| Having two left feet is optional | ||
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| Summary: It was a big-eyed, one-horned flying purple princess reader in the lobby of the clinic. Initially, she sure looked strange dancing, but with the help of the good doctor, she was able to make quick progress in learning some waltz steps.    |
Twilight Sparkle, today, is slowly walking around, though her wings are extended. And, per usual, there's a book levitating right in front of her face as she walks - it's possible she's engrossed in said book. The colorful slug passes the colorful garden to enter the many-windowed single-story clinic, slipping into the non-emergency entrance with a slow ripple of the undulatory fins. The neotenous winged equine is the first to catch Ren's eye, as even Twisted is short on purple quadrupeds. Ren lifts a 'wing' in greeting to her despite the book, but then slips to the side to continue looking around. For Johann, there's a similar wave, this one with folds in the flesh to mimic a human arm in a loose blue sleeve. Johann sighs contentedly, relaxing after a job well done. He's not really sure why there's a purple horse with wings and a horn in here, but he doesn't want to interrupt her reading. But when Serenity comes through the door, he gives her a friendly wave and says, "Ah, good to see you, Serenity. Vas zere somezing you needed? A checkup, perhaps?" Twilight Sparkle, as a result of the book in front of her face, ends up walking into a wall, scrunching up her muzzle for a moment before moving the book out of her field of vision. "Hello, Johann," Ren amiably rasps in return. Serenity slips over take up a spot beside him, though rather than taking a seat, folds tail end more horizontal so as to match his seated height. "As far as I know, I'm not suffering any terrible alien disease today," Ren replies with an amused note and inward gesture, "so we needn't hurry the checkup. No, I was passing by and just thought to see when you might be free." Ren twists to look at the thump and briefly gives a puzzled expression, but afterward returns eyes to Johann. Johann watches, just as fascinated as ever, as Ren mimics the act of sitting down, nodding with a friendly smile. "Vell, if I do not have any vork, zen zat is a good zing, yes?" he says with a chuckle, then winces as he sees Twilight walking into the wall. "Ah, careful zere, my dear!" Then, back to Ren, he shrugs and answers, "Vell, I am not doing anyzing right now, and I zink my students can handle zings for a short vhile. Vhat did you have in mind?" Twilight Sparkle backs away from the wall with a shake of her head, storing the book in one of her saddlebags and extinguishing the glow around her horn as she turns around to keep walking - it's at this moment that the pegacorn mare gains awareness of her company, and shares a sheepish smile with both. "Oh my, I'm so sorry you had to see me being clumsy there... Good afternoon." "I will endeavor to keep you out of work as much as possible," Ren agrees with a smile, gesturing outwards towards the rooms. Ren returns a nod and smile to Twilight. "A good afteroon," then asks of the doctor, "Perhaps you would like to shed your equipment for a while," Ren motions toward his backpack, "and visit the dance club?" Johann nods to Twilight. "Good afternoon to you as vell, madame. Ve all have bad days." Then he stands up and stretches, walking over to the receptionist desk (which currently lacks a receptionist) and setting his bottle down on it. "I do hope you mean zat by keeping people healthy." However, it doesn't look like he's going to be taking off any of his equipment as he turns around to face Serenity again. "I'm afraid I cannot do zat. I must alvays be prepared, as zere is no telling vhat might happen, or to whom. And besides, a dance club? I'm not so sure about zat..." Is he embarrassed? Oh, yeah, he's embarrassed. He's a professional, see. Twilight Sparkle, herself, doesn't seem all that enthusiastic about dancing either, even if she hadn't been asked to join. "Healthy indeed, or at least uninjured," Ren agrees, unfolding to follow Johann to the desk. Ren doesn't lean on it, but there might still be some briny residue after Ren leaves the spot. His reply gets a momentary frown. "Hh, yes, I understand that you must be on call. Perhaps another day there will be an opportunity to take a longer break," Ren says, motioning to the front door. After seeming to consider something for a moment, Ren grins and offers, "Perhaps you could stay here but learn some 'physical therapy' techniques, then, or perform