The party went a bit more smoothly from that point.
Wally finally came up to Royal, who still seemed out of it, to ask him what was up.
"Well, to be frank, sir--" Royal might have been the only person in Remnant who'd call Wally sir. "--we've taken heavy hits, we're in over our heads, you two aren't here to help, and last but unfortunately hard to ignore is that I am terrible at concealing my feelings."
Wally could guess what he meant already.
"Huh, you just made me think of this proverb: 'Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed,'" he said.
"What does that mean?" Royal asked.
"Maybe that direct expression of something is more useful to a person than all the hidden good feelings you might have. I guess secret love or pride doesn't do anyone much good. My friend Batman would probably agree with that...but about the other stuff, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry we're not here to help more. It's...not for us, now."
"Can't you do anything?" Royal sounded almost like a child, but, in a way, the simplicity was kind of nice. Not so much overthinking.
"I don't know," Wally said. "Honey, do you think we can do anything?"
Shine wasn't usually far behind from Wally when it came to cheering people up.
She moved closer discreetly.
"About the bandits?" she asked.
"Any of this?" Wally replied.
"I do have a thought," Shine said. "There's something we've neglected to do. Maybe it would help, maybe not, but we should do it. I should ask everyone if they'd be willing."
"Do you mean that thing we did before?" Wally asked. "With water?"
"Yeah, that...though Neptune...but we can see," Shine mused.
"Will that help?" Royal asked.
"Who's to say? When we obey the commands of our Lord, other things often fall into place. But it takes courage to obey more than to disobey." Shine shrugged.
"Preaching to the choir, Miss--or Missus, I should say." Royal shook his head. "You know, I was more content to be on the edge of things before it started costing people their lives to not be able to do more."
"Royal, you do realize that it could always cost people their lives for you to do less than you could out of fear of what could go wrong," Shine said with the characteristic firmness that her old students knew so well.
Royal winced. "You sound just like Cinder."
"Good, if she said the same, she's right." Shine was staunch.
"She's become a lot like you," Royal said, "I take it."
"That would be high praise, I hope," Shine mused. "Or perhaps not. Some of my qualities can be a little...overly zealous."
"I think it's a good thing," Wally said. "No one ever wants to be more like me."
"I'm sure I see some of them being more like you," Shine argued. "Don't you think Jaune, Neptune, and Emerald have picked up some of your easier going way of dealing with people?"
"They say actions speak louder than words," Royal said.
"If words and actions line up, they both speak volumes, but where one is lacking, the other doesn't make up for it," Shine shrugged. "Why don't you celebrate a little though? The world won't end if you let it worry about itself for one day. Indeed, we have to. There's no end of problems in life, but there's also endless joys, if you're willing to see them."
"You think it's just a matter of what you're looking for then?" Royal asked.
"Yes, Royal." Shine put a hand on his shoulder. "I do."
She jerked her head at the others. "Let me tell you something I find helpful. I've seen a lot of darkness--things like you guys saw recently--many, many times. And it has made me feel sad plenty of times. I used to waste a lot of time worrying about it and what I could not do. I lost people also. Even here. But, I've since come to realize that I have so much. There's these people, who are exceptionally good and willing to help others and sacrifice for them." She gestured at the team, who mostly were still dancing or goofing off at the moment, in small knots. "I think, I have a home I can go back to. I have a partner who loves me and is above and beyond what I ever thought I deserved."
"Ditto," Wally said. "Ditto for all of it, actually."
Shine nodded. "I have enough to eat, to wear, which, while smaller things, are things many people do not have. And I have the ability to help people. You can ask if you're worthy or capable all day long. Or you can ask what you want to do...but do you know, so many people wish they could help, and they can't? I feel helpless often enough in my own world. That's the biggest privilege of traveling them, is to have significance. And you have that here. The truth is, we can ask all day, all week, all year, why the Lord allows these evils to happen. But in our book, God asks us the same thing over and over again. This is our home--we're supposed to defend it. So the enemy is trying to take over you lands? Your peace of mind? Welcome to our lives. This is not new. It's as old as the fall of Adam. What is new is being able to do anything about it. Did you all scare Grimm before? Did you have immunity to Mind Grimm? Did you know how to heal people with just a look? Many would trade for your abilities."
