So You Think You Can Dance? (Harmony)

[Benjamin Park]

Dance practice for the school club was over for the day, but Benji was still feeling the urge to work on some of his own projects he'd been working on for the last couple weeks.  In particular, he'd been focusing on a choreography he'd made for a sick piece of music he'd found while scoping around for inspiration.  His steps were still a little less solid and sharp than he would like (he blamed it on his ballet roots), but Ben was slowly getting the hang of it.  And he was quite proud of his work.

He currently had the room to himself, with the music blasting as he traveled through the movements, letting his body move with the beats and tell him where to go while his mind ran free.  It was these moments that he really felt alive - despite Benji's need to rebel and go on adventures, it was dancing that really stole his passion.  And he was alright with people knowing - hey, chicks dug it, right?

He assumed he would have the open space to work in by himself for a while, but it was, after all, an open room for everyone, and it was the one used to dance practice.  It wouldn't be a huge surprise if someone else stumbled in and decided they wanted to try their own stuff.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony actually spent a lot of time in the training rooms. Just not when she was actually supposed to be in there. She was determined to get better control of her ability and to find new and useful ways to benefit from it. She just didn't want some stupid trainer there commenting on her every move and making stupid suggestions.

She also did practice a little dancing in the area. The training rooms had great acoustics. And since the area was designed for physical activity it worked better for breakdancing then most rooms in Hammel.

Today Harmony was hoping to practice a little of both. Lately she'd been trying to use her ability to spice yup her normal hobbies. Why not dancing? How much cooler would it look to do a windmill while teleporting around the room?

She was a bit lost in her own thoughts when she walked into the room, not noticing the music at first. So she was surprised to find that the room was already occupied. She watched the boy for a moment. He actually wasn't half bad.

"Yo," she said after about a minute, yelling a bit to make herself heard over the music.

[Benjamin Park]

Benji was just finishing off the last bit of his choreography. He was moving fluidly through the movements, becoming more confident as he hit each one just right, until he felt nearly flawless as he watched himself in one of the wall-sized mirrors. He was going to have to show this off during club practice sometime, or something.

He was going through the last few steps when a voice caught him off-guard. Benji stumbled and lost the rhythm he had developed, whirling around to the source of the sound as his song finished and started playing something else. He was slightly annoyed, but also intrigued by who this person was.

"Hey," he repeated back with a flip of his hair. Ben eyed the girl critically; she looked suspiciously young, so his normal flirting game was put on hold for the moment. "Do you have the room reserved, or something?" he asked, jabbing his thumb backwards. He had no idea if people could do that, but he didn't want to invade if he wasn't supposed to be here. A sudden realization dawned on Benji as he studied the stranger; she was a backup dancer! No doubt about it, the boy was entirely certain, like he was certain that Oriel was a sociopathic murderer and Dr. Neville was Zeus.

No, he wasn't crazy!!

"I mean... I could turn my music down, if you wanted to use the space too," he went on. Benji definitely wanted to see the girl's moves, and also if he could possibly learn a tip or two. Breakdancing wasn't his specialty, although he wasn't awful at it either. "I'm Benji, by the way," he added with a charming smile and a wave.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony had no idea if rooms were up for reserving either. She wasn't one to pay enough attention to the rules. Heck, she didn't even know if she was allowed to be in here without a trainer. Not that it would have stopped her.

"Nah," she said, leaning up against the wall in what she hoped was a cool pose. She had considered lying and telling him to beat it. In fact, she may have if she hadn't have caught the last bit of his routine. He was good, not that she was going to lavish him with compliments.

"You were...alright," she continued. Yeah that was as much of a compliment as he was getting until she got a better feel for this guy. "You practice a lot in here?" Because maybe she could use a few pointers too. Unless he turned out to be lame, in which case he could be a dancing god and she'd still ignore him.

"Harmony," she added.

[Benjamin Park]

Benjamin was trying to think if he'd seen the girl before, but nothing was coming to mind. She did seem at least a couple years younger than him, so it wouldn't have been a surprise if they hadn't met. "Oh, alright," he replied with a shrug. "Just bored and checking out what's going on, or something?" Sounded like something he would do... Only with the intent to find cute babes to hit on.

