Dance With Me (G1, Megan & Scorpan)
Mar 26, 2011 12:39:25 GMT -8
Post by Caelum on Mar 26, 2011 12:39:25 GMT -8
Author's Notes: Poked my muse awake again to work on my Scorpan-related headcanon. This is something of a follow-up to Blue Eyes Blazing Bright. You might want to read that first to have some idea of what's going on in Scorpan's head here--don't worry, it's short.
~~~
Dance With Me
It's tough for a biped at a dance party that's mostly hosted and attended by quadrupeds. Fortunately for Megan, Scorpan's there. Set at the end of Escape From Catrina.
Megan found him at a table in the corner, sipping from a glass of red liquid while watching the ponies romping about on the dance floor.
She'd tried dancing herself for a bit, but it hadn't worked--it was one thing when a human partner stepped on your toes, but quite another when a full-grown Clydesdale did so. Wigwam had apologized profusely, and Megan had smiled and told him not to mind before limping off the dance floor. It wasn't that either of them were bad dancers; it was the fact that Wigwam had twice as many legs as she did, and neither of them were sure how to move around the other. So she'd excused herself, and took to watching the party from the sidelines. She supposed, if she were desperate, she could ask Rep for a dance--but he was preoccupied with Catrina, and she didn't want to ruin their moment, and she was perfectly content with conversing with the ponies who weren't dancing. Mostly Sundance, who still felt too clumsy to dance, despite managing to catch Baby Moondancer before Catrina dropped her into a pit of witchweed potion byproduct. But even Sundance was eventually dragged onto the dance floor, leaving Megan alone to meander around the banquet tables.
And that was how she found him, quietly lounging at a table in the corner of the room.
"Fancy meeting you here."
Scorpan looked up from the glass he'd been contemplating to meet her eyes. For a long time he looked her up and down, and she wondered what he saw with those bright eyes that were blue enough to rival her own. Probably he was cataloging the changes in her appearance. There were plenty, she knew; it'd been a year since they'd last met.
"Megan," he said at length, nodding politely.
"Prince Scorpan," she answered, curtsying slightly. Something in the back of her thirteen-year-old mind told her it might be best to be formal.
He grimaced. "It's King, if you want to be technical."
"Oh!" she said. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were...oh," she finished. Of course. He'd been the prince, his father had been killed by Tirak, so logically... Yeah. Why was she so bad at noticing the obvious?
Somewhere out on the dance floor, Windwhistler shook her head a few times to try and dispel a sudden, oncoming headache.
"So," Megan said. "How are things at...Midnight Castle? Or does it have a different name now?"
He sighed. "It's always been Midnight Castle. Tirak...kept the name because he saw the night as something to be feared. But my people have always known better." He smiled. "Midnight is...magical."
Megan nodded. He was right, of course. Didn't all the fairytales have something amazing happen at midnight? Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always magical. "So what brings you here?"
Scorpan's face darkened. "Nothing really. I've been...wandering for a while. Majesty"--he said the unicorn queen's name with a bitter drawl--"was kind enough to let me stay in Dream Valley for a bit."
Megan nodded slowly. "So you're...taking a break? Or something?"
"Or something," he said, looking back at his glass.
The conversation was becoming strained. She didn't know what was going on inside Scorpan's head, and he probably wasn't going to tell her. He didn't have to tell her, either. He had a right to his privacy.
But she didn't like the way he was slouched in his seat, staring at his wine.
She turned away to watch the ponies who were still twirling around on the dance floor. The sea ponies were performing a marvelous dance routine in the pool, splashing anyone who got too close. And in the air, a flock of pegasi circled and swirled in some ancient routine. She watched Surprise and her mate, Best Wishes, twirl around each other as they flew, laughing gaily. It was all very...happy.
So very much unlike this lone man in the corner.
"Hey, Scorpan? Will you dance with me?"
Her question was greeted with silence, and she turned around to look back at him. He was giving her that look again, the calculating, cataloging one.
"You want to dance?"
"Well, I tried with Wigwam, but..."
He snorted and shook his head. "Alright then." Downing the last of his wine, he stood up, offered his hand, and gallantly escorted her to the dance floor just in time for a music change. "How are you with waltzes?" he asked, taking her right hand in his left and putting his own right hand on her waist.
