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[unphase]

Who: Tinya Wazzo and you, whether the character knows Tinya or not
What: Celebrating Tinya's nineteenth birthday!
When: April 21st
Where: The Raccoon Room

Content Warnings: underage drinking, possible discussion of underage sex/marriage/motherhood, possible discussion of an emotionally abusive mother



The Raccoon Room is beautiful as always, left mostly alone except for vases of blue roses sat on tables apart from the dance floor. Blue had always been her favorite color, blue to match her eyes, and she'd rather not to into details of how exactly she managed to acquire so many within such a short period of time. But what she didn't say was that there was a florist who needed a Night Walker to help them cope with the lack of sun and she was the one who responded.

The birthday girl herself looks lovely in a blue strapless dress with no shoes or stockings, the blue in the dress setting off the blue in her eyes, the jet-black of her hair, and the faint blue tint to her skin.

There's a large board with markers where people can write their messages to the birthday girl, ranging from well-wishes to encouragement to "who the Void are you?" Her feelings wouldn't be hurt at the latter, she's well-aware of the fact that she's new in town.

The meal is made of small plates meant to be shared between two or more people and selection of sherry to choose from to go with the food. During the meal portion of the evening, female vocalist jazz plays lightly in the background, enough to be heard but not so much as it would drown out conversations between those sharing tables.

As the meal ends and the plates are cleared, a waltz music plays, ranging from classical waltzes to later songs which lent themselves to waltzing. During this portion of the evening, she's relaxed, happy, dancing with whomever approaches her without care about gender identity, not minding if she led or followed.

As the evening passed midnight, a variety of cocktails were available and the music changed again to what people from the 20th and 21st centuries would recognize as New Wave music came on and the dancing grew far more informal, Tinya in the middle of it all and singing along to the music.

And as dawn approached, one can find Tinya sitting at one of the tables, finally sampling a piece of flourless chocolate cake for the birthday girl with her feet resting on a chair in front of her. She looks happy, as happy as she could be, but there's a wistful gleam in her eyes.

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[retsuden]

Sasuke can feel his cheeks color when she grabs his hand, glancing away at her excitement over the gift. He'd known full well she'd probably like it just fine, but touch has always been something that he's been overwhelmed by when he doesn't initiate. His family had been rather heavily traditional and he'd sworn at points to only ever touch the woman that he planned on marrying in any way, even with something as basic as handholding.

That, of course, had gone out the window over the years, with people like Sakura and Karin being heavily affectionate and clingy individuals, but it hadn't made him any less awkward about feeling someone's hand in his. Especially after so long away from others. Six months in this place still hadn't made him a smoother individual.

He clears his throat, glancing at the dance floor, before looking back to her.

"I don't know how to dance."

[unphase]

She's looking away, towards the dancefloor, so she doesn't notice. She's naturally a very tactile person and spending a year as an intangible phantom only increased those tendencies. Then going back to the other world decreased them back down to a minimum, which was upsetting. But she wasn't about to tell anyone about any of that. It was over now, she'd never go back.

Tinya finds old wounds finally starting to heal over. Mental and emotional scars will be left, there was no getting around that, but she no longer has to find herself going out clubbing 'til she was too exhausted to do anything but sleep dreamlessly. She's humming along to the music, knowing that her gift was in dancing, not singing.

When Sasuke clears his throat, she glances back at him, only to hear that he doesn't know how to dance. "Hmm. That's tricky. At least it's a reasonably slow song, I can demonstrate?"

[retsuden]

There are vague memories from January when the party had turned him into another kind of person, a more charming and fun person, a flirt who loved dancing in clubs and to any kind of music. It's possible that there is some part of him that remembers what that sort of dancing is like, but God, he hopes there isn't a bit of what Sakura teasingly called Charmsuke left inside of him.

If it had been anyone else, those memories would have been more than enough reason for him to tell them to get lost. He didn't know that he wanted to learn to dance. Not for most people.

But it's Tinya's birthday and he apparently cares enough for that to mean something.

"Mm. I suppose."

[unphase]

Tinya wouldn't remember that if he mentioned it. Then, she'd kick herself for missing it. She thinks that everyone, even the most serious (maybe them in particular), deserved to cut loose and have a little fun now and then. And she was happy to provide the fun, if need be. The nickname was adorable, by the way.

He's her dearest friend here and she's very grateful for his friendship in return. She was a social butterfly, it was true, but she had no one she trusted as much as she does Sasuke.

And it's good that he not say so in public, she might have to try for a hug. Chaos would ensue.

"Okay, great! So, how do you want to do this? Formal dancing or something more informal?"

[retsuden]

Formal or informal... Sasuke's forehead wrinkles for a moment as he tries to remember some of the lessons his parents had gotten him involved in when he was younger. Things that had laid imbedded in him, even if he hadn't continued them after their death. He still remembers how to play the flute, even though he can't anymore, and he knew there was music playing often...

"Formal," he says finally. There's a pause before he realizes that formal dancing may be different between their cultures, but he waves off the concern. "Or whichever you think is easier."

(CW: underage alcohol)

[unphase]

And she remembers her grandmother's grand parties when she'd just turned, the music so loud one would have to shout to have a conversation, being carried in the crook of her grandmother's arm, being shown off to the guests, being allowed cake and a single flute of champagne before being put to bed.

And considers. "Hmm. One of our ways of formal dancing should be simple enough. No touching, it's...usually frowned upon for there to be touching while dancing. I'll demonstrate first and you can tell me what you think?"

Tinya then raises her right hand, holding onto the skirt of her gown with her left hand and demonstrates.

((OOC: skip to :55 for a general idea!))

[retsuden]

Sasuke watches her demonstration for a moment, the way that she holds up her hands and the way her feet move in a dance form he has certainly never seen before. Waltzes weren't something he'd ever been exposed to, if they even existed in Konoha, and he wrinkles his forehead slightly as he tries to figure it out.

What he thought, huh...

"... What does the informal dance look like?"

He's pretty sure he'd just trip over everyone trying to do that formal one.

[unphase]

She's all too used to formal dancing. The Mistress knew that diplomats liked to celebrate themselves, so they usually had some sort of ball after successful negotiations. And even after unsuccessful ones. So, she'd stick to the dance floor and try to avoid Mother because she knew what Mother would ask her to do.

And she can see that wrinkled forehead and figures it bodes rejection. So she's pleasantly surprised when he asks about the informal dancing and decides to go with something which will leave him plenty of room.

"Well, there's this?

((OOC: skip to 1:15, as the first dance demonstrated would likely not be a good choice. 😉))

[retsuden]

This is, ironically, slightly more like the Japanese sword dances he's learned, but they always went... beyond just those basic moves. He stares at her for a moment, and if he had both arms, he would have crossed them.

"... Are you sure we have to dance?"

Sasuke has never been the best party guest.

[unphase]

Yeah, from that look on his face, he's not exactly feeling comfortable with that, either. Darn.

"Maybe not. But you do have to have some cake. White cake flavored with rosewater, rosewater buttercream frosting." And she laughed a little, self-deprecatingly. "Can you tell that I love roses?"

As thought the vases of blue roses weren't an indication enough, the rose scented perfume surely gave it away.