sweetestsurrender | { The Dancing Meme }

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{ The Dancing Meme }

DANCING MEME👑

Dancing well takes serious skill and talent, but just about anyone can shake their hips or tap their feet to a beat. No matter your competency in cutting the rug, there's some pleasure to be found in letting loose and moving your body to the music. Not to mention... sometimes it's fun to get all dressed up! (And if not, then perhaps in seeing a partner all dressed up?)

So, let your cares go and let's dance!

PROMPTS

1. Prom
It's the biggest social event of the year - provided you're still in high school! Do you have the guts to ask your crush to the dance, or are you more the shy wallflower type? How about a platonic date with your bestie?

2. Ballroom
Ah, the formal gala: it's prom for adults! Dress in your finest and get yourself a partner for a tango or a waltz. It's for charity, after all.

3. Alone
Do a little jig in the kitchen, or enjoy a living room slowdance with a significant other to the dulcet tones of your smart speaker.

4. Club
You're hitting the clubs and you're ready to grind! What better place to meet new people who know how to have fun?

5. Competition
You take dance very seriously. Like, competition-level seriously. Practice with a partner, or face off against a rival.

6. Traditional
Let me show you the dance of my people, from the village-wide revelry of a summertime bon odori to the sensual swing of the hula.

7. Adult
Some dances are For Adult Eyes Only. And yes, poles and laps may be involved.

8. Wildcard
Anything goes!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Gisele is well-accustomed to being the arm candy on such events. Pick any gala and there's bound to be an agency to provide the babes for all the slimy execs and CEOs in attendance that happened not to come with their own plus one. Her current pick is well above the average, carries himself like the military, but definitely not the high command. All around nice catch if you asked her. The dancing though. Hm. This could you use some improvement.]

Move it, beefcake. People are staring.

[Gladio scowled at that but what could he do? This wasn't exactly an area he was trained in. He hadn't asked for this. He'd been more than happy to go to this damn shindig on his own without having to worry about entertaining someone. But apparently appearances mattered. Being a single guy standing alone was a bad look. So a woman had been 'assigned' to him.

She was easy on the eyes. Had a nice enough smile. She could dance. Gladio almost felt sorry for her having been stuck with him rather than someone else with more talent in this area.]

Trying.

[The words were ground out through gritted teeth as he quickly glanced away to see that, yes, people had turned to look their way. Not many. But enough to give Gladio a sudden spike of self-consciousness.]

I don't dance. I didn't come here to dance.

[But he was trying! He really was.]

My condolences. That's like the whole idea behind events like this.

[Not a problem. She can dance. That's enough. As long as he doesn't try to lead, she can make him look good. That's her job, after all. Making incompetent men look good.

Why are you here then?

[On second thought. Dude doesn't have your regular douchebag vibe. And he genuinely looks lost. Maybe she was too harsh.]

Which of the stiffs there is your boss, and why he dragged you here?

The 'boss' is the one tryin hard not to look like the boss. Crown Prince Noctis.

[Who was currently NOT dancing but hiding behind Ignis, who also wasn't dancing. So why was he the poor schmuck who was forced to do this?

Gladio did suppose it helped that the woman who had been selected to suffer his company was drop dead gorgeous. And a better dancer than he deserved. He had no issues with relinquishing his lead and followed her as best he could, while doing his best to try not to embarrass either of them.]

I'm here because he's here. I'm his bodyguard. Which he doesn't need right now, so you get to 'enjoy' my company instead.

[Gisele whistles quietly. She's mingled with all the big and small fishes through her illustrious career, but a real fucking royalty?! Well, damn! Guys back home would never believe her.]

Crown Prince, eh? And here I thought you were simply corporate. Don't tell me you're some general or something. Should I call you sir?

[That last part is followed by a wink. She already guessed he looks military. Would explain his hatred for dancing, too.]

I do enjoy your company. I'm here for work too, remember? It doesn't mean we don't get to have fun anyway.

