11705/The Days of Summer

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The Days of Summer
Date of Scene: 01 July 2020
Location: Backyard, Avengers Mansion
Synopsis: Cap tries to teach Thor about baseball.
Cast of Characters: Captain America, Thor, Slipstream, Black Widow (Romanoff)




Captain America has posed:
    The sun hangs heavy, high in the sky shining with a brilliance that is only abated by the drift of a few wisps of clouds across its face. Warm, damnably warm, the time of year that speaks of lemonade or iced tea basking in a pitcher with ice clinking with each pour. All of these things make up what many people think embodies the idle days of Summer.
    But to the man known as Steve Rogers, there's one other thing.
    "Alright, Thor. This. Is a baseball." He holds up the white spheroid in his hand, the good Captain lightly thumping the ball into his gloved hand one-two-three times as he grins happily. "Now, my goal is to throw it past you, close enough that you have a chance to hit it with that wooden bat there, and your goal is to hit it away."
    He's dressed for the weather, loose grey sweat shorts, white sneakers, and a Brooklyn Dodger's hat tilted up against the sun. Not exactly his usual choice in clothes but today might well be a special day.
    "You think you can handle that, buddy?"

Thor has posed:
"You wish me to strike that ball with this bat? Surely, you shall never see that ball again." It doesn't sound like Thor thinks holding back is necessary, which could put that thing a couple counties over before it comes down again. If he hits it, of course.

Thor has never held a baseball bat before, however, so he holds it in one hand, like it was a sword, and he will hit the small round object and all Valhalla will sing of it!

"Have at you, friend Steve, and bid the ball farewell." He cocks his arm back...and waits. Waits standing over home plate, as he's never heard of a batter's box. He's heard of war, though, and that bat is really looking like he's gonna swing it like it's a weapon at an enemy projectile.

Slipstream has posed:
Someone has to play outfield and it may as well be Drake. Dressed in a pair of loose fitted jeans with tears in the knees as well as a solid black shirt, he's wearing a glove in his hand. Though he may be the team's speedster, he isn't quite sure he can catch a ball that's rocked by Thor.

"Eeeeeey battahbattahbattah! You ain't got no swing!"

He reaches up and twists his baseball cap backwards. Yankees. Of course. Bobbing about on his feet left and right, he calls out.

"Strike 'em out, Cap! Don't let Thunderbuddy show you up on America's Past-time. You know why they call it that right? Cuz' it takes forever to play a game." Ba-dum pish.

"Seriously though, I don't think I can run that fast."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"That isn't quite how you should...y'know, nevermind. I'll leave the instructions to Steve," Natasha says from her spot crouched behind home plate.

Which means she is getting an eyeful of something she really didn't need an eyeful of.

She rises to a standing position, smacking her fist into her glove as she does so. She's dressed down as well. A pair of black shorts that have a tight fit. Her upper body is a white sports bra. Trainers on her feet with ankle socks. Her red hair is pulled up in a high ponytail.

Captain America has posed:
    Their little makeshift field isn't really a field at all. Steve's standing in the middle of the yard but some twenty feet from the picnic table on the porch, providing support for the aforementioned lemonade. Thor's off over near one side of the yard near the hedge barrier and the fence, and poor Drake is all the way back on the other side just in case the ball doesn't go soaring off into the wild blue yonder.
    But still, the likelihood of losing a ball is pretty high today, which is why it's a good thing they have a few more near to hand. "You wanna knuckle up, Thor both hands. Like this." He mimes the proper posture, points at his feet. "Try and stand so you can..." But then he holds up a hand, "Actually, Nat's got the right idea, you'll probably get it soon enough."
    That said he turns to the side and grins again, squaring up on the Thunderer and giving him a nod. "You ready Nat?" His eyes meet hers looking for a sign of acknowledgement. Lip twisting as he brings two fingers up to the rim of his cap and adjusts it.
    There's the wind up.
    And the pitch.
    A blurring slider that hangs low and on the outside, slicing through the air with an audible zip as it rushes across the distance. And, to be fair, if Thor doesn't hit it and there was an umpire... he'd call it ball 1.

Thor has posed:
What Thor does doesn't actually look anything vaguely like the game of baseball. Instead, it looks like he's standing in the training fields of Asgard, slicing projectiles. Thor still has no concept of batter's boxes, so when Steve throws something off target, Thor turns the bat down and to the left...and then cuts at it like he was cutting with a sword. His aim is on point, and the ball gets popped up. And up. And up. And...Well, maybe it'll come down. Odin only knows where.

"A clever idea, to throw the ball elsewhere. But I am not so easily vanquished!" ...he still looks nothing like a baseball player.

Slipstream has posed:
".. I think I'm gonna break my neck." Drake calls out as he tilts his head backwards all the way, trying to see where the ball went. "You know that's gonna kill someone, right? Speed times trajectory equals head-splat." Pressing a hand to his forehead to try and block out some of the sun, he clearly loses the ball.

".. Welp." He just stands there for a few moments before he shrugs his shoulders towards the other three helplessly. ".. Do we call that a homerun or a new satellite?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Technically? It'd be an out. With the angle, it will come down about ten feet from the point of impact. Unless of course it does make it into orbit," Natasha is glancing up at the sky then she shakes her head and looks back to the rest of the trio.

"Alright, less trying to slice the ball and in half and more trying to hit to away from us, but within the playing field, so that we don't catch it."

Because there is such a high likelihood of that with a god-strength-hit-baseball. Wonder if the guts will come out of it? That's supposed to be good luck, or so she's been told. Or maybe it was something else.

