There's apparently one ship that hasn't decided but the others are all expected to go on to other destinations.

Danny is actually curious what the ship that hasn't decided is waiting on! Is it a trade ship? A passenger ship? (Would an extra potential passenger affect their decision?)

Apparently it carries letters and doesn't currently have any that paid for express. It's a little three person operation.

Huh. If he knew how to write any of the languages here, he could make use of an interround mailing system...

Oh well, maybe in the future.

He'll thank them and make his way to one of the local places where newly arriving ship crew like to eat and relax after coming to port, hoping to spot some with the relevant armband color to strike up some conversations, maybe form some friendly acquaintances.

He got used to being alone in the Hedge, and once the shock of being around so many people mostly faded over the past few days wakes, it's been easy to miss their company again. To be aware of how much their company was an option, rather than spending his days hunting in the forest, or walking between the town and woods.

(Also, most of the women here are really attractive, and this is getting harder and harder to ignore.)

The sailors from the ship he's waitlisted for are mingling with the townies! They mostly wear the scarves around their waists or heads rather than their arms. They're shopping and dancing and flirting and picking up odd jobs for spare change.

Ooo, pretty people dancing...

He's enjoyed watching people dance since arriving in this world, feeling drawn to try it even despite the music feeling off to him. Learning specific dances isn't something he did much of back on Earth, but there's something about even the organized dancing here that seems so... careless and free and fun, that it draws him in.

Does this kind of dancing he sees remind him of anything from Earth?

It looks like the sort of thing you'd see if squaredancing were a competitive sport.

Neato. He's always been competitive, and his foot taps in time with the music. The offness keeps him from being able to maintain the beat, but he treats that as part of the game as well, each mild annoyance sublimating into the feeling of doing something hard, something he can learn to get better at, madness magical curse or no madness magical curse.

Is there anyone with the right armband color who's dancing nearby?

The caller has a scarf on his belt and so do a couple dancers over there pausing to get water.

He'll approach the two getting water, studying them as he says, "Hello, I'm Danny, a traveler who might be joining your ship for its next trip. Would either of you be willing to practice this dance with me? I've never done it before."

"Well, do you know how?" one asks.

"I'm not sure." He backs up a couple steps, watches one of the dancers, then waits a breath to let the music in, to feel it in his limbs like a series of ghostly impulses, separate from his own but waiting to be acted on, eager to possess him. Not the way music could possess or compel in the hedge, but something simpler and more primal, the way his body wanted to just start moving when he would listen to A Light That Never Comes, or You're Gonna Go Far, Kid. Not in any particular way, not with some script for how, since he never learned particular ways to dance. Just... doing what came naturally.

And then he starts to move, doing his best to fit that energy into the set of steps he's supposed to follow. It's hard, given the music doesn't strike the same resonance as those songs, though it's not completely absent any. Also, there's still the off bits. The little ouches as a note comes just a beat earlier than it "should," or in a slightly different register. 

But he does dance, mimicking the steps and arm positions as best he can without a partner. It's harder to tell when he makes a mistake than it normally would be, his body is giving him a different sense of "off"ness than it should thanks to each ouch that occurs every ten or fifteen seconds, but so long as he's watching someone else do the motions, he can correct for the next repeat that he mimicks.

"...Probably you should watch a little longer but I'll try with you for a bit," one says, holding out her elbow to link.

He grins and links his arm with hers, and it isn't until the motion is complete that he realizes it's the first time he's touched someone in ~months(?), not counting small brushes of fingers when recieving or handing things to others.

His heart, already quite awake from the dance, starts pounding a little harder as warmth spreads through his limb and chest from the contact. He tries to ignore it at first, especially since it makes it hard to concentrate on watching others dance, but he can feel the way doing that shuts him off from her, from all the little bits of information his body gets from the movements and pressure of her arm, both subtle and overt.

So instead he leans into the feeling as he leads her into the dance from memory, slow at first, all of his attention narrowing down to the music, the caller's words, and her intentions.

She's simplifying down some of the moves for him but there's no escaping that this is a very fast dance.

He likes fast!

Though it does make the (ow) off notes in the song harder to gracefully adjust for.

Still, fun!

Eventually she deems him ready and spins with him into the main body of the dance whorl.

He does his best to keep up!

Any attention he has to spare goes toward ensuring he doesn't lose the timing on off-notes, but it gets easier to read her body language and intentions the longer they dance together, almost as if her body is becoming an extension of his own.

(He briefly wonders if she's feeling something similar, or if it's just in his head.)

((He also distantly wonders how noticeable his mistakes are to others, but he's too caught up in the energy of the dance to care much just yet!))

She doesn't seem to notice anything unusual, and neither does anyone else he's catapulted into by the patterns of motion.

It's jarring to suddenly lose the rhythm of her particular movements, and he stumbles the first time he starts dancing with someone new, before quickly catching the beat of the dance again.

He stumbles the second time too, despite being ready for the sudden switch, because another off-note plays just then and throws him off in a different way. Only some quick footwork keeps him from stepping on anyone's feet before he's  back in sync with everyone, and after that things are challenging but fun again.

(Though a part of him keeps expecting the fluidity he had with the first dance partner to return, and wondering why it's not.)

The young and healthy natives mostly just don't miss steps at all, but there's a guy with a crooked leg and an old lady who are also imperfect; the pattern can accommodate him too.

He takes the smooth perfection of those around him as a prod to up his game and try to match them... here's a partner he hasn't missed a single step with, but then he messes up the timing of the music once with the next, and gets distracted by the pretty face of the one after that. There's another round where he's able to follow the beat of the song despite another off note, and then he's with another partner who he manages to dance perfectly with, and he feels a surge of confidence that he's getting it...