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 Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:39 pm
Paris didn’t usually have a problem with large crowds. He was a relatively social being. He liked to talk, and have fun, and make sure that he was heard. He wasn’t shy by any means, and had absolutely no problem sharing his opinions or letting people get to know him, though there were times when he was, perhaps, a bit wary of his surroundings and a few of the people who happened to be in the general vicinity. He definitely liked to know what he was getting himself into.
That being said, mandatory workshops weren’t always his thing, and he glanced around looking slightly dissatisfied, studying a few of the faces he saw and trying to figure out what he wanted to do about the fact that he was required to be here.
Performing ballet professionally meant acting, and acting meant lessons. Thus he found himself attending some theater workshop or another at the community center—he couldn’t remember exactly what they’d be covering here, but it hadn’t seemed too terrible when his ballet instructor had turned something that was usually voluntary into an assignment; it was simply a hassle having to do it in the first place. So it was that he found himself mingling through a crowd of thespians on a Saturday morning, keeping his eyes averted from the corner where a few pretentious girls from his dance class had taken up residence and doing his very best to pretend as if they didn’t exist at all.
Naturally a gathering of this sort had to begin with ice-breakers and introductions, which seemed rather juvenile to Paris but which he took to anyway, as it gave him more of a reason to ignore the people he didn’t particularly like and focus instead on others who might prove better at keeping him entertained while he was here.
He turned to the first person he could find who wasn’t already talking to someone and immediately thrust out his hand to shake as he said, “Hi, I’m Paris, nice to meet you,” with a pleasant smile.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:07 pm
Marybeth always looked forward to workshops like this, though she never liked the part where she had to wake up early to attend them. But, there she was, leaning against the wall in the middle of a huge, awful yawn when this beautiful girl decides to go and introduce herself.
Well, that didn’t help things. Not one bit. The yawn was called off and replaced by a fit of sudden coughing and she held up a finger to the girl—Paris…that was a nice name!
Finally, Marybeth got herself together and shook her head, giving an embarrassed sort of smile. “Sorry about that. I’m Marybeth…it’s lovely to meet you as well!” She took the girl’s hand and looked her over, giving a little nod. Well, she was a knock out, that much was for sure…that hair was…well, it was stunning. Such a light golden color…”Hey, Paris. Is that your real hair color, or did you get it colored that way…because, if it’s real…I’m admitting this right now. I’m jealous. Really jealous.”
Ugh…good job. The pinkette wanted to let out a groan but suppressed it. She hadn’t even known this girl for a minute yet, but she was totally crushing on her. At least on her image. Personality wise…well. That would take some more time. But…just. Damn. She was beginning to think they didn’t make girls like that anymore around here.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:58 pm
Paris wasn’t exactly sure what sort of vibes he was getting off of this girl. He was usually fairly decent at reading people, but he also had a habit of jumping to conclusions and letting himself get carried away, so while he didn’t like to second guess himself it often had to be done. At the moment, he couldn’t decide if this girl liked what she saw or if she just happened to be very friendly. In an effort not to make an idiot of himself, he went along pretending as if he was oblivious to it and told himself she was just the sort to be immediately friendly to anyone.
He waited until her coughing fit had ceased and then gave Marybeth’s hand a friendly squeeze in greeting, then blinked in momentary confusion before catching up to the conversation. “Oh! Oh, yeah, it’s real. God, I’d never dye my hair. It’s a pain enough sometimes without risking that sort of damage.”
So he was rather vain about it, so what? His hair happened to be one of his favorite things about his looks—at least when the humidity wasn’t causing it to misbehave—so clearly he was going to pay it special attention.
Today he’d taken the time to curl it. It was naturally curly already, of course, but it took some effort to tame the curls into some semblance of order. They fell around his face and tumbled over his shoulders in a classic style, while his bangs—recently trimmed into a straighter, more fashionable style—fell over his forehead to give him what he thought was a cute but chic image.
“I guess we should get on with all this ice-breaker stuff,” he said. “Kind of pointless, if you ask me. I just spent the whole first week of school doing the same sort of thing in all my classes, it seems like. Where do you go? Are you DCU or…?”
She didn’t look too old, but then how much difference was there really between a high school student and a college student or a recent grad?
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:09 pm
She nodded, impressed with her answer about her hair, and very pleased that she didn’t seem to be judging her based on the awkward yawning/coughing fit. “I would never dye mine either. It just makes it all nasty and brittle…but I will admit. I’ve been tempted on a few occasions. I always think that it would be nice to have hair that isn’t so, you know. All bubble gum and whatnot. But. No, I suppose you have the hair color you have and you need to deal with it.”
