voidtreckerexpress | (open) my heart is about to jump out of my chest

Entry tags:

(open) my heart is about to jump out of my chest

Who: Inigo and you!
Where: The upper level of the music carriage
When: Imagination 19/20
What: Inigo thinks he's having a private dance practice moment. Thinks.
Warnings: Probably nothing, will edit if necessary.

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(open to all)

If you happen to pass through the music carriage today - as people usually do when moving through the train - you may notice something. Either you can hear music coming from the upper floor, drawing your attention, or if you have a good heart, you may instead see an odd little creature sitting on the stairs, swaying from side to side along with the music.

If you decide to go upstairs, the creature certainly won't do anything to stop you, if you can see it. In fact, it seems to happily bounce right after you, following you up.

And upstairs the carriage is mostly empty - except for Inigo standing on the stage, dancing. The music is even more audible now. Inigo is dancing along to the beat, eyes closed, yet he doesn't seem to even come close to falling off the stage, as if he knows exactly where to place his feet. Which he probably does, considering his movements seem to be very fluid, practiced. It's a pretty captivating dance, honestly, and it's easy to just keep watching it without realising the time is passing until the song stops.

It's then that Inigo stops moving too, finally opening his eyes..

.. and therefore finally noticing that he's not alone. He lets out an absolute shriek, staring you straight in the eyes, before his foot slips and he finally ends up falling on the stage.

Temporary elegance gone. There is only a miserable little pile of Inigo on the stage now.

(closed to taiki)

Okay, okay. Maybe he just needs to get used to dancing in front of people. He danced in front of Tidus before, and that was only.. only mildly mortifying, so maybe that's what he should do. Make sure to dance in front of people he feels a bit more comfortable with.

Hence why Inigo gently dragged (read: made puppy eyes at until he gave in) Taiki along here. He said it was fine if Taiki would just sit there and paint or something, do whatever he feels like doing! It's just that Inigo has to get used to having an audience, okay! And Taiki is just about the most gentle person Inigo can think of for this sort of thing.

But thinking of that is one thing. The actual execution of this plan is another thing.

Which is why they're both here now, but rather than dancing, Inigo just sitting there on the stage, slumped over, groaning. His face is buried in his hands.

"Why is it so hard to get started when someone else is looking.." Is he whining to Taiki? To himself? Who knows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nita's quick to catch on just how immersed Inigo is - before being distracted by the skill of his craft.

Her breath catches, a pang of nostalgia hitting her hard even with Jumblie's boost.

"Wow..." she says, letting it out almost as a sigh. Maybe loud enough for Inigo to hear, but with concentration like that-

"This is what you brought me to see, huh?" she adds to the higgledy in her arms.

"Not sure he'd approve, but..." Giving Jumblie a lecture is not exactly at the top of her priorities right now.

Another little sound escapes the tiny creature in Nita's arms. Apparently Jumblie doesn't seem worried about Inigo's approval in the slightest in this scenario, since the words don't seem to bother her at all.

Instead Jumblie hops out of Nita's arms, dashing over towards the stage and starting to dance right alongside Inigo. Even when the song ends, the music coming to a stop, she keeps dancing.

But Inigo doesn't. He stops, opening his eyes, and looking right into the audience section of the carriage, he sees her standing there.

"N.. Nita?!"

His face is already growing pink, and it only gets redder when he spots the higgledy dancing around his feet.

"Jumblie, what did you do?!"

The answer is nothing but a cute hop and a happy 'hig hiiig!'

Nita straightens up as Jumblie makes her move, mouth briefly opening in an 'o' shape-

And boy does Inigo's reaction deliver!

"-Sorry!"

Trying her best to recover, she moves on across the floor - not into Inigo's space, but definitely following the higgeldy.

"I think she's proud of you, though. And you are a good dancer," she adds, voice still apologetic.

"Wh-- Wha?"

He doesn't even get to voice the full word in his surprise, instead just blankly staring at Nita, his face still red enough to faintly make the edges of his hair look purple.

"No, I'm.." 'I'm not', he wants to say, but it feels bad to say that so bluntly when a friend is trying to give him a compliment. Inigo bends down to scoop Jumblie up into his arms, if not just to have something to focus on for a moment while he thinks of what to even say in this situation.

He only speaks up by the time he's standing upright again.

"I'm not that great. I just.. missed practicing, so I wanted to do it again.."

"You've had more practice than I've ever gotten," Nita admits, more easily than she might have if this room had been crowded...

