Jul 17 20:08:36 108 PA - Gabriel Teaches Erica Some Unusual Sports

From Chronicles

Jul 17 20:08:36 108 PA.

NEAR THE LANDING STRIP

It's a pleasant summer afternoon, complete with cloudless skies and a gentle breeze coming up from Lone Star's direction, making it warm and smooth to the touch. In the fields to the south of the landing strip are a few simple sets of bars, baskets and nets. Things that are obviously temporary and possibly lucky to simply survive until the next morning. Gabriel is standing out in one of the fields near a basket of balls of various sizes and shapes, along with a pile of rackets and other hardware that he feels are necessary to show someone a good time with sports outside of playing something involving 'Borgs, Juicers and the word "Murder" being in the name. He's dressed normally, but with his jacket on the ground near the pile of gear, his tight, dark green Eagle, Globe and Anchor, "Semper Fi!" shirt hugging his chest and upper arms. No huge muscles, no sinewy tendons, just quiet strength and readiness.

Erica arrives after a little bit wearing some grey sweatpants, a pink tank top, and matching pink tennis shoes. She comes out on to the field carrying a water bottle and a towel. Spotting Gabriel near the balls she gives him a brief nod of her head. "Hi Gabriel. So what is it going to be today?" She asks as she looks around the various gear.

Darlos arrives not much after Erica, dressed down out of his robe into simple jeans and T-shirt. He has a pair of tennis shoes and a wind breaker. He follows behind Erica for a bit and lets her have her distance not sure what to think. That all changes once he sees the various sports equipment and visibly shudders. "Murderthon and Dead balls? Are you fricken kidding me?"

Gabriel looks up and smiles as Erica approaches, raising his shiny silver whistle as a greeting. "Hey! Went with the pink again, huh? That's very Chicago Bears of you. C'mon, let's get started. Get yourself warmed up, make two laps of the strip, and we'll start the fun. See?" He pokes a finger in the direction of the gear. Then as the teen approaches, he waves off a, "No, no. Look, everything's pretty squishy."

Erica nods her head once towards Gabriel, and she starts taking off around the landing strip. She sets a very good pace, despite her short legs. She keeps going for the little time it takes her to round the strip twice. Once done she comes back to Gabriel, without breathing much harder.

Darlos nods slowly taking a stance next to Gabe, "So what's this about? I got your message but it wasn’t really clear. Seems interesting, but I never took you for one of the more bloody sports fans." He watches Erica make her laps and seems to take a fondness to the sight, "Man that girl can RUN..."

"Nice job, nice job. I know you're in shape, but I have to make you warm up anyway. Do some stretches," Gabriel says before walking away, leaving her to her own devices as he assembles the gear into a more clear and obvious pile. He selects a strangely pointed ball.. and also begins to pick up what bears a striking resemblance to the upper-body plate armor of a Huntsman set. He hands one such set of armor to Darlos without comment before lifting another. "There's only blood if you screw up. Unlike today's games, these are contests of skill, not bludgeoning." His eyes return to Erica, and he tosses the second set of plate her direction. "Put that on, I'll help if you need it. Oh, here -" he grabs a helmet with a large grill for a face mask and hurls it her direction with a toothy grin. "That too. Protect your melon."

Erica starts stretching. She bends down to touch her toes a few times. Then she bends over backwards to stretch her back the other way, her hands on the ground behind her feet. Her legs go up after a moment, and she flips back to her feet. Next she starts twisting her torso back and forth. Once she feels she is fairly stretched out she does a quick standing back-flip. She catches the plate that Gabriel tosses her and she examines it a moment, before managing to put it on. Catching the helmet she tugs it over her head, and attaches the chin strap.

Darlos takes his armor with a bit of hesitation, "So, you're REALLY serious about this deadball thing...". He puts on his armor with practiced grace and then turns to Gabe after donning his gear, "So...shes get a helmet and not me?" He mutters and shakes his head. Then begins whispering words of power, gathering up energy and shaping it into a shield. His eyes light up with a blue glare and then it overcomes his natural color and stays steady. "Well, I’m ready as I’ll ever be..." He turns to Erica with a grin, "Please don’t hurt me."

