The machine rattles for a moment and then there's a mechanical WOMPH as a baseball is fired out so hard and fast it arcs off into the canopy of the distant xenofungus forest.

With a quiet sigh Shoan reaches down and turns the pitching machine's speed dial from 11 to 7. While she appreciated any device that could go all the way to 11...that ball was still flying, it might even cause an avalanche in the mountains at that rate.

Asakaze's No.1 Murame had cleared a small baseball diamond where a pitcher's mound faced down a batter's box. Or at least the homemade dirt equivalent of such. A small cooler sits in the shade of an umbrella as Shoan walks to the box swirling her metal bat. The Lion herself could be charitably described as being dressed 'baseball chic'. Although that really just seemed to mean she was wearing a baseball shirt as part of kimono and a broad straw hat protects her from the sun.

"Okay, let's try it at 7."

She points her device at the machine and it rattles again before firing a ball at her, the Lion swings and misses. There's a pause, she readjusts her stance slightly and slows her breathing. Another pitch another miss. Her eyes narrow a fraction and she rolls her shoulders. The third pitch is met with a deeply satisfying DING as the ball arcs off into the distance.

"Yes, this really is very satisfying."

Even with fairly minimal directions this would have been very hard to miss. Yul turned as he rode, his eyes tracking the path of a ball arcing through the air. "This must be the right place." Yul said dryly.

Yul slowed Maverick as they drew near. He dismounted smoothly, swinging his legs off with practice ease, boots landing on the ground. Polished boots. Into which relatively fine pant legs were tucked. Leading up to an equally fine unicorn jacket, although the bit of fir trim might not be to everyone's taste. As promised, Yul was wearing his formal uniform. It certainly looked sharp on him.

Smiling, Yul bowed, deep and formal. "Murame-san. How's it going?" Well, that was less formal. As was the way he tugged awkwardly at the high collar as he straightened. Still, it certainly fit his trim figure nicely.

"Ah Shinjo-san" respectful bow "You're looking." Sounding the tiniest bit surprised "Rather sharp today."
She spends a good moment looking him up and down, the boots getting a nod, the fur trim....well, no nod. No nod at all sir!

"It's all going rather well, I am discovering the joys of hitting things with other things, like a small child or a Hida. Baseball is quite fascinating, do you play?"

"Thank you." Yul said, again formally. Then he smiled. "Although I hope with that out of the way, we might try chosen names again?"

He glanced towards the pitching machine. "A little, but not much. When I was a kid, my friends and I used to toss a ball around from time to time. Sometimes we'd play baseball, but the bats we had were usually, well, just sticks we'd found. I don't think I ever learned how to swing a bat properly."

Smiling, he looked back to Shoan. "Seems like you were doing pretty well. Show me again? I want to see your form." His smirk might have been just a little bit playful.

"My form? Only if you are prepared to duck Yul-san. I don't think I've ever had a good date after knocking my partner unconscious."
That had been a 'great' date.

Walking back to the batter's box with the bat slung over he shoulder
"I'll just have to try and outshine child you, let us hope you were not a prodigy."
And she gestures to the pitching machine as she takes her stance
"Feel free to select a pitch of your choice, either I shall hit it, or I shall not."

Yul grinned. "I'm always prepared to duck."

He circled around, walking slowly around behind her, with plenty of space, his boots softly crunching on the ground with each step. He stopped when he came around to the front of her... again, a respectful distance away.

"Okay." He said, giving her a smile and a nod. "Show me what you've got, Shoan-san."

Without adjusting the speed, he pressed the button.

Shoan arcs an eyebrow at him and then quickly has to concentrate on the ball rocketing towards her. There's a swing and a 'tink' as it foul balls off behind them, a passing farmer ducking for cover.

"....I was slightly distracted."

Yul smirked. He was aware of the affect he had on women.

"Okay, no problem." He nodded. "Best two out of three. Here we go. I believe in you." His expression and tone were both entirely earnest.

He pushed the button again.

Shoan focuses on his smirk and a matching expression slowly spreads across her face as the ball sails forth she swings, putting her whole body behind the strike as she swings. With a satisfying ‘thwack’, the ball disappearing into the distant forest.

“Perhaps it’s almost cheating to have one of my supporters as the pitcher? Still, it is nice to be believed in.”

Yul grinned, shrugging. "Hey, I'm not the pitcher. I'm just a guy with a button." He watched, whistling slowly, as the ball went off into the distance. "Nice hit, though. Best two out of three, coming up."

His finger descended towards the button, but then he paused, looking at Shoan with raised eyebrows. "Hey, you know, I could be your pitcher. I can't hit very well, but I could throw. What do you think?"

Levelling her bat at him“Ah, then you accept my baseball challenge knowing full well that I am a champion of Arcade baseball? Very well then Yul-san show me your most devastating... curve ball? Slider? There are lots of names. This one is for the championship.”

"Alright." Yul said, flashing her a quick grin. "Let's do this."

He walked out onto the field, taking up a position right next to the pitching machine. "Move over, bud." He said, nudging it... and taking one of the balls out of its reservoir. "Time to show you what a real pitcher can do."

He tossed it up in the air, once, twice, getting a feel for it. "Okay. Here we go." Yul paused for a moment, standing there with the ball in hand, smiling. And then, with a fairly graceful wind-up, he pitched the ball to her.

It was a fair pitch, not amazing. Certainly not as hard as the machine could have done, but accurate enough, and with a little bit of wobbly unpredictability from the pitcher being human.

Yul gave a surprised exclamation as the ball flew high, his eyes widening in surprise as he realized that it was coming towards him. Raising his hands, he readied himself to catch it.

It was a bit of a challenge; Yul didn't have a glove, after all. But his reflexes were good, and as the ball dropped down, he was able to snatch it from the air, wincing only slightly as it contacted his unprotected hands.

He spun, eyes narrowing as he spotted Shoan. And then, grinning, began to run after her, ball in hand...

Nothing could get by Yul. His reflexes were too fast. Smirking, he reached out, tapping Shoan gently, ball in hand. "Got you." He said, grinning.

But the charge of a Lion was not easily stopped. Yul's eyes widened as he realized collision was inevitable. "Oof!" It was somewhere between a shout and a grunt as Yul went down with the impact, sprawling awkwardly to the ground.

Lion meets Unicorn with a thump and the two end up tangled together on the ground in a rising cloud of red dust

“...you got me.”
Shoan groans softly, ow. Note to self, elbows remain pointy
“I... are you okay?” She looks down, her hair draping across his face as Shoan’s face is silhouetted by the sun above.

From beneath her, Yul groaned. Grimacing slightly, he looked up at her, then smiled.

"I probably should have seen that coming." He said. He tilted his head, regarding her a moment, his eyes gentle. "I know we weren't competing exactly, but I still feel like we should call that a draw."

Again he paused, smiling up at her, this time silent. His own hair was disarrayed beneath him, his fancy uniform jacket definitely a bit scuffed.

“A draw in the sense that we both one, or we both lost?”
Shoan chuckles silently to herself before rolling off the Unicorn with a quiet pained sound.

“You take hits pretty well.”

Chuckling, Yul sat up, shaking his head; his ponytail scattered a bit of dust. "Thanks. You give 'em pretty well."

Still sitting, he brushed off his hands, then, grimacing, brushed at his jacket. "Yeah... sometime I picked up from a young age. I was always jumping off things, falling off things, running into things..." He smiled. "It's a good thing I got more coordinated as I got older."

He looked at Shoan. "You know, I'm trying to imagine young Shoan now. I'm not having an easy time. Help me out."