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Charlie Durand / STUFFS
Game hasn’t started yet.

She hadn’t given him time to respond. It was probably incredibly rude of her to not give the man enough time to respond to her greeting and rambling before she was scooping plopping down onto the dusty ground in order to unzip the baseball bag she’d kept from her days playing softball, and digging out her old, dusty cleats that were hopefully still good and the rubber sole hadn’t started to deteriorate with time.

Once she was finished lacing up her shoes and pulling her socks up to her knees, she hopped back up to her feet to pull a worn, but still bright green softball bat from the bag. The barrel of the bat was much longer than that of a baseball bat, and made of aluminum, and the handle grip had been rewrapped a few times, but it was still the best bat.

At least for her when she still played.

She set the bat near the others at the opening where the dugout went out to the field, knowing that would be the best place for others to use it as well if they wanted, scooped up her glove and a ball, and waved the man with the blond dreadlocks and number 23 to follow her.

“Hello!!” she smiled brightly, adjusting her hat to keep the sun from her eyes. “Are you playing catcher?” she asked the man kicking at the dirt near home. “That will be wonderful! I’m Charlie,” she introduced to him as well.

There was another man in the dugout who seemed to be on their team, and she lifted a hand to wave at him as well. The man talking to the ump she left alone because she definitely didn’t want to get in the way of official business, but she was pumped and so excited and who really cared that she was barely over five feet in height surrounded by a bunch of taller guys. That was perfectly okay because they were still going to play their best and have fun.

“I’m playing shortstop. Isn’t that funny?” she laughed because, well, she was definitely short. “I used to play in middle school. Slow pitch, not fast pitch. I mostly played second, though. Have any of you played before? Or, baseball?” Because softball was different even if it was mostly the same.

Jason Wolf / Crowd
Jason was practically shaking with excitement as they got there, though they were a bit late. For as long as his brother had been here, neither of them had ever gone to the baseball stadium yet and so had taken a bit navigating through the streets to find it and finally to where they were sitting. So far, there didn't seem to be many people, though Jason's classmate and friend Peter, was there. He gave the other a quick wave, before finding a seat with his brother.

It couldn't be helped though when both the Wolf brothers were Soccer fans and barely paid attention to any other sports. But when Tom had some time off from his assignment, Jason had begged for Tom to go with him to this, considering they hadn't hung out together in quite a while and Tom seemed to be losing energy, if not his mental state, a bit more every day. Even doing an undergraduate medical degree seemed to be a bit crazier than even Tom could handle.

Neither of them were there to really cheer on a specific team, but decided to go for different ones, just for fun. Moving into his seat, he motioned for his brother to come with him. He saw his brother smile tiredly at him, but the elder followed and was soon seated.
"At least we have something to do today Tom!" Jason said, though secretly wondering if it would be okay to get some food right now.




Tom Wolf / Crowd
For his part, Tom was tired, and would probably fall asleep at some point during the game. They had brought a couple of mitts that Tom had managed to borrow, but neither of them really knew how to play and figured that they would mostly be used for blocking any foul balls that came there way.

Even though neither of them were really excited for baseball, Tom had to admit that it was at least an excuse to get together considering that they seemed to have grown quite far apart ever since Jason had come to the city. At least they would be able to eat some junk food here and then tease each other about who's team was losing or winning. Jason seemed to know a couple of people here as he waved to someone before going to their seats as Tom slowly followed. He seriously needed to catch up on some sleep but these nightmares were keeping him from getting a good night's rest.

He sighed as he slipped into his seat, silently wishing the he had brought some sort of pillow, and nodded to Jason. "Yeah, I really am glad that we could get together now, and I'm sorry we haven't been able to really catch up like we used to." He replied before sinking into his seat a bit more and tilting the baseball cap, in place of his usual cowboy hat, on his head.



edit: Because I'm an idiot

Lucien Carden // Team Puffs

It had been good that Cordelia had been able to get her old mitts and that his Uncle's fit him well enough that he'd be able to use it without worry. Softball wasn't his usual cup of tea but he remembered Cordy playing when they were kids and she'd wanted to go so he'd agreed. It was at least something to do and after Sumi had found out the Catfe was involved he'd been excited to go.