Gabriel dips to grab a helmet for Darlos, but then drops it, as he apparently has a magic one. But there is an emphasis: "*Nothing* is dead about this game, nothing is hurt beyond perhaps a random bone and embarrassment." He quickly moves over to Erica, doing a few small and final adjustments to her plate padding. "There. You don't want it to be that tight. It's supposed to absorb impact, so if it's strapped all the way on, there will be no give." He makes a motion and says, "The chinstrap, too." After that, he tosses the pointy ball into the air just high enough to allow him to say, "Welcome to the world's only real sport, American football." The ball would then be at a catchable altitude. "I'll simplify the game, because we don't have twenty-two people. Those reenactors I hired last time ducked out on us."

"Well with his crazy magic shield, which I am sure can stop bullets, I doubt there will be any give. It will break my bones." Erica says with a shake of her head and a gesture towards Darlos. "I played a bit of football in school. I was a midfielder. It was a fun game." She offers with a bit of a shrug. "Didn't wear all these pads or use that strange ball though."

Darlos blinks, then turns bright red. "Oh.....that’s a FOOT ball....Sorry guys." With a wave of his hand the shield melts and he nods to Erica, "So...not shooty death spikes or landmines or nothing?" Darlos visibly relaxes and then takes a much different stance, "So...I’ve never played, but I’ll do whatever you want Gabe."

"Midfielder? No, that's soccer. Soccer is a shit sport that the rest of the world enjoys because they don't have the brains, balls, or brawn to play a real sport. They call it football because it makes them feel better. Anyway, ignore Darlos' armor; if other people become your problem, you have done something wrong. So." Gabriel looks at Darlos briefly. "Nothing other than this ball, those pads, an open field and some rules. Now, Erica. Without a team, this will be odd, but I'll try to let you play the most important positions. I'll try to play center, or whatever else is necessary. Right now, the easy version of a running back. I'm going to hand you the ball - which isn't actually correct in the real game, but it will have to make due - then I will run in front of you. That's either the fullback or the tight end. You will run behind me, acting as the halfback, sometimes referred to as the running back." He settles his own helmet and pads across his body. "You want to move ten yards or more. Darlos? You get over there," he waves a few yards before them, "and you try to stop us. Everyone ready?" He drops down into a three-pronged stance, holding the ball with one point on the ground, his hand wrapped near the laces.

Erica looks very confused as Gabriel tries to explain what they are doing. "I don't know what any of that means." She says while she shakes her head. "Do I just run with the ball after you hand it to me?" She says trying to get a sense of what Gabriel wants her to do. She walks up to where Gabriel is standing and waits there with her hands at her sides. "I'll try I guess." She says with a brief shrug.

Darlos moves in line with Gabe and takes a few steps back, "Alright, so I’ll try stop the two of you from getting past me or getting more than 10 of those little markers? I think I might be able to do that...no magic.." He frowns a bit thinking about that part. He mimics Gabriel's stance and steps in front of the two of them some feet apart. He looks up and waits for the signal.

Gabriel pats Erica on the pads. "I know, like I said, team sports are tough to teach with only a few people. These are the basics. But yes, you follow me, you hold the ball. The point is to get a minimum of ten yards from where we started, and still be holding the ball. Giving up the ball is failure. Not making the ten yards isn't quite a failure.. but ten yards is the goal. Use what you know as a midfielder as how to run, except you're not kicking, you're holding that ball like it's baby Jesus himself. You follow me, because I'm blocking - in the real game there would be eleven other people - including Darlos - trying to stop us." He looks over to Darlos. "No magic, just muscle and brains." Another change of direction as he sets himself up. "This is going to look real intimate, like you're trying to cup my balls. Put your hands there, ready for me to hand off the ball. Get ready to grab, follow and run." The older fellow returns to the three-point stance. "You say when you want the ball. Call it out. But let me know what the word is. Hike, go, red, blue, anything. The point is to confuse Darlos so that he doesn't know when we'll start to run." He'll await the whispered word.

Erica still looks confused as she moves behind Gabriel. She squats down a little bit behind him. "Alright I still don't get what we are trying to do, but I'll give it a try." She says with another shrug of her shoulders. "Uh... hike?" She says as she holds out her hands waiting for the ball to come from Gabriel.

