House on the River
folder
1 through F › Dark Crystal
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
14
Views:
1,819
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
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Currently Reading:
0
Category:
1 through F › Dark Crystal
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
14
Views:
1,819
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own The Dark Crystal, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
The Dance
Chapter 6: The Dance
The line was a bit longer than usual to get in. Tonight, the club was especially busy, booming with patrons of all walks of life and backgrounds. Kira patiently waited in line with her ID card, when she spotted her friend Allura, princess of the planet Arus.
“Hey girl, what’s going on?” Allura exclaimed, happy to see her friend.
“Not a whole lot, you know - a little of this, a little of that. You know how it goes. Wow, it sure is chilly out here.” Kira replied, straining to sound as upbeat as possible.
“I know. You just don’t know what the weather is going to do around here. One minute it’s warm sunshine, the next minute you’ve got six feet of snow. Back on Arus, it was pretty balmy, as least where I was located. Honestly, I never really saw a real snow fall until I came here.”
“Wow. Back on Thra, we did get it occasionally where we were, but I know what you mean, it wasn’t quite like this.”
“By the way, I heard you and Jen broke up. I’m very sorry.”
Kira replied, not looking at Allura directly, “Thank you. It’s been difficult, and I’m still not sure what happened, but I guess you never do, with these sorts of things.”
“Well, I can tell it’s been hard on you. You two seemed destined for each other.”
“Thanks,” Kira said softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Na Na and three other Skeksis approaching the back of the line. She physically felt her stomach drop to the soles of her feet, and her face turn a harsh shade of white.
“I’m sorry, I can tell this upsets you, and I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know I’m here if you need anything.” Allura had witnessed Kira’s reaction, as much as she tried to hide it, but assumed it was because of her fear of them, and nothing more. The princess herself was no stranger to evil despots consumed by greed.
“Thanks Allura, I really appreciate that, I do. I just try not to think about it lately. It really does me no good to dwell on it, as I’ve discovered.”
As their conversation continued, they approached the doorman, and flashed him their IDs.
“Believe me, I understand fully on that one. Let’s go and have a good time. I think you need it! And don’t worry about them – you know who I’m talking about. You know they can’t hurt you here,” Allura said to her friend, motioning nonchalantly towards to group of Skeksis gathered at the back of the line.
“Yeah. Them. Exactly.” Kira sounded like her mind was in another world, as she took once brief glance back at Na Na and his fellow clan members before passing through the club entry way.
Eros and his mother Aphrodite arrived rather early, wanting to reserve a good table near the dance floor. Both were Greek deities from another time, hailing from Greece 3000 years ago. Being the goddess of love and beauty, it was said Aphrodite was the loveliest woman in the world, if not in the entire Universe. As strange as it did seem, she did not look a day older than her son, who by human standards looked to be in his late teens, or early twenties.
“So tell me Eros, what has you so glum lately? Still can’t seem to get a date?” She asked her son, with a hint of laughter. The idea that the god of love was having trouble finding that special someone seemed like a preposterous idea, yet the truth was, with one exception many years ago involving a young woman by the name of Psyche, that had always been his luck.
“No, that’s not it. I’m okay, really. It’s just that I don’t understand some things anymore. No matter how much I try to help people, including my close friends, something always go wrong. It’s like, why bother?”
“Anything specific, my dear?”
“No, not in particular,” Eros lied. “I just wish I could be more of a help to people, rather than a hindrance. I mean, creating love is supposed to be my specialty, but love seems in many cases to be more of a burden to some people, rather than a blessing.”
The truth was, his good friend Kira and her plight had been on his mind since his little blunder almost three months prior. Talking about it with his mother did, however, make him feel slightly better, even if he was not about to give any specifics.
“I know, sometimes I feel that way too,” she replied. “But remember, you have a talent nobody else has, nor can ever acquire. At least take comfort in that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just want to do the best I can with what I’ve got, and it seems I haven’t really done that lately.”
