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[Sirus]

Raajak bowed his head to the prince, then lowered his voice to a level that could not be heard clear across the room.

: "That much I believe, Aya. The only part I question is whether I will wish to meet all of those sorts." Raajak watched in some puzzlement at Milos' antics. "What is the cub doing? I was under the impression he did not know how to fight, even with human tools."

[Twinwolf]

Aurelia relaxed a bit as things calmed down, and the topic shifted. For a moment, she was worried since Milos seemed nervous - but it was quite different. A sort of nervous excitement. He was more focused on doing the dance than the fact some of his audience were beast laguz, and that was good.

"Oh, I don't think I've seen you dance outside of a fight. It'll be really nice to be able to really pay attention this time. You can do this!"

[Gaterhyme]

"Don't overdo it, you still have to eat after." Claire's tone was light despite her thoughts still dwelling on what had happened.

She was glad that Milos had gained something out of this... even if she really didn't agree with how Joachim had tried to go about it.

[Chevaleresse]

"A battle dance, huh?" Heledd had to admit, she hadn't been paying close attention to Milos during combat. She wasn't the type to let herself get too distracted from her prey during a hunt. "Don't you need a partner?" She gave the faintest grin.

[RedMageCole]

Milos was very appreciative when he grabbed the sword, whispering a little thanks when he took it from the soldier. He could dance without it, but he felt like the effect of being a battle dancer would be lost without a weapon. Even if it was just a wooden one, the effect was still the same. Milos quickly spun the sword to a backhand position, listening to Aurelia's praise and beaming quite happily. He could do this. He could.

A nod in Claire's direction of understanding... Milos knew he was going to try his hardest, but he definitely would have to eat something after this. Whatever happened, though, he'd make it through. Just as he was ready to begin, moving his hands to clasp around the sword as if he were pulling it from the ground, Heledd's comment made him flinch slightly.

"A-Ah! Um, no! See, with a battle dance, yes, it helps to have a target for the motivation, but, well... you don't actually dance with the person because you kind of have a sword in your hand... I mean, I definitely could; I still have a hand free, after all! But, um, it's okay if I'm by myself!"

Once again, his tone was frantic but not its usual anxious self; more of a flustered embarrassment at the idea of dancing with a partner, or fearing someone would feel obligated to dance with him.

[Twinwolf]

Aurelia wasn't sure why she was getting up, entirely. Maybe to support Milos, make the dance more impressive. Or just because she hadn't tried dancing in ages. Or maybe as a way to de-stress after all that had happened.

"If you're taking volunteers, maybe I could! I think it'd be fun, right? If you don't mind that is."

[RedMageCole]

Milos looked rather astonished that anyone trusted him to dance with one hand holding a sword, and he wasn't one hundred percent certain himself how it would go. But regardless, he was happy about the offer, gaining a sudden burst of confidence to tie one end of his dancer's ribbon to the handle of the sword, securing it tightly.

"O... okay! That sounds great! Here..."

Milos scurried over to Aurelia, taking her hand and gently pulling her over to the center of the area he prepared for the dance. Staring into Aurelia's eyes, Milos whispered. "I'll go slowly, don't worry."

Milos waited for a dip in the music as he held Aurelia's hand, and as the music started back up, he began. It started as a slow, traditional dance as Milos moved close to Aurelia and guided her in small motions. Nothing too deep, as he was doing the dance mostly one handed. It was difficult to tell that Milos had not heard this song before and hadn't planned this preemptively with the harp player; his movements were fluid and carefully in tune with the song. Guiding her along, Milos mostly did modest little twirls as he kept his sword close to his back. Once the music began to pick up, Milos let go in the middle of a twirl, tossing his sword in the air. Right as it looked like it would sail over Milos' head and out of his reach, he had swapped the ribbon in his off hand to his main hand, pulling the ribbon and directing the sword to be caught in his off hand. Despite the sudden change of where he wielded his weapon, he managed to twirl it effortlessly as he directed himself into a spin as if propelled by the sword's landing.

From there, Milos' confidence began to pick up, shifting from dancing with his sword to dancing with Aurelia rather quickly before Aurelia could look too awkward standing there. At one point, as the music slowed, Milos twirled his ribbon right around his upper arm; it looked to be a mistake, until a small spin revealed his sword managed to be perfectly tied to the back of his arm, pressing in a way so that even if it were metal it would not cut into his skin. Closer examination revealed he was pulling the sword to his arm with his fingertips, and the reasoning was clear; for this slow part of the dance, Milos wished to give Aurelia a proper dance, and took her hand and waist for an appropriate slow dance. He was careful to take her hand with the arm that held the sword behind it, as to not have her accidentally grip the blade.

He allowed the dance between the two of them to linger, Milos not taking his eyes off of Aurelia's. She was the only one who could see the beads of sweat that were starting to surface on his forehead, whether they be out of exhaustion, anxiety or a little bit of both. Despite this, his face radiated joy, a rare perfect smile across his face.

The song began to quicken its pace, and as it did, so did the pace of Milos' dance. For a little while, it stopped being a sword dance, just a dance where Milos wished to entertain Aurelia for a while... but then as the harp's final notes began to sound, Milos mouthed the words 'trust me' to Aurelia. He let go of her hand as the two began to separate, still entwined in one hand, and with a sudden loosening motion the sword had come loose with Milos catching it by the pommel. With a single motion, the sword fell into his hands, and he tossed it into the air much as he had done in the beginning of his sword dance, ribbon still entwined around his fingers... and this time, Milos brought his now-free hand around Aurelia's body to bring her into a sudden, deep dip, sword seemingly completely forgotten. With just a mere glance away, Milos opened the hand that still clasped hers, the sword falling perfectly into their hands as Milos closed it together, bird and human together sharing the same weapon.