As happens often with new players who haven't been warned, and often to the amusement of the player who deliberately failed to mention it... Gabriel hands off the ball. As a proper football snap, which nails Erica in the grid protecting her face. The older fellow can't help but laugh. "Okay, okay. It's a funny game, because you get thirty seconds for everyone to set up exactly like they want to, but as soon as the center snaps the ball, everything moves *very* quickly. So be ready. If this doesn't work, I have a quick solution for it. Get down again, and get the ball, then follow." He raises his head. "Darlos, you stop us! Okay, Erica, when you're ready." The ball is once more set and the field is quiet.

Erica still looks confused as the ball hits her on her helmet. "Uh ok. This is a little silly, but alright." She shrugs her shoulders again and gets back down into the position Gabriel wants her in. "Ok give me the ball." She says as she waits for the ball to be given to her.

Darlos grins widely under his helmet and whispers to himself, "This is gonna be fun." He takes his stance and and makes sure he's ready. "Alright Gabe, I’m ready whenever you two are."

Gabriel hikes the ball properly, but slow enough this time that that a beginner can grab it. As soon as it's in her hands, he dives to the right in a running stance, yelling the encouraging, "Follow me!" At the moment, as there is only one player, Darlos is the unfortunate target of his form, which involves primarily using his shoulders to block, not his hands. Hopefully, his charge is keeping up close, but not getting their feet entangled in the process.

The fact of the matter is that it's over pretty quickly. Darlos is bashed aside by Gabriel's slightly lowered head and a definitely lowered right shoulder, plowed down by legs that may be four decades old, but are still plenty strong for both combat and competitive sport.

Erica takes the ball and holds it in her arms, tight. She follows after Gabriel running at the same pace that he is running. She manages to get past Darlos, but not very easily. She hits him a glancing blow with her shoulders, but it almost makes her drop the ball. She manages to grab it at the last second and keep moving.

Darlos runs forward with practiced grace and sets to plow into Gabriel to get to Erica. This dream however is shattered once contact is actually made with Gabriel. Darlos is knocked head over heels by the man as he strides through with with almost no effort. Darlos hits the ground and goes skidding away from the pair.

Once past Darlos and to the desired ten-yard mark, Gabriel pulls up, turns and steps out of the way, waving Erica to a stop. "Okay, okay. This is the super-abridged version of teaching football, but I have a surprise for you later." He turns aside for a moment, speaks something quietly into his communicator, then returns. "One lesson as halfback. Now we swap. You get to lead me. You get down like I was, I get behind you - nothing sexual, I promise." He walks back to the arbitrary starting point and waves Erica into the correct position, and will actually guide her properly instead of making her guess. After calling for Darlos to reset himself - and waiting - he says "Erica, when you give me the ball, you run and try to knock Darlos out of the way so that we can keep the ball. But remember, there is *no* kicking allowed. 'Hike' is the word. Ready?" Wait for everyone... "HIKE!"

Erica holds the stance as Gabriel positions her in. She doesn't seem to get it, but she is at least upright. Once Gabriel says hike she tries to toss the ball behind her. Her balance isn't very well set up as she stands up and tries to block Darlos. She trips up over herself before even getting to him and she ends up on the ground.

After the beating he took from Gabe, Darlos is prepared this time, setting himself up and launches himself at Erica, taking her down into the dirt with him. He cheers to himself as he lays on the ground near her, "I can't believe that!" He begins laughing to himself on the ground.

Only moments after the ball is in the older man's hands, Gabriel is cringing behind his facemask. "Oooh. Wow. This is also why we wear cleats, unfortunately I couldn't find any." He'll assist Erica back to her feet with some kind words of encouragement. Noting where she went wrong, but also allowing for what is sometimes simply the competition of the field itself. Darlos receives a semi-mock scowl. "Hey. No gloating. Be proud of yourself, but you don't rub it in someone's face during the game. You could be next. Again." It's good advice for both involved, actually. "Erica, again. You lead me, keep the little wizard out of the way." After a slap on the behind that really is actually used to notify the center that the quarterback is ready, he calls out, "HIKE!"

