Winter Formal, Neptune High School

[argyle_princess]

Even before they reach the dance, in the dressed up Neptune High School Gym, they can hear it, a jumble of voices and laughter over something that passes for music.

(The band, it must be confessed, is really nothing all that impressive. The lyrics, if they were intelligible, would be quite forgettable. The music is, however, basically danceable.)

This year's theme, whatever it is, seems to have called for a great deal of pale blue and silver streamers and balloons, though only so much can be done to disguise the fact that the room is really intended more for basketball than dancing. But the Winter Formal Committee has tried. And what the room looks like doesn't matter nearly as much as who wore what and who showed up with whom. It's hard to get quality gossip out of crepe paper.

Comments

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Though if Wellard knew that it just may be noted exactly who Hannah Griffith showed up with, (well, not quite exactly, since only the few details he came up with for background here are going to be known), he probably would have been a great deal more nervous. His hand on top of Hannah's might be a little tight, but he still offered her his arm, and that is what most anyone else is going to notice, tonight.

Though, it is not all nervousness. Wellard is trying his best to react to the gym and the other students as if he has Seen It All Before, and he is succeeding somewhat. It does help when a good portion of your attention is fixed on who he is accompanying, and-

How lovely she looks.

[argyle_princess]

Henry, one must begin to suspect, has a bit of a mushy streak.

Hannah squeezes his hand and gives him a reassuring smile. "Welcome to Neptune High," she says. "What do you think?"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Romantic. Romantic streak.

"... Certainly not quite how I imagined your schools to be." Quietly, looking over the basketball court/dance floor with curious amusement.

[argyle_princess]

Yes. A rather romantic mushy streak.

"Yeah?" she asks. "What were you expecting?"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Still romantic, though.

"Probably something more along the lines of what I pictured for a... a dance at one of the universities back home. Though since I never really went to either, who knows if what I imagined was ever really right for those, either." He chuckles, shaking his head.

[argyle_princess]

Oh, very. And Hannah certainly has no complaints, so it's all just semantics.

"If that's anything like the way they dance in Austen movies, yeah, this is going to be pretty different. But at least I can promise you there's no pool under the gym floor here."

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

"I think I could deal with a pool, easily." Wellard chuckles, but his hand is still tight on hers.

"But... this is all how its supposed to be?" Quietly.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah looks around, trying to imagine what it would be like to be seeing all this for the first time. It's loud. And the mirrorball could potentially be rather dizzying, she suspects. It's really loud. Given Derek Greggory's dance floor impersonation of a dying fish, at least some of her schoolmates have not waited to get to the dance to start on the night's liquid refreshments. Really, very loud. And Robyn Ellis and Kyle Morton are busy bringing new meaning to the phrase get a room. Oh, and it's loud.

"Well," she says finally, "it's how is usually is."

Supposed is such a judgement-laden term.

"Are you okay?"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

The school faculty would like to argue, but as long as this was normal for a dance?

Wellard takes a deep breath, and nods at Hannah with a slight wry smile.

"I'll be alright. Just wanted to make sure this is how things are supposed to be."

[argyle_princess]

"This is normal," says Hannah. "For a dance."

He gets a smile that's not wry at all, just very Hannah. "I'm glad you're here."

And then there's a call of "Hannah!" from the other side of the gym, and a girl with elaborately arranged black hair and a deep green dress waves her arms. Hannah waves back.

"And that would be my friend Em. Emily. And the guy with her is her boyfriend, Geoff. We should say hi, if you don't mind."

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

The wryness from his own smile fades, at Hannah's comment. "... I as well. Thank you."

Wellard follows her wave with a friendly nod over to the two others."Not at all- I'd be quite happy to be introduced to your friends."

[argyle_princess]

Which is good, because Em has taken the wave as an invitation to come over, with Geoff in tow.

"Hannah," says Emily, "you look wonderful. I love your dress."

This, Henry, is a pretty standard dance greeting.

"Thank you. So do you. And Em, Geoff, this is Henry Wellard. Henry, this Emily Conlin and Geoff Adams."

Emily gives Henry a bright smile. "So you're Henry. Nice to finally meet you. Hannah has mentioned you just once or twice. You're right, Hannah. He's adorable," Em adds.

"Em!"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Wellard's 'Quite nice to meet you both as well' gets a bit lost in a coughing fit as he starts blushing. Geoff gives him a wry, sympathetic smile.

