Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Poliwhirl’s Spinners, it was Ara’s old dance studio, and while he’d never formally enrolled, Gabe had gone a couple of times in the past. Now, it felt weird to even be in the vague vicinity of it let alone this close. Gabe slowed with each passing step, his gaze occasionally flicking up before flicking forward again. He wasn’t sure he wanted to do this. He should probably just leave. But his feet were carrying him forward, and so he moved onwards.
Stepping in, he found no one at the front. If he had to guess, they either took a break or were assisting the dancers. Either way, Gabe was thankful for it as he slowly walked past the various rooms, his gaze flicking in to see what they were doing before moving on. When he saw her, though, Gabe stopped short. She moved… so fluidly. She always moved so fluidly as if her feet only touched the ground because she willed it. His gaze pulled away from her flicking around to the rest of the room he could see. Several different people were practicing alongside her but didn’t have the sheer strength or grace.
Gabe watched for a little while in absolute silence almost forgetting what he was doing there. That was, at least, until one of the other dancers noticed him gazing in and started pointing it out.
It was just a typical Sunday night, after spending her morning helping the girls remember her routine it was fairly obvious where she'd end up and what she'd wind up doing. Maybe it was the regularity of everything that made Arietta feel so at home at her dance studio, welcomed by the people around her that she'd known a lot of her life, it almost made her feel sane, in a way.
Tonight one of the locals, Hamish, was taking charge and hosting a tap night where they'd learn a few routines and go over various steps- simple, mind-numbingly easy, something chill, really. Arietta was wearing a leotard and bright pink tap shoes, her hair pulled right back out of her face with a headband, in comparison for most of the class, save a few, who were just in comfy looking clothes.
It had been almost twenty minutes of warm ups before Hamish had begun teaching them, he'd been attempting to teach how to perform wings which a large majority of the class had been struggling with, so he'd had to move on to shovels before his phone had begun to go off- something about the missus calling again- and he'd completely and utterly ditched, at least for ten or so minutes.
In that time, most of the class had been attempting to practice the steps the teacher had given them, going right over them, the hall was practically filled with the sound of tapping and metal hitting polished floor, to anybody unfamiliar the sound could have been borderline annoying.
Arietta had been going over a small section of one of the last routines she was taught a few weeks ago to demonstrate to one of the youngest people there how to use wings in a routine, a smile on her face as she explained the movements to them- she was almost so caught up she didn't hear one of the regulars, Bev, talking about a creep who'd been staring at them dancing through the doorway, and Ara was quick on her feet to turn around, curious- could it be like... a rabid fan? They had to kick somebody out of the studio once for that, and Arceus it wasn't pretty-
Her gaze followed where Bev was directing, a small crowd of the dancers had now began to chatter among themselves, warily- and Ari narrowed her gaze, for a brief moment confused as to why they looked so familiar, before her eyes practically shot open- that was.
"...G-Gabe?" Why was he- oh shit, fuck- right, the ball she'd... Once she cleared up that she knew the dude Arietta was quick on her heels to the door, clicking following her every moment. For a few seconds she only stared, her expression wide-eyed. Shit. He- okay. Dance. Yep. "...You actually showed up- uhm- on tap night nonetheless..."
Shit— Gabe was having second thoughts about being here, and now there was no way out. He stepped back away from the glass but couldn’t bring himself to walk away completely. He watched Ara talk but had no way of hearing exactly what she was saying. Ah, yep, he supposed he was just going to walk right on out—
Ah nope that was the door opening behind him. Looking over his shoulder and then slowly turning around again, Gabe willed himself to smile and found it fall short. “Ah… yep….” he answered shrugging his shoulders. “Didn’t really get the memo so I came when…. it fit my schedule…” He trailed off and just stared at her silently. “I…. I’m going to go…” Why was he feeling like this? If he had time to ponder, Gabe would have guessed it was because this was on Ara's turf not a neutral ball setting where they initially didn't know each other or a forest where no one else could see. Yep, that was definitely it.
Arietta was still unbelievably surprised, and a little in shock that he'd... actually rocked up. A hand moved to push through her hair, a little wary of the sweat she could feel building up, she couldn't figure out what was going on in Gabe's head, or what he was thinking- and frankly she was a little pissed that it took him this long to show up, she'd all but assumed he was going to forget ball night.- although to be fair she'd... really been trying to forget a lot of it herself. But no! He was here, and against her better judgement Arietta sighed and let out a "Nuh-uh, Gabe."
