Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Just For the Attention
A/n- So, those last couple updates were pretty much record breaking for me. I don't often update that fast. I'm currently travelling and I was at a training camp last week so I didn't have much time to write, but I'm working on it now, especially since there's a reeeeeeeeeally long flight to England in my future. By the time this gets up I'll either be IN England, or home from it. So yea. I miss you Mrs. Ross!
P.S. I apologise for the British spellings, but it's something I incorporated into my writing a long time ago, and I try to avoid it, but sometimes it's inevitable.
Reviews will be given dirt from Buckingham Palace
*
It had only taken them four days to get everything in order. Danielle had handed in her “two weeks”, picking up a few more shifts to get a bit of cash to live off of, and Nikol had done almost the same, but without the effort to try to make herself rehire-able. Two of Danielle's co-worker had taken over their lease, and tons of stolen boxes had carted their belongings back to Danielle's parent's house, where they would be living out of a suitcase for two more days before making the drive to Nevada. With all the rush of packing and finalizing everything, the prospect of what was happening to them didn't sink in until their first night away from their apartment.
Laying across from each other on the twin couches in the living room, they talked quietly about everything that was happening.
“What do you think it will be like?”
“Absolute and utter chaos. And fun and heartbreaking…”
“And so totally worth it?”
“Oh definitely. I can't think of anything I'd rather drop my entire life for.”
“Yeah. That's the part that worries me. I mean what if something happens, and we have nothing to come back to?”
“Um, let's not even consider that. I might end up changing my mind, and not take this incredible risk that will change my life for ever!”
Their conversation was cut off by the sound of Danielle's mother on the stairs, telling them to be quiet because some people had to be at work at nine the next morning.
“Yes mom!” they replied, and they rolled over, determined to get some amount of sleep that night.
*
After six gruelling (and to be honest, sweaty) hours, they finally pulled up to their hotel, the MGM Grand. The tour manager had gotten the five performers a suite so the two men and three women could get to know each other better. The only downside was that Danielle and Nikol would have to share a bed and Dani was a kicker.
They hurried to check in and get settled, because practice was scheduled to start two hours later and they had yet to eat. After taking an elevator twenty odd floors up, dragging suitcases all the way, they keyed open the door and were greeted by one of the most glamorous and glorious rooms they had every seen. The carpet was plush, and stretching out in front of the white tile that greeted them at the door. There was a marble wet bar to their left, with upholstered chairs sitting in front of it. Beyond that laid one of the rooms, where they could chance a look at a white sheeted king-size bed. Straight in front of them was a round white table, surrounded by six chairs and topped with fresh flowers, and beyond that, a large sitting room with a TV display cabinet, a long -and very comfortable looking- couch and another room beyond that.
A girl walking out of the room on the right side of the suite stopped their wide-eyed gaping at the glamour of the room.
“I assume you're Nikol and Danielle then?” she asked in a blatant southern accent.
“Yes, I'm Dani and this is Nikol,” Danielle said, taking a step forward and extending her arm, “and you would be…?”
“I'm Tracy, fire- and sword-eating expert.”
“Awesome!” Nikol piped up. “I'm a gymnast and martial artist, and Danielle is a baton twirler.”
“Interesting. So you just got in then?”
“Yep. Six lovely hours on the road. We'd love a nap, but alas, no luck. We're just gonna put down our bags and change so we can leave.”
“Sounds good. If you can do it in five minutes, the boys have offered to drive us to practise.”
Thrilled at the idea of saving some gas and mileage on her aging car, Nikol grinned. “Done and done,” she said before leading the way into the suite's bedroom.
*
After a quick job of wheeling their luggage into the room and a quick change, they joined Tracy in the common room and met their two male companions: Brian, a lifetime juggler and redhead, and Chris a pole thin male contortionist with a bizarre sense of humour. They had gotten into the car, which Brian had carelessly navigated the ten miles to the rehearsal studio.
