| Testing the Dance Floor | ||
|---|---|---|
| |
Dante peers up as he notices a new arrival. He notices these things, even if he's wasted. By the look of the 20 empty beer bottles next to him, he might just be. He waves! "H...*hic*...Hey there. Calamari! ....W...was...Ren, right? Wh...why are there 3 of you now?..." He stares harder, trying to sync up his 'multiple images', if you will. Serenity turns to look as Dante calls out. Ren flashes a fin edge in greeting, then shifts direction to join him. The ripple of undulatory fins has Ren reoriented and moving the other way in one smooth motion. "Hello, Dante," Ren hisses cheerily in return, then frowns a bit at his question. "Serenity, yes," Ren agrees while slipping up next to him. "I could understand two images, given your number of eyes, but I'm at a loss to explain three." Ren adds, "Or did you mean there are shape-shifting people about?" Dante blinks once...before shaking his head clear. "N..Nah. Not that. I m...might have drunk....j...just a SMIIIIIIDGE too much..." He emphasizes this with a spacing of his thumb to his pointer finger, indicating that he doesn't think he's very drunk. Of course, he may just be facetious at this point...or he's too drunk to know the difference. He laughs a bit, reaching out to pat Ren lightly if she doesn't stop him. "We DO got s...some...some shapeshifters 'round these parts though!" This concept seems infinitely amusing to him. Serenity gives Dante a skeptical look at his self-assessment, but smiles at the pat. Ren reaches through the cloak of wintergreen-scented water to briefly clasp his shoulder in return with a portion of one pair of fins. "Yes, I met one who lives under the lake, and believe I may have seen another, though I didn't actually see the change in either one." Dante grins a bit...and then looks a tad confused. "We...*hic*...excu...se me. We got...people living under....the lake now? Huh." He holds up yet another bottle of beer, whever the heck he got THAT one from, and starts to remove the cap. "THAT deserves a dr....drink. Yes it d...does." Serenity remains 'standing' close to Dante, but ripples to slide behind his shoulder as Ren notices him preparing to open the bottle. "Yes, I think it's just one person, and no proper buildings but only a cave. Although it evidently works for that person, I'm not convinced that a cave would be more comfortable for me than an air-filled apartment." Dante removes the cap, albeit with his fingers, and sets it on the counter. He peers over at Ren as she repositions. No, he won't be flinging caps today. It gets kind of dangerous to do when he's inebriated. He nods a little. "G...gotcha. Cave. Huh. Who the h...hell are we t...talking about here?" He doesn't seem to have a clue who'd be living in the lake area. He shrugs a bit either way and drains the bottle of beer in a single gulp. "Oh yeah. *hic* ...Pardon." Serenity returns to hover in front of Dante after the bottle is open. "I'm afraid I only heard the one name, Mei. Human-shaped, with head tentacles?" Ren reaches up to ruffle some gill feathers between the 'ears'. Dante huhs. Nods, placing his bottle back down. Somehow, he seems to be sobering a bit. "Ah, yeah. Mei. ... She's living under the water now? Head-tentacles? She's been shape-shiftin' alright. Huh." He laughs and shakes his head just a bit. "They're usually snakes, but I guess those'd drown." Snakes? Yes, I suppose those did look rather like snakes. Non-human limbs, in any case," Ren amends. "Mei was also the one who told me about the dance club attached to the restaurant." Ren motions a 'wing' in that direction. "I'd overlooked it before, but I'm eager to try it. Dante huhs, nods. He glances over at the 'dance club'. He shrugs a bit. "Well, I dunno about that one. I'm not much one for dancin'. Usually if I hit a club, it's to get drunk, laid or preferably both. Do ya dance?" Serenity grins and waggles antennae at Dante with his remark. "I don't know how it is for you, but it seems to me that drunkenness would reduce one's success in dancing or sex, but dancing would impede neither." Ren answers the latter question with a smile and a piroutte-like motion (obviously sans toes), with fins forming a helical swirl. Dante blinks a bit, then laughs heartily. "Yeah, well, sex is never a problem for me so i-..." He trails off at the twirl and laughs a bit more, clapping. "Very colorful." He stops swaying just a bit there, as it seems he's sobered up. He grins a bit. "Sadly it doesn't last. I'd just about kill for some decent booze that didn't burn off in a few minutes or so." Serenity nods to Dante at the compliment. "To be clear, that is the drunkenness that doesn't last long enough, yes?" Ren asks, motioning toward him. "But surely someone in this diverse place must have an intoxicant that works for you?" Dante nods, sighs. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I've looked. Most of them are your typical shit. Doesn't last long at all. Some of them are supposed to be like...super-booze, but they don't seem to work on me. Something about my physiology? I dunno. Science crap or somethin'." Well, at least he said physiology. Hh... I see," Ren remarks thoughtfully. "On the bright side, I suppose that shows you have a robust metabolism." Ren then adds with a note of encouragement, "Perhaps you should learn to take pleasure in dance for its own sake? No metabolism will harm that. Dante shrugs a bit. "I don't mind watching the lady folk dancing." He grins a bit more lasciviously than before. "Especially if I have a chance to toss some bills there way, know what I mean?" He doesn't seem to get that she may NOT, actually, know what he means. He continues none the less, "You dance often, then?" Bills?" Ren mentions, "I should note that I'm an advocate of splitting costs or taking turns fairly." Ren then smiles and nods at his question. "Not only is dancing what I love to do, but it's how I'd hoped to make a living, along with researching dances and writing on them. Dante huhs. He scowls, although obviously playfully. "Remind me to bring my wallet if we ever go out on a date." He then seems a tad surprised. "Make a living outa it? Were you gonna study to be a....uh..." He trails off, pondering a moment...not having anything come to mind, he continues, "Some kinda dance-ologist or somethin'?" Clever he