First floor rec room [late afternoon]

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

After coming back from the KKG meeting, Mat had time to stop up in his room to drop off his hat and check his hair (yes, he was that vain) before making his way down to the rec room.

He glanced around, pleased. There was more than enough space to teach Raven how to dance.

Hopefully she wouldn't mind him humming to keep the beat. No one had introduced him to the idea of CDs yet.

[OOC: Mat is there for his daaaaaate, but open!]

Comments

[trigons_child]

Raven was definitely learning what it meant to have butterflies in ones stomach as she arrived a few moments later. "Hello, Mat," she said with a shy smile.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat beamed at her. "Hello, Raven. You look lovely today."

[trigons_child]

Possibly because she'd spent twice as long on brushing her hair as usual, and spent a good hour agonizing over what to wear (despite the fact that most of her wardrobe was still black, with a few non-black -- meaning red -- items that Joan had convinced her to buy). "Thank you," she said. "And you are looking exceptionally handsome as well." Especially his hair!

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Oh, this old thing?" he teased, brushing imaginary lint from his gold-embroidered green silk coat as the mun skips the four pages of narrative that would be necessary to explain where he got the coat, who made it, the seamstress he'd no doubt slept with to get an excellent price, how Mat felt about seamstresses, women in general, his annoyance with nobility and Aes Sedai, and any of a half-dozen other unrelated thoughts that would have made it into the novels. "Thank you. How has your afternoon been thus far?"

[trigons_child]

Truly, Raven would've been crushed under the weight of that narrative. On the plus side? Mouth to mouth resuscitation.

"Quiet and uneventful," she said, "until now."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Let's see if we can't liven it up a bit, then," Mat said. "I apologize--I don't play an instrument and didn't really want to ask the odd band at the tavern to play for us."

[trigons_child]

"I have been looking forward to this," Raven said. "And you have no need to apologize. Perhaps I should learn the basics of dancing before we add music."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat nodded thoughtfully. "That could work," he decided. "Very well. Let's start with something easy." He held out his hand toward her. "My lady."

[trigons_child]

Raven smiled and took his hand. "I am yours to instruct," she said.


[Gah, I am so so sorry about leaving things hanging -- drive from hell took four hours longer than I thought it would. :( ]

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat smirked just a little. "Good," he said. "The first dance I learned was the reel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel_%28dance%29)." He began humming softly. "Follow my lead," he said, slowly going through the steps.

[trigons_child]

Raven managed not to step on Mat's feet, but it was pretty touch and go for a few steps. Her uncertainty made her stumble a few times, however, but she was having enough fun not to get frustrated. "How long did it take you to learn this?" she said after stumbling again.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"I grew up with it," Mat said, giving her a little twirl. "Every festival at home has dancing."

[trigons_child]

"You would find my home very boring," Raven said, laughing as she twirled. Well, just about everyone who didn't like days filled with nothing but meditating and studying would find Azarath boring.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be Mat's idea of the Pit of Doom.

"Well, it doesn't have dancing," he said, speeding them up just a little. "Too much to hope it's because they're too busy throwing dice?"

[trigons_child]

"No, I am afraid not," Raven said. "They spend most all their time with books, or meditative trances." She was starting to get the hang of the moves, and did her best to keep up with the change in speed.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Meditative trances?" Mat repeated, trying not to make a face. "Burn me, that sounds dull."

[trigons_child]

"It is very relaxing," Raven said. "It allows me to center myself and calm my emotions. And it...." She sighed and smiled. "Yes, you are correct, it can be boring."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat reflected that might be the first time a woman had ever admitted that he was right about anything, and grinned. "So is that why you're here?" he asked, "to learn to have fun?"

[trigons_child]

"In a way, yes," Raven admitted, "because Azarath is an emotionless place. We do not have laughter or love or fun."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Burn me, and I thought the Cairhienins were flaming uptight," Mat replied.

[trigons_child]

"But since I have come here I have learned to feel so many things," Raven said. She wasn't going to think of any of the bad things, not right now. "And things like this, like dancing."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat moved them back through the steps another time. "What else have you learned?"

[trigons_child]

Raven blushed and looked down. She was studying the steps, really! "And...kissing," she said.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat grinned down at her. "That's a very important skill to learn," he said, "and you're quite good at it."

[trigons_child]

"Because I had a good teacher," Raven said, blushing even more now.