[BALLROOM] - The venue’s been rented out to some startup company for their first Soon-to-be-Annual charity ball, and your name can be on the guest list for the small price of a donation and a dance! Go on and get swept off your feet, or maybe be the one to do the sweeping!
It was a less formal environment than the one that they had first met in – this, at least, she recognized, although for all intents and purposes it may as well have been the same for the reverence either of them showed it, or the lack thereof.
"Boothill." She greeted him with a nod, just a simple dip of her chin – it might have seemed a small gesture, but for anyone who knew her well it might as well have been the beam of a warm smile. "It is good to see you. I now know that it is easiest to find you, in these types of events. If I find myself in situations similar to this often, I will know to look for you."
Not that she would need to look very hard, for the distinctive figure that he cut, the worn and rough edges standing a stark contrast against the crisp and pristine of those around them. It didn't bother her that so many watched her when she navigated through the world, and Shenhe had to wonder briefly if it was the same for him, for wherever either of them went, whispers seemed to follow regardless.
"I regret that I hadn't known dancing was an important part of these functions. I don't have a drink to give you either. But if you know the dance most appropriate for the moment, I can ask the bartender for something that he thinks you would like."
Revelation 2025 | no longer accepting asks
After busting in through the front door, startling just about everyone in attendance, and getting shooed away from his impromptu dance partner, Boothill had been trying to lay low. Well, as low as a cowboy in a marble ballroom could be. At least the bartender hadn’t turned him away, and he’d just settled down at the counter with a well-earned drink when a familiar face stepped out of the crowd. He flashed her a grin full of sharp teeth and tipped his hat.
”Howdy, snowbird.” What a coincidence finding her in a place like this again. Unlike him, she looked a little more like she belonged here. “Ain’t you dolled up nice.”
But he’d already begun to take a guess at why she didn’t mingle with the others all that well. There was something just a tad off about her, like she’d lost the script somewhere between where she’d come from and where she’d wound up. Improv wasn’t her forte either, but the spirit was there, that was for sure. In some ways, she reminded him of another Galaxy Ranger who stumbled over social expectations, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t sharp as a tack when it came to what really mattered.
”Hate to break it to ya, girl, but this ain’t my usual scene. Unless you’re talkin’ about the open bar.” He raised his glass of malt in a wordless toast and then tipped it back to finish it off.
”Huh?” Her request had him nearly choke on the last bit of it. “You're lookin’ for a dance partner?”
The music played here wasn’t anything Boothill was really all that familiar with, but he stopped for a moment to listen to the first few beats of the newest song that’d just started up. It had a steady, swinging beat, and was neither too fast nor too slow. Boothill didn’t know all the technical things about music, but he knew how music made him feel, and this one got his toe tapping. Other couples were already taking to the dance floor, pouring styles from all around the galaxy into a little mixing pot of energy and grace. One more, even a pair of odd ducks, would be right at home here.
Setting his glass aside, he pushed off from the wall and took Shenhe by the hand.
“Well, let’s get out there then!”
Once they’d waded into an open space near the middle of the dance floor, Boothill turned to take up her other hand and stretched her arms left to right.
“Heel, toe. Heel, toe.” He tapped his left heel, then swung his foot in front of his other and tapped his toe, repeating four times to the beat of the music. “Then skip to the left. And now heel, toe with the other foot.”
He demonstrated each step with bouncing ebullience, rocking Shenhe’s arms back and forth, half-dragging her along with him until she started to get the hang of it. And by the broad smile on his face, he was more than a little pleased when she’d started to pick it up. Back and forth they went, bouncing and tapping to the beat, a memory gaining color, layering over the present in the little snips of darkness when he blinked his eyes. A little sunkissed girl, barely waist high, giggling and grappling with his arms as he swung her through the steps.
“There ya go! Look at you gettin’ the hang of it now.” He beamed. “Practically a natural.”
