seloria cassul ; dancer (mesmerist) wrote in emillion, |
The first act had been as impressive as could be hoped, though Juliette had to admit that her neighbors had made her mildly nervous (the Countess was familiar by now, but Duke Reinholdt! She had been terribly tongue-tied in his presence). Accordingly, as the curtain closed on singers and dancers to thunderous applause and the lights came up, she managed at least to string together a sentence to excuse herself for the powder room (which she did not need) and rose from her seat. She ran her hands self-consciously over the skirt of her gown. She really wished people would stop looking at her as though she had grown an extra head every time they beheld her in it. The Countess had agreed it was in good taste (unlike the dresses she had worn previously), so why did she feel so horribly awkward? These thoughts were interrupted, however, when she spied a familiar head of pale hair through the crowd. She had recognized her name in the program, and been all the more impressed with the first act’s closing number because of it; glad to have an aim to her wandering, Juliette shifted her course to intercept her friend. “Good evening, Seloria,” she said, offering a small, genuine smile. “I had hoped to see you this evening. Your students were most impressive.” Seloria had been taking many compliments when the familiar voice had floated up behind her. She hadn’t meant to eventually grow automated with her own responses, but there was only so many times you could say “you are too kind” before it lost all meaning. So, she turned to wish the same to the newest person who approached her only to see it was Juliette. Or at least, she thought it was Juliette. Someone had replaced her with an older, much lovelier looking version of herself and it took the woman a moment to process who it was she beheld. “You look so lovely,” she said completely bypassing the compliment that the girl had given her. She then embraced her and held her at arms length. “Let me look at you!” She was practically beaming. The response was quite unexpected; Juliette felt her cheeks flushing with color at the frank appraisal of her appearance. “A new gown,” she managed, somewhat lamely. “Nothing more.” Really, how could she have known this would be the result of having something less eye-catching made? And, of course, the compliment ought to be answered, fortunately, it was no hardship to tell the ever-elegant Lady Cassul, “You are far more lovely than I, I am certain.” The flush of color to her cheeks only enhanced her beauty, or so Seloria noted. “You wear it so well.” The youngest Cassul was so pleased. She did look less like an ornament and more like a woman, which was nice. “And you need not exaggerate,” she teased at the compliment. "I wasn't," Juliette said a bit helplessly. A change of topic was clearly in order. "You must be so proud tonight. Your skill as a teacher is... quite incredible." That the well-coordinated dancers on stage had been picked up essentially off the street was very difficult to believe. "I hope the rest of the performance goes as well." |