Secret Training, Round 2! (Hay-lin)

[Deleted]

Yes, as much as Oriel would not like to admit it and would rather deny until he was blue in the face, the lazy little brat was working hard on his skillz which had degenerated to being mere skills over the past couple years of non-use. Oriel liked being able to do things, hated not being able to do things, liked being able to show off, but hated putting in the effort to be good at them.

Needless to say, the floofy headed boy was pretty cranky this morning as he shuffled out of his dorm in his sweats and worn t-shirt to go get a few nauseating hours of practice in before the rest of the world woke up.

There was a particular routine that Oriel used to do with a bunch of dudes on the street back in NYC that he wanted to try working and piecing together again. Yeah, there was practice involved, they'd get together for a couple of "rehearsals", but it was mostly just a big jam fest and was definitely more unrefined than any of the stuff that his oh-so-dear dance teacher would have him do.

But first, Oriel had to be able to pull off some of those stunts again without pulling a muscle or falling on his head. So, for the time being, he was checking his balance, arching his back stiff while he stood on his hands and slowly swung his legs around. He'd lose it for a moment, falling either forward or back onto his feet, but then the boy would simply pop himself right back up.

That's where he was at when he realized that someone else was in the auditorium "watching" him. "'sup, teach?" he uttered with a mild strain in his voice as he tried to not lose his concentration.

[Hay-lin Mae]

Hay-lin walked into the auditorium, like she did every morning. She always came here early to get in some ‘me’ time. Dealing with some of the dance team girls, god only knows she needed it. She never realized just how stuck up some dance girls could be, and it drove her crazy a little. Mostly because their personalities seemed to clash, and some of it was because she felt like they still didn’t think she knew what she was doing, because she was blind…


Olive was with her today, like always, on his harness, though thankfully she was able to memorize the auditorium pretty quickly. She activated her powers, when she heard some kind of sound, like some had fallen. It was Oriel, she knew the shape of his body, and hair well. She sat in one of the audience chairs and just ‘watched’ him.

“Hello, Oriel. You’re up early.” It brought a genuine smile to her face. “You’re balance is quite good.”

[Deleted]

"Yah....no....sweat...." Never mind his balance, that was fine, it was those flabby arms of his that were going to be the death of him. They might be able to pick up a tiny 120lb woman without any trouble, but holding up the entire weight of Oriel's 170...180? pounds was not something they were used to anymore and while he could probably hold his balance and maintain a good center of gravity for a good amount of time, if those muscles started to the noodle shakes then he was going to topple either way.

And yep, there he went again. Toppling. Oriel tumbled forward and rolled himself back up to his feet, taking about three steps to stop himself from the momentum. He hadn't realized just how incredibly out of shape he'd gotten. Ok maybe he had realized, but it didn't really become real to him until Kodah had shown up with those overpowered arms of his. He still liked being the lazy sloth he was known for, but he definitely didn't like not being able to do what he wanted when he wanted. And if he wanted to play-fight with Kodah, or climb to the roof of the main school building, or, hell, I don't know, dance, then Oriel had every right to work towards these goals without having to feel like a dweeb.

Which was why, of course, he got up early before any of his roommates(or friends) could know the difference.

He tromped and squatted down at the edge of the stage, looking and waving at his "teacher". "Hey-yo, Hay-lin! How's it hanging?" Then he shifted over to Olive with a nod. "'sup pooch?"

[Hay-lin Mae]

“it does seem that you need to work on your strength though.” He should think about going to the gym, or getting some weights, the school had its own gym didn’t it? He could even bring a friend along with him, and have a ‘work out’ buddy. But maybe guys didn’t do that sort of thing. Either way, the boy still had to work on his strength.

It was kind of painful watching the boy fall as often as he was doing. She kind of felt sad for him, though she wasn’t going to express that. “How about we try something different?” There has been something she wanted to show Oriel, and something that he might come to find he liked doing, once he practice enough. “There has been something I have wanted to teach you. But you are going to have to practice at it to get better with it.” Hay-lin didn’t think there was anything wrong with working for what you wanted. However, Hay-lin also didn’t think they boy should hide it, but that was mainly because they most likely had different friends.


“You’re very cheerful for being up so early.” She kind of figured at this time of day he would have been grumpy. But he didn’t sound grumpy. Hay-lin got up and walked onto the stage, with Olive. Figuring he would want her to show him what she was talking about before.

[Deleted]

"No, shi-" Oriel stopped himself. Right. Teacher. "Yeah," he corrected himself. He placed his hands on his hips as he breathed in deep and out again, trying to not fall over again from the dizzying rush of standing up straight from upside down. "I used to...I used to be able to do this, no sweat," he admitted. But again, he'd been lighter before, and it was a lot easier to maneuver a body that was small and used to being on the run everyday. Oriel grunted as he kicked the floor in mild frustration. "Hammel's made me fat..." he mumbled.

