Balls [Open]

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

Loren had spent a long, long time in GLaDOS. And when she was back, as far as she could tell, nothing had really changed. Her fiance was gone. So was her son. She knew they were alive but she still missed them.

She grabbed her baseball bat and retrieved the baseballs she'd bought during Shore Leave, found a nice spot in the City, and started hitting them. It was one way to get the stress out. And it worked even better if she imagined the baseballs were the Ohm.

Comments

[seesbosscrotch.livejournal.com]

There's a sharp report from the distance, as if the last ball had just smashed into something metal, along with a startled yelp.

A few moments later, the paladin wandered over, looking none the worse for wear -- but the ball he was tossing in his hand had split its seams, thread wafting through the air as it spun through its arc to smack into his gauntleted palm.

"I think I won that one," he said with a grin.

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

Loren winced. "Sorry. Didn't know anyone was out there." So much for that baseball. At least she had others.

[seesbosscrotch.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm fine!" Mar said, never losing his grin. He reached up to knock his hand against his head. "You could've bounced the thing off my head and it probably wouldn't have bothered. But why are you whacking balls with a stick?"

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

"You never heard of baseball? We have to fix this. It's a great game." Although she'd never been able to get Elfangor to enjoy participating. He preferred watching.

She held out her bat. "This is called a baseball bat. Those balls are baseballs. You're supposed to hit the baseball as far as you can. In an actual game there are three 'bases' you're supposed to run to before returning to your home base but I don't have any here."

[seesbosscrotch.livejournal.com]

"Oh, so you whack the ball with the bat, huh? That seems simple enough! I guess someone else tries to stop you from running, huh?"

Hurry up and correct his mental image, which involves carrying the bat around the bases and violently clobbering the opposition before they did the same to you. In fairness, if baseball were an Azerothian sport, it WOULD work that way.

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

Loren nodded. "Yeah. If someone on the other team catches the ball before it hits the ground you're out. If someone catches it after it hits the ground then the person holding the ball has to touch you. But if you're on one of the three bases you're safe."

[seesbosscrotch.livejournal.com]

His brain seamlessly, and grossly erroneously, translated all this to battleground terms. "Do the rest of the people on your side help you get to the base? Otherwise it seems the only people who could get far are the ones who can free themselves of snares and stuns." He considered a moment longer. "Man, warriors would be insane at this game, they could just leap to the base."

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

"Uh, I think you're seriously misunderstanding. There aren't any snares or stuns. You don't use anything. The batter drops the bat the moment they hit the ball. The most you do is tap someone when you catch up with them."

[seesbosscrotch.livejournal.com]

Mar blinked.

"I -- you must live on a really peaceful world, if your enemies are content to play by rules like that..."

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

"No, no." Loren shook her head. "It's not played with enemies. It's a game."

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

Marco was meat to be at home, being looked after by his mother. But Marco had had other plans, and so he had snuck out to run about the City for a while.

At which point he'd then stumbled across some blonde lady with a bat. "Why are you playing baseball on your own?" he asked, wondering up to her. "That's just silly."

Recognise this kid at all, Loren?

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

There was something oddly familiar about him.

"I don't have anyone else to play with and the Sensorium is too creepy. Besides, it feels good." She paused to give Marco a closer look. "I'm Loren. What's your name?"

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

"I'm Marco!" he said. And he might have offered to play to, except...well, the lady was kinda scary with that bat. Marco had the feeling that he'd never have any chance against her. So instead, he aimed for an area he was much more confident in. "Wanna hear a joke?"

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

Loren blinked. "You're Marco?" Well that explained why he looked so familiar. Except now she was really confused.

"Uh... sure."

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

"Yup!" Marco said cheerfully, completely ignoring all of Loren's confused looks. He had a joke to tell, why would he care about whether she was confused?

"When does a baseball player wear armour?"

[visserbasher.livejournal.com]

Like everything else in her life, she was just going to go with it. "I don't know. When?"

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

"At the Knight Games!" Marco said, grinning as if this was the best joke in the world.