some 'coordination and range of motion' studies?" Johann nods as Serenity seems to understand, and resists the urge to hug her. "I am terribly sorry, my dear, but the job of a doctor never ends." He gives her a puzzled look at her suggestion. "Are... you flirting vith me? I am flattered, but I am not certain how zat vould... vork." Twilight Sparkle nonetheless trots closer, horn lighting up as she levitates a paper cup over to the water fountain and fills it before bringing it to her mouth for a sip. Serenity 'blinks' at his question and pulls back the rhinophores that had been inclined in his direction. "Hk," Ren crackles after a brief pause, replying, "No, I wasn't flirting with you." Then Ren hastily follows that with a gesture of a fin edge in his direction and the less-than-suave assurance, "...not that I have any reason to avoid flirting with someone who seems both kind and fit..." Ren then flutters 'wings' outward and regains a bit of composure to explain in a more normal tone, "No, I only meant that I thought you might like to try some dancing here at the clinic, which might be justified as tangentally related to your work." Johann blinks as well, then starts laughing as he realizes the error he's made. Of /course/ that's what she meant, what else could it have been? "Oh, I am so sorry for zat, Serenity. Haha, of course I vould be fine vith dancing here. Ve are not very busy right now, so it is ze perfect time for zat, I zink." he says, then takes a breath and sighs. Well, at least it isn't boring anymore. But, that she thinks he /is/ worth flirting with does flatter him a bit. Stepping away from the desk, he moves some small pieces of furniture out of the way to make more room, then turns to Ren and bows. "Vhenever you are ready, my dear." Then, to Twilight, "And you, if you vould like to show us vhat you can do as vell." Twilight Sparkle nods, keeping her wings extended as she carefully rises onto her hind legs to begin what she calls dancing - it might just look like random flailing to Johann, however, and further reinforce how inept the pegacorn is at proper dancing. "That would be wonderful," Ren replies to Johann. Ren ripples backwards from the desk, but doesn't seem equipped to be moving furniture about and so leaves that to Johann. Ren first returns the bow, then twists to watch Twilight. After some moments of intense concentration to discern a pattern, Ren speaks up. "Perhaps some music would help?" Ren offers diplomatically. Reaching up with the leading edge of a fin, Ren taps the rhinophore cuff computer and crackles a few voice commands to it. The sound quality isn't excellent, but it does adapt to spread sound evenly and cancel echoes in the room. What begins playing is a moderately-paced Afro-Brazilian rhythm with hand drums, shakers, and a touch of berimbau twang. Johann smiles at Ren, though Twilight's attempt at dancing is quite... attention-grabbing. He's actually a little worried she might be having a seizure, until Serenity decides to help the pegacorn with some music. "Ooh, a lovely idea, Serenity. Dancing is alvays better vith music." he says with a grin, tapping his feet to try to match the rhythm. "Hmm, how are ve doing zis, zen? A one person dance, or two?" Twilight Sparkle seems to be dancing a little better with the addition of the music, though she keeps swinging her forelegs for a few more seconds. Inwardly... 'This is embarrassing - I'm a Princess now, and I should've learned how to dance better than this...' "Two-person dancing with me might result in taking on some water," Ren doesn't speak on the results of dancing with a double-jointed unicorn, "so perhaps a bit of space is in order." Serenity flows into the open area, making a pirouette before collapsing fins inward and forward to make a roughly cylindrical form. A slightly more human shape is obtained by shrinking and pinching in the fins at two points to suggest a waist and neck. Ren also folds hints of arm or leg into the fins, but those come and go. Serenity starts with a stamping pattern of two left and two rights steps forward, each followed by a step back. Since Ren doesn't have any feet, the motion is represented with a flutter of trailing edges imitating a lower leg lifting and a skirt fluttering after the nonexistent knee drops. Johann chuckles goodnaturedly as he watches Twilight dance. "Keep it up, you're doing just fine." he offers in the way of reassurance, then turns his attention to Serenity, immediately enamored with how she's able to change her shape like that to, well, dance. It's a beautiful, flowing rhythm