He needed to work on his upper body strength, that much was true, but the prideful boy wouldn't be caught dead going to a gym. Hell, even coming to the auditorium to practice was pushing it. And taking the advice of his "teacher"? Well....

Oriel waved the small woman to the stage and backed away, making sure to give the vocal signal of, "Stage 's all your's, teach."

When she commented in his chipper-ness, Oriel merely grunted. If he had just woken up and gotten up with the birds singing, yeah, he would have been grumpy as hell. Unfortunately, this brisk morning practice was actually just the direct result of yet another sleepless night.....it was hard when your hot water bottle was being cold to you. Oriel would have to find time and a place to nap in later. "So what were you going to show me?" he urged her back to the point, holding back a yawn and pressing his fingers at the ridge between his sleep deprived eyes.

[Hay-lin Mae]

Hay-lin was quite surprised at Oriel’s restraint. Especially since when they met, he hadn’t had this restraint. It was a little nice, but she knew it was an act because she was a teacher. “Yeah, blame Hammel.. But it probably had, I’ve heard a lot of students say that they have gained weight since coming to Hammel.” She guess it was a freedom of having food at their finger tips, mostly junk food. “I think Hammel has gym, you should try it out. Maybe even go with a buddy that already works out?” Whether he does that or not, was up to him, but he might want to think more about it if he wants to do what he was trying to do.

“Have you ever heard of the shuffle?” This would probably be meaningless teaching if he already knew how to shuffle. But it was worth a shot, and if he already did know, than she would think of something else.

[Deleted]

Oriel had a mouth on him and he knew it. But as much of an asshole he was, it was one of those strange quirks of his to pay attention to that filthy mouth when in the presence of people who would rather not hear it or who would probably go overboard in punishing him because he spoke like a degenerate. Whatever....

The boy hated that he wasn't in shape anymore. But...the danishes. The danishes and pastries were just too hard to resist. He could kick himself for not having the restraint to cut back on them....but they were easy and cheap. "No way am I going to gym with a bunch of ugly macho jocks," he snapped. "I'll get there my own way." There were training exercises he could do pretty simply in his room for the type of fit he needed. It was unnecessary to go to the gym and bench metal bars that weight twice as much as he did. Like he really needed to look like a greasy weight lifter. Those guys were gross.

He sat down, crossing his legs on the side of the stage area. "Shuffle? Like what, the Cupid Shuffle?" Oriel had no idea what she was talking about.

[Hay-lin Mae]

Hay-lin knew how the boy felt, she had indulged herself with food too when she moved to Hammel; after a lot of arguing with her mother but still. Food was the only thing she indulged herself in though; and sexier dances her mother would never have let her do. Still, she understood the free Hammel gave students, whether it was because they can stuff themselves and not have to pay food, or breaking away from parent rules and becoming rebellious. “Not everyone who goes to the gym are macho jocks. If you go to a public gym, everyone there are nice, and mind their own business.” But if he wanted to do things his way, than Hay-lin couldn’t stop him. Still, she couldn’t help but think if he did it ‘his way’, he wasn’t going to get far…The boy didn’t have very much motivation. However, she will wait till the day Oriel proved her wrong. If that day doesn’t come soon, Hay-lin was going to drag him to the gym with her.


“Huh… No.. Not even close.” The shuffle, or the modern day shuffle she guessed was much more exciting, and much harder than the cupid shuffle. “Here I’ll show you.” Hay-lin stood in the middle of the stage, Olive was sitting near the edge of the stage, a few feet from Oriel. The Asian girl did the basic shuffle a few times both ways, before stopping and looking at Oriel. She knew he was going to say it looked easy and simple. “Once you get a hang of the basics you can do all sorts of things. You should youtube it sometime.”

[Deleted]

Oriel certainly was lazy, but he had a lot more motivation than Hay-lin gave him credit for. At least for things he had found an interest in. It was sticking to it that was usually the problem. The whole street dancing business was a big interest for Oriel, and while he dwindled down on it in the few months prior to coming to Hammel, he still practiced a bit from time to time. It was only after coming to Hammel that he stopped completely. Cold turkey.

Heck, now that he thought about it, Oriel didn't really do much of anything the first couple years he was at Hammel. Except watch a bunch of movies. And eat danishes.

Oh, the danishes.

However, the main reason Oriel didn't want to go to the gym was just because he was too vain, didn't know how to use the machines, and was too stubborn to just suck it up and go and risk people knowing that he was actually trying. After all, Oriel had an image to uphold.

Besides, with all these late nights, early mornings where he wasn't sleeping, he had plenty of time to practice (and fail a lot) with out people watching.