They quickly filed out of the car, and everyone but Chris got their “props” out of the trunk of the car and hurried into the studio. From the main door there was a labyrinth of corridors that led to an open ballroom that was set up with a mock version of the stage props. Like their last tour, Spencer's drums were set up on a raised platform, but this one was much wider with a set of stairs spiralling down the side. There were three more platforms set up around the back of the stage, spreading straight across. Seeing these Danielle prayed they wouldn't try to make her perform on them…twirling in small spaces invoked the small bit of claustrophobia she had inherited at birth.
Set up in front of these pillars was a small ramp that flattened out at the top which seemed to be the last of the set props. Nothing had been decorated yet which Nikol was starting to believe was because they wanted to discover the theme of the show yet. She had always suspected that Panic was more of an organic band, and let the decorations and players reveal themselves to the music instead of forcing them into a design.
Standing at the centre of this blank wooden stage was the members of the Cirque, who looked like they were already in costume. Girls were in brightly coloured sports bras and small shorts. They were adorned in eccentric jewellery and makeup and the men looked quite similar in bright shirts and skin-tight pants. Dani and Nikol both looked down at their clothes at the same time, both coming up with the same conclusion, they were horribly out of place. Danielle was sporting a white spaghetti strap shirt that had the maroon words `ASU Feature Twirler' embroidered on it and matching gold shorts. Nikol was just as simply dressed in a green t-shirt and black sweat pants. They looked up at each other; each with their own interpretation of a desperate and uncomfortable looked perched on their features.
It was at this moment that one of the other performers chose to cross the room and greet them.
“Hey,” he said with a smile. “My name's Jake and I'm the instructor of the performers for this tour. I'd like to get started at soon as we could, so if you could place your things over there,” he indicated a corner where many bags were thrown haphazardly into a corner, “and join us in the centre of the stage, we'll begin our stretching and I'll explain what's going to happen this week as far as staging and rehearsal goes.”
They quickly obliged and set their stuff down on the outskirts of the pile then quickly walked over to where the other performers were already starting to stretch out. They joined in without speaking a word, and fifteen minutes later, Jake stood up and walked in front of everyone clearing his throat.
“Alright, let's get this started. So, first of all I want to welcome back our lovely performers from the last tour, and our new dancers that have joined us,” he indicated both groups as he spoke of them. “I also want to take this time to introduce you to our talent performers that were picked out from the auditions from last week. We're happy to have this rare opportunity to do a performance like this and I would appreciate if you would take them under your wing and show them the ropes. First of all we have our two males, Brian, who's a juggler and Chris who's a contortionist. Then we have Tracy here, a sword eater, and also will be eating fire in the arenas that will allow open flame. Then we have Danielle, a baton twirler and Nikol, a rhythmic gymnast and martial artist. Now I don't want anyone to worry, the inclusion of the new talent will not take away any of your stage time, those of you that are using this as a stepping stone, they will just be adding to the over all feel. This idea was the band's and I would really appreciate it if no one went whining to them.”
Nikol and Danielle exchanged a look. Were these people mad that they were here, because that's what Jake was making it sound like. Danielle's mind was running on overdrive.
`Do they even need us? I'm not using this for my career, I just want to perform and promote my sport…not to mention have a good time.' She wondered if this was how she was feeling now, what being on tour would be like. She remembered distinctly the numerous years she spent at dance studios and knew that dancers could be very cliquey and protective when it came to their careers. Shaking the plaguing thoughts off, she turned her attention back to Jake.
“So, now that I have all the introductions out of the way, I am completely done being serious. Basically what we're here to do today is work on general staging. I want to pair some people together, see where people work on the stage and who they work best around. We're also going to work on stamina building since we're working with twice the amount of songs as we were on the last tour. So without further ado, cause I'm getting really tired of talking, I want you to break yourself off into five groups, and I want a talent, and at least one new and old performer in each. So yea. Get to it.”
Danielle cast a look at Nikol before she stood up and threw herself into the fray of separating people. This was it. It had begun.
*
Post A/n-For the record I have nothing against dancers and I didn't mean it to sound like I did. I wrote the ending of this chapter after twenty hours of travelling when I was a little cranky and a lot tired. It's at these times that I find my mind to be the most open to creativity, which often means I lose a lot of sleep. I didn't mean to shed dancers in such a negative light, I've just met some really bad ones and have been trampled on by them because I cared more about baton than I did dance. Oh well.
