Hello, guys! This is an AU I created where Robin is the princess of Plegia and Olivia is a dancer from Regna Ferox, this idea's been bothering me for too long to not write it, haha, hope you enjoy.
English is not my first language and bla bla bla, I'm sorry for any mistakes and feel free to follow me in my tumblr: grazzin|tumblr!
The fancy royal theater has an enormous stage and innumerous cabins for the nobles enjoy whichever entertainment was occurring, and the fanciest cabin, right in the middle of the place, is always reserved for the King and his family.
The chit-chat in the theater bothered Robin more than she would like to admit; don't her people know that they're meant to be silent after the first bell rang? I thought I was pretty much clear to my father when I asked him to insert behavior and etiquette classes in the schools, she thought, tapping her fingers on the mahogany arm support in the royal cabin. The chattering was really bothering her.
"Aura, why are these high-classed people chatting so much? They should've known that they are supposed to be quiet," Robin asked to her maid standing beside her, her thumb and index finger playing with a lock of her whitish hair, "And, please, could you tell me once more why did my father force me to come here watch a play from a someone?"
The girl stuttered with no actual words before finding the correct way to answer her mistress, "King Validar said straightly to milady that he's too busy with the kingdom's business with another realm to attend this really important event with the Regna Ferox kingdom, milady."
"You didn't answer my other question, Aura."
"This is a public event, Princess, everyone is allowed to attend and enjoy the performance," the maid's brown hair fell on her eyes, "And I am sure that milady knows why King Validar chose the play to be this way."
Robin groaned, "Oh, right. Father wants to his subjects to forget about the crisis and poverty and the possible incoming war by allowing the lower classes to attend big and fancy events," the jewelry in the Princess' neck suddenly felt heavy and her throat bobbed with how sick she felt about her father's way of thinking, her ornamented clothes suffocated her. The muttering, now, wasn't bothering her as much as before, "Because that's what he does, manipulate everyone into his sick mind game of 'everything is fine'. And no one actually cares about how the rest if they have a fucking way of enjoy the present, they don't even think about tomorrow."
"Milady, please, he's still your father, and you know I can neither agree nor argue—"
The second bell—which signalized that the performance would start at any moment—rang, hushing Aura middle-sentence. People were still talking about anything in their minds, but stopped as soon as the lights turned off. The theater became a pitch black and all the muttering stopped, Robin had to hold the groan forming in her throat.
"Aura, how much time is this performance stipulated to have?"
"It'll soon end, milady, please have…" the woman was cut when she saw the Princess' glare, "Be patient for one hour, milady, then everything will end."
Robin sighed, one hour would kill no one, yes? She could spend one whole hour she could be working with something else, something more productive for the realm, than just stay put to watch a ordinary dancing choreography from one dancer. She could be doing so much more.
Heavy velvet curtains rose, revealing the only dancer curled in the middle of the gigantic stage. The position intrigued the Princess, which started to pay more attention and straightened her back. A melody started to form by the Plegian orchestra; it started as a light harmony, allowing the dancer to smoothly rise from her position and straight her stance, milliseconds afterwards, the music pumped through the instruments with a happy rhythm.
"What's the dancer's name, Aura?" Robin, finally, showed how the woman in the stage got her attention.
The girl had a massive pinkish hair tied in several braids and a ponytail, the locks of braids seemed to flow with her light movements. The music was soft, following her steps of almost slow motion pirouettes and jumps; her ballon technique was completely mastered.
"If I paid attention to what you should've paid, if I recall correctly, her name is Olivia," Aura spoke, Robin gave her a shake of her hand to keep saying what she knew about her, "According to what your father, King Validar, told you, milady, she's a traveling dancer, but is originated in Regna Ferox."
Robin's finger started to shake.
Now the song got heavy, faster, the once light bounces Olivia showed to have mastered turned into heavy steps and sharp hand movements.
Robin needed to draw her.
Olivia stomped on the floor every time she jumped.
Urgently.
Her body movements became almost agonizing to watch. Arms moved quickly and her body arched, almost as if she was in pain. She was. Her character was in deep pain, Robin could notice.
Her dry throat bobbed and she wetted her lips.
The song stopped.
The adrenaline through her veins not.
She fell with her back on the stage.
Robin gripped the mahogany arm support and held with strength to not get up and shout.
The music started once again.
Robin's grip softened.
Olivia started to move once again, she raised one arm theatrically, then the other one, both had open palms, almost as if she was trying to reach the ceiling.
Robin asked herself why she was so anguished with her movements. It took some time to finally hear how the music was being played and, when she did, she felt Olivia's anguished under her own skin.
