open | your baddest behavior

[cozen]

WHO: Alexandrie, Bastien, Byerly, and their captive audience
WHAT: Mandatory etiquette and dance lessons
WHEN: Justinian 15, 9:45
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: See the OOC post and IC announcement for more information! If you didn't sign up, you can still participate in Parts A and D, and just handwave the other two, without needing to sign up or get an assignment. If you want to do B and C, you can find your own dance partner/seating group OOC, or you can sign up now and we'll dole out new assignments if we get enough latecomers to do so. If you signed up and are missing from the lists when you shouldn't be, I'm sorry and please tell me!

disclaimer: event less fancy than pictured

Seating Assignments
— Table One: Gwenaëlle, Iorveth, Matthias, Athessa
— Table Two: Flint, Ilias, Darras, Med Seller, Yngvi
— Table Three: Julius, Thranduil, Anders, Brienne
— Table Four: Benedict, Colin, Valentine, Six, Derrica
— Table Five: Teren, Salvio, Bartimaeus, Osana
— Table Six: Freddie, Petrana, Kain, Merrill, Silver
— Table Seven: Yseult, Cosima, Steve, Inessa
— Table Eight: Sidony, Fifi, Nell, Fingon
— Table Nine: Thor, Nathaniel H., Solas, Skadi

Dance Partners
— Cosima & Nathaniel H.
— Athessa & Anders
— Teren & Flint
— Freddie & Bartimaeus
— Yseult & Darras
— Nell & Julius
— Merrill & Colin
— Skadi & Benedict
— Gwenaëlle & Solas
— Petrana & Salvio
— Osana & the Medicine Seller
— Sidony & Matthias
— Six & Thranduil
— Brienne & Valentine
— Fifi & Steve
— Thor & Fingon
— Ilias & Iorveth

Comments

six + thranduil

[swordproof]

It's more than obvious that Six is entirely out of her depth here. She had never been taught to dance in her own world; she had been too gangly when she had been a child, too quiet and hidden, the village too aware of the damage being done to her, and as an adult, she had never been in the position to learn. Now she feels too big and too heavy to do something as dainty as dancing, especially with a partner that makes her think of the elves of her home.

She looks almost nauseated as she steps up to stand in front of Thranduil, her eyes wide and almost panicked.

Breathing out, she nods her head and looks at him, trying to appear as bold and determined in this as she does in battle, in fighting, in all other things.

"Good evening."

Re: six + thranduil

[rowancrowned]

“Lady,” he says, and sketches a bow, because lessons taught as a child can never quite be washed away—even when that childhood was a few thousand years ago. He pays no mind to her nervousness. He will lead, and he is skilled in nothing so much as guiding others. What are a few trodden-on toes to giving someone else confidence?

He offers her his hand, the other raised to clasp the second. Dancing with Gwenaëlle is a pleasure, always—but it will be nice to have a partner whom he does not tower over. And she is an elf—but it is a shame they are not doing elven dances.

[swordproof]

There's still an edge of something awkward about her, even as he bows; kindly, she thinks, to ease her into this even as she feels the sharp bite of it against her skin, leaving her shoulders tense. He is an elf, he is a true elf: all Six can think about is the way they had treated her before, quarter-blooded and barely living in their eyes. She has no reason not to imagine him to be the same.

Still, her fingers reach to find his and their hands join, her eyes widening for a brief moment before she breathes out, soft and unsure. He is still taller than she is, which makes some difference to her; it is odd, to have to look up at someone.

"I have not done this before," she admits, voice low. "But I shall try my best."

[rowancrowned]

“Ah,” he says, “but I have done this many times, if not to this music. Shall we?”

There are benefits to the height—it makes it easier for him to lead, for one, and he does so, as the music starts again. He near glides; he knows where his feet ought to be and so they are there, and he can compensate for smaller steps or fumbles by adjusting his own.

And he smiles at her, too, but it is a gentle thing, a joke they are in on together. What cruelty there is in him does not surface to make fun of a young elven woman learning to dance/

[swordproof]

"Yes, please." Six still looks awkward and unsure, but she steps into it, all the same, her eyes flicking up to look at Thranduil.

She has heard about him before, of course - she knows that he is someone important, that perhaps Adalia had mentioned him once or twice in the past. A full elf, someone she expects to judge her, to hate her, to ignore her, but he is kind. It surprises her, the tension in her shoulders settling for a moment before she breathes out.

He makes her feel as though she is weightless as if her dress suits her.

"When was the last time you danced so?"