"Alright?" he repeated with a laugh. Huh... Well, he felt sorta self-conscious now. After all, a professional(?) dancer like her would know her stuff, right? "Yeah, well... I'm on the school's dance team, but I do a lot on my own too," Benji nodded. "I've been taking classes since I was like, two." His parents had forced him to go until he found he actually really liked it. "You dance?" he asked casually, as though he didn't already know.

Benji strode over to the boombox he'd set up, snatching up his water bottle and taking a few sips. "Nice to meet you, Harmony," he dipped his head. "I don't think I've seen you around before." She was giving off a very "IDGAF" attitude that Benjamin wasn't sure what to think of yet.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

"I'm always bored," Harmony explained. "This place is so lame." She sighed heavily as if her tone of voice wasn't enough. She watched the older boy's face for any sign of disagreement. Usually she could decide if she might possibly like another student depending on their views of this school. Those who though Hammel was heaven or some other such thing were immediately put on her 'nope, never gonna happen' list.

"Yeah I dance, but I didn't wanna join some lame team," Harmony continued. Truthfully, she hadn't even known such a team existed until now. Though she was very particular to her style of dancing and what she considered dance music. On thing you would never catch Harmony doing is wearing a tutu and prancing about to some classical crap. "Mostly on the street though." Which was less true now than it had been before she'd come to Hammel. But that was mostly because none of her old dancing friends were here.

Since it seemed like the boy was taking a break for a bit, Harmony figured she might as well try a few things. And if he didn't like it, she could deal with that. Not that she took kindly to criticism, but she was pretty good at not caring what anyone else thought.

"I'll put something on and show ya," Harmony said. It was almost a question asking permission to take over his boombox. Well as close as Harmony ever really got. She did pause for a moment to see if he'd argue.

[Benjamin Park]

Benji gave a little laugh at the girl's remark about the school. "Yeah, not a lot of exciting stuff going on here," he chuckled. Granted, there were a lot of strange people that he'd met, like X-Men and Zeus and vampires and aliens... But the school itself, he thought, wasn't all that different from his old ones, and the staff were probably stricter too. Probably because some of the students here had abilities that could be used harmfully if not properly trained and disciplined.

"Lame team?" he repeated, smirking. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty lame. Not many of the other students can actually dance all that well, really." Benji gave a cocky flip of his hair. Yes, he knewthought that he was better than most if not all the other members of the team (which really wasn't true, there were a lot of great dancers but he was too stubborn to say so). "Street dancing, huh? That sounds sick. I've done it a time or two." Benji's main style happened to be ballet, but since he didn't want to be deemed the sissy-dancer, he kept that mostly to himself.

He watched as the girl came over to his stereo, raising a brow. "Alright, let's see it," Benji encouraged, stepping out of the way a little more with a smile. Yes! He was excited to see what sort of style this Harmony had. He prepared to carefully watch her every move for any tips he could pick up.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony smiled at the boy's chuckle, glad that he agreed. The school was totally lame. And if you asked Harmony the people here were lame too. Then again she didn't see them the way that Benji did.

Harmony might have actually enjoyed the dance team. But it would have taken too much for her to admit that she had an interest in joining. As it was, the only club that she was a member of was the Self-Defense club. And she had only signed up there because A) her mother had forced her to choose something and be more social and B) Harmony figured it would be a good way to annoy her trainer even more, since he was the adviser. Of course there was also the added bonus that maybe her uncle would feel bad that she hadn't gone to him for self defense tips.

Harmony was a bit nervous actually. She hadn't really shown off her dance moves in front of anyone in a while. Though her cockiness was outweighing her nervousness at the moment. This was the one area of her life that when she said she was pretty good, she wasn't stretching the truth or outright lying.

She got into the flow of the beat easily, throwing her body around and break dancing. She may have been a little rusty, but she could still manage to not look like an idiot. When she felt like she was in her groove, she decided to try what he came her to try, doing a windmill while teleporting. She did one rotation then attempted to teleport a few feet to the right. Her landing was a little shaky, but she managed to keep on her hands and do one more rotation. After that she jumped up beaming at the boy.

"Whatcha think of that?" she asked, a little out of breath.

[Benjamin Park]

If Benji hadn't chosen the dance club himself, his parents would have told him to choose one anyway to look good on a college application, so he could relate in that sense. Now he could do what he enjoyed and look good doing it. And it helped pick up babes too, showing off his sick moves. Ladies loved a good dancer.

