Dancing

is like dreaming on your feet

Dance enables you to find & lose yourself at the same time

Oralie stayed busy. Between Quidditch, her internship, her lessons and the extra lessons with Melanie, she had a very full schedule. This afternoon was the first moment she had in at least two weeks to just breathe--and even now she was at Avalon, but it was a short day thank Merlin. All her assignments due this week were finished; the three feet due in potions was eloquent and engaging-- quite the feat considering the subject matter. The Slytherin had practiced her wand work on charms, transfiguration, and defense against the dark arts until she had the next few lessons practiced to perfection.

There were some menial office tasks to do for her mother, but Oralie just could not manage to do that right now. She needed to stretch her legs. The witch was tired of sitting. Digging to the bottom of her bag, she found her pointe shoes. In a short moment, the ribbons were laced up her calves.
She left her mother's office and went to one of the practice rooms. It was empty at this hour. No active rehearsals were scheduled for this afternoon. Isidore was somewhere working with a few of the soloists, but even they would be leaving soon. 

She didn't bother thinking of any of them. She had not actually wanted to dance in a very long time, but she did want to dance now. A flick of her wand filled the space with a modern instrumental with a heavy bass beat to move her body to. Who said ballet couldn't be modernized?! Oralie felt the music through her whole person. She was tempted to start choreographing a piece, but first things first. The girl remembered to properly stretch before she began to let the music lead her body's motion.

She stretched to her full height, hands extended far above her head, and she completed a series of pirouettes. Oralie's dancing was a succession of slow, soft, lyrical movements--continuous, creating the illusion that each flowed one to another. She had always favored adagio sequences. She raised her right leg, her toe dragging up her left in a graceful caress. Then slowly extended it out behind her, the extension of the limb mirrored by her arms. The balance of it all came very natural now. She began to turn. It was beautiful and easy. The stress of life faded away as her music washed over her. She let her eyes close and continued to spin her body. Eventually, those piercing blue eyes opened again and the rotation of her body brought another person into her line of sight. 

Oralie did not mind an audience. Though she was happy it was not her mother. She halted facing the new comer, her body in the arabesque position. The Slytherin slowly lowered her leg. The perfect smile that all dancers were programmed to wear on their faces while dancing was fixed on her face, but there was more honesty to it in this moment than there usually was. She had really been enjoying herself. Her heart was beating fast and her face had a bit more color than usual. The witch looked very much alive. 

"May I help you?" She asked, a slight inquisitive tilt of her head coming with the question. Oralie had been fairly certain the practice room had not been reserved, but perhaps she was mistaken. 

_{@ open ♔ outfit ♔ 560}

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]I'm your hell, I'm your dream

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[attr="class","clyrics"]you know you wouldn't want it[break]
any other way

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[attr="class","cbody"]May was shaping up to be an incredibly busy month. She had known that it was going to be. Exams at Lufkin had just started yesterday and she knew that he was going to have to spend a good portion of the evening cramming for her finals. Everyone had said that the second year of studying hall was so much more difficult than the first and that had been proven right at every turn. She was certainly more worried about those exams than her political science finals. Those classes had been like second nature for her, but she’d been glad to learn officially all the same. Was it the same as going to Prague and learning directly from Parliament? No. But that idea had never taken motion. Even if Josef being in charge was better than her grandfather being in power, her matka still wouldn’t hear of her going to Prague by herself.
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Not that she could right now anyway. Obviously, that wasn’t an option. It was something that had just never been far from her mind from the moment that her matka had brought it up and then just as quickly turned her away from the idea. She was a princess. She might not be Ella, or close in line to the throne or anything like that. But she still thought that she should be able to learn from Parliament if that was what she wanted to do. It was her birthright as much as it was Ella’s or matka’s. There might not be a chance of her ruling anything someday, but that didn’t change what she was.
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She just knew that it was an argument that there wasn’t any use having right now. There was no way to get to Prague even if she got her way, or even if she decided to stop asking permission. The borders were still closed. Though the International Confederation of Wizards showing up had managed to bring about a new problem that she hadn’t been expecting.
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Since Ella had gone into a coma, she’d had guards. Constance didn’t envy her for that. But the arrival of the ICW had her matka assigning all of them guards. She thought that was incredibly unnecessary. She knew that she was just worried—she and Ares both had Dark Marks on their arms. Her strýc had been the one to overthrow Durant and violently take the Ministry. Her matka had been the one to help kill him. There was a chance that some of the ICW motives on this trip might be to arrest people responsible for some of the worst crimes that had been committed here. But she just didn’t think that was the case. They had bigger concerns than who had done what almost three years ago. They were so far past that by now.
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But had she been able to convince her matka of that? No. And that meant having a guard with her every second of the day. Since they had only just been brought into the country, they also all still had their magic, which meant getting away from them was not as easy as it would have been if they had been without magic. There had been plenty of times when she had been able to lose them with a quick apparition but it certainly didn’t happen as often as she wanted it to. Most of the time, she just begrudgingly accepted that he was going to be around.
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It annoyed her most when she was in class and when she was at Avalon. That was when she felt like she got the most stares from it. It had only been a week since they had arrived, after all, so she could only hope that the stares died down eventually.
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It had been a long couple of hours at Avalon and she was looking forward to getting home. Of course, home meant wedding planning, since her days had been nonstop lately. Between school, Avalon, wedding planning, and everything else on her plate, she definitely hadn’t had a lot of free time recently. But finals would be over soon, and she’d have a summer free of classes, since she had once again elected not to take summer courses. She just really needed a break.
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Constance had just been on her way out of Avalon when she had heard music coming from one of the practice rooms and curiosity had her heading in that direction instead. Her shadow trailed behind her and she rolled her eyes but ignored him as she continued forward. It just wasn’t really the sort of music that she ever heard when at Avalon. Her eyes moved to the blonde dancing as she leaned against the doorway, her guard thankfully still out of sight in the hall. She was clearly very gifted, but it was the music that she was especially interested in. “Oh, I’m sorry—” She pushed her thoughts from her mind once she realized the girl had noticed her presence. “I heard the music and curiosity got the better of me. It’s an interesting song selection. I haven’t heard anything like it here before.”
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[attr="class","cnotes"]859 ● @ oralie ● outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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Dancing