She should probably be grateful to Jumblie for that. Heh.

"And some things, once you learn them... your body just sort of knows? Even if you feel a little rusty, you'll still have an easier time relearning it, than if you were just picking it up cold."

She's close enough that no longer moving seems like a good idea, so she stops, keeping her posture as relaxed as she can manage despite her own embarrassment at surprising her friend in the first place.

Your body just sort of knows, huh. Inigo thinks Nita is smart enough that he's easily willing to accept that idea. Maybe the practice he got so long ago still does slumber in his body until this very day, even though his dream of becoming a dancer got thoroughly vanquished as he grew older.

Inigo glances down at the higgledy in his arms for a moment before he manages to - shyly - look back over at Nita.

"I guess you're right.. I learned this from my mother, back when she was still alive."

"Then it sounds like a good way to remember her, too."

Nita no longer has a cute little higgledy in her arms, so she hugs herself instead.

"I never really learned from mine - my mom was a dancer, before she had me - but she'd talk about it, now and again."

And, of course, there were other reminders, all throughout the house, of just how much a supportive part of their lives she'd been.

.. Nita's mom was a dancer too?

It's an unexpected connection between the two of them. Honestly, it's not like Inigo goes around asking what people's moms did, but he kind of assumed his own mother's profession was pretty unique, especially since none of his friends' mothers danced back home..

It renders him silent for a moment, especially since this is a topic that feels both painful and nostalgic all at once. He looks down at Jumblie again, but she just nudges his attention (with a tiny arm against his chin) back over to Nita.

"Didn't.." His question is careful, like he's afraid of stepping on something that's painful for either Nita or himself. "Didn't she dance anymore after she had you..?"

"Not professionally, no," she said - with a wry smile on her face. Not a painful topic, exactly, but Inigo was still right to be careful, and she appreciated it.

"She'd retired so that she could have kids... but she always moved with grace, and she never forgot how the motions went together."

Before she became a wizard, before Nita started really finding herself, she'd watch her mom lead her dad through the more complex ballerina steps with a kind of playfulness she rarely saw outside of the house.

"Ah.. I understand."

Kind of. There's a gap between how their worlds function, and a gap between what exactly their parents were, but Inigo can still see the similarity in between the differences.

"Mother also didn't dance as often anymore after marrying my father and having my sister and I. Though it was more since she was busy with.." His voice trails off, and Inigo makes a vague hand gesture. ".. other stuff."

He mostly means to imply 'royal duties', even though he knows that the truth is that she was often too busy handling things while his father was away from the palace since he had a war to try to prevent..

"But she still danced with me. Maybe since she thought it was fun, or maybe since she thought I might find it fun.. I never asked." He had been too young back then.

Nita does her best to picture the similarities as well - and she steps forward, tentatively offering a hand.

"And it's easier to learn from someone you're close to, instead of a stranger. Could almost call it a legacy, that way... Not that I could say if she was thinking of it that way, even."

She feels a bit foolish, voicing that aloud... but maybe this was a day for taking chances.

This is Inigo we're talking about. So the moment that hand is offered to him, he takes it. There's no hesitation in it, no awkwardness. He knows those don't have to be present when it's Nita he's with. Instead he just smiles a bit, despite the painful edges to the topic.

"Who knows? Maybe she was." Especially in a world like Inigo's, where life and death and happiness are so much more uncertain. His mother probably saw the potential fall of everything coming long before Inigo himself did - a child who only realised how bad everything had gotten the moment everything was destroyed.

There's a pause, and then he squeezes Nita's hand. It's hard to tell if it's to reassure her, or to reassure himself. "I danced a lot in front of her grave, after all. Whenever I came to visit her."

There's warmth where their hands touch, and that in turn does reassure Nita, making her smile.

"That's... well, I did say you had something to remember her by. That was probably one of the best things you could have done there."

She thinks of flowers, and wishes she had had something more - but then, with Timeheart, things felt differently. Planting them would have meant more than just bringing them.

"Heh, I hope so."

Despite the topic, he smiles. It may be a painful memory, but the memory of his mother is at the same time one of the best he has. She's connected to the better time of his life, back when everything felt easier. When everything was brighter.

"It's part of why I want to keep dancing.. Because I'm sure she would have wanted me to do so." He lets out a half-awkward sound, raising his free hand to scratch the back of his head. "Well, that, and Tidus has been encouraging me.."

