Dancing for Myself

[Guest]

Eri skipped down the halls of the Athenaeum quite cheerfully, humming to herself as she passed door, after door, after door. She finally came to a halt at the doors of the ball room. After looking around to make sure no-one was there, she slipped inside silently.

She vaguely wondered if she was breaking any rules coming here, but dismissed those thoughts rather quickly. She may not have not been able to dance at the Ceremony, but she could dance here on her own now! She would have preferred having a partner, but since that was not an option, she dumped the small bag she had been carrying on a nearby table, rooting around in it for one of her many pairs of dancing shoes.

Finally settling on a pair of toe-shoes from the bag, she moved onto the dance floor and began to dance along, humming a tune to herself as she twirled along.

[Guest]

Andrasteia was heading out to the garden to sit among the flowers and do some gardening, her favorite past time. She had a distant expression and wasn't really watching where she was going, a book or two about botany tucked under her arm as she strode along.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she thought she heard some noise, and stopped. Apparently she'd been more preoccupied than she realized, because she had been heading in entirely the wrong direction, and had somehow ended up right outside the ballroom.

The humming seemed to be coming from inside, so Andras decided to see who was doing it and opened the door slightly, peeking in and watching the other girl dance.

[Guest]

Eri continued to dance along, recalling a few bits of choreography from Swan Lake, taught to her, very patiently, by her dance teacher years ago.

She had always liked her dance teacher. She was strict, yes, but also very patient and very understanding of Eri's rather less than timid personality. She had been one of Eri's few true friends back home and had been a constant friend and companion to her whenever Oni was not available.

This teacher had taught her the White Swan's dances in hopes that they would help to tame the young girl's hyperactive tendencies and thus appease her parents, but Eri had insisted on learning the more aggressive Black Swan's dances as well.

At this moment, she was switching back and forth between the White and Black Swan, enjoying the contrasting personalities. She closed her eyes as she twirled and leaped across the floor, completely absorbed in her dance when she thought she heard the noise of an opening door.

She stopped abruptly, looking around and calling out "Hello?.. Is someone there?"

[Guest]

"Sorry, sorry," she said, opening the door fully and stepping just inside so that she didn't seem like she was sneaking around or spying on the other girl. "I was just heading towards the gardens and wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I heard you humming and thought I'd see if anyone was in here. I hope I'm not interrupting...?"

Andrasteia smiled apologetically, tucking her hands behind her back because she hadn't really met this other girl yet and therefore was at least a little nervous around her.

[Guest]

"Hey I remember you!" she said skipping over to the older girl, her toe shoes making soft little clumping noises as she moved across the hard floor. "You were at the big party and danced with my brother." she grinned.

"Oh you did nothing of the sort" she said with an airy wave. "I just never had a chance to dance here when I was at the party; and since I didn't have a partner, I thought I'd do a little solo ballet I learned back home... I'm sure I got it all wrong though.. Its been a while since I did the swans' dances," she admitted, wrinkling her nose.

[Guest]

She nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah, it was hard to get him to dance though. I'm Andrasteia." It had been fun dancing with someone, all the same, though she'd felt kind of bad when she'd abandoned him because Zephyra had come into the room. Girls had to have their catching up time...

She shrugged at this. "I wouldn't know the difference. I don't know much about dancing myself, but when everyone around you is dancing you can't help but pick up a little, especially when it's your second year here..."

[Guest]

Eri sighed. "Yes, he can be a bit closed off. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get him to loosen up sometimes.... but then... I can be a bit too loose at times... according to my family" she giggled.

"You don't know how to dance? Well, maybe I can teach you about it" she said sitting on one of the many tables, her legs swinging back and forth. "I know Ballet, waltz, a few Spanish dances, etc..." She shrugged. I'm planning to come here as often as I can to practice so you're more than welcome to join me."

[Guest]

Andrasteia was about to protest that she probably couldn't learn how to dance, but dancing was kind of like swordfighting only with a different purpose, right? She just had to think of it as another exercise and it could be easy. Besides, it sounded fun. "Would you?" she asked, starting to get excited. "I don't really know anything about dance so you'd have to start with the basics, but..."

[Guest]

Eri grinned widely, "Sure! What kind of dance do you want to learn first?" she asked smiling sweetly, cocking her head, and putting one foot on the table top in a rather unladylike fashion as the other continued to swing off the edge of the table.

