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Post by Samnang Yun on Feb 27, 2019 14:20:25 GMT -8
Samnang was excited, half because he'd never been to a dance competition and half because despite forgetting to ask for it off, his schedule lined up perfectly with getting to go and watch one. He'd seen them on TV, America's Best Dance Crew was one of his favorite shows when it was popular, but he'd never been to one in real life, and now there was one happening at his college that he could attend. He had seen the flyer about two weeks prior, and meant to ask for it off but it completely slipped his mind by the time he had gotten to work the next morning. As the date got closer and he kept forgetting, but saw in his schedule he'd be able to make it, he put the information into his phone calendar so he couldn't forget. He had tried to ask someone to go along with him, but everyone was apparently busy. Nicky had to work, and Jiuk said he'd be too tired to do much since it was happening in the middle of the week. He had even asked Sophie, despite knowing her answer would more than likely be no since it wasn't her scene. He kept an ear out for any classmates talking about it, but it never came up in conversation, so he had decided to go alone. He got into the venue about fifteen minutes early, and was directed towards the seating area, where he found what he considered would be a good spot before looking at social media on his phone, waiting for it to start. Quite a few people were there already, so he figured 15 minutes couldn't have been too early. Tags: Devi J. Yun
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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dating Kit.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Feb 28, 2019 1:25:05 GMT -8
Devi was excited for the Cedar Beach B-Boy Fest. This was only the third year that they were running the competition, and the first year that there were people coming a long way for it. Driftwood Dance Crew, which Devi had been one of the founding members of when it was starting when he was shortly out of high school, had enough people who were going to CBCC that they'd managed to get it organized with the college as a host, and after the first year, they'd not been reluctant at all because the minimal admission fee had more than covered the costs, and people had liked it.
Devi was glad that he was not one of the people in his dance crew for b-boy that actually did the organizing though, that was a lot of people an a lot of minute details and a lot of reading and writing official things, which he didn't entirely trust himself with. He did some of the judging for the youth section that they'd started having their second year, and that was the organizational part that he took part in. Other than that, he focused mostly on the actual competition and dancing side. He was good at that.
The solo face offs were first, and Devi was looking forward to that the most in some ways. Driftwood was an awesome crew to dance with, but he could show off without having to worry about meshing with the others when he danced by himself. His first pair off was going to lead off the event, and he was up against someone he'd met a few times at the international events he made it to, though they'd never actually faced off before. It would be a challenge, and he was excited for it.
He spent the time before they actually got started sitting off to the side stretching with his headphones in. Other competitors were doing a mix of the same thing as him and warming up with their crews and goofing off. That always unsettled Devi before competing solo, but he knew that it worked well for some people.
Soon enough, the music was pumping and it was time for the first set of rounds. Devi's style involved a lot of big sweeping movements, with circular kicks that made use of the fact that he was longer and lankier than most of the people he'd face off against. He could move his feet fast enough though, and he liked throwing people off with sudden explosions into freezes where he went from coiled to posed in full extensions, generally holding the splits upside down. He wasn't going to be at his fullest oomph for the first round though. Unless something went really strangely, he had a lot more dances to do in the elimination rounds for 24 dancers, which would have him doing a total of best of five rounds each five times. He didn't want to wear himself out with the first set of rounds of the morning. That didn't keep him from showing off some, doing a one handed hand spin with his body parallel to the ground and his legs held in the splits that he did a swinging hand to hand move out of that eventually landed him on his feet for more footwork. The rounds were a bit of a blur, going back and forth with the other dancer and hearing cheers of people calling out his name from his crew and some of their usual spectators. He took the first two rounds, the other b-boy took the third, and he took the fourth for three of five. He was half glad that it hadn't gone to the full five rounds this early, and half disappointed that the music had stopped, and he had to stop dancing for now.
