dance to the music - TODD

[olivia]

Olivia liked dance well enough to take it as a class. She'd never been graceful, but she'd been hoping the dances - tangos, waltzes, everything - would help her earn a bit more grace and seem a bit more princess-like. Not that she took pride in being a princess. It was okay, but part of her wished it was a different last name she had. Heart was easily recognized and she was always getting questions, asking if she was related to the former Headmistress - her mother, unfortunately.

Sighing, Olivia walked into the dance class a bit late. She skirted around the edges, not wanting to interrupt, placing her bag on the floor. She was already dressed and ready for dance, but being late on her first day had clearly not been a good idea. She watched as couples swirled and moved around the dance floor. Most were beginningers, clearly, but around the edges of the room the more advanced dancers were moving, doing complicated moves. She watched, enraptured, until she heard the teacher call her name.

"Guys, this is Princess Olivia Heart. She's joining us from now on." The woman said and Olvia turned a light shade of red at the mention of her title and her last name. Nonetheless, she stepped forward and gave a meek wave.

"She'll need a partner - any volunteers:?"

[Deleted]

Todd had had a lot of experience with dancing. His parents were always singing and dancing together so he had learned from a very young age how to do the waltz and what a jazz square was. Also, he was often told to “shut up and let me see your jazz hands”, though that was usually during the middle of a song, but Todd always made sure to do jazz hands anyway. It just felt appropriate, you know? And he didn’t want his parents to feel bad. They were pretty great and he just wanted them to love him, you know?

Anyways, Todd had signed up for dance class on a whim. And he thought it might make people like him. There were a lot of people in dance class and he was okay at dancing so he hoped no one would hate because he was better than them. He could help them. Todd liked to help to people. That was why when the teacher asked for a volunteer for the princess.

Toss thought she was pretty. And his mom was a princess. Well, she was going to be a princess back before she had met his dad. So she wasn’t a princess anymore, but she dressed like one sometimes. She liked to make all the really poofy dresses like those story book princesses. But this princess didn’t wear those kind of dresses. Todd just hoped that she would be nice. “I’ll be her partner,” he said stepping forward. “I’m not too bad at dancing, but I’m not too good either. Just so you know,” he told the princess. “I’m Todd,” he said with a smile holding out his hand for her to shake, since that seemed like a good thing to do.

[olivia]

Olivia looked up to the boy that had volunteered and gave a smile, glad at least not everyone thought she was a freak. Perhaps he didn't know of her mother just yet. Olivia would keep that tidbit to herself - if he didn't figure it out, at least someone else in the school could.

"I'm not the greatest. I only know basic waltz and tango steps." Olivia replied as he approached. She took her hand in his and shook it. "Olivia. Nice to meet you. Thanks for being my partner - I'll try very hard not to hurt you." She continued. She wasn't completely unfortunate in the dancing area of course, but she still retained a bit of clumsiness. Dance was supposed to help with that, right?

As the teacher went back to watching her students, Olivia glanced around the room and then back to her new partner. "So, what first?"

[Deleted]

Todd didn’t really care who people’s parents were. Unless they wanted him to care. Then he cared. But even then he didn’t really care. Your parents were who your parents were. That was that. So who cared if your parents sang loudly and randomly (but completely in tune and in harmony) in public places? Todd didn’t care. So other people shouldn’t care either. Really. There weren’t too many parents that were more embarrassing than his. But Todd adored his parents, so it didn’t really matter.

He was just happy to help out. Todd liked helping in whatever way he could. And Olivia seemed nice. She smiled at him and that was always a good start. He dismissed what she said with a wave of his hand. “Nah, you can’t hurt me. I’m pretty much unbreakable.” That wasn’t entirely true, but he hoped it would put her at ease. He was just being himself. The likeable version. And he could change to be whatever kind of Todd she wanted him to be. For the most part anyway.

But her question put a big whole in Todd’s plan. He wasn’t really comfortable making decisions. What if he made the wrong one? Then she would hate him and that would be very unpleasant. He didn’t want anyone to hate him. So he very suddenly and very awkwardly held out his hand to Olivia again, though this time it was palm up. “Er, how about the waltz? You know, everyone else is waltzing so it would look really silly if we started tangoing or something. I’m not very good at the tango anyway.”

