☽ A Game of Ping Pong

[messianic]

Characters: Minato and you!
Location: In a building just off of the center plaza
Time: All dayyyy
Style: Whatever works!
Status: Open open open!

[It is the strangest thing, to remember dying and then wake up as if nothing had happened. It left him strangely restless, and so he'd skipped out on Welcoming Committee duties, he'd drifted a little away from his social life for just a brief period of time--

He'd died in that strange place, that place that wasn't Vatheon.

But...he'd woken up alive, headphones around his neck and not pressed into Tiir's hands. Was something that vivid really just a dream? So he wandered, in search of something to expend his restless energy on.

And he's found himself at a ping pong table. At first he considers that lack of an opponent a problem, bouncing the ball on the table idly. But then he decides to play with the wall (it doesn't seem to bother him that he can't ever win that way).

So there is the click! click! click! of a ping pong ball being hit back and forth coming from an otherwise quiet building into the plaza. He might be getting a little into it.

Further inspection reveals a whiffed shot--don't get hit by the ball!]

Comments

[tsundyne]

[...She can hear the vague noise, as she walks past the building. Click, click, click. It's almost annoying, which makes her all the more determined to find its source. So she walks into a building--

And then another before she spots him.

They'd come back from that strange place...together...hadn't they?

They should have.

She doesn't remember it all that well, but she approaches her leader, kind of a forced grin on her face.]

Ping pong?

[messianic]

[And he swings! Early, at the voice, and misses the ball entirely.

Blink. Blink.

And he blinks at her, before nodding, running a hand through his hair.]

...It looked like fun.

Do you want to play?

[tsundyne]

[Oops.

Well, she didn't mean to do that. She does look a bit amused though when he misses, and at the question, she gives a shrug. There seems to be another paddle on the other side of the table, so she walks over to pick it up.

...Convenient.]

I guess I don't see why not. Though it looked like you were doing fine by yourself.

[A bit of a laugh]

[invoker]

[At first Mitsuru is content to simply watch. Just watch Minato bouncing the ball against the wall, playing against himself. But the longer she watched, the more it seemed tempting for her to play. But she'd never played --

That was a lie, she only said she'd never played to avoid the social awkwardness of actually beating people at it. Many of the principles in ping pong were similar to that of fencing, the rapid repartee of two combatants to gain precious points.

She may even be holding a racquet in her hand, waiting for Minato to finish playing with himself.]

[messianic]

[The moment he misses the ball (the wall has now won 27 times), he blinks, glancing around and noticing Mitsuru.

Seeing her with a paddle in her hand makes him smile though.]

Mitsuru-senpai, hello. Do you want to play?

[contemptibility]

[In all honesty, it shouldn't hard for Tiir to dismiss what happened as a dream. It'd hardly be the first time he'd dreamed of friends dying—but ordinarily, it's friends from back home, with Gastark as their murderers.

Not anyone here, killed by people he couldn't recognize. Serph's involvement was a strange touch as well, and while Tiir could hardly claim dreams to be logical, it was an unusual deviation from the typical.

Still, he'd woken up without any wounds, so... Minato should be alive.

Either way, after finishing his routine trip to the coral, he happens to hear the noise. And, well, never let it be said that Tiir isn't a curious person. So, he enters the building—and easily catches the ball as it flies towards him, blinking.]

... Minato.

[messianic]

[Oh.

He didn't mean to hit that ball in that direction and he's relieved when the person entering catches it--

...

...

He remembers the "dream" starkly. Tiir, protecting him. Tiir, being wounded for him. Tiir, asking him not to die...he'd failed Tiir in that dream as well.

...mmm. He steps forward, squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin.

Just a dream. Just a dream.]

Tiir-san, hello. How are you?

[contemptibility]

[... It's foolish, he knows, it's foolish—

(It was just a dream.)

But he can't help himself as he drops the ball onto the ground, walks over to Minato, and places his hands on his shoulders, before looking him over for any injuries.

Any signs that what had happened might be real—]

[demonicbookworm]

<sub>[Oh, hello there Minato.

You won't mind if Ruca just watches? He would probably play with you if he wasn't so bad at sports.

