8181/Raquetball with a god.

Raquetball with a god.
Date of Scene:	09 October 2021
Location:	The Beacon Apartments
Synopsis:	Mairin recieved some life coaching, from a god.
Cast of Characters:	Mairin Moran, Hercules

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Mairin Moran has posed:
    The raquetball courts are nearly empty at this time of night, which is exactly how Mairin likes it. She's come here to think and to work off a little steam. That stupid Cat-Man and his stupid goons... So she's hitting a ball around alone in one of the courts. Ocassionally she smacks the ball visiously into the corner for a perfect kill shot, but for the most part she's just leting it go wherever it wants.

Hercules has posed:
"Racket Ball?" wondered the Lion of Olympus of one friend or another.
"Raquetball." the friend corrected as if they could hear the difference.
"Hm, I shall have to try it..." mused-

                                    HERCULES                                    
                                PRINCE OF POWER                                

And so he did.'Clng Clng!'

It was the sound of a very large man dressed in very little knocking on the other side of the courts plexiglass. He smiled warmly, wearing very short athletic shorts, a tanktop that strained against the muscly mountain of his torso... along with a sweat band and a pair of tennis shoes.

The large, seemingly friendly man called out, voice lifted to be heard past the glass, "Ho fair friend, care for a partner?"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    The ball bounces past Mairin as she turns and... well gapes. What else is she supposed to do when she sees a giant of a man standing on the other side of the glass asking her for a game. In fact, for several minutes her mind simply doesn't seem able to compute it all. A reaction the Prince of Power no doubt gets a lot.

    Still, she's not rude. So she wanders a bit vaguely to the door and opens it. "Excuse me?" is all she can manage.

Hercules has posed:
    Indeed, the Scion of Zeus weathers her gawping with a sort of patient warmth. He smiles as the seconds slip by, cheeks rising up beneath his eyes, causing them to narrow even as they seem to twinkle. He was no stranger to this... but she was approaching the point where concern began to become warrented. Thankfully, she was soon enough at the door and there he was, as large as he was through the glass and with a raquet in hand.

"A match." spoke Hercules, lifting the raquet up to rest it against his shoulder. "Forgive my forwardness but I have been encouraged to try and I believe firmly in learning by doing!"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin blinks herself back into functioning, looks him over, this time with a more critical air, then shrugs slightly. "Sure." She walks over to pick up the ball and tosses it against the far wall where it bounces slowly back to her, only for her to give it another lazy swipe with the raquet. "I'm assuming you don't know how to play," she says, with far more kindness then the woeds might convey. "But it really isn't too hard. I'll serve. When I do, the ball has to hit that wall," she points "and then the floor once without hitting any other walls. After that, you have to hit it before it hits the ground again." She pauses to make sure he has this. "Then we just go back and forth hitting the ball. WHenever one person hits it, the other one has to hit it before it touches the floor twice." She's leaving out some details, but she'll explain those as they go. She's really not planning on keeping score until he knows how to play.

    Ready to try?"

Hercules has posed:
    "Not in the slightest!" the large man boomed warmly, by the size of his smile it almost seemed to be a boast. Look at him, the way he grinned, free hand poised on his hip, it was absolutely a boast!

He listened, eyes resting upon her, features lapsing into a sort of friendly focus, smile dimming but still serving to lift his cheeks just so.

His head bobs as she gives him the basics, sounds of acknowledgement and understanding made in the back of his throat as his raquet arm drops to his side and he widens his stance, his shorty shorts holding on for dear life as his calf muscles swell ever so slightly with the shifting of his weight. "Indeed! With your expert tutalage, I don't doubt that I'll have a firm grasp of it in no time!"

His form was wrong but easy, raquet held tilted but ready, one hand resting upon it's handle, resting on the balls of his feet.

"Serve on, Fair Friend. Let us begin!"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    She gives the... Well, honestly she's just not sure what to call him. SOmething about him just doesn't seem human. Maybe some kind of mutant? But she gives him a smile at his obvious eagerness and kindness. She knows she should feel nervous being alone at this time of night with a man with such an obvious physical presense, but something about him just puts her completely at ease.

