2128/I Promised You A Dance

I Promised You A Dance
Date of Scene:	31 October 2016
Location:	Pikarigaoka - Seiyou Public School
Synopsis:	Kazuo fulfils a promise to Hoshi. Hoshi, unfortunately, is looking for something that either isn't there in Kazuo, or doesn't look like what she expects it to.
Cast of Characters:	Kunzite, Hoshi Kogane

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Kunzite has posed:
Seiyou auditorium, decorated in orange-and-black streamers, variously awkward to artful jack-o-lanterns, and foam skeletons. The place is thronged with people in costume, and visibility further diminished by the light efforts of a fog machine.

But there is only one person in the entire place who has independently mobile stars accompanying her. (Some might have individual ones investigating. But there is definitely one center.)

A tall figure, costumed in elaborate robes and monochrome makeup and a very carefully managed shock of black hair that is very much not his own, detached from her company earlier at the pull of a merely almost-as-tall figure in white and green. The one in white-and-green is dancing with someone else, now, and the one calling himself Dream is scanning the crowd, orienting on stars, following them to track down a caped costume in yellows.

"Marialite," he says when he finds her. "My apologies. But there were two people here I'd promised a dance to, and I trusted you'd be here for more than the few minutes the other will."

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
'Marialite' as Yellow calls herself in this costume bows towards Dream, "My grandmother always said that without patience, you will get nowhere." She smiles and approaches the man in front of her, holding her hand out towards his while one of her stars floats over towards Dream's head. It's wearing a nightcap, perhaps it would prefer to dream atop a dream.

Kunzite has posed:
Perhaps it would. Given the contact lenses he's wearing, it's near-impossible to tell whether his eyes are tracking the sleepy star; but he nods slightly before taking her hand. "I couldn't accept when you first offered," he says as he turns his head toward the dance floor (a silent implied inquiry as to whether he should escort her there now or whether she'd prefer to wait a few moments), "because I didn't know how these things were done, these days." He pauses for a moment before admitting further, "I took classes."

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
"I'm sure it would have been fine, I imagine you're a quick learner, and if not, my toes have suffered worse." The girl answers in a carefree manner, smiling faintly as she takes a single step towards the dancefloor, a silent answer to the silent question. "But I don't mind the wait if the dances will be better for it." She turns slightly towards Kunzite, "Show me the result of those lessons you've learned?"

Kunzite has posed:
A single step, and the next. And the one after. There is a distinct difference between being a ten-year-old moving through a crowd, and being escorted through that crowd now: there's no need to dodge people, no evading or hurry-up-and-wait. People who catch Kunzite's height and purposeful motion out of the corner of their eyes simply melt out of the way. It's taking unfair advantage of an instinctive reaction. But at least it's being put to use in a good cause.

He turns to her and bows slightly, keeping her hand, and then offers his other arm. How close she wants to dance, and how, is at least mostly her own decision. (Mostly. He's keeping her actual age firmly in mind.) But the point...

Let's face it. At a moment like this, the actual challenge is to see how cool he can help her look -- his blacks and blues and violets an ideal contrast to her own white and yellow. And with the amount of fabric to swirl and trail and echo their movements, they can at least give the glowing princess dress a run for its money.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
While being escorted like this is nothing new, it is new to be escorted like this by someone other than her own father. When at the dance floor, she keeps a respectful but small distance, carefully calculated, proving that Yellow is indeed a girl who has had a strict upper class upbringing, where proper decorum and the ability to engage in a proper dance is highly valued.

The stars that carry her cape move with her, being transformed like this grants her far greater control over them than she does when she's in her mundane form. They not only keep it out of the way of her feet, but also make sure the cape moves with a grace and purpose to match her own. "Shall we?" She asks.

Kunzite has posed:
Her partner has not had a strict upper-class upbringing; the calculations are not natural to him, not quite as graceful or as quick, and sometimes off in the strangest directions as an older set of learning conflicts with the one he's been trying to absorb for the last six months. But he is trying. And the calculations are there. That's better than a lot of teenagers get.

"Please." Dream inclines his head to her, grave, and --

Technically, he's leading the dance. With their heights, it doesn't really work any other way. But it's a kind of lead that responds to her; all it takes is a glance one direction or another for him to shift the pattern accordingly, answering her interest, adjusting to her capabilities. Adjusting to what makes her seem to focus more intently, or begin to smile. And, yes, careful of her toes.

This is, after all, a gift to her after a fashion. The least he can do is try to give her what seems to suit her best -- whether that's a moment of glamour before her peers, or a chance to smile, or a little while of joy in the closest to orbits human beings regularly come -- dance as celestial mechanics -- or an outright challenge to her skills. He doesn't know which, yet. The best he can do is watch her closely, and try to learn.

Hoshi Kogane has posed:
Yellow isn't a great dancer, her steps are too calculated and precise for that, she knows what she's doing but she clearly has to think about it just enough to make it not quite seem natural. It's certainly passable, which is likely as much as her family could get out of her. She's always been too much of a thinker and planner to naturally fit in with something like this.

She's also has the harsh taskmaster of high breeding to ensure that she would not emberass herself, and it's likely she spent many days practicing to satisfy those demands. If her previous words are to be believed, those days are likely where her toes have suffered. She does little to correct Dream's motions, only when he seems woefully off.

What she wants out of this is unclear, though without doubt her gaze is focused on Kunzite's face, a faint but clear smile, as she watches him and seems to wait for something out of the man she is dancing with.

Kunzite has posed:
Calculated and precise is somethng that Kunzite can work with. Can, perhaps, work with better than if it had been natural; he's used to providing a structure for others to elaborate on and around, but being able to mesh gears with someone after a fashion is a little of a relief.

Once they've worked enough of the pattern to be able to spare attention from those calculations, to be able to predict each other just enough, he bends his head to regard her, somber and grave. "You're good at this," he says. Passable is good, for the age she looks. Let alone the age he's seen her at before. "But then, you're good at many things. Is dancing something you enjoy on its own? Or are you once again doing me a greater favor than I know at the time?"