He grinned at the rest of the Driftwood crew, and gave a little fist pump. It was a good start for their day, and it would have been embarrassing if he'd lost early as one of a rather small group of internationally ranked solo dancers there. One of the girls from Driftwood pounded him on the shoulder as he came back down from the stage and said, "Good job," and Devi finally properly looked out at the crowd to see what the reaction was like. He was pleased with the turnout already. He could tell that it was better than last year. He had to cool down and grab some water and a snack that would be easy on his stomach during the break between his first bit of competition and the next because it would take about an hour, maybe a little bit more, to get through the next eleven pairs before it was back to his next pairing in the next round. After his crew-mates were done pounding him on the back and congratulating him, he ducked out to go take a quick walk and let his muscles relax a little bit. He thought he'd seen a familiar face in the crowd, but there were enough people there that he wasn't really sure, and he didn't quite know what to think if Sam had actually been there watching. Someone in the family would know what he actually did with a lot of his time.
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Starbucks Manager.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 2, 2019 21:54:52 GMT -8
Samnang was enjoying the competition when a familiar face came onto the stage. It couldn't be... He thought, his eyebrows furrowing. He remained seated even after the dancer left the stage, but his eyes didn't leave the dancer. As he saw the person leave the stadium, he quickly got up, quietly dismissing himself and running after the dancer.
Thankfully, he wasn't too far behind despite having to weave through the crowd, and caught up pretty easily. "Devi?" He asked, his voice having a hint of a question in it, though mostly he just sounded confused. A part of his mind still didn't even believe he had actually seen his brother. "I didn't know you did break dance." He didn't really know why he felt the need to follow after his older brother. After all, they weren't close, never had been in Sam's memories, and there was a lot he didn't know about his older siblings. Hell, he forgot Ricky's age sometimes despite the easy set up given to them by their parents. And he never cared about Kali's comings and goings, so he didn't know why Devi doing something he didn't know about was such a shock to him. Maybe because he had witnessed it first hand before actually hearing about it.
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 2, 2019 22:03:56 GMT -8
Devi turned when he heard someone call his name, his posture still relaxed and not slouched. He saw that Sam, who he'd been right that he saw in the crowd, and he looked frozen for a second, then seemed to almost shrink on himself, habitual slouch, with slightly hunched shoulders and a dropped chin that he tended to have at home taking over his frame. His voice seemed small and uncertain as he slowly replied, "Hi Sam. I, um, yeah. That's my crew, the, um, hosting one, for b-boy."
He winced a little bit at how the words had come out of his mouth, tangled the way they had been much more when he was younger, and now only when he was especially stressed, tired, or startled. He put his thoughts together a tiny bit more and added, "I've done dance since I was, like, six. I kept on after Kali stopped."
He watched his little brother, tensed for whatever reaction Sam would end up having, and not quite sure what to expect. Of all the siblings that could have just run into him, being him, he was pretty sure that Sam was the least of a problem, but he didn't do so well at explaining things.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 3, 2019 20:37:57 GMT -8
Samnang noticed his brother essentially shrink in on himself, and the charisma he had seen in Devi felt like it disappeared completely. He wondered for a moment just how long Devi had been... like this. He knew from stories that Kali and Devi used to dance together, and he also knew Devi always used to hang around Kali. But also, it felt like everything he knew about his older brother came from Nicky, who he was quickly beginning to realize didn't actually know all the true going-ons about the family. Devi's change of tone made him change his own. "You... uh, you're really good. Looked cool." As he was trying to grasp for words to break the awkwardness, something finally clicked with him, and he narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second... are you taller than me?"
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 3, 2019 21:41:42 GMT -8
Devi watched Sam carefully as his little brother replied, and he very tentatively smiled a little bit and glanced back up when Sam said he looked cool. However, he quickly looked back down. When Sam asked if Devi was taller than he was, Devi looked back up, surprise clear on his face with slightly widened eyes and climbing eyebrows. He stuttered a bit as he said, "Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure so. I'm 190 cm, um, that's like 6'3"?"
He glanced back down and thought about it for a few moments, taking some deep breaths and reminding himself that he had more competition left to go. He carefully fixed his posture, getting his shoulders to relax. He chewed on his lip a little bit as he actually looked at Sam. His little brother had really grown up quite a bit. Sam was probably not going to make a fuss over things. He added, voice still cautious but a little bit steadier, "And, um, thanks. It's been a long time since anyone in the family has come to watch a thing that I did, even if that isn't why you came because you didn't know I would be here. It's, um, nice to hear."
He glanced around, glad that no one else was outside, and said voice still soft, "I need to keep on moving for a bit to cool down properly, but I'm just walking. You can, um, come with me if you want?"