She lifted her left hand to his shoulder. He was much taller than her, so it was slightly awkward, but not as awkward as dancing with Wigwam. "I know a bit." Maybe more than a bit. Her father was a splendid dancer, and he'd seen fit to teach all three of his children.
"Alright then. Just follow my lead."
He led, and she followed, her wide white skirts swirling around as they twirled around the dance floor. Scorpan, Megan realized, was an amazing dancer. Maybe even greater than her dad.
"Wow," she said, "you're good!"
He smiled ruefully. "Comes with being royalty."
She giggled. "I guess you've had lots of practice, huh?"
"I'm a little rusty," he admitted. "Not many opportunities to dance while you're stuck as a monster for a hundred years."
"I can't even tell," she promised. She needed him to cheer up, not dwell on the depressing past. "Do you have a favorite dance partner?" Do you have someone special? Who makes you happy? She hoped, for his sake, that he did. Because he needed one. He really did.
He actually blushed. "Well...there's Alsitleyr. Though we haven't danced since..." He trailed off.
"Is she pretty?"
"Very."
"And nice?"
"Usually."
She looked at him questioningly.
"She isn't very easily forgiving," he explained. In a quieter voice, he said, "We aren't talking at the moment."
"Oh." Drat. She'd been trying to cheer him up, and she'd only brought up something else painful. She cast around the room for something else to talk about. "So, um, Rep and Catrina."
"The shapeshifter and the cat woman?"
"Yeah...pretty weird couple, right?"
He snorted. "Mm-hmm."
"Where'd they come from?"
"Who knows?" he said, giving her another twirl. "Could be anywhere. I've been a little out of touch for a while, remember. I don't know much about Ponyland's current events. Except for the ones I've caused," he added grimly.
No no no get OFF that train of thought! "Are there any others like them?"
"Maybe."
She let him guide her around in a circle before deciding to say something that'd been on her mind for a while. "This world is really disjointed, isn't it?"
He laughed. Really laughed, a deep, rumbling guffaw that had several nearby ponies pausing in their steps to stare at them.
Megan grinned to herself.
"You have no idea," Scorpan managed at last, spinning her around. All through his laughing fit, he hadn't broken step. "No idea at all."
She smiled. "I think I'd like to see more of it."
"It can be a dangerous place," he warned her.
"And it isn't mine," she added carefully. The same thing he'd told her when they'd first met.
He merely shrugged. The music came to an end, and they stopped in the middle of the dance floor. "You're not a bad dancer."
"Thank you."
He smiled.
"Bet it's nothing like dancing on air, though," a voice quipped from above, and Megan looked up to see Firefly grinning down at them.
"I dunno, Firefly," Megan said. "It was pretty darn close."
Firefly snorted and opened her mouth to retort, but then the music picked up again. "Ooh! I love this one!" She twirled in the air and flew off to join the other pegasi, nearly colliding with Surprise and Best Wishes in the process.
"Another?" Scorpan asked, almost looking happy.
She beamed. "Yes, please!"
~~~
Megan stifled a yawn.
"Tired?" Scorpan asked.
"A little," she admitted.
"I imagine it's far past your bedtime."
"I'm thirteen. I don't need a bedtime."
"In the past fifteen hours you've flown over a rainbow, babysat rambunctious foals, battled a magical blizzard, faced down an evil cat, and attended a ball at which you've danced the night away. I dare say you're in need of a bedtime." He escorted her off the dance floor. She was grateful he was there for her to lean on, but she'd never admit it. Her teenage pride was at stake.
"What time is it, anyway?" she asked, stifling another yawn. As though in answer to her question, a clock bell began ringing.
Dong.
Scorpan led her to a table and pulled out a chair. She sat in it, trying to blink away her sleepiness and only feeling drowsier as a result.
Dong.
There was a pitcher of juice on the table, and he poured out a glass. "Here, you'd better drink up. You don't want to get dehydrated after all that dancing."
Dong.
"What is it?"
"Rainbowberry juice. Try it; it's good."
Dong.
It was good. Better than good. It was amazing. Like an explosion of color inside her mouth.
...Okay, she must be really tired if she was coming up with stuff like that.
