Kyle and Maya - X Coast Swing
Aug. 13th, 2022 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsKyle pushes Maya a little on finding a new way to train her powers. With the power of DANCE.
(He drags her out swing dancing and Maya takes to it like an angry little fish to water)
Around the mansion, Kyle usually dressed in shorts and t-shirts from bands or sports teams that no one had heard of. Kyle dressing in khakis and a button-down wasn't unheard of, but Maya had never seen it outside of school hours. Certainly not on a Saturday afternoon with his bike helmet tucked under one arm, and a pair of boots in the other. "Dance shoes. Whatever you've got that'll slide." He pointed her back into her suite. "Already texted the address to your phone, it's in the DX."
“Mysterious and bossy but dressed well.” Maya opinioned, turning around to go back into her suite. “What’s the plan, Gibney, Kyle Gibney?”
"You, my punchy angry friend, need to learn how to follow," Kyle said. "Not just copy, but like, react and, uh. Listen with your body. Cause just fighting stuff isn't gonna teach you some of what you need to, I dunno, stuff, your power, things."
“I’m not sure I want to try turning that into English,” Maya noted, waving him toward the couch set up at the front of her suite.
She’s graduated to her own set of rooms once she started college but she’d insisted on the smallest one they could find her. She didn’t need, or want a load of space, especially since being able to see all exits made her feel less creeped out in the dark.
“Can I wear a dress, or do I need to go for fancy pants and a blouse?”
"You can wear jeans and a sweater if you want," Kyle said. "No dress code, I just have people there who know me so if I show up looking like a hobo I get grief." He paused. "Also Ter might be there unless her meeting runs late, so I gotta be cute for her."
“Yeah, I’m just going to wear a dress,” Maya replied as she pulled several dresses out of her closet along with a few pairs of heels so she could figure out what looked best. “I mean, if I can wear a dress and I don’t wear a dress, am I even trying?”
"If you're gonna do a dress, wear leggings under," Kyle called out. "As fast as you learn, someone's gonna try a flip and last thing we need is you flashing the only swing dance group in the DX."
“Do I even want to try unpacking the bullshit around people having the vapors over possibly seeing my underwear?” Maya called out as she selected a pair of leggings that would match her dress and the shoes. She’d wear her boots on the bike and then change to proper shoes when they got there. “Am I riding with you, or bringing my own bike and following?”
"Up to you. We can take the bike, or we can take the boringmobile." Kyle said. "And like, not the vapors, whatever that is. More like, I dunno, it's a swing dance etiquette thing. It was invented in like World War II."
***
Maya strode into the hall much as she did everything, looking like she’d thrown down with any fool stupid enough to try it on with her. She gave the place a look around and then finally relaxed when she didn’t see any immediate threats to her or Kyle’s well-being.
“So, how do we do this? Do I need to sign up or anything?”
"Normally, yeah, you sign up, you pay for the class. You get to come in free without any of that cause it's alternative training." Kyle explained. "I pulled X-Men money, you're paid for eight weeks. After that, you can pay for it yourself if it's fun for you." He glanced around, caught the eye of one of the instructors he knew, and waved them over.
"Maya, this is Juno. Juno, Maya." Kyle said - and signed along. "Junes, we got anyone in house who's lead strong and knows ASL?"
Juno nodded, passing Maya a silent thumbs-up. "I know just the gal." They also signed along, smoother than Kyle. "Maya, do you need us to crank the bass so you can follow the beat, or do you dance with your implant turned on?"
Maya’s eyes brightened at the ASL, you couldn’t always count on the hearing to have learned but it always made things a little more welcoming.
“I can do either, whichever everyone else is more comfortable with,” she signed back before looking over at Kyle. “I thought you’d be dancing with me?”
Kyle grinned. "Oh no, no no. You trade partners. That's the point here. You get to learn to follow, and you get to learn to follow on someone you don't know." He looked up over Maya's head at the door. "I get to dance with Terry. And like, probably a couple of other people, probably maybe. It's a swing dance thing, you swap your dance partner so you don't get used to learning with just any one person."
