[D5 EA] Stray (Stray’s Townhouse)

[Chantelle Rossette]

Chantelle squeezed Marcus and Jack’s hands, reluctantly releasing them. Her eyes were brimming with happy tears, twirling in a circle again, laughing for the joy of being alive in the way that only Spring could. The egret took Jack’s hands and—if he didn’t resist—swept him into a little dance.

[Jack Doyle]

Jack didn't object, though his dancing was a bit awkward.

"I have something for you, Chantelle." he said as he was twirled around.

[Marcus Kendall]

The beast watched the egret dance with a bemused smile on his lips, his tongue lolling out. Smirking, he glanced at Tiffany almost as if to ask a question.

[Tiffani]

Tiffani wasn't sure if the question had anything to do with dancing, but getting caught up in the spirit of the moment, didn't let go of Marcus's paw and instead, twisted a bit to stand in front of him, taking his other paw. Though he towered above her slight build, Tiffani mimicked Chantelle and Jack, pulling Marcus (if he doesn't resist) across the floor in a wide circular dance around the other couple.

[Marcus Kendall]

Marcus followed the fairest in an impromptu dance, first following her footsteps, trying his best to not step on her feet with his clawed feet. For the beasts credit, while he didn't dance particularly smoothly, he didn't maim Tiffany either. Eventually, he would try to wrestle the control back, half-dancing, half-dragging Tiffany across the floor (unless she let go of his paws).

[Tiffani]

It wouldn't be too difficult. Even for a girl her age, she was delicately framed; she was definitely not built for physicality of any type let alone resisting the pull of Marcus who probably outweighed her by hundreds of pounds. Nor did she try to resist when Marcus took the lead, letting him pull her in whichever direction he wished to dance. She giggled as she half-danced, half-stumbled along as she tried to keep up with Marcus's much wider gait, one of his steps was equal to two of hers. At least.

At a point where both Tiffani and Marcus were standing directly in front of each other, she looked up into his bestial eyes without the slightest flinch of fear or loathing and asked softly, "Did you wish to ask me something? Or was that questioning look a moment ago about whether or not I would actually dance with you?"

Before he had the chance to answer, TIffani let go of one paw and pirouetted around Marcus's back to his opposite side to face him again. As she performed this little maneuver, she clasped a single claw on one of Marcus's paws and then a single claw on his other, letting him pull her again. Several strands of her spiral-shaped hair fell across her eyes but she left them there, too enraptured about this crazy yet fortuitous turn of events to care if she could only see out of one eye.

[Chantelle Rossette]

Chantelle broke into song as she danced, providing equally ad hoc music, releasing Jack from his surprise dance. The dance-trained egret twirled, the full skirt of her sundress billowing around her. She knew this feeling of acceptance and belonging couldn’t last, so she enjoyed it while she had it, with all the hedonistic abandon of her Court.

[Marcus Kendall]

At a point where both Tiffani and Marcus were standing directly in front of each other, she looked up into his bestial eyes without the slightest flinch of fear or loathing and asked softly, "Did you wish to ask me something? Or was that questioning look a moment ago about whether or not I would actually dance with you?"

Before he had the chance to answer, TIffani let go of one paw and pirouetted around Marcus's back to his opposite side to face him again. As she performed this little maneuver, she clasped a single claw on one of Marcus's paws and then a single claw on his other, letting him pull her again. Several strands of her spiral-shaped hair fell across her eyes but she left them there, too enraptured about this crazy yet fortuitous turn of events to care if she could only see out of one eye.

The wolf lolled his tongue out a little, saliva dribbling on his fur, tilting his head to the side even as his clod, blue eyes bored into hers. "Uh, what makes you think that?" His voice was deep, sounding like bark cracking in the winter. Blinking, he nodded. "Yeah, figured that if Chantel and Mister Jack were dancing..." the rest were left for Tiffany to figure out, following her in the strange, jubilant dance.

He spun and spun, half-leading, half-dragged Tiffany around the floor, trying his best not to stumble on her feet or against Chantelle and Jack. Standing this close, Tiffany could smell his fur reeking of... flowers. The usual stench of wet, dirty fur and decay was gone, replaced by floral notes. Someone had washed the wolf, it seemed. "So you went to see the King?" he asked, growling almost kindly. "How did that go?"

[Tiffani]

As the two of them danced around Jack and Chantelle, Tiffani giving the other pair of dancers a little wave from time to time, Marcus's keen sense of smell would easily pick up the faint scent of lilacs from Tiffani mingling with his own floral scent. She was usually very good at reading emotions, but smelling them - that was an entirely different ballgame.

"Well, why not have a little dance, hmm? Might as well enjoy the moment since these kinds of events in our lives seem ... so terribly rare." This was in response to his first comment, figuring correctly that Marcus was wondering what Tiffani would do. He was dancing with her, after all, but there always remained that niggling little sense of doubt - is he dancing with her just to be polite? Or did he really want to?

But when Marcus asked her how the visit with the king went, she suddenly became a little ball of energy. "Oh my god, you should've been there. It was bloody brilliant!"

She gets excited enough to take her hands off Marcus's claws, placing them both flat against his furry chest as if he were any other man. "He was a lot nicer than I thought he'd be, being a king and all, but first he read us some poetry, he found me a job, I even got to use the internet for the first time. I couldn't believe it ... no more Soviet Union? And ..."

Tiffani talks a mile a minute wrapping her dainty hands around a claw on each paw again, still moving to the rhythem of Chantelle's song while telling Marcus about all the things she found out that had happened since 1985, how the king welcomed her in the Autumn court, the poetry ... and every other little detail - at least for as long as Marcus lets her prattle on.

[Jack Doyle]

Disappearing to his room after being released from the dance, Jack returned quickly with a box. He watched the others while waiting for another moment with Chantelle.