She moved to nudge the door open further with her foot, the corner of her mouth quirking up slightly, "There's other dances going on in the other studios if tap doesn't interest you, but i'm pretty sure there's, uh, spare tap shoes in the storage closet, you really don't have to leave... you don't even have to do a class with me if that puts you off- you're here to dance- you showed up, so..." She averted her gaze, "It's just dance, and i'm sure they'll let you in the class no question- have you done tap before?"
She had to cut herself off with a question as she felt her words start to trail off, shit it'd been a long day.
Nu-uh Gabe— FFFFFF?? Ara’s tone threw him off, and Gabe twitched in response. “What?” he murmured in response not entirely expecting a response back.
Gabe looked from her to the space beyond Ara and then back to her again. That pink leotard held her so nicely, and those shoes were so cute and— he vaguely regretted coming in jeans, a t-shirt, and a coat like he did. He wasn’t going to fit in this; he really should just— You’re here to dance, you showed up so. A slow breath escaped from Gabe. Ara was… “Fair enough…” It was just dance. Maybe tap dance but still dance.
A hand reached up and curled fingers through the straighter locks of his hair. “I haven’t actually,” he answered. “I suppose that’s what a class is for though….” A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. He was trying at least. She was trying at least. They were trying at least.
Fair enough? He was actually going to... okay. Though the class was just running through steps and there wouldn't be many, if any routines on today- would Gabe even enjoy that? Upon hearing that he'd never actually done tap, though, her face practically lit up, as much as she still was mad at him in the pit of her gut, there was something magical about learning a new dance for the first time, being taken in by the new experience, the new music- new steps you could work in- now he had to join. She didn't make the rules, and she was going to get him in for free anyway!
"They're just running through basic steps today-" She pushed herself back in through the door, gesturing with her head for him to get his ass through the door, "We have a few young teens in the class too, so it's definitely not difficult- it might be a little out of your element, though- you might find it boring? It's easy, but it's fun, it's something." If he was following, she'd move to lead him down the hall and off to the right, pushing open a closet hidden to the far right of the hall as if she'd done this millions of times before.
"Shoes are in here, grab a pair, try balance, don't get scared of the tap noises..." She was speaking like she was giving a talk to a new dancer at the studio, rather then Gabe, because it was easier to pretend that's what he was. "Oh- and you can leave your coat here, it'll get hot pretty quick."
Gabe chewed the inside of his mouth but stepped through the doorway and into the room. Out of his element, maybe easy, maybe boring. That was …. Way too vague, yet Gabe felt a small laugh building up in him. “Oh really?” he asked as he followed her onwards. As she came to the closet, he glanced inwards, out again, and then stepped in looking about for a size that might fit. “Scared of the noises?” he repeated back to her even as he fished through a few.
At the mention of his coat, though, Gabe hesitated before slowly pulling it off. A series of darker marks became visible on his left forearm though it would be hard to tell what exactly they were from this lighting. Setting the coat on a hanger and then looking around again, he bent down and fumbled with some shoes before finding a pair that fit. “Hm… these’ll do,” he decided setting his other shoes under the coat specifically as not to lose them. Stepping out again, he glanced down and squinted. Ah yeah that click would need some getting used to after all, hm.
At his echo of her 'scared of noises' bit she laughed lightly, running her hand through her hair and glanced out the room for a minute, "One of the younger girls here fell over because she wasn't expecting the steel toe to make such a loud sound, inside joke." oh she... yeah he didn't need to know this. Arietta quickly shut up as she waited by the doorway however she couldn't help tapping her shoe slightly, anxious, unnerved and needing a way to resolve her energy- also a little impatient. "Oh- just so you know our instructor today is Hamish- me and some of the girls have been speculating he's going through a divorce or something with his wife so go easy on hi- not that it matters, I mean."
Shut up Arietta. Shut up. As Gabe finally got the shoes on and began making his way back Arietta was sure to close the door behind her, moving to adjust one of the straps to her leotard and suddenly kinda aware how skin tight it was- not that it should really matter at all, what-so ever, she shouldn't even be thinking about this. "Right- yeah, you ready?" she glanced back to the door opening up into her usual class, where a few curious people were staring at Gabe.
