"With a stomach filled like this, I think I need to let some of it go." Inerish suggests as she looks over at the dance floor with a series of gentle claps. The already ongoing music in turn sticks out all the more because of it.

"Fair enough, I've seen what built-up food can do to Errakurds before." I huff, thinking of Omb and the big fat belly he once had before the Inter-House all those years ago. He was massive and then it turned out he's still massive, just in muscle instead. I don't recall what happened to him or any of the others over the years outside of Tiyanat...

A chunk of dark-fire bursts over my head, vapourising in a harmless moment.

"Come on, while my mood is still favourable." Inerish huffs with a smirk and she stands up, offering me a hand while I am still sitting as wide-legged as I was when I first arrived.

"I've already danced tonight." I try to dismiss her wants with but it only makes the sudden grip all the stronger.

"You're experienced, all the better!" she goes and I am up on my feet, with a stumble or two. Moving my weight away from her, she puts her head up proudly as space starts to clear for us. Though, not for the reasons she might be pretending. With a sharp turn from her, we come to a stop and our contact is separated for the moment.

"Don't expect much out of me." I warn and she rolls her eyes, my claws finding their positions on their own. Taking a step forward, she takes one back and we start to get into the rhythm of it. Unlike Liada earlier in the night, Inerish seemingly wants to take it slower for one reason or another. Doesn't seem to be she lacks confidence in her ability to move so maybe she just wants to move and talk, using the dance to add some levity.

"You've not disappointed me so far." she remarks and I frown.

"We just started!" I gently exclaim as she starts to test me with the hastening of her turns and dictations. Her dress flows in the chef-blessed wind, the freedom to move without the shackles of professionalism clearly having its mark. The claw holding her hand tenses slightly. She knows.

"How is it you can do what you do but something as slow-paced as this is getting your muscles and mind knotted up?" she questions, teasing my stiffness by shuffling in my direction. She forces me back until we make a sharp turn away from the dancefloor's edge.

"Moving just my body without having to worry about someone's safety is probably the reason. When my pace picks up, I tend to be trying to kill someone." I try to explain and she shakes her head, tutting until she stops to let a smirk bring back some silence.

"I'm a trained killer as well, funnily enough, I am more used to killing than you, Dark Crow. The Hero of Thrurstradtur, the Man of Five-Year Determination." she coys as my claw moves off her back. She slowly walks around me, her hand still in the other claw although shifting about within it. Moving one step forward, I keep my front close enough to hers and she steps back into my grip. A firm thrust making it so.

My jaw chitters louder and I look down at the chest-pressed woman.

"Despite it, I am doing this far better than you." she points out, slipping away with a swordswoman's agility that puts that instinct to good use. Some of the still seated exclaim their awe at the muscle needed and I blink towards my suddenly empty claw.

"You want me to go faster and you can handle it?" I ask, taking the taunting for what it is. Crossing my arms, I wait for her response as she brushes some of the dress away, showing off a thigh once again.

"The one who's been struggling to keep up is you, Dark Crow." she reminds, the nail of one finger on a thumb. The pressure sharply slips it off and a flexing hand gently floats down to her side.

"Well..." I start to say.

Reappearing before her, the dining hall's cutlery and lights rattle with a jangling clatter.

"Let's test that." I finish, taking her hand and putting the other claw onto the back it belongs on. Rather, the back that belongs to it.

"Oh!" she goes, trembling from the vibrations still rocking her as her eyes lock onto my chest. Taking one step forward, she goes with it, barely avoiding my massive bricks for feet. We step ever backwards, going through the paces with growing rapidity and length. I want to test her flexibility, how far this body can bend under pressure.

The next step brings out my normally double-bent, osibindah leg to its fullest extent. Her furthest-reaching heel slips onto the tip of her covered toes. Her back bending towards the same side of that leg, so far from the cover of her dress. Taking a step back, she flies up within my grip and I stake her down with an echoing clack.

Wide eyes meet mine as the brim of my hat hides them and I release her, directing her in a far more brutal manner. Relatively speaking. A breathless laugh accompanies her smile and she steadily falls back as I put as much graceful tact as I can into my strikes. She similarly blocks them and I find her wrist.

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Rapid clicks sound off as she gives the impression of slowing down from a run and my magic ignites. Going into the air, I shoot down onto my palm and flip back up, taking her with me. My feet plant themselves firmly and she jostles in my arms. Leaning towards one knee as one arm swishes away from her calves, her feet struggle to find their footing.

Throwing out a grappling spell, the casting claw hops between firm grips and my legs lurch forward, stressing the elasticity in my muscles. Palming the end of the spell, it vanishes and we land upright as if we were always destined to. Like a pole in a perfectly circumferenced slot. A shaky breath leaves her.