“Are you sure you aren’t referring to something specific? You haven’t gotten yourself into any trouble, have you?” Aphrodite asked, becoming slightly more suspicious.
“Oh no, like I said, I’m fine. Just feelings I’ve been getting, that’s all. Nothing more.” Eros could not bring himself to tell his mother the exact truth, nor anyone for that matter.
Kira and Allura decided got a table two down from Eros and Aphrodite. Seeing Eros about to go onto the dance floor, she waved at him, and he waved back, trying his best to smile warmly at her. It was all he could manage to hide his guilt. Still, looking back at her, he could see the frustration and loneliness that was pent up inside of her, behind the façade that she had so carefully constructed.
The night went on, and the music was superb, as usual. The deejay knew most of the patrons quite well, and loved to pull antics on them whenever he could get the chance, all in good fun of course. His name was David Bowman, and in his former career he was an astronaut aboard a space shuttle named Discovery on its maiden voyage to the planet Jupiter in the year 2001. While checking out an enigmatic black rectangular object orbiting near one of Jupiter’s moons, David became lost in another dimension, possibly a different Universe. Now he found himself here at the Random House, along with other people he knew from his previous life, among the other residents, having as good of time as anybody else.
Tonight, representatives from Outback Steakhouse were there in support of their new restaurant that had opened up just a block down the street. David had been asked to give out free dinners to people randomly, or however he wished to distribute them. This is where, once again, he decided he would have a little bit of fun.
“Alright everybody, I have a little contest I would like to throw out to you all,” David announced over the club speaker. “You don’t have to participate, but if you wish to, you’ll get something tasty in return.”
People began to look up to find out what this little prize might be, and what exactly it entailed.
“As many of you can see, Outback Steakhouse is here promoting their new restaurant that will open up in two days. Now many of you here I know have a nemesis. Somebody you hate and despise. Somebody who has done all they can to make your life hell. Maybe you’ve done all you can to make their life hell. Either or. I want you to grab that person, take them out on to the floor, and slow dance with them to this next song. If you do, the Outback representative will find you, and you’ll get a fifty-dollar gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse! What could be better!”
An uncomfortable laughter and then an audible groan came from the crowd. Some individuals could be seen looking every which way, contemplating if they wanted to participate and a get a free sirloin, do it just to say they did it, or completely forgo this nonsense. Vera, Marty, and SkekEkt were sitting at a table on a ledge perched about four feet above the dance floor’s level. From this view they could easily see who was participating.
“Oh my god Vera, this has got to be the coolest thing they’ve come up with yet!” Marty said, laughing almost hysterically to her comrade. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Princess Allura and her archenemy Prince Lotor walk hand in hand out onto the dance floor, along with Aphrodite and Ares, the Greek god of war. There was also Jalashala Dieterbach, a humanized xenomorph from the planet LV-426 and a marine corporal who once fought her kind who went by the name of Dwayne Hicks. Countless other “couples” came out to join them.
Vera, laughing almost as hard as she was, responded, “You should go dance with Dr. Alan Grant. I’m sure he’d like a free steak dinner too,” referring to the paleontologist who had been invited to a unique zoo known as Jurassic Park on an island in the tropics called Isla Nubar a few years back.
“Dang it Vera, I don’t think he’s here tonight. Son of a bitch probably cost me a free meal. I’ll have to his ass for that one. Why don’t you go find someone? I’m sure there’s more than a few here who you’ve pissed off lately…”
“Na, the last time I was at Outback, I requested my steak rare. When I got it, there was actually a little bit of brown on the sides. I was so angry I would have just eaten the restaurant manager right then and there had I been allowed to.”
“Well, drink up then, and enjoy the show. This ought to be interesting!” Not exactly a light-weight when it came to drinking, Marty was already on her fourth beer for the night.