Captain America has posed:
    "I'm thinking... satellite." Half-jogging forward, Steve pulls his hat from his head only to shield his eyes with it as he follows the flight of that ball straight up into the air. Biting his lower lip he looks a little pained as he watches... and watches.
    Worrying at that lip he sort of eyes Natasha sidelong, then Drake and looks back up. "Either of you see which angle it took. Looks like it mighta been a foul ball." If they were playing in an actual field, could well be.
    But now one ball down, he steps over and thump-thumps Thor on the shoulder affectionately. "Good try buddy, but next time you might want to aim it more thattaway." He motions with a nod towards the side of the field where Drake was and he bobs his head a little.
    "Someone else want to give it a go?" He asks as he pulls his hat back on, smoothing the brim with two fingers and then angling it down. "Or grab some lemonade?"
    Whatever their choice though, Steve's already starting towards the lemonade, likely expressing his choice through body language alone.

Thor has posed:
Thor looks aghast, "...How is the ball foul? Truly, I struck it fair, and it was nobly done!" Sadly, he doesn't get the concept of 'field of play' or that the ball is supposed to be within a certain area till Nat says something. "...The ball is supposed to land in the field somewhere? ...That leaves little room. Perhaps if I aim it next time..."

Drake is right, the ball probably would've killed somebody...if it hadn't hit the thermosphere and been toasted. RIP Baseball.

"Time for drinks! Excellent. I have some Asgardian ale here." As he grabs a decent sized tankard full. Of course, he's willing to share for all who may want some.

Slipstream has posed:
"I got noodle arms. No way am I even getting the ball halfway to him unless I use my powers." Drake says as he cranks his shoulders a few times as he jogs across the field towards them. "That was still a good hit though for a first time swinging. Sweet reflexes, bro."

Once he reaches the refreshment table, he snags a bottle of water instead of a beer. He just turned twenty-one, but hold habits are still hard to break for him. As he twists the plastic cap off and takes a quick sip, he wipes the sweat off his brow. "Thanks for inviting me out here guys. We don't get to do a lot of this stuff on the Cruiser. Saturn and Neptune doesn't have baseball. They got something else. They call it Blork. They throw a piece of fruit at someone and that person has to catch it and run for their life. If you can make it all the way across without dying, you get like a point or something. It's sorta like football but with laser guns and mallets."

"There's like a whole blackmarket underground betting thing on it in the Milky Way. Brainy is really into it. I think he cheats though because he wins everytime."

"Space is weird."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha takes a moment to look up at the sky once more. Then another shrug and she is walking over toward the picnic table. Settling onto the bench, she sets her mitt down by the place where she is sitting. She reaches for a bottle of water as well. Not because she has any problem with drinking. God forbid. It's simply because it is hot and water is better for hydration.

The other stuff can be tapped into in a few minutes. "It's a strange game. You do want to hit it out of the park, but in a setting like this it is probably better if you don't. Just for the safety of the citizens outside the fence line."

Captain America has posed:
    "Little early for me, big guy." Cap says, mindful that Asgardian Ale is something that actually might well have an impact on him. But that doesn't stop him from advancing on the lemonade and starting to fill a glass with the drink as well as some cubes. Once he's got it set, he'll drop into the seat of one of the picnic table chairs, causing it to complain with a faint creak.
    "Such a nice day." He nods and settles into the seat, crossing a sneaker over his knee and only then taking a sip of tea. "Anyone want to volunteer to tell me what's been going on lately?"
    Not exactly a debriefing request, definitely more informal.

Thor has posed:
Thor considers, "Well...my quest to revive my Father is not yet completed, and it looks to be a more ardrous undertaking than expected." Apparently, he thought raising the dead would be easier than this. Perhaps on Asgard it might've been. "Well. Let us not dwell on that, for this is a time for fun with friends!"

Or, it was a time for fun with friends, when suddenly...well, the problem with Odin not being raised is that Thor still has all the responsibilities. "...Forgive me, but something's come up."

An appearance of the Bifrost later, only the sigil of Asgard remains on the ground to tell the tale he was here.

Slipstream has posed:
"Uh.. I went with Superman and the Legion to rescue Wonder Woman. It was pretty intense. We got ambushed by spider monsters. Alex Powers almost got killed. So, that was scary." Drake says as he settles into a chair to take a sip of water. "Besides that? Not much. Just glad to be back on Earth and to hang out with you guys. I missed you." He says as he offers a smile to the pair of them once Thor makes his leave.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Keeping an eye on our newest recruit. A few missions for SHIELD that I can't talk about, because if I do then I'd have to shoot you both."

Natasha is kidding. Right? Right?!

As Thor disappears and leaves the scorch marks on the lawn, again, she sighs. "Tony is going to be ticked off. You would think Thor would do that somewhere else. Sod costs money."

Captain America has posed:
    "It's good to be around again," Cap offers as he adjusts his hat with a small touch to the brim before he settles deeper into the chair, he even manages to slouch a little which might surprise Natasha. But then he takes a deep breath, seemingly enjoying and valuing the moment or repose that's been granted to them.
    "It's good to hear you're doing some good out there, Drake. It never fails to take me aback to think how our world has grown in these last few years." A small shake of his head is given, then he looks over at Natasha and gets that hint of a smile.
    "Might as well ask the sky to not be blue, Nat. Thor's gotta be Thor." But then he leans forwards and lifts his glass toward each of them. "In any case, here's to friends. And Summer."
    And if they choose to join him there'll be a light clunk of glass to plastic before he takes another swallow of that lemonade.