Teen Spirit Tryouts

Zora · Aug 5, 2019

Dragging the blue padded exercise mats to the middle of the gym floor and placing them in a straight row, Bel prepared everything for Dalia and the new girl, Lianala. This was the goddess's first time as the intern (and maybe permanent) leader of the cheer squad to conduct tryouts and, if needed, offer advice and help.

In fact, Bel had been quite surprised when Dalia had contacted the squad, and let them know she was coming back full time, but had wanted to re-evaluate her level and skills first. Something which had confused Bel a little since Dalia and herself had almost been on par skill-wise, Bel might have even gone as far as to say that Dalia was slightly better than her.

Taking a small sip from her water bottle, Bel then readjusted her ponytail and waited patiently for the two girls to arrive.

@Kada @Eternal Cyan

Kada · Aug 5, 2019

The curse had put Dalia in a position where she hadn't wanted to do much after class except go home and sleep. Now that it was gone, Malara had been trying to push her to get back out and do things again. And she wanted to, but it was hard... starting from ground zero with people again.

Cheerleading was a good ground zero. They weren't friends exactly. Teammates. Easier to kind of weave her way back in with. But there was another issue entirely that she had to deal with. When Dalia had first joined the squad, she could make a thirty foot standing vertical leap. Her sense of balance had been perfect. She could dodge bullets.

Now though, she had trouble maintaining a handstand.

Showing up after classes at the appointed time, Dalia was in the clothes she had picked out for this: just a simple t-shirt and shorts combo with soft, pliable tennis shoes that gave her a good grip on the floor.

She looked around at the other girls who were there for tryouts. She remembered Bel, if only vaguely. Dalia gave a sheepish smile and a wave before brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Uh hey. Thanks for having me back for tryouts. I hope I don't, uh... disappoint."

Eternal Cyan · Aug 5, 2019

Gym, Starlight Academy
Wearing: Sports Bra, Compression Shorts, Running Shoes

Lialana Raindance was incredibly nervous.

She wasn’t as prepared for tryouts as she had wanted to be, and although she was somewhat naturally flexible and limber, she was not as good as she could be. There were many students who had the ability to jump in excess of thirty feet up into the air, while Lianala struggled to get herself over a foot off the ground. If she wanted to compete against them, she needed to be in her best shape. In addition, gymnastics and acrobatics were more somewhat difficult for her to execute than for most of the other girls. Her body was far more developed than that of her peers. In essence, while they were slender, lithe, and statuesque, she was vertically challenged, overweight, and bovine.

Nevertheless, Lianlana was determined to give her best effort. She had deduced that being a cheerleader was a surefire way to become popular and gain the approval of her peers. After all, it was like that in virtually every high school movie that she had seen, and Starlight Academy seemed to be no exception.

Lianala arrived in the gym in a pair of black compression shorts, a sports bra, and tennis shoes. She had brought her own water bottle, along with an exercise bag and a single roll of pink kinesio tape. After taping up both of her thighs, the diminutive elfess approached the center of the gym and glanced at the other two girls who had already arrived. Like most of the people she had seen around the school during her first week, she didn’t know who they were. Regardless, Lianala managed an awkward smile as she placed her water bottle on the hardwood floor next to an exercise mat.

“Sorry that I’m late.” Lianala began, though she had not yet looked at a clock since she arrived at the gym. “I’m Lianala, by the way.” She added as she extended a hand out to the taller blonde, before offering it to the shorter one. “These are the tryouts for the cheer squad, yes?” Lianala finished, before lowering herself onto the mat and to initiate her stretching routine.

@Zora @Kada

Zora · Aug 6, 2019

Bel turned slightly when Dalia entered, and flashed her a friendly smile in greeting, actually glad to see her old teammate. The short disappearance of Aisha, along with her subsequent stepping down, coupled with Dalia's unexplained and prolonged absences, had made everything quite stressful for Bel. She was suddenly left with a responsibility she kinda felt unprepared for at times as she grappled with changing routines at last moment, setting up impromptu meetings, and basically trying to keep up the team morale. So the fact that she could, hopefully, also help bring their squad back (or a semblance of it) together, made her optimistic that the team had a future under her leadership.

"Welcome back to the squad, and I am confident you won't disappoint," she said in a welcoming and encouraging tone, not too overly worried about her abilities. Bel was sure that - despite noticing that the Dalia standing before her now was not the overconfident Dalia of a few months ago - she would do okay. Eliza and Aedes had both needed work to get where they were now, and so Bel was confident that Dalia could get there too despite whatever setbacks she had had over the months she had been gone.

And just as Bel was about to ask Dalia a few questions, the other girl who had requested trying out for the squad appeared.

