[SE] *

NIKI

"Bold of you to assume that I will be the one stepping on toes," Niki says dryly, amusement twinkling in his eyes. "I will be doing my best to move as little as possible, though I think I could manage an animated sway if the music is good."

As soon as he had spoken and it had remotely sounded as though he wouldn't be going to the masquerade, he really ought to have expected Flora to insist upon it. Though he doesn't expect to be offered a ride on her personal skyship to boot, the boy's mouth opening to object before he (wisely) thinks better of it. "That is very kind of you to offer," he says instead.

And if it so transpires that he gets airsick, he's sorry about that in advance.

Letting cold blue eyes flow over the array of materials and tools she's brought, Niki can't deny the way he feels his shoulders relax; it might not be metalwork, but it's a craft that mainly involves the use of his hands, and that's firmly within his comfort zone. "Hm? Oh, Kaisel? It was pleasant enough," he says, though the grin that spreads across his face is just a little too crooked to be polite. "When he was not pouring salt across my threshold or throwing iron charms at my head."

stay your pretty eyes on course
i guess i never really faced my fears before

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!