[PRP] Dancing Shoes [Danica x Straffe]

[Andraia]

DANCING SHOES
or Confessions on the Dance Floor
or That Damn Mistletoe Bird

WHERE: Sidekick Academy Ballroom
WHEN: Immediately following the Annual Megapolis Charity Ball
WHO: Danica Moor (Conduit) and Straffe Einreihard (Sunburst)

 

[Andraia]

DANICA T MOOR x

Danica liked fancy functions like the Annual Megapolis Charity Ball. Her parents used to drag her around to company functions all the time, and her brief experience with semi-competitive ballroom dancing had left her well suited to them. She liked getting dressed up, she liked the music, and she liked the dancing. But this evening had horrible.

Well, maybe horrible was an overstatement, but it had certainly not been fun. It had started with being stood up by her original partner and ended with her tactfully avoiding his replacement. She hadn’t meant to upset Napoleon, but that little green monster wasn’t going anywhere until they did something and she didn’t want to be pooped on. She may as well have been. After apologizing profusely and trying to explain what mistletoe was, Danica disengaged herself from the little alien’s company and spent the rest of the party trying to avoid any similarly embarrassing situations by loitering near the buffet table.

Now the dance was over, the parting speeches had been made, and people were beginning to wander out. Most of the people left were wait staff, Academy faculty, or students – sorry, “orphans” – but even they were beginning to head back to their dorms. Dani sighed and sat down at the base of the stairs. She hadn’t even been able to get a proper dance in.
 

[Auric Halcyon]

Straffe had found himself wandering around a little out of focus after the dancing was done, he'd managed to stealth his present to the teacher, hoping that it would at least give the techno-man a chuckle, but hadn't had much luck with the rest of the evening. He'd only managed to get one dance in, and felt a little cheated since he'd spent a bit of time refreshing his dance skills; still the evening had not been a disaster, no villains, no villainy. Actually... Straffe had been a little disappointed he hadn't gotten a chance to blow anything up.

He was still sipping punch from the neat glasses and stuffing himself with food (he wasn't going to let any of this stuff disappear without having a bite out of at least every type of rich-people food) oddly it was very impersonal, he found. He liked a home-cooked meal more than this assortment that had such a removed taste to it. He was finishing the last vestiges of an oyster and bacon hor d'oeuvre as he moved down the stairs when he saw a forlorn girl in a blue dress.

For a moment he didn't recognise Danicia, she looked very much like a girl in that dress, and he had almost forgotten that she'd been here.

"You should try some of these oyster thingies, they aren't bad." He took in her expression, judging that she wasn't about to cry from the look of it, but she still looked upset, maybe she'd been hoping to kick some villain butt too? Without too much ado, he promptly plonked down beside her.

"You look really nice in that blue, Dani." He stopped before he mentioned it was good with her eyes, she didn't look like she wanted to be showered in compliments.  

[Andraia]

To make everything that much worse, she had spent the evening on edge for any sign of villainous activity, thanks to Hack’s prep talks. Although she was generally against the idea of fighting, a little evil butt-kicking would have been a welcome distraction. Being a little bit lost in her thoughts as she was, Dani did not notice Straffe’s approach until he spoke. She jumped a bit, startled, but relaxed when she registered where she was again. She smiled as he sat down. “Oh, hi Straffe. The blueberry tarts were pretty good too.”

Danica compensated for the slight pink tinge her cheeks acquired at his comment, by smirking appreciatively and giving him a mocking once-over with her eyes. “Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself.”

It was kind of weird seeing him with his hair down (it looked even longer that it usually did, tied back) but the tux suited him well. Very James Bond. The image of him driving around in a sleek little Aston Martin with a shoe-phone held up to his ear ran through Dani’s mind, threatening to make her start laughing. Before her mental theatre carried her off too far, she adjusted her gloves slightly to compose herself and looked back over at her friend. “So how was your evening?”  

[Auric Halcyon]

Straffe relaxed as he saw Dani wasn't bursting into tears--- girls were unpredictable that way, and sat affably.

"Yes they were." He'd tried one of everything, like a manly man. Or a glutton, one or the other. With some degree of effort, but not as much effort as he might have needed. Besides, being a superhero was good for burning calories.

"Thank you, I feel a little like James Bond." He spoke, he had been playing a little bond all evening. "Like you might find a derringer in my coat pocket, or hear someone over our super secret ear-pieces telling me to take out the target." He gave her a goofy grin.

