{"sf1_id":565610,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Two-Step (Step One)","author":"DarkSoulsSauron","words":3281,"posted_at":"2013-07-20T07:06:00.000Z","tags":["Couple","Dance","M/M","No-Yiff","Swing","ninetales","synth"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/565610-two-step-step-one","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/565610","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=565610\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":" Two-Step Step One\n\n\nSoren was up in the loft, a spacious,\nwood floored room with high windows open to the north and the east,\nletting the late autumn sun stream in. If one walked into the loft,\none would say it dripped with creative energy. Eli kept all his works\nin progress up there, ink pen and painting projects, all in the works\nor waiting to be finished off with a final detail. But the paintings\nwere not the only art in that room. Soren kept all of his instruments\nup in the spacious area, mostly confined to a corner. Soren had\nenough instruments to equip an orchestra. A clarinet, two violins\n(electric and acoustic), two guitars, a string bass, a cello, a\ntrumpet, a trombone, a tenor and alto saxophone, a splendid old grand\npiano, an electric keyboard, magnificent speakers, and some old\nrecording equipment.\n\n\nSoren tapped his muzzle, lost in\nthought. This particular pet project was driving him up the wall.\nSoren often argued that the dubstep genre held many hidden gems, but\npeople dismissed it due to how hard and heavy the tech elements were\nimplemented. His theory was that if one took the music theory of\nexisting dubstep songs and rearranged them with more traditional\ninstruments, the genre would be more accessible. Right now he was\nworking on Chase Me, a\npersonal favorite by Vexare. It was really interesting from a music\ntheory standpoint. Any casual listener would have called it schlock\nreminiscent of eurotech. However, listen closely and one would find\nit was double-syncopated. Triplets were layered on quarter notes, and\nhalf and whole notes were layered on three-fourth notes. It made for\nan exceptional multi-layered effect. But still, he couldn't find the\nright instruments to get the sound he was after. He wanted it to at\nleast be reminiscent to its electronic roots. Also, It didn't help\nthat the sheet music was incredibly illusive. Soren gave up on\ntracking it down and ended up having to write it by ear.\n\n\nEli walked up the\nstairs, hanging his jacket on the railing. He slipped up behind Soren\nand lightly grabbed his shoulders. Soren gave only a slight start and\npulled off his headphones.\n\n\n\"Whatcha\nworking on,\" asked Eli jovially, \"Same thing as before?\"\n\n\nSoren nodded his\nhead, still lost in concentration over his instrumentation dilemma.\n\"Can you come here for a minute,\" the silver fox asked. \"I want\nyou to play a few notes for me.\" Soren maximized a window on his\nlaptop. The sheet music he was writing as a reference materialized on\nscreen. He pointed at the part he had delegated to the violin. \"Play\nthese,\" he said. \"They're just triplets.\"\n\n\n\"A\nlot of triplets,\" said Eli, a bit apprehensive, as he lined up the\nbow. Eli had played some music in high school, mostly clarinet, but\nSoren was teaching him violin and guitar. The clarinet was coming\nback quickly, too. Like riding a bicycle, you never really forget\nmusic. \"At full speed?\" he asked.\n\n\n\"...yes,\"\nsaid Soren after a little consideration. Soren wished he could use\nhis grandmother's old piano, but that was already delegated to a\ndifferent part of the song. He went with the string bass. Soren\ntapped the side of the bass with the bow. \"four three two one.\"\nThe two were off at a more than brisk tempo, Eli playing the triplets\non the violin. Soren saw Eli subtly mouthing ev-en-ly\nev-en-ly ev-en-ly ev-en-ly with\neach triplet as the silver fox played the quarter notes. Soren\nchanged octaves every measure, trying to find the right sound. After\na minute or two, he held up his hand to stop.\n\n\"Still\nnot right,\" muttered Soren. He put the bass aside and then\naddressed Eli. \"Good pacing though, and you didn't miss a note this\ntime... so what are you working on today? Trying to replicate the pen\nand ink project?\"\n\n\n\"No,\"\nsaid Eli with a shake of his head. \"I'm taking a break from that\nfor a day. No, I wanted to show you what we're doing at the end of\nNovember.\"\n\n\nSoren raised an\neyebrow. \"Hrm? What do you mean.\"\n\n\nEli passed Soren a\npurple pamphlet. Soren read it quickly. Then looking up at Soren\nthrough the square reading glasses placed at the end of his nose, he\nsaid, deadpanned, \"You're a dick. You know that, right?