    She gives another nod, then focusses on what she's doing. She drops the ball, and gently serves it on the bounce. It bounces to the wall, off, and into a graceful arc that takes it near to Herc's raquet hand. "Now just hit it to the far wall," she says quickly.

Hercules has posed:
    The ball sails to him in it's slow, lazy arc. Hercules, the strange, large man with an uncanny sense of warmth and strength, steps in to meet it! His raquet shoulder drops and his arm winds around and into an underhand, slow, easy! The ball bops off of the tight netting and bounds back to the wall! Not at lethal, subsonic speeds but with just a little more velocity than it had prior!

The bearded man lit up as he watched sail back along to the wall and rebound! His features blooming into full beam!

"Haha! Just So!" he crowed over what seemed to be a simple return!

Mairin Moran has posed:
    "Exactly!" Mairin says, encouraging the gentle giant. Even as she hustles over to give another return. "Just like that. We just go back-- And forth-- Hitting the ball against the wall." She keeps a slow easy volley going. "You're doing great! And if either of us lets it bounce-- Bounce twice..." She lets it bounce twice, "Then the volly ends." She catches the ball and smiles.

Hercules has posed:
    The Lion of Olympus jogs into position, attention shifting from the ball as it bounds off of her raquet and to the wall and resting upon her as she expands on the lesson, capturing both ball and his attention fast. "A simple thing with such a teacher." he returns as she praises him, stride coming to a halt as she arrests the game for the moment. "And so with the second bounce comes the score, I'd wager." he surmises, resting raquet against his shoulder once more. There was always scores or points in sports. Had been so since he competed in The Games.

"So where comes the Victory, exhaustion, injury, surrender?" he wondered

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin laughs, a full genuine laugh, and her entire body relaxes, as if that was a laugh she really needed. "No... nothing like that. If the ball bounces twice, then one of two things happen, depending on who was serving, and who was supposed to hit the ball. If *I* was serving," she points to herself, "And *you* were supposed to hit it, then I would get a point. But if I was serving and *I* failed to hit it, then the serve would pass to you." She tosses the ball to him. The game is over when one person has 15 points and two more points than the other. But you can really play to however many points you want." She walks back into the recieving area. "Where are you from?" she asks out of the blue, but as if it was the most natural next words to come from her mouth.

Hercules has posed:
    "Oh ho, an interesting twist." Hercules observes, clasping his chin as he listens to a few finer details, head bobbing idly. as she spoke and he listened intently, eyes matched to hers as she spoke, turning his body fully to face her.

The ball flew his way and he pulled the hand from his chin, swallowing it up in his hand as his fingers closed around it. He squeezed it, gently. "Gentle, gentle..." he coaxed himself beneath his breath... but even his whispers seemed somewhat boisterous. He bounced the ball... because as kitchen tongs need clicking, balls need bouncing, as he answered, "Originally, Greece! but that was a long, long time ago. Now, unless called away by duty and adventure, here is where I call my home." he explained, watching her out of the corner of his eye. Indeed, low and ready. She seemed poised, a creature waiting for potential energy to be unleashed into a kinetic rush! He lobbed the ball up and gave it another under-handed swat, sending it to the wall with just a little zip!

"What about yourself?"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin ups the speed a little on this volley, but still isn't playing at more than a very friendly level. Besides, it's hard to really go all out and talk. "You live in Manhatten?" She asks, catching the ball on a backhand and letting it ricochet off a sidewall into the back wall. "I'm from Gotham. Though I haven't lived there since I was sixteen and went off to college." Another rturn, this one with just a little deceptive spin that makes it bounce off the wall at an odd angle. She's testing. Introducing him to new concepts through the volley just to see how well he picks up on them. Her own movements are graceful and efficient. Never moving more than she has to, and always centering in the middle of the court.

    "Why did you leave Greece?"

