<span style="color: #FF0000">This one was smart, curious and inquisitive. Not to mention how she was shockingly correct on how long he had been in this world. A sad smile was given while he looked over at her, a moment taken to observe her. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Feelings.....what feelings were there left? I loved....once. I have hated often...and disgust...</span> <br/><br/>Another look in her direction before his eyes found something else to focus on once again.  <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"> There is that feeling that I get when I hunt...</span> His eyes shifted just slightly, a light, an energy , began to come into them as he remembered that sensation. How it felt when he stalked. When he hunted and fed....<br/><br/>“I think....I have something....” he said after a moment and he stood. “Do you mind?” he gestured for her to move so that he might have the floor. When she was clear he closed his eyes and allowed what he felt when he hunted to channel through his body. That rush...that excitement...that <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuBLv73jFA">freedom</a>....</span><br/><br/>For a good while, she said nothing, allowing him to process whatever it was he needed to while he regarded her. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, but she ignored it, if only because she was trying to focus on something else, like the music selection.<br/><br/>But, when he said he thought he had something, she looked at him curiously, remaining silent as she did what he asked. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to expect,  what he’d do. If he was going to make a mockery of what she’d asked, or if instead it was going to be something painful to watch…<br/><br/>Instead, she was pleasantly surprised. Awed, in fact. Had she not known the man now, this dance would have likely only left her with stars in her eyes, ending with an emphatic clapping at the end. As it was, she was still in shock, eyes following his movements like she used to with his performances, heart beating as she felt what he portrayed, felt something from him for the first time since….since she’d heard of his career. Every performance had felt static, robotic, but this…this felt real. Genuine.<br/><br/>At some point, she’d ended up sitting, perched on the edge of her seat as she watched him dancing about, breath scarce while she watched him dance, actually invested.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">When the feeling finally left and he was left with this lingering feeling of exhilaration and....life. He just stood there and enjoyed the moment. “It has been a long time since I felt such....well anything when I danced....” he said into the silence that followed. “It felt...good and natural...” he smiled, perhaps the first true and genuine once since they met. “Thank you,” words of gratitude were spoken easily and honestly without even the smallest hint of anything else. <br/><br/>“Ok, now was there anything you noticed that I could or should change?”</span><br/><br/>He…thanked her, without a hint of sarcasm or bite…A genuine thank you.<br/><br/>Her eyes widened, the stunned silence remaining as she slowly nodded, the faintest of smiles on her lips though the shock slowly dissipated. And then thought was needed, no longer able to keep reliving it in her mind solely for replay value, but now looking for critique.<br/><br/>“The only thing I would say…though this could be inexperience talking,” she started standing up to demonstrate one of his moves. “You felt a little stiff, like it didn’t quite…flow as well. Otherwise? …That was the first time since I started following your career that I felt anything watching you. It was…intense. In a good way.” The hint of a smile grew a fraction more, as she shrugged, only to have her eyes turn curious.<br/><br/>“Can I ask what you thought of to get that?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000"><span style="font-style: italic"> A little stiff? I am sure you know what stiff is....</span> <br/><br/>He thought but only nodded, though at her question to what he thought about he merely arched a brow. “Just something that I enjoy doing,” he said in an attempt to try and brush it off. “How about you try now and I will watch, yes?” he said while he moved to give her the floor.</span><br/><br/>She could almost swear he hadn’t liked what she’d said, but there was nothing that could be done, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Another shrug escaped as he brushed off her question and gave her the floor.<br/><br/>Taking a moment, letting a breath escape, it took her the span of several to start, but then she<a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlVDZNgQ28Y">did</a>, filled with the emotion, the drive she always performed with. Completely invested, it was like the rest of the world melted away, using the entirety of the small dance floor to get across what she felt, how she felt. Even he melted away, the presence of another vanishing as it was just her in her apartment, doing as she had before, only with the intention of possible critique.<br/><br/>Her eyes even teared at one part, as her body fell to its knees and her head hung, but then the determination shown through, the sad determination, the self-discovery, the frustration, each emotion plain on her face, in her eyes. Until she ended as she’d started, just breathing, eyes closed, allowing the world to melt back into focus, allowing Athanase to melt back into focus. A hand rubbing at the back of her neck as she glanced at him for the first time since he gave her the floor.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Again, it was like he watched actual emotion in motion. Every step she took, he felt. Every motion, he felt himself moved. It was breathtaking to watch and to experience; also very humbling. Now, as she moved he knew what she meant about him being stiff. There was a fluid in her movements, that he knew without even having to see himself to know that he did not have it. When it ended he was speechless for a moment, then because he felt credit was due he clapped. <br/><br/>“That was....amazing..” he said as he approached. “That is what I am talking about, how you just commit and give it your all. It is...well pretty impressive. The technique, is a little off, but we can work on that,” he smiled and moved to stand behind her, his hands on her waist. “Have you performed any of the classics? Swan lake and such?”</span>