Olivia fell one arm flat to her side and gently stood herself up, the music was lighter than before, but not happy, and the dancer expressed those feelings in a way only she knew. Her stance was sad and lifeless; her figurine seemed to cling in her body and weight on her shoulders.
They changed the notes, the sharp turned to flat, the happy turned to anguish, Robin would say it was almost a despairing third act.
She stumbled purposely on her feet, trying to find a balance that would never come; Olivia waved her arms when spinning around her feet. Soon her left leg was spread and straight, her feet pointing to the ceiling; back, hips and arms still.
The velvet curtains finally started to go down, being followed by the finishing orchestra.
The whole audience bursted into a howling cheering, applauding and whistling, asking for bis, more music, more five minutes of dancing.
Robin did not cheer, she got up from her seat and stared straightly to her personal maid, "If I recall, congratulating the dancer personally is not only part of the implied agreement, but a form to say how enjoyable her performance was, am I correct?"
Aura gave the Princess a soft smile, "I'll take you there, milady. Milady, are you okay? You seem a little bit… uneasy if I may say so."
Her breath was unsteady, her head a little dazed from the dance. Robin couldn't believe she just spent one whole hour watching a performance and liking, "I can assure you that I am fine. This was just a brief case of epiphany, though I may be a little bit overwhelmed."
Aura nodded and guided her to Olivia's dressing room silently. The door opened after a few seconds after the maid knocked three times.
"Y-Yes?" Olivia questioned meekly, Robin arched one eyebrow with the dancer's attitude, "Oh, oh, Naga, Lady Robin, I wasn't expecting you to come, do you… want to enter? We can chat here, I have cookies somewhere…"
This was the dancer that just made Robin enter in a pure bliss state moments before? This girl with probably problems with anxiety and shyness.
"Could you give me some time alone and wait for me outside?" Robin asked without looking at her maid, who whispered a low 'yes' and closing the door behind both women, "I won't eat by now, thanks for the offer, but I'm here to propose you something, do you want to join me in a private dinner today?"
Olivia shrugged with the offering, it would extend her brief stay in Plegia, well, yes, she did not have any scheduled or important performance, the invite would not be a problem, and it was from the Princess herself! However, the woman in front of her was intimidating; her frame was smaller, but her perfect posture made her have a strong presence and was a big contrast with Olivia's shoulders shrugged.
Robin's thin lips were curled in, what the dancer presumed, a scowl. She felt naked wearing her revealing costume, specially seeing the Princess in her decorated brown and black attire.
The dancer looked at her sides, trying to figure something else she could do to ease the tension she was feeling, Olivia touched Robin's left shoulder to call her attention and offered a place to sit in a sofa, the Princess gladly accepted, the girl soon seated on the other side of the sofa with a nervous smile.
"You'll stay here for more three day, won't you?" she kept going, "There's no problem with a casual dinner, I just want to know you better, how you could express the character's feelings so well, how you synchronized your steps with the music so perfectly. How you changed your light dance to such a strong one in matter of seconds, and how you seemed in such a deep agony in the final part."
Olivia gave her a soft smile and calm down, relaxing her shoulders.
"I wasn't planning on staying here for the meeting tomorrow night, I thought about start to travel in a couple of hours," she closed the cookies' sack, "I'm not very fond of so many people gathered so close to me."
"You don't need to attend tomorrow's meeting, they'll only talk about those damn politics against Valm. I just ask some of your time today and tomorrow, I want you to explain me about your performance today, I recognized all the feelings. I can't understand the struggle of the character, though," Robin finally broke her severe façade, the smiling she offered Olivia was heart whelming and calm, "It'll be only you and me both days."
"I think… two days won't hurt."
"And I'd ask for your permission to draw your dancing," Olivia was taken aback by the request, Robin kept her face, "Your dance enchanted me like nothing else, I'd like to keep and cherish this feeling. I'm sure you can make me feel this way again."
Robin stood up and offered the woman a hand, which Olivia gratefully accepted.
"I'm so joyful you liked so much, Lady Robin, and thank you for your compliments, but I still need to master a lot of my dancing, I may be good, but I don't think I can say I was perfect. I'm far from perfection."
"Just Robin is fine, we're not in some kind of royal meeting for such formalities," she waved a hand to the girl and gestured to follow her, "You didn't answer my other question."
Olivia pondered about the Princess' request, it was unusual, "Why do you want, anyway? It's not like I am the best model for your drawings," she heard the woman's huff and sighed, Robin wasn't compelling her to do this, "It would be my pleasure… Robin. I'd love to be one of your drawings."