First Floor Rec Room, Friday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla sat at the piano, practicing. Her laptop was open, with more classical music queued up. Though her fingers were practicing scales, in her head she was going over dance steps she'd learned as a girl. It was a good thing that all her practice sessions with Leto had reminded her of the very basics of dancing.

Anyone passing by who claimed to occasionally see Karla get up and dance by herself for a few steps? LIED.




[Posted early to deny possible fail. Karla's here for one, but rec room's are always open. Like your mom I DIDN'T SAY THAT]

Comments

[endsthegame]

He did notice her increased confidence, and considered it idly in the back of his mind. Had she expected him to behave otherwise? To say something to jar her, to throw her from her intended play? She did have a duality about her, and he'd attribute it to that; work it out later.

In time, Ender let himself move close enough to get a clearer look at what she was doing, but feeling no intent to interrupt, he'd say nothing until she made it clear that the song was over.

He was somewhat glad the IF didn't scrutinize his middle-of-nowhere posting any closer than it did.

[glacial_queen]

And shortly thereafter, the song ended, Karla finishing up with a little, hastily-improvised flourish. Why not? She was proud of herself. She'd gone from remembering the opening measures of the song and a stanza or two of the lyrics, to playing the whole damn thing.

Even if the lyrics were still heavily populated by 'somethings' and 'lalalas.'

When the last note died, she turned towards Ender and waited for him to say something.

[endsthegame]

Ender, in turn, smiled at her.

"It was beautiful," he said, shrugging lightly to assure her that he didn't really care about the imperfections at all. "Is that what you dance to?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla blushed, dropping her head. One day, she was going to have to learn how to take sincere compliments.

"Sometimes," she said quietly. "There are lots of different kind of songs to dance to. That's a slower song. My parents opened a ball with it one night. I wasn't playing, of course," she hastened to assure him, as if he were about to accuse her of doing so.

"Thank you."

[endsthegame]

"I guess this is where I say 'No, thank you'. It was good." He could have asked more questions, and in the past, he had. Right now they were here for a purpose, and Ender just nodded, accepting it. "What kind of music did you bring?" he asked, finally.

[glacial_queen]

"A few other things," Karla said, grateful to be off the subject where she was getting complimented. "Mostly some slower pieces I dug up at Groovey Tunes. It'll be easier for learning, I think."

She pulled open her laptop, and clicked the music folder. "I tore the music from some CDs," she explained. "So I think it ought to work."

[endsthegame]

"You're still learning pretty quickly," he observed, glancing over her shoulder to get a look at the music. He did so as unobtrusively as he could. "So, teacher, where do we start?"

[glacial_queen]

"With the basics, of course!" Karla said, finally getting the stupid thing to play. And finding the volume control. Mother Night, these were complicated devices. After a few more seconds of fiddling, the violin strains of Etta James's At Last came pouring out of the speakers.

"The easiest step," Karla explained, "is this simple box step." She was glad she'd worn pants; it made it easier for Ender to follow her movements. Though this step was easy enough to figure out on its own. "Forward, then step to the left, then back, then right. Just make sure to do it in time, okay?"

Karla began counting out the time, and reached for Ender's hands.

[endsthegame]

And Ender let her take them, with ease. It was something entirely different from learning how to shoot, but as in learning any physical activity, the essentials were the same. "Doing it in time," he echoed. "One." Forward, then to the left, then back, then right; for all that his frame screamed gawky teenager, he still had soldier's muscles grafted into it.

It wasn't so much gracefully falling into it - that would've implied an innate talent, which he didn't have - as following the order without much thought, willing his body to move a little differently.

[glacial_queen]

Karla moved with the unconscious grace of someone trained in those steps since childhood; the same kind of unconscious grace that Ender likely moved with when he was acting as a soldier. She clasped his hands, counting quietly, and danced with him, mirroring his steps. She'd assumed she'd have to keep him on time, but he was moving properly. Karla had a sense that he wasn't following the rhythm so much as taking the next step after the exact same duration of time had passed. If the music changed, Karla wasn't certain that Ender would change with it.

"Good," Karla said. "You've got the basic steps down. Wanna make them fancier now?"

[endsthegame]

"Are you saying that wasn't fancy?" Ender asked her, with a little wiggle of his eyebrows.

Banter came as easy as it ever did.

[glacial_queen]

"I did say fancier," Karla told him primly, though her mouth twitched a bit. "Though the next bit is still really easy. Once you've taken that last step to the right, pivot to your left. Then forward, left, back, right, and pivot again. It's the same step, we're just facing a different direction each time. Ready?"

[endsthegame]

"Ready," Ender agreed, once he'd pictured it in his mind. He stepped as she'd instructed, managing some grace and coordination on the pivot - in much the same way that he did in the rest of it, with more consideration for internal rhythm than the music.

[glacial_queen]

"Exactly right!" Karla crowed. She was proud of Ender, even if she didn't think she was teaching him anymore than the basic steps. The rest was all him. "I can't tell you how long it took me to get this straight. I kept turning right, unconsciously, since it's my dominant hand."

And wee Karla'd had some trouble with her left and right not so different from her adult mun, sadly. Not that she'd admit that out loud.

"This step will get you through a dance. But, to really look good, we add a few things on. Some twirls, some dips, things like that. The most important thing, though, is to let the steps be graceful and relaxed. Don't be stiff, try to make it look natural. Let me know when you think you're ready for more."

[endsthegame]

"The basics are all in the orientation," he observed, "What's left and what's right." Also a lot like waging war.

Ender shrugged lightly again. "I doubt my talent really lies towards making my dancing look fancy," he admitted, "So let's stick with the basics for now."

[glacial_queen]

"I dunno..." Karla said, dimpling. "I think you could handle a twirl every now and then."

[endsthegame]

"Twirling is Val's territory," Ender said, with a slight twitch of a smile. "I just fall."

[glacial_queen]

"I suppose I could twirl then. Or would twirling me also result in a fall?"

Karla was pleased to note that even with bantering, Ender was keeping time. Most people new to dance ended up slowing or even stopping completely to think or speak.

[endsthegame]

He was used to moving without thinking as he spoke. Without the ability to multitask while moving, Ender wouldn't have made it far as a soldier.

"I guess we'll have to see," he said, "Maybe you can get the air to catch you."

[glacial_queen]

Perhaps if someone was a little more forthcoming with his past, Karla wouldn't be constantly surprised when he did things normal people usually couldn't.

"The air catching me won't do much for our appearance on the dance floor, will it?" Karla teased. "Just extend your arm, give me a spin, and mostly let go of my hand, then catch me with both." That made it sound enormously complicated. "Never mind all that. Just extend your arm."

[endsthegame]

But being forthcoming about his past had led to frustrating questions from Ben before; he was trying to avoid it, although even he knew he couldn't stick to being friends with anyone on the island for a prolonged amount of time without coming up with something.

"Extending my arm," he said, with an amused tone to his voice, and did so.

[glacial_queen]

Ahhh, but Karla's much more subtle than Ben. (Shut up. She is when she wants to be.)

Karla followed his arm, and when it was fully extended, she spun. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled herself back into the proper position. Anyone watching would have had no idea that Ender had only moved his arm. Karla'd learned not only how to dance, but how to make others look as if they could dance well, too. More Protocol, actually.