Dong.
"When are you going back?"
"Within the hour, I think. Skydancer's taking me." She paused for a moment, thinking her next question over carefully.
Dong.
"When are you going back?"
He stared at her.
Dong.
"...When I'm ready, I suppose."
"And when will that be?"
Dong.
He shrugged. She decided not to push it, no matter how badly she wanted to. He was a king, and his people needed him; but he was also a person, and he needed time to readjust.
And here, in this magical world on the other side of the rainbow where everyone seemed to live for centuries at least, time was one thing that was not in short supply.
Dong.
"Stars are pretty," she said, looking out the giant window next to their table.
"Yes, they usually are."
Dong.
"Moon's bright, too."
"Mm-hmm."
Dong.
They stared up at the night sky in silent admiration.
Dong.
"Midnight," Scorpan smiled wistfully.
"Midnight," she agreed drowsily. She sighed and attempted to curl up on her chair, but it was a dining table chair, not a nice comfy cushy armchair. Curling up just wasn't possible.
"Definitely past your bedtime," Scorpan chuckled.
"Shut up," she mumbled back, inwardly cursing her suddenly-heavy eyelids. She felt an arm wrap around her, and her head being guided to a broad shoulder, and it still wasn't as comfy as an armchair, let alone a bed, but it was comfy enough.
The next thing she knew, someone was shaking her awake.
"Rise 'n shine, sleepyhead."
"Huh?" she mumbled, blinking her eyes open and wincing at the still-bright lights of the ballroom. "Scorpan? What time is it?"
"Thirty minutes into the morning. That fool Skydancer seems to have remembered that he's supposed to get you home."
"Oh," Megan yawned. "Right. Need to get there before morning. Don't want my parents to worry..."
He eyed her skeptically. "You aren't going to fall asleep on the trip, right? Because knowing Skydancer, he's probably too drunk to notice if you did."
"Hey! I'll have you know that I am perfectly sober!" the yellow stallion shouted from above. He still hadn't changed out of that ridiculous red dress, Megan noted. Scorpan paid him no heed.
"I'll be good," Megan promised, forcing herself to wake up. "Really. I'll be fine."
"You're sure?"
"Quite."
"You two are so cute together," Skydancer snickered overhead.
"I am six hundred years older than her," Scorpan said dryly. "And betrothed."
Oooh. Was it that Alsitleyr girl? But Scorpan said they weren't talking at the moment...that must be hard, if your girlfriend and/or fiancee was refusing to talk to you. She wasn't easily forgiving, Scorpan had said. What was there to forgive? Him getting turned into a monster? Being forced to perform awful deeds for an evil dark lord? Leaving when he should be helping his people recover and rebuild?
She didn't know. All that she knew was that she was tired, her head was going fuzzy, and she missed her bed.
She glanced down at her party dress. "I should definitely change out of this, before I go."
Scorpan nodded and stood up, offering her his arm. He escorted her to the room she'd left her clothes in, and waited outside while she changed back into her practical trousers, boots, and blouse. She entered the room as a princess and came out as a farm girl, but Scorpan didn't seem to notice as he offered her his arm once more. She couldn't help but smile at how terribly gallant he was.
"You're sure you'll be alright?" he asked as they crossed the drawbridge, heading to the castle's front lawn where Skydancer waited.
"Positive," she said. "I'll stay awake, don't worry. I'm awake now, really."
He nodded and stopped about a hundred feet from where Skydancer--who'd finally ditched the drag--and the sendoff party were waiting. "Well," he said. "Goodbye, then."
"Not forever, I hope," she said. And then, unable to help herself, she threw her arms about him, hugging him for all she was worth. It wasn't much--she was, after all, a rather short thirteen-year-old girl. Her head only reached his chest and her arms were thin not particularly strong, but she could tell she'd caught him off-guard all the same. "Scorpan?"
"Eh?"
"Thanks for the dances."
Slowly, hesitantly, his arms circled her shoulders.
"Megan?"
"Yeah?"
He stepped back, held her at arm's length, and looked straight into her blue eyes with his own. "Don't fall."
And then he turned and headed back to the castle. She watched his retreating back before turning and walking towards Skydancer.
