Upheaval: Day 5

Word Count: 28,058

Summary of Events:

Leon decided to go watch the first night of the competition, being as his mom didn't want him competing, only to end up identifying himself as a competitor — which it seemed they had been expecting him to do. Having put on his costume, had his hair styled, and makeup done, Leon was then taken to the stage with the other dancers — all girls — to warm up and realised for the first time that the language his mom spoke at home was Russian.

Excerpt of the Day:

"Come with me," the man said.

Leon followed him, mentally noting that the man had spoken Russian. He hoped none of the girls had noticed. He wasn't sure what he thought of the idea of them knowing he knew Russian. In this setting he might be barraged with requests for translations of everything, and he didn't know if the Russians would appreciate that.

The man led Leon to a barre at the far end of the stage, separate from the others, one that looked a little thicker and more solid, more like the makeshift wooden barre Mama had him use at home.

Standing on the other side of the barre, facing Leon, the man looked at him with a face that seemed devoid of all expression.

"Do as I do," the man said.

Leon nodded and watched the mans every move: putting the leg up which was the same as the leg the man put up, doing the pliés in the positions the man did them, keeping his arms in the positions the man did, the whole thing.

Mentally, he did his best to visualise the man as a mirror image of himself — except for the colour difference of their outfits and the fact that the man looked notably older than Leon — and he didn't hear any criticisms of his actions, which made him hope that he was doing a good job following his 'reflection'.

Once they had done a whole bunch of barre work — and hadn't done any of it in the order that Miss Corrine did it in class — the man took him to the back of the stage and looked at him with that expressionless face again.

"I do, then you do," he said.

Leon nodded and watched as the man took five light, short, controlled steps, before launching into the air and landing so lightly it was almost imperceptible that he'd made contact with the stage.

Stepping so that the man would be to his right, Leon rose onto his toes to start, only to have the man step to be directly in line with him.

He put a steel into his eye and a stiffness into his arm as he indicated to the man to move to the side. He didn't want to run the man over, knock him down, or otherwise put either one of them at risk for injury.

The man stepped aside, although he didn't look impressed that Leon was even giving him nonverbal orders.

Leon rose onto his toes again, took five light, short, controlled steps, and then launched himself into the air.

As he'd expected, he landed near-silently on the stage about a half-stride beyond the man, who turned and looked at him with incredulity and even a touch of disconcertion. Leon wanted to smile, but he didn't dare. He'd just shown up someone who likely was already in the employ of the Bolshoi.

Pronunciation:

pliés: pleeays