[It mysteriously happens that all the twirling gets them closer to Noctis and his other bodyguard. Close enough that she can take a good look. Neither of them is bad, actually. The Crown Prince gives her more of an emo vibe. Looks young too. The other guy? Frankly, he looks like a teacher. Seriously, the stern type. Even has glasses to match the image. Probably not the greatest conversation partner. Honestly, she prefers her current company.

But she wouldn't be herself if she didn't try to fish for some more information. Her boss would be disappointed.]

Your boss is cute. Why isn't he dancing?

That's the one. [He chuckled and have a shake of his head.] Gladio's fine. My dad's the sir, not me.

[Unless you were a new recruit. But a pretty lady didn't need to call him anything but his name.

Gladio couldn't help smirking once he realised where she was actually leading him. When he looked over he caught Ignis's eye and winked. But to answer her question.]

Antisocial and shy. He's a good guy but he'd be happier playing video games than hanging around a bunch of old politicians and dignitaries.

Phew, what a relief! [If there's anything that's usually way over her head, it's formality. Not that often needed in her line of work but still, tedious. Her opinion? It's needless complication.]

Well, Mr Not-the-Sir Gladio, I'm Gisele. Nice to meet you.

[His explanation gets him a good-natured chuckle.]

I bet! But can you really blame him? Look at all those fossils. They're not exactly party people material. [Yet another tour of the dance-floor, and Gisele notices that it finally stops being so desolate. This is what you do. You put pretty people on the floor, make them at least look as if they're having fun, then just wait for results. It encourages everyone.]

So what's your pick? Call of Duty or Forza Motorsport? Or are you not video games guy? [She narrows her eyes with a slight smirk.] Nah, I think you're more a books guy. Like something real heavy. Classics or something.

Don't blame him. Rather be anywhere but here.

[Dancing and schmoozing just wasn't his thing, maybe when he got to the 'fossil' stage he'd be more interested in such things. But he supposed if he had company such as Gisele, he could tolerate it a bit more.

He was grinning at her broadly, watching her as she did her best to work him out, and surprisingly nail it. So precisely that he laughed.]

I've never met a book I didn't like. A good story'll do it for me every time. How bout you?

Ha! I knew that! You totally look the type.

[Point for her badass observation skills. Or rather, a general lack of prejudice. Considering, she's now living and working with guys that all look like hardened criminals, some of them are actual criminals, some of them are closer to fucking royalty, but at least a few of them are able to shock people with how sophisticated they can be. Yeah, that makes you drop the bias real quick.]

I knew a military guy once. Square jaw, buzzed hair, yes sir, no sir, all that. But you get him talking about tea, and you'd never recognize the man. Like I didn't understand half of the words he was using.

Me, I like movies better. Dunno, kind of books aren't really my thing. Well, I read Twilight, everyone did. Still, liked the movies better.

[She blinks. Oh shit! Should have picked something more recent. Damn...]

Oh god, did I just date myself? I totally did. Now you're thinking I'm some old lady.

[He looked the type, huh? That was a new one on him. Most people were surprised. But when she goes on to explain herself, Gladio can't help grinning. It made sense in that case. If she'd known people like himself who didn't always fit the mould then shit like that stopped surprising you. Somehow it actually felt good to have someone guess and not immediately laugh.]

Sounds like a good guy. Not much of a tea fan, but I like it better than coffee. Not nearly as much as a beer.

[Now he laughed, a warm, deep and amused laugh.]

Didn't even enter my mind. But if you are, can I just say you're the most beautiful 'old lady' I've had he pleasure to dance with. [He grinned.] Also can't say I know the movie though. Or read the book.

I'm not really into tea either. It was fun to listen though. But seriously, probably the best perk of a travelling job is that you get to try all the different beers they have around the world. Things people can come up with, like you wouldn't believe.

[She laughs in response.]

Now, who's the smooth talker here! I bet you say this to all old ladies you meet.

[She winks at him.]

You're better for it. It was a massive waste of time, frankly. Like, yeah, the main guy was okay, the girl was fine, wolf boy the best probably, but it was so goddamn boring. Apart from the last part when they finally had some real action scenes, it just dragged.

[Did she just rank both the guys and the gal of the doomed love triangle on her personal hotness scale? Yes, she did.]