"You missed on purpose!" Katxiel accused with a laugh as the heavy rubber ball deflected off the stone hoop and went rolling across the court. "That was totally on purpose! I've seen you make that shot a hundred times!"
Xiu jogged across the court and picked the ball back up. "You've also seen me miss a hundred times, I'm sure," he said, and tossed the ball her way. She caught it with a grunt as it thumped against her chest, and she saw the way he tensed as though afraid he'd thrown it too hard. "Sorry."
She waved away his concern. "Don't be," she said, and took aim for the hoop. "I'm not made of glass, you know! I actually like it when you try against me. It's not much fun when I always win." She tossed the ball, and missed by a wide margin. It didn't even hit the stone, and once again went rolling across the court.
Xiu retrieved it again. "Good shot!"
"I didn't even hit the rim!" Katxiel laughed and playfully bopped the side of his head. "I'm not going to get better if everyone keeps telling me I'm doing great when I'm not! Come on, tell me what I'm doing wrong."
Xiu gave her a look, eyebrows raised, and Katxiel had a feeling she knew what he was thinking. No one really liked to tell her what she was doing wrong, or that she was doing wrong at all. Not to say no one ever corrected her, but they tended to be very gentle about it as opposed to blunt. No one ever outright just told her she sucked at something.
He hedged, then cleared his throat. "Well, er...for starters, it might help if you throw the ball overhand, not underhand. You can guide it better that way. Not to say your way isn't good."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, like this, see? You throw with this hand, and guide with the other." And he demonstrated, making the shot perfectly.
Katxiel stared. Not only had he just proven her point, that he was going easy on her, but she'd been throwing underhanded for years and no one had pointed that out. She caught the ball again when he tossed it to her.
"Give it a try," he suggested.
Katxiel did, her arms straining from the new position, for the ball was several pounds and she had to use different muscles. But when she threw the ball this time, she at least hit the stone, right by the opening of the hoop.
She rubbed her skinny arms after. "Oof, that'll take some getting used to! But that is way better. Now stop missing shots and let's do this for real, okay? Let's start over!"
For they weren't playing the ballgame for real, but were just shooting hoops, playing a simple game where each successful shot brought them from one side of the hoop to the other, step by step, each step representing the name of one of their gods. Whoever successfully completed the pantheon first, won the game.
And as usual, Xiu got about halfway through before he began to miss his shots, claiming his arms were getting tired. Katxiel suspected he was just trying to let her catch up, for she'd only made two shots thus far.
"Xiuuuu!" she sighed in exasperation as she readied her next shot. "Don't do that! It makes me try harder when you're beating me, you know! You're going to make me lazy!" And she tossed the ball--and hit the rim harder than intended.
It bounced, ricocheting off the stone, and would have struck Xiu's head if he hadn't ducked. Instead, it flew past him, off the court, and went rolling into the jungle.
She exchanged a look with her friend, and when he started to go after it, she stopped him. "I did it, I'll get it," she said with a wave of her hand as she jogged off the court. "Be right back!"
Famous last words, really. For the ball had gone farther than she'd thought, and she could see the mark it had left in the damp soil where it had gone rolling down a hill toward a mess of thick bushes lining the local stream. Katxiel picked her way down, and started to dig through the bushes--until she caught sight of it, floating downstream.
Well, she hadn't really wanted to get wet, but oh well! Bracing against the cooler water, she stepped into the stream and began to splash toward the ball, trying to catch up to it as the stream carried it swiftly.