[PoT] untitled timed ficlets (Jackal, Marui, Renji)
1.
Characters: Marui, Jackal
Rating: G
Notes: Marui meets Jackal. Anj has me doing 15 minute ficlets to kick me into writing. Randomised pair of characters from Rikkai. Take 'em as you find 'em.
It's a hot, hazy day, dusty and still, humidity making the air seem to cling to his skin. It drains his energy, but that's ok -- he's prepared for that one. The world sounds of summer, full of screaming cicadas, louder than the distant traffic here under the trees.
Marui's bag hits the ground with a heavy thud, a little cloud of dirt disturbed for a moment as it lands, and he drops to a crouch to pull out his racket, along with a ball that's seen better days.
When he bounces back upright, shifting lightly on the balls of his feet, he realises he's not as alone as he was just a moment ago.
He stares at the new arrival with a kind of wariness. He's being watched, but the guy -- maybe a few years older than him, dark-skinned -- doesn't say anything, do anything. Just watches.
He'd kinda planned on doing this without an audience, because it was only genius if people never got to see how much work you put into getting it right, but it wasn't as though it was someone he knew.
Ready, concentrate, serve.
This is a good spot, not at the courts but away from anyone else who plays; just a place in the woods with a handy wall to bounce the ball off and a fence post or two he can practice tricks off, somewhere he can work on control and...
He's still being watched.
"Hey," he says, raises his hand in greeting, flashes the other guy a grin even though he'd rather practice in peace. "Like what ya see?"
"Hi. You're pretty good," the guy says, but he says it really slowly, as though he's not certain he's using the right words -- his accent's pretty bad too. Tourist?
"You play?"
"Yeah."
"Visitor?"
"Just moved here..." he sounds lost for a moment, shakes it off and gives a shy grin back. "From Brazil."
2.
Characters: Renji, Jackal
Rating: G
Notes: another 15 minute ficlet, still random characters (random draw loves Jackal). Renji forms an opinion on Jackal.
Renji cannot say that Jackal Kuwahara is what he was expecting because he was not holding any particular expectations. In a club the size of Rikkai's, the arrival of one new member is not much of a cause for note, although one Marui seems to approve of is somewhat more unusual. All the same; he has no basis on which to form an opinion.
The first opinion he does form of Jackal is that he plays good enough tennis to merit further attention and the second, when he actually beats Marui, is that he plays good enough tennis to deserve the respect of the club as a whole.
It takes him far longer to form any sort of a view on Jackal as a person.
"He's nice," Yukimura says, and Renji hears, I think he's boring but he plays well, and that's enough. "His Japanese is awful, though."
It's true. Jackal uses words in incorrect contexts, puts stresses on the wrong sounds, struggles to get his tongue around some of the sounds themselves. Renji values the Japanese language, and winces at his abuse of it sometimes, but what he has noticed that Yukimura may not have is just how much Jackal has improved even since joining the club.
"No-one used to talk to me," he says when Renji speaks to him about it. He shrugs. "With you guys, I practice more."
Jackal is alien, an odd combination of defiant pride in his home country and desperation to fit in. He's friendly, awkward, out of his depth. Renji finds himself more sympathetic to Jackal's situation overall than he would have expected, although he is quite aware that this is partly because of a practical part of his brain in the background telling him that they do not want to lose this kind of talent. Pragmatism at this level is not a crime, and for Jackal, help is help.
Characters: Marui, Jackal
Rating: G
Notes: Marui meets Jackal. Anj has me doing 15 minute ficlets to kick me into writing. Randomised pair of characters from Rikkai. Take 'em as you find 'em.
It's a hot, hazy day, dusty and still, humidity making the air seem to cling to his skin. It drains his energy, but that's ok -- he's prepared for that one. The world sounds of summer, full of screaming cicadas, louder than the distant traffic here under the trees.
Marui's bag hits the ground with a heavy thud, a little cloud of dirt disturbed for a moment as it lands, and he drops to a crouch to pull out his racket, along with a ball that's seen better days.
When he bounces back upright, shifting lightly on the balls of his feet, he realises he's not as alone as he was just a moment ago.
He stares at the new arrival with a kind of wariness. He's being watched, but the guy -- maybe a few years older than him, dark-skinned -- doesn't say anything, do anything. Just watches.
He'd kinda planned on doing this without an audience, because it was only genius if people never got to see how much work you put into getting it right, but it wasn't as though it was someone he knew.
Ready, concentrate, serve.
This is a good spot, not at the courts but away from anyone else who plays; just a place in the woods with a handy wall to bounce the ball off and a fence post or two he can practice tricks off, somewhere he can work on control and...
He's still being watched.
"Hey," he says, raises his hand in greeting, flashes the other guy a grin even though he'd rather practice in peace. "Like what ya see?"
"Hi. You're pretty good," the guy says, but he says it really slowly, as though he's not certain he's using the right words -- his accent's pretty bad too. Tourist?
"You play?"
"Yeah."
"Visitor?"
"Just moved here..." he sounds lost for a moment, shakes it off and gives a shy grin back. "From Brazil."
2.
Characters: Renji, Jackal
Rating: G
Notes: another 15 minute ficlet, still random characters (random draw loves Jackal). Renji forms an opinion on Jackal.
Renji cannot say that Jackal Kuwahara is what he was expecting because he was not holding any particular expectations. In a club the size of Rikkai's, the arrival of one new member is not much of a cause for note, although one Marui seems to approve of is somewhat more unusual. All the same; he has no basis on which to form an opinion.
The first opinion he does form of Jackal is that he plays good enough tennis to merit further attention and the second, when he actually beats Marui, is that he plays good enough tennis to deserve the respect of the club as a whole.
It takes him far longer to form any sort of a view on Jackal as a person.
"He's nice," Yukimura says, and Renji hears, I think he's boring but he plays well, and that's enough. "His Japanese is awful, though."
It's true. Jackal uses words in incorrect contexts, puts stresses on the wrong sounds, struggles to get his tongue around some of the sounds themselves. Renji values the Japanese language, and winces at his abuse of it sometimes, but what he has noticed that Yukimura may not have is just how much Jackal has improved even since joining the club.
"No-one used to talk to me," he says when Renji speaks to him about it. He shrugs. "With you guys, I practice more."
Jackal is alien, an odd combination of defiant pride in his home country and desperation to fit in. He's friendly, awkward, out of his depth. Renji finds himself more sympathetic to Jackal's situation overall than he would have expected, although he is quite aware that this is partly because of a practical part of his brain in the background telling him that they do not want to lose this kind of talent. Pragmatism at this level is not a crime, and for Jackal, help is help.