Oriel watched his dear teacher while she showed him the basic steps to what was called, The Shuffle. Yeah, as Hay-lin expected, Oriel thought it looked easy. So, of course, Oriel had to try to one-up his instructor and hopped up to show off his skillz. "No sweat!" he exclaimed right before jumping into the running man.

[Hay-lin Mae]

He probably did have more motivation than Hay-lin have him credit for. But for her to know that, he had to show it. That was the only way she was going to be able to see just how much motivation he had. And she really did want to see it.

Maybe now was the time to change the bad habit he got into. Hay-lin wanted him to reach the stars, but he wasn’t going to do that if he was just going to sit on his ass all the time.


However, if the boy wanted to exercise his own way, Hay-lin actually couldn’t blame him. She knew what the stares felt like, a blind person exercising was apparently unusual in this town.


Hay-lin sighed as Oriel tried to do it, but he didn’t know the moves, so how was he ever going to be able to do things? This is why he failed most of the time, because he jumped in head first without any thought into what it was he was doing.

[Deleted]

That sigh was irritating and grating on Oriel's nerves. Of course Oriel knew he was doing it wrong, did this woman always have to take things so seriously? Oriel stopped his hilarious interpretation of the shuffle and looked over at his teacher. "Well, if you ain't happy with what I got for you, then why don't you show me again all slow like." Oriel crossed his arms like an expectant jerk. "And maybe this time with an explanation of what the fu-- what you're doing to make it all funky like that."

Oriel stepped closer to Hay-lin so he could get a better look at her demonstration. "Well?" he urged.

[Hay-lin Mae]

This woman took dancing very seriously; considering it was something that had always been truly out of her reach till she got her powers. She had always been envious of people who could do hiphop dances, and covers of music videos, without breaking a sweat. She knew she shouldn’t hold that against Oriel, or any of her other students, but there was a time and a place to play around…

“Fine.” She knew Oriel was going to get fusterated with this dance move, but it would be good for him to know it. “This move is going to be hard, because you really have to think about it at first. Not to mention you have to do it slowly first, then build up to going faster.” A lesson for the boy, slow wins the race. Hay-lin started showing him the steps, what to do when to do them. “First you step forward with your right leg, then you drag that leg back to meet your other leg. At this point you pick up your left leg, and step forward with that leg as you drag your right leg backward. Then you reapet the process with your left leg.” She dementrated everything while she was talking. “Got it?”

[Deleted]

Oriel grunted. "Slow, it's always slow with you," he mumbled out a complaint. But that's all it was, complaining. Oriel stood beside the woman like he was supposed to, watching and listening(though certainly watching more than listening) as she showed the move again and followed along as best he could.

It wasn't too, too hard, but she was right that it would take a bit for him to commit it to muscle memory. And that he'd have to think about it first.

Damn, he hated when other people were right. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. "Maaybe..." he said tentatively. "I gotta see it a couple more times...." He kept on going, alternating with the steps between the right and the left. "So, teach? Where'd you learn all this stuff anyway?" Not that he cared where she got all her training from. Nope. Not hiiim.

[Hay-lin Mae]

Hay-lin sighed, “Well I have to think about how to tell and show you too you know.” She smiled a little, she was starting to be amused by how Oriel was. It was easier to watch than to listen, it was complicated to figure out when you were only listening… Oriel should be grateful that he could watch.

It was just learning how to multitask in a way you weren’t used to. It was like rubbing your tummy while patting your head.


Hay-lin did it again, but moved a bit faster. “Just let me know how many times. And how fast or slow.” Because she really did want to teach the boy in a way where he would learn from it best, and would keep him interested. “My mom’s a dance teacher. She has been since before I was born. She taught me most of what I know.” It was because the woman wanted to teach her how to dance, and because of how Hay-lin wanted to know how to dance that her parents divorced and went separate ways. She still blamed herself for that. But it was the reason why she never gave up her dreams, to show her father that she could do anything she wanted.

[Deleted]

"Yeah, but you ain't watchin' and talkin' and learnin' all at once either. Plus, ya ain't distracted by sh--- things going past your eyes all the time. Can be distracting sometimes." Not that Oriel had things flashing in front of his eyes, but he did have other things to look at. But, yeah, Oriel was grateful he had someone around to teach him this stuff, even if he was a loud, annoying, obnoxious complainer about it.

Oriel kept going, copying her movements from the left to the right, rinse and repeat, over and over. He thought he was getting it right. Probably. "That's cool, that you got a mom who could teach ya." It really was. Though there was a hint of envy in his voice, since he didn't have any parents much less a mother who cared enough about him to teach him a goddamn thing. And one who was patient with Hay-lin's….wait. He stopped copying her. "How'd she do that anyway? Weren't you always blind? Or was that something that happened later?" Not that he was interested in knowing more about Hay-lin…nope, not Oriel.