[ -- and another homerun for the fellow at the cage right beside his own.
Goro kept count and time partway through, inadvertently retained that unfamiliar silhouette in his peripheral. Metal bats resounds clear with their intermittent swings, the stranger's score climbing to greater heights while his little collection of numbers remains afloat, in the end. An automated baseball is shot rapid-fire towards empty space; Goro surrenders to an eventual pause, stepping closer towards the netting, to the one-eyed slugger ( not that he can tell right now; he's on the right of the man and all ) as his grip around the bat's handle becomes lazy and loose -- but it hardly drags across the floor. ]
Your hand-eye coordination is rather impressive. I imagine you'd be quite the contender in a more professional environment.
[ This city was a bore; hackneyed scams and brawls interwoven with the humdrum of a civilian's envied normalcy made it all the more ignoble. Respite was found behind the four walls of his lone apartment room, but even then, distractions like this, of casually tailored curiosities revisited on occasion, was better than succumbing to grief, thinking too much. Rare to even come across another who was more than strategic with their aim, almost innate -- someone who stood out from the rest, oddly unassuming on top of it all. ]
I drop by every now and then, but I don't believe I've seen you around before. Perhaps my timing is in some dire need of a proper tweaking.
[ It's all right to prod. Just a little. Goro's an innocuous student / errand boy during the day, after all, and he just so happens to be out for a quick study break or whatever. That's all. Besides, this is the norm for him, talking to adults. This one, in particular, isn't introduced to the barrel of his gun, at least. ]
( this isn't the place majima comes to for conversation. if anything, it's a means of escape from it; when there are no mouths to feed his fists into, anything he can swing at is a welcome approximation. the thwack of a baseball doesn't really match up to the crunch of a skull, but the reverberation that sings through his fingers is just as satisfying.
the kid in the cage over, trying to spark up some interaction? not so much. but majima can't deny him the stray of his eye, especially when he hasn't been doing half bad over there - his scoreboard is the closest majima has ever seen come to his own. there's a tease at the corner of his smile when he swings the bat again, knocking the ball directly into its target. )
Who says I ain't professional?
( um, did you see his suit? five bucks per autograph, baby. the front of the bat drops just short of the floor, lined evenly with the tip of his shoe. gently, majima lets it touch the ground, leaving one hand splayed over the circular end of its handle. )
Timin's not the only thing. You got a bat there, or a buncha flowers?
[ That earns a laugh, light and hollow. Flowers can weigh as much, but remains unremarkable in its short-lived impact, and Goro realizes, belatedly, that he needn't be so hasty in his intrigue; place a face on anything and he'll relocate it just fine later on. So a final pitch with its conclusive swing offers a boost to his score, but barely reaches the tail-end of his unwilling companion, dressed sharp and pristine, like he belongs on a glossy magazine spread -- or the front page of a periodical, BREAKING NEWS. ]
Pardon my indiscretion. I'd remember a face like yours however, so unless a baseball card dedicated to your name is inclined to the more limited edition variety...
[ Goro is either a very stupid boy or he's a hankering for danger -- because aren't all adults derived of the same lethality. Perhaps he's testing out the waters, what boundaries are all right to verbally cross, so on and so forth. But he doesn't linger; the bat is mounted back onto its appointed rack along with the rest, and he allows himself to be swept away by a little crowd of folks more than prepared to leave. Somebody else occupies the cage in the wake of his absence, and then -- ]
Next time, why don't we have something of a friendly competition? Having a rival on hand will offer a learning experience that cannot be sought and found elsewhere. Ah, I'm speaking more so for myself, though.
[ Is this not against the rules? Why's he in an occupied batting cage? Pestering a grown ass man. At least Goro has every mind to stay out of range -- regarding the bat, that is. ]
Edited (noticing an unfortunate typo several hours later... the audacity...) 2019-02-17 21:07 (UTC)
fun fact i lost this tag three times but i only cried once trying to rewrite it
( this is absolutely against the rules and majima finds himself straightening up, stumbling back a step or two as this guy walks into his cage like he owns it. majima couldn't be sure if the kid knew exactly what he was dealing with from the other side, but in here and up close he can for sure see the eye (or lack thereof) and the crooked nose and the scabbed knuckles too. a cocktail of features proven in the past to be mighty effective at eliciting at least one note of fear - but the kid looks like sparkles personified, and sparkles might as well have just bumped shoulders with him and told a funny joke.
well, he did, kinda. rivals. majima has to laugh. )
Ya gonna wait all the way until next time? ( in a less practiced hand, the sling of his bat would have cracked sparkles right in the jaw. luckily, it's majima's very practiced hand and sparkles had the sense to keep a bit of distance, so the round end of the bat swipes up and halts about an inch away from his nose. ) No rival of mine gets away with slackin' off.
