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

[indissection]

Every movement she makes is deliberate now - to draw attention to herself, to distract him, to tease him, to make a game of this completely. It's been a long time since anyone was so clearly enchanted by her - most of the men she spends her time with these days are either committed or not interested or both - so this is a novelty indeed. To have such a sweet, innocent young man gazing at her legs and staring at her as if she owns the moon itself...

She turns, just so, and adjusts the touch of his palm against her waist. She is trying to teach him, after all, even if she isn't in charge of this event; she would do herself a disservice if she wasn't proving her worth as a suitable and charming dance partner. Even if she might cause him a few hours of embarrassment at the same time.

"I am, truly! I've no reason to lie to you." Which is still true; she doesn't know what advantage there is yet. "You're not making a complete fool of yourself, which is more than can be said for some of the people I have engaged with in the past. Now, put your hand here," she adjusts again, "and we can practice a dip."

[inkindled]

"A what," Matthias says, having just gotten over all the movement and placement to his hands. She is being very kind and up front with him, so far as he can tell. Which is merciful, considering his hands feel seriously sweaty. Are they sweaty? Is he getting sweat on her dress? He'll leave a handprint behind if he is. What is this dress made out of? What is she made out of? It's not like he's not touched girls before. He has. Loads of them. But they weren't so soft as Sidony.

Oh, Maker's balls, wait--

"No, hang on--I'll drop you," he says, quickly, as he puts together what she means by dip. "Or I might, I mean. Not definitely but it's a strong possibility, right, and-- and if your head breaks open, I'll be liable, won't I. Not Riftwatch or whatever. Dunno if they'll pull for me if some lord or lady comes calling for my head."

[indissection]

"I don't think you'll drop me at all. I have complete faith in you." Which she does, at least to a certain extent. He seems strong enough to hold her up - she's not exactly the heaviest person in the world. She barely hits her height as it is, and her little shoes don't make her feel as though she's being given much in the way of a step up. An inch, perhaps, and even that doesn't make her feel as though she matches half the people in the room.

Her smile is soft and kind, head tilted just so, enough that her eyes look remarkable.

"My head will be fine and so will you." She's fairly sure her mother still imagines her dead at the moment, but she is doing what she can not to dwell on that too much. "Come now, put your hand just here, and the other here, and just -" and she begins to move, urging him to dip her down.

[inkindled]

"No," Matthias says, with some desperation, "I really am shit," but she's gone and said what are basically the magic words, hasn't she. I have complete faith in you. What's he going to do, prove her faith wrong? There's a plucky little inner bit of him that zests at those words, gets all eager and excitable and ready to show off, or at least try.

And anyhow, she's looking at him like that, smiling at him like that, and so Matthias puts one hand just there, and the other there, and just--

--well, staggers, but she's smaller and shorter and slighter than he is, so he doesn't drop Sidony. The dip is hurky-jerky, sort of the way a clockwork figure with sand in its gears might dip--but she doesn't fall, and Matthias gives a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Oh, shit. Uh. Sorry."

[indissection]

Sidony is dipped and she holds onto his arm gently, leaning against him as she lifts herself up - this is perfect for her, she thinks. He's a good height and she can make sure she doesn't fall completely, smiling a little as she gazes up at him. Oh, he is darling, isn't he, soft and sweet and so charming - a gentle young man, surely. She'll have to keep an eye on him from this moment forward, and she makes a mental note to not forget to check in on him in the future.

It's not a perfect dip - and she never expected it to be - but she looks quite pleased as her hand lifts and rests on his shoulder.

"There now, wasn't that just lovely?" Sidony looks just a little coy as she preens at him. "It wasn't as terrible as you thought it was going to be, darling."