"If you don't wanna go out there, like, I get it, I could probably take over the class and have Hamish teach you some things...u-uhm..."
A small snort escaped from Gabe as Ara described the inside joke. “Oh how funny,” he snickered. “Poor dear…” Maybe if he had been a bit younger and just learning dance, he could sympathize. These thoughts quickly faded as Ara named the instructor and then went on to describe his personal life. A pause, and Gabe smirked more to himself than to Ara. “I guess he and I should go drinking later then,” he murmured softly. Maybe he should try and think positively. He’d already gotten there after all.
“Ready enough…” he assured before looking passed her and meeting the stares of the curious people in turn. A few looked away. Some looked on with a little contempt. For all he was and all he wasn’t, though, Gabe found himself forcibly smiling now. His gaze pulled back to Ara, and he shook his head briefly. “No need for that; this is fine,” he assured again. A hand had reached up, but he stopped in mid-motion to avoid touching her. Retracting and letting it drop to his side, he walked out a little more instead.
“Nice to meet you all, I’m Ara’s friend. Sorry for staring earlier; you all enraptured me in awe,” he spoke smoothly, coolly. A few of them seemed to ease a bit at hearing this. A few others looked at one another with more questions than answers. Gabe wouldn’t say much more, though. His gaze had flicked back to Ara again. “So what are the basic steps of this anyways?” Best… start… somewhere.
Oh! Go drinking with Hamish? The dude would probably like that, actually! Arietta seemed a little surprised at his response, but attempted not to show anything as she continued forwards, ready to just... get back to it, honestly. Dancing was the good shit- she needed this, it was her wind down Sunday night, after all. As he seemed ready and batted away her rambling on getting Hamish to teach him privately she let out a soft hum, biting down on her lip.
Well then, here goes nothing. She didn't notice as he moved a hand upwards, which he quickly retracted, too eager and antsy. She followed a few steps behind as he started forth, addressing her class so fluently others could have assumed it was rehearsed. She moved to her usual spot with much thought to it, not too sure what Gabe wanted to do- well until he turned to her.
Oh shit- yeah right. She glanced around for a moment, as if to find Hamish only to find him gone, of course. "The.. basic steps?" She pushed the tip of her toe into the hard floor for a second, as if testing it before turning to him with a shrug, "I'd get Hamish to show you but he's not here- but they'll take you like, a few seconds to get, tops."
There was a shift in her demeanor almost, and a smile graced her features as she adjusted her posture. "What you really need to get down, before the steps, are the core moves, and the two most important are the brush-" She moved forward on to one leg, bringing the foot in the air down to clash against the floor with the ball of her foot, "Which is just a forward kick-out, and you have to hit it with the front plate, and then you have... a strike, which is bringing it back like this-"
She moved the foot back to the upwards position, striking the floor on the way back, "And when you do that, you gotta make sure your heel doesn't meet the floor, right- uh- and then when you combine the two moves you get a shuffle, which once you get the hang on it is just..."
Arietta did a quick shuffle using both her feet, as if to demonstrate just how quickly you can do it together one you get the hang of it, she was just teaching, that's all it was, dance was everything and this sort of thing was something she did on a daily. "That- but i'd suggest doing it to a slow 1...2... count first- they're teaching a wing move right now- err, Hamish was, but it's like, notoriously one of the most difficult moves."
Gabe’s gaze lowered to watch Ara’s legs move. The brush seemed simple enough, and the strike about the same. Thy weren’t exactly like any of the steps from any other dances, but he was sure muscle memory would kick in the minute he went through a couple of rounds. A curious look came to his features as she mentioned a wing, but he decided to wait on that. “Ah, I’ll wait on that one,” he forced a small half-laugh back. No need to rush into this— unless to try and prove something but there wasn’t anything to prove either.
Lifting his leg, he weighed the shoe for a moment before pulling back in a brush and then coming down in a strike. Hm, not bad. One, two, one, two, one, two…. It was indeed slow, and he felt strangely stiff with the weight of the shoes, but with each motion, it got easier. Raise, lower, there, there. He could feel a few eyes on him, some waiting to see him misstep, trip, or fall, but Gabe kept at that steady pace and wasn’t about to overexert himself just yet. Still, he was getting the pattern down remarkably fast all the same. "Not too bad," he mused to himself after a moment.
