Logs:Dancing 101
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| RL Date: 11 March, 2013 |
| Who: Kaeden, Nicky |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Time to try on some dancing shoes. |
| Where: Woodcrafter Workroom, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 15, Month 3, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Hana/Mentions, Mave/Mentions, Wakizian/Mentions |
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| Woodcrafter Workroom, High Reaches Weyr The workroom set aside for the Woodcrafters is one of the largest, taking up a large section of the interior side of the corridor. This means that there are no windows, but with high ceilings and an impressive array of glows, it comes across as light and open in a way that it otherwise might not. Long workbenches line the wall closest to the door, with stools lined up to allow space for several people to work at one time. Cupboards and racks attached to the wall above the benches provide storage for tools and supplies, all in ready reach. Beyond the benches, in the far corner, a large alcove provides storage for wood both finished and unfinished. The rest of the room is more open, though it has been well-filled with larger equipment and workstations dedicated to more specific tasks. There's a soap-making station at the back, complete with a permanent, built-in heat source; the other workstations are more focused upon traditional woodcrafting, with areas set aside for staining, for sawing, and so on.
This is the time of night that Nicky loves; that dead sort of time, when you can feel like the only person not only in the Weyr, but on the whole of Pern. It's one of his more active times, when he's either consumed by his creative muse or simply haunted enough by lack of sleep to meander aimlessly through High Reaches' network of lower tunnels. He's all too happy to dedicate the sleepless hours to yet another project; even if it means stretching himself a little thin, this is something he's determined to do. "U-um... Waki s-said Hana likes, um, throw d-dancing? Toss dancing? But, um, a-anything." The farrier-turned-candidate watches Kaeden stretching, and wrinkles his nose unsurely. "D-do I need to do that?" "Ah, Hana, is it?" Kaeden asks, shooting Nicky a small, crooked grin. He finishes his preliminary stretches, then starts moving around the room, grabbing glow baskets and the like from their spots and moving them closer so the center of the room is as bright as it can be without using... y'know. Fire. Not a great idea in a room like this. "She definitely enjoys a good toss dance," he adds while placing a basket just so, "but you need to work up to that. We'll start simple. Stretch if you want. Can't hurt." He returns, hands in pockets and studies Nicky for a moment before asking, "Have you had any dance instruction before, or should I start at the beginning?" "Y-you're dancing with her too, right?" Nicky gives Kaeden an easy grin, which just about shows a dimple in his cheek. "I k-kinda wish I hadn't, um, a-asked her now. Sh-she's beautiful and all, b-but, um, I think I'm j-just going to emb-barrass myself." He shrugs, doing his best to mimic the stretches he saw the older candidate doing -- only he doesn't really get it right since he's clueless as to what he's doing. "No-one's t-taught me a-anything, um... I'm p-pretty new at all this." Finished with his attempt at warming up, Nicky rubs his hand under his curls at the base of his skull, watching Kaeden with a wary sort of expression. "Is it r-really hard? D-do you think I can get it, b-before the hatching?" "Dancing isn't a competition," Kaeden explains as he heads over toward Nicky. "Unless you're actually in a dancing competition, but that's totally different. And not why we're here." He stops right in front of his fellow candidate. "So, some basics. You've got to be able to feel the rhythm of the dance. And you've got to relax. So... how's your sense of rhythm? And," here he starts shaking his hands a little bit. "How loose can you get? Like... just shake stuff out." Clearly, Kaeden is not nearly as worried about looking silly, because after shaking out his hands, the feet come next, then he rolls his head from left to right. Shaking stuff. Right. Nicky's co-ordinated enough to do that... isn't it? He gives it a go, starting with his hands... so far so good. It's when he starts with his arms that the real awkwardness begins -- it's not a pretty sight. The foot-and-leg shaking is not really much better, either, but he's kicked out all the stiffness by the time he's done. Or so he