without climbing equipment... Luckily, Tiffania was able to open a Teleportation Gate which led right back to the entrance of the College.

"So, would you want to do this, or something else another time?" he asks her as they approach the archway leading to the College.

"Whenever you want, Michael." she smiles, letting go of his hand and leaning closer.

They share a kiss. This is the second kiss, but it feels just as strange, exciting, and addictive as the first. Indeed, unlike last time, neither were able to hold themselves back as their embrace get more and more intimate.

*Ahem!*

The duo almost jumps out of their skins as they hear the voice, each getting a little distance as they looked towards the College entrance where Nirya was standing with crossed arms and a prominent frown. "Are you two done? You're disturbing the peace." she states.

Michael glances around, spotting no one aside from the empty street and the isolated buildings that comprise the whole of Winterhold. "Disturbing the peace? Disturbing your peace maybe..."

"My peace is the peace, if you must swap saliva, do so where I can't see it." she commands.

"Alright, we'll leave you to your peace then." Michael offers, knowing that the Altmer couldn't leave her guard duty... He and Tiffania walk past her and into the College hand in hand, ignoring the angry growl behind them.

"She'll get over it." he whispers as Tiffania rests her body on him as they walk.

Flashback end :

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Since then they hadn't been on any more dates, as there wasn't really anything to do around Winterhold... He could have Tiffania teleport them somewhere, but even then, where would they go? Whiterun? Riften? Falkreath? Neither was exactly 'date' material. If anything, Michael wanted to take her to Solitude next, the Capital of Skyrim and 'Most beautiful city'.

Unfortunately, while he and Tiffania were enjoying their time in Skyrim, Charlotte's mood was steadily getting worse the longer her mother went without recovering. Despite her improvements, it didn't look like she'd regain her mind in many years.

The occasional glances she sent his and Tiffania's way only made him feel more guilty about enjoying himself. The look she sent was one filled with envy, dejection, bitterness, and hopelessness. Clearly, she thought that Maria would've been healed by now... Maybe she thought he was stalling? Or maybe she thought that he'd forgotten her while his attention was focussed on Tiffania?

Regardless, he'd need to think of a solution to it soon, their last chance was at Markarth in the temple of Dibella, so if that failed he had no idea what to do... Probably travel to another world in hopes of finding a cure?... It wasn't like they couldn't come back here afterwards, right?... He'd need to get Tiffania working on that. Maybe have her look into it while she was researching the Familiar summoning ritual.

Whatever, at least Illococoo was enjoying herself... The girl could now use 'Fus' proficiently enough to knock a grown man off of his feet... And that was only the single word of the three-word shout... How powerful would it be altogether? And would it get stronger if she was in dragon form?... All things that motivated him to get stronger, simply to not be left behind by his companions.