Arietta's hands sat on her hips as she watched Gabe slowly test out the steps, patiently going over them a few times- it really shows how he's been to lessons before, especially in comparison to how a bunch of the other people here started out- being too cocky, too quickly only ends in disaster, especially when it comes to tap, where the focus is not only on the steps but on the sounds you produce- too loud and you could set off a fairly chaotic string of accidents.
"Yeah! That's good, you're learning quicker than I did!" She brought her hands up in a clap, enthusiasm was key to good training, afterall- and he was getting it down fairly quick. Arietta hardly noticed as Hamish entered the room again, keen to teach more and see just what he could do with the moves.
"So the next one isss... I guess the ball change? Have you seen those sorta tap-jazz routines online, or the ones with those boppy showtunes? You probably see this one used a lot when people travel across the stage to a different position?" She shrugged her shoulders, she... wasn't the best of explaining things, but it totally made sense to her! She kept up her explanation though, moving back into position, again moving one foot backwards with her toe pointed down.
"So- right- it's just kinda you step the toe of this one down- then with your foot at the front just slam the ball of the other down- you need some stregth between the two- and then from there you can traverse into a step ball change which is..." After demonstrating she moved back, glancing to Gabe and tilting her head, as if to check if he was able to get the technique down quickly, at this point she was completely focused on tap- on dance.
Ara’s compliment had warmth touching Gabe’s features. “It helps to already have dance skill,” he answered quickly forcing a smile. He did catch sight of what he assumed was Hamish coming back in but then quickly refocused on Ara again. “I think so,” he cut in briefly at her questions. He watched, though, with a sort of critical eye as he tried to discern every motion.
Hm, that didn’t seem too difficult, though. He copied her position and then stepped and— the click that transpired when he slammed the ball of the other down had every hair raising on Gabe’s arms at once. He shivered and fidgeting a little easing out of the stance for a moment to rub his arms. He could see where the sound would be useful. He’d heard it plenty of times, but feeling the vibration was…. weird. He had to wonder who came up with this. “My the clicks are… something else…” he commented before shifting back into position and trying again— this time without fidgeting. “A little hard to get used to.” Gabe laughed a moment even as he fell into that step slowly picking it up again in a similar way. Not too hard, not too hard, not at all.
She was certain he was probably going to hit it first try, it was simple enough and one of the four basic steps, besides a lot of tap was basic stylistic elements too, right? Moving to adjust her headband, she'd zoned out for only a few seconds before hearing his comment about the clicks?! Oh! "Well, you don't really have to try with tap shoes if you don't have to- another part of tap is like- being able to control the sound and stuff, but all that matters now is like, uh, getting the technique down pat?"
You did it again Arietta, you and your legendary speaking skills. She watched for a few more moments until it seemed he had it down pat, oh hell yeah! "It might be a little easier to control if you keep your hands settled on your hips? Usually when you go into moves directed to like.. the right or left your arms follow through- you'll know uh, follow-throughs from other types of dance, probably..." what would be reasonable to go through next...?
TIMESKIP NOISES
The class went for a solid hour more, and Arietta didn't really notice- at least not until Bev had come up to her to say goodbye, when she was in the midst of attempting to show how to perform a jump click then a slurp, and the girl was fairly confused, "Wait- you're kidding?" followed by the girl laughing and leaving, not before giving Gabe a rather flirty look. Arietta blinks a few times, almost stunned, before turning to Gabe, most people save for a few who were speaking to Hamish or going over a few steps for the final time before leaving, and she didn't... really know what to stay.
"It doesn't close for another hour of two- if you wanted to uh- get tips from Hamish? I... yeah."
Gabe was only faintly aware of the time, and his legs knew it more than his head did. They were tired and complaining for a break. His head and heart, though, were focused on Ara. As one of the girls came over to say bye, Gabe caught her eye and couldn’t help but smirking a little back. She was cute, maybe not his Type exactly, but cute.
Rolling his shoulders, Gabe stretched both arms up and leaned from one side to the other. He probably could get some tips from Hamish, but he at least felt like copying Ara had given him a better innate understanding than any vocalization could. “I think I might head out, actually,” he answered. “I take it you’re staying, though?” A pause as he found himself locking on to her gaze.
