Event: Eiko's Birthday Ball

[tidesnpcs]

Characters: OPEN to all party guests
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: A big party for a small girl. Yep, it's Eiko's birthday and she's having a ball.
Location: Lindblum Grand Castle
Date: March 21st, 1804
Warnings: N/A so far

Nobody could say that Regent Cid wasn't generous when it came to his adopted daughter, Eiko. In fact, some said that he was too

Comments

[livelyangel]

Rinoa entered the ballroom dressed in a cream gown similar to the one she had worn at the SeeD graduation ball, but longer and with a lacy patterned bodice. She was familiar with Gaian fashion now, and she had grown to like the style. It made her feel like she was in a fairy-tale.

And she was just as impressed by the ballroom of Lindblum Grand Castle as she had been at the one in Alexandria. Rinoa had dragged a reluctant Squall along with her - after all, they'd gotten tickets for everyone before he'd vanished and reappeared from the past. That was strange. She'd felt so overjoyed to see Squall again, and then she'd discovered that he was still at a stage where it seemed like he could barely stand her.

Rinoa was dismayed, but not for long. She knew that Squall could love her. It had happened before; it could happen again. And she'd grown up enough to know that she shouldn't try to force things too quickly.

Besides, she had a lot of friends to meet and mingle with tonight. So Rinoa took a glass of champagne and smiled as she looked around for familiar faces.

[brewing_storm]

Orders were orders. That's how Squall rationalized it. It wasn't his intention to be emotional, to cause emotional strain-- he just didn't want to be emotional. Simple as that.

Somewhere along the way, though...

Regardless, Squall was there. Wrangled into... something-- something for a ball, and in the end wasn't sure what to make of it all. Parties weren't his thing. Especially when he was in no mood to deal with anyone. Let alone find himself in a room full of people.

Needless to say, he was fairly adept at distracting himself; Mission Mode. Alert, aware, ready for... well... almost anything. At least in what felt like a completely unfamiliar place.

[livelyangel]

Rinoa looked sideways at Squall, having an inkling of how he was probably feeling.

"Wow, this place is packed!" she said. "There are so many people I should introduce you to. Look, over there is Regent Cid! He's the guy with the moustache. And that's his daughter, Eiko, the little girl with blue hair. Oh - did you see that girl go past with the rabbit ears? That's a viera - I think it was Mjrn..."

Rinoa knew a lot of people at this ball. She hoped that Squall would have met at least some of them by the end of the night.

[brewing_storm]

Truthfully, Squall... felt kind of claustrophobic about all of this.

He nodded, once, to acknowledge what she was saying-- things he might need to know, such as just who was hosting the party. Simple. Easy. Well... okay, maybe not-- he'd never heard of a viera before.

What am I even doing here? Outside of the obvious. He was never very good with... making connections.

[livelyangel]

Rinoa continued to point out notable people, but eventually she grew tired of Squall's lack of response. She touched his arm.

"Squall? You know, you could ask me to dance. This is a party, after all."

[brewing_storm]

Dance? I don't... really dance... The memory of that one moment, of the ballroom, and the stumbling...

The fireworks.

It'd been a strange moment. The touch reminds him of it, almost, and Squall tensed. Frowned. Couldn't really find it in himself to look her in the eye. "There's probably a lot of other people who'd like to dance with you."

[livelyangel]

Rinoa knew what she was doing. She wanted him to recall that moment. Maybe if they could recreate all those wonderful moments, everything would work out between them just like it had done before.

"Maybe," she said, "but I wanna dance with you."

[brewing_storm]

That was rather dependent on one's view of 'wonderful'. Squall was, however, a little caught off guard by her words. Perhaps into a bit of speechlessness. What was there to say to something like that?

He shifted his weight. One of those silent ticks.

[livelyangel]

Rinoa took Squall's silence for assent. If he really didn't want to, he would have said so. Smiling, she took his hand to lead (or perhaps drag) him onto the dance floor.

[brewing_storm]

A soft sound of surprise escaped him. His fingers felt suddenly rather numb, and the signals to try and get his legs to work seemed to want to miss-fire. Squall stumbled a little after her, something like anxiousness twisting inside his gut.

This wasn't a good idea-- he wasn't very good at this!

"--what are you doing?"

[livelyangel]

"Well, let's see," Rinoa said, pretending to think about it. "I'm taking your hand like this, and putting my other on your waist like this... A bit closer, please, aaaaaand off we go. You remember your moves, right? We can take it slow."

He'd learned quickly the first time they'd danced, so she hoped he would pick it up again soon. Smiling up at him, Rinoa encouraged him to begin waltzing slowly.

[brewing_storm]

This was not a good idea, this really wasn't, Squall wanted to say, but he was already in position and stumbling through the paces-- scowling. This was a little different than the waltz at graduation.

And they were already in motion. Just a matter of trying to catch on, quick to keep step. Squall shoved down the internal irritation to count his steps.

[livelyangel]

Rinoa kept in step with him, gradually allowing Squall to lead. She moved gracefully, beaming as she lost herself in the dance.

[brewing_storm]

Well, it was certainly easier to pick it up than he'd thought. A little lacking in refinery, but Squall caught it. It was... strange. Felt a little strange. This was... the second time he'd ever danced with Rinoa.

That Squall could remember.

The vague thought that this... wasn't so bad maybe crossed his mind.

[livelyangel]

Rinoa, on the other hand, had danced with Squall quite a few times in the three years they'd known each other. She knew him intimately, well enough to anticipate his movements better than Squall might have expected.

As the music ended, Rinoa came to a stop. She brushed her hair back from her eyes and grinned. "You do remember your moves."

[brewing_storm]

Squall's hands withdrew. And he shrugged, just once, a small motion. "Maybe..."

It was almost a disturbing thought, that anyone could "know" him. Perhaps it was a good thing he hadn't managed to step on her, much less anyone else.