Hockey Night in Japan - Gil & Satsuki

[FreestylePoet]

Satsuki watched as Gil's face went blank, worried that she might have said something wrong. Suddenly, Gil all but squealed with excitement! Just as quickly, her bag was upturned, and out spilled all the gear that the two of them had just managed to pack back up. "O-Oh..." Satsuki stammered, surprised at her companion's enthusiasm. She knew that LAW had its fair share of sunny dispositions, but seeing one up close like this was almost blinding. "Uh, great! Let's get set up, then."

Nobody ever really questioned LAW's wrestlers, but this still must have been one of the stranger things they'd seen in this gym: One of LAW's more well-known faces with a cutesy smothering arsenal. A relative unknown with an early tendency towards more heelish, dominating tactics. And a whole lot of hockey gear being spilled right in between them... in the middle of the second floor of LAW's exercise facilities. Thankfully, the stretching area that they were in was open with a hard floor, and nobody was immediately in the way... but their display still caught a lot of attention.

Not that Satsuki minded the handful of gawkers on this floor. She turned back towards Gil, helping sort through the equipment. "I actually do know how to roller skate, y'know." Technically, rollerblading was illegal on Japanese streets. But then again, Satsuki was always one to flaunt the law, first by necessity and, later, just because she could. "But you're right, we should probably save that for when we're actually on a street. Next time?"

Granted, Satsuki didn't actually know if there would be a next time. But just putting on this equipment got her blood pumping. The old-style mask, the barest of padding for her legs, a pair of gloves that were a size too big, and a stick that literally wasn't even designed for goaltending. If she didn't learn quick... this was gonna hurt. Just the way she liked it.

No, this is not what Gil described. But I found a pinkette anime goalie LMAO uh, it's a good reference for... just the glove.

Probs actually pretty close to the level of gear Satsuki is wearing right now

"So? How do I look?"

[Arista]

"Oh, really? I guess I'm just used to people not knowing how, everyone back in my home-town was too caught up in skate-boarding, or their bikes! Roller-skating came second, or third, or not at all...!" Gil reminicied back on when she lived back in America, fondly rmemebering the summer nights she would spend rolling down the street with her friend, or even just by herself, taking in her surroundings, the smell of her neighbors BBQing, the birds chriping and the dogs barking in the distance... Such great times... Wait, hockey...! "...I took these bad-boys everywhere, they've been through it...!" Gil looked down at her skates, they looked old and dis-colored, but really only from age, as they looked well taken care of...! "Of course, you'll hit it out of the park, no doubt, so next time you'll be more than ready...!"

Gil set up the net, while Satsuki got into her gear, once Gil had everything in place, sturdyas it could possibly be, she spun back to peak at Satsuki. "...You look wonderful, like a real goal-tender...!" Gil clapped her hands together. "Alright, Satsuki, if you get yourself right in-front of that net, we can get started...!" She bent over, grabbing her stick. "...Now get-on...!" Gil tapped her lightly on the back with her stick...!

"Alright, so, we'll start with these balls, they're a little bit bigger than the pucks, and are a smidge softer...!" Gil lifted one up onto the toe of her stick, bouncing it up and down. "...We can start with one soft one, right at your body, just to get you used to it...!" She waited for the go-ahead, and once she had it, she sent a soft wrister right at Satsuki's chest...! "...How was that?" She raised her voice slightly, due to their distance. "...Let's give this one a little more power, but right at the same spot...!" She gave her a second, then collected another ball, and shot it right at Satsuki's chest, this time, with as much power as she could muster...!

[FreestylePoet]

"Glad you approve," Satsuki chuckled as her training partner complimented her gear. "I like your skates, too. Like I said, if we do this again... maybe I'll bring 'em?" She was always careful never to over-promise, but Gil's eagerness was... strangely refreshing.

Satsuki couldn't put her finger on what it was about the middleweight that she found so energizing, but she guessed it had something to do with the promise of today's training. After all, how often did Satsuki get to dive into the deep end of something new like this? Yes, that must have been it: Gil wasn't just fun. She was useful in an infinitely and rarely exciting way.

