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 Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:45 pm
Andrea worked to catch his breath as he took his bows at the end of his ballet performance, and squinted into the stage lights at the crowd in an attempt to locate his friends in the crowd. There were a fair number of people tonight, more than the other performances earlier in the week, mostly because it was Friday; the Fine Arts Center had not quite sold out, though, and Andrea had ensured that his friends got good seats up front near his parents and the families of the other dancers.
He had two more shows to do, one Saturday and one Sunday; at some point, the sophomore had been concerned that he might not have enough time for his homework, but for the moment, he was still coming down off of the excitement and concentration of his performance.
A heavy hand with the stage makeup had been enough to hide the remaining scars on Andrea's face from the dog attack the previous week. He had moved with a bit of stiffness still, too, though those just watching the ballet casually and not with the eye of a dance competition judge might not have been able to notice. Since he had already done the routine for real on the stage a few times already this week, it felt easier now.
As the lights came back up over the audience, Andrea retreated with the other performers to the dressing room, still grinning and definitely looking forward to dinner.
Andrea's mother was dressed up in her best, in a long dress with a short jacket over it, and her curly dark hair pinned up to keep it out of her face. She smiled to her son's friends at the other end of her row of seats, and then glanced around to watch how quickly the rest of the people were leaving. They would have enough time to wait for Andrea before they would need to go to the Vines of Florence for their reservations, and the place was also just across the street, so there was no real hurry.
Touching her husband's arm, she herded her husband out into the aisle, and slipped past him to move into the row of seats in front of the rest of Andrea's friends.
"Hello, thank you all for coming," she told them, her voice carrying an Italian accent. "Andrea probably did not tell you about me because you are all of the age where you are embarrassed by your parents; I am his mother, of course, and my husband is standing over there." Mrs. Gyfford pointed to the man who was waiting in the aisle, dressed in a shirt and tie and holding his jacket, with a short and well-trimmed beard. Mr. Gifford waved after a moment as he seemed to realize that he was being introduced from a distance.
"We are just going to wait a few minutes for Andrea to come back out, and then we can go to dinner." She clasped her hands together, curls bouncing as she twisted around to look back at the (now-darkened) stage, then turned back to the assembled high school friends of her son. "Did you all enjoy yourselves?" she inquired cheerfully. "Do you see much ballet?" Though her manner was more than friendly, Mrs. Gyfford still seemed to have that slight uncertainty as though she was not fully sure how precisely to interact with the amassed teenagers, and was not necessarily expecting them all to want to converse with her.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:58 pm
Ume curtsied to Andrea's mother with a wide and genuine smile her eyes sparked with amazement still at the performance, ohhh how she wished she had been more diligent with her dancing.
She half wanted to practice what poorly remembered moves she could behind those enormous curtains.
"Oh it was -beautiful- She nodded, He's VERY good.
"My younger sister, she dances too, I wish I had been more diligent after watching him." She said with genuine enthusiasm.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:11 pm
Azzo disliked completely formal attire, even at black ties he managed to dress down just enough to stay formal. Though his definition of formal was 100% black tie. So when he read the note that said it was possible to dress as a prince or a princess for the show it quickly intrigued him.
The outfit was a bit last minute, black pants that had golden trim, black boots, and a maroon red shirt/coat with gold trim as well x (little less cheap looking, aka no fake boot covers.). He debated on the cape or not, end in the end he decided it might be best not to. The crown, not one of those cheap plastic ones, it happened to be from his grandmother's collection worn at his side held by a little gold chain x. He was missing the sword as well, but neither seemed to bother him.
He was seated near one of the ends, a princess accompanied him. Nothing more but a small Marionette in a pale blue dress with long black hair. Well he wasn't sure if he'd know anyone else so he opted for the next best thing, which was to bring a puppet. After Ume was finished Azzo nodded his head, feeling slightly over dressed, though he hadn't paid attention to see if anyone else had taken the suggestion, however his outfit was dark enough he could just slip into the shadows if need be he had a button up shirt under and a black vest so he could act as if he'd never wore such thing if he ended up being the only fool.
Azzo couldn't help but agree it was a very great performance. "Your son is very talented, Mrs Gyfford." He said, with a smile and another nod. This was coming from the boy that both played with puppets and occasionally studied hypnotism. He knew what talent was, at least in his own opinion.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:30 pm
The invitation was elegant, and had come suggesting attire fit for a court, but he didn’t dress as a dashing prince, let along a duke of any nation. He didn’t have the heart to even go for a slightly gold trim, and instead dressed up formally, black suit and white shirt, with a dark red vest with a dark print of various swirls. In retrospect, he felt he might come off as someone waiting to deal you a fresh hand at a poker table, but it was what he had picked out for the occasion. It was better to be overdressed than underdressed, but he wasn’t about to adore a crown and saber. It seemed other people would play the part tonight, as Ladon had noticed with clear distain that Azzo, the boy he loathed, was part of Andrea’s inner circle. It made him wonder exactly how friendly Andrea was to go so far as being buddies with a boy that Ladon could see no clear reason to like. Then again, falling books had made him bias.