He bit his lip again as he waited for Sam to make a decision, hoping that he wouldn't get a weird reaction now after it mostly seemed to be OK.
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Starbucks Manager.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 7, 2019 10:35:45 GMT -8
Samnang raised an eyebrow. "Wow. I didn't even know we had anyone over 6' in the family..." He muttered, under his breath though still audible.
He subconsciously straightened his posture as Devi did, sizing up his older brother. They were about the same frame, which made him feel less subconscious about his own body frame. He put his hands in his pockets, softening his posture, but tilted his head as Devi mentioned the family usually didn't watch his performances. "Why did they stop?" He wondered, not necessarily directly at his brother. As far back as he could remember, he did not remember ever going to watch Devi perform any dances. He looked over to Devi as he offered to walk with him. He hesitated only a moment, up until just a few minutes ago, he was convinced Devi hated him, mainly because he always remembered Devi following in Kali's footsteps. But he was quickly learning there were things he didn't know about the first half of his older siblings. "Uh, yeah... I'll walk with you."
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 10, 2019 1:03:42 GMT -8
Devi relaxed a little bit more, and he seemed a little bit more comfortable as they started walking. He thought better when he was moving, which had always been a bit of a problem when he was in school, on top of everything else. He very tentatively smiled over at Sam and said, "Kali stopped. Dance wasn't an adequately masculine pursuit, at least according to our grandfather. Maybe mom and dad forgot, or didn't think that it was important enough, because it wasn't a career path, at least to them."
He sighed and said, "You know. Answering long questions isn't... my strongest area. Look, I'll answer as many things as you can ask me, but make it so that I can answer them shorter."
He grimaced a little bit at how slowly his words came out. It had been a while since he'd felt self-conscious about talking. Most of the people he talked with these days knew him well enough to have the timing of his speech down well. He wanted Sam to react well though, not in a frustrated way.
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Starbucks Manager.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 10, 2019 10:26:53 GMT -8
Samnang followed his brother, not really used to spending any time with him, but suddenly he was curious. He was a little regretful he wasn't closer to his older siblings, and he had always thought both Devi and Kali were a lost cause, but now that he had the opportunity, he wanted to go for it. "So like... are you a stripper? 'Cause no one's really elaborated on the whole dancer thing. This," he motioned to the auditorium where the competition was taking place, "explains some of it, but that can't be like... your only job, right?"
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 10, 2019 10:31:26 GMT -8
Devi put his palm over his face as soon as Sam started the question. He muttered around his hand, just clearly enough to be understood, with definite emphasis on the first word, "No, 'm not. I teach dance classes, and I do dance as an entertainer at clubs, well Driftwood mostly cause I know the owners, but my level of clothes tends to be significantly higher than that."
He knew that he should have put a stop to that when Nicky had first started saying it, but it had never seemed worth the effort.
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Starbucks Manager.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 10, 2019 10:46:17 GMT -8
"I see..." Samnang mused. He'd have to set the record straight the next time Nicky mentioned it. Which... wasn't very often anymore, but he'd still make a mental note of it. But thinking of Nicky reminded him of something else. "Nicky used to gripe about you always being surrounded by girls. How many girlfriends have you had, exactly?"
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 10, 2019 11:12:21 GMT -8
Devi was about to drop his hand from his face when Sam asked the next question, and then he almost just kept it up so that his expression of mortification would be covered. He took a few deep breaths and made himself stop hiding behind his own hand. Then he answered, "None."
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Starbucks Manager.
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 10, 2019 11:23:43 GMT -8
Samnang furrowed his eyebrows. "None?" His face scrunched up, "But then..." He paused, "How many girls have you slept with, then?" He seemed confident he'd found the solution.
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Mar 10, 2019 11:24:53 GMT -8
Devi rolled his eyes and muttered, "Wow Nicky..."
Then he sighed and replied, "Also none."
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Post by Samnang Yun on Mar 10, 2019 11:29:44 GMT -8
Samnang's confidence deflated, sputtering a bit before asking incredulously, "really?" He seemed to grasp for another question. "Do you like... hate me? Kali has mentioned before being bitter about me getting all the attention when we were growing up."
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