hopes, anyway. "Rhythm. I, um, th-think it's ok? I'm not so s-sure, really... um, I-I used to keep t-time when the H-Harper played back home? I-is that the same?" He starts slapping out a rhythm on his thigh -- almost in time. It's clearly not a strong point. Kaeden watches Nicky's attempt at keeping time, then he holds out his hands with a quick smile. "Don't worry about it for now, okay? We'll just deal with that when there's music. For now... uh..." He slowly claps his hands together and looks around for a moment before turning back to Nicky. "Okay, truth? I've never done this before. Taught someone else, I mean. I don't really remember the Harper lessons, so... maybe we'll just try some, uh..." Flailing? "Basic movement." He moves to stand beside the other candidate instead. "Okay, just, uh... moving. Ready?" By his own tone, maybe Kaeden isn't, but he's going to give it a try. "Y-you haven't? B-but you can dance... right?" Because if Kaeden can't help him, then Nicky...well, he doesn't have a clue where else to go. He looks to the older candidate, running his hand nervously through his hair and knotting his fingers in the messy curls by his crown, with his other hand fleetingly on his hip. "Um." Just... moving? "H-how do you j-just move?" Dropping both hands down by his thighs, the teen tries an uncoordinated sort of -- well, wiggle would really be the only way to attempt to describe it. It's not quite graceful, and certainly not up to public dancing standard. He knows it, too. "F-Faranth. I o-oughta just h-hope I get clawed or s-something on the Sands, so I d-don't have to dance." "Aww, come on, man," Kaeden intervenes, stopping Nicky with a quick hand on his shoulder. "Look, it's something you feel. But you have to relax in order to feel anything. Shells, that goes with anything, really. So just..." He trails off, gives Nicky a grin and bounces his knees slightly. "Just relax." He gestures to indicate that the other candidate should do the same. "You need to be willing to let go, right? Just flow. Like..." He stops and glances at Nicky again as he stops the bouncing. "Okay, you're a ferrier, right. If you freak out around a runner, the runner's going to freak, too. And if the runner moves, you've gotta move, too, right? It's... kind of like that." "Feel. Right." ... riiiiight. Nicky draws in a breath that puffs out his chest, and purses his lips. Concentration, that's the name of the game! He's not overly good with relaxing, but he shakes out his shoulders in an attempt to loosen them and runs fingers through his hair once more as he listens to the runner comparison. "Y-yeah, you h-have to be calm around r-runners... b-but I can't compare Hana to a runner... c-can I?" The thought of it makes him snort in amusement, and he drops his hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth from toe to heel -- there may be just a hope of rhythm to be found there! "So, d-don't spook her. Slow, um, smooth... c-confident?" He's not so sure about the last one. "You're not comparing her to a runner," Kaeden protests. "It's an analogy. It's... different." He insists. "Just try to... I don't know. Channel how you are around runners. You're not saying the person is the same to you as a runner, just that you're as comfortable around them as you are around runners. Totally different." He scrubs at the back of his neck with a momentary look of bewilderment on his face. "Uh... all right. Just going to do the slide." He settles in a couple steps to Nicky's left, facing the same direction. "I'm going to clap, four beats. First beat, slide, second, feet join. Third and fourth, same thing, other direction. Start left. And... one, two, three, four," and the clapping begins, steady, not too slow, and plenty loud. The real reason for using this room. "Oh. Right." So Hana isn't a runner. Nicky's not sure whether that makes him feel better about it or not, but he nods along with Kaeden's explanation, at least trying to pretend that he gets it. "I-it might be easier, um, i-if a runner had b-boobs and could t-talk and dance a-and stuff," he says, somewhat ruefully. But then, there's the moves to be learnt, and he watches carefully. "S-slide. Join. Slide, join?" It seems easy enough to him; he gets it when the rhythm is clapped out, sliding from one side to the other, though it's a very wooden sort of movement... and the return move is more of an awkward sort of slide-hop. "Huh. Again?" Kaeden just keeps clapping out the beats and sliding, feet shuffling easy over the light coating of sawdust that inevitably fills a room like this. Apparently, he's