ic On the Pitch (Open)

[Thevshi]

Claremont Academy Athletic Fields

Freedom City, New Jersey

October 2023, 3:30 PM

 

During Michael's new student orientation tour, there had a discussion about the school's athletic fields and Bernadette showing him how to play lacrosse. So, the Senior girl had arranged for them to meet at the athletic fields after classes ended for the day.

 

The Irish teen was dressed in a pair of shorts and a Irish national football team jersey as she walked out onto the field. She had a large bag filled with lacrosse sticks over one shoulder, which she dropped onto the ground. Two of her duplicates where busy moving a lacrosse goal out onto the field, while a couple of others already had lacrosse sticks and were running around passing a ball between them.

 

Resting her own lacrosse stick over one shoulder, the redhead was just waiting for Michael to arrive, along with anyone else that might show up.

[Poncho]

Michael had been a busy bee in between classes, meeting and greeting with extra effort. Somehow by the time classes had ended he had already managed to join 3 clubs. And after getting to his room and beginning to unpack, he'd managed to wrangle another student into meeting him at a toy drive later in the month. So he was a little late by the time he was sprinting across the grounds to meet with Bernadette, going as fast as a car. 

 

In a long-sleeve FDR Highschool hoodie and athletic shorts, he'd changed completely from his suit and tie appearance at the start of the day; he'd gone from politician to jock with a change of clothes and a change in focus, and he waved as he approached and slowed down. 

 

"Hey! Sorry I'm late! Did you know there's a ventriloquist club on campus? I decided to sign up. I've never done it before so it seems Winter." He said cheerily as he reached Bernadette. "Oh wow you're already moving fast huh...wish I had duplicates." He chuckled.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

Bernadette chuckled slightly as Michael arrived and mentioned joining the school’s ventriloquist club. "No, I don' think I had heard o' that club." She responded before glancing over at her duplicates and grinned. "Aye, they can come in handy at times, an' not just in a fight." She responded before bending down to pick up a lacrosse stick that she tossed to Michael.

 

"So, there are probably a number o' things which are goin' ta be different between hockey an' lacrosse. Like, I understand in hockey ye really aren' supposed to raise yer stick too high, no such rule in lacrosse." She stated, holding her stick up in front of her, the net up above her shoulders. "In fact, a lot o' what you do will be up high."

 

"Obviously, the net is fer catchin' the ball." The redhead stated, as she turned slightly and one of her duplicates threw a small, white ball in her directly, which Bernadette deftly caught with her stick, making a raid twisting/untwisting motion as she did which helped trap the ball in the net. "When ye have the ball, ye can run with it an' such. Other players can try ta knock it lose from yer net. An' no hittin' each other with the sticks, that is a penalty, but ye can hit another player's stick."

[Poncho]

He took a few practice swings with the stick after he caught it, getting used to the weight in his newly empowered hand and the difference in between the lacrosse stick and a hockey stick.

 

"I get you...yeah, I'm used to keeping it low instead of high, so keep it up like." he mimicked her, raising his stick up over his head and trying it that way. He flicked his hand to try the mimic of the motion but he clearly wasn't exactly good with that yet. "Hrmm, flicking the wrist...yeah, you kind of do that in Hockey and Football, so it's something like that I guess..." he tested it a few more times. "Alright, that's something to work on." he nodded along. "Run with the ball, that makes sense...okay. You can hit the stick with your stick, can you check other players? Like bodycheck them. Or is it supposed to be pretty non-contact?"

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

"Well…yes an' no. Older boys can bodycheck, so long as it is above the waist an' below the shoulders, an' you have ta keep both hands on yer stick when doin' so. They don' allow bodychecks in girl's lacrosse at all." Bernadett responded, shrugging slightly at the last as if she did not quite fully agree with it.

 

"I mean, today we can just take things light an’ work on passin' an’ shootin', but…don' worry about me, I'm tougher than I look, an' even before my powers developed, I grew up playin' rugby with older brothers." The redhead said with a small smirk before she raised up her stick and prepared to toss the ball over to Michael.

[Poncho]

"Right, just passing and shooting!" he agreed, nodding firmly. "And don't worry, if you want to hit me you can too, I'm sure you can take me down if you needed to, after all! Not that I want you to hit me, but like if you want to get physical you could." He said cheerfully. "Rugby is sort of like American Football, right? But you don't have pads? So I can imagine you being pretty tough dealing with that."

He planted his feet and held his stick up and out, ready to try and catch Bernadette's pass with absolute focus, tuning the entire world out except the ball that he started at so hard it could bore a hole through it, if he had laser eyes. "Ready when you are!"

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette cocked one-eyebrow up slightly at Michael's comment about how she should worry about being physical, a mischievous grin on her face. "Is that an invitation? Ye might wan' ta be careful with those." She stated with a small wink.

 

The redhead then made a quick action as she swung her lacrosse stick forward to send the white ball in the net arching towards Michael. "Aye, that is a fair comparison." She replied to Michael comparing Ruby to America Football, without pads. "Although the rules fer play are very different."

[Poncho]

"Oh? What's so bad about the invitation?" he grinned back. "I've not actually gotten into any physical action since I've gotten my powers, so it might give me an idea of what I can even do, I'm still learning, you know." he laughed.