"My evening was pretty uneventful, I was secretly hoping that something would happen, well not so secretly, but what's the point of training all our powers if the villains are too scared to go for us." Of course, that would make better heroes, true conflict, and wouldn't it be a heroic person who sacrificed their own image to be a villain? He mulled on that thought.
"You look a little down, Dani. Did your night go badly?"  

[Andraia]

The stifled chuckle from earlier escaped. “Are you a mind reader now too?”

“You, my friend, are far too eager to prove yourself,” she commented dryly, then leaned in and muttered conspiratorially, “but I know right?”

Dani chuckled darkly. “You could say that.” She wished she were wearing a longer skirt so that she could hide her face in her knees without showing off her underwear. (Actually, she had put a pair of workout shorts on underneath her dress, in case fighting did break out, but the point was still the same.) Instead she held her hand up in front of her and counted off the days events on her fingers. “Got stood up, sexually assaulted an alien, and to top it all off, I didn’t even get to dance. On the plus side, I didn’t short out the earpiece.”
 

[Auric Halcyon]

"No mind reading... but I think I'm starting to fl--" he stopped, realizing that she had been making a comment at his perceptiveness and he'd failed to catch that verbal joust correctly. Oh well. He chuckled at his own foolishness with good nature.

"I want to prove that I'm ready for everything, y'know? I want to make the world safe from all the people who might ever plan a crime." He wanted to show people that no crime would be worth the punishment and the swift hand of justice, right? Well, punishment and justice were not the same thing, wasn't it a good argument that justice did not prevent further repeat offenders as much as punishments did? The carrot-stick argument verses the established system of ethics and rehabilitation.

"Sexually assaulted an alien...?" His mouth curved into a smirk and he held out a hand, rising slowly to his feet so he was now offering her a hand to stand. "Well now you have my attention, Miss Danica. I insist you dance with me while I find out what grievous things you did to this alien. Was it one of our sister-school aliens?" While his tone was teasing, it was clear that he intended to do some dancing.  

[Andraia]

Danica looked around. The Nyancats had left already, but there was still music coming from over the PA system, and she really had been looking forward to dancing that night. She reached out and placed her gloved hand in his, accepting his help standing up. “Long story, but in summary, next time I see a bird with mistletoe its beak, I am sticking a fork in an electrical outlet and frying the thing. A dance would be lovely.”

Once she had stood up, she brushed a bit of (mostly imaginary) dust off her skirt and winked at her friend. “I used to be pretty good at this kind of thing you know; Jr Ballroom champion grades four and five. Think you can keep up?”

[[ If we keep posting at this rate, once every two or three months,
we'll be finished this thread by next years Christmas event XD . ]]

 

[Auric Halcyon]

((I just lol'd so hard just then, cause I noted the christmas event on my way through the guild to here))


Straffe had been brushing up on his technique almost all week and was eager to get a chance to use it finally. He pulled Dani closer, perhaps a little closer than a complete stranger, although not so intimately that he was being well... too overpowering, still, close enough that he figured she would know he was no slouch when it came to proper dancing, and took a cue from the music.

It was clear that while he wasn't two-left feet, Straffe was no junior champion on the ballroom floor. He was decent, passable, good for a high-school boy.

"You do like threatening things with sticking a fork in them. I believe first it was a practice dummy, and now an innocent bird. Next it will be Rexs Ruthor-- although he's hardly undeserving of the fate." He grinned at her next comment and glanced down at their feet. "I'm sure that I can at least avoid sexual assault."

His mouth quirked further and he chuckled like any normal boy. "Although being able to avoid something and wanting to actually avoid it are two different things."  

[Andraia]

Dani talked big, but it had been a while since her championship days. She was still good, no question, but she doubted she would be winning any awards anytime soon. It didn’t seem that Straffe minded though. He was doing pretty well himself. He was doing very well actually; well enough for to actually have some fun with it. She groaned at the mention of Rex Ruthor and tipped her head forward. “Uuuugh, that man. Seriously.”

She nodded and chuckled good naturedly at his ribbing, until his final comment. She felt her face go red (never a pretty thing on a ginger) and her ears heat up and then SPARK! There was a sharp crack in her ear and she felt a tiny electrical shock travel down her arm and shoot off her fingers.

“Ow!” Dani yelped and jumped back a step from Straffe, pawing at her ear to retrieve the near invisible communicator. She held the fried little device in her palm and winced. “Binary is going to kill me… and I’ve been doing so well lately too.”
 

