Get Me On The Floor (Callie)

[Tanner Larson]

The House still smelled of booze from the previous night’s festivities when Tanner walked in that Saturday morning. There would be another show that night, but seeing as how it wasn’t a Thursday, Tanner would not be performing. He had been coming in for extra practices, though, because Cynthia wasn’t exactly thrilled with his progress in terms of dancing. The singing, she said, he totally had down. He had even developed a pretty audacious stage presence over the past few months, which was great news given how shy he normally was. But the dancing wasn’t where it needed to be, so he had been coming in whenever he got the chance – that was, whenever he wasn’t in class or studying – to rehearse, even joining the girls for some of their rehearsals. He focused on this just like he focused on everything else in his life: he wanted to do the best he could, and he would do all it took to get to that level.

As it was a Saturday, and there would be performances that night, Tanner knew that he wouldn’t be the only one there; the Saturday girls usually had rehearsals that day to make sure all of the new numbers were fresh. He supposed he didn’t mind this too much – he knew some of the girls, and some of them performed occasionally on Thursdays, so it wasn’t like they were all strangers at this point – but he did prefer to have his privacy; he showed up pretty early, hoping to catch some alone time before others started to arrive.

Taking the stage, Tanner headed over to the boombox that was used for rehearsals; popping in the cd he had been given, he played the first track. He had listened to the three songs that were on the cd – given to him by Cynthia to learn for the next week – a few times now, and while the singing aspect was coming along nicely, he really had no idea what he was going to do in terms of the dancing. There would be back-up dancers when necessary, but he wanted to be able to move on his own – and that was where the problem was.

The first track was a sort of jazzy cover of Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends.” It had a smoky vibe and didn’t sound terribly similar to the original, but it was definitely still a dance number. Not really his style of music, but Madame had wanted to hear a guy give it a shot, and he was the best singer she had (one of the only ones, actually – most of them were just there to dance and look sexy, which they were very good at). He played the song, lip-synching along as he tried to move his body a bit; this song was just screaming for some awesome dance moves, but Lord knew he didn’t have any.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie didn't mean to be early. At least, not as early as she ended up being. There were a lot of rules she had to follow, due to being so young, and the last thing she wanted to do was fall behind on choreography. It hadn't become a problem for Callie yet; she enjoyed the challenge and the way she was pushed as a dancer, but she didn't want to risk it by being lazy.

Being paid to dance was awesome, even if she was still in the background.

Nevertheless, she walked in with her gym bag hanging off one shoulder. The scent of stale alcohol filled her senses instantly, but she tried not to let it bother her. She was still getting used to that side of things. She looked up to the stage and saw Tanner. She knew the guy, and she knew he was a stunning singer. A little nervous maybe, but he seemed to still be getting the hang of performing. From experience, Callie knew it took a while to get used to. She walked closer, but as soon as he noticed her she offered a quick wave.

"Hey! You're getting better!" She called quickly and offered him a thumbs up as some kind of encouragement, "Sorry though. I can go if you want."

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner didn't hear over the music the sound of the front door closing behind Callie as she entered the building - as it was, the front door led into an entryway, not the main room itself - but he certainly heard her footsteps when she came into the room. He stopped dancing almost immediately, hand instinctively landing on the back of his neck. The young pyro blushed as Callie complimented him, shaking his head quite fervently. "Not really, but thanks," he said, giving an awkward smile. And that was pretty accurate: Tanner was one of the only people Cynthia never snapped at, but even he was starting to make her restless. He just wasn't improving to the extent that he ought to be, and the older woman was starting to get antsy about putting him in more dance-centric numbers.

"No, it's fine," he replied quickly when the girl offered to leave. "I was just kinda practicing." He didn't really mind her presence anyway; he knew her, to the extent that he knew most of the girls (which was only somewhat), but knew that she was as nice as any of them. He wasn't going to keep dancing with someone else there, though, especially someone who was actually good at it: that would just be embarrassing. He walked over to the boombox, turning the music off.

"I'll just wait until everyone else gets here," he added. He tagged along in their rehearsals sometimes, just to learn some moves and work on his flexibility and grace, neither of which he had much of. "She, uh... wants me to be able to dance to this," he said, looking down at the boombox. It was clear that he wasn't entirely convinced.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie smiled back at Tanner, trying to show a little more encouragement because he was clearly being so down on himself.

"Oh, okay." Callie replied, lifting the strap of her bag off her shoulder and leaving it slumped on the floor. She was already dressed to practice in her sweat pants and a simple tank top, but she still had to stretch. Simply put, she started with her ankles and moved upwards. The cold was getting to her joints little by little so it was more important than ever to keep up with stretching.

She watched as he turned the music off, pouting slightly. "Sounds like a Jazz breakdown of a Brittney Spears song, right?" She asked curiously. The stripped down track, the heavy accentuated double-bass; she was only guessing, but she'd studied Jazz dancing before. "Practice makes perfect. Do you want a little help?" She asked with a smile.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner didn't want to seem like a creep, but he was interested in watching the girl as she stretched. She sure seemed flexible. That was something that Tanner had to work on: as it was now, he could barely touch his toes. There was certainly a difference between being skinny and being in-shape, as Tanner was clearly one and not at all the other. He knew he needed to start stretching, and jogging, and lifting weights and... things. But Tanner in a gym?? He just couldn't imagine it.

