#trentini

One, two, three and he swings his arm. Four, five, six and his two left feet move to the right. Seven, eight, nine and he almost falls onto his face. Clumsy and stiff, Trentini muses, a man of science, not a performer. Doesn’t have it in his blood. Her curved lips playfully mock him..

Alchemists weren’t known to be fun people, not at all. She knew as much; they read complex math formulas she didn’t recognize and toyed with life in almost blasphemous ways. So different to her life as an errant dancer, so stiff. It made her think of how sheltered Emul was, as thin as a noodle and with as much social skills as a rock.

Trentini clasps her hands, laughing, “That’s your best attempt so far!” She knows he isn’t happy with her words but she didn’t mind; his annoyed expression was part of the charm. “You ought to put a bit more on effort~”

Flamel Emul knits his eyebrows together, an expression that Tretini recognized as his do-not-fucking-laugh face. There’s something else mixed in though: flushed cheeks, almost childlike embarrassment, looking for an escape. Trentini shuts her mouth so as to not laugh.

“I don’t know how to do this,” Emul sighed, his legs weakly trying to stand up upright. “To tell you the truth, I… avoided dance parties and such.”

“Were you too busy with your education?” Trentini asks. “Don’t you think it’d have been nice to try?”

He’s taken back by such a question. He plays it off as not a big deal even though he was frowning. “I never was one for crowds. It’s not my forte, alas.” a tint of shame in his voice. 

Huh. Might I have touched a nerve?

“I wasn’t as good as others. Interacting with others,” he looked like an accomplished alchemist and more like a lost child.

It was a strange show of vulnerability and now she’s thinking if she pried too hard. Her smile shortens a little, softens a bit. She says nothing even as the uncomfortable silence asphyxiates them both.

“Apologies, Trentini,” Flamel speaks up again with an awkward smile. “I’m just clumsy. That's all.”

It reminded her of why she tried to bring him out of his shell. Not a bad man. Uptight, yes, ignorant of the world, socially clumsy. That was both charming and frustrating.

“But… you can still learn, no?” she rebuffs, standing from her seat and then in front of him. She takes his hands gently; his fingers were long enough they’d have been perfect for playing piano. “The things you don’t know, I’ll teach you. And in exchange… You can teach me the things I don’t know, yes?”

“Trentini—”

“Follow my lead! Just once more, Emu.”

Emul is quiet for a bit before he sighs and whispers: “... Alright, then…”

They give it another try.