[FIN] Move to the Music

[Akira Midoriyama]

It was early evening when Akira tried calling Sera's number. Only a couple days after he'd met her, he was lucky enough to get a night off. She'd been on his mind for a while and he wondered how she was doing, but he had been hesitant to call her for fear he'd be wasting her time. At least now he had a good reason.

"Hello, Miss Seraphine?" he spoke, unsure if he was speaking to a person, an answering service, or a person listening to an answering service. "It's Akira. I'm sorry to bother you this evening and I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he pressed on, trying to keep his voice more confident and steady than he felt. "but I've got the night off. I was walking around Camphoreon and I found this place. if it's not too short-notice...would you care to join me?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Luckily for Akira, Sera was at home and even getting ready for a night out when he called. She picked up her cell and, after not recognizing the number, answered it with a curious, "Hello?" The brunette was pleasantly surprised when she recognized the voice and the prefix he used, and made a mental note to add Akira's number to her contacts list as soon as the call ended.

She switched it to her other ear and held it there with her shoulder as she rummaged around in her closet for the dress she was looking for, but paused at his question, her hands hovering over various hangers. "No, you're not bothering me or anything," she affirmed as she started at the beginning, also unknowingly letting him know he also was speaking to the real thing and not her voicemail, "though I was gonna go out tonight. Just by myself though," the girl added quickly, "but it'd be much more fun to go out with you. What kind of place is it?" Because that could completely change what she'd originally had in mind to wear, as well as her make-up and the accessories... She might even have to do her hair differently.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh. Are you sure?" He asked, sounding uncertain, but with a smile audible through his voice. "Not even taking your delightful pokemon with you...?" It was more a half-joke, but he couldn't help feeling flattered at her response that it would be more fun with him. Especially when she didn't know the place. He hoped it wasn't too...'common' for her.

Akira himself had never been to a club before, but he'd often heard about them and had always been curious to go to one himself. Of course it wasn't proper for a higher-class heir to attend such a gathering of young folk, even if they were his age. As he was now, though...it was time to start living.

Maybe Sera was as inexperienced with clubs as he was, though. They both seemed to have come from the same, stuffy society, after all. What if she didn't like it? "I'm charmed you would agree to come even before you know the location," he told her, still smiling into the phone, "but I'm not sure if it's...uh...suited to the tastes of such a high-class lady as yourself."

He hesitated and swallowed. "Um...have you heard of a night club before? I'm none too familiar with them myself," he added quickly, not wanting her to think he thought her ignorant, "but I thought it might be fun to go to one. At least once. We can leave anytime if you don't like it." His hand subconsciously reached for his absent bangs before moving to scratch the back of his neck instead.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well I always have Giselle with me everywhere anyway," Sera amended, and the sound of clothes hangers clicking together was audible from her end. "She's always out and invisible, just in case anything bad happens."

She couldn't help the smile and the straightening of her posture when he called her a high class lady. Why yes, yes she was a high class lady. The mention of night clubs, however, made her expression brighten considerably - not that he could see it, of course, but her sudden eagerness was quite obvious in her tone of voice. "Of course! I love going to clubs, I go out all the time to them." A slender hand reached for the dress she originally was going to wear. "What one were you thinking of? Dragon Dance is a good one."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I'll keep that in mind," the young man answered, still smiling into his phone. Always, huh...?

He was startled by her sudden and enthusiastic response. "O-oh! That's great, then. Uhhh..." Akira looked up to read the name of the club. "...How fortuitous. Dragon Dance seems to be name of the very one I've stumbled across." He chuckled lightly. "Would you like me to come by to pick you up?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Perfect!" More clinking of clothes hangers. Her first instinct was to say yes, he could come pick her up, but that would mean he would do so outside her dreary apartment building. That would be a travesty and absolutely unacceptable, so she frowned at her phone instead. "Uhh.. Nah, it isn't too far, I can meet you there. Out front?"

After arranging the details of their meeting and saying farewell, Sera hung up the call and hurried to finish getting ready. When she arrived outside the club at a decent time (probably a few minutes later than she told Akira), she paused outside the door to glance around for her company for the evening. A small hand reached up to ensure her hair was staying how she'd styled it (which it was); she didn't want it down tonight so it wouldn't cover the areas her short, form fitting black dress didn't.  

[Kitomyx]

Akira had not, in the least, minded waiting. He occupied his time observing the people to go in and out of the club, noting how they were dressed and their demeanor upon entering as well as leaving.