Erica hops back up to her feet, having plenty of practice moving around in heavy gear. She moves back into the three point position that Gabriel showed her. She takes the ball in one of her hands and sets it on the ground. She tosses it back to Gabriel when he says hike. Then she quickly moves up to try to block Darlos.

Darlos stands the line, crouched down and moves forward grabbing at Erica's armor and doing his best to hold her to him, not allowing her any ground but it seems to be all he can do struggling against her might.

This time, as his fullback stays up - Erica not blocking, but not falling, either - Gabriel steps quite easily aside, then returns to the other players. "Okay, okay. Erica, I think you're just a little uncomfortable right now. Try to clear out your mind. This isn't combat, you aren't trying to kill or injure anyone, but you're still trying to burst through a known ambush. Darlos, stand still. Erica, you move like this." He drops the ball and in slow motion, curls his torso slightly in on itself and to the side, like one of the gray pillbugs that children like to play with, his neck also down to protect itself, his right shoulder leading. "Right here, you want to catch him here below the clavicle, or beneath the ribcage if you can. Don't try to mow him flat, all you need to do is get him out of your way." Instead of jumping back to his position this time, he tucks the ball beneath his arm. "Question or anything that I can clear up? Because I'm going to move on - we'll get back to this later."

Darlos says, "Well I guess I'm clear. Whoever has the ball you gotta stop." Darlos takes off his helmet for a moment and wipes the sweat from his forehead. "Otherwise, seems like it could be a lot of fun with more people. Takes a lot of practice I can see though, prolly also would need to bulk up for this stopping people thing."

Erica chuckles a little as she nods her head while listening to Gabriel's advice. "Alright, try to hit him at his center of gravity or so." She says after listening to Gabriel. "It seems like an odd game, but ok. So what is next?" She asks.

Before moving on, Gabriel offers Darlos a nod, but Erica an important clarification. "No, *not* the center of gravity. That's his most stable point. All you need to do is destabilize him long enough for the guy with the ball to get past. Everybody drop your gear." He does just that, though placing it neatly in the pile of sports paraphernalia as he retrieves a dinner plate. "There are two versions of this game. The pleasant and relaxed one in yard, and the somewhat more competitive one played on a field. We'll stick to the relaxed one. This, lady and gentleman, is a Frisbee. Actually, it's a dinner plate, but close enough. I don't know if this is still a common game or not, but as I'm teaching fun games.. it is going to be taught. Here, Erica, grab it." He tosses it in her direction. "Darlos, just wait for a minute. Catch your breath," he offers to the teen with a small grin.

Darlos nods slowly and places his hands on his knees and takes a few deep breaths doing just that. He stands up placing his hands now on his back and shakes his head, "Can I already be too old for something or just out of shape?" He grins at Erica, "Still, kind of fun though right?"

Erica takes off her pads and gear. She piles it up neatly besides Gabriel's stuff. She takes a moment to wipe of the sweat from her helmet, and to fix up her ponytail. Once she does that she looks at the round disc for a moment. "Oh like the aerodynamic grenades they used sometimes." She says. She catches the Frisbee between both her hands a little clumsily before looking at Darlos. "I think you might need to exercise more." She says with a little giggle, and a smile.

Darlos looks at Erica with a wry grin, "Why is everything all, explody death with you?" He smirks and then consider that for a moment, "Hey uuhh, you can't like...hurt me with that thing can you?" His expression is entirely serious now.

Gabriel watches and talks for a while as Darlos seems to reconsider all of the 'explody death' things and walks away. With a chuckle, the older fellow says, "Never seen a disc grenade before. Seems like a waste of strength to me, but whatever's modern, I guess. You feel that the Frisbee has a lip, right? How different is that from your grenades?"

Erica flips the disc over, and looks at it for a moment. "The discs don't have lips no." She says as she tries to toss the Frisbee back to Gabriel. She shrugs her shoulders briefly. "So what is the name of this sport?" She asks

The Frisbee isn't thrown perfectly, but it's decent enough to make its way to Gabriel without having to make too much of a fuss to catch. Just a slight dip of his body, really. "Nice, nice," he allows. "Tuck it into your body more, like you're trying to hide something under your bust. Don't try to whip it out, it should be a smooth motion. Right now, don't worry about speed." He tosses it back, and while it's in the air for thirty feet, explains, "Right now just the two of us? It's called... going out and throwing a Frisbee around." Grin.

