The Dance Of The Rose
Gretel tapped the video back ten seconds and started it again, turning to her side and standing up. The sound echoed in the dance room from her tablet's tinny speakers, but that wasn't the important part. She held her breath for her cue, and-
'La-la-la-la-vie-en Rose~'
She smiled sweetly and raised her hands, matching the hand movements, then swirled around to face the other direction while casting her left arm around, her eyes smoothly going to watch herself in the mirror - she whipped the arm around and all the way behind, curling it around herself-
"Eff," Gretel sighed and dropped the dance. The song kept playing for a few seconds while she crouched down to pause it. It wasn't working, her hand just couldn't find the same place on the hip as it was supposed to.
The blue-haired girl stood up, video paused and tablet held up as she tried to figure out what was going wrong, absorbed in her practice.
@tenshinayume
The door to the practice room had opened and closed with little fanfare moments before, familiar ash blonde hair swishing in its ponytail as Rika slid silently into the room, hands tucked into the pockets of her sweatpants.
It was late - or early, depending on your perspective - but time in the practice room was a commodity and now was one of the few times it was empty. Or mostly empty, anyway.
Leaning against the wall Gretel faced away from when she turned, Rika's tongue pressed against their canine as they watched, brow furrowed, as Gretel started the dance again.
"Mm... Kay..."
Shuffling over, her hands meet Gretel's arms, adjusting her into place while tapping down on her shoulders, one sneakered foot coming between to knock Gretel's a little further apart.
"First of all, you really gotta relax — you're so tense it's no wonder you can't get your arm around all the way. Part of the key for this is dropping this shoulder — " tap tap " — so you can get your elbow in the right spot."
Reaching around, the tablet is plucked from Gretel's hands, and set back down onto the ground. Briefly Rika bends at the waist, pulling her hair from its ponytail and shaking it out before standing and getting into her position for this part of the song.
"aand five, six, seven, eight — "
Instead of the tinny music coming from the speakers, the beats are instead called and counted by the blonde as she executes the dance, timing sharp and movements fluid, though her gaze focuses firmly on Gretel instead of her own reflection.
Gretel turned her head for a fraction of a second mid-routine, noticing the blonde coming in. Probably another dancer, she should turn down the music or get wireless headphones-
And then she did stop as Rika guided her hands, moving her feet with taps of the sneaker, turning again to look at them.
Time slowed for a moment, and a dozen things crammed themselves into her mouth as they fought to be said; a bratty "Hey, who asked", a mumbled "Sorry", a confused "Why did you pick me"... She took a breath and relaxed, aware of how tense she was all of a sudden.
"Oh, uh, thanks. I didn't expect..."
Rika's business tone pushed Gretel's little moment aside, and she blinked, refocused, getting back in line. Her eyes followed the swirl of Rika's ponytail coming free, feeling the faint chill of her own neck in that moment.
"aand five, six, seven, eight — "
Gretel followed Rika's movements with her eyes, and this time it flowed better (even if the tension in her shoulder hadn't left fully). Maybe it was practicing together that helped?
The section done, Gretel stopped the dance and bit her lip, looking at Rika in the mirror.
"...So, you come here often?"