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Post by zuyuri on Mar 17, 2024 22:00:09 GMT
The spring beach bash was in session. It meant one thing for Riku; beach volleyball. It was good practice for boombsll, so he and his four friends on the team had made their way down to the beach to practice. There was a buzz of people. Some were snacking on boardwalk food. Others were buying b tickets for rides. Riku would do that after he smacked the ball around. A free court got his attention, and he pointed it out to his teammates. “Hold that spot. I’ll catch up. Just got to refill my water.”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on May 27, 2024 20:49:53 GMT
Utena felt like she needed a break after finishing that last lab report for biology class. Ms. Locklear was cool out in the field, but her classes were tough. Getting through that lab report had been brutal, so Utena felt like some summer air was a good enough reward for hitting the books for so long. And it looked like the weather was finally warming up too. She couldn't help but smile as the wind tousled her hair and she smelled the salty air. It reminded her of the times she and her family would visit here. There had been trips without her dad after the divorce, but Utena felt his absence like the elephant in the room that nobody was choosing to acknowledge. She hoped that maybe one day, if she was a famous enough superhero and caught her dad's attention, they could do it again. Bella had lost any hope of that a long time ago, but Utena still clung to it, even if she wouldn't admit it. Any thoughts of her dad were interrupted as she passed by a volleyball net with some potential players, and someone familiar asking them to hold the spot while he got some water. "Riku, hey!" she called, her face brightening.
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Post by zuyuri on May 28, 2024 20:16:29 GMT
Someone that wasn’t one of teammates called Riku’s name, and he put down his bottle. Well, what do you? She had taken him up on his offer. Or maybe not, but he could be cheeky about it. “Utena! Where have you been?” He came over with his arms open wide and a grin on his face.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on May 31, 2024 1:52:36 GMT
Riku answered back just as brightly as Utena and she gave him a quick hug, grinning from ear to ear. "Finally surfacing after nearly drowning in a lab report," she replied. "Those things are the worst." That, or math tests. Or boring history lectures. The only academic work Utena didn't mind so much was book reports and that was mostly because Bella could help. She could pick out the theme of a book and write pages about it. "Looks like I picked the right day to treat myself," she continued, and she didn't just mean the nice weather.
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Post by zuyuri on May 31, 2024 4:16:24 GMT
“Oof. I get what you’re saying.” That last lab report had to have been brutal. Riku had barely even finished his, but with just a nudge from a teammate’s sister, he was able to make it work. But at least it was almost summer vacation. As he released Utena from the hug, he looked at her curiously when she said she was treating herself. “What, bumping into me doesn’t count? I’m hurt,” he teased.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Jun 2, 2024 22:09:32 GMT
"Oh stop, you count too," Utena laughed, giving him a playful jab on the arm. She did mean it though. Between making some new friends who were a bit shy and wondering if Bella really did have a crush, it'd been a while since she'd hung out with someone who was pretty similar to her. And Riku fit the bill nicely. Sure, she had a few jock buddies and had fun with them, but Riku felt different somehow. "Looks like you're not the only one enjoying the nice weather," she commented, glancing at his friends still gathered near the volleyball net.
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Post by zuyuri on Jun 3, 2024 1:29:33 GMT
Riku playfully rubbed his arm at Utena’s punch. Sone times, her forgot how nice it was to actually hang out with someone that shared common interests. “No Bella?” He asked, noticing that Utena’s twin sister was absent. “She’s usually shadowing you. And I’m the shadow guy!” Okay, the pun was a bit much, but it was infectious being around her.
He saw Utena glance to the net, where his teammates, sans their coaches, were warming up.
“Guys, hang on,” Riku held up a hand. His teammates stopped their swinging of weapons and looked up. “This was the one player I was telling you all about. This is Utena. Utena, these are the rest of the Chargers.”
A blonde gentleman smoothed out his floppy bangs. “We’ve been hoping to get new players for a while. Imagine our light when Riku said he found someone that he wanted to try out.”
A dark skinned girl with chocolate brown hair tied into a long braid rolled her eyes. “More like you were excited, Dimitri. You said, and I quote,” she imitated his posh British accent, “ ‘I’m certainly excited.”
Dimitri’s face turned red. “Fair enough, Katara. I suppose I did get carried away.”
Katara wrinkled her nose. “I’m just glad that we got another girl on the team. My back hurts from carrying the team’s feminine energy.” This made the men groan as she flexed her arm and gave Utena a wide grin.