No, really, he fails at them so much.]</sub>

[messianic]

[...awww Ruca.

It's alright--watch for long enough and Minato totally misses the ball. It bounces off behind him, and the teen shakes his head, running his hand through his hair. It's only when he has found the ball and picked it up that he sees Ruca.

...!]

Ruca-san. Hello.

[He looks pleased to see him, that's for sure.]

How are you?

[demonicbookworm]

<sub>[oh, he's been noticed!

He smiles a little.]</sub>

Hello, Minato.

_{[smiling a bit more]}

I'm fine... And you? How are you?

[rainbowarch]

[What's this building? Cielo has never been in it before, so seeing as he was finished with everything he needed to do that day, he would check it out.

And then there's someone doing...something...there.]

What are you doing?

[messianic]

[Oh--

At the voice, he loses his concentration and misses the ball entirely.

Not that he seems to mind--he goes to pick it up and tilts his head at the newcomer.]

Oh. Have you never played ping pong before?

[bufudine]

[Serph's dreams normally aren't very long, and certainly not as vivid as the one that was broadcast before. But the one where he'd been in another place, on the verge of having his Atma take over...

Was it truly a dream?

If Minato had really died, he's sure he would have found out from Yukari. Even if she didn't inform him, an extended absence from Defense Force duties would certainly tip him off. It didn't seem like Minato was dead. Yet he'd woken feeling strangely sated. The hunger had been kept away for an unusually lengthy period of time. As if he'd feasted on a particularly powerful demon.

His attention is attracted by the odd sound as he passes through the plaza. Vatheon is always full of new sights to him, and it's certainly less dangerous to indulge in his curiosity than it had been back in the Junkyard. So when he throws caution to the wind and rounds the corner to enter the building...

... he immediately gets smacked in the face by the ball.]

[messianic]

[....ah.

He would've thought about the dream and how Serph definitely asked if he could eat him and how that was definitely a thing--

Except he's more concerned about the fact that he just hit his co-worker in the face with a ball.]

Ah-- Serph-san! Are you alright?

[asea]

[The ball lands once, then bounces off and hits a boot -- Walter's boot to be specific, just as the flat of the target foot touches the surface of the ground. His attention is not on the ping pong ball, however, but rather the one who hit it in his direction.

He knows it was a dream world according to Zelda's deduction, knew it before he'd even woken up. And frankly, reality or not he wouldn't have cared either way. Suffice it to say, he regards Minato with his usual blank stare.]

[messianic]

[....Minato blinks at Walter back.

He was there, wasn't he? He faintly remembers--

What a weird dream.]

Walter-san, hello. Have you ever played before?

[gorges]

[Kyouko had happened to be passing by the building when she hears the ping pong. She walks right in at the moment the ball zooms past her, and she moves out of the way.

When it lands, she catches it, bringing it over to Minato.]

Hit it a little hard, there. You trying to hit someone?

[messianic]

[...oh.

He rubs a hand through his hair sheepishly at that.]

Sorry, Kyouko-san. I meant to hit the wall.

[yeah he's playing by himself what of it.]

[twiceinhabited]

[Click! Click! Click!

Following the sound, Amane enters the building and see who or what is the source of it. And watch Minato play.

Ping pong, is it? She never play before.]

[messianic]

[He's a little distracted, so you'll have to forgive him not noticing her for a moment--

And then the wall wins its 34th game in a row and the ball bounces past Minato.

A blink.

...Oh. And he nods to her.]

Hello, Kuzuryu-san. Have you ever played?

[ashihara]

[Hello, Minato, hope you don't mind that Chitose is watching you play for she has no idea what you are doing]

[messianic]

[Nope, he doesn't mind at all!

...And a few moments later, he whiffs it and misses the ball and blinks. He's about to go looking for where it bounced off to when he spies her.]

Ah, Cxarma-san. Hello.

[banditking]

[Moses was just exploring buildings and what not, and just trying to find something for him to do.

And that something was getting hit right in the face with a ping pong ball. Butt monkey living up to his title.

He grabbed it and threw it right at the wall.]

Hey!

[messianic]

[...oh!!

...yikes. He hit someone. Minato steps over quickly, blinking.]

Ah--I'm sorry. Are you alright?