Step Up To The Plate (Yuri)

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

pop

The bubble Tamsin was blowing popped and she took a moment to recover the remnants before chewing some more. The sun was bright today, the weather uncommonly nice. And as she had just gotten a nice new bat from Isaac, it seemed like a good enough reason to try it out. It had taken her nearly an hour of scrounging around vending machines in the Backlight to recover enough change to play a couple rounds at the batting cages, but here she was, waiting on the machine to start spitting balls at her.

The light came on, she could hear the motor kick on across the dirty field.

First ball - Crack! and a rattling sound as it bounced off the fence to the right. Not bad, but she could do better. She blew another bubble, pop. Knocked the head of the bat against the heel of her back leg. Adjusted her ball cap.

It was something of a ritual. In the silence of these run-down coin-operated batting cages, it was almost like she was casting a spell.

Second ball - Crack! Little closer this time. The ball flew back and clanked off the fence behind the pitching machine.

Another bubble, another ritual

Crack! The third ball sailed back clanked loudly off the top of the pitching machine. Tamsin cracked a smile. If you hit the machine just right, something inside the beat up old toaster snapped, and it would start the process all over again, no coins required. With a small smirk that betrayed the otherwise serious slant to her eyes, Tamsin flipped the bat in her hand, and prepared herself for her first free pitch of the day.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Sun Oct 28, 2018 5:00 am

What a beautiful morning! Yuri got up early, like any other day, and began his scheduled prowl around the Backlight. 'And perhaps,' he considered, 'I should spectate some people at sporting facilities. Yes, I wonder how the sport playing members of society are performing.' There was one person, a girl, preparing to strike balls. 'Very well. Let's see how you do.' He prepared a page to mark visitors, and the opposite, their accuracy. One hit, perfect accuracy. Two hits, perfect accuracy. Three hits, clank! Perfect accuracy. He got up and pushed himself against the batting cage, to get a better view. 'What just happened? I believe I saw the ball hit the machine. That would explain the noise.' He hoped to not break her focus, but he had to know: "Was that intentional?" he shouted out to the girl. Damaging property isn't very nice. While it most likely was an accident, the perfect accuracy of her swings suggested otherwise.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Laser focus. Whirring noise. Fwip. Ball's in play, hold your ground. sw-

"Was that intentional?"

Clank! the ball slipped under the bat as her concentration was broken by the unexpected voice. The ball clattered off the cage behind her. Tamsin's eyebrow twitched as she glanced over her shoulder at the slender man watching from outside the cage, eyes narrowing suspiciously. People hardly ever came here. Who was this guy, and why did he care if she hit the machine.

She took her stance again, breathed out. Laser focus. Here comes the ball. "Do you work here?" She asked in an straight voice. Just an honest question.

Better not hit the machine with this ball. Had to find out if he was somebody who worked here. Though she got the feeling nobody worked here. The peace and quiet was one of the reasons she liked this place. She definitely didn't want to piss off someone who worked her. They might fix the machine. Or worse, kick her out.

Fwip, Crack!... The cage rattled as the ball bouced off one of the fences harmlessly.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Sun Oct 28, 2018 5:48 am

Oh no. She missed. It was most likely due to him talking to her, so Yuri decided that would not affect her hit ratio on paper. "I do not. You were hitting with perfect accuracy, so I figured there was a chance you were aiming for the machine specifically." If he said he did work there, she'd most likely say it wasn't intentional, even if it was. "I like to record the accuracy of the visitors' hits here." Everything he said so far was true. That was a hobby of his. He counted her ~~fifth~~ fourth hit. Impressive. "Your accuracy is so far the highest I've seen." If you didn't count hit four, that was also true.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

So he didn't work here. Good. But he was...recording her hits? That seemed odd. He seemed like sort of an odd person, now that she thought about it, but then there were not shortage of odd people in Endymion. "Then yea." She replied, knocking the bat against her heel again and taking her stance for the next swing.

"It gets me more balls." She explained succinctly. Breath out, breath in. Watch the ball. This was the money shot. Ignore the pale man for a second long enough to... Crack!

