Overnight Dance Class [open]

[violet rose pearson]

Violet spun the key to the dance hall in her finger. She had been given the key by Junko on the first day of school and had foolishly forgotten to return it. Now, with Junko missing, she hadn't seen much of the dance hall at all. She missed her lessons and dancing across the floor. And, for some odd reason, she actually missed Damien.

When she rediscovered the key she had meant to return, she decided to take it upon herself to open up the dance hall. Pulling out a stack of stationary, she made hand written notes, one for each of the dorms at the school.

"Dance Hall Party Tonight
Free Lessons
Tons of Music
Lots of Fun
Bring Food and Drink"

With each note written, she had gone around to each dorm in turn and slid it under the door. Feeling particularly adventurous, she even went to the dance hall early, unlocked the room and turned on the lights. She waited, and wondered who would be the first to arrive.

[konstantin levin buskirk]

Konstantin sighed dejectedly as he looked at the clock and watched its slow hands move to mark the fifth hour of the afternoon. He quickly mentally calculated how long he had been in his classroom after classes were over to see how much time he had wasted grading his students’ musical compositions. Even though Konstantin had been in his classroom since three thirty that afternoon, he had pretty much wasted the first half hour of his stay pacing back and forth around his room trying to work. He had taught such an energetic, inquiry based, sermon style session that morning that he was still feeling the energy of his session buzz around in his head. Konstantin had to grasp at his fleeting thoughts like a child chasing butterflies with a net, because he kept thinking about God and music whenever he thought about his class work. If God was the elusive butterflies that Konstantin was trying to catch with his net, which symbolized the music he used to show his devotion to God, it was no wonder it had taken him half an hour to settle down. Chasing his thoughts was a slow, exciting process that had required Konstantin to chase his devotion to God and follow it until it lead to a dead end or it resulted in him feeling closer to God. After a good half hour in which Konstantin had neither glowed with his love of God nor had he come to any remarkable conclusions about God’s impact on the world through music, he sat down. It was no use chasing after God when the music that He used to contact his faithful followers and He was playing hard to get.

So, excluding that wasted half an hour, because any time in which Konstantin was not thinking about God was time wasted in his opinion, he had been in his classroom for one hour. One measly hour and he was already growing restless from inactivity. The child inside of Konstantin was pounding on the door of its iron cage, begging Konstantin to let him play outside of his prison. Konstantin’s inner child was growing increasingly enraged at how long he was being told to sit still and play runner up to adult Konstantin, who had work to do. Well, if Konstantin’s young spirit was allowed to be in control of Konstantin’s actions no work would have gotten done at all. Young Konstantin wanted to play and run around outside like a free spirited spring breeze. Konstantin’s inner child always complained, sometimes quite vocally, when Konstantin had to return to the adult world of teaching and complete lesson plans. Already the one hour during which young Konstantin had compromised with adult Konstantin was making Konstantin’s restless inner spirit very uncomfortable.

Konstantin had to admit that all of the pleas that his inner child was making for him to go out and play were very enticing. It was Friday, after all, and Konstantin’s inner child was making a very convincing argument about how his compositions could wait to be graded until Saturday. Yet, one hour didn’t seem like a very long time for Konstantin’s sensible, adult side, to have spent grading his compositions. He still had a lesson or two to plan for next week in addition to grading these assignments. All of a sudden, while a myriad of similar thoughts were whirling through the dark recesses of his mind, he yawned. Now, this wasn’t any ordinary yawn, mind you. It was more like one of those large yawns that tested the flexibility of every muscle in a person’s jaw until they froze in pain from how abnormally far upward their jaw was stretching.

Konstantin froze mid thought to finish his yawn and let the pain that was crawling along his jaw subside. He immediately recoiled back in to his chair and looked about him. Only one hour had passed and he was yawning! Was he tired? Did his brain need more oxygen? Thoughts of the same vein rushed through his brain until he could barely process the traffic jam of ideas and precautions that were flooding his brain’s streets. His inner child cackled knowingly at his predicament and soothingly wrapped his thoughts around Konstantin’s brain, squeezing Konstantin’s frantic mind toward submission to his desires. Konstantin let his head bang on to his desk, which made an out of tune, hollow echo of noise when it hit his desk. Well, if his inner child was being this persistent, there must be some need in him for a little time outdoors. It wouldn’t hurt to at least look out a window.

