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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 15:33:36 GMT -4
Hesitantly, he stepped forward and he found a chair near hers. He sat on the edge of it and managed an uncomfortable smile that was nearly pathetic.
He looked like he was ready to jump if anyone happened into the room.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 15:50:18 GMT -4
Alright, so he was sitting. They were sitting. This was good… right? So why did the air suddenly feel so think that she was sure she could chew it? Maybe if she started to open her mouth, some wonderful dialogue would pour out…
Opening her mouth to say something, Katherine paused before clapping it shut again and looking away. Well, that hadn’t worked. Smoothing out a fold in her dress, she cleared her throat.
“I, uh…”
That hadn’t worked either. This was just plain painful. Time for desperate measures. If she couldn’t think of anything interesting and winning to say, then just say whatever it was that she could think of.
“Okay, confession time: I’m not good with engaging conversation like my sisters, and my attempts at witty repartee tend to fall flat. So there you have it. You probably got stuck with the least interesting of all of us,” she suddenly found herself babbling on.
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 16:18:05 GMT -4
“I, uh…”
He blinked and nodded, hoping that she would continue. And suddenly she was talking almost too fast to understand. It didn't help that just looking so openly at Katherine confused him either.
“...got stuck...?”, he asked, his expression looked a little pained as he searched for her meaning.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 16:23:19 GMT -4
“Well, no, not really. I chose to stop. But I could continue talking, not that it would really make any… oh!” she said with a bit of confusion before clicking in. It had seemed like a weird thing to ask her when she had obviously finished what she had been trying to say, but it was what she was trying to say that he was actually asking about. She could feel her cheeks heating up as she stole a sideways glance at him.
“Oh, well, I guess that wasn’t the best choice of words, huh? I mean, if either of them were here instead of me then conversation would be the least of your worries,” she continued, frowning at the thought. That probably wasn’t the best choice of words either. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you of… uh, how about we just rewind back to the ‘hello’ part and start again?"
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 16:24:24 GMT -4
He tried not to, but he found that he could not help but smile at her. It was different than the others, full of warmth and amusement. Still, out of habit and respect he kept his chin in a low bow.
She was different than he expected. He was not disappointed by that.
“Hello, Katherine”, Kurt repeated through a shy grin.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 16:25:36 GMT -4
Alright, back on track, and she really wasn’t going to flounder this time, even if that glimpse of a grin was totally distracting...
Turning slightly in her chair to face him better, she folded her hands in her lap and smiled warmly. “Hello, Kurt.”
It probably wasn’t proper, for different reasons than any of the rest of this wasn’t, but she wanted to ask about him. His life, his past, but was it fair to do so? Was it fair to ask of his life before her family had enslaved him? Fair or not, she was curious and what else were they going to talk about?
“Where are you from, originally? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine,” Katherine spoke, eyeing him curiously. She didn’t want to upset him and would gladly change topics if she saw even a hint of hurt.
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 16:26:13 GMT -4
“I was born in Germany”, Kurt answered quietly. “But my family travelled a lot.” It was the first time he had thought of them in a long time that didn't bring along bad feelings with it.
“I have seen much of Europe”, he added.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 16:27:47 GMT -4
Although his voice was quiet, there wasn't any sadness in it and Katherine quickly found herself forgetting her worries from earlier.
“I've barely been out of the city since...” she began, her words trailing off to finish in her head. Since she had been taken from her homo-inferior parents and placed in the care of the king. She could barely remember anything about them, though sometimes she saw their faces in her dreams. She thought she remembered laughter, but all memories seemed to bring pain with them. Not emotional pain, but physical pain and confusion.
A quick trip to Emma Frost usually cleared that up.
“I barely get to leave the castle walls,” she finished aloud. “They must have been beautiful, all the places you've seen.”
A wistful smile had settled on her features as she spoke these last words.
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 16:28:49 GMT -4
Kurt's look was wistful, too. But it was not a smile.
“Some of them are beautiful”, he answered softly. “And some of them still burn.” His tone was matter of fact, and held no trace of accusation. Germany was, after all, where her father's war began.
Decades later, some of the landscape still smoldered.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 16:29:16 GMT -4
Whether his tone held any accusation or not, Katherine felt guilt swirling in the pit of her stomach. Germany, his home, was where it had all started. It was so much easier to pretend that the war, the story of her father’s conquest, was merely a legend, an embellishment upon less terrible events, when she wasn’t sitting face to face with the proof. Time for another change of topic, and quick.
“I…this may be totally improper, but… well, this is a party and… I mean, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy…” she stuttered before just blurting out the point in a big rush. “We could dance?”
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 16:56:04 GMT -4
Kurt's eyes found hers. Again she was different than what he expected. He could easily have seen her as careless or ignorant of the impact of her father's policies. If she was one of her sisters that is exactly what he would have seen. And he would have been right.
But instead, he saw someone trying to understand. To find a common ground. He saw a very beautiful girl unsure how...but making a very bold attempt to reach out. Kurt's eyes held hers as he decided to reach back. He stood and offered her his hand.
“I am at your service”, he repeated, with a very different tone than before.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 7, 2007 17:08:18 GMT -4
For a million reasons Katherine expected him to politely refuse. Many of them were the same reasons she knew she shouldn’t have suggested it. It went far beyond improper; it was against everything both have them had had drilled into their heads over the years. But he didn’t refuse, and it surprised her as much as she had surprised herself with the very thought of it.
He said those words again, the words she normally hated to hear, but in this context and tone... her obvious surprised gave away to delight as she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her from her seat.
Just that simple touch and she found it was far too easy to forget all the conflict she had been feeling before… to forget everything.
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 7, 2007 17:25:13 GMT -4
Her hand seemed so small and soft in his. He felt a rush as she stepped closer. For a moment it was like standing in the warmth of the morning light as he cleaned the palace windows, only he looked directly into her eyes instead of catching stolen glimpses of her reflection.
He didn't blink. He barely breathed. He wanted nothing to interfere with this moment. He just wanted to look at her.
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Post by Kitty Pryde on Aug 8, 2007 17:44:10 GMT -4
The ‘forget everything’ moment seemed to last forever. It was just her, and him and those incredible eyes. Unfortunately she had to blink eventually, and when she did forever ended and she no longer forgot everything… although now there still was only one thing she wasn’t forgetting and that was the way he was looking at her.
Dropping her eyes, Katherine could feel her cheeks burning and knew the blush was far beyond the pink of her dress, probably straight on into fire truck hues. That didn’t stop her from placing her free hand on his shoulder in preparation of the dance.
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Post by Kurt Wagner on Aug 9, 2007 17:03:15 GMT -4
Echoing her movement, he brought his arm around her waist. Further echoing within his mind, he heard shrill laughter from another time. For a while it was happy, the time that he spent travelling Europe with Der Jahrmarkt, the vagabond circus. It was the only time Kurt had felt a part of something...a family...where his appearance and the circumstances of his birth meant nothing to the people around him.
They had taught him how to live. How to laugh. How to dance. He saw Jimaine's delighted face and her mane of blonde hair in his memory....
It melted away, and instead of making him sullen as it normally did, it made Kurt smile. The face he saw instead was one he would not choose to replace with any other. Katherine. In an instant, she made a memory he had pushed away one he was suddenly grateful for...
With surprising ease, he took a turn and began to dance with her.
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