Jack Spencer
November 07, 2016 2:22 PM
Um... help? (Dance Room) by Jack Spencer
Since Adam had begun planning his wedding to Ginny, Jack had decided to learn how to dance. Though he’d taken Caelia to the ball last year, he’d only learnt simple dances, and it was more of a social gathering in any case. Other than that, he’d never been to a proper ball. But for his brother’s wedding, he wanted to stand out. He was already fifteen and still hadn’t had a girlfriend. It was normal to want one at his age, wasn’t it? A nice, proper witch who would coddle him and depend on him for things? Maybe dancing would help. Yes, dancing could help.There was no place he could possibly ask for dance lessons without looking like a fool, so Jack wandered into MARS one evening hoping to figure it out. He didn’t know any witches well enough to ask if they would practise with him, and he certainly didn’t want the prettier witches to know he was a clumsy dancer. His only grace was in his studies and on the pitch. If only he were as brilliant socially.
The portraits on the wall looked at him as he walked into the dance room for the first time. “Here to practise?” asked one delicate-looking ballerina.
“In a sense,” replied Jack. “That is, I’m hoping to learn how to ballroom dance.”
“Need a partner for that, don’t you, lad?” guffawed another.
Jack ignored her and tried not to feel silly as he took on the proper stance. He imagined a pretty witch in his arms who would admire his good looks and brains. As if on cue, a waltz began to play.
“Keep your arms straight, and remember to count in three’s,” said the first ballerina. She began to count for him and Jack began to waltz as he best knew how. He stumbled once, but it wasn’t too bad. The music picked up and Jack did his best to keep up. “Dip her!” cried the ballerina, and Jack attempted to dip his invisible partner and tripped over his own feet in the process.
Jack huffed, not unlike his younger sister when she didn’t get her way. “Why is this so difficult?” He took his position again and danced around like the awkward teenage wizard that he was. Again, his feet got caught on themselves and he almost fell over. He threw his hands up into the air in frustration. “Why can’t I get it like everyone else?”
“A partner may help,” snickered the snarky portrait. Jack rolled his eyes, trying not to feel self-conscious with these portraits watching him.
"Again!" cried the ballerina teacher and Jack tried again, not noticing another person now privy to his 'lessons'.
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Um... help? (Dance Room)
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Louis Valois
November 08, 2016 12:11 PM
Maybe not quite who you're looking for, but I'll help! by Louis Valois
After dinner that evening, Louis decided to spend a nice relaxing evening in the music room. Whilst he loved leading the orchestra, it did cut into his own playing time a little bit. However, he had nothing planned for this evening, and so some quality time with a piano was definitely called for.Well, that had been his plan until, in passing, he’d heard music from the dance room. Always one to indulge his curiosity, he opened the door slightly and peered in. The beautiful sight of his Quidditch teammate and friend almost falling over greeted him, and he stood there watching for a few minutes, completely unconcerned by the fact Jack didn’t realise he was there.
Then one of the portraits suggested a partner, and thoughts of his date with the grand piano instantly disappeared. Louis looked down at himself. He was dressed very casually, in sweatpants and a woollen jumper with a Nordic pattern.. He was all about dressing comfortably (although still, of course, in good quality clothes) in the evenings. Whilst he wouldn’t have worn the sweatpants if he’d intended to spend time with someone else, they actually worked out quite well for dancing. It was obviously meant to be.
“It helps if you make sure to change your weight,” suggested Louis, by way of announcing his presence. He walked into the room, and put down his sheet music folder by one of the walls. “D’you want a partner? I can follow, and I promise not to judge.”
Louis loved dancing. It was something he’d had lessons in from a young age and, whilst he wasn’t quite professional material, being quite musical had helped him take to it very quickly. He was, of course, used to leading when dancing, but he’d also spent a bit of time practising following. In his opinion, knowing how the other role worked helped to improve your own dancing. Besides, he found that women often had the more fun role. They got to do all the spins, and be dipped!
“Are you learning for any particular reason, or just due to a great love of dancing?” asked Louis, wondering what had prompted Jack to give it a go. From the brief moment of practice he’d seen, Jack didn’t appear to be the most natural of dancers, or at least hadn’t danced for a while. He hoped the other boy wouldn’t be too embarrassed or uncomfortable with Louis’s offer to help. Now that he’d come up with the idea, Louis wanted to do some dancing, and it wasn’t often that you just stumbled across a partner who was ready and waiting (well, sort of waiting)!