going to continue to clap out the beat and shuffle his feet, either waiting for Nicky to get more comfortable with it, or trying to think of what to do next. "At least she doesn't have eyes on the side of her head like runners do. That'd look pretty weird." Step, slide. Step, slide. "I'm going to start singing." Said like it should be accompanied by an Attorney General's warning. "You're feeling the beat just fine. The song'll be the same. Just keep moving." And after one more round of clapped one, two, three, four, Kaeden starts one of the simple Harper songs usually taught to children. Small children. Luckily, Kaed's voice is better than a small child's -- more tenor, less braying. Nicky keeps shuffling, side to side, side to side, watching Kaeden carefully to try and copy his moves. It can't be that hard to pick up, can it? And, truthfully, it isn't; it takes a little while, but Nicky eventually gets there. Perhaps it's Kaeden's singing that's helping him along? The teen keeps going with the steps as he watches and listens, a smile tweaking up the corner of his lips. "Y-you sing pretty well, Kae." He sounds pleasantly surprised, and grins at the older candidate. "So, um, I-I think I've got the, er, hang of this one... what's next?" Kaeden just smiles in response to the comment about his singing, and as he reaches the end of the simple song, he stops the little exercise. "See, it's not so bad, once you get used to how to move." He shakes out his hands again and moves to stand in front of Nicky. "All right, so... uh. There are really specific dances, but you're going to need to build up to that. For now, I'll just try to teach you how to lead. It's more foot shuffling, but, uh..." He pauses, shrugs, then starts to hold out his arms, pauses again, then switches the arms. "Maybe for now, I should lead. Right hand goes here, left hand, there." "Yeah, n-not so bad if I'm g-going to take Hana swaying." Nicky rolls his eyes, perhaps getting a little frustrated with his lack of ability -- though he's at least more relaxed now than he was. Kaeden coming to stand in front of him causes a brow to raise high beneath the curls covering his forehead -- even higher when he holds out his arms. "Um... y-you need me to, um, h-hold you?" He doesn't look so sure about that, but he holds out his arms in a pose to mimic the dockhand. "You're n-not exactly Hana, are you?" The teasing eases him up a little, and while he's snorting in amusement he steps forward to place his hands not in, but against Kaeden's. It's a non-hold that's tentative, uncertain. "Swaying works sometimes, too," Kaeden replies, though by his tone and the cant to his grin, he's mostly teasing. That, or referring to something else. He corrects Nicky's hands slightly so they're resting just so. "We'll switch in a minute, but... you need to know what Hana'd expect to be doing. Her hands will rest, like yours are... now," as he shakes Nicky's right hand until it's relaxing in his own rather than pressing against. "If you get the hold and posture right, it's harder to mess up. This one is called closed. It's used a lot, and it's probably what you'll start out with. So... our feet are close, but uh... what's the word?" he asks, glancing down as feet shuffle slightly. "I'm not used to being the short one. "Off-set, that's it. 'Cause that way you're close, but we're not going to bang knees and stuff. And... heads up, and for now, just keep looking over my right shoulder. Once you know your partner better, you can mix it up, but... okay. Feel all right?" There is so much to take in! Nicky listens to Kaeden's explanation of things with a confused, blank sort of look; there are words there that he understands on their own, but strung together they become a whole different language. Still, he nods, smiles as if he's understanding it all, does what he's told as best he can, while trying not to hold his unconventional dance partner's hands quite so tightly. "Um, y-yeah, I guess it feels... ok?" What else is he meant to say? "Am I, um, in the right place, here?" Kaeden grins as he takes a step back and chuffs Nicky lightly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it starts to feel more natural after a while. I'm just lucky 'cause they started with us as kids. Look, Hana's danced with all sorts of folks. Not in the gross way, just..." He trails off with a lopsided shrug and a wider smile. "She loves to dance. That's all she's expecting, okay? Now, you be the guy, and I'll be Hana," he continues a moment later, shifting to his own left slightly so he can reposition his hands and feet. "We'll