as her body flutters and undulates to mimic the form of a human dancer, her translucent colors flashing hypnotizingly in the light as she moves. Since he has never been very confident in his solo dancing ability, he simply claps and taps his toes in time with the music. Twilight Sparkle keeps dancing, with the music providing a greater focus for her. "This is better, honestly..." As Johann continues to leave the dance to others, Ren sweeps in close to him with a flash of the 'wings' disguised as a forward push of imaginary arms and with the hovering disc's motion deemphasized by rapid tiny tip-toe steps indicated by a rhythmic flutter of the trailing edges. Once nearby, Ren tries to demonstrate a simple series of steps, shifting weight from one leg to the other (portrayed by leaning the upper portions of the body in a counterbalancing direction) and on alternate steps swiveling the hip (indicated by the motion of a knee-shaped bump in the fins and wrinkles extending from the 'hip'). After that, Ren backs up just as rapidly to face Twilight before slipping into more dramatic motions. The 'footwork' continues for a moment, but Ren whips the wings outward as if a dress' sleeves were thrown to the sides. The violent motion looks to be inspired by Twilight's flailing. Indeed, it seems almost random, but the repetition suggests it's not. The outward motion is interspersed with a lean forward and a push of imaginary palms on fins held vertically out front. Johann smiles at Ren as she approaches him, never breaking rhythm as he continues to watch her dance, entranced by her strangely beautiful technique. It's not something he's used to, that's for sure, but he just can't take his eyes off her... at least until he notices Twilight still struggling, whereupon he steps toward the pony and offers a hand. "You appear to be having difficulty, madame. Tell me, have you ever valtzed?" Twilight Sparkle finally stops, thankful for the honest question as she drops back onto all fours. "I haven't. You'd think, as much as I like to study, that I'd have taken time to learn how to dance, but... It's kind of embarrassing, honestly, especially now that I've become one of Equestria's four Princesses..." Serenity drops back and settles into more sedate steps as Johann comes to Twilight. "Now seems as good a time as any to learn," Ren offers encouragingly, motioning a fin to Twilight along with a beat. "If you would like to take this lesson, Johann, I'll find us a more appropriate rhythm." Ren flutters an extrusion of the leading edge toward the computer. Johann raises an eyebrow at the mention of Twilight's princessdom. "Oh? I did not realize ve vere in ze company of royalty. Please forgive my rudeness, your highness." he says with a graceful bow, then turns to Serenity and nods. "Yes, I zink zis vould be an excellent opportunity. If you please, Serenity." Twilight Sparkle stands back up, keeping her wings extended for balance as she rests one forehoof in Johann's hand. "It's fine. Besides, I'd like to learn, so it works out." Serenity crackles a command to the rhinophore cuff computer to switch (rather abruptly) from Afro-Brazilian folk to a a quiet and slow European waltz. That completed, Ren pours around Johann and Twilight in a flow of fins to stand close enough to observe without adding much risk of a dunking for anyone. "Excellent," Ren hisses cheerily, coming to a stop after a quarter-turn of waltz steps. One 'standing', Ren looks over the heavily-laden human and the temporarily-bipedal equine curiously. Johann smiles at Twilight, taking her hoof and leaning down to plant a small kiss on it. "Your highness, I shall do my best to teach you." Yeah, he's about to dance with a winged horse. He's starting to get used to this kind of thing. As Serenity switches the music, he flashes that smile to her too, giving a nod of thanks before he wraps an arm around Twilight's waist and begins taking her through the motions. "It's quite simple. One, two, step. One, two, step..." Twilight Sparkle follows in her instructor's lead, coping surprisingly well with standing on her hind legs through the lesson. "Thank you." Serenity tries to fade into the background, or at least as well as one can do so with psychedelic-colored skin. As the two dancers take the slow leg-following motions, Ren slips out of the human-mimicking posture, letting wings unfurl loosely in water and air and the pinched portions return to an ovoid body shape. Still, with the music playing, Ren can't seem to avoid a little dancing. Ren rises and falls slowly with the rhythm and Johann's