Chapter 394: Dancing Queen
“So...” I began whimsically, approaching her with springy, dainty steps. “I hear from a pretty little bird that you ain’t much of a dancer?”
Ah, what am I even doing right now? Was I seriously about to make Ash dance and spin for my benefit? Give in to my innermost desires just for like five minutes of an eye-candy feast?
Guess so... and I can’t even use the excuse that I was doing this to get her to unwind, and be herself. I’m too aware of my own ulterior motives to try and play that card.
At the sight of me, Ash broke free from her cryogenic state – staring at me briefly, before staring away from me not so briefly, swiftly veering her focus to her shoes causing her hood to swallow her head even more and obscure her face.
“Do you wish for me to participate, Master?”
Straight to the point, huh?
“Well, I don’t see why not,” I said, leaning myself under to try and meet with her gaze from below. “Someone as beautiful as you are, I’ll never see why not.”
.....
That compliment earned me a faint smile, and in return, Ash raised her head a little higher. “Coaxing me with blatant flattery, Master?”
“So long as it works,” I said, shrugging. “Is it working?”
“You need not persuade me, Master,” She said, shaking her head in reassurance. “If you wish for it, I shall obey... and eagerly, gladly, I’ll see it to its end, only it’s just...”
“Just?” I urged her on.
“You’ll be watching us, won’t you?” She said, and the way she just breathed out right then, you’d think it was a matter of life and death. “Attentively, scrutinizingly, the both of us... with nary a chance for your gaze to go astray?”
Oh, okay... alright, I see, I see you, Ash. I think I get what’s going now. If she was going to do something this embarrassing that she’s also never done before, she’s gonna need some support to get her through it, something to latch on to, to drown out her hesitation – and I guess I happened to be that perfect something.
“Not a chance, indeed,” I said happily, the flatter-ee becoming the flattered. “I didn’t get to see you win the last one, all the more reason to see you take this one in the bag, right?”
She breathed out another hefty breath again. “Oh, I dearly wish you wouldn’t, actually...”
I blinked. “Huh?”
Okay, turns out I was staring at the whole thing backward. She doesn’t want to do it because she’s nervous I wouldn’t be watching, she doesn’t want to do it because she’s nervous that I WOULD be watching. Which is just... wow, now I feel like some self-loving ego-man for thinking it was the other thing.
Ash can dance, she claimed herself confident when it came time to tap her feet to the fast beats... so long as I wasn’t around to see it that is. Apparently, I’d simply just ‘distract’ her, whatever that the hell that meant, if I were to stay.
So yeah, for the final round, I guess I’m going to be taking a hike elsewhere to pass the time.
“Let me get this straight,” Amanda said, aggressively stamping her foot not-so-rhythmically. “So when I have a problem with a match, you go ‘oh no, stop being toxic’, but when Ash has a problem with a match, you go ‘sure, babe, anything for my queen’ you’re not being subtle about it anymore.”
I furrowed my brows. “Well, I didn’t say it like that.”
‘So he says with a defensive tone,” Amanda sighed, shaking wearily her slumped head. “”Whatever, it won’t matter once I win. I’ll show you don’t need pointed ears and formal words to be just as enticing.”
“Don’t worry, Big Bro, I’ll be sure to get a ‘memento’ for you, I promise,” Sammy proclaimed, practically shoving me out the metaphorical door, tongue-in-cheek. “Now shoo, we can’t hog the dance floor all to ourselves for long. We’re gonna need to start now.”
“Alright, I’m going,” I said, turning one last time towards Ash prepping near the dance pad. “Do your best, okay?”
“Do OUR best, you mean,” Amanda said, pouting. “You’re seriously – ”
“Joking,” I interjected, smiling. She’s cute when she’s mad. “You do your best too.”
Once I heard the clunk of tokens being slotted, I waved farewell and took my leave for the time being, but really... not really. I only pretended to disappear, sent myself all the way across the other end of the complex... but once I heard the thumping snare of an upbeat tune, I slowly, subtly made my way back, keeping my head low amidst the crowd.
For once, I was actually grateful that they both had that passive skill of attracting various onlookers. They were useful for blending in, and for this final round, they were as vast and many as they’ve never been before. I think even some employees had taken an impromptu break time just to come and watch.
I knew I couldn’t get too near or else I might ruin the vibe, so I kept a fair distance away still, watching from an angle through the reflective sheen and glimmer of an out-of-order cabinet.
Whoever picked the song had good taste. It was the type you could bop your head too, the kind of tune that takes all control from you and makes your muscles take a life of its own.
Amanda especially, allowed herself wholeheartedly to be taken by the groove, it was her all eyes were drawn too. The sway of her body, the flutter of her hair, she made every spin, every twist of her feet seem so easy. The scoreboard sang her praise, racking up points by the hundreds with every consecutive perfect move.
As for Ash, well... as with everything else prior, it took a while for her to acclimatize to her environment. At first, she simply followed the gestures shown on screen to a tee, dutifully... and though it netted her just as many points as Amanda, when it came to the style factor, however... clinging too close to the script left much to be desired.
But eventually, in time, as the fervor in the air did its work on her, bit by bit, her robotic motions were being replaced with more limber, springy parts. When she jumped, she jumped high, when she spun, she spun fast, and when she danced... she danced beautifully.
Gradually, more gazes began to stray over towards her. She was no longer being overshadowed – she shared alongside Amanda a presence on stage equally as mesmerizing as it was alluring.
It didn’t feel like two people competing, the way they moved, complimenting one another’s motions – moving as one, dancing as unison, whatever pictured my mind painted utterly paled to what I was seeing now.
The music was building, and their motions followed suit, in the heat of things, Ash’s hood had fallen over, baring her face, her expression, her joy to the world. The almost blinding glimmer in her stark green eyes, the whirling cascade of her snowy-white hair, how the strands whipped across her involuntary smile... if I didn’t know any better, I’d say an angel’s presence had entered in our midst.
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