Star Trek: Starbase 777

As if walking into a wrap party, the ballroom was a beautifully lavish display of art deco architecture, with tall and wide windows flanked by rich red curtains. Peeking out of these crystalline windows, there was a quite realistic holographic reproduction of Hollywood on Earth at night, with spotlights shining up into the sky from the Chinese Theater to signal a new premier, and the Hollywood sign lit up as bright as the Moon. A Gatsbyian pyramid of champagne glasses was placed near the entrance, for guests looking to get the mood set right.

Holy… shit. Ed had to stop himself from spinning around and taking it all in like he was on a carousel. It was all so gorgeous, and it just seemed so otherworldly, compared to the typical monochrome gray of Starfleet’s interiors. He hummed softly to himself, making his way to the edge of the room to get a proper scope of the place.

"First time?" Lente asked as Edgar approached where she was standing with her flute of champagne, a cheeky grin on her face as she took in his amazed face.

“Oh—“ He startled a little, having not really noticed that there was someone there until she spoke, before replying with a sheepish smile, “Was it that obvious?”

Lente laughed as she took a sip of her champagne. "You just have that look about you. Plus, I think I recognise your face. Engineering, right? You're one of the newbies from this year," Lente pointed out. They hadn't met, but as a Lieutenant Junior Grade (thank you very much!) she felt it was her responsibility to keep track of every new person. In case she and Autumn needed to rope anyone into their shenanigans, you know how it goes.

“Yep, that’s me. Newbie engineer.” He nodded, adjusting the flower in his pocket to make sure it didn’t fall out, “I’m Edgar, most people just call me Ed. Or— Ensign Castelo, but… that’s not really an off-the-clock thing.”

"I remember being Ensign Summer..." Lente nodded sagely, as if it wasn't literally like half a year ago that she was an Ensign. "Or, Summer-Veidh, I guess. Just call me Lente, though! It's nice to meet you, Ed!" Lente stuck her hand out for Ed to shake, determined to make at least sort of a good impression.

He accepted the handshake, gladly knowing he wasn’t going to embarrass himself with a species that didn’t shake hands. “That’s one hell of a name, I like it.” He chuckled, “You having fun so far here, Lente?”

"You don't know the half of it," Lente sighed dramatically in reference to her name. Story for another time maybe. "I'm doing good though! Trying to find someone to lead me through a dance, I can't say I'm a great dancer on my own." She eyed Ed up and down once, noting their height difference; like they were she towered over him a solid five inches at least. "I don't suppose you'd be interested?"

“I’m not too bad at it. I’d be willing to give it a shot, if you’d like.” He offered with a bit of a shrug, “Hopefully the, uh, height difference won’t pose any problems.”

"Maybe I'll just dip and twirl you instead of you me," Lente offered, putting her flute down with a smile that crinkled her eyes. "Shouldn't be too much of an issue, right?" she said as she offered her hand for Ed to take. "If you'd please, Mister Edgar Castelo."

“I don’t mind being twirled in the slightest. No issues on my part.” He grinned, and nodded as he took her hand, walking with her towards the middle of the room.

Lente let herself be led to the middle of the room easily, simply following Edgar with what he had in mind. "Dangerous thing to say to me," she promised, still grinning. "You have to tell me more about yourself though, since we're in the same division and all. What do you do?" she asked as she let Edgar position her as he liked. She was just happy to be dancing.

Starting to sway to the music with her, he thought for a moment, before answering. “I’m in maintenance. Making sure stuff doesn’t fall apart. Duct tape, hopes and dreams.” He joked, “Although I get to fix stuff on shuttles and ships sometimes, that’s always a treat.* Turning on his heels, he spun the two of them a bit, tilting his head. “How about you?”

"Oh, that's cool! My best friend Autumn is a shuttle engineer, maybe you've seen her around," Lente said as she settled easily into Ed's rhythm, wondering for a second if she'd always been able to do that or if that was something of the past year for the most part. "I'm a biomedical engineer! I do repairs here and there, but I focus mainly on the medical devices. And every so often I design prosthetics, that's always pretty fun."

“Oh, wow! That’s… super impressive, honestly.” His brows shot upwards, having never really met someone in that field before, “I’m assuming that takes a bit of medical and science work, too? You’re kind of a triple threat.”

