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 Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:17 am
The park was lovely at this time of year, Aggie thought. Someone obviously put a great amount of love and work into the flowerbeds, and the bushes were all growing artistically wild. Well, for a given value of 'artistically wild'. Truthfully speaking, it might as well be that they'd just gotten passed over by the gardener. But it still looked pretty, she decided. And so what if they hadn't gotten trimmed in a bit? You couldn't judge a bush on its looks alone! Although she wasn't sure what else you could judge a bush on. Okay, backtrack on that, then. Maybe she was over-thinking it, anyhow - it was just some bushes. And that was how Aggie came to be standing in the middle of Destiny City Park, contemplating the nature of bushes perhaps a bit too seriously. Compact Petit Fours I suck at titling things, sorry ): But here you go!
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:29 pm
Some people went to parks to enjoy the great outdoors, some went to get their exercise, and still some came to just relax. But not Marybeth Cordettie. No sir. She came to the part for one purpose and one purpose only.
She came to play marbles. There wasn’t much in this world that Marybeth loved more than Marbles, and on nice summer days like this, well, these were the best days to play the simple game. The girl reached into her small bag and drew out a wide little stick, drawing a large circle in the dirt next to a tree, in a part of the park that she figured would be pretty much deserted, there was only one other girl to be seen, after all, and she looked busy watching some bush. Well. So long as she didn’t decide to trip on her marbles…
Marybeth emptied her marble bag next, letting the round bits of glass slide along the concrete, putting the smallest ones in the middle and keeping the larger marbles in her hand. She had to practice, after all, even if practice sometimes got redundant…there wasn’t the challenge of having someone to play with.
After a moment, she looked over at the girl who was watching the bush and called out. “Hey. Want to play marbles with me?”
No harm in that, right? It was just a friendly little game. She wasn’t being that much of a creep.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:20 pm
Aggie startled, turning to look at the other girl that she had totally failed to notice until now. So much for awareness of her surroundings, ugh - good thing she hadn't been in senshi form, or it could've ended disastrously. Well. It could probably still end disastrously as a civilian; actually, wouldn't it be even worse because she couldn't defend herself as well in civilian form-- Right, trying not to get side-tracked here. She moved closer to the other girl with a hesitant smile, pointing a finger at herself. "Y-you mean me?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:50 pm
Marybeth glanced around, wondering if the other girl saw anyone else in the park, then scratched the top of her head in slight confusion. “Um…yeah…I thought you were the only one around…if you don’t want to play, that’s fine…”
She knew not many people really liked playing marbles anymore, but that didn’t meant that they couldn’t give it a try. The game was a lot of fun to play with other people…or maybe, maybe she had just scared the other girl. She had been a bit strange. And kind of mean too. “Yeah. I mean you, I thought maybe you’d like to play marbles with me. I have a lot, so you don’t have to worry about having your own.”
She pointed to the small mound of the glass balls and smiled, trying to seem reassuring. “You want to, maybe? I’m Marybeth, so now I’m not a complete stranger. Now you know my name.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 6:38 pm
"Oh, um, wow, sure, I'd love that! I'm Aggie, nice to meet you Marybeth!" Any hesitance had disappeared from the red-head countenance, and a big smile had taken over. How awesome! A spontaneous opportunity to make a friend! This park trip definitely just took a turn for the better; the bushes were not nearly as interesting as this. Not that she'd come to the park for the bushes or anything, but it'd kinda been where she ended up. But now this! There was only one tiny problem; "Er, just one thing... How, exactly, do you play marbles?" She had a vague memory of once having played something to do with, possibly, marbles but it was all rather foggy by now.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:42 pm
Marybeth grinned. Now, this was the response she was wanting. Marbles should excite more people. And, if she had her way, they would excite more people, and more people would become interested in the long…well, almost dead game. “Come here and sit down. You might get a little dirty, since, you know. We’re going to be sitting in the dirt.”