Satsuki walked over to the net before crouching before it, slightly bow-legged just like all the other goalies she'd seen on TV. She bounced up and down a bit just to size herself up with the net behind her, getting used to the gear. Which only really covered her face, hands, and legs, but that just made what they were about to do even more fun. "Sure thing, lemme have it!" Soon enough, Gil flicked a soft wrist shot towards Satsuki, who let it bounce off her chest with a light paff!

"How was it? Well, I feel like I should've worn more than just a sports bra, heh. But I'll be fine." She tapped her stick on her thigh pad, as if to taunt Gil. "Now come at me again!"

Right when Gil flicked this second shot at her, Satsuki felt the world slow down for a moment. Most people would flinch or shriek or duck out of the way when faced with a ball flying right at them at high speeds. But not Satsuki. Not the thrill-seeking, adrenaline-hungry, high-rolling Queen of Clubs! Gil might not have been able to see it under Satsuki's mask, but all she did was grin with a giddy wildness. This was going to be so much fun!

"Ouch!" At least, that's what she thought -- until the damn ball hit her right in the boob. Absentmindedly, she rubbed at the now-sore spot on her sports bra. "So I know that the pros have real pads, but... they also take pucks. At twice that speed or more. And you tried to tell me that they're not all crazy?"

[Arista]

"...Probably...!" Gil chuckled, scratching the back of her head. "...I'll try not to hit you in the belly, but no promises, especially when we get to slap-shots, I'm not the most accurate with those...!" Gil smirked, firing off a hard wrister, watching the ball soar through the air, making a slight whistling noise as it flew of her stick, waiting until it struck Satsuki...!

Gil winced, she had never really played goalie all that much, but she saw how her friends could get marked up, even with padding, so seeing the practically bare Satsuki take a shot right to the boob made her skin crawl...! "...Sorry about that, are you okay...?" Gil skated a bit closer, only stopping once Satsuki spoke, seemingly not too hurt. "...I mean, maybe they are a little bit...! It's hard to say, maybe they really care about their teams, you kind of have to to put yourself in-front of shot-after-shot, right?" She giggled, rolling back again, setting up another shot.

"...If you're good to continue, I'll do some rapid fire, I'll be aiming for the back of the net this time, so be ready...!" She warned, four more balls lined up and ready to go. Once she got the go-ahead from her partner, she would act quickly, firing off four more wrist-shots, one at the top-right, another at the bottom-left, then at the bottom-right, then, one last one for good measure, right at the top left corner...! Her accuracy was great, if not lacking some power, even still, they were fast enough to not be easy to stop without a challenge!

[FreestylePoet]

"I'm fine," Satsuki sighed as an assurance. "I've gotten hurt way worse doing stupider stuff." After all, she wasn't just a thrill seeker. She was a former street urchin, a girl with Yakuza ties, and, in her spare ties, a virtually-viral gentlewoman thief. If she had a dollar for every bump, bruise, scratch, and cut she'd ever gotten... she'd be even richer than she is now.

"Got it. Lemme have it!" Sure enough, Gil fired four shots in rapid succession, each one faster than the last! With a characteristically competitive growl, Satsuki swung her glove towards the upper-right corner of the net. She wasn't precise enough to outright catch the ball, so it merely deflected off of her arm. "Rrrrah!" Next, her left leg shot out towards the lower-left corner, and by a stroke of sheer luck, Gil's second shot bounced off of her pad. Then the third one came, right for the other bottom corner. Satsuki, now nearly starfished-out in front of the net, nonetheless tried to block it with her right leg just the same...

...And promptly stepped on it. She swiftly lost her footing, falling backwards as she did! The third shot ended up rolling into the net, but that was the least of Satsuki's concerns. The Queen of Clubs, a rising star in the world of LAW who made her living off of taking everything she could from her opponent. Fell on her ass on a rubber ball in the middle of LAW's gym. Thanks to the efforts of none other than the Arma-Gil-O herself.

And she let the fourth shot in easily, too.

"Nnngrrrr..." She growled on the ground as she caught the wind that had been knocked out of her. Another attempt would come soon, but for now? Fuckin' ow.

[Arista]

One after another, Gil fired off shots like it was nothing, fire coming of the the balls as they would soar and cut through the air just ready to find the back of the net, and would you look at that, two of them did...!