With that thought in mind Konstantin stole guiltily past the right corner of his desk toward one of the larger windows that spanned the right wall of his classroom. He should be working, but to hell with the adult world! A crazy little half smile tilted upward along the left corner of his lip. He was quite enjoying shirking his responsibilities at this moment. Damn his inner child! Just cursing at his inner child stretched his smile across both halves of his lips, completing his transformation from a tired, cranky, overworked adult into a playful, spontaneous child. He whipped his head around so quickly to catch a black and white glimpse of the somber, rain laden atmosphere outside that he could have sworn the thoughts in his head tumbled straight out of his brain. Konstantin now had no idea what he was going to do, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to work. He quickly grabbed his bowler hat with his brown goggles on it and shoved it roughly over his tangled mess of brown hair.

Before he left he took a quick look at himself in a small pocket mirror that he kept in one of the drawers of his desk. He smoothed his short sleeved, black shirt with its flared wrists and its pin tucked blouse with rivers of lines running a zigzagged course down the front of his shirt. Once he lifted his arms his back silk corset with a decadent gold and black flower pattern across it shifted uncomfortably around his chest. He straightened out the corset so that the pretty flowers across it could seek life energy from the black river flowing beneath it. He was wearing a tight black, short sleeved trench coat with swirling bursts of light silver flowers across the entire coat. The coat tightened around his wrists into a narrow point that puffed up in a round nest of fake silver fur. As the coat trailed down his back it widened out into a flat, triangular tail that spun in a stiff quarter arc when he walked. He glanced approvingly down at the tight, black leather pants with cross shaped belts around each of his ankles, one belt around the middle of each leg, and a long belt around his waist. Each of the tiny, black crosses was covered in a field of small, gold gems. The reflection of God’s kingdom sparkled from within each of the crosses, momentarily catching Konstantin’s scattered attention. He smiled reflectively for a second, giving himself over to a moment of spontaneous prayer to God. Once he was done praying he tightened a few of the cross shaped buckles on his black, platform shoes. He made especially sure to tighten the buckles under his knees. Then, out of habit, he touched the silver music notes on each of his shoes and pushed the chains that were dangling off them back and forth. The final touch that he added to his outfit before he deemed himself ready to leave his office was a pair of tight, black leather gloves that stretched up to his elbows. Each glove stuck to his arms like an extra layer of skin.

He made sure that each of the three clocks that he wore was in the right place and set to the correct time. The watch on his wrist sat on top of his glove, its blank face staring expectantly up at Konstantin like it usually did. He chose not to wear a necklace because of the decadence of his outfit and the sheer silly nature of his mood and took off. Konstantin closed his office door with a satisfying bang that shook the walls of his classroom. His effortless strides took him straight down the hallway past the music room as if he was nothing more than a leave caught in a gust of wind or, in this case, a spontaneous urge to play with mother nature.

[violet rose pearson]

It was early in the day, but the sounds of steps echoed down the hall. Violet wondered if this was the first of the arrivals to the dance hall. Excited, she threw open the door and stepped out into the hall. But standing there was no student. It was the music teacher, Konstantin.

It was an odd sensation, standing there having emerged from a room that she didn't quite have permission to be using. She felt naked, something that struck her as foolish. She was wearing another one of the deco pieces her sister had put together... before her collapse. She had an a cyan and pink Angelic Pretty dress over a pink blouse. The pink stockings had a dash of yellow and a pair of pink heals with bows. She had hoped to impress Damien, if he made an appearance.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said with a huge blush across her face. "I thought it was someone else."

She stammered as her thoughts overwhelmed her. She felt she should confess before she got in trouble, but then she realized that Konstantin was perfect. She didn't have to break the rules, if she asked.

"Um, Mr. Konstantin. I'm Veronica, I don't have a class with you yet. I'm trying to have a dance lesson tonight, an impromptu one. If you are free, do you think you could play the piano for some live waltz music? You can play other music too if you want."

[rowan anne hall]

Rowan had been relaxing on her bed and staring at the ceiling, utterly bored. Classes had been progressing, some were interesting and others nearly had put her to sleep. School was beginning to become dull and repetative, something on which she hated immensely. What was worse was that she couldn't do anything. She couldn't go to the forest to shoot, she was too terrified to go back there.