Marybeth gave another nod, this time in agreement. Ice breaking activates were always so dull and boring and pointless. But, getting it out of the way made the fun parts of the workshops begin, so she was more than ready to get it out of the way. “No, I’m not DCU, not yet. I mean, I am involved with their theater club though. I’m a senior over at Crystal Academy, but I should be going to DCU in the fall, you know. So long as I keep my grades up and all that jazz.”
She wiggled her hands for emphasis. “Are you over at DCU? You’re a theater major or something?” Oh, because if she was…then Marybeth really couldn’t wait to graduate and move on to ‘big girl school’. Seeing Paris every day in a theater class would be…completely beyond awesome.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:31 pm
“Dance, actually,” Paris corrected, and then joked, “You’re lucky. This is one of those rare opportunities when people actually get to see me with my hair down.”
He assumed the joke didn’t require any explanation. Ballet dancers were known for their buns about as much as they were known for their pointe shoes. His comment was true enough these days anyway, what with all the time he’d been spending in one of the studios on campus.
“I suppose it’s not such a far stretch from theater, though. The stage and all. I’ll have to take some acting classes anyway. Hence the workshop,” he explained, gesturing around the room. His hands had the habit of moving when he talked. Most times he didn’t notice it; other times it served a purpose.
“I have to learn how to express emotion. Smile with joy and weep with sadness.”
He smiled bright at the first part and pulled a miserable expression at the second, bringing a hand to his face dramatically before laughing at himself and returning to a more neutral—but still friendly—expression.
“One of my instructors always used to say I had more trouble with showing the right level of emotion than I did with technique, so I guess there’s a point to it. I can’t be too bad, though, if I actually got to dance in a company the whole last year,” he said, not even realizing he’d begun rambling about himself, which he also had the habit of doing when someone got him on the right topic. Then again, it didn’t seem as if Marybeth minded too much.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 12:04 pm
Ohh so she was a dancer. “You must be fantastic. I’m sure you’re absolutely stunning on the stage. I don’t have the patience for dance. I don’t have the grace. I’m far too exaggerated in my movements, and that comes from my acting…I suppose I can see why you would need acting for showing expressions, but…” Marybeth shrugged, then laughed as Paris made the exaggerated expressions.
“Well, maybe we could do a trade off, Paris. I can surely teach you how to have more emotions in your…performances, if you can maybe make the little bit of dancing that we’re required to know a bit easier for me. I tell you. I was in a production of Cinderella back in my Sophomore year and…we had a ballroom dancing scene, and Paris. Let me tell you. My poor partner. I am surprised he had any toes left after me stomping on them. It finally just…it was terrible. Completely terrible. I mean, fight scenes, my footing is spot on, but when it comes to swaying with movement and relying on my feet to keep with the rhythm and all that…I turn into a complete oaf.”
She shook her head, sighing dramatically, going so far as to putting her hand over her head as though she was about to faint. “I just. I don’t have a dancing bone in my dramatically charged body, Paris!”
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:24 pm
Paris let himself look amused, smiling broadly.
“Well, at least with ballet, some of it is natural ability. Practice helps, obviously, but sometimes people just… aren’t born for it, I guess,” he said. “But anyone should be able to do a simple waltz if they try hard enough to get it. At least from your side you’d just be following your partner. Unless you’d rather lead,” he amended, figuring it didn’t matter either way.
Paris was much more used to following anyway, but then he’d always taken a bit of a non-traditional path. That wasn’t to say he couldn’t do either. He could—and very well, at least in regards to ballroom dancing. Ballet was, perhaps, a bit more difficult when it came to effortlessly switching from female to male roles. He wasn’t built like a typical male dancer. He never really had been, nor had he made the effort to develop his strengths that way. He wasn’t tall enough for it to be aesthetically pleasing, and he didn’t have the proper physicality to lift and offer the correct support for his partner.
Besides, he much preferred being the one who was being lifted. He wanted to dance a certain way, he wanted certain roles, and he’d conditioned himself for that for most of his life.