Milos' astonishment was difficult to hide from Aurelia, even if he did seem confident for a brief moment, but it was quickly replaced by relief.

"H-heh... s-sorry, got a little carried away, there..." Milos said in a little whisper to Aurelia, still keeping her in the dip until she was ready to move out of it.

[Twinwolf]

Aurelia felt a bit nervous, but dispelled that when Milos looked like he was somewhat comfortable with the idea. She'd been a bit worried about imposing.

"I'll follow your lead, then!" she said as she was guided to the center.

"Ok! I trust you." she nodded and smiled in what she hoped was a confident way. Although she made sure to tuck in her wings so they didn't get in the way.

Then, she just let Milos and the music guide her steps. Aurelia hadn't heard the song before either, or indeed hadn't really danced with someone like this before, but she did her best to keep up. It started slow, easy to follow. She was worried that he was taking it easier than he could for her, but before she could say anything he let go of her mid twirl and did a toss of his sword - she was too interested in watching it go through the air, nearly out of reach before being pulled back in, to realize she was standing still until Milos came back to her and got her moving again. After the second time, Aurelia started trying to keep moving while that happened, leaning into the twirl and letting it continue for a bit, then circling while waiting for him to get back to it.

The music slowed, and another new trick was pulled out that she didn't at first recognize the purpose of. Even being part of the dance, it was hard to decide whether to watch the sword or Milos (or her own footing, for that matter; she had good balance, but she wanted to be sure not to step on Milos). So she was a little surprised when he took her hand and hip and guided her in a more traditional dance. This, she felt confident she could do - while Milos was still leading, for this portion she was more of an active participant than a prop. Aurelia had thought she was getting tired, until she got a good look at Milos and saw the sweat, whatever the cause; he was doing his best, and she had to do at least that much. She looked right back at him, smiling, not noticing her own slight blush (or ascribing it to the effort from the dance).

Milos asked her to trust him as the song picked up the pace as it reached conclusion. True to her words of encouragement at the beginning, she nodded slightly, just enough that he'd see. She didn't know what she'd expected, but the sudden speed, the dip, the sword clasping together - it happened so fast that she wasn't sure what had happened until it was over. She noticed that her wings had extended just a bit, adding a little flair to the drop (and also helping her keep balance, although of course Milos was taking care of that). For a few moments she didn't say anything, just breathing a bit hard. Her face felt hot. But that was probably the effort.

"N-No, it's fine! T-This was a good finish..." she answered quietly, trying not to stutter too much. For a few moments she just kind of let things hang until she realized she was supposed to move again. When she recovered her balance, she kinda just looked at him for a bit before doing a slightly awkward curtsy (as if she had a skirt instead of pants). "You were amazing, Milos! Good job!" she said quietly, recovering a bit, and subtly gestured for him to bow to his audience.

[Blade Master Model 42]

The royals, as well as the servants (and even the guards, who had to lean their weapons into their elbow to do so) rewarded Milos' efforts with applause.

"How marvelous! I should like to learn to dance as well!"

[Emral282]

"It's always nice to watch, no matter how many times he does it."

[Gaterhyme]

As the applause died down Claire placed her hands back in her lap.

"It was more of a show than usual, I think... none of us can really dance with him on the battlefield."

She looked at Milos, then Aurelia, and finally to Heledd. She raised an eyebrow.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Aya stands up, clapping and hollering.
"Woo! That's our boy! Yeah, baby, that's how you dance! Keep.....uh....yeah....doing that!"

Satisfied that Milos had been sufficiently moralised -and not at all ashamed that she didn't know jack squat about dancing-, she strides off of to go look for her catty cat Laguz companion.

[RedMageCole]

Milos looked happy when Aurelia approved of such antics, being slightly afraid that she would have been less than pleased at his sudden maneuver.

"Th... Thank you..." An exhausted whisper came out of him in response to Aurelia, and he saw the opportunity to bow. Slightly scrambling to regain his posture, he sunk into a bow of respect, smiling happily at all of the praise. Aya's praise especially hit him well; knowing he made someone he was afraid of that excited... Milos felt confident for once and he wished he could keep that forever.

After he got out of his bow, he folded his hands together and looked at Ella.

"Dancing is easy, when you take the time to learn it!... Well, doing the moves I did aren't exactly easy, but just simple things like slow dances... Everyone deserves to dance, really! It's a great time..."

Suddenly, Milos' exhaustion suddenly hit him, and he decided sitting down was a good idea. He sat down and started helping himself to some of the veggies, looking significantly more relaxed than he had been before.

[Twinwolf]

Aurelia also made her way back to her seat, next to Milos.

"Yeah, it was fun! I've never really done anything like that before. Before this I'd only ever really 'danced' on my own or with my brother, and that wasn't really the same kind of thing.

[Chevaleresse]

Heledd raised an eyebrow. She'd been poking fun at the boy a bit, hoping he'd rise to it and maybe continue on with his newfound spine, but the response had proven to be far more interesting than she'd thought. Now the dancer and Aurelia were chatting away together, too, with Milos looking far less terrified than usual. Granted, she was usually part of the source, but it was oddly heartwarming to see regardless.

"Well, well, how about that?" she said quietly, but audibly enough for Grae (who she had at some point placed herself near) to hear. "Who would have thought that would happen?"