Royal blinked at her like it hadn't lined up for him like that before.
"So yeah, we have simple joys, and sometimes we have bigger victories. More often, the biggest victory we have is living a life where we have the time and energy to devote to just being at peace and love," Shine went on, simply. "So...you are at a prime point in history. And when they write the books--for be assured that humanity will survive, with or without your help, and deliverance will always rise up, as long as the world turns--but do you want to be the one they say 'stood against the darkness and fought for the world'...or do you want to not even be a footnote?"
Royal looked bemused. "Suppose I never wanted to be great?" he said.
"You know, our famous playwright once wrote that 'some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,'" Shine said. "Which was meant to be humorous at the time, but there's truth in it. Some people know they're different from the moment they are born because it's foretold, others find destiny through pursuing goals--and others, it finds them. I believe God uses all three methods, depending on the person. If you've found the third one to be yours, who are you to argue with God? Read the story of Moses and Gideon some time. And no one's asking you to get delusions of grandeur. All of you are just men, after all. But Man can be a godlike thing, when he acts like God...or he can be a demon when he acts like a demon. We can choose. And to not choose is to have chosen the second already."
Royal gave her a long look.
Then he rubbed his head. "You know what? You're right," he said, with an air of giving up. "I can't outrun this, can I? What did I expect? I just thought it would be less hard, to be a part of things."
"Dude, when you get the good, you get the danger with it," Wally said. "You can't pick and choose. That's how everything in life is. Even marriage and family."
"But the bad doesn't make the good less good," Shine said. "If it did, we couldn't do anything. And I have a feeling you needed to hear that also."
Royal narrowed his eyes. "Are you just talking about the mission?"
"I'm never just talking about the mission, Royal," Shine said wryly. "I always have multiple layers of meaning. And you know what I mean."
Royal glanced toward Cinder, who was being careful not to look their direction.
"Are you sure you want to tell me that?" he said. "What if she--we--are not ready?"
"So who is?" Wally said.
"There's a time and place," Shine shrugged. "Some people may not have one selected person for them, but some do. The question is, do you have the luxury of stalling? You might want to consider that. And maybe you're right--you're not ready, either of you. There are times when the only way to be ready is to try. Or to at least be honest."
"You haven't been talking to Mercury, have you?" Royal was suspicious.
"Didn't have to," Wally said. "You kind of just told me anyway. I get it, man. It's hard to figure this stuff out. I had a time of it with Shine."
"I had a worse time," Shine said. "I ditched him after he told me how he felt. I was scared."
"You weren't ready?" Royal surmised.
"I thought I wasn't. Turns out it was an excuse." Shine tugged her hair. "I thought I couldn't do it, that someone with my damage was going to mess it up, and I wanted to wait till I felt whole again.... Funny thing? That would never have happened. Only love, while we're not fully ready, makes us whole enough to be ready, whatever form it comes in, but we can't always choose the form. Trust me, I'd give the same advice to anyone else. I can see that you want to change your role in this group and in other areas.... Only you can decide to accept the chances you do have. The cliché goes 'you miss 100% of the shots you don't take'. And I am a coward about this also, Royal. I've had to work hard at it, and I still do...but I don't regret trying."
She took Wally's hand. "Not for anything. Of course the most important blessing I didn't mention before is that I have my Savior who made all this possible and is my constant help in all situations. That comes first...but the rest will be added once we have that, because you don't just plug something in and then not turn it on. We run on God's power to function for something. Think about it, all right? Things aren't over with those bandits, but they are not the most important thing anyway."
