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Season 22, Day 48
Lift @ Georgias
Sun 30
As the rituals ended and the Georgias spread out across their home turf, Yusef Fenstrate walked up to the plate. She stared down Erin Jesaulenko on the mound. Erin’s last season had been a flop, but according to Zeph, she was a passable pitcher these days. As Yusef eyed the pitcher down, they could see the hesitation. They watched the pitch sail on the outside.
BALL. 1-0
The next pitch was almost as bad, but Yusef was getting impatient. she wasn’t in the mood for this type of game, so he chipped at it, sending it off to the right
FOUL BALL. 1-1
Fuck. Come on. Just throw something she could get good contact on. The sound of the crowd, the pitch, the ocean just outside the bubble. Even the sound of the ball itself as it screamed out of the pitcher’s clumsy hand set his teeth on edge. Not even close.
BALL. 2-1
Finally, as Yusef shuffled back into a low stance, the pitch slid somewhere she could work with. A bit low, but-
CRACK
Their first few steps were her normal bounding sprint, but those quickly petered out. He had drove it up the first base line, and the staticky firstbaseplayer had managed to jam a glove in front of the ball before it fled into the outfield.
OUT AT FIRST. 1 OUT FOR THE TOKYO LIFT
Ugh.
She flopped herself down in the dugout, watching Coolname head to on-deck. Seemed like seconds later, as Theo was still wiping his hands down, they were all up and cheering as Coolname sent it into the stands, and jogged around the bases.
The Georgias tied it up in the bottom of the inning.
By the 5th inning, the score was 2-3, Georgias. Yusef hit a solid grounder, making it to first. First on base for her so far this game. As he stood on first, they looked up at the score. It was a close game, still entirely winnable. The team just needed to capitalize.
As Grollis slipped out of the Secret base onto the fifth base, that became all the more plausible. A runner right there, in scoring position, and 3 outs left.
Ortiz Lopez entered the Tunnels...
Ortiz Lopez stole a Run from the Lift!
And that- made things harder. She saw Grollis sigh from across the diamond, and hang hir head in a frustrated resignation. That was just blaseball these days.
A walk put Yusef on second, and he bit his tongue. Out of nowhere, they were down by 3. They needed some big plays, didn’t they?
The pitcher threw one of her outside balls, hoping to catch out the batter.
Yusef’s lead off had stretched until she took off sprinting for third.
They were met there by the thirdbaseplayer holding the ball. They hadn’t even seen the catcher return it through the noise of everything happening so much as the sun 30 beat down with its synthetic, plasticky rays that sounded like Styrofoam and the clicking of pens. Three outs. The fielders began to make their way back to the dugout. Grollis patted them on the shoulder as xe passed. Yusef could see it in hir eyes they xe knew why she did it, that xe agreed with her decision. He wished that made it less frustrating.
At the top of the 9th, the score was 4-5, Georgias. This was their last chance to get something done. For the third time this game, Yusef was the first person to bat this inning. She need to make a play.
The pitcher eyed him down carefully. She knew the same thing Yusef did. The Lift needed big plays. They had a feeling that she wouldn’t give them any chances to make good contact. That didn’t matter, Yusef could make do.
The first pitch was outside again. But Yusef didn’t feel like playing these games. There just wasn’t time, the lift needed one more run to tie it up. So she hacked at it, sending it off to the right.
FOUL BALL. 0-1
The pitcher threw an almost identical pitch, so Yusef responded identically, driving the ball down the same line.
FOUL BALL. 0-2
Next pitch, she finally went for a strike. But the adrenaline pumping through Yusef at this point meant that the fastball seemed to be sitting in the air, wait for him to respond.
Yusef Fenestrate hits a Double!
She hopped from foot to foot beside second, leading off a dangerous amount. The pitcher seemed preoccupied with closing out the game, so she didn’t give Yusef a second glance. Theo watched a ball go by. This was taking to long. Theo stepped back from an inside pitch. Yusef bolted for third. They were there before the catcher had even gathered themselves enough to notice the were running. Then, as the catcher tossed the ball back to the mound, She stole fourth for good measure.
