[FIN] Up to Serve

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah..." Perhaps that had been a poor question, but she really didn't know what else to ask given the only thing she knew was the fact it must've been a sort of sports game involving at least one ball, and that was it. His explanation didn't do much to enlighten her - it succeeded in confusing her, though. "That sounds... ah, complicated," she said at length with a mild frown. There was a net, and teams... How many teams? Could they only touch the ball one time per team? No, that would be silly... Was six the entire game, or six on a team? Maybe three on each team... ...maybe she should go to the library and find something about volleyball there.  

[Suudonym]

He folded his arms across his chest and gave a long 'hrrmm' in thought. "It's super complicated," he said, "but it's also kind of simple? You run and you jump and you keep the ball from touching the floor. It's a battle with speed, reflexes, and jumping power. But it's a game, so there are lots of other rules too." Abruptly, he swelled with eager awe, sounding excited by the very prospect of his words, "Are you maybe interested in playing volleyball?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Super complicated... but also kind of simple? That was kind of an oxymoron, though she supposed a lot of things were simultaneously complicated and simple - like pokemon training. She found herself excited because she was excited, and she bounced on her toes a little. "Um! Maybe! I think so? I'm not sure though, since I know so little about it," she finished uncertainly, biting her lip a bit as she thought hard on it. Yes, she wanted to play - she wasn't entirely sure why she was so eager to play, but eager she was - but she wasn't sure how to go about playing, or if she would even be very good at it.  

[Suudonym]

"Whoa!" He practically sparkled with enthusiasm. "That's awesome! You'll definitely love it! I guess first you'd want to learn the rules? Or maybe beginner drills would be first... Or would it be conditioning...?" He thought back to his middle school days with a grumbling hum. Certainly he remembered learning about the history, but he didn't really remember what what he had learned, so it probably wasn't all that important. Knowing the basic movements was probably the best starting point, but one's body would obey their will more precisely if they'd done some conditioning first. He shut his eyes in growing frustration, "Maybe I wouldn't be the best teacher, though..."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Her enthusiasm similarly rose when his did, but hers faded a bit at his indecision over where to begin. He knew much better than she did regardless, given her ignorance on the subject. "No, I'm sure you'd be a wonderful teacher," she offered encouragingly. "Maybe... What was it you were doing when I got here? Hitting the ball against that wall - is that part of volleyball?" Maybe doing something like that was a good place to start?  

[Suudonym]

The praise softened him like butter and he grinned with a bashful pride, deflecting the flattery modestly, "I don't know about wonderful, you know? I've never taught anyone before..." Never mind that he was still awfully raw himself, especially his serving and receiving. He shook his head in response to the question, waving a hand, "Oh, no, that was just normal exercise. Volleyball is more..." he raised his hands over his head, his elbows bent and his palms facing up, extending from and retracting back to that position. "It's more up. Maybe the rules are the best place to start after all, like the positions and stuff and what the different movements are." Or maybe he was just stalling on figuring out the best way for a beginner to learn.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His response made her smile, and she shook her head again, but left it at that. "More...?" She trailed off, then mimicked the posture he'd shown her before when he'd wanted her to toss the ball to him, her hands in the air, "Up, like before?" Oh, rules - those were usually good places to start. "What sorts of positions are there?"  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah!" he confirmed. "It's like a fight against gravity. Jumping, keeping the ball in the air, quickly getting up and being ready to jump again if you fall - everything about volleyball is up!" He pouted in mild irritation, "They'll try to tell you that it's a battle of height, and it's true that taller players have an advantage, but as long as you can jump, you can stand on the same court! Even someone like me!" It was certainly no secret that Shoyo was short - he couldn't have hidden that fact even if he wanted to - but it was because he was so short that he took so much pride in his jumping ability.

He settled into a more neutral level of cheerfulness, happy to explain something that he knew well, "There's spiker, blocker, setter, and libero. Spikers specialize in attacking from the sides and corners of the court. Blockers stand right up beside the net and try to block the opponent's spikes. The setter tosses the ball up for the spikers and blockers to hit, and the libero is a player whose only job is defending." He gave the explanation as though he were proud of himself for putting it so well despite the absence of all kinds of information a beginner might want to know.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A fight, battle, attack - all of the words he used made it sound rather... violent, but sports weren't violent, were they? They were played for fun - they were games - so it wouldn't be anything bad, would it? No, it couldn't be. She pressed her hands to her cheeks again and frowned before lowering them, "They try to discourage you from playing because you're not as tall? That's not very nice," she pointed out with a pout of a frown, taking it even a tiny bit personally given her own short stature.