Hercules has posed:
    "Indeed!" he answered, answering her return with another swat that brought a smile to his face when the ball didn't perforate the wall. He moved as you might expect a large man too. Long strides with a bit of bounce to his step but with heavy steps that slapped the slick floor boards. "Gotham?" he mused aloud, words ringing with a resonance of respect.

He wondered if that is why she was so bold as to welcome him in. What fear could he possible spark in her when she was forged in such a crucible?

She tested him, he shifted his weight one way in expectation only for it to thwart him! His practice in self-control suffered in the meeting with his competative streak! Shoe soles squeeked as he shifted and all but lunged in pursuit, raquet whipping through the air, batting the ball back with barely restrained force!

"I had a... falling out with my Father's -Wife-!" he answered, emphasis applied to the last word as he put some effort in holding back from the strike. It cam hard and fast, stiff but not at all impossible to answer! "Hoh, Clever...!" he praised with a laugh before doing his part to further the conversation, "College you said, excellent! What is it that you study?"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin is taken completly by surprise at the return. She was honestly hoping he'd get it, but never with that amount of force. It wizes past her and into a side corner, doing a quick double bounce before rolling off. She laughs again, hustling to get the ball and toss it back to Herc. "That's a point for you. Great job with that. I'm going to have to stop taking it easy on you." She laughs and takes up her return position again, her focus a little more intense. "I'm sorry you don't get-- Along with your-- Step-mom?" She makes an assumption. After all, he didn't say 'mom'.

    I majored in-- Mechanical Engineering. Then Robotics-- for my Masters at Carnagie, and then here-- for my Doctorate in Power Systems-- at Columbia."

    She's in semi-competitive mode now, since this stranger is obviously a natural and more agile than he looks.

Hercules has posed:
    The God of Heroes... slipped up. He offered something of an abashed laugh as he reared back up to a casual stance, "Aha, yes! I managed to slip one past you." He notes, catching up the ball as she returns it to him. The air shifts and he seems... to feel the intensity grow thicker, "Yes, please come at me with everything you have!" said as welcoming as if he invited her to pillage his 'fridge to her delight.

He took up what had been noted as service position and, again, bounced the ball off of the floor, because one must ensure that the ball did not stop being bouncy. "Appreciated, it is my good fortune that we have since learned to leave one another well and alone. Out of sight, out of mind, you might say."

The ball was lobbed into the air and given a swat! Striking low on the far wall and bouncing off shallow for a high, quick bounce.

Engineering, Robotics, Power. He did not know the finer points of them but he knew what such modern sorceries could give birth to! "Sounds as though you are intent on creating amazing things!"

Mairin Moran has posed:
    The game escalates into a more hurried serries of quick strikes and returns, and Mairin begins using the other walls more often, sending the ball into more complex ricochets. She even throws in a few soft taps that barely strike the front wall at all, and ends the volley with a kill-shot into the corner.

    "I suppose... she finally says, as she recovers the ball and takes her place as the server. She bounces the ball a few times, staring at it as she thinks. "I thought so anyway. But things have become more... complicated lately." She siezes the ball and turns to look back at Herc.

    "Have you ever had that happen?" She doesn't know *why* she's trusting this strange man with anything personal. She shouldn't. But something about him is just... Wholesome. "Have you ever known eactly what you were going to do.. for the next ten years. And then one day it's all just..." She makes kind a poofing motion with her hands.

Hercules has posed:
    Her partner is quick, athletic but he is not as canny as her! She gets him with her kill-shot and he does his best to dive for it... But the ball yet finds the floor for that second time! Pulling himself off of the floor, he rises with a booming laugh, "Excellent!" he praises her, surrendering the ball, bested in the moment! Rallying himself, he is moving to his position, rolling his wrist to give his raquet a slight spin.

She is brought up short and he meets her gaze, again with a smile but also... an old look. Crows feet were there at the corners of his eyes but beyond that... a good hairline, no other wrinkles, the body of a greek god, how old was he?

"Yes."