"Yeah, we'll be in touch about all that," Wally said.
They walked away again.
Royal had to think about what they said.
But it all made sense, he decided.
He glanced around the room.
"Well, no time like the present," he told himself resolutely.
He walked to where Cinder was standing watching the others flatly.
She glanced up.
"So...did Jaune heal your injury?" Royal asked.
Cinder raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?" she said in a normal voice.
"I guess that's a yes." Royal shrugged. "How are you doing?"
"Why are you asking?" Cinder wasn't giving in that easily. "You've been oddly absent for the last couple days."
"You noticed."
Pause.
"You're the one who made a big deal of walking over here," Cinder countered moodily. "What were they talking to you about?"
"Just about the mission."
"What part of it?" Tightly.
"Not the part you're thinking of. Just what I should do," Royal said.
Though why was she worried about it...unless she thought they'd be upset.
But he was sure the others would already have told them what happened. If they cared, they'd have said something.
"They actually told me pretty much the same thing you did, that it's a waste to talk about whether we want to have to do this when we have the chance to do something," he elaborated. "Now I know where you all get those ideas from."
"I don't recall them ever saying that to us, actually," Cinder said. "Except maybe in writing. But it doesn't surprise me. They never hesitated much to get involved."
"It must be rough for them to have to stay out of it, but I guess they're letting you all learn to be strong without them," Royal mused. "Too bad. If they were around, we'd have an excuse for failing if we could blame them."
Cinder almost laughed but choked it back. That wasn't funny.
"So are you going to go talk to them?" Royal asked.
"Why? If they wanted to talk to me, they would," Cinder said.
"I think you avoid them."
"Did I ask you?"
"Actually you just did. You asked 'why?'"
"That was rhetorical."
Royal shrugged. "So are you just going to stand here all night?"
"If I want to, I can stand here," Cinder bristled.
"You just look kind of pathetic. Don't you want to have any fun? You got dressed up."
Cinder had in fact, though rather less showy than her former style, if you asked her older friends. Perhaps she prioritized elegant more than flashy these days.
"It was a formal event, knowing Raven..." she muttered uncomfortably.
"I was expecting more of a fight about that first part." Royal was a little disappointed.
"Do you just like provoking me?" Cinder asked with warmth.
"Yeah, kind of," Royal joked. "It's just so entertaining."
"Oh, well, of course I just want to amuse you." With cutting sarcasm.
Royal decided he'd gone too far.
"I didn't mean it like that. I just never know what you're going to say, so it's more interesting. Anyone else would just be polite."
That didn't sit as well as it might have before. Cinder was still in a pretty sensitive frame of mind after that last couple of days, and she just looked somber.
"What's wrong?" Royal asked more seriously.
"Nothing."
"Something, I'd say."
"Nothing I want to discuss." Which was more honest.
"Well...if you don't want to discuss anything, do you want to mess with Emerald and Mercury?" Royal asked.
"Mess with them?" With just a hint of interest.
"Yeah, Mercury was kind of being a jackass before, so I figure it's time for some payback, but I would need help," Royal said. "Also this thing with Emerald has gone on long enough."
"You really want to interfere in that again?" Cinder asked.
"I do feel kind of bad. I encouraged her to dump him, and now they're both miserable about it. So much for my decisions."
"They're miserable because they won't do anything about it, not because they broke up at all," Cinder corrected. "And what brilliant plan would fix this?"
"Not fix it, but could give them a little push in the right direction, if you want to help."
"Help?"
"Well, it beats being a wallflower," Royal said. "Everyone is just feeling sorry for you."
That did more of the trick.
"Well, what kind of idea? And it better not be a stupid one." Cinder frowned.
Royal smiled charmingly--which didn't quite have the desired effect of reassuring her.
* * *
"Dance? Uh...sure." Emerald was surprised. "You sure you want to do that?"
"I'm bored," Royal explained. "And you look like you're kind of bored also."