She waved goodbye as they took off, Skydancer racing towards the bright yellow moon. Far below them, Sundance and Baby Moondancer and the rest waved back, shouting their farewells. But Megan's eyes were fixed on a slight shadow that lurked in the castle's arched entryway. Watching.
~~~
Dance With Me
It's tough for a biped at a dance party that's mostly hosted and attended by quadrupeds. Fortunately for Megan, Scorpan's there. Set at the end of Escape From Catrina.
Megan found him at a table in the corner, sipping from a glass of red liquid while watching the ponies romping about on the dance floor.
She'd tried dancing herself for a bit, but it hadn't worked--it was one thing when a human partner stepped on your toes, but quite another when a full-grown Clydesdale did so. Wigwam had apologized profusely, and Megan had smiled and told him not to mind before limping off the dance floor. It wasn't that either of them were bad dancers; it was the fact that Wigwam had twice as many legs as she did, and neither of them were sure how to move around the other. So she'd excused herself, and took to watching the party from the sidelines. She supposed, if she were desperate, she could ask Rep for a dance--but he was preoccupied with Catrina, and she didn't want to ruin their moment, and she was perfectly content with conversing with the ponies who weren't dancing. Mostly Sundance, who still felt too clumsy to dance, despite managing to catch Baby Moondancer before Catrina dropped her into a pit of witchweed potion byproduct. But even Sundance was eventually dragged onto the dance floor, leaving Megan alone to meander around the banquet tables.
And that was how she found him, quietly lounging at a table in the corner of the room.
"Fancy meeting you here."
Scorpan looked up from the glass he'd been contemplating to meet her eyes. For a long time he looked her up and down, and she wondered what he saw with those bright eyes that were blue enough to rival her own. Probably he was cataloging the changes in her appearance. There were plenty, she knew; it'd been a year since they'd last met.
"Megan," he said at length, nodding politely.
"Prince Scorpan," she answered, curtsying slightly. Something in the back of her thirteen-year-old mind told her it might be best to be formal.
He grimaced. "It's King, if you want to be technical."
"Oh!" she said. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were...oh," she finished. Of course. He'd been the prince, his father had been killed by Tirak, so logically... Yeah. Why was she so bad at noticing the obvious?
Somewhere out on the dance floor, Windwhistler shook her head a few times to try and dispel a sudden, oncoming headache.
"So," Megan said. "How are things at...Midnight Castle? Or does it have a different name now?"
He sighed. "It's always been Midnight Castle. Tirak...kept the name because he saw the night as something to be feared. But my people have always known better." He smiled. "Midnight is...magical."
Megan nodded. He was right, of course. Didn't all the fairytales have something amazing happen at midnight? Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always magical. "So what brings you here?"
Scorpan's face darkened. "Nothing really. I've been...wandering for a while. Majesty"--he said the unicorn queen's name with a bitter drawl--"was kind enough to let me stay in Dream Valley for a bit."
Megan nodded slowly. "So you're...taking a break? Or something?"
"Or something," he said, looking back at his glass.
The conversation was becoming strained. She didn't know what was going on inside Scorpan's head, and he probably wasn't going to tell her. He didn't have to tell her, either. He had a right to his privacy.
But she didn't like the way he was slouched in his seat, staring at his wine.
She turned away to watch the ponies who were still twirling around on the dance floor. The sea ponies were performing a marvelous dance routine in the pool, splashing anyone who got too close. And in the air, a flock of pegasi circled and swirled in some ancient routine. She watched Surprise and her mate, Best Wishes, twirl around each other as they flew, laughing gaily. It was all very...happy.
So very much unlike this lone man in the corner.
"Hey, Scorpan? Will you dance with me?"
Her question was greeted with silence, and she turned around to look back at him. He was giving her that look again, the calculating, cataloging one.
"You want to dance?"
"Well, I tried with Wigwam, but..."
He snorted and shook his head. "Alright then." Downing the last of his wine, he stood up, offered his hand, and gallantly escorted her to the dance floor just in time for a music change. "How are you with waltzes?" he asked, taking her right hand in his left and putting his own right hand on her waist.
She lifted her left hand to his shoulder. He was much taller than her, so it was slightly awkward, but not as awkward as dancing with Wigwam. "I know a bit." Maybe more than a bit. Her father was a splendid dancer, and he'd seen fit to teach all three of his children.