P.S. I apologise for the British spellings, but it's something I incorporated into my writing a long time ago, and I try to avoid it, but sometimes it's inevitable.
Reviews will be given dirt from Buckingham Palace
*
It had only taken them four days to get everything in order. Danielle had handed in her “two weeks”, picking up a few more shifts to get a bit of cash to live off of, and Nikol had done almost the same, but without the effort to try to make herself rehire-able. Two of Danielle's co-worker had taken over their lease, and tons of stolen boxes had carted their belongings back to Danielle's parent's house, where they would be living out of a suitcase for two more days before making the drive to Nevada. With all the rush of packing and finalizing everything, the prospect of what was happening to them didn't sink in until their first night away from their apartment.
Laying across from each other on the twin couches in the living room, they talked quietly about everything that was happening.
“What do you think it will be like?”
“Absolute and utter chaos. And fun and heartbreaking…”
“And so totally worth it?”
“Oh definitely. I can't think of anything I'd rather drop my entire life for.”
“Yeah. That's the part that worries me. I mean what if something happens, and we have nothing to come back to?”
“Um, let's not even consider that. I might end up changing my mind, and not take this incredible risk that will change my life for ever!”
Their conversation was cut off by the sound of Danielle's mother on the stairs, telling them to be quiet because some people had to be at work at nine the next morning.
“Yes mom!” they replied, and they rolled over, determined to get some amount of sleep that night.
*
After six gruelling (and to be honest, sweaty) hours, they finally pulled up to their hotel, the MGM Grand. The tour manager had gotten the five performers a suite so the two men and three women could get to know each other better. The only downside was that Danielle and Nikol would have to share a bed and Dani was a kicker.
They hurried to check in and get settled, because practice was scheduled to start two hours later and they had yet to eat. After taking an elevator twenty odd floors up, dragging suitcases all the way, they keyed open the door and were greeted by one of the most glamorous and glorious rooms they had every seen. The carpet was plush, and stretching out in front of the white tile that greeted them at the door. There was a marble wet bar to their left, with upholstered chairs sitting in front of it. Beyond that laid one of the rooms, where they could chance a look at a white sheeted king-size bed. Straight in front of them was a round white table, surrounded by six chairs and topped with fresh flowers, and beyond that, a large sitting room with a TV display cabinet, a long -and very comfortable looking- couch and another room beyond that.
A girl walking out of the room on the right side of the suite stopped their wide-eyed gaping at the glamour of the room.
“I assume you're Nikol and Danielle then?” she asked in a blatant southern accent.
“Yes, I'm Dani and this is Nikol,” Danielle said, taking a step forward and extending her arm, “and you would be…?”
“I'm Tracy, fire- and sword-eating expert.”
“Awesome!” Nikol piped up. “I'm a gymnast and martial artist, and Danielle is a baton twirler.”
“Interesting. So you just got in then?”
“Yep. Six lovely hours on the road. We'd love a nap, but alas, no luck. We're just gonna put down our bags and change so we can leave.”
“Sounds good. If you can do it in five minutes, the boys have offered to drive us to practise.”
Thrilled at the idea of saving some gas and mileage on her aging car, Nikol grinned. “Done and done,” she said before leading the way into the suite's bedroom.
*
After a quick job of wheeling their luggage into the room and a quick change, they joined Tracy in the common room and met their two male companions: Brian, a lifetime juggler and redhead, and Chris a pole thin male contortionist with a bizarre sense of humour. They had gotten into the car, which Brian had carelessly navigated the ten miles to the rehearsal studio.
They quickly filed out of the car, and everyone but Chris got their “props” out of the trunk of the car and hurried into the studio. From the main door there was a labyrinth of corridors that led to an open ballroom that was set up with a mock version of the stage props. Like their last tour, Spencer's drums were set up on a raised platform, but this one was much wider with a set of stairs spiralling down the side. There were three more platforms set up around the back of the stage, spreading straight across. Seeing these Danielle prayed they wouldn't try to make her perform on them…twirling in small spaces invoked the small bit of claustrophobia she had inherited at birth.