Taking off his jumper to reveal a form-fitting white t-shirt, and removing his shoes (he wasn’t wearing the best shoes for dancing, so his socks - green, with little wolves on - would have to do), he walked over to Jack. “Shall we?” he asked, hoping Jack wouldn’t refuse him.
OOC: Terribly sorry if I've ruined any plans for romance! Blame Caelia, she encouraged me...
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Jack
November 27, 2016 3:00 PM
Looking for a different sort of help, but thanks. by Jack
At the sound of a familiar voice, Jack immediately whipped around to see the intruder. Bright colour flushed into Jack’s cheeks when he saw his team-mate approaching him, jumper and shoes removed, eager to teach him how to dance. Good God. Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets, wishing he knew how to Disapparate. “Thank you, but I’d rather not,” he said, taking a step back. "It's nice of you to offer, it really is." Valois didn't seem embarrassed for him in the slightest which made Jack feel even more flustered. He didn't think it would've been much better if a beautiful witch had walked into the room and seen him falling over his own feet. At least Valois wasn't laughing at him.“Well, my brother’s getting married soon and of course it’s going to require dancing, but I’ve never danced before. Not really.” He heard the ballerinas titter to themselves and Jack sighed.
“In all honesty, I’m hoping to find a girlfriend at my brother's wedding, or at least impress some witches.” Admitting that was embarrassing, but Valois had already caught him in the most humiliating situation possible. “Both my older brother and sister found their partners at Sonora and I’m already falling behind. I thought it’d be easier to make friends here, but it’s been difficult." He ran a hand through his floppy brown hair. "I spent a lot of time wondering why and trying to figure out why it's difficult to befriend witches here. I think, if I'm being honest with myself, witches intimidate me. It was by sheer luck I found a date to the ball last year, though Caelia doesn't really count, I suppose.
"Have you ever dated anyone?" Perhaps Jack could make the best of the situation if Louis had any advice to give. The colour had subsided a bit in his cheeks which made it a bit easier to look Louis in the eye.
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Louis
December 04, 2016 2:51 PM
Aren't we all? by Louis
Oh. Jack didn’t want to dance with him, which was quite sad. Louis was always up for a dance, even if he did prefer a different type of partner, but he could understand that not everyone enjoyed dancing as much as he did. Jack also seemed a little embarrassed but Louis rarely felt embarrassed around his friends, so he just ascribed this to the weirdness of the British.Louis frowned as Jack explained his problem. “But you danced at the ball,” he pointed out. If he remembered rightly, Jack went to the ball with Caelia Lucan, and he was sure they would have managed at least a few turns about the floor. And then Jack explained further, and Louis realised that dancing wasn’t the end goal here, which was in fact something he found easier to sympathise with. Witches were definitely more difficult, and Louis wasn’t as successful in that department as he would like either.
“There are other ways of impressing witches,” Louis replied. “You don’t just have to rely on your dancing ability to charm them.” He was a little confused by Jack’s description of ‘falling behind’, and why Jack felt it was so important to do as his siblings have. Being an only child, Louis wasn’t that au fait with the idea of bettering siblings.
“But does it really matter if you don’t find a girlfriend quite yet? Surely it’s better to wait until you find someone, rather than making yourself miserable trying to impress girls – and maybe it would be easier to spend time with them if you weren’t judging yourself?”
Louis smiled ruefully as Jack’s question reminded him that no, he wasn’t actually talking from experience. Sure, he’d kissed a few muggle girls, but in terms of actual relationships he was probably the furthest from an expert that you could find and, as the whole Ingrid fiasco showed, not naturally gifted either.
“I’ve never been in an actual relationship, no,” he replied. “To be honest, I-“ he paused, not sure how much he wanted to reveal to Jack. It wasn’t that Louis didn’t like talking about himself or the situation, as he’d been completely happy to tell Emmy all about it (although that was different, as he told her everything), but more that he wasn’t sure how much Jack would actually be interested in hearing. He didn’t want to make the whole conversation about him and his confusing relationships, especially as Jack was from another pureblood family and might not understand where he was coming from.
“I thought I might have a chance with Ingrid,” he admitted, biting his lip. “But I’ve realised that she probably doesn’t feel that way about me.” If he was fighting for a chance to remain friends with her, there was no way she would actually think of him in a romantic light, that was sure.
Maybe if Jack knew that someone was doing as badly, if not worse than him, when it came to relationships, he might feel better.
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