They'd' gotten there early enough that the dug out set up for them wasn't packed yet so he grabbed a hat, at least knowing it couldn't mess up his hair worse, and changed into the jersey with his name on it. He grinned at the first initials in front of his and Cordy's last names. It was nice that they'd gotten everyone custom printed shirts.

He checked the laces on his glove before walking over to where Cordy was. "Gear up to your standards?"

Sumi // Team Puff Mascot

Sumi had been ecstatic when he found out he got to be the Puff's team mascot. He usually didn't get anything fun or anything special like that so being able to cheer on Lucien and Cordelia and the rest of the team from the field would be nice.

He'd arrived curled up around Luc's neck and hopped down once the young man was changing clothes. Once Luc had on his outfit he picked up the little cat hat that was with his things and carefully tucked it onto Sumi's head. Sumi grinned, reaching up to pat the brim before making sure his ears could still move. The hat felt a bit strange but not too bad and from the look on Luc's face it had to look cute.

Quenton Marinus ⚾ Team STUFFS
Top of the 1st, 0 Outs, 0 Puffs VS. 0 Stuffs


"The lines all look good, and the bags are all secured- shouldn't be any broken ankles, at least, " the umpire, Mr. Bailey, rolled a wad of gum from one side of his mouth to the other while he walked shoulder-to-shoulder with the long-shanked organizer of the event. Snapped leather of mitts and practice throws filtered along, as did starting cheers.

"If there are any problems, there's an EMT crew here, parked there out the Right field fence. There may be others, nurses or doctors, in the players and crowd as well. " Quenton turned from where they were standing near the pitcher's circle in the center of the field. "Did you want to measure-walk anything?"

"You get my age, son, you get to know what sixty feet looks like. Regulations 53 for beer league anyway. Is there liquor at this game?" Mr. Bailey held out his hand to shake, which Quenton took firmly.

"Not officially, sir. Some of the crowd may have, but we've tried to keep security more focused on weapons and safety. I've spoken to concession already, and anything you want is gratis. "

"Much obliged." Bailey took in the boy at home, scritching around in the dirt and pulled a coin from his pocket. "Puffs heads, Stuffs tails?"

Quenton nodded. The coin came up heads (1) when Quenton caught it in his palm from the other man's flip. A sharp, loud, two fingered whistle, and a wave of his hat in a circle and then to the Puffs Dugout for the announcers booth to see. Pleasant, youthful voices chimed over the loudspeakers (volunteers from the college's journalism outfit):

"That's the signal from the field, folks. This game's getting underway, and what an undeniably CUTE one it promises to be. That's Marinus, Stuffs #13, giving the signal and the First Bat goes to the Puffs. "

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Quenton Marinus ⚾ Team STUFFS

Quenton half-bowed, half-nodded and trotted off from the pitcher's mound to call at the rest of the team, "We're all in the field first! If you haven't warmed up, we'll have 4 minutes with balls to throw between each other while the pitcher (Robin) and catcher (John Jr) get acquainted with warm up pitches. Then Outfield throws to right field, Ming-Na Han, and Infield get it to first base, Danika, where they can roll it or toss it to Bellalunae and Apollo to hold in the dugout. Thank you everyone for coming out today...it means a lot, especially to all the cats. We'll have more of a chance to talk once we're at bat, like pronouns, nicknames, and if anyone's done this before to know some cheers."

Since he was on his way out to the far left outfield, which was passed Short Stop, Quenton lifted his glove to Durand #10 to top like a high five.