[olivia]

She laughed, although she wasn't so sure she could avoid hurting him. Should she want to, she could have - but Olivia had no desire to hurt him or anyone else. She kept a firm hold on her temper and her magic, and as long as she had that control she'd be fine. Her mother had lost that control, but Olivia had been practicing and managed to keep everything in check. Still, there was doubt that lingered at the back of her mind. She had a tendency to doubt everything and be overly cautious about certain things.

But for now she would just dance.

"We're here to learn to dance anyway - I suppose we can both learn the tango together." She grinned. What she knew of the tango made her want to know more. She wanted to know all of the dances though, and didn't want to stop there. Not yet. "But yes, I think the waltz is a wonderful idea. I know that one well - do you?" She inquired as she took his hand without hesitation and shifted into the usual position for starting a waltz.

"If not, I can teach you. It's very simple."

[Deleted]

She laughed and that made Todd feel really great! Most people liked when you made them laugh and he’d made her laugh and he hadn’t even tried. Well, this was going better than he had expected! This was like he didn’t even have to try to get her to like him! Good. This was good. Now he just had to keep it that way.

“Er…yeah. Sure. Sounds great,” he agreed, though Todd wasn’t quite sure that it was great. The tango was not a dance his parents frequently did. Actually, Todd was certain they’d never tangoed. They were much more of a waltzing couple. Yes, the waltz was much more there style, and in turn, it was also Todd’s. So suggesting that he and Olivia learn the tango together made him feel very awkward and uncomfortable. That dance was a lot more intimate than the waltz. And Olivia was pretty and Todd wanted her to like him, but maybe not to the point of tangoing.

Todd took the usual starting position. “Oh, no, I got this. I’ve been doing the waltz since I could walk. My parents dance a lot. No big deal.” Then he began to step in time to the music. “I can’t do anything fancy, but I’ve got the basic steps down.”

[olivia]

Todd was nice, quite nicer than a lot of the people Olivia had ever met before. She was going to enjoy his company in dance class, surely - perhaps he'd even be her friend outside of dance class as well. She did have so few friends beside Aiden (who, according to her mother, was forbidden). But whatever.

Her hand on his shoulder, the other closed in his hand, Olivia nodded with another smile. "I love waltzing. First dance I learned when I was seven." She admitted and they began to dance. Olivia easily fell into step with him, following his lead. "I don't know any fancy tricks either, so I think we're pretty evenly matched."

Dancing was fun, and made her feel light as air as she moved across the floor with Todd in the simple, basic steps. "So how long have you been at Tintagel? I've never seen you around before." She said, trying to make conversation since they didn't exactly need to focus on the dance, seeing as they both knew it.

[Deleted]

Todd found it very easy to talk with Olivia. She was very nice and the best part was that she seemed to like him! That was totally awesome! She might even like Jake, his pet turtle. But Todd thought that it was probably a bad idea to bring a turtle to dance class, unless Olivia wanted him to. And then it would only be a marginally bad idea. But he would have to be really careful, because if Jake got crushed that would be very bad.

Was it weird that Todd could help but think that when his parents met they danced a waltz too? Yeah, that was weird. He pushed the thought out of his mind because it clearly didn’t belong there and focused instead on Olivia (and the dancing too, but not too much because he already knew how that worked). He nodded at her comment about learning the waltz. It wasn’t really very hard when you got the hang of it. The hard part (for the guy anyway) was watching out for the other couples on the dance floor.

He shrugged amiably. “I haven’t been here too long. I only just finally convinced my parents to let me come. My mom really wanted me to stay with her and my dad never refuses her anything. But I finally convinced them it was time for me to come to Tintagel. They went here. It’s actually how they met.” Oh, well with all the rambling, they had gotten back to how Todd’s parents had met. Awkward much? Yeah. But Todd quickly followed with “So how long have you been here? Very long?” because he really didn’t want to talk about how his parents had met. Then he would feel obliged to sing or something, and what if she thought that was weird? So yeah, no. No more parents.

