Something so large and so heavy has no damn right moving that fast. When did she close the gap, grab that tentacle? How did that arm wrap round the cloak, pull the Coherent against herself? This is Birmingham messing with time again, right?

Alexa places one hand gently on the Coherent's shoulder and another clamps around her waist. "May I have this dance?"

"I don't--"

"Please."  Alexa smiles, one of those smiles with too little warmth and far too many teeth. "I insist."

And they're on the dance floor.  This is madness, the little voice in her head is shrieking. There could be any number of tentacles in that cloak--if a dozen are good, surely three dozen are better? And even if there aren't more, all the Coherent has to do is call for help, and they'll [i]all[/i] be in the brig.

This is nice, though. And--

And Isty breathing is [i]incredibly[/i] distracting. Every time they hit a particularly energetic beat, she huffs out, and it tickles a line of fire across her shoulder. And--don't look down, don't look, you have [i]things[/i] to be doing that aren't considering how closely they're pressed together, surely? Aphrodite above, what she wouldn't give to dance like this without the Coherent's tentacles between them. Note to self, sacrifice something valuable when this is done. What does she own that could match this moment in price? Would Vasilia [i]really[/i] miss her ship?

She forces herself back to the present, and offers a milder smile to the Coherent. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Alexa. You are?"

[8 on Hold Them Back. Deliberately holding off on end of action to give Coherent time to react.]