[Guest]

Andrasteia tried to remember the list that Eri had just rattled off. It shouldn't be that hard...but then she decided on an easy answer, and shrugged timidly. "The easiest one...?" she offered. "I don't really have a preference..."

[Guest]

Eri giggled and hopped off the table, and began rooting through her bag. "Well, in that case" she said brightly. "I think a simple waltz is in order" she said emerging with two pairs of dance shoes. "What say you?" she said holding out a pair with a grin.

[Guest]

She returned the smile, taking the shoes and inspecting them for a second. "Okay, let's get going."

She set down her books, pulling off her shoes and trying on the dance shoes. They fit pretty well, which was a lucky coincidence. Well, she reasoned as she stood waiting for instruction. Eri was a first year, only a year younger than her. It made sense they'd have roughly the same size feet...

[Guest]

"Ok... sooo lets see here... If Oni were here, I would make him help me... but he's not so I'll have to do it myself." she said grinning. "So! I'll dance the boy's part ok?" she said with a giggle, grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her toward the center of the floor. "Its a good dance style to start with, since it can be super simple or really difficult."

[Guest]

She giggled as well. "Only way for me to learn the girl's part." Andras followed Eri obediently, nodding and starting to really get intrigued in the dancing concept. "I'm listening."

[Guest]

"Right then" Eri said, stepping a few steps back from her friend and pointing down to her feet. "I'm going to show you the basic waltz stpe and you just try to mirror my steps for now ok?" she said as she began to waltz step, left and right over and over again. "See? Just like this?" she said, smiling.

[Guest]

Andras nodded, trying it herself. It was harder than the other girl made it look, but after a few tries she started getting the hang of it. "Yeah, I think I've got it!" she said, starting to get excited that she could learn how to dance.

[Guest]

Eri giggled. "Good good!" she said continuing to do the step over and over, back and forth. "Now, we'll try it moving!" and, with that, she began to move along the floor, slowing the pace to make it easier for the other girl to follow her steps.

[Guest]

Looking mostly at their feet, Andrasteia started following Eri, stumbling slightly to keep up but soon getting the hang of it. She grinned, feeling very accomplished to be learning so quickly, though she did know it would get harder...

[Guest]

Eri giggled. "There! See?! You're doing just fine!" she scampered over to Andras, taking her hands and beginning to lead her around in little waltz circles.

[Guest]

She kept looking at her feet, though after a while she started glancing up more and more. "I think I get it!" she said, grinning up at Eri and feeling extremely accomplished.

[Guest]

Erig giggled again, continuing in her pattern around the floor. "You're doing great!" she said making sure the older girl didn't trip of slip at all.

"Now do be careful when dancing with a boy who's less experienced than me." she said matter of factly. "They might not be as good at helping you along or as mindful of whether you're slipping etc... So you hafta pay close attention." She began to slowly pick up the pace a bit as they continued on.

[Guest]

Andras nodded, losing her step for a second as they sped up before regaining it. "Boys can be so inconsiderate like that sometimes..." She was starting to get how people could dance like this and talk at the same time, with the steps being so repetitive you could get into the movement and then focus your attention somewhere else.

[Guest]

"Indeed they can" she giggled, moving along at a steady pace so that Andras could get used to the pattern. "You wouldn't believe some of the things I've heard come out of their mouths back home."

She thought back to the many occasions when she had disguised herself as a boy to work in her father's train yards, and couldn't help but grin at the memories. It had not taken her long to learn just how differently men behaved around each other than when in the presence of a "lady."

[Guest]

She snorted. "Where are you from? I'd love to hear about it. I haven't gotten much of a chance to get around much, and I love hearing from people about other places." This reminded Andras of her friend she'd met over the summer and who had been almost everywhere, and for a second she felt a pang of sadness, missing him. After a second though, it was gone and she gave Eri a curious look.

[Guest]

"I'm from Victorian England!" she said with a grin continuing to dance along. "Its quite customary for people of polite society to be soft-spoken and polite, even when insulting one another, especially in the presence of a lady" she said with a silly pompous air, bursting into giggles before continuing.

"Back home, it was quite common for girls to be quiet, prim, and proper and stay home and never have any adventures... but I used to dress as a boy and sneak out to go work in me father's train yards." she said proudly.

"It was a lot of fun... Normal people who do real work in the real world are so much more fun than the sour ol blue-bloods." she said wrinkling her nose. "But they do have rather foul speaking habits at times." she admitted.

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