[olivia]

Olivia tuned out the music, trusting his leading instincts to keep them in rhythm with it as she focused on what he was saying, the smile still on her lips. "I'm glad you could convince them. This seems like a good place to be. And I think it's romantic they met at school. Childhood sweethearts, I presume?" Romantic was always something Olivia was a sucker for, although she had very little experience in it.

Her last boyfriend - who had lasted three days - had been quite the charmer. Yeah, charming his way right into her pocket, pants, and future kingdom. She wasn't that stupid. She'd yelled at him for ages and it'd taken her even longer to calm down from her madspell.

"I've been here a few weeks, but I've just started up classes. It took me ages to get enrolled." She muttered. If he was bringing up the topic of parents, she figured she might as well at least give some mention on the fact, even though it was indirect. It was her mother's fault it had taken her ages to enroll in Tintagel. She'd undergone several physciatric exams in addition to the original forms to clarify she was indeed sane.

"My best friend Aiden actually convinced me to go here. Mom doesn't approve of our friendship, but she's never steered me wrong before - I'm glad she brought me here."

[Deleted]

Childhood sweethearts? Really, that was laughable. But Todd wasn’t going to laugh in Olivia’s face. That wasn’t very nice. He did smile though. “No, not really. They didn’t meet until they were eighteen and nineteen and my dad was the first person my mom met. And they were very very best friends for a while because my mom was in love with some Prince Edward guy and she was sure he was going to come bring her back to Andalasia, where she’s from. But he’s never came. And yeah, the rest of the story is complicated.” He’d meant to keep that short and sweet, but that didn’t exactly happen. He was far too prone to rambling.

Todd for one was never one for romance. He tolerated it. He had to because his parents were all mushy gushy lovey dovey sometimes and it was weird, but he tolerated it. Even when they sang sappy songs to each other. And danced. And were generally awkward. If love was supposed to be like that Todd wasn’t sure he wanted it.

It was too bad that it took Olivia forever to get enrolled. But it was good that she had. Todd twirled her under his arm and when she had come full circle he said brightly, “Well it’s good that you’re enrolled now though. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met you and that would have been a shame.” He nodded happily along with the words.

Todd steered them around the room and carefully out of the way of a rather animated couple who probably would have crashed into them had Todd not been watching. But he was listening to Olivia explain about her best friend Aiden. “Well, that’s great! I’m glad you’re here too.” He really did mean that. He wasn’t just sucking up this time.

[olivia]

"Oh. Well that's still very sweet.' I've heard there are a lot of couples like that who came from here. They say it's the figurative magic in the air." She giggled. Todd's ramblings were cute and she enjoyed them. Twirling, the smile remained on her face.

Love was something Olivia did have intentions of experiencing one day, if she found the right guy. Girls younger than her were already engaged here at Tintagel, but it didn't bother her. She held slight jealously because they had already found their loves, but Olivia was determined to find her love - even if it had to come up and smack her in the face.

"I'm glad I enrolled too. I can't believe mom never told me how awesome this place was." She grinned and brushed hair out of her eyes by shaking her head. She followed Todd's steps around the room, moving slightly to the side so she didn't have to bump into the other couple who were dancing rather vigurously.

"I like what I've seen here so far, at least."

[Deleted]

“Yeah,” Todd agreed readily. “Sure. Something like that.” Though he wasn’t so sure about this figurative magic in the air. Actually, he wasn’t quite sure what Olivia meant by that, but he would just go along with it. Whatever made her happy made him happy.

Todd wasn’t really worried about love. Then again, he wasn’t a girl and didn’t think about love and relationships all the time like girls did. Todd wasn’t the manliest of men; he was actually very girly, for, you know, a dude. His second favorite color was pink and he liked ponies and unicorns. Okay, he liked babies too, but only if they weren’t crying. Crying babies scared him.

“Your mom never told you how awesome this place was?” Todd asked. He thought that was very odd. His parents had told him all about ever since he was a little kid. He’d always known about Tintagel. “My parents talked about it nonstop as a kid. They were always talking about people they knew. Though Mom talked a lot about her animal friends back in Andalasia. And we’ve had chipmunks visit which is always strange. But I’ve always heard about how awesome it is here.”

