PSUFF - A Bleeding Planet

[colohue]

[COLOR="Black"]Chapter Three
The Ballroom


He could see her dancing, twirling in circles on the dancefloor. Her dress flared out with each spin, skating over the polished floor. If not for that damned robot he would be the one making her smile like that.

For the first dance General Lucieus Kain had decided to stay at his table. Something about Dr. Aroma Harliter had caught his attention and he was not going to let her out of his sight. Rejik was taking her through the first dance while Lucy had claimed Vladimir's attentions. It had been an interesting sight. The childlike Newman had marched straight up to the but yellow android and demanded his escort around the dancefloor. He almost pitied the criminal his clumsy feet, but Lucieus knew him too well to really have any sympathy.

So far he had recieved no such suitor and he was not happy about it.

Even Tafi, his personal attendant, was already dancing. She had done very little to dress herself up. She had extended the skirt that was part of her plating by putting a skirt of purple silk underneath, running down to her feet. The only other decoration was that she had but heels on her feet. She was in the arms of a tall, bald beast with a white waistcoat on. She seemed to be enjoying herself, although you could never quite tell with Tafi.

As he watched them the song changed, the partners switched. He watched as Lucy took over dancing with Aroma. As he was concentrating on her something caught his attention in his peripheral vision. Regrettably he turned his head a little, so he could still see Aroma, but also acknowledge the dark-skinned Newman Tiffany Firebrand, captain of one third of the Guardian collective. He could see that she had put on eye shadow and blusher for the occasion but otherwise she looked much the same as she usually did. Her blouse was navy blue, fairly tight with a high collar and long sleeves. The sleeves and collar were white tipped. Slightly different from her usual dress sense was the knee-length skirt she was wearing. It was also navy blue. She leant forward over the table to address the General, causing one young male to gasp openly and stare blatantly at her backside.

"General," she began, "would you care to dance?"

He let his eyes phase out a little and did his best to ignore her luminous pink hair as he let his attention wander back to Aroma. She had Lucy up in her arms as she wandered around the edges of the dancefloor. She was twirling and spinning the little Newman around in her arms, teasing her like a child.

"Why not honour the little voyeur brat behind you," the General droned out, not taking his eyes off the red haired beauty, "I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"I'd rather dance with you."

"Well we don't always get what we want do we? Now if you'll excuse me I have somebody to dance with."

Rushing past Tiffany Lucieus headed up onto the dancefloor, walking so fast he might as well have ran. However, as his feet slid along the dancefloor he saw her dance away from him in the arms of Vladimir. Silently seething, he stopped on the outskirts of the dancefloor as the couples danced around him and sighed.

"General Kain, could we have a word with you in private please. Off the record."

"I am not employing my rank at current. Also, there is no record for off the record conversations. This means that everything, even that intended as off the record will in fact be recorded on the record as on the record."

"As verbally stunning as that was we have something far more important for you to hear. Something terrible has happened, we need to borrow your armies."

Instantly Lucieus dragged his eyes away from Aroma.[/COLOR]