"Alright then. Just follow my lead."
He led, and she followed, her wide white skirts swirling around as they twirled around the dance floor. Scorpan, Megan realized, was an amazing dancer. Maybe even greater than her dad.
"Wow," she said, "you're good!"
He smiled ruefully. "Comes with being royalty."
She giggled. "I guess you've had lots of practice, huh?"
"I'm a little rusty," he admitted. "Not many opportunities to dance while you're stuck as a monster for a hundred years."
"I can't even tell," she promised. She needed him to cheer up, not dwell on the depressing past. "Do you have a favorite dance partner?" Do you have someone special? Who makes you happy? She hoped, for his sake, that he did. Because he needed one. He really did.
He actually blushed. "Well...there's Alsitleyr. Though we haven't danced since..." He trailed off.
"Is she pretty?"
"Very."
"And nice?"
"Usually."
She looked at him questioningly.
"She isn't very easily forgiving," he explained. In a quieter voice, he said, "We aren't talking at the moment."
"Oh." Drat. She'd been trying to cheer him up, and she'd only brought up something else painful. She cast around the room for something else to talk about. "So, um, Rep and Catrina."
"The shapeshifter and the cat woman?"
"Yeah...pretty weird couple, right?"
He snorted. "Mm-hmm."
"Where'd they come from?"
"Who knows?" he said, giving her another twirl. "Could be anywhere. I've been a little out of touch for a while, remember. I don't know much about Ponyland's current events. Except for the ones I've caused," he added grimly.
No no no get OFF that train of thought! "Are there any others like them?"
"Maybe."
She let him guide her around in a circle before deciding to say something that'd been on her mind for a while. "This world is really disjointed, isn't it?"
He laughed. Really laughed, a deep, rumbling guffaw that had several nearby ponies pausing in their steps to stare at them.
Megan grinned to herself.
"You have no idea," Scorpan managed at last, spinning her around. All through his laughing fit, he hadn't broken step. "No idea at all."
She smiled. "I think I'd like to see more of it."
"It can be a dangerous place," he warned her.
"And it isn't mine," she added carefully. The same thing he'd told her when they'd first met.
He merely shrugged. The music came to an end, and they stopped in the middle of the dance floor. "You're not a bad dancer."
"Thank you."
He smiled.
"Bet it's nothing like dancing on air, though," a voice quipped from above, and Megan looked up to see Firefly grinning down at them.
"I dunno, Firefly," Megan said. "It was pretty darn close."
Firefly snorted and opened her mouth to retort, but then the music picked up again. "Ooh! I love this one!" She twirled in the air and flew off to join the other pegasi, nearly colliding with Surprise and Best Wishes in the process.
"Another?" Scorpan asked, almost looking happy.
She beamed. "Yes, please!"
~~~
Megan stifled a yawn.
"Tired?" Scorpan asked.
"A little," she admitted.
"I imagine it's far past your bedtime."
"I'm thirteen. I don't need a bedtime."
"In the past fifteen hours you've flown over a rainbow, babysat rambunctious foals, battled a magical blizzard, faced down an evil cat, and attended a ball at which you've danced the night away. I dare say you're in need of a bedtime." He escorted her off the dance floor. She was grateful he was there for her to lean on, but she'd never admit it. Her teenage pride was at stake.
"What time is it, anyway?" she asked, stifling another yawn. As though in answer to her question, a clock bell began ringing.
Dong.
Scorpan led her to a table and pulled out a chair. She sat in it, trying to blink away her sleepiness and only feeling drowsier as a result.
Dong.
There was a pitcher of juice on the table, and he poured out a glass. "Here, you'd better drink up. You don't want to get dehydrated after all that dancing."
Dong.
"What is it?"
"Rainbowberry juice. Try it; it's good."
Dong.
It was good. Better than good. It was amazing. Like an explosion of color inside her mouth.
...Okay, she must be really tired if she was coming up with stuff like that.
Dong.
"When are you going back?"
"Within the hour, I think. Skydancer's taking me." She paused for a moment, thinking her next question over carefully.
Dong.
"When are you going back?"
He stared at her.
Dong.