Erica tries to catch the Frisbee as it is thrown at her, but she misjudges the speed of it and she misses. It hits the ground, and quickly enough she picks it up. She tries to throw it again, this time tucking into her body more like Gabriel suggested. Her toss is pretty easy, not putting a lot of strength into it.

With the throw not quite perfect, Gabriel needs to dive to grab the Frisbee, landing on his chest in the effort, but coming up smiling and wiping his brow. "Whew! Okay, well that was fun for me, but not good if were were in the team game. Try taking some of that mustard off of it. Don't whip it, toss it. But try to give it some good rotation, like the machine they use to throw clay pigeons." With a deft move, Erica's teacher tosses it her direction.

Erica moves quickly to catch the Frisbee. She manages to snatch it up this time in the middle of a little jog. Once she has caught it she stops and tries to throw it back to Gabriel. She doesn't use a lot of force, and she tries to tuck it in and throw it all in one motion

It's still fluttering a little in the air, and Gabriel points it out. "You need to put more spin on it, like a 78 record. The rotation helps to stabilize it, not go farther. But... the more stable it is, the farther it will go. Toss the next one over my head. Way over my head, but really whip your wrist this time. If you do it right, it should do a bit of a messy loop." He slings the disc to his pupil - from behind his back, grinning.

Erica doesn't manage to catch the Frisbee as she misjudges its flight again. She jogs to pick it up. Once she has it in her hands she tucks it in and tosses it hard. Trying to aim over Gabriel's head and trying to put a lot of spin on it so that it loops back to him.

Gabriel once more has to run, as an unfortunate gust of wind catches Erica's non-weapon disc and tosses it at the ground. However, this time he manages to nab it without hitting the ground himself. Once again, he comes up chuckling. "This is fun! Okay, watch this." He jogs over to stand beside his student. "Aim into the wind, like an aircraft carrier. Use your arm, and then right at the end of the full motion, give it a little flick of your wrist. Keep it stable." With his own hands, he attempts to get everything positioned right, though unfortunately having to bump her bosom a few times. "Sorry for that, just need to be close," he says under his breath.

Erica chuckles a bit as Gabriel bumps her boobs, but she doesn't say anything. She tries to follow his motions as best she can. She aims into the wind and the tosses the Frisbee, giving it that little flick of her wrist at the end of it all. "Like that?" She asks as she watches the path of the Frisbee.

"Like that, for a beginning. You're allowed to 'pump' it a few times, wait for it to feel right. There's no hurry, this is just a pleasant variation on a game of catch." Gabriel steps back to allow room. "Okay, let go of it now."

Erica picks up the Frisbee and then moves back into throwing position. She tucks it in and pumps it a few times with her hand, trying to get used to the motion. After a few practice swings she tosses it out, giving it that flick of her wrist to really get the disc spinning.

Erica watches the disc go out, and then reverse direction. She jogs back a bit, and jumps up to catch it, as it goes over her head. She manages to catch it before falling back to the ground. "Well that didn't go too badly."

Gabriel gives Erica a playful punch in the shoulder. "Nice! Good job. Okay, now I'm going to take off, you wait three seconds, and whichever direction I run in? You need to throw it to me so that I can catch it on the run. Doesn't matter much in the backyard game, but it does in the team version. Alright?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Hit me!" Then he takes off running at about a right-angle to the wind, not even looking back yet. He's not the speediest guy, but he's not exactly jogging, either.

Erica chuckles a little bit at the hit on her shoulder. "Alright I'll give it a shot." She says with a chuckle as she tucks in the Frisbee, getting ready to throw. She watches you run for a bit, and then tosses it at you, trying to lead you with the disc so that you can catch it.

The elder man looks back quickly enough to see that the disc isn't going to go nearly far enough, and pulls up, slows.. actually has to go backwards a short distance. "Okay, not bad for your first try. We'll give it two more tries before moving on there's something that you need to see." He tosses it back to her - a fair distance, admittedly. "Okay, I'm going to run. Hit me again." With that, he's off and running, across his pupil's line of sight.

