grasshopper 19, video to all from the gymnasium

[blitzcheer]

'Sup everyone, how's it going? Got a more fun proposal than I last time I was here. [ A grin. ]

So I've been thinking we could run some sports groups! The gym's emptier these days with the training one used for all the fighting and magic classes, and it's going to waste! I don't know all the games they have the equipment for here, but there's a few I've been practising, and I figure we can spend a few days seeing what everyone likes and setting up different times people can come in and have a go.

I got a few friends to help out show some off: volleyball, badminton, tennis. Been practising basketball too. But if there's any you know and want people to get involved with, let's do it! Let's get some partners and have fun. There's hoops and nets gathering dust here.

I'm thinking we could do something around after lunchtime for the next few days, but I'll let you guys know the times for sure later. There's instructions on the ICP too if we wanna try something new once in a while, so come and check 'em out--I can even show you a few games now!

( OOC post about this here! )

Comments

[adregem]

[ He rubs his nose, smile growing wider by the minute. He doesn't blame him for such a reaction. Roland wasn't even sure if he could do it, but the closer Tidus got, the more he could see that sparkle in his eyes, the more Roland knew he had to.

The football is in his hands again, just a few steps to his right to grab it from the floor, before he turns to Tidus, throwing it back. ]

Don't worry, I'll work on the cheer. Next time, I'll be so loud your ears will burst, even underwater. Heh.

[ He shakes his head. If such a time came, he'd probably bring him along, watch the games of their wildest fantasies side by side...A dream within a dream. Something to entertain, if only to ease his heart's sorrows. This is a thought he quickly casts aside, as if it was never even in his mind's eye. ]

That sounds like a plan, coach. But more than that, you've got to show me how you spun around the way that you did. And you do that submerged, right? Phenomenal.

[blitzcheer]

[ Tidus catches it in his hands, lightly knocking against his chest. The smile on his face grows, but turning more jesting, lighthearted; whatever emotion that had been caught and captured easing, letting Tidus get comfortable again. ]

You have to know how to do it out of water before you even try in. It wouldn't be fun if you were just swimming and throwing and kicking around a ball, right? And it sends the ball whizzing before the other team can catch it! And the goalie, if you're lucky.

[ Which was the one you wanted to miss the catch! ]

[adregem]

[ Roland stretches his arms, one over the other. ]

Yeah, it's a move that builds up momentum, right? It's really something else. No sport I've seen back home compares. [ He reaches up to his hair next, carefully untying the low ponytail and opting to tie it again as a high bun this time, keeping most of the long strands away from his back and neck. ] You mean the way you train to do those moves always starts on dry land? Wouldn't training your body in water help you adjust faster?

[blitzcheer]

Depends on how confident you are, and what moves you're doing. [ He's moved to tossing the rugy between hands, his gaze elsewhere as he thinks. ] But you need to warm up, so you start on land first before moving into the pool. It's less about rushing in, and more figuring how you want your body to move first, you know? Everything you do in the water's going to be slower.

Once you start get the hang of it, you don't practice the more difficult moves on land. [ With Roland's hair up, he pulls back his forearm with the rugby in tow, waiting for Roland to seem prepared to catch it before he throws. ]

-- but it's fun to show off. Fans love it!

[adregem]

That's true. There's a sport from back home - it's a water sport too, called surfing - and I know pros train their bodies to take the resistance of the waves and how to hold their breath for a long time by doing underwater rock running. Is that something blitzball players do, too?

[ It's a sport that involves a lot of thought, he realizes. A lot of intuition too, because the water he imagines, would quite literally drown out a lot of your usual senses. If crowds had to scream so loudly that the players could hear vibrations in the water...

He positions himself in front of Tidus now, ready to pass him the ball for the next throw. The awkwardness from their first trial runs is all but forgotten for Roland, now. ]

So that spin move - was that star player Tidus's signature move? For your fanclub? Heh. [ His arm is positioned just right, between his parted thighs. ]

[blitzcheer]

We do underwater running, yeah! [ Rock though--well. ] Anything you can do above ground, you learn to do in water. Blitzball's an aggressive sport. You need to learn how to hold your breath, swim--how to take a beating from the other team. Blitz training's tough!

[ He hadn't even been thinking about the current game they were playing, completely lost in his thoughts about Blitzball. There's none of the chuckles from before as Roland gets into position, and truthfully, he'd rather be practising something else now... but he'll humour the guy. Man, if he could be training for some blitzball, though...! ]

Nah, that's just a simple trick. Nothing special. [ Not to like, brag or anything, but he is absolutely bragging. He crouches some into position, the fuss over being too near also gone. ] I'd need to find the right ball to show you my move. I do a flip and kick the ball into the goal backwards! Last Abes game I played, I was about to do it... right outside the sphere! It was gonna be played on the screens for life!

[ Yeah, his mind is totally elsewhere. ]

dont u dare reply to this, this is now closed!!!!

[adregem]

[ The conversation after another round of catch comes smoothly. Roland multitasks, shifting his attention as needed, but he was always listening to Tidus's stories, never straying from catching the small details or the feeling he was trying to express. And it was easy to read Tidus, with his animated facial expressions and body language like a coiled spring always ready to jump into action.

The rest of Grasshopper 19 passes nicely, and when he parts from Tidus and returns to his cabin, he notes down some thoughts as his routine goes. Apart from personal musings, he leaves a reminder for himself to save up points for what he recalls, are the missing accessories to his blitzball team's merchandise. ]

ok tita

[blitzcheer]