Clark Dill

July 21, 2016 1:42 PM

Room 3: Learning to dance (tag: Lena) by Clark Dill

Clark arrived in the dance room of MARS at the agreed upon time - well, a little early because he didn't want to get caught in a conversation on the way there and then be late, but then he hadn't run into anybody he needed to have a conversation with, so he consequently got there first and therefore the room took the form of what Clark considered a dance studio. Hardwood floors, one wall made out of mirrors, and - it took Clark a few seconds to recognize the incongruity - a CD player sitting on the floor in the corner playing music he recognized as the background soundtrack during some of the Ewok scenes in Star Wars where the little bears were dancing and banging on drums. Two of the portraits on the wall opposite the mirrors were giving him dirty looks.

Maybe Lena would need to make some adjustments when she arrived.

Speaking of which... Clark grinned as the door opened and his date appeared. "Hi! Er, uh, Good day, my lady. I do hope your day has been most pleasant heretofore," he tried, going for polite society and formal but probably only hitting the a bad impression of Renaissance style talk, which probably clashed with the room as it stood even more than the muggle electronics. He shook it off and return to his normal style of talking.

"Anyway, I tried to make a dance studio to practice in, but these guys," he swung a thumb at the dude and woman hanging on the wall, "don't seem to approve." He glanced over at the cd player. "Possibly because of the radio and music choice. Got any better ideas for our soundtrack today?"
1 Clark Dill Room 3: Learning to dance (tag: Lena) 277 Clark Dill 1 5


Lena Westley

July 22, 2016 9:56 PM

Trying to not stumble by Lena Westley

As it was Saturday Lena hadn’t had classes. Her date with Clark was not until the late afternoon and so she occupied her time by reading in Labyrinth Gardens. When the sun was directly overhead she packed it in, keeping her finger in her book to mark her spot despite having already memorized the page number. Though it was slightly harder on the books than she preferred, she often read while walking, given an empty enough hallway, and keeping her finger there proved to be the quickest way to find her spot and not waste any possible reading time.

There was still plenty of time before the approved meeting time so Lena took a detour to the common rooms. Once there she rethought her outfit choice. Despite feeling comfortable in her Aladren robes, they weren’t at all like what she’d be wearing to the ball. As Lena changed into a long-sleeved dress, she thought about the actual activities planned for today. “Dancing, huh? That could be fun.” It had been a long time, and true they were doing it because they weren’t good at dancing, but at least they’d fumble together, probably laugh about it. It sounded kind of fun. Light-hearted fun.

She spent some time in the room, reading again. When it was getting closer to the appointed time she set out, leaving the book in her room. Despite her habitual read-walking, she wanted to get to the MARS room on time. She also didn’t think she’d be able to pay attention to what she was reading due to her excitement.

When she opened the door she was greeted by Clark, grinning, and talking very peculiarly. Her lips twitched in a semi-smile, half-smirk, and suppressed a chuckle at his introduction. “That I can help with,” she assured him, switching the music to The Blue Danube, which she thought Clark might appreciate. She blushed a little, “It’s not exactly the easiest waltz, but I figured you’d have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey and might be familiar with it. . “

She made her way over to Clark and put her hand on his shoulder. Sitting down in class he didn’t seem much taller, at science club they were often seated or bending over at telescopes. . . she tried to use these as reasons to justify how she hadn’t noticed just how very tall Clark was. She was taller than many of the students here, and not just because she was now one of the oldest kids. He loomed over her, though, a thought that had never occurred to her when they were walking down the hallway together. It must have been because he was so close. The Blue Danube was almost over by the time they actually started dancing. What with her shaky hands, trying to find his, light giggles of embarrassment, and just general misplacement of her feet, getting situated was harder than expected. The paintings were helpful, though.

Finally they were dancing as Over the Waves sprung to life
7 Lena Westley Trying to not stumble 279 Lena Westley 0 5

Clark

July 24, 2016 9:17 PM

Right there with you by Clark

When he saw what Lena was wearing, Clark felt underdressed in his normal weekend attire: jeans and a Think Geek shirt. Because it was January, he'd gone with a "Science" hoodie with a picture of Beaker and Honeydew on it (the t-shirt underneath featured R2D2, which possibly accounted for the MARS room's choice of music, but that wasn't visible with the hoodie zipped up). He'd gone with the layered approach in case it got warm dancing, but he hadn't even considered the possibility that Lena might dress up for their date.

Next time, he promised himself, I'll at least wear one of my button down shirts or a polo for her.

It was too late to do anything about his clothing choice now, though, so he was glad when she set the music to something that sounded familiar but which he couldn't place. He guessed a movie or show he'd seen had probably used it, but if a musical piece wasn't 'The Imperial March,' he didn't know it by name. He still grinned at her and gave a nod of approval, and when she said it was from 2001: A Space Odyssey, he remembered there was a lot of music in that, and he appreciated the attempt even if it wasn't exactly one of his most favorite movies. "Awesome, we can do this."

As it turned out, they didn't really get it together until that song was basically over, but he hadn't crushed any of her toes yet, so he was counting that as a win, and it was worth a laugh when they moved in such that they collided or missed each other entirely, so it was actually enjoyable even if they were quite terrible at it at first. They were improving though, learning from each mistake, and that was the whole point of this exercise.

At the suggestion of one of the portraits, Clark attempted to spin Lena around, but something happened - he wasn't quite sure what he did wrong - and he lost his hold of her hand and half turned himself around and lost her entirely. Laughing, he kept turning until he found her again, and held out a hand offering to resume their dance, and smiled at her. "I think we'll need to try that one again."

"This time keep your hand down where she can reach it," the male portrait instructed, sounding put-upon but also a little bit amused as well.

"Right, yes, good plan. Shall we?"
1 Clark Right there with you 277 Clark 0 5