is like dreaming on your feet

Dance enables you to find & lose yourself at the same time

Oralie recognized the woman in the doorway--of course, she did. There was only one principal dancer at Avalon, after all. At least only one female. Constance Mountbatten had a male counterpart, as well, that held the same coveted title. It was surprising to her to garner the attention of the other witch. Those up the chain rarely noticed those below them, unless one was close enough to claw at their heels. 

The Slughorn was not a threat to Constance's position. No matter how much Isidore wished that she was. Oralie was a talented dancer, well taught and disciplined, but she had not given up Hogwarts to be here full time. She had not given up Quidditch or Eternelle to make Avalon her number one priority. It was a priority, certainly, and she would likely continue to dance after she left Hogwarts, but it would still be several years--at best--before she would be truly in consideration for the title Constance held. Perhaps if her mother pulled a few strings, she would be able to slip into a Demi-Soloist slot after graduation. That would infuriate others who had been dancing in the Corps, but some dancers were just always going to be just Corps. They were better off just accepting that. 

The Slughorn was not just Corps. And not only because her mother was the Director for Avalon. Though that certainly did not hurt. It would be perceived as a mark of embarrassment to Isidore for her daughter to not excel. Oralie was her legacy, after all. Her legacy who had moved out of the Slughorn Estate and in with Aunt Melanie. Something had to be done to pull Oralie back towards Isidore. Oralie was sure of it. So, she kept dancing. She kept coming here nearly every day of the week, spending hours training--more than some of the other dancers who's college schedules took up more of their time than her Hogwarts one occupied. 

How much longer would Constance be here?  She was getting married. She studied at Lufkin. How long before she was knocked up and popping out new purebloods? Oralie could not say. She did not really know the other witch. She only knew her by reputation and what her mother had relayed. There were too many years between them for them to have been familiar to one another. Oralie knew more of Philip and knew Temperance in passing as those two had both been in Slytherin. Oralie would have--and still would shag the brother, should the opportunity present itself. Well, perhaps not right now since she had a boyfriend, who she did still quite fancy. Not enough to rush to marry--but she did like him.

Constance apologized and Oralie shook her head. "No, no--nothing to apologize for." She did not want the other witch to think she had been bothered. Truly it was flattering that the principal dancer would take the time to watch her for any reason at all. Oralie's head fell back ever so slightly as she laughed the Mountbatten's explanation. "Oh, you certainly wouldn't hear anything of the kind if Isidore has anything to do with it." She spoke with high familiarity of the Director, but referred to her by her given name as her mother required--since to be called Mother was far too aging. Isidore just couldn't bare it! The whole non-sense made Oralie roll her eyes every time she thought about it, but that was rare now. She had been calling Isidore, Isidore for her entire life.

