faderift | { CLOSED } If I just breathe

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{ CLOSED } If I just breathe

WHO: Christine and her closest friends
WHAT: A birthday picnic.
WHEN: Bloomingtide 13th
WHERE: the foothills of the Vimmarks, an hour NW of Kirkwall

As with most things, Christine overplans for her picnic. She studies maps and speaks with the locals about the safest areas outside Kirkwall and finds that heading towards the foothills of the mountains around mid-morning is probably her safest bet. She invites those nearest and dearest to her to join her for a birthday celebration, though it's by no means fancy. There will be plenty of food, drink, and activities to be had, but the part she's most excited about is just leaving Kirkwall. To breathe fresh air and see some greenery again. The brief respite she had for Aleron and Bethany's wedding made her crave this outing all the more.

On the day, they load up their mounts with the supplies and head out. The trip only takes around an hour and the path is well kept, so when she spots the large maple tree and stream cutting through that a local told her about, she knows they've reached the picnic spot. It's a wide, mostly flat field that starts to rise towards the north. To the east at the end of the field, it rises more sharply, the hills dotted with heavy stones. To the west is the path they've veered off, the large tree, and the stream that keeps going west under a short wooden bridge. And to the south is the view. Green hills descend before them, and while there's a hint of Kirkwall's Hightown within sight, what they can see beyond is the shimmer of sunlight on the Waking Sea. Now it's time to set out the blankets, let the mounts graze and lap water from the stream, and relax. Oh, and release the hounds, cats, and fox. Some of them brought their pets.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh pshhhh, add more rules to the mix why don't you," fake-grouses Church, whipping a pair of genuine aviator shades from his trouser pocket and slipping them on. He may have brought them because it's sunny or he may have brought them specifically to look cool.

"Besiiiides, nobody from my team's gonna tire out. We got tanks." Church you are not a tank you've had that body for a year and change you are not a tank. "We could make it as many people on a team as you think fits, though. So nobody's left out. Hey, don't regulation teams have, like, five or six?"

Ah more and more rules being added to the mix now, and Aleron's attempting to keep them all straight. He rather wonders if it wouldn't be easier to have them detailed as they go along, but as it's all foreign to him, he couldn't say for certain.

But uh... "What's a tank?"

Rifters and their unfamiliar words and concepts. And in some cases, their complete lack of understanding how a justice system should be run. Interesting folk, but still foreign in many ways.

"But if the rules state that you are not allowed to hit the ball twice in a row, it would be unfair for the team that has fewer players," Christine reasons from her spot in the grass. She counts through the people who have split up so far. Jim and Sam are going to be on a team together, and that leaves two on one side and three on the other.

"Or I could join them and both of you join Korrin and Church?" she suggests, pointing to the side where Hermione, Cullen, and Aleron have gathered. And yes, what is a tank? Sounds like an advantage, Church. Very suspicious.

"I'm not pouting," he calls to Korrin, pouting playfully as he does so. He was just saying seeing as he knew Church was going for an advantage - because come on, that was very obvious. Course Church isn't the only Rifter calling dibs on the field, Sam finding himself being pressed up against Kirk's side.

"Guess I can't go against what we all know," he says with a chuckle, listening intently to all the rules. At least he was trying to focus on the rules, but having Kirk waggling his brows at him is making it difficult to keep a straight face. He's failing for the most part, lips curling up at the edges with a bit of red tinting his cheeks - it's the sun okay? He's sure that he knows what Kirk wants, but he can't do that with his arm around him, now can he?

"That sounds like a plan," he says agreeing to Chirstine's idea. "That'll make it four on four?" And yes, what is a tank?

Korrin listens to the rules given, mostly. She learns best through action, though, and so she won't drag this conversation out by caring overly much about who's on what team. When Christine mentions joining in, the Vashoth woman flashes a grin her way.

"Excellent, it's just not the same sitting out this out. Four on four? Sounds good, any last minute changes or other questions? I want to get started as soon as possible."

Christine takes Ponce out of her lap and sets him down beside her before getting to her feet. Like Hermione, she's wearing a tunic and pants and she works on rolling up her sleeves as she makes her way over to her team. When Ponce follows, nearly pressed to her heels, she smiles and points off to the side.

"Ponce, stay with Puppy. With Puppy. Go on!" Ponce looks up at her curiously, then over at his friend. Sure, he'll hang out with his bro. He bounds over to the mabari and leaps over his back, faceplanting into the grass. But that's just typical behavior for him.

"Now what score do we have to reach to win?" Because obviously her team's winning. She takes no prisoners.

"In traditional volleyball? I believe it's 24, but you have to win by two points - so if it's 23-24, you have to get to 25 to win," he explained, stretching his arms above his head as he moved to join his team.

Thank you, Church, for introducing strange new terms, especially one with a variety of meanings. The english language was a hassle sometimes, it really was.

"Tank, in this context, means someone with a lot of stamina and power," he said, keeping it simple for the sake of moving on with the game. "Which is something he wishes he was." The gauntlets are thrown sir, even if they are on the same team, but hey, if it gets Church to try harder...