"Stop, you'll make me blush," Lente said, though her smile didn't waver in the slightest. "I went and got a degree before I went to the Academy, so I had a bit more training than most people. You're pretty spot on that it was a lot of medical work though, you have to understand what you're working with before making machines to heal it, and stuff." She waited for a sidestep in their little dance, then pulled Ed's hand up to lead him into a twirl, a silly grin on her face. "You're a good dancer, Mister Castelo."

“True, true. It’s impressive nonetheless.” He replied, accepting the twirl with a laugh and a little exaggerated bow, “Thank you. You’re a good dancer as well. And a good twirler, if… that’s a word.”

"Why thank you! It's my first time!" Lente really wasn't much of a dancer normally. It wasn't like she'd never danced before at all, but certainly never in a setting like this. "Are you happy being stationed at 777? I know it was pretty overwhelming to me the first few months."

“Oh, god, It’s been a crazy first few months. But I don’t think I’d trade it for anything.” He let out a half-laugh half-sigh, “I like the lower stakes, honestly. On my first posting, I was running around and fixing critical systems while we were mid-battle, but… this is better. Calmer.”

1

"Oh dude. My first month here I was shooting at warp core ghosts. It really set the tone for me, first posting and everything." She watched her feet for a second, making sure she wasn't going out of step as she thought. "You were on a ship before, then? What's that like? I've only ever been on the station."

1

“Warp core ghosts sound… terrifying, damn.” His eyes widened, “And the ship I was on was ancient, barely staying together. But it was kinda cool, not having one place to be.” He turned on the spot again, asking, “So, this is your only posting?”

Lente nodded as Ed spoke, taking in what he was saying. "Yeah, I don't know who thought it was wise to put me and Autumn back together, but they put me here once I graduated. Warp core ghosts and cheese mold ships and all." She twirled Ed again as they turned. "I don't think I would have added much on a ship, to be fair. Unless I was going to a medical vessel, but I'm happy here. Plus, I wouldn't have had my best friend there, so. Are you making friends at least? How long have you been here? Sorry, I feel like I'm talking about myself too much."

“No, no, you’re not talking about yourself too much!” He smiled, “And I’ve been here for… three and a half months, now. I’ve been making friends, everyone I’ve met is super interesting.” He let himself be twirled, doing so with a flourish and a grin. “How long’ve you been here?”

"Twooooo.... a little over two years now. I got here in september, so, yeah, two years." Oh man, she was starting to feel her foot twinge. This is what she got for never in her life wearing heels except on special occasions. "I'm glad you're making friends though. I know some folks struggle with it, and not everyone comes with an in-built friend on the station. And with how big this place is, it's almost like moving to a new city on your own."

“Oh, wow! You definitely know better than me about this place, then.” He nodded, watching her as she moved, “And it’s easier than expected to meet new people, considering you’re floating in space with them. But I get what you mean, my, uh— my roommate’s been a bit tentative with other people, but he might just be like that.”

"Yeah, I know the type." Lente sighed, then rolled her eyes. "Dude, I'm so sorry, but I need to sit down somewhere. I got 10 people in here and I'm blaming one of them for the bright idea of putting heels on. One more twirl before I let you go?"

“Oh— for sure, no worries.” He assured her, giving her a nod as he spun once more for the final time between them, “Heels are a pain in the ass. Definitely go sit.”

"You're a dear," Lente said, twirling Ed before they moved back to the side of the room. "I'll be at the bar if you miss me too much," she said with a grin, waving as she made her way to the comfort of the barstools.

He smiled at her as she left, continuing to move and sway a bit with the music but making his way to the sidelines where he wouldn’t run into dancing pairs.

Of course the first thing Garcia would do at the ball would be to ball! There was plenty of time for her to see her friends and meet new ones later, she wanted to take advantage of her built up energy and so she made her way to the ballroom, stopping for a moment to take every detail in, the projection, the architecture, the decoration. The entire room was magnificent!

Ed bopped his head to the rhythm, seeing all of the costume-like outfits that all seemed larger than life, in the best way possible. His brows raised at the sight of the Lieutenant Commander, grinning at seeing another familiar face. “Garcia!” He greeted her, making his way over.

Hearing her name being called out with such enthusiasm, Garcia turned around with a wide smile, recognizing the voice. “Ed! My my, you look fancyyy.” She eyed his suit up and down with an approving glance.

“Thank you so much!! So do you! I love that colour.” He enthused, gesturing to her dress, “Are you enjoying the party? Or did you just get here?” (edited)

”Just got here, actually!” She smiled and did a little bow at the compliment. “Why thank you! It is one of the reasons I am late.” The other being: she ended up reading the announcement wrong and thinking the ball started 1 hour later than it actually did. “Everyone looks so smart! This is one of the best traditions I’ve seen, definitely!”