He didn't sense the girl's nervousness; all he was getting was her confidence and cockiness. And she deserved it! Benji didn't know what it took to become a professional dancer, especially at her age, but he was already in awe and envious of where she was, and wondered if he could ask her about getting into the industry... If she didn't turn out to be another one of those people that would look at him like he was crazy when he asked about who they were.

Ben crossed his arms and leaned back as Harmony started, following her movements with an experienced eye. Damn... He wished he could break dance like that. He did a little of it, but nothing like this. When the girl started into the rotation, he didn't expect what came next - suddenly she was gone, and reappeared instantaneously later a little further away. Ben jumped in surprise, too distracted with the teleportation to even notice her shaky landing.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, giving her an enthusiastic round of applause. "That was so cool! Do you always use your ability like that?" Benji reached to the stereo and turned the volume down so he wouldn't have to yell. "I mean, even without it, that would have been impressive, but still. You'll have to teach me some tips, please!"

He even pretended to get on his knees and plead with his hands folded together in front of him. Benji snickered at himself a moment later and stood again. "That is, if you think I'm worthy of your teaching," he said with an airy voice.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was smiling, and still working on catching her breath a bit. She hadn't really expected it to work that well on her first attempt. But now that it had, she couldn't wait to see what other moves she could amp up with her ability. Finally something useful she could do for training.

"Uh...yeah. All the time. Why? You one of those losers who doesn't know how to put his power to good use?" Harmony asked. Of course she had no clue what Benji's ability was. She was feeling too good about herself at the moment to think that far ahead of her question.

"Uh, sure," Harmony said slowly. She'd never really taught anyone how to dance. Most of the kids she'd hung out with before Hammel had been older than her. So she had been the one doing most of the learning. Not that she went around boasting that. She had to laugh a little as he got down on his knees. It was obvious he was just kidding around. But still it was great to think someone thought she was that good.

"I guess you could be worthy," Harmony said, still laughing a little. "Even if you are in some dopey club." She cocked her head to one side, trying to think just what she could teach him anyway.

"What you wanna learn anyway?" After all when she'd walked in, he seemed to be doing pretty okay. It wasn't like she could teach him to teleport.

[Benjamin Park]

Benji chuckled and shook his head, amused by her use of the word 'losers'. He was anything but, even though this chick was definitely a better break dancer. "I would if I could, but I'm afraid my ability is all mental," he told her, tapping his head. "Not much use for dancing." He grinned. "If I had something as awesome as teleportation, though, you bet I'd use it like that!" Not for the first time in his life, Benji wished he had a physical ability.

"Great," he beamed, ecstatic that Harmony was willing to teach him. Benji was glad that she seemed amused with his 'begging'; it wasn't something he would have done to just anyone. It was only her profession that made him willing to act a bit like a dork. Because he was cool!!

"I am glad you think I am worth your trouble," he replied airily with a slight bow and a smirk. His poofy hair got even fluffier from the movement. "I trust you will be able to teach me more than my 'dopey club' ever has," he added with a challenging sparkle in his eyes. They would see.

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "How about that neat windmill-y thing you did at the end?" Ben suggested, always one to go for the hardest thing. "I bet I could do it, given the right instructions." He may look lanky and weak, but he had a dancer's body that was fit for holding himself up on his hands if need be. He moved closer to the center of the room. "So, how do we go about this, Teach?"

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

"Awh man, that sucks." Harmony said. She was definitely on the side of the fence that said physical powers were better than mental ones. In fact most mental powers were downright creepy, which made her wonder...

"Wait, you're not one of those freaky mind readers are you?" she asked the boy, raising an eyebrow and giving him a suspicious glare.

She grinned again when he complimented her teaching. Of course she would be better than some dopey club, right? She might be completely inexperienced, but she had the skills. And she was cool. That's all you needed to be a teacher, right? Though if that was the requirements for a good teacher, no wonder the teachers here at Hammel sucked. None of them were cool. And most of them seemed like total skill-less morons too.

"So uh yeah...windmill." Harmony walked back to the center of the floor, trying to figure out how to go about this. "Well I'm not sure the uh...technical terms and all. I call it a windmill, but I think it's actually some sorta arm flare or something." She shrugged, avoiding looking directly at Benji. Some teacher she was making. She hoped this older boy didn't think she was a total idiot. And if he did, she hoped he kept his trap shut about it.