Kira sat at her table looking around nervously. While it wasn’t unusual for the deejay of this particular club to come up with something as preposterous as this, it was obvious to her this little game could not have come at a worse time, considering the unusual situation she was in. The idea popped into her head that to be on the safe side, she may want to head to the women’s bathroom where she would wait it out for a few minutes. As she was getting up to go do just that, she was once again caught off her guard.
“Hey,” Na Na said to her as non-threateningly as he could muster, trying to approach her with caution.
“What do you want?” She asked callously, letting out of her mouth what she had meant to keep in her head. She knew already exactly what he was about to ask of her.
“Well, I wanted to know if you would like to dance.” Attemping to sound as confident as possible, his eyes shifted in every direction possible, never finding a comfortable line of sight.
“Why? What is the point of that?” As coldly as she tried to sound, Kira felt her knees beginning to lose their strength.
“Because I have to talk to you. That’s all.”
“Right now - this very instance? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Unable to block the thought from her mind, she could not help but admit to herself how desperate she was to feel his body against hers, even if it was just a simple little dance.
“Now is as good of a time as it’s going to get. Nobody will think twice. With this little ‘contest’, most people are too much involved with themselves to take notice of anyone else around them.”
Kira continued to look away, and did not say anything.
“Look, I told you, I just want to talk. That’s all,” he said, looking directly at her.
She looked in every which direction, and observed that indeed nobody in the club was paying any attention to them at all. In spite of the way she felt about him, or maybe it was because of it, Kira nodded her head, sighing heavily. “Alright, fine,” she resigned, purposely not looking straight back at him. ”Let’s go before I change my mind.”
The two made their way out onto the dance floor. Around they could see people giggling, completely wrapped up within them selves and what they were doing, just as he had pointed out to her. They found a spot towards the middle of the floor. Na Na proceeded very carefully to put his arms around her waist, and his touch made her shiver. She tried not to gasp. She was terrified, repulsed, and excited, all at the same time. As she attempted to contain her composure, she prayed he could not hear her heart pound. Although he himself enjoyed dancing to a hard, industrial beat, he had never danced with anybody like this, let alone with someone of her kind.
Over the speakers mounted high above, “Face to Face” by Siouxsie and the Banshees played loud and clear, set to the slow, steady beat of a ballad.
Face to face -- my lovely foe
Mouth to mouth -- raining heaven's blows
Hand on heart -- tic tac toe
Under the stars -- naked as we flow
Cheek to cheek -- the bitter sweet
Commit your crime in your deadly time
It's too divine -- I want to bend
I want this bliss but something says I must resist
Another life -- another time
We're Siamese twins writhing intertwined
Face to face -- no telling lies
The masks they slide to reveal a new disguise
You never can win -- it's the state I'm in
This danger thrills and my conflict kills
They say follow your heart -- follow it through
But how can you -- when you're split in two?
Na Na could not help but wonder why he felt so compelled to take part in this little game that was going on around him, but it also would not make any sense not to. He had things to discuss with her, and this made just the right opportunity. He had just about convinced himself that this was in fact true, when he felt the touch of her warm body fall in line to his, and her arms wrap around his neck. He had to restrain himself from holding her too tightly, as difficult as that was to do. As hard as he tried, he simply could not push the thoughts out of his mind of just how good she felt in his arms. Finally, just under a minute into the song, while struggling persistently to gather her thoughts, Kira was finally able to speak.
“Alright, we’re out here. What was it you wanted to discuss with me?” she inquired to him over the music.
“I just want to know if you have seen or heard anything unusual this week.”
“No, no I haven’t. I was hoping you had. You said you had something to tell me.”
“Well, not exactly. I just wanted to talk to you - find out if you knew anything. That’s all.”
“So you dragged me out here onto this dance floor only to tell me you don’t know anything?”
Replying back to her in a harsher tone that what he would have liked, he simply said, “I just had to find out for myself. It’s been a week or so since we last spoke, and I dislike waiting around for the answers to come to me.”