“Oh, for sure. Everyone killed it tonight.” Ed nodded, glancing around once again to see everyone, as it never seemed to get old, “You here to dance, boss?”

”I absolutely am! Best way to start. And come on…” She waved her hand. “I’m not your boss, and even your bosses are not your bosses tonight! We are all off duty!”

“Good point.” He laughed, “And it’s a force of habit, sorry.” He looked towards the others again, seeing pairs moving to dance with the change in song. “Looking for a dance buddy?” He offered, with a somewhat silly smile.

”Well since you so kindly offered good sir.” She bowed jokingly. “Let’s try not to step on each other shoes.” She winked and offered her hand.

“You got it.” He chuckled, taking her hand and leading her over, closer to the middle of the floor, where it was more populated.

She followed happily. Less than 15 minutes in and she already had a dance partner! The night was starting with a high bar so far. Once they reached the floor, she waited for his cue. Garcia would not have minded to lead, but since he had had the initiative, she assumed he would take that role.

He took a breath, waiting a second before beginning to lead the dance, a bit clumsily at first but slowly gaining his footing. “So… what’cha celebrating this winter?” He asked. (edited)

Walking alongside his insectoid friend, M’Rish found an empty area near the corner of the room, gesturing towards it. “Over here?”

Shears shrugged. "Probably. Now, to begin." He put his hands on his buggy hips and looked around.

“Okay, uh—“ His paws hovered over Shear’s shoulders for a minute, before landing on them. “We kind of just… move around to the music, spin a little?” He said, as if asking and not telling.

She followed easily. Although classical dances were not where she truly shone, she had enough rhythm and coordination to keep up with a partner. Garcia could see Ed seemed a bit nervous at first, so she just kept smiling encouragingly. “Well, I guess I could very well celebrate my new posting, my new friends, my new…” She stopped herself before saying “home”. The starbase had welcomed her, but her old wounds hadn’t healed enough for her to consider this her new home. But as it seemed, it very well could become it soon. “What about you Ed?”

“I’d say the same. New friends, new posting, and I’m hoping to head back to earth for a day or two for the holidays to meet up with my parents.” He said, pivoting a little on his heels, “It’s… been a wild year, I’m just happy to be moving into the next one on a good note.” He hummed quietly to a part of the melody he recognized, before paying more attention to the dance. “Do you want me to twirl you?” He asked.

She nodded. “It’s a good thing you do. On my first years I missed my folks back on earth a lot. We still get together, but we all understand sometimes one of us will not be able to attend.” She did not mean necessarily herself, her brothers and sisters also were grown and had lives of their own. They all made efforts though, when possible. “Oh and by all means, twirl me away! You’re calling the shots on this one young man.”

"Hm!" Shears pressed its hands into M'Rish's ribs, hoisting him slightly so he would need to stand on the tips of his bean toes. "This, yes?"

“That’s… fair, honestly. Last year, I wasn’t able to make it back, so I just want to make it up to them this time around.” He smiled as he held up his arm slightly to spin her, “Is it just you and your parents? Or do you have siblings?”

“I— uh— probably.” He stammered, barely hiding a laugh, “I think we might need to rework this, we’ve got a bit of a height difference.” Dropping back to the flatter part of his feet, he took their hands and put them on his shoulders, and instead placed his own hands on Shears’ hips. “There. Now I’m not gonna trip.”

"Is this not restrictive of movement?" Shears looked down. "How is this supposed to operate?"

“It’s— we kinda just step and move around in unison—“ He said, “Can I just show you?”

Shears lifted their foot, confused. "Very well."

“Okay, so basically…” He took a step back, moving in the most basic slow-dance pattern he knew, which also happened to be the only one he knew. He finished the pattern off, looking back up at shears. “It’s just that, on a loop, kinda. I think. Hopefully.”

Shears stayed still as a stone whilst M'Rish toed about in a square pattern. They glanced down at their own feet. They copied the pattern, except extremely off beat and in more of a trapezoidal shape. "I am ready." They proclaimed.

He nodded, putting his hands on their hips again, glancing upwards to meet their eyes. “Okay, um… I guess when the music—“ He stammered, “Yeah. Let’s… let’s dance.”

Shears, without warning took a step to the right, and pulled M'Rish along.