A sound from her door roused her out of her daze. Sliding off her bed she went to expect the door, curious on what it could be, and found a slip of paper. Picking it up, a strange sense of excitement coursed through her as she touched the smooth paper, she began to read the short notification with a growing smile on her face. Running around she threw on a rose printed jumper from Innocent World, tights and a bolero. Rowan tied her long hair up an a simple, but elegant, ponytail and covered the elastic in a marroon ribbon. Slipping on a pair of shoes she quietly left the room. A quick stop to the kitchens provided her with two large bottles of pop and paper cups.

She hurried to the third floor as fast as she could manage before ducking into the doorway of the dance studio. Her heart was beating rapidly as she slowed down and her pulse was flying. Holding the bag in which she placed the drinks and cups tightly to her chest, she pushed opened the door with a smile on her face. "Hello?" the young lady asked. Spotting a familiar face, she smiled a little more and called out to the girl. "Ah, Veronica? Is that you? Hello!"

[damien allan forrester]

Damien tied his impecable ascot just the rigth way and looked himself in the mirror. He was wearing one of his beloved moitié gilets with a white dress shirt and straigth black wool trousers. His shoes were shining nicely and the red stoned cufflinks tied the ascot in perfectly. As usual he was wearing his staple top hat. Everything was as it should be and yet he was nervous. He tried to smile at his reflection but the silence of the room bothered him. He wished that OJ had not disappeared.

The note inviting everyone to the overnigth ball room class was on his nigth stand. He had already gotten some soda from the school cafeteria. It wasn't stolen. He had just sweet talked one of the lunch ladies. By the time he was done she would have given him champagne if he had chosen to ask. But as this was supposed to be a lesson he had settled for the soda.

Damien wondered who was to attend. Was Veronica or Noelle going to be there? Or even both. That muigth give him some trouble as he was actually two timing them. "I just like them both. I should decide between them, that'd be decent. The problem is I aint decent at all" He muttered to himself and grabbed the soda bottle. It was time to go.

He quickly walked trhough the school hallways and staircases and finally reached the dance hall floor. Veronica was there standing, quite baffeled for the music teacher had apparently caugth her planning this event. Or so it seemed to Damien. Rowan was standing there too but Damien could only see Veronica. Such beauty.

"Good evening ladies nd to you too sir." He finally managed to speak. A quick glance to Veronicas direction was made too. Oh how cute she looked. "I seem to be early."

[konstantin levin buskirk]

As Konstantin walked down the hall he felt like the whole hallway was expanding with happiness. His joy and his spontaneous urge to let go was seeping into the hallway’s marble fibers. It looked like the hallway was taking a series of deep breaths, and after each breath the feeble, mute light slipping in through every window in the hall pulsed with dark, seductive energy. Konstantin closed his eyes and envisioned the hallway glowing with yellow energy. He felt like his body was stretching its soul toward the ground to drink up the life energy that was calling out to him from the world outside the school. Without any prompting Konstantin broke in to a run. He would have sprinted gaily down the hall were it not for his corset’s restrictive boning, but he still managed to break into a quick jog.

Boom! Boom! Boom! His platform shoes drummed out a simple melody on the marble floor that seemed to serenade his inner child. Konstantin’s grin stretched so wide that he thought it would pull all of the skin straight off his face. He melted and let the rhythm of his jog raise his spirits and push him down the hallway. Konstantin streamed down the hallway on the combined energy of his joy and his devotion to God, both of which were acting like invisible hands guiding him toward his rendezvous with God and nature. For a fleeting moment the curtain of joy before him parted, drawing him toward a distant voice that pulled him toward a section of the hallway that he could not see. Konstantin thought that the voice belonged to Mother Nature, who was singing on God’s behalf in response to the song that he had sung for God the other day. From the cheerful yet small, timid nature of Mother Nature’s voice Konstantin was getting the impression that God had appreciated his tribute; Mother Nature was warming up her voice and was waiting until the correct moment to burst into a colorful, joyful symphony of chirps and trills resplendent of her unabashed glory.

Konstantin opened his eyes expecting to see nothing but the wide, naked expanse of another marble hallway whispering sweet nothings to him. Instead he found himself face to face with a young cherub, a student at the school, whose mature, sweet face was looking guiltily up at him. She stammered through a few phrases while Konstantin stared down at her in utter shock. All that he could focus on was the fact that she was standing in the doorway of the music room, which until this moment had been locked. Konstantin could not recollect having given her the key, nor had he given her permission to retrieve the key. Since he had not had the good fortune to meet Junko before she had made herself scarcer than a flower in the winter, he didn’t know if she had been the person to give the girl the key to the room. At any rate, this brown haired, younger version of Kate Middleton was illegally standing in the music room asking him if he would play music for her friends and her during an impromptu dance session!