“Well, that’s the whole thing, SkekNa. I have no answers. I’m not even sure being out here with you like this is a good idea.”
“It’s Na Na. Nobody calls me SkekNa; it just sounds odd to me.”
“Na Na, okay, whatever. I just want my life back, that’s all. I thought by participating in this little contest, you would have something specific to tell me. Something. Anything.”
“Don’t you think I want the same? Do you think I enjoy this? The others would have my head if they knew about our predicament. As it stands now, they just think I’m doing this for a free dinner. No harm, no foul.”
The song half way through, she felt his hands grip tighter around her waist, sending her mind into a state of euphoric confusion. She once again let out a heavy sigh, automatically tightening her hold around his neck. Their bodies pressed firmly together, it occurred to Kira his real motivation for their participation, as well as hers.
“Na Na,” she whispered to him.
“What?”
“We can’t give in to this. You know that, right?”
He almost choked on her last statement. “Are you kidding me? Don’t be ridiculous, Gelfling. I know what you are, and you know what I am. That’s the end of it.”
“Good. Just so we have an understanding.” She could feel herself becoming increasingly uneasy, on top of the flustered confusion she already felt.
On the platform surrounding the dance floor, Marty and Vera began to take notice of the two, who had their elbows perched on the railing, which outlined it. “Hey, check it out Marty. Now there’s a duo I don’t think we’ll ever get to see together again,” Vera remarked to her friend, pointing towards Na Na and Kira, still embraced in the dance.
Marty, who had already knocked back more than a few beers, laughed uproariously. “Damn, I wish I had a camera for this moment. They look so cute together!”
“Ha, she looks so scared. He’s got to be over a foot taller than her.” In truth, Vera was right. At six foot four, he stood exactly one foot three inches over her height.
To anybody who was not privy to the truth of what had been going on, the look on Kira’s face was the look of fear. She had done well, however, to hide the other emotions that were mixed in with it.
At this moment, with her voice raging with hostility, SkekEkt decided to chime in. “Well damn it, that little shit should be scared. But then, it’s not surprising, really. I swear, Na Na will do anything it seems, especially when it comes to a free steak dinner. That man has no fucking principles, at all, and this is just proof!”
Vera and Marty laughed at this simultaneously at this statement. The joke of any Skeksis, including SkekEkt, having moral principles was not lost on either of them.
Seconds before the song was about to conclude, Na Na and Kira were approached jubilantly by the Outback representative, paying no attention to who they were. After all, there were countless other couples on the floor just like them. “Thanks for participating in our festivities tonight, here is a $50 gift certificate for each of you to our new restaurant opening up on Fulton Street. Spend it as you wish.”
“Thanks,” Kira replied, taking the piece of paper, still a bit dazed from the bewildered emotions that had swept her momentarily from reality. The rep walked away, not looking back.
“Wow, so that’s what we get out of all this,” Na Na whispered to her, laughing nervously. “It had better be good.”
Kira rolled her eyes half smiling, and shook her head in agreement. As painful as it was, she forced herself to wake from the dream that she was in.
Looking up to see her friend Marty grinning widely directly at them, she took two steps back from Na Na. She could see the effects of alcohol plastered all over her face. “Yeah baby, yeah! Do it for STEAK! We love STEAK!” she yelled directly across the dance floor at them. Looking back at her, the gelfling couldn’t help but laugh.
“How many beers has she had?” Kira asked him before they parted, still momentarily forgetting whom they both were.
“Enough to probably not remember this in the morning.” He smiled thinly in her direction.
“Fine by me.” There was a slight pause. The song had ended, and those were previously not engaging in this game had now come back onto the dance floor. “I have to go now,” she said to him.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Okay.”
“Alright then,” Na Na said back to her. Both forced away the notion from their minds that they did not want this to end.