Gil smirked, it wasn't the best goal-tending one could give, far from it, but Satsuki didn't let up, she wasn't fearful, and she got in-front of things, not letting them pass her by without giving it her best go...! "...Hey, that wasn't half bad...!" Gil strolled forward, gently coming to a halt as she stopped up just in-front of the net, offering a hand to her newest pal...!

"...You're sitting at a fifty-percent save-rate, which... Well, it isn't great, but for someone who has never done this before, it's pretty remarkable...!" Gil tapped the toe of her stick on Satsuki's leg. "...Most people would be afraid at first to get in-front of the ball, but you went right after it...!" Gil praised, rolling back to where she was, after gathering up the balls she had shot thus far.

"...Alright, if you're ready for some more, I'm going to put you in the shoes of a real-goal-tender, and I'm coming in close for this one, alright?" She waited for the go-ahead, almost acting before she got it. Just in the short time she knew Satsuki, and by short, it was more like the past 10 minutes or so, she learned the woman wasn't one to back down from any fight or challenge, so Gil wasn't afraid to throw anything at her...!

She began to roll forward, the ball on her stick as she deked about to throw Satsuki off, not trying anything fancy, or anything all that skillful, she just wanted to toss Satsuki into the water a bit, give her a look at how things might go if she was in a real game...! She sped up her dekes, pulling a nice fake before wristing one at the top right of the net, hoping she had sent Satsuki flying the other way.

[FreestylePoet]

"Uuugh..." Satsuki didn't know what she was groaning at. The exhaustion of having the wind knocked out of her? The embarrassment of falling on her ass? The disappointment of missing two saves? Probably all three, really. "Thanks," she told Gil, accepting both her help up and her praise. "Like I said, dumber things have hurt me before." She stretched, soothing the pain from clattering to the ground as she listened to Gil's next idea with marked interest. Immediately, Satsuki knew that this was something that could pay dividends later on in her career.

Lateral quickness wasn't something that many martial arts emphasized. From what she'd seen, it wasn't something many LAW wrestlers bothered to hone. But that just meant that it was an unexplored niche. For her own part, Satsuki could already imagine a number of applications for elite side-to-side speed. Dodges, step-throughs, unorthodox advances. All things that, wittingly or not, Gil could help her with.

Plus, this just sounded like a hell of a lot of fun.

So Satsuki stepped back between the pipes, dropping back down into her crouched stance. Gil skated towards her, swiping the ball back and forth on her stick as she did. Satsuki watched the ball, trying to anticipate Gil's angle of attack. Sure enough, Gil finally made one motion that looked different from the rest -- a shot, surely! The Queen of Clubs shoved off of one foot, leaning her body against one of the goalposts and taking away one side of the net entirely!

...Only to watch helplessly as Gil went the other way instead, tucking the ball right into the other top corner.

"Damn!" Satsuki cursed, watching the ball go into the net. She wasn't angry, though, at least she didn't look it. Beneath her mask, she was smiling once more with wild-eyed excitement. "Again, yeah?" she pumped her fists impatiently. "I think I'll get it this time. Any tips, though? You're pretty good at this, y'know." Skill deserved recognition, after all, even when it was kicking her butt.

[Arista]

The cacophony of make-shift equipment clicking and shuffling about in an otherwise relatively quiet gym was all music Gil's ears, and seeing Satsuki slide and commit completely to one-side of the goal gave her more than enough real-estate to work with, putting the ball in the back on the nets and rolling back around in a small circle, throwing her hands up in the air with a goody grin plastered across her face...! "...And she scores...!" She chuckled, rolling back in-front of the net, and in turn Satsuki...!

"...You know, they used to call me the deke-queen back in the states...!" Gil puffed her chest out with pride, it wasn't true, not a single soul called her that. "...Again...!" She clarified. "...We can do this as many times as you like...!" Gil promised, hearing Satsuki out. "...Thank you! You really are far too kind, you aren't half-bad yourself, and I mean that...!" Gil assured.

"Hmm..." She tapped her lip as she thought, not being a goal-tender herself, her advice was bound to be flawed in one way or another, she could really only state her own observations, with little to no insider info. "...If I had to give any tips, I think I'd say the obvious, which is keep your eyes on the ball, or puck, whichever is more fitting...!" She giggled. "...Other than that, I think you should try to cover as much of the net as possible, especially when I'm out in-front of it, try to utilize your arms and legs more instead of catching the ball right in the boob...!" She snickered before rolling off...!