The inner child within Konstantin light up like a firecracker at the girl’s suggestion. Konstantin was so preoccupied with his inner child’s desire to help the girl that he completely forgot her name. All he could focus on was that playing music for this girl would satisfy his desire to let loose and to forget that he had ever spent a portion of his day working through his teaching duties. On the other hand, his teacher’s persona was protesting loudly at how he would have to forget the girl’s transgression to play for her. She had broken a rule and now, Konstantin realized with horror as two more well dressed children filed in to the room, more people had been invited to this illegal gathering!

“But, you are the adult in the room!” Konstantin’s inner child whispered to him in a voice that was creamier and more seductive than the inside of a Milky Way after a long, tiring day at school. The inner child within Konstantin was very opinionated, and he knew exactly when to strike adult Konstantin to have the best chance of getting his way. Now that Konstantin had spent the past few minutes running down a series of hallways he was very susceptible to his inner voice’s longing. His inner voice sensed his vulnerability and began filling Konstantin’s brain with reasons why Konstantin should give in and sing to the spontaneity of the moment. Konstantin’s inner child even reminded Konstantin that no one could oppose his directives, because he was the teacher who had been trained to make situations work in his favor. There was no denying that Konstantin’s inner child was making a very convincing argument; Konstantin caved to his inner child instantly upon realizing that he could rectify the situation and make sure that he was in control and that he could control who used the dance room in the future.

Now, these kinds of thoughts were more like the thoughts Konstantin needed to think if he was going to have fun and also avoid getting in trouble for shirking his duties as a teacher! Konstantin let his mind embrace the silly train of thought that his inner child was following and grinned goofily. He was ready to tackle the challenge that the girl had presented to him with her question. Unfortunately, Konstantin still could not remember the girl’s name, since apparently his struggle to take control of the situation and to get what he wanted had pushed her name out of his head. Well, he couldn’t dwell over this mistake now. Maybe she would be nice and she would mention her name again at some other point. The best thing he could do now was to not let his shame at having forgotten her name show on his face.

“Before I accept your offer, cherub, I happen to be situated year long in a classroom that is on this very floor. I know that this room has remained closed since Professor Junko started teaching fewer classes. No one can get in to this room without a key, since I believe that the headmaster and everyone else involved in running this school has been keeping this door closed. You must have found the key or broken in to the room. Either way, the look of bewilderment on your face belays your guilt at having done something illegal to gain use of this room.” Konstantin made full use of his five feet eleven inches to lean threateningly over the short girl below him. He was also significantly heavier than she was. The large difference in shape between the two caused Konstantin to cast a slight shadow over the girl that colored her skin a shade darker than its original color. Konstantin’s inner child, who had completely taken control of adult Konstantin’s thoughts, was transforming into a bully. Adult Konstantin shivered, hoping that the girl wouldn’t be scared by his purposeful attempt to seem incredibly overawing.

“Hand me the key to this room, since I don’t believe you have the guts to break in to this room and to suffer the consequences. Then, in the name of God, lets rock and roll!” Konstantin yelled a gravely scream and stuck his pinky and his index finger up on both of his hands. He shook his hands leaned backwards. “Let’s get ready to rock and roll, people! Dance class is in session! Just hand me the key to the room and you will unlock God’s music, which he has entrusted me to sing for you tonight! God will lead us to some fun times tonight! Sing it to me and sing it proud! The prouder we are the louder we are! And God will only thank us for dancing our passionate hearts out!” Konstantin was working himself into a veritable frenzy of vigor and devotion to God. He let his hands drop and leaned forward with a loud hallelujah. His left foot tapped out a basic three four rhythm in anticipation of the songs that he would play and the devotional dancing that would ensue.

“I’ll get my guitar, a tape player so that I can create some basic background beats from some famous songs, and I’ll warm up some piano songs for us. Just do your part and hand me the key to this room so that I can turn it into God’s magic disco!”