“So, this is going to be interesting,” Maya noted, signing to Juno that she was ready to go meet her partner. “Just as long as no one tries to alpha me.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Dude, that's not even a thing."
==
One water break, and one 'change into a less sweaty shirt' break later, Kyle settled himself at a table off to the side with his ice-cold bottle of water and two soft pretzels of questionable quality. He sprinkled salt on his, sent a few texts, and then leaned back to chug half the water at once.
Maya pulled her own soft pretzel toward her and pulled off a chunk to chew happily as she sat down opposite him, a relaxed glow of actual happiness seemingly flowing off her.
“That was amazing.”
"It's fun, right?" Kyle took a large bite of pretzel. "It's like all the give and take of a good spar without punching people."
"It took me a bit, I had to keep stopping to make sure I didn't copy the person trying to lead and end up standing on their feet every time we moved," Maya noted, taking a sip of her own cold water before taking another bite of her pretzel. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment before nodding as if she'd decided something. "Definitely gonna come back. Especially if I get to dance with whoever again, it's fun changing between different people, and making sure I don't copy."
"Well, you're paid for eight weeks, like I said, so you know. If you don't show up I look bad." Kyle's said, with a grin. "For serious, I think it's probably a good way to get you some powers stuff, and ... like." He raised a piece of pretzel, pointing it at Maya. "Like. I know anger, and we're angry people sometimes, and it's hard to sometimes put it away when all the stuff you learn is kicking ass. Getting to use powers and not have it be fighty is really good for me, so I'm thinking probably good for you." He picked words carefully, emphasizing a few phrases with sign. "Wait until you get to dance with Kurt. I swear to anything, dancing with that man is amazing. I'm too tall to be a good follow for him, but god, you are going to have so much fucking fun."
"You're not wrong," Maya answered, both sign and out loud. She knew Kyle had issues with it given his hands but she liked to make him work at a version of it he could use. You never knew what was around the corner, and she already knew how difficult it was being on a team while she couldn't hear them. She'd managed, but it had been painful for everyone, which meant she didn't let anyone get away with not learning at least some sign. "Does he come to the classes a lot? Maybe I could dance with him next time?"
"He's helping with the advanced class and group, but I'll add you in the group text." Kyle pulled out his phone, and tapped at the screen. "He drops in sometimes to beginner level, and he shows up at group events. Kinda jealous, because you're tall enough that you could lead or follow depending on your partner and Kurt can do both." Kyle thought for a minute. "Oh, you've got two free drop-ins on salsa or cha-cha classes if you want. Or I mean if you wanna take a slow ballroom style but, yawn, boring."
“Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. You say boring and I say, ‘let me learn to tango’” Maya grinned at him over her soft pretzel, taking a large bite. “Maybe I’ll even find a Ewan McGregor to pine for me while I do it.”
"Tango's not slow and boring, I'm just crap at it." Kyle countered. "But I dunno if we have any ... hold on." He turned, and called across the tables. "Junes? We got Tango right now?" At the answering thumbs down, he looked back at Maya. "No Tango right now. Sorry. Kurt's our only Tango person and he's doing advanced Swing right now. He takes bribes though." He grinned across the table. "Seriously, I'm glad you liked it, because I was kinda worried it wouldn't click for you like it did for me."
“I’m definitely more used to contemporary and those kind of styles but it’s fun doing partner work.” Maya explained, “It’s good though, different. Can we stay for longer, do you think? I really want to watch some of the others dance for awhile.”
"We're at the two thirds break, you've got plenty of time." Kyle finished the last of his water. "Might be some electro swing after this, sometimes the DJ mixes it up, but that's just like. Swing, but faster." He tilted his head, pondering. "Oh I gotta video to send to you later. Electro swing is fun and there's a dude who did a routine to the Cantina song from Star Wars."
“Serious? You need to show me that video yesterday, Kylio Ren.” Maya’s excitement was palpable as she got up from her seat to throw her empty bottle into the recycling bin. “Come on, Tracy promised to show me some flips.”
"Told you you'd be doing flips tonight." Kyle said, a little smugly. "Who was right? Kyle. Kyle was right."