Deciding to sit away from the boy to not start anything on Andrea’s day, and also because the puppet was creepy, he sat in silence during the performance wondering if he should be even here. He had long since promised Andrea that he would attend his performance, even showing a great interest in seeing the boy who had been tutoring on the side what he looked like on stage and with better, more talented dance partners. However, the timing was off and recent events extinguished most of the excitement to a feeling of dread at being out at a performance at night. It was the promise that kept him in his seat, and it was later the story and the dancing that kept him at the edge of it. It was very good, and he soon felt himself distracted from the night and world outside. When it was over, he breathed out and stood up with the rest, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair and the program he picked up before entering. He was going to have Andrea sign it as a joke.
Meeting the parents, he remained respectful. “The performance was great. I haven't seen any ballets before so this was a treat.” The compliments were the same, but that didn’t mean the parents didn’t deserve to hear how talented their son was and take in a dose of pride. Ladon, after giving his two-cents, moved back to let the others speak, looking around. He never was good in big groups, but it was big groups that he was hoping would make him feel safer.
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:14 pm
The invitation to Andrea's birthday celebration was as unexpected as it was exciting. It also came with a load of concerns for Tara to deal with. What would she get as a gift? How would she stay awake? And perhaps most importantly, what would she wear?
It was the outfit that gave her the most trouble. Tara didn't do formal if she could help it. She left princesses to the Princess. Panicking, she searched through her closet and her movie collection, going through a handful of Disney Princess movies from her childhood before the idea of a costume shop occurred to her. After some consideration, she finally settled on the one princess who dared to wear pants. Also, the fact that Princess Jasmine reminded her a lot of Aquarius was rather amusing. The bared stomach was something she could have lived without, but with the addition of a silky turquoise shawl and days getting warmer, she could manage.
Tara adjusted her headband and tugged at one of her drooping sleeves. The other guests seemed to have kept things more simple. Rather than feel out of place, Tara simply felt that she had done her job. She approached Andrea's parents slowly, trying to figure out what to say. "It was beautiful." That much was true. "I'm not used to seeing ballet either." That was also true. "And I had no idea how good Andrea was." That was a guess, since Tara had no idea how to gauge how good any of the dancers were. But to her untrained eyes, which spent most of the performance watching the one who invited her, he looked fantastic.
Compliments given, she eyed the other guests again. Just because she didn't recognize any of them didn't mean she didn't know them, but there was no way to tell, and Tara wasn't in the mood to ask. She was still tired from the performance, as if she'd been dancing herself, was content to rest while waiting for Andrea's return.
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:48 pm
"Glad you enjoyed it," Mrs. Gyfford told them all cheerfully. "Like I said, just a few more minutes and then we can go to dinner." She knit her fingers together and glanced around, possibly getting a bit more anxious than was necessary over the small group of teenagers and the lack of dinner so far.
She smiled to Ume, though, and added, "Andrea's younger sister dances, too, to be like him, I think. She is very young, though, only seven. How old is your sister?"
Once most of the other spectators had filed out of the theatre, Andrea emerged, still dressed in his costume still, but with the stage makeup washed from his face. This made his healing wounds visible again, but they did not seem to be bothering him at all.
"Hey," he said to his friends, and stopped briefly for a hug from his mother before he went to join them. "I uh, had a lot of fun, so I hope you did, too. Been working on it for a few months now, so it's great to finally do the steps on stage and all that."
The sophomore was still a bit flushed from the workout, and he rubbed his face with one hand, distorting his features momentarily as he sighed. "I hope you guys are starving like I am, because this place we're going? Ton of pasta. Ton of pasta." Andrea grinned at the thought of it, then glanced back at his parents.
Mr. Gyfford was already starting up the aisle, following the couple teachers from the school who had joined the audience for the performance. When Andrea looked back to him, he smiled and motioned with one finger to indicate that all the kids should follow.
"Thanks again for coming," the dark-haired boy told everyone as he looked them all over again and started up the aisle after his folks, walking backwards to keep facing them all. It looked like most of them had dressed up, which pleased him, but he noted with some disappointment that Ladon was not among the ones in costume. He had extended the invitation to come in costume at least in part with the hopes that his friend Ladon would take the opportunity to showcase some of his sewing skills. ... Maybe he had been too busy or something with school work to make something?
Azzo's companion definitely caught his eye though, and he scrutinized the puppet with curiosity. "Didn't know you did puppets," he commented, pointing it out. "Do you make them? Or just work them?" With all those strings, Andrea was fairly certain that he would make a horrendous tangle if he attempted to operate one.
Then he closed one eye as though taking aim at Tara. "Uh... Jasmine, right?" With a seven-year-old sister, Andrea had seen about every Disney Princess movie ever made on the order of fifteen to twenty times, but that did not mean he had all the princesses memorized. Fortunately "Aladdin's" princess was fairly distinctive; if Tara had been Snow White or Bell or Cinderella, Andrea was not sure he would have been able to tell them apart.
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