"But uh, maybe a basic-er windmill thing would be a good place to start. " She shrugged and dropped to the ground. "So uh, put your elbow in your stomach and balance on your hand, like this." She demonstrated for Benji. "Got that much?"

[Benjamin Park]

“Mind reader? Noooo,” Benji replied, rapidly shaking his head. “Not like that Zeu- uh, psych guy.” Zeus the psychiatrist scared the bejeezus out of him. “Mine’s more, uh… My own head than anyone else’s,” he explained vaguely. He never liked to try to explain that he saw everyone differently than everyone else did.

Benji himself liked to help other students in their studies when their teachers sucked and they didn’t do a good job explaining something; fortunately, Ben was smarter and sharper school-wise than one might expect, so he was someone that most people knew to come to if they wanted a ‘cool’ teacher that knew what they were doing.

His eyes eagerly followed after Harmony, giving a shrug as she spoke. “Eh, I’m not one for technical stuff either, as long as it looks neat and I understand it,” he replied with a crooked smile. Still, he tucked the words she was using into the back of his head in case he wanted to look online later. Benji wasn’t even really paying attention to if Harmony looked uncomfortable; he was just eager to learn.

“Mm, okay, I guess starting more basic is a good idea,” he grudgingly agreed. Benji was impatient! But, then again, he didn’t want to get hurt, so better safe than sorry. He followed her movements, squatting to the floor and carefully placing his hands just like hers, taking a few moments before he managed the balance. “Okay, I think I’ve got it,” he said with confidence. He liked to think he was a fast learner. “What now?” Benji looked at Harmony eagerly from where he waited.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

"That's good," Harmony said, relaxing a bit. That whole mind reading thing was just way too creepy. How was a person supposed to trust anyone who could just hope in their brain. "Well I mean, I guess that's better than that freakishness." She shrugged. It must really suck to have a totally lame power. It was bad enough being stuck in this lame school.

She grinned at Benji, glad that he was a stickler for technicalities. That was just as lame as liking rules and junk. It also made it easier for her to slip in the role of teacher. She didn't want to look like an idiot.

She waited for Benji to get set before she went ahead. "Okay so then you just..." she said, demonstrating before the actually explained. She pushed off the ground with one leg, twisted her legs and hips, and at the same time she collapsed onto her shoulder, using the momentum of her legs to spin herself around. She kept up the spin for a couple of seconds before stopping on her side and grinning at Benji. "It's mostly in your legs and hips, but you can kinda use your hand to keep spinnin too. Just keep them out of the way." She tried to think of more tips. It was a lot hard to explain than to do.

"But yeah...just keep practicing that and you'll get down how much of a boost, or momentum or whatever, you need to keep spinnin," she added, shrugging a little. Okay so maybe this teaching thing was harder than it looked.

[Benjamin Park]

"Yeah, haha, totally better," Benji replied, his laugh sounding just a tad fake. Truth was, he would take almost any ability over his own. It wasn't even really an ability as far as he was concerned, he was just... Weird. And maybe a little (or a lot) crazy.

Sigh....

He watched again as she explained the next bit - or rather, demoed it - and whistled as the spin was performed. "That looks so sick," Benji grinned. He was psyched to try it out. "Legs and hips... Hands... Alright, I think I've got it." Like the pro he was, Ben managed to get into the position pretty well and start to spin.... But about halfway through he lost momentum and toppled over (gracefully, of course - he was a dancer after all, and dancers were always graceful). "Heh, well... You make it look really easy," he said a bit sheepishly. "But it was a good first try, right?"

Benji nodded at her advice to just keep practicing. "Yeah, no, I've got the idea of how it's supposed to look in my head, so I'm going to keep trying until I get it," he agreed, tapping a finger against his temple. He glanced at the clock and groaned, realizing more time had passed than he realized. "Damn, I need to get going, I told someone I'd help with hom- uh, a project soon," he sighed, standing up straight and brushing himself off. "It was great to meet you though, Harmony." Ben grinned. "We should do this again sometime. Thanks a bunch for your tips already."

He snagged his bag and started heading out the door, waving over his shoulder. "The room's yours!"

((Hope that's an okay ending!))