RVA: Do the Wave
Mar. 4th, 2016 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalLook at Queen Elizabeth some time. Tell me she doesn't practice in front of a mirror!
* * *
Ali walked into Salli’s suite, a puzzled expression on her face. “What’s the matter?” Salli asked.
“Nothing,” Ali answered. “I was just wondering about something. I passed your mother and father in the hallway, and she was talking about some event she was going to, and that she had to practice her elbow wave. Do you know what she was talking about?”
“Elbow wave?” Salli asked. Her expression brightened as she understood. “Well it makes sense that Mother would have to practice that. She never expected to be a countess when she was in school, so they didn’t teach it to her in comportment class.”
“Teach it?” Ali asked, still looking confused.
Salli nodded. “Oh, yes. A very critical part of Noble/Commoner relations, the elbow wave. It absolutely must be practiced.”
“What the fu-, frell, is the elbow wave, Salli?” Ali asked, obviously trying not to grind her fangs.
“You ever see a Countess gracing some big public event, like a parade? She’s always waving, like this.” Salli stood ramrod straight, holding her right arm out, bicep at a precise 45 degree angle, and began moving her forearm back and forth mechanically, paw held with the palm pad out, marking a regular arc. “Wait, I’m not doing the face,” she added, letting her features relax in a glassy, open-mouthed smile, holding her jaw like she had an overbite, the perfect parody of an inbred Noble from a comedy serial. “Hullo,” she drawled. “So lovely to meet you. Hullo.”
Ali fell back in the suite’s conversation pit, covering her muzzle as she chortled. “So they actually teach you how to do that?”
Salli dropped her arm back down and let her features relax into a more normal posture, sitting down beside Ali in the pit. “Oh, goodness yes. It states ‘This a public event and it’s far too crowded to speak to you personally, but I’m engaging in this welcoming behavior so I don’t look like an arrogant ass.’ Seriously, take a look at any vid of a Countess standing on their float in the Harvest Festival parade and you’ll see it.”
Ali laughed harder. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I’m just imagining a line of vixens standing up in class, waving like that. ‘Hullo…’”
Salli chuckled herself. “Well not a line. I think there was only one Countess’ heir in my year mates, but they made her practice it. She said when her mother retired she was going to have a mechanical stand-up made so she wouldn't have to risk straining her elbow.”
Ali snickered. “I wonder how that would work out.”
“Well, no one has caught on yet.”
* * *
Ali walked into Salli’s suite, a puzzled expression on her face. “What’s the matter?” Salli asked.
“Nothing,” Ali answered. “I was just wondering about something. I passed your mother and father in the hallway, and she was talking about some event she was going to, and that she had to practice her elbow wave. Do you know what she was talking about?”
“Elbow wave?” Salli asked. Her expression brightened as she understood. “Well it makes sense that Mother would have to practice that. She never expected to be a countess when she was in school, so they didn’t teach it to her in comportment class.”
“Teach it?” Ali asked, still looking confused.
Salli nodded. “Oh, yes. A very critical part of Noble/Commoner relations, the elbow wave. It absolutely must be practiced.”
“What the fu-, frell, is the elbow wave, Salli?” Ali asked, obviously trying not to grind her fangs.
“You ever see a Countess gracing some big public event, like a parade? She’s always waving, like this.” Salli stood ramrod straight, holding her right arm out, bicep at a precise 45 degree angle, and began moving her forearm back and forth mechanically, paw held with the palm pad out, marking a regular arc. “Wait, I’m not doing the face,” she added, letting her features relax in a glassy, open-mouthed smile, holding her jaw like she had an overbite, the perfect parody of an inbred Noble from a comedy serial. “Hullo,” she drawled. “So lovely to meet you. Hullo.”
Ali fell back in the suite’s conversation pit, covering her muzzle as she chortled. “So they actually teach you how to do that?”
Salli dropped her arm back down and let her features relax into a more normal posture, sitting down beside Ali in the pit. “Oh, goodness yes. It states ‘This a public event and it’s far too crowded to speak to you personally, but I’m engaging in this welcoming behavior so I don’t look like an arrogant ass.’ Seriously, take a look at any vid of a Countess standing on their float in the Harvest Festival parade and you’ll see it.”
Ali laughed harder. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I’m just imagining a line of vixens standing up in class, waving like that. ‘Hullo…’”
Salli chuckled herself. “Well not a line. I think there was only one Countess’ heir in my year mates, but they made her practice it. She said when her mother retired she was going to have a mechanical stand-up made so she wouldn't have to risk straining her elbow.”
Ali snickered. “I wonder how that would work out.”
“Well, no one has caught on yet.”
