03-30-2010, 02:30 AM
“You want to dance?” Sophia inquired her new acquaintance incredulously. There was a change in the mood of the hotel in which they had just entered, and the music that had been playing changed.
“Yes, dance, just forget about everything else. You seem like a worrywart, you need to cut loose sometimes,” the sudden depth in the woman’s thought process caught Sophia off guard. She definitely needed to let off some steam, but this wasn’t exactly…the right venue to be doing something like that. After all, they were all dormant, thinking into machines rather than living things out. She wanted to focus more on living than having fun. In fact, the possibility that she could die at any point made it almost impossible to have fun of any sort.
Sophia sighed. “But this isn’t…” Her eyes drifted away from the pink-haired woman and down the hallway. Her means of escape was no farther than ten or so feet away. All she had to do was walk away…
Before she could, however, Victoria shoved past her and closed the doorway, halting her dilemma by the sound of the door clicking. If she had really wanted to exit, all she had to do was turn the handle, but instead, she found herself listening to what the girl had to say. “Haven’t you ever done this? Just think back to a happy moment in your life, and listen to the music. Have fun, even if we are in a game that isn’t real, if we were going to die we would have died already. Just forget about him. He probably doesn’t deserve you.”
Although Victoria didn’t use the soundest of logic, Sophia knew that, in some ways, she had been right. The healer wasn’t so sure about the last part of her statement, but just dwelling on her problem wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Sophia was grateful that she and Kaden had made progress in their relationship due to their last conversation, but the result was something that also made the former priestess want to cry. Sure, they had patched things up, but her more…intimate feelings towards the man had been brought to light, twice in fact, and the courier managed to skate past it both times. Sophia had no idea what she would have told Kaden if he had brought it back up, but she needed acknowledgment regardless.
…and like that, she was right back to her old thinking.
“I guess…” Sophia watched Victoria descend the stairs in front of them, “…I guess it couldn’t hurt. I do kind of need a distraction.”
“Then come on,” the woman waved the healer onward without even turning her head. “You never know how long the party’s going to last.”
“…is that some sort of unwritten rule?” Sophia hesitated before she ran to catch up. She sighed as she pulled alongside her friend; she had never felt so lost before. The “party scene” was something that she had missed out on due to a confused, restricted childhood. If she ever wanted to dance, she would do it in the privacy of her own room, with nobody around. The only conversation she had with anyone came when she was healing someone or studying with one of the other priestesses. While her experiences since then bolstered her ability to communicate, she still didn’t function very well inside a crowd.
Victoria glanced back at the healer as she made the comment, but returned her gaze to the dance floor with a shake of her head. The contents of the room were something that Sophia expected to see out of some sort of underground drug cartel. The tiles were occupied by people who seemed to be in some sort of daze, with bulging eyeballs and puffy red noses as they shuffled around, or individuals who seemed to be more interested in how much they appealed to the members of the opposite sex than anything else. Sophia had little respect for those kind of people, but at the same time, her dress made her seem out of place.
She looked around for Victoria, but she was lost amongst the sea of people. Sophia herself had wandered headlong into the crowd, somehow, against her better judgment. Fewer people than she had expected even so much as glanced at her, as she had bumped into several of them as she paced forward. The eyes that did fall upon her belonged either to particularly lusty men or spectacularly envious women, and their stares made her uncomfortable in entirely different ways. The beats of the music banged against her eardrums, slightly ringing due to her inexperience with such loud sounds. She was reminded, as if she had forgotten in the first place, about just how out of place she was—heads bobbed and hips swang and shoulders swayed, and Sophia remained completely motionless. The healer merely kept her head down, and although that worked for a little while, she had failed to stop moving towards the center of the room.
Suddenly, the sea split. Those who had been previously dancing all crowded around her, staring at her with hopeful eyes. The song that had been playing faded into silence, and the DJ replaced it with something different. The beat was slower, almost moving at a snail’s pace, but the pounding actually started to grow on her. She supposed that if she was going to start dancing, something slower would be a good start. After all, she wasn’t exactly used to…that kind of movement.
“We’re all waiting, you know,” Victoria grinned, crossing her arms as she glanced at the healer. “These people want to see you dance.”
“But…” Sophia sighed, whispering to the woman although it was loud enough for everyone around her to hear. “I don’t know…how…”
“Just move to the music,” the bounty hunter smiled. “Move your hips and arms, or something. Just do what feels natural.”
“Nothing about this feels natural,” the blonde woman argued.
“Oh, just do it!” Victoria encouraged her further. “I promise you, you won’t regret it.”
The chorus of the song started in, and Sophia, with her heart seemingly ready to burst out of her chest, began to move. They were subtle movements, nothing spectacular, but enough for her to get started. She felt so awkward, and upon watching her feet slide back and forth as she looked down, she immediately recognized it as so. Regardless, the bystanders began nodding their heads in apparent affirmation, though Sophia took a wild guess and thought that they, with the exception of Victoria, weren’t entirely sure where they were.
As the song progressed, Sophia began to loosen up. She was still conscious of what was happening, somewhere in the back of her mind, but amidst the music and the dancers, none of it seemed to matter quite as much. Things like that didn’t belong in a place like this, she decided. She would have to return to reality at some point, she knew, but for as long as the song was playing, she resolved to be free of every burden that she had shouldered.
The song slowed to a stop, and Sophia hadn’t even realized that she had her eyes closed until she opened them back up. Most of the people went about their business once again, but Victoria stepped in front of her, apparently to talk, and flashed the healer a smile.
