Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

✨Side Story 32: Say it with Dancing! ✨

"Do you have to know traditional dances?" Grim asks. "I mean, if they're traditional then what's the point of even learnin' them anymore?"

"My family is one of the traditional families of the Scalding Sands, so we're a cornerstone of the traditional values of the past. Dancing is one of them and I know basically every traditional dance there is, and there's about over 30 of them!" The statement shocked the two. Memorizing 30 dances was...well a lot! From what Kalim told them before, just one traditional dance could last 10 minutes, so with 30 of them with various times between 5 and 20 minutes is just too much. No wonder he dances so much Angel thinks as she recalls him dancing a lot recently. "Anyway, since Grim is taking a break, how we dance instead, Angel?" Kalim offers.

"Um...sure," she says with a small smile. "I'm not as good as you, but I don't mind."

"Great!" Kalim says as he heads to the radio, giving the students a break from performing instruments for their housewarden. "Let's get the music playing and then we can start!" He presses the play button and lively music starts to fill the courtyard, covering as much ground, or air, as possible with the open-air courtyard. "Okay! Now we just dance!" Kalim happily says as he starts to step with the rhythm, his emotions getting the best of him as he starts to go slow and careful to fast and professional, letting the music guide him. Angel watches in awe as his moves are graceful yet careful, not letting the music completely take over his move, but even if so, his body would automatically know what to do, making her look even more in awe. She watched as he spun on one leg, keeping his balance steady as he smiles at her, making her a bit nervous at his look. How can she compete with Kalim's dancing? At most, by herself at least, she can at least shuffle her feet to the beat, but anything other than that, she can't compare to Kalim. She looks down at her feet and try to feel the music, tapping to the beat, and once she got the rhythm, she starts to move her feet, only keeping it minimum since Kalim started dancing around her. Seeing him do that only brought down her confidence more, starting to feel inadequate compared to a professional dancer like him, at least, she believes he is. "Ha ha ha! Isn't this fun, Angel?" Kalim happily says as he looks at her, only to stop when he sees that she wasn't moving as much and seeing a slight frown on her face. He heads towards her. "Hey, Angel, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?" He asks in concern.

"No..." She answers sadly. "Just...feeling like I'm not good as you..."

"You don't need to be as good as me to dance, you know," Kalim softly says. "Dancing is for everyone, no matter if you're big, small, poor, rich, young, or old, and dancing is good for everyone!" He looks to her, seeing if his words made an impact on her, seeing that she was looking a little hopeful at his words. "Hmm..." Kalim hums in thought. He closes his eyes in thought for a moment. "Aha!" He exclaims with a smile, making her look at him in confusion. "I'll help you dance! It's easy!"

"You sure?" Angel asks.

"Yeah! I used to teach my siblings how to dance all the time, though they were able to get it as soon as they started walking, but they picked it up later! It's easy, just follow my steps, okay?" Angel thinks for a moment. "Don't worry, we'll start with simple moves," he reassures her, and she nods, knowing that simple steps shouldn't be much of a problem. "Great, now let's just get your hands," he says as he grabs her hands, "and we just...move!" He says as he starts moving slowly, making her follow his movements. His pulls are gentle and he doesn't pull her too much, letting her work through the steps while guiding her. She looks at down and their feet, trying her best to follow Kalim's steps to the best of her abilities and try not to trip over his or her feet, failing every now and then. Soon enough, Kalim started to let go of his grip on her, letting her dance on her own for a while, getting the feel of the rhythm and steps. Kalim happily watches her, watching for any improvement, only to see that her movements becoming more stiff and rigid. "Wait, Angel," he says, making her stop. "You're a little stiff. It'll be hard to dance freely if you're stiff."