"Hi, Lianala, I am Bel, leader of the cheer squad, and this is Dalia, one of our returning members," she said as she shook the girl's hand, taking in at the same time her proportions, attire, and the kinesio tape - which made her frown very slightly.

Kada · Aug 8, 2019

"I hope not," Dalia said, unsure of herself. She really didn't know if she would be able to keep up with the other girls. Least of all... what was her name... Aedes. That was it. She vaguely remembered that the two of them had some kind of rivalry going on before Dalia had stopped showing up to practice. And now she was pretty sure that there was no contest between the two of them.

Dalia didn't fully look at the new girl, not wanting to stare. She was pretty sure that she should be used to people with strange appearances. After all, she lived with Amber and Amber was strange looking. Even if Dalia personally thought she was the prettier of the two of them. She simply gave a small, polite nod and said, "Hello."

There were things that Dalia remembered well enough. Muscle memory of a sort. She began some simple stretches, dreading her ability, or possible lack thereof, to perform well in the tryouts. "I'm ready whenever you are. Just tell me what to do."

Zora · Aug 9, 2019

"Okay... How about we start off with something fairly easy like a handstand into a backward roll?" Bel suggested to the two girls after they did a few minutes of stretching to limber up.

"I will demonstrate first exactly what I'd like from you both," she said as she walked over to one row of mats. Bel then leaned forward so that she could kick herself up into a handstand. She held the position for the count of five before she easily rolled backward onto the padded mat and into a standing position again.

"You don't need to roll up into a standing position at the end, at least for now," Bel informed Dalia and Lianala as she moved off the mats and stood off to the side so that they could start.

"Dalia? Did you want to go first?" Bel asked her (former/returning) teammate.

Eternal Cyan · Aug 9, 2019

Gym, Starlight Academy
Wearing: Sports Bra, Compression Shorts, Running Shoes

“Bel and...Dalia, okay.” Lianala repeated softly to herself as she sat back down on the mat to continue her stretching routine. “I’ll try to remember both your names.” The elfess added, before going quiet.

After a few minutes passed, the taller blonde spoke up to begin the tryouts. Lianala immediately stood up from the mat and met the girl’s green-eyed gaze as she explained the first exercise, which would be a handstand into a backward roll. Lianala anticipated that it would be relatively easy to execute. However, she was nervous for the more athletically-demanding exercises, which would presumably involve multiple flips and cartwheels at a time. Although her body was incredibly young and limber, Lianala still needed to train the muscle memory necessary for executing multiple flips and cartwheels in a sequence. So far, the most she had been able to do was three in a row.

She would need to do more in order to make the cheer squad.

Immediately, after Bel finished speaking, Lianala sat down on one of the mats initially with the intention of going first, to the point where she had already leaned forward to push herself up into a handstand. However, Lianala decided to stop as soon as Bel asked Dalia to go first.

@Zora @Kada

Kada · Aug 11, 2019

Dalia was more than willing to let the other girl go first, but Bel seemed to want her to go first. "Okay," she said, wholly unsure of herself.

Dalia stepped over to the mats, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. She could do this. She had done it a hundred times before, at least. Dalia pushed forward, lifting her arms up to catch herself as she rolled into the hand stand.

Only she had always done this with superhuman agility and balance.

That thought made her waver, and she had to kick a leg to maintain her balance in the hand stand. But that act caused her to wobble, and instead of landing on her back like Bel had, Dalia's head bounced off of the mat before she flipped over face first onto it.

Zora · Aug 11, 2019

Watching Dalia as she started doing her handstand was like watching an accident in slow motion. Bel knew what was going to happen the moment when Dalia kicked up and started wobbling, but was also powerless from stopping it happen. It felt like time had stopped and then sped up exponentially in the blink of an eye.

"Oh my lord, Dalia," Bel blurted out as she ran over to help her former teammate, forgetting for a moment about Lianala. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" she asked, trying not to panic as she crouched down beside the younger girl.

Kada · Aug 14, 2019

"I'm alright," Dalia said, shrinking away from Bel's concern even as she picked herself up off the mat. She wasn't injured badly, but she definitely felt that fall more than she had any other minor hurt she'd had in her life. She didn't wait for Bel to fawn over her anymore, and stood up to shuffle off of the mat so the other girl could do her stuff. Her pride hurt worse than her face anyway.

"I just need to sit down... and rest for a second."

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Teen Spirit Tryouts

Zora

Event Witch

Kada

Comradmin

Eternal Cyan

Member

Zora

Event Witch

Kada

Comradmin

Zora

Event Witch

Eternal Cyan

Member

Kada

Comradmin

Zora

Event Witch

Kada

Comradmin