“If you’ve got some free time after the workshop’s over, I can show you,” he offered. “Or if you ever wanted to meet up again, that’s no big deal. I’m a little busy during the week with class and work, by my weekends are pretty free. I’ve taught a couple of people here and there, so… I’m sure we can find a dancing bone in there somewhere. If not, we’ll just start from scratch.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:16 am
“Leading, following, it doesn’t matter much. They were trying me for both of the positions and it failed every time, so…” Marybeth shrugged, tugging on a piece of her hair. “I guess if you learn to lead, then following’s pretty easy afterwards, yeah? So…teach me to be the man. I promise, I’ll be the manliest man there ever was in the history of manly men.” The girl puffed out her chest and her cheeks, trying to give the impression of being buff and tough, but after a moment, let out a very loud laugh.
She shoved her hands over her mouth to try and quell the rest of the giggles that followed the initial outburst, but it didn’t help much. Why was she acting like such an idiot today? Was she really that nervous to be around this incredibly beautiful, talented, college girl? Get a grip, Marybeth.
When the pinkette finally calmed down some, she nodded, clearing her throat. “I uh. I have to get back to do some homework after this workshop, but I would love to get some lessons from you some day! When’s good for you, Paris? I’m normally free on Saturdays or Sundays. Just. I have some big things due on Monday, so this weekend is out of the question…”
She had been so busy wondering the streets at night, homework had started to become a thing that wasn’t that important. Well, now she was paying for her laziness by missing out on spending more time with this girl! But…if they got to hang out again sometime…that would make things better. Much better.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:21 pm
Paris found himself laughing along with Marybeth, though he wasn’t quite sure why. There was something amusing about her, sure, but it wasn’t like him to laugh so openly in front of someone he didn’t really know. She seemed so… well, he didn’t want to say “awkward” because that would be rather mean, but whatever it was it caused him to… not take pity on her, but perhaps make more of an effort to be friendly than he might have if she’d acted differently.
“Weekends would definitely be best for me,” he replied. “Unless you wanted to do it on a weekday evening. I get out of work at five Monday through Thursday, and I don’t usually have a lot to do after that except eat and sleep.”
And patrol, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t take a few nights off here and there. The city wasn’t going to collapse in on itself just because he happened to stay in for a night or two instead of hunting around town for youma or other such ill-intentioned individuals.
“A Friday would be good for me, too, if you can manage it after school,” he added. “I spend most of my Friday’s at one of the studios on campus, which would actually be a really good place to meet up. We’d have plenty of room, and they don’t check IDs in the classroom studios so no one would really care if you’re there so long as we grab one when there's not a class going on. I can give you my number if you want, so you can text me whenever you’ve got some time,” he offered, digging around in his purse in search of his phone.
It wasn’t the first time he’d given his number to someone who ranked as almost a complete stranger, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. He wasn’t always generous with his trust, but he was generous with his number.
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Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 12:01 pm
She nodded. “I think that the Friday would be best for me, actually!” Marybeth smiled, feeling incredibly lucky. Coming to this workshop had turned out to be the best waste of time ever. No lie. She took out her own phone, her smile now almost painful. Private time with a beautiful girl, dance lessons…this would be perfect for her future too! She would be able to try out for musicals and maybe even land some big parts with dancing roles!
“Ah! You don’t even know how amazing this all is, Paris. You’re such a help with this! I think I’ll become a regular pop diva when I’m done with your lessons!” She struck a pose, then leaned against the wall, wondering how she had managed to land something like this…it didn’t really even matter though…what mattered was that she had. “You don’t mind random texts, do you? I love sending them, so if you don’t mind…I’ll end up texting you all the time.”
Now that was a lie. Marybeth wasn’t that much of a fan of texting, but hey. Pretty girl plus loads of texts…maybe together that would equal a date somewhere down the road. Dates were good to have, and they were things that Marybeth didn’t have enough of.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 1:28 pm
“I aspire to awaken everyone’s inner diva,” Paris joked.
And maybe he did to some extent. Certainly he liked to try digging out a bit more confidence in people who didn’t normally show as much of it, and confidence was the core of being a diva, wasn’t it? He had his own diva moments; he’d been trying to have even more of them recently, to somehow reacquire some of the bold image he seemed to have lost over the last handful of months. It seemed somehow easier to accomplish when he was helping others do the same.
Paris quickly rattled off his phone number so that Marybeth could plug it into her contact list. Once the exchanged was complete, he made sure his phone was set on vibrate so as not to disturb the workshop whenever it started, slipping the device back into his purse.
“Honestly, you can text me whenever you want,” he offered. “You’ll probably end up getting random texts from me at some point. Sometimes when I’m bored I like to send mass texts to my whole contact list and see if anyone bites back.”
He didn’t do that quite as often anymore now that he had a boyfriend taking up a lot of his free time, but it definitely helped ease a bit of boredom when class was being a drag.
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