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.

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"I'll consider myself lucky for the honour."

Though there's a joke at the edge of what he says, it's not like he doesn't mean it. Knowing Nita, she'd probably not hesitate on that smack, so he's rather glad to not find himself on that side of the divide. Especially when he's already nervous enough about the dancing.

.. right. The dancing. Maybe he should start focusing on that already, instead of drawing things out like this. Now he has a good hold on her, Inigo starts moving. Very slowly, just to make sure she can keep up with it. One step forward, two steps back. One step forward, two steps back. No turning or twirling or any of the sort yet - just keeping it as basic as it gets.

"All you have to do is move your feet."

Moving her focus back on, well, moving, she studies the motions carefully.

One step forward, two steps back (or the inverse of what Inigo's doing, rather - they're moving in the same direction, right-?)

"Like this?"

He nods. "Yes, exactly like that!"

Granted, it may be a simple action to complete, so maybe Inigo seems a bit too glad or proud when he smiles at her. But she is still managing to move right along with him, and he thinks even that is worthy of a compliment.

"I know it's still very basic, but as long as you can do this, it's practically proof by itself that you can dance."

Nita would snort at her comparative lack of skills - but she really doesn't want to sound dismissive of Inigo, not now, so that urge gets suppressed.

"It doesn't feel as - well, as graceful as what you were doing earlier, is all. You sure it's the same thing?"

Step by step, though, she is getting this.

"It's a different style! Ballroom dancing is always a little more stiff."

Especially since Inigo likes freestyling when he's dancing by himself. It's easier to not overthink things then, since he doesn't have to constantly take everyone else into account, the way he usually does when he navigates any social situation.

Not that he minds, though. Taking Nita into account here isn't much of a problem at all. It's a little flustering, his heart beating a little faster, but he's managing. So far.

"Besides, we can go a bit faster once you're comfortable with what's going on so far. Just let me know." It's hard for Inigo, a practiced dancer, to tell all by himself when things are moving too fast or too slow for a beginner, after all.

"But harder to forget once you get the steps," Nita considers, though it's more thinking-out-loud.

She smiles, looking briefly back up - and almost regretting it.

"Oop!" she says, correcting her positioning twice before getting back into the swing of Inigo's pacing.

Inigo hardly seems to mind the slight slip. It happens to the best of them, and Nita is still learning - still in the first initial stages of it, in fact! So all he does is smile a bit at her 'oop', trying to near-still for a moment so she has the room to correct herself, rather than having to do both that and catching up with everything at the same time.

"Have you thought much about learning to dance before?" He instead asks, though making sure she's back into the swing of it all before he starts distracting her with spoken words.

"Mmm," Nita hums at first - a non-response.

But as she finds herself more confident in looking up, and in just letting the moves carry:

"Maybe, yeah. But... only with Kit, y'know? Beyond mom being a dancer, it just- never really came up, socially?"

And neither of them were big on formal dances, whether they knew the moves or not.

Never came up..

Well, Inigo supposes that's possible. It's not like dance is an ever-present thing where he comes from either, not necessarily, not even before everything got ruined. But he imagines it's probably more common than in more modern worlds, where they have more distractions, more forms of entertainment than in his own.

"You could learn it here. Surprise him once you're back home."

It's not a fully serious suggestion. More just something light, something nice to think about, without thinking it through too thoroughly and realising all the questions that surround it. Like when they'll get to go home.

It wouldn't be the first social matter she'd been somewhat oblivious to...

But for now, that smile comes back.

"I think I'd like that. A happy surprise, for once."

Given all the unhappy surprises she might still have to explain to him some day, it'd be a nice contrast.

"All the more pleasant for being something learned with friends - I know it'd be a disaster if I tried learning it on my own."

More self-deprecation? Yes. But it still seems true enough to her.

Honestly, it's probably not even that bad on the self-deprecation scale. But Inigo still isn't going to just let it slip by them all the same. Not when an important friend is saying it right in front of him.

"Nonsense!" He squeezes her hands, still moving. "Look, you're doing just fine now, don't you think?"

Sure, this is still the very, very basics. Still going pretty slow. But everyone has to start somewhere, and Inigo - having tried to learn various other things himself on the train - knows that very well.

"You can never be a disaster as long as you do something with all your heart."

Nita looks touched to hear that - all the more so when Inigo adds to it.

You are not a disaster, Inigo. That's for sure.

But she doesn't say it aloud; honest as it would be this isn't exactly the time.

"Think I want to try going a little faster, then, in that case."

"Faster?" He smiles. "You've got it."

Sure, Inigo won't immediately go super fast, but he can definitely speed it up! There's a noticable bump up in speed when he keeps moving, and he may be very, very gradually accelerating it even more as he keeps dancing. Just gradual enough that it should be possible for anyone to keep up with it.