Oh shit he was going to- yeah, everybody was leaving, Gabe was like another student and he was leaving too! "Uh, obviously i'm staying?" She moved to tug her headband off, shaking her hair out so it fell properly before shifting to tie it back as she thought, anything to avoid staring too long at Gabe and his stupid eyes. "Gotta stay out of my house as long as possible- y'know... my parents suck- but yeah sometimes I help the owners out with bank statements and shit but most times i'm back in one of the other rooms practicing for like- err..." She faltered for a moment.
Should she even mention them, is it worth it? No. No- she should. Yeah. "The group." She finished almost lamely, moved to rest her hands back at her hips, "Oh- on the thought of that though- are... are you coming back? I'll have to register you into the system and I could... probably get away with putting you in without needing you to pay- I mean if you want- there's other studios around if you really want I guess..."
Oh…. She was still living with her parents and wanted to stay out as long as possible. Gabe’s gaze flicked sideways away from Ara. “I see,” he answered briefly. That wouldn’t have happened if you had gone with me… The corners of his lips twitched up and fell down in equal measure. Practicing for— For her beloved friends, right. Gabe’s gaze flicked forward again, and something hazy and disjointed entered his eyes.
Was he coming back? Gabe’s lips pressed together. He wanted to. He wanted to badly, but he wasn’t sure if the reasons for it were— There’s other studios around— no it definitely was that wasn’t it? A weak smile pulled onto Gabe’s features right after. “Sure,” he answered. “This was fun… I will definably come back….” A pause. His chest tightened and relaxed again. “Do you… want to go to one of those back rooms and just… dance?” he said slowly.
An excited noise left her lips at the prospect of a new person joining the studio- sure- it was Gabe, but any new student added a new dynamic to it, and she loved seeing how the others treated newbies. That's why she ended up coming back here, after all! "The tuesday lesson is gonna be ballroom, then the sunday is going to be some sorta contemporary lesson- i'll... have to check the records, if they don't interest you just come back the week after- though there's always social media updates and stuff, don't worry..." She found herself rambling, and quickly cut herself off, yeah she was keeping him here, that... bad habit.
She'd begun to move to make her way down the hall, as if moving herself towards the front desk where she could put in Gabe's details, however paused, turning back around as he mentioned... dancing in one of the... back rooms? Her breath hitched slightly and she pursed her lips, "U-Uhm..." she moved to push some hair behind her ear, as if in thought- that... that wasn't... a good idea, right?
Listening to her ramble on was… amusing in its own way. While he already knew ballroom dances, he assumed there was a gradient of students learning different things like there was that day, so that was fine, probably. He’d watched her start to move but hadn’t moved himself yet before she turned around and looked at him.
Ara’s response had Gabe’s eyes pulling away, and a small smile curled on his lips. “Ah yeah.” A pause. “I do need to go get my stuff though, first,” he thumbed back towards that closet where his coat and other shoes were. He’d turn that way and start in that direction instead if only for the moment.
Coming to the closet and opening it, he exchanged the tap shoes for his boots again and pulled the coat over his shoulders. It was only then that he realized just how stiff he was from the shoulders to the wrists. Ugh. Stretching there a moment, he turned and started back towards Ara again.
Oh! So he was leaving, then? Some part of Arietta was relieved, she wouldn’t need to stress about every little thing she did- especially on Sunday relaxation night! But she still felt off. An idle “Kayy...” left her lips as she watched him walk back in the hall- shit- right, she had to register him. Moving to slip off her tap shoes and placing them against the wall in the main room she moved barefoot over to Hamish, letting him know she was gonna go access the system before lightly jogging over to the front desk-
Right- how did she go about doing this, again? She usually only put down the details for school she’d kids, since they’re who she taught... surely nobody would care if she put the new- Gabe- down as a school aged kid, right?
Busying herself with adding the new details to file, it took her a few seconds to notice when Gabe came back- Her eyes flicked from him, to the screen. “...You still live in the same address? I’m just putting everything down and... stuff?”
She moved to tick a few boxes while waiting for the response, ticking the prepaid option without so much as another thought- she told him about this place, so asking him to pay would just be bad- that or she was just trying to make up for all the guilt she felt eat at her gut.
“...if you still wanted to dance there are a bunch of free rooms at the back- though are are packed up... I could probably set you up with a speaker or something too- I doo that with Cathleen when she stays back after Jazzercise...” she was still, very much, in a business mindset, and moved to adjust her leotard as she looked up from the screen and right to Gabe.
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