[ OPEN ] And I'm on tonight you know my hips don't lie and I'm starting to feel it's right

[ombranera]

WHO: Zevran, His Kestrels, and You
WHAT: Music, Dance, Shenanigans
WHEN: Current
WHERE: The Herald's Rest
NOTES: It's Zev and dancing. There might end up being shiftlessness, seductions, and intoxication.

[ The Learning ]

It wasn't an intentional lesson, this. There was music, there was wine, there was talk of dancing in the small cleared space between tables. Tossing about ideas of what to play, how to dance, when Zevran made mention of a method of training oneself to isolate movement that was more or less a dance and the younger Kestrels (all but Settimo) expressed their interest. He sent Vitta to gather a few coin covered scarves and belts in all manner of colors from his room and gathered the rest to walk them through it.

Anyone else that was curious might join in, Zevran was something of a hands on teacher, adjusting posture with a hand to the plane of a back, the curve of a hip, showing with his own demonstrations as much as by moving his students by feel so they knew how it was to stand, to move, to roll. Little things, hip rolls, undulating like a snake, how to pop one's hip or hold one's shoulders still while the legs and hips do their work- these he went through as best he could before Vita returned and he offered a proper demonstration.


[ The Dancing ]

After a quick duet, all rolling hips and wide, flirtatious smiles, the Kestrels took turns dancing either on their own or with someone else that had expressed interest. Zevran, likewise, was content to either offer pointers here and there or dance alongside- or against- anyone that would have him. There was wine, there was music, there was warmth in the building and he could think of no better reason than to attempt to have a good time. The show seemed more than enough for those that didn't wish to participate on their own- apparently anything was a good change of pace from Maryden's ballads now and then.


[ The Mending / The Resting ]

Learning to bend oneself in new and exciting ways, to move or not move as one willed- it could create soreness or the occasional sprain if one was not careful. Teresa took time away from the dancing and the drinking to tend to any that might have twisted something they should not, had slipped and fallen or overextended a limb in an attempt to learn this manner of dancing. Or, more often, to offer glasses of either watered down ale or water proper to those taking a break from all the dancing. Zevran himself would flop down on a chair time to time, shirtless and sweating, watching the group with a crackle of laughter. Now this? This was living.

Comments

The Learning

[justice_is_blond]

He hangs at the very edges of the group, near to the wall, trying to not draw too many eyes. If he's not attacked again, everyone is safe. If he is... But he can't live like that, no matter how tight his chest feels whenever his fear spikes.

A few of the steps seem easy enough, but many of them are unfamiliar and it's a comfortable strangeness, one he can wrap his mind around and let it go blank with. Step, fail to sway right, step, sway better, he might not quite have it, but it's not too bad.

When Zevran comes close, he gets a slightly distant look without much in the way of recognition for a moment there before Anders blinks.

"It's... quite the class."

[ombranera]

"We are taught similar things for self control and contortion in the Crows. Making it a dance? Removes that shadow from the skill. Makes it less about killing and more about enjoyment." Zevran doesn't bother explaining that much to many but- Anders had seen what they'd done to him, had seen the fledglings flee. Had spoken on their behalf, or so Vita said.

It feels fair for him to know the how, the why.

"If I may?" He steps in close, painting himself along Anders' back, hands resting on Anders' hips. "Roll thusly."

[justice_is_blond]

Flexibility, focus, the dancing makes more sense when described like that, and Anders looks around the room with the new perspective.

He relaxes some as Zevran touches him, copying the movements and getting closer. "Are they healing? Losing some of the shadow?" The two of them have gone too far to ever be clear of it, no matter how Anders has moments he thinks he can break free. The younger ones still have a chance. Especially under Zevran's eye.

A second try, a third, and he's fairly certain he now has that motion, at least. "Better?"

[ombranera]

"A little more every day. The games of Tag have done wonders- not letting them seduce anyone for any reason has helped quite a bit. They've made friends. Actual friends. Some with more ease than I might have expected or managed myself at their age." There is no little pride coloring Zevran's voice. These are his fledglings, he protects them, he helps them. And they are thriving in Skyhold.

"Hobbies helps as well. You would not know it but Vita has a lovely singing voice. Teresa a fine hand at painting, Aureliana sewing, Nicodimo has taken to learning how to tend to the garden- things not bound up in what they were." Another slow roll and he nods. "Just so. You are doing well."

[justice_is_blond]

"Good." He can hear that pride. It's not just the shadow over the Kestrals he's worried about since pulling Zevran out of the fortress, and training them, helping them heal, seems to be helping Anders' patient heal. It helps Anders too, seeing the ripple effects of what he's done right. Help Zevran, speak up to protect them, two choices that hadn't gone wrong at all. ...Sure, that's probably what brought Leliana's interest down on him, but it isn't like he had been going to be unknown much longer. He'd done well. He's not just a threat, and it's something he needs to remember after the fight.

"I wonder if it wouldn't hurt to get the magelings involved in learning hobbies as well. Things that aren't just magic or control, things that reinforce they're people." It's important to feel like a person. The older mages that are afraid aren't there yet because they've lived so long being something to be feared. Time will do it.

He moves on to the next step in the dance, something that has more arm movements along with the step. At least he's good with his arms already. Years of staff work has seen to that.

[ombranera]

"Why is that a thing- the adding of 'ling' to the end of a word to indicate youthfulness? With animals it makes sense but- mageling. They are children. Mage children, but children. A very tall and strange elf expressed curiosity over 'elflings' earlier this month and I have never in my life heard the term before. We are not puppies or kittens, we are people." A beat. "As much as children are people, anyway."

[justice_is_blond]

He stops working on the next stage and tilts his head, considering.

"It might... make them seem less of a threat? More innocent. Mageling, can't be as much of a danger as a mage because they're little, can't be... Except that's never saved any, or helped them. I don't know, now that I think about it. Shorthand, perhaps, in verbal form. Mageling is shorter than child mage by... Nothing. Never mind. I've no idea."

He has no idea, but he also no longer has any inclination to call them magelings. That's at least been successful on Zevran's part.

"I've never heard elfling, however. Mageling often. I think I'm done using it now, however. Though I can't say I've ever heard of a catling or a dogling." Fledgling, one learning to fly, maybe that ties into it. Who can say?

"You're also asking someone who was not raised with the tongue we're speaking, so I am, quite likely, the least capable of finding an answer to that question."