http://exboywonder.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] exboywonder.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2011-06-09 11:40 pm
Entry tags:

Life's a Circus, Friday, Second Period

"I know, last week was weird or disgusting, but at least a lot of you got to ride an elephant," Dick said to start off class. "This week, we're going with something a little simpler in concept, but much harder in execution. And I'm not even going to talk about how it ties into life because that should be pretty obvious."

"This week, we're talking about juggling," Dick said, picking a red colored balls off the ground, leaving a blue ball and a yellow ball by his feet. "There are two keys to juggling. First is hand eye coordination. You throw a ball in the air so that it's level with your eyes and then make sure you know where it's going to land." The red ball flew in an arc from his right hand to his left. He tossed the ball quickly back to his right hand and threw it in another arc toward his left hand. "And then you do it again, and again, and you keep on doing it until you know exactly how to get the ball from one hand to the other without having to look."

Dick threw the red ball high as he bent down to grab the yellow ball from the ground. As he rose, he caught the red ball in his left hand. "Two balls is pretty much the same thing. Take the ball in whichever hand is your dominant hand," Dick said, holding up his right hand, "And throw it the same way you did before. But right before it hits your other hand, take that ball and toss it to your main hand, again, keeping everything at eye level." Dick demonstrated and it looked easy. "Don't worry, you're going to mess it up a few times as you figure out how to not throw the second ball right into the first. And if you start having to take steps to catch the balls, you're throwing a little wildly. If that happens, take it a little slower and see if you can get some concentration back."

Dick juggled the two balls for a little while longer just so everyone could see how he did it. Once he figured everyone had seen it long enough, he stopped juggling and bent down to grab the blue ball.

"If anyone gets to this point before our time is up today, I'll be surprised. If they master it, I'll be impressed," Dick said. He showed the red ball in his right hand and the other two in his left. "This time, you're going to start with the subordinate hand. You're holding two balls in it. Throw one of them first. Just like before, throw the ball in your dominant hand before the first ball lands, then repeat with your other hand, and just keep this going for as long as you can."

Dick started juggling the three balls like an expert for just a minute before continuing his lecture while juggling. "It takes a lot of practice to get a feel for this, but once you have that, it's a breeze. Then you can start moving on to more balls, juggling pins, knives, things on fire, even chainsaws if you're either really good or completely mental. But you can't rush it. Because once you start trying to juggle too much at once..." Dick let one ball go just a little wild, so he had to overcorrect on the next one, which led to the next ball going wild, and within a couple more throws, all the balls landed on the ground. "... everything's just going to fall apart.'

"Obvios activity time! Grab a couple balls and start practicing. You can team up if you want to, if anyone whips a ball into someone else's face, that's a detention."

[OOC: The link above has gifs! Gifs of diagrammatic juggling!]
wrongkindofsith: (Looking down a barrel)

Re: Sign In

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
Cara

Re: Sign In

[identity profile] notlikebobby.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Jack McCallister

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] notlikebobby.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
Jack grabbed three balls, but tucked one into his pocket. "I used to be able to do this," he said to no one in particular. He settled for getting the two ball toss into a rhythm first.
wrongkindofsith: (Pretty sure you're insane)

Re: Juggle!

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
Cara, shockingly enough, had never juggled before, but she was good with her hands, had excellent coordination, and could pick up new skills involving those things fairly easily.

She felt vaguely ridiculous, but by the end of the class she was able to work with three balls without dropping them. Much.

Re: Sign In

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Butters Stotch

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Butters was easily entranced and captivated by how well Dick handled his balls, laughing and thinking this was one of the greatest classes ever. Even if he still didn't exactly want his parents selling him to the circus.

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Butters fiddled a little with his hands for a moment, sort of building himself up to giving it a try, before he picked up one ball and gave it a try. Well, that was pretty easy. Time for two! Two went along clumsily at first, but started to gain a real rhythm for the thing. And then three! Three took an awful lot of work, and Butters kept dropping balls everywhere, but he wasn't about to give up until he got it!

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[identity profile] sedlexduralex.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Jocelyn Fairchild

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[identity profile] batwaffles.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Stephanie Brown

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
As far as Butters was concerned, a pretty girl who could handle balls that well deserved admiration. "Oh, boy," he said once Cara had gotten a handle on the trick with three balls without dropping them, much, "you sure are good at that!"

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[identity profile] batwaffles.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Was there anything Dick Grayson wasn't good at? Stephanie was duly impressed, and listening really closely, but couldn't help slumping down in her seat a little.
wrongkindofsith: (Your mouth moves and nonsense comes out)

Re: Juggle!

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Luckily for Butters, Cara could not read narrative so he was spared a suspicious side-eye.

"It's not that hard," she replied shortly. It was throwing and catching balls. It wasn't like it was something like dancing, or cooking, or embroidery, or holding a civil conversation. Those were hard.

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] batwaffles.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Stephanie had played varsity softball back in Gotham, so she was fairly confident in being able to handle a single ball; besides, her pesky need to impress wouldn't let her start with anything less than two.

She didn't do horribly; Bruce kept harping on her need to work on her hand-eye coordination, so she'd been working on it. (Which was easier, somehow, when not under his constant observation. Or Barbara's, although she was nicer about the critique.) Still, she had a tendency to overthrow, and kept having to stop when she caught herself doing a little dance to keep in line with the balls she was juggling.

Sigh. Something else to work on.

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Butters himself gave it another go with his three balls, managed it for a second, before they all fell to the ground and rolled away. He quickly scrambled to pick them back up. "You're lots better at it than me, but maybe I just need more practice."
wrongkindofsith: (We need to talk)

Re: Juggle!

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Normally Cara wouldn't let an opening that easy slip by. She caught her balls before shrugging. "Maybe you do."

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Practice makes perfect!" Butters chirped happily before he settled himself into an easy stance. He took a deep, focusing breath as he held his balls at the ready. "Okay," he said. "Here goes!"

He seemed off to a good start, but the good start disappeared very quickly after starting, the balls dropping and scattering again.

"Oh, hamburgers."
wrongkindofsith: (Your mouth moves and nonsense comes out)

Re: Juggle!

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Cara was quite unimpressed by Butter's balls dropping. Also slightly bewildered. "Hamburgers?"

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[identity profile] randomspanish.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Freddie Benson

Re: Juggle!

[identity profile] geewhizfellas.livejournal.com 2011-06-10 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"H-heh, yeah," Butters blushed sheepishly as he went to retrieve his balls again; he tucked them in closely, in the cradled crook of his arm against his stomach. "It's a lot nicer of a word than heck."
wrongkindofsith: (Pretty sure you're insane)

Re: Juggle!

[personal profile] wrongkindofsith 2011-06-10 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, Cara was just going to stare at him for a while. "If you say so."

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