Match 3

[mathisradical]

Action: Outside 1249 Williams Road

[ Niou steps out the front door just to trip over a package lying there. He trips, letting out a couple of swear words, and looks around quickly to see if anyone saw him. ]

Who the fuck-

[ He stops his angry question when he actually looks down to see what he tripped over. It's a package, and the shape of it is very, very familiar. He bends down to pick it up, turning it over in his hands. Could this be...? Tearing off the paper, he discovers that yes, it is! It's his tennis racket.

Seconds later, he's heading down the sidewalk and towards the rec center. If he remembers correctly, they have tennis courts. ]



Action: Rec center tennis courts

[ The dull sounds of tennis balls thumping against a racket and the courts are accompanied by the occasional grunt. Niou is serving balls hard over the net. He's easily fallen into a familiar rhythm, and it might take a bit to catch his attention as he's in the zone. ]

Comments

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[He catches it easily. Crowe's not good at a lot of things, but he's a very athletic kid. He looks the racquet over.] Mostly I've stuck to football - ah, soccer - but I've tried a few other things since getting to Mayfield. Like basketball.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

[ Oh, good. If his hand-eye coordination wasn't up to par, Niou wasn't going to be able to teach him anything. ]

Basketball's for losers. Tennis is where the fun is. Now hold the racket like you're shakin' someone's hand. Like this. [ He holds his racket in the air so Crowe can see his grip on it. ]

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Well, I do like basketball, but tennis does seem fun too. [He grins a little, and then does as instructed.] Alright, that seems easy enough, at least.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, that is the easy part. Probably the only easy part of tennis. Now you swing. Like this. [ He swings the racket he's holding in his left hand, and it looks surprisingly graceful and fluid. ]

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Looks like you've had a lot of practice. I guess you use your dominant hand? [Crowe does so too, using his right hand.]

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I can play with my right, too, though. [ He tosses the racket to his right hand and then back to his left. Then he picks up a stray ball near his feet and serves it over the net. ] That's a basic serve. But a lot of better players have special serves and shit.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'll stick with the basics for now, yeah? [He grabs one of the balls, bounces it once or twice before tossing it up for a serve. He hits it pretty well, looking pleased with himself, and gives Niou a smile.] How did that look?

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

[ He smirks. ] I've seen worse from some of my team's newbies, but I've also seen better. Still, not half-bad if this is your first time pickin' up a racket.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

I'll take that, I guess. I'll have to practice, maybe after awhile we can have a match, yeah?

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

[ He grins. ] Sure, but you won't win. Once you learn the bare basics, you've gotta build your own tennis. Everybody has their own tennis. And some people prefer doubles over singles, or singles over doubles.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Well, give me some time to practice and I'll see how I can do. Maybe by autumn, I'll be ready for a match. So, do you play any other sports?

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

[ He looks thoughtful for a moment. ] Depends. Does street-fightin' count?

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Ah, well I was hoping for football - actual football, not the American kind - but that's good too. I've been learning to fight since I've gotten to Mayfield, so sparring isn't out of the question.

I seriously just HTML-failed *twice*. /headdesk

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

[ He makes a face at the mention of the sport. ] Most of my school's sports teams blow more than a whore on a Friday night. Can't say I've had much experience with any of 'em besides tennis. [ A quick grin. ] But when it comes to street fightin', I don't play fair. Where I comes from, playin' fair gets you killed. [ A pause. ] Or 100 laps around the courts. Whatever.

it's ok, i do it all the time. XD

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I-I never played in a school league or anything. But I do really like to play, when I can.

They don't really fight fair in Mayfield, either, so that's probably good. Plus, the first teacher I had here always said the same thing.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

My captain always told me not to knock somethin' 'till I tried it. So maybe you could show me sometime.

You had yourself a smart teacher, then.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

I'd be glad to. I'd like to get a game going sometime, if I can.

Ah, Jecht was... a pretty intense teacher, yeah.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

Do many people around here play football? 'Cos I only know of one other person here who plays tennis.

I taught myself. It was that, or get my ass kicked for lookin' at someone sideways.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Not too many, but I bet I could rope some of my friends here into trying it out.

Ah... I never really felt a need to learn until I got here. But I figured self defense was something I really needed to know.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

I could start a tennis revolution... I'll have to rope Marui into it, too. [ Now he's just talking to himself. ]

Not that hand-to-hand or knives are any good against the ones who have weird-ass powers or guns.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Ah, you know someone else who'll play? Guess I really better get to practicing then.

Um, well, true. But that's the whole reason I started training in the first place. I don't have any powers or magic or anything like that. But I have been learning to use a gun, too.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's someone else from my world here. He's not as good as I am, though. He's specifically a doubles player.

It's a shame I'm only fourteen and can't get my hands on a decent weapon.

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

Ask an "adult". I had to get a gun the same way. Ah, Mr. Sniper, he's got a shooting range here at the rec center. He'd probably be willing to help, since he teaches people how to shoot.

[mathisradical.livejournal.com]

Huh... Guess I'll have to do that. [ He's not sure how he feels about guns, but whatever. With Mayfield, you gotta pull out all the stops. ]