“Dimitri’s twin sister Sonia is a cheerleader,” Riku gestured to the blonde boy. “And Katara’s got mean defense moves.”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Jun 6, 2024 23:48:46 GMT
Utena laughed at Riku's joke before replying "Not today. She wanted to unwind at the park. Probably pulling a Disney princess moment right now and singing with some birds or something." Well, maybe Bella wasn't that stereotypical, but she did love long walks in the woods where all the traffic and the noise died down and there was just the sounds of nature. Utena liked that every once in a while, but she wanted to be where there was stuff going on, exciting things to look at. And the beach always had something to do or check out.
The rest of Riku's friends were brought over, which seemed like an interesting bunch. Dimitri certainly looked like the fit jock type and Katara had a witty sense of humor. Utena couldn't help but laugh at her jokes. She gave a friendly wave as she said "Nice to meet you guys." It looked like they had a game all set up to go, but they had an odd number of players. "Maybe today's the perfect opportunity for me to try this thing out," she commented. She wasn't in work out clothes, but still comfy enough that she could run around and jump in the sand no problem.
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Post by zuyuri on Jun 7, 2024 5:17:05 GMT
Riku gestured to the side of the next that he hadn’t occupied. Dimitri and Katara were both on the other side. He glanced around, looking for an extra practice sword to give to Utena. He brandished the weapon and handed it to her. “We can give you a quick rundown of the rules. I know I brushed on it briefly, but a little refresher never hurt.”
He picked up the large yellow foam ball and looked at Utena. “On our serve, it has to go over otherwise it won’t count. When we get it over, it has to bounce once before Dimitri and Katara can intercept.”
Katara waved. “When it’s your serve, try to aim for my square.”
Riku nodded. “We can also explain as we go. A lot of rules.” He took the ball and stood on his side. After tossing the ball in the air, he waited before swinging with his practice swirls, sending it flying over. It bounced on Dimitri side once before he scooped it up effortlessly and bounced it over the net.
“Utena! Your ball!”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Jun 11, 2024 22:45:59 GMT
Right, games always had a lot of rules. Utena felt like she could get it pretty quickly though. The practice sword already felt natural in her hands, if a bit lighter than the real one she owned. She watched the ball as Riku sent it in a pretty high arc before Dimitri hit it back. She nodded at Riku as the ball bounced in front of her once, then she hit it back over the net. It went a bit higher than she wanted, the ball was lighter than she expected. She reminded herself that this wasn't like using a sword on a training dummy where she could swing as hard as she wanted.
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Post by zuyuri on Jun 13, 2024 0:51:27 GMT
Urena’s hit was definitely impressive. The ball sailed over like a rocket launched into the air. It fell back over on the other side. Latara ran to try and intercept the hit, but just before she could swing her practice sword to hit it, the ball landed square just in the safe zone a centimeter away from the boundaries. The trio all looked over Utena in awe. She had made the ball go up then straight down with just one tap. That was a super advanced sword move.
“Nice hit, Utena!” Riku clapped her on the back. “One point for us!”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Jun 17, 2024 23:09:41 GMT
Okay, maybe going at the ball like a lumberjack worked out sometimes. Utena beamed at the praise, but she didn't want to get too cocky. "Let's make sure that wasn't beginner's luck, pass it back," she said. Riku and the others had been playing this sport for a while, they probably got really good once the game got going and the ball was going back and forth like crazy.
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Post by zuyuri on Jun 18, 2024 3:34:33 GMT
Dimitri and Katara picked up the ball from the sand. After dusting it off with a small tendril of water from her water bottle, she served it over. It bounced once on Riku’s side, and as he eyed it, focusing on where the shadow of the ball would be, he swung his sword. Using his shadow powers, he angled the ball to give a good smack to Utena.
“Try passing it this time!”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Jun 19, 2024 23:37:23 GMT
The ball started going back and forth again, with Riku passing it to her so she could pass it back this time. She focused for a moment, trying not to smack the ball so hard as she swung to hit it. But her movement was a little too tentative and the ball plopped to the ground before anyone had a chance to get it back in the air. "Darn, fumbled it," she muttered. She needed to stop going to extremes, too hard or too soft, and find a nice balance on hitting the ball.
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Post by zuyuri on Jun 20, 2024 3:15:01 GMT
“Don’t beat yourself up. You had the right idea,” Riku said reassuringly to Utena. He gave a look at the sad state of the ball. The good news was it wasn’t broken. “Besides, we’re just messing around, not playing for real.”
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