"I think we can work out the rest as we go along, right? Just get the ball over the net for now, and don't touch it twice in a row."

Wow way to assume he's not gonna try hard! "Whatever, man, you're gonna be on the ground wishing you could go as hard as me." Nothing like a little rifter trash talking. That's how it's done, son.

Christine he is hurt. Just really super hurt. Gosh. How dare. Where's that ball at? He spins it up in the air a couple times and backs up. "I'll serve first, cuz I call dibs on that, too." Stop. Stop him. The serve flies beautifully in a way that I wish I could ever do with my tiny hands, over the net. "Heads up!"

A lot of stamina and power? Didn't that just describe just about everyone here? Still not quite getting it, Sam follows onto what he assumes is the 'court', biting his tongue at what he assumes Church is using as a counter taunt - he's going to keep that comment to himself.

"So, it's literally just getting the ball over the net? No boundar-" Nope forget he's asking a question because Church is already throwing the ball over to the other side. Thanks, Church. Not even giving a guy to get ready, or at least get his shirt off.

Now, Christine can't be sure if Church served the ball towards her on purpose or not, but she's going with a yes on that one because of course he would aim at any one of the natives and not Hermione, who knows what she's doing. Since Christine doesn't know what she's doing, she raises an arm, hand balled into a fist, and takes a swing at the ball.

She, of course, completely misses and the ball goes sailing past to hit the ground.

"I do not think I was even close," she pouts, turning to retrieve the ball. "Now what happens?"

Hermione would almost have been willing to sit out of the game if it meant making the number of players more even, but again, she's one of the few who knows the rules, and it wouldn't do to have the other two rifters on the same team. Not that she thinks Kirk and Church would cheat... though she wouldn't be entirely surprised if they bend the rules a little.

And while it's not cheating, that strong serve barely before her team even readies themselves takes her by surprise, and though she tries to move for the ball, it's nowhere near her. She huffs a little, though she doesn't exactly blame Christine for missing. "They get a point, and the ball goes back to their team for someone else to serve." She's looking pointedly at you, Kirk, since she's going to assume he'll play a bit fairer (even if Church hadn't technically done anything wrong, shh).

"Also, Christine, it's better to go at the ball open-handed with both hands rather than with a fist. It makes it much easier to direct." Because volleyball hadn't been invented in Thedas, so not everything is solved by punching things. "There are other ways to hit it, such as bumping the ball with your forearms to pass it to another player on your team, and no real rules about what's right and wrong so long as you use your hands and arms, but you'll pick up on that as we go along."

Church's enthusiasm has Korrin snickering, though she sobers when looking over to Christine. As competitive as she herself can get, this isn't her birthday. They can start this off fairly, or at least as fairly as they can get, considering most are just hearing the rules now. After they have a chance to familiarize themselves, well, she'll make no promises.

Resting her hands on her hips, she nods at Hermione's advice. "Hands and arms, got it. We can start again, with some warning time. If we're going to crush the other side, I want to earn it."

Edited 2017-05-16 18:48 (UTC)

Oh, Church, that is definitely not the way to get on your girlfriend's good side when it's her birthday. But hey, he's not the one hitting against her and he's not her boyfriend, so he won't say anything about it. But that doesn't mean he's going to lay down and not put up a bit of a fight. He was to competitive for that.

He doesn't miss Hermoine's look, though, and he agreed that it was only fair to go a bit easy at the start, to get their teams used to the rules of this new game. He held his hands up for the ball. The real rule was that the person was serving kept serving until they lost the point, but given the array of skill levels between them, the rotation did seem more fair.

"Right, let's just say we're officially starting on my serve then - that one was the practice serve."

"Fair enough."

A restart sounds far more reasonable and fair than keeping that unexpected serve lobbed at Christine. Perhaps that's a part of the game, sneaking in a first move, but from the reactions of some other the others? Aleron reckons it's not. As long as the birthday lady isn't too fussed about it, he won't say anything, but let's not upset her, shall we?

Don't worry on Christine's behalf. She can get even with Church later. In the meantime, she does appreciate that they're setting the score back to zero and considering that a practice shot. She hadn't even known the proper way to hit the ball yet! But she thinks she has it down now.

"Thank you. I think knowing the best way to hit the ball is a necessary part before we start."

Moving up to the net, she gives Church a smirk before gently tossing the ball to Kirk from under the net.

Being one of the few who didn't know the game, Sam just stands there watching as the ball sails through the air, over the net, right for Christine, and... hits the ground. It makes sense that everyone was agreeing to a fresh start. "Way to go hard, Church."

During the time everyone is getting ready for the 'official' start, Sam quickly takes a few seconds to remove his shirt - just from that serve he could see that there was going to be a lot of movement happening - and tosses it to the side.

"God, fine, I'm sorry." He's not sorry. Look at that eyeroll. SOME people were getting impatient to start. (Like him.)

When Sam doffs his shirt, he gives a little whistle. "That's the spirit!"