"...When I'm ready, I suppose."
"And when will that be?"
Dong.
He shrugged. She decided not to push it, no matter how badly she wanted to. He was a king, and his people needed him; but he was also a person, and he needed time to readjust.
And here, in this magical world on the other side of the rainbow where everyone seemed to live for centuries at least, time was one thing that was not in short supply.
Dong.
"Stars are pretty," she said, looking out the giant window next to their table.
"Yes, they usually are."
Dong.
"Moon's bright, too."
"Mm-hmm."
Dong.
They stared up at the night sky in silent admiration.
Dong.
"Midnight," Scorpan smiled wistfully.
"Midnight," she agreed drowsily. She sighed and attempted to curl up on her chair, but it was a dining table chair, not a nice comfy cushy armchair. Curling up just wasn't possible.
"Definitely past your bedtime," Scorpan chuckled.
"Shut up," she mumbled back, inwardly cursing her suddenly-heavy eyelids. She felt an arm wrap around her, and her head being guided to a broad shoulder, and it still wasn't as comfy as an armchair, let alone a bed, but it was comfy enough.
The next thing she knew, someone was shaking her awake.
"Rise 'n shine, sleepyhead."
"Huh?" she mumbled, blinking her eyes open and wincing at the still-bright lights of the ballroom. "Scorpan? What time is it?"
"Thirty minutes into the morning. That fool Skydancer seems to have remembered that he's supposed to get you home."
"Oh," Megan yawned. "Right. Need to get there before morning. Don't want my parents to worry..."
He eyed her skeptically. "You aren't going to fall asleep on the trip, right? Because knowing Skydancer, he's probably too drunk to notice if you did."
"Hey! I'll have you know that I am perfectly sober!" the yellow stallion shouted from above. He still hadn't changed out of that ridiculous red dress, Megan noted. Scorpan paid him no heed.
"I'll be good," Megan promised, forcing herself to wake up. "Really. I'll be fine."
"You're sure?"
"Quite."
"You two are so cute together," Skydancer snickered overhead.
"I am six hundred years older than her," Scorpan said dryly. "And betrothed."
Oooh. Was it that Alsitleyr girl? But Scorpan said they weren't talking at the moment...that must be hard, if your girlfriend and/or fiancee was refusing to talk to you. She wasn't easily forgiving, Scorpan had said. What was there to forgive? Him getting turned into a monster? Being forced to perform awful deeds for an evil dark lord? Leaving when he should be helping his people recover and rebuild?
She didn't know. All that she knew was that she was tired, her head was going fuzzy, and she missed her bed.
She glanced down at her party dress. "I should definitely change out of this, before I go."
Scorpan nodded and stood up, offering her his arm. He escorted her to the room she'd left her clothes in, and waited outside while she changed back into her practical trousers, boots, and blouse. She entered the room as a princess and came out as a farm girl, but Scorpan didn't seem to notice as he offered her his arm once more. She couldn't help but smile at how terribly gallant he was.
"You're sure you'll be alright?" he asked as they crossed the drawbridge, heading to the castle's front lawn where Skydancer waited.
"Positive," she said. "I'll stay awake, don't worry. I'm awake now, really."
He nodded and stopped about a hundred feet from where Skydancer--who'd finally ditched the drag--and the sendoff party were waiting. "Well," he said. "Goodbye, then."
"Not forever, I hope," she said. And then, unable to help herself, she threw her arms about him, hugging him for all she was worth. It wasn't much--she was, after all, a rather short thirteen-year-old girl. Her head only reached his chest and her arms were thin not particularly strong, but she could tell she'd caught him off-guard all the same. "Scorpan?"
"Eh?"
"Thanks for the dances."
Slowly, hesitantly, his arms circled her shoulders.
"Megan?"
"Yeah?"
He stepped back, held her at arm's length, and looked straight into her blue eyes with his own. "Don't fall."
And then he turned and headed back to the castle. She watched his retreating back before turning and walking towards Skydancer.
She waved goodbye as they took off, Skydancer racing towards the bright yellow moon. Far below them, Sundance and Baby Moondancer and the rest waved back, shouting their farewells. But Megan's eyes were fixed on a slight shadow that lurked in the castle's arched entryway. Watching.