She patted the spot next to her and held a few of the big marbles out. “See, you take these ones, and flick them…” She demonstrated, holding the marble on top of her thumb and flicking it towards the pile, scattering the smaller marbles within the circle. “Like that. The goal is to knock them out of the circle, and whoever knocks out the most…well, they win.”
The plum haired teen grinned at Aggie. It was always fun to talk about marbles. She had so many. Dozens and dozens. They were her collection, she couldn’t help it. She just…was a marble head. Through and through.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:01 pm
"Oh, t-that's totally fine, um, these shorts are washable so it doesn't matter anyway." The red-head shot a smile at Marybeth before joining her on the ground. She took the marbles that the other girl held out and marvelled at the colours and patterns. So pretty! "These are really cute!" "Right, okay, I t-think I got that." Aggie nodded seriously. "Do you go first or do I go first or did you just go? Uh."
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:08 pm
Marybeth laughed. “I just went. It’s your turn now, Aggie. Just try to do like I did. If you don’t get it your first time, you can try again! I’m not going to be mean or anything about it, promise! She ran her finger over her favorite marble fondly. This was fun. Maybe…if Aggie proved to be a good marble player, maybe then they could start doing this every weekend or something.
Or maybe they could start up a marble league in Destiny City! Now that would be her idea of fun! She hesitated, then held out her prized marble. “Here. You can use this one. It’s my lucky marble, and was one of the first ones I ever got. I know you’ll make a good throw with it, so, have at it, Aggie! Encouragement was always good if you wanted someone to start liking whatever it was that you liked! And she would be as encouraging as possible.
Well, unless Aggie turned out to be some crazy marble prodigy. Then she’d just be annoyed that she had decided to help the girl out. There was and could be only one marble champion of Destiny City. And that was her, Marybeth Cordettie.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:43 am
The red-head was wide-eyed as she took Marybeth's prized marble. "Y-your lucky marble? Oh wow! I'll, um, try my best not to get it damaged." Because that'd be awful and quite possibly the end of a blossoming friendship. Aggie knew that if anyone ever messed with her favourite ribbons, there would be hell to pay, and surely the pinkette was the same. So she'd be careful. Extra, extra careful. Aggie aimed, one eye closed and tongue between her teeth before letting the marble fly. And it went! It only managed to dislodge one or two of the smaller marbles, though. "This is harder than it looks like!" Despite her words, the red-head was smiling brilliantly. It was OK not to be immediately good at something, because there's always practice! "A-are there any tips for aiming it right?" And, of course, asking for help was useful too.
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:38 pm
Marybeth gave a cheer and a silly little clap of her hands. “You did really well for your first try, Aggie. Most people I’ve seen don’t hit anything on their first tries!” She was beaming and crouched down, lining up her shot with her eyes, and trying to make her arm as straight as possible. “It’s all about getting into your groove, you see. Make sure your body is twisted in such a way that you aren’t straining anything, and make sure your wrist and elbow is relaxed.”
She looked up at the redhead and then let the marble fly, knocking three more of the smaller marbles out of the circle. “I guess…it’s almost like playing pool, billiards, whatever you want to call it, only there’s no pockets, and no big stick you have to deal with. It’s all about you, and tiny little round pieces of glass. You have to be the stick!” She made a face, then laughed, shaking her head. “I really think that’s the simplest way I can explain it.”
Her grey eyes were sparkling with enjoyment, and she hoped that she would be able to make a friend of Aggie. The girl was fun, and quite adorable, if not a little quirky.
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:43 am
Aggie nodded along fervently to Marybeth's words of wisdom - so that was it! The explanation hadn't been very technical, but the red-head thought it made perfect sense; instead of controlling an instrument to play, you were the instrument, and it was all about mastering how to use your body to this end. Amazing! "That makes so much sense! Like, you can't rely on something else to play for you, it has to be all you, right?" Relaxing her wrist and elbow like the other girl had recommended, Aggie let her marble fly again. It didn't manage to hit anything this time, but it was close, so it still kinda counted as a good throw, right? She'd consider it one, anyway.