The blonde nodded his head. "Yeah, it is." It wasn't the sort of thing he usually listened to, but he supposed if choreographed properly and sung well, it could be pretty good. He blushed again as this girl offered to help him. "Well, to be honest, yes," he said, eyes hitting the floor. He didn't think it was overly self-deprecating to say he really wasn't very good at dancing, though he rarely admitted he actually needed help with something. Well, he supposed everyone had things they were good at and things they weren't. "I just... can't seem to move very well."

[Calliope Gallo]

Calliope only smiled up at him, thinking nothing of him watching her stretch. It was something she was used to, because it always helped people learn what they were supposed to do if they didn't know. Her muscles didn't strain as easily as other people's due to her power, but she still did it anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.

"I can do that." Callie replied, starting to stretch her arms out. She laced her fingers together, holding them out in front of her as she walked onto the stage. Her ability allowed her arms to silently slide out of her shoulder sockets, and she drew her arms up over her head and behind her, stretching out again as her body settled. "I've seen you at Hammel." She reasoned with a shrug after using her ability.

She turned her head slightly, looking out again. Being on a stage was, well... Awesome. Even if no one was watching. "It's only easier for me because of the power-thing." Calliope admitted, nodding once. "What are you struggling with?"

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner watched Calliope as she walked towards the stage. Yes, she was definitely very flexible. Wait, was that normal?? He had never seen anyone completely rotate their arms around their body like that. Was that how people did backstroke? It was certainly a sight to see, and Tanner was fairly certain he couldn't do that.

Then Callie mentioned that her powers helped her do that, and he nodded with understanding. "Ah," he said simply; well then, that explained that. That was pretty cool, though: Tanner's power didn't really help him do anything up on stage except get overheated under the spotlight pretty easily. Suffice it to say that was not so useful.

"You have?" He asked, eyebrow quirking up a bit as the other blonde mentioned that she recognized him from school. Tanner tended to just blend in, drifting from class to class, then back to his dorm. It surprised him that anyone would even have time to see him. He hadn't seen her around except at the House, but obviously he was not going to say so out loud.

"Um, sort of everything," he replied meekly, shrugging his shoulders. "I just don't have any real instincts when it comes to this. Like, some people can improvise dancing really easily, I can barely move from side to side. Even when I'm told what to do, I guess it's always pretty stiff."

[Calliope Gallo]

"I wouldn't do that if I didn't think it was safe, y'know?" Callie replied with a short laugh. "Plus, you did auction yourself off for people." She let out a wink at the thought. Nope, she didn't bid on him, but she did win someone else. So the whole event had worked out pretty well for this blonde.

Callie smiled with as much encouragement as she could muster. "The best way to start is to do what you were doing. Listen to the song and get a good feel of it first, y'know?" She pointed out, shaking out her limbs quickly and tugging the hem of her top down. She reached up to her hair, tying it back in a high ponytail.

"Give it a shot. I'll help you out as much as I can." She said with another smile.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner's blush only darkened as Callie mentioned the auction. "Ah, so you were there, huh?" He asked. Oh Lord, he knew that would come back to haunt him. He knew there were a lot of people there, but it was starting to seem like half the freaking school had been in attendance. Well, he supposed that was good news for his friend Kiara, but he didn't exactly want everyone around the school knowing, er, what he did here. "Win anything good?"

The boy nodded, heading back over to the boombox and pressing play. The song picked up where it had been cut off, right at the beginning of the second verse. It was starting to sound a bit more like the original version - Cynthia's intention had probably been to start the song as a more jazzv piece and then work its way into a dance number - which just made Tanner more concerned about his ability to do the song any real justice.

He stood there for a moment: was he really supposed to dance with her standing right there, watching him? "Uh..." He mumbled; he was starting to feel very self-conscious. But he let himself start swaying side to side, closing his eyes gently and trying to 'feel' the music as it worked its way into the second chorus. His arms were at his side, and essentially he looked like a drunk guy swaying to music.

This was not going to be easy.

[Calliope Gallo]

"Yeah, it was fun! And your voice is beautiful." Callie said matter of factly. She believed in the comment and would stand by it; Tanner should have been proud of his voice anyway. At his other question though, Callie smiled and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "Maaaaybe." She said lightly, a joking quality to her voice. Truth be told, she still wasn't sure yet.

Callie listened as the grew more and more, rounding back to sound more club-like as the original intended. Her smile broadened as he got a little nervous; she found it cute. "That's okay, just easy into it. There's your basic beat of one, two, three, four. You sing in time so you can get that." He was swaying to it, after all. She walked towards him, standing in front of him and planting her feet.