"Well, that's two other people who love you who agree-"

Practically flies out of her mouth, smile deepening as she says it - and then she pauses, realizing what she's saying. On one level, it's an assumption - but on the other, what if it's true?

"I- wait- that is right, right?"

And awkwardness attack.

...

Wait, what?

It takes Inigo's brains a moment to fully process what Nita is saying. It's more the other's awkwardness attack that makes Inigo, too, in turn realise there's something up with what she's saying..

And the moment he realises, his entire face starts to turn red.

"H-- Huh? Well.. Y-Yeah, because of course my mother loves me as her son, and, uh, Tidus is my best friend s-so he loves me in that way!" Did she mean platonic love though?! Did she?! Why would she suddenly look so awkward if that's the case!

"Oh!"

Nita's definitely blushing now, one hand reaching back to rub at the side of her head.

"I just... hadn't heard either of you say it - you and Tidus, and all - I didn't want to assume, but as long as it is true..."

Then she couldn't beat herself up about it, that was all. Completely sidestepping that she said two 'other' people.

Isn't it handy that he got so completely distracted by one thing that he had no time to notice the other thing, Nita..

"Yeah! We're.. We're best friends, Tidus and I!" So hung up on this that he's totally oblivious to anything else here. He even releases a breath, trying to let go of some of his flustered feelings, but alas. Those tend to stick with Inigo for longer than he'd like.

"S-So no problem, you're not assuming anything at all!"

Nita nods, trying to get herself to relax - to up the mood as Jumblie would.

... And what is the higgledy making of this, anyway?

"... I am happy for you, though. I mean that."

She remembers Yuki; that day where Inigo faced that loss with grimness and grief.

"He hasn't offered to dance with you, has he? To cheer you up."

The higgledy? Well, Jumblie seems very unconcerned about all of this. Maybe she's already seen Inigo fluster enough times to know it's not that serious - and being connected to his heart means that she'd be able to feel if there was any serious distress.

So Jumblie is just giggling, swaying a little - just enjoying herself, like she's not even a part of this conversation. Sometimes higgledies just want to have fun, I guess..

"Happy?" Inigo echoes, looking kind of flustered and clueless. Almost as if he's slowly realising that something went way over his head here, but his brain isn't quite able to catch on to what just yet in its current state. Do people usually say they're happy for two other people being friends.. Is that a modern thing.. He has no idea.

"Uh, well, I mean.. I don't usually dance together with other people.."

Since he's way too shy, as evidenced by the huge flusterfest this whole conversation has been.

Nita takes note of Jumblie's reaction, but she doesn't fully realize what it means. Instead, an idea coming to mind, she looks askance before focusing on Inigo again.

"... Would you be interested, if you knew the other person wasn't forcing it?"

Because, admittedly, Nita is no dancer - but Inigo is one of those people she'd willingly take teasing from on this matter.

And, she knows, he wouldn't be inclined to tease her either.

"Um.."

Inigo does seem to be seriously considering it. Though he may be considering it so seriously that the intention behind the question seems to go over his head at first, as evidenced by the way he answers.

"Well, I suppose it would depend on the circumstances..? Really, I'm just worried about the other person thinking I'm--"

He stops mid-sentence. Apparently the quarter that was inserted into his brain finally reached its end goal, making him realise just why Nita is even asking this.

"W-Wait, are you saying you'd like to..?"

The look on Inigo's face would be priceless - if Nita hadn't already been hesitant about bringing it up.

But she commits, and nods.

"Yeah. If- if you'd like."

She's not stepping away, not yet reaching for him. She looks... well, engaged in the moment.

That's a lot. The thought of dancing with another person is always a lot, considering Inigo already has trouble thinking about people watching him, let alone participating in the dancing process.

On the other hand.. it's Nita. She hasn't made fun of him for any of the dumb sides to him so far. And Inigo has a really hard time giving any of his close friends a hard no. So even though he definitely looks conflicted - or even moreso shy - about it, he slowly nods.

"Okay. I.. I guess we can try, though I can't promise anything about how great it will be.."

"Like I said, I'm no dancer," Nita reminds, gently.

"Don't expect me to deliver much in the fancy twirls department."

She smiles, in both encouragement and self-deprecation.

"So - take my hand? Or do we want music for this, first?"

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Time for more sad bonding Y/N??? (though with Jumblie there, how sad can it get??)

y!!!

lil' bit of headcanons here (there's fic for this, which helps)

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Consider: a daemon AU, but the daemons are higgledies.

OH GOD that's so cute.. i love the thought of it!!

^^

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