OOC: Same post as was posted in the main dance thread, just breaking off into here as well.

Kealey was already dressed for the dance. Needless to say, she was giddy. These were the things that she’d never been able to do while she was in school. The people, the emotions, it had all been too much. It probably wasn’t going to be easy tonight, especially when the party really started to rev up…but every bit of trouble would be worth it.

The mirror reflected her face, and as the blond meticulously pinned curls to the top of her head so they cascaded down she hoped for a similar reaction to the one she’d gotten the day of the Pokemon tournament. This was different though, this was a significant effort to look nice. A significant effort to look nice for a date. The final pin slipped into place and Kealey turned her head from side to side studying the effect the up-do had on the rest of the outfit.

The dress was simple, a blue that was too dark to be called ice, but too light to be periwinkle. The v-neck was low, but not too low to be classy at a dance involving lots of teenagers. The beading around the sleeves and at the bottom of the V sparkled gently in the light and the dress fell in simple lines down to the floor. It wasn’t an incredibly formal event, so Kealey wore silver flat sandals without even the slightest hint of a heel. They were sparkly though and had thin soles, so they’d be fancy enough for the dress.

Kealey glanced at the clock, it was time to go. Quickly she fastened the simple dangling faux-pearl earrings in her ears and checked the twin curls that framed her face just in front of her ears, giving a final sweep of her bangs she left the room, dress trailing slightly behind her as she walked.

The trip wasn’t long, and when Kealey made her way into the Danger Room, students were already filing inside. Sam was there, and Kealey nodded to him in greeting as she looked for Shin. He wasn’t there yet, but that was okay, over to a wall by the punch bowl the blond moved settling back to watch while she waited for her date. The room had been decorated beautifully, and Kealey smiled as she looked at the lights, they’d make her dress sparkle even more. There was even a….wait staff milling around and making sure everything was perfect. What were the people at the dance already feeling? They were excited, thrilled actually, and Kealey grinned.

What was the empath feeling? Anxious, excited, and just the tiniest bit nervous. She glanced towards the door she’d just entered, trying to keep “impatient” off the list.

It was as if a monsoon had hit his room, and flooded it with outfits. There was a gray shirt washed across the bed, beside a pair of black slacks, a jacket, and balled black socks. On the other side, a sky blue vest lay half-open like a rolling wave, white work shirt folded in a neat square on top. Ties were folded into neat triangles in the center of one clothes drawer, amid one or two bow ties. One hung over the drawer's edge precariously. Amid it all was Shin, like a sailor stranded at sea. He had his hands on the sides of his head, brow furrowed, indecisive. There was just so much he could wear. What exactly would he decide on? He'd told Kealey he'd surprise her, and surprising Kealey with a fashionable outfit was paramount tonight.

Five minutes later, he decided on something. He straightened the white shirt's collar, and admired himself in the mirror. He wore the shirt under a sky blue button-up vest, with black slacks. Black skate shoes went with it all.

One final glance at the mirror determined satisfaction, and one short walk later, he was at the Danger Room.

He nodded to Sam on the way in, casually slipping past dancing students. His triangle eyes skimmed faces blurred by motion, darting from student to student, and ... Shin nearly staggered. It was all so hectic, so busy. The kind of light and motion that could cause seizures, wasn't it?! He shook his head, and dropped his focus to feet.

Bump, bump, bumpity bump. He found Kealey, several collisions later. His eyes rose, from sandals to dress to face, and he smiled. Shin extended a white rose corsage. "You look amazing."

((Continued from July 14th midsummer's dance.))

So…that whole ‘keeping impatience off the list of emotions’ thing hadn’t worked out too well and before long Kealey had found herself fidgeting where she stood, right hand playing with the fingers of the left. The punch bowl was bound to be a popular place, though, and while she was there to have a good time, Kealey knew her other duties as well. They’d keep her occupied while she waited. The blond nodded to herself and went to work using a focus technique as old as her powers themselves.

One by one she focused on individual students, gauging their emotions and doing her best to sort out their intentions. She figured she’d be able to tell if anyone was up to no good, and possibly head off any problems before they occurred. Where there were teenagers, there was drama, add mutant powers to the mix and one didn’t need experience with kids to know there was a potential for trouble.

The crowd was quiet so far, most people simply arriving and greeting their dates, reacting to each other in the fancy clothes. Kealey smiled, they were all so cute, so insecure, so earnest in their reactions…self-consciousness melted into glowing pride each time a person received a positive review of their clothing choice. The blond noticed that there was a severe shortage of long dresses and worried her bottom lip slightly, wondering if she’d mistook the word “formal” on the fliers.

So focused was Kealey on the emotions of the students and her own worries about her dress, she didn’t notice Shin until he stopped right in front of her. Suddenly she empathized on a higher level with the other females in the room than she’d thought possible given her powers.

Shin was a snappy dresser, had been as long as Kealey had known him, and when he’d said he was going to surprise her tonight, Kealey had been eager to see what he had up his proverbial sleeve. He’d done well. He’d done very well.

He held out the flowered corsage and spoke and Kealey blushed scarlet right to the roots of her blond hair as relief flooded through her. If Shin thought she looked alright, she could deal with the rest.

”Thank you.” she said softly and earnestly, reaching out to take the corsage and quickly pin it in place before pulling herself together and giving Shin a quick once-over. He’d gotten the opportunity, even if it had been unintentional. Kealey intended to afford herself the same chance. She grinned.