 

As the ball came at him, he showed a solidly average grasp of the fundamentals of playing a sport; he had to do it with the skill of a total amateur- which he was-, but he let the ball come to him and twisted his wrists, keeping one of his hands close to the top of the stick as he let the ball come to him. He really want to apply force and pressure, to try and forcefully reach out and grab the ball with his net, but he just let it come.

 

Keeping his body from moving reflexively was honestly as much effort as doing anything, so it was far from easy. But he did, mostly, manage to catch the ball without overly embarrassing himself. Other than the fact he was clearly putting his very heart and soul into catching a little ball that had been carefully lobbed at him so that he could learn how to catch it.

 

"Right. Not quite the same, just kinda similar. Okay, let me try." he said. He tried to throw the ball back, trying to flick his wrist to throw the ball similarly to how he saw Bernadette do it, but that was a little awkward for him in this new style, and it sailed off to the right. "Ah, crud."

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette smirked slightly at Michael's response about not worried about being physical. "Well, perhaps when ye have the hang o' passin' an' catchin' an' can add movement." She commented as Michael threw the ball off target and away from her. Looking back at him, the redhead gave him a reassuring smile. "It takes a bit o' gettin' used to."

 

As she spoke, one of her duplicates jogged over to where the ball hand landed, scoping it off the ground with her stick and then tossing it back to the original, who deftly caught the ball and turned back to Michael, "let's try again." She said before once again tossing it to him.

[Poncho]

"Yes, I suppose it would be improper to move too fast. Always trying to run before I can walk seems to sum me up pretty well." He said cheerfully as he continued to be impressed at the usefulness of Bernadette's duplicates. "Can your duplicates do anything you can do?" He asked before focusing again as the ball came at him.

 

"I'll get it this time." He said with absolute certainty. He let the ball into his net, twisted his wrist, and let himself be one hundred percent sure he had it held. Then he took a deep breath and focused one hundred percent on the net Bernadette was holding. He visualized moving his arms forward, the ball leaving his net, soaring through the air, then landing in Bernadette's. His face was an absolute mask of concentration like this was the most important thing he'd ever done in his life as he swung his stick forward and threw a pass directly on target for Bernadette.

 

"How's that!"

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

Bernadette caught the pass from Michael with a smile. "That's it, o' course, gets tricker when ye are tryin' ta throw while runnin'." She replied with a small grin.

At the question about her duplicates, the redhead nodded. "Pretty much, except fer not bein' able ta create other duplicates themselves." She replied. "Fer example…" The Irish teen lowered her lacrosse stick as she cleared her throat and began to sing….

 

As I went down to the river to pray

Studyin' about that good ol' way

An' who shall wear the starry crown?

Good Lord show me ta way

 

Several of her duplicates stopped as well and joined as chorus for the next verse.

 

O sisters, let's go down

Let’s go down, come on down

O sisters, lets go down

Down in ta river ta pray

 

Soon all the duplicates had joined as chorus as Bernadette continued the song.

[Poncho]

"Yes! It will be tougher when I am running, and more with people blocking me and getting in the way...but I am beginning to grasp the fundamentals!" He said intensely. He was very serious after that, a frown on his face

 

"This means a lot to have someone to play sports with. I was definitely concerned I wouldn't have any sort of pastime like this to play with...so this is nice."

 

Then Bernadette started singing with her clones and he stopped talking to listen appropriately, clasping his hands behind his back and waiting for her to finish before clapping.

 

"You're really good. I can't even carry a tune in a bucket, and here you are basically your own band." He said cheerfully. "You can do a little bit of everything, huh?"

[Thevshi]

Muli-Girl

 

Bernadette gave a slightly embarrassed smile as she and her duplicates finished the song and Michael began clapping. "Well, not really everythin', but singin' is one o' ta things I have always been good at, even before me powers manifested." The redhead replied.

"While I can certainly make up a chorus, I can' really be an entire band alone. Never really took ta any instrument, singin' just always came easier, so I focused on that." The Irish teen continued. "The music teacher here has been a great support an’ really helped me ta further refine me range."

She then gave a small smile at Michael's mention of his worry that he would not find anyone to practice sports with. "There are a few here that still like ta play sports, so I expect ye will get plenty o' chances."

[Poncho]

"That's great. Having something you've been doing since you were a kid, constantly practicing and refining it, that's the sort of foundational thing that really settles your entire life and can support you even in the tough times. Plus you end up really good at it." He grinned cheerfully. 

 

"So if you can't be your own band do you have a band? I assume you do I suppose. Are they also students here?" He paused and laughed. "Wait wait, if they're students here they might have powers too right? Are you all a Super Team? Doing performances by night, saving the day by day? There was this old cartoon my older brother used to watch...Josie and the Pussycats? They were a traveling band that stopped evil scientists and stuff from taking over the world." He explained.

 

"It's nice that the teachers here are so helpful. It really sounds like this place has everything that can help prople succeed. That really does help me feel like I'm getting somewhere, that and all the other students being nice. Not just sports but there will be a lot of people to hang out with." He said very cheerfully.