His ears picked up a few lyrics and melody clips while the rest of him absorbed the throbbing beat that seemed to shake the sidewalk under his feet. Taking in the entirety of the club music and the world it painted for him behind closed eyes, he nearly lost himself completely in that world before Seraphine arrived. And they hadn't even entered the club yet.

"Miss Seraphine," he greeted her, drawing up to her side. He was about to offer her a gentlemanly arm, but reached up instead to catch the hand she had raised to fix her hair. "You look marvelously radiant despite the darkness of night. Now I know for certain it wasn't just the light of dawn playing tricks on me when I first saw you." Gently guiding her hand away from her hair, he kissed the back of it before letting go.

A great grin spread across his face and true excitement was evident in his countenance. Gone were the traces of fatigue and weariness that had burdened him like weights during their first encounter. That wasn't all that was different, either.

Dressed in a green shirt with the top unbuttoned and the sleeves folded to his elbows, his collar flared up instead of folded down. Skinny jeans tapered down to a pair of green converse shoes to match the emerald of his shirt. The cord of an mp3 player and a single earbud swung negligently from his pocket before he quickly stuffed them back in. His outfit seemed entirely inconsistent with the conservative coat and scarf he'd been wearing when they'd had breakfast.

Akira may not have had much experience with 'letting loose' in the past, but nevertheless, he was ready to party. "Ladies first," he said, swinging open the door.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A smile formed on her face when he sidled up and took her hand to kiss it, and when he released it she'd all but forgotten why it had been raised in the first place. "Hey Akira," she replied in greeting, taking a moment to give him a once-over. "I didn't know you were such a big fan of the color green," the brunette teased as she turned to walk through the opened door. A fan of green and dressed not even remotely like he had when she'd first met him. But he'd just gotten off of work or something that time, so it made sense he'd be dressed more properly than for a fun night out at the clubs.

"So you haven't been here before?" Sera asked once they were both inside, turning her head to regard her company with a coy smile.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira's apricot complexion reddened deeply at comment regarding his favorite color. He hoped the blush would be mistaken for the glare of the colored club lights. "Oh - right. A nuance I didn't think was worth mentioning," he said shyly, attempting to shrug it off. "But if it matches those gemstone eyes of yours, it can't hurt, right?"

Shaking his head at her posed question, he gazed about in wonder at the foreign world spread out before them. "Never," the young man stated, turning his attention to the DJ station as a new song began. His gaping mouth drew up at the corners and he eagerly pulled Sera toward the dance floor. "Perfect timing. Do you dance...?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Unfortunately for him, she did catch the blush on his cheeks and she smirked. So many compliments! She could definitely get used to this, oh yes. Instead of replying she simply laughed. The tone was light, not at all condescending or negative in any way.

She recognized the song as one she'd heard a few times before, with a beat she liked and could dance to easily. At his question, she grinned devilishly as she held fast to his hand. "Ohh, of course I do, but I think the question is," she paused as she spun past him with a flourish, ending really rather close with her back to him and positioning his arm atop hers, still holding onto his hand. She turned her head to give him a sidelong glance, her painted lips upturned in an inviting smirk, as she finished in softer tones due to the proximity, "can you keep up?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Elated at the sound of Sera's laughter, her felt his heart lighten and beat just a little faster. The music was great, the company was wonderful, and he couldn't have asked more of his first clubbing experience. This particular song was unfamiliar to him, but he took a liking to it immediately and made a mental note to look it up afterward.

That mental note was nearly wiped clean by the pretty brunette's twirl past him, causing him to swerve just to keep his eyes on her. It was then that he noticed their hands were still linked and her sidelong glance made his stomach lurch. He took a moment to draw in a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding before wetting his lips. "Well...I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?" Taking a slightly firmer grip of her hand, he twirled her back around the other way as the rhythm caught them in its magic.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine was quite pleased with the effect her spin had, as well as with his word choice, then she giggled lightly before she twirled back and ended at a distance. His hand still in hers, she tugged his arm lightly to pull him to her and close the distance so they could dance properly. And by properly, she meant in the club sense - she hadn't much experience with more refined dancing.