Erica purses her lips for a moment as the disc comes up short. After she gets the disc back, she tries again. She hunkers down on it, and this time she gives more lead time. She throws the disc at where hopefully you will be this time.

The range isn't bad, but the test this time was accurate direction, and the throw is still slightly off, Erica having led her target by too much. Unfortunately, the not-entirely-speedy Gabriel can't even get close enough to attempt a diving catch, and the Frisbee manages to stick its nose into a small area of more squishy soil. "Okay, we'll pick up the game some time when we're bored at being shot at, shooting, and hitting clubs. Before we move on, it's your turn to catch on the run. So.. catch!" He tosses it with some decent speed to a spot distant from Erica, but at least a spot she should easily reach when it gets there. Catching on the run is another matter.

Erica isn't paying much attention as you toss the disc at her, so she is late to start running. She runs pretty fast but she is late to get to the disc before it hits the ground. She chuckles a bit at herself before she picks up the disc and tosses it back to you. "Ok lets try that again." She says with a smile.

Gabriel is grinning himself, and snatches the disc out of the air. He doesn't spend any time with advice this time, as Erica seems to be catching on. There it goes, around the back, and the opposite direction that she'd just run.

Erica starts running towards the tossed disc. She moves as fast as she can, her eyes on the disc. She however doesn't see the small hole in the dirt. Her foot catches the dirt and she falls down, her momentum sending her tumbling a bit. It takes her a moment to get back up, but then she starts laughing at herself.

Gabriel wanders over, laughing loudly and clapping his hands. "Okay, okay. I said that would be the last one before moving on, but we can't end on that note, can we?" He squiggles his eyes and walks over to retrieve the Frisbee. "Here. Over your head, it comes back to you, you catch it and spike it, scoring a point!" After allowing her a moment to get set, the older man tosses it, exactly as explained.

Erica chuckles as she nods her head. "Alright. Let's see if I can get one." She jumps up high as the disc comes back over her head. She manages to snap it out of the air before she lands back on the ground. "Finally got one."

The man walks over to high-five his partner. "There you go. You need to keep practicing. If you can't find me, I'm sure that there's *someone* around who'd like to play. Maybe one of these days we'll get some guys together - and gals - for a game of Ultimate. Anyway... you can toss that back into the pile, and we'll continue. Next? A reason why you should enjoy real sports, and why some things are not real sports." He makes two motions, one toward the pile of equipment, the other toward a slightly distant and small net raised up about six or seven feet. Then Gabriel's feet start to move in that direction.

"Sure we could give that a try." Erica says with a brief nod of her head. "It might be fun to try some team sports together." She walks over to the raised net and peers at it for a moment. "So what is this?" She asks while she walks around the net. "Some other odd game?"

Gabriel bends down and picks up two... racquets? They're like professional flyswatters. And.. a dead bird molded in plastic? "Yes, an odd game. This is an example of why sports are to be enjoyed... because if you're in the right mindset, but still not quite drunk, everything can be fun. Even badminton." He tosses the dead bird and one of the metal-and-spring swatters in Erica's direction, easily. "Perhaps the least athletic game that anyone can ever play with a net and a racquet. See? They don't even play with balls." Yuk-yuk-yuk. "It's called a 'shuttlecock.' The plastic thing with fins. Don't ask me why it's called that," he states with a grin, moving to the opposite side of the net.

Erica takes the racquet and looks over it briefly. She gives it a few practice swings. She watches the little bird and picks it up to examine it. She tries bouncing the shuttlecock on her racket, but doesn't do very well at it. After a few tries she hits the shuttle cock over the net. "Hmmm ok." She says as she gnaws her lower lip and gives her racket a few more swings

Gabriel raises the silly racket and waves it. "Toss the thing over to me. Bounce it over, whatever. Incidentally I don't know why it's called 'badminton,' either. But wouldn't you know it? Leave it up to the Brits to develop *another* wuss game." He shakes his head and chuckles, waving for the shuttlecock to travel in his direction.

Erica goes and retrieves the shuttlecock from where she bounced it over the net. She bounces it on the racquet once before she hits it over the net in a wide arc. "Like that?" She asks as she watches the flight of the bird. She gets ready for when or if the shuttlecock comes back over the net.