"Yeah, well...everyone else is kind of busy..." Emerald agreed. "Sure, I guess...but what about Cinder?"
"She said no." Royal knew that Emerald wasn't going to buy him just saying he wouldn't have asked.
"Oh, right. That's her," Emerald agreed.
Social dancing didn't really bother Emerald, but admittedly she wasn't that good at it.
"I guess they didn't make you learn to do this over and over." Royal tried to make light of it.
"Please, Cinder drilled us for hours before the Beacon dance so that we could blend in more," Emerald said.
"Can I ask...was everything you guys did just to seem less suspicious?"
"Pretty much. Clothes shopping--gotta blend in; eating lunch in the cafeteria--botta blend in; doing our homework--gotta blend in. Mercury hated it."
Royal noted that it never took Emerald longer than 30 seconds to bring Mercury up. How did the guy not get it?
"And my guess is you started to like it, deep down," he said. "And Cinder always made it about outsmarting everyone else."
"D---, are we that predictable?" Emerald chuckled wryly. "So I guess it was a very different story for you, huh?"
"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't have liked it. I had to take dance lessons, music lessons, history, math, all from about age 6," Royal said. "And of course we had to learn how to fight, but not real front lines stuff, just the more 'noble' arts. You know, fending, archery. Atlas elite are like old fashioned gentry."
"I thought everyone in Remnant always had to fight."
"It's about the accessibility of better weapons. Atlas has always led the the technology boom, so we learn to shoot and fence and stuff that takes years of practice to master. If you have aptitude for it, you often go into the hunstmen or military fields. But a lot of it is just for show. You need to be able to defend yourself, but make it seem like it's beneath you."
"I could see that," Emerald said, "since you're all about not wanting to have to put yourself out there."
Royal almost missed a step--which clearly was unusual for him. "Huh...I never thought of it like that."
"Read Shine's books about childhood and how it affects your adult life," Emerald said. "I question everything after that. Like, if you never have enough, you could have a scarcity mindset, and that can make you always act like you need to hoard or scrape by. It kind of weirds me out, but I know Weiss loves getting into it."
"I'm not sure that's all there is to it," Royal said. "It might be selfish of me, I'll admit now, but I just didn't like to be what I was expected to be. Father beat that leadership thing into my head, for example. 'People will look to you. You'll inherit all this, blah blah blah. Stop wasting your time flying around.' Personally, I hate politics and business."
"Do you hate it because you really hate doing it, or because you just hate the idea of doing what your family wanted?" Emerald asked.
"I'm not sure anymore. It's become impossible to tell." Royal shrugged. "And I don't mean to sound like a prigg, but you're not quite in time with the music and it's distracting."
"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't get taught this since I was 6." Emerald wasn't that concerned about it. "I wonder where Cinder even learned.... Mercury picked it up fast because he's all about that fancy footwork crap."
Royal was wondering if Cinder was enacting step two of the idea he'd had--and wondered if she'd decided to just let him crash and burn.
That would be like her... No, maybe not.
Well, at least he had Mercury's attention; he was giving them death glares--which he probably thought were his normal sullen expressions. He never did notice much of his own emoting.
But Cinder, who couldn't resist a chance to get Mercury back, especially after the other day, wasn't about to back out. She edged her way to where he was standing.
"You're going to shoot sparks," she said.
"Hmm?" Mercury wasn't even listening to her. "Oh...well, are you finally going to join in?"
"I don't want to talk to any of these people," Cinder said. "But it's painful to watch them waddle around like a Goliath in a snow drift."
"Yeah, they don't have much finesse," Mercury agreed. "But it's just a stupid party. Not an infiltration."
"I wonder what they're talking about." Cinder nodded toward Royal and Emerald.
"Jealous?" Mercury asked.
"No," Cinder said. "I was speaking for you."