Set up in front of these pillars was a small ramp that flattened out at the top which seemed to be the last of the set props. Nothing had been decorated yet which Nikol was starting to believe was because they wanted to discover the theme of the show yet. She had always suspected that Panic was more of an organic band, and let the decorations and players reveal themselves to the music instead of forcing them into a design.
Standing at the centre of this blank wooden stage was the members of the Cirque, who looked like they were already in costume. Girls were in brightly coloured sports bras and small shorts. They were adorned in eccentric jewellery and makeup and the men looked quite similar in bright shirts and skin-tight pants. Dani and Nikol both looked down at their clothes at the same time, both coming up with the same conclusion, they were horribly out of place. Danielle was sporting a white spaghetti strap shirt that had the maroon words `ASU Feature Twirler' embroidered on it and matching gold shorts. Nikol was just as simply dressed in a green t-shirt and black sweat pants. They looked up at each other; each with their own interpretation of a desperate and uncomfortable looked perched on their features.
It was at this moment that one of the other performers chose to cross the room and greet them.
“Hey,” he said with a smile. “My name's Jake and I'm the instructor of the performers for this tour. I'd like to get started at soon as we could, so if you could place your things over there,” he indicated a corner where many bags were thrown haphazardly into a corner, “and join us in the centre of the stage, we'll begin our stretching and I'll explain what's going to happen this week as far as staging and rehearsal goes.”
They quickly obliged and set their stuff down on the outskirts of the pile then quickly walked over to where the other performers were already starting to stretch out. They joined in without speaking a word, and fifteen minutes later, Jake stood up and walked in front of everyone clearing his throat.
“Alright, let's get this started. So, first of all I want to welcome back our lovely performers from the last tour, and our new dancers that have joined us,” he indicated both groups as he spoke of them. “I also want to take this time to introduce you to our talent performers that were picked out from the auditions from last week. We're happy to have this rare opportunity to do a performance like this and I would appreciate if you would take them under your wing and show them the ropes. First of all we have our two males, Brian, who's a juggler and Chris who's a contortionist. Then we have Tracy here, a sword eater, and also will be eating fire in the arenas that will allow open flame. Then we have Danielle, a baton twirler and Nikol, a rhythmic gymnast and martial artist. Now I don't want anyone to worry, the inclusion of the new talent will not take away any of your stage time, those of you that are using this as a stepping stone, they will just be adding to the over all feel. This idea was the band's and I would really appreciate it if no one went whining to them.”
Nikol and Danielle exchanged a look. Were these people mad that they were here, because that's what Jake was making it sound like. Danielle's mind was running on overdrive.
`Do they even need us? I'm not using this for my career, I just want to perform and promote my sport…not to mention have a good time.' She wondered if this was how she was feeling now, what being on tour would be like. She remembered distinctly the numerous years she spent at dance studios and knew that dancers could be very cliquey and protective when it came to their careers. Shaking the plaguing thoughts off, she turned her attention back to Jake.
“So, now that I have all the introductions out of the way, I am completely done being serious. Basically what we're here to do today is work on general staging. I want to pair some people together, see where people work on the stage and who they work best around. We're also going to work on stamina building since we're working with twice the amount of songs as we were on the last tour. So without further ado, cause I'm getting really tired of talking, I want you to break yourself off into five groups, and I want a talent, and at least one new and old performer in each. So yea. Get to it.”
Danielle cast a look at Nikol before she stood up and threw herself into the fray of separating people. This was it. It had begun.
*
Post A/n-For the record I have nothing against dancers and I didn't mean it to sound like I did. I wrote the ending of this chapter after twenty hours of travelling when I was a little cranky and a lot tired. It's at these times that I find my mind to be the most open to creativity, which often means I lose a lot of sleep. I didn't mean to shed dancers in such a negative light, I've just met some really bad ones and have been trampled on by them because I cared more about baton than I did dance. Oh well.
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