( could be fun, and the kid has some real promise. his grip just needs a little polish. a ball launches towards them and majima swings with lightning transition, knocking it clear across the court and into the green netting above. he smiles a little, then juts the end of the bat towards his cage-mate-turned-pupil. )
Went through the trouble of squeezin' in here, might as well make it worth your while with a free lesson.
( regardless of whether the bat is accepted or not, majima takes him by the wrist and carefully works his fingers into the correct position around the handle, talking at the same time. )
Make sure your knuckles line up and don't let that lil' sucker ( taps the index finger ) touch the rest of em'. Makes it easier ta keep your grip light.
a. poke me next time for a tag rewrite so i can accommodate b. shake fist @ dw for being a butthole
[ That's a cue totally missed; a convincing flinch, smile waning to showcase nerves ignited -- it'd depict an image of a cowardly schoolboy who probably couldn't be assed to throw the first punch at a presented adversary. He'd let his prospective targets think so, work him to the bone with harrowing tasks that invited a modicum of ridicule, a generous pint of contempt. Goro always has the last laugh, though. Whatever. But, here, his eyes are keen and bright, aimed at the eyepatch, thoughts in a flurry with unspoken questions, motions that coaxed him closer to the makeshift home plate, grip trained around the bat's handle, expert and particular. Huh. Depth perception was a thing; shouldn't he be near horrendous at stuff like this? ]
Hardly anything is offered for free. Name your price and I'll try my best to deliver.
[ Fortunately, the beloved lord of the night hasn't reached a certain level of smelly just yet, so no awkward laughs, untangling himself away from this impromptu extracurricular exercise with a note of dismissal. Goro humors the man either way, steps up to the plate and launches into full swing as the projected baseball accelerates into a sea of netted green. Not the score he was hoping for, but better than what he accomplished on his own earlier. Which brings a certain thought to light: ]
Most rivalries aren't so eager to assist another when it comes to their accomplishments. It seems rather popular in media to derive joy in somebody else's shortcomings and use their faults against them to gain the upper hand.
[ Goro says this while studying the positioning of his hands, like he means to memorize what he was taught just now -- or it's a convenient, performative ruse to convey, all non-verbal, that he's invested in some way. One thing's for sure: he adheres to what he was advised earlier; index finger is isolated from the rest. ]
And I've been wondering for awhile now... [ Is the kid gonna ask the usual, the personal, the impolite? Well. ] It has gotten pretty noisy as of late, hasn't it? I get the feeling that an unruly crowd has gathered nearby for quite some time... I suppose that explains why there are plenty who have entered the establishment, but seem to express a refusal to leave.
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Goro kept count and time partway through, inadvertently retained that unfamiliar silhouette in his peripheral. Metal bats resounds clear with their intermittent swings, the stranger's score climbing to greater heights while his little collection of numbers remains afloat, in the end. An automated baseball is shot rapid-fire towards empty space; Goro surrenders to an eventual pause, stepping closer towards the netting, to the one-eyed slugger ( not that he can tell right now; he's on the right of the man and all ) as his grip around the bat's handle becomes lazy and loose -- but it hardly drags across the floor. ]
Your hand-eye coordination is rather impressive. I imagine you'd be quite the contender in a more professional environment.
[ This city was a bore; hackneyed scams and brawls interwoven with the humdrum of a civilian's envied normalcy made it all the more ignoble. Respite was found behind the four walls of his lone apartment room, but even then, distractions like this, of casually tailored curiosities revisited on occasion, was better than succumbing to grief, thinking too much. Rare to even come across another who was more than strategic with their aim, almost innate -- someone who stood out from the rest, oddly unassuming on top of it all. ]
I drop by every now and then, but I don't believe I've seen you around before. Perhaps my timing is in some dire need of a proper tweaking.