(He drags her out swing dancing and Maya takes to it like an angry little fish to water)
Around the mansion, Kyle usually dressed in shorts and t-shirts from bands or sports teams that no one had heard of. Kyle dressing in khakis and a button-down wasn't unheard of, but Maya had never seen it outside of school hours. Certainly not on a Saturday afternoon with his bike helmet tucked under one arm, and a pair of boots in the other. "Dance shoes. Whatever you've got that'll slide." He pointed her back into her suite. "Already texted the address to your phone, it's in the DX."
“Mysterious and bossy but dressed well.” Maya opinioned, turning around to go back into her suite. “What’s the plan, Gibney, Kyle Gibney?”
"You, my punchy angry friend, need to learn how to follow," Kyle said. "Not just copy, but like, react and, uh. Listen with your body. Cause just fighting stuff isn't gonna teach you some of what you need to, I dunno, stuff, your power, things."
“I’m not sure I want to try turning that into English,” Maya noted, waving him toward the couch set up at the front of her suite.
She’s graduated to her own set of rooms once she started college but she’d insisted on the smallest one they could find her. She didn’t need, or want a load of space, especially since being able to see all exits made her feel less creeped out in the dark.
“Can I wear a dress, or do I need to go for fancy pants and a blouse?”
"You can wear jeans and a sweater if you want," Kyle said. "No dress code, I just have people there who know me so if I show up looking like a hobo I get grief." He paused. "Also Ter might be there unless her meeting runs late, so I gotta be cute for her."
“Yeah, I’m just going to wear a dress,” Maya replied as she pulled several dresses out of her closet along with a few pairs of heels so she could figure out what looked best. “I mean, if I can wear a dress and I don’t wear a dress, am I even trying?”
"If you're gonna do a dress, wear leggings under," Kyle called out. "As fast as you learn, someone's gonna try a flip and last thing we need is you flashing the only swing dance group in the DX."
“Do I even want to try unpacking the bullshit around people having the vapors over possibly seeing my underwear?” Maya called out as she selected a pair of leggings that would match her dress and the shoes. She’d wear her boots on the bike and then change to proper shoes when they got there. “Am I riding with you, or bringing my own bike and following?”
"Up to you. We can take the bike, or we can take the boringmobile." Kyle said. "And like, not the vapors, whatever that is. More like, I dunno, it's a swing dance etiquette thing. It was invented in like World War II."
***
Maya strode into the hall much as she did everything, looking like she’d thrown down with any fool stupid enough to try it on with her. She gave the place a look around and then finally relaxed when she didn’t see any immediate threats to her or Kyle’s well-being.
“So, how do we do this? Do I need to sign up or anything?”
"Normally, yeah, you sign up, you pay for the class. You get to come in free without any of that cause it's alternative training." Kyle explained. "I pulled X-Men money, you're paid for eight weeks. After that, you can pay for it yourself if it's fun for you." He glanced around, caught the eye of one of the instructors he knew, and waved them over.
"Maya, this is Juno. Juno, Maya." Kyle said - and signed along. "Junes, we got anyone in house who's lead strong and knows ASL?"
Juno nodded, passing Maya a silent thumbs-up. "I know just the gal." They also signed along, smoother than Kyle. "Maya, do you need us to crank the bass so you can follow the beat, or do you dance with your implant turned on?"
Maya’s eyes brightened at the ASL, you couldn’t always count on the hearing to have learned but it always made things a little more welcoming.
“I can do either, whichever everyone else is more comfortable with,” she signed back before looking over at Kyle. “I thought you’d be dancing with me?”
Kyle grinned. "Oh no, no no. You trade partners. That's the point here. You get to learn to follow, and you get to learn to follow on someone you don't know." He looked up over Maya's head at the door. "I get to dance with Terry. And like, probably a couple of other people, probably maybe. It's a swing dance thing, you swap your dance partner so you don't get used to learning with just any one person."
“So, this is going to be interesting,” Maya noted, signing to Juno that she was ready to go meet her partner. “Just as long as no one tries to alpha me.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Dude, that's not even a thing."