"But the accent is probably what's throwing you." It was another breakdown. Her left foot it the floor with the bass drum, and her hands collided together at the clapping notion. It was strange, but simple to settle into once her mind got around it. At the chorus, Callie took hold of his hands with her own to encourage their movement. "Forget about the words for a second, okay? Just dance with me." She started simply enough, moving her feet with the beat, feeling the moment to hit an accent and when to slide away from the standard, hoping he could catch on since she had his hands.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner scoffed. "Well, I don't know about that," he replied with an abashed grin. He wouldn't profess to be a bad singer, as he knew he wasn't, but he didn't know about 'beautiful.' He supposed he was pretty good.

"Maybe?" He repeated. "Sounds like a yes." He was too much of a stranger, he believed, to ask who the girl had won, but he had to admit he was fairly curious. He wondered if it was someone he knew. It obviously wasn't Noah Washington, as he'd won him...

Tanner hesitated against when Callie took his hands - nothing against her personally, but he wasn't used to much phsyical contact - but didn't complain or shrink back. He appreciated that she was dancing with him, so at least he wasn't doing it alone. she was right that he was focused more on the lyrics than on the beat, which was probably at least part of the problem, so he did his best to try to feel the music as opposed to the words. He tried copying some of her moves, though he knew she was obviously much better at this than he was. Frankly, he wished he could just watch her doing this, but he knew he had a job to do, so he continued moving to the beat, working his legs in a little and trying his best to loosen up.

[Calliope Gallo]

"Might be a yes." Callie corrected, chuckling lightly. "We haven't been out yet. But hey, when it does I'll tell you all about it." Callie wasn't exactly shy when it came to dating people. Or talking about it. She liked Tanner, and knew that they were easily going to become friends, so why not branch out with something as simple as talking about her date?

Calliope felt the hesitation but didn't say anything. She figured it would happen anyway, not because it was awkward or because they didn't know each other that well, but because of the situation in general. And if she acted awkward, it would just get worse. Callie hated awkward, so she avoided it as best she knew how. "See? You're getting better already!" She encouraged, and it was true. "I mean come on, I've seen you up here and you're a rock star. You totally need that rock star confidence." That might have sounded weird, but it was true.

"Plus you know you know the words, right? What are they about?" Callie asked. Oh, she knew. But he had to say it. It was all part of connecting with a song.

[Tanner Larson]

"Ah, so you did win someone," he replied, nodding his head. Normally he wouldn't be so bold as to have such a conversation as this, but something about Callie, with her happy sort of confidence, made him feel more open himself. "Who's the lucky guy?" Hey, if she was offering to tell him how it went, surely she would tell him who it was.

"Truth be told..." He started, blushing furiously; he knew this was a funny story, which was why he wanted to tell it, but he couldn't help but be a bit embarrassed. "I won someone, too." He was grinning widely, as he knew how ridiculous that sounded. "Even though I was in the auction. That bid for a thousand bucks? That was for me." He shrugged his shoulders. "Not my money, though," he added quickly. "But my friend was doing me a favor..." He supposed it wasn't quite a favor, since he would have to pay him back somehow.

He pondered the lyrics a while, shrugging his shoulders. "It's about dancing, I guess..." He replied; he knew that wasn't exactly a provocative insight, but as far as he could tell, Ms. Spears had had no deeper intentions.

[Calliope Gallo]

"Do you know Lucah Ivaskov? He goes to UVM." Callie asked. Hey, it didn't hurt to ask. He might have known him, or at least seen him around. It wasn't long ago that Lucah was a student at Hammel.

His blushing was cute, and it made Calliope smile. She looked excited when she said he won someone too. So the auction thing was working out for a lot of people? When he mentioned the money, things clicked together in her head instantly. "Oh! You won Noah?" Because yes, she knew him. They were friends, actually. Through mutual friends and all that.

"Yeah, that's one way of looking at it." Callie replied lightly. He wasn't wrong, after all. "We all know Brittney Spears is pretty out there, y'know? What's the word..." Callie paused for a moment, looking down and thinking as she let go of one of his hands and started to dance away from him slightly. Movement was key, too. "Alluring?" It was a nice way of saying overly sexual, anyway. She laughed about it.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner shook his head at first, then realized that wasn't exactly true anymore. "Well, yeah, from the auction, but I don't know him really," he explained. It was sort of weird, having a conversation while dancing, but he figured at some point he'd be singing while dancing, so this was actually good practice. He hadn't seen Lucah around Hammel while he was a student there, but then again, that was probably more due to Tanner's homebody ways than anything else.

"Heh, yeah, that was me," Tanner replied. So it sounded like Callie knew this guy? "I don't really know him," he added with a shrug. "I just... yeah." Well that was an awkward moment. Truth be told, he wasn't sure why he allowed himself to ask Zac to win Noah for him; he just thought it would be fun. Hell, he knew why, but he wasn't going to say it.

Tanner caught on quickly to what Callie was getting at about Britney. "Are you saying my dancing needs to be more sexy?" He asked half-facetiously. Was that the first time he'd ever used that word?