Carefully Todd maneuvered them away from the really animated couple that seemed to be bumping into everyone. Olivia probably wouldn’t appreciate being bumped into and she might blame him which wouldn’t be conducive to making friends at all. “Yeah, me too. It’s been great so far. Everything is just great!”

[olivia]

Olivia gave a mild shrug. "My mother didn't like this place that much. Not for most of her time here. Toward the end, before she left, she came to adore it. Up until though - well, she wasn't exactly well recieved by many people around here." Olivia said, skirting around the subject with practiced ease. "I'm glad I've finally gotten to see it for myself, though. Aiden's parents told me all sorts of things about it before, when my mother wouldn't." She continued to explain.

Her feet were light, like a ballerina as she moved with Todd to avoid the couple, following his lead with easy grace. Ballet was the other dance she knew besides the tango, as ballet had been her dance of choice as a little girl. Whether she could still pull it off, though, she wasn't quite sure. She'd have to find out some time.

She hummed with the music for a moment, twirling again and ducking under his arm as she did so. Dancing made her happy - a lot of things made her happy, and the boy who was likely to be her new friend dancing with her made her happy as well. Aiden made her happy - this place held a lot more happiness for her than Wonderland ever could.

"We have talking animals where I live." She commented, realizing his comment about the talking animals now. "Some are vicious - like the Bandersnatches and the Jabberwocky, but other's are kind like the dogs and mice and the cat and other little creatures. Even some of the flowers talk."

[Deleted]

Todd nodded. He had no idea who Olivia’s mom was but it seemed like she almost didn’t want him to know. Which was totally fine him. And sometimes parents were embarrassing, especially when they burst into a song and dance number in the middle of public places and enticed Todd to join in. He did join in, but it was still marginally embarrassing all the same. So it was totally cool by him if Olivia was embarrassed by her mom or something.

Todd shrugged. “At least you got to hear stories anyway. That’s always good. Stories are fun. Well, most of the time anyway. They aren’t fun when you’re told the same story over and over again. But that can still be fun too, I guess.” Todd really needed to learn to stop rambling. It was just like word vomit and he couldn’t help it. He just kept talking and talking and talking. It was a wonder people liked him at all with all of his ramblings.

Actually, maybe that was why people liked him sometimes. Though his parents had told him stories about some Beowulf fellow who really didn’t like to talk much and didn’t really like other people to talk much either. He probably wouldn’t like Todd very much. He talked a lot. But oh well. Olivia didn’t seem to mind. Or maybe she was just too polite to tell him to shut his trap. That could be. Maybe. But she was putting up with it, so must kind of like him, Todd deduced, somewhat satisfied.

“Talking animals are great!” Todd commented. In actuality they kind of freaked him out. He had spent most of his life surrounded by animals, but not the talking kind. Todd had a suspicion that his dad wasn’t too fond of the talking animals either. “My mom was basically raised by talking animals. Her very best friend is a chipmunk named Pip. He comes for visits sometimes.”

[olivia]

"Most of her stories weren't good ones." Olivia added at his statement, "She wasn't a big fan of Tintagel herself. Or the students - she was Headmistress for the longest time and she always told me stories about misbhaving students and the way she treated them Which was horrible." She continued. Her mother's stories were all about the evil things she'd gotten up to - at least, for a while they had been. Then Redd had started telling Olivia many stories that were . . . acceptable.

"Your parents probably knew my mother at some point. Probably two of the many who didn't like her. Headmistress Redd Heart - I think her photo is in one of the halls." She added. It was whatever. Not like she was going to bother to really hide it. Other parents embarassed their kids with silly things. Olivia's mother embarassed her by being an evil dictator.

"My best friends are two border collies named Nikola and Thomas. They can't talk here, though. Back home I had a talking Bandersnatch named Bear and a dog called Bayard that my aunt gave to me." Olivia rattled off. "I miss Wonderland. I should visit home sometime soon."