ain't, I guess. When you've got the rippling abs, you don't need brains I guess. :P "Choreology?"" Ren supplies. ""Yes, I have studied, though sometimes more as more of a means to the end of exploring my favorite sport. In fact, I was coming to Earth to broaden my experiences when this little... detour happened."" Ren flutters wings out to the sides. Dante ahhs. He nods. He looks around just a bit at that one. "That's a good way to put it. A detour. I get detoured by this place ALL the time." He chuckles at that one, shaking his head. He glances Ren up and down for just a second, shrugs slightly. "So...gonna show me your moves, then? n.n" Serenity motions a pair of fins towards the dance club. "Why, certainly!" Ren replies. "I can't be doing it all, though. I would like to see your moves as well." Dante snorts. "MY moves? I don't really HAVE dance moves..." He taps his chin...shrugs a bit. "Alright, I'll show ya....somethin'. It might not be quite what you're expecting though." I thought that you might know something, yes," Ren remarks encouragingly while backing toward the door to the club. Ren then spins to face in the direction of motion. "If I knew exactly what to expect, I wouldn't be asking, you see. Dante follows after, chuckling a bit. "Yeah, I see. I always seem to find the brainy chicks. Ah well. Can't complain about the ratios though." "I wouldn't call myself 'brainy', but I won't complain about a compliment either."" Ren pours through the doorway and flows inside, fin undulations falling into sync with the beat. Ren comes to 'stand' in an open spot and quickly twists to face Dante, beckoning him closer with inward sweeps of the 'wings'. Dante grins a bit more at that one. He offers a thumbs up. "Just the motion I like to see." He follows after. Serenity begins by stretching fins out thinly to the full six-foot span, meanwhile extruding a 'finger' from a trailing edge to tap a control on the top edge of the forcefield generator. With the stretching, the cloak of suspended water forms a roughly cylindrical blob focused on keeping the gills and core of the body underwater. Ren sweeps the wings (with both layers currently treated as one) in wide undulations extending foward and backward while also bending body forward and backward at the opposite times. Ren's rhinophores and mane of gill feathers swish in the current. Dante huhs. He slides into a nearby seat, letting Ren do her thing first. He folds his arms and watches, silent for once. He isn't the most focused individual, but some things require attention. He offers a friendly grin, however The suspended mollusc smiles back and continues the simple back-and-forth bending until a shift in the music arrives. Then, then pulls fins inward fully to form a short and thick fringe on either side while simultaneously lengthening body to a more eel-like shape. Ren twists almost into a knot before coming out of the musical transition with a six-foot-tall vertical column shape and 'wings' wrapped around. Ren then tries to approximate the shape of a woman (or at least an exaggerated stylization thereof) in a flowing dress by flaring trailing fin edges into a hem, pulling in fins more tightly at the abdomen, and making angular shapes in the leading fin images to mimic a shawl pulled over arms and chest. Dante tilts his head a bit. He looks almost entranced at this point. He certainly wasn't aware that Ren could mold herself QUITE in so many ways. There's a lot he doesn't know about this one. He grins a bit further. This might be a fun one indeed. ...Besides, she's female. That ALWAYS gets his attention. u.u Serenity waggles antennae towards Dante while shaking the illusory hips to one side and the other in a four-beat cycle, in between mimicking small steps forward and backward by extruding a fold from the trailing fin edges. After a couple repetitions, Ren continues the 'stepping' but leaves off the swaying, replacing the latter with an upper body motion. Serenity simulates one arm crossed over the chest with a folded-in leading edge of the left fins. The other arm is shaped from the rolled edge of a right fin extended forward and waved slowly to and fro with a billowing motion. The right fin is just the ventral layer extended, with the dorsal layer contracted against the body; the single layer can move more like a sheet of cloth this way. Dante just watches, a bit transfixed in a manner of speaking. . o O(Huh. Pretty sexy for what amounts to intelligent sushi. I've sure as heck been with WAY worse. ...There my mind goes again, wandering off. I guess I've been in dry dock WAY too long.) He chuckles just a bit at himself, but doesn't say anything out loud. He's paying attention. Serenity uses a 'foot' extruded from the trailing edge to unlock the black disc from its spot on the dance floor. Once this is freed, the motion of the right fin begins to have a the effect of side-to-side sway and upward propulsion, but only for a moment. Ren rolls into a somersault and out of the vaguely humanoid shape into one more fitting for a sea slug (or magic carpet). Ren slips out of the somersault to stand in front of Dante and extend both pairs of fins toward him. Of course, Serenity doesn't even seem to be breathing hard (or, really, at all)- there's one advantage of external gills. Said fringe of blue 'hair' is still fluttering in the currents of the suspended water mass. Dante just watches, at first. He's been watching for a time now. Surprisingly silent all things considered. He grins a bit more as Ren offers 'hands', if you'll pardon the vernacular. He reaches out to gently take hold of the proffered limbs, chuckling just a bit. "Now, I gotta warn ya. I've got two left feet when it comes to...uh, this kind of dancing." Serenity returns Dante's grasp with a weaker and more squishy squeeze from the portions of the fins. "Yes, you already said that you didn't engage in dance for its own sake," Ren hisses with a cheerful grin. "But are you better at another sort?" Ren asks, rhythmically raising and lowering his arms with the beat. "Line dancing? Ballroom?" Dante hms. He allows his arms to be moved along to the music as he ponders. He offers an eyebrow waggle. "I'm fairly good at the horizontal lambada. Ever hear of it?" He offers a bit of a wink with that one. Boy, isn't HE smooth? | |
Enable comment auto-refresher