"Hey, eyes on your own significant other!" he called, though he took was momentarily distracted by the sudden display of Samouel's muscles. He did so like it when he pulled off his shirt -

Oh, right, game. He brought himself back to the moment, tossing the ball for a moment as people got themselves into place. He took a breath and tossed the ball up, reaching forward and slapping it with the palm of his hand to push it forward. It sailed over the net at a gentler pace than Church's first serve, so let's hope this particular point goes better.

Seeing how instantly Kirk gets distracted despite the fact that he'd just chided Church when Sam took off his shirt, Hermione lets out a huff and rolls her eyes, though at least she's good-natured about it. "I'm about to invent a rule that says shirts must stay on," she mutters under her breath. Not that she's entirely incapable of appreciating a fit body, but there are more important things to focus on; there's a game going on, for goodness' sake.

But he finally does serve the ball, and while it's Hermione's instinct to attempt to hit it back over the net, she knows that it's best to get the rest of her team used to hitting the ball, too. Besides, she's too short to properly spike it with enough clearance, and so she positions herself so that she can bump the ball off her forearms, passing it off to the person closest to her. She might have to sacrifice another point if that person ends up not being ready, but it isn't as though they're playing for a trophy against seasoned athletes.

Christine chuckles beside Hermione and nearly says that she should have thought up that rule before they started, but then the ball is served and she tries to ready herself now that she knows just how she's supposed to hit the ball. It seems like Hermione's got it, but then she bumps it up towards Christine, and the latter sees the benefit in passing it over. Depending on the angle the ball is coming in at, readjusting the ball so it's more straight in the air makes sense. Positioning her arms like Hermione, Christine manages to hit the ball, angling her wrists in such a way that it launches the ball up and out towards the net, instead of straight up.

It just manages to get over the net with maybe two inches to spare, but Christine releases a breath of relief that it actually got over in the first place.

Well, too late, the shirt is off. Don't worry though, he's not going to encourage them, making a point in not turning around and keeping himself facing the net and the other team. Course that doesn't stop him from grinning, clearly a bit smug and amused at hearing Kirk snapping at Church for his whistle.

When he hears the ball being hit and sees it sail over the net again, Sam readies himself, or as much as he can seeing as he doesn't know how to position himself or hold his arms. So of course that means the ball comes to him having put himself right next to the net.

He makes a surprised noise as he runs forward, leaning out and barely catching the ball with his arm. It's the side of his arm though, so while it is still in the air it goes sideways towards the other end of the net.

Cullen has been silent, and looking on slightly suspect through all of this, but he's pretty sure he understands what's necessary. Fairly certain. At least half certain. When Ponce decides that being over where all the people are expending so much energy might be fun, Cullen doesn't bother trying to command him back. That little terror (though greatly improved) takes pleasure from being contrary, he's sure of it. Instead, he whistles for his own dog. "Puppy, keep Ponce near the blankets." For anyone who's decided not to play, and is not interested in watching those who are, a hundred pounds of mabari herding eight pounds of fluff and yap is possibly even more entertaining.

When the game starts in earnest, however, he's back to looking slightly out of place. Mostly because there really is no way for a man wearing a plackart and vambraces, his pauldrons all the more obvious now that there's no furred collar to hide them, to look natural playing volleyball. It just can't be done.

The ball nearly makes it over, brushing against the net before dropping down to the ground. Christine isn't sure if that's a point for their side or if that just means the other team doesn't get a point, so she looks to Hermione for guidance. Look, it's not that she doesn't trust the rifter boys on the other side over there (well, okay, she doesn't trust them a little bit when it comes to the game), but Hermione is her teammate.

"Do we get a point for that?" And after she asks, out of the corner of her eye she notices Cullen and looks towards him, eyebrow lifting. "Cullen, you cannot be comfortable playing a sport in all that armor."

He's got no clue if they get a point, and no clue if he's allowed to touch it, so Cullen just looks at the ball that's near his feet before looking back up at Christine. "I wear this every day. If I can make it through a battle in it without any ill effect, I think I'll be all right playing a game."

Notice he did not say anything about comfort. Not a single word. Mostly because Christine is not the only one who might pounce on that admission. Hermione is just as bad, if by bad you mean a good friend and concerned for his well-being. He's not going bare-chested for the sake of a party game, though, and it seems like a slippery slope.

Christine's right not to trust those other two rifters playing (with apologies to Kirk, at least), and so she nods as she holds her arms out for someone to toss the ball over her way. "That's a point for us, yes. That also means we get to serve next. There's usually a proper rotating system to it, but I can do it until someone else on our team feels comfortable with trying it. Assuming there are no objections to that."

She doesn't really notice what Cullen's wearing until Christine exchanges words with him, and she looks up at him with a frown. "Yes, but you have bigger concerns while in a battle, such as not getting skewered with a sword and making it to the next moment in one piece. The worst you have to worry about here is a ball rebounding off your chest. Or, if you insist on keeping that on, heatstroke. Do yourself a favor and get rid of at least some of it."

She's no expert in removing armor, but she's sure he can remove enough of it to be comfortable and still decent. And if he's unwilling, she's sure she can manage to make the right amount of buckles and clasps loosen and make it seem like it's just the will of the Maker, if that's how he chooses to view it.

{ CLOSED } If I just breathe

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