Clank! She hit the machine again. The whirring motor jumped, and jolted, and the whirring started again. looking over her shoulder then, she asked, with a curious raised of her slight eyebrow. "Why do you record people's accuracy? If you're recruiting for a team, I'm not interested." She cut off that possibility right off the bat. It wasn't as if there was any reason to join a league like that. Not when she was going to become a Cadet and fight demons alongside Isaac. He'd be so surprised that she'd already enrolled for school next semester...

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Sun Oct 28, 2018 6:20 am

Upon hearing the secret of the batting machine, he let out a laugh. "Oh, that's wonderful. Really, it's great that you've discovered such a thing." How much time must she have spent here to discover that? It was also possible she was told that by someone else, but it multiple people knew of it, it might have been fixed already. Even if she didn't discover it on her own, she would have had to hang around here a lot for someone to tell her.

She inquired if he was scouting for a team. "Not at all, I'm here on my own accord. I just like to know things, is all." He did most certainly have a manic obsession with statistics. "I'll leave this here for you." He stuck a twenty dollar bill into the fence, to help her continue her baseball adventures, and sat back down, waiting for the next swing to occur.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Tamsin blinked. twenty dollars?

clank, fwip, Rattle. She completely missed the next ball in accepting the bill through the fence. Spend all this on the batting cages? Not a chance. She'd use it for something much more worthwhile. "...Thank you." she replied, sliding the bill into the back pocket of her jeans. The next ball came out, and she wasn't ready for it. But she wasn't about to miss another one. Taking a hasty stance she swung wide, in something more akin to a sword swing than a baseball swing, and knocked the ball past the machine into the fence behind.

She let out a breath she let out a breath, a little miffed about the lack of grace in that hit. She rolled her shoulders, adjusted her hat, took her stance. Knocked the bat against her heel again.

crack! she hit the ball and once again it rattled off the top of the machine. "Yes!" she allowed herself another satisfied smile. "That's more like it."

"So what is a guy dressed as nicely as you taking notes for in a run down place like this? Arent there more... Important records you could be taking?" she asked easily. This guy had given her money, and now she felt obligated to atleast have a meaningful conversation with him.

She took her stance as the next set came up, and blew a bubble.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Sun Oct 28, 2018 2:46 pm

He watched as she hit the top of the machine once more. To aim a ball like that must require a notable amount of skill. Was there something more important than what he was doing now? "Perhaps. However, this is just for fun. That's the same reason you're here, isn't it?"

Yuri decided to inquire about the machine trick. "Did you discover the machine technique yourself, or did someone tell you?" He realised that she was blowing bubble gum this whole time. Bubble gum, yes, the stereotypical candy treat of baseball players. You can see pictures of them on many bubble gum wrappers, some bubble gum brands marketed specifically towards baseball players. This is very interesting. "Do you like bubble gum?" he'd ask after that.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Fun? Writing down the statistics of perfect strangers was Fun? Tamsin shook her head, unable to understand, but not willing to spend too much brainpower on the conundrum at the moment. The next ball came out, and she knicked it with the bat, sensing it skidding along the ground.

The next question he asked was one she was prepared to answer. "No, my brother Isaac found it, years ago. Nobody seems to care to fix it though." her bat connected again, and the ball went high, rattling against the ceiling. "He's aged out now though. He's a Cadet at the school."

When he asked about the bubble gun she was in the process of blowing a bubble, and looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. The bubble popped. "Yeah. I get it for free from the sisters, son I chew it alot." she replied after pulling it back into her mouth. She turned her attention back a little too late. She hit the ball up high again, and it missed the machine. Damn, that was three.