His explanation of the different players, as well as some various other terms she'd never heard before, were committed to memory. Or, at least, she tried to, but it was a little difficult when she didn't know what half of them meant. "Okay," she said hesitantly, frowning in concentrated thought this time. Spiker, blocker, setter, and libero.. Spikers... "When you say 'attack', what do you mean?"  

[Suudonym]

"They don't really discoura-- Well, maybe they discourage you a little," he corrected, frowning sourly for a moment. He couldn't count all the times he had been ridiculed for wanting to play volleyball competitively with his stature. "It's totally not nice! But you don't have to listen to it, because you don't have to be tall to win! Height is only one kind of weapon, after all." He set his hands on his hips with a satisfied grin, enthused by the prospect of his own words.

"An attack is like kabam!" He bounced upwards from the ground, slamming his arm forward in an arc. "Like what I did before! It's called a spike. Serving counts as an attack too, if you're really good at it," said with a tone that suggested he wasn't very good at it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Just because one didn't have to listen to it didn't discount their rudeness for saying it in the first place, but he continued too quickly so she refrained from voicing her thoughts, and instead watched and listened with rapt attention. "Ohh... So, spikers will spike.. and get points? So servers get points too - sometimes?"  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah!" he replied with an eager nod. "If you can hit a really good serve and the other team can't receive it, you get a point! That's called an ace. Blockers can get points too - when the opponent spikes at the net, the blocker jumps up to stop it from getting through, and it's like wham! The ball bounces back to the other side, and the blockers' team gets the point! That's a kill-block; it's not really an attack, but it's still a point. The only position that can't score points is the libero, so they're always reeeeeally good at defense!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ohh, okay!" She said with a nod, eagerly lapping up all of the information he was giving her. It was no exaggeration to say she loved learning new things. "So, receiving is.. How does one receive a serve? Do they catch it?" She asked curiously, still excited partly through her own enthusiasm and partly from his. "What position are you?"  

[Suudonym]

Her continuing interest in what he was saying only amplified Shoyo's own passion; it really seemed like she wanted to learn to play, and he was more than happy to help make that happen for her, even if he wasn't personally suited to teaching. "Ah, you're not supposed to catch it," he said. He dropped his waist, his knees bending, and held his arms forward, the heels of his palms touching. "For receiving, you do like this, and then pow," he bounced his arms upwards a bit, leaning into the motion, "you send the ball back up from your arms." He returned to a regular posture, grinning brightly. "It's tough to control where the ball goes, but it's the most important part of volleyball! You can't catch the ball, hold it, or touch it twice, so it's gotta go up and up and up every time it's touched." He jabbed a thumb at his chest, answering proudly, "I'm a blocker!" His steady enthusiasm melted into shyness at the words, and he moved his hand to the back of his neck. "I guess that sounds weird since I'm so short... Blockers are usually the tallest players on the team."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah - right, okay," she said with a determined, pouty frown and a single nod, and as he dropped into a stance meant to properly receive the ball, she attempted to do the same, though she was much more hesitant than he was - obviously so, given she hadn't heard of volleyball before about fifteen minutes ago. "Like this?" She asked uncertainly, clasping her hands together and trying to copy the upward movement he'd used just a few moments before. You couldn't catch it or hold it or touch it twice... That did sound rather difficult - but from his words and his demeanor it seemed like a very fun game, one that she now very much wanted to try for herself. "A blocker?" She repeated curiously - those were the people who tried to prevent the other team from attacking - or spiking - and so thus seemed more defensive than offensive. Though, he'd said they could also attack too, so maybe they were just simply a mix of both, instead of one or the other? "No, I don't think so - I think it makes you special, that you're a blocker despite not being very tall." Not that she knew just exactly how tall blockers were supposed to be, but it sounded like 'taller than this.'