Blaze snorted again through his nose and the wind of his snort blew at the fringes of Stacey's hair.
"How should I go about courting a woman then?" Blaze asked, tossing the stick aside and taking a step back, so that Stacey didn't have to keep backing away. His heated eyes locked onto her.
"You help her and support her and try to be her equal. You be strong when she is weak and let her be strong where you are weak. Be a partner who meets her where she is and brings out the best in her. A friend that does not look at her like an object, nor treats her as something less than another person worthy of as much respect as you expect to receive yourself."
Blaze laughed.
"Alright, Stacey," he draped an arm around her shoulder and used his other arm to hook Derrick toward them. Both Stacey and Derrick stiffened. "I get what you're trying to say. I'll go back to the practice room with you lot of stupid people."
"Might be a good group name for us," Stacey said, ducking out from under Blaze's arm.
He grabbed her back and pulled her back under his heavy arm. She noticed Phineas and the staff around them release sighs of relief now that Blaze was no longer so angry. Even Imogen's face relaxed somewhat. However, they seemed somewhat hesitant in whether to save Stacey and Derrick from Blaze's heavy-handed manner in case his temper flared up again. The group began walking back to the practice room.
"What?" Blaze asked in confusion at what she had said.
"Stupid people," Stacey said. "We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately in the eyes of each other, we often think the other person is stupid. Especially when they don't meet our expectations or know as much as they think we ought. Derrick is lacking in leadership skills, Blaze is lacking in self-control, Imogen is lacking in skills unrelated to untraditional Tadpole stuff - as far as I can tell, so I'm sorry if I'm wrong, Imogen, and I am lacking in everything."
"Aren't you just saying you're more stupid than the rest of us?" Blaze snorted in amusement.
"Yes, but I'm also thinking you're all a bit stupid for not knowing how to discuss things as a group and for taking everything so personally. This is just a performance. There's no real consequences besides losing viewers or fans and getting a poor ranking. You're only changing rooms and beds today. It's not life-threatening. Who gives up on their group just before a performance unless they want to be eliminated? Nobody likes to fail. We were the first group to leave the auditorium but now we've lost all our advantage."
A hand landed on the back of Stacey's neck and squeezed. Stacey squeaked, throwing off his hand and fled to the other side of Derrick where Blaze couldn't reach her.
"Woman, you talk too much. I don't like noisy people," Blaze growled.
"I'm not your woman and don't want to be with an ogre as aggressive as you," Stacey retorted, feeling her insides quivering.
That squeeze had sent a ticklish sensation and a shock of fear through her. With the carefully measured strength Blaze had exerted on the back of her neck, Stacey realised that Blaze could easily kill her with one hand.
"I don't like being threatened," Stacey told him.
"And I don't like people making fun of me," Blaze retorted.
"Who does?" Stacey replied, trying not to scoff and keep an even tone of voice. "Nobody I have ever met liked being made fun of. So let's not let anybody look down on ourselves or make fun of us as a group, ok? Derrick wants to do that evening crane song, Imogen wants that traditional song, so Blaze, what do you want to do?"
"Whatever you do," Blaze grinned at Stacey with a glint in his eyes. "To support you and help you and become an equal partner."
"Ew. Quit flirting," Derrick waved an arm. "It's disgusting."
"Yeah," Stacey agreed, making a face at Blaze.
Blaze just snorted again.
"Did you have anything in your mind that you wanted to do?" Stacey asked him again.
"No," was Blaze's short reply.
"Then, from the sound of the songs you guys have sung for me, it sounds like we might be able to put them together. Are they in the same key? Is it possible to use both songs?" Stacey asked Imogen and Derrick who were on either side of her, while they walked back into the practice room.
Imogen and Derrick exchanged surprised and thoughtful looks.
Stacey sat at the piano.
"Sing both songs for me again?" she requested.
Derrick sang the 'Flight of the Evening Crane' again, while Stacey worked out the chords by ear. Then Imogen sang 'Pear Blossoms' and Stacey worked out the chords for that. She scribbled on a sheet of paper that was on the side, translating the keys and chord numbers in her head to Tadpole notation on paper.
"What do you think of this?" she held up her plan for the others to see. "I think we might be able to sing both songs on top of each other here. Blaze would be good at this part. It'd be nice to have an interlude with a traditional instrument here… what do you all think?"
Imogen spoke in Tadpole using words Stacey couldn't follow but from Derrick's reaction and how they took over the pen and paper, it looked like she had a good idea. Phineas caught Stacey's eye and gave her silent applause and an ok sign.
"Looks like your group should be back on track now," Phineas said, bowing himself out the door. "I don't advise putting those two songs together because of what Pear Blossoms stands for, but that's up to you. I strongly recommend you choose one song or the other. But I don't think you'll all need me anymore now, so I'll take my leave."
"Thank you, Teacher," Imogen and Derrick said.
"Don't forget to thank and include your hard working teammate over there," Phineas gestured to Stacey. "I look forward to seeing what you all come up with."
After some discussion, the group decided to still go forward with their decision to meld the two songs. Imogen and Derrick continued to insist upon their song choices and refused to change their minds, but agreed to the compromise. Nobody could quite understand why Phineas had advised against joining the two songs and they didn't have enough time to try agree on anything new. The rest of the practice went relatively smoothly after that. The other three had a tendency to argue but it wasn't as bad as before and Stacey was able to help them talk things over and smooth things out.
Why couldn't they just agree? Did they have to all be so hard headed?