Her teacher is feeling silly, and instead of smashing the little thing back over the net, Gabriel hits it in a massive underhanded blow that sends it lobbing a good fifteen feet vertically - pretty good considering how the damn things work. "There you go, Erica. Now *you* just smack the shit out of the damn thing when it comes down. Over the net," is specified.

Erica watches the return flight of the game bird. She licks her lips before she jumps up to hits the shuttlecock as it comes down. her racquet hits it hard, smacking it over the net. She giggles a little as she watches the flight of the bird back towards Gabriel. "How was that?"

Zing! Just missed it. Gabriel comes up smiling, poking at his racquet. "Bumped right off the side, good shot! Nice thing is that it can nail a guy in the nuts at fulls speed without causing much pain. Unless it hits just right." He shivers a little as he picks up the shuttlecock. "Alright, this is a real serve. Unlike tennis, or volleyball, or racquetball or any other more 'violent' sport, you *always* serve underhand. Them's the rules." Boink, the racquet hits the dead bird and it starts its way over the net - an easy serve.

Erica runs to the right to try to catch the shuttlecock with her racquet. She manages to hit the bird, but its flight isn't what she wanted and it just bounces into the net and falls down. She frowns for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. Taking the shuttle cock she walks over and tries that underhand serve, trying to hit it over the net and to Gabriel.

Gabriel returns the object with little effort, just tapping it at the top of its arc and sending it gently back towards his pupil. "The only challenging thing is that the racquet head is much smaller than normal. Game is slow, but admittedly requires accuracy." There's plenty of time for the shuttlecock to be bounced back.

Erica runs over to the bird, to catch it with her racquet. She manages to hit it up and over the net, trying to get it back to Gabriel. "Well this is fun. Not every game has to be super competitive." She says with a little smile on her face.

"Nope! I said fun, I thought," Gabriel says as he returns the conical object. "Easy, too - except for the weirdos who really take this game seriously. Like the people who take ping-pong seriously." Boing.

Erica times her swing wrong this time, and she hits the bird into the net. She squats down to retrieve the shuttlecock, and practices her underhand serve again. With a smack she hits the shuttlecock over the net towards Gabriel. "I would be down to play this any time. I also know a game called croquet. We could try that sometime."

"Excellent!" Gabriel shouts. "Finally, something relaxing to do other than roam the forest by myself. So, what do you think of what I've shown you? Granted, it's only a very tiny taste of the wide, wide world of sports, and different from your gymnastics. But I hope that you're enjoying it, it's all about fun." He's been bouncing the thing up and down on his racquet this whole time. "Remember what I said, though. Everything in life, with the sole exception of family, is a constant contest and competition. There can only be one winner in a competition. Play to win, and play for a crushing, devastating victory. Anything less, and you shouldn't bother to show up for the game." *WHACK* he sends the shuttlecock over the net without warning.

Erica seems to be distracted by the talking. She dives for the shuttlecock. but misses it with her racquet, landing in the dirt. "Ugh. Well I liked the track and field stuff a lot. I think I'll be practicing all that for a while. The Frisbee was fun too. I'm not so sure about the football. Most of the lone, or one on one sports seem like the ones I'll play most often." She says as she gets up from the dirt, and brushes herself off.

Gabriel tucks the racquet under his arm, smiling, and walks to Erica, ducking his head beneath the net - something that doesn't take much effort for a fellow of his stature. Then, taking her shoulders around with his free arm, "You're learning, and you're learning well. But learning sports takes time. Jet pack maneuvering is easier. Sports? There's a lot of finesse in it, and more importantly.. you do actually have to enjoy it. The only people who might play sports that they don't like are professionals who do it for money... or fat kids who are just happy to have been picked." He swats her on the ass, then blushes, pulling his hand away. "Sorry, old habit. Let's pack it in, maybe we can meet for a drink later, regale everyone about how the student beat the master." He winks an eye, and starts off to collect all of the gear that he'd brought.

Erica squeaks and blushes brightly as her ass is spanked. Her pale skin turns a slight shade of pink. "Hey!" She calls out as she pokes the racquet at Gabriel. "Alright we can go get a drink. I am sure a lot of the things you've taught me will come in useful. She says with a slight smile. She walks over to start helping Gabriel put away all the gear.