”Oh yeah…” She effortlessly followed the twirl. “Just me, my parents, and the other 4 gremlins with whom I shared my childhood with.” Garcia laughed before correcting. “And those would be the siblings, in case you didn’t catch it.”

He let out a quiet yelp, stumbling a little before catching himself. “Okay, uh— are you leading this? Or am I? I’m fine with either, but—“

“Oh hey, me too.” He grinned, chuckling as she spun, “Only I was the gremlin, the rest were older. But that’s cool!”

”You’re the youngest? Suits you.” She smiled. “I was the oldest of them all.”

“I can definitely see that! Are you close with them?” He questioned. It wasn’t every day that he met someone with a similar experience with siblings as he did, so he appreciated the shared understanding that they had.

”As emotionally close as people who are so physically distant can be. But yes, very close.” They all talked often, even if separated by hundreds of light years, and kept updated on each other’s lives. “Hearing you say that almost makes me believe you see me as an older sister.” She joked. “How about you?”

Opting not to answer the quip about seeing her as an older sister (although it wasn’t entirely false, the whole of the engineering department felt like family to him), he laughed. “Pretty close. They’re all over the galaxy right now, so it’s been a minute, but we keep in touch.”

"Leading?" Shears' antennae twitched. "One has to be the boss?"

"Good to know." She nodded. "Not everyone has reason to, but if made out of people that are important and that make you feel good, family shouldn't be ignored." They moved through the other pairs with the rhythm. "How have things been? And I mean with you."

“Well, I mean, kinda. It’s…” He mumbled, before just shaking his head, “Y’know what, just follow my lead. I’ll show you what I mean.” He kept his hold on the taller one, taking careful and measured dance steps while gently pulling them along with him as he stepped.

“Exactly!” He nodded intently, “You get it exactly.” He sort of followed her lead after a moment, not quite sure where they were going but happy to dance nonetheless. “It’s… been kinda nice. I’ve been doing the small repair jobs, so I’ve had time to just chill.” He told her, “How about you?”

Shears followed along for a few rounds, square dancing. They took more steps than necessary and was generally off beat, but they followed. (edited)

A bit relieved at them finally getting what he was thinking, he smiled, continuing to move to the music.

"Is this the usual routine?" Shears questioned. "It is awfully simple." They were slowly getting closer to being in time with the music, but it was Shears, so timing was never exactly guaranteed.

“Yep! Usually people make it more complicated, but I don’t really know how to do that.” He shrugged, “Is this okay?”

Shears looked down at their heels and then back at their furred dance partner. "Are you comfortable with this?"

“I don’t mind it. With the, uh, height, it’s… kinda the way it works.” He laughed.

Well, and suddenly she was the one leading their steps. She could work with that. “Well between Project Pine and some maintenance on the hydraulics systems, I’d say this last month was pretty eventful! I sure have a lot to be grateful to.”

1

“Oh, yeah! You and Allan headed that project, didn’t you?” He grinned, “I bet that was busy, yeah. You guys did so great.”

Victoria was, by this point, several drinks down and properly in the swing of festivities. For whatever reason, she found herself skirting the edge of the ballroom, mostly to have a look at the decor beyond the bar, perhaps toying with the idea that she might find someone to dance with. Oh, but instead, between the blurred faces and glinting lights, she caught the eye of someone she'd only seen not too long ago; someone who, given the nature of their meeting, she wouldn't have minded never seeing again. She was used to it, never seeing those she would rendezvous with again, after the fact. Really, her judgement told her to turn and leave. The rest of her, however, was apparently at least curious, and stayed put for far too many seconds.

That someone was happily dancing and chatting with one of her ensigns. Her magenta skirt flowed around and small golden beads hanging from her bodice caught the light as they twirled each other, not really sure who was leading who at this point. With one of the twirls, her eyes caught someone vaguely familiar. Brown on brown. She smiled, so many people were becoming familiar! She took the chance to look at the person to confirm and yes, indeed! It was Victoria. Garcia stared and smiled wide.

Catching the staring between the two, he smiled, planning on stepping back and letting Garcia go dance with the doctor. Both of them deserved some joy this season, anyway.

Yeah, Victoria was staring, too. Not with any sort of overt attraction, merely confusion at the fact that Garcia was here before her, still. It was only when she zoomed out and noticed how well the woman cleaned up that, yeah, maybe there would be a tiny bit of attraction. She didn't return the smile, though in response to it her lips would part just slightly, harbouring the same shock that was only now beginning to exit her system. By now it was too late to run, she thought, it would've been too rude for even the likes of her to consider doing so. Instead, then, she swallowed, straightened her back slightly, and nodded once in acknowledgement of being seen.