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Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:05 am
“That was a lot better, Aggie!” Marybeth laughed. Sure the other girl hadn’t hit anything, but it seemed like the shot was a lot more controlled this time, and she was really getting the hang of how to shoot and how it was supposed to feel when you made a good shot.
“I know it’s a really old fashioned game, but it can be really fun, and you can play it alone or with people…so it’s just one of those games.” The pinkette grinned, then let her marble fly, knocking a few more of the smaller marbles out of the ring.
“Hey, Aggie?” She looked over at the redhead and gave a little grin. “If I were to…I don’t know. Give you a few marbles to practice with, would you practice playing? I could use a good friend to practice with, and I’d like to hang out with you again sometime!” This was almost unheard of. Marybeth never gave her marbles away…but she really did enjoy playing the game with another real person and not with any pressure added to it like there was in the competitions. So, it was worth giving up some of her marbles for.
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 1:07 pm
The glowing feeling that the pinkette's words had given her was so great that Aggie was afraid her smile might split her face soon. She'd done well! Well, better than before - it'd not been the best shot, but she'd felt a bit more confident about it and that meant that it was on the road to becoming a good shot! Her smile dimmed a bit as she blinked at Marybeth's words, surprised. "I, I would like to, but, um... I'm pretty busy these days. I wouldn't be able to promise you anything, 'cause there's a lot of stuff that I have to do," like schoolwork, housework, senshi duties, improving her fighting... "b-but I can do my best and practice when I have time, if that's good enough, and we could meet and have matches, and meet outside of m-matches too if you want." She really did want to be friends with Marybeth, and half of her was protesting loudly over not just going ahead and promising she'd practice regularly, so she could make a friend, but lying didn't really seem fair to Aggie. And it probably wasn't the best start to a friendship.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:40 pm
Marybeth waved her hand in a nonchalant manner. “Practice whenever you have the time, Aggie! It shouldn’t be something to stress about. It’s a game, and it should be fun. Quite frankly, I’m just excited that I’m going to have another friend who is willing to at least try and learn it and play it with me…that’s a pretty exciting thing, ya know?”
She grinned at the redhead, then let her marble fly, knocking a few of the smaller ones out of the ring. “I’m in my senior year of high school, I know there’s a lot of work that people have to do…but like, if you do get a break from your work, or even if you just want to relieve some stress…I think that marbles help a lot.”
She pulled out her bag for her marbles and withdrew a few of the ones she was going to keep with her, before handing the bag to Aggie. “And you can have all of the ones that we were playing with today. That should be more than enough for you to play with, I think.” The girl looked so happy and excited to have really found someone willing to learn the game and willing to be friends and practice! It was like a dream come true!
“Oh Aggie, I’m so happy that I met you today! You’re pretty cool!”
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:58 pm
Aggie's smile came back full-force at Marybeth's - her new friend's - words. "Yes! I will! I'll practice w-whenever I've got time, and we'll have tons of fun playing together! Especially once I get a bit, um, better at this whole throwing thing." The pinkette definitely had the right attitude about the game, she thought; games were supposed to be fun after all, and playing marbles with Marybeth was absolutely awesome. The red-head was more than game for playing more often, that was for sure. Carefully taking the bag that the other girl had handed to her, Aggie cradled it against her chest, "T-thank you, really. I'll take good care of them, I promise!" She looked quite fierce as she nodded, totally determined to do Marybeth's marbles justice and treat them as the rare and precious objects that they were. "You're really cool too!" She couldn't help but blush, and her smile turned shy, but the sentiment was definitely genuine. The red-head couldn't imagine a better way to spend her day at the park than meeting Marybeth and making another friend. Even free ice-cream couldn't be better than this.
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