Tiberius the Cat | CROWD
Top of the 1st, 0 Outs, 0 Puffs VS. 0 Stuffs

Tiberius had heard that his Mistress' cousin would be hosting - or something of the sort - a baseball game that would be full of cats. After checking out the information online, he'd decided to go and check it out. Since there would be a number of folks he didn't know there and he was uninterested in 'outing' himself as a Mauvian, he'd requested a team hat procured before going.

Stroud had come through for him, as she usually did, so when he trotted his cute, fluffy butt to the game field he was already wearing a Puffs cap to hide his star. There were plenty of people and plenty of cats - were they star cats? No telling, really - and honestly, Tiberius didn't care much. He wanted pets and to watch a game.

Loudspeakers went live with voices, calling the game to start, and Tiberius slunk under the bleachers until he could sit his fluffy butt on one of the metal benches.


[OPEN FOR INTERACTION, COME PET THE GIANT FLUFFY CAET]

Fritz St. James / Puffs Pitcher
Top of the 1st, 0 Outs, 0 Puffs VS. 0 Stuffs BATTER UP AND STRIKING OUT GJ FRITZ

Wendell was unbelievably thrilled to be out in public, mostly because he had spent the last little while holed up bothering Peter's house. Fritz, on the other hand, had been back in England ever since the gala, and was still not used to even being back in Destiny City at all. He was trying not to think of it, of anything.

Chris's wave of greeting had him smiling, Fritz lifting a hand to wave back, pleased to see him out and about. He'd have to go talk to him later, when he was not about to go up to bat.

He was not thinking about Cordelia.

He was still not thinking of Cordelia, when he saw her, just across the field, something in Fritz's stomach lurching. He swallowed hard, his face paling a little, and quickly turned his head before she could see that he had seen her, Fritz making his way up to the baseplate, swinging the bat up into position.

Focus.

Apparently he wasn't focused enough, because he struck out, Fritz letting out a groan, though he gave his teammates an apologetic sort of wave, his expression sheepish and still good natured, in spite of his lack of athletic skill.

Charlie Durand / STUFFS
Top of the 1st, 1 Out, Runner on 2nd, 0 Puffs VS. 0 Stuffs
This was so fun, and she got to meet new people and they were great and they would all have a lot of fun, she was sure of it!

Charlie smiled bright when Robin introduced himself, holding herself back from saying how much she loved his accent because it was great and she had a million questions about cricket and where “back home” was for him. But, and she thought it was entirely reasonable, even though something tightened in her chest, that Robin would want to practice throwing with the catcher, especially if he was the pitcher.

“Oh! Yes, of course,” she smiled, her green eyes a little wider than they had been, and her cheeks significantly darker in color as she looked from one young man to the other, ignoring the way her throat became stupidly tight, the quote of ”There’s no crying in baseball!” popping into her head and making her awkwardly laugh a little to herself.

“No, that makes perfect sense! You should both practice because it’ll be good for, you know, battery and all that. Bond between catcher and pitcher and it’ll be great!” she nodded because it made perfect sense even as she self consciously twisted the softball in her glove and took a step back from the two.

“Um. I’m going to see how the others are doing. And then probably stretch. Don’t forget to stretch! And stay hydrated! That’s very important!” she insisted brightly, taking in a deep breath to settle herself. Although she knew what she was doing, she perhaps had naive expectations for how things would go.

The others seemed to be doing well enough getting ready, and it seemed as though they were meant to head out to the field first. She wouldn’t let herself be disappointed though! They were there to have lots of fun and raise money for charities and she was going to do her best.

The handsome man who had been talking to the umpire before, with the long, blond ponytail and scar across his face, lifted his glove to her as he passed by, and she immediately lifted hers to knock against his in response, completely and utterly starry eyed.

Okay!! This was great!!

“Okay team!! Three up, three down! Let’s go!” she cheered and readied herself for the first batter. Who struck out-- and looked very familiar!! But oh! It looked like the next batter got a piece of the ball. She did her best to cover second but the young woman was already there before the ball was thrown back and then the pitcher.

"Nice hit!!" she grinned, glad to see more girls playing!