melodiesoflife | BLITZBALL!

Entry tags:

BLITZBALL!

Characters: auYUNA and YOU!
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: June 15th - June 29th
Summary: Blitzball! ~ Feel free to run into Yuna during all and anything. These are just general things if you wish to run into her.
Warning: Maybe be profanity and swearing because…fans. Nothing crazy or bad!

Player Meetings

Yuna was excited to meet players that she hadn’t had the chance to greet before. She’s been on the team for a couple of months now and she still hadn’t met all the players on the other teams. She had met a few in passing but it was nothing like this.

Celes was excited. He was using this chance to get his Blitzball signed by all his favorite star athletes. Yuna followed him with a wide grin, greeting the players while Celes gushed about how great they were.

After they finished going around Celes turned to Yuna. His cheeks were flushed a slight hint of red as he held out his prized Blitzball towards Yuna. “Will you sign it too?” He couldn’t say it but Celes was Yuna’s biggest fan.

Souvenir’s, Food and Drink

Yuna was staying away from the Vuvuzela’s though that didn’t mean she didn’t hear them. Luckily sound traveled differently in water so during the match all the cheering became a dull clamor in the back ground of the playing sphere.

She finally got a break and she decided to take a look at the shops and the stands. There was so much to see. She wanted to get an Aqures Chocobo shirt but she couldn’t wear it during the match and she already had Aqures Chocobo pajama’s thanks to Celes. She smiled at the stands deciding to get something light eat for now. She’d have to get back soon anyway but it was nice to absorb the excitement from those who loved Blitzball as much as she did.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

While definitely a fan of celebrations, Ven was steering clear of the larger parties, too. It hadn't taken him long to realize that it was more of an adult-oriented event, what with the fair amount of drinking going on, and seeking out friends was easier away from the centers of noise and semi-chaos, anyway.

So shortly after the game, he could be found wandering in a vague direction here and there further down in the city, away from the stadium; still enjoying the cheer in the streets, but without committing to anything in particular. He had a lot on his mind, as well, and this was a good way to avoid overthinking things.

When he happened to spot Yuna, Ven did a double-take, and that surprise immediately broke into a grin.

"Yuna! Hey!" He jogged over with a wave that was probably unnecessary. "Congratulations! You did great!" Just as he'd known she would!

Hearing her name made her pause mid step. She had been stopped by a few fans but most were to intimidated to say anything to her unless drunk or with a group of others. Hearing Ven's voice made her smile. It was nice to know that he had seen the game.

She turned towards him waiting for him to caught up to her. "You think so?" She laughed softly then shook her head. "The team is really amazing. We all did a good job. I'm happy to see that you saw it."

She knew that Ven was interested in Blitzball, maybe this would pursued him to want to join the team too.

"Of course! I made sure to catch all your games!" Admittedly, Ven might have sounded a little proud as he said that, but he was mostly grateful for having had the chance to do so. It was a good thing he wasn't deterred by big crowds. Or noise. Or crazy enthusiastic post-game fans.

"Your whole team did really well," he agreed. "Now I see why you practice so much. It really paid off!" There was definitely a huge difference between those rather laidback (in comparison) practice sessions and the real thing. "So, what're you doing to celebrate?" he added, suddenly realizing how odd it was that Yuna was alone out here.

Yuna laughed. It made her really happy to know that Ven had come to see the games and she knew that he had been cheering for her too.

"Nothing yet." Her head tilted to the side as her arms stretched out to either side. "I was just getting away from the crowd. It's been awhile since so many people wanted to talk to me or congratulate me."

She knew that the excitement wouldn't last but being a well known Blitzball player was a lot of fun.

"You must have a lot of fans! They went wild every time you scored!" That went for all players and both teams, but Yuna had been one of the more popular ones, he'd noticed. Looking at it that way, Ven could understand why she might want to get away for a bit.

"Did your team win a tournament like this back home?"

Yuna smiled at his flattery and his question. “We did. I admit I was pretty popular there too but I don’t know if it was just because of Blitzball.” There were a lot of reasons though that in and of itself was a longer story.

She smiled at Ven lacing her fingers behind her back as she rocked back on her toes. “We should do something.”

A beat.

“To celebrate.” Though she wasn’t sure what.

He beamed again at that, nodding emphatically. "We should! It's a big night for you and all."

Ven glanced around the street thoughtfully. His idea of celebrating would probably be something as simple as...

"We could get some ice cream -- but... we already did that before," he pointed out. For the sake of distinguishing tonight's victory, there should probably be more to it. "Hmm..." His gaze turned skyward in thought -- and then he grinned. "Hey -- do you like stargazing? I finally found a really good spot -- it's away from the city lights, so you can see a lot more. If you don't mind working a little for it," he added with a teasing look, "we could grab something on the way."

Yuna looked up at the stars and remembered the last time she really stopped to look at the sky. She had been back on Spira then and there was so much to think about. She turned towards Ven with a smile.

"I'd love that." She remember every time that she would stare up at the sky and wish upon every star that hung in it's center. She motioned for him to lead the way only vaguely aware of the direction they were going or what snacks or foods that Ven might pick up. She kept looking up at the sky feeling a smile pull at her lips.

After a little bit of walking she stopped spotting a cafe that she knew well. "Let's stop in here. I don't think Fai is in but his shop makes the cutest little cakes. We can buy two and take that with us."

Ven wasted no time in leading the way as indicated, occasionally stopping at a stand to grab something here or there that looked good. In hindsight, he wondered if he should start carrying a backpack of some kind from now on; ah, well.

At Yuna's suggestion minutes later, he nodded gladly. "Sure! I've seen it before, but I've never tried it. You go there a lot?"

Yuna smiled. "I helped out when he first opened but then I got to busy. I haven't had cakes like it before." Sugar was rare in Spira.

She walked up to the Cat's eye peeking into the windows curiously. "He's probably not here. I'll run in real fast." She looked at Ven with a smile. "Stay here!"

She wanted it to be a surprise.

Yuna dashed inside and was back not ten minutes later with a bag and a wide smile. "It's going to be a surprise so you can't see until we get there!"

Ven waited patiently on the sidewalk, watching more of the passersby and distant fireworks; when Yuna reappeared, he brightened, only to give her a slight pout at the secret. Still, it wasn't like he had to wait long, so the semi-disappointment was short-lived. "All right! That'll just make the trip even more worth it!"

Especially since he still hadn't told her where the spot in question was. ~~About that...~~

Eagerly, Ven led her through the streets, heading up and away from where most of the Blitzball fans were concentrated. Rather than heading out towards the city limits, even -- although some areas in the plains did indeed have some really good views -- he made a winding trek further up towards the center of the city, into the First District, until they were at the gates before Aqures Castle. There he stopped and shot Yuna a sidelong grin.

"I heard that Heroes can come and go here, so I did some looking around." Shifting the snacks that he'd gathered, Ven pointed to indicate the side of the castle -- specifically, a small outcropping of roof just below one of the balconies. It was about five stories up from where they stood. "And I, ah... did some exploring." Climbing, that was. When the few guards weren't looking. "If you start at the balcony and climb up, it gives a really good view from the other side."

He did say they had to work for it.

Yuna followed Ven and then his gaze. It did look like a good spot. She smiled at Ven, "I think we can make it." She looked back at him feeling a little giddy at the idea of doing something that they weren't supposed to be.

"Do you know the guards schedule then?"

She smiled and was completely on board with this plan. It obviously couldn't go wrong and she was excited to see the sight from the little perch.

He was glad when Yuna's reaction was positive. As much as Ven loved Terra and Aqua, he knew they'd likely chastise him for suggesting it (as well as having done it in the first place) -- but it wasn't dangerous to anyone other than himself, and he had total confidence in his climbing abilities besides.

He nodded. "They really only patrol the front and back of the castle. They go around a couple times, but they're always at ground level. As long as we don't draw attention, they won't be able to see us from that far down." Plus, they probably didn't expect anyone to start on the inside of the castle and climb out; there probably wasn't much reason for them to look that high from the outside.

"Come on!" he encouraged, and led the way through the gates and up into the castle interior. It was a few steep flights of steps to get to the upper floors, but he had more than enough energy to burn. A few guards sent them curious looks -- probably wondering what a couple of Heroes were doing here on the biggest night of the Blitzball tournament -- but no one stopped them. Within minutes, Ven had found the balcony he indicated previously. Looking over the railing, it was a long way down, but the moon was bright enough back here to illuminate the castle roof and reveal a number of footholds just right for climbing.

"I can go first," he offered. "I've done it a few times, so I've got it pretty much memorized."

Yuna didn’t have many who would stop her from doing things. Lulu and Wakka did but that was because they had had a hand in raising the ex summoner. Once she became a summoner she was privileged which meant that she could do anything she wanted as long as she continued her pilgrimage. Even afterwards, as High Summoner there weren’t many telling the young girl what to do.

She smiled at Ven following throw the castle and up to the balcony. She made sure to make notes in order to find her way here again. If the sight was truly as amazing as Ven claims.

She looked down into the dark letting her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. They had only been in the castle for what felt like a few minutes but in that time that sun had completely set and was no longer a fiery speck on the horizon. “I don’t mind either way, I’m a pretty good climber.” Even still he knew the way so she let Ven move over the edge of the balcony first. She looped the plastic bag over her wrist so that her cute little cakes would be safe. She moved slower with them in mind, not wanting to ruin the little surprise she had.

Yuna didn’t bother looking down. She focused on the hand holds in front of her as she moved pausing only every once in a while to make sure she was heading in the correct direction.

Ven had a fair number of pockets, so after securing his own snacks, he swung a leg over the railing, paused long enough to check his footing, and then sidled along the balcony edge to where it ran into the curtain wall. It was tricky here, since it required a short jump to catch onto the handhold of jutting stone about a yard over his head -- and a slip or miscalculation would end in a painful (although ~~probably~~ not fatal) tumble onto the parapet walk below -- so he paused long enough to indicate how it was done before going ahead.

He made the catch and hauled himself with ease up onto the battlement, glancing both ways down the walkway to make sure no guards were too close. Once in the clear, he turned to start a longer trek up the side of the nearest tower. There were window panes and cannon-ports to use as footholds here, at least, and there was more light than usual to see by, so visibility was no issue.

The climb usually took him about a minute by himself, this time about twice that since he was going slow for Yuna, but in no time they had reached the indicated place: a small platform of stone about the length of a park bench and twice as wide. It was situated between two of the skinnier towers, a spare slab of stone that really had no purpose due to its impractical (and out of sight) location.

For their purpose, though, it was perfect. The drop at this point would most likely (definitely) be fatal -- the would-be bench had the stone wall behind it, but its front edge dropped off sharply, the closest landing now over three stories below -- but as far as the view went, it definitely wasn't something any other spot in the city could provide; not that Ven had discovered yet, anyway. The view stretched as far out over the Calm Plains as their eyes could see, the skyline just as distant. Without the obstructions of buildings or trees, the sky looked ten times bigger than normal.

Once seated, Ven scooted over to make sure Yuna had room. "So?" He grinned. "What d'you think?"

Yuna followed easily behind him. She was used to these sorts of adventures with her friends and it was almost liberating to be doing something like this again. She easily pulled herself up and then carefully placed down the bag before getting her legs completely on the gray stone. She smiled at Ven's question before turning and looking around at the city and the plains below.

"It's beautiful."

Her voice was soft and clearly in awe of the wonderful scene before them. They had made it up to the ledge in time to see the sun decent behind the earth and Yuna knew that any moment the stars would begin to peek out from their hiding places.

She settled on the surface, getting comfortable, and then looked over at Ven with a wide smile. "I almost never want to leave." At least she's going to stay up here as long as she can and definitely come back.

After another long moment of looking over at the setting Yuna reached down at the bag she had placed between them. In it were two small cakes. One was strawberry with a little kitty decorated on it while the other was chocolate with a lovely rose painted on it. "I didn't know which you would like. So you pick one and I'll eat the other." Besides looking pretty Fai's cake's were amazing.

Yuna's response made him beam. Ven was glad to share the view with someone else, so for her to like it so much made him honestly glad. It would've been kinda awful if they came all this way and she hated it, after all.

When she brought out the cakes, Ven couldn't hide his surprise. He hadn't seen food that fancy since the ice cream shop in Disney Town. "Wow! They're amazing!" Heck, he almost didn't want to ruin them by eating them.

But they did look really good, so after a moment of thought he nodded at the kitty. "I'll try this one!"

She smiled passing him the strawberry cake and a small fork that she had stashed in the bag. She picked up the chocolate one and took a small bite as the sun slowly made it's decent behind the skyline. She just watched it in silence nibbling at the rich chocolate cake as the stars slowly began to dot the sky.

"Look!"

Yuna leaned back some resting her shoulders against the cold surface to looking up at the dark blue sky that expanded over the world like a blanket.

"It's beautiful."

Ven did the same, leaning back on one hand to admire the view. As many times as he'd seen such a sight, he never got tired of it.

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. It made him smile, but there was no denying that it was a bittersweet sensation. Terra and Aqua... He wondered how they were doing, wherever they were. What they were thinking as they looked up at the sky without him.

After a heavy moment, he brightened his smile and turned to his cake again. "It's really good!" he told her. "Thanks a lot for picking 'em up. I guess... there are still some nice things inside the city that I haven't found yet." Not just outside it.

"There is a lot to see and try." She smiled fondly at the sky remembering all of those she had to leave behind. "Sometimes the most exciting things are just outside your door. You don't always have to go very far."

Yuna had traveled her world and then to other worlds. It had been so long since she was home and the excitement she missed the most was just walking around Besaide. She shifted so that she could eat small bites while looking up at the stars. She had no concept of the time the passed as they sat there.

"What was your favorite thing to do? In your world." She knew that Ven had traveled like Aqua but she knew there was a place out there that he considered home too.

For a moment Ven ate in thoughtful silence, considering the question. It was a simple one, but still -- now that he thought about it, he had pretty simple answers.

"I liked to do things like this." He indicated the horizon with a nod. "We trained a lot -- me and Aqua and Terra -- so it was nice to go up on the summit and watch the sky like this afterwards." He had other light hobbies, reading and sketching and the like, but those were more for rainy days. Most of his free time had gone into bolting up to the usual spot, sometimes alone but usually with his friends.

"Back then, I hadn't -- seen any other worlds. Besides ours." That statement came haltingly, as Ven realized partway through that it wasn't entirely true; but it wasn't a lie, either. It was complicated, like many things. "All worlds share the same sky, though, so we'd look up and imagine what some of 'em must be like." His smile quirked at the memory. It had been fun, making up their own worlds. Promising to work together and go find them one day.

"What about you?" he asked. "Did you spend most of your time playing Blitzball?"

Yuna smiled at the skyline picturing Ven's world. "That sounds really amazing." She didn't mind the silence but she liked listening too. She could pick up the tones in Ven's voice that told her how special those moments where and it made his words more important somehow. Like she could feel the joy that he had felt when running up to that summit.

She sighed placing her chocolate cake down as she thought. She has done so many things, it's hard to say what she does now.

"No, I used to just watch my friends play but then they stopped so I decided to as well. I travel a lot. Not to different worlds but around Spira. I was always moving towards something or searching for something that I had to find." She paused remembering those feelings. "I don't know if I can say I ever found it. Since I've gone to other places... well, things have been complicated. This is the first place I've really been able to have fun since leaving home."

Ven listened attentively. Yuna's words seemed vague, or he at least didn't understand at first -- but the more she spoke, the more he felt he could understand if he tried. He wasn't sure what it was like to chase after something without knowing what it was -- or maybe he did, and simply didn't realize it yet -- but there was one thing he could sympathize with.

"Complicated, huh..." He leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees, unfazed by the long drop below. "I think I know the feeling." To him, at least, it meant long stories, unanswered questions, and mixed emotions. He'd had all of those since waking up in this world. And speaking of--

"It's that way for me, too, though. A lot of..." He hesitated, but there was no better way to phrase it. "A lot of bad things happened before I came here. But I've made a lot of friends since then, and I've had some really good times. Sometimes I forget about the bad things for a while." Ven frowned, however, the cool breeze gently scattering his bangs over his forehead. "But... I wonder if that's wrong."

It was complicated, everything was always complicated and Yuna hated the word. Why couldn't things be simple? Why did they have to fight battles where they had to loose in order to win?

"Why would it be wrong?"

Yuna sat up slightly looking over at Ven. She could understand the feeling considering the countless bad things that have happened to her in the past. Didn't they deserve to be happy when so many bad things happened to them? Her life has been to the service of others for so long, now she just wants to be free.

"Because..." That neutral expression slipped into a frown. "I'm here, and I'm okay -- I'm happy -- but... Aqua might still be caught in that world you mentioned. And Terra..." Ven's eyes narrowed, almost wincing. He didn't finish the thought. "I just wonder if it's fair. For me to be happy when I don't know where they are."

They were alive, he was sure of that much -- he refused to believe anything else -- but... being alive didn't mean they were okay, necessarily.

BLITZBALL!

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