get to the actual dancing when you're ready." "I'm k-kinda starting to think it was a r-real bad idea to ask her. E-even if you can get me, um, dancing, I'm going to be n-nowhere near as good as her other p-partners will be. You'll d-dance her off her -- hey, th-that's an idea." Nicky's grip tightens slightly in the readjusted, slightly wooden (on his end, anyway) pose, and he looks down at Kaeden. "C-can you dance with her f-first? And then a-after you've tired her out, and m-maybe Waki will tire her out, too, I'll be able to step in and do a sh-shuffle slide thing with her. M-maybe by then she'll want someone to just..." He does the single dance step he's picked up, sidestepping and steering Kaeden with him. "Faranth, Nicky, it's a dance. More than one if you're lucky! You have got to stop stressing about this, or you'll puke before you even hit the dance floor." Kaeden fixes the other candidate with a hard look. "Besides, do you know how gross that sounds? Shells, man." He assumes a proper stance, then moves along when Nicky does his shuffle-step, then steps away again. "Look, Nick, you need to decide right now. Do you want to do this or not? 'Cause if not, I'm so going to bed, and you can see how far your shuffle gets you." "N-no, don't go. I asked M-Mave for a dance, too." In other words, Nicky's asked his way into a corner and needs Kaeden's help getting out. The candidate stands up a little straighter, puffing out his chest as he inhales -- then exhales, long and slow. "Ok. Ok. No more w-worrying. C-can you please, um, t-teach me how to not look like a, um, clumsy d-dolt?" He even holds up his hands in the best rendition of a proper stance that he can achieve so early on in the lessons -- not a lead pose, but an invitation for Kaeden to resume. Kaeden laughs, shaking his head as he steps into the stance again. He repositions Nicky's hands so he's set in the lead. "Nicky, I don't think anyone can train you out of that, but I can at least try to teach you to waltz." Hands are set, feet are set, "Chin up," he reminds, "and just keep looking over my right shoulder. This is three beats. We're just going to keep doing the steps until you've got it." Aaaaand, one, two, three; one, two, three... The view over Kaeden's shoulder must be fascinating, because Nicky doesn't budge from it. He's wooden for a long while and there's a lot of clumsy foot-stepping until he finds the rhythm, slips into it, and seems to get it -- even if it's in a very strict sort of manner that's dictated more by a deep concentration rather than a feel for the actual beat. But, by the time Kaeden calls time on the lesson (they do have to sleep sometime, after all), he seems to have picked it up. Whether he'll remember it is another matter altogether. Still, Nicky seems pretty chuffed with himself as he lets go of his dance partner-cum-instructor, slipping his hands into his pockets and grinning proudly. "I think that was-" yawn! "-good." Kaeden has started to put the glow baskets back where he found them, and one by one, the room starts to go dark again until just their own basket is left. "It's a start," he replies, turning in place with the glows held high to make sure they're leaving the room the way they found it. "I think..." He pauses to scrape his boot through some of the saw dust on the floor so it looks more like a natural scuff and less like the outline of one of a dotted dance pattern. "I think, even if you had to dance with Hana," be breaks off for a second to fix Nicky with a look, "and Mave tomorrow, you wouldn't embarrass yourself. So that's good." He peeks into the corridor, then motions for Nicky to follow so they can get back to the corridors. As they leave, the workroom descends into darkness once more, holding dust, furniture, and at least one bizarre secret. |
Comments
Zian (Zian (talk)) left a comment on Wed, 13 Mar 2013 07:16:22 GMT.
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Kaeden is the best, so patient. And Nicky is... man. That boy. XD
Hana (Hana (talk)) left a comment on Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:33:45 GMT.
< Wait. When did I get eyes on the side of my head?
And which runner stole my boobs?!?
And why am I eating a bag of chocolate chips while reading logs.....
Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:49:24 GMT.
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@Hana: Clearly because you are a runner-girl who enjoys chocolate.
Kaeden really is something of a saint, not that Nicky can help it... Poor kid. It's just a dance! ;)
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