height, fluttering the mane of feathery gills in the current, and lightly swishes the lower portions of the fins across the body with straightened edges in time with the dance couple's steps. Johann smiles at Twilight, devoting his full attention to making sure she gets the idea. And, despite being a quadruped dancing on two legs, it seems she does, which is quite a present surprise as the two of them circle around Serenity. After a while, he stops counting the beats and simply lets the rhythm carry them along, lost in the moment. "You are doing vonderfully. By ze vay, I don't believe I got your name. I am Johann van Windhoek, and you are...?" With her concentration - and unforced, at that - tuned into the waltz, the pegacorn seems to have less trouble following the slow and elegant rhythm. "It's Twilight. Princess Twilight Sparkle. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Johann." Serenity watches their movements attentively, legs, hips, and shoulders as the dancers continue. Ren continues rocking gently up and down while swishing fins alternately in diagonal lines and outward billows. One rocking motion, Ren flows smoothly into a turn, not bothering to imitate steps but flexing the muscles of body and fins in a smooth helical twist. Johann nods as he continues to dance with the pony princess, slowly and gracefully, despite their differences in both size and body structure. "It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle." he says, then casts a blance at Serenity as she does her strange little dance. "Hmm? Is that one of your native dances, Serenity?" Twilight Sparkle seems, as a result of the elegant dance, to be smiling widely. She also isn't having as much trouble keeping pace, even while turning to regard Serenity curiously. Serenity smiles at the introductions. "Perhaps it resembles a few moves of a foreign style," Ren replies thoughtfully to the question, putting more scalloping into the fin edges until they are fringed with 'fingers' that Ren curls in the direction opposite the overall curve in the surfaces of the fins. "My native dances tend to aim for angularity- perhaps less impressive to those with skeletons." Ren grins at Twilight with the last, reshaping the fins to two large double-layered triangles with neat edges and a hint of origami creases. Lengthwise lines appear down Ren's body, something like a human showing off a six-pack of abs, but with the spiral corrugations rather than rectangular. Ren also works in (while trying to be subtle about it) a slight backwards drift when Twilight takes her eyes off her impromptu dance instructor. Johann would normally stop when taking his eyes off his dance partner, but there's just always something new and amazing about Serenity, as he discovers when she starts showing off just how much she can do with her amorphic body. "Oh, no, it is /very/ impressive..." Twilight Sparkle pulls away, seeming more at ease with dancing as she takes a few mental notes. "That was a lot better, and it was actually kind of nice. Thank you, again, for teaching me how to dance, Johann." Serenity smiles and bows to Johann as Twilight thanks him. "If I ever started teaching formally, perhaps I could send students along to the hospital for further practice," Ren says with an amused tone. Ren ripples closer to Twilight as she steps back. "And you appear to be a quick study as well," Ren says, motioning the edge of a fin towards her. Johann takes a step back from Twilight, giving her room to settle back down on her hooves. With a smile and a nod, he bows and says, "Zat vas but one dance, your highness, but you learned it very vell. You are velcome to learn more any time." Then, straightening up again, he turns to Serenity before sharing a bow with her as well. "Haha, perhaps in my off time, Serenity. Though I do not think it vould be somezing I could really... schedule, given ze unpredictable nature of hospital visits." Twilight Sparkle smiles somewhat self-consciously. "I don't much like to brag, or gloat, but... Sometimes, it's just proved more practical to be able to learn spells quickly, when there's a dangerous situation or trouble that needs immediate resolution..." Serenity nods in reply to Twilight's explanation. "That does sound quite useful." Ren then looks to Johann and motions inward. "Well, your friendly neighbor with a more predictable schedule will just have to stop my now and then to see when you are free." Ren then gestures to the exit. "For the moment, though," Ren says to Twilight, "I need to be going." | |
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