"Oh, ha ha. I'm way over that," Mercury lied. "Anyway I'm onto the others--they're just trying to stir us up. Well, it's not going to work on me anymore. They're way too busy in other people's lives now."
"I agree, it's exhausting and annoying." Cinder affected her usual flat tone. "Both of us should show them that we're not going to play their game anymore."
"Yeah." Mercury didn't see the obvious bait because, of course, he believed Cinder was sincere about wanting to be left alone. "If only there was some way to get them all to leave us alone."
"On that we can agree." Cinder couldn't believe how easily he was falling for it but didn't give herself away by acting like it. "Suppose we go out there? Flip them off, so to speak. That's how little we care."
"You mean dance?" Mercury said. "I mean, I can, but aren't you afraid of sullying your reputation?"
"More that you'll break my new shoes because you're that clumsy," Cinder said. "But if it would get them to stop giving us those simpering looks of pity, I would make the sacrifice."
"That might work." Mercury hadn't liked the sly looks they'd been getting from Yang either. "Well, at least it beats standing here like a lost sheep. But I'm not that convinced that you're able to be nonchalant. If you make that smug face of yours, they'll probably just think we're plotting something."
"I'll be stone faced," Cinder said. "Like this."
She let her expression go blank.
"Hmm. Okay, fine." Mercury shrugged like it didn't matter.
Jealousy was really making him careless, Cinder thought to herself, the way she thought belittlingly of people she was fooling.
Though it is well known that jealousy often does make people more naive.
"That's awkward," Yang observed. "But I guess they're having fun. This does give me deja vu though. Remember the other dance?"
"That was so long ago," Ruby said.
"The one I wasn't there for?" Oscar asked. They had stopped to get some punch.
"Yeah, it was a magical night," Pyrrha said dreamily. "That was when Jaune was my knight in shining armor."
"More like your knight in shining satin," Neptune said.
"I thought I looked good in that dress," Jaune said.
They all started choking on laughter.
"I remember you were kind of dancing like a dork," Weiss said to Neptune. "But Yang must have taught you some moves. You almost looked like you felt comfortable earlier."
"Gee, thanks, Weiss," Neptune said. "They say it's all about finding the right partner. Yang and I just have better chemistry."
"Just needed a little tutelage." Yang shrugged. "Though not everyone has my natural rhythm."
"What was it that Royal asked you a few minutes ago?" Ren, who'd been quiet the whole time since arriving--while Nora was as usual, scaring other people--asked.
"Oh, just to do that thing where you switch it up," Yang said. "I think he's playing some kind of joke on Mercury. At least he said it would be funny, so I assume it was on Mercury."
"Why does it have to be on Mercury?" Ruby asked.
"If it was on Emerald, that's just mean," Yang replied.
"Nothing you say makes any sense anymore," Blake said. "At least your mom is having fun."
If by fun you meant Raven was giving Qrow a hard time about his new brother-in-law.
"Still too weird," Yang said. "But I guess let her enjoy it... It's back to the hard stuff after today."
"Maybe not." Shine moved closer. "Soon, but I had something else in mind, if you're all willing. I'll explain...but first Wally and I want to have another dance... It's been ages since we had a getaway day and I'm making the most of it. Can you play this song here?"
She held up one.
"I don't know that one," Yang said.
"It's got a good beat," Shine said. "Kind of a mix of old and new styles in my own time. I'm tired of waltzing."
"Yeah, it's killing me to go that slow," Wally said. "It won't hurt you, Blondie."
"All right, but if it's a stupid one, I'm changing it," Yang said. "But this is the perfect chance. I'll be right back."
"Should we be worried that, under the circumstances, she's still in the mood to prank people?" Meridian asked.
"I'd be more worried otherwise," Blake said.
"You want to dance again?" Sun asked Blake.
"Can we wait till we hear what Yang is going to do?" Blake asked.
"Royal came up with it. It can't be that diabolical," Oscar mused.
[Yeah, I'm sure Royal's idea of a practical joke is writing 4x4=16 on someones' car.]
