How Green Becomes Wood

"Then come on!" Alec called and flung himself into a forward roll. He came up and posed as if he'd stuck the landing like a gymnast. "Ta-Da!"

Xander snorted. "All right, we'll see. Until then..." He checked around, made sure the way was clear, and then took off running. He jumped and hit a trampoline, getting the spring to throw him up into the air and at the nearest wall trampoline. He slammed into it shoulder-first and bounced off to land and bounce again on the floor.
 
Claire laughed, "Okay, okay. Just stand back, okay?" After he was well out of the way, she jumped a few times to get height and then, running, did a number of flip combinations over the various barriers between the individual trampolines, definitely catching the eye of some of the other patrons. It was like gravity didn't apply to her with how deftly she moved. Then, sticking the landing, she hopped back over to Alec, a bit out of breath.

Sloan laughed, going over to where Xander had flopped, "Did that make you feel as you had hoped?"
 
Alec stood watching in awe. Oh, he'd known he had no chance whatsoever, but that hadn't been the point of his "challenge." It had just been a way to have fun. Now, though, as he watched Claire, his treacherous heart skipped a beat. What she could do was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. So incredibly strong, skilled, and talented! He slow clapped as she hopped back over. "Wow! No words, just wow! Fifteen out of ten!"

Xander grinned from his position on his back. "That was awesome. I've always wanted to throw myself at a wall. I did once, and it didn't do much, but I was four, so... This was way better."
 
"Aw stop," Claire blushed lightly, "I've been in gymnastics for just about as long as I've been alive. I've had a lot of time to train."

Sloan stood over Xander, holding out a hand to help him up, "I can't say I understand the compulsion, but I'm glad you got to fulfill a dream."
 
"True, but you put the time and the dedication in, and your passion is something that can't be trained in," Alec told her. "You're a work of art. IT! It's a work of art."

Xander accepted the hand and stood. "Thanks. It's pretty fun. Have you tried it?"
 
Claire's blush deepened at Alec's misspeaking and so she bounced a bit higher to distract herself, "I just meant, you know, it makes sense that I'm better at flips than you, because I've been doing them for so long. I mean, maybe you have, but, you know, Sloan didn't make it seem that way."

"No intentionally," Sloan replied.
 
"No, not really. I've taken up dance and cyr wheel, so I can do flips and a few fun things when hanging onto something, like the wheel, but that's not the same. I'm not even close to your league," Alec said. He bounced a few times and flung himself into a bellyflop, bouncing back up to his feet. "Ow. That was a bad idea. I do not recommend."

"You should give it a shot," Xander said, and promptly rocketed off to get another running jump at the wall, landing much the same as before, but this time managing to bounce himself up to his feet. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.
 
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"That's pretty cool, I used to love, when I was just starting out, just doing really simple single rolls over a bar. They're one of the first things you learn, but I felt so cool." Claire asked curiously, not knowing a lot about cyr wheel, "How long have you been taking those classes for?"

"Just throw myself at a wall and fall over?"
 
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"It is really cool!" Alec said. He hopped up onto one of the divides to give himself a break from bouncing for a moment. "I've been taking them for... Dance for over a year, on and off, and Cyr wheel for a few months now, dedicated. I've always enjoyed dancing."

"Yep. There's something kind of tension-relieving about it."
 
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Claire looked at Alec for a moment, "I'm not much of a dancer, really. I mean, sometimes I do stupid little choreographed ones with Sloan, but there was a time I tried to take actual dance classes, I learned I don't really like to do it in a formalized way."

"I think this is why men don't live as long as women." Sloan teased.
 
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"That's fair," Alec agreed, nodding. "I don't think I could do what you do, not at all. I love dance because there's so many different things you can do with dance. It can get really, really formalized in things like ballet, but I didn't take ballet classes. Ballet just comes to me naturally." He grinned and twirled around once in a deliberately goofy piroette. "I bet you are a fabulous dancer in a non-formal way!"

"Or why women have less fun," Xander teased right back. "If you're not going to do a wall-slam, then how about you show me this foam pit?"
 
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"Do you have good feet?" Claire asked teasingly, "It is really varied, it's like a proper art! Or I guess not like, just is. I just, I don't know. What kind of dance classes do you take?"

Sloan laughed, "Shouldn't we regroup? I didn't sign up for a double date."
 
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Alec smirked and lifted a neon pink-socked foot for her to see. "You tell me!" He tried to strike a pose with his foot in the air and almost immediately fell over. "I don't know if a 'real' dancer would think they're good, but I think they're great when I can keep them under me!" he cackled, getting back to his feet. "I do contemporary, which does bring in a bit of percussion-style. Or, at least, this class does. I don't know about in general. I really wanted to take belly dance, but there weren't any classes in the area. Contemporary does lend itself okay with the cyr wheel when I try to choreograph routines. I'm not good at choreography yet. I mostly just do what my teacher tells me. Say, you want to show me any other cool tricks? Things maybe I could conceivably copy?"

Xander snorted. "As if we'd ever date." He glanced toward Claire and Alec. "Sure, we can, but let's take our time about it. Looks like they're having fun together."
 
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"Yeah, I can," Claire replied, bouncing back to a safe distance before doing a simple back handspring, which was an easy enough starting place. Afterwards she said, "That's sort of the first mat flip we're taught."

Sloan looked at the two of them for a few moments, noticing something about how Claire stood, and glanced at Xander for a moment. Then back at Claire, "Yeah..." She was going to have to corner Claire after this, for sure.
 
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"Oooo," Alec said, clapping for her. "That was so clean and beautifully done! Let's see." He tried to copy her but ended up getting stuck in a handstand - which he managed to hold for several seconds to his own surprise - and falling over. "I don't think that was quite how you did it."

"So, what's next then? You showing me how to do one of those handstand things?" Xander asked Sloan, turning his back on his brother for now.
 
"You have to sit more into it and bend your back more," Claire told him, "If you don't care about perfect technique, you can learn by starting to do it off to the side and slowly working your way to be directly backwards."

Sloan glanced at Xander for a few moments, "I can, but not without touching your back eventually. I'd have to spot you."
 
Alec asked Claire more questions about how to get the flip and eventually did manage to get a sideways flip. He raised his arms as if he'd just landed an impressive floor routine and then laughed. This was a lot of fun!

"I'm good," Xander decided. "Want to see how high I can bounce you?"
 
"See, you're getting it," Claire grinned, "Sometimes Sloan will just full-send it when she's learning a new trick, but I always spend ages on progression. But it's funny, because she never let's someone she's teaching skip steps."

"Oh my god," Sloan grinned, "We have to popcorn each other. It's been so long since I've played that game."
 
Alec laughed. "Do what I say, not what I do! I don't know about Sloan, but you're a good teacher. Are you learning anything right now?"

"Is that what it's called? Then let's do it!" Xander agreed, giving a few bounces. "You first."
 
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