Out of nowhere, she was in scoring position. Finally, the game was singing a music she could understand. Not enjoy, maybe, but the tension of a moment like this? A runner in scoring position in a game this close? This was familiar enough to ground him.
Theo struck out. Coolname stepped up, bat swinging lazily.
Cmon, cmon, bring me home Galv
BALL. 1-0
You got this. Just drive it down the first base line, I’ll make it before the fielder looks up from their glove.
BALL. 2-0
That’s it, I don’t have time for this
Yusef Fenestrate steals fifth base!
1 Runs scored!
They had done it. Tied it up in the 9th, all by themselves. The blood rushed through his ears, and for one glorious moment that was all they could hear. Not the game, not the world as it slowly collapsed around them. Just her own heart pounding. When they looked up again with a clear head, the game was over after the 11th inning. Oritz had stolen another run, and the home team had taken it. But hey, at least they got the Sun 30 win. Yusef had earned them the Sun 30 win at least.
She looked down at the Super Roamin’ Fifth Base in her hands. He had earned them the Sun 30 win at least.
Grollis was quiet as they walked into the locker room and began to clean off. Xe was quiet as she changed into something other than that damned uniform. Xe was quiet as the team made their way past the flurry of microphones and cameras shoved into their faces, all of them focused around Yusef today. Grollis was quiet as they took the plane back home for their next series. Xe was quiet as the two of them made their way to the apartment they shared for the first night in the last 6 days.
That didn’t mean Yusef couldn’t hear hyr, of course, as xe walked beside her. Xe didn’t say a word, and Yusef was deaf to everything that wasn’t hyr.
Neither of them slept, they didn’t have to during the season of course. They just sat there, missing practice. The team understood. If either of them had checked their phones, they would see half a dozen messages confirming that. But they didn’t, because even if those messages hadn’t been sent, there was no way they weren’t taking the night off.
Grollis opens hyr mouth and sends a spiral of chords at Yusef all at once, as gently as xe can.
“Well. What are you gonna do with it?”
“With what?”
“Yusef, you know what I’m talking about. The base.”
“Put it back down, of course.”
“When?”
“First chance I get.”
“What if-“
“Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“You sure? We’re at The Gym.”
Part of Yusef wants to snap at hyr, want to be angry and angsty. But she’s out of energy, spent and done. That adrenaline rush that drove him to pick it up staunchly refused to help her deal with the aftermath.
“Yeah. I’ll talk with the team about it, but its better than holding onto it of course.”
“Yeah, yeah. Definitely.”
“I don’t want to wait too long and-” they cant even finish the sentence. They’ve always played for the lift. When the Lift became a team, she joined up, and he hadn’t moved an inch since.
“Are you sure?”
“I mean, yeah. There’s not really much option. Trying to wait until an away game feels risky, right?”
“yeah, definitely.” Grollis took a long breath, staring straight into Yusef. “so you definitely… you don’t want to leave or anything?”
Yusef sat there stunned for a second too long.
“No! of course not, why would I- what would make you think that? Never, that’s not-”
“Its ok of you do. If you want to roam, I’ll be fine, don’t worry-”
“Stop.” Yusef stood and stepped over to Grollis, sitting by hyr legs. “I don’t want to leave the lift, I never have.”
“Then why’d you pick it up?”
They sat there in silence, Yusef trying her hardest to keep her composure while Grollis held back sobs.
“Oh my gods, no no no. It had nothing to do with- I don’t… Zeph, we were losing at the top of the ninth.”
Grollis went quiet for a long second, the sobs fading away all at once.
“I want to be so fucking pissed at you. I cant, but gods I fucking want to be.”
“What? Zeph, whats up?”
You know the games don’t matter, right?”
“What are you talking about, I mean-”
“Fenny. If you had to chose between losing me, or losing a game of blaseball, which would it be?”
“Losing the game. Every time, always.”
“Then why did you pick up the base?”
“I -”
“You matter to people. You know that, right?”
“I’ll put it back down tomorrow, Zeph. Don’t worry.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”