Hercules, God of Heroes both big and small turned to her and offered a few words, "Here and now in the midst of this, when all seems to turn from how it was but days before, hold fast and perserver!" he bade her, hand and raquet motioning as he spoke, "What challenges you today will be your strength tomorrow. You need but hold your gaze to your desires and let them guide you."

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Mairin can't help the wide grin. He's just so.. Odd. But in a really endeering way. "And what happens when you aren't sure what your desires *are*?" she asks before turning back for another serve. And a new volley starts.

    "I thought I wanted to make great things to help people." she says between hits. "But then I wanted to combine technology with magic." A few more strikes. "And then I wanted to learn to *do* the magic." The word is timed with an esspecially difficult return. It's probably apparent, to anyone with the wisdom of a god, that she isn't really talking to Herc anymore. But to herself. Saying out loud all the things that she had been saying to herself before he came.

    "And *then* I wanted..." she actually stumbles a little and it costs her the volley. She sighs and retrieves the ball. "Well... something else. And now I feel like I just want *all* of them." She tosses Herc the ball. "And I don't think I can *do* all of them. As much as I want to."

Hercules has posed:
    The Prince of Power could not help himself, he loved to hear himself speak. Listening was a skill that he also was starting to get better at. A keener ear would have saved his younger self from much trouble. Here and now, it encourages him to let him say her piece in peace....

Or at least the relative peace of shoes squeeking against the floor and the thump, thwap, of the ball as it caroomed from wall to floor to raquet.

She was coaxing him to try harder and harder but also honing his restraint. Like trying to catch bubbles, a strange mix of quick but gentle.

Wait, she did just say something about magic, right?

He barely gets by, a panted breath of exhileration loosed as he recieves the ball, taking his moment to hold onto it.

"As you are today, perhaps not."

He so rarely gets the chance to sound wise, so rarely adopts a sagacious mien.

"But remember, there was once a day when you could scarcely put one foot in front of the other without toppling upon your face!" Hercules remembered this well, it was last week when he'd attempted to drink a thunder god under the table.

"What is impossible today will not be so tomorrow. You will grow, your understanding, your skill, you, yourself!" hopefully, otherwise, he can only pray she has a sturdy step-stool.

"Do not linger over-long on on your failings but also do not forget them." he attempted, seemingly forgetting the game in a fit of oration.

Mairin Moran has posed:
    Blinks a few times, just looking at him as her chest rises and falls with the effor tof catching her breath. The advice is a bit... cliche. But like many cliches, there is still that grain of truth. And hasn't Nettie told her that she just needs to practice? Maybe... Maybe this will just be like her thesis. A lot of really hard work that seems to want to bury her, but then an end, and something better. She stands there, staring, for several silent moments before giving a small laugh. "Thank you. That actually... helped." She walks up. "I should be going. I have class in the morning. But I appreciate the game. And the advice. Sorry to have just vented on you. I'm... not usually like that." She blushes a bit as she holds out a hand for him to shake.

Hercules has posed:
    Her partner seemed to bask in her consideration, even if there might have been a grain of salt with it. "Then this is all the more worthwhile. You are welcome." he replied as she offered her thanks. Their parting has come, he trades his raquet away into the same hand as the ball to answer her hand with his own. His may very well seem to swallow hers... but his grip is warm, dry and firm, giving her arm a pump before his hand loosens around hers.

He shakes his head, dismissing any thought that he is owed an apology and flashing that warm smile once more. A glimpse of teeth, cheeks rising and setting eyes to narrow.... and yes, there came that slight twinkle. "Think nothing of it, all are in need of a friendly ear now and then. it is my good fortune that was into the ear of Hercules Panhellenios that you were able to pour your troubles."

Mairin Moran has posed:
    She laughs, a little nervously, as he shakes her hand. Her own grasp is firm, but with very little strength to it. Esspecially compared to his own. But then, he's no-doubt used to that.

    "My name is Mairin. I come here a lot. I'd be happy to play again if you're here." She walks to the door and gives another wave before heading out. It isn't until she's opening her appartment door that her mind finishes processing his final words.

    Wait... did he say Hercules??