Silently, they scanned each other one up and down one last second before parting ways. The night went on, both of them trying to act as normal as possible around each of their friends and peers. Kira and Na Na tried their best to portray that everything was right with the world. Both of them were fully aware, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The line was a bit longer than usual to get in. Tonight, the club was especially busy, booming with patrons of all walks of life and backgrounds. Kira patiently waited in line with her ID card, when she spotted her friend Allura, princess of the planet Arus.
“Hey girl, what’s going on?” Allura exclaimed, happy to see her friend.
“Not a whole lot, you know - a little of this, a little of that. You know how it goes. Wow, it sure is chilly out here.” Kira replied, straining to sound as upbeat as possible.
“I know. You just don’t know what the weather is going to do around here. One minute it’s warm sunshine, the next minute you’ve got six feet of snow. Back on Arus, it was pretty balmy, as least where I was located. Honestly, I never really saw a real snow fall until I came here.”
“Wow. Back on Thra, we did get it occasionally where we were, but I know what you mean, it wasn’t quite like this.”
“By the way, I heard you and Jen broke up. I’m very sorry.”
Kira replied, not looking at Allura directly, “Thank you. It’s been difficult, and I’m still not sure what happened, but I guess you never do, with these sorts of things.”
“Well, I can tell it’s been hard on you. You two seemed destined for each other.”
“Thanks,” Kira said softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Na Na and three other Skeksis approaching the back of the line. She physically felt her stomach drop to the soles of her feet, and her face turn a harsh shade of white.
“I’m sorry, I can tell this upsets you, and I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know I’m here if you need anything.” Allura had witnessed Kira’s reaction, as much as she tried to hide it, but assumed it was because of her fear of them, and nothing more. The princess herself was no stranger to evil despots consumed by greed.
“Thanks Allura, I really appreciate that, I do. I just try not to think about it lately. It really does me no good to dwell on it, as I’ve discovered.”
As their conversation continued, they approached the doorman, and flashed him their IDs.
“Believe me, I understand fully on that one. Let’s go and have a good time. I think you need it! And don’t worry about them – you know who I’m talking about. You know they can’t hurt you here,” Allura said to her friend, motioning nonchalantly towards to group of Skeksis gathered at the back of the line.
“Yeah. Them. Exactly.” Kira sounded like her mind was in another world, as she took once brief glance back at Na Na and his fellow clan members before passing through the club entry way.
Eros and his mother Aphrodite arrived rather early, wanting to reserve a good table near the dance floor. Both were Greek deities from another time, hailing from Greece 3000 years ago. Being the goddess of love and beauty, it was said Aphrodite was the loveliest woman in the world, if not in the entire Universe. As strange as it did seem, she did not look a day older than her son, who by human standards looked to be in his late teens, or early twenties.
“So tell me Eros, what has you so glum lately? Still can’t seem to get a date?” She asked her son, with a hint of laughter. The idea that the god of love was having trouble finding that special someone seemed like a preposterous idea, yet the truth was, with one exception many years ago involving a young woman by the name of Psyche, that had always been his luck.
“No, that’s not it. I’m okay, really. It’s just that I don’t understand some things anymore. No matter how much I try to help people, including my close friends, something always go wrong. It’s like, why bother?”
“Anything specific, my dear?”
“No, not in particular,” Eros lied. “I just wish I could be more of a help to people, rather than a hindrance. I mean, creating love is supposed to be my specialty, but love seems in many cases to be more of a burden to some people, rather than a blessing.”
The truth was, his good friend Kira and her plight had been on his mind since his little blunder almost three months prior. Talking about it with his mother did, however, make him feel slightly better, even if he was not about to give any specifics.
“I know, sometimes I feel that way too,” she replied. “But remember, you have a talent nobody else has, nor can ever acquire. At least take comfort in that.”
“Yeah, I know. I just want to do the best I can with what I’ve got, and it seems I haven’t really done that lately.”
“Are you sure you aren’t referring to something specific? You haven’t gotten yourself into any trouble, have you?” Aphrodite asked, becoming slightly more suspicious.