Tamsin dropped her bat, sunk down and picked up one of the balls she'd missed before, and chucked over her head at the machine, knocking the top of it. It lurched and whirred. Just in time, she thought, heaving a sigh as she recovered the bat.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Sun Oct 28, 2018 10:08 pm

"Perhaps the reason they don't fix it is because the know people'll come here and use it instead of other batting machine facilities." That would indeed be a viable business strategy. It would keep people coming back. "The sisters? Do you live at an orphanage of sorts?" That would be unfortunate. He wondered that if such was the case, did they die, or simply abandon her? Yuri saw her throw a ball at the machine to most likely get more balls. It seemed he was taking up her attention. To continue to do so would be very inconsiderate. She mentioned her brother was a Cadet at Seven Stars. Perhaps he'd recognise him if he saw him? Not that it would matter, of course. He'd go back to silently observing. Or rather, perhaps he could get results from audio cues alone, and read something at the same time. Very well. He pulled out a small book on the history and topography of Alaska. Such an interesting subject indeed.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Tamsin shrugged simply at his conjecture. "Maybe." She replied, and hit another Ball, now that they the balls were coming again. His next question didn't catch her off guard as much as one might have thought it would. Still. To come to the conclusion so quickly, this guy must be pretty smart. Having fun gathering statistics, deducing things like that, the way he talked, the way he dressed. It all made her think of some plucky but capable detective from a detective mystery novel.

"Yeah, I do. It's not like lots of kids were left alone after the Divide." She took her stance for the next ball. "That's Life." She sounded to have made peace with whatever had happened, but the next ball was hit pretty hard, and the ball bounced off one side of the fence before flying in a diagonal arc to collide with the fence on the other side.

He fell silent for a minute then, pulling out a book to read as she hit the balls. Was he just gonna sit there the whole time? She found herself glancing back at him between hits. ...huh.

"What's you're name, anyway?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:12 am

Perhaps such a question was too sensitive to ask, especially to a stranger. That did cross his mind, but he didn't care. After a few hits had passed, she continued conversation. Wasn't she trying to focus on the balls? How bizarre. Then again, if a stranger talks to you, it's not strange to be curious about them once they stop. 'How inconsiderate I was to say anything in the first place! Regardless, it would be more so to ignore her.' "My name is Yuri." 'As for her name, it's more likely than anything to be Emily Smith, judging from her age. But simultaneously it is probably not Emily Smith! How bizarre!' He chuckled to himself after that thought, then returned the question. "Who are you?"

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Yuri. Sounded Japanese. Maybe Russian? She didn't spend much time thinking about it. This was a new challenge. Could she keep up with the conversation and hit the balls? Let's find out, shall we? She hit the next one, and it clanked against the machine.

"Tamsin Ferrell. Pleasure." She replied, waiting for the next ball. Yeah...this could be interesting. A smirk spread across her face then as she took her next stance. "Mr. Yuri. What do you do? What's you're job? When you're not recording underage girls' batting averages?" She asked lightly. 3. 2. 1. Hit.

Subject: Re: Step Up To The Plate (Yuri) Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:10 pm

"Tamsin Ferrell." He made sure not to forget the face the name belonged to, as always. "I restock the merchandise at Islamart, like rulers." Rulers were just one of many items he put on shelves. On occasion, there were even tape measures. It was a truly relaxing occupation, one he was glad to have. "However, Islamart is temporary. I'm going to take over the world. I will lead humanity. Now you tell me: Ms. Ferrell, What is it you do for a living? Studying hard? Have any future plans?" Success goes to the ones who prepare for the future early. Hopefully she was doing so, for her own sake, as a responsible member of society. She was skilled at baseball, so she did appear to have the effort to get good at stuff, whether it be a useful skill, or not.

Posts : 320 Join date : 2018-10-28

Crack! Another hit. So he, restocked shelves at Islamart? She didn't go there very often - you needed money to purchase things. Rulers? why did he call attention to just that? weird.

The next thing he said made Tamsin stop and stumble mid-swing. The ball that was coming bounced off the fence behind her and hit her on top of the head. Tamsin stumbled and held her head. "What ---ow. What do you mean you're going to take over the world?" When she regained her feat she was staring at him. "You're not one of those Psyche Terrorists are you? Trying to overthrow the government?" Suddenly there was surprise and concern in her eyes.

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» A step towards the Top [Tomoe]
» Step 1: Arm Thy Self (Continued)
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