[violet rose pearson]

Violet's heart sank at the accusation of Konstantin. Violet had been handed the key by Junko. And she had intended to return it. The truth of the matter was that she had forgotten about it until after Junko's departure (disappearance?). Junko knew that she had had the key and at no point had expressed any objections to her possessing it. However, the circumstances of accessing the room were not normal.

Under normal circumstances, Violet would have handed over the key in an instant. She liked causing trouble sometimes, but it was better to give up when, as others would put it, the gig was up. This, however, was an odd situation. Konstantin's confrontation put her in a very precarious situation. On one hadn, she was accused of doing something that she had not. On the other, he was a representative of the school. However, the third factor in her decision arrived on the heels of Rowan's arrival. Damien stood there.

She looked at Rowan and gave a wave and to Damien she gave a smile. She wanted to do something more to acknowledge his arrival, but she was so unsure of herself in regards to what to say. She had, after all, arranged this entire event for him. She promised to spend the night with him, and she wanted to do it by showing off to him her greatest passion. Besides, the guy was sweet in his own strange sort of way.

But, the fact remained that she was now confronted with losing the key. This was far more important to her than anything else that might come of this. And, she wanted to be strong in front of Damien. She couldn't have him looking down on her.

"I will give you the key," she said and handed it over to Konstantin. "However, I want to set the record straight. I was entrusted with that that key by Miss Junko. I'm very sorry if I went about organizing this event all wrong. If you feel that I cannot be trusted with that key, I understand that you'll have to keep it. On the other hand, without that key, the only person teaching dance in this school will lose the means to teach. I would like, no expect, that you either arrange to have the room unlocked for me to teach after hours classes or return the key. We can talk about it later, for now, I want to get people dancing!"

She turned to Rowan, afraid to face Damien's reaction to her putting her foot down and unwilling to see Konstantin's reaction for much the same reason. "Common Rowan, lets go in. I'm going to need someone help me with the sound system for when the wonderful Konstantin needs a break or if he decides to take a nap."

She grabbed Rowan's hand to lead her into the dancing hall.

[rowan anne hall]

Rowan watched the interaction between teacher and student with slight amusement and great curiousity. She stayed quiet as she watched the sceen infront of her, barely breathing as to not disturb the others. A half remembered man arrived soon after her and she nearly glared at him, but she controlled herself. She didn't really like Damien, in fact she found herself throughly annoyed with him when ever she saw him. Her face arranged itself into an emotionless mask as she watched his expression soften when he looked at Veronica. Interesting, she conclueded as she raised an eyebrow.

She glanced Veronica with a quizzical eye and gauged her reactions. Once again, it proved to be interesting. Smoothing the skirt on her outfit with one hand she re-positioned the bag she held so it hung by her side rather than against her chest.

Veronica suddenly grabbed her hand and lead her into the Dance Hall. Their shoes clicked against the hardwood floors as she was lead into the bare room. Mirrors and bars lined the room and Rowan chuckled as she could see three other's of herself stare chuckle back. She turned to Veronica and squeezed her hand. "So where do we begin?"

[damien allan forrester]

Damien listened to the interaction with mask of a calm person. It was infuriating to see someone blame Veronica from such actions. To Damien it was clear that she was a good girl who would never steal anything. I migth do that for her if she asked. Damien admitted to himself in a moment of surprising clarity.

As Veronica explained how she had gotten the key a smile rose to Damiens rigid face. Her innosence in this only made him think better of her. And the way she continued and demanded the teacher to open the door for her classes made him smirk. What strength. She really was a great girl.

Ater Veronica had grabbed Rowan, Damien turned to the teacher and smirked. "Do you need help with your instruments, sir?" he put down the soda bottles he had been carrying. "I would have two free hands if you do."

[violet rose pearson]

Violet let Rowan straight to the sound system. It was a small cabinet, built into a center wall. Rows of electronic equipment set on top of each other including a computer with a small monitor display. "The less people that play with this, the better. I've seen Junko when someone has messed around with it. It can take forever to fix. I'll show you what I know about the equipment, and then I need to figure out how to deal with him."

Violet motioned her hand to Konstantin. "If he's going to be playing live instruments, I need to figure out how to hook that up. I don't know how. So, I'll show you the three settings I do know. There is a MP3 player on the computer for music, a hook-up for personal MP3 players, and a CD player. Those are simple."

Being careful to make sure that she was clear, Violet began explaining how to switch between the three different modes.