“Oh no, like I said, I’m fine. Just feelings I’ve been getting, that’s all. Nothing more.” Eros could not bring himself to tell his mother the exact truth, nor anyone for that matter.
Kira and Allura decided got a table two down from Eros and Aphrodite. Seeing Eros about to go onto the dance floor, she waved at him, and he waved back, trying his best to smile warmly at her. It was all he could manage to hide his guilt. Still, looking back at her, he could see the frustration and loneliness that was pent up inside of her, behind the façade that she had so carefully constructed.
The night went on, and the music was superb, as usual. The deejay knew most of the patrons quite well, and loved to pull antics on them whenever he could get the chance, all in good fun of course. His name was David Bowman, and in his former career he was an astronaut aboard a space shuttle named Discovery on its maiden voyage to the planet Jupiter in the year 2001. While checking out an enigmatic black rectangular object orbiting near one of Jupiter’s moons, David became lost in another dimension, possibly a different Universe. Now he found himself here at the Random House, along with other people he knew from his previous life, among the other residents, having as good of time as anybody else.
Tonight, representatives from Outback Steakhouse were there in support of their new restaurant that had opened up just a block down the street. David had been asked to give out free dinners to people randomly, or however he wished to distribute them. This is where, once again, he decided he would have a little bit of fun.
“Alright everybody, I have a little contest I would like to throw out to you all,” David announced over the club speaker. “You don’t have to participate, but if you wish to, you’ll get something tasty in return.”
People began to look up to find out what this little prize might be, and what exactly it entailed.
“As many of you can see, Outback Steakhouse is here promoting their new restaurant that will open up in two days. Now many of you here I know have a nemesis. Somebody you hate and despise. Somebody who has done all they can to make your life hell. Maybe you’ve done all you can to make their life hell. Either or. I want you to grab that person, take them out on to the floor, and slow dance with them to this next song. If you do, the Outback representative will find you, and you’ll get a fifty-dollar gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse! What could be better!”
An uncomfortable laughter and then an audible groan came from the crowd. Some individuals could be seen looking every which way, contemplating if they wanted to participate and a get a free sirloin, do it just to say they did it, or completely forgo this nonsense. Vera, Marty, and SkekEkt were sitting at a table on a ledge perched about four feet above the dance floor’s level. From this view they could easily see who was participating.
“Oh my god Vera, this has got to be the coolest thing they’ve come up with yet!” Marty said, laughing almost hysterically to her comrade. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Princess Allura and her archenemy Prince Lotor walk hand in hand out onto the dance floor, along with Aphrodite and Ares, the Greek god of war. There was also Jalashala Dieterbach, a humanized xenomorph from the planet LV-426 and a marine corporal who once fought her kind who went by the name of Dwayne Hicks. Countless other “couples” came out to join them.
Vera, laughing almost as hard as she was, responded, “You should go dance with Dr. Alan Grant. I’m sure he’d like a free steak dinner too,” referring to the paleontologist who had been invited to a unique zoo known as Jurassic Park on an island in the tropics called Isla Nubar a few years back.
“Dang it Vera, I don’t think he’s here tonight. Son of a bitch probably cost me a free meal. I’ll have to his ass for that one. Why don’t you go find someone? I’m sure there’s more than a few here who you’ve pissed off lately…”
“Na, the last time I was at Outback, I requested my steak rare. When I got it, there was actually a little bit of brown on the sides. I was so angry I would have just eaten the restaurant manager right then and there had I been allowed to.”
“Well, drink up then, and enjoy the show. This ought to be interesting!” Not exactly a light-weight when it came to drinking, Marty was already on her fourth beer for the night.
Kira sat at her table looking around nervously. While it wasn’t unusual for the deejay of this particular club to come up with something as preposterous as this, it was obvious to her this little game could not have come at a worse time, considering the unusual situation she was in. The idea popped into her head that to be on the safe side, she may want to head to the women’s bathroom where she would wait it out for a few minutes. As she was getting up to go do just that, she was once again caught off her guard.
