"I do love to dance. I'll start practicing later today," she swore. Oh, one of them was getting in over their head, but Idun wasn't sure if it was Bragi or not. She assumed it was, but it was a tough call. He kept smiling, and she kept smiling, and there was a general air of mischief, but there was no clear winner or loser already defined. Yes, someone had certainly accepted a challenge they couldn't possibly live up to. Idun was fairly certain it wasn't her, though, and appropriately continued to smile.
Within the week, he was saying. If Idun didn't already have an eyebrow raised, that was the moment to raise one. She briefly entertained the notion of raising the other one, just to demonstrate her surprise, but that seemed like overkill. Why show her surprise anyway? Idun was going to see her friend again within the week. That was just how solid friendships went. No reason for her to fight off a certain degree of flustered ridiculousness. Since she absolutely was not flustered, Idun smiled slowly, wickedly, and tapped her chin thoughtfully with one finger. "I do believe you just mastered alliteration. Honestly, I don't even know what you said, but it sounded good. I'm sure you can do your worst within the week, and I'll still come out of it with a pleasant melody in my heart."
Well, a silly, sassy attitude was better than a flustered countenance, wasn't it? It faded away as Bragi offered up his question, and Idun was genuinely thoughtful this time, falling silent for a few moments. "I'm fond of the Happily Ever Afters. But even a sad story can be beautiful in the right hands. I'd..." She would see anything he wrote. For some reason, even though they were good, good friends, Idun couldn't tell him that. "I think it's a good idea, writing plays." She swallowed. She looked down at her lap and counted to three. Oh, basic math was one of her many talents. He said sixteen days ago, but he meant The Day in the Tree. She wasn't flustered. It didn't mean anything. It was probably a rather funny song poking fun at her unpleasant demeanor. That was all it would be. Still...Bragi had written a song about her... "Well...I'd love to hear it sometime." He was casual. She was casual. It was all very casual.
Idun knew her cheeks were warm, but for the life of her, she didn't know if they were rosier than usual. She could usually tell. Her heart was certainly thumping away in her chest like it was racing to get somewhere on time. No, this wouldn't do at all. She was taken by the butterfly with a very specific sort of determination. Apple carvings, nothing in sight but apple carvings. She had to see it from every angle, and that meant she couldn't see Bragi. Right. "This is an orchard trick. I'm not very good, not even at butterflies, but a lot of apple folk know a thing or two about this. I wonder how that girl learned," she mused absently. Anything to stay distracted until the heat left her cheeks.