fandomhigh | Intro to Performing Arts

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Intro to Performing Arts | Friday, 2nd Period

Class met in the Danger Shop today, which was set up to look like a gymnastics gym, complete with tumbling mats and balance beams of varying heights. There was also - inexplicably - a set of encyclopedias.

"Hey guys!" Annie waved from where she was standing on a beam about four feet off the ground. "I figured today we could work on one of the core skills needed to master a lot of what's coming up: balance. You're going to need to be able to keep your balance when dancing and stage-fighting, and honestly it's kind of just a good idea for your life. These are balance beams, if you've never seen one before - the idea is that you walk back and forth across these without falling." She demonstrated, placing one foot in front of the other and holding her arms out to her sides in a T-shape.

"If this is easy for you and you don't feel like you need to learn to balance, try something a little challenging - you can walk in relevé, which just means on your tippy-toes," Annie added, going onto her toes to demonstrate before jumping up and quickly switching the position of her feet. "You can try jumping. You can do a funny walk. The idea here is to get a feel for how your spine feels when you're trying to keep your balance. If you can maintain a strong, straight spine, you're basically unshakable, and that'll help form the foundation for a lot of what we'll be doing down the road."

"If," she added, "you can't or don't want to get up on a beam, I have these!" Annie hopped down off the beam, crossing over to the encyclopedias and plucking up the A volume to carefully place it on her head. "See how long you can keep a book on your head." And she wasn't looking at anyone in particular, but this was for you, Jules - though knowing what little she did of what they used to put girls through back in the day, she wouldn't be shocked if Enola could carry around A-F on her head or something.

"Let me know if you have any questions," Annie added, waving towards the beams and keeping the book balanced perfectly on her head. She'd probably keep this up for awhile.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

With good posture.

Marvel at the balance beams, WTF at the encyclopedias....

Try out a balance beam! There's ones low to the ground as well as a few set up at the standard 4-ish feet up. Or give the encyclopedia-on-your-head thing a try and see how long you can keep it there without it falling off!

Edited 2021-01-15 12:57 (UTC)

Who is keeping that book on her head as long as possible to prove a point.

Might be slowish in the middle of the day!

Troy Barnes

Honestly? Troy's balance was pretty good, even on tippy-toes (just as long as he kept on his feet and not his hands, anyway!), and the encyclopedias looked way more interesting/fun to him than the balance beam. He did do a few cursory passes on it (while talking himself down from trying at least one go at it on his hands, which was helped by the fact that just thinking about it made his shoulders remind him of things like pain in protest), before hopping off and jogging over to get his encyclopedia on.

He was far less successful at this than the balance beam, but he didn't seem to mind very much, and he was determined to get it to stay put for at least a little bit by the end of the class.

Books? Were so much better when you tried to put them on your head than when you tried to put what was in them in your head!

Nina Argentum

Okay, so like, either of these were super easy for Nina, who'd grown up in a world where, if you wanted to be a lady, one of the very first things you learned was the book-on-the-head way of practicing one's proper posture.

So after wandering around with three books on her head, she was taking those books with her up onto the higher balance beams.

That was... more challenging. Decidedly so!

But Nina didn't mind because every time she had to swing down and grab one of the books, she had made it a little further along the beam with them.

Enola Holmes

Enola was not WTFing at the encyclopedias. Nope. She was outright glaring at them.

And despite the fact she was wearing a skirt today, she headed right for the balance beam.

Having spent time in a dreadful finishing school, Enola was not going anywhere near an encyclopedia. Unless it was for reading.

Instead she went for the low balance beam which after years of physical training from her mother, was not hard to do at all.

But she was going to be giving anyone doing the book-on-the-head some serious side-eye.

Number Five Hargreeves

Wanna guess who had two thumbs a was shamelessly cheating by putting the dumb book on his head and just straight up teleporting across?

This guy.

"Done. Can I leave now?"

He was gonna leave regardless, but ugh. Diego stuff.

"No." Annie had been watching Five like a super-indiscreet, worried hawk, and also that was cheating. "There's still time left in class and I need to talk to you, anyway."

Oh, God, was she going to get to say it? She was gonna say it.

"See me after class." Oh, man, Annie felt like a real teacher, now. Maybe she'd get to give him detention!

Did you want to inflict this on yourself over the weekend, Annie? Was that it?

Five narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion at that, relatively certain that he could break her emotionally if he really gave it his Hargreeves best. "Fine."

But he was going to make it difficult.

"You look ridiculous." This was as close to friendly as she could hope for at the moment.

"I try!" Annie told him with a bright smile, pulling the book off her head. "How are you?"

She was leading with 'How are you?' like a normal question but she was also looking at him like someone who obviously thought he might be injured in multiple places. You know, just in case he'd gotten shot or something and had hid it better than Diego did.

He did, in fact, hide it better than Diego. But only because he didn't get anxious about needles and had no qualms with sewing himself up should the need arise.