\"\n\nEli smiled\ndeviously. \"What makes you say that?\"\n\n\nSoren sighed.\n\"Swing dance?! You know I can't dance. But no, it had to be a\ncharity event for cancer research. And you happened to know that I\njust started assisting on a project that was dealing with cancer\nresearch. So now you either force me to dance in public or make me\nfeel like a horrible person.\" Soren smiled, but still gave Eli a\nstern look.\n\n\nEli sat down on the\npiano bench. \"C'mon, it will be fun,\" said Eli. \"I can teach\nyou just like you're teaching me music.\"\n\n\n\"Yes,\"\nsaid Soren, \"Except for I am teaching you in the comfort of our own\nhome, and I am not throwing you under the bus by making you play in\npublic. You know I get really self conscious about that stuff.\"\nSoren looked down at the pamphlet again. \"And what is this about an\nendurance dance? Eight hours of swing?\"\n\n\nEli pointed at the\nlast page of the pamphlet. \"The rules are simple. Stay in step or\nyou lose. You get sponsored, and the longer you go, the more money\nyou make for the cause. There are also prizes for the top three. I've\ndone this for the last three years. last year I almost won. Check\nthe play-list, you'd like it.\"\n\n\nSoren\nlooked at the back of the last page. It was a healthy mix of modern\nand old jazz and swing. He read the list aloud. \"Duke Ellington,\nLouis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie\nHoliday, Caravan Palace, Parov Stellar, Tape Five, Chinese Man, Lyre\nLe Temps, Bart \u0026 Baker, 6u5...\nwhat, did they ask to borrow your iPod for the music selection?\"\nThen he got to the bottom. \"hrm... Shadows and Electric Daisy\nViolin by Lindsey Stirling? She's not swing. She's not really\nstandard dance. Her stuff is too melodic.\" He tossed the pamphlet\nback to Eli.\n\n\nEli pointed to a\nblock of text at the bottom. \"you need a routine for that. If there\nare too many people at the end of the eight hours, they make them do\na routine on the spot and judge them. Last year they did some songs\nby The Killers: Spaceman and Human. That's what tripped me up last\ntime. Quite literally.\"\n\n\n\"Hrm...\"\nsaid Soren, \"I think I remember Sasha telling me about this.\"\nSasha was the reason that the two foxes met in the first place. She\nhad gone to Soren's high school but went for an arts degree while\nSoren went for pharmaceuticals, biology, and computer science at a\ndifferent, but nearby, college. \"Still, you think you can teach me\nwell enough that I will be able to dance with you for eight hours\nstraight? In less than four weeks? That's a lofty goal.\"\n\n\n\"Challenge\naccepted,\" smiled Eli. \"Besides, I need you to find us a sponsor.\nWould someone at your lab do it?\"\n\n\nSoren tapped a\nfinger on his knee. \"You know... I think the lab has been given\ngrants by the American Cancer Society... I think I can pull that\noff.\" Then, Soren was hit by a devious idea. \"Do they allow props\nfor the routines?\"\n\n\nEli thought for a\nmoment, tilting his head up and staring into space. \"Yes... a\ncouple did that last year with swords. They dressed as samurai,\nmostly for kicks and giggles. Why?\"\n\n\nSoren picked up his\npurple electric violin. He grinned deviously. \"Because we're gonna\nperform along for the routine.\"\n\n\nEli's tails\nsimultaneously straightened out and bristled. \"WHAT?!\"\n\n\nSoren opened his\nhands and shrugged. \"All's fair in love and war. If you're gonna\nmake me dance I'm gonna make you play.\"\n\nEli leered at Soren\nfor a minute. \"Fine. Then we should get started. Today. Now. At the\npark.\"\n\n\nSoren shifted.\n\"Now? It's cold out now...\"\n\n\"Bull,\"\nsaid Eli. \"You were outside without a jacket all day yesterday. We\nboth know cold means nothing to you. Get your speakers and the\nviolins. We're gonna dance at the park. You need to get used to being\nwatched.\"\n\nSoren groaned.\n\"Fine. You win.\" He dug his nicer set of potable speakers out of\nthe pile of musical equipment on the table in front of him. He then\ngrabbed his computer as well as his grandmother's old spruce violin\nand his own electric violin, putting them gingerly in their cases. He\nplaced the rest of his instruments meticulously back in their proper\nplace. Eli took his iPod off the dock and grabbed his jacket again.\n\n\nThere was a nice\npark near the apartment. Large, spacious, lots of trees, and overall\nvery pretty. The last of the autumn leaves clung vainly to the trees\nas October transitioned to November. Eli set up the music and\nspeakers on an unoccupied bench. With a piece of chalk he drew out a\n6ft by 10ft rectangle.\n\n\"There,\"\nhe said. \"that's approximately how much space we get in the\ncontest. Once people start dropping we can spread out, but otherwise\nwe shouldn't leave that space. We get a whole lot more for the\nroutine, but that's later.