[Auric Halcyon]

"Trying to take him seriously is the hardest part." Straffe snorted. "I mean; he's not even smart enough not to get caught!"

The hairs at the back of his neck jumped on end and Straffe gave a small shiver as the shadow of Dani's discharge passed. He hadn't been hit, but it was like static electricity passing over his flesh. Of course, it didn't take an expert to figure out what had caused that. He'd made her blush so thoroughly there; well, he guessed it was a little premature...

He covered his mouth with his hand briefly, stifling his laughter with the modicum of decorum that he had.

Premature spark-ilation.

"Oh, sorry. Is your ear okay?" He reached up to her injured ear, moving with the intention of brushing her short hair aside so he could gently inspect the soft flesh. Of course, the action was a little... intimate.  

[Andraia]

“Oh shut up Glowstick.” Dani groaned, shoving Straffe lightly in an attempt to make the choked laughter stop. She brought her hands, one still curled around the ruined ear piece, up to hide her face and stifle her own embarrassed chuckles. Sometimes it really didn’t pay to have a power that was tied into emotions; it was hard to maintain any kind of poker face. As if it wasn’t bad enough that she turned into a cherry tomato when she got embarrassed.

She opened her eyes again just in time to see Straffe’s hand reaching towards her ear. If she hadn’t been focusing on reining her power in just then, she probably would have burst the twinkle lights strung up overhead. Dani watched out of the corner of her eye as he brushed back the few stay hairs and turned her head slightly so he could see her ear more easily.

“… Yeah,” she said in a blessedly normal voice, “my ear’s fine. It just stung a bit when it snapped. The shock might have hurt a bit if I weren’t… me.” She rolled the broken pieces of the communicator in her fist, getting the nervous energy out of her system. This wasn’t like her at all. She was the cool kid, she didn’t lose her calm over this kind of thing. Particularly not with Straffe, one of the first friends she had made at SA.

But there was something about the ballroom, and the dress, and the dancing (which felt like it had been going on for a year) that was making her feel more fluttery and girly than usual. It was probably that damn tux. No piece of clothing should be able to look that good.

(( I remember back at my high school grad dinner/dance when all the guys I had been
going to school with for the previous five years showed up in their suits and hot damn.
I had never felt any particular attraction to them before all the sudden it was like ‘hey
there want to find a discreet alcove where you can sign my yearbook’. Then we went
back to school the next week, and they were back to being regular mortals, and the
balance of the universe was restored.

Also, hurhur, metahumour. We'll be at one year in two weeks. ))

 

[Auric Halcyon]

Straffe blushed a little on his end, realizing at the last minute that maybe he was being too forward brushing her hair like that- but, she did have very pretty ears. Dani was okay though, she wouldn't freak out over a little thing like--

His whirling thoughts moved across the ballroom as he glided, still dancing a little on instinct. "Still, you don't want something blowing in your ear like that; bits of plastic." He nodded understanding. Even if she was immune to the shock, it wasn't fun getting it in the first place.

His lips quirked at her nickname for him, but he said nothing. He finally muttered, after a moment or two. "Fork girl." His dazzling smile taking the brunt of the nickname. Clearly happy to tease her back.  

[Andraia]

Dani caught the slight colour in Straffe’s dark cheeks and felt her own composure returning. It wasn’t so bad if she wasn’t the only feeling off kilter.

“It isn’t the first ear piece I’ve busted, and it won’t be the last.” Dani said dryly. She had regained enough of her sense to enjoy the dancing again, twirling around the floor to the faint music coming over the PA system. She looked up at her dance partner and smiled smugly. It was hard not to respond to that smile. He practically glowed when he got like that (and, being that it was him, sometimes literally).

“That was the first incident I have had in a couple of weeks though.” The redhead informed him proudly. “I am pleased to say that here have been no bursting light bulbs, or training exercise mishaps, or accidental fireballs,” she smirked playfully, thinking back to their first encounter – it was hard to believe that it had only been a few months ago – and, after a pause, added, “at least, none that I was responsible for.”
 

[Auric Halcyon]

Straffe chuckled lightly. "Then I suppose there's hope for you yet." He nodded to the deserted room around them, still twirling and hummed under his breath. "I guess the school does something right." Clearly he thought it was doing something wrong with that comment but it was such an offhand wording, most wouldn't think anything of it. And truthfully, Straffe didn't examine any deeper thought behind the comment himself.

Shyly one hand moved a little lower on Dani's waist and he twirled a little faster, rolling them around a larger circle now. "Now, do I meet your dancing criteria, judge?"