Yang put on the DJ headphones.
"All right, people," she said loudly, "it's that time of night. Glad to see you're all throwing down, but I have a song here that's from our very own DJs, Shine and Wally." She winked. "Guess you really do want to be the DJs, eh?"
Wally laughed while Shine rolled her eyes.
"And it's also that time of night where we're all going to mix it up," Yang added, plugging the scroll in. "So everyone switch partners with someone you've not been dancing with tonight--and no one sits this one out or you get soaked in punch! New rule."
"She can't enforce that rule!" Oscar cried.
"She can try," Nora said. "I'd help."
"Nora..." Ren sighed.
"Wow, Yang goes the extra mile," Royal commented to Emerald.
"Wait, what kind of game is this?" Emerald asked. "I don't remember this happening at the other dances."
"She has had a few years to up her game..." Royal managed to look pretty innocent.
"Oh well..." Emerald turned--and, of course, Mercury and Cinder were right there.
"Perfect." Royal didn't waste any time. "Switch?"
"Wait a second," Mercury said. "She didn't say it had to be the person right next to you."
"5, 4, 3--" Yang wasn't giving them time to think about it. "2--"
"You want to get punched?" Royal said.
"Was that a pun?" Mercury protested, but it was too late of course.
The funny thing was Cinder hadn't exactly expected this twist.
"Wait, I thought--" she protested, as everyone switched positions.
Emerald was turning red. "Well, Yang's just having a stupid joke on everyone," she said to Mercury. "We could just sit down."
"If she's serious about the punch, that could really ruin my shoes..." Mercury looked down.
Yang waved at them cheerfully.
"She's serious," Emerald said. "This is twisted blackmail, but I guess it's just for one song."
The song started playing.
[Caro Emerald, Lokee Remix--"Tangled Up". This song is so fun.]
Everyone else in the room took the whole thing in stride and began to do fast, dramatic dancing.
The choice in music though was...auspicious.
Royal thought it was almost like Shine was in on the joke.
"This wasn't part of the plan." Cinder was not pleased that she'd been somehow tricked into going along with this.
"It's all part of making it convincing," Royal said. "Why don't you just enjoy it? This song is actually pretty cool...though not quite what I was expecting. Reminds me of some of the ones they use in movies."
"It's Shine's playlist," Cinder said. "She recommended this song to me, once."
"Well, that makes sense. It does fit you," Royal said.
"What?!" Offended.
"I meant the style," Royal said.
Well, that was true.
"Anyway lighten up." Royal spun her. "It worked, didn't it? Now if they would just talk."
"If the goal of this--" Cinder had to regain her footing. "--was forcing them to talk with the song, a slow one would have been better."
"Well, that wasn't my plan. But I'm rolling with it. You know, you're not bad at this. Where did you learn?"
"I...just by watching people." Cinder didn't think much of it. "Why does it matter?"
"Watching? That's it? Not weeks and weeks of drills?" Royal was mad. "Some people don't know how lucky they are."
"Oh, yes, that's so important," Cinder retorted.
"Laugh at me all you want, but it wasn't fun to have to memorize all those steps. Of course it didn't help that my dance instructor was kind of...well...how do I put this?" Royal paused. "Lacking in both tact and encouragement."
"It's not as if it's a critical skill." Cinder would never understand why the elite insisted on spending so much time on this kind of nonsense.
"Well, no," Royal said. "So how would you like to get lectured for 10 minutes on something that's not even that important? But you can't leave."
Pause.
"That would drive me crazy," Cinder said.
"Yeah...honestly made me really dislike doing anything like that for a while, but this is kind of fun," Royal remarked.
"You seemed to only find things fun when you can use them to mess with someone else," Cinder replied flatly.
"Look who's talking there, Miss Infiltration."
He had her on that.
Mercury was glancing over.
"That sly dog," he told Emerald. "I think he planned this. Talk about going the extra mile to get what you want."