"Ah. ... Thank you, Em." Wellard manages. "And nice to meet you both."

[argyle_princess]

"You'll have to forgive Em," says Hannah, cheerfully, elbowing her best friend in the side. "She's kind of, well, she's Em."

Em looks not even a little apologetic. "Right, like you didn't march right up to Geoff freshman year and tell him I wanted him to ask me out."

"You did," Hannah points out.

Geoff shakes his head slightly. "They'll be like this for a little while," he says. "You're here visiting, right?"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

He watches Hannah and Em for a moment, amused, before turning to Geoff with a nod.

"For a bit, yes- I'm looking at some of the Universities out here, and the timing worked out well- very well, rather." Wellard chuckles quietly. "Hannah had told me a bit about Neptune, so it was nice to be able to see what she had been talking about."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah and Em are fairly amusing.

"So you're looking at Hearst? Or just swinging throgugh Neptune to see Hannah?"

Geoff has known Hannah since they were both five. He's just . . . checking.

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

"Hearst was a good reason as far as my family was concerned." Wellard grins a bit, which softens into a faint smile.

"I had rather checked to see what schools were in Neptune, when Hannah said she was coming back here. When we talked, and she found out when I was going to be here..." He chuckles quietly. "She invited me for the Formal here."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah has been paying more attention to this conversation than it might have appeared.

"OK," she says, mock-sternly, to her friends, "if you two quite done interrogating and/or embarrassing my date, I'm going to go dance with him now."

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Well, it was not that bad of an interrogation (really, teenagers from Neptune have nothing on senior naval officers in that area), but Wellard is hardly going to argue with this exit.

His grin may be a little bit smug, as he offers Hannah his arm, and gives Em and Geoff a nod.

"By your leave."

[argyle_princess]

(Teenagers from Neptune can put senior naval officers to shame in that area, when they make an effort, actually.)

"What did he just say?" Geoff asks, as Hannah and Henry leave.

"He's British or something," Em says, as if that explains it. And maybe it does.

Hannah shakes her head a little and tries not to giggle.

"Dance with me," she says, in the same way she says "walk with me" in Milliways, not a command but also with just barely enough of a rise at the end of the sentence to make it a request.

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

British, 200 years out of date... same difference, maybe.

It hardly needs to be a command, or a request either- Wellard just takes it as a subtle suggestion of what Hannah would like to do, and usually he is quite fine with the idea. Now is not an exception.

There are more people on the dance floor by now, and moving to the music in similar ways that Dr Brennan had showed him, so that is reassuring.

And while Wellard is coming to have a great deal of respect for Dr Brennan-

Hannah quite beats out the doctor for a dance partner, by a lot.

[argyle_princess]

"British" is, at least, a rather less remarkable explanation than "Oh, he's from not quite 200 years ago, and possibly a different version of Earth."

Well, perhaps the best term is neither request nor command but statement of intent.

And Dr. Brennan probably would not find that opinion remarkable at all. In fact, she would probably have fifteen or sixteen anthropological principals in actions she would use it to illustrate.

All of which is to say, Henry's a pretty good choice for dance partner, too. It's hard to talk on the dance floor; the music is loud and talking's not really the point.

But her smile ought to make that pretty clear.

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you do not need to words to communicate. Hannah's smile is a perfect example of such a scenario.

To Wellard right now, her smile says it all.

There are no steps to have memorized, no set structure, so after a while it is rather easy to not have to concentrate on the dancing itself- and just pay attention to having fun, as well as to how Hannah is enjoying herself. However, soon enough the song ends, and the drummed beat softens and slows down quite a lot.

Ahha. Slow Dance.

[argyle_princess]

This, perhaps, might require some concentration.

Then again, it might be rather difficult to concentrate during this.

Hannah gave a lot to thought to a lot of things about this evening. Not the least of these was her dress. Because with a date who is 200 years out of date British, well, you don't want to go too . . . Neptune. So slits in the skirt were out, and her neckline actually qualifies her for a room in a convent, by local standards. But it's almost impossible to think of everything.

The dress is rather backless.

Yes. Slow dance.

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

Slowdance, and a backless dress, 200 years in the future. This was never covered in any of his etiquette lessons, and certainly never broached as a midshipman.

(If it was, he missed that class.)
Uncharted Territory
This was awkward enough when he was learning. That has not changed, except now it is for entirely new reasons, as Wellard Very Carefully puts his hands around Hannah's waist.