”You look fantastic too. I might insist on you dressing up more often. You clean up even better than you dress down.” she said, eyes glinting as she teased.

The blond looked over the crowd one more time and nodded to her date, determined not to focus too much on all the emotions around her. At least for the time being.

”I guarded the punch diligently while I waited.” she said with a smile.

Like Tuxedo Mask, he'd given her the rose. No bowing was needed, no additional smiles or smirks. Shin was just Shin, pleased with himself, and happy to be with Kealey. The dance was nice so far. Her dress was beautiful, and her blushing? Yeah. Blushing was nice.

He laughed lightly at her comment. Dress down? "I do my best. You should see my room, though. I may have given you a run for your money in the disarray category. You'd be amazed at what I didn't choose." Leather pants and silk shirts and pleather jackets, oh my. "Glad to see you approve. I nearly went with parachute pants." He added with a wink.

Shin followed her eyes, glancing at the dancing. Sam had really organized a nice little event. Now that he was here, it could turn into a shindig.

Back, his eyes focused on her.

>> ”I guarded the punch diligently while I waited.”

"Have you had a chance to dance, yet?" Shin smiled. He extended his hand as the first slow song of the night started to play.

”I might have to see that to believe it.” Kealey said when Shin pointed out that he might have her beat in the disarray category at the moment as far as troom organization was concerned. It was a difficult thing to believe. When Kealey got distracted, she moved from one thing, to another, to another and the state of her room often reflected the hopping around. ”Rest assured that the time spent in the decision-making process was well worth it.”

Kealey watched as Shin looked around the room, happy because he was happy, and everyone else was happy, and because she was happy. It was one of those times where being an empath wasn’t so bad. Being surrounded by happy like this kind of made her feel like a little floaty and light-headed. Shin mentioned parachute pants and blond eyebrows nearly met hairline. ”You have parachute pants? she said, ”Might have to see that one to believe it too.”


Shin asked if she’d had a chance to dance yet, and Kealey shook her head, ”Nuh uh.” she said, reaching out to take Shin’s offered hand, ”I’ve never danced to a slow song before.”

>>”You have parachute pants?"

"Oh yeah," Shin said, watching the other dancers. "Silver ones. They look like a spaceman's," flashy and amazing. He'd seen them in a vision (of loveliness) on a low-sleep-fueled shopping expedition with Kai. He'd just had to purchase them, some time afterwards. They hung in his closet even now, blinding. Shin shook his head as he swung back to face her. "Maybe I'll just have to blind them with you, then. Er." He laughed sheepishly. "Blind you with them, I mean. Anyways, dancing."

He asked her if she'd danced. The answer came back, an astonishing 'no'. Shin led her to the dance floor confidently, lips drawn into a smirk. "A problem we'll have to rectify... and with you on my shoulder, I'm sure we'll be the center of attention."

God, corny lines were fun. Blinding beauty line, shininess joke, etc.

”Hmmm, well, if anyone can pull them off, it’s you.” Kealey said with a smile when Shin admitted to owning a pair of silver parachute pants. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust his fashion sense, it was simply that the idea of anyone in parachute pants these days was a bit outlandish. Outlandish could be a good thing, she allowed, especially for Shin. He managed to pull of outfits that would simply look ridiculous on other people.

The blond grinned when Shin slipped up and shook her heat at his sheepish laugh and correction. ”Well, if they’re that bedazzling I’ll simply have to see them. In fact, I’m a little shocked you never mentioned them before.”

Shin led her to the dance floor, and Kealey followed, still awash in all the emotions of the room. There really were a lot of people there. At least for now, though, they were all fairly happy.

Dancing. Kealey had been surprised at how well she’d managed the fast stuff…slow, on the other hand was something new. Shin complimented her again and Kealey laughed and dropped her head to hide her once-again-pink cheeks. ”Only if you mean they’ll wonder who that outrageously clumsy looking blond in the strange long dress is.” she said.

So there they were, on the dance floor…ready to dance slow. How did that work again? Shin already had her hand, so Kealey stepped closer and draped her arm over his other shoulder. More blushing, this time it was her own embarrassment.

”So, how exactly did this work again?” she asked helplessly, hoping she’d done something right.

>>”Only if you mean they’ll wonder who that outrageously clumsy looking blond in the strange long dress is.”

Shin shook his head with a smile. "You look fine," he insisted. "Better than bedazzling pants."

Kealey moved to put an arm on his shoulder, and Shin put his hands on her sides. With slow dancing, hand placement was tricky. Did they go with a hand on the hip and a hand holding her hand, or something closer? Lower back? It didn't seem like the kids at this dance were doing anything ballroom-related, so hand-linkage was no-go. Lower back, too. Closer, it seemed, was the word of the day.

For some students, too close. He made a quick mental note to nudge Yellow-Tuxedo-T-Shirt-Blur later not to move that fast. This was slow dancing. One had to take it slow.

Shin took it slow. Straight to the center of the dance floor, slow.

"Pretty simple," Shin told her. "Follow my lead, left, right, left, and don't step on my toes." Shin paused, and looked her confidently in the eye. "Unless you need to. I won't scream. Now, follow me."

They'd take it one step after another. Shin guided her. Left, right. Left, right. They were close, but not too close. Good chaperones, till the end. That didn't mean they couldn't hoard attention, though. Kealey's dress was practically shimmering in the light.

((Returning to the dance now!))