“Hey,” Na Na said to her as non-threateningly as he could muster, trying to approach her with caution.
“What do you want?” She asked callously, letting out of her mouth what she had meant to keep in her head. She knew already exactly what he was about to ask of her.
“Well, I wanted to know if you would like to dance.” Attemping to sound as confident as possible, his eyes shifted in every direction possible, never finding a comfortable line of sight.
“Why? What is the point of that?” As coldly as she tried to sound, Kira felt her knees beginning to lose their strength.
“Because I have to talk to you. That’s all.”
“Right now - this very instance? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Unable to block the thought from her mind, she could not help but admit to herself how desperate she was to feel his body against hers, even if it was just a simple little dance.
“Now is as good of a time as it’s going to get. Nobody will think twice. With this little ‘contest’, most people are too much involved with themselves to take notice of anyone else around them.”
Kira continued to look away, and did not say anything.
“Look, I told you, I just want to talk. That’s all,” he said, looking directly at her.
She looked in every which direction, and observed that indeed nobody in the club was paying any attention to them at all. In spite of the way she felt about him, or maybe it was because of it, Kira nodded her head, sighing heavily. “Alright, fine,” she resigned, purposely not looking straight back at him. ”Let’s go before I change my mind.”
The two made their way out onto the dance floor. Around they could see people giggling, completely wrapped up within them selves and what they were doing, just as he had pointed out to her. They found a spot towards the middle of the floor. Na Na proceeded very carefully to put his arms around her waist, and his touch made her shiver. She tried not to gasp. She was terrified, repulsed, and excited, all at the same time. As she attempted to contain her composure, she prayed he could not hear her heart pound. Although he himself enjoyed dancing to a hard, industrial beat, he had never danced with anybody like this, let alone with someone of her kind.
Over the speakers mounted high above, “Face to Face” by Siouxsie and the Banshees played loud and clear, set to the slow, steady beat of a ballad.
Face to face -- my lovely foe
Mouth to mouth -- raining heaven's blows
Hand on heart -- tic tac toe
Under the stars -- naked as we flow
Cheek to cheek -- the bitter sweet
Commit your crime in your deadly time
It's too divine -- I want to bend
I want this bliss but something says I must resist
Another life -- another time
We're Siamese twins writhing intertwined
Face to face -- no telling lies
The masks they slide to reveal a new disguise
You never can win -- it's the state I'm in
This danger thrills and my conflict kills
They say follow your heart -- follow it through
But how can you -- when you're split in two?
Na Na could not help but wonder why he felt so compelled to take part in this little game that was going on around him, but it also would not make any sense not to. He had things to discuss with her, and this made just the right opportunity. He had just about convinced himself that this was in fact true, when he felt the touch of her warm body fall in line to his, and her arms wrap around his neck. He had to restrain himself from holding her too tightly, as difficult as that was to do. As hard as he tried, he simply could not push the thoughts out of his mind of just how good she felt in his arms. Finally, just under a minute into the song, while struggling persistently to gather her thoughts, Kira was finally able to speak.
“Alright, we’re out here. What was it you wanted to discuss with me?” she inquired to him over the music.
“I just want to know if you have seen or heard anything unusual this week.”
“No, no I haven’t. I was hoping you had. You said you had something to tell me.”
“Well, not exactly. I just wanted to talk to you - find out if you knew anything. That’s all.”
“So you dragged me out here onto this dance floor only to tell me you don’t know anything?”
Replying back to her in a harsher tone that what he would have liked, he simply said, “I just had to find out for myself. It’s been a week or so since we last spoke, and I dislike waiting around for the answers to come to me.”
“Well, that’s the whole thing, SkekNa. I have no answers. I’m not even sure being out here with you like this is a good idea.”