\" Eli flicked through his music. He had\nconstructed a play-list that exactly replicated the one on the\npamphlet. He stuck it on shuffle after picking the Beatophone\nClub Remix by Caravan Palace.\n\n\nThe pace was brisk,\na clear 4/4 beat that would be easy to keep time with. Eli began\nstepping much more slowly than the song. \"We'll approach it just\nlike music,\" he said. \"Can you follow me at half speed?\"\n\n\nSoren slowly and\nawkwardly began to mirror Eli. On the first two beats he lifted a\npaw, followed by a step-flex on the last two. They repeated the steps\nagain with the other paw, getting into a groove. It took a good two\nminutes for them to really synch up, but Soren was getting the\nmovements. It really was like playing music, just with a lot more\nawkward body movements. As the third minute of the song began, Eli\ngrabbed Soren's hands and began to swing both of their arms side to\nside. \"Move your arms,\" said Eli with a smile, \"You're not a\nlamp post. Let the music move you.\"\n\n\nThey repeated the\nsame song three times. The first repeat was at half speed again, but\nSoren found the timing much faster. On the third time, Eli moved them\nup to full speed. Now that he had the lift-step-flex down, it was\neasier to go full speed, letting the music drive them automatically.\nEli grabbed Soren's hands again, jovially moving them back and forth\nbetween them. Soren smiled a bit. He had to admit to himself he was\nstarting to have fun.\n\n\nEli\nlet shuffle take them to the next song. The randomizer picked Caravan\nPalace again, this time Maniac. The\ntune was slower, moving at a similar pace to the half time\nBeatophone. Soren got the step within a couple of measures. \"You\ncatch on quick,\" said Eli. \"You still keep forgetting to move\nyour arms. Improvise. Do what your body wants to do.\" Soren tried\nto move his arms back and forth in time with his legs, but he\ncouldn't do it. Letting down his inhibitions in public was always a\nbarrier. \"Keep at it,\" said Eli encouragingly, \"Just get used\nto doing it and it becomes natural.\"\n\n\nManiac\nended, neither of the foxes losing pace. The shuffle programing\nseemed to be in the mood for Caravan Palace today, and started to\nplay Rock It For Me.\nEli snapped his fingers to the starting beat. \"Sit down,\" he\nsaid, \"and let me show you some more advanced stuff.\"\n\n\nHe began with a\nCharleston step, starting with his right paw, and kept up to the\nsnazzy beat of the song, swinging his arms and tails together, side\nto side. On the refrain he shuffled to the side, snapping his legs to\nthe beat as he moved. He then stepped to the side, moving his hands\nto spin an imaginary partner. He kept up a similar pace and pattern\nfor the whole song, ending by tapping his paw to the beat as the song\nwound down in its final seconds. He got up and put the song on\nreplay.\n\n\n\"That\nstyle is Lindy Hop. Now you're gonna do it with me.\" Eli pulled\nSoren off the bench before he could protest. The Charleston was\nrather easy to get a hold of, as Soren had actually attempted to\ndance it before, and it was fairly simple, especially with Eli as his\nreference point. The shuffle was incredibly difficult by contrast.\nSoren had to stop to watch Eli. With one paw he shifted to the side,\nand mid shuffle he would snap the other leg. It had an effect that\nmade him look like he was propelling himself by clicking his heels.\nOnce Soren got that motion down, they returned to the Charleston. Eli\nthen grabbed the hands of the silver fox and started to spin Soren.\n\"Get back in step,\" he said, \"you can't lose synch just because\nwe added a new element.\" it took two more tries to get the Lindy\nHop right for Rock It For Me.\n\n\nSoren was out of breath as he finished\nRock It For Me for the last time. \"Can we stop for a sec,\" he\npanted.\n\n\n\"Already,\" teased Eli. \"You have\nmore endurance than that.\" He gave Soren a meaningful look pointed\ndown and then kissed the silver fox on the cheek.\n\nSoren chuckled at the joke as he got\nout his computer and pulled up the sheet music for Electric Daisy\nViolin. Taking the violins out of their cases he passed the electric\none to Eli. \"You're so crude some days. Have you ever been\naccompanied by a recording before?\" Eli shook his head as he rolled\nhis left shoulder and hand, loosening up his bow arm. Soren\ncontinued, \"if that is the case, know this: the recording's pace is\nlaw, and she is a harsh mistress. If you fall out of step with the\nrecording, everyone with ears\nwill know. If you fall out of step, it is your job to get back\nin step as fast as you can.