"Fine." Then, almost grudgingly, but still somehow sincerely asked, "Diego?"

"Also fine," Annie told him, her smile softening into something a little less obviously forced. "I patched up his arm." By burning it, because that was somehow better than stitches. "That's pretty scary that that happened to you guys, though."

So scary for Annie, anyway. Tell her your feelings about being scared, Five, she was here for you.

It was nice or something like it to know that Diego was happy here. As close as any of them could get to it, at least.

Which meant he'd have to work harder to keep that whole apocalypse thing from happening.

"Not really," he said with a sigh. You know, the real shock was that they'd been there for Diego instead of him! "I handled it."

Control freak.

Was that Enola smirking at her roommate's displeasure.

Surely not.

"I heard," Annie noted, wincing a little in genuine concern. "I heard you handled the hell out of it."

A butter knife.

"So, like, thank you," she added. "And I just wanted to make sure you're all right after that."

Look, sometimes you worked with what you had at hand. And sometimes you had to take the aggression for a broken vending machine out on a room full of people. With an ax.

Five gave her a deeply suspicious look, clearly trying to figure out what her play here was. Because there had to be one, right? Right?

Five shot her an annoyed look because he knew that goddamn look. This was his siblings all over again!

No, Annie was just one of those rare good people who actually worried about others. If anything, her play was trying to get her boyfriend's brother to like her just because it would be less awkward for everyone if they got along. But she was also genuinely kind of concerned! Because butter knife.

"Because, like, I know when I've been in scary situations like that," she continued, "even if you think you're okay after, it can take a lot out of you." Not that Annie had ever been attacked by a bunch of guys in vans in a donut shop, but you know.

That was fake, Annie. Fake.

"I'm not an actual child, you know. I'm old enough to be your father." Because that totally explained everything. Yes, even the butter knife. "Did Diego put you up to this?"

Juillenne Milone (and Camden)

"Yeah, and if my dad got into a bloody shootout with a bunch of people I'd ask if he was okay, too," Annie pointed out, waving a hand. Ignore the fact she didn't talk to her father. Irrelevant. "Diego doesn't even know I'm talking to you right now." At least beyond the knowledge that her class was on Fridays and Five was in it, but all of this worry was pure Annie.

Five pursed his lips into a tight little line, trying to make an accurate assessment of her once again. And not in case he needed to put her down in a fight!

It was deeply uncomfortable and weird.

"I'm fine. It wasn't the first time."

"This isn't the first time a bunch of guys cornered you in a donut shop with guns?" Annie asked, hoping that maybe if she got hyper-specific he'd at least open up enough to correct her.

Annie, that was cheating.

"Something like that, yes."

Takes a cheater to know a cheater.

"Sounds like a lot to deal with," Annie said sympathetically. "I'm sorry. And I'm glad you're okay." Sincerely.

...damn it.

Five's suspicious turned to abject confusion and then back to suspicion. Oop, and right on back to confusion. "...right."

This was not how things worked, damn it.

"And if you need anything at all," Annie added, crossing over to grab something out of her bag, "I'm around." Look, she wasn't dumb enough to think they'd be instant best friends or anything, but she wanted to make the offer anyway. "Like, if there's another fight, too. I throw a mean punch; ask your brother."

Romance.

Five watched her for a moment longer, expression smoothing into it's normal level of grim annoyance at everything and everyone.

"Keep an eye on him for me then," he said before teleporting away like an absolute shithead who could never let someone else get the last word. Just ask Diego. It was a thing.

Also ~emotions~

Ugh, Five, she had a gift for you, damn it. LET HER BRIBE YOU.

At least it would, like, keep.

"Fine," she told the spot where he'd been. "I will."

That was super annoying.

Juillenne gave the balance beam a thoughtful look.

She'd been making do with the crutch the past few months because as much as she knew she'd be on the island for at least another year, going back home was inevitable. And Fennbirn didn't have things like prosthetic limbs. It would raise a lot of questions. Too many questions.

But curse it all, she missed being able to do things like that.

Since it was clearly out of the question right now, though, she was just going to grab one of those books, and, leaning on one of the balance beams with one hand, use the other to place it atop her head. And then straighten up. Slooooowly.

Camden, meanwhile, had hopped up onto one of the other balance beams and was nimbly making her way across. Show-off.

Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian had ridden a sword, so a stationary beam didn't hold much challenge. He picked up a couple of books instead and balanced them on top of his head. He had to place them near the front of his head because his ponytail got in the way otherwise.

They tumbled down after one step. "But my head's not flat!" he complained, while he picked up the books.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Intro to Performing Arts | Friday, 2nd Period

Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Listen to the Lecture | PA2, 1/15/21

Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

OOC | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Listen to the Lecture | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Talk to Annie | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Sign In | PA2, 1/15/21

Re: Balance! | PA2, 1/15/21