The Parts We Play

Hide Your Face So The World Will Never Find You

"Dance," Douxie said as all the cast who would be dancing onstage scrambled into a messy line in front of him for a full day of choreography refinery and rehearsal, "always serves a purpose. In a performance like a play, it's almost always visual interest. In a ballet, it's the main method of expressive storytelling. For other types, conversation, staving off boredom, or proximity to a partner may be the goal. Given our purposes, we're going to dance mainly for visual interest, but if we can get some storytelling in, I'll include it."

Douxie began by specifying the steps of the ballet; he was rather cleverly using a combination of simpler movements that would look fairly impressive in stereo. Once everyone was practicing it, he pulled Cara aside to teach her her variations on the choreography for the opening scene, since she was meant to look unfocused. Taking advantage of her Akiridion musculature, he assigned her a more complex series of steps, which she seemed to master quite quickly- probably due to years of combat training and controlling every inch of her own body.

Once she seemed confident, Douxie paused the other dancers, gave a few reminders and a couple demonstrations (Krel, watching from the sidelines, was surprised by his roommate's grace. Perhaps the fact Douxie had been dancing for centuries should have made it less shocking). He then integrated Cara's varying choreography into the crowd.

It had served his purposes well- she blended in at first, and then began to stick out more and more, before slipping back into the group arrangement.

Douxie had assigned Irene to clap out the downbeats of the music to practice to before they actually played a backing track; he had everyone listen to it all the way through once before he had them begin dancing to the music.

Eventually, even Krel was bored with watching the dancing, and the ballerinas were rapidly losing coordination, so Douxie began teaching them all the steps for the Masquerade scene.

He then pulled Krel and Cara aside. "You two," he said, "will be waltzing. Have either of you done ballroom dance before?"

Cara went wide-eyed and froze. "I- uh- w-well-"

Krel cut in immediately, unfazed. "Of course," he said, as though it were perfectly obvious. "I'm the King of a planet. I've probably been to enough galas to give you a run for your money, Douxie- though I suppose Earth dancing is somewhat different."

Douxie smiled. "I'm sure Cara knows the basic form. Would you like to show him?"

Cara gave off a very quiet "meep", ducking her head to hide her burning face in her hair.

Douxie shook his head. "Alright then, I'll do it." He turned and called out, "Irene!"

Irene wandered over. "Hm?"

Douxie offered her his left hand. "Mind helping me demonstrate the waltz for Krel and your sister?"

Irene smirked at Cara, who only grew more flustered. "Sure thing."

She took Douxie's hand and put the other on his shoulder, stepping close as he put his hand just under her shoulder blade. With no further ado, the two stepped and spun into a graceful, smooth waltz. They demonstrated the basics for a full minute before separating.

"Think you can copy that?" Douxie asked the kids.

"Easily," Krel replied, but Cara was still apparently petrified, gripping her own upper arms and opening her mouth only to find nothing to say.

Krel looked at her, mildly worried for her. "It's alright," he said quietly. "It's not any different than the ballet you were doing the last few hours."

Cara looked at him. "On the contrary," she said. "Dancing alongside other people is one thing. Dancing with a partner, though-"

"Hey," he held his hand out to her, "I'll catch you if you fall, and I'll take care of the hard parts. We do need to do this, though."

Cara sighed, wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans, and took his hand- hers were small and long-fingered, but not particularly narrow, and Krel swore his somehow slid into place perfectly naturally against hers.

She put her hand on his shoulder- had Irene had hers so close to Douxie's neck? Whatever. Krel put his hand on Cara's upper back, as Douxie had demonstrated, and gently pulled her closer, as her body language was stiff and awkwardly distant.

"Trust me, My Lady," Krel said quietly with a small smile.

Cara took a deep, slow breath, and let it out just as slowly, regaining control of her breathing. "You know I do, My Liege," she said, mustering a nervous smile in return.

Krel squeezed her hand lightly, then quietly counted them off.

Cara was much, much clumsier while partner dancing; she rushed and stumbled to keep up, worrying and second-guessing herself, thinking every step, it seemed, that she'd fall behind.

She was terribly embarrassed, too- usually their human transductions blushed red, but she was so red she was beginning to glow through her disguise.

"Cara," Krel said softly, drawing her attention away from her own feet. She was so frustrated she was suppressing tears, he could see when she looked up.

He slowed even more and rested his forehead against hers. "You don't have to fight for every step," he told her. "Let me lead you."

She sighed and made herself relax. "Always, My Liege," she replied, and affection broke through her nerves in her tone.

She did much better after this; she let herself trail slightly behind him, let his hands and steps direct her, and before long she was actually smiling and enjoying the dance, which brought Krel no end of delight.

Irene quietly slipped out the door, but neither of the Akiridions noticed, too caught up in the flow of the steps.

She closed the door behind her and turned to the two young men in front of her. "Kaius, Denar," she addressed them. "What do you need?"

"We just wanted to see if Cara was free," Kaius explained. "Clearly she isn't."

"We actually- also wanted to thank you," Denar added quickly. "Cara told us you were the one who found her in the woods and protected her when she first came to Earth. When she was little, we watched out for her like she was our sister; it's a relief she had someone here for her all these years."

"Of course," Irene said. "There's no need to thank me. I got a best friend out of the bargain, too."

Denar smiled. "She looks up to you," he commented. "I'm glad she finally had siblings, and a family she could trust."

Irene narrowed her eyes a little and cocked her head. "What do you mean by that?"

Denar and Kaius glanced at each other.

"She doesn't talk about Akiridion?" Kaius surmised.

Irene's eyes slowly began to widen. "She refused to talk about it, other than teaching me the language." She shifted on her feet, folding her arms as her expression hardened. "I think you should tell me what you remember about Cara's life before Earth."