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

[laurenande]

The lessons are useful, even Galadriel will admit as much. She is not overly familiar with the customs of humanity, nor with their etiquette; it changes with such speed and regularity that she hardly has the patience to keep up with it all...but it is of more importance here, she supposes, as she cannot retire to a place of old comfort or normalcy. She watches the dancers, watches as they bend and twirl and practice, and is largely content to spend the evening in that fashion.

When Solas joins her, his hand in hers and a soft smile on his face, she reconsiders. She looks sidelong at the dancefloor once more and turns her full attention to him.

"I have little interest in assigned partners, though I suspect that is the point," he confides quietly. "If you are asking, however, I could not possibly decline."

With him? Yes, she would adore a dance, for she has always been fond of dancing and revelry. This party is a bit prescribed, but that is its nature and she cannot fault it for that.

[dirth]

At least it gives him something to do, a distraction from all the things going on in his mind - the threat of the truth curse returning, project details, considerations of that sort, knots in his stomach as he considers the plans he must adhere to, the people he must scope out... He has her, of course, at his side, and his trust in Thranduil is rebuilding, but it is not the same. There is still some distance in him, something he keeps apart, for fear of it all tumbling around him.

At least he has her. When he looks at Galadriel he can feel the whole world change around him, taking shape again, and the painful longing in his heart eases ever so slightly.

"Mine was tolerable at least," though dancing with Gwen was not entirely what he had wanted to do with his time, considering their last conversation. "But your company would be more than."

Stepping away, he bows - just a little - and offers his hand. "May I?"

[laurenande]

"Of course," she agrees and sets her hand in his, matching the formal entreaty with a formal answer, even if her smile is just barely kept subdued.

He leads them out, between the tables to where the dancing is, and Galadriel steps in, as she has seen so many of the others do. The steps of these dances are not difficult, the motions repeat in a comfortable pattern, but she has not attempted them before this. As she settles her hand on his shoulder and steps closer, she offers him a short, apologetic look.

"This is my first attempt, I hope I shall not disappoint."

[dirth]

Her hand is warm and his fingers wrap around hers, gently and tenderly, drawing her close and stepping towards the dancefloor - a little better now than it had been before with the awkwardness of unknown dance partners. At least he had been given Gwen, but even that had been a trial - but he pushes thoughts of her and all the other dances from his mind.

His thoughts are for Galadriel alone, now.

"I do not think it is possible for you."

Beginning the dance, Solas leans into her, guiding gently. The height difference makes it a little more awkward than it had been before, but he accepts it gleefully.

[laurenande]

Galadriel follows his lead, the gentle push and pull of his hands to keep their feet in sync with the music. It is an easy pattern to fall into, particularly with Solas's careful guidance, and soon they are all but gliding across the floor. Their bare feet are not entirely in keeping with the dress code but it does make movement so much more seamless.

"Such flattery," Galadriel replies quietly but looks entirely pleased. Her movements are easy and her smile is less well hidden as they dance. "I have always loved dancing."

[dirth]

It's impossible to drag his eyes away from her, not when she is as close as she is. He doesn't care about how he is dressed, what the rest of the world thinks of them, his heart in his throat as he stares and stares and feels... Overwhelmed. Surely the rest of the Inquisition can see how in love with her he is.

"Is it flattery if it is the truth?" He goes with her, tilting his head up to gaze. "It has been a long time."

[laurenande]

The way he looks at her, the adoration, makes her heart sing. Galadriel watches him for a moment as they dance, her own expression not so dissimilar from his, and the music picks up to a more energetic song.

"Then we shall have to dance more often," she tells him, both because it would be wonderful and because he is as given as she when it comes to wandering, forlorn, into the memories of the past.

"And yes, it surely is," she adds. "I am not always so composed," she says. "When first I came here, I recall discovering that the wine has much more effect. I stumbled frequently that night."

[dirth]

Solas does not try to disguise the way that he feels about her - the rest of Riftwatch can surely see just what he feels for her in his heart and it settles around him like a blanket. He's barely even dressed up for the occasion; he must look out of place in front of her.

"If that would entertain you," it draws him back, his attention settled on her and back away from being lost in memories and dreams of a time long gone by. Lifting his head, he watches her, soft, careful.

"Do you intend to stumble tonight, my lady?"

[laurenande]

"Intend?" She asks, a note of mirth in her tone as they dance. If the disparity in their outfits bothers her, it doesn't show on her face or in the spring of her steps.

"Not as such, no, unless that was an invitation to drink and revel with me?" Galadriel asks and leans in close as she does.

[dirth]

Solas turns her gently, moving with the odd beat of the world around them - it's not a grand thing, nothing like Arlathan, but it feels wonderful al the same. He can pretend, for a moment, that he has gone back in time, that the world is out of place, that he is not brokenhearted.

"I would gladly," he says, finally. "Perhaps once the practice is over we can spend more time together."