==
One water break, and one 'change into a less sweaty shirt' break later, Kyle settled himself at a table off to the side with his ice-cold bottle of water and two soft pretzels of questionable quality. He sprinkled salt on his, sent a few texts, and then leaned back to chug half the water at once.
Maya pulled her own soft pretzel toward her and pulled off a chunk to chew happily as she sat down opposite him, a relaxed glow of actual happiness seemingly flowing off her.
“That was amazing.”
"It's fun, right?" Kyle took a large bite of pretzel. "It's like all the give and take of a good spar without punching people."
"It took me a bit, I had to keep stopping to make sure I didn't copy the person trying to lead and end up standing on their feet every time we moved," Maya noted, taking a sip of her own cold water before taking another bite of her pretzel. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment before nodding as if she'd decided something. "Definitely gonna come back. Especially if I get to dance with whoever again, it's fun changing between different people, and making sure I don't copy."
"Well, you're paid for eight weeks, like I said, so you know. If you don't show up I look bad." Kyle's said, with a grin. "For serious, I think it's probably a good way to get you some powers stuff, and ... like." He raised a piece of pretzel, pointing it at Maya. "Like. I know anger, and we're angry people sometimes, and it's hard to sometimes put it away when all the stuff you learn is kicking ass. Getting to use powers and not have it be fighty is really good for me, so I'm thinking probably good for you." He picked words carefully, emphasizing a few phrases with sign. "Wait until you get to dance with Kurt. I swear to anything, dancing with that man is amazing. I'm too tall to be a good follow for him, but god, you are going to have so much fucking fun."
"You're not wrong," Maya answered, both sign and out loud. She knew Kyle had issues with it given his hands but she liked to make him work at a version of it he could use. You never knew what was around the corner, and she already knew how difficult it was being on a team while she couldn't hear them. She'd managed, but it had been painful for everyone, which meant she didn't let anyone get away with not learning at least some sign. "Does he come to the classes a lot? Maybe I could dance with him next time?"
"He's helping with the advanced class and group, but I'll add you in the group text." Kyle pulled out his phone, and tapped at the screen. "He drops in sometimes to beginner level, and he shows up at group events. Kinda jealous, because you're tall enough that you could lead or follow depending on your partner and Kurt can do both." Kyle thought for a minute. "Oh, you've got two free drop-ins on salsa or cha-cha classes if you want. Or I mean if you wanna take a slow ballroom style but, yawn, boring."
“Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. You say boring and I say, ‘let me learn to tango’” Maya grinned at him over her soft pretzel, taking a large bite. “Maybe I’ll even find a Ewan McGregor to pine for me while I do it.”
"Tango's not slow and boring, I'm just crap at it." Kyle countered. "But I dunno if we have any ... hold on." He turned, and called across the tables. "Junes? We got Tango right now?" At the answering thumbs down, he looked back at Maya. "No Tango right now. Sorry. Kurt's our only Tango person and he's doing advanced Swing right now. He takes bribes though." He grinned across the table. "Seriously, I'm glad you liked it, because I was kinda worried it wouldn't click for you like it did for me."
“I’m definitely more used to contemporary and those kind of styles but it’s fun doing partner work.” Maya explained, “It’s good though, different. Can we stay for longer, do you think? I really want to watch some of the others dance for awhile.”
"We're at the two thirds break, you've got plenty of time." Kyle finished the last of his water. "Might be some electro swing after this, sometimes the DJ mixes it up, but that's just like. Swing, but faster." He tilted his head, pondering. "Oh I gotta video to send to you later. Electro swing is fun and there's a dude who did a routine to the Cantina song from Star Wars."
“Serious? You need to show me that video yesterday, Kylio Ren.” Maya’s excitement was palpable as she got up from her seat to throw her empty bottle into the recycling bin. “Come on, Tracy promised to show me some flips.”
"Told you you'd be doing flips tonight." Kyle said, a little smugly. "Who was right? Kyle. Kyle was right."
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Date: 2022-08-13 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-13 10:47 pm (UTC)