[FIN] Up to Serve

[Suudonym]

He took the ball between his hands and raised his arms over his head, his forefingers and thumbs forming a triangle over his forehead and his elbows and knees bent. "Overhead passing is where you catch the ball on your fingertips and then bounce it," he extended his his arms and straightened his knees, pushing the volleyball high up into the air, "straight up!" He cradled the ball on his fingertips for only a moment as it fell back down again, bending his limbs briefly and then straightening out again to send the ball flying back up into the air. "Well, not straight up, I guess - it's passing, so you're supposed to send it to another person." He continued to volley the ball up over his head, able to do it precisely enough that he didn't need to change his position so long as he watched the ball. "See, you catch it like this - with your fingers, not your palms," he explained as it fell down into his waiting hands again, "and then push it back up. Let me know when you're ready and I'll send it over! It's hard to pass really accurately this way, though, so you'll have to move to get under it; I'll send it waaaayy up so you've got plenty of time!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Hmm..." Her expression turned to one of concentration again as she bent down and raised her arms, attempting to mimic his stance. Catch it with her fingers... "But I thought we weren't supposed to catch it?" She asked, confusion etched in her features suddenly, but regardless she remained in the stance, prepared to receive it, though a little unsure how she would do this time. "I think I'm ready!"  

[Suudonym]

"Not catch it!" he confirmed. "Sort of like, ummm... boof." He pushed the ball up again. "You only touch it for a second!" It sounded like she was as ready as she was going to be though, and so when the ball fell again, he tilted it towards her and launched it high up, "Here it comes!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Only for a second; that made more sense, given what he'd said before about not catching it. "Okay!" And then it was heading towards her again. She wasn't as nervous now that she'd handled it for a while already, albeit in a different stance, and so she was ready when it descended. She didn't have to move far to reposition herself beneath the ball, thankfully, and while it was far from perfect, she at least managed to launch the ball back into the air, though it went somewhat off to the side rather than back towards Shoyo.  

[Suudonym]

Even if it wasn't perfect, Shoyo seemed no less impressed with her performance, "Whoooaa! That was great! Here, I'll send it over again!" He moved at a mild jog as he spoke, his eyes following the ball as it reached the height of its arc and began to plummet, and placed himself at the point of its descent, cushioning its fall lightly and pushing it back overhead and towards Nicolette.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Bolstered both by her success and his encouraging words, Nicolette beamed and nodded again, once more moving to reposition herself beneath the ball as it headed towards her, and managed to send it back up and away again, albeit not very high.  

[Suudonym]

He moved faster this time, reflexively switching to the receiving posture he had explained earlier to have better control over how the ball was redirected. He bumped it back up into the air and in Nicolette's direction, watching how the ball moved and preparing to react, calling out his encouragement once more.

Shoyo would have happily continued the exercise indefinitely, even as a mist of sweat began to accumulate on his brow and his shirt began to stick to his body as he chased after the ball to keep it in play. It wasn't really volleyball, but it was a lot more fun than hitting the ball against a wall by himself.

Eventually, as the sun began to set, there was a chiming sound from Shoyo's pocket, and, startled by the unexpected noise, he let the ball hit the pavement. "Urgh, sorry," he muttered, fishing his phone from his pocket and looking at the screen. "Wah! Sorry!" he repeated, somewhat surprised. "I didn't know it was getting so late! I have to go home for dinner!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When the ball hit the ground, Pascal took the opportunity to go and retrieve it. He hadn't for a while, given how they usually kept it in play, but given how Shoyo was currently distracted, now was an opportune moment.

While excited about learning volleyball, and eager as she was to play with such an enthusiastic teacher, after all of the receiving and passing, Nicolette was quickly starting to grow tired. She found herself rather relieved when he let the ball drop in order to answer his phone, and tried to relax during the impromptu break it afforded. This was quite a bit more tiring than she'd anticipated - but maybe that just meant she needed to practice more. Today was her very first day, after all. "Oh?" She blinked, mildly surprised at his exclamation before lifting her gaze to gauge the amount of light, and found it startlingly low. It had to have passed on into early evening by now. "Oh! I wasn't paying attention to the time.." She was rather disappointed to end their practice - it had been a lot of fun - but she had to admit, now that she'd stopped moving around so much, that she was really very tired and would've had to stop soon regardless. "I should probably go home for dinner, too," Nicolette added with a small frown.  

[Suudonym]

It sort of felt like he'd been cut off before finishing, possibly in part because it had been a much lighter workout than he usually gave himself and in part because there was still so much that he could explain. He responded to he frown with one of his own before an idea lit up his face anew. He held his cellphone up indicatively, "Oh-- How about I give you my number, and the next time you're free, you can send me a message and we'll do some more stuff?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh! Yes," she replied eagerly as he held up his phone, and she pulled her own out so she could enter his number, hesitated, then thought better of it, and offered her own to him. "Here, would you like to put it in instead?" That might be easier for the both of them, and plus she wouldn't have to ask him to spell his name to make sure she knew how to spell it.  

[Suudonym]

"Sure!" He accepted the phone as it was extended to him, navigating through the menus to the contact information so he could add his name and number. "Here, done!" he proclaimed, handing back the device with a beaming smile.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She accepted her phone back with a smile, taking a moment to look at the information - that was about how she expected his name to be spelled - before putting it away. "Thank you. I usually spend a good part of each day training my pokemon, and I do enjoy baking, but beyond those I'm usually free," she explained as she folded her hands in front of her.  

[Suudonym]

"Pokemon training?! Seriously?!" Shoyo's features were aglow with awe and enthusiasm, his hands drawn up into excited fists. "You're a trainer?! That's awesome! That's so cool!" His childlike wonder and admiration gave way to eager determination as he gestured to himself with a thumb, "I'm gonna become an ace trainer one day! If we ever end up in a battle, I won't go easy on you!" His confidence was perhaps a bit unwarranted, given he had never actually experienced a battle before and only had one pokemon to call his partner, but for Shoyo, all things started with positive thinking and perseverance.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His abrupt excitement almost startled her, and it took her a moment before she nodded and smiled brightly. "Yes, I am! I have a few pokemon besides Pascal," here she gestured briefly to the Lopunny at her side before her hand returned to its twin, "and they all train almost every day, so if we do battle sometime, we, um, we won't go easy on you either!" Well, that sounded a little odd, and definitely not something she usually said - in fact, she vaguely recalled someone saying they would win a battle, and she'd agreed with them. Granted, it had been her very first battle ever and she had little to no idea what to do, and so she was simply being honest. It definitely threw them for a loop though. "So you're a trainer too, then? What's an ace trainer?"  

[Suudonym]

He marveled momentarily; multiple pokemon, training every day - it was totally different from the average lifestyle in the place he had known growing up. It reminded him of his early childhood in Kanto, however, and reignited the little flame that had never quite gone out. "Ah, well..." In an instant, his confidence drained. "I guess I'm not, not really. Pokemon training wasn't really a thing where I grew up, so I have a pokemon, but we've never, you know... battled, or anything." His steadily declining volume returned to its normal decibel level as he responded to the second query, "An ace trainer is a reeeeally good trainer, the kind of trainer who could become the champion! I'm gonna be like that someday!"