“It’s Na Na. Nobody calls me SkekNa; it just sounds odd to me.”
“Na Na, okay, whatever. I just want my life back, that’s all. I thought by participating in this little contest, you would have something specific to tell me. Something. Anything.”
“Don’t you think I want the same? Do you think I enjoy this? The others would have my head if they knew about our predicament. As it stands now, they just think I’m doing this for a free dinner. No harm, no foul.”
The song half way through, she felt his hands grip tighter around her waist, sending her mind into a state of euphoric confusion. She once again let out a heavy sigh, automatically tightening her hold around his neck. Their bodies pressed firmly together, it occurred to Kira his real motivation for their participation, as well as hers.
“Na Na,” she whispered to him.
“What?”
“We can’t give in to this. You know that, right?”
He almost choked on her last statement. “Are you kidding me? Don’t be ridiculous, Gelfling. I know what you are, and you know what I am. That’s the end of it.”
“Good. Just so we have an understanding.” She could feel herself becoming increasingly uneasy, on top of the flustered confusion she already felt.
On the platform surrounding the dance floor, Marty and Vera began to take notice of the two, who had their elbows perched on the railing, which outlined it. “Hey, check it out Marty. Now there’s a duo I don’t think we’ll ever get to see together again,” Vera remarked to her friend, pointing towards Na Na and Kira, still embraced in the dance.
Marty, who had already knocked back more than a few beers, laughed uproariously. “Damn, I wish I had a camera for this moment. They look so cute together!”
“Ha, she looks so scared. He’s got to be over a foot taller than her.” In truth, Vera was right. At six foot four, he stood exactly one foot three inches over her height.
To anybody who was not privy to the truth of what had been going on, the look on Kira’s face was the look of fear. She had done well, however, to hide the other emotions that were mixed in with it.
At this moment, with her voice raging with hostility, SkekEkt decided to chime in. “Well damn it, that little shit should be scared. But then, it’s not surprising, really. I swear, Na Na will do anything it seems, especially when it comes to a free steak dinner. That man has no fucking principles, at all, and this is just proof!”
Vera and Marty laughed at this simultaneously at this statement. The joke of any Skeksis, including SkekEkt, having moral principles was not lost on either of them.
Seconds before the song was about to conclude, Na Na and Kira were approached jubilantly by the Outback representative, paying no attention to who they were. After all, there were countless other couples on the floor just like them. “Thanks for participating in our festivities tonight, here is a $50 gift certificate for each of you to our new restaurant opening up on Fulton Street. Spend it as you wish.”
“Thanks,” Kira replied, taking the piece of paper, still a bit dazed from the bewildered emotions that had swept her momentarily from reality. The rep walked away, not looking back.
“Wow, so that’s what we get out of all this,” Na Na whispered to her, laughing nervously. “It had better be good.”
Kira rolled her eyes half smiling, and shook her head in agreement. As painful as it was, she forced herself to wake from the dream that she was in.
Looking up to see her friend Marty grinning widely directly at them, she took two steps back from Na Na. She could see the effects of alcohol plastered all over her face. “Yeah baby, yeah! Do it for STEAK! We love STEAK!” she yelled directly across the dance floor at them. Looking back at her, the gelfling couldn’t help but laugh.
“How many beers has she had?” Kira asked him before they parted, still momentarily forgetting whom they both were.
“Enough to probably not remember this in the morning.” He smiled thinly in her direction.
“Fine by me.” There was a slight pause. The song had ended, and those were previously not engaging in this game had now come back onto the dance floor. “I have to go now,” she said to him.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Okay.”
“Alright then,” Na Na said back to her. Both forced away the notion from their minds that they did not want this to end.
Silently, they scanned each other one up and down one last second before parting ways. The night went on, both of them trying to act as normal as possible around each of their friends and peers. Kira and Na Na tried their best to portray that everything was right with the world. Both of them were fully aware, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth.