Sunday at the tennis court

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

It was fairly early in the morning, so the weather was chilly. Kahlen didn't seem to mind because she had on excercise pants and a sweatshirt. She had woken up early and decided to do something different for a change and the tennis court was the first thing that popped into her mind (other than dance, but that wasn't different).

Kahlen headed toward the gym and grabbed a couple of tennis rackets and balls from the supply closet. She practically lived in the gym outside of classes, so she knew it like the back of her hand.

She jogged over to the courts, trying to warm up a bit. She set down the equipment and stretched. Kahlen never really played tennis before, so this was going to be interesting. She also hoped someone would show up to play with her- if anyone else was even awake.

After stretching, Kahlen picked up one of the rackets and threw the ball up in the air. She tried to bounce it on the racket, but wasn't having much luck.

She tried again... and again... and again. She finally settled for throwing the ball against the fence and bouncing it off the racket that way.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne was on her way to the swimming pool to get some swimming in, though with it being chilly, she wasn't sure she wanted to get into lukewarm water at the best, even if she loved water. She was stretching a bit and jogging so she didn't get really cold. She hated that it was getting closer to the season of snow. It might be frozen water, but it was still cold!

Passing by the tennis courts, she noticed Kahlen. "Hey, good morning Kahlen! What are you doing?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen turned at the sound of a voice and got whacked in the arm with the tennis ball. "Oof- Hullo, Mellianne!" she said after turning to see who the voice belonged to. "I'm trying out some tennis."

She demonstrated by whacking the ball with the racket. "I'm not very good, as you can probably tell." She grinned. "What're you up to this early? A swim?"

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne smiled. "I don't think I would be that good at it either. And yes, I was thinking about it. The cold is making me reconsider. I know the pool has a heater in the building, but the water still won't help me feel warm after being here. I wish we had a hot tub."

She looked around the court. "Are you waiting for someone to play with? Or are you just trying to get the hang of racket?"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"A hot tub would be nice," Kahlen said, thinking of the chilly weather that day.

She gestured at the pile of tennis equipment. "I was planning on both. I've got about as much practice with using a racket as I can. I brought extra stuff in case anyone came by and wanted to play. I wouldn't mind the company if you wanted to."

She went over to the entrance of the court and swung the gate open. "I'm pretty terrible, but it's fun."

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne nodded. "I'll play. I don't really want to go swimming. Sure I love the water, but honestly, I don't want to walk back with wet hair in this cold. And I don't want to dry my hair out with my powers, cause I might dry it a little too far. I've done that before and it took forever to fix."

She walked into the court and started stretching. When done, she picked up racket.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen's eyes widened. She didn't want to know what Mellianne meant by drying her hair too much. She also understood not wanting to got outside with wet hair.

After Mellianne picked up her racket, Kahlen went to the other side of the net with a ball. "Want me to serve? Actually, I'm not entirely sure how to. Is it overhand?"

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne thought for a moment. "Um, if I remember correctly from Gym class in Jr. High, the normal way of serving is overhand. It's really hard to balance the ball and get it high enough to go over the net. And underhand usually doesn't give as much force. For beginners though, underhand is easier."

((We played something like tennis at my Jr. High, but I don't remember much about it...so, this is just from what I remember, which probably isn't that accurate))

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Okey doke," Kahlen said. She stood at the back of the court, on the right side. She held the ball out in front of her and gave it a whack from the underside. The ball flew off to the right.

"Er, hold on a sec," she said, running to get the ball. "Okay, let's try this again."

Kahlen served again. This time, the ball made it to Mellianne's side of the court, grazing the top of the net and falling over.

"Does that count?" she asked. She grinned sheepishly. "Like I said, I'm pretty terrible."

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne waved the hand that wasn't holding the racket. "No problem. I'm not that good either. And I don't know. I've never really played tennis. I only know the very basics. How about just practice hitting the ball over the net, and then back and forth for now."

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen waved the racket in agreement. "That sounds great. I guess if we want to really play, I'll have to look up the rules sometime."

"Well, the ball's in your court, so you can hit it this time, eh?" Kahlen backed away from the net and stood in the middle of her side of the court and held the racket a bit to her right side.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne ran up to the ball and then ran back to the serving line. She tapped the ball against her cheek, trying to decide what way to serve it. Deciding on the easier way, she did an underhand serve, and it landed right next to the net, on her side.

Fetching the ball, Mellianne thought if she could think of anyone who might actually be good at tennis and willing to help teach them. Back at the starting line, she put in a little more power to her swing and it managed to reach about the middle of Kahlen's side of the court.

((Didn't really get how to write it, but the ball is at perfect hitting height at the middle of the court))

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen saw the ball cross the net and come right towards her. She backed up a bit and swung with all her might. The racket formed an arc... right behind the ball. The ball, instead of being hit with the racket, went past Kahlen on her left side.

"Drat!" she grumbled and went after the ball.

"Okay, Mellianne, here goes." Kahlen threw the ball up in the air and hit it in an overhand serve. She seemed to be better at this type of serve, but she gave the ball a lot of power as it zoomed over the net.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne took a swing at the approaching ball. However, she swung a little too late and the tennis ball went zooming past her and hit the fence. "Whoa. That was a good shot, though in a real match, it's better to have less power cause that would have been out."

She then ran after the ball. Bringing it back, she served again. This time, she hit it a little closer to the net than before.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen cringed as the ball hit the fence. She had thought for a moment that it might have hit Mellianne.

"Yeah, s'pose you're right."

The ball went near the net. Kahlen ran up to the net, leaned over and tapped the ball with her racket. She leaned a bit too far and had to grab on to the net for balance. "S'pose I can't really do that either, but it's not a real game, hey?"

Kahlen stood back up and tapped her racket on the net. She shrugged and grinned, then jogged back to the middle of her side of the court.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne tripped a bit, but didn't fall down, while heading to hit the ball. The trip caused her to miss hitting the ball. As she picked it up, she smiled.

"Yeah. I suppose so. It would be really nice if we could get someone who actually knew tennis to help us out. Know anyone who actually does?" Mellianne headed back to the serving line as she said this.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen tapped the racket on her chin as she though. "Hm... I'm sure Scott or Aidan could be able to teach us."

She continued to tap her chin. "I have an idea! Let's advertise our need for a tennis instructor. I'm sure someone would answer it."

With that statement, Kahlen waved her racket around, narrowly missing her head.

"Still want to keep going?"

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne thought for a moment. "Hmm. That's probably right. They probably know how to. And yeah! Do you want to post the notice?"

She giggled at Kahlen swinging her racket around. "Sure, let's do it for a little bit longer than go get something warm to eat and drink while we think of what we're going to say on our notice."

With that, Mellianne served the ball and it headed for the middle of Kahlen's side of the court again.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Sure, no problem," Kahlen replied. "We'll put in on the staircase- everyone seems to see that one. And something warm to eat sounds great."

She positioned her racket and swung to meet the ball. She managed to clip the ball with the edge of her racket. The ball went over the net and to the left side of the court.

"Whoo! I actually got it over and into the court!" Kahlen cheered.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne nodded. "Yeah, plus we wouldn't be able to put a notice up in the boys' common room, so it wouldn't really be fair if we only put one up in the girls'."

She laughed as she headed for the left side of the court. Managing to hit it, she got it just to the other side of the net, but not far as her laughing caused her to not put enough power into her swing to get it farther. "Good job!"

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

Kahlen waggled her eyebrows. "We -could- put it in the boy's common room. Although, we -should- ask a boy to put it there for us."

Kahlen ran up to the net, seeing that the ball wouldn't reach where she was standing. She let it bounce once and scooped it over the net with her racket.

"I don't think that's really allowed... oops," she said after the ball bounced on the other side, also fairly close to the net.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne shook her head. "I wouldn't dare to try and sneak into the boys' tower. Wonder who we could ask to do it."

She raced up a little closer to the net and hit the ball after it bounced. "No problem." This time, it was heading a little further back.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Less, maybe?" He was nice and would probably be willing to do them a small favor. In fact, he might want to join them. 'More the merrier,' Kahlen thought.

Kahlen ran backwards to try to get near the ball. She reached up with her racket and as she swund, she lost her balance and landed on her backside. Unfazed, she got up and ran to get the ball at the back of the court.

"Don't tell anyone I fell on my butt, okay," Kahlen said, laughing. She threw the ball in the air and hit it with her racket. The ball seemed to veer off to the right.

[Mellianne Joss]

"Less would work. Now we just have to think of what we're going to write and then make the notices and give one to him." She scratched an itch and giggled at Kahlen. "Oh, I won't! Cause then, if I trip or anything like that, I don't want you telling anyone either!"

She swung at the ball when it came towards her, hitting it a little hard and off to one side. If Kahlen didn't hit it, it would go out of bounds.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Sounds like a plan!" Kahlen laughed.

She ran to her right, extending her arm to hit the ball with her racket. She got to it just in time, clipping it with the rim of the racket again. Her hit wasn't very hard, so the ball sailed into the net. "Oh, darn."

She went over to the net and picked up the ball. "Here, your turn."

Kahlen tossed the ball over to Mellianne.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne caught the ball barely. Rubbing her arms, she said, "Wanna make this the last serve? I don't normally exercise my arms like this and they're getting a little sore, specially from the cold."

Deciding to do an overhand serve, Mellianne tossed the ball into the air and swung. Luckily hitting it, she cheered. The ball headed for mid-right court.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I could go for a nice bowl of oatmeal or something."

Kahlen wasn't tired, but her limbs were getting rather frozen. She was in the area the ball was heading, but her swing came up short and the ball sailed past her. She sighed and went after the ball.

"I think my arm's going to fall off," she said, grinning. "Let's drop this stuff off at the gym and head to the dining hall, eh?"

Kahlen went over to the pile of equipment and picked up the rackets.

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne nodded, trying to warm up a bit by bouncing on her way to help clean up. "I so can't wait for spring to come already."

She helped grab the rest of the equipment and set off for the gym.

[Kahlen Jeanne Nox]

"Oh, but there hasn't been snow, yet!" Kahlen loved the snow, especially when she participated in snowball fights.

"Do you like winter sports at all? Oh, I know! Have you heard of curling?"

[Mellianne Joss]

Mellianne shook her head. "I can't stand the cold at all."

She sneezed. "And I don't think I've ever head of curling. Least it doesn't sound familiar."