\nFaster than as fast as\nyou can. This becomes especially apparent when you are playing the\nmelody, like we are about to. Got it?\"\n\nEli nodded his head\nas he sat on the cement. His tails wrapped around his legs as he\nlooked at the sheet music on the computer in front of him, perched on\nthe bench. The two foxes began tuning the instruments. \"Can we\nstart with Shadows? That's my favorite.\"\n\n\nSoren minimized\nElectric Daisy Violin. \"Shadows is easier to start with anyway.\nThere is only one violin part. Electric Daisy has plucking to go with\nthe strings. We'll start at half speed, then full speed, then with\nthe recording. Tell me when you are ready.\"\n\n\nThe song itself had\nplenty of motion. At half speed Eli was getting all of the notes, and\nboth were moving their upper bodies to the rhythms as they played the\nmelody. They both were seeing how they could dance to this. In fact\nthey were rather excited to do these particular routines, as both of\nthe foxes fangirled rather hard over Lindsey, especially Eli. If\nsomeone saw how hard he crushed on her, they would swear he was\nstraight.\n\n\nMoving at full\nspeed now, Soren could tell Eli was having a harder time keeping up.\nHe had to concentrate fully on the song, so he wasn't moving his body\nany more. He was missing notes now too, and they had to backtrack a\nfew times. Soren couldn't blame him, as it was a rather complex song,\nwith many build ups and dramatic drops in pitch. After a few full\npace play-throughs, Eli was doing better, but Soren could tell he was\nfrustrated. At the end of their fourth play-through, he put his\ngrandmother's violin back in the case. Getting up, he offered a hand\nto Eli. \"That was a good start. Once you get the notes down we can\ntry with the recording later. Let's dance again.\"\n\n\nEli\nreturned the acoustic violin carefully to its case and took Soren's\nsilver hand. He was cheered slightly that Soren was willing to start\nswinging again. Eli turned his iPod on again, shuffling the\ncontest play-list. Caravan Palace returned again as Dramaphone\nbegan to play next. \"This one\nis easy,\" said Eli. \"It's just a Charleston. But you need to keep\nup.\" Eli began to step up the pace, much faster than Rock It For\nMe. Soren managed to keep up, swinging his arms, alternating left leg\nand right arm with right leg and left arm. It was easy to keep up\nonce he found a rhythm. Eli caught him by surprise on the first\nrefrain, spinning him once as with the lyrics \"come and\ntaste us sweet as can be.\" Soren\nmanaged to get back in the groove right away this time. Eli didn't\neven have to replay the song.\n\nThe Randomizer\nfinally decided it was done with Caravan Palace. It switched to a\nfast song that Soren didn't recognize. It was hard and heavy on the\nelectro part of electroswing. Soren decided to try to keep up with it\non a Charleston. \"What song is this,\" asked the silver fox as he\ndanced.\n\n\n\"Douai Charleston by\n6u5,\" said Eli, matching Soren's pace. \"Pay attention here. The\nsong has alternate elements on the 2nd\nand 3rd\nbeats of the measures. If you don't act on them, you get eliminated.\nThey used this last year to cull the weak from the strong.\"\n\nSoren needed to\nrepeat this song three times. He kept losing count when he had to\nchange step in the middle of the measure. Even as he struggled, he\nadmired the music theory of the song. On the third repeat he didn't\nmiss a beat. Soren thought maybe he was getting the hang of this. But\nstill, there was hardly anyone here on this brisk November day, and\nhe would be surrounded by people at the contest.\n\n\n\"One more, I think,\" said Eli. \"We\nmade a good start.\n\n\nSoren nodded. Eli switched the music to\nCheek to Cheek, a song from\nthe old film Top Hat. Soren really did appreciate Fred Astaire's\nvoice. \"Isn't this a tad slow for swing,\" asked Soren.\n\n\n\"They\nalways throw in some easier tunes as breaks, but they also throw in\nhard stuff if they think there are too many people left. The music\nselection gets vicious in the last hour.\" Keeping in step was easy,\neven as it picked up. Eli held their hands the whole time, moving\ntheir bodies together. Whenever Fred Astaire sang the words \"cheek\nto cheek\" Eli kissed Soren playfully.\n\n\n\"Fags,\"\nshouted an uncouth individual as he walked by. Eli and Soren smiled\nat this remark. As if on cue, they grabbed each other, leaning\ntowards the rude Croconaw and kissing passionately. Their middle\nfingers were raised in unison at the gator, but as they did this,\nthey still didn't miss a step. The foxes broke apart smiling as the\nwater type grunted and stalked off. The song ended soon after that,\nand the two foxes packed up. They headed back to the apartment,\nholding hands.\n\n\n\n\n"}