“Yes, dance, just forget about everything else. You seem like a worrywart, you need to cut loose sometimes,” the sudden depth in the woman’s thought process caught Sophia off guard. She definitely needed to let off some steam, but this wasn’t exactly…the right venue to be doing something like that. After all, they were all dormant, thinking into machines rather than living things out. She wanted to focus more on living than having fun. In fact, the possibility that she could die at any point made it almost impossible to have fun of any sort.
Sophia sighed. “But this isn’t…” Her eyes drifted away from the pink-haired woman and down the hallway. Her means of escape was no farther than ten or so feet away. All she had to do was walk away…
Before she could, however, Victoria shoved past her and closed the doorway, halting her dilemma by the sound of the door clicking. If she had really wanted to exit, all she had to do was turn the handle, but instead, she found herself listening to what the girl had to say. “Haven’t you ever done this? Just think back to a happy moment in your life, and listen to the music. Have fun, even if we are in a game that isn’t real, if we were going to die we would have died already. Just forget about him. He probably doesn’t deserve you.”
Although Victoria didn’t use the soundest of logic, Sophia knew that, in some ways, she had been right. The healer wasn’t so sure about the last part of her statement, but just dwelling on her problem wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Sophia was grateful that she and Kaden had made progress in their relationship due to their last conversation, but the result was something that also made the former priestess want to cry. Sure, they had patched things up, but her more…intimate feelings towards the man had been brought to light, twice in fact, and the courier managed to skate past it both times. Sophia had no idea what she would have told Kaden if he had brought it back up, but she needed acknowledgment regardless.
…and like that, she was right back to her old thinking.
“I guess…” Sophia watched Victoria descend the stairs in front of them, “…I guess it couldn’t hurt. I do kind of need a distraction.”
“Then come on,” the woman waved the healer onward without even turning her head. “You never know how long the party’s going to last.”
“…is that some sort of unwritten rule?” Sophia hesitated before she ran to catch up. She sighed as she pulled alongside her friend; she had never felt so lost before. The “party scene” was something that she had missed out on due to a confused, restricted childhood. If she ever wanted to dance, she would do it in the privacy of her own room, with nobody around. The only conversation she had with anyone came when she was healing someone or studying with one of the other priestesses. While her experiences since then bolstered her ability to communicate, she still didn’t function very well inside a crowd.
Victoria glanced back at the healer as she made the comment, but returned her gaze to the dance floor with a shake of her head. The contents of the room were something that Sophia expected to see out of some sort of underground drug cartel. The tiles were occupied by people who seemed to be in some sort of daze, with bulging eyeballs and puffy red noses as they shuffled around, or individuals who seemed to be more interested in how much they appealed to the members of the opposite sex than anything else. Sophia had little respect for those kind of people, but at the same time, her dress made her seem out of place.
She looked around for Victoria, but she was lost amongst the sea of people. Sophia herself had wandered headlong into the crowd, somehow, against her better judgment. Fewer people than she had expected even so much as glanced at her, as she had bumped into several of them as she paced forward. The eyes that did fall upon her belonged either to particularly lusty men or spectacularly envious women, and their stares made her uncomfortable in entirely different ways. The beats of the music banged against her eardrums, slightly ringing due to her inexperience with such loud sounds. She was reminded, as if she had forgotten in the first place, about just how out of place she was—heads bobbed and hips swang and shoulders swayed, and Sophia remained completely motionless. The healer merely kept her head down, and although that worked for a little while, she had failed to stop moving towards the center of the room.
Suddenly, the sea split. Those who had been previously dancing all crowded around her, staring at her with hopeful eyes. The song that had been playing faded into silence, and the DJ replaced it with something different. The beat was slower, almost moving at a snail’s pace, but the pounding actually started to grow on her. She supposed that if she was going to start dancing, something slower would be a good start. After all, she wasn’t exactly used to…that kind of movement.
“We’re all waiting, you know,” Victoria grinned, crossing her arms as she glanced at the healer. “These people want to see you dance.”
“But…” Sophia sighed, whispering to the woman although it was loud enough for everyone around her to hear. “I don’t know…how…”
“Just move to the music,” the bounty hunter smiled. “Move your hips and arms, or something. Just do what feels natural.”
“Nothing about this feels natural,” the blonde woman argued.
“Oh, just do it!” Victoria encouraged her further. “I promise you, you won’t regret it.”
The chorus of the song started in, and Sophia, with her heart seemingly ready to burst out of her chest, began to move. They were subtle movements, nothing spectacular, but enough for her to get started. She felt so awkward, and upon watching her feet slide back and forth as she looked down, she immediately recognized it as so. Regardless, the bystanders began nodding their heads in apparent affirmation, though Sophia took a wild guess and thought that they, with the exception of Victoria, weren’t entirely sure where they were.
As the song progressed, Sophia began to loosen up. She was still conscious of what was happening, somewhere in the back of her mind, but amidst the music and the dancers, none of it seemed to matter quite as much. Things like that didn’t belong in a place like this, she decided. She would have to return to reality at some point, she knew, but for as long as the song was playing, she resolved to be free of every burden that she had shouldered.
The song slowed to a stop, and Sophia hadn’t even realized that she had her eyes closed until she opened them back up. Most of the people went about their business once again, but Victoria stepped in front of her, apparently to talk, and flashed the healer a smile.