Once the proximity was closer and thus much more acceptable for dancing in her opinion, she asked, "So you've really never been to clubs before, huh?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira, whose experience with dance had been almost exclusively formal, was a complete amateur at casual club dancing. Aside from some practice demonstrations of 'commoner dances' for fun in his high school music club (which were probably inaccurate enough), modern, unstructured dance styles were as unknown to him as the clubs they were practiced in. He knew of them in theory, but of course that meant little to nothing when it came to putting that knowledge to use.

Luckily, the music-lover picked up on ways quickly in all things music-related, and though he lacked the practiced ease and grace with which Sera moved, he was soon able to emulate her style and that of those around them to a level of his satisfaction. He was a little unsure in his motions at first and it manifested as hesitancy and jerkiness, but when he allowed himself to get more into the melody, he relaxed his focus from the accuracy of his mimicry and managed to dance in a way that suited him more, swayed by the passion of his emotions rather than the urge to conform to the crowd.

At first he thought it was just the close proximity of bodies and the energy generated by the movement all around, but the heat that internally warmed Akira flared even more intensely with the question that left the young lady's lips. "You've been reading me like a book for quite some time, now. Why bother asking me questions you already know the answer to?" he inquired, his tone playfully defensive. "You just like to tease, don't you? That's not very nice." He couldn't stop grinning.

With the song coming to an end, he panted lightly, realizing how much more vigorous and exhausting this style of dancing was in comparison to a boston, waltz, or allemande; nor had any of those ever made him feel quite so alive as he did now. "Now I know how you do it," he gasped, leaning up against a bar counter to catch his breath. "I know how you keep in shape. This - this is your secret. You must have amazing stamina."

Catching a bar tender's gaze, he raised his hand for a drink. "Doesn't mean you don't need to keep hydrated, though. What would you like?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While Seraphine had had a little experience in formal dance, mostly as a small required unit while in school, the majority of her experience was in clubs such as this one, and it was an environment in which she thrived. At least a couple years worth of clubbing had given her the experience and skill to dance well to any of the songs typically played in clubs and to transition smoothly between songs - and in heels, no less, of varying heights, although obviously the lower ones were much easier to dance in. Not that that stopped her from dancing in the taller ones, though; she hated feeling short.

His question made her grin, and she laughed lightly. "Maybe I ask you questions I know the answer to because I'm curious what your answer will be," she replied coyly. "And I love to tease - although, I don't recall ever saying I was nice."

When he needed to take a break (she didn't), she stopped and leaned with her back against the bar and let her elbows rest on it while she gave him a sidelong glance and a coy smile. "Sounds like you should come out to these kinds of scenes more often then, hmm?" She asked a little teasingly, smile quirking up a little more - especially at his question about drinks.

"Surprise me."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh, is that so? Could it be that you expect me to lie?" he countered musingly, turning to rest his back and elbows against the bar counter with his arms hanging off the edge.

At her shameless admittance to her love of teasing, Akira laughed aloud, but at the second part of her statement, his smile disappeared entirely and his lips parted slightly in shock. He'd heard those words before. Those exact same words. It had been years ago, but they'd come from the mouth of someone he wasn't ever likely to forget.

Akira shook himself from his stupor and coughed once, turning back around to face the bartender behind the counter top. Before he figured he just needed a drink to cool down and re-hydrate, but now he wondered if he didn't require something just a little stronger than what he'd originally intended.

Resuming a polite smile, he cleared his throat as he casually tried to skim the lettering on the bottles perched on the wall behind. "May I...have an Apple Martini for myself and a Reno Cocktail for my delightful date, if you please?" The bar tender nodded and started fixing the drinks, but Akira continued to visually browse the selections with interest.

"Oh...maybe I should have ordered you a Shirley Temple. Or a Mango Julius, if you prefer ice cream. Ah, they have Root Beer Floats too?" He turned his attention back to Seraphine, attempting to keep up his jovial attitude from previously. "See, this is why I need to get to know you better. How am I to order you a drink if I know nothing about your preferences?"

Her age, for one, was still a mystery to him and he wasn't stupid enough to ask a woman her years, even so young and attractive a lady as Sera. For this reason he had purposely avoided choosing an alcoholic beverage from the selection available to them.

In a few minutes their drinks were made and Akira had mellowed a little, swirling the contents of his fluted glass before sipping from it. He stared at the liquid for a few moments. "Miss Seraphine," he addressed her, a soft smile still on his lips, "...Forgive me if it's too bold a question, but while you seem to be single at the moment, have you ever before been in an intimate relationship...?"