Dance With Me Tonight

Oluremi had the school's auditorium all to herself. She was a girl on a mission here. A mission to plan another song and dance routine for Mystique after they publicly performed their current one. After perfecting (or, well, getting the basics) of her golems, she fully intended to use them as much as possible.

She had all five of these golems set up. Two made out of water, three made out of stone. The stone golems were the easiest to summon. Most likely because her magic was more in tune with the Earth. But once they were out, they accomplished what was needed. The stone golems had instruments, and the water golems would be the dancers.

The routine she wanted to perform was one that was closer to her home's culture. Once where the dancing followed the energetic music. There were slight modifications to this one, like not pummeling your dance partner during timed sections of the song. But it was always easier for Remi to do than to just imagine what she wanted.

So she started her practice as the lead woman. Her heavy talons and her golem's heavy feet caused the ground to thump loudly as the music loudly radiated throughout the auditorium. It was a song grabbing you by the hand to come onto the stage and participate in the dance. To bounce with the music, grab a partner to dance with when it lulled, then separate as the music picked up the pace again.

Even now, as she focused on the music and the dancing, she could tell something wasn't right. This was only a draft, but whatever was missing was annoying her. There needed to be something more to the lull than just pairing up with a partner.

"A-Ah, shit!" Oluremi flinched at the clapping. She had been too focused on keeping her magic functioning and working out the kinks in her routine to notice anyone was in the room. The former was no longer an issue, however. The boy's clapping caused her to lose grasp of her golems and let them disappeared.

That was probably for the best. Oluremi had the look of someone who just went through a tough and probably excessive workout. When she turned to the boy, her expression was of weary anxiety, which was then followed by a weary laughter.

"Ah... haha. I didn't notice you there. Uh, not that you weren't noticeable. I just, uh, have my head in the clouds usually. Um... Were you there for the whole performance?"

"You're fiiiiine. I was basically almost finished. Just putting my rough draft into action, if that makes sense."

Remi hopped off the stage and took a satchel left on one of the seats. Then, she hopped onto the edge of the stage and opened it, revealing a lot of fruit and bottles of water. "I'm Oluremi. You can call me Remi. I super appreciate the criticism. Helped a lot with my worries. And the golems are actually just stand-ins for the rest of Mystique. I don't want them to learn a dance and music routine, then have to keep changing and changing and changing whenever I find something I dislike. Better to nitpick the shit out of my golems, then show off my ideas to Mystique with an actual visual reference."

"Oh, but I'm rambling. I don't mind at all, but, uh, do you mind me taking a quick snack break? Dancing while using magic is really tiring." The question didn't really matter. She was already biting into an apple before finishing a full water bottle with one, long drink. Really, the question was more so she could tell how fast she needed to hurry up and get back to work.

Remi flashed a giant, mischievous grin. "Well I'm glad you asked! Mystique is a musical club for those who want to make it big performing. We have groups for dance, instrument, vocals, choreography, and backstage management. We perform publicly at businesses, charity events, aaaaand you get the point." The more Remi went on, the more bored and monotone her voice became. Gabe didn't need to know the nitty-gritty details unless he was actually interested, and really, she was too tired to get big into advertising.

"I, uh, actually didn't start the group. The person who originally ran it graduated and passed it down to me. I'm the oldest, soooo..." Remi looked somewhat uncomfortable at that. She didn't really like leading, but she didn't want the group to disappear either.

Remi nodded once and returned Gabe's long look. Was it her appearance that was unsettling him? Or maybe she was taking too long of a break and should get back to work. Remi preferred the latter option. It made her insecure at how slow she was, but it was better than feeling ugly. So while Gabe spoke, she quickly ate the other half of her meal and downed another water bottle before speaking. Honestly, it wasn't the most elegant way of eating, even if there were no crumbs or spilled water.

"I do. I prefer being in the back, to be honest. When I dance, I, uh... mmm... I space out. I go into my own world where no one's judging me. I guess I block everyone out? Like, I know where the rest of my team is, but..." Remi's voice began getting softer and her eyes slowly drifting away from Gabe's. When she realized it, her cheeks turned orange, and without thinking, she drank some more water. This time some water streamed down the bottom of her face.

"Ilada, sorry. Got a bit rambly there. I'm feeling a more refreshed, by the way." Now she just had a goofy smile on her face. She hadn't realized it at first, but Gabe liked her song. He was humming it! Perfect. That meant her performance was connecting with the audience. She tried to speak again, then started giggling awkwardly and took another drink of water.