"I can start doing slightly more complex moves too, if you want. This thing is really just about building it up! And once you've got a good enough sense of dance and rhythm after dancing with a partner like this, it's also much more easily to dance on your own later." That's how Inigo learned it, after all. Starting off dancing with his mother, and then later on by himself, once he got the hang of it.

"Working up to a spin-and-twirl?" Nita asks, only somewhat tongue-in-cheek, letting the smoothness of the dance finally take her.

Every few steps she'll dart down to look, but she can only do that for so long before it stops making a difference.

"Hey, don't spoil it!"

He gets that it's just a joke though. Hence why his own tone - rather than sounding pouty in any way - just sounds like he's joking right in return.

And in fact, he will do that move right now. Not the full move, that still needs a bit more leading up to it, but Inigo does spin the two of them around, rather than just stepping back and forth. He makes sure to do it at a moment where Nita isn't looking down though, just so she knows what's happening before she's already spinning right along with him. He doesn't want to make her dizzy!

Nita's still taken aback - but she's able to go with the flow, instead of adding too much resistance to the move.

Her breath is slow coming out, but she is smiling.

"Does this mean I can spin you next?"

Just a bit more enthusiasm than mere jocularity in her voice this time.

It's good to hear that enthusiasm. And really, there's only one possible answer to it, isn't there? Inigo just smiles, apparently not worried about what he's about to say at all.

"Of course, if you want to."

If Nita feels she's ready for it, go right ahead! Besides, it's not like Inigo can't help the move along a bit, even if it'd end up not going too well just yet.

It's a few more rounds of the normal steps in the waltz before Nita initiates - telegraphing her intent all the way - but she does start the spin.

"You being taller makes this harder, you know that, right?"

But she's smiling, so it's not precisely a complaint.

"See it as a fun challenge!"

Besides, thankfully Inigo isn't super tall or anything, so it's not totally impossible. (He may be helping a bit as she does it anyway, considering he's light enough on his feet to be able to spin easily..)

And he smiles the moment he's back face to face with her.

"You're so sweet and smart, Nita. You ought to let nothing at all ever stop you!"

The help most certainly is appreciated!

The praise, though, leads her thoughts elsewhere. A hospital room, another dimension, the moon...

And a platform, a name in gold.

"Even if-?" Even if I should be stopped? Even if I'm doing the wrong thing, that isn't what someone else wants?

She cuts herself off, exhaling the thought out as if it were so much dust. Shaking her head, her eyes become clear again, her feet don't miss so much as a beat.

"Nevermind. But don't you let things stop you, either! Ever heard the saying, 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander'?"

".. Wait, are you calling me a goose?"

It's a kind of goofy reaction. Even Inigo's facial expression suits that kind of light mood - not looking truly offended, more just jokingly taken aback. (Although he really has never heard that expression before, but that just gives his performance even more credibility, right?)

But maybe the lightness is just to soften what comes next, just in case. Inigo can't be sure what Nita is thinking of, after all, but any reaction to that statement that would invoke an 'even if' can't be very happy or fun.

So he makes sure to keep his tone to nothing but a light inquiry as he asks, "Even if.. what, though?"

Like he's here to listen if she wants to share, but doesn't want to push the issue either.

"It's a saying," is all Inigo gets for explanation - it doesn't take much for her to realize she's not getting out of explaining the other thing.

"And, I just... I know I'm not in the right, all the time. Objectively, I get that. But recognizing when I'm not... I've failed at that before. Sometimes it turns out all right, and no one gets hurt, or it gets righted - but others..."

She's still moving, but it's clear she's slowing down now.

"I still worry I'm the one who's going to be too late to save people - or the one causing the danger in the first place."

It's hard to say whether he's surprised or not at the ease with which Nita opens up, considering it doesn't show on his face. But despite any relief or surprise, Inigo just keeps smiling, and nods a little, as if to wordlessly say 'I understand'.

After all, with how often life or death is on the table in this kind of place, both for themselves and the places they're helping, who wouldn't worry about that sort of thing?

"Then why don't you discuss your thoughts and plans with other people? You know, just ask others if they think something is a good plan too, or if it's too dangerous. You're not alone here, after all."

"I wish it were that easy."

The words slip out before she can stop them, and she cringes.

"I just... can't always find people to help with what I'm thinking of, when I need to."

In the moment, wherever she is.

For what it's worth, Inigo still manages to keep smiling, even in the face of her cringing. And he's still moving - although very slowly, more just rocking them from side to side a little. As if that may help to soothe Nita's nerves a little.

"Why not?" There are a lot of potential reasons for that, after all.

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

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CAMARADERIE! ;a;

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sounds like a wrap, i think!

aye, I think so. o7