[ It's all right to prod. Just a little. Goro's an innocuous student / errand boy during the day, after all, and he just so happens to be out for a quick study break or whatever. That's all. Besides, this is the norm for him, talking to adults. This one, in particular, isn't introduced to the barrel of his gun, at least. ]
no subject
the kid in the cage over, trying to spark up some interaction? not so much. but majima can't deny him the stray of his eye, especially when he hasn't been doing half bad over there - his scoreboard is the closest majima has ever seen come to his own. there's a tease at the corner of his smile when he swings the bat again, knocking the ball directly into its target. )
Who says I ain't professional?
( um, did you see his suit? five bucks per autograph, baby. the front of the bat drops just short of the floor, lined evenly with the tip of his shoe. gently, majima lets it touch the ground, leaving one hand splayed over the circular end of its handle. )
Timin's not the only thing. You got a bat there, or a buncha flowers?
( nice grip, limp-wrist. )
no subject
Pardon my indiscretion. I'd remember a face like yours however, so unless a baseball card dedicated to your name is inclined to the more limited edition variety...
[ Goro is either a very stupid boy or he's a hankering for danger -- because aren't all adults derived of the same lethality. Perhaps he's testing out the waters, what boundaries are all right to verbally cross, so on and so forth. But he doesn't linger; the bat is mounted back onto its appointed rack along with the rest, and he allows himself to be swept away by a little crowd of folks more than prepared to leave. Somebody else occupies the cage in the wake of his absence, and then -- ]
Next time, why don't we have something of a friendly competition? Having a rival on hand will offer a learning experience that cannot be sought and found elsewhere. Ah, I'm speaking more so for myself, though.
[ Is this not against the rules? Why's he in an occupied batting cage? Pestering a grown ass man. At least Goro has every mind to stay out of range -- regarding the bat, that is. ]
fun fact i lost this tag three times but i only cried once trying to rewrite it
well, he did, kinda. rivals. majima has to laugh. )
Ya gonna wait all the way until next time? ( in a less practiced hand, the sling of his bat would have cracked sparkles right in the jaw. luckily, it's majima's very practiced hand and sparkles had the sense to keep a bit of distance, so the round end of the bat swipes up and halts about an inch away from his nose. ) No rival of mine gets away with slackin' off.
( could be fun, and the kid has some real promise. his grip just needs a little polish. a ball launches towards them and majima swings with lightning transition, knocking it clear across the court and into the green netting above. he smiles a little, then juts the end of the bat towards his cage-mate-turned-pupil. )
Went through the trouble of squeezin' in here, might as well make it worth your while with a free lesson.
( regardless of whether the bat is accepted or not, majima takes him by the wrist and carefully works his fingers into the correct position around the handle, talking at the same time. )
Make sure your knuckles line up and don't let that lil' sucker ( taps the index finger ) touch the rest of em'. Makes it easier ta keep your grip light.
a. poke me next time for a tag rewrite so i can accommodate b. shake fist @ dw for being a butthole
Hardly anything is offered for free. Name your price and I'll try my best to deliver.
[ Fortunately, the beloved lord of the night hasn't reached a certain level of smelly just yet, so no awkward laughs, untangling himself away from this impromptu extracurricular exercise with a note of dismissal. Goro humors the man either way, steps up to the plate and launches into full swing as the projected baseball accelerates into a sea of netted green. Not the score he was hoping for, but better than what he accomplished on his own earlier. Which brings a certain thought to light: ]
Most rivalries aren't so eager to assist another when it comes to their accomplishments. It seems rather popular in media to derive joy in somebody else's shortcomings and use their faults against them to gain the upper hand.
[ Goro says this while studying the positioning of his hands, like he means to memorize what he was taught just now -- or it's a convenient, performative ruse to convey, all non-verbal, that he's invested in some way. One thing's for sure: he adheres to what he was advised earlier; index finger is isolated from the rest. ]
And I've been wondering for awhile now... [ Is the kid gonna ask the usual, the personal, the impolite? Well. ] It has gotten pretty noisy as of late, hasn't it? I get the feeling that an unruly crowd has gathered nearby for quite some time... I suppose that explains why there are plenty who have entered the establishment, but seem to express a refusal to leave.