She glares with a combative smirk, her own magic coming from her like a cloak and a finger rises. Following it, I realise that this part of the room is heavened above by a vast mirror and the few couples still dancing show a lot within its confines. The patterns on their dresses and the curtails of their surcoats, it's all designed with this in mind. Meeting her eyes, I nod with a slight tilt and then my head turns towards my cloak.

Focusing carefully, I button it with casting runes and a dozen ignite with little rocket boosters. A candle-like pattern to match the flickering fire of her own display. I let out a 'hmm' of thought as the toll of such precise magic takes its toll. Or, maybe I am used to life-or-death adrenaline flowing through me with spells like this.

Who knows...

One of Inerish's heels starts to gently stomp, little flickers of black and violet sparking from the narrow point of impact. Following the sensation of her touch with my head, I note the warmth she is passing on to me as her eyes turn predatory. We start to circle each other within the confines of our touch. She shifts the other way.

"Come on, Dark Crow, let me see what five years of training against one of the world's very best has to offer." she playfully sneers, the two corners of her mouth curling up.

"Worm-Rider's are not known for dancing around here and I've never known much different." I comment, the idea of acknowledging the strength of Smiling Jhurack as one of the best being a little scary. All that power and he used it to hunt girls within a single city...

"Enough talk, shut up and show me." she orders and I nod once again. The footing that barely kept me alive against that insidious killer comes out and she does her best to match it. At first, she wants to keep her eyes on me, a cocky smirk on her lips but she shakes with a stumble. Picking up on the pressure, the heavy plates covering my feet create music of their own and I play around with the angles.

She can't help but shift her eyes towards our feet and I bring a claw up and over her back and to the chin. Moving it up, her eyes come back in line with mine and my head leans forward with a smirk. Gently scratching the tip of her chin, she starts to move away with a flustered expression but she can't move far. Only as far as our entwined grip will allow.

I let go and she moves away, eyes never leaving.

Stopping my movements, she takes the moment to catch her breath and the room becomes tense with only music playing. Closing my eyes, more casting runes pop up along my left side and I bend into an offensive position. Opening the valves on my magic, they ignite and I propel towards her and she flinches back like a frightened child. Gently catching her leg against mine, we spiral into the air, twisting and turning up onto the mirror.

A ting and we fall.

No damage to the restaurant follows us and I hold her close, prepping her for an ending position. The air builds up underneath us and as we land, it bursts out like the water of a broken dam, fluttering everything. Rising to my feet, I let her down onto hers and she puts a hand on her chest. Nodding and letting go, I return to my chair yet she remains stood there, her make-up doing the worst job of hiding her blazing cheeks.

Shaken up, she leaves the dance floor and goes back to her chair, a refined posture barely hiding the thumping of her heart. She can't even look my way without looking away and I start to quietly laugh to myself. Her temper flares up and I smile at her scowl until it goes away. Softly, she uses a finger to move aside a disturbed bang of hair and an amused 'heh' comes out.

"I take it that I did alright?" I choose to question, leaning in with the smirk that has her face stuck in a loop of shambling embarrassment.

"You did... Acceptable..." she struggles to say, made worse by the fact she can't help but look away into other parts of the restaurant. Eyes that once had no problem looking my way just a moment ago can't even manage it now and it's making me ecstatic!

She growls with her out-of-view expression.

"Alright, alright! You've impressed me now shut up." she huffs, crossing her arms as I lean back into my chair, getting the last laugh out.

"Was certainly interesting, I have to admit. Getting into that fight mode mentality and coming up short on all of it. What might've been a kick was just a step, a throw a swirl and so on and so forth." I prattle out, paying a close eye towards the subtle shaking I am feeling as well. This is so strange, it reminds me of my earlier years, the injuries that caught me off guard, the finally understood thrill of having magic!

"Well, that certainly explains how... Aggressive you felt." she explains, shuffling about a bit with another stroke of her bangs as the blush dies down.

"Too much for you?" I ask, mouth ends curving up.

"Again, shut up." she huffs, finishing off what is left in her glass. The bottle pops open and she fills the glass back up with it losing a fair amount, being topped off again right after.

"Careful now." I caution as she seems to lose herself in the swirling sanguine. She smiles and takes another sip, the glass touching the table but remaining under the tips of her fingers.

"I had fun, you should come by on my days off more often!" she tells me upbeatedly, her other hand seemingly reaching for the claw I have on the table. Moving that claw away to my mask, I pick it up and look into its lenses. Her subtle disappointment barely registers as my mind gets to work.

"Yeah, I think I will. Have more than enough time now, don't I?" I go, my mind slipping back into the problem I was able to forget for a moment. I wonder what Lari would've thought of a dance like that? And, oddly, even though she made it clear to me, I want to hope it would've been a step into making her love me like I do her.

Oh, what am I doing? She wanted me to know and understand that my feelings are one-sided. She wanted me to stay hopeful but this is not what she wanted from me. My love has to go to others like Liada, people like her. But, I don't know...

I can't figure it out.