"You think so?" Emerald said. "Could have picked a better song to make his move though."
"I think that was Shine's fault. Why would she even pick this song? It's not wedding material," Mercury said.
"I would think you'd like that better. You hate weddings," Emerald said.
"When did I say that?" Mercury said.
"Uhh...you complained about every single one we've been invited to," Emerald replied. "It's all a load of romantic crap, I think is close to what you said. You'd never be interested, etc."
Mercury wished she wouldn't quote his words back to him like that. [I know--the audacity, right?]
"I don't think it's so bad if people want to," he said uncomfortably. "It's just expecting everyone else to feel as sentimental about it as them. I guess if Raven and Hazel want to do this, that's their business, but it's not really my business to care."
"It's not? So you don't care about Hazel's happiness?" Emerald said, struggling to keep up with the music notably.
She was envious of Cinder and Royal; they were able to match each other perfectly without any effort, from the looks of it, but the others weren't doing so well with the fast pace. But not Jaune--he was doing fine. He was dancing with Ruby, but she was suffering there.
Yang had Oscar, probably mostly so she could give him a rough time, in love, about it.
[No, it's because he's so cute.]
"Did I say that?" Mercury responded to Emerald's question.
"I just think, if it'll make them happy, shouldn't we support it?" Emerald said.
"I didn't say I didn't want them to be happy," Mercury said. "And where did that question come from? That's a little rude to just ask me that, like I have to like this to care."
"Whatever," Emerald said.
"You always say that," Mercury remarked.
"No, Merc, you always say it." Emerald was not finding this to be a very successful interaction. "Whatever. Sometimes...but nevermind, it's not my business."
"No, why don't you go ahead and say it?" Mercury sounded peeved.
"You'll only get annoyed," Emerald said.
"I'm already annoyed, so might as well."
"Ugh, fine... I just think sometimes it's fine to join in with other people's ways and not have to do our own thing. Sure it's...awkward. But when you're friends or family, you've gotta compromise. And there's...times when doing things your own way is a bad idea anyway. Why have beliefs in something if it's not gonna change you?"
"I think I've made a lot of compromises," Mercury argued. "But there's a time to know when to have your own mind too."
"Are you saying I don't?" Emerald took that the wrong way.
"No, that's not exactly what I--" Mercury began.
"Really," Emerald interrupted before he finished. "Isn't that unfair?"
"I didn't mean it person--"
"And if it comes to that, how is thinking--" Emerald got no further than that, because at that moment she tripped...or her shoe twisted, she wasn't sure which, and she almost got caught in her dress. [As a woman...this is kind of the worst way to trip. Worse if you have a skirt that can get yanked loose.]
She nearly pitched forward, but Mercury moved and caught her in time.
She looked up, awkwardly.
Mercury felt just as awkward.
But the song ended right then anyway.
"Huh." Royal saw what happened. "Do you think it worked?"
Cinder glanced their way but then recalled she wasn't supposed to be doing this.
Pulling her hand away from Royal in a much bigger hurry than politeness really would dictate, she said, "I don't think it did. Your plan needed more steps."
"I actually think my real plan worked pretty well," Royal said, with a smug look in her direction.
Cinder didn't exactly know what that meant--but the guesses that came into her head didn't reassure her.
Without another look, she moved away from the dance area as fast as she could.
Mercury put Emerald back on her feet.
"Guess you still can't dance..." he said, for lack of any other remark.
"Ergh!" Emerald lost her temper because she was embarrassed and smacked him in the shoulder, hard, before storming away.
"Aww." Yang was leaning on Oscar's shoulder now like he was a countertop. "That kind of went south."
"Uh... sure..." Oscar was nervous--not because Yang was using him as furniture, but because he didn't want to be complicit in whatever this was. He was afraid he'd suffer the consequences.
[At this rate, Yang and Raven should just team up to interfere in people's business.]