She knew Satsuki wouldn't be satisfied until she stopped at-least one, but probably wanted more, so Gil gave her three more goes before taking another break. She took a ball, and did her same routine, deking back-and-fourth, rolling in closer and closer before trying to squeak the ball right between an arch in her legs! She didn't stop, whether or not Satsuki made the save or not! She rolled back around and with more momentum this time, she deked back and fourth again, holding it long on one side before letting it roll, but moving her stick to the other-side, switching it back after a short moment and flicking it up at the top of the net! "...Remember, watch the ball, not my stick, not me, the ball...!" She reminded, pulling back for one more go, this time, she didn't deke at all, just rolled up full speed, coming right for the net, only to roll behind it at the last second, pushing the ball up onto balance on her stick and trying to dump it in as she came around the other-side...!

[FreestylePoet]

Satsuki nodded excitedly at Gil's advice. "Watch the ball. Cover the net. Got it." Ordinarily, poking fun at Satsuki's chest-related mishap would be enough to draw her ire. She liked to think that she was good at hiding those kinds of emotions, but she still certainly felt them. Still, there was just something about Gil that she couldn't get mad at -- something she couldn't put her finger on. Of course, Gil's ribbing did still get at the competitor in her. In that sense, it couldn't go unanswered. Satsuki situated herself back in the goal once more. "Now... let's do it!"

Gil held the ball at her fronthand. Then her backhand. Fronthand. Backhand. Fronthand, backhand, fronthand -- There! The shot was surely coming somewhere on the left side! But then, lo-and-behold, it went below her instead, right between her wickets! Satsuki couldn't kneel all the way on the ground like she'd seen many professional goalies do, and her desperate swing of her stick didn't help matters. "Damn!"

The second came just as fast. Gil skated back to where she set up the balls, then right back towards Satsuki. This move was simple, and Satsuki thought she read it the whole way. She didn't over commit until she thought Gil was going to shoot, and even when her rival fooled her, she still managed to make it back to the correct goalpost... but not before Gil scored again.

And then once more, Gil rushed at her, seemingly comfortable enough with her skill to approach without even a deke! That kind of confidence was exactly what Satsuki relished in defeating, and she knew just the way to do it. Satsuki let Gil skate forth, waiting until she was just a body-length or so away from the net... and then struck! "Haaah!" She dove forth, her stick pointed out and aimed for the ball -- a diving poke check!

But it seemed that Gil had one more trick up her sleeve. She changed course at the last second, instead skating behind the net. "Wha...!?" Satsuki watched, helpless on the ground as Gil popped the ball onto her stick and swung it up, over, and into the net. "Mmmmrh." Satsuki lifted her mask and planted her face on the floor. She knew that she wouldn't get the hang of things so early -- and if Gil was any indication, she was already ahead of the learning curve -- but losing sucked.

Satsuki flopped onto her back, panting heavily. "So... about that break?"

[Arista]

It was one after another, Gil put the ball in the back of the net, impressing herself, even! It had been a while since she had played with a goal-tender, and despite Satsuki being un-trained, she still acted as an obstacle! Gil bent her knee as she rolled, fist-pumping the air with a smile that spread from cheek-to-cheek plastered across her face...! "...I think you did much better than you think, I mean, you've never done this before, right? It's not an easy thing someone can pick-up and just be good at right-away...!" Gil showered Satsuki in some good thoughts.

"...Of course, I think a break could do us both some good...!" She giggled, rolling back to the bag and grabbing her water, dropping harshly onto her butt, legs spread apart and took a swig...! "...Oh, I never thanked you, so... Thanks...!" She giggled, taking down another gulp of water. "...I haven't had anyone to play with in a long time, it's nice to finally share this hobby with someone else again...!" She stared across at her skates.

"...It's worth asking, do you have any tips for me...?" Gil tilted her head, she was sure Satsuki didn't know much about hockey, so it may have come off as if she was mocking the woman, but the look on her face said anything but...! She looked genially curious as to what the new-born goal-tender thought, even if her advice wasn't the most practical, it could always help to know...!