Garcia would take any stare-down as an invitation to approach. Since Victoria did not break eye contact, she turned to Ed. “Thank you for the dance, we for sure can repeat it later! Now, there is someone I know glaring and I really wanna talk to her again, if it’s okay by you.” As Ed showed no intention of stopping her, she moved towards Victoria. “Heyyy Victoria! Good to see you again. Are you having fun tonight?”

“Go, go, talk to her.” He encouraged, his grin only getting bigger (and slightly more shit-eating), “Thanks for the dance. Go get her!”

1

Shears continued their dance with M'Rish. They stayed blankly looking forward as the two did the step together. They looked as if they were lost in thought, but since it was Shears, they were just plain lost. Not thoughts. Hadn't exactly occurred to them they ought to be looking at M'Rish. "When does it get exciting?" They asked, stumped. (edited)

Victoria caught a glimpse of who Garcia had been spending her dance with just as the latter bid him farewell. Oh, Edgar. She should send him a message later... she hoped she would remember. There was little time for her to think about what she'd put in that message, however, for the next thing she knew, she was being charged down and assailed with greetings. It was fortunate that her mood had been alright since dressing up, and her vocal cords had been adequately loosed by the booze. Otherwise, she might have fully frozen. "Well," she cleared her throat, able to contort a lips into somewhat of a smile, "I've had two whiskeys, and I'm thinking about a third. So... yeah, fun. You?"

”Oh you look pretty! Love the dress. I was a bit delayed with all the fancy getting ready…” And not because she messed up the time of the event, nope. “Got here, talked to some folks and went to dance of course! Didn’t drink yet, I’m saving that for last, I still gotta find Tarsek around so he can carry me home after I pass out!” She laughed. It was a joke. A joke based on real events.

"Maybe a little better than bar-depression-chic," Victoria quipped about her own appearance, chuckled, then made a show of looking Garcia up and down. "But look at you. Don't tell me you did aaaall that just to come dancing alone?" She shook her head at her own reference, then shifted her weight onto one leg. "XO's gotta carry you home just cause you can't handle yourself? Dang, where was he a couple weeks ago? Could've saved you then."

”No… I did all of this to turn heads on the ball.” She gave the other a knowing smile. “And someone dressed like this rarely ends up dancing by themselves.” Garcia looked at the other’s dress. “You’ll see for yourself. And XO’s gotta carry me home only if I end up leaving alone and wasted, as I recall that did not happen a couple weeks ago…” Some giggles there. Garcia danced between the fine line of flirting and making light toned jokes. Honestly she was just happy to be there.

"Turned mine," Victoria affirmed, a little too shamelessly. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at Garcia's accurate recollection. "Hoping I'm not staying long enough sober enough to 'see for myself'. And why the XO, anyway?" she swayed slightly to her side and passed Garcia an accusatory glance, "you meet him dancing out at some nightclub, too, or is there more history there that I'm gonna wish I'd have known before talking to you?"

”Well, I’m glad. And come on! You might have fun accepting some dancing requests and…” She stopped herself as soon as the implication Victoria had laced on her next question clicked. “Quê?! Não! I mean no!” Garcia was definitely thrown off balance with that one. “There is history but not like that! He’s… he’s my best friend. Of over 20 years!” She shook her head. Tarsek was amazing, yes. Good looking, yes. She loved him to hell and back, yes. But it would be like dating… “He is practically my older brother!”

Victoria’s brows furrowed at Garcia’s encouragement. Yeah, she could dance, but there was no way she wasn’t going to feel like complete shit the day after for allowing herself to dance after everything that weighed on her mind. But Garcia wasn’t done, she’d even changed subjects to respond to the question posed, and Victoria’s brows only furrowed deeper. “Oh,” she said when Garcia finished, then making the connection to what she had asked a moment prior, “oh. Gross. Must be nice, though, best friend’s the XO, and he’ll carry you home blackout drunk? Pretty good. Wouldn’t happen to have heard from him what the deal is with all the new lights hanging around outside the station, would you?”