"But I enjoy bringing something new to an old art. Despite what my mother may believe, you can find a rhythm, even in more modern music, that ballet can conform and flow with. Music and dance can both be water, just have to find the way they can match one another." Oralie spoke freely and comfortably with her opinions on the more modern song choice, even dropping in a bit of information a and explanation for the cavalier way she spoke about the Director of Avalon. Most already knew that she was Isidore's daughter...there were not really that many dancers at Avalon and she had been a fixture here since before she started at Hogwarts.

As the witch spoke, she studied Constance. Her aura conveyed certain bits of information about the witch. Reds blended with violet shades to convey the nature of the Mountbatten--but there was considerable fluctuation between brightness and dim. Oralie thought the witch looked stressed, and perhaps burdened. She could see hints of another aura of a distinctly different shade a bit behind Constance, but could not see the person. They seemed stationary, though. Perhaps the fiance? Or another dancer. The fact they were staying out of sight was odd, but she didn't fixate on it. 

 

_{@ principal dancer ♔ outfit ♔ 793}

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","ctopline"]I'm your hell, I'm your dream

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[attr="class","cline"]

[attr="class","clyrics"]you know you wouldn't want it[break]
any other way

[break][break]

[attr="class","cbody"]Constance was more than ready to be home with no obligations for a little while. Today had been a long day, just like the rest of the month had been and would continue to be. She wanted home on the couch with a glass of wine, and she wanted to convince Liam that they should order pizza tonight instead of cooking. She didn’t think that would be all that difficult of a thing to do. Her fiancé definitely loved food more than the average person did. Well, she wasn’t sure if that was necessarily true. Philip liked food a fair amount too—she really just considered it to be a boy thing at this point. Their mind was always on when they were going to eat next, or sex. She thought that summed up a good portion of a man’s thoughts throughout the day.
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But she was grateful for that tonight, because it meant that convincing her fiancé that ordering pizza was the best move would be incredibly easy to do. She could even just text him and suggest it, and then maybe he’d go out and get it before she even got home. Then there would really be no gap between her stressful day and sitting on the couch with wine and pizza. The sooner that became a reality, the better.
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Watching what she ate had always been a part of her life. Not just because of ballet. The hours of practice and performances over the years kept her in good shape at all times. Then there was her martial arts training, and other exercise, so she knew that she could likely eat her weight in pizza and it would be fine. She had just never done that. Constance had always known that there were certain expectations as far as appearance went—both as a pureblood and as a princess, and that meant watching what she ate and not indulging herself too thoroughly. But then she had met Liam, and apparently that went hand in hand with eating a lot more food.
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Of course, she hadn’t gained a pound, but she still had to watch it. It felt like there were more eyes on her now, on all of them, than there had been before. With the ICW watching, with the guard watching—and the guard meant that Josef was likely watching… but really, that made her concerned about missteps far greater than what she looked like. Honestly, that was a petty problem in comparison.
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What she was worried a bit more about was another expectation that had come with being a princess. She was supposed to… well, certainly not be shagging Liam since she was not married to him. But that ship had set sail a long time ago, and with approval from her matka. That did not mean that her strýc would approve of it if he heard about it. It was impossible for her to forget the conversation that she’d had with her matka, back when her grandfather had still been alive. She had heavily implied that he would deem that a big enough misstep to get rid of her entirely. That seemed extreme then, but had put a healthy amount of fear in her when it came to making any mistake in his eyes, and now her strýc’s eyes. With the guards here, it was hard not to worry that everything was going to make its way back to him eventually. If she’d had any warning at all before they showed up, she would have asked her matka if she should act like she still lived at home. But that wasn’t exactly an option when it had come as such a surprise to her.
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Constance knew that what her guard did or didn’t know, and what he was or wasn’t telling her strýc wasn’t important right this very second. Being at Avalon was where she was supposed to be. Talking to Oralie about musical selections was not a conversation that was going to get back to the king. There was simply no reason for that. “That’s too bad,” she said, shaking her head. The director was the girl’s mother, but she didn’t think there was any harm in stating her opinion in that matter. Isidore wouldn’t choose something like that song, and she did think that was too bad. There was nothing wrong with keeping things classic, but modernized music would be a change. That was definitely not always a bad thing. In fact, she thought it could prove to be quite interesting—and a challenge to the dancers to see how they could adapt to something new.
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She didn’t move from her spot in the doorway as Oralie spoke again. It was the best way of keeping her guard in the hall. There was no reason to draw attention toward him when she was doing her best of acting like he wasn’t there at all. “Music and dance can both be water,” she echoed, considering the words. “I like that. You know, maybe you should try to convince your mother of that. I think we could all benefit from a little something new.” She definitely thought that she could use the challenge. They all could.
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[attr="class","cnotes"]871 ● @ oralie ● outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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