Dance lessons on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Ursula Arcadius

October 09, 2023 6:43 AM

Dance lessons by Ursula Arcadius

OOC: Continuing on from FnF with Leo and Donovan.
I'm assuming that all the things Ursula references are common enough knowledge for her to know them, and that I can also move Leo through basic dance steps without it being considered God-modding. Let me know if any of it's an issue. BIC:

Leo Lyons was from a halfway decent family, from what Ursula had been given to understand. He had surprising connections, in that he was friendly with their Muggleborn classmate, and had apparently known him for a long time before school. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it was just very different to Ursula’s own life. But given that he knew dance basics, that spoke to them having some commonalities in their backgrounds, and Leo being a gentleman. Quillan had never said anything against him, he just seemed reserved about him, but Ursula couldn’t see anything wrong with him. Especially as he held out his arms in proper frame for her to join him.

“One-two-three, one-two-three,” she counted for Donovan’s benefit, as Leo moved her effortlessly around the dance floor. “This way you rotate naturally as you dance.”

“As for the twirl, you want to follow with your eyes but not your head—look at your lady and acknowledge her, but if you try to follow, you’ll end up pulling yourself off balance.” She allowed Leo to open their posture and did an elegant double turn under his outstretched arm. “I expect Misty spins quite well too. Even on dry land. You don’t want to make yourself dizzy.

“Any questions?”

13 Ursula Arcadius Dance lessons 1577 1 5

Donovan Peters

October 18, 2023 2:40 PM

So many questions by Donovan Peters

So apparently everybody was just really good dancers and Donovan was down to the wire in learning how to shuffle his date around the dance floor. What if Misty thought he was silly, or worse, what if he stepped on her feet? He watched Ursula and Leo step through the sequences like a hawk, trying to burn into his memory exactly where and how to step.

"Wait, can you show me the twirl again?" Donovan asked, his brow furrowed in concentration. His eyes tracked Leo's body as he guided Ursula through another twirl...arm up, feet together, arm down, back in step. They made it look easy, smooth like butter.

Then, Donovan experienced A Thought.

"Say, Ursula," he called to her as Leo slid her down into a dip, "You don't have a date to the Ball yet, do you? Maybe we could double date, me and Misty, and you and Leo."

As if on cue, the music stopped and Leo looked at Donovan like he was crazy. Donovan just shrugged. He'd thought it was a good idea. Leo wasn't about to ask anyone on his own- so what if he needed a little nudge? And Ursula was nice, and they all were getting along fine.

64 Donovan Peters So many questions 1569 0 5

Ursula Arcadius

October 19, 2023 7:07 AM

You should keep some of those to yourself by Ursula Arcadius

Yes, Ursula could quite happily and easily demonstrate the spin again. As noted by the ‘too’ in ‘I expect Misty spins quite well too,’ Ursula was good at spins. Given that they were going to be dancing in the hall, not an ice rink, she wasn’t sure there were a lot of qualities that Misty Brockert had that she didn’t. Except a date.

And admittedly a more prominent surname, but Ursula’s family was neither unheard of nor improper. She’d been considering Leo’s excellent potential since their time together in herbology. He was kind and treated her nicely without being too formal or stuffy. Stumbling across this highly ball-related scene was an absolute gift. Perhaps if she could drop enough subtle hints, he might get it into his head to ask her.

Or, Donovan could just blurt the suggestion across the room.

It was a credit to her dance teacher that she maintained her footing, the only deviation in her posture being a sharp head turn in Donovan’s direction. She recovered just quickly enough to see that Leo was giving him a similar stare. She hoped and presumed it was because Donovan had spoken so brashly, rather than because he loathed the idea.

How to handle it though? It wouldn’t look good to be too keen, and like she was the one doing the asking. Well, Donovan had, perhaps, solved that issue, as he had definitely issued an invitation. But it was on someone else’s behalf, and she didn’t want to accept only to have it snatched away or resented.

But nor did she want to make Leo think that she didn’t want to go with him.

How did one gracefully accept an invitation that hadn’t been offered?

“No one’s asked me yet,” she confirmed. “Including Mr. Lyons.”

Oh Merlin, whatever the answer was, it probably wasn’t that. That had sounded clever in her head but just sounded blunt out loud.

“And you need to sort out your topline before any kind of date, because all your problems stem from your frame,” she added to Donovan, trying to pull them back to the safety of what an utterly hideous dancer he was. She’d never thought that criticising someone’s form would be the safer of the options.

13 Ursula Arcadius You should keep some of those to yourself 1577 0 5

Leo Lyons

October 21, 2023 1:40 AM

I'm in agreement with Miss Arcadius by Leo Lyons

Donovan's loud mouth never ceased to amaze Leo. It was as if he lacked a brain-to-mouth filter, just spewing whatever thoughts crawled through his mind. And, infuriatingly, things always seemed to work out exactly the way the Pecari wanted them to. Surely, this time he'd crossed a line, though, with Ursula being a proper lady from a proper household. There were protocols for this sort of thing, after all!

"No one's asked me yet, including Mr. Lyons."

It felt like a knife dragging through his chest. It's not as if Leo didn't want to ask Ursula to the Ball; on the contrary, he had just been thinking about pulling her aside after the impromptu dance lesson to extend the invitation. If he asked now, would it just seem like he was asking because Donovan wanted him to? Of course, he had no reason to think that Ursula wouldn't want to go with him, they'd always gotten along just fine, and he would consider them to be friends, but it felt pressured now instead of simple.

Ursula tried to turn the focus back towards dancing, but Leo stood still.

"Now, hold on," he said quietly, turning Ursula so they faced away from Donovan, "I'm sorry about my...idiot," he rolled his eyes in Donovan's direction, and caught sight of his friend with a stupid grin on his face. "I was going to ask you properly ," he said with the barest of huffs, "But I suppose there's no time like the present. Would you like to go to the Ball with me? And I completely understand if it's a no, so don't feel bad. This is not...what I had in mind."

64 Leo Lyons I'm in agreement with Miss Arcadius 1568 0 5