”Yeah yeah. Well he was my friend and my ensign before he was XO so… I mean, I guess I understand when people are like ‘Oh you best friends with the XO???’… sometimes the surprise is kinda… well, I try not to duel on other’s judgement.” She was used to people not understanding how someone as energetic as her, as human as her, ended up friends with logical-vulcan Tarsek. “Oh you don’t know yet?” Now Garcia was the surprised one. “It was me and Allan! Well, the original idea was Allan’s, I just helped him make it reality… little Christmas surprise for 777! I assume you didn’t see it: we turned the station into a tree.” She smiled, clearly proud of this project.

1

"Surprise? Well, I don't care, man, if that helps - as long as my name doesn't come out when you guys talk, best-friend away." Didn't need to be known by the Commander in the way Garcia knew her, that was for sure. In fact, better off the XO didn't know about her at all. She would leave that thought there, and swiftly moved on. "You and Allan? Turned the station into a tree?" Victoria said, raising a hand up to her chin in thought for a second and a half. Oh, Christmas tree. She supposed she could... kind of imagine it. There would be pictures on her PADD to help her regardless, she was sure. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. Engineers, man..." "Anyway," her hand moved from her chin to point at those dancing behind Garcia, "if you were gonna ask- still no. Be at the bar if you need a drink to cool off, though."

”I mean… we do talk about things like these.” And taking into account Garcia’s horrid dating history it was probably wise for them to always talk. “But we don’t go into a lot of details… plus I don’t always tell him names, mostly just if it starts to get serious.” If it did get serious, the med officer would have to grow used to having the XO’s attention on her, occasionally. “Awnn…” A little disappointed look there. “Well, I understand, and if you change your mind, make sure to look for me for the first dance! I wanna talk to some other folks before starting on drinking.”

"Mm-mm. I hate that word, the one that starts with S," Victoria clarified, palms innocently raised to shoulder level as if to put up a shield around herself. 'Serious' was a tough enough proposition on a good day. She did so with a sincere smile, small as it was, at least friendly in the way she built up that wall. Victoria didn't know why she bothered - this was a fluke, anyway, what were the chances she'd actually run into Garcia again? "Bar gets less depressing the later in the night it goes, so you're probably better off out here anyway," she chuckled, already moving to head off, "won't save you a seat."

”Gotcha, it was good seeing you again anyway.” Garcia smiled. It was not like she planned to actively pursuit Victoria. In fact she had meant to show she knew they had been completely casual. “I wouldn’t ask you to, someone more interesting might sit by your side.” She winked playfully and watched the woman go. “Well… off to find Tarsek I guess.”

“It’s— well, it’s usually more exciting when you’re more familiar. It’s—“ He fumbled a little as he stepped over Shears’ foot, “…Sorry. I’m sorry.”

"It is alright." Shears responded to M'Rish's apology. "I was not hurt, thanks to my exoskeleton." Shears slowed down. "Should I make it more exciting?"

“Oh, if you, um…” He blinked, wide-eyed and admittedly a little bit scared as he recovered his pace with the music, “…Sure? Yeah, sure.”

Shears' head swiveled around as if they had no idea how their body worked. This context of movement was utterly perplexing to them. "I should... pick my legs up more?" They lifted a leg up as they took a step, giving a light hop to be in place.

“I— suppose so.” He laughed, watching as they moved as if they were a puppet on a string, “Hold on, can I twirl you? It might be kinda weird since you’re… way taller, but here.” He raised up his hand, taking theirs and trying to lift it over their head so they could properly be spun.

Shears took their dance partner's paw and crouched, shuffling in a full rotation, dipping under M'Rish's arm in a very awkward motion, having to put a hand on the floor to keep themselves from falling. (edited)

He dipped his head, absolutely cracking up at how awkward both of their movements were. It wasn’t either of their faults of course, just the unfortunate gap between both of their statures.

Shears hoisted themselves back up, hand still attached to M'Rish's. "Do you spin now?" They asked.

“I can, if you want,” He shrugged, “You just gotta— like… you know what I’m talking about, sorry.”

Shears paused for a moment, looking down at M'Rish, expecting him to perform a little twirl on his own, though after his words they grabbed his hand and pulled it up, expecting him to now spin.

With a startled squeak, ears flattened against his head for a moment, M’Rish spun and dangled from their arms. After a bit, however, he couldn’t help the snicker rising up from his chest, and the grin on his lips.

Shears flicked their antennae with their arm stationary. "Nurse, you sound uncomfortable. Is this good or bad uncomfortable?"

“No, no, it’s good uncomfortable.” He beamed up at them, “This is kinda fun. I see why people like dancing at events like this.”

1